putting many people at risk. >> as the summer nears it's end. san francisco police are hoping an alarming spike in crime is coming to an end as well. robberies jumped a whopping 74% in the month of august. >> there's always some type of an up tick in crime in summer periods when the days are longer. >> reporter: thieves increasingly went after high tech easy to steal items. the target of many of these robberies are smart phone users who have removed atm robbery victims. >> atm robberies are down. >> reporter: lieutenant marcota says station investigators recently made arrests in a robbery crime spree. >> we're riding up in people, incurring either a knife or handgun. or in some places a simulated handgun and robbing people of

cell phones and money. >> reporter: police with the park station district says the problem extends to rapid transit. >> specifically people who were holding on to their iphones on the nummi's 38 line were having their phones taken from their hands. >> well like, like give me your phone like that kind of thing. really? straight up? that's scary. >> reporter: the robbers have not just targeted cell phone users. the owner of this store says they've been robbed three times recently part of their decision to leave the area. mission district robberies have dropped about 20% in the last few weeks. in san francisco, david stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. we've reported in recent weeks about the spike in gold jewelry thefts in oakland. today police told us that a 2- year-old toddler is the latest victim. officers went door to door near 47th and bancroft avenue

warning residents about that crime. it is at that intersection that a mother walking with her 2- year-old daughter and pushing her baby in a stroller was confronted by a man and a juvenile this morning. >> reporter: they grabbed the girl and her mother got scared because she thought they were going the take the girl. but they took off her gold rings and necklace. >> reporter: women of all ages are being targeted but especially mothers with children. they also say it appears there are a number of different robbers out there. secretary of state hillary clinton said today she is optimistic the two american hikers jailed in iran will soon be free. clinton is in san francisco for the asian pacific economic corporation summit. she said today the u.s. has been told shane bauer and josh fattal will be returned to their families. >> at this time we are not at all concerned because we have received word through a number

of sources, publicly and privately that the decision will be executed on. >> both men were convicted in an iranian court of satisfying. iman and iraq are negotiating for their release and their $1 million bail. diplomatic talks are under way for a larger american presence in australia. president obama hosted the american prime minister last month and plans to visit the country this year. defense ministers met in san francisco to discuss u.s. access to australian bases. u.s. defense officials say they want to position for american equipment in australia and develop a better plan to deal with china. now that giant ceo bill nuekum is headed out, there's a frenzy at the stadium. >> reporter: there may have been some trouble at the top for the giants just a year

after they won it all. according to reports, the outgoing ceo bill nuekum he clashed with ownership and was pressured to leave. those were the reports but they were down played during a news conference today at at&t park. >> reporter: stepping down after just three years as the giants ceo and managing general partner. bill nuekum denied reports that he was pushed out by management. >> i don't think that was the characterization. i asked myself is there a success plan. how much longer do you want to do this job. in the course of thinking about that and talking with folks about it including other investors, i came to the conclusion that this was the right time to turn the reigns over. >> reporter: nuekum says he just felt it was time to retire because he accomplished the goals he set for himself when he took the job, mainly winning

a world championship. reports are that nuekum ruffled some feathers but making player deals before talking to the front office. his response was this. >> my relation with other investors from my substantiate point is positive. >> reporter: the man who will take over as giant ceo larry bayrd is the current staffer. but now some fans are worried this sudden shake up could signal bigger problems for the organization. >> he seems like he's okay with it, so we'll just have to see what the new guy does. if he helps the team at all. >> reporter: the new ceo will take over at the end of this year. the end of december, bill nuekum will stay with the

giant's organization in an advisory role. alex savage, ktvu news. you can watch more of the giant's press conference right now on ktvu.com. just look under the bay area sports tab. a university of california proposal to raise tuition fees was shot down today by the uc board of regents. sal castaneda is live at the cal campus with what regents say needs to be done instead. sal-- >> reporter: julie, students here at uc berkeley say they are tuition hike weary and they say they're happy about what happened at today's regents meeting. many of the regents made it clear, they do not like the universities budget proposal that calls for tuition hikes of as much as 16% a year for the next four years to make up for a shortfall in state funding. >> we have to find ways to get more money. we have to turn to the state, we have to turn to corporations and we have to rally public campaign. >> reporter: this student came to the meeting with others to tell the regents enough already with the tuition hikes. >> we're already at the

breaking point. we've had 300% in fee increases in students in the last 10 years. >> reporter: at uc berkeley there was some relief that regents want to find another way to make up for the lack of state funding. >> it's rather nice they're finally putting their foot down saying we can't always be loading this burden on to the students. >> reporter: kyle wright says he is willing to pay a modest tuition hike to preserve the quality of education. >> at this point it's probably a little ridiculous to be raising fees anymore, but at the expense of keeping berkeley at the level that, of a school that it is, it might be worth it. >> reporter: right now students here at berkeley and at all uc campuses they pay about $12,200 a year in tuition. now if that proposal is approved, that fee would go up to about $22,000 by the year 2016. live in berkeley, sal castaneda, ktvu channel 2 news.

