this apartment complex. you can see a huge tree came crashing down and coming up in just about two minutes alex savidge is out there. he will show us more of the damaged cause by this and another problem because of the rain and the very saturated ground at this point. good morning, it's wednesday, december 17th i'm pam cook. >> good morning, i'm dave clark. let's talk about weather and traffic. steve, i know san francisco is piling up the water. >> almost ten inches of rain for the month. almost. they will get it today. wettest ever. dave is right, still raining out there. for some. it looks like the rain is really picking up in parts of marin county and east bay. and another system is just flying down here. it won't take long. it's already knocking on the door if you will. [knocking] come on in and there it is. this will not be as strong as last night but it will give us steady moderate rain.

last few hours things have calmed down. san francisco also marin county and back over san pablo bay to the east bay. nothing too heavy. your morning commute sun breaks and plenty of showers around. scattered showers. if there is any sun breaks it won't last long. you can see hit and miss here. but picking up in intensity. especially on the peninsula. look at this around sunnyvale. and around palo alto and los altos. right over the dumbarton bridge. and coming down right out of the northwest clipping san mateo coast and head into the santa cruz mountains. an active morning in the next hour or two we could have a possibility of a couple little downpours. 40s on the temps. it is cold out there. 40s and 50s. it is a damp cold. bundle up. it will be a day with a lot of cloud cover and one little system are be on tap after this. it may not last too long. clouds and showers. some rain moving in later on. 50s on the temps. 40s in the higher elevations.

here he is sal an update on traffic. we are looking at a commute that has been effected by crashes. we're going to start off in fremont where southbound 680 had a big rig hit one of the center divides and traffic is a little slow heading south. some alternates are you stay off the freeway until you pass vargas. nearby at the corner of fremont boulevard, clearing up a fatal accident from last night. just spoke to the sergeant there and that accident should be cleared within the next 15- 20 minutes is what he said. he actually said he could be cleared sooner than that. they already opened up some lanes. this happened last night and they were there all night investigating a fatal crash. you might want to stay away from it for now until given another half hour or so. let's move along and take a look at the live pictures. the metering lights are on. and the traffic is backed up from the mccarthur maze. san francisco still looks good. north and southbound 101 because of last nights rain there is a lot of standing water. so be aware of that.

let's go back to the desk. with more rain heading our way, a hazardous weather outlook is in effect for the bay area. many people are already feeling the brunt of the storms. alex savidge is in santa clara where a giant tree fell on an apartment building. alex. >> reporter: pam, good morning, to you. the soil so saturated from the morning rain. that is why the huge tree behind us here came crashing down last night. you can see the scene here this morning. it came down and damaged part of the building. it also smashed a car that was parked here as well. this happened last night during a period of heavy rain here in the south bay. this tree is on burbank drive in santa clara. and it gave way own toppled over. the good news here is no one was hurt during all of this. meantime all of that rain last night triggered flooding on a nearby freeway. this is the scene on 280 near bird avenue in san jose. that is where one car got stuck in flood waters after a crash in that area.

cal tran crews have been working to -- the huge tree still resting against the apartment building and as you can imagine, it will be -- it will take a long time to clean up this tree and chop it up and get it out of the way. >> cries out there yet? or when are they expected? >> no, we haven't seen anybody out here just yet. all is quiet out here at this apartment complex. so i imagine once the sun comes up they will get the folks out here and chop it up. >> thank you alex. 6:04 is the time right now. marin county supervisors have declared a state of emergency following a week of heavy rain. the declaration allows the county to apply for state and federal aid. the cost of repairing just one levy in novato will cost $1 million alone. marin now joins these other bay area counties in declaring or

