in the last hour the outer bands of hurricane irene started hitting the carolinas. why it could be a storm for the history books. police say a man who committed suicide last night wanted to kill himself.

so why could the drivers of the car that struck him be charged with felony. we're live in east palo alto where pg&e crews are trying to restore power to dozens of homes. this crash in oakland is causing a huge traffic jam as you drive up to downtown oakland. we'll tell you how to get around it. mornings on two starts now. good morning to you, welcome to mornings on. i'm dave clark. >> tori and dave, it's going to be a huge traffic problem. two lanes have been blocked for an hour. a big rig was involved. several other cars. we're hearing new details, it

was three separate crashes. it could have been a chain reaction. northbound 880 will be stopped almost completely headed up from the coliseum. if you're a local and you know your way around you may want to consider using some side streets or you can get up to highway 580 or you could just put off the trip. those are real lit only options. you'll be in a lot of slow traffic. now, we will have another update on the rest of the commute coming up in just a few. another top story, the massive hurricane threatening millions of people along the east coast. right now high waves are hitting the coastal islands of north carolina. the national weather service as downgraded irene to a category two but still as winds of 110 miles an hour. severe weather should hit the

u.s. mainland in the next 24 hours. mandatory and voluntary evacuations are in effect from north carolina to new york. we'll have continuing coverage. at 7:15 we'll go live to washington, d.c. where the storm has forced the cancellation of the dr. martin luther king memorial on sunday. we'll go to north carolina where people are being told to get out. and a look at why new york is vulnerable to expensive damage even if it is spared a direct hit pie irene. we have news from nigeria. 16 people were killed when a united nations office was hit by

a car bomb. that suicide bomber drew up and set off the bomb. it houses about 400 united nations employees. they're still trying to account for everybody. the investigation is underway into a bizarre and tragic hit and run accident in redwood city. police say two cars hit and killed a man last night. ktvu kraig debro joins us. >> reporter: police have video of one of the vehicles leaving the scene. look out here in the street. that's where they fond the man's -- found the man's body. the orange spray paint marks the

spot. police athe unidentified man was dragged about 60 feet after impact. police say the drivers of a silver sedan and smaller size suv are wanted in connection with this suicide. drivers could be charged with plns hit and run. drivers are required to stay at the scene. police say the victim told people what he planned to do just before doing it. >> subsequent investigation revealed witnesses had seen him in the area. they told him to go home. he didn't and laid in the roadway. >> reporter: police said there appeared to be skid marks. police have not identified the victim. they believe he is a hispanic

male in his 30s. reporting live in redwood city, kraig debro. wall street has been waiting for days to hear if the federal reserve plans to make any new moves to avoid a recession and they just got their answer. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke just started his long awaited policy speech and in the last three minutes he has proposed no new steps to boost the economy while hinting that congress may need to act too stimulate -- to stimulate hiring and growth. while record interest rates will stimulate growth, and the speech follows fuse this morning that the economy grew at an annual rate of just 1% this spring and .7% for the first six months of the year. you can see the markets falling

dramatically, the dow currently down almost 200. we'll bring you an update shortly. in just a couple of hours the power should be back on in parts of east palo alto for dozens of residents who lost their power overnight. tara moriarty is there to tell whraws a -- us what happened. >> reporter: pg&e crews thought a snapped tree branch touched the wire. you can see they're up there on the cherry picker. they are trying to restore eel ti because is was cut off. the outage is over 10 blocks. pg&e said looks like it will be two hours before it's back on. they heard loud bangs and pops

television sets were blown out. light bulbs exploded. pg&e workers said 400 volts of electricity surged through the home instead of the usual 110. it burned out smart meters. so fire officials are warning residents not to turn their electricity on until pg&e can inspect those homes. that is scheduled to happen sometime this morning. i'm tara moriarty. in vallejo, police are still investigating a midday armed robbery at a beauty shop that terrified customers and staff. two armed men robbed the salon near springs road yesterday. they said the robbers took purses from three women and put a gun to the head of another woman demanding her ring. she suffered minor injuries to

her hand. police say the men drove away in a beat up 1980s thunderbird. no word on any arrest. a space that was found in an old lake tahoe casino may be linked to an hold case. construction crews were tearing down walls. it was hidden and staircase shield off from sheet rock. the owner thinks the safe is connected to the unsolved murder of the former owner who was killed in 1968 when a bomb went off underneath his car. >> that was the conclusion drawn inside the law firm that he was hit by a new york mob. >> he said he will bring in a blow teach to open up that safe

in the coming days. we want to check in with sal. big problems. >> we do have big problems northbound. this problem was there. i want to show you it's been cleared. our photographer arrived. this is where the accident was. it's now gone. northbound backed up to the coliseum. if you want to come to your tv and see it, oh, yeah, it's going to be great. no it's going to take awhile for it to unwind. let's take a look at some other come miewlts. highway 4 pretty slow. it's better than it normally s good in pittsburgh and --

pittsburg and bay port. 7:10, let's go to rosemary. we've got blank cet of low coweds. clouds. burning off to generally sunny skies. our inland spots sunny. 60s and low 70s. around the bay area 70 to low 80s. your forecast here, we're going to watch this as it eventually. i thought this was going to retreat back to the coastline. right about 9:00, 10 mostly clear conditions. by the afternoon mostly clear skies for most of us even along the coastline. 56 in san francisco. upper 50s livermore at low 60s.

these temperatures within a degree or two from what we saw yesterday. farley quiet and mild. mostly sunny skies for the afternoon. mid-80s santa rosa. 82 fremont. 83 san san jose. 67 expected in the city. how about the extended, focusing on the weekend. low 60s for our beaches, some mid to upper 60s. low, mid-90s inland and a cooling trend. back to you. >> thank you. it is 7:11. a plan to combat crime in oakland. also, the overnight news coming from lib ya. a new political era starts and there's new concerns about terrorism. >> the oakland a's have a new

role in baseball history, but it's not one to be proud of. ctory's been built. you're feeling sleepy already? nighty-night. [giggling] [ female announcer ] you never stop improving your recipe. we never stop improving ours. we've added a touch of philly cream cheese to kraft natural shredded cheese, which adds a touch of creamy to any dish. kraft touch of philly.

