news. complete coverage starts right now. this is ktvu channel 2 morning news. good morning everybody, it's friday january 4th. i'm brian brian. >> and i'm pam cook, thank you for waking up with us. let's check in with steve paulson, still very cold. >> not as cold but still very cold. patchy fog now popping up. it's still in the 30s. it's cold but definitely more humidity in the air. partly cloudy, partly sunny today, temperatures, though, very fine range again. mid-50s, upper 50s, maybe a few low 60s. good morning, traffic is doing well on the bay area roads. let's go to the live pictures and show you the traffic on 880. no problems here in oakland. and the morning commute looks good on the san mateo bridge. and what started as a traffic stop ends with a crash,

and claudine wong joins us with the details of what happened. >> reporter: we're at 5th and townsend where the crash happened. you can see power poll hanging up in the air, and as we pan down it's not even hitting the ground. the area has been taped off by the caltran employees while they try to figure out what to do. that truck that was simply just parked there in this employee parking lot. we'll span left and show you the pg&e truck that rival within the last -- arrived literally within the last five minutes. power along the street, at least for one block in both directions that i can see is out at this time. i want to e show you video from earlier this morning as we take you through what we know about what happened. this started as an attempted traffic stop a little before 2:00 this morning. chp confirming for us that they tried to pull the driver over. the driver as they say failed

to yield, came off the freeway, and ended up here. this is just a couple of blocks from interstate 80. again, the driver fled the scene. they are looking for him now. the car has been towed from this area, so it's not here anymore. obviously a big mess left behind. don't know speeds at this point or whether or not he was technically being chase bid chp at the time of the crash. obviously you can see from the damage left behind that he was going or she was going at a pretty good clip when they ended up here at 5th and townsend. at this point what we're trying to figure out is how long it's going to take to clean this up, when power is going to restore just a couple of blocks. this is an employee parking lot that is a cal train truck that is damaged right. live here in san francisco, claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. three drivers walked away unharmed after a tree came crashing down on their cars. it happened after 6:00 last

night on columbus parkway, several large tree limbs cracked and fell hitting three cars as they drove. >> in shock, i tried to back the car up and i got out and stood there, and remembered how lucky i was i wasn't 3-foot further forward and the thing went through the windshield. >> two cars were damaged while the third continued driving. the fbi is joining the in the search for a petaluma woman missing tahoe. they are triesing the moves of alyssa byrne. tara moriarty is in petaluma where the community is coming together in hopes of finding her. >> we're here at beyond the glory restaurant which is hosting a fundraiser in the search for alyssa byrne and there have been new developments including activity from alyssa's cell phone right before it died. meanwhile, her mother and older brother remain at home in petaluma while her father is up in south lake tahoe where he's been for the past few days looking for his daughter.

search and rescue teams scoured the area by helicopter and snow shoe. 19-year-old byrne vanished around midnight from the horizon casino hotel. she has gone there after leaving an outdoor concert early. she told friends she was cold. sheriff's deputies have a new clue to go on o, a ping off her cell phone sometime after midnight january 1st. >> last i heard they thought it was near a soccer field, baseball field area, so at least now they're able to have a footstep of where to go. >> reporter: surveillance from the hotel lobby shows alyssa sitting for a few minutes and getting up and walking out. her friends the next morning said that they panicked when they couldn't find her and started calling law enforcement. she aggravated assaulted aggravated assault -- she graduated from high school two workers and coworkers describe her as funny, reliable and

energetic. a few restaurants are donating money for meals served to help the search and rescue efforts. tonight at 7 mavericks in santa rosa, sunday evening at pongo's in petaluma and we'll tell you about disturbing tweets left on her twitter account. we'll let you know what law enforcement has to say about that. i'm tara moriarty. a new report suggests chevron's may have fueled the richmond refinery fire. the explosion last august, 15,000 people went to emergency rooms complaining of nausea and breathing problems. federal investigators tell the chronicle, photos of a leaky fuel line saying they may have punctured it trying get to a leek. coming up at 4:45, the serious health issue keeping