considering a state of emergency due to the december storms. time is 6:04. the family of a south lake tahoe teenager who was found dead after being reported missing last week they are criticizing police for failing to act quickly. police say 17 shh-year-old smith was fatally struck by a 50-foot tall tree. it fell down during last weeks storm. smith's family reported him missing when he didn't come home after saying he was going to meet friends. but they say the police didn't start searching for desean until almost 24 hours later. an officer did search an area described by witnesses. there is no indication it was anything more than just a terrible accident. >> this holiday season is an especially hard one for a san jose with who's son was killed almost a year ago. 46-year-old anthony lee thompson was stabbed to death in january outside his mothers home. groceries for his mother were right next to her body. 11 months later police still

have no leads in the case. thompson's mother says the death of her son leaves a huge void in her life. >> it's hard to believe that he is not coming through that door anymore. and that is the thing that is the hardest for me. >> detectives are stumped as to the motive in the killing. thompson was a navy veteran once honored for volunteering at the jail ministry, he also fed the homeless and active in his church. time is 6:06. happening today state senator jerry hill will introduce a bill it is aimed at certain athletic fields. right now some synthetic turf is made with ground up recycled tires. there is fears the recycled tire pieces can cause cancer. the proposed bill will require a new study examing possible health risks. schools and local governments would be banned from putting in

new synthetic turf before that study is completed. >> you are not allowed to burn thiemia bury them because they are deemed unsafe. yet we can spread them around our athletic field. >> the study would have to be completed in a year and a half. the ban on that turf would be for two years. alternatives to rubber include used sneakers as well as cork. ed lee says the city is taking another step at improving the service to muni while protecting the environment. the mayor has announced the protection of hybrid diesel buses. they use less fuel and admit less pollution. the new buses cost $68 million. the money comes from federal grants, bridge tolls and voter approved proposition. google is paying for a new shuttle bus service about to begin in mountain view. four blue and white electric buss will stop at 50 spots throughout the city.

buss will run every 30 minutes seven days a week. the city says it will have to decide whether or not to keep the service going and then how to pay for it. time is 6:08. it's taken ten years but san francisco, daily city, and san bruno they finally agreed on a water sharing plan. the deal will diversify the water supply for that region. they will sell water to daily city and san bruno from its reservoir during the years where there is a lot of rain. that will let water build up in the under ground aquifer. >> aquifer is equivalent to crystal springs. so 20 million gallons of water that can be stored in this

aquifer. time is 6:08. dealing with the aftermath of that deadly hostage situation in australia. coming up for you at 6:30 the questions being asked by authorities and what one of survivors is now saying. >> but first. >> you are right i'm from down south. and i'm your mother. >> you better believe it. guys, you are being scolded on live television. why a woman called her two sons while they were making an appearance on c-span. >> good morning. right now we are here looking at a commute where traffic on highway 24 is moderately heavy heading up to the tunnel. we'll give you drive times coming up. >> more rain is on the way. it's already picking up. take a closer look at it coming up. female announcer: get three years interest-free financing

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welcome back to the morning news. several people on an american airlines flight was hurt. they hit severe turbulence shortly after taking off from south korea. the jet was headed to dallas, texas but it made an emergency landing in tokyo after getting caught in a powerful winter storm. the passengers say the turbulence didn't last long but there was no warning. >> it lasted for about 30-45 seconds and it was very sudden. some people walking around might have hit their head. >> it was a big big drop. >> four of the passengers and crew member had to go to a hospital. nine others were treated right

there at the scene. the passengers spent the night in japan but they will be put on another flight heading to dallas today. pakistan is mourning as the nation prepares for mass funerals for 145 people. most of them children killed in a taliban attack on a military run school. a three-day official mourning period started today. the day after seven taliban gunmen stormed the army public school. students were gunned down some of the female teachers were burned alive. army commandos stormed the school. the attack was revenge for a military offenseman. thousand in response to the attack, pakistan's prime minister lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism cases. right now pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on death row. some students at uc berkeley came together to take a stand against the taliban's war on education. many of those who turned out have ties to pakistan and they

