i'll ask secretary hickey to provide some detail. but i, like you, i think when a veteran picks up a phone and calls v.a. there ought to be someone there that answers or if he or she chooses to come in on line that it ought to have information that's useful to them. that's easily discovered so they don't have to run through a series of traps to find what they're looking for. we owe them and that's the first step of any service organization. that's our intent here. so let me call on secretary hickey. >> senator johans, thank you for your question, and i appreciate your comment earlier about e-benefits. that is part and parcel of our multipronged approach in our capability about being able to converse with that veteran and the time and the method they choose. we have surveyed our veterans and 73% of them want to meet us on line and that's part of that. let me tell you about the two new pieces of functionality that we have measured outcomes from our j.d. powers voice of the veterans survey. the first is virtual hold. that means in a vet

brian hickey from our sister station in sacramento joining us with a look at all that fresh powder. >> reporter: this has been the story all morning at soda springs. take a look behind me off in the trees. you can see the amount of snow that is falling right now, and it has been this way all morning. we got here about 4:00 in the morning. this is what it looked like. it hasnd changed. that's dropped now about six to ten inches of snow here at the soda springs exit off interstate 80. sugar bowl reporting 20 to 28 inches. that's consistent with what the other resorts are reporting as well. there has been a light wind. you can see the snow going a little sideways with an occasional gust. down around the highway, around the mountain passes, the wind hasn't been too bad. we're told there are gusts over some of the ridges for the skiers and snowboarders that want to bundle up to take advantage of this powder. winter storm warnings expected to expire about 11:00 this morning. that sets the stage for the next system coming in, the big one coming in friday, saturday and sunday. that one, if fi

brian hickey joins us in blue canyon for good news for skiers. >> reporter: the snow started fallingabout 4:00 this morning and it hasn't stopped. it's expected to go through today and the weekend with snow piling up. 8 inches expected here at 59,000-foot level today. higher the mountain, they're expecting feet of snow out of this first of several waves of storms that are heading toward the sierra and expected to pile up a lot of snow. in the meantime, interstate 80 behind me, very snowy. chain controls have been bouncing up and down the mountains. drivers across the way, chaining up at nyack to head up the hill. it's not so much the snow but the wind with this first wave that's bouncing the drivers around on the interstate. anyone heading up the sierra today should expect windy and snowy conditions. again, with several feet of snow forecasted to fall over the highest elevations here along interstate 80. i'm brian hickey, nbc bay area news. >>> dozens of people are forced from their homes after flames ripped through a carport this morning in oakland. cell phone video shows massive fl

>> well, i'll turn to secretary hickey for the details. i would say what these charts don't reflect, senator, is that in the last three years we have taken on some other projects that aren't accounted for. g.i. bill, requirement to get that up and running and today we have over 600,000 youngsters in college under an automated system that didn't exist in 2009. i think we all recall that first semester we had to do everything manually. it was not the prettiest processing event. but we did that manually. got 173,000 youngsters in a school and on their path to the future and at the same time, we began building this automation tool for the g.i. bill. by april we had the first part of the tool out and fielded and we have added four or five more programs to make it more productive. we'll get better over time. it's hard for me to give you a day and a month when this quality factor will meet any of our expectations, but we set 2015 as the date in which we would have the backlog solved and the quality at 98%. that's what we're focused on. i'll give

brian hickey joins us now from sugar bowl. >> 52 inches of snow what they're reporting this morning and it continues to snow in the sierra, with the ultralight and very deep powder and more than four feet of snow since the storm started a couple of days ago and with the forecast calling for snow for the remainder of the day it keeps adding up, making this the largest storm of the season so far and we had to wait until march to get it. not only that, look what we've got. light, dry, champagne powder, perfect going into the weekend with the forecast now calling for sunshine. imagine, white and dry powder. sunshine on the mountain. this is the kind of weather that the resorts have been waiting for all season after what has been a lackluster, and they will tell you, very slow season. it appears we finally got what we've all been waiting for and there are a lot of good deals out there because a lot of resorts are starting to get pretty worried that we'll never see this, trying to entice people to come up here. >> we finally have the snow to go with it. >> i'm brian hickey. >> it looks kind o

well really in it you have the paperless system that goes with secretary hickey's operation. and you have medical i.t. that goes with dr. petzel's. i'm just trying to be clear here. a piece that i'm concerned about is the medical i.t. so we link decision to do things for veterans in the medical sense along with the, you know, the tools to be able to do that. what happened last year sometimes happened, this large i.t. budget gets, you know, identified in april. we can now go forward. and the assessment is made, well, they can't possibly spend that before the end of the year. so we lose $300 million in a detrimental process. and at a time when we really needed to marry the two things up. he can now not deliver what we have already approved a year before and we're delaying that. so i think there's a mech -- >> timing issue? >> yeah. i think there's a mechanism here, getting stride on both ideas and i'd be happy to work with you on it. >> thank you. i want to thank everybody for being here today. i'd get into the rural cemetery thing, but we'll propose those questions in writing.

