while arson will not affect freemont junior high school classes. the president takes a break from the campaign trail as the republicans raise the stakes. which presidential candidates are ready to make a big move? the morning news continues. good morning to you. welcome to a brand new day. it's thursday, it's august 18th. i'm dave clark. >> i'm heather holmes filling in this thursday morning for pam. glad to be here. >> good to have you. let's check in now with weather and traffic and mark filling in today for steve. and, mark, lots of people getting ready for work and school. what does the forecast look like for them today. >> this morning, heather and dave, looks like the fog and clouds an issue at the bay. that could impact your morning commute. but here's the plan with the clouds clearing back to near the coast and temperatures a touch warmer than yesterday's highs. wind speeds do pick up later this afternoon to 20 miles an hour. coming up i'll highlight the warmest day of the upcoming

weekend. but sal is standing by right now and has an update on the roadways. good morning, sal. >> reporter: good morning, mark. on the san mateo bridge things are definitely more crowded as you can see for yourself. as you drive over the peninsula you'll notice that traffic there is also getting a little busier. also the morning commute looks good on the south bay freeway, northbound 280 looks good getting up to highway 17. it's 6:01. let's go back to the desk. >> sal, thank you. we are following developing news for you coming from san rafael. a police standoff has now entered its second morning. right now a man believed to have a gun is barricaded in a second floor room of the extended stay hotel on francisco boulevard. ktvu's jade hernandez is there as well. and, jade, police communication with that suspect is slowing down, right? >> reporter: it has slowed down. i can tell you there's about 75 to 80 officers in various spots in and around this area. ktvu actually has a photographer with a better vantage point in front of this extended stay hotel. he can give you a look this

morning of what is happening right in front of that hotel. this camera is placed just after the sir francis drake exit this morning. what we've learned from police is that there's still communication between negotiators and a man believed to be holed up inside the hotel. you see san rafael's spokeswoman has been updating us since we've arrived. this is what she had to say about the hostage situation still going on at this hour. >> the negotiation conversations have slowed down somewhat due to the length of time and also it's, you know, nighttime hours, but nothing has changed in terms of, you know, we're taking this slowly and want to continue the dialogue which is a good thing, that is he talking with negotiators. >> reporter: law enforcement officers have been pulled from 12 different agencies in marin and sonoma county in order to open the freeway by 1:00 this morning, around midnight police placed an eight by 10 metal plate to act as a barrier or shield for anyone driving by. the extended stay hotel where

this man has barricaded himself is along the freeway on francisco boulevard east. the spokeswoman told me they're not releasing this man's name, but he has told police he has his girlfriend with him in the room and police have not had contact with her. so they are treating this as a hostage situation. this standoff began late yesterday morning when officers learned a suspect in a sunday stabbing was at the hotel. the man is suspected of stabbing a clerk during a shoplifting attempt in san rafael on sunday. this is surveillance video on the suspect. when officers arrived at the hotel, police say the man fired a shot toward the freeway. the chp immediately shot down westbound 580 and closed the richmond san rafael bridge. around 8:00 last night four s.w.a.t team members climbed a fire engine ladder to the roof of a building near the hotel and they broke a ground floor window at that hotel all for better surveillance. the man is believed to be on the second floor right now. the police won't characterize the conversation or say what they've been talking about with that man, but the police spokeswoman said any

communication is good at this point. everyone has been evacuated out of the hotel and we're going to continue to update you from right here at the command post where we're located, that's just on the back side of this hotel where the man is believed to still be inside. reporting live, jade hernandez, ktvu channel 2 news. >> all right, jade, we'll keep monitoring this situation for you throughout our morning newscast. you can also get more information from the scene online at ktvu.com. right now three rescue boats are looking for a man in the waters off treasure island. his canoe overturned last night. two other people were also in the canoe. they were able to make it to shore safely. it's unclear if the missing man was actually wearing a life jacket. at first light a helicopter could be back scanning the waters for any sign of the missing canoeist if the weather cooperates. we have a crew there at the scene gathering updates and we'll have a live report for you coming up in just about 30 minutes. in the meantime, a fire at

