>> reporter: a light drizzle but more rain son the -- more rain is on the way. the rain is picking up up.

we'll talk about your forecast. >> reporter: turn churs and tire tracks dumped here. also, a frightening scene at an east bay oil refinery. why the public is being told there's no need to worry. "mornings on 2" starts now. welcome to "mornings on 2." i'm tori campbell. >> i'm dave clark. we're on watch as another round of rain is starting to approach the bay area coming down hard in sonoma county moving in on the morning commute. we have team coverage. steve is tracking the storm. sal is keeping an eye out for the traffic problems. and alex savidge is live in tiburon where many people have been dealing with flooding. we're keeping an eye on all of this for you. >> we're ready. >> it's friday, december 19th.

>> i'm dave clark. let's talk about weather and traffic. steve's all over this. you were saying -- >> so were some of the viewers. jeff in kentwood said it's not raining that bad. i said it should pick up. he writes me back, it's pouring! we had reports of into russian river, napa county. it's approaching towards -- just getting into northern parts. some rates .7 5. probably more than that by. this is about a half-hour old. yountville .410. santa rosa has probably had more than that. you can see it around lake county. it's steady. moderate amounts of rain. look what's going on here. guerneville, russian rinner, windsor, santa rosa, windy, sebastopol, rohnert park,

calistoga. saint helene nay. not along highway 29 to napa yet. it's on its way. it looks like it's beginning to move in there. north of novato it will get down here in the next half- hour. south bay, peninsula, east bay, cloudy, maybe light drizzle. mild on the temperatures. it's kind of chilly. this is a mild system. gusts to 23, san jose. it's out of the south- southeast. it's going to be a breezy, windy pattern. that rain is on the way. the heaviest amounts will be in the north bay. but 50s and 60s on the temps. this is the last significant system. sal, for some, they will escape the morning commute. for others, it could be tough. rain is picking up. steve, i'm sorry. i was caught offguard, the padres' fans were talking about justin upton going to the team. >> they are loaded. they get camped and up and they have to make a deal. >> we have to follow the padres because the boss is a padres' fan. >> really? >> yeah, he is.

>> they are too loaded in the outfield. they also got norris. >> yeah, it will be a great season. we'll be talking about that, too. let's take a look at today's commute. that was from ken rosenthal of our parent company, fox sports. this is a look at highway 4 as you come up to the willow pass grade. the traffic here is going to be lighter than usual. i put this map up here just to show you how contra costa county is having one of those lighter than usual days. we go all the way back to the eastshore freeway. here at the carquinez bridge to the macarthur maze, despite the rain, it's still a 23-minute drive through this area. but it is raining. that may change things. this is a look at the bay bridge toll plaza. that's backed up to the macarthur maze. the metering lights are on. and the traffic is going to be busy. 101 getting down to the airport has improved. we had an earlier accident out of the city heading down to san bruno. it's still a little bit wet,

though. if you are just about to head out the door, get ready for a wet commute. as steve has been saying, rain has started to fall in parts of the bay area. in fact, i just saw alex savidge, standing in the rain here in tiburon. alex, it's getting wet there, right? >> reporter: hey, sal. we got sort of on-and-off drizzle is what i would describe it as. we understand that heavier stuff is headed our way. it's raining north of us here up in sonoma county. this storm system today is not supposed to drop a ton of rain but there's still the potential for problems, especially here in tiburon. there is quite a bit of concern. that's why you can see they have the flooded sign on standby just in case all ready to go once the rain arrives. this area was hit hard by a storm earlier this week. all of the runoff from the rain flooded several businesses. even the town hall here was left with a couple of feet of water in the basement. of course, a week ago, the bay area got drenched by a huge storm that dumped several

inches of rain, leaving foods and freeways flooded. we're certainly benefiting from all of this rain. reservoirs around northern california are filling up fast and for the first time in five months, a majority of california is no longer in a state of exceptional drought. that's the most severe level according to federal guidelines. that's shown with the dark red on this map from the u.s. drought monitor. about 32% of our state remains under the exceptional drought category. but compare that to last week when 55% of the state was facing exceptional drought conditions. scientists say all of this rain is a very good start but we still will need three seasons of above average rainfall before we can truly say the drought is over. we are making some progress but a long ways to go when it comes to the drought situation. back live here in tiburon, this is tiburon boulevard. we're watching the street sweepers come through. we've seen them quite a bit and

they come through and try to clear the debris from the drains and gutters so the water can flow easily in the storm rains. it's raining pretty hard up the 101 corridor in sonoma county. we should be getting heavier rain here. >> don't get splashed by the big truck coming. >> reporter: i'm gonna get out of the way. >> just watching out for you, alex. if you are planning to head up to the sierra prepare for a slippery road. snow is expected and chain requirements are required on highway 80 and 50. this is adding to the 2 feet of snow that's come doug down in the past week. that's welcomed news for businesses seeing more green with all of the white. >> we're very happy to be at 70%. typically we're around the mid- 40s but because of this early

dusting and storms we've had, it's been a good thing for us. >> many resorts are expected to be packed all the way up to new year's. this is good news for the runoff for our water situation and again, if you plan to drive to the sierra, that's a pretty picture. >> yeah. >> make sure you have your chains. 7:07. what's not good, it's something that happens every year, usually about this time during the holidays. people who no longer want their pets, they dump them. often just leaving them on the street. ktvu's paul chambers live in oakland this morning where pet dumping, paul, it's happening a lot. >> reporter: we're in the old pack and save off heggenberger road. as you can see, people are dumping things, there's tires and other unwanted items. what they are also dumping out here are animals according to published reports. the animals are being dumped out here. we did not see any out here

this morning, thankfully. but the bad thing, the east bay spca is next door and they can drop the dogs off there. the spca said they were able to nurse a pit bull mix back to health after an employee found the dog in the parking lot in september. the dog was adopted. the spca said they know people get overwhelmed by their animals. but they say oftentimes when workers arrive, they will find the animals tied to the greatsor left in crates. not an ideal situation. the parking lot is one place that was literally one block away from the spca. so they actually ask that you bring an animal out there when they are open instead of dropping them off at night. this is a facility that's been closed for more than a year. people in the city and neighboring businesses are asking not to do that. we'll be looking to talk to the spca and bring that to you as

soon as we get it. dave? >> all right, paul chambers. the animal shelter is really close. so you don't have to dump -- right over there. >> reporter: right there. >> we'll talk to you later. thank you. the paulout from the sony hacking -- the fallout from sony hacking, crews are taking down billboards advertising "the interview." that's after hackers threatened to attack theaters showing the film. it was supposed to debut on christmas day. the comedy is about an assassination attempt against north korea's leader. the white house is calling the cyber attack and threats against sony a national security issue. the obama administration is considering several options to respond to the attack but so far has not publicly said it believes north korea is to blame. the president's national security team has been meeting at the white house to decide on a response. u.s. investigators suspect a

top secret group within the north korean military is behind the attack. the group known as bureau 21 or 121 is reportedry made up of at least 1800 cyber warriors scattered around the world. and companies all over the world are tightening up network security following the cyber attack on security. experts say the sony hack is different from breaches to companies focused on stealing customer information for fraud. they call this new kind of attack cyber extortion forced on causing major corporate damage. it's costing sony millions and millions of dollars. >> yeah. 7:011. something else people are talking about. a huge overnight refinery flareup. it just lit up the sky in the east bay. >> it was flickering in the sky. made me nervous about the whole refinery. >> coming up at 7:30, why the public is being told there's no

need to worry. after a noose found hanging from a tree outside of oakland city hall, we'll tell you the police response following this disturbing discovery. want to alert to you a power outage reported by pg&e -- you to a power outage reported by pg&e at the san francisco ferry building. if you are taking a ferry, we're not sure if this is gonna affect anyone coming in on the ferry but you probably won't be able to go into the businesses at the ferry building. pg&e is on the way. we'll find out more coming up. we have a sunrise here from mars. no. wait a minute. that's right here. there's rain, i mean, heavy rain from petaluma, northward. it's coming down in buckets. we'll take a closer look coming up.