are heartbroken hearing about the attack on the school and seeing images of the small coffins. >> the least we can do is acknowledge that we are here and we are getting an education which is something those kids will now never be able to do. >> i will be going back home on saturday andly be going back home to a nation which is mourning. >> the students say coming together helps them get through the emotions they are feeling following that attack. time is 6:14. back in this country former florida governor jeb bush is taking steps toward running for president. bush said on twitter and i'm quoting i'm excited to announce i will actively explore the possibility of running for president of the united states. jeb bush said he made the decision after talking to his family which of course includes two former presidents. his father, george h.w. bush and his brother george w. bush. now other potential republican candidates include senator

marco rubio and new jersey's governor chris christie. it seems you are never too old to be scolded by your mother. even appearing on live television can't save you. watch what happens when he took a phone call. >> you are right i'm from down south. >> oh god it's mom. >> and i'm your mother. i disagree that all families are like ours. i don't know many families that are fighting at thanksgiving. >> is this really your mother? >> oh yeah. >> that is mom. they were surprised when their mom called in. she said she has had enough of their arguing and expects a peaceful christmas. but it wasn't all tough love she did end the call by saying she is proud of them and loves them both. >> my mom would have done that. >> we've had a lot of political conversations and discussions at our dinner table. >> she would go david. >> my mom just called and said

she wants me to sit up straight. >> you do that. >> i will. let's take a look at what we have now. if you are driving onofre month road, it's really bad because of a truck that hit a center divider. it started out as a small backup and now stretch into pleasanton. i would avoid 680 out of pleasanton heading down to fremont if i can use 580 and 238 and 880 right now at least for right now it's better than the other way around. i want to show you 880. if we can go to interstate 880. okay. we will go to northbound 280 as we get toward highway 17. the traffic is moving along okay in san jose. so we don't have a lot of slow traffic at the bay bridge. the metering lights were turned on a half an hour ago.

this is a 25-30 minute delay into san francisco. so no major problems here. this is 880 north and southbound. you can see for yourself it does look good. at 6:17 let's go to steve. thank you, sir. a very good morning. we do have rain picking up already. and there is another system here and the old pipeline there is 1.5. the winter precipitation outlook shows above normal or wetter than normal. all the way down to texas and the deep south. four days away from the official start of winter. but mother nature doesn't look at the calendar. it just says let it rain here. almost ten inches of rain from the first to the 16th. normal is 4.56. that is 425% of normal. probably hit 10 inches here. the first of the 16th if you ever work in san francisco and say this has to be a record.

it has been. now for the year at 13 .38 which sisters july 1st. entire season is 26.5. we are 194% of normal. last 24 hours mill valley an inch and three quarters. sleepy hollow 1.37. sfo three quarters. san francisco two-thirds and san jose a half an inch of rain. i mentioned this in a coup -- and a couple people brought it to my attention it's amazing how much we are getting in and not translating up to the sierra nevada. they are getting snow but nothing to the equivalent we are getting here. east bay and parts of san pablo bay into san francisco. and also looks like a little line forming here. fremont and milpitas. so for the morning commute

mostly cloudy. there are some scattered showers around. some of these could be brief and heavy. could be a few sun breaks. i doubt they last very long. the next system will cloud us up. it's on its way here. you can see san mateo coast and santa cruz coast move into the santa cruz mown tapes. things are moving fast. 40s on the temps. cold out there. it is cold outside. 40s cold. 48 redwood city. san mateo is at 49. 32 up in tahoe. 35 reno. 48 ukiah. and 48 in monterey. a little bit of snow shower but nothing that extreme. for us the next system will give us another round of rain tonight, this afternoon. it will not be as heavy as last time. it will still add rain in the old rain gauge. 50s on the temps. some locations in the higher elevations. rain moves in tonight and we'll have a break thursday. one more system friday and then it looks like we will get a