good morning. it's impossible to see the bay area from this view, sunny skies for the afternoon. giving you a look at a satellite view of hurricane irene. take a look at just how humongous this is. it's very, very wide. we're told more than 750-miles to 80 miles wide. to put it in perspective, the size of texas. we are going to head to the east coast where scott mac far lane

is live. >> reporter: they're staging a briefing right now in washington, d.c. here is the homeland security secretary moments ago. >> we won't have to wait for them to get there. they've bab embed -- been embedded over the last few days. >> reporter: fema has sent water, now ready for disburkes cots, blankets, generators. the opening ceremony for the martin luther king memorial postponed indefinitely because it's too close to the eye of the storm. local colleges canceling their move-ins for the weekend. this is a state of emergency in effect in maryland, in virginia and in delaware.

live in washington, scott mac farlane. we're following major overnight news involving the fight in tripoli. libya's new interim government met for the first time. we received these pictures hours ago. rebels say it marks the official collapse of moammar gadhafi and a new era has begun. >> i proclaim the beginning of and the resumption of the work of the executive office in tripoli as of this moment. >> the collapse of moammar gadhafi's government is prompting fears that terrorists will obtain missiles. the obama administration is urging libyan rebels to secure the depots and cautioning nearby

countries for smuggled weapons. mayor gwinnett quan disagrees saying many of the suspects recent murder cases are adults. a standoff between a cass tre valley man and the sheriff's department ended. the manager of the trailer park tried to e fix the one of the tenants. the man was holed up inside. deputies tried to contact the man but help wouldn't talk to them. the sheriff's dog burst through

the screen door and started biting the man who later surrendered. someplacer county residents said they'll do things differently next time there's a massive evacuation with five minutes to pack. >> literally grabbed the dog and left. >> thousands of residents returned home. a dangerous thanker fire and huge exploasmghts residents were told to evacuate but they had no idea they would be gone for two days or that the evacuation might have been extended for two weeks. >> i would have packed different clothes. >> reporter: if you had known you would be gone for two weeks -- >> i with have packed a suitcase instead of a bag. >> one flower shop own are said show would have liked more notice so she could have notified her customers. one bar is offering a special drink called the fireball

blaster. health regulators are blocking all deliveries of mexican papayas. the fda said fresh mexican papayas were connected to 100 cases of salmonella in 23 straights. the test showed 16% of papayas coming from mexico were contaminated. they're working together trying to find the cause of the outbound and to improve -- outbreak. the church leaders are being sued for back refnlt the church, known as mountain view cress shon center made sporadic payments and made no payments at all in the last six months. the lawsuit claims two former leaders and a pastor who shot

himself in may. the oakland a's ended on the wrong side of baseball history. they gave up three grand slam runs to the new york yankees. the feat has never happened before in the 136-year history of major league baseball. the a's lost 22-9. the 22 runs are the second most allowed by the athletic's team. they won the previous two games at yankee stadium. still ahead, three u.s. marines are charged in the suicide of a santa clara man who was a fellow marine. what they did just before harry lou shot himself. a hollywood actor faces time. traffic is moving along

slowly. we'll tell you more.

three marines are facing hazing charges in the death of a santa clara man who killed himself in afghanistan. harry lou shot and killed himself while alone if a fox hole. yesterday the military announced they filed charges against three men accused of beating and taunting lou before he took his own life. the military said they are not responsible for lou's death but their actions deserve punishment. a hollywood bit actor accused of a 1990 gang rape now faces 15 years to life on just one felony count of torture. prosecutors say joe san and an

accomplice pulled an accomplice into a car on christmas eve, boat her and -- beat her and raped her. he has appeared in several movies but is best known as a role as a hin much man in austin power's movie. police are trying to find a hit and run driver. don casper was killed august 14 while jogging on river road. investigators are searching for a white ford f-150 truck. it's like this one. it's a four-door super crew model. it has a gold stripe along the bottom. there's a $12,000 reward. the tipline number 707-588-5023, and the extension is 238.

you can also get that number and much more information about the case by going to our channel 2 website ktvu.com. just look under web links. >> keeping a close eye on several areas. still very slow because of an earlier crash on 880. things are moving along much better. i think people heard about the crash, too, and it's friday. i'm pretty happy by how much has improved. take a look at the bay bridge toll plaza. you can tell much lighter volume. that did help us out. if you're driving on the freeways on the east shore in vallejo, the traffic there is moving along nicely. let's go to rosemary. >> afternoon highs will be

warming up. the fog, the clouds and you can see some sunshine above that low cloud deck and beginning to burn it off. we will see sunshine later this morning around the bay and plenty of sunshine for the afternoon. 8282 exspect petaluma. east bay a gorgeous day. 76 in oakland. upper 80s low 90s walnut creek. 92 anti okay this afternoon. how about the santa clara valley? you're looking good with sunny skies. mid-80s, 73 in santa cruz, going to be a nice day there. 81 red wood city. low to mid-60s. pacifica, half moon bay with an afternoon breeze. so, again, just a nice one.

extended forecast here, inland areas will continue to warm into the weekend. we'll see modest warming, a slight cooldown. that ahead of a bigger cooldown monday and tuesday. it's going to be warm. back to you. we're still talking about hurricane irene. it's a big one, and it's getting close to crashing into north carolina's outer banks. we'll have live coverage of the last-minute preparations. >> reporter: we're here at sfo. they're changing their travel plans because of irene. also, overnight news from the east bay. deadly gunfire tied to a home invasion.