there's a legacy at raley's about having 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. oakland police investigating after a noose was found hanging on a tree in oakland's frank ogawa plaza

plaza right outside city hall. now, a woman saw the noose on tuesday, posted this photo on instagram. police want to know if the noose is a prank or a criminal act. protesters in san jose want the police department to fire an officer who posted controversial comments online. >> keep 'em off the streets! >> last night about 100 demonstrators marched from the santa clara district attorney's office to the san jose police headquarters. they are angry about officer phillip white's tweets in response to protests over the deadly police incidents in ferguson, missouri and new york city. one tweet wrote threaten me or my family and i will use my god- given and law-appointed right and duty to kill you. >> i don't feel it's right for officer white or any other police officer to take advantage of the powers begiven

to them -- given to them. >> white is currently on administrative leave. the police chief said he's also troubled by the tweets and promises there will be a full investigation. san francisco supervisors are calling for a public review of top-secret police surveillance technology. in september, the 2 investigates team reported on the so-called sting ray technology. it can intercept cell phone data through a device mounted in a police car communicating with a network of antennas disguised as cell phone towers. the examiner reports the san francisco police department obtained the sting ray as early as twine but cannot acknowledge it because of a none disclosure agreement with the fbi. privacy advocates worry police will tap cell phone data without a warrant and share the information with the government. 7:16. there is a new option for you if you are out late at night in san francisco and you need to

get from san francisco to the south bay after midnight. starting this weekend, there is a new shuttle. it's called the mid knight express -- midnight. for $12 the shuttle will pick up passengers at 2:00 saturday morning after bart and caltrain have stopped run upping. it leefns from the station and drops off passengers at the palo alto, san antonio, mountain view and san jose caltrans stations. now, this new service comes after b.a.r.t. and ac trin sit launched their services last weekend. it providessed buses from san francisco b.a.r.t. stations and makes stops at several locations in the east bay before ending at pittsburg baypoint. the whole idea is to let people enjoy the nightlife in san francisco without having to rush to get on that very last b.a.r.t. train. >> oh, yeah. >> some people do that. 7:17. well, there is a developing

situation in san francisco. there is a power outage that's causing problems at the san francisco ferry building. that's not a good thing, sal. >> that's right. as a matter of fact, i'm just looking to see if i have the latest info here but i -- what we do have is pg&e has confirled there is a power outage at the ferry building and 40 customers affected, most likely those businesses and some of the offices in the ferry building. now, the ferries should be running but we're trying to get confirmation of that just knowing how it works. the ferries pull up to the outside of the building and let people off. i'm not sure why power would affect that. we're checking on that. and the signal lights in the area may or may not be out. we're trying to get information. but we do know for sure there's no power at the ferry building right now. we're trying to figure out when it will come back. pg&e is aware of it. they say they are on the way. let's go to the bay bridge toll plaza, pg&e says it is on the

way. it is an it. san mateo bridge looking a little bit busy heading out to 101. let's go to steve in the weather center. reports coming in from petaluma north. it's coming down in buckets. 101 north, also up northern napa county into lake county. beautiful, though. sunrise for many. look at that. i can't do better than that. is that joe johnson in engineering? you might get through the morning commute okay if you are points south or peninsula or east bay, it's moving in fast here. there's our line just now moving into northern marin county. north of that, it is very heavy. just record from raymond, rahn river, 1.75. it's coming down. lake county, 1.25. i'm sure more in forestville. san an sell mow, up .47. sleepy hollow and this is from

frank he says most people don't know where sleepy hollow is. that's true. chris reports from there and he's been good with the information. very heavy rain and wind in santa rosa. for the seasonal totals, i mean we're already about halfway to where we should be. winter starts this week. the heavy months for rain are january and february. oakland -- everybody is well above normal. look at this lighting unin lake county. clearlake, cobb, hitten lake. middletown has had good rain. lakeport, around santa rosa, guerneville up to windsor heading over to glen ellen. just getting close to saint helena. south of that not too much yet. just beginning to move in. bodega bay to inverness and south of petaluma, near novato.

it's on its way. another 20 minutes or so. there's our system. but there's so much upstream that has to move in. it will be a cloudy day. heaviest day. 50s on the temps to almost 60. this is a warmer sector coming in. we have 12, 17 miles an hour oakland airport. i've seen gusts to 24. will be a breezy, blustery day. not too much in the way of snow. there is a winter weather advisory that goes until 10:00 tonight. that's above 6,000 feet. wind and some snow will move in. you can see our system is barreling in right now. it looks like the line is ready to make its move south. if it does, it will weaken but not before it leaves decent totals. about .50 to over an inch. 50s and 60s on the temps. this will be the last strong system because the one coming in tomorrow is more of the light rain, it will move in north bay only. after that, we see improving conditions. there will be fog in the inland areas. the coast could be down downright warm by monday and

tuesday. >> kind of balmy. >> kind of balmy. >> okay. 7:21. napa county still recovering from that big earthquake in august and now there's something else. up next, new evidence that they may get a bigger quake in the future. and it's santa like you've never seen him before. the controversial ad that some call more naughty than nice and why opponents can't do much about it. ñsxóxgñ

people affected by that quake in south napa, you have ten more days to apply for fema disaster reef leaf. the deadline is december 29th to get help to pay for housing, home repairs and other needs not covered by insurance. fema announced the federal assistance for the august quake has already reached more than $30 million.

there's new research out showing the west napa faultline where the big quake in august was centered. it can mean a more dangerous quake. a lot of buildings in downtown napa, they are still being repaired. fences surround the areas that still show damage caused by that magnitude 6 quake. now, the quake happened when a ten-mifl stretch of the faultline ruptured. the scientists thought the fault was 30 miles long. but that quake shows the fault is actually bigger. >> we added additional 15 miles on the north end. so now it runs from one side of the valley to the other. >> now, he adds if the entire faultline were to rupture, it could produce a magnitude 7 quake which is about 30 times more powerful than that quake in august. 7:25. a billboard just outside chico is causing some controversy. it shows rather stern-faced santa in shades holding an assault rifle. you see the tag line there, it reads, rebuild ars for santa.

that's assault rifles. the owner said he's received a lot of feedback. mostly positive. but at least one teacher thinks it's inappropriate. >> i would not want my students to see that. i dent think you need to -- don't think you need to put out, santa has a gun. >> well, some people get toys and stuff like that for christmas. other people when i was growing up, i got guns from santa claus. >> billboards are banned in chico but that does not apply here since this billboard is actually outside city limits. another depiction of santa is getting second looks. check out this painting outside a medical marijuana dispensary in san pedro. it shows santa smoking a joint and a snowman holding a bottle of prescription pills. some neighbors demanded the display be taking down. the owner had someone come out and scrape the painting off. there's six shops days left

before christmas. tomorrow is supersaturday. it's the final weekend people have to finish up their holiday shopping. retailers are doing their best to buy more with special deals and round the clock hours. toys 'r' us will open at 6:00 tomorrow morning and stay open until 2:00 a.m. monday and most kohl's stores and macy's in san francisco's union square are now and will not close their doors until 6:00 christmas eve. a lot of shopping. 7:27. have you ever been frustrated looking for parking in san francisco? up next, pam cook will test a new app that takes away the pain searching for a parking spot. and concerned remains of the flare that came out of the richmond refinery. coming up, the response from chevron and what the county is asking the oil giant to do in the next couple of days. we're looking at a commute that's gonna be a little bit slower now. we have a problem on the san mateo bridge. there's an injury crash on that

span and suddenly what was a good commute is no longer. there were a few breaks in the clouds. they are filling in fast. there's some intense rain in the north bay. we'll take a closer look at it coming up. female announcer: get three years interest-free financing on brand name mattress sets. plus, get free delivery, and sleep train's 100-day low price guarantee. sleep train's interest free for 3 event ends sunday. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