coming up at 6:15, governor brown says a taxpayers group is doing work republican lawmakers should be doing themselves. why that taxpayers group is now calling the governor's remarks ironic. the department's inspector general is looking into the role and actions of the federal financing bank that provided a $530 million guaranteed loan to the fremont solar panel manufacturing. the fbi and commerce committee are all conducting their own investigation. cal solar announced today it is laying off 500 workers. cali solar says it is shifting

its business to manufacturing polysilicone. michelle bachmann weighed in on solyndra during a visit today to the bay area: the minnesota congresswoman drew about 150 supporters who paid at least $600 today to have breakfast with her. >> this is in any indication of how stimulus money is used we need to reject the stimulus the president is proposing now. >> bachmann has two other campaign events in california tomorrow. california voters have lost confidence in the job performance of the u.s. congress. 86% of voters said they disapproved of congresses job performance. six months ago that number was 71%. california's two long time u.s. senators did not fair much better. voter opinion of senators

dianne feinstein and barbara boxer also has slipped. 41% of voters said they disapprove of senator feinstein's job performance. that's down from 48%. senator barbara boxer won approval from 39% of voters compared to 42% back in march. shares of los gatos shares slipped today. they plan to lose 100 million more subscribers than originally thought. the news sent netflix stock plunging. some of the bay area's biggest tech companies are also the best places for working mothers. cisco, dell, hp and intel made working mother magazine best companies. they looked at paid maternity leave and flexible time off. three years into the

housing crisis, foreclosures are still ravages bay area neighborhoods. the organization says from 2008 to 2012 san jose is projected to lose $22 billion in home values and 43,000 homes will have been foreclosed on. >> these banks have to defer some loans. that's the way to do it. defer part of the loan until things get better. >> reporter: the decline in property tax revenue also affects residents who wind up having to pay more for basic city services. this is not the wing of a cargo plane but soon it'll be delivering something to your house at the speed of light. i'm consumer editor tom vacar, that story still ahead. and your weekend is just around the corner. i'm going to show you which day on the weekend will be the warmest. one of them is going to warm up significantly. i'll see you back here in 10.

bones found in an irrigation ditch east of discovery bay are human remains. the coroner's office says a farm worker found the bones yesterday afternoon in a ditch at a corn field near the border with san joaquin county. an anthropologist is now working to determine if the bones belong to a native american. there is no word yet if they are the bones of a male or female. there is concern tonight about an increase in dogs attacking each other at one berkeley park. some dog owners say aggressive dogs are attacking other dogs at alony park. now city officials are thinking about splitting the park into two sections, one far smaller dog, the other for larger breeds. but there is no official proposal just yet. governor brown says he started plowing through the 600 bills on his desk with just over three weeks to make a

final decision. he has threatened to veto many of those bills. meanwhile, the jarvis association fired back that republican lawmakers are under their control. >> i think it's some what ironic that he throws throws this out. two toxic sites have been identified. the new irea mine affects water ways leading to the san joaquin river and san francisco bay. a federal government will now investigate and clean out the waste at the sites. renewable energy in the bay area took a big step forward today as pg & e dedicated a

giant wind farm. new at 6:00. ktvu consumer editor tom vacar live from sherman island to show us how truly big it is, tom. >> reporter: big indeed. solano county calls this area over here the montezuma hills. it should be called the land of the giants. utility scale wind electricity generation is enormous especially here in solano county montezuma hills. this generator tips the scales at 70-tons twice that of a semi loaded truck. builders of the project says this blade set that spins the generator weighs in at 35-tons. >> a project like this is a world class sized project. serves about 50,000 homes, 100 mega watts,. >> reporter: the whole complex here is much larger. >> yes, this is approaching 100 mega watt, this will be 150 mega watts. >> reporter: so how big is big?

