. >> i am elizabeth wenger. time 6:00 a.m. arson investigators checking a house fire that drove a half dozen people out see the cold this morning the fire was not far from a series of suspicious fires last week. sharon ken, chen is in the twin peaks they wore hood what is the late -- neighbourhood what is the latest? >> reporter: we spoke with the fire chief. this fire is just a little over a mile away from where those suspicious fires happened in the castro. the chief says they are looking into whether there is or isn't any connection that is one of their items this morning. they will certainly be able to tell a whole lot more once it is daylight. too dark now. all six people got out safely after the flames broke out after 3:00 a.m. this morning the fire started 390 core bet and jumped to 1370 clayton next door both buildings have two flats, now the fire chief who was here filling in for a deputy chief said arson investigators are on the scene, typical for a two alarm fire and looking to see if there is any link to last week'

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. time now is 5:00. >>> today protestors in egypt are calling for a million- strong march on the streets of cairo. they are demanding an end to the president's 30-year rule. egypt's military has pledged not to fire on protestors and recognizes their demands are legitimate. this is the strongest sign yet that the country will let the protests continue even if it leads to a fallen leader. >>> it is about 3:00 in the afternoon right now in cairo and the unrest continues. the u.s. state department is evacuating thousands of americans from the country. sharon chin is live at the san francisco international airport, where we understand several flights are expected to arrive today. good morning, sharon. >> reporter: good morning, elizabeth. yes. we're expected to see some of the first evacuees from cairo to here. the u.s. is trying to evacuate 1400 more americans from egypt today. the state department says 1200 americans have already left egypt on chartered planes bound for cyprus, greece and

i'm sydnie kohara. >> i'm elizabeth wenger.ime now is 6:30. >>> we are following breaking news right now in san francisco. two fires break out just blocks away from each other in the castro district. we understand that several streets are blocked off in that area. christin ayers is at hartford and 17th, where one of the fires is burning right now. good morning, christin. what's the latest? >> reporter: good morning. firefighters have been able to put out this fire just a few moments ago but there have been evacuations and as you can see behind me here, still a very active fire scene. this is one of two fires that broke out within the same hour and within a two-block radius of each other. authorities do have the arson task force out here although they are not confirming that this was indeed arson. still too early to tell when it comes it. that authorities did just tell me, i spoke to the chief of operations here, and he spoke to me and told me that there was also a third fire that they heard reported, this was a more minor fire.

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. time now is 6:00. >>> hundreds of thousands of egyptians have taken over the street of cairo this morning calling today's rally the march of millions. protestors are demanding an end to the egyptian president hosni mubarak's 30-year rule. the military pledged not to fire on protest. we have just learned that jordan's royal palace says king abdullah has sacked his government in the wake of street protests. and the unrest in egypt appears to have spurred the palestinian government to take action. they have just announced they will hold local council elections as soon as possible. the palestinian authority has not held elections since 2006. >>> and the u.s. state department is working to get americans out of egypt. sharon chin is at san francisco international airport where some evacuees will arrive there today. good morning, sharon. >> reporter: good morning. we are expecting to see some of these first evacuees arrive at sfo tonight out of a flight from germany. now, today the u.s. is t

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. thank you for joining us. time now is 5:00. >>> in a few hours from now a federal judge will tour california's new execution chamber at san quentin state prison as part of his review of a lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection procedure. and our sharon chin is at san quentin to explain. good morning. >>> reporter: good morning. u.s. district judge jeremy fogel is expected to tour the prison chamber five years after he said it was too outdated to carry out executions. he will tour the new untested chamber for lethal injections this morning at 11:00. it's an unusual move but the tour is part of a trial that could help determine whether california can resume executions. back in 2006, executions were put on hold after fogel said the state could not carry them out in a humane way because it's an old death chamber and workers are poorly trained. now the state has to show that it's fixed the problems with a new $900,000 claim ber for lethal injections built under orders from former governor schwarzenegger.