break i don't think it will be that long. maybe through christmas eve. >> christmas day we will get rain. 6:20 is the time right now. u.s. consumer prices in november posted the biggest drop in six years. the commerce department reports it fell three tenths of a percent last month. energy prices of course falling with gas prices a whopping 6.6%. that offset some increases in food, housing, and medical care expenses. consumer prices are up just 1.3% in the last year. starting today mcdonalds in japan is limiting the serving size of french fry orders. customers can only buy small orders of fries because it is running short of the frozen fries imported from the united states. that is because of shipping disruption. french fry shipments this month are expected to be half the

usual amount. time is 6:20. there is a threat. it's aimed at people planking to see that new movie the interview. coming up in 25 minutes, the precautions now being taken after the people who hacked sony pictures issued a warning to theater goers. >> new public light sculpture gets the go ahead. how it will be linked to public transportation under ground. the best meat and the best produce. it's my job to start a new legacy, the best wine beer and spirits. we travel all over california and the world to find all sorts of new craft spirits, craft beers, small production wines. ♪ brews from mendocino, and the finest wines from around the world. at raley's, we're really into craft, so we enjoy and are excited about carrying those products in the store. ♪ share your ideas, tell us on facebook.

right here in san francisco.

whether it's helping local businesses like the fruitguys grow and prosper, supporting nonprofits like juma ventures as they fulfill their mission or helping neighborhoods like the tenderloin become vibrant communities. if there's a way to help the people of san francisco thrive and succeed, we'll find it. that's the power of local connections. that's bank of america.

the san jose sharks making the holidays happier for 40 families. last night sj sharky right there and the sharks foundation hosted kids and parents for the annual holiday assist program at the sharks practice facility. the kids were out there skating. they created art projects and they ate a lot of good food. and all the children who were there were given wrapped pregnants to take home and they can open up on christmas day. we are gaining new insights into one of san francisco's greatest mysteries. did three men who escaped to alcatraz in 1962 is survive? nay made it out of their cells but their bodies were never found. now a team of dutch researchers now says there is a chance that they made it safely to shore

but only if the men left at the right time and road in the right direction in their makeshift raft made from 50 raincoats. the researchers originally designed a computer model to study sea level rides. but one realized it could apply to the escape. each dot represents a different time of departure. it shows that if they left between 11:00 p.m. and midnight and paddled north, they could have made it from alcatraz to the shore on the golden gate bridge. if they left any time of midnight the tide reverses. very interesting. well this is too. a new public light sculpture in san francisco gets the green light from city supervisors. take a look at this. every single time a muni light rail vehicle travels under ground beneath -- underground

beneath market street lights will reflect the movement of the trains. >> the idea came from wanting to reimagine the every day. wanting to take something that we all experience on a daily basis and help transform it into a moment of wonder and a moment of awe. >> that is fascinating. i want to see that. the project will be paid for just so you know by private donations. the fund raising will start next month. the creators hope to have the light rail project up and running by june. time is 6:26. we're on breaking news right now in san francisco. police at the scene of several car fires in one neighborhood. stay tuned. we'll bring you a live report. also helping people in need during this holiday season what hundreds of people are lining up for right now at glide memorial church. >> this is the grand finale hat you will see in beach blanket

babylon but for the special holiday show we are going to take you behind the scenes and show you the new one that is coming up next along with an interview with the shows producer. >> we're looking at a commute that is getting busier. plenty of spots stop and do. this is a look at the golden gate bridge. >> a little bit of a break after last nights intense rain but rainfall is picking up again and our next system is flying into the picture. it's cheaper to eat at my place. i've got -

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good morning to you. welcome back. we're on breaking news. look at this. look at this. police and firefighters investigating several car fires just within blocks of each other. several. our cameras are right there. you can see the damage. ktvu brian flores is there. you see the police.

