infections that hospital. >> if you have emphysema, asthma, a crunnic condition -- chronic condition. the air was thick looking. the bay area has been detecting high amounts of air pollution, prompting the need for another spare the air day. they had the highest levels of air pollutants. we continue to have dry stagnant air here in the bay area that is trapping all of the pollution. >> reporter: creating a smog- like effect. he was able to get relieved by medicine. she will ask if there is anything she can do on spare the air day. >> paying attention to it because it is effecting my children. >> reporter: the elderly and

children are most at risk. staying inside won't necessarily help, what will is recognizing the symptoms. reporting live, janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. let's talk about our air quality. our chief meteorologist bill martin is here. what is going on. >> recognize, there is two kinds of spare the airs. spare the air day in the summer month. that occurs because of the reaction of the sun and exhaust from cars. that is the summer months. in the winter months they are talking about particulate matter, wood burning smoke. with high pressure sitting over the top of us and no rain, as you know, this type of weather pattern, with no rain or winds is conducive to the

particulate. kuper hino right here -- cupertino, this is surrounded by the hills to the west. you can the hills by bolder creek. the particulate, when people burn wood, the particulate burns in here. there is not strong winds so it sits in the valleys. reno, denver has a problem with this. in this case there is no way for the wind to blow it out. as long as the high pressure stays we will deal with more spare the air night and more days ahead. i will see you back here with the five-day forecast in the weather segment. >> the weather is cooperating tonight for drivers heading back home after the weekend.

interstate 80 and it is smooth sailing eastbound and westbound. not unusual for 5:00 on a week day. but lot of people have today off. aaa predicted 92 million people would hit the road. 1.4% increase over last season. interstate 280. light traffic here as well. and highway 101 in san francisco, once again we see a lot of cars going above the speed limit. traffic looks good right now. let's find out about the airports. ktvu's lauren blanco has more. >> reporter: frank, we have been checking the monitors all day long and as you can see, departures all on time. arrivals mostly on time. a few are early right now.

any problems today had little to do with flights. >> reporter: she isn't happy about losing her doll but mom is overioid by the travel from new york to san francisco. >> weather there is great. weather is nice here. it is good. >> reporter: the flights on the carriers on this holiday are mostly on time. some ahead of schedule. >> the luggage takes the longest. >> reporter: she visited chicago. the ease of her travel back and forth made the time with family more sweet. >> think of it differently. coming back each time it is a different experience. >> reporter: now, although travel is up, aaa reports that air travel for california is

down 10% this year from last year. that might account for some of the ease here. >> we called oakland, they said things are running smoothly. a live picture here at san jose, we talked to the airport this afternoon and they are reporting no problems or delays as well. all of the airlines seem to be running on time. airlines will have to tell the truth and nothing but the truth when it comes to airfares. tom vacar will explain the changes and how they will effect you. 2 election 2012. on the eve of the iowa caucuses, they are trying to get their supporters to the polls with friends and family. tori campbell is live to show

us the last minute push. >> reporter: the candidates are scrambling around right now. easy to tell we are less than 24 hours out to the iowa caucuses. you will see ad after ad and what is interesting, we talked to the voters, many haven't made up their minds yet. >> they want to keep looking and convince themselves. >> he echoes what many are feeling. confusion and uncertainty. in 2007, he was the political directer for the republican party. >> they might have it in their heart but they like to wait. >> reporter: voters no different than those around the country. they shifted from one to the next but tomorrow night they are going to have to make a decision. let's talk to some of the voters. >> reporter: are you decided?

>> no. not yet. >> the current field of candidates is really good. hard to make a choice on who we are going to vote for. i think lot feel that way. >> i think i think where i am at but i could change my mind tomorrow. >> mitt romney at 24%. ron paul 22%. and rick santorum at 15%. it has been an unusual primary season, not one candidate has taken a commanding lead. >> i think iowa takes pride in the candidates. >> but they might be narrowing the field on their own. >> any last minute kind of thoughts? >> i thought you were going to ask me for a prediction. [ talking at the same time ] [ laughter ] >> ron paul, mitt romney, and rick santorum i expect they will be the top three.

