a major milestone for a bay area landmark as crews begin a new phase of construction on the eastern span of the bay bridge. good afternoon. i'm tori campbell. caltrans crews are on the bay bridge right now for that new phase of construction but their main message to drivers is to ignore the construction process and keep their eyes on the road. ktvu's tara moriarty joins us

now on a new perspective. >> reporter: good afternoon. we're right here on the brand- new bay bridge where they will be installing that cable this week. if we swing to our left, you see the blue structure, that's the hauling system which will lay the cable all the way up through the tower up there. we want to show you an animated video to give you an idea of how the crews the cable. they will loop each strand around the cable 120 times. the first strand will take about two days to put in place. after they get more comfortable with the process, crews will probably lay two or three strand as week. >> this is not your grandmother's suspension bridge. we'll be pulling hole strands of the wire. with the golden gate, the west span of the bay bridge and even the zampa that was built back in 2002. they pulled individual wires across to make up those big

cables. >> for four -- for our new bridge, we're gonna pull the strand. >> there are 100 steel wires in a strand. more than 17,000 wires altogether stretching over a mile weighing more than 10 million pounds. the spools of wire are loaded onto the deck and the workers will use a zinc paste to combine the work -- bind the work. you might notice crews out at night. that's because inspectors will be double-checking the work and again back here live, if you take a look to the left of the new span here, that's the old span. a lot of the folks will be driving wanting to take a look. but the chp as well as caltrans is reminding folks not to do that, drive the speed limit up there. keep your eyes on the road. if you are interestinged -- interested in taking a look at the progress, you can log on to

the website. tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. >> another note on the bay bridge. the chp is stepping up enforcement on the s-curve. outside fund has allowed officers to carefully watch that dangerous stretch of the band. they will be acting as a visual deterrent and slowing -- down drivers if necessary. there were some tense moments outside an oakland hotel where police arrested a robbery suspect. it happened at the imperial inn. fremont police surrounded the motel and served and arrest warrant for a man wanted for robbery. a scare at oakland international airport ended without anyone getting hurt. a corporate jet reportedly had an electrical power as it approached at 1:00 a.m. with two people on board. the plane landed safely. a fire seriously damaged

another plane, this time in hayward. it happened just before 11:00 a.m. at the hayward executive airport. fire crews doused the flames. the airport says a maintenance crew was working on the plane inside a hangar when the engine caught fire. they were able to push the plane out of the hangar before the flames spread. no one was hurt. smoke from the fire also damaged some helicopters that were parked nearby. there was a very close call at a church in hercules. a parishioner lost control of a minivan at 10:00 last night and crashed into the nursery at the full gospel fellowship. thankfully, no children were inside. witnesses say the church had just ended a holiday event and the children had just left with their parents. no one was injured. the extent of the structural damage to the church is still not known. the highway patrol is investigating a crash that left one person dead. it happened around 1:00 this

morning on 2 0 in woodside. the chp said the car was speeding when it took the farmhill boulevard offramp. the car slammed into a tree. the driver was ejected and died at the scene. investigators say alcohol may have been a factor in the crash. a san mateo county task force says it's taken down a large marijuana grow operation. the three-month long undercover investigation concluded last thursday. agents carried out five search warrants in san francisco and on the peninsula. they busted two grow houses in daly city and arrested three alleged members of an asian drug trafficking organization in san francisco. they face a variety of drug- related charges. over 640 marijuana plants were seized. agents say they have an estimated vet value of 250,000 -- street value of $250,000. the people of north korea are in mourning this noontime after the death of their

leader, kim jong-il, at the age of 69. north korean government officials broke down in tears at the news of his death. there are concerns the death of the man who was called dear leader will destabilize relations sh south korean. last year, jong-ill indicated his heir, kim jong-un would replace him. >> just because he's young, we have to assume he will be as bad and evil as his father was. >> follows news last night the kim's death, president obama called the president of south korea. this is video of the two leaders in october at a white house press conference. u.s. officials say the president made the phone call to assure south korea of the u.s. commitment to stability and security on the korean peninsula and for sob in

particular. on the same day it released news of kim's death, the north korean government conducted a missile test. south korean says the test occurred off its eastern coast. it's not sure if the missile test was part of the leader's death. it may have been just a regular drill. but south korea still placed its military on high alert. word of kim's death weighed down asian markets due to worries there could be new instability in the region. south korea's kospi dropped 4% at one point. other markets fell this morning. the u.s. markets had a different reaction at least initially this morning. coming up at 12:35, we'll take a look at the numbers live from wall street. a day after the last u.s. troops left the country, the iraqi government is saying it is confident security forces can take off where the u.s.