i assume this is the owner of the car giving police information. brian will have more from an arson investigator who is out there right now. this is happening as we speak in san francisco. stay tuned. good morning. thank you for joining us. ktvu channel 2 morning news. middle of the week, wednesday december 17th i'm dave clark. >> good morning, i'm pam cook. thank you for waking up with us. it's 6:30. let's check in with steve. a bit of a break but we will still get rain. >> it's not lasting much. we get a little bit of rain. the next system is producing some rain. it's getting very close here. it does look like kyle out in benicia said should i wear the sweater or jacket any would go with the jacket. it is cold out. but it's not only cold but it will get more rain. i had to know if that was an ugly christmas sweater first. i would go with the jacket. this is the next system. it will not have the power house punch that last nights did but it will stipgive us

cloud cover. right now things are picking up. parts of marin county and moving off toward san pablo bay and to the east bay as well. oakland, san francisco, probably now another .01 has fallen in san francisco. it looks like a line forming. santa clara valley that is close though to the radar site. showers this morning. mostly cloudy. cloudy and rain develops by this afternoon. takes us into the this evening. does not look to be as intense. you can see rain moving in. san mateo and santa cruz coastline. right over the peninsula. 40s on many of these temps. it is cold, bundle up. even to the north you are fighting 40s. higher elevations are in the low to mid 40s. not as much in the sierra nevada. we are taking the energy from these systems. a lot of cloud cover and showers will give way to cloudy skies and rain later on. 40s and 50s on these temps. here is sal. any updates on the traffic? you know we are looking at a commute that is just

moderate, steve. if you are -- just look at my list here from time to time to see if things pop up. we do have items but the traffic is pretty slow in some areas already. like at the bay bridge. you will be waying there for a bit. and a lot of standing water left over from last nights rain. moving on to the san mateo bridge that is also moderate when you get over to san bruno and northbound 101 there was a crash. northbound 101 near san bruno avenue it's on the shoulder. i do want to mention 680 is a mess heading down to fremont because of an earlier in fact a truck accident that is still there. southbound 680 at vargas. i would avoid using 680 at all in this case and use 580 to 238. 238 is not all that bad. 880 is a little slow. i still say it's better than 680 because of all of that slow traffic. let's go back to the desk. we are following breaking

news in san francisco. police investigating several car fires. ktvu brian flores is there. you're live in the castro district brian. what is happening? >> reporter: good morning. we are in the knowy valley area where a san francisco fire investigator, arson investigators are investigating multiple car fires. this is one of the cars here. unfortunately a 2002 jeep that caught on fire this morning and investigators as well as san francisco police are looking for the persons or people responsible for more on the investigation so far i want to bring in john darman with the san francisco fire. good morning. what can you tell us about the investigation. how many cars were involved? >> there were multiple separate vehicle fires within a few hours of each other. all four fires to count so far are under investigation. >> reporter: what can you tell us in materials of the pattern?

within a block of each other? two blocks of each other? >> we have to actually pinpoint that but i could say this probably within 10-15 blocks of each other. >> any indication at this point considering the investigation is still early on on how these cars were it will on fire? do you believe it's one person or multiple people involved here? >> we have no knowledge of anything that specific at this point. it's still under investigation. we are trying to look at the cause of each of the fires separately as you can imagine. four separate fires, four separate locations that will take a little bit of time but that will be a priority of ours. >> reporter: in terms of the cars that were it will on fire, was there any specific pattern there? was it just random cars? >> it appears that these were random fires. does not appear anything was targeted. just random fires and different parts of the same neighborhood.

>> reporter: john, thank you so much for talking with us. again so far to recap four cars that were it will on fire suspiciously this morning. just before 4:00. mainly within a 15 block radius. we will continue to update the situation and give you more information later on during mornings on 2. back to you. >> thank you. more bay area rain is coming and you should prepare for and expect more flooded roads. another major problem trees. suddenly toppling over because of the soaked roots. alex savidge is in santa clara where a huge tree crashed down at an apartment building and no crews out there. >> reporter: no one out here yet. this is a scene we've seen all accrues the bay area. the soggy soil just can't hold up some of these large trees. this one came crashing down last night on to an apartment complex. part of the building was

