ken pritchett is on alert with the story. ken? reporter: after those three pipe bombs were found, police asked visitors here to be extra vigil based on conversations and even a 911 call this morning to police, it seems the visitors here were vigilance. [ cheers ] >> reporter: outside, hundreds of kids who were playing in a soccer tournament, it was an ordinary weekend, except for the words of advice given to both players and parents. >> the coach said don't touch anything that doesn't belong to you. be cautious. >> i told my kids, be careful. >> reporter: melvin and sabrina said they felt safe, despite the discovery of three explosive devices in a wooded area near the soccer fields. >> the opinion that we got from the experts of the walnut creek police department were they were constructed in a manner that was consistent with the pipe bomb. >> reporter: two of the pipe bombs were found on wednesday. a third pipe bomb was found yesterday about 200 yards from the initial site. this is a photograph that captured the detonation of tha

in oakland ken pritchett. >> we have breaking news to pass your direction. the chp searching for two children inside a stolen pickup truck. they a 1-year-old. he was last seen wearing a red michael jordon t-shirt was red shorts. the others a 6-month-old with brown hair and brown eyes. he was last seen with just a white diaper. the chp doesn't have a suspect description but said it's a black chevy. it was a california license plate with one of the following numbers on it. 8u63092 or it could be 6x24666. nip with information act this vehicle or those two children are asked to call the police. >> police investigating a dramatic accident in which a car hit a house. it happened just after two. police say the driver of this white mustang drove at a high rate of speed away to the nightclub where someone threatened him with a gun he said. it crashed into a house. the driver wants hurt and ran from the scene. he was later arrested. police are still search for the man with the gun. >>> the sanitation direct facing a major fine just days after it capped a spill. the ca

ken pritchett has the story. >> reporter: opponents say it will drive smaller mom and pop growers out of business. but supporters. including me members of the city council say it will be better for patients because they will be receiving the best quality. >> these are people who are small mom and pop operations, they can make a living with this business. they are not getting rich, but they are able to live a good middle class living. >> reporter: karen buxton says he grows about 40 pounds of pot a year to supply the harbor clinic. he says the oakland ordnance could put him out of business. >> it's going to affect how much i receive. >> reporter: smaller growers can receive cooperatives. that's what one man who supplies growers with hidroplonics is already doing. >> i think this is going to be a competitive process where anyone can apply. small growers have just as much students as large frauers to participate in this competition. >> reporter: the ordnance would also boost oakland's depleted budget with estimates of one preponderate $5 million a $1.5 million in revenue to start. >> we

ken pritchett has the story. >> reporter: opponents say it will drive smaller mom and pop growers out of business. but supporters. including some members of the city council say it will be better for patients because they will be receiving the best quality. >> these are people who are small mom and pop operations, they can make a living with this business. they are not getting rich, but they are able to live a good middle class living. >> reporter: karen buxton says he grows about 40 pounds of pot a year to supply the harbor clinic. he says the oakland ordnance could put him out of business. >> it's going to affect how much i receive. >> reporter: smaller growers can receive cooperatives. that's what one man who supplies growers with hidroplonics is already doing. >> i think this is going to be a competitive process where anyone can apply. small growers have just as much students as large frauers to participate in this competition. >> reporter: the ordnance would also boost oakland's depleted budget with estimates of one preponderate $5 million a $1.5 million in revenue to start. >> w

in sacramento, ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> and temperatures did warm up a few degrees today as we go into the next 24 hours. the fog moves back in tonight. it's into the avenues of san francisco, golden gate park. it'll most likely be in your district. the fog will make it as far inland as vacaville and fairfield. your forecast highs where city where is you live, 83 in fairfield, 84 antioch. these are tomorrow's forecast highs for friday. so slightly warmer. the bay area beak weekend is coming up. we have the travel forecast and the five day forecast coming up. >>> escoviedo was honored today in the south bay. the san jose downtown association recognized escoviedo for his 17 performances at the annual music in the parks festival. the percussionist just celebrated his 75th birthday. in addition to playing with his own group azteca, escoviedo has performed with several groups. >>> and a new pattern that has submerged in bay area bridges. >>> and if you can't ♪ keep feeling fascination ♪ passion burning ♪ love is so strong ♪ >>> bay area bridge managers say drivers have changed

ken pritchett is live at the capital tonight with the story. >> reporter: lawmakers will return fromvacation next week, possibly no closer to closing california's $19 billion budget gap. no closer than they were when they left to vacation a week ago. the hummer of tourists in the gallery, essentially the only sounds heard today on the assembly chambers, the lawmakers are on vacation. >> they have no plan yet. >> reporter: the only visible budget movement, the ticking of the so called budget clock outside the governor's office. but talks do go on behind closed doors. >> what we're talking about is a tax decrease, a tax cut for california's across the income spector. >> reporter: derrick steinberg has a plan to cut the deficit without hurting education. both of which could be deducted from sales tax. >> what we would do is raise some of the taxes where taxpayers get a federal deduction. and lower the sales tax where taxpayers don't get a deduction. >> reporter: the end result is a tax -- tax decrease. >> we'll have that discussion with him but it doesn't sound like something we can sup