[ man ] it's big. responds in a moment's notice.

supports in times of need. same with aladdin. aladdin became the biggest in bail by treating people right. no one has lower prices, is faster or more professional than aladdin. that's why more people turn to aladdin than anyone. aladdin bail bonds. bigger because we're better.

northbound 880, much improved after a seven-vehicle pileup. we still see slow traffic but it is improving quite a bit. 7:31. hurricane irene now a category two storm is now in open waters leaving the bahamas. the next target, north carolina's outer banks.

people are braced for irene's impact. do you see any part of the storm coming in? >> reporter: not just yet, tori. it's calm right now. i guess that's how they describe it. it's the calm before the storm. hurricane irene lost some of its punch and it became a category two but it's still packing winds of 110 miles an hour. it's still very much a threat for south carolina, north carolina and others all the way up to the new england region. what happened in the bahamas is a glimpse of what's expected over the weekend. watches, warnings, evacuations issued as hurricane irene churns up the atlantic and eastern seaboard. while it brought the surfers out, most are taking heed of the

warnings. in north carolina people are boarding up and heading out. irene is expected to bear down on the outer banks bringing winds of more than 100 miles an hour. >> i hope everyone will heed the warning. >> reporter: seven states from north carolina to connecticut have declared states of emergency. in ocean city, maryland, officials want everybody out by 5 p.m. today. >> first, we would like our visitors to return that their place of resident -- residence and evacuate ocean city. >> reporter: many people aren't taking chances. >> no chances. we've seen with this can do. >> reporter: it threatens major cities like boston and new york. >> what we have to do is assume the worst, prepare for that and hope for the best.

eye reason's exact course, time of arrival -- >> reporter: and north carolina has already issued a estate of emergency in 39 counties, mainly in the eastern portion of the state. authorities are trying to get ready helping people evacuate some of the coastal areas in this state. reporting live from north carolina. now back to you. >> all right. thank you. well, back here at home, hurricane irene is affecting travel plans. claudine wong is live at sfo. are flight plans changing, claudine? >> reporter: i spoke to a spokesperson at sfo. they expect the big changes tomorrow, maybe sunday has we head into the weekend. that's when you'll really start seeing things change. i want to show you the departure

board. there are flights going to the east coast. many believe this is, obviously, the calm before the storm in terms of travel because flights are getting out just fine. there are flits leaving within the next couple of hours. there's one that left at 7:20. on bred that flit a couple who -- board that flight a couple who left three days early. >> a part of us feel like we were should stay here but all of our kids are freaking out. our son-in-law works in the hospital and they're evacuating all the patients. our daughter is historical, so we feel like we should go home. >> they're headed back to new york. you're looking at the security line here in term flail two. again, right now things look good. expect people to start maybe changing plans to get here today and try to get on these earlier

flights just so they clan miss all the craziness that's expected this weekend. we know airlines have canceled flights yesterday. there are cancellations today. really, we have the six-hour window. we know they clan make it there. all this will change as we look forward. already a busy travel sew son. already people heading for the end of the summer and holidays. if you're traveling this weekend, it's something to keep in mind, claudine wong. >> you can get more information on hurricane irene by going to our channel 2 website, ktvu.com. also, make sure you stay here with us. right now police in richmond investigating a deadly overnight shooting. it happened in the 1300 block of moran avenue about 4:00 this morning. a woman was found dead inside the house.

a man, who had been shot several times, was also found in the house and rushed to the hospital. two people who may be persons of interest in this case, they've been detained by police. vearls think this may have been a local invasion robbery. police in sausalito warning about a spike of car break -ins. two others happened on glen drive and ray rave this monday and tuesday. the property stolen was out in plain sight. in two of the cases the suspect smashed out a side window to get inside. the san francisco police department is expanding. beginning today the chief is take entry level police applications. the open application period will close once the city receives 2500 applications. the chief says entry level

officers will perform a variety of duties. it is sentencing day in the chauncey bailey murder case. the machine will go before the judge. they will each reso a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole following their conviction in june. prosecutors say bey ordered the killing after learning that bailey was writing a story about the financial problems about bey's bakery business. a sea liion was rescued from a creek. the sea lion was spotted about 6:00 yesterday evening in. volunteers lefted the sea lion out of the shale le creek. they said the sea lion is sick

but -- muni is requiring drivers to get a route before they peck up passengers. a muni operator driving his empty bus to a new unschedule schedule assignment fatally struck a woman in the csswalk on a street where buses normally don't run. a head's up for drivers. a connector ramp near the bay bridge will be closed tonight. starting at 11 caltrans will close the northbound 880 to eastbound 80 in oakland. road crews will be cleaning drains and making eel trn nick repairs. there will be a detour route available, just a little heads up. hey, sal, 880 has been a mess. is it getting any better? >> it's getting better. northbound 880, you can see it's

locking normal. it's slow but the normal morning slowdown. at this point just stay on it. just a few hours ago we had accident that blocked the lanes for about an hour, so within the 5:00 hour it took them an hour and a half to clear it. the only thing you have to know is maybe another five minutes or 10 minutes might help you out. traffic is backed up for a small delay coming into san francisco. if you're driving between pinole and richmond, we've got slow traffic. 101 or 280, traffic is moving nicely. >> we have a nice warming trend. we're dealing with the gray but it's going to burn off leaving

us plenty of sunshine. the wind is still on shore. calm san jose as well as santa rosa. 17 miles an hour but weaker than yesterday morning. westerly in oakland. could pick up a little bit in the afternoon, especially the afternoon sea breeze. 58 for concord. 61 in san jose. upper 60s san jose. 58 in nap amount of widespread upper 50s novato no san rafael. that's going to bring the possibility of wraparound moisture our way. perhaps a few clouds, maybe a buildup over the southern county mountains. if you're ledded to the sierra,

south of highway 5 we could have the possibility of thunderstorms. no reason to go anywhere. wednesday we get rid of the included and fog deck we're looking at a pretty good sunshine and we'll continue to heat up through saturday with sunday looking similar. 83 expected. 72 in berkeley. 90 expected at pleasant ton. 80 mon than view. low 90s morgan hill. along the coast widespread 60s and 70s with partly cloudy skies. temperatures will continue to move in the upward direction. along the coastline warmer tomorrow. we could be cooler on sunday as the on shore breeze strengthens just a bit. >> thank you. a popular skate park in the east bay has been destroyed.

soon a second one will be gone. caltrans demolished it yesterday. the states will plans to bull dotes a nearby border town skate park in the coming weeks. caltrans said the skateboarders were trespassing and the parks are a liability. >> the sad thing it's gone. it was in the based on doing drugs, just having fun skateboarding. >> we tried to work out an agreement. we wouldn't. we had no other choice than to remove it because it's not supposed to be there. >> six years ago caltrans tried to shut it down but the city of oakland stepped in to lease the park. coming up, new updates on hurricane irene, including why new york city could cover extensive damage even if it's spared a direct hit and how

irene is costing all of us money. what is being unveiled today in santa cruz.