(vo)rescued.ed. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. 7:30. dramatic flames and richmond's

chevry refinery put a lot of people on edge. the flare was visible for miles. official word, it was nothing to be alarmed about but not everyone is satisfied with that answer. brian flores is live at the refinery in richmond this morning. coming up in minute, he will tell us how the whole incident really frightened some people nearby. reminded them of the serious situation a few years ago. good morning. welcome back to "mornings on 2." i'm tori campbell. >> i'm dave clark. let's talk about your weather and traffic. i just ducked outside again. >> okay. >> damp and cold outside, steve. >> i ducked outside before you. >> i knew you would. >> cold out there. the rain is picking up. the reports coming in from the north bay, really intense rain rates. the line is moving. there are a few breaks in the clouds. i don't think they will last. the fog is beginning to roll in. almost 2 inches of rain. cazadero, 1.75.

san anselmo, .50. yountville .43. .33 santa rosa, has to be more than that. but that's the last check i saw. the heavy rain into lake county. really lit up around middletown, hidden valley, clearlake, maybe to cobb. sore, rohnert park to windsor right back to st. helena. glen helen, yountville showing signs of heavy rain north of napa. it's on its way. marin county. western parts of marin county not too bad but that will change really fast. there's the line. 50s on the temps to near 60 due to a very robust southeast breeze. 24 24 breeze in half moon bay. very heavy rain to the north. it will be with us throughout most of the day. 50s and 60s on the temps. any updates, sal. san mateo bridge, the crash is a noninjury crash. it's there on the san mateo bridge and traffic is coming to

a halt. it was a single vehicle that ran into the right-hand side and the person who was involved is speaking with chp. they are on the way. again, no injuries. but they are blocking a lane. you can see what that's doing to traffic leaving the hayward toll plaza area heading to the peninsula. if you are thinking about the dumbarton bridge right now it looks better than the san mateo bridge. the bay bridge doesn't look too bad. it's kind of normal for this time of the morning. 25 to 30-minute drive. again, if you drive it every day, this is what you are used to seeing, barring any accidents. steve just menged the weather -- mentioned the weather and novato southbound 101 slow traffic at highway 37. it stays that way to 580 which is slightly unusual for a friday. most days on fridays, marin is lighter. but today we'll see some slowdowns correlated with the rain. 7:33. back to the desk. >> thank you. we're finding out more about the huge overnight flareup at the chevron refinery in richmond. it lit up the sky.

take a look. the big flames and the billowing smoke. you can see it for miles. it was a scare for thousands of people. but chevron is saying don't worry. ktvu's brian flores, live in richmond this morning explaining why and what is going on out there, brian? >> reporter: hi, dave. good morning to you. since we've been here since 4:30 this morning it appears that everything isal. several -- everything is normal. several people saw the huge flare. they were concerned. called emergency responders. but according to chevron, that flare was normal. no impact to the community. but a lot of people concerned that this was not normal. this all happened as we've been mentioning -- it happened at 7:00 last night. many in the community and people as far as san francisco definitely commuters were worried after seeing that larger than normal flare come out of the refinery. the main reason for that concern is the refinery fire of 2012 still on the minds of many

people. but according to the county, they called this normal. in a statement, it says we had a processed unit that needed to be depressurized. that flare is part of a safety system which enables to safely shut down a unit. while it appears that things are okay, it's not sitting well with people living near the refinery. >> i thought there was something going on in the sky. i saw orange lights an smelled something funny. friends said it was a fire. >> we're monitoring the community. we're making sure there's no odors or chemicals reaching the fence line. >> what did you find? >> nothing. >> reporter: a chevron spoeperson said the flare and white smoke that appeared was water vapor. they say in the flaring conditions this is a normal practice to release that amount of quantity of water vapor. we contacted a chevron firefighter late last night who said no one was injured inside

the refinery. the main question, what caused of the unit to be depressurized in the first place. that remains uncleared. a plant energy told kight there was some type of me -- ktvu there was some type of mechanical problem. they also said they cannot specifically talk about what happened because of the sensitive nature of refinery operations. we will continue to contact chevron. in the meantime, county hazmat nils has asked chevron to complete a report. they are expected to complete the report in the next couple of days in terms of what happened last night. back to you. >> really interesting, brian flores. last night's flareup brings back bad memories of the last major fire at richmond's chevron refinery. that was august 2012. the huge fire led to one of the biggest shelter-in-place orders in bay area history. more than 10,000 people in the richmond area sought medical treatment at area hospitals.

last year, chevron pled no contest to a half-dozen charges connected to that fire. now, the company also agreed to pay $2 million in fines and restitution. 7:36. new this morning, another tragedy in australia where police are now trying to figure out who killed eight children. their bodies were found inside a home this morning. the mother of seven of the chifn was found after being stabbed several times. the victims range in age from 18 months to 15 years. >> shocking to happen, you know. eight children, gone. >> police are expected to remain at the scene for the next couple of days. prime minister tony abbott is speaking out about the incident saying, the news out is heartbreaking. all parents would feel a gut- wrenching sadness as to what happened. this is an unspeakable crime. this incident comes as australia is still reeling from the shocking deadly takeover of

a sydney cafe earlier this week. a former customs office with the san francisco international airport is about to be sentenced for child pornography chimes. 39-year-old gilbert lamb of san francisco was found guilty yesterday of possessing as many as 49 videos of children. prosecutors say some of the victims were as young as 10 years old. investigators found the videos on lamb's home computer last year. he's scheduled to be sentenced next month. 7:38. san francisco police released photos of a man who robbed a bank dressed up as santa claus. take a look. this happened last saturday. police say he walked into the wells fargo on sutter, gave the teller a note demanding money. the man said he had a gun even though no one ever saw a gun. the teller gave him cash and he ran away. all of this happened during santa conn. everybody was dressed as santa claus. this was a citywide pub crawl with hundreds of people dressed

as santa. that made it easy for the bad santa to blend in and make his getaway. if you dread heading into the city because you hate to deal with parking, you are not alone. but there is a new option to consider. pam cook joins us now in the newsroom to explain how this has turned into an incredible business venture as well. it's one of those things, what a great idea. >> exactly. exactly. it's a new app launched in the bay area back in april and in just eight months, the company has already secured $6.4 million in venture capital and has expanded to los angeles and seattle. never park again. that's the slogan of a new app called zirx. here's how it works you download the app let zirx know where you are headed, then it tracks you. estimates what time you will be there and has a zirx agent meet you. you know who that is because

the picture is sent to you along with a pass code to ensure a safe connection. >> our company exists to save people time. i think in a day in age when most people dread coming into san francisco because of parking, this is a great solution. >> zirx pays for parking spaces in bulk so they get a good raid. and they are strategically located around san francisco so they can get your car back to you. you can leave it all foy for $15 or all -- for $15. >> people who work at restaurants, law firms, high- tech companies. at a $15 price point it works for a lot of people around san francisco. >> the drivers undergo extensive background checks both for driving records an criminal record. your car is covered by a $2 million insurance policy. so how do they make money? well, while you work, shop or watch a giants' game, you can also pay to have your car washed, the oil changed or even charged if it's electric.