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. time now is 5:00. >>> a monster storm ripping through the country's heartland is living up to the hype. it is being called the worst blizzard in decades. thigh it's bringing the midwest to a halt. some areas may see 2 feet of snow and when it ends, bitter cold will set in. blizzard warnings are out and many states have declared emergencies. this is middletown connecticut. the storm has left a lot of snow on the roads already. what a mess. the layers of dangerous ice and heavy snowfall have closed airports from texas to long island. christin ayers reports the bay area is feeling the effects of the bay area this morning. >>> reporter: good morning. there certainly is an impact here at san francisco international airport. we just talked to a couple of people who have been standed here overnight. behind me you can see security lines are going moving. many more flights to the midwest and northeast have been cancelled on various airlines. we have flights that we have seen from american airl

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. thank you for joining us. time now is 5:00. >>> well, we are following some overnight news out of marin county. 56 bay area kids became sick at a science camp and then had to be sent home. anne makovec is in oakland at one of the schools that the kids came from. oh, this sounds awful. good morning, anne. >> reporter: absolutely. as if the stomach flu isn't bad enough, that's what they're thinking it is, by the way, but no official confirmation on that. the marin county health department is working to find out exactly what made these people sick. but yeah, over 50 students and teachers at the camp were sent home, some of them attended the redwood day school here in oakland. they started going home around midnight. it happened at the walker creek ranch. that's an overnight retreat. it's a camping spot kind of near petaluma, part of the marin county office of education. it's an outdoor science school. someone at the ranch called paramedics around 10 p.m. last night reporting one sick person and when they got ther

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. time now 6:00. a colossal storm is ripping through the nation's heartland called the biggest blizzard in decades. here's a live look in chicago. this is, right, the plaza there. areas of the state could see up to two feet of snow by the end of today. the wild weather is causing a ripple effect on travel all across the country. and our christin ayers is at san francisco international airport. passengers are facing flight delays and cancellations, a lot of people hanging out. >> reporter: yes. we have definitely run into some people who spent the night here. thousands of flight cancellation nationwide, as many as 4,000 so far today alone. many of them coming in the midwest, chicago got pounded and that's meant major cancellations in and out of the chicago airports. but the northeast is next. and that could mean thousands of more cancellations and more stories from stranded passengers like these guys. >> stay and sleep if we can. >> just sitting here waiting for the next flight. >> reporter: these guys

i'm elizabeth wenger. >> i'm sydnie kohara. good morning, everyone. your time is 4:30. >>> topping our news this morning, about 50 bay area students and adults are recovering after they got sick at an outdoor school and retreat in marin county and had to be sent home. the children were visiting from three elementary schools in the east bay. they have been staying at the walker creek ranch. it's a campus of the marin county office of education just outside petaluma. the flu-like symptoms developed in the afternoon. >> we had some kind of viral flu bug go where students were getting sick to their stomach and mainly vomiting, maybe a little bit of diarrhea, but it spread pretty quick, particularly through some cabins. >> as a precaution, other kids with no symptoms were sent home, as well. the outdoor school principal says the source of the illness hasn't been pinpointed, but that it apparently originated from a single cabin. >>> right now, the egyptian military is rounding up journalists after they came under attack from supporters of president hosni mu

i'm elizabeth wenger. firefighters are at the scene of >> it is 7:55 a.m. i am elizabeth wenger.t an east bay mud pumping station. you are looking at live pictures from chopper 5. crews are waiting until they are sure the electricity is off, this is at gary road and putnam boulevard on the border between walnut creek and pleasant hill. no injuries have been reported but there are road closures in the area. we will check with giana franco with how it is effecting your morning commute. >> a fire in the castro, damaged a neighboring home. arson investigators are trying to determine the cause. it broke out near the location of several suspicious fires last week. >>> clothing at school, parents are suing morgan hills school district and live oak high school. their children wore clothing promoting america on cinco de mayo, officials told the students to turn the clothing inside out or go home. the hearing is to determine whether the school district will remain part of at that case. traffic and weather in just a moment ,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> good morning right back out to live pictures, chop

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. time now 4:30. >>> tens of thousands of egyptians are already gathering in the streets of cairo this morning. the city is bracing for today's march of a million. terrell brown tells us the army has agreed to keep the protest peaceful. >>> reporter: protestors camped out in the heart of sky overnight ready to hit the streets in force. organizers are calling for a million people to march and demand the ouster of egyptian president hosni mubarak. there are signs that mubarak's military support may be slipping. official promised not to fire on peaceful protestors and admitted the people's concerns are legitimate. hoping to ease the the growing unrest, mubarak appointed a new cabinet monday and also asked his vice president to open talks with the opposition. still, that wasn't enough to quiet protestors who defied the government-imposed curfew again. the obama administration didn't seem impressed either. monday the white house press secretary dismissed mubarak's cap net cabinet appointment