on wall street stocks are down. one reerntion the economy grew at a slower rate than expected this spring, just 1%, disapointing investors. right now the dow down 28. the nasdaq is up 15. s&p is down three. the other factor impact being the markets today, the much anticipated comments from fed chair ben bernanke. in the last hour he announced no new steps to stimulate the

economy but hinted congress may need to act to stimulate hiring and growth. before he was talking the dow was down 78. after he started talking down 200 but has bounced back. we'll have or on ben bernanke's speech at the top of the hour. all the european mar ceases are down. they were following the lead of. asian markets. only japan, south korea finished with gains. all the others finished down on the day. north carolina is expected to take a direct hit when hurricane irene comes ashore, but new york is bracing for major damage as well. ktvu's pam cook is keeping an eye on the storm. >> reporter: the storm is expected to hit the border of north and south carolina tomorrow morning, east coast time but there are concerns, the

storm will have a significant impact all along the east coast, including new york. now irene is expected to hit manhattan by sunday afternoon at this point. mayor bloomberg is urging people to go ahead and leave their homes as a precaution if they're at or close to sea level. we announced we have activated the command center at the office of emergency management and put elements of the plan into effect. >> reporter: they have good reason to feel the need to prepayment of a geologist professor recall as category three that hit long island about 80 years ago and caused extensive damage 70 miles away. >> this is where the 1938 hurricane breck through and --

broke through. >> reporter: even a category one storm could cause massive flooding. he said a category two storm, which is what irene is right now, could put jfk airport under five and a half feet of wart. there are mandatory evacuations. and president obama will comment from martha's vineyard in the next hour. it is 7:49. hurricane irene is already boosting gas prices as it approaches the east coast and tempers, too. this is video from new jersey where long lines greeted people at the pump where they prepared to evacuate. analysts said refineries are

likely to close before the severe weather arrives. workers are already starting to turn off equipment and tie things down. later on today the santa cruz harbor will unveil a brand-new dock. it was a sign of recovery. the new dock is or modern. it's made out of flexible plastic lum bemplet 23 of the harbor's 29 docks have to be either repaired or replaced. it will cost $22 million. federal emergency grants will pay for 5% of the work. baseball's all time home run king making another pitch. barry bonds was back in court in san francisco yesterday. his lawyers are asking a federal judge to overturn his felony conviction for obstruction of

justice. the judge said she will issue a written ruling in the near future. >> would be more inclined to you hold -- uphold it. >> last april a jury found barry bonds guilty of obstruction of justice stemming from his testimony in a steroid investigation. the same jury deadlocked on three personal ri charges. prosecutors haven't said whether they will seek a retrial. a third suspect has been arrested in an attempted robbery of an armored truck in pinole. william fuller was the suspected getaway driver. that's when pierre daniel and freddie daniel tried to hold up a loomis truck. pierre was killed in a shutout and freddy is hospitalized. a guard was also shot. some new ways our taxpayer money has been wasted. we'll tell you about state employees and how they made

their may checks fatter. an unusual sight over las vegas as a massive dust storm blankets the hear.

man: we need a good night's sleep. woman: which means a little heat to keep us warm. and a good dose of support for my back. some over-the-top comfort couldn't hurt. and our perfect dream factory's been built. you're feeling sleepy already?

nighty-night. [giggling] new video of a rare dust storm in las vegas. officials were worried about safety so they had firefighters respond to help with problems of low visibility. governor brown said closing a tax loop for some out of estate businesses will create more jobs in the golden state and bring more money into california cof fers. >> every time an out of state company moves a job out of california, then they get a tax break. every time they hire in california, they increase the

taxes they pay. >> the governor said if that were reversed, california would have an additional $1 billion and would use that to give business as tax credit when they hire people to work here. republicans said it wouldn't work because california's overall tax rate is higher than other states. there's a new state auditor's report about those who waste taxpayers dollars. it includes a health executive who spent $50,000 at places like the golden globe awards. he said it was essential to his job. also, a prison psychologist who would work on his private practice wasting $200,000. the report indicates the need for more supervision but it didn't slow widespread abuse among employees. we're going to check in

again with sal on the friday morning commute. things are getting better if you're driving on 880. there was a big crash in downtown oakland awhile ago. it's much improved. it's normal the way this drives through oakland. the bay bridge is light are than usual. i want to look at the south bay mass. we seat red spots on los gatos and coop teen flow. it's a touch lighter than it normally is. let's go to rosemary. a grate start to the day. temperatures warmer than what we saw. in some cases a few degrees. by tomorrow chances are you may notice the difference because we continue the warming friend in through at least saturday. this morning fog and clouds around the bay.

widespread 50s, 60s. widespread exist -- 60s along the coast. and then they will be hugging the coastline for most of the afternoon. 81 degrees san rafael. 90 for concord. 82 fremont. low 90s for morgan hill. san francisco, you're looking at 67 for the afternoon. extended forecast, temperatures continuing to warm into the weekend. for our inland valley locations low to mid-90s. it could be a little uncomfortable for some. find a swimming pool and you'll be fine. 64 along the cost for saturday. that will be the average. and then a tad bit of cooling on sunday, better cooling monday into tuesday. back to you. all right. thank you, rosemary. it happened just one hour

ago. the fed chairman makes his remarks on the troubled economy. what he's saying this' moving the market. in redwood city why police are looking to charge the drivers of two cars with a felony suicide case. >> reporter: we're in palo alto where pg&e crews are working to restore power, why they say this outage is bizarre, coming up.

good morning. i'm tori campbell. >> i'm dave clark. we're talking about hurricane irene. it's getting closer to the mainland. the entire coast is under a warning and irene may hit north carolina tomorrow. we have a reporter in virginia beach where we're getting in touch with her. we'll try to get more details. in fact, we have elizabeth. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. you can see the skies behind me. it looks absolutely beautiful. we can asure you these conditions will be deteriorating

sooner rather than later. there's a mandatory evacuation in virginia beach. she's moving up the coast of florida and has her eyes set on the east coast. president obama declaring a state of emergency for north carolina to provide federal aid. irene could make landfall on saturday. >> irene play have a bigger impact on north carolina than what we expected. >> reporter: the navy is sending warships to safer waters. >> out there you can bounce up against the waves. >> reporter: many people vacationing in virginia beach say they're leaving early. >> this is our family vacation for the year. we want to squeeze as much in as we can. we got an earthquake and a hurricane. >> reporter: this hurricane is threatening about 65 million people along the east coast.

