>> complete bay area news coverage starts right now. this is ktvu channel 2 news at what caused the fire. ktvu's lorain joins us with what we know so far.

lorain? >> reporter: seeing from the outside, it's hard to tell that a deadly fire happened here this morning. the only sign is a notice to keep off the property and a little smoke damage near the roof of the home out here. al a regular basis.

ktvu channel 2 news. a man says smoke detecters saved man's life overnight. >> i got my family and that's what counts. the house can always get repaired. >> him and his family were settling down after a big christmas celebration on river pine circle. he saw a wall of flames when he opened the garage door. he got the family and dog out of the home. fire officials say there is a lesson to be learned here. >> working smoke detecters is important. they've saved people's lives. >> one person was slightly hurt when she was trying to run from the fire. we have new information about the woman that threw her son out of a 2 story window. lou pita on charges of deadly

weapon and child abuse. by the time officers could break out the door, she jumped out herself. the boy suffered from bruises and woman broke both her feet. suffered extreme emotional distress. fog around the the san jose bridge. people are out making

returns and bargains. allie rasmus has been out there and looks at how busy it is. >> reporter: it is. we are at broadway plaza at walnut creek and people are passing these store fronts. just about every store has a sale sign in the window. >> i spent more in a day than i did before christmas. >> reporter: it's exactly what many retailers hope to hear as they prepare for the busiest shopping day of the season. they put up sale signs and customers were ready. >> i try to avoid shopping because i don't like the big crowds, but i feel like the deals that i heard about were too good to pass up. >> reporter: lisa wang spent a chilly night in front of the h

& m store, a promotion with free gift cards going to the first in line for the store. they all shuffled to h & m when it opened two hours early at 8:00. >> it's going to be pretty crowded. but hopefully it won't be that crowded. >> reporter: surveys point to a busy day for retailers. 50% of american hit stores today compared to 40 last year. 60% think today. >> i don't even think it was on sale and went to the register and it was. so it was worth the effort. >> reporter: stores want to clear out some of their winter inventory, things like hats and coats are on sale today. the success depends on how much

shoppers spend today. >> looks like you took advantage of the sales allie. thanks so much. a lot of shoppers are carrying bags on january 1st in one of bay area's big cities. we're going to have the report for you in just about 7 minutes. while we found plenty of shoppers out there morning at target in emoryville, most people were snagging the bargains. they were taking advantage of the half price trees and getting stuff for next year. drew people out in pleasantton. to catch those after-christmas sales and somewhere did even more shopping. >> i got to go to return shoes from macy's for my lady. it's going to be difficult with crazy dust customers.

it's part of the holidays so it's fun. >> biggest day of the year behind black friday and christmas eve. gift card sales continue to climb but 40% of all gift cards go unused every year which equates to billions of dollars. the state of california doesn't allow expiration dates. today is gift card exchange today, awareness of the cards. stole from a company. anonymous boasted in on an line posting that it stole thousands of credit card information from clients. their role was to take money from accounts and give to

charitable donations. they've seen unauthorized transactions on their credit card accounts. a family in southern santa clara county is making an emotional plea after a heartful cry. made off with the family's christmas presents. think they also stole their beloved dog, named sharkey. this makes a painful holiday season. >> one request. >> he means a lot to me. i really love him. just give him back. >> they have been able to get fingerprints for test that could lead to arrest. well, you can't pick up, but you get ahead. one medical marijuana reinvented itself. : the fog continues to finger. rose will be here to tell us how much things are going to

be. preparing to make big changes. closed captioning brought to you by ram.

well, shoppers in london packed department stores this morning. look at them run in there.

it is boxing dale sale, one of the most popular stores. shopping center in northwest london said 10,000 people came through its door in the first hour it was open. now, there was initially some concern about post-christmas sales because of the london subway workers. two had been suspended making it difficult for londonners to get around. president obama, pope benedict, are denouncing the attack in nigeria that killed others. a string of killings including a catholic church. it's believed to be as high as 40 deaths, but not sure yet. the new york times and other say it has ties to al qaeda. mitt romney has a lead over his rivals in new hampshire.

the university of new hampshire poll said romney has 39% of support from lightning gop voters and newt gingrich and ron paul are tied at 1%, john huntsman at 11%. takes place on january 10. before the new hampshire primary is the iowa caucuses, that's on january 3rd and that's leading all the candidates to start a major push for august goers. michelle bachmann and rick perry are expected to go this week. the leading candidate right now in iowa is gingrich. looming businesses, the rule takes effect this sunday. but eric rasmussen found out that not everyone is ready. >> reporter: it's a familiar sound at the lions super market that's about to go away.

