these 713 death sentences to life without possibility of parole, and a change would save the city california $1 billion in five years. 63% of the voters support this idea across the entire state. every region of the state had a majority of support. a majority of republicans and democratic voters support this idea. 63%, ready for the governor to take everyone off of death row. this is an important change from where we used to be on this issue, because for a very long time, politicians have been afraid to talk about reasons for ending the death penalty and this has been seen -- been seen as an issue that would run political careers, as the former district attorney has shown, the death penalty is no longer of liability and the voters are ready for candidates who will say that we need smart criminal- justice policy, to keep the community safe and that will hold the offenders accountable, and that really meet the needs of all of california. the governor took a positive for step by canceling the project to build a new death row. in his statement, the governor said that this is unconscionable, to s

these 713 death sentences to life without possibility of parole, and a change would save the city california $1 billion in five years. 63% of the voters support this idea across the entire state. every region of the state had a majority of support. a majority of republicans and democratic voters support this idea. 63%, ready for the govern

these 713 death sentences to life without possibility of parole, and a change would save the city california $1 billion in five years. 63% of the voters support this idea across the entire state. every region of the state had a majority of support. a majority of republicans and democratic voters support this idea. 63%, ready for the governor to take everyone off of death row. this is an important change from where we used to be on this issue, because for a very long time, politicians have been afraid to talk about reasons for ending the death penalty and this has been seen -- been seen as an issue that would run political careers, as the former district attory

--the city of bell california apparently owes money. ave been reported to pay the money by the end of the month. 8 a former city officials are charged with corruption. >> to a 20 6:00 a.m., we are back with more in a couple of minutes. one of the big stories we're following is wall street. this is big news after the credit downgrading of the united states. the dow was down 277 points. we will be right back. been bac. donna >> president obama elle will be speaking to the nation at 11:00 a.m. our time about the nation's credit rating downgrade from the s&p. the markets are reacting to the downgrade this morning. here is how they reacted, not so great. the dow was down 275 points right now. >> lore of from marketwatch.com is joining us. >> you think of prices would be going higher, but they're going lower. >> it is surprising on the treasury's side. hanukka >> and this puts us on par with other countries like belgium and japan. people are going to treasurys and other things that are considered eight safe haven. >> gold is looking terrific.

but we have more of those programs in san francisco, really, in any other city in california. we also have a small business commission. that is unique. the folks who are here, who have been supporting small business for many years are the reasons why san francisco's small business community has a voice in ways that other cities and businesses in those cities do not. i think we have, in san francisco, the benefit of a lot of good resources here, some of which are here because of federal funds, some of which because folks in this room have been an advocate for small business. we are hoping the impact of tight budgets all levels still allows us to have the tools we have been able to use for small business. it is an important piece. >> [inaudible] >> there have been a cut in the budget. he wanted to know how that would cut the sba program. >> now we are getting into arcane budget discussions. the 2012 budget does slate a couple of sba programs for cutting. it also talks about cuts comparing next year to prior years, when we were the beneficiaries of stimulus funds, jobs act funds.

as bill whitaker reports one city in california has discovered there's nothing more green than goats.ar town of lemon grove, california, residents are doing a double take. >> this is a lot of goats. >> reporter: 150 goats, to be exact, hauled into this vacant downtown lot on official city business. >> they love what they do. >> reporter: what they do is eat a lot. mary sessom is mayor of lemon xwroef. grove. >> they don't get sick, they don't call in and say i don't feel good today. they don't care how hot it is, how cold it is. they're out there doing their job. >> reporter: and by not using workers with weed whackers -- >> they have saved us thousands of dollars. >> reporter: they've also caused a sensation with urban dwellers whose experience with goats doesn't go much past the petting zoo. >> it's awesome and amazing that they eat so much. in like one day. >> reporter: 5-year-old cade can count the number of times he's seen a goat before. >> zero. >> reporter: but mayor sessom says this is more than a novelty act. >> i think the learning experience for them hopefully what they're

cities. and california rolls. put it all together and averaged it out. most expensive? los angeles. second, new york. you're living in the third. >> people have high income. >> reporter: sushi chef steve at komi in daly city said it's more than just the bay area high incomes that puts us high on the sushi scale. survey gave no reasons and others have different ideas. >> sushi i think people think it's hard to make and it just started off with that price. >> reporter: the high price of sushi can't be seen here at kome, where it's all you can eat for 12 bucks at lunch! that's the price of one roll some places. how much do you think you eat here when you come here? >> a lot. >> reporter: you get your money's worth? >> that's true. >> that's like her fifth plate. >> reporter: 1500 people roll in here any day and eat hundreds of pounds of fish. >> big fish, you can't get cheaper price from company. >> reporter: this sushi chef is explaining the economics of scale there. don't want to pay high sushi prices? go to an all-you-can-eat place like kome's or visit portland, new orleans or prince

