traffic mess on interstate 580, why both directions of the freeway will be slow for a very long time. >> and a boat goes crashing into the shoreline this morning. coast guard on scene. we'll tell what you is happening now. >> a wildfire in the wine country in february, and it's still threatening homes this morning. >> we're live in san francisco, where the sheriff's domestic violence trial begins today. we'll tell you the big decision he made in about two hours. good morning. welcome to mornings on 2!

it's friday, february 24th. and we want to go right to sal, covering a big traffic problem in the east bay. sal. >> east on 580 at santa rita road pleasanton, we had a pedestrian accident. a pedestrian was, a male, running across the lanes, at one time chp reports this person was trying to stop traffic, running from the right hand solid to the center divide, and then someone apparently drove by, didn't see him, and knocked him down with their side view mirror and someone else hit him. he was killed. and they had freeway closed for a little while, all the lanes. now they have the three left lanes closed on eastbound 580 near santa rita. westbound 580 getting much slower approach the crash. if you want to get on to eastbound 580, you might if you know pleasanton roads, just take side roads and get on after santa rita road.

580 west 1 there's not a really good alternate unless you really tricky with the side roads. but even then people know those. so 580 coming in from livermore will be jammed. stay with ktvu, we have another traffic update in just minutes. let's go back to the desk. in overnight news, clean-up efforts are now underway on the alameda shoreline after a high speedboat chase. it happened just before 2:00 this morning at bolinea isle marina. good morning, claudine. >> reporter: good morning, tori. the boat is here and there's a boon to make sure the leaking fuel didn't get into the water. look at the coast guard boat now coming across here. coast guard tells us even though alameda fire toll us hours ago they're conveyed in one is in the water, they're continuing to patrol the waters and keep an eye out and look around, so technically they're

still searching again at this point though the fire department telling us they don't believe anyone is in the water. this boat crashed about 1:45 this morning. it's 40 feet long. police believe it was probably stole 14 an oakland marina and piloted here. when it crashed, it happened at a high rate of speed. in the last 15 minutes, we did see coast guard in the air taking more pictures it take a look from above. there's a clean-up today, salvage operation, all that expected today. this woman was arrested after being rescued from the boat. police say she was clearly intoxicated and uncooperative. she wouldn't even give them her name so they're hoping fingerprints will hope who she is and trying to figure out why she was on the boat. authorities say her story keeps changing but at one time she did say she wasn't alone on the boat or didn't do anything

wrong. that's why the search was launch ode there morning. but again, the search came up empty. you can see coast guard also on the ground here. they say they're just taking some pictures, assessing the situation, and again they continue to technically do a search of the area, just keeping an eye out on the water. but at this point, they don't believe anyone is still out there. they just said they'll continue to keep an eye out. so we're hoping to talk to police on their investigation soon. we'll certainly keep you updated on mornings on. 200 firefighters in napa county are still working to contain a rare february wildfire. it's burning along soda canyon road, above the silverado trail in the heart of the wine country. the wildfire has burned 40 acres since it started yesterday afternoon. it's now 50% contained with full containment expected later today. but the flames are still threatening some homes.

crews are dealing with strong winds and unseasonably warm temperatures. investigators say one napa valley homeowner had been burning old vines when the fire got out of control. these are live pictures from newschopper 2 at the scene. you can see fight a few fire engines around blackened and possibly charred brush. allie rasmus is talking to fire crews now and she'll join us live at 7:30. some very interesting comments from lieutenant governor gavin newsom about being lieutenant governor. he tells the san francisco chronicle california this get rid of a lieutenant governor job, unless some changes are made. the former san francisco mayor believes the governor and the lieutenant governor should run together as a single ticket, rather than be elected separately. that way, he says, they would be more likely to work together

as a team. newsom says the current system sets up the governor and lieutenant governor to be at each other's throats. just two hours from right now, the domestic violence trial against san francisco sheriff ross mirkarimi will begin. tara moriarity is live in san francisco now to tell us what is happening today and who may eventually testify. tara. >> reporter: when asked if ross mirkarimi's wife would take the stand in the trial, her attorney says her client was keeping her options open. now, in two hours the sheriff's trial is set to get underway, and a judge is expected to be assigned. we do know a courtroom has not yet been assigned. wednesday mirkarimi and his attorneys appeared in court to file papers. they asked the future judge to exclude statements made by mirkarimi's neighbor, who met with the sheriff's wife lopez on january 1, a day after the

alleged abuse took place. she called police after videotaping lopez talking and crying about the alleged incident, and expressing fears her husband was going to take the couple's son theo from her. the tape was made for a possible custody battle, not a criminal case, made several hours after the alleged abuse and legal experts say that could put a big factor into whether the judge dismisses it as evidence. lopez said the allegations against her husband are false. now the prosecution plans to call one of mirkarimi's ex- girlfriends to testify about the sheriff's abusive behavior against her. pre-trial motions and jury selection are scheduled to happen next week. tara moriarity, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, tara. it is 7:07. check in again with sal because there's still a serious problem 580 eastbound. >> that's right, eastbound 580 near santa rita road a pedestrian was hit and killed in traffic. now the big backup is westbound

as people slow to look amount the activity and the investigation which is in the three left lanes. they still have some traffic getting through on eastbound 580, so at this point if you're driving on eastbound 580 you don't need an alternative route unless you're will by enough to get on the freeway after santa rita. but the traffic is getting by with a minor delay eastbound. westbound is a different story. it's really slow, driving past the scene. let's go out and look at some live pictures, bay bridge. we have a slow backup, backed up to about a 15-minute delay here, 580 slow just west of 24. and this morning's commute is going to be slow on 237. they did clear up an accident nearby 880 at 237. let's go to steve. >> thank you very much, sal. very good morning. lots of clear skies now. the wind surface is change, going more southerly or westerly and higher elevations still offshore but the transition to a cooler pattern is taking place. today will still be good, just not as nice as wednesday and thursday, when it was really warm. take a look at record highs

because we went be seeing any for a while now. the pattern will turn colder. santa rosa yesterday 80 degrees. 80 degrees! downtown oakland was 78. both of those either went back to tied or set a report to 1985. it's a windy morning, some of the higher elevations. mount diablo wants to hang in there with 65-mile-per-hour gusts. it's usually windy out there anyway. mission peak fremont, and oakland hills still above caldecott, almost 30. i've seen about the same, 98.7 hills in the santa cruz mountains. look at the surface, calm or southerly now. turning southerly. santa rose had a south wind and temperature drops fast. oakland south southwest. and san jose also south. that's a sure sign we're going to cool down here. reason being folks in southern california taking the turn here, probably be here tomorrow because this system is moving closer towards us.

so clear, breezy to windy in the hills, but the east wind turning southerly. so sunny and nice, then breezy and cooler by this afternoon. santa rosa 80 yesterday. by saturday these are the forecasted highs. 63 the city from 70 to 58. livermore to 64. san jose 65 by tomorrow. temperatures will drop 15 to 20 degrees. look at napa now, 39 to 59. mountain view, 55. san jose livermore 56 some here comes the cooler air, and it's going to start sweeping in. so today will be sunny, tomorrow we'll see low clouds move in as that system right up there digs northwest and east of us. so cooler today with a breeze more out of the west, and it's the direction the wind is coming from. so the cooling trend starts today, then really starts to kick in saturday and sunday and early next week. sunny, good to go today. looks good, just not as warm. breezy and cooler afternoon

highs. napa 39. we'll go with 70. 68 santa rosa. little upper 60s, low 70s now as you head towards the peninsula, east bay and south bay. fog will be back tomorrow. it will be cooler, then much cooler sunday. then colder early next week. >> our time is 7:10. would you look at chicago right now? they're getting pounded with snow. doesn't look like a lot of snow there but they're getting snow -- right there. this is just taken a couple hours ago. chicago's under a winter weather advisory until noontime. and because of that, travelers on the roads and in the air may have some problems. in fact, more than 150 flights have been cancelled just at o'hare airport in chicago alone. >> and that chicago storm is affecting flights to and from the bay area. this new video just in to the ktvu newsroom shows the flight board at sfo and cancelled flights from the chicago area. not a good sign when you see that word there. in all, officials say four

arrivals have been cancelled so far and two departures are now delayed. as always, check with your airline before you head to the airport. and even if you're not heading to chicago, your plane might be in chicago. so could have an effect. >> yes. did you feel it? the bay area had an earthquake overnight. we'll tell you where and how strong it was. and why the protests over the burning of korans are getting worse today, and which republican candidate is putting a political spin on president obama's response. plus a hollywood star reportedly in rehab, bay area activist have contributed to gerard butler seeking treatment.