>> in fact, given the forecast track and even if the track shifts one way or another, this is likely to be a once in a generation storm for many people in the northeast. >> reporter: in new york city, mandatory evacuations have been ordered for nursing homes, hospitals and low lying areas. officials are preparing to shut down the nation's largest public transit system. the city has only seen five hurricanes since 1851. >> what we have to do is assume the worse, hope for the best. >> reporter: even though this storm has been downgraded to a category two, that doesn't moon experts aren't keeping an eye on it. dave, back to you. >> thank you. you can get more information on hurricane irene by going to our channel 2 website, ktvu.com.

also, make sure you stay right here with hues on mornings on 2. at:15 we'll take you -- at 8:15 we'll take you live to washington, d.c. s it:0 -- it is 8:02. the investigation is underway into a tragic hit and run. two cars hit and killed a man. good morning, kraig. >> reporter: i just got off the phone with the san mateo coroner. they do not have the i.d. of the victim yesterday. he told one man he wanted to kill himself. after he was hit, he was dragged 60 feet, police say, after impact.

it happened about 9 p.m. police said a number of people told them the man was drunk. he said he planned to kill himself. the man planned to lay in the street and get hit by a car. police say that's exactly what happened. >> we had a pretty big crowd. we had a number of people that were upset by it. >> reporter: police say fleaf though the impact -- even though the impact appeared to be an accident, they were required to stop. we have learned there's a videotape surveillance of one of the cars leaving. both the cars -- one is a sedan and one is an suv. police described it as a smaller silver sedan. there's a business around here that has surveillance videotape of one of the cars leaving the scene after it hit the person. police are looking for the

driver of those vehicles. reporting live in redwood city, kraig debro. a san francisco parking officer recovering after police say a woman lay tacked him when he gave her a parking ticket. this happened near haite and ash bury. the woman drove over. she hasn't been found yet. if you have information contact san francisco police. a bullet prove vest is being credited with saving an officer. they were stopping pedestrians questioning them about a string of car break-ins when shots were fired. one officer was shot several times in the chest, wrist and hand. more than 100 police officers sealed off the area. police have recover add gun used

in the shooting but they haven't found the suspect yet. blownout tv's, burned out smart meters. those were some of the problems caused by a power surge in parts of east palo alto. tara moriarty will tell us how this happened and when the power will be back on. >> reporter: we just spoke to peeing peeping. they con firmed this is a snapped tree branch that triggered this outage. they just wrapped up all of their work on this side of the freeway. we're right next to 101. we will move to the other side of this wall. this outage is spread over at least 10 blocks. pg&e said this looks like this will be another hour before the power is back on. neighbors heard loud bangs and glass shattering. television sets were blown out. light bulbs exploded.

at least 70 apartments and homes without electricity on this side. a pg&e worker said electricity burst through the home instead of the usual 110. >> this strange circumstance where it hit just right, sent a voltage surge. it may have affected some of the customers' meters. our crews are working to restore power. >> reporter: they are told not to turn on their electricity until the meters are inspected. they will also do an inspection of the transformers. they are the cylinder looking things that are brown. they transformed it from a higher to a lower voltage. they will do an inspection to make sure they don't have further issues.

again, power not going back on until 9:00. we're live in east palo alto, tara moriarty, channel 2 news. an hour and a half ago, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke gave a much anticipated speech but offered and an update on no new steps. stocks initially fell on the announcement they were down. the dow was down about 200 points but have since bounced back into positive territory. bernanke said policy makers will take a closer look on what steps to take to jump start the stalled u.s. economy. the speech was given in jackson hole, wyoming. he said much of the responsibility lays with congress, not the central banks to stimulate growth and hiring. >> all right. we'll see. let's go to sal. i'm afraid to ask. how's the toll plaza?

>> pretty slow. it's getting slower. it's an accident involving a truck and a couple of other cars westbound right before the s curve. now the traffic that had been light is backing up. they turned those metering lights on extra slow to allow the emergency workers on the bridge to clear this crash. it's an accident westbound on the upper deck of the bridge just before the s curve. it's blocking two lanes and traffic is quickly backing up. pretty soon it will be a huge backup. we have slow traffic because of an earlier crash in oakland that's been cleared. the morning commute will be busy, especially on 85. we're seeing some improvement getting into cupertino. a little slow but not all that bad. >> tgif to you. a live look at some blue sky up

above that cloud deck that will eventually break out and we will be looking at mostly sunny skies around the bay. waking up with the gray as well as along the coast, even some fog to deal with right around santa rosa, the coastline, patchy drizzle. by the afternoon perhaps a noticeable warmup. so it will be a modest one with more warming into your saturday. let's take a look. by about 9:00, 10:00, it looks like the inland hears beginning to see plenty of sunshine into the south bay, north bay as well, 11, 11:30 before it clears. then this will be hugging the coast for the afternoon but partly cloudy skies. 56 san francisco. 57 in oakland. upper 60s in fairfield and concord. partly to mostly cloudy skies for the inland areas. our afternoon highs will be a nice day, seasonal temperatures

right where we should be. 83 for novato. 88 in vallejo. 72 for berkeley. 76 in oakland. 67 san francisco. widespread 80s, low 90s. 90 in liver more. 82 in fremont. 83 south into -- in san jose. low 70s for the coastal spots. high red 60s for the coast lien. warmer tomorrow and a dip along the coastline. they will stay there through the weekend. we have a bit of a cooldown as we get back to work on monday. back to you. delling -- developing news from overcapes. the death toll rises. new controversy ties to

9/11. a safe found hidden in an old lake tahoe casino could be linked to a cold case.

