today's decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives will be more secure. >> the supreme court has spoken on the constitutionality of the health care reform law. it's today's major story. good afternoon, i'm tori campbell. after months of waiting the supreme court handed down its monumental decision on health care reform. the highest court in the land upheld the controversial affordable care act in a 5-4

ruling, setting the stage for a huge tug-of-war over the medical, political and financial implications. we have team coverage. alex savage is at a health clinic in san francisco but we begin with allison burns in washington, dc who has been outside the court all morning. >> reporter: i've received an e-mail about from just about every democrat celebrating the supreme court ruling, the 5-4 decision means the heart of president obama's health reform law survives. it was like a circus outside the court ahead of the ruling. belly dancers, musicians and activists for and against the law. ♪ hey, hey, uh-huh, obamacare gotta go♪ >> reporter: another dramatic show inside as john roberts seemed to surprise everyone by joining four more liberal justices to save president obama's health care law. roberts agreed congress can require americans to get health

insurance under its taxing authority, upholding the individual mandate. president obama said the court delivered a victory for the american people. >> in doing so they have reaffirmed a fundamental principle, that here in america in the wealthiest nation on earth, no illness or accident should lead to any family's financial ruin. >> reporter: the ruling is a battle cry for republicans who now say the november presidential election takes on new meaning. >> the law is a tremendous infringement on the freedoms of the united states citizens to whose their own -- choose their own health care. >> reporter: mitt romney was in dc for the decision. >> our mission is clear, if we want to get rid of obamacare we're going to have to replace president obama. >> reporter: the law survived largely unscathed. the court rejected its penalties for states that don't expand medicaid. i just saw a tweet from mitt romney's campaign saying he has

raised more than $1 million since the ruling was announced. reporting live outside the u.s. supreme court, allison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. the ruling is just a few hours old but congress is already gearing up for another fight over affordable health care. democrats say the ruling is confirmation that health care is a constitutionally guaranteed right while republicans say the ruling shows the need to repeal the law. >> i think today's ruling underscores the urgency of repealing this harmful law in its entirety. >> call it what you will, it's a step forward for america's families, and you know what? take yes for an answer, this is a very good thing for the american people. >> reporter: here's a summery of what the supreme court decided. the decision leaves in place the requirement on americans to have or buy health insurance beginning in 2014. the law requires insurers to

cover the children of those they insure up to age 26. it also leaves in place the requirement that insurers cover people with pre-existing medical conditions, but the one part of the law overturned, the court ruled that the federal government could not threaten to withhold medicaid allotments to states that don't take part in the expansion of medicaid. meanwhile, bay area health care providers have been closely watching the supreme court ruling. alex savage is live in san francisco to tell us about the reaction about a free clinic in the excelsior district. >> reporter: the volunteer doctors and nurses at the clinic by the bay say it's a day to celebrate. they provide free health care to the uninsured but hope the affordable health care act will help more of their patients get covered. >> i'll take your vital signs. >> reporter: this free clinic in san francisco serves more than 800 low income patients who have no health insurance. the executive director calls today's supreme court ruling

huge progress. >> i'm thrilled that the supreme court has swrup held the law that will give more people insurance. >> reporter: eliza gibson says now that the high court upheld the affordable care act many patients should benefit from expanded medicaid coverage under the law. >> the expansion of medicaid will have the most significant impact on our patient population so we're committed to see what it looks like and helping our patients get enrolled. >> reporter: this clinic is staffed entirely by volunteer doctors and nurses including pamp hemphill, a retire er doctor with a passion for helping those who desperately need medical care. >> i do think it is a step forward to recognize there are a lot of people who are not covered and can't get covered under the present system. >> reporter: but even with today's ruling there will still be people who can't afford health coverage. gibson is hoping there will be a time when a free clinic like

this is no longer needed. >> i would like to see a day where we would have a fantastic going out of business party. >> reporter: of course this free clinic will remain open, they say who remain those who will slip through the cracks even with the new health care law in effect. in san francisco, alex savidge, ktvu news. a remarkable development in the today's ruling is that the chief justice john roberts, a conservative, joined with the four more liberal justices to mostly uphold the health care legislation. roberts wrote in the majority ruling -- legal experts say this ruling will be picked

apart, examined and analyzed for years. hastings law professor levine talked to us this morning about the significance of chief roberts' role in the 5-4 decision. the conservative justice wrote the majority opinion. there are hints he doesn't like this bill. there are hints in the beginning, at the end, that if the american people want to change this they should change congress. and get something different but that is not his job. his job is to assess the constitutionality. professor levine says there will be a lot of social welfare cases that will use this decision in the future and says the almost 200 printed pages of opinions will be picked apart by legal scholars. as for what is next he says it's all about the november election now and how this case will be used by both sides to try to win voters. levine says the court has made it clear, if you don't like this health care plan the place to change it is in the voting booth, not the state's highest

