suggested a guild system exists whereby battalion holders are the ones setting the rules as to who gets the medallions. i was confused by that. could you explain to me briefly how a new medallion is created? is decorated through attrition? once in a while does the mayor's office or somebody have an authority to create new medallions? >> let me briefly explain that. obtaining and medallion -- obtaining a medallion ok -- there is a static number. in order for new medallions to be issued, whether it is 10, 50, or 200, there has to be a study done on public convenience and necessity. that study will recommend the amount to be issued for new medallions after that point. then eight new medallion can be issued. it is whether we think there is room enough in san francisco to issue 100 new medallions. 100 new medallions then be created and apportioned. as far as obtaining a medallion, under the current system, without that study, those medallions only return into the system after the death of a medallion holder or if there is a revocation of a medallion, or something else of that sort. those are

but what is clear is that prop k in no way or form required battalions be issued to career drivers.t did not contemplate that. instead, it looked squarely at the question of experience and said two years after its adoption people with one year's experience in the three prior years would be given preference. that preference expired in 1980. there has been no preference since then and never was. everything in between, leading up to prop a, has been legislative interference with a voter initiative. it is the exact thing that charter section 14.10 is a to prevent. if you want to change the requirements, a change to this to apply for a medallion, go back to the voters who created a program and ask for it. if you accept that proposition, the transportation section is standing out there alone as an unprecedented ratcheting up of the requirements and defeat of longstanding expectations of people who put their name on the last 20 years ago under another set of assumptions. these are highly technical arguments, but those are highly technical standards supported only by broad policy assumption

after many consecutive days fighting on the defensive but silly ships selves battalion finally went on the counter offensive. she feared for what fighting is all about but there is no fear what would you become a wild beast you have to kill them off or you'll be killed we just had no time to worry about survival and. vassily shift so far often visits familiar battlefields he survived in one thousand nine hundred three only because he was wounded it was thanks to that injury that he set out his battalions final action in which nearly all of his comrades were killed. it was a point of no return. as a lie in bed i still can't believe i'm. new here at the general leave it even now. this church has been built to commemorate to soviet soldiers who died in the village of crow one of. it's the world's only orthodox church which was completely covered in the names of soldiers who gave their lives in battle. there's a bell tower in the field near prophet of god every twenty minutes the bell tolls to honor the dead. on july seventeenth one thousand nine hundred three to begin an organized retreat

thousand nine hundred three he was nineteen years old on july fourth he and other soldiers from his battalion were waiting for their first taste of combat in this revealing. the men had reason to believe they were unlikely to survive the battle. when we were told to load our weapons and replenish ammunition and. secure everything to your body to give you maximum ability. we were told to leave our personal belongings behind. google no longer need them they said and read you. very much was also making thorough preparations for the battle tank units were reinforced with specially trained cadets. carl gales dorf was one of them. this is a photograph from his private archive as part of a detached attack company of twenty two tiger tanks he first arrived at the eastern front in early july nine hundred forty three a few days before the battle his company received orders to immediately abandon their deployment position in a small village near cursed. mom group after when we were leaving your officers were rummaging through houses where we had launched destroying all traces of our president's bits of

when i got to vietnam for my second tour, i was an adviser to the vietnamese airborne battalion -- the airborne division. all of the combat troops -- american combat troops had already been withdrawn. yet i and my fellow advisers were engaged in combat every single day for the next six months. we hope it will be quieter for these guys who are left behind. at some juncture we have to decide when to pull them out, too. we hope it's not under duress. >> while you have been speaking we still see the live picture of the headlights of the vehicle in front of the vehicle carrying richard engel. this is the very same vehicle, the same technology that allowed our late great colleague david bloom to report live from the desert from a moving convoy as the invasion started. we'll check back in, but, of course, throughout the evening there will be more of richard's reporting from iraq on our website, nightly.msnbc.com, as there will be on msnbc on cable as well. >>> we turn now to things domestic. an important story today regarding health. there is a massive nationwide recall of over 200 million eg