damaged and there was a parked car that was damaged as well. we this all happened as heavy rain came down last night in santa clara. this tree is on burbank drive in the city of santa clara. it gave way own toppled over. the good news is no one was hurt out here. meantime other issues in this area all of that rain triggered flooding on a nearby freeway. this is what things looked like on 280 in san jose. where one car got stuck in flood waters after a crash in that area be the crash involving several cars. cal trans crews were called in there and they work throughout the night to pump out water from the freeway and all lanes of traffic we understand back open this morning in that area. as we bring you back out here live, the huge tree resting up against the apartment building and you can imagine that it will take quite a built of work to clear it. you might be able to see they have chopped up some of the branches to clear a path. but a huge under taking to get this tree off of this apartment building and of course they

will try to assess the damage to the building. >> sheeshly a long process. thank you, alex. the north bay also saw flooding near highway 121. the chp says the road flooded suddenly. the chp also reminding drivers to be extra cautious when driving on the slick roads during this morning's commute and at night. time is 6:37. this morning people in australia still dealing with the aftermath of yesterday's deadly hostage situation. a memorial is growing for the victims. look at this. australian authorities are being asked why the man responsible was not being closely watched. during the monday morning rush hour, man monis took 17 people hostage inside of a cafe in downtown sydney. at the end of that siege, two of the hostages and the gunman were dead. monis had a long criminal background. he was known to police through his public displays of his radical views.

despite that, he was not on a government watch list. now we're now hearing from one of the survivors of that hostage situation. 83-year-old john o'brien he was one of the first to escape from the cafe. he's offering condolences to the family and friends of the victims. 34-year-old tori johnson there died. he tried to grab the gunman's weapon. the gun went off. and 38-year-old katrina dawson was killed. she was shielding her pregnant friend from the gunfire. >> my thoughts and prayers are also with my fellow hostages. as we all try to come to terms with it. >> o'brien says he wants to thank the police officers and everybody who helped to end that siege. he says he can't talk about what actually happened inside the cafe because the investigation still continues. happening right now volunteers at glide memorial church in san francisco are preparing to hand out free bags of groceries. i want to take you out there live. it is always a very big event.

this is the live picture. unfortunately a little drizzly and cold out there as everybody is waiting in line for the bags. volunteers have been bagging groceries for just about 30 minutes now and people already lined up to receive those bags. the backs contain everything needed for holiday meal including a turkey or chicken. some oranges, bread, pasta, rice, and vegetables. you can see all of the gates lined up there because they do expect a very long line. the giveaway begins in just about a hour at 7:30. it will end at 11:30 or whenever the bags of groceries are run out. also this morning we are taking a very special behind the scenes look at san francisco's beach blanket babylon which is america's longest running musical. right now tara moriarty is joining us now. with the creator and producer of this fabulous show. >> reporter: we will be talking

with her in a second. i want to show you my silver bells. >> oh no. >> i don't think they exactly do it that way. but the fire is it will down here. okay. and this i don't know you've ever been to beach blanket babylon. this is the one you see. they come out and have all of san francisco on the top. pretty amazing. but for the holiday show, we have something else. we want to take you behind here. we will show you the dress and the big hat that is used at the very end of the holiday show. there it is. with the christmas tree on top. absolutely gorgeous. joining me live is the shows producer joe shoeman silver to tell me about this dress and how did you come up with this concept? >> dan did. he was a street performer in the 70s as a lot of people were. and he had a bunch of friends

and had costumes. for whatever reason he had a christmas tree costume. and that is what he wore on the street corner until it moved inside. every year the month of december now starting in november because the demand is so great, we have a christmas segment and it's so popular and so wonderful and so whimsical and it's terrific. >> these hats i have said can i try on a hat? they said no. they are really heavy. and as i understand they could cause neck problems if you don't know exactly how to put them on. >> we take such good care of our pampers and they train as if they were athletes. no, they are fine. this hat when it comes out on stage as most of our big hats do grows. and there is a lot of surprises as it goes up. everything in beach blanket is a surprise. so this is one of our special hats. all of these big hats were drown by steve silver.