a freemont junior high school and firefighters say it was all the work of an arsonist. ktvu channel 2 reporter kraig debro is live at the school. what do we know about the area of the school that was damaged? >> reporter: heather, good morning. it's actually been described as the boys' and girls' locker room. there's a security guard here. he's telling us that it's a shed outside the locker room. i just went around and looked myself, initially he wasn't letting us, i talked him into letting us. what i saw was some debris outside a structure that he told me was a locker room. it happened over here. it says walters junior high school, it's on logan and freemont. firefighters got the call around 7:15 yesterday. about 20 firefighters came out, three engines, a truck company. they say they've had the fire put out in about a half hour. nobody was injured. school is not in session until the 31st, but there is an orientation going on at the school this week. so it's not as if nobody was here. there were some people milling around. i'm not sure that the orientation was taking place that late last night. we're waiting for yet another

security guard to get here to see if we can -- apparently he took some pictures, might be some video available, see if we can get that and show it to you a little later on in the morning news. in addition to that we're going to work our way around that side for our next report and let you see what i saw just a few minutes ago in the back of this locker room. reporting live in freemont, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. time now 6:06. the chief of oakland school district's police force has retired ending an investigation into claims he made a racial slur. pete sarna resigned and ktvu obtained a copy of his resignation letter. it says in part "my focus must be on repairing the pain i've caused to my family." sanna is accused of using the n-word in a tirade directed at an african-american sergeant after a charity golf tournament last month. >> we didn't expect that things would evolve to this point, but i think to chief's credit, he realized that the situation had become a distraction.

>> his retirement comes before the school district could complete an investigation. an oakland schools police sergeant has been named the active chief while the district is searching for a permanent replacement. from republicans on -- republicans on the campaign trail today continue to go out there and stump for potential votes, president obama is going away on vacation. and coming up a little bit later at 6:15, we'll have a live report from our washington d.c. newsroom with the controversial comments some of those republican candidates are making. your time now 6:07. vice president joe biden today continues his four-day visit to china. >> as you can see the vice president was given an honor guard welcoming ceremony today. it was followed by official talks with china's vice president. vice president biden told the chinese leaders a close relationship with china is very important to the united states. >> the united states of america

plans on and will continue to be engaged totally in the world. >> chinese officials are expressing concern about the stability of chinese investments in the united states after that recent debt ceiling debate and the near default by the u.s. government. following his four-day visit in china, vice president biden heads to mongolia and then to japan. and now we're going to head to our local roadways to check and see how traffic is going. sal. >> reporter: good morning, heather and dave. right now traffic is doing pretty well. if you are driving on the freeways anytime soon, i think you'll like what you see. we have a little bit of a backup showing up here at the bay bridge toll plaza in some of the cash lanes primarily. but once you get onto the bridge, it looks good. i check inside with chp, we don't have any major incidents reported on that bridge, not a stalled vehicle or a crash at all and traffic moves well. this is a look at interstate

880. it's a very nice drive in oakland. i want to remind everyone that 580 in san rafael is open, so the freeway is open. yesterday we had terrible traffic jams on the richmond san rafael bridge. well, this morning you'll be happy to know that it's open and we'll keep an eye on it for you. right now you can drive right through there without any delays. 6:09, let's go to mark. >> hi there, sal, good morning to you. the fog back with us. i've in thed in the past hour or so expanding in size over a good portion of the bay area. locally dense coastside, also surging back into the bay, up in the north bay, some clear areas out towards antioch and thrifermore at last check. forecast headlines for today is we do have the fog clearing to back near the coast. tomorrow a little bit cooler and the weekend will continue to cool things off as we do head into primarily saturday. here's a look at some of the current number the, santa rosa 51, san francisco 56 degrees, hayward at 60 and san jose reporting 61 degrees and also some cloud cover. high pressure trying to rebuild

a little bit. that means the warmest locations inland in the upper 80s to right around 90 degrees, nothing too major here, but maybe a touch warmer than yesterday's read gt. here's the change i'm watching as we do move into friday and saturday, this will initialate a cooling trend, some more cloud as we head into friday and temperatures will be cooling off. by saturday warmest locations barely making it up into the lowest 80s. this is our forecast model. did a nice job pulling back on the fog this morning, a few leftover patches for the beaches, even for parts of san francisco, but more sunshine around the bay and also for the inland sections. today's forecast at 7:00, 55 to 60 degrees, by 12:00 still patchy coastal fog and by 4:00 some warm numbers inland. you can see a big temperature range like i said, not a big change from yesterday. a few neighborhoods could be a touch warmer, san jose right around 81, morgan hill 89 and redwood city 79. here is a look ahead to your extended forecast with your weekend always in view.

