we're following breaking news out of berkley where a bus is on fire on the shoulder of interstate 80. state senators vote to suspend a senator as a federal judge discusses the case of co- defendants in san francisco. one man in east bay lucky to be alive this afternoon after narrowly escaping flying debris. >> i was in shock. when i saw him standing there, i was surprised that he was still alive. >> what the man was doing just moments before the explosion.

a tour bus caught fire on interstate 80 this is just west of the university exit. you can see the view of the burned bus, and on the other side of the screen showing the backup that is building. the two right hand lanes eastbound are being blocked off, and traffic backing up heavily in both directions with rubberneckers looking the opposite direction. we got this video from our camera about 30 minutes ago. you can see flames and smoke pouring out of the back of the bus. fire crews arrived on scene just before 11:30 to get the fire out. a short time later we could see a second bus come to pick up the passengers. there is no indication that anyone on the bus was hurt. the bus is marked horizon coach

lines, which is a charter bus service out of san francisco. state senators now suspended. >> the resolution is adopted. >> with that the california senate has voted to suspend them, and earlier this week arrested on charges of corruption. he has refused to resign. a statement was issued by his attorney saying, the california state senate has voted to suspend senators. suspension is the right step for now and is appropriate in a system that presumes the innocence of the accused. all three senators will still

get paid, but there are plans to change that. meanwhile during the senate vote in sacramento, several of his co-defendants appeared in federal court in san francisco. alex joins us live. >>reporter: good afternoon to you. this hearing was a chance for a judge to make sure that all of these defendants have attorneys representing them in this complicated conspiracy case. a total of 26 people have been charged with conspiracy, money laundering and gun trafficking. today 18 of those defendants appeared in federal court. that includes a former china town ganister with alleged ties to the senator. he remains in custody and walked into court in a yellow jailhouse jumpsuit and gave a slight smile to attorneys as he entered the room. also in court today keith jackson, the former school board member accused of taking part in a murder-for-hire plot. now, some of the co-defendants

are not in custody in this case. we did see one of them, george nay, an alleged associate, walking out of court following the hearing. his attorney spoke after the hearing, and he said while the charges in this case are very serious, people should withhold judgment. >> people should not make up their mind about the charges. if the charges read like something out of a big crime movie, there's a lot they say happened, i say they meaning the government, and i wouldn't be surprised if it's typical that when you get to the facts it's not exactly as portrayed. >>reporter: the senator did not appear in federal reported to. he remains out of custody on bond. none of the attorneys would talk about how their clients might be connected to the senator or comment on the specifics of the federal charges. in fact, some of them said they

haven't had a chance to read the entire complaint at this point. most of those co-defendants will be back in front of a judge either next week or the week after that. we're live this afternoon in san francisco. channel 2 news. >> stay with us for the latest on the state senator and others charged in the case. we'll bring you the latest on air and online as it happens. san jose police say a man accused of killing two people nearly two years ago has been extradited from mexico and is now in a santa clara county jail. the 31-year-old, pedro medino faces murder charges. he's believed to have shot and killed a couple in their home. they say he dated a woman during a time she was separated from her husband when she reunited, and he threatened to kill them both. in east san jose police

investigating a suspicious death after a body of a man was found inside a home on aborn road. 911 received a call around 7:40 last night. so far no word on who the person was or how he died. police say they're treating the case as a suspicious death. homicide investigators responded to the scene as a matter of protocol. one man says he's very lucky to be alive today after narrowly escaping an airborne propane tank that came crashing down on his car when he was inside taking a nap. good afternoon, brian. >>reporter: good afternoon. lucky is quite an understatement. here is the damage as you saw from this morning's newscast as well as mornings on . had he parked just a few inches further back, he certainly would have been seriously hurt or perhaps even killed.

the coffee cup still in the holder, the keys still in the ignition and jose and his fellow employees not taking life for granted. >> i'm shocked, but i'm alive, thank god. >> i don't see any cuts. i know there was lots of glass on his head. it probably missed his head by a couple inches. >>reporter: he was just taking a quick nap before he started work around 7:15 this morning, pretty typical routine for him when a loud boom was heard across the street at the iron company. we understand he was working on recycling some metal gas tanks when one of them apparently was not empty. >> as a result the large piece of metal, not being empty, was projected quite some distance across the street. >> went over and asked, did you guys have an explosion. one of the employees said yes. i said, what was it?

propane tank. i said, i think i know where it's at. i said you guys are lucky. it almost killed one of my employees. >>reporter: it went flying across the sky traveling an estimated 300 yards, going through the roof of his brand new honda civic and coming to a stop underneath a red truck. castillo was seen walking around when crews got here unscathed with minor pain in his arm. >> this is crazy. i'm glad it didn't fly through my window. you never know what's going to happen. if that's true that it came flying from across the street, it wasn't this gentleman's day obviously. he's a lucky man. >>reporter: now, this is an investigation that is being turned over to osha who was at both locations this morning. i want to take you back out here live. here is jose and his son, david. jose, how are you feeling this morning?