he created most of these hats visually. and now we have this personnel and everything comes to life here. >> and i see king louie over there. that is the hat he wears. >> for christmas. during the year he wears his signature pink wig. that looks just like that. >> and you also have something really special going on. you have a couple performances on new years eve. i was very excited to learn about them. i hear they are serving champagne and truffles. >> yeah. we put things in we would never put in a normal show. it's like everything goes. and all the kids here give us suggestions. it could get pretty risky which the normal show doesn't. it is so much fun. >> and then are you pretty excited? this is only once a year. i know a lot of times throughout the year you are

constantly updating. >> if something was in the news this morning we would be able to get it in tonight. that is how good our people are. that is what is so great about beach blanket it's so fresh and new and everybody loves coming to work because you don't know what you will be doing that night or who will be in the audience. it's really wonderful. it's really a wonderful place. 52 weeks. >> to be running for 40 years i would say it has to be pretty darn good. thank you so much for joining us live. we appreciate it. so pretty amazing; right? lots more to see and lots more to show. coming up in an hour, we are going to have the guy that does king louie. we will have a little duet with one of the actresses. and coming up at 8:30 we'll have more performances. you will definitely want to stick around and get a taste of what it's all about. back to you guys. >> and you were talking about how heavy the hats the costumes and the dresses are. maybe you and chip the photographer can get i hear

they have pretty sturdy structure like metal structure to step into. i don't know if they will let you see behind that. >> they do. if you look over here this is one of the harnesses. is that to put the hats on? >> no. >> so they definitely pam you are right they are definitely heavy and like joe was saying you are trained and they practice this so that they get it exactly right. because you have this heavy thing on top of your head. you have to sing, dance, there is a a lot of things you have to do at the same time. so a lot of training goes into it. >> fascinating and you are a great tour guide. time is 6:44. it's a place where kids play but some say it may be bad for the kids health. coming up in 20 minutes, some new legislation it will be introduced today it's focusing on sports fields with synthetic

turf. >> berkeley city council members got an earful from protestors. what the mayor is now planning after a very heated meeting. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] get your taste of the season, at raley's, bel air, and nob hill. [ female announcer ] get your taste of the season, female announcer: sleep train's ends sunday.e for 3 event! it's your last chance to get three years interest-free financing on beautyrest black, stearns & foster, serta icomfort, even tempur-pedic. plus, get free delivery, and sleep train's 100-day low price guarantee.

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welcome back to the morning news. berkeley icier -- berkeley's mayor tom bates scheduling a

special meeting. that is after getting a an earful from protestors at city council meeting. more than a hundred people were at the city council meeting which was actually moved from city hall to long fellow middle school to handle what was expected to be a big crowd. the speakers are representing a wide range of groups including students, parents, and civic leaders. criticized berkeley police for using tear gas to break up a crowd of protestors on december 6th. >> i was arrested for having a peaceful protest and charged with a felony. what mar? >> we have the best police force in the united states. they use the right amount of force for the situation. >> now the speakers demanded an independent prosecutor to investigate police actions. >> the hackers who broke into sony pictures computer system are threatening a real attack on computer systems.

the hackers made references to the september 11th terrorist attacks in a warning to theater owners about showing the interview. that is the comedy about the television journalists involved in a cia plot to assassinate the leader of north korea. the the warning appears to come from hackers in north korea. the u.s. department of homeland security says there is no credible evidence that the threat is real but tomorrow's new york city premier of the interview has been canceled. >> this story gets bigger and bigger. >> yeah very interesting. let's check in with tori campbell and find out what is coming up on mornings on 2. >> coming up on mornings on 2 imagine taking a trip around the world for free. find out how a canadian woman is doing just that all because she has the right name. >> and are you addicted to your smart phone or do you know someone who is? a new study makes an interesting revelation about using this device during your free time and whether it makes