on caucus night. >> reporter: that is probably a safe bet but it is interesting to say too scary to make a prediction because we know the candidates are still campaigning. it is not over till it is over. we will see tomorrow. >> thank you. party leaders are setting their sites on mitt romney. mitt romney is in the lead and as of now the most likely nominee. the democrats are fanning out across iowa and attacking mitt romney by raising questions about his back ground. democrats say his economic vision is out of touch with the needs of americans. president obama and his family are wrapping up their vacation in hawaii. they are scheduled to fly back overnight. then the president plans to hit the ground running on his

campaign. he will hold a live web chat tomorrow night as the republicans are counting their votes and on wednesday the president will travel to cleveland. our coverage continues on our website if you want to see a slide show of the iowa caucuses, log on to www.ktvu.com and click on the gallery. iran test fired two more missiles today in the straight. the chief says the drill proves it has control of the water that serves as a passage way for the world's oil supply. the test are a sign they could strike bases in the region if attacked. >> means we are able to announce our missile systems are so powerful that we could hit any target anytime if it is necessary. >> president obama signed new sanctions into law on saturday and against financial

institutions that deal with iran's central bank. at one school in san francisco they have an unplanned extra day off because of this massive fire that broke out down the street from the school last month. ktvu's david stevenson tells us, the school was damaged. because of the fire, they had to close down its main entrance. school officials are racing to get it ready to reopen. >> reporter: the school was supported to start its spring semester tuesday. movers today are hustling boxes into classrooms. these are items salvaged of a fire that engolfed three buildings -- engulfed three buildings. >> you see the people that lost their homes, the remains ofmains of the fire.

>> reporter: the building suffered $25,000 in water damage and blown out window. >> we feel very fortunate that our school is still in tact. we weren't in session. >> the timing couldn't have been worst. the school just moved many of its classrooms in here. the school director says they temporarily lost 50% of their space. >> what we lost is our school library, art studio, cafeteria, meeting space. >> reporter: the students also now have limited playground space. they will be taken to parks for activities. >> postponed the start of school a day so that we could bring the staff back together tomorrow and absorb what

happened. >> the school posted on its website items they are hoping they people will contribute to help them open. reporting live, david stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. fire investigators are still looking to what sparked a fire in san francisco that left a dozen people without a place to stay. broke out last night at 8:00. it started in a cove between the homes and spread to a third house. all three homes suffered serious damage. >> we don't know how the fire started. everybody got out safely. >> investigators say the area where the fire starticide being treated as a crime scene. >> in los angeles, police made an arrest in a string of 53

fires that terrorizeed the area. the suspect was captured on surveillance video. police say they stopped this this morning in a van that matched a description given by a witness. they found items in the van that are used to start and spread fires. >> they are investigating him to see what he was doing in the area, where he was going. checking to see his stories match-up and looking at what similarities his location was with the fires that occurred. >> authorities declined to provide details about the arrest, saying they don't want to jeopardize the investigation. something new at this year's rose parade, what happened when the occupy movement hit the parade route. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

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the rose parade was fallowed by a protest in southern california. occupy protesters took to the streets. [ music playing ] >> reporter: today's rose parade had all the usual but what came after was new. hundreds of people calling themselves occupy the rose parade marched after the parade hoping to draw attention to these protests have been putting in the spotlight for months now. >> reporter: the occupiers were peaceful, while spreading their message. they carried the mock up of the constitution and a second display titled we the corporation. many spectators ignored the

occupiers but one yelled get a job and you had your 15 minutes. one joined the march as it passed. three truck loads of los angeles sheriff's deputies road after the protests. there is that camera. the san francisco 49ers are gearing up for the playoffs but first they get a week off. they are on a first round bye with a win over the st. louis rams. a trick play, fake kick and pass to michael crabtree helped seal the deal. they will play their first game on january 14 and will face new orleans, the giants or the falcons. tickets go on sale tomorrow, you can also catch the game live right here ktvu.

monta ellis took leave to attend his grandmother's funeral. he had 18 points today in the warriors 102-91 loss to the suns. the first winter snow survey is set for tomorrow. because of how dry it was last month expectations are low. experts will be out checking the snow survey. they will do that in an area at echo cement. this has been one of the driest decembers in the area in 100 years with a few inches of snow for the entire month. turning to bay area weather. >> warmer than we would like it to be. frank was just talking about the water survey and it is going to be low. i was up there this week and talking to the folks, and it has been cold.

they are making snow. some of the major resorts run out of water to continue making snow. another bit to this story of the lack of rain in the bay area and snow in the mountains. that is how it goes. the long range forecast isn't bringing rain anytime soon. i have to say that is bad news. as we go through time, dry decembers, one of the driest in many years, 1879 in san francisco, third driest since 1849. it will have to start raining hard to get us to where we need to be. tomorrow mild. dry. what do we get with the dry weather? the spare the air night, we will keep seeing those.