i have on the line with me ba stanion chief for cal fire jim crawford the battalion chief., thanks for joining us. can you give us the latest update in terms of acreage and how many people you have out there? chief? >> yes. sorry about that. i just got an update from the incident commander. the fire is actually about [ indiscernible ] >> i'm sorry, i didn't hear that? how many? >> fire is now reached about 150 acres. >> okay. >> 15% contained. potential still is somewhere around maybe 500 acres. but that's the latest from the incident commander that's on the ground. >> you have an air tanker fighting this fire, as well? >> quite a few actually about six. >> what kind of equipment do you have on the ground and is the terrain difficult to maneuver? >> yes, it's kind of slow going. there are quite a few good fire trails in contra costa county for access but it's still slow going in a lot of places to get out to where the fire is at. but there is still access to get close by. >> how many -- >> it is in rugged terrain so it does take a little bit of time. there are four hand cre

five men were arraigned friday but the battalion chief is accused of being the ringleader. >>> drilling for the fourth bore of the caldecott tunnel is set to begin in a matter of hours. it comes with a $420 million price tag, even though it's not expected to save traditional commuters any time. because right now, two tunnels are open headed west to the city and switches in the afternoon. none of this will change. it will simply ease traffic congestion for the reverse commute. that said, the reverse commute can have a major backup and most people in the area say they can't wait for the relief. they will have to wait a little bit more. sket you'lled to scheduled to be done in three years. >>> coming up, we'll show you a dramatic scene. >>> this specific intersection caused concern in the community and biking community. >>> and why drivers never see them coming. >>> you would never believe we're in summertime but the numbers will change. >>> still following breaking news out of san francisco, three people shot outside a nightclub, not farromni uon square. right . >>> now, we have part two

he talks exclusively to nbc bay area new as that last battalion rolls out. good evening, i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm tom sinkovitz. 7 1/2 years after the first usair strike, the last u.s. combat troops are out of iraq with a bay area soldier at the head of the convoy. just hours ago, 4,000 soldiers from the 4th striker brigade drove out of rack in their armored vehicles. they are now in kuwait. so is richard engel, the only american reporter embedded with them as the troops pulled out. >> reporter: a short while ago he watched the last american combat troops crossed through this gate leaving iraq and entering here in kuwait. they were from the 4-2 striker brigade based at ft. lewis in washington state. they call themselves the raiders, and now they have a special place in the history of the iraq war. >> we're going home! >> reporter: they were the last 440 american combat troops to leave iraq and enter kuwait. >> it feels great to know that we were -- that this battalion, the 1st and the 38th infantry is the last unit to be in iraq, the last combat unit in i

chief stations, basically there's a battalion chief there, he will be like the little commander of that district as far as we're concerned and the fire department's response. going to have the ham radio communication people there, they are going to set up a little base station in that fire station and they are also going to be in communication with the staging area in that district. this is what the big picture looks like, basically it's a little clearer than that, it goes up on the wall, but it's the city laid out in these response districts. it shows you where all the emergency facilities such as hospitals and police stations and fire stations and schools are. basically, there's a map that corresponds with your neighborhood. you want to get one so you can find out where in your neighborhood to go. once you've taken care of your families, your friends, your pets, your loved ones if you want you can go help out other people in your city. there it is, a place for us to gather as nert members and there's our nert ics area. here is our structure. same kind of set up, sort of our version. c

many of them went off to war and became part of the 442nd, the 100th battalion, the mis, military intelligence, and were extraordinarily heroic and died in very high casualty rates in europe. and so when chet comes back to san francisco, those people who signed no no were looked upon as cowards. they were traitors. they sat out the war where these other people died. everyone a friend, an uncle or somebody they knew who had died, lost an arm, or was killed in service. chet comes back and he is literally spit on by his own community. so my protagonist is someone who is an ex-jazz musician, who spent his adult years playing with black groups, he comes back to san francisco at a time when japan town is still sort of unraveling from this sort of who lives here, who doesn't live here, and he wants to find japan town again, find his own sort of home while at the same time around him his own community is looking at him as if he is a traitor. so as he says and used to say in the play, i'm on the outside of the outside. my country thinks i'm a criminal, my own community thinks i'm a traitor. how does he

