a close call with death followed by a careful rescue operation high above a san francisco street. good afternoon. i'm tori campbell. a high-rise rescue was required after two window washers in san francisco were left dangling for almost a half- hour when their scaffolding fell. it happened on berry street, close to at&t park.

kraig debro has details on what happened and how it ended. >> reporter: they say a picture tells a thousand words. in this case, the sound also told the story. >> all of a sudden i hear a big crash, and then all of a sudden there's a guy hanging outside on ropes. >> reporter: a block west of at&t park, two window washers nearly fell to their deaths. one of the two arms that holds up a window-washing platform gave way and left a washer and his nephew hanging on their lives. eddie lopez thought one of them didn't make it. >> at first he wasn't moving. so i thought he was like dead. but -- and then he started to talk. so i was like yes! >> reporter: this man says the only thing that saved the two men's lives was the good arm of the scaffold. >> i wasn't hoping the other end didn't break.

>> reporter: they didn't. raul aguillar was stuck at what is now the top of the platform. firefighters rescued him from the roof. his nephew fell several feet to the bottom of the platform. >> they took all precautions with him. >> reporter: the city says it has a couple of window-washing rescues a year. in san francisco, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. investors are fleeing stocks today sending indexes plunging as worries about the u.s. economy and european debt escalate. taking a live look at the big board right now. the dow is currently down 369 points. at one point this morning, it was down over 1200. it's on track for the biggest one-day drop since october of 2008. the nasdaq is also down 97 right now.

s&p is down 42. in fact, the s&p 500 has dropped into correction territory down over 10% from its high on may 2nd. one of the triggers of today's selloff was this morning's report that new jobless claims were down slightly to 400,000. but a more healthy level would be at 375,000. and continuing jobless claims were up by 10,000 to 3.73 million. in addition to the hiring concerns, there's also been worry about weakness and manufacturing and consumer spending. tens of thousands of -- tens of thousands of outsource jobs could return to the u.s. the government has just announced a plan to create 100,000 new jobs. they will mainly be jobs at call centers. some are outsourced to india and the philippines but will come back to broadband yard vancements.

thed ftc hopes the -- the ftc hopes the jobs will be created the next two years. an accident this morning killed a pedestrian. it happened near fremont and stevenson boulevard. chopper 2 was overhead. police say the car hit two other vehicles and then a woman who was crossing the street in the crosswalk. she died at the scene. the accident blocked traffic in the area but officers hope to have the streets cleared by noon. the city of vallejo is dealing with an unusual problem. the theft of storm drain covers. this is a concern for not just financial reasons but for public safety. paul chambers has more. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. now, someone in vallejo are taking drains just like these. now, these weigh anywhere from 40 to 150 pounds. i'm a pretty strong guy and i can barely move it by myself.

metal grades are used to collect large objects from going in the catch basin. >> in the last couple of weeks we've had 11 stolen and i know caltrans has some along the freeway, they've had at least eight taken. >> reporter: this will cost $300 a pop. the rates range in size from 3 feet to 15 feet. so when it is missing it leaves a huge hole. >> a pedestrian, a motorist, somebody jogging may not come see the hole and fall in and hurt themselves. >> reporter: right now -- right now metal experts say they will play between $200 and $300 for the metal. >> we don't accept metal grades from just anyone. you have to an i.d.

and we have a list. we don't buy less than 1,000 pounds. >> reporter: now, the sanitation district needs your help. if you see any missing grades, they ask you to give them a call because it's very important that they replace it as soon as possible and they said if you see or know someone steeling -- stealing these, you should also call vallejo police. paul chambers, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, paul. andty okay -- antioch police are investigating a shooting that left one woman wounded. it happened on i-street. the investigators -- on "i" street. the investigators don't believed shooting was random. they are looking for two men in a silver suv with shiny rims. the victim is expected to survive. san francisco police have a suspect in custody after an attempted robbery that left the victim with a gunshot wound on