sunshine today and nice. just not as nice as the past couple days, but clear skies and the breeze turning more southerly, so it will cool down in the city.

not 70 degrees but more in the mid-60s. it's 7:14. new this morning, a small earthquake shook brisbane overnight. the magnitude 2.4 was recorded just before midnight, two mimes southeast of brisbane. people in nearby daly city, south san francisco, and san bruno felt the earthquake but there are no reports of any damage. this morning we're covering the fallout from the u.s. post al service plans to close down hundreds of mail processing centers and cut 35,000 jobs, including some right here in the bay area. ktvu's allison burns is in washington, d.c. tell us how some members of congress want to prevent the closures, allison. >> reporter: dave, that's right. some members of congress are just outraged about the postal service plan. they say there's no way to justify some of the proposed closures. bay area processing centers in

burlingame and petaluma would be shut down as early as this summer. nationwide, more than 35,000 postal jobs would be cut, and hundreds of facilities closed. overnight mail would no longer be guaranteed, and it means mail service would be slower, so postal officials say you'll need to mail bills and your election ballots out sooner. turnaround town for netflix movies would also be affected. some members of congress say they are going to try to head off these cutbacks when congress starts on some postal service reforms next month. reporting live, allison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. we're getting new word out of the friends of syria international conference happening right now at the call future an immediate cease-fire to allow humanitarian relief into parts of syria that have been cut off. u.s., european and arab foreign ministers from 70 nations are meeting today in tunisia. this is new video here.

secretary of state hillary clinton right in the middle of the screen, she is representing the u.s. now, the group will also call for the united nations to begin planning a peacekeeping mission in syria. lots of keys fire is in place. at least seven more people were killed today in afghanistan as protests continue over the burning of korans at a u.s. military base. thousands of afghans have taken to the streets following friday prayers. the protests have been going on since tuesday, and have now claimed at least 20 lives, including two u.s. soldiers. president obama and -- had his ambassador in kabul hand-carry a letter of apology to president karzai. that republican presidential candidate newt gingrich is criticizing president obama for making that apology. >> there seems to be nothing that islamists can can deto get obama's attention in a wrong way and he's consistently

apologizing to people who do not deserve the apology of the president of the united states, period! >> gingrich says if it's afghan president karzai who have apologize to the u.s. for the two american soldiers killed by a man dressed in an afghan army uniform. a registered sex offender is facing sexual battery charges after an incident earlier this week. police say 54-year-old ronald especially groped a woman at a bookstore in dublin. but investigators say that victim needs to come forward. especially is list in the sex offender data base, convicted of sexual battery after a similar incident in a store in fremont two years ago. right now especially is behind bars at the santa rita jail in an unrelated case. a car chase ended in a fatal police shooting in los angeles last night, and i've got to warn you first, you may find this video very disturbing. a helicopter crew for an l.a.

tv station was over the scene when police opened fire on an armed carjacking suspect right there. look to the right, a terrified man just buying gas is dangerously close to all of that shooting. he's trying to hide. this followed a high-speed chase through hollywood, and other parts of los angeles. the suspect eventually pulled over at this gas station. police say they were forced to shoot and kill the man after he threatened them with his gun. we have a follow-up to a story of a nine-year-old boy in washington state who brought a loaded gun to school in his backpack and accidentally ended up shooting one of his classmates. the boy appeared in court yesterday wearing an orange jumpsuit and was crying as the judge read the charges against him. his father rubbed his back. students say the gun went off when the boy slammed his backpack down on his desk. an 8-year-old girl but hit by the bullet and remains hospitalized. according to court documents, the boy got the gun during a visit to his mother's house and

told friends he was going to run away. mendocino county could soon get help for costs for the 36- day manhunt for a suspected killer. the manhunt for aaron bachelor ended in october when a s.w.a.t. team shot and killed the man. authorities say he shot and killed two men earlier in august. now the press democrat reports an assemblyman introduced legislation calling on the state to pay more than $40,000 to mendocino county for costs related to the manhunt. a two-year-old san francisco law intended to curb smoking is having an unintended result. back in 2010, san francisco enacted a law making it illegal to smoke on any outdoor patio or within 15 feet of any open window or doorway. the law also makes it illegal for businesses to put ashtrays out for customers.

now the examiner reports several businesses say that the ashtray rule has left their curbs and their gutters littered with cigarettes. one business owner calls the laury dicoelous. also says it's a burden. today a palo alto lawmaker will introduce legislation to expand the redistribution of unused prescription drugs. state senator joe is sponsoring the bill. supporters say it will help california's uninsured population. a third of which goes without medicine because of the costs. some $9 billion in unused medicine and supplies are wasted every year in the u.s. according to the supporters of this bill. actor gerard butler is reportedly set to leave rehab today after being treated for substance abuse. according to tmz butler entered the betty ford center three weeks ago because he had become too reliant on pain medication. the website reports the problems began in 2006, when he suffered severe pain while shooting the movie, 300.

the problems allegedly became worse in december, after butler was badly hurt in a surfing accident while filming a movie about the mavericks competition in half moon bay. time is 7:21. you've been loving the bay area weather lately. >> i have. >> it's been beautiful! but as we look out the window, it's a great shot of the golden gate bridge, steve is telling us things are changing. steve will come back and tell you about the difference you will notice. and more than 20 stolen bikes recovered in san francisco. the online sting operation that led police to them. >> good morning. bay bridge, you can see a little crowd, it's a crowded but once you get on the span it looks good.

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craigslist. today police were led to the suspects by a man who bought one of the stolen bikes from off craigslist. police tracked down the tellers, then served search warrants at a home earlier this week. >> at that point, they recovered approximately 20 bicycles, and they arrested two juveniles for possession of stolen property. >> those arrests come after a warning from police about a surge in bike thefts lately. to find out if your bike is among those recovered, just call the station in san francisco. it is 7:25. we want to check in again with sal, keeping a close eye on the commute and the big problem on 580 still causing backup? >> it is, tori. mostly in the westbound direction, westbound 560 slow out of livermore because of a fatal accident, eastbound 580 at santa rita road, and very slow traffic from 680, but really the big slowdown is westbound interstate 580, coming out of livermore. really is a bad commute, and

again, the accident on the other side of the road, eastbound 580 as they try to investigate the fatal crash. let's go up to live pictures now. bay bridge backed up for about a 15 to 20-minute delay. 580 also slow again, coming up to the maze. and this morning in san jose we're off to a nice start, 280 not bad. neither is 85 into the valley. now let's go to steve. >> thank you very much, sal. happy friday! just looking amount interesting temperatures in san francisco alone. richmond, sunset, little westerly breeze now, and 40s yet financial district and china basin 58 and 59 so there's a big spread in san francisco alone. the fog is taking the turn, already took the turn in southern california, heading north it. will maim its impact tomorrow. things have turned calm or southerly. not in higher elevations, still offshore, but at the surface that's the leading edge of a change here. look amount the temps towards napa and santa rosa. they've collapsed. 39 to 43, even 40s. you can see in the blue yet still mid-50s for livermore,

mountain view, and san jose. but i expect that to start -- i think they'll cool down in the next hour before they start warming up again it. will be a nice day, just that system moving into the pacific northwest has a lot of cold air with it and some of that will filter in over the weekend. sunny and nice today, breezy at times, still windy in the highlier elevations but this should start to decrease rapidly, so 60s today, and 70s, low 70s. not the upper 70s to near 80. by drop in temps saturday. even 50s for highs with some lows really cool as we head towards early next week. dozens of bay area schools dealing with the same problem, what has been happening in the past couple months. >> some 200 firefighters in napa county are still working to contain a rare february wildfire. a live update from the fire line. also the expanding search in the serial killer case, why one piece of land is getting so much attention.