now, zirx means star in ukrainian. they try to make their customers feel like a star. they are not alone. another startup in san francisco is joining this booming business. lux valet offers a similar service. it's not expanded into other cities. zirx has a pretty expansive plan for other cities. george clooney taking aim at hollywood and the media. the strong message the academy award winner is sending. up next, we have the san francisco men's chorus in the house. ♪

♪ do we give you beautiful music. this is the bay area holiday tradition. we're bringing you a taste of it live this morning. we have the san francisco gay men's chorus. they are performing christmas eve at the castro theater and they are here with us in our studio. good morning. >> good morning. >> joining me now is the

director. this is tim selig. great to see you. >> thanks so much. >> quick before, how did the group form? >> the group formed in 1978 in response to a gay pride parade and there was already a gay band and they thought if there is a gay band why don't we sing so we started a chorus. >> and how does one join to become an elite singer? >> oh, it's elite. you have to sign a waiver that says i will appear at 7:00 a.m. on television. [laughter] >> that's the first -- >> on ktvu. >> on ktvu. >> absolutely. >> seriously -- >> you sign up and you audition. it's not exactly all that rigorous. but if you can carry a tune, you know, we'll let you join. >> that's interesting. >> i heard you guys carrying the tune earlier. i can't wait to hear you sing. will you guys sing for us? >> you know we will. >> ladies and gentleman the gay men's choir singing for you right here on "mornings on 2."

♪ >> there they are. the gay men's choir of san francisco. you guys are incredible. thank you for joining us. can't get enough of the san francisco gay men's choir -- and i'm shire you want to hear more -- check out their show, home for the holidays this christmas eve at the castro theater in san francisco. ticket prices range from $25 to $35. you can get more information. of course, you can check our website. but we're glad they are here with us. >> what a treat. i talked to three people who said this is a holiday tradition more than the

nutcracker. they want to see the gaymen's chorus. love the outfits. they are all decked out. >> and tim, thank you for being a tremendous director. >> and they will stay with us and we will get more of them next hour. we do want to check in with sal. there's pretty serious problems on the roads. >> bell, the crash we -- well, the crash we had on the san mateo bridge ended up being a noninjury crash, which is good. for seem reason, i had it was an injury crash but it turned out to be a noninjury crash. the traffic is still slow. it's taking them a while to get it out of there. nearby there was an accident on the freeway on the nimitz freeway on northbound 880 at whilele. that's been cleared to the right-hand side. bay bridge toll plaza backed up for a 25, 30-minute delay with no major issues. i want to show you marin county because golden gate bridge traffic looks good but if you are driving from novato to san

rafael, we have a lot of slow traffic here. i think that's correlated with the rain steve has been talking about. you see all of that slow traffic. let me get rid of the arrow first. we can scroll up to sonoma county where the rain is heavy. southbound 101 had a couple of different problems in santa rosa and petaluma in the way of slow traffic. so please drive carefully in the wet weather. let's go to steve in the weather center. >> you're spot on, my friend, on that rain. >> once it starts raining hard, unfortunately, it's correlated with people running into each other, you know. >> i know what you mean. we're getting all sorts of reports here on facebook, twitter. rohnert park, santa rosa, lake county to about petaluma over to parts of napa county. pouring. also just heading into marin county, some reports saying it's picking up. if there's breaks, it won't last long. there's the line. that's really intensified

especially up to sonoma county. a couple of updates. clearlake oaks 1.25. windsor at .23. santa rosa up to .50. yountville, .44. san rafael at .33. there's the system, look how it lights up. clearlake is very heavy rain as it extends back to napa county, angwin. st. helena, right around glen ellen, that's pouring. sonoma, rohnert park, windsor. no wonder you are getting some of the heavy rain rates. it will be there pretty soon as this line moves south. there's one line stretching from about petaluma right back towards western marin county. that line extends offshore. that's beginning to move in. you can see there over to novato, san rafael. it's a matter of time. it's moving in. 50s on the temps to near 60 degrees for some. that strong breeze 23-mile-an- hour gusts. a cloudy, blustery day to the

south but that rain is moving in. it will be a gray day. some of these will be moderate to heavy. it looks like an intense line. 50s and 60s the ground is so saturated but today's rain will give way to one more system. it won't be as strong. then we get a break. it looks like mild temps. >> getting more excited. >> more reports are coming in saying it's pouring. >> a little delayed. it's coming in. >> most of the morning commute is okay. north bay not. >> okay. nasa makes an incredible discovery. ahead in the next hour of "mornings on 2," wait. the super reason scientists are celebrating. >> we're searching for the best holiday displays around the bay area. one of the most popular homes we featured has been posting new video that's being called insanely cool. you have to see it. ♪ (vo) nourished.

rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. you'll connect withnte, your doctor any time, anywhere. another way care and coverage together makes life easier. ♪ become a member of kaiser permanente. because together, we thrive. ♪

some researchers say the over the counter painkiller ibuprofen may be the key to living longer. it's commonly used to fight headaches and sore muscles. but the buck institute found it increases the life span of fruit flies, yeast, worms and mice. >> this is kind of a revolution if it happens. s. instead of picking on one disease at a time and trying to cure it. we'll target the common thing behind all of the diseases which is aging. >> researchers say alzheimer's disease, diabetes and cancer are some of the diseases that set in as we grow older. so they are seeing if aging is the common link but they also warn ibuprofen has side effects including liver damage, users and internal bleeding if it's

taken too long and bought proper medical supervision. >> that's interesting. we're still searching the bay area. we want to find out who is really decked out for the holidays. we're been asking our viewers, show us your photos and videos. >> today we're revisiting a popular entry. this is in newark. check this out. this photo was posted to the ktvu facebook page by the tome's own -- by the home's owner. we brought this to you on monday. since then he's posted a new entry that's getting worldwide attention. >> people are calling it dazzling, spectacular and insanely cool. but look. you judge for yourself. ♪ ♪[star wars theme] >> i love it.

i want to -- >> wow. the entire video is posted on ktvu's took page for you to watch. it includes all of the popular theme stangs from "star wars" -- songs from "star wars." if you look closely and you know the music, you can see that during the cantina song, the instruments actually play the real notes. i'm looking at it. >> that's great. >> that george, he works as a music teach for the cova conservatory in oakland. he says this show uses about 100,000 choreographed lights. it runs on most nights from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. he's accepting donations on the site for center bill free dining. it's a program at his church. they give free meals for the homeless and needy twice a week. >> good cause. and the display also features a show to the popular disney

"frozen" song. >> "let it go." >> i wonder how the neighbors feel about that. i hope they are in the christmas spirit also. well, thank you, to all of you who have sent us photos and videos. now that we're closer to christmas, we're gonna send out crews to check out the top displays. >> we'll feature them next week and soon told you who wins the title and the bragging rights of having the bay area's best holiday display. >> thank you to everyone for sending them. moving onto other news, the heartbreaking story of illegal dumping in oakland of animals. good morning. we're looking at the san mateo bridge. it's recovering from an earlier noninjury accident and the recovery is not going well. please think about this if you will be driving on the span. add extra time. it's not going well for some in the north bay. the rain is coming down in buckets. that rhine is inching closer to

parts of the east bay and san francisco oakland. we'll show it to you coming up.