left off. the gradual pullout of about 500 american troops and 110 vehicles crossing over the kuwaiti border. there will still be a u.s. presence in iraq with some 16,000 people including diplomats, security contractors and nonmilitary personnel. [ cheers and applause ] there was a big homecoming last night. those troops were in afghanistan since just after last christmas. the celebration was bittersweet. shawn wallsh died in combat, from the area. for more, go to ktvu.com and click on the hot topics section. cleanup crewscooping up --

cleanup crews are scooping up the mess after a broken water pipeline. >> reporter: a water pipeline runs between el portal. saturday, that pipe broke sending a wave of water in the neighborhood. >> maybe like a good six feet. it was quite a lot. >> reporter: water just gushing through the street? >> yeah. it looked like a river out there. >> reporter: ail length was up to his ankles. the flooding damaged his home with mud. >> it's day three and i'm still seeing mud on the cars. >> reporter: today, crews sent east bay m.u.d. crews to square off the -- clean up the mess. east bay m.u.d. is in charge of the cleanup. and they are working closely with conocophillips and that's because there is a six-inch line that runs parallel to the

main. >> we want to make sure it's not damaged and intact. >> reporter: the gas pipeline was not damaged in the water main break. but some homeowners say they are still worried about it. >> after what happened at san bruno? i was pretty shocked. >> reporter: conoco phyllis says their pipe carries liquid gas, not natural gas. an east bay m.u.d. spokesman said he was not sure how long these repairs would take. and said as of this morning, their crews would not be able to fix the water line because conoco was still working to fix the area around their pipe. the streets are expected to remain closed for at leet the next -- at least the next -- next few days. allie rasmus, ktvu channel 2 news. facebook outgrew it's long- time headquarters in palo alto and began to move to the new facility over the summer. the new site is the sun microsystems campus. facebook has about 3,000

employees. the new facility has room for as many as 3700. and facebook has bought adjacent land that could help house up to more people. coming up in about 15 minutes, why some users are upset about facebook and how a south bay judge has grout the -- brought the face closer to federal court. the occupy oakland plans what it calls an umbrella action in the plaza in front of city hall this afternoon. they say they will show up carrying umbrellas at frank ogawa plaza. it comes after the occupiers tried to put up tents. priss cited people for placing brumes on the ground -- police cited people for placing umbrellas on the ground there. "the chronicle" reports the cost of police overtime alone in this matter has reached more than $500,000. the public works department spent about $37,000 for cleanup

of justin herman plaza. and the parks department has spent $50,000 to help repair damage left behind. police cleared out the encampment almost two weeks ago. coming up -- new information about last week's deadly officer-involved shooting in san francisco. what we're learning about the man who was killed. plus -- a mostly sunny start to the holiday week. but will it last? steve paulson has our forecast. it's time to stop the nonsense. we can resolve these differences. more tension on capitol hill over the payroll tax cut. why house republicans say the senate's version of the bill is dead on arrival.

authorities in san francisco have identified a man fatally shot by police last week. officers say they pulled over 33-year-old steven young for a traffic stop wednesday afternoon. young allegedly fled on foot and exchanged gunfire with officers. he died the next day at san francisco general hospital. a public meeting on the shooting is set for 4:00 this afternoon at the northern police station. san jose police are asking for the public's help to find a man suspected of killing a hell's angels members. officer say steve ruiz was spotted in san jose sometime

late friday or saturday. ruiz is considered armed and dangerous. he's wanted in the murder of a murder rival hell's angel member during a bikes funeral in november. a public memorial service is set for wednesday for san francisco philanthropist warren helman. the sponsor of the grass blue festival died last night from ro complications from leukemia. last week, the city renamed the park speedway to helman hollow. he was 77 years old. a fund-raiser is scheduled for the family of a fallen officer. vallejo police officer jim kapoot was shot and killed last month while chasing a bank robbery suspect. 37-year-old henry albert smith remains by hind bars without bail accused of killing the

officer. the contra costa county peace officers aliiance will hold a fund-raiser for the family at 5:00 at skipalena's pizza. we'll be there and will have a report on ur6 -- on our 6:00 p.m. newsroom. hanging in the balance, the payroll tax, which will go up on january 1st without congressional option. laying -- raising taxes for an estimated 160 million americans. jennifer davis is in washington to explain why the bill won't pass the house. >> the house will be in order. >> reporter: the u.s. house is back in session this week to consider the senate passed payroll tax compromise bill. and john boehner is making it clear, that version is dead on arrival in the house. the house speaker said both chambers need to meet in conference to work out a better plan. i've been around here for a while.