in sacramento, ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> and temperatures did warm up a few degrees today as we go into the next 24 hours. the fog moves back in tonight. it's into the avenues of san francisco, golden gate park. it'll most likely be in your district. the fog will make it as far inland as vacaville and fairfield. your forecast highs where city where is you live, 83 in fairfield, 84 antioch. these are tomorrow's forecast highs for friday. so slightly warmer. the bay area beak weekend is coming up. we have the travel forecast and the five day forecast coming up. >>> escoviedo was honored today in the south bay. the san jose downtown association recognized escoviedo for his 17 performances at the annual music in the parks festival. the percussionist just celebrated his 75th birthday. in addition to playing with his own group azteca, escoviedo has performed with several groups. >>> and a new pattern that has submerged in bay area bridges. >>> and if you can't take the people to the vaccine, take the vaccine to people. how one bay area city is fighting whooping cough in a new wa

ken pritchett is live with our report. >> today at a press briefing, oakland's police chief said that his department is shrinking at a time when the public needs protection. the aim is to bring in more resources to dishand -l gangs through long term investigations. >> we're going to sit down with all our federal partners, fbi, atf and ask for their assistance. >> reporter: chief batts was not the specific on what type of help he will ask. >> we do believe we need help, from wherever it may come from. because oakland is in dire trouble. >> reporter: oakland community organizations is concerned that the lay offs of 80 officers will bring more problem to the gang issue. >> you cannot arrest your way out of crime and violence. >> reporter: chief batts met witherric holder, while the details remain unclear, batts says he expects help for a gang problem that is bigger than oakland. >> i expect a lot of help and resources to assist the area. >> reporter: oakland police say the request for federal government assistance is not directly connected to the lay off of 80 officers. the department sa

ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> pg & e says failed equipment outside of oakland led to a fire knocking out power to customers. it happened on 23rd street at about 9:30 this morning. pg & e officials say crews were working on an earlier more isolated power outage when a switch malfunctioned. a fire charred some tree branches. witnesses tell ktvu they heard a loud noise and felt the building shake. >> i saw a big explosion, like an atomic bomb looking thing. it was really loud. all of a sudden the bushes were on fire right by pg & e and it was hit by a bunch of fire trucks that came. so it was like, really crazy. >> reporter: the incident also disrupted power to street signs. pg & e says the power was restored to most of the affected customer at noon. >>> investigators blame someone tampering with the natural gas line for causing an explosion that killed one person and critically injured another. the blast happened around 6:00 this morning. a spokeswoman for southern california gas company says service was turned off to the building yesterday, but that someone hooked up the gas

ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> oakland police released the surveillance video investigators say shows two people they believe shot and killed a virginia man sunday night. 45-year-old computer engineer jinghong kang was in town for a job interview. priya david is live with the developments. >> reporter: heather, the shooting happened here outside the offices of lake merritt dental on webster street. the surveillance video shows two people walking up the sidewalk here toward the scene of the crime minutes before it happened. police today called the death of jinghong kang senseless and ridiculous, particularly since the motive appears to be robbery and the thieves killed the man for a mere $17. two people are clearly seen walking on webster. police say no one else was captured on the tape. they also tell us the clothing matches the description they've received from the witness. sergeant mike gant says he's elated because this surveillance video could be key. >> it helps tremendously. it's a casebreaker. >> reporter: gant says similar video has helped him solve two other homicid

ken pritchett is live in oakland with the story, ken? >> reporter: well, the state building here in oakland was the scene of one of several demonstrations marking one month since lawmakers in sacramento missed their constitutional deadline to pass a budget. the governor's office says every day that passes costs taxpayers $50 million and will do so until a budget deal is done. >> holding signs targeting big oil health care advocates in oakland say california should tax oil companies before cutting social services. >> it starts billing big oil for the taxes they should have been paying all along. >> in sacramento democrats talked about taxing oil to solve the budget crisis. >> the choices between oil sef rents tax and cutting another billion plus dollars of public education i think the vast majority of californians would be on the side of not cutting public education. >> new taxes are a nonstarter according to the governor and as the budget clock outside of his office continues to climb democrats and republicans are giving mixed signals on

in oakland, ken pritchett.t paid to. >>> an extension to the south they may be one step closer to the reality. the house to present its appropriations committee has approved a bill that will provide $2 million to the valley transit authority. bart is asking for $900 million in federal grant money to pay for that extension of. >>> santa clara base supply materials will cut as many as 500 jobs in a move to restructure its solar panel business. they say the cuts are part of a $425 million restructuring plan to make its environmental division profitable by next year could a spokesman said the cuts would apply from the global work force by november. it is not immediately clear how many workers in the bay area will lose their jobs. >>> housing figures released today indicate mortgage default notices are at their lowest levels in three years. the research firm said 70,000 people in this is a% out and that is down 44% from the same quarter last year. it down 14% from the previous quarter. the biggest drops were reporte