>> in stock, but i'm okay. i'm alive. >>reporter: david, how did you hear the news? >> i was at work, and my mom called. i called her back and she told me there was an accident. >>reporter: everyone knows this is a new car. how old is it? >> about three days old. >>reporter: and i understand also that when you were taking a nap, something triggered for you to wake up. what was that? >> my alarm. i set my alarm. the alarm went off, and i grabbed the phone. it hit the car. >>reporter: thank you guys so much. very lucky man indeed to be alive this morning. osha heading this investigation as to what exactly happened at both locations this morning. we're live here, ktvu2 news.

a $183,000 fine because of air pollution at its refinery. the fine covers seven violation notices issued by the bay area air quality division. this led to a problem in something called a fluid catalystic cracking unit. part of the process to refine oil into gasoline. the fines will go to the air quality management district to pay for inspection and management costs. now to continuing coverage of last saturday's deadly mudslide in washington state. no new numbers yet, but authorities are warning they could be reporting a big spike in the fatality count later this evening. the official death toll is at 17 after searches recovered the body of a four month old girl. nine other bodies have been located, but are not included in the death toll. search and rescue say the weather will be working against

them this weekend. >> 100 percent chance of rain. we're looking at wind at 20 miles an hour in places on the site that's going to further complicate things for our responders up there at the site. >> 90 people are still listed as missing. five people remain hospitalized, including a five month old boy in critical condition. creative criminals posing as good samaritans. how helpful tips can lead to stolen property in the latest scam. still clear outside, but won't last long. when you can expect the wet weather this weekend. new details in the search for a missing malaysia airliner. why the search area has moved yet again.

new details in the search for missing malaysia flight after reanalyzing information. where crews are looking and what they've already found. >>reporter: more than one dozens ships and planes involved in the new search zone. it's nearly 700 miles northeast of where crews have been looking this week, and already today a plane spotted objects in the new area. the top malaysian

transportation official says the ntsb refine had the search data and passed the information along to search crews. they determined that the flight flew faster than first thought, burned fuel more quickly and couldn't travel as far. the new search area is more than 120,000 square miles, but it's closer to land, better weather conditions and should be easier for crews to navigate. >> the new search area could be consistent with that identified with previous satellite images. >>reporter: as for the objects spotted, officials will try to collect them and could determine as soon as tomorrow if they're connected to the missing airliner. a richmond school teacher accused of sexually abusing his students is due in court. the 32-year-old was arrested earlier this month, just two months after starting at the

elementary school. the alleged abuse happened during field trips while he was a teacher at his previous school. if convicted he could spend the rest of his life in prison for several alleged sexual abuse allegations. this scandal has prompted changes in the hiring process for the school district. police are stepping up patrols around a school after a suspicious looking man was spotted around the campus yesterday. students saw the man walk onto the playground during recess, alerted a teacher who saw the man running to a white or gray older model toyota or honda parked nearby on miller avenue. police are looking for more victims of a scam artist who's targeting unsuspecting drivers who last struck on tuesday on doolittle. he waved down a driver and told the driver his truck was

emitting smoke. when the driver got out of the truck to inspect, the scam artist rummaged through the truck's cab looking for items to steal. police are advising drivers to be on alert. there's a hope that new surveillance photos will help solve a robbery at a bank of america atm wednesday night on hurts street. you see the man's red sedan in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. police say he demanded the woman's money, then stole her cell phone. she was not hurt. pg and e says it expects to face federal charges as a result of the pipeline explosion that killed eight people, injuring dozens, and destroying 38 homes. the utility has been accused of more record keeping, poor maintenance and failure to identify safety threats. they told the securities and exchange commission it expects