the bay area -- a place with natural beauty and a forward thinking spirit.

at bank of america, we've been fueling economic growth here for over a century. today we're investing in innovations that will define our future. every day, we're working to help set opportunity in motion. from financing a solar project for the milpitas school district to funding the institute at golden gate. because when you're giving, lending, and investing in more communities across the country, more opportunities happen. good morning to you. welcome back. a gray start to the day, sunny skies and warmer temperatures on tap for the afternoon. giving you a satellite view of hurricane irene, currently a category two. you can see churning its way closer to the east coast from north carolina to new england.

the threat, the flooding rain, damaging winds and a coastal storm surge expected for the wblg -- weekend. scott macfarlane has more. >> reporter: fema said it's spreading man power and supplies all across the east coast. they gave a warning to those still near the coast in north carolina. >> the one thing we can change the outcome on is loss of lives. that's why the evacuation orders are key. people need to leave early. travel a safe distance. not wait for another forecast. >> reporter: fema staffers say they have 2 million-liters of water at the fema office in atlanta ready for distribution.

also, sunday's landmark opening of the dr. martin luther king memorial has been postponed indefinitely, too dangerous to have people on the mall in washington. by this time sunday morning, even earlier, tropical storms will be pelting the white house, capitol hill, basically all of washington, d.c. now to developing story from nigeria. at least 16 people were killed after a united nations office was hit by a car bomb. witnesses say a car rammed through two gaits of the building this morning. they say the suicide bomber drove the car just up to the main reception area and detonated the bomb. the building houses about 400 employees. they're trying to account for everyone in the building at the

time of the explosion. a new book has ignited a new 9/11 controversy two weeks ahead of the controversy. the cia is demanding cuts. the ajebt argued the cia missed a chance to stop the attacks by withholding critical information from the fbi. specifically, help points out detailed information about two 9/11 hijackers who lived in san diego. at least 5 people are dead -- 52 people are dead in a shooting at a casino in machine ter ray mexico. it happened yesterday afternoon. they poured gas loon that stopped employees and gam bers. this is the second time in three months this casino has been

attacked. back here at home an east bay plawm just gave up her attempt to aboll accomplish california's -- abolish california's death penalty. it would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. hancock says while repealing the death penalty would save hundreds of millions of dollars, the bill just didn't have enough support to pass. meantime, the state's supreme court upheld the death sentence for a berkeley man convicted of killing a woman and son. the crowded race for mayor in san francisco is leaving to strange political bed fellows. interim mayor ed lee was leading. now others are launching the

anyone but ed campaign. it's to block mayor lee from getting second and third place votes. >> the problem in san francisco, it's the lack of strategy. you're hitting the person ahead of you at all times. at the same time you have to differentiate from the other candidates. >> they may have watched what happened in oakland last year. jean quan won. americans don't think much of congress. 87% of those asked said they disapproved have the job congress is doing. 53% said they want their on house representative tossed out. 57% believe taxes will rise and government services will be cut. bike riders who talk or toact on a cell phone would be breaking the law in california.

that's in a bill on the governor's desk. it would extend the hands free to bike riders. fines would also go up for drivers who are on a cell phone without a hands free device. the fines would go up from 20 to $50. court fees would go up from $180 to $300. bay area police are cracking down on drunk drivers ahead of labor day weekend next week. they were checking drivers last week. it's part of the national drive sober or get pulled over campaign. this runs through september the 5th. police say they're trying to get the message out and hope to save lives. san mateo county officials said so far more people have been arrested this year than last year. 77 arrests were made between august 19th and the 24th. 65 people were arrested during

that same time period last year. police say they saw a spike in arrests saturday. you remember after the 49ers raiders game at candlestick park. breaking news involving a train that left the bay area. also, a dangerous game of chicken caught on tape. this involves a teenager and a fast moving train. tensions still rising between bart and some of the bart protesters. good morning. there's a huge backup approaching the bay bridge because of the crash on the upper deck of the bay bridge. we'll tell you about this coming up.

we have breaking news, an amtrak train carrying passengers between click and the pay area hit the tracks and derailed in nebraska. the california zephyr flew off the tracks hours after leaving the bay area headed for chicago. police in australia have released this video of a teenager playing chicken with a high speed train. hoe ran right in front of the train, jumped on to the station

platform the train clipped him. he was also ordered to perform community service and right a letter of apology to the train's driver. san francisco police released information about the dozens of demonstrators arrested. 35 were arrested. 16 are from san francisco. nine are from the east bay. others are from the north bay. four are from out of statement of one of the protesters is under the age of 18. you can see the full list of names of those arrested boy going to the bay area -- by going to the bay area news tab. among those arrested was this man who has had a past run-in with officials. that's gabriel meyers and he was accused of throwing paint on a

manager at a bart meeting. we want to check in with sal. >> reporter: there's a crash on the bridge. i want to look at the camera. this crash near treasure island was involving at least a couple of vehicles on the bridge what usually happens then is they slow the metering lights down at the toll plaza. bridge crews are pretty good about getting up there and getting these things out of the way, especially if there are no major injuries. it does look as if the crash is gone now, but traffic still has to unwind from there. the toll plaza delay is big. let's take a look at 880. the earlier crash in downtown oakland is long gone. the south bay commute is better than it was. 20 is -- 280 is a little slow.

we're starting hour friday a near repeat. gray skies, temperatures very similar, upper 50s, low 60s. you can see that cloud deck burning. areas right around concord always beginning to see sunshine and for the afternoon, 84 sonoma. 85 for santa rosa, upper 70s around san lee an droa. upper 80s, low 90s. 90 at pittsburg. 90 in liver more and danville. 83 for san jose. 82 milpitas. 81 redwood city. 73 for san bruno. 60s for the coastline with partly cloudy skies.

the temperatures continuing to warm in through saturday. for the coastline sunday we may get a little bit of a cooloff. the inland areas will remain in the low 90s. in time for the weekend we're going to leet it up. partly cloudy skies the possibility. we may get a little monsoonal moisture from the south especially for your stat. boy, the powerful hurricane irene getting closer and closer to the carolinas. look at these pictures of the surf picking up. we'll have pictures from the outer banks where the big storm is now headed. >> it's the calm before the storm. coming up we'll tell you what the spokesman said travelers should know and not just people headed to the east coast who will be affected. police are hoping a new sketch will lead to an arrest at sox of the vie -- some of the

violence at candlestick park.