consider just one blade, half as long as a football field. at the top of the spin, the blades are 100 feet over the ground below. ironically many years ago, pg & e planned to build a coal plant right where this windmill stands. today it means less dependency on fossil fuels. >> they can produce power at about the same cost for kilowatt hour as conventional sources. >> reporter: the big draw back those, the best ones don't blow at the same time when the power is needed most. so some of the efficiencies are lost, but researchers are working on ways to store that energy as we do now in

batteries. reporting live, consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. santa clara police are warning tonight about a rash of bicycle thefts. the majority of the bikes were stolen from balconies. many of the bikes had been left unlocked making them a tempting target. caltrans and amtrak took their message of rail safety to the state capital today. in the past three years, 300 people have died along railroad tracks in california. that's the highest tally rate in the nation. rail and highway officials are urging pedestrians and drivers to wait until the train has passed. and welcome back, a look at live storm tracker 2. we're showing showers up in the mountain. much less activity than we saw yesterday or the day a story we

before. a little activity in the river. it's dying down. that's good news for firefighters. because literally the last four or five days we've had in the mountains thunderstorms activity and of course that is a fire concern. we have breaking at the cost right now. clearing in some coastal sections. but the fog mows back in late tonight with a strong on shore wind. you start off your friday like you started off your thursday. plenty of fog and low clouds. if you're hitting the bus stop tomorrow morning and you're in richmond or san rafael. kids are going to want their jackets because it is definitely going to be cool as you get going. afternoon temperatures warm as well. but not that much. tomorrow is a lot like today. temperature wise, maybe a little warmer, maybe a little cooler. but it's almost a flat line into tomorrow. you get into the weekend and this high pressure sets up. there's a little bit of a number on the temperatures and sends them upward. not hot but mid-80s. maybe some upper 80s. sunday right now is going to be your hottest day on the weekend. i think at the coast you're going to see a little bit of

clearing as well. here's your coastal look. a little bit in san jose and by lunchtime it's back in the coast, and there's holes in it so you're seeing some clearing. you see it's really a broad rush. this is where the 70s are. 70s are yellow. 60s are green. so you're going to see lots of 60s mid- and upper 60s around the bay proper. 70s will pop up in places like san helena and fairfield. those will be some of the warmer spots. the forecast highs for the city where you live on friday. not bad. not too far from the average either. 77 in morgan hill, and just a heck of a nice day. this week really has flown by. tomorrow is friday. we have nice weather set up for you. your weekend looks good. sunday warmest day on the bay area week end with the least amount of fog. i have fog both days. your five day forecast with your weekend in view which is

really right there right now. warmest day sunday, next week looks warmer than what we've seen this week. >> all right, looks good. thanks bill. on the heels of a harrowing flight, justice ruth bader ginsburg is appearing right now in hastings college in san francisco. her appearance is closed to cameras but our john sasaki is there. he had a rare chance to see the justice answering questions. so did she talk about yesterday's emergency landing? find out in 30 minutes on tv 36. and bill neukom is talking about leaving the giants. why they're making changes at the top.

fred is in for mark tonight. >> reporter: the defending world champions sell out every game. their merchandise just flies off the shelves yet two differences. the chief operating officer will step down. that suggests there may be trouble in paradise. the giants confirm the current

team president larry bayrd will replace bill nuekum. speculation as to why he's leaving is still blowing in the wind. he says he will share his part of the team but insists he's not being pushed out. >> i didn't have any fixed term in mind when i pushed other things aside and agreed to step in. it seemed to me as though it's come in a real sense pretty much full cycle. i had accomplished what i set out to accomplish. >> this franchise really is stronger than ever. the perspective of winning is formost, always will be. terrell pryor sat home while his agent met with roger

gudel in hopes of changing pryor's five day suspension. right now the suspension well it prevent pryor from practices with the team until october 10th. and you voted so we will travel. we will have a live coverage from fremont tomorrow with highlights at 10. we'll have one of those schools winning their first win of the season. that's sports as we see it. giants 5-0 in the second over colorado. >> never over till it's over. >> keep it going. thanks fred. our coverage continues. ktvu viewers are joining the conversation about ownership changes at the san francisco giants. tell us what you think and is bill nuekum leaving the front office will make a difference out on the field? just look for ktvu channel 2 on facebook.

who wants one of my special homemade brownies? both: i will have one. oh! oh! i'm not going to have one. that's okay. no, no, it's just my tooth. all right. i'll have one.