u.s. prosecutors to file criminal charges any day now. >> nothing can bring back the lives lost, the ruin that occurred. if the u.s. attorney determines there's criminal negligence, then certainly charges should be filed. >> pg and e released a statement apologizing again for the disaster. since the blast there has been a massive effort to test and repair the pipelines. whether to green light a major overhaul meant to improve efficiency and relight bity of trains and buses is a plan known as the transit effectiveness project and would be the first big service overhaul in more than 30 years. it calls for some routes to run more frequently and others would have reduced service. they would also be more express buses and expanded hours of

operation. a spokesman told us the process will make them faster and more reliable. >> we've heard the concerns that it can be unreliable and slow and the project will address the concerns to ensure it's more comfortable and reliable. we're doing everything we can to make it as affordable as possible as well. >> the price tag is $44 million if it's approved, and the first phase would be started this summer and be completed in 2016. you've probably noticed an upswing in gas prices. san francisco has some of the most expensive in the state at $4.3 a gallon. that's an 18 cents increase from last month. in san jose the average price is up 17 cents over last month.

a lot of clouds out there for your friday. a few spotty showers, especially on parts of the north bay. this is in advance of a storm moving in first thing tomorrow morning. you can take a look outside. still lingering clouds. it feels kind of tropical out there with moisture moving in from the south and west. right now the bulk of the rain is up towards the north and santa rosa the most recent observation reporting light rain. some of this activity beginning to approach parts of the north. nothing organized, but a little bit of showers showing up on the live stormtracker outside of santa rosa to the east of windsor. as far as the forecast for today, a sun/cloud mix with a chance of shower, especially up in the north bay. winds around 10-20 miles an hour. this weekend you can count on rain first thing tomorrow morning, sunday clouds and

extended pattern bringing more rain clouds closer to the bay area. for tonight pre-season continues. look for mostly cloudy skies. the first pitch 7:15, temperatures in the 50s at 56 degrees. you can see the overall storm track right now. it's moved up to the north, but still lots of moisture. a chance of shower, especially up in the north bay. the main cold front associated moves in late tonight and early tomorrow morning, so with that the source of heavier rain and turning over to scattered showers by saturday afternoon. in terms of the heavy rain, we're expecting forecast accumulations, over an inch for the north bay hills, heaviest between early saturday morning, 3 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and the sierra picking up snow. a warning up there and on the

order of 1-2 feet. this will be a productive storm. the heaviest rain starting late tonight in the north bay and moving across tomorrow morning 4-8 a.m. a chance of scattered shower tomorrow afternoon, and sunday looks like it's okay with just partly cloudy skies. mainly 60s this afternoon. the warmest around 70 degrees. san jose 69. santa cruz 67. a look ahead at your five-day forecast, multiple rain clouds to talk in the five-day forecast. heaviest rain this weekend saturday morning. next week we're talking about more rain clouds. we're getting the rainfall we need, you but also some breaks. >> april starting tuesday. >> that's right. there could be rain out there as well. the world's largest retailer suing visa for

billions of dollars. we'll tell you why. and a mysterious move from general motors. orders of dealers to stop selling one of its most popular cars.

a live look at the big board, the dow up 37, nasdaq up three and s&p up six.

the world's largest retailer is suing visa for $5 billion, claiming they worked together to inflate the fees stores pay when customers use credit cards. the retailers say visa also conspired to set up rules that prevented stores from protecting themselves costing retailers and shoppers $350 billion between 2004 and 2012. general motors has ordered a halt to the sale of about one third of the chevy cruz already on dealer lots, but won't say why. the halt affects about 20,000 of the most popular model, those with a 1.4 litter turbo engine. no recall has been issued for cars already sold. it's one of the more unusual calls, tracking down a run away pig that went on the lam. they cornered the animal yesterday after there were reports it was roaming the

neighborhood. they later learned it was a pet that had escaped and was taken to an animal shelter where her owner picked her up. thank you for making ktvu your choice for news. you can always follow us on twitter and facebook. thanks for watching. have a great weekend. lucky charms!

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>> this is "the real winning edge." a volleyball player who got the best over her bullies. it's a young man who's a sparkplug for his whole school. a gymnast who doesn't let her father's rejection defeat her. it's celebrities who let you know what it takes to win in life. 3-time olympic gold medalist misty may-treanor, recording artist paige omartian, olympic and world champion gymnast alicia sacramone. this is how to overcome. [captioning made possible by challenger films] >> ♪ as long as it's all right i know there's a way... ♪ >> i'm apolo anton ohno. see how you can overcome when life gets tough. >> h i'm lisa leslie. find out how to have the real winning edge over life's challenges.