good morning. the record-breaking big freeze now hitting most of the united states. how the bad weather could affect your travel plans this morning >> reporter: the wicked winter weather back east has led to thousands of canceled flights and it's also left folks without bags. a critical vote on capitol hill involving jobless benefits for 1.3 million americans.

>> reporter: we're live in san jose, where it's the first day back to school for many school children here. find out what illness public health officials are warning about. "mornings on 2" starts now. good morning. welcome to "mornings on 2." sfo is filled with tired an frustrated travelers and also this -- a lot of unclaimed luggage. look at all of the bags. some people have been stranded for days because of the deep freeze in other parts of the country. we'll have a live report from sfo coming up shortly. welcome, once again, to "mornings on 2." i'm tori campbell. >> incredible pictures, tori. >> yes. >> i'm dave clark. let's talk about the weather and traffic. steve, we've had some interesting conversations this morning. >> this just came across. the continental united states, the lower 48, the 8:00 a.m.

temperature for eastern standard time, 13.9 degrees. i mean, that's remarkable to be that cold. mostly cloudy conditions for us. we'll continue to have that. it will be with us most of the day. beautiful sunrise. there will be some breaks. some filtered suns. 30s, 40s. a lot more 40s on the temperatures because of the cloud cover. sfo, 51. cloud cover streaming in. a lot of it will drift across. might get some sun towards the north bay or a few breaks. the offshore breeze, the easterly breeze, the northwesterly brees has been replaced -- breeze has been replaced. a mostly cloudy day. maybe a few sprinkles. had a few last night. more upper 50s than low 60s. temperatures kind of holding for the next few days. here's sal. we've had traffic that's been a little better than we had yesterday on some of these commutes. i want to show you something here on westbound 580 as you drive through pub lynn and livermore, yesterday, it was such -- dublin and livermore, yesterday, it was such a mess.

56 miles an hour. up to the dublin grade, 66. that's pretty good. as we move to the altamont pass, there's some slow speeds there coming west of 580. but 880 here in hayward, see some speeds down to 20 miles an hour. but if you go farther south down here near stevenson, let's say, 47 miles an hour. not too bad on the east bay freeways. a little bit of slowing. but nothing that major. let's take a look at some live pictures. bay bridge toll plaza, that's about a ten-minute wait and then another ten minutes. you are looking at a 20-minute drive time getting into san francisco. if you are driving in san jose, northbound, 280 traffic looks good throughout 280 there gets up past bird avenue. 7:03. let's go back to the desk. >> thank you, sal. we are continuing to follow the winter freeze hitting most of the country. forecasters are calling it a polar vortex and say it's not over yet. for the second straight day, some cities are keeping schools closed. yesterday, in chicago, the

temperature dropped to 11 degrees below zero. it was so cold, the chicago zoo brought the animals, including the polar bear, inside to stay warm. extra efforts are being made to protect the homeless. >> sometimes outreach workers carry bus tokens so we can give them enough tokens to ride the bus and the train all night so they don't freeze. >> people going outside are being warned to cover exposed skins. because with though low temperatures, frostbite and high mow thermia can -- hypothermia can the set in in minutes. airlines are scrambling to catch up and get people where they need to go. ktvu channel 2 reporter, alex savidge, is at sfo, where it seems the problem is continuing today. alex? >> reporter: well, that na. yit winter weather -- nasty winter weather back east has led to thousands of flights being canceled across the

country and also to this incredible scene at the baggage area. i want you to take a look at all of these unclaimed bags line up here. these are just the bags that have come off united airlines flights. the workers from united right noware doing what they -- right now are doing what they can to reunite the bags with their rightful owners. not an easy task. here at sfo, they do have cancellations today. the duty manager said they have about a dozen flights that have been canceled so far. many flights were supposed to be headed to places like chicago, boston, baltimore. this morning in the terminal, we've seen people trying to get scream wherever they can, hoping for a flight out today. the bitter cold weather has snarled traffic around the country. in the past three days, more than 8,000 flights have been canceled nationwide. even those lucky enough to get on the flights are bracing for major delays. we talked with one man who was

bumped from his flight yesterday. he's hoping to fly out late tonight to get home to toronto. he's trying to keep a positive attitude about anything. >> you can't blame the airlines or the people. i think we're keeping mother nature at work. we're doing the best we can to cope with it without getting irritable and getting unreasonable with anyone. >> reporter: what's making it more difficult to recover from this wave of cancellations is that the airlines in recent years have cut the number of flights they offer to make sure planes are full when they take off and that means when they are trying to rebook people there aren't as many empty sets to get the folks into it. times like it makes it more difficult for stranded passengers. other bay area airports, oakland and san jose also reporting a handful of delays this morning. but again, an impressive sight here at the package claim, terminal 3 at sfo where you can see the hard-working folks from united airlines are trying to

account for all of these bags. these are unclaimed bags. and they are trying to eventually reunite well with their owners who can be anywhere in the country at this point. alex savidge, ktvu channel 2 news. >> all right, alex. incredible story. 7:06. happening right now -- the discuss senate scheduled to take a -- u.s. senate scheduled to take a test vote on long- term unemployment benefits for 1.3 million americans. these are live pictures. there's the senate minority leader. the vote was originally scheduled yesterday but at least 17 senators were kept away by weather-related delays. the senate democrats need 60 votes to advance the legislation. they need to get five republicans to join them. also this morning, president obama will urge congress to pass the three-month extension of unemployment benefits. he will appear at the white house along with people who have been out of work for more

than a year. that's senator harry reid right there. meantime, lawmakers are trying to finish a $1.1 trillion spending bill. they have a january 15th deadline to avert another government shutdown. now, the bill fills in thousands of details on the federal budget affecting the day-to-day operations of federal agencies. late last night, the san francisco public utilities department finished repairing a broken water main. it was first reported around 5:30 last night off monterey boulevard and juice avenue and edna street. a spokesman for the department says the pipes date back to 1929 and are vulnerable to breaks at this time of year when water from the hetch hetchy reservoir gets colder. at least 100 customers were without water for at least five hours after the break happened. we have new information about an explosion and fire in pinole we told you about yesterday. a couple escaped a powerful

blast sunday night. it blew out the walls and the windows of their house. bob alvarado decided to put a couple logs in the fireplace since there was no spare the air alert of the later on, the couple smelled smoke in their bedroom. shortly before a big explosion that literally raised the roof of their house. >> i put my hands on the wall and the wall was hot. that's when i screamed to get out. >> it doesn't happen that often but you can tell by the devastation to the walls and the material blown out in the yard, this is an extremely dangerous situation. >> fortunately no one was hurt. investigators are focusing on the chimney and a crumpled part of the flue as the cause for the fire. we have information on a deadly stabbing in san francisco. we first told you about it yesterday morning. san francisco police have identified the victim as 21-

year-old jose manual. he was killed in the lobby of an apartment building on market near haight street early yesterday morning. police have not made any arrests in the case. 7:09. there's a new federal report out that says there were several contributing factors to a tanker incident in the bay. it happened exactly one year ago. the report says the bar pilot who was hired to steer the overseas raymar out of the bay safely made a late decision to change the course. that was compounded by a dense fog and a navigational tool that wasn't working. the ship's captain, who should have been working with the bar pilot, was on his cell phone just before the accident. no oil spilled into the bay. but there was more than a million dollars damage to the ship and to the bridge. 7:10. it's back to school for thousands of children in the bay area. that has health officials warning parents about the spread of the flu. ktvu's janine de la vega joins us live from san jose to tell us about what's going on with

the influenza. >> reporter: we're here at willow glenn elementary school where children will start to arrive in the next hour and a half. i just spoke with a staff person who told me they have tissue boxes in each classroom as well as hand sanitizers and they will be reminding the kids to wash their hands. health officials say we're in the beginning of the peak of the flu season. the strain that's currently spreading is h1n1, nobody as the swine flu, which hit back in 2009. they say this is matching closely to what's circulating. last week a 41-year-old woman became the first one to die of h1n1 in santa clara county this season. seven severe cases of the flu have been reported so far. we spoke to a nurse this morning who told us she's been receiving a lot of calls from people complaining of flu-like symptoms and reporting their children are sick. >> you know they are constantly in contact with, you know, with germs. so that's the first line of defense for your children.