the smoke that burns, people have to burn their fires. below average temperatures at night and above average during the day. a very big shift in our weather pattern for december and now going into january it will continue for the first few weeks. current temperatures. day time highs have been above average for december and below average for the morning hours, overnight lowes and that averages out to not a big change. the forecast for fog tomorrow stays in the forecast. fog, it will be in the spots, a lut of folks -- a lot of folks getting back to work tomorrow, you will find valley fog. not widespread yet but it will develop more each night. i will have the five-day forecast and we will see if we

could dig up rain for you. the moon is hosting two visitors. they arrived on new year's eve and new year's day. they will go around the moon till june. they will be working together to study lunar gravity. scientists celebrated the arrivals. there was no champagne buzz the lab near los angeles has a no alcohol on campus policy. the man hunt in a national park is over, police believe they found the body of a man accused of shooting a ranger and banana sam back at the zoo, what the zoo is saying about his disappearance. and guess who is now on twitter? what rupert murdoch is tweeting about and how many followers he has.

a body found in the snow at mount rainier national park is the man that killed a park ranger yesterday. a plane searching for benjamin barnes discovered his body lying fosdown on the mountp this morning. the 24-year-old is believed to have fled to the park after a shooting at a new year's eve house house party. authorities suspect he later

shot ranger margaret anderson. >> kind person. hard worker. always had a smile. >> benjamin barnes had training and armed when he entered the park. authorities evacuated 100 visitors while they were searching for him. the mother of benjamin barnes' child said he was angry and sue cital and may have suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder. a debate that allows loaded weapons in a national park. gunneras lowed in all but 20 of the park services 392 locations. before 2010 fire arms at mount rainier national park were required to be put away so they weren't accessible. rupert murdoch joined twitter. he began two days ago and has

56,000 followers. he tweeted about the steve job's biography. aretha franklin is getting mary. she said she is engaged to her long-time companion. they got engaged over the holidays. the wedding is planned for this summer in miami beach. this will be her third marriage. banana sam's brief fling at freedom is over but now the mystery remains, who helped him escape. new law on smoking in alameda, the few places where smokers will still be allowed to light up. in a shopping cart. so 2005. wait, what? and only 3 likes? honey, it's embarrassing.

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complete bay area news coverage continues, this is ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. the first pictures tonight of banana sam, that monkey that was found after being stolen from the san francisco zoo and there are questions about the man who found the monkey. ktvu's rita williams telless us how banana sam is doing -- tells us how banana sam is doing now. >> reporter: zoo officials say they are relieved. >> banana sam was back behind doors today. his fling with freedom is now over. >> i was surprised to see he looked good. my first glance was relief because he looked clean and healthy. >> just to be sure banana sam was quarantined today away from the 17 other squirrel monkeys.

>> keepers arrived on friday morning and they found there was a breach in security in this area. there were two holes that was cut. >> reporter: late the next day, new year's eve a man saw the monkey here and lured it into his back pack. police are investigating whether that man or someone else is responsible for the escape. lot of people tell us they came to the zoo hoping to banana sam but all they saw was another kind of primate in his cage. >> what was the name? >> banana sam. >> reporter: like your name, sam? >> yep. >> i told them the story of banana sam so he wanted to come and see him. >> reporter: zoo workers spent the day repairing the enclosure and after 3:00 reopened the squirrel monkey exit minus

banana sam. with any luck the celebrity sam should be back around with his friends in just a few days. reporting live in san francisco, rita williams, ktvu channel 2 news. $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the rest in the shooting death of a 5-year-old boy. he was outside his family's taco truck friday night when a customer started shooting. he got into a car with a woman and drove off. he is the third youngster to die in oakland since august of gunfire. an investigation to see if alcohol was a factor in a crash that happened. authorities say two cars collided at 1:00 this morning. one car then veered off, hit a pole and clipped the front of a wells fargo branch. the driver of that car appeared to be drunk. >> you could tell he was drunk.

he was really drunk. screaming and hollering. >> reporter: he jumped out of the car? >> yeah. going around help, rep. crazy. >> a woman was injured and had to be taken to the hospital. >> a smoking ban is taking effect today in alameda and people are calling it fran tastic and crazy. ktvu's lorraine b on the controversy. the city might still be closed for the holidays but smokers in alameda are fuming. >> the police are already losing all of their work force, complaining about cuts, but now they got to patrol and enforce a law for somebody smoking on the sidewalk. crazy. >> you can still by cigarette but you won't be able to smoke

them in front of the store. one of the places you can smoke, the rear patio of a bar but the law effects multiunit housing. they can't light up in common areas. >> i don't see how they can do that or enforce it. messed up. might create conflict with neighbors. you know? >> reporter: families enjoying the great outdoors say it is a great breath of fresh air. >> my kid, one has asthma and it is fantastic. i can't ask for more than that. good and helps our health and the environment. the cost for breaking the law, $100 to $500. lorraine b, ktvu channel 2 news@. >> plastic bags are now banned in san jose, including grocery stores and paper bags will cost