and i'll ask secretary hickey to provide some detail. but i, like you, i think when a veteran picks up a phone and calls va, there ought to be someone there that answers, or if he or she chooses to come in online, that it ought to have information that's useful to them that's easily discovered so they don't have to run through a series of traps to find what they're looking for. we owe them -- and that's the first step in any service organization. and that's our intent here. so let me call on secretary hickey. >> senator johanns, thank you very much for your question, i appreciate your comment earlier about e-benefits. that is actually part and parcel of our multiprong approach in our veteran relationship management capability about being able to converse with that veteran by the time and the method that they choose, and we have surveyed our veterans, and 73% of them want to meet us online, so e-benefits is partly that solution. but let me talk, address specifically your questions, first, about no one answers, no live person, and let me t

i will ask the secretary hickey to provide some details. but i, like you, i think when a veteran picks up the phone and calls the va, there should be someone there that answers. or if he or she chooses to come in online, that it should have information that is useful to them, that is easily discovered so they do not have to run through a series of tracts to find what they're looking for. we owe them and that is the first step in any service organization that is our intent here. so let me call on secretary hickey. >> senator, thank you for your question. i appreciate your question about events. that is part and parcel of our multi pronged approach in our management capability, about being able to converse with that veteran by the time and method that they choose. we have surveyed our veterans. 73% want to meet us online. so e-benefits is partly the solution. let me first talk about no one answered, no live person. let me tell you but the two new pieces of functionality is that we have that we have measured out comes on. the first of which is

>>> a weekend storm is dumping some much needed snow, reporter brian hickey is at one of my favorite places, sugar bowl, brian? >>> and mine too, you can see behind me here, what a beautiful morning it is shaping up to be in sierra. still getting a huge dump but not a crazy wind blowing it all over the place. if you like sugar bowl, you will like this, check it out. does it get any lighter? >> nice powder. >> oh, my gosh, it is unbelievable, we have john munsen, what is the total? >> it has been a good couple of inches beyond that. on top of 14 before that, 5 two- inch storm total, we would be up towards 5 feet when it is all said and done, temperatures are warming, it will be a great weekend on tap. >> if i am not mistaken this is the biggest storm of the year so far. we have made it through putting on a good product but for skiing you can't beat this. >> i have seen across the board, a lot of the resorts have lifted the restrictions and you can now go seven days a week. they were simply trying to get people to come up here, more than this, right here, pam, a little more. >> you are

let me turn to secretary hickey. [inaudible] senator burr thank you for your question i'm glad you are asking about quality because we are focused on production and quality. it's not a trade one for the other. i think it's a very specific cost but i can tell you we expect impacted the significant in our ability to produce a higher accurate and consistent response across the board. it's not just a quality review teams but they are a critical part of this and for those of you who may not be aware of what those are we have taken what is nationally recognized even by a thank you wild members of this committee and your staff are star accuracy teams based out of nashville tennessee. we have replicated their skill level, their training and what they do every single day now inside every single regional office across the nation. they're responsible well not just be to check quality or at the end, but to do a new part of the process that works closely with our employees in and the training environment to check different parts

you are accompanied by steve marrow and allison hickey and dr. robert petzel. we also have todd graham in charge of the office of management and roger baker. thank you all for joining us today. secretary shinseki, your remarks will appear in the record. >> thank you, madam chairman and committee members, thank you again. i look forward to this. this is the opportunity to extend the dialogue we have. thanks for the opportunity to present as you said, the 2013 budget and advanced appropriations for va. i can speak to that firsthand having worked personally the past three budgets with you. the president has demonstrated his respect for the 22 million veterans by signing another strong budget request for va. i thank the members for your unwavering commitment and i'm here to answer your questions and seek your support on this budget request. i'd also like to acknowledge the representatives from the veteran service organization who are here today. i will tell you as we develop our budget, their insights and experience is helpful as we put together our arguments for r

