san francisco fire chief, joanne hayes white will do the honors. she will be pinning badges on 43 entry level firefighters who have completed a rigorous 17-week academy. joining the ranks this year will be a diverse group of men and women, including a former school bus driver, a soldier and a sheriff's deputy. >>> california higher education leaders meeting in san francisco this morning to discuss how to rebuild the state's public colleges and universities. uc president, janet napolitano, will join administrators from the cal state system and the community college system for a panel discussion before a national gathering of educators. they will look at key dhal challenges of the next decades, keeping higher ed affordable, accessible and relevant. technology and innovation in higher education will also be part of the discussion. >>> this morning, a holiday homecoming months in the making. a baby born four months early is defying the odds and not only thriving but could be home by christmas. abc 7 news reporter john allison reports from lucile packar

san francisco fire chief, joanne hayes white, will do the honors. be pinning badges on 43 entry level firefighters who have completed a rigorous 17-week academy. joining the ranks this year will be a diverse group of men and women, including a former school bus driver, a soldier and a sheriff's deputy. >>> california higher education leaders meeting in san francisco this morning to discuss how to rebuild the state's public colleges and universities. uc president, janet napolitano, will join administrators from the cal state system and the community college system for a panel discussion before a national gathering of educators. they will look at key challenges of the next decades, including keeping higher ed affordable, accessible and relevant. >>> this morning, a holiday homecoming months in the making. a baby born four months early is defying the odds and not only thriving but could be home by christmas. bei bei jiden wasn't supposed to arrive until christmas day but instead, arrived on august 27th. jade unwas just 1 pound 2 ounces when he was born

chief joanne hayes-white says firefighters acted within protocol for that situation. >> our members had difficult decisions. one was visualizing someone who appeared to be dead or expectant versus going on the burning plane with reports of people that still needed to be rescued. >> more hearings are planned before the ntsb issues its final report and recommendations. >>> happening today, bart and its unions are back at the bargaining table again, this time the unions are not threatening to strike but things are still contentious between the two sides. bart says the family leave provision should have never been in the final contract. unions argue bart signed off on the deal and should be ratified and there's nothing to talk about. >>> a hearing just wrapped up in san jose federal courtroom regarding the city's lawsuit against major league baseball. the suit is over mlb's refusal to decide whether the a's should have a ballpark in san jose. last week court papers indicated baseball existing never bud selig had sent the a's a letter back in june saying he is not satisfied with relocation p

the 16-year-old student survived the asiana crash but we now know what san francisco fire chief joanne hayes: not one but two fire trucks ran over the girl's body. she wave

the 16-year-old student survived the asiana crash but we now know what san francisco fire chief joanne hayes-white had only suspected: not one but two fire trucks ran over the girl's body. she was covered in flame retardant foam. >> if there's anything certainly we can learn from the events of that extraordinary day, we're all about improving our operations. >> reporter: the report says minutes after the crash, two firefighters concluded the teenager was dead just by looking at her. they didn't check her breathing or pulse. the chief says firefighters acted within protocol for mass casualties. >> there's a category of deceased or what they call expectant, not expected to survive. our members that day had difficult decisions to make. one was visualizing someone that appeared to be dead or expectant, versus going on to the burning plane with reports of people that still needed to be rescued. >> reporter: also under scrutiny, training. fire crews posted at the airport have to take a specialized aircraft rescue course but their commanders do not. do you think it should be considered to have that

san francisco fire chief, joanne hayes white, made her first public comments since the ntsb hearingsaring last night. she commended everyone who responded to the scene but she said if there are areas they can improve on, they will. >>> a story you will see only on abc7 news, an investigation is under way after a woman dialed san mateo county child support health number but somehow connected to a phone sex hotline. cecilia lee thought she had misdialed the number posted on san mateo county's child support website so she double checked it and dialed again and got the same-sex line. >> welcome to america's hottest talk line. ladies, to talk to interesting and exciting guys free, press 1 now. >> i was very disappointed that something like that could happen. an agency like that makes that mistake, it's very unfortunate. >> it turns out a state vendor changed the number a month ago. state officials say they sent out e-mails back in october and now they are directing counties to make sure the right number is posted. >>> tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the sandy hook school shootings

drawing san francisco big wigs like mayor ed lee, there he is, police chief, and fire chief joanne hayes white. people are able to drive up to the curb, drop off their goods. the restaurant is hoping to collect thousands of toys in time for christmas and the owner says it is getting down to the wire. >> we heard there are about 5,000 kids that are going to wake up without toys. we're not going to have any of that. we contacted santa so we're going to help him out. so san francisco, the spirit of mass is really strong. >> the restaurant is handing out toys today and tomorrow. it's still accepting donations as late as 2:00 tomorrow. 2:00 a.m. tomorrow. that means later tonight. no way of saying that. >>> still ahead at 6:00, edward snowden speaks out. >>> there's no christmas eve break for these guys. the high-zstakes mission for a pair of astronauts today. >>> plus dining 2.0. eateries and deiners across the country embracing ipads and tablets. how it's going to affect your next night on the town. >>> opening and keeping a restaurant alive is not easy. for mom and pop store, and national