i just got done talking to battalion chief mike martin of cal fire.e tells me this fire is 80% contained, burned 375 acres. they don't think it's going to burn anymore. take a look at pictures we have of the fire yesterday and was a big concern yesterday, obviously an extremely hot day, dry grass, bad combination there. you can see the smoke from san francisco. this thing started incurry canyon. the possible cause of the fire, a downed power line across the road which kept fire trucks from getting to the scene. a home was threatened for a while. so was a massive power line. both were saved. >> what we call light fuel areas. once we get further to the hills, notice a lot of brush and trees and timber. right now the fire's involved in the timber areas where the crews are but thing back fires in place. >> battalion chief martin telling me they did stop the trucks from getting in immediately but they've got six air tankers and three helicopters hitting this fire in the first hour. and he says had that not happened, this thing could have burned 1215 acres.

i understand from the battalion chief that everyone in that home got out. it was a husband, wife, son and dog. and their dog is a pit bull who actually woke them up this morning. very lucky family. now i want to bring you back out here live. we are here along win oaks drive. the house on fire is actually behind me. i understand right now that the woman wholives inside got out safely. she had three dogs. unfortunately only one of those dogs survived. we will have more information for you as soon as we get it. jade hernandez, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> time now 6:33. meantime crews say they are making progress in their efforts to clean up a big sewage spill on the peninsula. thousands of gallons of raw sewage spilled in anchor circle in redwood city. ktvu is out there. you have all the latest on the overnight developments. good morning, craig. >> reporter: good morning, dave. what happened yesterday afternoon could pail in comparison to what's about to happen. that blue truck there 3300- gallons, see that guy what he's doing dragging a pipe to the holes there p

he supervises the battalion's dog program doing everything possible to keep the dog alive and healthyhether they have injuries on their paws, any eye injuries or any type of infections. you have to monitor that very closely. >> reporter: their biggest problem is keeping the dogs hydrated in temperatures that reach 130 degrees. >> actually we've been giving them i.v.s, just a regular bag that you or me would take. you can put it in the top of their fur. right here you just lift it up. it goes underneath their skin. kind of creates like a came he will pack almost inside of them. as the dog needs fluids, it just drains into their body. >> reporter: they have even trained the medics in the battalion to do basic vet work in case the dogs need it. and the marines, being marines, actually give each dog a rank. one level higher than their handler. you're a lance corporal. what rank does tigger have? >> he's a corporal. >> reporter: one rank above you. why is that? >> a lot of guys say they have a rank above you because you can't beat them up. you can't do stuff like that. it's just kind of fu

the battalion chief did tell me there several fires that broke out at the same time. there was no known cause of this fire but i was told when it is hot residents can overwhelm their electrical boxes. again there is no cause on this fire out here in san jose this morning but they are still looking into whether or not it may have been due to an electrical -- electrical problem this morning. >>> we are going to hear more from neighbors out here and the battalion chief coming up. live in san jose, jade hernandez kt v channel 2 news. >> thank you. >>> the tile is 7:03. >>> firefighters in the south bay are also dealing with another fire. this one broke out about the same time in cupertino. reported at a house on rockdale drive. look at these pictures. fire officials say the family's pit bull actually woke up the residents. a husband, wife and their son, they all got out safely but they were as you can imagine visibly shaken up. look at these pictures, neighbors say they saw flames spreading from a garage to a car in the driveway. the cause of the fire is under investigati

