[cheers and applause ] excitement outside the courthouse after a federal appeals court ruled that california's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. that is one of the top stories. good afternoon. i'm tori campbell. after months of waiting, the proposition 8 ruling was handed down two hours ago by the ninth circuit court of appeals. the 2-1 ruling declared the ban

is unconstitutional. new at noon, tara .moriarty joins us with reaction and what's next. >> reporter: you can get there will be a lot of celebration in the capital. there is a rally scheduled for 5:00 tonight, and a press conference just wrapped up to let gay couples whn they might officially be able to tie the knot. >> what do we want? marriage equality. >> reporter: the front steps on the federal courthouse, gay marriage supporters anxiously awaited the court's decision. then minutes before 10:00 tears of jubilation and relief. >> it's wonderful to see it in our lifetime, and it's wonderful to be part of the generation that helps to turn the light on for everybody. >> reporter: in a 2-1 ruling, the panel of the u.s. 9th

circuit court of appeals violated the constitution. >> we sat through every at a of the trial with judge walker, and i could not be more excited. >> reporter: this couple, married twice and together for 31 years, it has special meaning. >> my partner and i can sit back one day very soon and watch every gay or lesbian person have the same right that is we had for that little window. >> reporter: the group then marched onto city hall. the architects of prop 8 that limited marriage to between one man and one woman vowed to appeal the decision and take it to the u.s. supreme court. >> 7 million california voters overwhelmingly, you know, supported the only institution that unites kids with moms and dads. >> reporter: butmany gay rights activists here, they say they won't let anyone spoil the hard- fought victory. >> we promise we will stand together until justice is won.

amen. >> amen. >> reporter: it's possible that people could apply for marriage licenses in 21 days, but it's unlikely that gay couples will be able to get married. we will have much more reaction coming up on the news tonight at 5:00. live in san francisco, tara moriarty, ktvu. more details on this morning's ruling. during the past hour, the plaintiffs and attorneys who fought against proposition 8 held a news conference in los angeles. the couples who filed the lawsuit called the decision a victory for freedom and fairness for generations to come. sandy and chris from berkeley say they hope to get married before two twin sons graduate from high school. >> our court sent a powerful message to us and our children and our children's children, and that is we are all equal and deserve the same rights and

matter. >> the attorneys who argued against the ban on marriage say they do expect the case will likely wind up before the u.s. supreme court. the group that launched the fight to preserve proposition 8 and the ban on gay marriage released a statement today. the last part of the statement states "our path to the u.s. supreme court is now very clear. we are confident that the law, history, and the repeatedly expressed will of the american people will eventually gain a fair hearing. and traditional marriage will be upheld and protected." the battle began on november 4, 2008. the next year, the california supreme court upheld prop 8 but in 2010, federal judge walker struck it down saying gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry. last year in california, the supreme court gave prop 8

defenders the right to appeal judge walker's decision, and today, we heard the results of that appeal. but the ruling does not mean gay marriageses can resume right away. >> the majority here strikes down the proposition but leaves in place a stay of the district court's ruling. the district court ruled it was unconstitutional as well. by leaving the stay in place, you cannot surprise gay marriage until the stay is lifted. the stay probably will not be lifted until the supreme court has an opportunity either to grant review or deny review. i would say it will be probably six months to a year at least before you see that. >> to recap the day's decision by a federal appeals court in san francisco, a three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that california's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. that clears the way for a further appeal within the 9th circuit or directly to the u.s. supreme court, and in a separate ruling, the panel said

that the lower court judge, judge vaughn walker, did not have to recuse himself because he is gay. stay with ktvu for continuing coverage on proposition 8 and read the entire court decision on our website. turning to other local news, there are a lot of questions after an officer was shot in newark this morning. police say an off-duty federal agent was shot in the driveway of his own home at the intersection of betten court and mayhews landing road. >> reporter: the home where the shooting happened, tori, is behind us. police had the street closed off to traffic because the newark police criminal evidence ran is parked out in front of the home, and there are tents keeping that area dry. the shooting happened before 6:00 this morning, and when

police arrived, they discovered an off-duty federal agent lying in the driveway of his home. there are evidence markers in the driveway. the agent was suffering from at least one gunshot wound, and police say there was a confrontation leading up to the shooting although they didn't get into what the motive was. we talked with a neighbor who didn't want her face shown, and she told us what she heard before. >> someone said get down on the ground, and then they heard multiple gunshots. >> reporter: how many? >> they say a full magazine, but it's multiple gunshots. >> reporter: the neighbor said after the shooting, she looked out the window and saw a man limping from the scene. police don't know if the suspect was also shot. the victim went to the trauma center in castro valley, and police aren't telling us what condition he's in, and they won't tell us which federal agency he worked for. a police chandzer -- commander