court. the supreme court's decision to uphold the affordable care act is having some effect on wall street. hospital shares are climbing across the board. hda holdings and community health systems stock is up 10%. however, stocks of the nation's biggest insurance companies are lower. today's ruling does not change much for californians. that is because the legislature passed laws requiring that young adults can stay on their parents' health insurance policies up to age 26, insurers can no longer reject children because of their health problems. and beginning next month new policies in california must cover maternity services. see more reaction and read more about the landmark ruling on ktvu.com. there's also background information, just click on the health care tab on the front page. another supreme court ruling handed down this morning, the justices threw out a law that made it a cream to lie about having received military honors. on a 6-3 vote the court ruled

in favor of the former elected official in california who claimed he was a decorated war veteran. justice anthony kennedy wrote for the majority for that opinion, he claimed the stolen valor act violated the constitution's first amendment protections of free speech. we've also been following a developing situation in the past hour. downtown oakland is getting back to normal this noontime after a suspicious device discovered this morning prompted evacuations and street closures. the device was found about 9:00 this morning outside of a salvation army store on webster street. that prompted police to evacuate buildings in the area of 7th and franklin and closed streets between 6th, 8th, broadway and western. about 40 minutes ago the alameda sheriff bomb squad blew up the device. still up clear what the device was but no one was injured. san francisco's police chief makes a major announcement about the

crackdown on crime. who and what police took off the streets. >> mark is here in a few minutes, watching the bay area temperatures to see if it will continue to heat up in your neighborhood. >> it's been beneficial for our department and county parks. >> the reason you may see smoke in some of the south bay hills.

a mother and her four children in antioch need to find a new place to live after a fire forced them out of their home. it happened around 11:00 last night on blue jay drive near badger way. the woman told police her new bmw caught fire. flames spread to the garage and damaged part of the home. no one was injured in the fire, but the family says it lost most of its belongings. walnut creek police are investigating a teenaged girl's report that a man harassed her and exposed himself to her on a popular hiking trail last week. the girl told officers the man followed her along the iron horse trail near west cliff lane around 1:20 in the afternoon, a week ago monday. police released this sketch based on the girl's description of the man. she says he was a 40-year-old latino, 5'7" tall weighing 200 pounds.

a ktvu camera saw some officers patrolling the park area this morning. the little girl said the man was wearing an orange vest similar to those worn by construction workers and also smoking l & m cigarettes. san francisco suspended sheriff is scheduled to testify before the city's ethics committee this evening. he's fighting to get his job back. he'll get a chance to formally make his case when the panel meets at city hall 5:30 this afternoon. the mayor suspended mirkarimi without pay in march after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a domestic violence incident. in the meantime, mirkarimi's wife wrote a formal declaration defending her husband. she admits he grabbed her arm during a new year's eve argument but states that was the total extent of any violence against her. lopez agreed to personally testify before the ethics committee but only if the panel paid for her round trip plane

ticket from venezuela to the bay area. lopez is in south america caring for her sick father. governor brown signed a budget last night but his office -- that his office says closes a $15.7 billion deficit but the budget are he lies on voters approving his tax hikes in november which would temporarily increase the state sales tax by a quarter-cent and raise income taxes on californians who make more than $250,000 a year. the governor says the budget will increase education funding by 14% for k-12 and community colleges if his tax plan passes. but if it fails that will trigger $6 billion in cuts to education and social services. the budget also cut state employee compensation costs by 5% for savings of $800 million and implements well fare reform and other changes to health care insurance for low income children. the number of state parks

saved from the budget knife is growing. the california department of parks and recreation this morning said that 65 of the 70 parks scheduled to be closed will now stay open. at least temporarily. that is because of a combination of money and the new budget and donations from private groups. the number that would stay open has steadily grown as private donors stepped forward and budget process has gone on. firefighters say cooler temperatures and lighter winds are helping them today. in their battle against a massive wildfire around colorado springs. the waldo canyon fire destroyed hundreds of homes and forced more than 35,000 people to evacuate. the fire burned more than 18,000 acres and is only 5% contained. it is one of about a dozen fires burning in the state of colorado right now. cal fire and santa

clara works department is doing a controlled burn today, it's about eight miles east of san jose. fire engines are standing by to keep the burn from getting out of control. fire officials say they waited until weather conditions were right. >> today is actually a really good burn window due to the marine influence. we've got high relative humidity. >> firefighters use controlled burns to remove dry grass and other fuel that might feed a much bigger uncontrolled fire. you may have noticed this morning waking up near the coast, patchy fog was developing. the marine layer making a comeback somewhat. as a result we still have clear skies over the bay but by this time tomorrow, especially into tomorrow morning we'll have more clouds to talk about. here's our north bay camera looking out toward the bay here. you can pick out still lots of sunshine over the bay, a little bit of haze. as far as the latest from the satellite, we have mostly clear skies overhead.