we begin this half hour with continuing coverage of that big wildfire in the wine country. some 200 firefighters in napa county are still working to contain a rare february wildfire. it's burning along soda canyon road above the silverado trail. allie rasmus joins us live to tell us when firefighters hope to contain this wintertime

fire. good morning,alee. >> reporter: i just got an update from the cal-fire commander. he says the soda fire has burned about 60 acres, but it's still only 50% contained. it is happening down this road, just over that ridge. let's show you the view from newschopper 2 this morning. the soda fire is now isolated to a canyon north of the town of napa. overhead you can see in the area how much is already burned, also the staging area where there are about 220 cal- fire firefighters working this fire. what makes this challenging is the rugged uneven terrain. firefighters this morning had to wait for daybreak to see where the best access is so they could continue tackling the fire. the winds are still a factor in dealing are with this. yesterday wind gusts up to 20 miles an hour, and according to the incident commander they're expecting windy conditions to continue for the next to do

three days. >> it was quite blustery coming from the north, and we were very concerned when we saw the cal-fire trucks come down here, if and there was one lined up here. and they all had a whole crew lined up. >> a little less concern today because he believes and it appears that firefighters may be starting to get upper hand on this. but the fire at this point is only 50% contained. this fire became an issue yesterday because of the wind. someone in the area set a small debris fire to burn some old vines and roots. there are a lot of vineyards in the area. the wind carried the embers from the debris fire to some nearby dry brush and from there, the fire spread. the cal-fire incident commander brian hampton says he is in a briefing right now as we speak. cal-fire firefighters are trying to come up with a plan on how they'll attack the fire. they're about 220 cal-fire firefighters who are handling this fire today. we hope to have an update later

in the show. allie rasmus, ktvu chan 2 news. we're following a spike in gun violence in oakland. there's been at least seven shootings in the last day and a half. the two most recent happened last night, within two hours of each other. just after 8:45, oakland police say a man called 911 from 14th and wood streets, saying he was shot a couple blocks away. he was taken to highland hospital. we don't know his condition this morning. less than two hours later, police say a man went to oakland's children's hospital with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. now he was conscious, according to police, and he was talking. the man told police he was shot at 56th and dover streets. that is still being investigated. ktvu talked to some young people yesterday who say that gun violence is now almost a way of life in some oakland neighborhoods. the head of a youth center says some of the kids are arming themselves because they're

afraid. >> buying a gun on the streets of oakland and most inner city communities in america is much easier than any adult watching this believes. >> some. unpeople say they know how easy it is to get guns and they're considering possibly moving out of oakland when they begin to raise their own families. it's a growing challenge, facing both teachers and parents. keeping students motivated in class. one school in oakland is doing everything possible to try to meet that challenge. ktvu's pam cook will tell you that story, coming up at 7:45. petaluma schools may be next to use drug-sniffing dogs to crack down on student drug use. school officials tell the press democrat drug reeled suspensions rupp, mostly for marijuana. the school hopes police drug dogs will act as a deterrent. the drug dogs would conduct random searches of lockers and parking lots but only when students are not present. the school board is asking the community to weigh in at its

meeting next week. there's been an unusually high number of noro virus outbreaks in the bay area. nearly 30 schools reported suspected cases over the past two months in contra costa county. that includes the school district where 200 students got sick. in santa clara county, there were outbreaks at 15 long-term care facilities and four schools. in san mateo county, illnesses were reported at six schools. the best way to avoid getting sick, washing hands frequently, with soap and water, alcohol based sanitizers may not kill the virus. this morning search teams go back to a remote area of calaveras county. they're looking for more signs, more victims of two serial killers. yesterday investigators discovered more human remains near san andreas. the bodies of two young women were found in the same area earlier this month. the family of death-row inmate

wesley shermantine once owned this land. shermantine and lauren herzog are believed respond for at least 20 murders, dating back to the 1980s. herzog committed suicide two months ago. a santa cruz county man has died after falling 250 feet off a steep cliff. firefighters say the el determine man was clearing brush yesterday from his home in the santa cruz mountains when he fell. he was working with a gardener, throwing the brush off the cliff. firefighters say there was a point where the gardener didn't see the man anymore and found a few minutes later found he had fallen over that cliff. the contra costa county man who is facing attempted murder charges after police say he beat his mother with a baseball bat is due to appear in court today. authorities arrested 27-year- old aaron ricks on monday after he beat his mother in san ramon. the contra costa times report

the mother is still in the hospital with injuries on her head, face and her ribs. bail for ricks is set at $1 million. it's 7:36. the california republican party is holding a three-day convention in the bay area starting today. tomorrow republican presidential candidate newt gingrich will give a luncheon at the hyatt in burlingame. he set only republican presidential candidate scheduled to appear at the convention. almost three years have passed since sarah palin resigned as governor of alaska. now we're learning more about what may have led up to that decision. stay with ktvu mornings on 2. coming up at 7:45, the new e- mails detailing pail incompetent's frustrating last months in office. an oakland fewer city employees were laid off than first expected. officials say 21 workers lost their jobs earlier this week. that's down from the 80 jobs

that city leaders thought they would have to cut after losing $28 million in redevelopment money. the cuts will result in fewer illegal dumping patrols, reduced towers at recreation centers and reduced staffing at television stations. the city of berkeley meantime is taking in thousands of dollars more in parking ticket revenue this year after raising parking ticket fees. the new study budget report shows the city collected $120,000 more in parking ticket fines first half of fiscal year 2012, than it did in the previous year. that is despite the fact that fewer tickets were written. parking tickets fines have gone up by $10 in berkeley over the last two years. it now costs $50 for a parking meter violation. starting tonight one of the most heavily used rail lines in muni will be shut down for six straight weekends. crews will be working on a rail

replacement project along this line. bus shuttles there be in police between ocean beach and church street. the line is expected to be back in service before the monday morning commute, so just for six weekends. >> okay. time is 7:38. sal, we still have a major mess on 580 that you're following? >> i'm on the phone here with one of our photographers who is -- actually past the first crash, and on the way to the second crash. there are two crashes on the way on the eastbound 580. one of them is near eden canyon road. let's put up the map here. the first crash on the left there, just out of castro valley. a rear-ender fender-bender, paramedics left the scene. just tow trucks now. but after you pass that, you'll be god for a while, then you slow down for 580 eastbound approaching santa rita, fatal accident just after 6:20 this morning. eastbound 580 was briefly closed in all lanes.

now some lanes are getting through. but westbound 580 just an absolute mess coming out of livermore, out to dublin. give yourself plenty of time, use your alternate routes even though some are lucky jammed as well at this point. take a look at the commute bay bridge. 20 minute delay, still thick, especially for friday. not looking great. 580 is less than average coming out to the 24 interchange. and also this morning, 280 san jose one commute looks good, the san jose south bay commute has been nice so far. let's go back to -- steve. >> thank you very much. for those visiting for the first time here in the bay area, we're in beautiful napa valley, and this is how i get to work every day. >> yeah right. >> higher balloons over the napa valley. what a beautiful day. the wind is starting to tail off a little bit. some of the higher elevations still breezy, at the surface turning southerly. that was very nice, an award winning shot. thank you. the fog is down to southern calcavecchia, moving up the

coast pretty fast and it's on its way. it's out of the gate and it's roaring. it will be here tonight or tomorrow. weak system coming in so today still good. but you can say bye-bye to the record highs we had last couple days. santa rosa 80 yesterday. 80 degrees! downtown oakland was 78. that tied going back to 1985 at santa rosa set a record high beating 78 in 1985. windy still some of the higher elevations, right above the oakland hills, caldecott berkeley still 29. black die imagined at 1600 feet. south wind though at south- southeast at oakland and also san jose and there was a south wind at santa a. that's a really cool, just pattern. that's a cooler direction.

so the forecast highs for saturday plunge. 63 on saturday for santa rosa. today's the transition day. 58 san francisco. 64 livermore. and 65 san jose. and on monday i think only in the 50s on the high temperatures. 30s and 40s, look at napa airport, 39. that's reports also at 30s in mendocino county. 50 on 60 degrees. mountain view an hour old because san jose dropped from 64 to 55 in one hour. reason being that system moving in there and a strong low will move in a series of them that move northwest of us and also the sierra nevada. so we'll be on the western edge but we'll get that cold air. it won't happen overnight but it will start later today and take us into the weekend. so sunny today, nice. that west wind kicks in later on so the coast comes don on temps. inland temps still upper 60s, low 70s. but we'll go from above temps to way below here, especially towards sunday into monday. >> all right. thank you, steve.

same-sex marriage is about to become legal in another state. the celebration taking place in the final step that needs to happen before gay weddings can happen. also a controversial decision involve on an explosive sex tape tied to a former candidate for president.