temperatures continue to cool off for friday. coolest day of the weekend will be on saturday, there's a bit of bump in the numbers for sunday and into next week. another weather update in a few minutes. the hackers strike again. bart bart police officers, they're the latest targets, why they're being told to watch out. also the university of miami's head coach questions the man at the center of the latest storm surrounding the hurricane's football program.

good morning to you. welcome back. time now 6:14. the ncaa says if claims made by a former university of miami booster are true, big changes are needed in college sports. the miami hurricanes continue to for their september 5th season kickoff and school officials say they want to resolve the controversy involving nevin shapiro. he claims he gave cars, prostitutes and gifts to miami players over the last eight years. al golden who took over as the hurricane's head coach in december says he wants to know how someone like that could even get near college football players. knew to the race for the -- now to the race for the white house and republican presidential candidates are bashing the president for taking a 10-day trip to martha's vineyard. alison burns is in the d.c. newsroom with more on the president's trip and how the race in the republican party is heating up. >> reporter: president obama meets with his economic and

national security teams at the white house this morning. then he leaves for that 10-day trip to martha's vineyard this afternoon. this is some video from the obama's vacation last year. it is the second summer they'll stay at a 28-acre farm there and, again, the trip is prompting criticism. gop frontrunner mitt romney says it's not a trip he would take as president, especially while the country is in so much economic turmoil. and on the campaign trail all of the candidates are taking on the president's handling of the economy. >> he and his academic and political friends don't understand what it takes to get this economy going again. >> we spent about the last 2 1/2 years in a grand experiment with the american economy and it has been a terrible, terrible disaster. >> reporter: many of the candidates are also taking on president obama's energy policies, and yesterday in south carolina congresswoman michele bachmann declared gas prices would drop to below $2 a gallon

if she's president. more on why governor rick perry is raising some eyebrows with his comments about global warming during my next update in about an hour. for now we're live in washington d.c., alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, alison. time now 6:16. there's been a second cyber attack against bart, this one leaked the personal information of bart police officers. someone hacked into the bart police union's website yesterday morning and they posted personal information on more than 100 officers and that includes their home addresses. bart's police union president says officers are now being told to be on alert. >> we're telling officers if you're going to work, let your local jurisdictions know what happened, what occurred and ask for some extra patrols around the neighborhood and look out for suspicious activity. >> this hack attack and one over the weekend of bart's marketing website come after the transit agency cut off cell phone service inside its downtown stations last week. that was all in an effort to

thawart a planned protest. the hacker group anonymous blasted bart's decision to do so. it took credit for the weekend cyber attack, but denies responsibility for leaking the police officers' information. time now 6:17. casey anthony's lawyers, they filed an appeal trying to keep her from having to go back to florida to serve a yearlong probation sentence. a judge recently ordered casey anthony to go back to orlando by the end of next week. now, she's supposed to report to a probation officer in a case where she pleaded guilty to stealing checks from a friend. that case is not related to casey anthony's recent murder trial. she was acquitted last month in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. murder suspect joran van der sloot could be leaving a jail in peru soon. van der sloot was arrested last may for the death of a woman in a hotel room. peruvian prosecutors say if a trial doesn't start by december, van der sloot could be set free. the statutory period of custody

is 18 months. van der sloot is also connected to the disappearance of natalee holloway. she vanished in twoiv during a trip to aruba. a mountain lion has been spotted in portola valley. according to an online newspaper, that mountain lion was spotted on wayside road around 4:30 tuesday afternoon. the lion was reported and says it was not intimidated by cars and was casually strolling across the road. time now 6:18. the petaluma police department is enforcing traffic safety as kids head back to school this morning. extra police officers and volunteers will be in the area around meadow elementary school and corona creek elementary school. they'll be enforcing traffic and pedestrian laws as well as increasing the level of traffic safety. this, by the way, is the 14th year of the safe routes to school operation. a new book of lost dr. seuss stories is about to hit book shelves next month. it's all thanks to this man, charles chowin of massachusetts,

a long time sus fan. turns up he found the collection of stories published in magazines in the 1950s. he picked a few of his favorites and compiled them and that book is now set to be released september 27th. time now 6:19. sal knows all about your commute, and can you help your friends around the toll plaza? >> reporter: i am trying to, dave. you know it's getting more crowded at this point. let's go out and see what we have. it's not filled in yet, but you can definitely tell there's more of a backup there and traffic on the upper deck is fine. but there's more of a backup for cash payers anyway in those outside lanes. also this morning we're looking at marin county, the traffic is open and moving on 580, so you don't have to worry about that and 101 as well across the east bay, patphol richmond westbound looks pretty good. if you're driving in antioch, of course we have the slow traffic westbound on highway 4 until you get to pittsburgh. eastbound highway 4 looks pretty good for the most part.