is explaining why the informationy on limited. >> the newark police department is in touch with the agent's home office and ask for security reasons they do not release what federal agency he works for at this time. >> reporter: now, the suspect or suspects involved are still on the loose, but commander douglas said that the neighborhood or the community is not in danger. he today appears that the shooting was a random act. the suspect is described as a tall man with a pronounced limp and in keeping with what the neighbor told us, got away in a small, white mid-sized sedan. anyone with information is asked to call newark police. we will have the number on ktvu.com. a winter storm is actually heading out of the bay area right now but not before causing problems for pg&e crews

and drivers. a hayward man lost control of his van as he tried to get on highway 24 in oakland. he said he may have been driving a little fast for the conditions. when a vehicle started sliding, he fit the curb and flipped. >> as it was happening, i couldn't believe. it sounded fake to me at first, but then after, it was like okay. i'm upside down, and let me get up out of here before something else happens. >> he got out with no injuries and said he is just glad no one got hurt. in san jose, a tree was knocked down and brought down a powerline. pg&e and tree removal crews were out there mixing the problem this morning. about 10 customers were affected, and another power outage left about 900 customers without power. the storm is continuing to move out, tori. the winds have died down, and steady rain turning to

shattered showers. let's head to the east and see some of the scattered light rain showers continuing over oakland and hayward and danville. it makes sense because the storm is moving on the east. so it would be completely clear to you why we have light rain reported over areas of fremont, livermore, pleasant ton, reporting light rain and wins between 5 and 10 miles per hour, and the north bay, a few sprinkles reported around calistoga, st. helena. it's a possibility that we will remain with a little bit of drizzle as well, and we are really not going to see the end of the wet weather until late this afternoon, perhaps into the early evening hours. the rainfall thus far, .65" in santa rosa. .25" in oakland, and san jose

reporting .08". and .44" over the santa cruz mountains. coming up, we'll take a look at the top wind gusts reported in the overnight and early-morning hours as well and when it will be okay to put the umbrella away. >> thank you, and you can stay up to date with weather a letters and our live interactive radar on ktvu.com. just click on the stormtracker 2 tab at the top of the page. an executive with the susan g. komen charity has resigned. karen handel wrote a letter to komen official this is morning saying she had supported cutting off funding for planned parenthood. she ran unsuccessfully for governor of georgia in 2010, campaigning hard for abortion. komen said last week had had excluded planned parenthood for

breast cancer screenings. a showdown is expected today on a plastic bag ban. you'll hear where and how much it will cost to not use plastic bags. and as we just heard, cloudy and soggy in the bay area. rosemary will tell us when it's safe to put away umbrellas. they had encountered heavy smoke down to the ground and zero visibility. we'll tell you about the extra challenges fire firefighters faced during an early-morning blaze at a fast food restaurant.

a two-alarm fire in san leandro forced a dozen people from their homes at an apartment complex on marcella street near 580. no one was injured, but video from news chopper 2 shows crews bringing at least one person into an ambulance. at last check, a fire inspector was on the scene trying to determine a cause. an early-morning fire at a taco bell restaurant in union city is under investigation. firefighters got the call around 3:45 and responded to the restaurant on alvarado niles road. this is video you will only see on channel 2. no one was in the building at the time, and no

one was hurt. firefighters say they had to breakdown the restaurant's back door to get inside and that thick smoke made it hard to see. >> the challenge is a normal fast food restaurant, everyone knows the layout in their mind, but you have zero visibility, and the hose lines are snagged, caught on the cables in there. >> it took about 20 minutes to put out the fire. it's possible it started in an attic above the kitchen, and the fire does not appear suspicious. new optimism for a nationwide settle over foreclosure. negotiators are trying to persuade more states to join the settlement. california and new york are the two biggest hold outs and have been reluctant to give up the claims against the five biggest lenders. wells fargo, bank of america,

allied, and citibank and jpmorgan chase would reduce the amount borrowers owed. voters in colorado and minnesota are holding caucuses while missouri has the non- binding primary today. frontrunner mitt romney held a rally in loveland, colorado taking aim at president obama. romney criticized the president for cutting the defense benefit. rick santorum is in colorado springs hoping his weeks of criticism of romney will catapult him to victory, and polls show that santorum leads in minnesota. newt gingrich is campaigning in ohio saying heed not expect to win in colorado and win win and heed not qualify on time to be on the ballot in missouri. the chronicle reports that gingrich will be in the bay area later this month. the former house speaker will reportedly be speaking at the