it's crucial to have it done. >> reporter: it generally takes a couple of weeks for the vaccine to strengthen in the body. so if people delay getting it to could leave them unprotected during the peak. people most at risk are children and the elderly. physicians have tips to prevent getting it, cover your cuff with a tissue or elbow, wash your hands, avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth and stay home from work or school if you are sick. janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. >> all right. 7:12. a court hearing set for today for the man accused of an arson attack on the chinese consulate in san francisco. the reason he says he did it. colorado high schools reopens -- high school reopens for the first time since the deadly shooting. why they say the tragedy has made the community stronger. good morning. we have some slow spots. but the san mateo bridge, one of the magettor commutes, still

-- major commutes, still looks good. paradise found! luscious locks. great glittering galaxies. the happiest place on earth keeps getting happier! explore more, and save up to 25% on select nights at a disneyland resort hotel. there's no end in sight. i'm going to need more time.

there are new signs that john kerry's peace talks in the middle east are paying off. there's now word of a possible breakthrough. the u.s. ambassador to israel says the plan to resolve all of the issues at the heart of the israeli/palestinian conflict will be presented to both sides in a couple of weeks. it includes a new west bank settlement plan, new security arrangements for the borders and some other key issues. back in this country -- tomorrow marks three years since that deadly shooting in arizona, the one that injured former congresswoman gabby giffords. there are plans for a permanent memorial in motion. the shoot oeg cured during a community meeting at -- occurred during a community meeting at a sure market.

six people were shot and killed. 13 were hurt, including giffords. she was shot in the head. yesterday, city officials in tucson announced a memorial will be built at the site of an old county courthouse. it will feature letters, candles, photographs and american flags placed in makeshift memorials that were set up immediately after that shooting. 7:15. today, colorado's arapahoe high school is reopening for the first time since a deadly shooting last month. students will return today to a shortened class schedule. they say the shooting was a tragedy but it has made the community stronger. they say people are feeling more love than fear. >> seniors, it's like even more so our responsibility to say, like, we've been here for four years and we know how great of a school it is. >> 17-year-old claire davis died after being shot at point blank range by karl pierson, who then killed himself.

wristbands are claire claim are being told to -- wristbands of clair's name are being sold. 7:17. san francisco supervisor mark farrell wants to make changes to what he calls outdated city codes. one example, many bicyclists, you are probably breaking a law that says only a car can be stored in garages. farrell says that law is unnecessary. and he's hoping citizens will take a look at the website, san franciscocode.org that lists all of the laws. he wants to hear suggestions about the laws that should be

eliminated or made more relevant. there is a proposal to keep shuttle buses with private companies from running in san francisco. there are complaints that buses from ginn anyone tick, yahoo! take up pace at bus stops and delay the transit system. users say everyone benefits when commuters don't have to get into their cars. >> it keeps me from having to drive. allows me to work where i work and it keeps san francisco being overrun from a big amount of cars. >> the city proposals the shuttle buses be limited to 200 of the 2500 bus stops and that they pay a dollar a day for evil stop they use -- for each stop they use. they will decide the program to be tried for 18 months. there will be a vote that takes place two weeks from today. 7:18. an effort to repeal san jose's

styrofoam band has failed and there are reports some of the signatures gathered were made up. city leaders say a ballot initiative to block the ban did not have enough signatures to qualify for the june election. according to the her cue ris news, more than half of the names were fake. city -- mercury news, more than half of the names were fake and some say they were given gift cards to gather signatures. let's check in with sal. everybody still behaving for you? >> sort of. we've had a decent commute despite glitches. it certainly has more traffic this week. and there's a backup at the bay bridge toll plaza. that's about a 10 to 15-minute delay. it has not grown beyond that. if you are in the outside -- outside lanes, it looks good for you. it's about a 20-minute drive time overall, getting into san francisco. also looking at 237, a spot that's always slow, you will

see congestion on 237 at zanker road. southbound 880s that not been full strength. we have -- southbound 880 has not been full strength. we have pockets of traffic down to stevenson. let's go to steve. thank you. beautiful sunrise. a lot of high and mid-level clouds again. so temperatures claim down. upper 50s, low 60s. actually, a few sprinkles last night. scared me. it did. what's that? it will be dry here but at least we'll be getting cloud cover in a series of systems. some of our longer-range forecasts are trying to break through the westerlies which would be a very wet pattern if it happens we'll see. there's a lot of lead time on that. they've had a lot of head fakes and a lot of false alarms. but they are trying, bebe -- they being the forecast, which would be really beneficial. we do have the cloud cover breaking through. there's plenty there. it will be another cloudy to mostly cloudy today. temperatures held up by the

cloud cover. they will be held on the high side. 30s, 40s to 50s. 51 at sfo. the cold conditions from the great lakes to the northeast, amazing amounts of records. it was 7 in atlanta. mobile, alabama at 14 degrees. myrtle beach, by the way, 1 degree on the windchill. 1 degree. >> wow. >> amazing. 8 below in chicago. baltimore set a record low of 4. new york city, coldest january 7th since 1896. just amazing. what you see is a coldary going over the warmer atlantic. it creates a sea spritz or sea smoke. not the pino. appreciates the tweets. you don't see this often. i think 32 states have windchill advisories or warnings. the lake-effect snow. buffalo 1 to 3 feet. it's 30 below with a temperature of minus 4 and grand ra pidz picking up a lot of that lake-effect. that will be -- that can stack up and stack up and then you go a mile away and there's hardly

anything. 29 in utah. 30 in sacramento. a lot high and mid-level clouds. a few breaks. maybe a sminkgle or two -- sprinkle or two. a little cooler. temperatures will be in the upper 50s and low 60s. i mean, we've been so far pov on the temperatures -- above on the temperatures, it makes sense we keep it here. there will be a stronger system coming in on thursday. do give us rain to the north and then -- could give us rain to the north and then after that we get a slow warm july -- warmup and sunshine. a taiwanese man washes to shore after 60 hours at sea. how he managed to stay afloat without being able to swimming. and a killing in san francisco, seven years ago. how a grieving mother is using social media to try to find the killers in this tragic cold case.

welcome back. today a heartbroken mother will make a new effort to find the

killer of her son. the deadly shooting happened exactly seven years ago outside a nightclub in san francisco's south of market area. someone inside a car shot and killed 20-year-old alberto while he was driving home from the club with a friend. her mother has been posting photos of her son every few hours hon a special website. this afternoon she'll join the police at the scene of the crime at 13th and folsom streets to raise awareness about this still unsolved homicide. >> need the person that did this to be responsible and do his time and be put away. >> we're hoping that someone in the public who might know something about this homicide witnessed something, heard something to please contact san francisco police department. >> now, weekses helped -- witnesses helped investigators to create these sketches. there's also a $250,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest. 7:25. there's word that los angeles

county sheriff lee baca will announce his retirement today one month after federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against 18 sheriff's deputies accused of beating jail inmates and visitors. the 71-year-old baca has served as sheriff since 1998 and was up for re-election in june. he oversees a department of 9,000 deputies. the fbi has been investigating allegations of excessive force and other misconduct at the county's jails for the past three years. 7:26. boy, it was a big victory for florida state football fans. [ cheers ] >> touchdown! >> 13 seconds left in the game. heisman winner jamas winston hit benjamin for the touchdown. they won the bcs championship game. so the seminells end the season with a 14-0 record. jamas is happy right there.

this was the last bcs game ever. that season comfortable football starts a playoff system. [ cheers ] >> this is after the game. florida state students celebrated in the streets of st. louis, florida a dance party -- in tallahassee, florida, a dance party broke out. thousands gathered to watch the big game downtown. overall, police say there were no major problems after the big game. >> good to know. 7:27. the cost of protesting. how tax payers are paying the price for the recent andy lopez protest in sonoma county. >> reporter: it's part of the iron triangle. we'll tell you what east bay city is loeping to shed that -- hoping to shed that image starting with new crime statistics. good morning. northbound 280 in san jose, that traffic looks good as you drive through until you get to highway 17 then it slows down for the trip to cupertino.

plenty of high and mid- level clouds out there. we had the same yesterday. will this trend continue for most of the week? we have the clouds. but with key get any rain -- but can we get any rain?