welcome back. it's raining. it's rain be hard in part of

the bay area. steve is tracking it. be careful. take an umbrella. december 19th, friday morning. i'm dave clark. >> i'm tori campbell. steve, you said it's raining really hard in the south bay. south bay is all right -- really hard in the north bay. south bay is all right. but it will get there. >> yes. we do have some of the rain rates to the north. very heavy. some totals are 1.50 to almost 2 inches. you can see the line as it moves through. lake county, napa county into sonoma and also marin county where some of the reports are. it's here. a couple of updates i wanted to show. forestville, 1.50. car za der row probably 2. santa rosa, .50. yountville .44. david in novato said it's pouring. up towards lake county and eastern lake county to southern. that's very intense down to angwin. rohnert park, santa rosa,

windsor, it looks like it's letting up a little bit in the russian river. you can see this line will get intense rain right to novato and san rafael. this whole line is moving. it's just about there for some. but still north of about san francisco, oakland, concord line but it's on its way. 50s on the temps. the breeze has been cranking up. seeing gusts to 26 almost 30 miles an hour. it's out of the south- southeast. we'll have rain for the morning and then turning mostly cloudy. kind of a showery pattern. but rain will be with us throughout most of the day. here is sal with an update on the traffic. >> reporter: we do still have a look at the san mateo bridge. we've been following for a while. there was a noninjury crash on the span and the traffic does not look good. and, you know, the person involved in the crash was not hurt but getting the car and debris out of the freeway has been a little bit -- taking more time than we thought it would. san mateo bridge is not good.

the dumbarton bridge a little bit heavy. the bay bridge -- if you are trying to decide one or another and you are up for a normal- looking commute, 20, 30 minutes, that might be a good choose for you. steve has been saying that the rain has been falling in marin county and is causing slow traffic as you drive from novato to san rafael. raining pretty hard in some areas, that will slow your commute as you drive through. it's 8:01. with the rain coming back, flood something a major concern for -- flooding is a major concern for drivers. alex savidge is live in tiburon where the storm created big problems earlier this week. >> reporter: they had a lot of issues in the week. sal, good morning to you. all we've seen is light drizzle off and on. so far here in marin county. we understand that heavier stuff is headed our way. it's not supposed to be the biggest storm and not dump a

ton of rain but they are worried about some of the issues they saw in the week and that's why they are prepared. they are not putting away the flooded signs here in the downtown area. they have them on stand by once the rain arrives. this area has hit hard by a stormer why the in the week -- earlier in the week. even the town hamm was left with a couple of feet of water in the basement. a week ago, the bay area got drenched by a storm leaving roobdz and freeway dads -- roads and freeways flooded. we're benefiting from the rain. reservoirs are filling up fast. and for the first time in five months, a majority of california is no longer in a state of exceptional drought. that's the most severe level according to federal guidelines. that's shown with the dark red here on this map from the u.s. drought monitor. about 32% of our state remains under the exceptional drought category. but compare that to last week when 55% of the state was

facing exceptional drought conditions. scientists say all of this rain is certainly a very good start but we still will need three seasons of above-average rainfall before we can truly say the drought is over. and to let you know exactly how far we need to go, nasa scientists have put an estimate on it. they say that california needs about 11 trillion gallons of water to end the drought in the state. light rain falling right here in tiburon. it's expected to pick up. as we move throughout the morning here. but wean with the light rain, the roads are slick. >> good advice. thank you, alex. 8:03. 11 families living in a flooded mobile home park in belmont will be getting financial help today. thanks to the generosity of people throughout the bay area. a community relief drive has raised more than $30,000 to help out those families whose homes were badly damage during the recent storms. the money will allow them to

buy food and replace items that were ruined in what has proven to be a very difficult holiday season. caltrans crews have been busy preparing for today's rain by patching up potholes. the recent heavy rains have opened up potholes all over bay area roadways. caltrans crews have been using the break between storms to fix the damage. it's a problem that caused a hit to many drivers' pocketbooks last week. aaa estimates pothole damage costs u.s. motorists $.4 -- $6.4 billion. >> jobs like this come in more often than the rainy season. >> crews have used 2 tons of pothole mix over the past two weeks. >> wow. 8:04. san jose police now investigating former 49er ray mcdonald's alleged involvement in a sexual assault. but at this point, the police say they don't have a time line on when they will send the case to the county district

attorney's office. on wednesday, the 49ers cut mcdonald from the team. less than an hour after police announced this latest criminal investigation. it comes just one month after prosecutors declined to file charges against mcdonald in a domestic violence investigation because there was a lack of evidence. a federal judge has set a june court date for the corruption trial of leland yee. jury selection will start june 1st in federal court in san francisco. the opening statements, they are scheduled to begin three weeks later. leland yee face as long list of felony charges, including brierry, corruption and gun trafficking. he's among 28 people connected to a massive corruption case. it's something that happens every year. usually during the holidays. people who no longer want their pets just dump them, often leaving them on the street. paul chambers is in oakland where pet dumping is happening a lot and it's happening at a

location that's particularly frustrating for the local animal shelter. good morning, paul. >> reporter: good morning, toeshry. tori. people are dumping their animals. the spca behind me at the abandoned facility is where people are dumping animals. tires, couches have been dumped the pack and save. the store has been closed for more than a year. it's also a place where people have been leaving the unwanted pets. now, people have been leaving animals in box, blankets, oftentimes the animals die. the spca is located a less than a block from the store. back in september. a worker found a pit bull mix and nursed it back to help. the next month the dog was adopted. leaders say they know people get overwhelmed with animals. oftentimes, the workers will find the animals tied up and left in crates. not an ideal situation but better than an abandoned area.

they are asking go less than a block away and leave the animal with the spca when they are open. i talked to the people here and they explained to me a lot of times they are actually driving by the area and walk by the area and see the animals left there. they also say people come in and tell them that the animals are there. sometimes, animals go there on their own finding shelter. but basically they just say one on one block away. they say it happens when the store was open but a lot more that it's abandoned. tori? >> all right, paul. 8:07. san francisco's historic cable car number one back in service. it was restored from the bottom up in a three-year, $450,000 makeover. cable car number one was built in 1973 using parts recycled from an older car. but there are concerns about other cable cars in the fleet that need work. muni says four of the five

carpenters who keep the cars in good repair are retiring soon. a spokesman says cable car restoration and repair is a craft that needs to be passed down from person to person before it is lost. you probably can't have a machine do that. >> i need to be on there. >> looks pretty cool. there was an alarming overnight site at the chevron refinery. coming up, the explanation for this overnight flareup and how it affected the surrounding areas. keep them off the streets! >> an overwhelming call for change. the way thousands in san jose are asking the police chief to fire the officer behind some controversial tweets. good morning. we're looking at traffic that is just moderate today. we're not having a friday light especially not here on the san mateo bridge as you can see. we'll tell you what happened here and what your alternates are. the rain is letting up for a little bit, up in parts of mendocino county and lake

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blow protesters -- protesters in san jose want the police department to fire a police officer who posted controversial comments online. last night 100 demonstrators marched to the san jose police headquarter. they are angry about officer phillip white's tweets about

the protest over the deadly police incidents in ferguson, missouri and new york. one tweet read "threaten me or my family, and i will use my god-given and law-appointed right and duty to kill you." >> i don't feel like it's right for officer white or any other police officer to take advantage of the power given to them. >> officer white right now is on administrative leave. the police chief says he's also troubled by the tweets and promises there will be a full investigation. 8:12. oakland police are investigating after a noose was found hanging on a tree outside of city hall. a woman spotted the noose at frank ogawa plaza tuesday and posted this photo on instagram. investigators will try to determine if the noose was a prank off if there was a criminal intent behind it. 8:12. we have more coverage now.

