reporting live in san bruno, linda yee, cbs 5. >>> despite the trouble at sears, americans are gaining faith in the economy. an improving job outlook sent consumer confidence to an eight- month high. the index rose by nearly 10 points in its second consecutive monthly gain. but analysts say the numbers are far below where they would be in a healthy economy. >>> governor brown says the key it convincing californians to raise their own taxes is to convince them that the alternative is much worse. he is pushing a plan to raise an extra $7 billion a year. he wants to increase the state sales tax by half a percent and raise income taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year. an okay from the legislature will send it to the 2012 ballot. brown says if the voters reject it the cuts would be drastic. >> in my opinion, this is the

linda yee tells us investigators have already discovered a key piece of evidence. linda. >> reporter: well, allen, we are now learning that the fire actually started in the back of that corner apartment building and not that victorian next door that was originally thought. the investigators say something burned in the trash area. that's where the inferno began that drastically changed so many lives. >>> reporter: today was all about heartbreaking loss and salvaging what memories they could from the ruins. and it was the first time they saw what was left of what they once called home. >> the fire was right behind my wall. it melted my stuff. >> reporter: the five-alarm fire was san francisco's biggest in six years. two buildings destroyed, two others damaged. and fire investigators now know it all started in an alleyway where the garbage is collected behind the 25-unit apartment building on pierce street. >> investigators are asking questions, whether it was something that was discarded and the type of material at this point. it's undetermined. we do know that the or

linda yee with the mayor's tough battle ahead as not one but two groups are trying to force her out of office. linda. >> reporter: right, juliette. two separate citizen groups have now formed saying they will try to get her out of office and they are hitting the ground running. but tonight the mayor less than an hour ago said to herself, she is prepared to fight to keep her job. the organizers behind one group working to kick oakland's mayor out of office are preparing the petitions. in the coming weeks, they will hit the streets to get the requisite 20,000 signatures they will need for a recall election. and they believe it will be easy. oakland's that angry. >> it's monetary for me. it's lack of leadership. it's lack of bringing -- the lack that we have no public safety in this town. the city is running chaotic. we have no leadership in any departments. all the good people have left. you can look at the cities around us. they have grown even though we're all having financial problems, they have grown over the years and oakland is still living in a welfare city. >> reporter: they have

linda yee, thank you. >>> other bay area headlines. a federal judge heard arguments today on the constitutionality of the "defense of marriage act." a federal employee in san francisco sued the government after it refused to enroll her spouse on her health insurance plan. no word when the judge may make a ruling. >>> oakland mayor jean quan has had enough with facebook. her staff has taken down the mayor's facebook page. staff members say it's been the target of threats and racist rants. the mayor faces two recall campaigns and a third is in the works. >>> at san francisco's glide memorial church, hundreds lined up before dawn waiting for food for the holidays. volunteers handed out nearly 5500 bags of groceries. next week they will give children toys. donations are still needed and can still be dropped off there. >>> six former top executives with freddie mac and fannie mae charged today with civil fraud. securities and exchange commission says the executives misled the government and taxpayers about risky subprime mortgages and the c

linda yee on why the 125-year- old retailer may be past its prime. >>> reporter: their customers, their base, the middle income population. and because of this tough economy, they are not spending as much money. so stores like sears and kmart, they're taking a big hit. >>> reporter: sears was where america shopped. >> not anymore. [ laughter ] >> america shops online. >> reporter: an industry analyst suspects sears middle income kisses miles an hour don't have the money to -- middle income customers don't have the moneyspend. they will close 120 stores including some kmart stores t needs to reduce costs by $200 million. this comes as a shock to faithful customershave relied on the sears brand for generations. >> we do all our major appliances, tv, washer, drier, refrigerator, everything, because they have good promotions where you can get things interest-free, which nobody does anymore. >> reporter: sears says it was the huge drop in appliance and electronic sales that caused most of its problems. >> it's kind of sad. but times are hard all over. >> reporter: kmart blames declining sale