good morning. we're learning more about the daily city -- daly cityman accused of setting a fire at san francisco's chinese consulate. what neighbors tell us about the suspect and the day fbi

agents swarmed their street, which we're taking live pictures of right now, of that neighborhood where the suspect is from. we'll have a live report coming up. good morning. welcome to "mornings on 2." i'm tori campbell. >> i'm dave clark. let's talk about weather and traffic. steve, i know we need rain but we can't complain about weather when you show us this other stuff. >> better not. [laughter] >> that was the joke today. how do california -- californians will tell you when they are cold. >> yeah. >> it's not that bad. daly city, joslyn said it's cold. no, it's not. it's cool here, for our definition of cold. we'll had record highs. those have been replaced with cloud cover. 30s, 40s, 50s. sfo is in there. cloud cover streaming up from the southwest. mostly cloudy, maybe a few sprinkles. had a couple of last night. it's definitely cooler. upper 50s and lower 60s. these are about where we should be this time of year. it was long overdue.

here's sal. all right, steve. good morning. we're looking at a commute that's still slow in some areas. it's not quite as bad as it could be, i suppose, because some volumes are lighter. but highway 4 is still slow over the hill into concord and this is the first time we've had this. we had an earlier traffic hazard on highway 4 westbound. there was some sort of debris in the right lane, westbound highway 4. so traffic is slow. it's backing up now into pittsburgh. also we're looking at the -- pittsburg. we're looking at the bay bridge toll plaza. it's filling in there. we're looking at the better part of 30 minutes. i want to mention the peninsula at 101. it's slow. i would use 280 instead. 280 looks pretty good. 101 is slow in san mateo. but other than that, it doesn't look too bad as you drive down towards palo alto. back to the desk. >> all right, sal. a daly city man who admitted to setting fire to the chinese consulate in san

francisco last week is due in court this morning. ktvu's tara moriarty is in daly city now talking with neighbors of the suspects. what are they saying, tara? >> reporter: well, neighbors say they've seen people coming in and out of the house where the man lives. but they don't recall much about him. one man says he remembers the family moved in one year ago and there were three women living there in their 20s. the fbi says he called the daly city police dispatcher two days after the fire and used a chinese-mandarin translator to let police know he did it because he heard chinese voices in his head and the consulate had to be involved. agents say, this is video of the scene. neighbors say police swarmed the house on friday and they can't believe it. >> i've seen people come in and out of the house. younger than me. i'm surprised. i was kind of shocked.

>> reporter: agents say fang told him he tried to burn his passport to ignite three containers filled with gasoline but used a lighter instead. the fbi does not believe the crime was motivated by terrorism, politics or civil rights issue and fang has not been released. he has permanent residence status. he will be appearing in court in san francisco at 9:30 a.m. this morning. live in daly city, tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, tara. the two suspects in the brian stow beating case are due in court sometime in the next hour. a judge in los angeles has scheduled a pretrial hearing for louie sanchez and marvin norwood. they are scheduled to go to trial later this year for the beating of bryan stow that happened outside of dodger said number in mar -- stadium in march of 2011. is mr. looking for suspects involved in a shooting outside of royal food supermarket on macarthur boulevard near 76th

avenue. investigators say one bullet smashed through a window at the market hitting the clerk. a man outside of the store was wounded. both victims are expected to survive. it's still not clear what led up to the gunfire. it used to be called one of the most dangerous cities in america. but now the city of richmond's homicide rate has hit a 33-year low. ktvu's brian flores joining us live from richmond to tell us what's behind the new homicide numbers. >> reporter: it's certainly encouraging news for residents, visitors and business owners here in richmond. but according to police, it's still a work in progress but they hope this trend continues into 2014. but some new stats from 2013, they say richmond -- the police department says they've hit a 33-year low for homicides. last year there were 16 reported. that's the lowest it's been since 15 people were killed in

1980. along with that violent crime dropped. last month, police said there was assaults with a firearm. there were ten more cases reported than the brief year. we spoke to the business owner who said he's seen a change last year. he's considering expanding his coffee business to other parts of richmond. >> i'm afraid of putting any business in richmond but now i'm looking for another location, too. >> reporter: here in richmond? >> yes. >> reporter: now, police are crediting better community relations as well as changing the department from the inside by hiring younger officers and being more strategic in crime- fighting, also building a community trust. the city's office is credited. by the way, the lowest homicide rate in richmond was 12 back in 19 1 and the highest -- 1971

and the highest was 60 back in 1990. mum on "mornings on 2," why it's -- coming up on "mornings on 2," why it's not just the city of richmond that's seen a drop in the rate. brian flores, ktvu channel 2 news. state assemblyman mark levine is offering to pay for the rebuilding of a memorial to honor 13-year-old andy lopez. it was destroyed by a fire last week. but volunteers helped put it back together over the weekend. investigators say it was started by candles that were part of the memorial. lopez was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy. investigators say the teen was carrying a replica gun that looked like a real gun. the assemblyman also vowed to push for a new law that would require represently guns to be painted in -- replica guns to be painted in bright colors. sonoma county has paid about $225,000 in overtime for law enforcement officers monitoring protests over the

killing of lopez. according to the "press democrat" the majority. expense, about $207,000, was paid to sheriff's deputies. deputies in riot gear were deployed protests that detracted up to 1500 people. 7:37. they have won their battle to move their 13-year-old daughter out of children's hospital in oakland. however, family members of jahi mcmath concede they are losing the battle to save the young girl. the family's lawyer said she was examined at an undisclosed medical facility yesterday morning and they say she's in and i'm quoting "bad shape" after almost a month at children's hospital. in the meantime, legal experts are closely watching this extremely emotional case involving a girl declared brain dead last month. >> this is really revolutionized the law at any level. all i can say is not yet. and nor would i expect it to. >> now, professor fageman directs the hastings consortium

and points out that jahi mcmath is legally dead. therefore, has no constitutional rights. 7:38. help could soon be on the way for homeless people living in sonoma county. today, the board of supervisors is expected to approve $180,000 in emergency funding to help an estimated 3300 people without shelter. the board will consider using that money to add up to 80 additional beds to local shetters during the winter months. the program is designed to get homeless people out of the cold weather in hopes of preventing serious illness or death. 7:39. tesla expanding its network of free charges stations for its model s sedan electric cars. four super chargers are up and running in eastern wyoming. there are four already here in california as well as others in indiana and new york. tesla drivers can pull up the electric cars, plug it in for 45 minutes and then be ready to

drive another 250 miles. the electric carmaker says eventually there will be charging stations in coast to coast. 7:39. playoff fever is heating up across the bay area as 49er fans look to book last-minute trips to see their team take on the carolina panthers. one man is a die-hard fan and has a tribute room inside his home. he decided to buy the tickets to sunday's game. this will be his first cross- country trip ever to see his team play. >> i just kept thinking, man, i missed out on, you know, all of the fun that they had last year and i missed out on the last season at candlestick. i said let me go out with a bang at least. >> it cost him $150 to the game. about $600 for airfare and hotel but he says it's worth the money. you can watch the game on sunday right here on ktvu.

we'll have a live pregame show from north carolina at 8:30 a.m. followed by fox sports coverage at 9:00. kick jf is at 10:00. -- kickoff is at 10:00. one town in napa county taking precautionary steps about drinking water supplies just in case 2014 is adroos a20 -- 2014 is as dry as 2013. usually the reservoir could have water 65 feet deep. right now it's only 15 deep. the reservoir is supposed to supply half of the water calistoga uses. so the city is asking that people cut back on the water they use. operators of the folsom dam will cut in half how much water is allowed to flow out of the lake into the river for the next four days. the lower water flow will keep more water in the lake for a longer time. that's good for those that

depend upon it for water. but it's damaging wildlife, especially salmon which have already laid their eggs in the leg. >> we have an estimate of how many eggs will be dewatered. our estimate, 12%. >> we have a lot of different things we have to weigh and the consequences of different actions. >> the flow reductions will take several days so biologists can keep an eye on it. the man suspected of killing a priest in eureka has pleaded not guilty. the reason he's also facing a special allegation of torture. and how the frigid weather in much of the country is changing a typical spending pattern for retailers that normally happens in early january. traffic on the east span of the bay bridge looks pretty good getting in san francisco. it's crowds, though. there's a back -- it's crowded, though. there is a back up at the toll plaza. william gety said he's

putting sprinklers on the roof. we don't have any clouds. but can we get some? that's the question. before you settle for another ordinary mattress,

isn't it time you discovered the sleep number bed? the only bed clinically proven to relieve back pain and improve sleep quality. and right now, it's our lowest prices of the season. save $300 to $800 on our newest innovations. plus, 18-month special financing on all sleep number beds. only at a sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699.99. sleep number. comfort individualized.