her ankle. the suspect ran into an apartment, following the confrontation and police have arrested him. the female victim told police he demanded money. she's being treated at sf general. the mayor of east palo alto will hold a town meeting to discuss the recent surge of deadly violence in the city. there have been six killing this year compared to four in all of last year. in one shooting, a stray bullet killed a baby. police blame violent street gangs for the disturbing rise in violence. the meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. tonight. an alert has been lifted at virginia tech, just a short time ago, after police were searching for a gunman. the alleged gunman has not been found but they released the sketch of the man they are look for. they say three children attending the summer camp at

the university reported someone with a gun. authorities say this person never pointed a gun or threatened anyone but the alert was issued after an abun dance of -- an -- an abundance of caution. as you will recall the virginia tech site was -- school was the site of a mass shooting that killed 34 people. it's hard for poor people to eat a healthy diet bus -- tight because better food is more spen -- tight because better -- diet because better food is more expensive. the researchers say doing this adds hundreds of bills. >> anything that is not gml or chemically processed is more expensive. >> organic foods are more

expensive. organic certainly is, you know, fish or taken -- chicken, sustainable fish. >> the government has tried to offset some of the thoughts -- costs by giving the poor coupons. meat manufacturer cargill is recalling -- recalling -- recalling 36 million pounds of turkey, ground turkey. a person in sacramento county died after eating the tainted meat. more than 70 people were sickened nationwide including one person in san francisco. health officials say the symptoms can show up within eight to 72 hours of eating -- within eating the product. >> usually it's severe diarrhea and cram. sometimes you can have a fever. it can be quite severe in the very young and opened and those with immune problems -- and opened and those with immune

problems -- old and those with immune problems. >> we've posted all of the details on our website. look for the recall tab on our front page. about 100 upper-class students at san jose state university finally know where they will live this fall. they've been assigned to the clarion hotel three aisles -- three miles from the campus. that's because the united states ran out of rooms. the freshmen are required to live on the campus. the school is looking at setting up an on-campus breakfast program for the relocated students. sanford university gets an a-plus when it comes to performance. the university came in at number 5 on forbe's top college lists. forbes says it's list is --

forbe -- the list is based on many factors. a fire started in the garage of a home which had been converted to a bedroom. when firefighters arrived, they saw flames shooting 30 feet in the air. the homeowner in the main house woke up and saw a -- woke up and saw a bright orange glow. >> 911, get the kids out of the house. and my brother lives in that garage. the homeowner's brother was living in the garage that she -- she mentioned, she was not there when the fire started. flames also caused some minor damage to the main house. it took firefighters about 30 minutes to put out the blaze. the identity of infamous criminal dp cooper may finally be known. we'll tell you if the fbi is

taking the report seriously. so much for expecting a warmup. clouds and drizzle were all over the bay area. steve paulson is up next to tell us if things will change. and nasa revealed new information about mars. charming farmhouse.

right next to my posh castle! i'm sensing a theme here. well, i am the queen, dear sister. get your annual ikea catalog today.

there will be changes to lunways at -- runways at san francisco's airport. it's to meet federal safety standards to reduce damage to planes that may overshoot the runway. construction may start neck year and be completed by 2015. flights will not be affected. i want to take you back live to wall street, where the dow is making at least a little bit of a come basketball. the 354 points to the negative. is still serious. the -- to the negative is still serious. again, this is about the u.s. economy and the european debt crisis. there's new indication that the two uc beck lurk graduates still jailed in iran could be released soon. the -- uc berkeley graduates still jailed in iran could be released soon. the judge promised a verdict sometime this week.

today iran's ambassador told "the associated press" expected two to be released very soon. he does not know when. he says there's a general the two will be pardoned -- a general thought the two will be pardoned. and oklahoma woman says cooper was her uncle. marla said her parents to walk about him over the years. a man called dan cooper hijacked a plane found from portland to seattle. he demanded $200,000 and got the money before the plan landed and parachuted out before authority kos catch him. >> i have very vivid memories.

