here's joe rosato jr.ith why. >> reporter: from the crush of photographers at fisherman's wharf today, you'd think paris hilton was touring the crab boat. turns out, center of attention was kelly bennett's garbage. the sudden fame surrounding this particular load of trash is it represents the one millionth ton of garbage composted since 1996. bennett, the chef where this stuff came from, couldn't be prouder. >> really, it's an honor. we're part of something that's really important. >> reporter: if you think it's a stretch to say the chef is excited about composting, just take a tour of his kitchen. >> anything that was ever alive and grew or that you could grow something in ends up in here. one, two cans right here. we have another one on the other end over there. >> reporter: bennett, who launched the restaurant's compost program eight years ago, is almost as excited about what he recycles as what he serves. >> we've taken people from all over the world on tours to visit our dumpster. >> reporter: san fra

nbc bay area's joe rosato jr. >> u.s.rmy. >> active duty. >> first armed division. >> reporter: veterans of war, past and present, engaged in a different kind of battle. >> the last 15 years. >> lost my house, lost my truck. >> reporter: today san francisco teamed up with veterans affair calling it veterans connect. >> we brought the services into one building. vets can come here, get anything from medical services to haircuts, legal services. >> reporter: beside the parking garage of a veterans' clinic, haircuts, job placement, green tailor association helped to suit its vets. the scene was a reminder that many vets did not land home softly. >> i know when i came back, i pondered one thing. i took something i could not replace and that's another human life. >> reporter: andy hall says veterans' day to him is just another reminder he's homeless. >> if this country knew what it was to honor their veterans, you wouldn't have homeless veterans. >> reporter: judy russell is hoping the event will help her move from an rv to an

joe rosato, jr., nbc bay area news. >> and he'll say yes. >> and he was. >> so cute.nce a horse baby, always a horse baby. i love horses. >>> still ahead at 6:00, a decision today providing a blow to cancer patients and a bay area biotech company.  >>> we fire up the latest tablet computer a first look at the amazon fire. >>> and the investigation into actress natalie wood's mysterious death has been reopened thanks to new allegations. but is robert wagner considered a suspect? we're back in two minutes. cut tn served with a succulent lobster tail... just $15.99. sizzler. ♪ one of the always electrifying... eyebrow-raisers... and jaw-droppers. ♪ are you a great, fine arm-flailer... catwalk-walker, or talk-a-friend's-ears-off talker? one of the hard-to-describe, the laugh-out-loud laughers who inspired a variety of gain scents that are, like all of you, anything but ordinary. >>> the plot thickens in a real-life hollywood mystery. what happened to natalie wood? >> the actress died 30 years ago. but now the case is being reopened by the l.a. county sheriff's office. p

here's joe rosato jr. reporting from livermore. >> reporter: with blue skies hovering over the livermore valley, a group of grape pickers worked at a frenzied pace. stems and grape juice flew in every direction, because every wine grape grower knows blue skies don't last forever. >> we start to get basil leaves in essence, you start to get the fall leaf color which is pretty but not a good thing if you still have food on your vineyard. >> reporter: steven may be one of the biggest gamblers in wine making. his east livermore crop is usually one of the last to ripen, which normally push his harvest to the edge of the rainy season. >> if you get rain, you get cold temperatures, you get uptake of water in the vines, you can get split berries that will lead to rot. >> reporter: with word of cold, wet weather heading for livermore, today he was racing nature to get his grapes picked in time. >> so we want to try to get as much food as we can off now that's ready to be picked or close to ready to being picked so

joe rosato jr. shows us some of its past and its modern future. >> reporter: countless visitors from across the globe will surely fall for the romance of the golden gate bridge, but across the bay, its older sibling, the bay bridge, is considered the bay area's work horse. >> a six-lane, double-deck bridge, eight miles long roi. >> reporter: this saturday will mark the 75th anniversary of the opening of the bay bridge. bob mckey remembers opening day had a lot of similarities to modern times. >> we watched a lot of traffic and there was a number of accidents, people just gawking. i think some people were just celebrating. >> reporter: though builders didn't break ground until 1932, the first mention of the bridge was in the 1800s by san francisco's most famous eclectic scitizen citizen. >> in 1872, emperor norton issued his decree directing that a suspension bridge be built forthwith between the cities of san francisco and oakland. >> reporter: it wasn't until the 1930s that engineering caught up to

here is nbc bay area's joe rosato jr. >> reporter: anywhere you go in san francisco's presidio, you'reonfronted by history. but in the old officers club, workers are digging even deeper into the past, peeling away the layers, century by century. >> the site has been continuously occupied since 1776. so we know the original walls were from 1776. >> reporter: beneath concrete and plaster, crews have exposed the building's original adobe walls. it's all part of a $15 million project aimed at restoring one of san francisco's oldest buildings. with walls constructed of mud and other materials, it takes a specially trained crew from new mexico using old techniques to perform a modern retrofit. >> even though we have had to purchase our adobe bricks, everything else we're doing to repair the adobe would be to repair the original methods used in 1776. >> the process is to put a dry pack of mud in here. >> reporter: in some ways, you could say adobe expert pate lore has always been covered by mud. >> i grew up in an adobe hand. >> reporter: taylor now trains other crafts people to restore old a