reporter brian hickey is in blue canyon this morning with more on the rescue effort to save that skier thing that an awesome day of skiing was marked by this devastation. avalanches were rated as high when this happened. that is where three men were out skiing yesterday when they were swept away in this slide. one of those victims was pinned up against a tree. he was carried 300 feet down a mountain and wrapped around a tree where he suffered significant trauma and partial burial at that point. it took rescuers hours to get to him. he was semi conscious when he got to him. and one rescuer telling us the scene was very unstable. they had to use route selection just to get there so they weren't caught in slides themselves. >> it was a pretty big slide and the victim was there were three guys and one was caught in the slide right from the get go. and taken down the mountain. quite a ways. probably 300 feet down. >> reporter: and as they were taking the victim from the snow cap that was driven into the scene to bring him out and transporting him in the ambulance they were performing cpr on

i will miss the fact that i can easily park on hickey walk because it is a ghost town. when i go downtown, i drive right to that spot where the tennis club is, because i know there's a spot available to me almost every time of the day, because that area is not used at all. the environmental impact of that is right now is far worse than any impact that is going to come from this fabulous development that will create jobs. the stranglehold that is held on all these projects that come before you through every single step of the way -- e.r. are -- eir , planning commission, board of supervisors, that hold up the job for years and years and years, that keeps workers from working, keeps revenue from being built, it is just devastating. that these projects can be held for so long until they become economically unviable or until developers throw up their hands and say, you know, is that worth it to me to go through all of this, the hearings, the court proceedings, the supervisors. is just incomprehensible that this could happen -- it is just incomprehensible that this could hap

brian hickey, back to you. >> what we have been waiting for.stic news. >> looks like a blast out there. i want to make snowmen and snow angels. around here we're going to be getting drenched. >> yeah, right. you'd get out there in the snow and run right back inside. >> no. >> he's a manly man, jon kelly. good morning to you. he doesn't even need an umbrella. take a look at how much rain is coming down. you probably will want an umbrella. make sure those little ones have their rain gear as they head out the door as well. it is going to rain all day long. as we head throughout tonight we will get a little bit of a break. the showers will taper off a little bit so we won't be dealing with as much moderate rainfall at this point. we'll be dealing with lighter showers and a misty drizzle. then another system on this one's heels. this one is a juicy system. that's going to impact us as we head through the second half of your thursday. nice dry break for the south bay. your highways are still nice and slick. good batch of rain getting ready to move in

brian hickey has a look for us. >> reporter: colfax, grass valley and alto, awoke to a blanket of snow. >> winter finally. >> it's very nice. we need the snow and the water. >> get supplies, take the dogs out for snow. >> reporter: drivers were required to put chains on in colfax. good for business at eateries. >> a lot of the cars stop here, they need to put on chains. we're a small motel, 18 rooms. it fills up quickly. >> reporter: anxious to take advantage of another powder day, snowboarders off to an early start. >> going to squaw valley. fresh, fresh, fresh. it's going to be great. >> reporter: for those look for fun. snow means you don't have to drive far. >> we're dying to take the kids up here. my daughter really first time she'll remember being up here. we wanted to get pictures and build some snow men and maybe have a snowball fight. you know, play in the snow. >> just so you know chains are required on 50 over the summit and 80, you don't have to put them on but have them in your possession. we even got a little snow here in the bay area on mt. hamilton. let's check in with

brian hickey joins us with the latest. >> reporter: an area ward canyon a back country area not far from the alpine meadows ski resort but accessible off highway 89 near sunny side, where three men were skiing yesterday near an area called stanford rock. they say an avalanche triggered near the ridge top and carried one of the parties down the mountain, where he was then stuck around a tree, swept away by that avalanche. one of the men in the group skied out and subjected help the other stayed with the victim. they had to climb up 1,000 feet up to get to the man where they found him wrapped around a tree. >> a big slide and the victim was -- there were three guys and one was caught in the slide, right from the get-go, and taken down the mountain quite a ways. probably 300 feet down. >> reporter: at the time of the avalanche yesterday, the sierra center rated the hazard as high. today they downgraded the hazard to considerable. anybody in the back country should know what they're doing. you cannot replace knowledge. second, you need proper gear. everyone should be carrying one of these, w