stocks are opening significantly higher after a three-day slump that marked the worse start to the year since 2005. taking a live look at the big board, the dow is up 136. the nasdaq up 37 and the s&p up 13. it is 7:45. the brutally cold weather in the midwest and northeast could hurt retailers' quarterly earnings. analysts say the snowstorm kept showners at home during the weekend and the ongoing warnings to stay off the street

is keeping people out of stores. experts add many people wait until early january to use their gift cards they got for the holidays. so fourth quarter earnings could be down as much as 1%. retailers fourth quarter runs through the end of january. an agreement has been reached by j.p. morgan chase to settle claims related to the massive bernie madoff ponzi scheme. the 1.7 million settlement was announced this morning. j.p. morgan was made the primary bank. they are to acknowledge criminal charges. it's now official. the former president of the san francisco reserve bank will be the next head of the u.s. federal reserve. janet yellen will step into the office now held by ben bernanke when his second term expires at the end of the month.

yellable is the first woman to -- yellen is the first woman to hold the job and the first woman to head any central bank. she's been serving as the federal chair vice chair. today is an important day for people out of work. but as pam cook tells us from our newsroom what's happening right now in washington, d.c., pam, not only directly affects a million unemployed americans but the rest of the economy as well. >> it certainly does. right now, the senators they've been talking about whether or not to extend long-term unemployment benefits. want to take you live to the senate floor this morning. they have just wrapped up from what i understand the debate. quite a few senators came to the microphone. senior senator jack reed from rhode island actually made a very strong days. he talked -- case. he talked about giving an example of a darely farm in the midwest that -- dairy farm in the midwest that had job openings for 36 people. had 1600 people apply, just to

give the stion of what's happening -- give the significance of what's happening in the country. now that the debate is done, the senate is taking a test vote on a three-month extension of unemployment benefits directly affects the 1.3 million americans that are out of work but that ripple affect can be felt across the economy. as more people are out of work and not directing unemployment -- collecting unege employment -- unemployment, consumer spending goes down. democrats want to extent the benefits that expired back in 2008. some say it's time to phase out the emergency benefits. >> today there's only one job opening for every three people searching. we have never had so many unemployed for such a long period of time. >> emergency unemploim benefits did -- unemployment benefit, now the maximum is, i think we'll have to ratch chet that down as the -- ratchet that down as the economy slowly

improves. >> so again the issue being debated this morning in the senate, the test vote on the extension was actually originally scheduled for yesterday but was delayed because the extreme weather conditions and flight delays kept at least 17 senators away. again, the test vote taking place right now and president obama will be speaking from the white house as well. we understand that is set for about 8:40 our time. with him will be people out of work for more than a year. we're monitoring this debate and vote and we'll get the results of that and more comments in our next hour of "mornings on 2." pam cook, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. 7:49. want to check in with sal see what's happening on the roads. slow spots out there? >> yeah, there are. right now, we'll start off with highway 4 or actually we'll start off with highway 680, pardon me. i'm going backwards on my list.

68 is recover, after an earlier crash at washington. that's still a little bit slow as you head down to the fremont area. it's improved quite a bit getting out of pleasanton. the bay bridge toll plaza, that's about a 25-minute delay, travel time from the moment you get to the bay bridge until you get into san francisco. i do want to mention highway 4. it's been slow. there was a crash on highway 4 at 242 one at 680, the crashes have finally been moved out of way. however, it's gonna be very slow. still look at the all -- at all of the slow traffic you have to deal with coming into concord. it gets much better after you deal with it. if you can put the trip off for a little bit, you might be better off. who can put trips off in the morning commute. not many. to steve. good morning. a lot of high clouds. mid-level clouds had those yesterday. cooled those things down. there's another band coming in. that may give some rain. lake county, mendocino county. we started off dry for january.

a couple of sprinkles last night but nothing measurable. there are signs, the forecast models are trying to break through the westerlies. that's the jet stream if that would happen, that would set up a wet pattern. there's a lot of lead time on that. we'll see what happens. usually when you get something of this extreme this cold in the midwest, the deep south, i mean, tori and i were talking about this, incredibly cold when you get 7 degrees in atlanta. something usually changes down. i mean, that's usually a sign that something has bottomed out or there will be a sign of change. we get the high and mid-level clouds and there's plenty of those streaming in. a couple of breaks. maybe sun towards the north bay. overall, 30s and 40s. held up by the cloud cover. the extremely cold air going over the warmer atlantic creates this area. coldary goes down to florida and then you get the lake- effect snow. if you are from buffalo or

chicago, you know exactly what we're talking about. it's one to three feet of snow. you go a mile away way and you might not get anything. also in grand rapids, michigan, coming a -- here on lake michigan, you name it, there's areas that get the lake effect. that's what you are seeing right now. amazingly cold. the 20s up in the mountains. 30 in ukiah. a little chill for some. there's plenty of cloud cover streaming in. it will give us a cloudy to mostly cloudy day. we had the record highs on the weekend. low 70s. we had the offshore breeze. that's gone now. we get more of a westerly breeze. temperatures come back to where they should be this time of year which is more upper 50s and low 60s. i think they will stay there. there's no sign of a warmup. there's a sign of a system coming in on thursday. that one might have -- might have punch. things go back to mostly sunny, partly sunny. temperatures inching up a little bit. 7:52. there's some new hope for peace in the middle east.

the new ground-breaking proposal tied to secretary of state kerry's recent trip. a big announcement by skier lindsey vonn. will she be able to compete in the olympics next month? well i drove grandpa to his speed dating this week,

so i should probably get the last roll... yeah but i practiced my bassoon. [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ] everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop. [ angelic music plays ] ♪ toaster strudel! best morning ever! [ hans ] warm, flaky, gooey. toaster strudel! [ female announcer ] try new pillsbury heat-n-go mini pancakes.

new information about the man accused of kidnapping a 7- year-old girl in antioch. david douglas admitted he did it. he told the contra costa times, "it's something i did as a cry out. there's a situation right now that i can't get out of." he said he did not molest the girl and was trying to calm her. douglas also said "i tried to think of something to tell her so i said i'm an angel sent by god to get her." he said he did not have a gun with him, just a stick. he said he went to the antioch marina where he was captured because he's homeless and that's where he had been sleeping. we're also learning that a

target employee helped bring the abduction to an end. antioch police say 22-year-old roxanna ramirez wrote down the license plate of what turned out to be the suspect's car. she says she had been watching him as a possible shoplifterred in the pittsburgh target store. hours later, hearing of the kidnapping and a similar car involved, she called in the license plate and at suspect was arrested -- plate and the suspect, davis, was arrested. >> i was surprised they came that late but they did. they told me i helped. >> ramirez said she started to watch douglas in the store because his behavior seemed odd. she said she is glad the little girl is home safe and her ordeal is over. a taiwanese man is recovering after being adrift at sea for 60 hours. he says he was fishing for eels off the coast when a large wave knocked him in the water. making matters worse is the fact he does not know how to

twill. he said he survived by clinging to a floating piece of wood. he ush waked up on a -- he washed up on a beach. olympic gold medal skier lindsey vonn announced she will not be competing at the winter olympics in sochi. she had major knee surgery 11 months ago and was making a great recovery but she reinjured her knee last month while competing in france. now she says she's devastated she won't be able to compete in the olympic games. she's scheduled to have surgery within the next couple of days. she says she's hoping to be ready for the world championships in vail next year. 7:57. an important back-to-school warning. what health officialings -- what health officials are asking parents to do. and the airlines struggle to catch up with all of those cancellations yesterday. stay tuned. we'll have a live report on the status of bay area airports.

and good morning. right now, we are looking at a commute that is taking some time especially in contra costa county. you look at the live pictures. unfortunately, this is not getting better. we'll tell you what happened to make it so bad here. a lot of cloud cover over us. it started yesterday, continues this morning. but can we get any rain out of this system. we'll take a look. there's some possibilities.

just about 8:00. good morning to you. welcome back to "mornings on 2." we're live outside of sfo this morning. there are dozens of suitcases out there. you can't see them right now but they are sitting unclaimed. that's because the deep freeze in the midwest and the southern states in part, of the northeast, it's affecting air travel all over the country. we'll tell you what is the latest in all of that mess in a couple of minutes. welcome back to tuesday january 7th. i'm dave clark. >> i'm tori campbell. quick look at weather and traffic. so the biggest headline for us is some clouds. >> a lot of clouds. it could be light sprinkles or showers. a couple of returns showing you. we have a lot of cloud cover. so mostly cloudy here. mostly cloudy today and high clouds again on wednesday, then another system moves in. could be some very right rain -- light rain. mendocino county, lake county.