still lingering fog near parts of the san mateo county coastline so still patchy fog there. also tracking the winds. you can see winds out of the west/southwest around 20 miles per hour. that is the cooling direction that onshore breeze, not wind, will strengthen as we head into later this afternoon. also for your friday. so here we go. temperatures cooling off the next 24 hours. for today, coastal fog, warm inland. tomorrow, a little cooler, and weekend, morning fog. we warm up for the second half of the weekend but these are all minor changes. for your thursday afternoon, you can pick out some of the current numbers, 77 santa rosa. fairfield 79. already warming up in the inland neighborhoods. san jose right now 72. and downtown san francisco 61 degrees. you can pick out the pattern in the pacific. not much going on out here. high pressure in full command of our weather. another warm day but temperatures do cool off for the coast and also right around the bay.

this weather system moves in for friday. this will increase that onshore breeze and temperatures cool off. the overall air mass cools off slightly so on average it translates to a 3 to 6-degree cooldown for friday. sunday just minor warming. our forecast model shows an increase in some fog to the coast as we head into the evening hours. it will be more of a factor first thing friday morning at 8:00. clouds concentrate coastside and around the bay. today, still pretty warm, fairfield 88, approaching 90 toward antioch and brentwood. san francisco 65. san jose, lower 80s and san mateo at 74. here is a look ahead, at your forecast with the weekend always in view. temperatures cool all a little for friday. minor warming sunday. looks like the real warming kicks in for monday and into tuesday. so tori, the fog never goes away for too long.

>> thank you. a new report finds beach pollution is at its third highest level in more than two decades. the report from the natural resources defense council finds the number of days u.s. beaches were closed or had advisories because of contaminated water reached the third highest level in 22 years in 2011. california had a slight increase in beach closures and advisories last year. power has now been restored to a millburn neighborhood after a downed line cut off electricity. crews worked on the outage. it started after 5:30 when a power line went down on el camino real. 1,300 customers last power and part of el camino was shut down. crews restored all power by 7:00 a.m. pg & e is still trying to determine how the lines came down. when we come back, a major

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hospital shares climbing due to expectations in the increase in patients after the supreme court ruling but stocks are noon about news of regulatory investigations atstig atcity

group, jp morgan chase and others. looking at the big board, dow down 115. nasdaq and s&p are also down slightly. ktvu as tara moriarty joins us live. she's been at a news conference where san francisco police announced a new push targeting criminal suspects that they are looking for. good afternoon, tara. >> reporter: good afternoon. nothing is outside of the box. that is what the chief of police said regarding getting guns off the streets. yesterday, police made 68 arrests. 53 of those were felony arrests. 15 misdemeanor, 18of them at large. so a major crackdown on crime. san francisco has had 38 homicides so far this year. the chief says the city saw 10 homicides just this past month so especially bad. >> in front of me here are some of the firearms that have been recovered off the streets of san francisco, just in the last

two weeks. all the guns that were seized here are before you because an arrest was made, someone was carrying each and every one of these firearms on the streets of san francisco, one would have to think prepared to use it. >> reporter: the department is working with atf to trace the firearms, the chief says the most crime-ridden areas were in the southern end of the city. police put a lot of various agencies on this crackdown including the u.s. marshal's office and department of corrections and the chief says they will not let up on crime. a live from san francisco, tara moriarty, ktvu news. the dmv's web site appears to be back up and running but that's after a long outage. the site has been down since monday because of an internal connection issue. although everything appears working now there's still a message on the web site urging people to make transactions by phone or in person. the dmv says it will waive any late penalties for people who

are delayed by the computer glitch. san jose is the center of the u.s. gymnast conviction world this -- gymnastics world this week. trials start this afternoon. the bay area is home to dozens of gyms where future olympic hopefuls train and learn the basics before trying out elite moves. u.s. gymnastics must pick just five men and five women to compete in the london olympics. the u.s. field is considered quite deep so these trials should be very competitive. the men's competition starts at 2:00 this afternoon with the women starting tomorrow. today on ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00 -- more reaction to the supreme court's landmark decision on president obama's healthcare law. we're about to talk to a ucsf doctor who helped write the legislation. his take on what happened this morning and whether it fulfills the original vision of the law. thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news, we'll see you the next time news breaks an

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