i'm linda yee. i'll have that story coming up. >>> how a christmas day crime robbed a woman of a priceless gift. >>> you got a parking ticket? why you might not have to pay that fine. is closing 100 sears and k-t stores. linda ye american retaili >>> sears is suffering. so much so that it's closing 100 sears an kmart stores. linda yee on why a pillar of american retail is crumbling. >> reporter: because their customers are the middle income population, those are the people who have to be careful about spending. that means sears and kmart are taking a big hit. >>> reporter: sears was where america shopped. >> not anymore. [ laughter ] >> america shops online. >> reporter: an industry analyst suspects sears middle income customers don't have the money to spend as much. the corporation revealed it's had a dismal year. they will close 120 stores including some of its kmart stores. it needs to reduce costs by $200 million. this comes as a shock to faithful customershave relied on the sears brand for gene

linda yee on what the inspectors say went wrong that day. linda. >> reporter: well, allen, it was exactly 6 months ago today when tragedy struck this diamond heights home. now cal-osha is saying that the serious safety violations threaten the lives of every firefighter who was here that day and probably caused the deaths of two of them. two firefighters were burned and killed in what's known as a flashover, when the room became so hot, furniture spontaneously combusted. state safety inspectors in the report just released blame the tragedy on serious mistakes made that day by the firefighting team including the lack of constant visual and voice contact among the firefighters. >> there was not clear communication between the firefighters who were inside the structure and those who were outside the structure. there was not clear communications between even the firefighters who were in the structure that day. >> reporter: here's an excerpt of some recordings from lieutenant vincent perez and firefighter antonio valerio seconds before their radios

linda yee with the mayor's tough battle ahead as not one but two groups are trying to force her out of office. linda. >> reporter: right, juliette. two separate citizen groups have now formed saying they will try to get her out of office and they are hitting the ground running. but tonight the mayor less than an hour ago said to herself, she is prepared to fight to keep her job. the organizers behind one group working to kick oakland's mayor out of office are preparing the petitions. in the coming weeks, they will hit the streets to get the requisite 20,000 signatures they will need for a recall election. and they believe it will be easy. oakland's that angry. >> it's monetary for me. it's lack of leadership. it's lack of bringing --the lack that we have no public safety in this town. the city is running chaotic. we have no leadership in any departments. all the good people have left. you can look at the cities around us. they have grown even though we're all having financial problems, they have grown over the years and oakland is still living in a welfare city. >> reporter: they have

linda yee is at the west oakland bart station, where for at least the next couple of nights, somebody has your back. >> reporter: you know, oakland and bart police are work together on this safety campaign for passengers. they do say that the holiday shopping season is a particularly vulnerable time and one they say that criminals take advantage of. they call them safety escorts. oakland police cadets working with bart police to help escort passengers back to their cars. they will walk with them within a two- to three-block radius to the station in some cases they will drive them. they will be doing this at the west oakland station tonight and tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the time they figure is the busiest with shoppers coming in from downtown san francisco. >> the holiday season is pretty much a crime of opportunity for some people that are looking for people to pickpocket or have extra bags or, you know, are distracted and may be not paying more attention to their surroundings. >> reporter: next wednesday they move to the bay fair san leandro bart station and in the days leading

linda yee was in the courtroom. >> reporter: dana, it's possible neither side was satisfied with the sentence today. barry bonds insisting tonight that he should never have been convicted and federal prosecutors are saying they didn't think the punishment was tough enough. barry bonds will not be going to prison. the judge took the probation officer's recommended sentence, two years' probation, one month house arrest, and 250 hours of community service. bonds must also pay $4,000 in fines. but no one on bonds' defense team is admitting he got off easy. >> if justice was done, everybody was a winner. unrealistic to think that everybody was agreeing about that. you might be able to guess what we think, but we're not talking. >> reporter: last april, a jury found the home run king guilty of obstructing justice in the four-year-long case of illegal steroid use among top athletes. the u.s. attorneys office called the recommended punishment laughable and tried to persuade the judge to give bonds the minimum 15 months in prison. the judge asked bonds if he had anything to say. his simple re