him from doing his job. and three of the four suspects accused of a deadly home invasion robbery are scheduled to face a judge. deangelo austin, lucas anderson and javier garcia face murder charges stemming from the robbery and killing of raveesh kumra. he had a past of shady business dealings, problems with drugs and alcohol and spent times with prostitutes. police say the investigation is sponge more -- is ongoing and more arrests are likely. more about what led to a deadly shooting on new year's eve, a police report says two maintenance workers confronted 36-year-old christopher soriano because they believed he was responsible for a string of car burglars at the complex. one of the workers admitted to shooting soriano when he tried to get away. some people say a lack of police officers has forced people to take matters into

hands. >> it's not worth risking your personal safety in order to protect property that can be replaced. >> officers say eleven vehicles have been stolen from the complex in the past year. while crime continues to go up, san jose police say their numbers are going down with 30 officer resignations in the past 60 days. crews are looking into the cause of a water main break in berkeley. it broke around 6:00 last night. they shut off the main cutting off water to 16 homes overnight. an underground pipe flooded part of the road but no damage to nearby homes. new this morning, thousands of lights are being installed on the bay bridge for a huge art project. in march the bridge will be turned into a light show. 25,000 energy efficient lights will twinkle on the western side of the span. about $2 million still needs to be raised. >> we have many different strategics for people to participate. we have a program called the

gift of light where people can actually buy an individual led node and giver it as a gift to someone or dedicate it to someone. people driving on the bridge won't be able to see the lights. it will be viewable from the shoreline to prevent distracted driving. >> very good idea. i did wonder about that. you don't want people stopping. >> i thought about that too. we're going to start in the east bay and pam traffic is doing pretty well on 80 westbound as you drive through. this is a look at 80 coming in from the berkeley area into the oakland. it's nice and no problems at the bay bridge toll plaza. and i think this is going to be another nice commute day unless we have something really serious. but remember, next week, it's going to all change. a lot of people's vacations are final little running out. schools are going to be back in. just a word to the wise there. if you are driving in san jose northbound, 280 traffic is off

to a good start. 4:37, let's go to steve. good morning, a little bit of patchy fog. lows coming out. a little more moisture in the air. this system out here getting its act together is showing every sign of not splitting, which would be different than the last five systems and actually painting some rain on us late saturday into sunday. it's still cold. but seeing more 30s than 20s. right now. still cold, kind of a damp cold, though. 8 up tahoe, not 0 or 5 below or anything like that. sacramento 30. but that fog is definitely starting to pop up. not a bad day. mostly sunny. today, except for high clouds and patchy fog and a band of higher clouds, this is our cloud and rain forecast. today is okay. then tomorrow increasing clouds and i mean, we'll be all right in the morning. it puts a little rain on us

saturday afternoon. i don't think that will l be too much. the main one comes in on sunday, starts to come in on the north bay, late morning, early afternoon, and by everybody by sunday afternoon or evening. instead of splitting, this one holding together. we'll see. all of them are on the same page. you can't igg -- ignore it. a little bit of an east wind toward the delta. low 60s for morgan hill, and santa cruz. cloudy here for a while and turning cloudy on saturday. sunday looks like rain coming in. and back to very quiet pattern early next week. we want to take you to new york where a where a large fire is burning through a home in brooklyn. these are live pictures right now. you can see the firefighters putting it out but that home significantly damaged. we understand the fire started in the basement and spread through the roof. you can see the smoke still pouring out of the roof and

windows. firefighters were having a tough time getting to the fire because of debris inside of the home. now, maybe that means the home was vacant at the time. we do not know but we have not heard of any reports of injuries at this point. but again, a live look at a very big house fire in brooklyn. in about an hour, the u.s. labor department will release its latest jobs report for december. economists believe 160,000 new jobs were created during the month. that would be slightly more than the average for the year but the december report is hard to forecast. they expect the unemployment rate to remain steady at 7.7%. we will bring you live in less than an hour. trouble for giantest closing pitcher, sergio romeo. >> i was crying and the mom had tears. >> the touching gesture by a little girl that touched off a chain reaction of kind acts in the east bay.

good morning, westbound 24 traffic, that looks pretty good driving over from walnut creek to oakland. we'll let you know more about the morning commute and the bay weather.