6:19. late go to mark. stand by, mark. northbound 280 getting up to highway 17, that traffic is nice. and now, sorry for the false alarm, mark, sal was about to say it looks beautiful in san jose. >> reporter: thank you. there you go. >> and overcast as well. take a look at your traffic camera, mostly cloudy skies around the coast and right around the bay, especially for the coast. we do have some low visibilities and also some spotty drizzle, so that could be a concern especially driving highway 1 this morning. but also some dense patches up in the north bay as well. santa rosa at last check reporting a half mile visibility, partly cloudy skies in concord, clear in livermore, but san jose overcast and 61, oakland in the upper 50s, right around 57 degrees. here is the forecast for today. the clouds this morning pull back to near the coastline this afternoon. that will set the stage for a big temperature range from the low 60s out toward pacifica, warmest locations inland in the upper 80s to the lower 90s. really not a big change from yesterday, maybe a few degrees warmer, but then we cool things off beginning friday.

in fact, that's the timing of our next cooling trend. and that's your weekend forecast with your weekend always in view, saturday the coolest day and a little bit of a bump in the numbers sunday into monday of next week. another update just minutes away. >> thank you, mark. oil prices slipped in trading this morning. crude oil is now selling for slightly more than $87 a barrel. that's down as the major stock markets fell over concerns that the global economy is slipping. analysts say oil prices are likely to remain volatile as the u.s. government releases several economic reports, including home sales and consumer prices coming up in the next hour. spirit airlines, in the meantime, is spreading its wings right here in the bay area. the discount airlines starts service at oakland with a flight this afternoon to las vegas. for the first flight passengers on board will be entertained by show girls and elvis impersonator. they'll also have a slice of cake made to look like a black jack table. until now spirit california flights were only in and out of

los angeles. he's one of the most famous people in the world. the hope just arrived in spain just hours ago, but not everybody thinks that visit is a good idea. also tsunami-detecting technology lines the california coast, but coastal cities could still be facing danger. good morning. if you're driving on any of the bay area bridges so far it looks pretty good heading across the high rise of the san mateo bridge or the other side of the bay. we'll tell you more about the morning commute straight ahead. @wñ

good morning. right now traffic is moving along well. if you are driving into amryville from berkeley, but you can tell it's getting more crowded on almost every bay area freeway. another weather and traffic check minutes ahead. the board of the sonoma marin transit district just approved a plan for more money for the agency. the deal made them eligible for $33 million from the metropolitan transportation commission. but it also delays the start of service until 2016. the rail project has been very controversial as it also became more expensive. a new autopsy reveals that the 2-year-old girl kidnapped by her father in the sacramento area was shot. authorities say madeline samon

fay had two gunshot wounds, but the cause of her death, that's still pending because of toxicology reports. the girl's father, norad samon died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. their bodies were found saturday inside samon's suv. they had been the focus of a statewide amber alert after samon abducted the child during a custody dispute. a relative had previously suggested they may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning. well, the pope arrived in spain today celebrating catholic church's world youth day. take a look at video. there's pope benedict xvi arriving in madrid, greeted by spain's king and queen. about a million people are expected to be at the world youth day event. in advance of the pope's visit thousands of people protested in madrid. overnight there was violence in at least one of the protests. at least eight people were arrested. the demonstrators say the pope's

visit is costing taxpayers too much money. bay area technology originally used to track oil spills can now be used as a tsunami warning system. take a look. these are antennas and they're all part of a radar system that can span the california coast. they are designed to track oil spills, but can also provide early tsunami warnings. and even though scientists say they have life-saving potential, the system's future is now in jeopardy. >> right now we're working on really adequate funding and i'm not sure we can keep these systems going. >> the system costs about $5 million a year to operate, a cost scientists say could be more than worth it. time now 6:27. we'll have the very latest from san rafael where a standoff with a gunman continues. we will have a live report. >> reporter: we're live at treasure island where a canoer has gone missing. we'll tell you a new strategy rescue crews are using to try to find him. also the opening bell is

about to ring on wall street. we'll keep an eye on it and bring you the early stock numbers.

more americans join the unemployment line. we'll have so see how all of this plays out on wall street. we'll be following the stocks for you all morning and all day right here on ktvu channel 2. >> we sure will. we'll smile and say good morning to you. thanks for joining us on ktvu morning news. we've made it to thursday, it's august 18th, i'm david clark. >> hello, i'm heather holmes filling in on this morning for pam. it is just now 6:30.