there will be more cloud cover coming in. that will hold temperatures in the 50s and 60s. moisture coming in. it might get pushed to the south and north bay. we start off with cloudy to mostly cloudy skies. 30s and 40s on the temperatures to near 50 for some. overall, look for a high and mid-level clouds, keeping temperatures where they should be instead of way above. a few sprinkles, light showers still on the cool side. 50s. temperatures, 56 to 63. here's sal. steve, we've had a horrible commute on highway 4 in the last hour. it's taken an hour. can't recommend much of an alternate. highway 4 is still very slow driving over to concord. this whole drive has taken about 45 minutes. and that's almost double what it normally takes. i know it's slow most days but today it has been terrible. let's go out to the bay bridge toll plaza, westbound. that's backed up for a 20-

minute drive before you get into san francisco. 20, 25 minutes which is not all that bad. western contra costa county from pinole to richmond. that looks pretty good. southbound 101 as you drive in marin county. the traffic in marin county looks pretty good after san rafael between novato and san rafael. we have a little bit of slowing there. 8:01. let's go back to the desk. we're still following the winter freeze hitting most of the nation this morning. forecasters call it -- european heard steve say it -- a polar vortex. it's not over yet. for the second straight day, some cities are closing schools. yesterday in chicago, the temperature fell to 11 degrees below zero. it was so cold, the chicago zoo brought the animals including polar bears inside to stay warm. extra efforts are being made to protect the home let's. the -- homeless. the weather is affecting transportation. heavy snow is blamed for

stranding more than 500 passengers on three amtrak trains. the trains were from los angeles, quincey, illinois and right here in the bay area, they became stranded about 80 miles west of chicago. crews were brought in to clear the train tracks. other trains arrived to pull the stranded trains to their destinations. the passengers they stayed on board, they were kept warm and fed by the crew. amtrak now says it's limiting service to and from chicago because of that weather. the airlines, as you can imagine, are also affected by the freezing temperatures. yesterday, more than 3800 flights were canceled. ktvu's alex savidge is at sfo with an update on how the bay area airports are doing this morning. alex? >> reporter: well, it could be another tough day of travel for a lot of folks. some people we're talking to have waited several days to fly out of sfo. they may have a little more luck later on today as you take a look at the board, a lot of

flights are showing they are on time. but we've been told by the duty manager that at least a dozen flights into and out of the airport have been canceled because of the nasty weather back east. frigid temperatures have left thousands of people stranded and they've left a lot of people separated from their luggage. take a look at this scene at terminal 3's baggage claims. united airlines alone is trying to deal with more than a thousand unclaimed bags. workers are trying to get them to their rightful owners as we speak. this morning we've seen a lot of people trying to get sleep inside the terminals, hoping for a flight out of the airport later on today. in just the past three days more than 8,000 flights have been canceled nationwide. even those lucky enough to get on the plane are bracing for long delays. it's a frustrating situation that requires quite a bit of patience. >> i group up on the east coast, i'm used to good blizzards. i understand the phenomenon.

what can you to? no sense in getting irritated. >> if you are trying to rebook a flight, it's a good idea to skip the customer service line and consider calling the airline directly or in some cases it can work to send your airline a tweet if you need help. as for the other bay area airport, maybe you are flying out of oakland and san jose, their websites are showing a handful of delays there. before you head out to the airport, always a good idea to put in a call to your airline first to see how things are looking. alex savidge, ktvu channel 2 news. >> other problems are also making things worse for airline passengers. jetblue yesterday shut down operations in new york and boston. that was to catch up on delays and cancellations. it also gave their crews a chance to service planes. the airline expects to have everything up and running after noontime today. airlines also say new regulations for airline pilots are slowing things down.

on saturday, new rules took effect requiring airline pilots and crews to get at least 17 hours of rest between flights. airlines say that's making it harder to schedule employees and that's creating extra delays and cancellations. 8:05. we have new information about a deadly stabbing in san francisco we first told you about yesterday morning right here on "mornings on 2." san francisco police have identified the victim as 21- year-old jose manuel. he was killed in the lobby of an airport building on market near haight street early yesterday morning. police say they still have not made any arrests in the case. the man suspected of killing a priest is being charged with murder with a special allegation of torture. 44-year-old gary lee bullock was arraigned yesterday. he pleaded not guilty and bail was set at 1.2 million. an autopsy shows that the reverend eric freed was beaten

to death with a wooden stake and a metal pipe. he was killed january 1st. the suspect had just been released from jail a few hours before the murder took place. 8:06. we have new information about the explosion and fire in pinole we told you about yesterday. a couple of escaped a powerful blast sunday night. it blew out the walls and the windows of their house. bob ail vara toe has -- alvarado just put some logs in the fireplace. later, the couple smelled smoke in their bedroom shortly before a big explosion that literally raised the roof off their house. >> so i put my hands on the wall and the wall was hot and that's when i screamed to get up and get up. >> it doesn't happen that often. you can tell by the devastation to the walls and all of the material blown out to the yard, this is an extremely dangerous situation. >> fortunately no one was hurt. investigators are focusing on the chimney and a crumpled part

of the metal flue that could have been the possible cause of the fire. a san jose state university student accused of tormenting his african-american roommate entered a not guilty plea to hate crime charge. the allegations trigger protests. prosecutors claim 18-year-old logan was the ringleader an that he along -- and that he along with three other white students made racial slurs and harassed the victim. the alleged abuse included forcing a u-shaped bike lock around the victim's neck. the four white students have since been arrested. the nicer weather we've been having here may make you forget flu season is here, too, the. that's a big concern as kids are heading back to school this morning. ktvu's janine de la vega is joining us live from san jose, i know classes are about to begin out there, janine. >> reporter: yeah, kids are just starting to arrive here at willow glen elementary school.

it's the time they are back from holiday brake -- break. a time when they are in close contact with relatives and hugging and kissing. they may be bringing back germs with them. health officials say the strain that's currently spreading is h1n1 known as the swine flu. that became a pandemic back in 2009 and physicians say this year's vaccine is matched closely to what's circulating now. last week a 41-year-old woman became the first person to die of h1n1 in santa clara county this season. seven severe cases of the flu have been reported soy far. we spoke -- so far. we spoke to a manager of a pediatric clinic sand he told us what -- and he told us what they are experiencing. >> a lot of kids are coming in with the flu. >> reporter: what are you telling the parents? >> we try to promote the vaccinations, to come in earlier and we offer the flu- mist. a lot of children they don't want to come in because they are afraid of the needles. >> reporter: it generally takes a couple of weeks for the vaccine to strengthen in the

body. so if people delay getting it to it could leave them -- getting it, it could leave them prone to get it. some tips to preventing this is coving your cough with a tissue or your el bowl, wash your -- elbow, wash your hands avoid touching your eyes, nose, mouth. and don't come to school or work if you are sick. here at willow, i spoke to a staffer. she said they have tissue boxes in every classroom as well as hand sanitizers. they will remind the kids to watch their hands as well. janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. >> always good advice. bad handwriting stopped a bank robbery attempt at an antioch wells fargo branch. a customer at the bank on summersville road handed a note to a teller yesterday morning. she couldn't read it. so she took it to her manager.

together they figured out it was demanding money. by the time they returned to the window, the customer was gone. police located the suspect at a shopping center across the street and arrested him. an effort to repeal san jose's styrofoam ban has failed and there are reports that some of the signatures were made up. police say there was not enough signatures to qualify for the june election. according to the san jose mercury news, more than half of the nearly 39,000 names were fake. city leaders also heard from homeless people who said they were given gift cards in exchange for gathering signatures. 8:11. good news for orphan bay area pets. the spca says this year's macy's holiday windows in san francisco was a big success. the spca says 339 animals, tori, they have new homes now. that's the biggest number of adoptions in the event's 27-

year history. in 2012, 287 little animals were adopted by the way the effort also brought in more than 80,000 in donations. >> wow. >> tc? >> very hard -- >> i know. a new image for a bay area city that used to be called one of the most dangerous in the u.s. what police credit for a turnaround in richmond's crime rate. >> it was the scene of a deadly shooting last month. what's happening now at a colorado high school today. good morning. right now, we're still looking at some slow traffic in one spot, not here. san francisco looks good but there is a spot in the east bay where you are probably wishing you didn't have to drive on. we'll tell you where. a little bit of sun, filtered sun. can we get the clouds to give us rain. had a few sprinkles last night.