you happier or not. those are the stories we're working on for mornings on 2. now back to you on the morning news. >> we'll see you then tori. sal, how is traffic? >> it's going to be slow. first of all we will start with the east shore where there is a crash eastbound 80 as you come up on gill man. you might be able to see it. it's in the noncommute direction there. traffic might be slow as a result of the rubber neckers 80 westbound. let's go to the bay bridge toll plaza where traffic is backed up for at least a 25 minute delay. there are no major problems. and what a mess 680 is and livermore valley but also 680 heading south out of pleasanton because of a truck accident that has been there since 3:00 or so. 680 is just a mess. we will keep following this because there is no rain in sight. 6:50 now let's go to steve. a couple breaks in the clouds but just over fremont

and union city it started pouring and it stopped. i can see it on radar. we are between our next system which will roar down here. there is still scattered showers around. the next system won't have the energy. it will still give us some rain and some of the rain totals are coming in. our precipitation outlook it's a winter outlook. december, january, and february. wetter or above normal from central to southern california. but there are hints looking out toward the end of the month of what could be a very wet pattern coming in here. under cutting of the pacific ridge which if it does happen would verify this in a big way. we will see it and remember our wettest months are january and february. san francisco 9.99 the 1st through the 16th. 4.56 is normal. the first of the 16 -- the 1st

through the 16th the wettest december ever. 13.38 and then an entire season average is 23.65. some another other rain totals coming in. cazadero 1.5. yountville 1.14. novato petaluma also in there as well. 1.14 to 1.30. sfo .75. san francisco two-thirds. there are a few breaks in the clouds but we are getting scattered showers. the air is so saturated. nothing heavy here. i will show you that line that went through. that is where it went through union city and fremont. moving east of milpitas. but as fast as it moves in,

it's out of here. we have scattered showers. mostly cloudy in the morning. here comes the next system for late afternoon and evening. we had brief heavy rain. there is some picking up along -- 30s up in tahoe. some snow but not a lot. we are taking almost all the energy away from them. the rain has been tenfold increase. here comes the next system it is weaker but it will give us rain. it just simply doesn't take much. clouds and showers and then we will cloud it up again. 50s on your temps. 40s some of the higher elevations. it's cold out there. it is layers pam and dave. rain comes in tonight. one more system friday. and then i think a four or five daybreak. but that is about it. >> yes it is cold and you need the waterproof. time is 6:53. there is a new study at

stanford focusing on allergies. coming up next the bay area billionaire who is paying for a new research center.

welcome back. today is a special and sad anniversary in a tragedy that hits close to home for us here at ktvu. 16 years ago today a hit and

run driver intentionally killed rick divecy. he was walking on second street in front of the family owned trucking company when he was killed. police are still searching for that driver that was driverring a light colored cadillac with a dark top. randy is a long-time ktvu photographer. a bay area billionaire is investing in research on allergies at stanford. sean parker has pledged $24 million for an allergy research center who will bare his name. parker founded napster and the first president of facebook. he also suffers from severe allergies. stanford university says between 30-40% of people worldwide have one or more allegeries and a quarter of the people with food allergies will have a near fatal reaction at least once in their lives. it's a christmas display with a very interesting spin robo lights. this is set up at a home in palm springs. it features eight giant robots and sculptures made out of

recycled things. ranging from trash cans to old vacuum cleaners and has more than 300 different pieces of art and 8 million lights. >> there is over 300 monumental art works that people will see when they come and experience robo lights. robo lights is a fantasy wonder land that is out of this world. >> i will say. the artist is a practicing muslim. he says he does not celebrate christmas. >> but he created an amazing thing. coming up next breaking news we have been following for the past 30 minutes. a string of suspicious car fires. >> we'll look at the latest damage from the bay areas record breaking december storms. look at this. and stay right here with us.

good morning, everybody. we're live in the noe valley area of san francisco, where arson investigators are looking for a person or persons who lit several cars on fire early this morning. we'll bring you another update -- coming up. growing safety concerns tied to a controversial comedy about north korea. how it's now prompted an unprecedented move by a major movie studio. plus -- heavy rain last night leads to a ve