in marin county, ken pritchett. >>> tony hayward is losing his job. hayward with step down october 1st and will be replaced by the first nonbritish ceo for the company. bob henly, the company is trying to prove that tough lessons have been learned due to the spill. >>> in current county, the bull fire has consumed 5,000 acres in and around the secoia national forest since it began yesterday afternoon. the fire destroyed six homes in the town of river current overnight. the chp is escorting people into town to see what's left and to get their belongings. the forest service tells ktvu high winds are moving back into the area and that is hampering efforts to contain the fire. >>> to the north in lacen county, firefighters continue the complex fire north of the town of doyle. two homes have already been destroyed. further north the complex fire has consumed 650 acres near straler lake. it is 50% contained at this hour. >>> and we have more information on how to keep your home safe during fire season. you can log on to our website and look at ktvu.com righ

ken pritchett, ktvu news. >>> friends and coworkers are mourning the loss of oakland father who was gunned down this morning shortly after he left for work. the shooting happened in front of the man's home on 15th street just before 2:00 a.m. rob roth is in oakland now with the latest, rob. >> reporter: julie, police say their talking to relatives and neighbors of the victim but that they have little to go on in this morning's shooting. as police search for evidence, those who knew 53-year-old mariano say they are dumbfounded anyone would want to shoot him. >> very sad, very sad. i'm like unexpected. like he doesn't get associated with everybody here. even me, he's a very nice guy. i'm amazed of what happened. >> reporter: it happened at about 1:30 this morning. >> i was getting ready for bed, all i heard is a gunshot then yelling afterwards. i was a little nervous to come outside. i didn't know who was out, i came out and i seen him laying down. >> reporter: chris mariano was just getting off work at kaiser hospital where he's been a custodian for 20 years. police say he doesn't appear to

in oakland, ken pritchett, ktvu 2 news. >>> the hair raising drive between the golden gatebridge andhe doyle drive bridge is scarier. cal tran has closed ramps. cal tran is rebuilding doyle drive because the road is not earthquake safe. >>> drivers getting into san francisco can expect delays as cal tran placed crash barriers. the work began at 12:30 a.m. three lanes of westbound 580 leading to the bay bridge are closed. >>> a popular video stories now closed after having fought to stay open. the parent company filed for bankruptcy. store officials are trying to raise at least $200,000. at least $50,000 would be enough. the store specializes in hard to find titles. >>> in the gulf, bp and the government say that oil does not appear to be leaking. pressure is less than what they anticipated so the government asked bp to keep monitoring. but the pressure is building along gulf coast. >> reporter: washington is telling bp to continue with another 24 hours of testing on the cap in the oil well. thad allen says that engineers have been studying pressure levels since securing the cap on th

near tracy, ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> police here are stepping up patrol in a palo alto business district following several recent office burglaries. between february 22nd and june 16th they've responded to six or seven burglaries along the east bay shore corridor near embarcadero road. the thieves stole laptops and flat screen tvs. >>> it is not all gloom and doom when it comes to the economy. they are celebrating in the south bay as a retailer opens a new store bringing with it new jobs. janine de la vega is live with what people hope is the start of a great thing. >> reporter: ross held their grand opening here today. there hasn't been a department store in downtown san jose since the 1970s. some see it as a promising economic sign given that unemployment is still high in the south bay. >> i got these shoes. some dress shoes. >> reporter: jamie moore took a break from his job a few stores away to shop at the new ross story. >> just help the downtown area and the business and it will bring people downtown. >> for retail to be downtown, i think it's refreshing. downtown

ken pritchett joins us how it works in tonight's special report. >> reporter: imagine snagging free powerrom your local tv or radio station. or charging your cell phone whenever you move. >> you can see the signal coming out. >> reporter: it is technology that now exists in the lab that might hit store shelves soon. >> it means that certain type of devices would never need a battery and could be powered just off of the ambient energy that's around. >> reporter: joshua smith is an engineer with intel in seattle. this is being powered by signals from television towers located miles away. >> the tv power is putting out a signal. gets picked up by this antenna. converted to steady electricity. >> reporter: with today's electronics, a small amount of power is enough in certain devices such as this electronic thermometer or clocks that would never need batteries. >> there isn't enough power to charge up your cell phone, but you can keep it on stand by while not in use. >> reporter: there is promise in scavaging power. free power from the air in significant amounts is not here yesterday. but in

ken pritchett is live in oakland with more on this. >> reporter: well, ac transit reports minor disturbances service, the third day of what the agency calls a sick- out by the union, a charge