we have developing news. we've been watching this all morning. right now a gunman is still barricaded inside of a hotel room in san rafael. since yesterday morning a police standoff has been under way at the extended stay hotel on francisco boulevard. let's go to ktvu's jade hernandez. she's out there right now, and something has been happening over the past couple of minutes. what's going on, jade? >> reporter: dave, within the past half hour we've seen officers move around this parking lot on the back side of this hotel. this is the extended at a hotel. you can see here that's more activity than we've seen since we've arrived this morning. now, we were told by police communication had slowed between a man involved in this standoff, but we were told time of day may have been playing a role in that. law enforcement officers have been pulled from 12 different agencies in marin and sonoma county and ordered to open the freeway around midnight. police placed an eight by 10 metal plate to act as a barrier or shield for anyone driving by. the extended stay hotel where the man has barricaded himself is along the freeway on

francisco boulevard east. the freeway did open just before 1:00 a.m. a spokeswoman told us this morning they are not releasing this man's name, but police have told us he does have his girlfriend with him in the room and police have not had contact with her, so they are treating this as a hostage situation. the standoff began yesterday morning when officers learned a suspect in a sunday stabbing was at the hotel. the man is suspected of stabbing a clerk during a shoplifting attempt in san rafael on sunday. this is surveillance video of the suspect. when officers arrived at the hotel, police say a man fired a shot toward the freeway. that's when the chp immediately shut down westbound 580 and closed the richmond san rafael bridge. as i mentioned, there is concern for the woman believed to be inside with the gunman. >> he says his girlfriend was in the room with him. she has not come out, she's not been released, we've had no contact with her. we are operating under the premise that she is in there with him and hasn't been free to leave and this is a hostage

situation. >> reporter: we've been monitoring this situation since it happened and around 8:00 last night four s.w.a.t team members climbed a fire engine ladder to the roof of a building at a hotel. they broke a ground floor window at that hotel all for better surveillance. the man is believed to be on the second floor right now. police won't characterize the conversations they've had with the suspected gunman or say what they've been talking about, but the police spokeswoman told us within the last couple of hours that any communication is good at this point. everyone has been evacuated at the hotel and i want to bring you back out live, there is more activity right now on the back side of this hotel. it's more activity than we've seen in the past few hours. we're going to keep you updated on the situation. we're live in san rafael, jade hernandez, ktvu channel 2 news. >> we're going to keep monitoring this throughout our morning newscast. you can also get more information from the scene online at ktvu.com. happening right now rescuers are taking a different strategy to try to search for a missing

canoeist now that the sun is up. tara moreiarty joins us live now from treasure island to talk about this new approach. tara. >> reporter: that's right, a helicopter is scheduled to go up right about now. we just talk today the coast guard. it is a little bit foggy as you can see by the city skyline right there, we don't know if that's going to be delayed. we are here at the entrance to treasure island. we don't know where these boaters actually took off from. if you take a look over here, this is a spot that neighbors tell us is very popular. and if you take a look over in the distance, see that little beach there? they say a lot of people launch their boats from there. we want to show you video we just got in. it is a coast guard vessel searching the waters off the northernmost point of treasure island. it's one of three vessels out on the bay right now. search and rescue crews are looking for a man reported missing by his friends after 6:00 last night. three friends were out canoeing, their boat flipped over, they all made it back to shore, but one decided to go back to the canoe to retrieve some belongings. now, the other two went home, they changed their clothes and when they returned, their

friend was gone. >> the san francisco police department searched from golden gate bridge to pier 39. salcito police department was searching, they were also searching in their area of operation. the national parks service searched all of angel island and alcatraz island as well as north shore near golden gate bridge. >> reporter: no word yet on whether that person was indeed wearing a life jacket. the coast guard wants to remind you that in case of an emergency you should always be prepared, have the proper gear. that means a personal floatation device, a radio, whistle, all of those things can really make a difference if the coast guard needs to find you. we're live on treasure island, i'm tara moreiarty, ktvu news. new this morning, alameda county sheriff's deputies detained two men overnight after authorities say they were throwing things off the roof of a building in oakland. police say they were on top of a building at international boulevard and 14th avenue about 10:00 last night.