8:sa -- 8:sa. a u -- 8:15. the first patch of syrian poison gas chemicals has been loaded on a danish car ship and taken out of the country. the announcement that the raw materials were loaded on the ship marked a crucial step in the international operation to rid syria of its chemical weapons by midyear. the weapons are due to the taken to italy, where they loan loaded on a u.s. navy ship and transported into international waters for destruction in a

specially created tank. there are new signs that secretary of state john kerry's peace talks in the middle east are paying off. there's now word of a possible breakthrough tied to the talks. the u.s. ambassador to israel says a plan to resolve all of the issues at the heart of the conflict will be presented to both sides in a few weeks. it includes a new west bank settlement plan, new security arrangements for the borders and other key issues. 8:16. now, tomorrow marks three years since a deadly arizona shooting rampage that injured former congresswoman gabby giffords. there are plans for a permanent memorial. the shooting happened during a community meeting at a supermarket. six people were killed. 13 were injured, including gabby giffords shot in the head. yesterday, city officials in tucson announced that a memorial for the victims will be built at the site of an old county courthouse. it will include letters, candles, photos and american flags that were placed at

makeshift memorials set up after the shooting 8:16. colorado's arapahoe hool is reopening for the first -- high school is reopening for the first time since the deadly shooting last month. students will return to a shortened class schedule. they say the shooting is a tragedy but has made the community stronger. they say people are feeling more love than fear. >> seniors, it's like even more so our responsibility to say like we've been here for four years and we know how great of a school it is. >> 17-year-old clair davis died after being shot by senior karl pierson. police say pierson was looking for revenge against a librarian but couldn't find him, so he started to shoot randomly and killed himself as police moved in. a federal judge ruled yesterday that chicago's gun ban is unstutional. the law made it illegal for

people to transfer ownership as a gift or through a private sale. the judge ruled that while el realized city official -- while he realized city officials were expected to stop gun violence, basic constitutional rights were violated. mark farrell wants to overhaul what he calls outdated city codes. one example he says is that many bicyclists are probably breaking a law that says only a car can be stored in garages. farrell says that law is unnecessary. he's hoping citizens will take a look at the website, san francisco code.org to see a list of all san francisco laws. el wants to hear suggestions -- he wants to hear suggestions about laws that should be eliminated or made more relevant. breaking news. this is coming out of new york city. several media organizations are reporting that more than 100 people, many of them retired police officers and firefighters, face arrest for falsely claiming they were traumatized in the september

11th attacks. now, reportedly the people who made the false claims worked with lawyers and doctors who helped them fake disabilities to qualify for social security pensions. an indictment says the scammers collected between $330,000, $50,000 a year based on the bogus claims. according to these reports, the manhattan district attorney's office will hold a news conference this morning at 10:00 a.m. our time to announce the results of what it calls a massive social security disability fraud case. it is 8:19. want to check in with sal who has been keeping a close eye on the commute. highway is still horn? -- highway 4 is still horrible? >> yes. we had a couple of crashes. we're we beginning to see a -- we're beginning to see a little bit of improvement. i'm not expecting to see any slow traffic here you but i'm

disappointed to see some waiting to get to concord. that's because of a couple crashes that were there for quite a while. that backed up traffic into pittsburgh and antioch. if you know someone who lives in antioch or pittsburgh and they get to work on highway 4, probably won't be in a very good mood this morning, i have a feeling unless they took b.a.r.t. b.a.r.t. is on time. this is a look at westbound bay bridge, that traffic is backed up for a 20-minute delay at the toll plaza. you add a ten minute time and your drive time to san francisco is about 30 minutes. not too bad. we've been looking at marin county, slow traffic there. southbound 680 out of wul is slow as you drive to alamo -- out of walnut creek is slow as you drive to alamo. let's go to steve. mostly cloudy skies. temperatures cooled off. a few sprinkles last night. napa, over to parts of contra costa county. very dry start. at least we're getting cloud

cover in here. it's been a long time coming. some of the forecasts, 515, 16- day outlooks -- 15, 16 day outlooks have been forecasting the westerlies coming in which would be very wet if it happens. we'll see. we have had a lot of false alarms on this. i will believe it when the three and five-day models show it. there is you can see it's cloudy, mostly cloudy skies. a couple of breaks in there. you get a little bit of sun. high, thin clouds. had a pretty good ban go through yesterday. temperatures have been held up because of the cloud cover. the lows will be held down because of most of the cloud cover. brutally cold conditions continue. it looks like there will be modification on these temperatures as we head towards tomorrow and by the next couple of day, they might be in the 50s. some of this cloud streaks that you see here, very cold air going over the warmer atlantic creates the effect right there. also you get the effect of lake-

effect snow which can be unbelievable amounts. you get one to three feet and you go not far away and you get one to three inches of snow. same thing is happening in buffalo and grand rapids, stacking across coming across the great lakes. some areas are getting slammed. for us we have a lot of high and mid-level clouds. 20s, 30s, 40s. partly to mostly cloudy today. some of this cloud cover might thin out later for the morning, it's mostly cloudy. a few sprinkles possible. a little cooler on the temperatures. they will be in the 50s or very, very low 60s. this is about where we should be for this time of year since we've been about 10, 15 degrees above average. extended outlook has another system dropping in the north on thursday. it looks like mostly sunny. a warmup going through the weekend. it's a very important decision day on capitol hill. the senate just just finished a test vote on extending unemployment benefits. an unsolved killing in san francisco exactly seven years

ago. how a grieving mother is using social media to try to find the killers. to those who've encountered welcome to covered california. new, affordable health plans so you can be ready for whatever comes your way. enroll today at coveredca.com. [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant. some not so giant. when managing your weight, bigger is always better. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant

tomato florentine soup, it took a little time to get it just right. [ ding ] ♪ but finally, it happened. perfection. at progresso, we've got a passion for quality, because you've got a passion for taste.

today, jerry sandusky will fight to restore his $4900 a month pension. the former penn state assistant football coach will testify at today's hearing by videoconference from prison in western pennsylvania. the state employees retirement system forfeited his pension

when he was convicted of sexually molesting boys in the penn state scandal. he argues he was retired when the crimes occurred. today a bay area mother will launch a new effort to find the killer of her son. the deadly shooting happened exactly seven years ago outside a nightclub in san francisco's south of market area. someone inside a car shot and killed 20-year-old alberto kasias while driving home from a club with a friend. for the last two days his mother has been posting photos of her son every few hours on a special website. >> need the person that did this to be responsible and do his time and be put away. >> we're hoping someone in the public who might know something about this homicide witnessed something, heard something, to please contact the san francisco police department. >> now, investigators with the help of witnesses created these sketches you are looking at of the two suspects. there's a $250,000 reward

offered for information leading to arrests. 8:26. it's still january. but the san francisco parks department is already starting to accept requests for summer reservations for the camp that was evacuated during last year's devastating rim fire in yosemite. the camp's water tanks and some water lines were damaged but the carm escaped major losses. requests for the summer lottery are underway. despite the fire, they say the camp will be ready for 500 visitor as -- visitors a week. they've won an emotional battle in court. the reason, though, members of jahi mcmath's family say they are losing a fight that is far more important. >> reporter: we're live in daly city where we just spoke to people who live in the house of the suspected arsonist of the chinese consulate. we'll tell you what they had to say next. breaking news in hayward. i want to show you the area in hayward on meekland. there's a report of a gas leak

in the area near an elementary school. we're following the story. we'll tell you more about it -- coming up. plenty of high clouds up above. can we get any rain out of clouds? what about the pattern this week? more clouds or another warmup on the way?

good morning. 8:30. welcome back to "mornings on 2." we're live in daly city right now. the man accused of setting fire to san francisco's chinese consulate last week, he's due in court today. we're live in the neighborhood where he lived. we have exclusive details from some of the neighbors about this person. ktvu's tara moriarty has been

out there all morning. she'll have a live report for you in a couple of minutes. it's tuesday, january 7th. i'm dave clark. let's talk about weather and traffic right now. steve's right over there. >> i am indeed. thank you. a lot of cloud cover. mostly cloudy, maybe a couple of sprinkles possible or very light showers. plenty of cloud cover streaming in. it looks like it will be with us for most of the morning. could get us a break as we slide to the north. but overall, a lot of cloud cover moving in. that brought temperatures down yesterday. they are held up, the lows here. mainly 40s to near 50. cloud cover won't allow any of that radiational cooling anymore. higher cloud cover will stream in. another system is poised to move in. that may give us rain to the north. i don't think much will happen here. we get a lot of cloud cover and cooler temperatures. nothing like they are getting in the midwest and deep south. for us cooler, 50s and low 60s -- 60s. here's sal. breaking news in hayward. we have a gas leak that's been reported at an elementary school, colonial acres school in hayward on meekland avenue.