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♪ ♪ don't stop doing what you do ♪ have i paid my dues just to be with you... ♪ the dow managed to push above 13,000 in morning trading today for a brief time after a measure of consume intercept meant came in stronger than expected. but sales of new homes dipped in january. the final quarter of 2011 was stronger than first estimated. the dow flat now.

the nasdaq is up 4. s&p is up 3. crude oil prices are keeping an eye on them, at their highest level since last may. it's now closing in on $109 a barrel. 64 cents up as tensions in the middle east continue to rise over iran's nuclear program. crude oil was $96 a dollar just three weeks ago and some believe it will be more than $110 by mid-march. no secret, california schools have been struggling but oakland students are having a particularly tough time. ktvu's pam cook now to tell us about the problems and what is being done to fix them. pam. >> reporter: we talked so much about the crime in oakland, so it's no wonder educators have some unique challenges there. some of them are not just sitting by, though, hoping for change. principals from some of the schools gathered last night to talk about their daily experiences in their schools, their challenges and successes,

and student talked about what happens when they leave elementary school. >> at my old school i wasn't learning anything. >> at my old school kids were rowdy and our teacher left so we had a lot of substitutes. >> very disheartening for us where we never picture that our students are some day going to be dropouts. >> the principal at -- discovery scad academy in oakland offers very different environment, that encourages family engagement, internships and leadership and health and nutrition discussions. he says combining schools to create more than k through 8th grade is important because at 13, they're still young and need more guidance. the oakland school foundation holds regular education forums for teachers, principals, parents and kids to learn more and have some input in improving their education. dave. >> thank you. time is 7:47. today the military is expected to tell us the names of those seven marines killed in the

helicopter collision near the california-arizona border. the choppers collided wednesday night during a training exercise in the remote park of imperial county. six of the victims were based at camp pendleton, near san diego. this is the third deadly helicopter training crash involving camp pendleton troops in just six months. al-qaeda now claims responsible for that deadly wave the coordinated attacks across iraq. bombs went off in 12 cities yesterday, killing 55 people, injuring more than 200more. the attacks targeted security forces. al-qaeda says it's in revenge for the alleged torture of sunnis in iraqi prisons. despite the talk about the threat of a nuclear iran, top u.s. intelligence officials don't believe iran is currently building nuclear weapons. according to the los angeles times, a report with information from 16 u.s. intelligence agencies indicates that iran is conducting

research that could put it in a position to build a nuclear weapon, but that it is not actively pursuing that option. iran has continually insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. the u.n. security council is now condemning the terrorist attack aimed at israel in india and the attempted terrorist attack in georgia. the bomb, in new delhi last week injured a wife of a diplomat and her driver. another attack was prevented. israel blames iran for the attacks. the u.n. security council statement does not mention iran. the state of maryland now one signature away from becoming the 8th state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. there were cheers and celebrations in annapolis yesterday after the maryland state senate passed a measure legalizing same-sex marriage. all that's needed is governor

o'malley's signature, and he said yes, he will sign the bill. however, critics are vowing they'll gary enough signatures to force a referendum vote in november. new e-mails released showing the frustration of former vice presidential candidate sarah palin in her final months as the governor of alaska. palin resigned as governor in july 2009. now the newly released e-mails show that palin complained about the lawsuits and investigations she faced after the end of the 2008 campaign. in one of those e mails, she wrote, i can't take it anymore. the sex tape features john edwards and his one-time mistress will soon be destroyed. reale hunter settled a sieve lawsuit yesterday with former starver andrew young for possession of that tape. the new settlement calls for young to give up ownership

rights and for a court to destroy the tape. john edwards still faces a trial on conspiracy charges. 10 minutes now before 8:00. why the boy scouts will not have to turn over confidential files that some allege would expose sexual abuse. also how companies are looking to cash in on the giants closer brian wilson's larger than life personality. wow,

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what are you doing here? you're in ikea. my dream bedroom is in ikea? yes. what's that bedroom over there? that's your husband's dream bedroom. whatever your style, take home your dream bedroom together. ikea. the life improvement store. the giants relief pitcher brian wilson is turning out to be an mvp as a corporate pitch man. today san francisco business times says wilson's out sized personality and easily recognizable beard have earned him national endorsement deals. he says deals with taco bell and 2k sports since the striking out the last batter in the world series victory. he is lining up additional endorsements and not only wants to appear in humorous ads, he

wants to help write them too. new york knicks point guard jeremy lin is getting you caught up in more lin-sanity. a trademark war is wowing around that catchphrase. seven applications have been filed with the u.s. patent office to trademark the phrase lin-sanity for use on everything, from cell phone cases to action figures, and one of the seven people is lin's attorney. the boy scouts will not have to meet today's deadline to turn over confidential documents tied to a child sex abuse lawsuit. the boy scouts have worked out a deal with the lawyers for a boy to work on the a settlement. the boy was 13 when a volunteer scout leader sexually abused him in 2007. the boy's lawyers claim the documents expose widespread sexual abuse within the boy scouts. pen stated has received a federal picture for information related to their former

assistant football coach who is accused of molesting boys. university says they are cooperating with the request for information about former coach jerry sandusky, his children's charity, the university, if three university administrators. sandusky is currently awaiting trial on charges of he molested 10 toys during a 15-year period. he denies the allegations. coming up at 7:55, a new study claims most elementary school students in san francisco are not getting enough exercise. state law requires elementary schools to provide 100 minutes of physical education every week. but research shows 80% of schools fall short with most students only receiving half of what is required. the san francisco unified school district is promising to hire more physical education specialists to get the kids up and moving. >> time is 7:55. sal is getting exercise this morning, we've got a messy

commute. >> we do. we've had a lot of slow traffic in the valley, livermore valley this morning, if you're on 580 westbound you'll see slow traffic beginning in livermore. just a ferrible commute on 580 westbound. eastbound we had an accident at eden canyon road. and then we have the fatal crash santa rita so a lot of people drive on 580, they're not expecting this. this is a traffic jam you don't expect, and you might want to use your favorite alternates to 580 if you have them. let's look at the commute here on 237. south commute not that bad, and then at the toll plaza, going up to the toll plaza, backed up for 25 minutes so that's pretty slow as well. steve. >> thank you. sunshine but fog is roaring up the coast. it's going to be in southern california, central california most of the day, then probably here by tomorrow, maybe late tonight. you can see it it taking the turn down there. once it decides to get going, sergeant wind will help it and we'll see clear conditions. it will be sunny today, nice.

i'm hard press tow find much brose in napa county except atlas peak, 1900 feet. and that's northeast napa at 14 miles per hour. temperatures from 39 to 55 in napa county alone. most of the breeze variable, some east, some west, some south. so things are turning. 65 still on diablo, that's a north wind. oakland hills, 20 to 32. big rock near lucas valley and only 5. so i mean, mostly it's in the east bay hills at the surface it's turning southerly. that is a cooler direction in this kind of pattern. okay, the napa airport went from 39 to 49. the wind just picked up. 40s for some. 50s for others. temperatures in san francisco are 47 to 59. so just a little west wind or east wind makes a huge difference. but that system moving into the north of us will start to bring in a cooling trend it. will be nice today, just not as warm as the past two days. and highs in the 60s, upper 60s and low, maybe a few mid-70s.