that's when they responded throwing -- that's when they were spotted throwing building materials off the roof. those two men were detained. oakland police and fire officials were called in to investigate where those materials had come from. that investigation continues. ktvu has learned that a galic football player injured during a game in san francisco will be released today from a rehab center. 22-year-old mark mcí govern can now walk and talk and we're told he can even kick a ball again. mcí govern will continue to receive outpatient therapy. his family temporarily moved from ireland to here in the bay area to help take care of him. mcí govern was injured and went into a coma after another player reportedly knocked him down during a game last june. a person of interest has been named in this case, but so far no charges have been filed. time now 6:36. there are renewed calls for a youth curfew in oakland. this is after the droogt that killed a 3-year-old boy. two to city councilmen want to get tough on gangs and impose a

curfew. coming up for you at 6:46, the reason some say it's the wrong approach to trying to end violence in oakland. the u.s. justice department is now investigating whether the standard and poor's credit rating agency improperly rated mortgage securities before the financial crisis. according to a "new york times" report, the investigation started before s & p downgraded the u.s. credit rating. the report, though, says the justice department is asking about cases when analysts wanted to award lower ratings on mortgage bonds but were then overruled by other s & p business managers. your time now 6:37. the u.s. military has just sent two more predator drone planes to libya. that's a response to a request from nato commanders. that's what it looks like. the pentagon says these armed drones are used for surveillance, but they can also strike targets when they have to. nato says in recent days the rebels have made significant gains in the battle against libyan government forces. a white house call for

syria's president to step down may happen today. secretary of state hillary clinton will make a big announcement about syria at 7:00 a.m. this morning. the obama administration reportedly is expected to announce some new sanctions against president bashar al-assad's regime. human rights groups are accusing syrian troops of killing more than 1800 civilians since anti-government uprisings began back in march. time now 6:38. let's go ahead and get another check on the traffic with sal. >> reporter: heather and dave, good morning once again. just want to remind you that interstate 580 in marin is open so you can go to the bridge. a lot of people went to bed before it opened, so now we're telling you that it has reopened. let's go out and take a look at what we have now with the morning drive on 237. we're starting off there in the south bay and the traffic continues to look pretty good if you are driving on the freeway here all the way out to sunnyvale. this morning's commute in oakland is nice in both directions. you can see that traffic looks

good here driving past the coliseum, southbound on the left, a few more cars heading down to hayward. if you're driving toward the bay bridge toll plaza, it is backed up, it has filled in completely. that is backed up for at least a 15-minute wait. 6:39. let's go if -- oh, by the way, we have a facebook team, ktvu channel 2, the morning news team, we are maybe less than a week old. we already have more than 100 followers. i think you should join us and see some great pictures from behind the scenes. right, mark? >> that's right, just posted the weather update on there as well, so it's fresh and you can see it right there. talking about the weather, we do have the low clouds and fog paying us a visit once again. so overcast over a good portion of the bay area, locally dense, so it could impact your visibility at least over the next couple of hours. in fact, santa rosa a half mile visibility. closure for san francisco, oakland, hayward, down toward san jose. partly cloudy right around concord, but clear conditions being reported out toward the fairfield area. as far as current numbers, most

areas starting out this morning in the 50s. san jose right now checking in at 61, livermore 56 and nap dl anapa around 55. here's the story for today, clearing near the coast. tomorrow a little cooler, not by much and the weekend more fog and temperatures will continue to cool off. high pressure has been responsible for a bit of a warmup primarily for the inland sections. and today that's pretty much the same story, bordering on the hot side, right around the 90- degree mark. as we do take this into friday and also saturday, this weather system moves in from the north, this will initiate our next cooling trend as it deepens the marine layer, stretches it out and so we do cool it off. that means the warmest locations saturday barely making it up into the lower 80s, right around 80 to 82. here's our forecast model showing you some of the fog right now this morning, and as we do put this into motion into the afternoon hours, you can see it clears it back to near the shoreline, but still some leftover patches for the coast. more sunshine around the bay and definitely inland plenty of sunshine and some warm numbers. here's today's forecast at

7:00, 55 to 60 degrees. by 12:00 coastal fog, upper 50s to the upper 70s and then by 4:00 a big temperature range 60 all the way to 90 degrees. temperatures this afternoon about the same as yesterday, could be just a little bit warmer, freemont right around 78, san jose 81 and santa cruz by the boardwalk lower 70s. here is a look ahead, your extended forecast with your weekend always in view, temperatures cool off for friday and saturday, minor warming for sunday. the warming trend really kicks in for monday and tuesday of next week. another weather update in a few minutes. >> looking forward to it. thank you, mark. happening right now, wall street opened just a short time ago. we took you there live. now we want to take you back there live now. and as you can see stocks have fallen more than 300 points, 319 points now, down. all of this is coming as the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits, those jobless claims numbers, they came out today shows, in fact, more people are applying for unemployment benefits.