casey wian shows us two cities in california at the top and bottom of the state's unemployment chart is very different and in some ways, very much the same. >> reporter: delain no, california, a mostly agricultural community, has the state's highest unemployment rate. it's visible downtown and at the career services center. >> it's very hard looking for work in delano. >> how many jobs do you think you've applied for in the last three or four months? >> probably like about 20 to 25. >> i'm discouraged i guess. >> reporter: nestled in the hills 250 miles north is lafayette, california's lowest jobless rate and a downtown seemingly aaway. >> so you've got a lot of stay-at-home soccer dad people who can afford to stay home and not be part of the workforce. you have a lot of small businesses here that are individually owned, and a lot of home-based businesses as well. so you add all those together and the unemployment picture looks pretty good. >> reporter: here's that picture graphically. delano's unemployment rate is nearly 37%, nine times that of lafayette at 4%. the swansons moved to

it was the california police chiefs association. i spent 21 years in the city of torrance in southern california before coming up here, a city of to under 50,000, about 350 personnel. -- 250,000, about 350 personnel. much smaller organization. completely different type of agency. but one of the things we found was to my career and particularly at the beginning, there was really no classis% -- classes pe se, and we started a course on how to be a successful chief. a very strong component of that was an ethics, and what is the chief's responsibility within their department relating to at the experience included in that, it had to do with the abuse of power and misconduct. i was -- i guess you could say "a whistle-blower." i put together a case in which three officers i have worked with had been nearly to deaf a game and what they were off duty. -- nearly two -- to death a gain man -- a gay man when they were off duty. i dealt with the consequences for many years. it was very lonely in that position. very lonely getting death threats. very lonely worrying more abo

inside information casualry as mun trade baseball cards. >> a reprieve for local cities trying to save funds, the california supreme court decided to hear the case file bid cities fighting what they say is an unconstitutional money grab by the state. governor jerry brown signed a law vowing to collect from the state. mayor chuck reed says it's to help protect the city of san jose and people that live there. >> it's one of the main plaintiffs we're injure bid the state action. and money they're taking is going to come out of the services that we've provided for residents of san jose. >> this court said they'll decide by january. >> this appears the governor is not happy about the new wildfire fee. the governor's office announced it would seek changes to the fee plan, scheduled to go into affect next month. yesterday, a report revealed the money raised by this fee would be used for fire prevention, not protection. and that amount would be subtracted by the budget. >> and still ahead here tonight at 6:30 a woman at the center of the so called deanza gang rape case, member aifz civil jury talk about their decis

some california cities like san francisco banned plastic grocery bags but many students around the state learn from textbooks that praise their use. california watch reports the american chemistry association lobbied the state education officials to rewrite textbooks to include positive messages. one addition reads "plastic shopping bags are very convenient to use. they take less energy to manufacturer than paper bag, cost less to transport and can be reuse." the american chemistry association recommend the plastic bag makers. environmental group long argue that plastic bags kill wildfire, release harmful chemicals and take up to 1,000 years tody compose in land fills. we'll have a detailed look at the california watch investigation tonight on abc7 news at 6:00. >>> this afternoon, a richmond man will make his first court appearance after being arrested in connection with a 32-year-old cold case murder. they arrested 61-year-old david dixon for 19 #9 murder of rachel moncrief who was stab up to 30 times at motor home dealership. it appears the two were smoking marijuana. they connect dna

cities remain 32% below their peaks. one bit of good news locally. all of major californias saw housing prices bottom out two years ago and are inching up. >>> the company auto depth plans to add 200 employees in the next five years to their san francisco offices in. that would give the software maker a total of 700 employees in san francisco and 1,000 total. it hopes to attract new workers who live south and east of san francisco and might otherwise be discouraged by the long commute. >>> the circus has launched back into town. that includes the ringling brothers barnum & bailey circus elephants in. they paraded from the circus train. the first show is tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. after san francisco the circus comes to oakland before heading up to sacramento. >>> tonight at 5:00 a warning is going out that bird flu is back. the new threat, the new name it's going by and why scientists say the bay area will not be immune when it comes to this flu. that story and more coming up in our next newscast, ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. thanks for watching. have a great day. ♪ ♪ mm-m

. >>> a new compareson is being made within a city with california's highest unemployment rate and an east bay city which has the state's lowest unemployment rate. lafayette has the state east lowest rate at 4%. that's nine times lower than delenos who is at 23%. >> it's great that we have a lower unemployment rate. still, there's still 4% that's unemployed. >>> deleno's city manager says there's a couple of projects in the works that will help create new jobs. 500 jobs are coming at a new citrus packing plant. >>> a driver's in san francisco traded their cars for another set of wheels today. people walked, biked, skated and scooted from the civic center through the heart of the tepider loin for the city's sunday street eventless. some streets in e v e n tless -- events. sunday streets is held on the second sunday of every month until october. >>> brandon belt is back. the big games the giant's rookie had today. and the streak the defending champs finally put to an end. >>> there are 90 degrees ♪ ♪ free access to chase atm's wherever you are. that's a step forward. chase customers can