but then we turn cooler saturday. then we turn colder on sunday and much colder on monday and tuesday. >> all right. thank you. gunfire inside a bay area shopping mall. the crime that led to the shooting. >> the coast guard continues to monitor the situation out here where this boat crashed into the alameda shoreline and we have new information from the listing agent of this boat. why he says he doesn't believe the woman arrested could have done this alone. >> we're live in san francisco, where the sheriff's domestic violence trial begins today. we'll tell you the important decision that will be made when mornings on 2 continues.

good morning. welcome back to mornings on 2. it is a friday, february 24th. in overnight news for you, clean-up efforts continue right now in almeida after a boat crashed on the shoreline. just before 2:00 this morning. ktvu's claudine wong has been out there all morning and there's some new information we just found out in the last hour. claudine. >> reporter: that's right, dave, we do have new information from the man trying

to sell this boat behind me, still fits here on the rocks here on the alameda shoreline. the listing agent for this boat got a call at 3:30 this morning, and he says there's no doubt this boat was stolen, and he says he would be very surprised if the woman now in custody pulled this off alone. >> i was really shocked. number one, when you fire up a boat like that, they make a lot of noise, and somebody should have heard something going on. somebody obviously had a certain amount of skill, in order to take the boat out from jack london square, get it this far. they had to go through the boat in order to find ignition keys, so -- there was more than one person on the boat. >> the boat had been at the marina near jock london square two years, on the market for about a year an asking price of

$100,000. he says the keys were kept in a secure location onboard, and says and it would is taken someone a long time to find them or they had inside information. as far as the woman in custody arrested after being rescued from the boat, the listing agent says he adopt recognize her and he talked to the owner and she doesn't know the woman either. police say she was intoxicated and is on uncooperative, will not even give police her name so they're hoping fingerprints will show who she is. the coast guard assessing the situation, there's a little fuel leaking the owner contacted, and they'll secure the fuel and hazards, and then the salvage operation will have to get underway. claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. happening now, about 200

firefighters in napa county still out there trying to contain a rare february wildfire. this was burning along soda canyon road, right in the heart of the wine country. we just found out the wildfire has burned at least 60 acres since it started yesterday afternoon. the fire is about 50% contained. they expect full containment later today. crews are also dealing with strong winds and unseasonably warm temperatures. according to investigators, one napa valley homeowner was out burning old vines when the fire got out of droll. we have allie rasmus out there talking to investigators. she will bring us a live update from the fire lines at 8:30. lieutenant governor gaffe edge newsom doesn't think much of his new job. he says california should get rid of the lieutenant governor position unless some changes are made. the former san francisco mayor

says he believes the governor and lieutenant governor should run together as a single ticket, rather than be elected separately. that way he says they would be more likely to work together as a team. newsom says the current system sets up the governor and lieutenant governor to be at each other's throats. one hour from now the trial for sheriff ross mirkarimi is set to begin. he is facing domestic violence charges. ktvu's tara moriarity is live in san francisco with more on what will happen in court today. tara. >> reporter: the official trial date is today but the actual proceedings won't be happening until next week. in one hour they'll look future a courtroom, and they'll also be assigning a judge, all part of standard procedure. last week on wednesday, mirkarimi's lawyers push to have a crucial video ruled inadmissible. on the tape mirkarimi's wife is pointing to a bruise on her arm from where she says her husband

grabbed her during an argument on new year's eve. the sheriff's lawyer argued lopez had her neighbor take the video to later be used in a possible child custody battle over the two-year-old, not for a criminal case. if this video is tossed, experts say it could crimp. the prosecution's case. the defense is also trying to strike the testimony of madison and another neighbor, lopez con finded in. both mirkarimi and lopez are expected to testify in the trial, but lopez stated she will only do so if granted immunity from the prosecution. from fruition, i should say. if convicted on three misdemeanor charges, mirkarimi could face up to a year in jail and three years probation. tara moriarity, ktvu channel 2 news. four women are accused of shoplifting and firing a gun inside a contra costa county mall. police in concord rushed to the sun valley mall last night to the parking lot outside the

j.c. penney's store. store security guards say they caught the women shoplifting and tried to detain them. but the women fought back. attacking two security guards and firing a gun. no one was injured by the gunshot. all of the women were captured by police. police in santa cruz arrested two men that they say were trying to steal their friends' dead body from a crematorium. police rushed to report of two men trying to break into the crematorium monday night. a witness says they saw nicholas trying to kick in a wooden door. he wasn't able to get in, and police arrested him. police also arrested another man with him. police are not sure why the men were trying to get their friend's body. overnight, two people died in a crash on northbound 880 in the hayward area. all that was left is a car is a

mangled mess. this all happened near hesperia boulevard exit near 11:30 last night. the victim's car stalled in the slow lane and one person apparently got out of the car, while another person stayed in the car. shortly after that, a chevy avalanche slammed into the stalled car. the person outside the car died at the scene. the person in the car died later at the hospital. the driver of the chevy is cooperating with the investigation. train service is expected to be back to normal in palo alto this morning after a train hit and killed a man last night. it happened around 10:30 on caltrain's southbound tracks near charleston road. caltrain spokeswoman says 220 passengers were onboard when the collision occurred. no passengers were hurt but they were delayed until about midnight. today the first actual construction work on the north bay smart train will begin in just a couple hours. a groundbreaking for the first phase of tracks begins at 10:30 this morning. when that is completed, it will

run between san rafael and santa rosa. eventually the smart train is expected to run between cloverdale and larkspur. again, the ceremony starts at 10:30 at the petaluma depot. let's check in with sal, who has a busy morning, quite a few incidents for friday. >> it has been pretty slow out there. and on 580 really that's been the slowest. let's start there and talk about the commute here on eastbound 580, let's go first to 880 and talk about the traffic. i think i started backwards here. 880 the traffic here is not as bad as it normally is. pretty surprised by this, in a good way. you can see the traffic is not slow approaching high street. maybe it will get slower. bay bridge is backed up more than we like to see it on a friday. sometimes on fridays we have an empty toll plaza through here. but not today. it's been pretty crowded. now this crash here eastbound 580, we have a fatal collision that happened just after 6 -- or just before 6:30 this

morning, still blocking the left lanes for an investigation, but 580 is just a mess. castro valley, livermore, both directions, you're not going to find a lot of good traffic in that area. if you can put it off, i would. let's go to steve. >> thank you very much. and we have beautiful weather over us. temperatures anywhere from 30s to 60s at one time. depending on if the breeze was there or if it was out of the east or northeast. i want to you remember these last couple days because next week you're going to say, oh, my gosh, it's cold around here! but that was not the case yesterday. today and today will be still good. fog right down there. here it comes, arm the bend. it will probably be here tonight and definitely here tomorrow. the wind has gone east- northeast, then turns southerly. now it's going back to north- northeast. that's at oakland airport at 6. san jose gone from 16 miles an hour to calm back up to 6. so just -- the wind going crazy. napa airport 39 last hour. they're 49 now. wind picked up. fairfield in the 40s, now

they're in the 50s. still 50s to 60s san jose now 58, livermore 58. and the city temperatures upper 50s and low 60s already. but this system is inching closer, and as it does that will turn the wind breezy to the west. or even a southerly direction. so sunny and nice today, just a little cooler breeze is on the way. we'll not be as warm. higher elevations still windy but out of the north-northeast that's a warm direction. that's the direction the wind is coming from. so still in the 60s, 70s today. then tomorrow into the 60s. by sunday and monday only upper 50s. so looks like a beautiful day on this friday, breezy at times, little cooler temps though. not the upper 70s to near 80s. 60s to 70s, again it all depends on if the breeze doesn't kick in that south wind until 2, then we'll probably be warmer. so kicks in around noon, these will be spot on and we'll continue this sunshine nice conditions but changes tomorrow, fog back, it will be cooler and then a big cooldown especially late sunday and monday and early next week, and maybe i'll talk about a little rain around here.