210 cents. some retailers are offering incentives. safeway is giving away one free bag per customer while supplies last at its san jose store. organizers of the suffer cont test want to make sure no one gets hurts. it opened this weekend. preparing for a plan to expand the port for potential corgo and fairy service- officials say it will create new jobs for the area, supporters say the location, puts it in a unique position to serve the peninsula and the

valley. same-sex legal unions are now legal in hawaii. >> you are legally joined as partners in life. [ cheers and applause ] >> four same-sex couples exchanged vows. hawaii's governor signed a law allowing civil unions. five states recognize same-sex civil unions. six others allow same-sex marriage. the family of bryan stow issued a new statement. they are thanking all of the people who sent christmas presents and cards. they are now prayering their pain will ease in the new year. therapists are working with him. they are teaching him how to speak and move again. the family admits he may never fully recover from last year's beating. climbing back out, which

industry is looking at strong sales this year? plus the simple step that can help people who are battling depression. are you on a new diet? the one thing researchers say you need to know to lose the weight and keep it off. [people chatting] everyone, it's $37 a piece. paying with your smart phone instead of cash. that's a step forward. with chase person-to-person quickpay, you can send money directly to your friend's checking account. all you need is their email address or mobile number. don't worry honey, i'll show you. thanks everyone.

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france is trying to become greener, they want more electric cars on the road. the post office also begun the use of electric delivery vans. they have four electric cars and there is a new car sharing program with 3,000 environmentally friendly vehicles. costs under $7 for the first half hour. >> prices at the gas pump on the way up but demand in california are down. in san francisco gas is averaging $3.68 a gallon. oakland $3.63. san jose $3.60. right now gas in the bay area is 30 cents higher than last year which may account for a 2% decrease in california in the last few months of 2011. auto sales are expected to

increase. analysts predict brisk sales do to lower interest rates. millions of drivers are expected to buy vehicles this year, which translates to more jobs and overall growth. they are set to release their sales numbers wednesday. authorities in georgia are trying to find the person who has been putting syringes in clothes at a walmart store. the latest discovered in a pair of slippers last month. no one was injured, however in two earlier cases needles pierced the skin of customers. investigators now are reviewing surveillance video from the store to find a suspect. >> helping others can help battle your blues. doing something nice for someone else for 5 minutes can be an effective treatment for depression. they call these positive activity interventions. helping someone with their

groceries, writing a thank you note may leave you feeling good for a few minute but say that is significant for someone with depression. the centers for disease control has new guidance. changing long held behaviors is a key to weight loss. some life changes are exercising daily, checking your weight weekly and keeping track of your physical activity. only 20% of americans who tried to lose weight will actually keep it off. >> new research is confirming findings that a lot of exercise can lead to better grades for students. increased oxygen and blood flow to the brain is connected with exercise. each study involved 50-1200 children. physically active school children do better in the

classroom. just about three weeks new law takes effect. truth in ticketing. i am consumer editor tom vacar what you will get still ahead. and fog along the coast, clearing off quickly but patchy fog returns tonight. i will have your five-day forecast with your weekend in view.

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who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty good. hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today. sears have given 5,000e pods and ipod touches in hopes of turning the store around.

it is ramping up its web operations and gathering more information about customers buying pattern. they announced it is closing 120 scores a kmart locations after a drop in sales. something airline passengers waited for for a long time is about to come true. ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar is live at oakland international airport with truth in ticketing. >> reporter: the airlines brought it on themselves. soon whenever advertising or selling, they have to tell all, no more flying blind. >> reporter: stung by fee after ad on, consumers convinced congress there needs to be truth in advertising. >> not later when you hit the purchase button. >> as of the 26 all airlines

have to disclose optional fees, taxes, surcharns and security fees. >> they will be able to budget more effectively with the real prices. >> even though you can choose not to bring a suit case. >> have to include the baggage fees. >> women, we travel, extra bag or two. >> reporter: a round trip is listed $338. add in the charges, the real cost is $3.85. >> no one wants to pay extra money. cost us enough to fly. everything is expensive. tell us what it is. >> reporter: another new rule. >> if you buy a nonrefundable ticket, you could hold that reservation for 24 hours without paying it.