also inflation is up, comes as all of us are spending more for food, gas and clothing, so all of that combining to i guess put some fears in investors. and as you can see, it's now translating into lower numbers on wall street, now down 324 points, the dow down 324 points. >> that's going to be one of the major stories. >> absolutely. time now 6:42. some new information about another possible bp oil spill in the gulf of mexico. what's happening now to find out what happened. >> reporter: good morning, right now northbound 101 is getting a little bit slower as you pass the mckee road exit. we'll tell you more about the morning commute, including some spots where it's stop and go now.

rng good morning to you, welcome back. here's a quick look at some of the top stories we're following for you right now, it's 6:45. as we speak, and this is a live picture you're looking at, a gunman is still barricaded inside the second floor hotel room of this extended stay hotel in san rafael. look at the scene right now. police think this man may be the person who stabbed a grocery store worker over the weekend. his girlfriend may also be in that room. police are treating all of this as a hostage situation. a helicopter may be joining the search for a missing man in the waters off treasure island. three rescue boats were already

out there. the unidentified man's canoe flipped over last night. we don't know if he was wearing a life jacket. and president obama begins a 10-day family vacation at martha's vineyard, despite criticism that such an upscale vacation spot is a bad choice during the bad economy. time now 6:46. new this morning at least six people are dead, a dozen have been hurt in a series of attacks against israel. several groups of gunmen have targeted passenger buses, private vehicles, even a military patrol. the government says terror squads have now infiltrated israel. the military is meeting now in an emergency session. those gunmen with possible egyptian connections set off roadside bombs, they fired mortars and also an anti-tank missile. more information is coming out now about a possible new oil spill in the gulf of mexico. bp announced this morning it found a sheen in the green

canyon block of the gulf of mexico. that's a huge square-shaped area of water, it's south of louisiana, west of the bp oil rig that blew up in april of last year, killing 11 workers. a sheen is a shiny coating. it floats on the surface of the water and it can come from either leaked or spilled oil. bp sent several mini subs over the weekend to check it all out. they claim that sheen could not come from any of its operations. a court hearing is now under way in a -- inlation for the second -- in las vegas for the second shooting death of a little boy in oakland. 22-year-old willie torence is accused of driving the car used in last week's droogt. police say rival gang members were the intended targets but that a stray bullet hit and killed 3-year-old carlos nava. police arrested the suspected gunman, lawrence sanard in pittsburgh a day after that at that shooting. the little boy's killing has prompted calls by two oakland councilmembers to expand gang

injunctions and impose a youth curfew. but some, including the nava family criticize those proposals. opponents say the focus should be more on social programs and community organizing. >> instead of just telling us what they want and telling us what they're going to do, you know, instead of really reaching out to the community and really seeing what the community really expects and needs from them. >> councilman de la fuente and reid plans to institute tougher rules when the council is done with recess. the big surf wave season starts in november, but we still don't know who will be running this year's maverick surf competition. last night the san mateo county harbor commission planned to issue a permit for the event. the commissioners say they didn't receive any applications. earlier jeff clark and kathryn clark who are now divorced had submitted competing bids for mavericks. they say now they're working together on a single bid, but they need more time to put

everything together. let's check in now on our traffic and see how things are moving at 6:49 on this thursday morning. sal. >> reporter: well, you know, right now we are getting a lot busier in many areas, heather and dave. let's talk about the san mateo and the dunbarton bridge. you can see that traffic is owded but all the lanes are moving nicely, getting out -- or the traffic in the lanes is moving nicely, as you drive over to highway 101 and when you get there, it is a nice drive on the bay shore freeway. bay bridge i can't say the same thing, it's backed up now for a 15 to 20-minute delay before you make it onto the span it itself. getting into the city looks good. we've check inside with public transit, bart is doing well, so is ac transit for your options getting into san francisco. if you are driving this morning on the east shore freeway, traffic is getting busier. richmond san rafael bridge open and so is 580 through marin. in case you haven't heard, they opened it up earlier this morning, much earlier, so today it should be traffic as usual right through there. and then in antioch we have a