we'll see. >> okay, steve. who doesn't love california? new poll says about what the rest of america says about california. also, flight delays at sfo this morning due to trouble thousands of miles away. plus the riot in florida triggered by the sale of a hot new shoe. what happened at a shopping mall as things got off on the wrong foot. ♪ strea-ea-ea-ea-eam ♪ stream, stream, stream... ♪ strea-ea-ea-ea-eam ♪ stream, stream, stream... ♪ when i want you... ♪ ...in my arms... ♪ when i want you... ♪ ...and all your charms... ♪ whenever i want you, all i have to do is... ♪ ♪ strea-ea-ea-ea-eam [ female announcer ] stream full seasons of shows and top movies instantly. introducing streampix. only from xfinity.

temperatures today will still be nice, upper 60s, low

to mid-70s but more of a little westerly breeze will start to kick in later today. so enjoy it while you can because cooler weather settles in over the weekend. pretty picture there but different in chicago. they're dealing with heavy snowfall this morning. this is how it looked just a few hours ago. a winter weather advisory is now in effect until noontime, and as a result travel on the roads and in the air is expected to be a big problem. more than 150 flights have been cancelled at chicago's o'hare airport alone. with the chicago storms affecting flights to and from the bay area as well, this is how the flight board looked at sfo early this morning. take a look. sfo says at least four arrivals have been cancelled so far, two departures now cancelled. as always, it's safe, check with your airline before you head out to the airport. and then it was this, large flames lighting up the sky in texas during the night. a possible fuel tank explosion.

this happened at a galveston biodiesel plan. we haven't heard about why this thing blew up. one firefighter was rushed to the hospital for smoke inhalation and more than 800 college students at the nearly texas a&m campus were told to stay inside while firefighters battled that. hundreds of local jobs could be lost and your mail service slowed down significantly as the u.s. postal service announces more dramatic cutbacks. allison burns is in the washington, d.c. newsroom with the postal service plan and what it means to you. allison. >> reporter: tori, for starters overnight mail would no longer be guaranteed, and there could be delays in sending and receiving mail in many parts of the bay area. the processing centers in burlingame and pet lumme apalachicola would be shut down. nationwide more than 35,000 postal jobs would be cut. hundreds of facilities closed. postal officials say you'll

need to mail your bills and election ballots out sooner. turnaround town for next week's movies would also be affected. you might have to wait longer to get those movies in the mail. the postmaster says nothing is set in stone and some members of congress already vowing to try to head off some of the cutbacks when they vote on postal reforms here next month. we reach out this morning to petaluma congresswoman lin woolsey to get he her reaction and hope to have that for you soon. allison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. it may be hard to believe but many americans are not fans of california. a new public policy poll shows the golden state is actually the least liked state in the country. only 20% of americans like the state, and 44% say they don't like california at all. the poll did not give a reason why. maybe the rest of the country is just jealous of our gorgeous scenery, nice weather and

diverse culture. the state rated the lowest in republicans and the highest with democrats, and the most popular state is hawaii. >> wow. time is 8:16. academic stress, that's the main reason high school students in palo alto have been getting on-campus mental health counseling this year free to all high school and middle school students in palo alto. it was a response to a series of student suicides primarily on train tracks occurring in 2009 and 2010. more than 260 high school students and almost 160 middle school students have asked for help. besides academic stress, some of the other top issues among the students include peer relationships, anxiety, depression, family issues and anger management. in florida, riot police spend the night at a mall because a new sneaker went on sale.

about a thousand people were waiting for a limited edition nike shoe to go on sale at a footlocker store in orlando. but footlocker cancel the sale because the crowd was just too big. that's when the crowd became angry and then riot police had to show up. luckily, no one was hurt. we've heard of no arrests made. coming up at 8:18, we're learning more about the pile-up in monterey county that killed three people, including a woman from pleasanton. the crash happened on wednesday night along highway 101, in king city. the victims had just left a funeral when an suv crossed the center divide and struck their vehicle. 53-year-old mariah ochoa and two others were killed. as many as nine other vehicles got tangled much in the crash. highway patrol arrested the driver of the suv on suspicion of drunk driving. yes, there was a small

earthquake, it shook brisbane overnight. it was a magnitude 2.4 recorded just before midnight two miles southeast of brisbane. people in nearby daly city, south san francisco, san bruno fell it. no word of any injuries or damage. there they go. they're waiting for tori campbell. this weekend hundreds of people will jump into the icy bay area waters but for a good cause. the annual polar plunge takes place tomorrow. in chrissy field. this is lasts year's event. the plunge raises money for the northern california special olympics, and ktvu's john will emcee the event. an overdue honor for 150 japanese-american veterans who fought in world war ii. they all received the congressional gold medal during

an emotional ceremony in san jose last night. it is the highest civilian award in the united states. the men served in the 100th infantry, 442nd religion minute combat team, and military intelligence service. those units are the most decorated in american history. >> we were in this war for one thing, to prove our loyalty. we had -- [not understandable] spirit of the unit. >> san jose congressman presented a gold medal to his mother on behalf of his late father. more than 4,000 japanese- americans served, fought and died for their country, all while many of their families were incarcerated in internment camps. >> fascinating! >> a plan to cut out kindergarten. how one school district

responded with this controversial idea. also, record-breaking high temperatures, steve tells us to expect a really cool weekend. >> good morning. if you're coming up to the toll plaza, i'm afraid i can't offer you any friday light. but what can i give you? you'll see! ♪

♪ ♪ don't stop doing what you do ♪ have i paid my dues just to be with you... ♪ it's 8:23. the fair filed school board scrapped a plan to eliminate

kindergarten but other deep cuts were approved. parents and teachers packed the meeting last night. an overflow crowd had to watch from a tv monitor. the district expects to lose 6 1/2 million dollars in state funds and says it is bracing for a worse case scenario. we talked to one mother who was concerned about her son. >> i just can't even imagine how far behind he would be if he to go straight to first grade it. would tear me up inside to see him struggle because it would be a real struggle for him. >> the board did cut to vote 17 items and close a yet to be named elementary school and middle school. the district will find out in november how much state funding it will receive. time is 8:24. let's go to sal. whenever you tell me it's just a mess, i get worried. 580 is a mess. >> 580 is a mess, dave, you're absolutely right. it's not been a good drive.

started off early this morning with a fatal crash on 680 at santa rita road, then eastbound 580 and castro valley. that is terrible. and what really is terrible about this is people don't expect eastbound 580 to be so slow. then expect some 580 westbound slowing, but they don't expect eastbound. some of the alternates in case you're going a short way are to stay off the freeway in castro valley and also in dublin until you get past santa rita. let's look at some live pictures. bay bridge, at c, c+ maybe. it's backed up. meeteering lights on. no major problems into the city. also the morning commute looks okay in san jose. the south bay has been the best commute of the bay so far this morning. 8:25, let's go to steve. >> thank you. sunshine, another beautiful day out there. had a very nice tweet from tiburon, mail service said beautiful day here, and yes, i can tell. but also temperatures are strange. i saw some upper 40s near san

rafael, 62 in sausalito. areas where there's a big difference in some of the current temps. depends on the wind direction. you probably can't see it here. i can can see it with a high- definition monitor. the fog is in southern california, moving not much in the way of wind gusts unless you're on mount diablo, 65 miles per hour. oakland hills still 32. atlas peak and napa county, that's the strongest gust i can find at 1900 feet. north wind or calm conditions are still a component of an offer shore breeze, the direction the wind is coming from, from. tomorrow it will be west. 40s for some, 50s for others. 60 in mountain view. the high-pressure system is moving because it's getting bumped by the system in the pacific northwest. so sunny and nice. the breeze will turn more westerly later on.

right now it's a little offshore. so 60s, upper 60s, 70s. it's a brutal forecast based strictly on the mere fact if the winds stayed easterly, the temperatures boob warmer. san jose 72. campbell, los gatos, you could hit 75 if that wind stays easterly. but it will turn westerly here later are which will allow temperatures to drop off pretty fast. tomorrow fog will be back, the west wind or northwest wind, sunday here come the colder system. next week upper 50s for some afternoon highs with lows near 30. >> wow. a man clearing a rush with around his house makes a deadly mistake. we have a sad story from santa cruz county. >> firefighters are facing steep terrain and unpredictable winds today. we're at the staging area in napa county. coming up how firefighters plan to continue battling in fire. >> plus, why san francisco bus riders say a new city law is taking them down the wrong road.