>> reporter: soon whether looking at an ad or booking your flight, you can compare seat to seat. consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. the light bulb will be disappearing nationwide. many started phasing out the bulbs because of a law requiring bulbs to be more energy efficient. california started its own phase out in january of last year. new fulgiers showing how hard the recession hit the bay area housing market. local homes lost more than a third of a trillion dollars during the past four years. homes in oakland lost $350,000. concord, the loss was $289,000. 205,000 in san francisco.

loans dropped 90% since 2007. >> texting is popular here in the united states but it may be on the decline in other parts of the world. in finland, 8.5 million texts were sent but that is down. texts were also down on christmas day in hong kong and australia. they believe it is because of alternatives like facebook and twitter. >> our chief patchy fog. >> patchy, coastal fog. it is real patchy. valley fog returns tonight and business as usual in this dry weather pattern. december, dry. as we move into january, the long range models, out 10 days, dry. that could change as the runs

change. right now it is a dry looking weather pattern. weak weather system today. these were the temperatures. 64 napa. 57 in san jose. highs tomorrow, high pressure sets up, warmer than these. weather system slid through. in the pacific, it looks like something is going on out there but not really. what is going on is a deep low- pressure system. generating giant waves. big surfs starting tomorrow night through friday and for the next week. the maverick's contest, the weather condition should be right for that. we stay dry into tuesday and it is a repeat of what we have been seeing. i was in tahoe, looking around,

and everybody said this is eerie, 61 degrees. it is unusual for this pattern, and when it is warm up there like that, not a lot of snow, not what you expect. no rain. hazy sunshine tomorrow in the san jose area. spare the air night tonight. that means no wood burning. highs tomorrow, 62. 64 fairfield. 62 hayward. i think we are enjoying this weather. it is nice. i am feeling guilty because i am liking it. come summer it is not a good plan. we need water and we are not doing well. there is your bay area weekend in view. no rainfall. >> you talked about how dry it is, a couple days ago we weren't talking this is a drought condition. it will take a couple good storms. >> you are right.

we can get back to where we need to be with big rain. if it doesn't rain between now and summer, we had so much rain last summer, the ground water that sits, it is full and that is good news. thank goodness for last year's rain. we need rain. >> thank you. jump now? >> yes. >> "mission impossible - ghost protocol" $31.3 million. the film is helping hollywood finish a tough year. "mission impossible - ghost protocol" was followed by "sherlock holmes: a game of shadows" and christopher colletta and "war horse" and "the girl with the dragon tattoo" $16.3 million. china lost its first 3

dimensional tv channel. it includes four documentaries and some live events. japan, south korea and india launched similar channels. hundreds of dead black birds have fallen from the sky birds have fallen from the sky in a town in the south

hundreds of dead black birds turned up in arkansas again. authorities sell cnn someone set off fire works on new year's eve near the birds' roost, that caused the birds to scatter and crash into each other. last year fire works were blamed for causing thousands of birds deaths. be on the alert for a scam that is targeting people looking for a vacation rentals. a woman said someone on craigslist cheated her out of $900. she paid the person who she thought was the owner but when they got to the house another renter was already there. she says there were some clues looking back. >> there was something wrong with the check and he couldn't

cash it and he asked me to wire him the money. >> the real homeowner said he had no idea his vacation house was used in a scam. anyone using craigslist should be careful, especially when it comes to cash transactions. supporters of open carry aren't ready to lock up their guns yet. the tactics they are using, plus teachers gave up their day off to get this school ready for students. the fire damage that is pushing back crucial time in the classroom.

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open carry is outlow and now the fight for enthusiasts. complete bay area news coverage starts right now, this is ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00. i am frank somerville. >> i am julie haener. >> the new year dealt them a blow, out lawing their ability to carry a hand agun in california. ktvu's ken pritchett is live with the new fight they are

waging tonight. >> reporter: we are here to illustrate a point. throughout california it could be easy or difficult to get a concealed weapon's permit. some of them shifted their focus to make it easier to get a concealed weapon. >> absolutely. >> reporter: today there is a cell phone, not a gun on his hip but that doesn't mean he thinks the ban will work. he says the law designed to stop open carry is full still q these exemptions to continue to open carry. >> reporter: one exemption is if the gun is warn during a video production, which would include this interview. but they are celebrating. >> i think it is a big relief