i will ask secretary hickey to provide some detailed.like you, i think when the veteran picks up the phone to call the va there ought to be someone there that answers, or if he or she chooses to come in on line, then it ought to have information that is useful to them that is easily discovered, so they don't have to run through a series of traps to find what they're looking for. we owed them, and that is the first step in any service organization, and that is our intent here so let a call in secretary hickey. >> senator johanns thank you for question and i appreciate your comment early about ebenefits. that is part and parcel of our multipronged approach in our veterans management capability, about being able to converse with that veteran by the time and method that they choose. we have surveyed our veterans and 73% of them want to to meet us on lines of ebenefits is partly that solution. but let me address specifically your questions, first about no one answers, no life worsen and let me tell you about the new pieces of functionality wi

brian hickey is in the middle of it. how are the roads looking? >> reporter: very snowy. you can see the workers that stay here at the lodge digging out. getting ready go to work this morning. digging out now and digging out this afternoon when they come home from work as well. picked up a half a foot of snow last night. and it continues to dump down here this morning. latest system is warmer than the first one. snow lines are -- it's pretty slushy between there. once you get up to donor summit this is what you will find. all snow that continues to pile up. promising to bring as much as a couple feet. all eyes looking ahead to the weekend where if everything lines up, we could see 4-6 feet of snow out of the next system. on top of whatever falls today. the sierra getting hammered by snow. but coming up will require winter driving skills. >>> new information on a police shooting in oakland. what we have learned about a violent confrontation. >>> there is a high wind advisory on two bay area bridges this morning. we will tell you where they are and show you just how windy i

paul hickey has been digging deep into the calls and here to break all the numbers down.usual for this time of year. what does it mean? >> what you see leading up to earnings season as analysts are taking in their numbers and bringi ining things to reality. in the last eight months in the fall down last year, we saw net revisions fall it about negative 40% of the s&p. we have seen a big improvement. one of the questions is are the analysts too bullish. we were going from minus 40% and got as high as plus 30%. we are right in the middle now. >> certain sectors are seeing the phenomenon the most? >> one of the biggest is the financial sector. net 60% of the companies in the fall. net number cuts. that's up to positive territory. the other is a discretionary sector that goes to the way of the economy doing better than the rest of the world. they are more leveraged. >> can you connect the dots in to how the earnings come out after you see the revisions prior? >> this is a surprise because they are coming up into earnings season rather than down. that could be people thinking

the director of the lottery, and paul hickey co-founder of research. both out front tonight with two very different and important takes on this. gary, i want to start with you. this is massive. i mean, this is something that probably put a lot of people in a good mood today. just the dream and hope. you know. someone on our staff didn't want me to flash our tickets, because it might give us bad luck. but the president today called lotteries a regressive tax. do you agree with that? >> no, i do not. thank you for having me here, and what we believe is that it's way for people to have some fun at a very low price, and also contribute to good causes. as you so eloquently mentioned, in most states, including texas, all of these millions of dollars spent on the lottery does go to help fund public education. we look at it as a chance for people to dream, as you said. the fun part about playing a lottery, especially a $640 million jackpot, the time when you purchase the ticket to when the balls are drawn. you can dream about what you might do if you're the lu

reporter brian hick kill is -- brian hickey is joining us. >> >> reporter: we picked up a significantrea. during this incident yesterday in an area we are told three skiers were out there when a slide kicked off and took a skier 300 feet down a mountain and swept them in a forested area. rest cuers say they started their search about 3:00 p.m. yesterday for that skier after being notified by one of the others in the party. it took them an hour and 45 minutes to find the skier. then he was wrapped around a tree. one of the rescuers describing the scene where they found him. >> it was a pretty big slide and the victim was -- there were three guys and one was court in the slide right from the get go and taken down the mountain quite a ways. probably about 300 feet down. >> reporter: the rescuers say that slide went another 500 feet below where they found the victim. once they got there, he was able to communicate with them briefly. he was blinking their -- he was blinking his eyes at their command. but they were doing cpr on him and later he was pronounced dead at the hospital. due to th

forecast shows that by 9:00 and start to see some hickeys crowd bay area. things are warming up and i sleep even have six seats in the south bay for- like hayward in livermore as we advance the caught we afternoon, we see a lot of green and yellow on the screen indicating '60s around the bay and actually some low to mid '70s for some of the south bay spots, the livermore valley and portions of the north bay. today will be the warmest day of the week, no doubt about that we have '70s all across the board. 72 expected for mountain view, 71 for clinton redwood city. some of our spots along the coastline but in the mid- 60s. in downtown san francisco will reach an afternoon high of 69 degrees. 73 in santa rosa and 70 for the old and a bottle. her kron4 seven day around the forecast shows today at lasted for those '70s. get out and enjoy as you can tomorrow we will see mostly cloudy conditions. temperatures to drop by about 10 degrees here to be introduced the potential for what weather sunday and into the work week. we'll show your future for cast coming up in