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welcome back. we're starting this half hour with continuing coverage of that big wildfire up in the wine country. about 200 firefighters in napa county still trying to contain a rare february wildfire. it's burning along soda canyon road, above the silverado trail. just spoke to a fire spokesperson. what did they say? >> reporter: this fire is still 50% contained, but now as of 9:00, they're telling us this fire has burned 200 acres as of before that, our last check, they said 60. now up to 200 acres. off in the distance you can see the cal-fire helicopter. this helicopter is going to

take off any minute now. they're going to survey the area and see when or get a better view of what the containment is. but at last check still 50% containment. this is where the fire all started yesterday afternoon around 12:30. behind all these cal-fire trucksielle tape where yesterday a resident tried to burn old vines and that fire that is debris fire got out of the control. you can see cal-fire is still working this fire. almost 24 hours after this start. there are three homes still threatened. one of them is up on the hill and you can see some smoke in that area. there's some smoldering around that house there. the soda fire is all happening off soda canyon road, which is north of napa. newschopper 2 can give you ace better look of the area that is where the fire is focused on. the fire is more or less confined to the canyon right now but the concern this morning is that the winds are expected to pick up and the

fire could spread and move back uphill. 220 cal-fire firefighters are work this is fire now. again, so far it's burned 200 acres, and it is still at last check just 50% contained. fire crews and residents certainly weren't thinking they would have to deal with a fire like this this time of year. >> normally we're in temperatures in the 50s. we have rain with the warm weather that we've had in the lack of rain, fuel moisture are down. the humanity is up some. and the fire that was burning yesterday was burning like the fire in fire season. it was putting out 60, 70-foot flames. >> a cal-fire helicopter did a survey of the canyon this morning. it landed, it will take off again any minute now to check on that containment number. now they're meeting to figure out how cal-fire crews are going to access the fire. the canyon have he is steep lot

of uneven terrain. you can see this cal-fire helicopter is about to take off. again, at last check this fire was 50% contained. with this helicopter is going to do is go over the area, the canyon, and try to see if that 50% containment number is still accurate or if the fire has grown or shrunk since then. for more on what will happen with the weather today, here in napa county and bay area, let's go to steve paul end. >> thank you very much. conditions are much better today. now there's still a little northerly breeze but i'm hard- pressed to find anything over 14 miles an hour in napa county. just look to the top left of your screen. that's the leading edge of a big cooldown that will turn the wind more westerly, which means the humidity will go up. but right now atlas peak at 1900 feet, 14 miles an hour. that's the strongest. still gusts very strong, some of the higher elevations towards the east bay, especially from oakland to mount diablo. atlas peak is right here, more

due east than napa. napa airport is calm and the forecast for napa today does call for sunny but not as windy. the westerly breeze will pick up later today. but 49, 67 high of 70, but i think higher humidity in the west wind no wind is good but fire creates its own breeze as well. far cry from yesterday, 40 miles an hour in higher elevations. today will be a lot calmer. this morning search teams will return to a remote area of calaveras county, looking for more victims of two serial killers. yesterday investigators discovered more human remains near san andre as, the bodies of two young women found in the same area this month. the family of death-row inmate wesley shermantine once owned the land. shermantine and lauren herzog are believed responsible for at least 20 murders. herzog committed suicide two

months ago. a santa cruz county man has died after falling 250 feet over a steep cliff. firefighters say the elderly man was clearing brush yesterday from his home in the santa cruz mountains when he fell. the man was working with a gardener to throw the brush off the cliff. firefighters say there was a point where the gardener did not see the man anymore then discovered he had fallen over the cliff. there's been an unusually high number of norovirus outbreaks in the bay area. almost 30 schools reported suspected case over the past two months. in contra costa county, that includes the nissan school district where 200 students became sick in. santa clara county, outbreaks at 15 long-term care facilities and four schools were reported. in san mateo county, six schools reported outbreaks. the experts say the before the way to avoid getting sick, wash your hands a lot with soap and water.

those alcohol based sanitizers, they say, may not kill the virus. petaluma schools may be next to use drug-sniffing dogs to crack down on student drug use. school officials tell the press democrat that drug-related suspensions are up. mostly from marijuana. the school is hoping that police drug dogs will act as a deter end. these drug dogs would conduct random searches of lockers and parking lots, but only when the students are not present. the school board is asking the community to weigh in on this at its meeting next week. actor gerard butler has reportedly been in rehab for substance abuse. he is set to leave his facility today. coming up at 8:45, why he is allegedly in rehab and how an accident in the bay area may have contracted to his decision to seek help. the contra costa county man facing attempted murder charges after police say hoe beat his own mother with a baseball bat is set to appear in court

today. authorities arrested 27-year- old aaron ricks on monday after he beat his mother in san ramon. the contra costa times reports the mother remains hospitalized with injuries to her head and face and ribs. ricks' bail is set at $1 million. time is 8:36. as most california drivers know, gasoline prices have really gone up in the past couple days. triple-a says the average costs for a gallon of regular jumped 24 cents a gallon since last friday. statewide, the average price is $4.20. and some analysts expect prices to be close to $5 a gallon by memorial day weekend, if all of the tensions in the middle east get worse. in fact, just a few moments ago, the u.n. atomic energy agency report came out. it says iran's rapidly expanding nuclear activity could be used for weapon use, and that could increase tensions. we'll keep you posted.

san francisco has some of the highest prices in the state, with a gallon of regular averaging about $4.27 a gallon. san jose and oakland are close to the state average, while vallejo and napa are lower than the state average. petaluma traffic control officers will be watching more than cars today. they'll be focusing on pedestrians and bicyclists as a way to improve safety. police will be on the lookout for jaywalkers and cyclists who don't follow traffic laws. petaluma ranks in the bottom three in the u.s. for the safety of bicyclists under the age of 15. muni drivers in san francisco are once again filing a lawsuit to overturn a city law that changed longstanding work rules and pay standards for the drivers. back in november 2010, voters approved proposition g, which gave muni more power in negotiating contracts with the drivers. as a result, an independent

arbitration board imposed a new contract on the drivers last june after union members rejected two proposed agreements. now the drivers union is filing a lawsuit claiming the makeup of the arbitration board violated the city charter. let's go back to sal, he's been telling bus that mess on 580. you've got chop 2. >> yes, from newschopper 2, still that investigation of a problem that's three plus hours old. you see the corner -- coroner on the scene, the three left lanes are blocked on eastbound 580, and it looks like we're just now watching them make progress here as they may be getting ready to open up another lane. at one point the entire freeway was shut town, but 580 is a mess. on the left, the long line of traffic that you see as we tilt up, newschopper 2 -- can you tilt up for me? i want to show the livermore side of this because this is

what is affecting a lot of people. westbound 580 is backed up big- time, into livermore. all the way out to livermore. remember, we're in dublin, pleasanton here. this line of traffic is just terrible, getting in. we also saw traffic going the other way, eastbound, was backed up as well out of castro valley. but see all that traffic? you'll be here for a while. give yourself plenty of time. it's so long, itities appears from view, that's just ridiculous look at this! it's just terrible. let's go out and look at another picture here. 880 is finally has a slowdown at high street up to downtown oakland. that's normal. and at the bay bridge toll plaza, it's okay. antioch still slow traffic on highway 4. western contra costa pinole, that traffic looks good, until you get to el cerrito. let's go to steve. >> another beautiful day, temperatures nice, mild, heard from bev in san ramon.

we're already 62. some areas we're going to warm up fast here, and that west wind will kick in. there's fog -- hold on. fog here. it's moving up the coast. and that's leading edge of the cooldown. the first of what could be a series of systems which carves itself over the pacific northwest and california. still that north wind, that east wind, doesn't want to give up. northeast 6 at oakland. once that turns west or southerly and signed of that already, i'm seeing a few hints of that of our temperatures will drop fast but probably not until in afternoon or this evening. 40s and 50s to 60-degree temps all depends on the wind direction. higher elevations still about 30 to 60 but that's mainly for the east bay hills. everier else calming down. strong system here, stronger one there. they'll come in, do this. they'll dive in, oregon, northeast nevada but each time they'll take our temperatures down. so sunny and nice today.

breeze will kick out. windy, east and then turn southerly then go westerly by this afternoon. we'll see 60s and 70s still upper 60s, low 70s, again sunshine wall-to-wall, but temperatures depending on when the west wind kicks in. it will be here tomorrow. no doubt. so cooler than much cooler sunday, then big cooldown monday, tuesday. maybe even some rain as we head to tuesday night, wednesday. >> the very latest on the impact of top new anti-smoking laws here in the bay area, why the focus is now shifting to ashtrays. and a new set of problems. >> plus the disturbing discovery during a raid on an international smuggling ring. >> we're live in san francisco, where the domestic violence trial for the sheriff is set to begin today. we'll tell what you to expect today and next week, when mornings on 2 continues.