they just kind of came back in a flood. >> the fbi is following a credible lead on a new suspect but won't say if the tip came from her. some people in danville are furious over a high school upgrade that's supposed to be good for the environment. they say when they agreed to a solar panel project, they were told no shes were be -- no trees would be cut but at san ramon valley high school, construction crews removed a dozen trees to make way for these solar panels. district officials say they were young trees planted two years ago before the solar project existed. >> we have plans to replant them as soon as we find a good spot for them. probably more trees than we removed -- removed. >> the solar panels are being installed at five districts in the area. they are being paid with stimulus money and will cover

two-thirds of the energy costs. today, president obama is celebrating his 50th today. this is jennifer hudson. note happy birthday to you ♪ >> hudson attended the -- ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ >> hudson attended the event. he's celebrating low key today and not planning any public appearances. he will celebrate this afternoon and then en-- and then enjoy a dinner celebration with his family and friends in the white house. a lot of gray skies. some of that is burning off. the sun is starting to break through. it was a tough go. the low cloud deck made it all the way to the sacramento valley. morning drizzle with cloudy skies, giving way to some sun, sunny breezy or windy but

cooler for all. the biggest drop for temperatures will be in the inland locations. tropical moisture is gone, gone, gone. fog not going anywhere for a couple of days. here we are at noon, 70s. these are really cool numbers. santa rosa, close. when you get the west-southwest 17 gusting over to 25 sfo, west- southwest fairfield gusting up to 30 and even a southwest at vacaville and a west wind at stockton, that tells me, tells you it's cooler. that's a very, very cool pattern. high pressure has packed off -- high pressure has backed. but until it comes back a little system in the -- actually, near nfl and the oregon -- nfl and the oregon -- northern california and oregon,

it saying get out of here. i think the fog will recharm back tonight. fog, sun, cooler. fog, kind. dancing around near the coast and tonight it will regroup and come bowering -- pouring back in -- back in. only the 70s for many inland areas unless you are far in. 76 in walnut creek. that's the spirit, 64 in alameda. 78 danville. low 80s maybe well out to the inland areas. 70s even supper -- upper 70s, santa clara valley, 50s, 60s and 70s for many along the peninsula or the coast. maybe next week warmer but not until then. >> i know a lot of people are happy with the cool weather. i know some are not. [ laughter ] >> a little something for everybody. >> thank you. this would be the last year for the counties and district fairs. it's not likely to affect the

alameda fair, but no more state money do even -- could nene up to 79 -- to mean that up to 79 fairs could be cancelled. this weekend is the first san jose renaissance fair. one of the highlights is expected to be knights facing off and there will be lancing rings and handy craves will be -- handicrafts will be for sale. there's a detour that's part of the 12th street construction project. it will move cars, cyclists, pedestrians away from the waterfront and onto a recently- constructed bridge. once it's finished, the people can return to the area but the

cars will be permanently detoured. nasa scientists at the ames research center unveiled new information about mars. they said they believe they see signs of water there. that comes after studying images from the mars renonny scans -- reconnaissance. they are quick to point out the evidence is circumstancal and there's no direct evidence. >> we suspect that there is water present in the surface only in small areas for short periods of time which would be consistent with the data. it's fair to bear in mind this is very different from earth. the findings are being published today in the journal science. ahead we'll take another check on wall street with just about a half-hour still in trading. one of the biggest stars in baseball is facing a new investigation. p.pñççe".

taking a look at the big board, the dow dropping below 400 points, down to 11,491. nasdaq down 106. that's down almost 4%. s&p down 46. oil also falling to the lowest level in more than a month. once again, the reason more concern about the weak u.s. economy and the european debt

crisis. this developing news just in. senate majority leader harry reid announces that progress is being made to end the partial faa shutdown. almost 4,000 employees nationwide have been furloughed, including more than 200 california faa employees. on top of that, 70,000 workers on airport construction jobs are note getting paychecks. that includes 60 construction workers building a new air traffic control tower in oakland -- tower in oakland. buzz wiser is getting a new look at its parent company and tries to boost -- budweiser is getting a new look at its parent company and is trying to boost sales. this is the 12th time bud's can design has gotten a new look since the brand launched 76 years ago. major league baseball has launched a formal investigation into alex rodriquez from the yankees. the league is looking into allegations that a-rod was a regular player in underground, illegal poker games.

the high-stake games reportedly involved violent thugs. rodriquez faces a possible sen sun -- suspension if found guilty. earlier, a-rod was the target of a steroids investigation. that will do it for us. the next newscast is the news at 5:00. thanks for watching. have a great day.