this was reported a little bit ago. we have several fire units on the scene according to alameda county fire. they've listed what kind of engine companies, how many engine companies and truck companies have responded here to cologne yum acres -- colonial acres school as a report of a gas leak. we have a crew on the way and the school is in the process of being secured by the fire department there. again, this is a gas leak at an elementary school, colonial acre school on meekland avenue. we'll let you know more as weed find out more -- as we found out more. total time at the toll plaza, 20-minute drive time in san francisco. northbound 2le 0 -- 280 that drive looks good in the valley. back to you. a daly city man who admitted to starting a man at the chinese consulate in san francisco last week is due in

court this morning. ktvu exclusively was able to determine where the suspect lives. ktvu's tara moriarty is out there now talking with neighbors so what are they telling you, tara? >> reporter: well, we just spoke to a woman who lives in the home where the 911 call came from that fang made. she said that she does not know fang and does not get get involved in -- does not get involved in family matters. neighbors say they've seen fang. he has long hair. they have anotherren with him -- never spoken with him. he called 911 and used the translator too let police know he targeted the consulate because all of the voices he had been hearing were in chinese and the chinese consulate had to have been involved. agencies say he's -- neighbors say they can't believe it. >> i've seen people come in and out of the house fairly --

younger man me, but i'm surprised. i was kind of shocked. >> reporter: agents say fang told them he tried to burn his passport to ignite three containers filled with gasoline but used a lighter instead. the fbi does not believe the crime was motivated by terrorism, politics or civil rights issues. fang's photo has not been released. he does have permanent residence status. he will be appearing in court in about an hour in san francisco federal court. live from daly city, tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. happening now, in fact, at any moment, the two suspects in the bryan stow beating case are due back in court. a judge in los angeles has scheduled a pretrial hearing for the suspects, louie sanchez and marvin norwood. they are scheduled to go on trial later this year for the brutal beating. bryan stow outside of dodger stadium in march of 2011. this. oakland police are searching for suspects in a

shooting that happened outside of a neighborhood market. it happened last night at the royal food supermarket on macarthur boulevard near 76th avenue. investigators say one bullet smashed through a window at the market and hit a clerk. a man outside of the store was also wounded. both victims are expected to survive. it's still not clear yet what led up to the gunfire. it used to be called one of the most dangerous cities in america. but now the city of richmond and the homicide rate has hit a 33-year low. that's according to a new report from the richmond police department. the month of august was one month where richmond had no homicides. 16 people were killed in 2013. the city has not seen more than 26 homicides in any given year since 2009. the police are crediting the decrease on better community relations, better youth outreach and also a changing demographic.

8:35. mark levine is offering to pay for the rebuilding of a memorial to honor 13-year-old andy lopez. it was destroyed by a fire last week but volunteers helped put it back together over the weekend. investigators say it was started by candles that were part of the memorial. lopez was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy. investigators say he was carrying a replica gun that looked look a real gun. the assemblyman vowed to push for a new law that would require replica guns to be painted in bright colors. know ma county -- sonoma county has paid $225,000 in overtime for law enforcement officers monitoring protests over the killing of andy lopez. according to the "press democrat" the majority of the expense about $207,000 was paid to sheriff's deputies. deputies in riot gear were deployed during protests that attracted up to 1500 people. 8:36. the family of jahi mcmath has won the battle to move the 13-

year-old out of children's hospital in oakland. but they also concede they are losing the battle to save her. the family's lawyer says jahi was examined at an undisclosed medical facility yesterday morning. they say she's in "bad shape after almost a month at children's hospital in oakland." legal experts are watching this very emotional case. >> this has really revolutionized the law at any level. all i can say is not yet and nor would i expect it to. >> professor fageman directs the law program at ucsf and points out that jahi mcmath is legally dead and has no constitutional rights. help could be on the way for homeless people living in sonoma county. today the board is expected to approve $180,000 in emergency

funding to help an estimated $3300 people without shelter. the board will consider using that money to add up to 80 additional beds to local shelters during the winter months. the program is designed to get homeless people out of the cold weather in hopes of preventing serious illness or death. now that the holidays have passed, food banks in the south bay are asking for your help with donations. in 2013, the harvest food bank distributed nearly 1 million pounds of food every week to more than 250,000 people in santa clara and san mateo counties. the food bank is lacking food following a freezing december that damaged fruit and vegetable crops across the state. 8:38. tesla's network of super charging stations for electric cars keeps grow. besides having chargers in indiana, here in california, and in new york, there are now four of them in eastern wyoming. the chargers are free.

but they can only be used by tesla's model s sedan. drivers can plug it in for 45 minutes and be ready to drive another 250 miles. tesla plans to eventually have a coast-to-coast network of those chargers. playoff fever is certainly heating umg across the bay area -- up acoing the bay area as -- up across the bay area. as 49ers fans book trips to see their team take on the carolina panthers. this man is a high-hard fan and has a tribute n nis home. he -- in his home. he decided to buy tickets to the game and this will be the first cross-country trip to see his team play. >> i missed out on all of the fun they had last year. i missed out. i said let me go out with a bang at least. >> it cost him $150 150 to for the tickets and about $600 for

airfare and hotels. he said it's worth the money. you can watch the game right here. we'll have a live show from north carolina at 8:30 a.m. followed by fox sports coverage at 9:00. kickoff is at 10:00 a.m. i've been invited to a bagels and lox party to watch the game at 10:00 a.m. on sunday. >> sold it. sold it, tori. >> yes. 8:39. a man survived being stranded 60 hours at sea even though he can't swim. what he did to stay alive and where he was finally found. good morning. we still have breaking news in hayward where a school has been evacuated because of a gas leak reported. alameda county fire is on the scene. before you settle for another ordinary mattress,

isn't it time you discovered the sleep number bed? the only bed clinically proven to relieve back pain and improve sleep quality.

and right now, it's our lowest prices of the season. save $300 to $800 on our newest innovations. plus, 18-month special financing on all sleep number beds. only at a sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699.99. sleep number. comfort individualized. ♪ i'm on the hunt, i'm after you ♪ ♪ smell like i sound, i'm lost in a crowd ♪

♪ and i'm hungry like the wolf ♪ straddle the line, in discord and rhyme ♪ [ female announcer ] only yoplait light and yoplait greek 100 are endorsed by weight watchers. it is so good when you're on the hunt for something delicious. find yoplait original and light yogurt cups on sale now at your local safeway store. u.s. trade deficit fell in november to the lowest level in four years. it's an encouraging sign for economic growth. gains and energy production and stronger sales of american made airplanes, autos and machinery lifted exports to an all-time

high. the stocks are finally higher after a three-day slump that marked the worst start to a year since 2005. taking a live look at the big board, the dow is up 117. the nasdaq up 35. the s&p up 10. all right. 8:43. let's bring you up to date on some of the other top stories we're following for you right now -- about an hour from right now, the suspect in the arson attack on the chinese consulate in san francisco last week, well, he will appear in court. 39-year-old fang of daly city told police et set the fire because -- he set the fire because he heard voices speaking to him in chinese. extreme freezing temperatures continuing to hit most of the nation this morning. it's called a polar vortex. this is not over yet. this morning, it's heading into the northeast with record low temperatures in new york. some cities are closing schools for the second straight day and people are just being advised

stay inside. the weather's also knocking out a lot of flights canceling them all over the country. yesterday, more than 3800 flights were canceled. ktvu's alex savidge is at sfo. the problem continues today. hundreds of passengers are stranded. >> reporter: well, it has been a frustrating couple of days for a lot of travelers. some people have been waiting since this weekend to try to fly out of sfo. you can take a look at the board here and actually a lot of on-time flights today. so that's the good news for a lot of people who are still trying to get back home or get wherever they need to be. the airport duty manager just gave me an update a short time ago and said right now, they have 19 flights that have been canceled so far today. they don't know how many more could be canceled as we move through the afternoon. it's all because of the nasty winter weather back east. those frigid temperatures have left thousands of people stranded and because so many people have missed so many flights there's a ton of unclaimed luggage. look at this impressive scene at the baggage claim area

inside terminal 3. united airlines alone is trying to deal with more than a thousand unclaimed bags here at sfo. and this morning, many people slept overnight at the airport. we saw them curled up in various spots around the terminals, hoping to catch an early flight home. in the past three days, more than 8,000 flights have been canceled across the country. and we caught up with one family who has been trying since sunday to get a flight back home to des moines and one of the kids told me mom has lost her cool a couple of times. can. >> mom gets mad at times. >> reporter: what about you? what do you think about all of the waiting? >> he's terrible to wait it. [laughter] >> reporter: even those people lucky enough to make it on a plane could still be in for some serious delays because of the weather back east. although the duty manager here at sfo is telling me that things in his words are slowly beginning to recover. live this morning at sfo, alex savidge, ktvu channel 2 news.