the fallout from the sony pictures hacking scandal. crews in southern california, they were out taking down billboards advertising sony's movie "the interview." that's after sony canceled the movie's release when hackers threatened to attack movie theaters that show the film. it was supposed to debut christmas day. the comedy is about an assassination attempt against the leader of north korea. the white house is calling the cyber attack and the threats against sony a national security issue. the obama administration is considering several options now to respond. so far they haven't said publicly that they believe north korea is to blame. the president's national security team has been meeting at the white house deciding on a response. now, u.s. investigators suspect that a top-secret group within the north korean military is behind that attack. the group is known as bureau 121. reportedly, they are made up of at least 1800 cyber warriors

and they are scattered all over the world. 8:13. george clooney is criticizing the press and movie industry leaders for how the attack on sony was handled. clooney circulated the petition last week in hollywood aim at showing support for sony encouraging the company not to give into the hacker threats. but he says no one in the industry signed it out of fear. clooney also criticized the media for focusing more on the e-mails released by the hackers than on the implications the hacks could have on the future. he said he's incensed another country is deciding the content of movies here in the u.s. i did see a lot of reaction to this. but mitt romney i thought had an interesting suggestion. he said that sony should release the movie for free online and ask for $5 donations to anyone who views it for a cause maybe like ebola or something. >> interesting. >> i thought that was an interesting idea.

sal, what's happening on the roads? >> well, it will be a little bit slow, dave and tori. we haven't had the light commute that i wanted to have on a friday. i kind of wanted it to be friday light to make it easy for everyone. but there's still plenty of slow traffic around the bay area. let's take a look at what we have with the eastshore freeway. you can see it's taking just a little bit more than 25 minutes to drive from the carquinez bridge to the macarthur maze, an average speed of 40 miles an hour. just a little bit more than that. not too bad. it is raining in marin. that traffic is beginning to slow down. northern marin and sonoma county. moving along to the bay bridge toll plaza, that's a normal delay. about a 30-minute drive getting into san francisco nms you are in the -- san francisco unless you are in the carpool lane. we have a crash in san bruno on eastbound 380 near 101. suddenly, the traffic on 280 and 380 is very slow through the entire san bruno area. i would use 101 out of the

city. it's looking better. 8:15. let's go to steve. all right, sal. thank you. some of the rainfall coming in from the north bay has been very impressive rates over .75 per hour. we'll have an update on some of those. cloudy to mostly cloudy. south bay, most of the peninsula, east bay, escaping the morning commute without any rain. if it was, it was light. that's not case in the north bay, although it's let up in parts oflake county, mendocino county. last 24 hours, this is coming in from terry. 2.75 niccasio reservoir. forestville 1.50. windsor .23. north napa, .55. santa rosa almost .50. yountville .44. santa rosa, .30. some of the bay area -- winter starts this week and we're halfway to our annual total.

san jose already has 10 inches. average an url is 14.90. i would say theying fine -- they will doing fine. although the rain has let up, it's pushing east and south now moving into napa county. there's st. helena, yountville, looks like it's letting up. probably near hidden brook, american canyon, into marin county, this line is filling in rapidly. some of that rain is very intense. over to novato it's heavy rain. 50s on the temps. upper 50s for some. a rather strong south-southeast breeds. it will be a blustery day. cloudy to the south. but evinly the rain will make -- eventually the rain will make it. some of that is brief and heavy. there will be one more system saturday. that will favor area to the north. after that, we'll get a break.

high pressure builds in. the coast, dare i say, dare, dare, next week could be very warm, especially along the coast and in san francisco. probably have to deal with fog though in hidden valley. >> are you expecting any flooding with that rain? >> i think it's moving quick. >> okay. nasa scientists are celebrating the discovery of a -- discovery of a new planet say they is a superprobe. you may remember kepler was disabled by a broken wheel mechanism. most researchers thought that made it nothing more than space junk. kepler was given a new mission. discovery of the new planet, two and a half times size of earth is the sift truck story of the revitalized spacecraft. >> fascinating. you drive around san francisco always trying to figure out where you are gonna park. imagine never worrying about

where you are going to park again. that's the promise from an app. and also good news for some bay area public transit riders looking to stay in san francisco past midnight. after the break, the new shuttle service getting into gear this weekend. ♪ >> we're bringing you more from the san francisco gay men's chorus all throughout our hour. ♪

president obama and his family are set to leave for christmas vacation today. but not before he finishes one more piece of business. before the obamas takes off for obaja, the president -- oahu, the president will hold his press briefing. he will probably get a lot of questions about sony, north korea and cuba. then the first family heads to hawaii for a 17-day break on the island where the president was born. he's set to return to washington the day after new year's day. a depiction of santa is getting second looks in southern california. this shows santa smoking a joint and a smoeman holding a pottle of prescription pills. outraged neighbors demanded the display be taken down. the owner had someone come out and spray the painting off.

people affected by the south napa earthquake have ten more days to apply for fema disaster reef lee.. the deadline is december 239th to get help -- 29th to get help. fema announced that federal assistance for the august quake has already reached more than $30 million including housing help for nearly 5300 families. there's new research showing the west napa faultline where the big quake in august was centered, it do mean a bigger, more dangerous quake is coming. many buildings in downtown napa are still being fixed. fences sur rowrngd the areas that ill -- surround the areas that still show the damage. the quake happened when a ten- mile stretch of the fartherline ruptured. scientists thought the fault was 30 miles long but that quake shows that line is bigger. >> now it runs from one side of the valley to the other. >> he also said if the entire faultline were to rupture, it

could produce a magnitude 7 quake. that's about 30 miles bigger than the quake in august. all of the wet weather we're getting has forced the closure, though the angel island state park this weekend. yesterday park rangers found treated waste water overflowing into the popular park. angel island will be closed to the public both saturday and sunday. they will allow the island to recover from the exsection storm water. crews have been -- excess form water. crews have been out there rerouting so it's not in danger of flowing into the bay. ferry service has been canceled to the park this weekend. there is a new option for you if you are out late at night in san francisco and you need to get from san francisco to the south bay after midnight, starting this weekend, there's a new shuttle service. it's called midnight express. for $12, the shuttle will pick up passengers in san francisco at 2:00 a.m. saturday morning. that's after b.a.r.t. and caltrain have stopped

running. the shuttle will leave from the fourth straight caltrain station, drop off passengers at the palo alto, san antonio, mountain view and san jose caltrans stations. now, it is a bigger than black friday day coming up. coming up in 29 minute, the way businesses all around the bay area getting ready for tomorrow's busiest shopping day of the year. and concern remains for several people, especially around the richmond area for that huge flare popping up from the richmond refinery. coming up the response we got from chevron moments ago and what the oil giant will have to do in a couple of days. moderate conditions on the east bay freeways. it's been light on highway 4. highway 24 has slowing. raining. i mean, pouring in napa. some of the reports coming in, it's let up to the north. but it's over marin county and napa county. we'll show you that coming up (vo) nourished.

rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] get your taste of the season,

at raley's, bel air, and nob hill.