we're keeping an eye on hurricane irene. after battering puerto rico and the ba llamas. it's turning its attention to the u.s. mainland. here at home, it's affecting travel plans. claudine wong is live at sfo and has been there all morning longs with the details. >> reporter: it looks like this is your last guaranteed day of travel. certainly, we found people who are taking off early. they changed plans because three want to get back home before hurricane irene hit. we've been watching the

monitors. things are moving well. flights are coming in earlier. actually, things are in good shape. however, everyone expects that's going to change. we just talked to the airport spokesperson. >> we play see some minor cancellations but we have a lot of flights, but tomorrow i would expect the washington, philadelphia, northeast to start seeing cancellations if not by the first of the morning, certainly by midday if it's as forecast. >> reporter: back here live at sfo, you can see the security line, people making their way to the gate in terminal two. we're focused on the east coast. that's a big part of this. you have a big hear that will be affected by hurricane irene, a big transportation center. that will cause a ripple effect. even if you're not going to boston or d.c. or new york, the

planes go from place to place to place. what mike was pointing out, you meet be going to hawaii but if the plane is coming from new york, you play not get there and your flight may be delayed or canceled because of that regardless of where you're going, make sure you check with your carrier. it will affect several other parts of the country and a lot of us could be feeling the effects this weekend. let's turn our attention to the east coast. our reporter is live there kill devil hills, north carolina. what's happening out there? can you hear me? maybe he can't hear me. he's in the middle of the storm in kill devils, north carolina. we'll get back to him later. you can find more information

about what's happening with hurricane irene by going to our channel 2 website, ktvu.com. make sure you stay us with on mornings on 2. also, a stretch of highway near yosemite national park still closed. crews are battling a major wildfire. the evacuation area may be expanded as the flames grow. it all started when a propane tank blew up igniting a motor home. the fire right now threatens about 70 structures. it's burned at least 1,000 acres. it all began just before 1:00 yesterday afternoon right along highway 140. there's new information in a breaking news story we told you about yesterday morning. authorities said an early morning raid on five homes in a west newark neighborhood has led to four arrests connected to

armed robberies in several neighborhoods. president investigation is ongoing. a man found fatally shot in oakland tuesday morning has been identified. police say someone recognized 18-year-old evan clap man -- chapman from photos of his tattoos. his body was found on 79th avenue after less received reports of gunshots. san francisco police will have tighter security at tomorrow evening's 49er's game against the houston texans. police are hoping this sketch will lead them to the man who beat up a fan at candlestick park in the bathroom. he is described as a heavy set

pacific islander, in his late 20s and has a goatee and ponytail. >> hopefully when the picture goes out, someone will recognize him. >> the victim is a 25-year-old san rafael man. he was grabbed by the neck and slammed into the wall. he was unconscious and sent to the hospital. two other fanneds were injured in the parking lot that same night. >> two former church leaders are being sued for back rent. the church made spore rat dick payments during the lease and no payments during the last six months. the suit flames two former church leaders and the estate of the pastor who shot himself in may in the midst of the criminal

investigation. health regulatetors are blocking paul delivers rough mexico pa -- papayas. they were linked to 100 cases of salmonella poisoning. tests showed that 16% of the papayas were contaminated. u.s. and mexico officials are working together to find the source of the outbreak. someplacer county residents said they will react differently in the future. >> thousands of residents returned home yesterday and the plain street in lincoln is back to normal. that's after this dangerous tanker fire and the threat of a big explosion. rest depths were told they had

to evacuate. they had no idea they would be gone for two days or that the evacuation may have been extended to two weeks. >> i would have packed different clothes if i hadden in we would have been gone longer. >> if you had known you would be gone for two weeks. >> i would have packed a suitcase instead of a bag. look, this flower shop owner said she would have liked more notice. bars and restaurants are trying to recoup their losses. one bar is offering a special drink. it's called a fireball blaster. all right. it is 8:37. let's check in with sal and see how things are going. getting better on the bay bridge? >> that crash was cleared. they still have -- the traffic is getting better on the span. what they have done, they have slowed the meetering lights down. it's going to be a big delay.

it had been so nice. you kind of hate when that happens. lot's move along and take a look at the commute on the san mateo bridge in case you'd like to do that as an alternative. no major problems. it's a flies drive to the peninsula. the south bay commute has been up and down. 87 is slow into the downtown area. let's go to rosemary. >> we've got gray skies, sunshine up above. the inland areas enjoying sunshine, although, the low clouds in some of the valley locations. hurricane irene, a big story. i wanted to touch on the straik. winds 105 miles an hour moving northerly. that is a slow moving storm. normally 25 to 35 miles an hour. so that could cause trouble once it starts to impact the coastline. by tomorrow morning it looks like it's going to skirt the north carolina coast as it continues this trek to the

north. by about sunday morning, new york city, new jersey, atlantic city, continuing on over to massachusetts and areas to the north. monday morning it looks like this will become a tropical storm. this morning here at home we've got fog and clouds, coast and bay side as well as some of the inland areas. 70s to 80s around the bay. low 90s expected in the inland areas. by 9:00, 10:00, mostly sunny skies. for the coast mostly sunny, partly cloudy for the afternoon. our morning lows this morning been holding on to the 50s, low 60s. for the afternoon some of us will be a tad warmer. 83 novato. low 70s berkeley. 67 for the city of san francisco.