the asian grocery stores affected by a city wide ban on single use plastic bags starting next week. it means big adjustment. >> i use it for trash and carrying things around. i'll have to stock up on garbage bags. >> reporter: first banned out of concern for the environment, but made the ban even tougher requiring all retailers not just grocery stores to follow it. fines for those who don't can go $1000 a day. >> they are posting signs at the register and here on the front door, come january 1st, these bags are history. >> it's a big change for those people. they haven't been, you know, bringing their own bags or paying the bags for so long. >> reporter: suspects they'll bring their own bags, but

there's another. pay for the paper ones, ten cents. >> i'll have to get my own bag now. grocery shopping will be a little more painful. >> other cities have passed plastic bag bans. san francisco started the way and then since then, santa clara and palo alto are approving and others are debating the law. city of san jose has a site, keep reusable bag in the car or by your car keys. keep bags clean by wiping them down with a sponge and mild soap and return any plastic

bags to the grocery store to be recycled. police believe alcohol caused a wreck last night. driver slammed. shut off the water line and were taken for minor injuries. later went to jail on dui charges. next happened in andrew. crashed into a street sign in 150th and freedom avenues. it triggered frontside air bags. both on dui charges. medical marijuana act is going to patients on pot clubs. according to the chronicle, medithrive is now a delivery only service after forced to

close its brick and mortar. many have all turned to deliveries. a san mateo county is holding his annual contest which could end up with a new law. it's the ought to be a law contest. what they think should be a law here in the state. the winner will get to testify. applications can be found at the web site, just go to ktvu.com. part is starting a new planning project to see what service should look like 40 years from now. report the project is called the metro concept. a study at how the transit agency can make service better for commuters. that could mean new stations and around the clock service. 7 to 8 months and followed by

the series of town hall meetings for public input. good afternoon to you. a cloudy cold start to the morning and for some of us, that hasn't changed. giving you a live look outside our doors where we are fogged in the bay. to the north, nasa reporting mostly sunny skies. mostly sunny at this point. you can see just outside the bay. oakland, hayworth, mountain view, san francisco, all reporting fog and low clouds still at this time progressing through the afternoon. it looks like it's going to attempt to pull back and burn off, but we got some short days, not likely to see it burn off completely. so a slow burnoff at that, actually, most of us should be mostly cloudy for most of the day. 46 for right now.

47 santa jose. livermore, you're seeing a nice rebound. what brought on this fog and patchy frost for our cooler spots ? we got a switch in our weather pattern in the surface at the up shore flow. winds are now up shore with a possibility of a few sprinkles although it looks like the system will be dry. tuesday and wednesday's system will continue to push to the east. we anticipate the possibility of maybe some showers. the models are now trending pretty dry. take a look here at 5:00 this afternoon, we are still in the clouds and the fog. back it up here because i want to tell you what's going to happen in the next couple of days. we wake up with mostly cloudy weather then. we are going to have the clouds

from this system bring us extra moisture. we may extra rainfall, but for the most part, we'll be dry. low 50s for the north bay this afternoon as well as the south boy, upper 50s, we'll see some of the warmest spots see. so now we see how the weather pattern works with partly cloudy skies. we'll be back on thursday and friday, could use that rain. >> i know, nothing in the sierra either? >> no, they're dry everywhere. okay, thanks, we'll take it. brian is now participating in decisions about his health care. suffered brain damage after beating on the dodgers statement. they repeatedly asked ryan before agreeing to do the

interview. the family said ryan is back on a feeding tube following a recent infection but was able to eat mash potatoes and gravy on christmas. celebrating an extra merry christmas for a woman who won a million dollars from a scratch ticket. four more won more than $155,000 each in the megamillion lottery. 8, 3, 5, 29, 18, and actually, then the 14 is your meganumber there. nobody who bought a ticket had the mega number. that mean's tomorrow's jackpot, $206 million if you're looking to play. so with all the traveling going on this week, we have been checking the gas prices for you. when we come back, you'll get the latest on bay area fuel prices and then a mixture of

good and bad news.

an earthquake caused a minor shake-up today in san andrew. just before 6:30 this morning but no reports of damage or injuring. people will be paying more for gas.

you're taking a live look at traffic in san jose. according to a.a.a., average price is $3.55. a month ago, they were paying in the $3.70s. it's $3.64 in san francisco. a year ago, they were in the $3.30s. there are airports seeing much lower numbers. but that is not the case at san francisco international numbers. numbers at sfo are on track to pass its 2000 record of 41 million travelers just this holiday. that boasts a 5% increase in traffic and friday was the busiest day with more than 134,000 passengers and from now until january 2nd, and they're expecting more than 40 million travelers pass the gate.

take a look at those waters. thousands of dolphins in the waters of that country. they migrate there because of the climate and the environment. there are more than 15 dolphin varieties that can be found in that water right now. well, two well-known bay area charity groups are making the holiday a little lighter. enjoyed a hot christmas meal at the memorial church yesterday. hundreds of volunteers cooked large portionsover turkey, ham, potatoes. but much more needs to be done to help everyone during these tough times. thousands serve in san francisco. well, tonight at 5:00, bracing for the cold and it is cold out there. and it's going to get worse, below freezing in parts of the bay area tonight. what you need to know and how

the homeless shelters are getting ready. thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. join us at 5:00. we are here at ktvu.com and local ktvu.com. have a great monday everyone. bye-bye.