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newschopper 2 showing us the mess on 580, and i want to show you eastbound this time because we showed what you a big mess westbound traffic was. eastbound traffic is backed up nearly into castro valley. look at the slow traffic. that's just -- you just don't want to be in there. now, there are some alternates

in pleasanton. but as newschopper 2 tips up, that's the dublin interchange, then the grade. people coming down out of castro valley will find themselves in -- look at that traffic on the left. do you really want it drive if that? chp says it's going to take a while for this crash to unwind, to clear up, after the crash is gone. it's:46. let's go back to the deck. the dow you see it there, above 13,000. this has been bounce, back and forth a little bit below that point this morning. but one of the good news investors are dealing w a measure of consume intercept meant stronger than expected. dow up 17 right now. the nasdaq is also up 8. s&p is up 3. new this morning, new home sales dipped by almost 1% last month totaling 321,000. but in a positive sign, the

government revised december's figures up by 324,000. that's the highest in a year. the median price for a new home rose to its highest level since okay. some of the other top stories we're following for you right now. a 40-foot pleasure boat that was on sale for about $100,000 crashed on the alameda shoreline overnight. the listing agent for the boat now says it was stolen. police took one woman into custody after that boat crashed. it still not clear yet if anyone else may have been involved. about 200 firefighters in napa county still trying to contain a growing february wildfire. it's burning near the silverado trail in the heart of wine country. we just received some new numbers a few minutes ago. this fire is now burned about 200 acres. it is still about 50% contained. strong winds are causing problems out there for the

firefighters. and san francisco sheriff ross mirkarimi's trial on abuse charges will start in just about 15 minutes from now. he is facing domestic violence charges. ktvu's tara moriarity is live to tell us what to expect in court this morning. tara. >> reporter: the official trial date is today, but the actual proceedings won't happen until next week. in 15 minutes, you'll see they'll try to find a courtroom, and they will be assigning a judge. typically, it can take several days to find a courtroom, but in this particular case you might see it happen more quickly because of the nature of the case. wednesday mirkarimi's lawyers pushed to interest a crucial video ruled inadmissible. on the tape mirkarimi's wife is pointing to a bruise on her arm from where she says her husband grabbed her during an argue on new year's eve. the sheriff's lawyer argued lopez had her neighbor tape the video of her injuries to later

be used in a possible child custody battle over their two- year-old, not a criminal case. so if the video is tossed, experts say it could crumble the prosecution's case. lopez's lawyer also asked to have the video ruled inadmissible because she believes her conversation with the neighbor were protected by attorney-client privilege. madison is a lawyer by training but not a member of the bar. but even if there is attorney- client, there could be an exception if the lawyer believes revealing the confidential information could prevent the death for great bod lowe harm to someone. both mirkarimi and lopez are expected to testify, but lopez stated she will only do so if granted immunity from prosecution. i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. we are just getting word out of the friends of syria international conference going on right now that the group will call for an immediate

cease-fire to allow humanitarian relief for parts of syria that have been cut off. u.s., european and arab foreign ministers from 70 nations are meeting today in tunisia. secretary of state hillary clinton is representing the u.s. the group will also call for the united nations to begin planning a peacekeeping mission in syria, once a cease-fire is in place. al-qaeda claims responsibility for the deadly wave of attacks across iraq. bombs went off in 12 cities yesterday, killing 55 people and injuring more than 200 others. the attacks targeted security forces. al-qaeda says they are in revenge for the alleged torture of sunnis in iraqi prisons. despite all the talk about the threat of a nuclear iran, top u.s. intelligence officials say they don't believe iran is currently building nuclear weapons. according to the l.a. times, a report with information from 16 u.s. intelligence agencies indicates

iran is conducting research that could put it in the position to build a nuclear weapon but it's not actively pursuing that option. iran has continually insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. the u.n. security council is now condemning the terrorist attack aimed at israel in india and the attempted terrorist attack in the country of georgia. the bombing in new delhi, india last year injured the wife of an israeli diplomat and her driver. and attempted attack that very same day in georgia was prevented. israel blames iran for attacks. a two-year-old san francisco law intended to curb smoking is having an unintended result. back in 2010, san francisco enacted a law making it illegal to smoke on any outdoor patio or within 15 feet of an open

window or doorway. the law also makes it illegal for businesses to place ashtrays out for customers. now the examiner reports several businesses say that ashtray rule has left their curbs and guttedders littered with cigarette butts. one business owner calls the laury dicoelous and says it's burdensome. 20 rhinoceros horns among some of the items seized during a raid in a international smuggling ring. seven people were arrested on suspicion of trafficking parts of animals. four of those suspects are from the los angeles area. agents also seized two million dollars in cash, gold bars, diamonds and gold watches. actor gerard butler reportedly set to leave rehab today after being treated for substance abuse. according to tmz, butler went into the betty ford center three weeks ago because he had become addicted to pain

medication. the problem started in 2006, when he suffered severe pain while shooting the movie, 300. those problems allegedly became worse in december after butler was badly injured in a surfing accident while filming a movie about the mavericks competition in half moon bay. a big political event in burlingame, who will be takenning this weekend's republican convention on the peninsula? also, the unexpected good news coming from oakland city hall.

time 8:55. the california republican party holding a three-day convention here in the bay area, starting tomorrow. tomorrow republican presidential candidate newt gingrich will give the luncheon address at the convention, which is held at the hyatt in burlingame. gingrich is the only candidate scheduled to appear at the convention. in oakland fewer city workers were laid off than first expected. city officials say 21 workers lost their jobs early this week. but that's down from the 80 positions city leaders thought would have to be cut after losing $28 million in redevelopment money. the cuts will result in fewer illegal dumping patrols, reduced hours at recreation centers and reduced staffing at the city's tv stations. the city of berkeley is taking in thousands of dollars more in parking ticket revenue this year after raising parking

ticket fines. a new budget report shows the city collected $120,000 more in parking ticket fines for the first half of fiscal year 2012, than if the previous year. and that's despite the fact fewer tickets were written. parking ticket fines have gone up by $10 in berkeley over the last true years. it now costs $50 for a parking meter violation. starting tonight one of most heavily used rail lines on muni will shut down for six straight weekends for a rail replacement project. bus shuttles will be in place between ocean beach and church street. the end will shut down at 7:00 tonight, contacted to be back in service about the the monday morning commute. and the morning commute for friday has been pretty nasty, especially on 580. sal. >> that's right, 580 is a mess because of an earlier fatal accident at santa rita road. but this is a traffic coming off the dublin grade, also very

slow on westbound 580. this is eastbound 580 coming out of castro valley, solid to dublin, livermore solid to dublin. let's go to the toll plaza, traffic there at the toll plaza is going to be slow. i think we lost the toll plaza there. look how bad that traffic is. all right. we're ring out of time. let's go to steve. >> thank you. sunny, mild to warm. cooler this afternoon. then turning much cooler saturday, then a big colder pattern moves in late sunday, monday. >> all right. that's our report for this morning. we thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. we'll see you the next time news breaks. it'll hold your plants... but it'll also hold 'em back. o garden soil. the perfect mix of rich, organic ingredients, and miracle-gro plant food. just mix it in. and turn bad soil into great soil. helps plants grow twice as big. instead of holding 'em back,

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