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. time now 4:30. >>> a colossal winter storm continues to lash a third of the u.s. this morning. blizzard warnings run and emergencies have been declared. terrell brown tells us it is far from over. >>> reporter: chicago's used to brutal winters but not like this. a megablizzard is slamming the windy city this morning with up to two feet of snow and gale- force winds. >> that's going to really sting, it's windy and biting but i think we'll be all right. >> reporter: drives were stranded for hours on lakeshore drive after it was shut down and for the first time in 12 years, city schools made today a snow day. all the heavy snow is too much for some buildings to handle. surveillance video captured this roof buckling at a hardware store in minnesota. five workers inside narrowly escaped. >> i run back in, hit the floor, the building is coming down! you can see the roof is collapsing. >> reporter: here in new york and the northeast the problem isn't snow. take a look. it's ice. it's coming

it is tuesday, february 8, i'm elizabeth wenger. >> i'm sydnie kohara. thanks so much for joining us. your time is 4:30. >>> and today the government is expected to releasing a report on acceleration problems in toyota cars. nearly 100 deaths in the u.s. may be linked to the defects. and as ines ferre tells us, today's report may shed light on whether faulty electronics were a factor. >>> reporter: today's government report could reveal the source of toyota's troubles. transportation officials are expected to release the findings of their 10-month investigation into reports of sudden unintended acceleration, including whether faulty electronics were to blame. since the fall of 2009, toyota has recalled more than 11 million vehicles to fix various safety issues, including sticky gas pedals and problem floor mats. the defects are possibly linked to 93 u.s. deaths including a fatal 2009 high-speed crash outside san diego. >> mm-hm -- >> our accelerator is stuck. we're at 125! >> reporter: toyota has paid the government nearly $50 million in record fines for

i'm elizabeth wenger. >>> the san jose city council could decide today on a new police chief. permanently. but the "mercury news" reports some community activists are posted to moore because of issues involving the immigrant and minority communities. >>> meantime, oakland's chief anthony batts says he will decide by the end of the week whether to stay on the job after failing to get the san jose position. batts is encouraged by oakland mayor jean quan's plan to rehire 10 of the 80 police officers laid off last year. >>> tonight, an oakland city councilwoman will make a new proposal to license large-scale pot farms within city limits. the idea this time is to link them directly to medical marijuana dispensaries. the proposal would cap the size of each farm at 50,000 square feet. >>> traffic and weather coming right up. stay with us. ,, ,,,,,,,,,, >>> good morning. let's take you to the peninsula now where we have some troubles southbound side of 280 due to an accident at edgewood. a couple of cars involved. everything here over to the center divide but you can see traffic is st

and i' >>> good morning it is monday, february 7th i am elizabeth wenger. >> good morning thanks foryour time is 5:30. right now arson investigators trying to find out what started a house fire in san francisco, several people have been evacuated this morning. >> let's go to sharon chen she is in the twin peaks neighbourhood. this is not far from a series of suspicious blazes in the castro last week. >> reporter: that's right sydnie, several blocks, maybe five or so, but the chief -- fire chief saying so far they are looking into whether or not they could be related just don't know at this point. as for the fire this morning, six people were able to get out safely, no reports of injuries, flames broke out 3:00 a.m. at 390 core bet and have you ever beened next door to 1370 clayton. we talked with one of the neighbors he and his 8 month pregnant wife got out okay because police on patrol who saw the fire and pounded on their door. >> flames were shooting so high, they took out the whole top floor. our neighbors next door their whole house. >> reporter: it is standard for two alarm fir

i'm elizabeth wenger. >>> more than 50 people are recovering at home after coming down with flu-likehool camp in west marin county. the students and teachers from schools in novato, oakland and danville were sent home late last night. health experts are still trying to figure out what make them sick. >>> caltrain appears on the verge of a fiscal emergency. the transit agency's joint powers board is expected to declare it during its meeting today. during a fiscal emergency, caltrain could implement more service cuts and fare hikes without doing a full environmental review. extreme cost-cutting measures are considered likely as caltrain faces a $30 million budget deficit. >>> traffic and weather around the bay area in just a moment. stay with us. ,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> good morning from the traffic center. we have been dealing with city street problems in san francisco. let's get you updated on these closures near the castro due to fires. eastbound market is closed between sanchez and castro. they have opened westbound market so traffic is able to make its way through that portion. if you ar