good morning a little bit of patchy fog. still cold but not as cold. a lot more 30s and very few 20s right now. partly sunny, highs in the low 60s. sergio romans has been issue add summons after he was detained at the airport. he could not provide the proper id at a security check point. he became upset and started acting aggressive. he was handcuffed. cited for violating airport spruce released. it's a statement says i would like to apologize about the recent events at the los

angeles airport. i love and respect the giants and my teammates and fans and promise to conduct myself in the future in the san francisco giants way. the house of representatives is expected to pass a $9.7 billion bill to help pay flood insurance claims of victims of superstorm sandy. that's after republicans blasted house speaker john boehner for cancel ago a previously scheduled vote on tuesday. today's vote will be followed by another one on january 15th. despite the grumbling in his own party, john boehner was reelected as house speaker as congress begins a new two year term. >> speaker boehner is a leader who has earned the confidence of his conference and the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. >> ten republicans voted for someone else as speaker. boehner struggled to hold back tears as hi welcomed new members of congress. nancy pelosi retains her

position as minority leader. there are record number of women, 79 in the house and 20 in the senate. that's five more than the previous congress. former arizona congresswoman gabrielle gifford will reportedly visit newtown connecticut today. she's expected to meet and reach out to families of the victims of last month's deadly shooting at sandy hook elementary. the meeting is said to take place in a private home. giffords was severely injured in a mass shooting in tucson arizona two years ago. six other people died. it's unclear where chavez will be sworn in after suffering a severe lung infection. the government says he's being treated for respiratory deficiency. they encountered complications after his 4th surgery o to treat his cancer which was diagnosed last year.

richmond counsel elect gary bell will not be able to make office due to camp case -- complications from a sinus problem. he was one of three new counsel members due to be sworn into office on tuesday. the counsel will have 60 days to appoint a new successor. criminal charges have been filed over the death of a baby at a child care center. staff members at magic place children's center found the 4- month-old boy unconscious in october. investigators later determined that the boy suffocated on his bedding. police arrested three staff members, charges against them include failing to provide medical treatment and lying to investigators. the state department has revoked the center's license. california now has conditional approval to run its own health insurance exchange. a key part of the national health care reform law. it will be called covered california and is designed to offer insurance as a lower cost to qualified low income families and individuals.

now, it's estimated 6 million californians have no medical coverage including one million right here in the bay area. time is 4:47 and federal park police and rangers are stepping up their patrols on the san francisco beach. they hope to end the tradition of burning christmas trees. and usually happens in early january. caught burning a christmas tree will be cited. a 6-year-old girl's generosity has sparked a chain rea action. she says the day before thanksgiving, a young girl name emma brought her piggy bank and donated it to help the homeless. >> she said tomorrow is thanksgiving and i have a bed to sleep in with covers and i know the homeless don't have it and i'm going to have turkey and i want them to have it. >> emma's piggy bank contained 6.12. the story about her generosity

was published in the church news letter and the local paper and that led other people to call in with offers to help. about $1800 was raised and that helped provide motel rooms for 20 people on christmas eve. >> we need more people like emma in the world. >> time is 4:48. let's go to sal covering traffic. what's it looking like out there. >> it's not too bad. it's very light. we are doing well so far. we have the commute lighter than usual this week because some people are still on vacation. let's take a look at the commute on 80 westbound. it does look good heading out to the mcarthur maze. haven't found a lot, which is good at the toll plaza it's still light. usually at about 6:00 we've seen back ups but they haven't lasted too long. and let's move along and take a look at northbound 280 getting up to highway 17 and that traffic does look good so far.

let's go to steve. looking good. happy friday. we do have a little bit warmer lows, i mean, instead of 26, 27, we're sego 30s. a little bit more moisture in the air and this system is showing every sign of making it. the last five came in and split so this will be a change from the pattern. still a couple upper 20s. not a lot. more 30s. santa rosa 34. patchy fog starting to form. napa is in there. fairfield in the upper 20s. 40 hayward. these a little bit warmer than we saw. no doubt about it. 8 in tahoe. and redding in there and the fog in the valley could be a little bit thick. system going a few high clouds and the rest of today looks good. that's the system for tomorrow. our cloud and rain forecast, we're okay today. will be a little cloudy, mostly