joe rosato jr. us to one bay area city where love and numerology collided. >> reporter: we're surrounded by numbers. everywhere you look, sending us up, down, addresses, anniversaries. >> we're gather heard on this special day of 11-11-11. >> reporter: so for some, once the calendar rolled around to 11-11-11 -- >> from this day forward. >> reporter: with many city halls closed for veterans day, alameda city hall opened for love. >> we decided to schedule weddings, even though everybody else is closed for the holiday, veterans day. and we ended up with 11 ceremonies. >> i do. >> reporter: at 11:00 this morning, on the 11th day of the 11th month, the first of 11 couples took the plunge. >> when this opportunity presented itself like hey do, you want the get married next week? >> parents are thrilled. >> yeah, parents are thrilled. >> reporter: but the parents of elisa king and michael moore will be pleased to know the couple didn't just pick this day out of thin air. it turns out the number 11 has som

nbc bay area's joe rosato jr. shows us who they are and what they want changed. >> reporter: a colorful crowd made its way through downtown oakland. its ranks made up of people from across the spectrum. among them, eric stringlan, a county carpenter from oakland. >> i have been a part of different kind of protest movements since i was a boy, boycotting grapes and that kind of stuff. >> reporter: even as he tried to grasp the scene around him, he felt a call to be part of it. >> they produce a new kind of a movement. i have been a part of different kinds of protest movements since i was a boy. they've come up with something new here, and i'm trying to understand it and i think it's revolutionary. >> reporter: stringlan joined a march that included office workers, teachers, parents, and young demonstrators. many like kevin ballgas had a direct connection to the financial crisis at the center of the unrest. >> three of my relatives were forced out of their homes by bank foreclosures. and that's why i'm here today, ma

. >> reporter: joe rosato, jr., nbc bay area news. >> the girls are back.o is the crab season. >>> veterans day is friday. today, nancy pelosi paid a visit to a v.a. community living center in san francisco. she talked with some of the veterans and toured the facility and shared her thoughts about taking care of the vets once they return from home from battle. >> it's not just about creating jobs for them. it's about having them be able to create jobs for others by being business owners and entrepreneurs themselves. so it's not only about jobs, it's about ownership, it's about equity. it's about the best way for us to build upon the patriotism and love of our country that you all have and that our returning vets share with you. >> pelosi's visit comes as president obama announced his new action today to bolster his jobs bill, specifically giving tax credits to businesses that hire veterans. >>> still ahead here at 6:00, medical marijuana activists waging a new battle against the government's crackdown on pot clubs. >>> i'm monty francis live in oakland. i'l

joe rosato jr., nbc bay area news. >> next news tonight at 11:00.night in america tonight. the philadelphia eagles visit the new york giants. happy thanksgiving. see you next saturday. ers or em. not white collar or blue collar or no collars. we are business in america. and every day we awake to the same challenges. but at prudential we're helping companies everywhere find new solutions to manage risk, capital and employee benefits, so american business can get on with business. ♪

joe rosato jr., nbc pay area news. >>> the fbi is looking into a series of murders that could have startedh a phony craigslist ad. a body found in a shallow grave in ohio could be that was timothy kern. the second man who answered a craigslist ad for a farmhand job that's opinion found dead. richard -- been found dead. richard beasley is in jail on charges of suspecting of robbing a third person. that man escaped after being shot. >>> today marks the ten-year anniversary of the first american killed in the afghan war. cia officer mark span was killed in the line of duty when hundreds of taliban and al qaeda prisoners tried to escape from a jail in northern afghanistan. span's death inspired the creation of the cia officers memorial foundation. since then the foundation has offered financial support and scholarships to dozens of children of fallen officers. cia officers are asking people to mark the anniversary of span's death by donating to the foundation. officer span was part of a small group of cia paramilitary officers who went into afghanistan just 16 days after t the attacks. >>> the

joe rosato jr., nbc bay area news. >> caltrans is planning an anniversary event over the next year andidge, you ask? it will turn 75 next may and nbc bay area is a proud sponsor of that celebration. >>> well it is the hottest ticket in town tonight, stanford will put the nation's longest winning streak, 17 games, on the line against the oregon ducks. if you don't already have a ticket, you are out of luck that game is sold out. that may not be good news for you if you wanted to head to the game it is great news for people who own businesses in and around palo alto. hotels are booked near solid and restaurant owners are getting ready for a very profitable rush. >> i think that we are probably going to spend close to $2,000 for the weekend, by the time we pay for tickets and the gas and kids to be here and restaurant and hotels and tailgate and avenue, else. >> kickoff is at 5:00 this afternoon. be forewarned, scalpers are looking for $200 a pop for those last-minute tickets. >>> meanwhile, at at&t park, the cal golden bears will be playing another oregon school. the bears are 5-4, one w