i've seen congress kirk the can down the road and kick the can down the road. it's time to nonthe nonsense. >> reporter: the two-month extension easily passed the senate on saturday with bipartisan support. the president a -- the president applauded the approval dat dat -- the approval idea -- >> this makes a big difference when you are trying to buy groceries or pay the bills. >> reporter: the congress wants a year-extension, as does the house speaker but they disagree on the details. mitch mcconnell says lawmakers can visit a longer sex in february and harry reid said instead of threatening fid -- middle-class families, speaker boehner should step up. he's getting an earful from the caucus who doesn't support a short-term mayor. >> you are our william wallace.

let's get our work done. we're doing that. >> reporter: the first family has already left on their hawaiian holiday but the president says he's staying in town until congress resolves this issue. republican presidential candidate, newt gingrich has come in first in a poll of tea party activists. the group tea party patriots which claims to be the largest tea party organization held a forum by television. in it, gingrich, bachmann, and santorum answered questions and gave a pitch. gingrich receive 3-d 1%, followed by bachmann at 28 -- 31%. followed by bachmann at 2%. the primaries and caucuses put on by these parties are part of an elaborate scam that

will -- >> the threat is reportedly from the anonymous hacking group. precinct caucuses have been instructed to use paper ballots as a backup system. it's a chilly day but people in the bay area will have to skip a nice wood fire tonight. this is the 7th winter spare- the-air day of the season. air quality officials say the cold weather we've been having traps pollution close to the ground. during the winter, wood smoke is the leading cause of air pollution in the region. well, cold and foggy this morning. now sunny. if you are anywhere near the sonoma county airport. they are 65 degrees because of a north wind. we had a little bit of rain this morning, believe it or not. a few sprinkles, a few light showers. that went flying right over the east bay, south bay and santa barbara mountains. it's heading now to southern california where it will start

to develop into another air yauf low pressure. sunshine, windy in the hills. a little breezy. no rain expected but it looks like a pretty good wind event picking up here. good travel here over the next couple of days for this holiday week. you don't have to worry about any rain or snow. occasionally some wind and fog. it's mostly sunny. it will be warmer as we head into this holiday week and as we head to the weekend as well. 49 napa airport, 65, sonoma county airport. yes, that's correct. 62 fairfield because of a north wind. 60 now livermore. yet other areas are still in the 50s or low 50s. it depends if you get a west wind. it's cold, if not, it's getting sunny and warm. the system right there will crank up the wind again tonight as another low drops into southern california. some patchy fog in the valley. it looks like we'll be sunnyside up. except for patchy clouds, mostly sunny to isn't. the wind is cranking you.

temperatures, take your pick. you can go from the 60s to low 50s. that wind in place, we've had gusts to 70 miles an hour in the mount diablo area. it looks like we're 30 to 50 for some of the higher elevations at the surface, it will be breezy. we'll take that warmer into tuesday. about the same wednesday/thursday, maybe some fog thursday/friday. all signs point to another warmup on the weekend, tori, and maybe even record highs. >> i know. >> i know. >> just in time for christmas. >> right. >> thank you, steve. >> you bet. coming up -- facebook braces for another class action lawsuit -- class-action lawsuit. we will tell you what features have some very upset. yeah, i'm married. does it matter? you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal.

jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm? [ jake ] uh... khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪

on wall street, initially stocks were up this morning, but financial stocks really dragging the markets lower, stocks like citigroup and stoergensh -- morgan stanley, down 6%. the main concern is r. there's still some concern about north korea. but there's ongoing stress about the economic outlook for rump. right frow you -- right now, the dow is 105. nasdaq down 31. subpoena down 14 -- s&p down 14. facebook is facing a lawsuit regarding the features that shows their friends what the friends "like." they claim this violates the law and allows them to use --

there's no way to show when they are being used in an ad. facebook asked the judge to dismiss what could become a class-action lawsuit but the suit was refused. a saudi arabian man is investing $300 million in twitter. prince alwaleed bin talal says he has an interest in investing in "promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact." alwaleed bin talal graduated from atherton's menlo college and is one of the richest men in the world. his investment is also a major shareholder in citigroup and has made a large investment in ap small more than 100 people were treat pod a -- apple. more than 100 people were treated to a shopping tree. they were selected by the glide

family services program based on the needs of the family. old navy employees served as personal shoppers helping the kids pick out new winter clothes. tonight at pho, we're keeping -- 5:00, we're keeping a close eye on the tax payer vote. thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. we'll see you the next time news breaks. thanks for watching. ♪

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