california gop convention held in burlingame february 24 through the 26th. the u.s. senate has passed a more long-term funding bill for the federal aviation administration. since 2007, there have been 23 stop-gap faa funding measures. the $63.4 billion bill funds the faa for four years and speeds up the switch from radar to gps technology for the nation's air traffic control system. the bill heads to president obama for his signature. a water main pipe belonging to east bay mud does, causing a dispute near lafayette and runs through unincorporated contra costa county. a homeowner tells the times that a pipe is leaking and shifting his entire home. east bay mudd said that is not the case. the district said instead, recent rain or a natural spring

may be causing the shifting. san francisco's board of supervisors is scheduled to vote whether to provide the plastic bag ban to all restaurants and stores. currently, only large grocery stores and pharmacies are prohibited from handing out plastic bags. this would require stores to charge customers 10 cents for paper bags. san francisco mayor's ed leed he supports the ban for the bags. tonight, the richmond city council will tackle a part of daily life that irritates many people. the city council will discuss proposals to partner with a service provider to reduce the amount of junk mail, catalogs, and phone books received by richmond residents and businesses. tonight's city council meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the city hall council chambers.

cool soggy weather remains in the forecast for your tuesday afternoon. it will be wise to bring along the raincoat. if you have errands to run for the second half of the day, take a look at oakland with plenty of gray sky, and we will remain under the gray sky for tuesday. scattered showers continue to move across the east bay area as it continues to push off to the east. take a look at stormtracker 2. we have just a light breeze over sfo. san jose reporting east winds at six miles per hour and gusts to 26. so they have died down considerably. pleasanton reporting light rain, and east side of san jose into morgan hill, this will continue to move to the east. and just lingering showers with us. as i mentioned earlier in the newscast, the stormiest of the weather is out of here. a few light scattered showers, and temperatures will be a few

degrees cooler than yesterday. 53 in santa rosa at this time, and 56 reported at sfo. the winds were really howling in cases in the overnight hours, and take a look at the top gusts, mt. diablo, 65 miles per hour and 49 at altamont, and san jose, 36 miles per hour reported at the international airport. satellite and radar, a view from up above, and you can see how the rain continues to push off to the east. you may have heard us mention that the storm took a split with the circulation. you can see some of the storm is heading to the south and the rest to the north. we got just enough rain, but we could use more and are not likely to see a whole lot. it's noon time and rolling you through the evening drive, we are just with a few lingering showers and pretty much be wrapping it up. but the moisture will hang around in the evening hours, and the moisture could translate into fog. we'll track that for you as well. afternoon highs for today, 58 for you in santa rosa, and 58

in san rafael, and upper 50s in san francisco and oakland. 58 is a popular number. 64 for morgan hill, and the extended forecast, once we get past this, we're in the dry once again. a little bit of fog expected tomorrow morning. and we could see it 29 29 -- again on thursday, but notice the temperatures rebounding back above the escapal average. the weekend looks dry with. its in the mid-60s. tori? >> thank you, rosemary. ahead if you are looking for a job, there's an app for that. and celebration time in new york city. you can see the giant party for the super bowl champions.

stocks are holding steady in the green with hope that greece will actually reach a debt deal. taking a live look at the big board, the dow up 48 at 12893. the nasdaq up 4 and the s&p 500 up 3. looking for a career that has staying power? a new study said there is an app for that. actually, there are a lot of apps. the technology trade group tech netted there are 311,000 jobs at companies making apps, and there are another 155,000 at local merchants what have expanded their payroll because

of the business from apps. new york held a giant celebration for the new super bowl champions. [cheering] mvp eli manning and his teammates waved at those who lined the streets in lower manhattan along broadway, the canyon of heros as it's known. mayor michael bloomberg awarded the team symbolic keys to the city and declared new york the big blue apple. tonight at 5, tracking down robings to the proposition 8 ruling with the latest, and our cameras will be at the rally planned for tonight. and remember this plane crash? tonight, we're learning where the plane came from and why that's a concern for security at the airport where it was stored. truck for trusting ktvu

channel 2news, and we are always here on ktvu.com and mobile ktvu.com. thanks for watching. have a great day. ♪

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