lot of slow traffic on highway 4 coming up to pittsburgh which is not unusual, but the traffic through the cruz zone is down to in some places 15 miles per hour, pretty slow. 6:50. let's go to mark. le >> hi there, sal, good morning to you. our live camera looking out towards the he'suary. we do have mostly cloudy, the span expanding over a good portion of the bay area. we do have clearer reports for the inland sections but for the coast some areas of dense fog and you might encounter some spotty drizzle at least over the next few hours, over the next one to two hours. current numbers santa rosa 61 degrees, still reporting half mile visibility at the airport. livermore reporting mostly clear and 56. downtown san francisco right around 56 degrees. high pressure builds in a little bit and as a result the warmest locations today in the upper 80s to the lower 90s. could be a little bit warmer compared to yesterday's highs. this weather system moves in from the north beginning tomorrow. and as it does, we bring in more cooler temperatures as we increase the fog, so a cooling

trend continues friday. that will carry us into the weekend. for the coast, fog and drizzle this morning at 8:00, skies becoming partly sunny, still some patchy fog into the afternoon hours. right around the bay increase in sunshine this afternoon, 70 to 80, and then for the inland sections upper 80s to the lower 90s by 3:00 this afternoon after partly sunny skies this morning. here is a look at the numbers, not a big change from yesterday. these forecast highs will check in right around 3:00 or 4:00 this afternoon. and a look ahead with your extended forecast and your weekend always in view, temperatures begin to cool off friday. coolest day of the weekend, that'll be saturday, a little bit of a bump in the numbers for sunday and into next week. another update in a few minutes. today we learned that the number of people applying for jobless benefits is back above the 400,000 mark. this morning the labor department reported weekly applications jumped by 9,000 to 408,000 last week. now, that number dipped below 400,000, you may remember, just the previous week. it was the first time since april that initial claims were

lower than 400,000. economists consider the job market healthy when the number falls below 375,000. consumers pay more for gas, food and clothes last month and that pushed up prices half of one percent in july. gas prices accounted for a lot of the swing, increasing 4.7% last month. without volatile food and gas prices, consumer prices were up 2/10 of a percent. all of that is contributing to concerns on wall street. want to take you live now to the big board. as you can see now stocks down 330 points. that's a drop of more than 2%, probably closer to 3% now. we will, of course, be monitoring all of the shifts on wall street, also talking about those contributing factors throughout the morning and on our later newscasts. time now 6:52. it is a super human dream, the reason a bay area man, that man right there plans to swim more than 100 miles. also death threats now against david letterman. what he said that has angered

users of a jihaddist website.

it is early in trading, but take a look right now. the dow is down more than 340 points. that is a drop of more than 3%. we'll have to see how things shape up for the rest of the trading day. 6:55.

a jihaddist website making death threats against david letterman. that's because letterman joked about the death of an al-qaida leader during an airstrike back in june. that angered a user of the jihaddist website who angryily threatened letterman's life. letterman has not respond today that threat. the crime rate in san francisco now at a historic low according to police. police chief greg huh r and mayor ed lee said crime dropped 6% in the first half of the year. they credit cooperation for that drop. a bay area man is about to start an ambitious swim tomorrow. 40-year-old jamie patrick plans to swim 111 miles in the sacramento river. he figures it'll take him about 34 hours. kayakers will be by his side the whole time. he's not planning to sleep. patrick says swimming is his passion and he's raising money for charity. just a reminder, the battle of the bay is saturday. you can watch the 49ers take on the raiders saturday at 5:00

right here on ktvu channel 2. >> have to enjoy that game. also let's go ahead right now and check in on our traffic. enjoyable out there, sal? >> reporter: not for a lot of people. we already have some slow traffic out there. i don't know if people like that or not. they may like going to work. westbound 237 stop and go here as you drive into the valley. this is a look at interstate 880 northbound, they're just running a traffic break to get a stalled vehicle out from there. and highway 4 pretty slow here in antioch. let's go to mark. >> hi there, sal, good morning to you. once again the fog back with us this morning near the coast and right around the bay. temperatures this afternoon low 60s to the coastline, warmest locations inland, approaching lower 90s. and your extended forecast with your weekend always in view, a bit cooler for your friday and saturday. some minor warming for sunday and into monday. we'll keep an eye on that fog. we'll have another update during the 7:00 hour. >> thanks, mark. it has been fun spending my morning with you guys. coming up next on "mornings on

2" just minutes from now secretary of state hillary clinton is said to make a major announcement concerning syria. also police search late into the night for a missing woman from stockton. why the man arrested in the case is once again free. stay right here with us.