welcome back. these dramatic flames overnight at richmond chevron refinery put a lot of people on edge. you can see this for miles. the official word is there's nothing to be alarmed. not everybody is satisfied with that answer. these are live pictures right outside of the gate. brian flores is there. he's been out there for hours this morning in richmond. coming up in a couple of minutes, brian will tell us how a whole incident really scared some people nearby. stay tuned. thank you for joining us here on "mornings on 2". friday, december 19th. i'm dave clark. this is a fun day here in our studio because we have special

guests live. we have the san francisco gay men's chorus here. they've already sung. they will be singing more christmas songs for us in a couple of minutes. gentlemen, i'm glad you are here. thank you. we can talk to each other. stay tuned. they will be here and sing for you in a couple of minutes. right now, we have steve paulson here. you know all about the weather. this is umbrella weather. >> probably the earliest they've been up in a 0 long time. dav dmash time -- in a long time. some of the reports coming in, it's coming down in buckets. let's go to the satellite. there it is. you can see the line blowing up. to the north, parts of mendocino county, lake county and northern sonoma county, it's let up a little bit. some of the rain rates are just off the chart here but you can see moving south out of lake county and mendocino county. there's still some upstream but the heavier amounts right over napa right there coming down

just torrential rain. yountville has had -- i think .23. some areas are coming in. rainfall rates of 2, 3 inches an hour. it's moving into napa. if it hasn't, it's moving south. back towards marin county, very heavy rain coming in as well. that's the main line stretching right across, it looks like san pablo bay over towards vallejo, crockett, benicia, and right near san rafael. it's moving fast. it's on its way. cloudy, 50ss on the temps. decent breeze. it will be a breezy blustery day. cloudy, some of the heavy rain will be in the next hour or two. we'll have rain off and on throughout most of the day. 50s and 60s. there has to be issues in napa county. >> there are some issues. i'm just typing in a new lineup here -- part of a new lineup because we have the slow traffic, steve. we also have the rain coming in and that's slowing things down. san mateo bridge not good. you can see it's slow, we had

an earlier accident on the span. that's slowed traffic coming through here as you drive out to foster city. you might want to think about the dumbarton bridge, which is not that bad according to the red sensors. when you get to the the peninsula, not that bad. they had the accident on 380 that's been removed. bay bridge toll plaza is very normal. it looks like we could see wet weather. i don't see it right now. it's a little bit wet there. you go to the peninsula. i talked about the peninsula, 101 is okay. 230 is sill slow through south korea -- still slow through san bruno. joe is moving our camera here in san francisco. if you go to 555 cal cam, you can see it's rainy here in san francisco. steve and i will be on it. this last part of your commute could be wind of -- well, not good. back to the desk. >> sal, thank you. we're finding out more about that huge flareup at the chevron refinery in richmond overnight that lit up the sky.

big flames and billowing smoke. you can see it for miles. it made thousands of people nearby very nervous. but chevron is saying don't worry. brian flores is out there now. you are in richmond to tell us why. what do you know, brian? >> reporter: well, good morning. chevron says what many people saw yesterday, the huge flare that came from the richmond refinery is basically normal. normal operations but as you mentioned, this certainly concerned many residents, many commuters along 580 and some even saw the flames as far as san francisco. as we've been talking about, this started around 7:00 last night. many of the community saw it for miles. this flare that came out from the refinery. the main reason for that concern is because of the refinery fire from 2012 still on the minds of many people. but according to chevron and official, they called this normal in a statement by chevron it says we had a process unit that needed to be depressurized. the flare is part of a safety

system that enabled us to safely shut down the unit. while the word of it being normal is good news for those in richmond, especially seeing the skies above in their neighborhood was alarming. >> it makes me nervous. >> why is that? >> it can be dangerous. >> we have our engineers, chemical engineers who will work with chevron to figure out what happened. the refinery itself will do the investigation and they will get back to us. >> reporter: now, chevron tells ktvu that the flare and white smoke that several people saw was water vapor or steam. they say in flaring conditions just like you saw last night, it's normal practice to release that amount of water vapor that seemed to assist with the flare quality. we contacted a chevron firefighter who says no one was injured. there were no alarms that went off indicating a chemical leak but it remains unclear what caused the unit to be

depressurized in the first place. we did get a response moments ago saying they are sticking with the statement. in the meantime, hazmat officials are expecting a report from chevron in the next couple of days to explain exactly what happened last night. back to you. >> okay. brian flores live in richmond. did you. the head of california's public utilities commission michael peavy has ended his 12- year term. yesterday, he resided over his final puc meeting in san francisco. many who were there thanked him for nis years of public -- his years of public service. critics were there and repeated the claim that peavy had become far too friendly with pg&e executives after the san bruno pipeline disaster. >> i want you to go away with retirement from this commission because really you belong in jail. >> on behalf of our children and grandchildren, thank you for your service to california and planet earth.

>> private e-mails that became public show that pg&e went judge shopping in a critical rate setting race. and the state puc under peavy's leadership seemed to go along with it. some new firefighters will soon be out there responding to emergencies in san francisco. this morning, the san francisco fire department will be graduating 52 new firefighters. san francisco mayor ed lee is due to attend the event. it begins at 10:00 at riordan high school in san francisco. san francisco supervisors are calling for a public review of top-secret police swins -- surveillance technology. 2 investigates reported on the sting technology. it can intercept cell phone technology from a device mounted inside a police car. the examiner reports the san francisco police department obtained the sting ray as early

as 2009 but they can'ting a knowledge it because of a nonkiss closure agreement -- nondisclosure agreement with the fbi. 8:35. new this morning, another tragedy in australia where police are trying to figure out who killed eight children. their bodies were found inside a home early this morning in the town of cannes. the mother of seven of the chirp was found suffering -- children was found suffering serious injuries after being stabbed several times. the victims range in age from 18 months old to 15 years old. >> it's shocking to happen, you know. eight children, gone. >> police are expected to remain at the scene for the next couple of days. prime minister tony abbott is speaking out about the incident saying "the news out of cannes is heartbreaking. all parents would feel a gut- wrenching sadnessed a what's happened. this is an unspeakable crime."

the incident comes as australia is still reeling from the deadly takeover of a sydney cafe. pack in this country, police and prosecutor -- back in this country, police and prosecutors have said they've given up their pursuit of almost 80,000 accused felons over the past year and a half. that's according to a study published in the usa today. in most of these cases, the authorities said they simly don't have the time or the money to track down these fugitives. some of the fugitives are charged with rape and armed robbery. love spending time in san francisco but hate trying to find a place to park? there is an app for that. it's a growing business. pam cook is in the newsroom to let us know how this works. good morning. it was launched in the bay area back in april. in just eight months this company has already secured $6.4 million in venture capital funding and has expanded to los angeles and seattle.

never park again. that's the slogan of a new app called zirx. here's how it works. you download the app, let zirx know where you are headed, then it tracks you. estimates what time you will be there and has a zirx agent meet you. you know who that is because their picture is sent to you along with a pass code to insure a safe connection. >> our company exists to save people time. i think in a day in age when most people dread coming into san francisco because of parking, this is a great solution. >> zirx pays for parking spaces in bulk so they get a good rate and they are strategically located around san francisco so they can get their car back to you even if you have traveled to a new location within ten minutes. you can leave it all day for $15 or even overnight for an additional $15. >> people who work in restaurants, people who work in law firms, high-tech companies.

at $15 it works for a lot of people who live in and around san francisco. >> the drivers undergo extensive background checks both for driving record and criminal record. and your car is covered by a $2 million insurance policy. so how do they make money? well, while you work, shop or watch a giants' game, you can pay to have your car washed or have the oil changed. and zirx means star in ukrainian. they try to make their customers feel bike a star. they -- like a star. they are not alone. also based in san francisco is joining this booming business, lux valet. they offer a similar service. that's not expanded into other cities yet. tori and dave? >> thank you. 8:39. i get to talk a very sption subject. "people" magazine has named it

sexiest woman alive. the drop-dead gorgeous model who won this year's honor. ♪ >> part of the san francisco gay men's chorus is in the studio. after the break a live performance and where you can see them during the holidays. good morning. we are looking at some new problems out there. it's correlated with the wet weather coming down. you can see it's coming down kind of hard here approaching the richmond bridge, marin county, parts of san francisco. please drive carefully. from daly city stretching over san pablo bay into napa. we'll take a look at the line which is very intense. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta...