brian hickey is live with a look at what happened. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. a popular area known as ward canyon south of alpine meadows ski resort, it is the back country. you can access it independent of the resort. that's where rescuers believe these three had gone into ward canyon. this is video from the rescue as we're told three men were caught in an avalanche up there. one of the victims was swept 300 feet down the mountain where he was then smashed into a tree as they describe it, wrapped around a tree where he suffered significant trauma, they said multiple broken limbs and trauma. they were able to get him out of there but not after hours of having to ski up in there and drag him out on a sled and get him in a snow cat which they put him in an ambulance and took him to the hospital where we learned he succumbed. this is how one rescuer describes the scene. i apologize we do not have that sound. he described the area as about a 300-foot slide, the slide continued another 500 feet below where the man was pinned against the tree. the sierra avalanche ce

brian hickey has details of a deadly avalanche.happened yesterday afternoon when the sierra avalanche center listed conditions as high. a high probability of a slide happening. that's what happened in ward canyon, an area south of the alpine meadows ski resort where three skiers had been caught in an avalanche in the area. one was able to get out and contact rescuers and common help. rescuers say they got on the scene about with 3:00 yesterday. took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the victim a 29-year-old man they say when they got there they found him wrapped around a tree after an avalanche carried him down the mountain. the same slide continued another 500 feet. at the time when they got there the man was conscious, blinking his eyes. but he obviously had significant trauma including multiple broken limbs. they got him on a sled and out of the area. unfortunately, he was pronounced dead later at the hospital due to his injuries. this is the account from one of the rescuers at the scene. >> there was a pretty big slide and

brian hickey is live in blue canyon to show us how things are looking up there -- don't look up, brian, it will hit your eyes. >> reporter: it was right as you said wind. you've got some power there this morning. just don't say that word again this morning. right off the soda springs exit, interstate 80, the cars looking more like marshmallows this morning. broughtny yardstick here and it is indicating somewhere between six and seven inches of snow that fell since last night but add that to the foot and a half or more that fell yesterday and you get some very snowy conditions here in the sierra. how about that shot? it is just coming down up here in the sierra this morning. that gives you an indication of what we're dealing with here this morning. luckily the wind hasn't been too bad so it is not making whiteout conditions but obviously a lot of snow can come down. it is a warmer storm though. this morning chain controls were at king vail, they've since lowered it down to 5,000 feet. if you've ever hiydroplaned on water, watch out. watch out for slush if you're heading to the mountains

live at blue canyon, brian hickey, back to you. >> thank you. i imagine a lot of people heading out there this weekend. 7:10. many communities in the midwest and south are still cleaning up from this week's tornadoes and they could see even more severe weather this afternoon and tonight. twisters destroyed homes in several states in the south elf earlier this week, killing 13 people. six people died in harriesburg, illinois. it's looking less likely tornadoes could hit that area with all of the debris around the tornado hits. a very dangerous situation. >>> what san rafael police hope will help them solve a bank robbery. >>> also, how a s.w.a.t. team successfully robbed a bank robber in southern california. >>> the president tells a heckler, there's no war in iran. but a new ifernt view this morning gives a different impression into and yelp has just started to trade today for the first time. we'll tell you where it's tread -- where it's trading now. >>> we have sunshine and temperatures will be warming up. a little chill out there right now. 30

let's go to brian hickey. >> reporter: goornl. we've been up here for six hours. can see this is the situation. it's been like this the entire doom we've been here with this much snow accumulating on the ground. we picked up about .506 to 10 -- about .50, 6 to 10 inches maybe. 18 inches for squaw valley. a good dump last night. it continues to dump tonight. looks like it won't let up all day long and the resorts have their eyes set on this weekend where if everything stays the way it is right now in the forecast. they could be looking at as much as 6 feet of additional snow on top of what falls today. that will be saturday's system. if you are heading up interstate 80, there will be winter driving with chain combs around my -- controls around nyack. we've had occasional gusts around 20, 30 miles an hour. up on the ridges, it will be more. as this next some moves in some of the forecasted ways around 100 miles or so. but today, right now, you can see the snow going a little sideways under a light breeze with an occasional gust. >> thank you, brian. reporting live u