>> all right. thank you, alex. 8:46. new this morning, good news for the 1.3 million americans who will out of work -- who are out of work. pam cook is in the newsroom with the vote that just took place in the senate. >> good morning. the senate took a test vote in the last hour over whether or not to extend long-term unemployment benefits. it did pass. now, the vote 60-37 had just enough votes to move forward. now the senate will have to take an official vote which should happen in the next day or two. the vote was proceeded by a short debate on the senate floor where those in favor pointed out that extending unemployment benefits not only affects the 1.3 million americans out of work but the rest of the economy as well. >> today, i think we've given a bit of hope to millions of americans who are struggling in a difficult economy to find jobs, who are struggling to

provide substance to their family, to pay the heat bill, put gas in the car. >> making sure that people can still go out to work but those dollars can be used to buy gasoline, to pay for groceries, to help pay people's rent is important because it keeps a lot of other people working in the economy. >> now, there's still work ahead. again, this morning, the vote was a test vote. the actual vote will take place in the next day or two. as we know, the white house supports the bipartisan senate bill. the house of representatives has signaled that it's unlikely to take this up. republicans have been open to an extension but want billions in cost offset with other spending cuts. we're supposed to hear from president obama shortly. we'll continue to follow this story throughout the day. reporting live in the newsroom, pam cook, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, pam. as pam just mentioned. we're waiting to hear from president obama. he's gonna be speaking at the white house urging congress to

extend unemployment insurance. this is a live picture of the room where the president will make those comments. you can see quite a crowd there in the podium. as pam mentioned, the test vote is just the first step before this extension of unemployment benefits would happen. it's a story we'll continue to follow throughout the day and this day and the days ahead. >> it's a major story. the other major story, sal, this gas leak near a school. what happened? >> well, it's actually at an elementary school in hayward, dave and tori. this happened at colonial acres elementary school in unincorporated hayward, alameda county fire is on the scene. the school has been evacuated mostly as a precaution. the students are out of the building. and they will remain out of the building until pg&e arrives and pg&e should be arriving any time soon to close that valve. alameda county fire did -- was able to secure the valve and pg&e will do the final work

before the students are let back in. all right. let's take a look at the bay bridge toll plaza. that commute looks okay. it's about a 10, 15-minute delay before you get into san francisco. also this morning, we are looking at the commute now as we look at the bay bridge toll plaza, i think we have one more to go, right? we're going to -- we have maps again. okay. we're done. let's go to steve. a lot of cloud cover over us here. mostly cloudy skies and yesterday, we'll have that today. could be a few sprinkles. light showers around. not a big deal. could be a few sprinkles. the cloud cover continues to stream in from the south- southwest. it will hold the lows up and the highs down. there might be sun later as this band slides. mendocino county, lake county might get in on more sun. the rest of us cloud cover through the afternoon hours. 30s, 40, 50s. temperatures held up. very, very cold air is going over the -- you can see it over the atlantic, making cool

conditions. so many record lows. windchill advisories and also talking about the lake-effect snow. buffalo being one. you -- it will stack up maybe one, three feet. you go not ta that far away and it's not that bad, same for grand rapid. at least we get some cloud cover here. a change from the dry warmer pattern over the weekend. things are cooler here this week. a lot of cloud cover. mostly cloudy, could be a few sprinkles. very light showers. mainly a lot of cloud cover. more so than go. that's for sure. temperatures will be in the 50s or very, very low 60s. a lot of 50s. kind of just held down a little bit. the overall pattern shows not much change. another system on thursday. probably won't do much here. then mostly sunny, gradual warming here. things are quiet. >> thank you, steve. nine minutes before 9:00, we are following breaking news,

sal just mentioned it, a gas leak at a school in unincorporated hayward. the school has been evacuated. we'll have more details -- coming up. well we can help with that. we tend to do a lot of banking online. you play? yeah discover a mobile app that lets you bank more freely... and feel at home more quickly. chase. so you can.

[ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant. some not so giant. when managing your weight, bigger is always better. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant tomato florentine soup, it took a little time to get it just right. [ ding ] ♪ but finally, it happened. perfection. at progresso, we've got a passion for quality, because you've got a passion for taste.

welcome back. new this morning, we're getting reports of thousands of foster city residents affected by a big power outage. pg&e says about 4500 customers in foster city are affected by this. crews are on the scene trying to fix the problem. at this point, we don't know

what caused the power outage in foster city or when the power will be restored. 8:54. new information about the man accused of kidnapping a 7-year- old girl from antioch. in a jailhouse interview, david douglas admitted he did it. he told the contra costa times "it's something i did as a cry out. there's a situation right now that i can't get out of." douglas said he did not molest the girl and was trying to calm her. douglas also said "i tried to think of something to tell her so i said i'm an angel sent by god to get her." he said he did not have a gun with him, as live have said, just a stick. he said he -- as police have said just, a stick. we're also learning a target employee helped bring the abduction to an end. roxanna ramirez wrote down the license plate of what turned

out to be the suspect's car. she says she had been watching him as a possible shoplifter in the pittsburgh target. hours later, hearing of the kidnapping and a similar car involved, she called in the license plate and the suspect david douglas was arrested. erl 8:55. a man from taiwan is recovering after being stranded at sea for 60 hours. he says he was out fishing for eels off the coast when a big wave knocked him into the water and making things worse. he can't swim. he says he's you sir vived by -- he survived by clinging to wood. el washed you on a -- he washed up on a beach. that's where rescuures found him. two lucky viewers will win four tickets to the silicon valley auto show. the show features hundreds of the latest cars, crossovers, trucks and suvs. the tickets are good for january 9th through the 12th at the san jose convention center. to enter go to ktvu.com before

-- before midnight and enter the secret word "auto." >> all right. >> cool cars there. let's go back to sal, get an update on the breaking news. that gas leak. >> we have good news to report. the alameda county fire department sent out a tweet and they are informing us that that gas leak has been capped at colonial acres school. the crews have been released from the scene. pg&e is now on the scene. now the people -- the children at the school had been evacuated and it's unclear if they are back in yet. but the gas leak has been capped. there were no injuries reported as a result here but a couple of tense moments as alameda county fire had a big response to this elementary school in the area of unincorporated hayward. but again, the gas leak has been capped according to alameda county fire. let's go to steve. >> sal, thank you. mostly cloudy today. a lot of high and mid-level clouds. could be a few sprinkles. no big deal.

temperatures 50s, 60s. another system on thursday and better as we head to the weekend. but not that much warmer. >> thank you, steve. >> any time. that's our report for this morning. we thank you for making ktvu your choice for news. president obama is now speaking at the white house urging congress to extend unemployment benefits. live picture here behind him. people who have been out of work for more than a year. we'll have more on ktvu channel 2 news at noon. we're always here for you at kum.com, as well -- ktvu.com as well as facebook and twitter. thank you for joining us. have a great day. when it's time to talk business security, talk to the leader. tyco integrated security. we'll create a solution customized just for you. and you can manage it all right from the palm of your hand. tyco integrated security. safer. smarter. tyco.

for a smart return to school box tops offer! buy ten participating box tops items in a single visit and earn sixty bonus box tops! that's six dollars for your school! plus, shop at safeway to collect double box tops on specially-marked packages. learn more at twowaystoearn.com. here's what's new at safeway from general mills! start the day off right with these delicious big g cereals! or try yoplait greek yogurt! power up with nature valley and fiber one snacks! and enjoy tasty progresso heart healthy soups.

find these and other great general mills products at safeway today! find these and other great general mills products . hi, everybody. time for some great videos and the stories behind them "right this minute". a pilot is doing a fly-by. >> he comes in very low, very fast. >> why that was a very bad idea. they were out on a sight seeing cruise. and these tourists got their money's worth. what happened when a boat full of trouble heads their way. [ bleep ]. >> a mom scolds her kid in a