80 redwood city. our inland areas will be warm. 92 morgan hill, 73 degrees. if you're headed that way -- if you're headed to the sierra the moisture is creeping our way. it could bring clouds. so make sure you check that forecast. our temperatures for the week continuing to warm on sunday. the coast could be slightly cooler. monday and tuesday, a better cooling trend around the area. in vallejo police investigating the armed robbery of a beauty shop that terrified several customers an the staff. two gun mn robbed the gemini salon, stole the purses from three women and put a gun to another. she suffered minor gyres to her -- injuries to her hand. police say he did find the car matching that description and

possible suspect. there's no worth about any arrest. overnight news to an explosion. plus a very important change for muni.

stocks have turned around to positive territory after ben bernanke's spee. he stopped short of signaling particular action but said further steps would be considered at their next meeting in september. right now the dow is up 53. the nasdaq is up 35. amazon.com is recruiting for dozens of position at the bay area subsidiary. that comes at the same time amazon is telling state tax authorities it will not collect sales tax for online sales because it does not have the physical presence in california required. it is looking for 31 work ares

to help it improve search and browse functions for e commerce sabes and looking to design amazon owned and sold products like the kindle. general motors truck sales are not as strong as the company had anticipated. now it's cutting production. the company has canceled five overtime shifts from the schedule from september to october. they can produce as many has 900 trucks a day. gm has a 115 day supply. gm is planning to increase production of the electric cars. the auto maker signed a deal with lg to joptly design -- jointly design and engineer. let's bring you up to date on some of the other top

stories. right now, look at these pictures. hurricane irene is getting closer to the east coast. it's already kicking up big waves in the coastal island of north carolina. it's expected to hit the main and not next 24 hours. irene has been downgraded to a category two storm but still as winds topping 100 miles an hour. >> the investigation continues into a bizarre hit and run accident. two cars struck and killed a man. police say the victim wanted to be hit. residents are being warned don't turn on your electricity this morning because of a power surge last flight. it blew out tv sets, light bulbs and smart eithers. pg&e crews are out there working to fix that problem. right now police in richmond are investigating a deadly overnight shooting. it happened in the 3200 block of

-- 1300 block of moran avenue this morning. a woman was found dead inside the house. a man who had been shot several times was also taken to the hospital. two people who may be persons of interest were taken in. people are being warned about a spike in car break-ins. two other the happened on glen drive and ray avenue this past monday and tuesday. property stolen from the cars were in plain view and in two cases the suspects smashed a side window to get inside. if you're looking for a job, the san francisco police department is expanding. starting today police chief greg sur is accepting entry level applications. now the oakland application

period will close once the city receives 2500 applications. the entry level officers will perform a variety of duties. in 15 poz the two men -- minutes the two men convicted in the murder of chauncey bailey will go before a judge. yusuf bey and antoine mackey will face the judge. they learned that bailey was writing a story critical of the financial problems of oakland's your black muslim bakery. a sea lion was spotted about 6:00 yesterday evening. volunteers lifted the sea lion out of the shallow creefnlgt they have said the animal was sick but not hurt.

muni now considering requiring all ofs it drivers to get a specific route from central control before they go out to pick up passengers. this is thighed to a tragedy that happened on the streets of france one week ago. a muni operator, driving his empty bus to a new unschedule scod assignment -- unscheduled assignment hit a woman. the oakland a's ended up on the wrong side of baseball history. oakland pitchers gave up not one, not two, but three grand slams to the yankees. the a's lost. final score 22-9. after getting out to a 7-1 lead -- by the way, the 22 runs are the second most largest by the

oakland a's team. >> we'll have more right after this. stay with us. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

happening right now, a news conference is about to begin in san jose at any moment it's about the mayor's antigang strategy. mayor chuck reed talking about

preventing violence. representatives from the gup justice -- from the justice department and others are in town for two days for the national forum on youth violence prevention. >> we're pleased to report over the last coming of months we have not had a single gang-related homicide after starting off the first half of the year with 14. >> mayor reed is crediting the city's police chief. he said most of the department's resources are focused on solving the gang problem. three u.s. marines are fags hazing charges in the death of a santa clara man who later killed himself in afghanistan. on april 3rd, harry lou a fellow marine shot and killed himself. yesterday the military announced they filed charges against three maroons accused of beating and taunting lou hours before he took his own life.

the military said now they're not responsible for lou's death but their actionings deserve punishment. a hearing for the men is scheduled for september 8th. a hollywood bit actor accused of a 1990 gang rape is facing 15 years to life. joe san and an accomplice pulled a victim into the car on christmas eve, beat her with a gun and raped her. he has appeared in several movies but you perhaps rec flights him best for his role as a hinchman in the austin powers movie. >> an old safe found in a lake tahoe casino could be linked to an old case. it was hidden underneath a

staircase and sealed off behind sheet rock. the owner of the casino thinks the safe is linked to the unsolved murder of the former owner. he was killed in 1968 when a bomb exploded underneath his car. >> that was the conclusion drawn inside the law firm, that he had been hit by a flork mob. >> he said he will bring in a blow torch. a standoff anded thanks to a k9 unit. it started when the manager of the tra-tel trailer park tried to evict a tenant. the manholed himself up inside and the landlord called the police. he refused to talk to the deputies. a sheriff's dogg broke through and began biting the man.

the gun turned out to be pellet rifle. a connector ramp near the bay bridge will be closed tonight. starting at 1:00 1:00, caltrans will close the northbound 880 to the eastbound 80 in oakland. road crews will be out there cleaning drains. that closure continues through 8 a.m. saturday. just so you know, there will be a detour route available. traffic is moving along slowly. we had an earlier crash. traffic is very busy getting up there. let's move along to live picture. it is getting better, which is good news. let's take a look at 880. 880 had a bad morning. things have cleared out. there's slow traffic westbound, word of an accident fleer the

lakeshore area. it will be a nice weekend for shorts and flip-flops. 70s, 80s around the bay. warmer for tomorrow. on sunday we could get a sea breeze that knocks our temperatures back along the coastline. inland will be warm. the cooling trend monday into tuesday, just a gorgeous looking august weekend. >> thank you. president obama has issued a warning to americans who are in the path of hurricane irene. we'll have that at noon as we leave you a live look of the outer banks. the brunt of the storm is expected to arrive tomorrow morning. more coming up in our newscast. whoa. you gotta be kidding!

you guys are exactly who i had in mind when i created my new jumbo breakfast platter. it's a ton of food: 8 of my new mini pancakes, hash brown sticks, scrambled eggs, plus bacon or sausage, all for only $2.99. it's just the kind of breakfast hardworking guys like you need. ...yeah. they're here! ladies, you have the right to remain sexy...