with more on how this will affect your morning commute if you use geary, let's go to elizabeth wengers is a busy intersection, maybe not this time of the morning but again if this investigation continues which it likely will because it's a fatal accident as well as a possible dui investigation, lanes could be blocked for quite some time. right now three blocks of geary boulevard are shut down in both directions. they have it all blocked off, all taped off. use california or fulton as your alternates in the meantime that section of inner richmond. geary and richmond. parts of geary and arguello are blocked off. busy commute spot. there is a gas station in the area. several muni lines are being rerouted impact by this overnight fatal accident. that including 38 geary and 33 stanyan both dealing with delays. back to you guys. >> thank you. >>> pg&e has been dragging its feet on inspections. that all according to the new state records released by the public utilities commission. anne makovec tells us the utility was putting up crucial inspections for years and joins us live from san bruno

in the meantime, let's hand it over to elizabeth wenger with a look at some of the other traffic hot spots, elizabeth. >> yeah. bad hair days all over the place. all right, thank you christin. strong winds at the bay bridge toll plaza. you can see them whipping around in her traffic shot. also causing some pretty big splashes here as cars drive by. as she mentioned, flooding in those middle labors already starting there as you approach the pay gates. and chp did go ahead and issue a wind advisory for the bay bridge. it is our only one so far this morning. but yeah, kind of a treacherous commute out there. we have seen numerous accidents, nothing yet though to cause a hotspot. we have avoided that so so far no huge delays anywhere. but i just want to mention this one just the latest coming into our newsroom northbound 101 at mathilda. at last check chp and ambulance were heading to the scene so likely lanes blocked there. all right. christin mentioned possible flooding at the golden gate bridge. areas of marin around lucky drive tend to flood. now it if you commute in the bay area. whe

. >> i'm elizabeth wenger. thank you for joining us. time now is 6:00. >>> a few hours from now a federal judge will tour california's new execution chamber at san quentin state prison. it's part of a review of a lawsuit challenging the execution procedure. sharon chin explains. >> reporter: good morning. u.s. district judge jeremy fogel plans to tour the new death chamber this morning at san quentin. it is five years after he says that the old chamber is too outdated to carry out executions. fogel will tour the new and untested chamber for lethal injections this morning at 10:30. it's an unusual move but the tour is part of a trial that could help determine whether california can resume executions. back in 2006, executions were put on hold after fogel said the state could not carry them out in a humane way with an old death chamber and poorly trained workers. now the state has to show that it's fixed the problems with the new $900,000 chamber for lookses built under orders from former governor schwarzenegger. now, there are a lot of qu

i'm elizabeth wenger. >>> this morning, a federal judge who halted executions in california five yearsviews the lawsuit by four death row inmates. since his earlier ruling, the state has revisited its lethal injection procedure and built a new chamber. >>> tonight, the oakland city council's public safety committee will consider a new proposal to license medical marijuana growing on an industrial scale. the plan envisions allowing five new dispensaries with their own farms off site plus more farms linked to four that already exist. >>> today the government will release a report on sudden unintended acceleration in toyota cars. it is the product of a 10 month investigation and a key question is whether the cars have faulty electronics. >>> traffic and weather coming right up. stay with us. ,,,,,,,, ♪ [ male announcer ] not all steel is created equal. not all manufacturing processes are created equal. not all engineering standards are created equal. which is why not all luxury vehicles are created equal. the hard way means never taking short cuts. the hard way is how lexus inspires absol

i'm elizabeth wenger. >>> it is now official, chris moore is the city of san jose's new police chief. as acting chief since last year's retirement of rob davis. he got the final approval yesterday by mayor reed and the city council. support for moore appears widespread, but his selection was criticized by some activists. >>> hundreds attended a vigil in the central valley town of patterson after the body of 4- year-old kidnap victim juliani cardenas was recovered. the body was in the same canal where the suspect's car was located last week. investigators believe the suspect also died in the canal. >>> if governor brown gets the special election he wants in june, there may be no polling places open. the "san francisco chronicle" says there is a move to make the election strictly vote by mail. the governor wants voters to decide whether to extend some temporary taxes in an effort to reduce the budget deficit. >>> traffic and weather coming right up. stay with us. ,, [ wheezing breaths ] [ woman ] the first time i smoked, i was 13. i was in a hurry to grow up and wanted to look cool. big