. >> the contra costa battalion chief says that the fire may have been struck down by a downed power line it. >> thirty-one train cars lost air conditioning and malfunctions caused minor delays. car writers have experienced delays and pc went out in about one-third of the train. some of the older cars fail when the temperature topped 95 degrees in see the need more in state funding to upgrade or replace those systems. the warm-up is also putting pressure on the power grid but they say there is no reason to worry about large-scale power outages keep in mind you can find more coverage of the bay area heat by going to our homepage ktvu.com. >>> we have new information about the vandalism happening in san francisco's golden gate park and they showed as two spots where bushes and trees had been destroyed. jana katsuyama has a live report from the park with details see. >> reporter: gasia, these are all bb redwoods that were planted this year and you can see where they have been cut down to the roots and this is an example of the stream of crimes happening here. the coastal records that to

vietnamese army for a further twenty years retiring as a general now he writes his memoirs about how his battalion took part in resisting the last american air raid. happened right here. because it was subjected to the very heavy. wreckage of this aircraft is a good illustration of the defeat suffered by the united states here. unlike his vietnamese counterpart sergeant nicholai kolesnik decided against continuing his military career. after his return from vietnam nicholai left the armed forces to become an electrical engineer but he meets several times a year with his comrades in arms who served with him in vietnam. the former u.s. marine greg klavan returned to vietnam in one nine hundred eighty six he makes a living by giving private english lessons when he left vietnam off to being wounded in the war it never occurred to him that some day he might come back let alone share a table with vietnamese guerrillas so coming back and seeing. developing people. getting jobs and going to school in a normal life made me feel better that we didn't completely destroyed all of the. things that we. have gone

. >> reporter: battalion steve is with a cal fire strike team. he says as of this afternoon the fire was essentially surrounded but it was changing wind patterns and the spark could reignite the curry fire. >> right now the wind is starting to come up. the heat of the day is behind us. the humidities are down. with the wind and stuff we're just making sure the fire is going to stay where it is going to stay. this is the curry fire at its peak yesterday afternoon, fueled by dry vegetation, winds and triple-digit investigators. -- tipple digit temperatures. cal fire says whatever the cause the lesson from the curry fire is clear. a mild summer means very little when the temperatures spike. >> all it takes is unone or two very warm days and you get a fire like this. >> cal fire said there were 200 firefighters on scene. of those, two firefighters suffered very minor injuries. cal fire expects the crews to remain on the scene for another 12 to 24 hours. that's when they expect to have 100% containment on this fire just east of mount diablo in contra

and with few trained forest service workers or volunteers to turn to, he's had to call up battalions of russian soldiers to help his poorly equipped firefighters. "we are trying to cut off this fire so it doesn't spread to the next forest," she says. but even as officials claim they have saved hundreds of villages, the number of fires keeps going up, and here's the problem. temperatures have been so hot for so long that these forests are like tinder. they can put out one fire in one place but then out of nowhere, a dozen others will pop up somewhere else. like cartenosova, 100 miles east of moscow, a tightly knit village of some 40 houses. that changed when within minutes 30 of those houses burned to the ground. "the fire just jumped from my bathroom to my neighbor's house and back to my barn," she says. the extreme heat has turned millions of acres of wheat into dust. today prime minister vladimir putin announced a ban on green exports, while in moscow a mix of smoke and carbon monoxide has raised pollution levels ten times above normal, the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes eve

my own connections with a name like giovagnoli are third generation battalion. i'm not even sure what generation on my mother's side in terms of scotch irish dutch immigrants from virginia to missouri. i never really thought about immigration much growing up. my grandfather was italian. i was aware he had a different life from me. and very grateful for the opportunities that he give us. my father was the youngest child growing up in the depression. all they wanted to do was the american. he does not even know italian. i never even thought about it. during the development of a career path, i fell into immigration. like a lot of young attorneys, i was interested in human rights. i was offered a job at the department of justice with the ins. i was not tried to do it. i started thinking about what i cared about. it was public service. you make a difference where you are. i believed for the 13 years that i was in ind and then dhs, that i was able to help make changes within the government structure. i was detailed to senator kennedy's office. i worked on the immigrat