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joy to the world. that was the san francisco gay men's chorus from the santa chorus at the castro theater. if you haven't seen the chorus performance in person, you are in luck. the san francisco gay men's chorus is performing tonight in

berkeley, plus three christmas eve shows at the castro theater in san francisco. we have several members, though, in the studio here, filling with holiday cheer. joining me now is the director. as we saw in the clip, this is not your typical -- >> thr is not your typical church pageant. >> where do you get your inspiration? where do you come up with these ideas? >> 275 gay men in the chorus, i'm not short on inspiration. a lot of ideas and opinions. >> i'm sure they do. >> now, i understand that you had a little bet going about the world series. >> we did. >> tell us about that. we had a bet with the heartland's men chorus in kansas city. whoever won the world series, the cun ductor would have to wear the jersey. and we would provide gifts so we sent them beautiful candies

from see's. they sent us bloopers, they call them from russell stover. we lost all the way around. >> at least we won the world series. >> and we'll just rub that in. >> what are you gonna perform for us now? >> you said christmas and we said no. we're gonna do hanukkah. we're gonna do a hanukkah piece for you that's become near and dear to our hearts. i think you will like it. >> san francisco gay men's chorus.

♪ [ applause ] >> that was just fab few list -- fabulous. you can check out their show, they will be performing in berkeley actually tonight. >> tonight. >> friday the 19th. >> in berkeley and also home for the holidays this christmas eve at the castro. there are three shows that evening at 5:00, 7:00 and 9:00. and ticket prices range from -- as i said earlier, they are very entertaining but amazingly

talented. we loved having you here. >> was it okay being here with us? >> then you have to come back again. >> absolutely. >> we would love to have them come back. 8:46. we need to check in with traffic. still people trying to get around to work or maybe doing some shopping. there's lonely six days left. >> i do have a couple of things. but i started let's take a look at the commute as the san mateo bridge is finally -- they are going to get a little bit better here. we had a crash, a couple of hours ago, that really messed up traffic. it's beginning to recover finally. also looking at the bay bridge, a little bit of wet weather in san francisco. traffic here at the toll plaza is just ordinarily. i will tell you, the san francisco commute itself is slow. northbound 208 and 101 on the peninsula getting up to the

alameda maze. >> some of the comments from vallejo. it's pouring. pouring. south, you escape the morning commute with youdy, maybe breezy, windy conditions. where the rain fell, it started in mendocino county, lake county, marin right now stretching right about over towards vallejo, hercules, martinez, american canyon, nova though, marinwood, san rafael, to mill valley. bonnie said it's here. it's pouring. that line really produced heavy- duty rain around napa as well. it looks like it's sliding a little bit towards fairfield, core deal you why, probably vacaville -- cordelia, probably vacaville. american canyon, benicia, heavy line. you can see the line over san pablo bay. right off western marin and now taking a little dive south off san francisco. some of the rain totals thanks for all of the information. forestville, 1.50. santa rosa, .80.

north napa, .78. winder three quarters. san rafael, 34. i'm sure some of these are a little higher. 50s on the temps. it's an intense system. the breeze has been cranking up in advance of it. 24 miles per hour. our line will move through. there's plenty upstream. the heavy rain is just moving in around solano county towards marin county. 50s and 60s on the temps. this is probably the last system we have for a while. there will be another one on saturday. after that, we'll get a break sunday, monday, tuesday. probably into christmas eve. >> okay. >> after christmas eve? >> might be a cold system dropping in on christmas day. >> okay. it does feel weird to have christmas wearing t-shirts. >> i'll see what i can do. you want to see santa claus yike uv never seen him before -- like you've in never seen

him before? a controversial ad that might be more naughty than nice. every day is a new opportunity to help make life better right here in san francisco.

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welcome back. breaking news coming in right now from san jose. there is a police manhunt happening near two schools. now, police found a shooting victim around 5:00 this morning on southwest expressway, the victim was rushed to the hospital. the police right now have set up a perimeter around southwest expressway and stoke street. the suspect they are searching for is considered armed and

dangerous. at this point, we're not sure how the shooting is affecting nearby delmar high school and the blackford elementary school. we did get off the phone just a moment ago with delmar high school. officials don't see anything unusual right now. again, this is breaking news coming in from san jose. we're following this. we'll bring you more information on ktvu.com and the noon news. 8:53. there are just six shopping days until christmas. tomorrow is expected to be the biggest shopping day of the year. they call it supersaturday because it's the final weekend people have to finish up their holiday shopping. retailers are doing their best to motivate shoppers to buy more with special deals and extended hours. toys 'r' us will open at 6:00 tomorrow morning and stay open until 2:00 monday morning. most kohl's and macy's will stay open from now until 6:00 christmas eve. all right. there is a billboard outside of

chico causing some controversy. take a look. it shows a stern-faced santa claus with some eyeglasses on. shades and holding an assault rifle. the tag line reads, we build ars for santa. now ars are rifles. the billboard is for a gun range. the owner has he's received a lot of feedback. most of it is positive, he says. one teacher says this is not appropriate. >> i would not want my students to see that. i don't think you need to put out that santa has a gun. >> well, you know, some people get toys and stuff like that for christmas. other people when i was growing up, i got guns from santa claus. >> billboard are banned in chico but that doesn't necessarily apply here since the billboard is actually outside of the city limits. san francisco police released photos of a man who robbed a bank dressed up as santa claus. take a look. it happened last saturday. police say he walked into the

weg on sutter street and gave the teller a note demanding money. the man said he had a gun even though no one saw a weapon. the teller gave him cash and he ran away. the robbery happened during santa conn which is the pub drawl with hundred of people dressed as san taupe clause. that made it easy for the bad santas to blend in and make his getaway. and the dui trial for michael phelps began this morning in maryland. we just learned that he has pleaded guilty to dui charges three months after the arrest. police pulled the olympic gold medalist over for speeding after he left the casino in september. officers say he had a blood alcohol content of .14. that's nearly double the legal limit in maryland. the 29-year-old still hopes to compete in the rio summer games in 2016. but if convicted, he could face up to a year in jail. last month, we told you

that chris hemsworth was named the sexiest man alive. now "people" magazine just named the sexiest woman. she's model and actress kate upton. hard to believe. >> shocking. >> earlier this year, kate appeared in the movie "the other woman" alongside cameron diaz and the magazine said it based the decision on kate eight style, personality, career achievements, like being on the cover of sports illustrated swimsuit issue and she's drop-deard gorgeous. >> not hard on the eyes. i saw that movie. it's very cute. the thing i like about her, she doesn't take herself too seriously. >> i will are to look at it. >> all right. we're changing gears. we have gotten some breaking news. the fbi formally is accusing north korea of hacking of sewn nip pictures say -- sony pictures saying it's deeply concerned. this was something that was likely expected to happen but it's now official. it will have long-term

ramifications. president obama having a press conference this morning. >> big news. sal has big news. you are watching our commute. >> the commute on the san mateo bridge never recovered after a crash on it. westbound 92 still not a great bridge to drive on. bay bridge also slow getting into the city. we haven't had any friday night at all, especially because of the wet weather. the san mateo and bay bridge tone is getting across not that great. dumbarton bridge not that bad. when you get to the peninsula, this traffic here looks okay. please give yourself extra time all over the place. as steve has mentioned, the rain is beginning to come down or has been coming down in sonoma and marin county. we're seeing a lot of fender- benders. >> it's about ready to hit san francisco. mill valley, san pablo, crockett, vallejo, benicia and then up towards fairfield. it is really intense. about ready to move into san francisco. the rain rates are intense. >> a story we will continue to

follow throughout the day. thank you for joining us. we leave you with the beautiful holiday sounds of the gay men's chorus performing. thanks, guys. ♪

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