sunny and increasing clouds on saturday if you have something you need to do do it saturday morning because saturday afternoon i'll bring in light rain. that's not the main part of the system. the main part comes in late morning, early afternoon sunday. and the last five systems have split going into southern california. a little cold. it's still cold. cool to mild on the afternoon highs. more 50s, low to mid. fairfield at 28. we're only going 63 there. santa cruz, 58 redwood city mountain view and including clouds on -- increasing clouds on saturday. rain on sunday. i don't think it will be a lot. clears out monday. >> r. 4:51 is the time. frequently hear the word jihad and p now it is at the center of a controversy in san francisco, the group that's putting it at the center of a new ad campaign. and the disturbing trouble for david acres, the threats he's been receiving that forced

him to close his twitter account. [ laughter ] [ girl ] wow, you guys have it easy. i wish i had u-verse when i was your age. in my day, we didn't have these fancy wireless receivers. blah blah blah. if i had a sleepover, i couldn't just move the tv into the playroom. no. we had to watch movies in the den

because that's where the tv outlet was. and if dad was snoring on the couch, we muscled through it. is she for real? your generation has it made. [ male announcer ] the wireless receiver only from at&t u-verse. get u-verse tv for $29 a month for six months. rethink possible. welcome back to the morning news. it's 4:53. up to 15,000 american troops could stay in afghanistan after the 2014 withdrawal. that's according to a new plan submitted to the pentagon. the low end option would leave about 6500 troops in the

country for counter terrorism operations while the larger option would leave 15,000 troops to help train afghan security forces. the plans are awaiting official approval are from leon panetta. an ad campaign is on the streets of san francisco. they are on the sides of muni buss and focus on the word jihad. the muslim community says the word has negative connotations but muslim leaders say it means an up hill struggle to get to a better place. that surprised many people that we talked with. >> it's probably going to create more confusion but at least it will get the conversation going and the conversation is always good. >> i think anything that's going to help raise people's awareness, maybe help diminish some negative stereotypes people have is probably a good thing. >> other people we talked with say they hadn't noticed the ads yet. the campaign made the u.s. debut in chicago just before christmas. san francisco international airport is planning runway closures this month to allow

workers to install new lights and make safety upgrades. the first round of closures is next weekend january 11th january 11th through the 1/4. and travelers should expect delays delays. and how does san francisco look sal. >> it looks pretty good pam and brian. it's one of those things you know traffic looks good in the city. northbound 101 as you appropriate 80 split, it -- approach the 80 split, looks good. and the airport, the bay shore freeway, it is a nice drive to the airport right now. also in the morning commute looking good at the bay bridge toll plaza. no major problems getting across the bridge. also looking at the peninsula as we mentioned 280 traffic continues to look good down the peninsula. a little bit of slowing already which is not unusual as you drive over the hill to half- moon bay. 4:55, let's go to steve.

except for a few high clouds and patchy fog this morning, today won't be bad. the lows are a little warmer. this system showing every sign of making it over the weekend. until of a lot of 20s we have a roll -- instead of a lot of 20s, we have just a couple 20s. temperatures, a little bit of moisture coming up and patchy fog. a little warmer closer to the peninsula and the bay. more 40s than 30s. bands of high clouds and that will be it. increasing clouds tomorrow. today, though, mostly sunny, patchy fog. it's still cold out there, but not as cold as it was a couple days ago. highs in the 50s. 57, 58. walnut creek 56. a little cooler out towards antioch, brentwood, oakley. get easterly breeze. and alameda 58. 59 for san jose. and milpitas, and 50s on the coast. mid-50s, few upper 50s.

palo alto, all 58. increasing clouds on saturday. could be light rain beforehand but i think it will hold off until late into sunday. back to a dry quiet pattern but cold next week. san francisco 49ers kicker david akers is competing to keep his job and now he says he's received death threats. the threats came via twitter so he closed his accounts. the 6 time pro bowler has been struggling recently. he did have surgery for a double hernia since february and has been dealing with complications since he fell in practice in november. billy and acres are now competing for a roster spot in the playoffs. tragedy in pete lieu ma, a 91 -- petaluma, a 91-year-old women killed in a mobile home fire. and we continue to follow developing news out of san francisco, how a hit-and-run driver created a big power problem in sew -- soma this

morning.