linda yee says they got a special gift of beauty. >> reporter: they are getting new hair color, styled and pampered, a day of bought for mothers who all lost children to street violence. the bad days never go away. it's especially hard during christmas. maggie lost three sons in the war on the streets. >> it's hard. you know? when you can't sleep at night. >> reporter: paulette's son was gunned down trying to save a stranger. >> you know, in little things have been making me cry, you know? i just -- i just -- i would do anything to have him back. >> reporter: these grieving mothers are always trying to find ways to heal their souls. today it's all about lifting their spirits. rudy has worked with kids in violence prevention. this was all his idea. >> i think, you know, they go through so much in life just surviving on a daily -- a lot of them are forgotten. and we just wanted to acknowledge them and let them know they're not forgotten. we love them. >> reporter: the owner of the beauty school donated the day and the skills of the cosmetology students. >> i feel that we are in the busin

>> linda yee, thank you so much. >> happy new year. >> and to you. >>> look at the confetti in timesare. don't pop the cork early. they are just testing the air worthiness of the confetti. do you believe that? handfuls tossed from eight stories up so on new year's eve they are going to make it rain. they are going to drop a ton of the stuff which is more rain than we're going to get. >>> air quality is improving but we have a cold front coming our way. a lot of clouds and dense fog today an even some drizzle at the coast. another cold front is sliding into the bay area. you see the clouds piling up. not much in the way of rain. there is a chance of a few showers for tomorrow. i think as we head into the middle of the day and the afternoon that will be the best chance. out the door temperatures in the 50s and also the 60s outside. right now you can see a couple of clouds gathering over san francisco. the temperatures not all that bad at this hour. 55 in concord, 57 in oakland, 55 degrees in san jose, and it's currently 54 degrees in san francisco. i think by day tomorrow, a chance of

in sacramento, linda yee, cbs 5. >>> pg&e is being slapped with a $38 million fine because of a deadly natural gas explosion. it happened back in 2008 in rancho cordova. it killed one person, injured several others. well, the california public utilities commission said pg&e violated a number of safety laws when it installed that pipeline. and among them? the pipe was not authorized for gas service. >>> a jury cleared johannes mehserle and four other bart police officers of using excessive force against a passenger three years ago. the passenger had claimed mehserle and the others kicked, punched and then arrested him. the incident took place weeks before mehserle shot and killed oscar grant on new year's day. bart says the verdict shows that its officers acted properly. >>> bart is out with some new guidelines on when to shut down cell phone service on board its trains and in its stations. back in august, bart shut off cell service at four san francisco stations because of a planned protest. well, of course that move sparked many protests of its own. today bart's board voted to prohibi

i'm linda yee. i'll tell you which business that is and why it's going dark. ♪ [ music ] >> they have been invited to perform at the olympics. why this bay area choir might be singing the blues. ♪[ music ] >>> it's a dream come true. an east bay children's choir that sung for presidents has been invited to sing at the london olympics. the only thing standing in their way is money. ann notarangelo on the sacrifices some of those kids are making to sing at the summer game games. >>> reporter: in 2012 these youngsters have the opportunity to make the world their stage. >> i think that's going to be life changing. >> reporter: the children representing 35 different cultures in the bay area have been invited to sing on opening day at the london olympics as well as at the united nations this summer. >> very excited. our director told us and we all started jumping around. >> we started hugging each other and we were just absolutely thrilled to be going. >> reporter: the director has transformed this benici

linda yee shows us a chain reaction of events that led to a san francisco's mayor called a national embarrassment. >> it was a fireworks show no one wanted. one of two main circuit lines into the stadium failed. plunging candle stick park minutes before kickoff. >> obviously we all experienced a national embarrassment for this to happen. >> this afternoon, investigators with pg and e and the california public utility's commission examined the power line that has been repaired. they know what happened. >> it was unfortunately one of the power lines separated from itself. what happened is, there's something called a slice. it essentially is like a chinese finger cuff. it gets tighter and tighter over time. it binds those two ends together. >> they still don't know what caused the second blackout during the game about an hour later. inside the stadium, the city manages the backup switches that failed, too. >> is it possible the city switcher could have been the issue? >> it's a possibility of almost anything. but surely something that is happening inside. make sure what we did on our part was the be

at uc berkeley, linda yee, cbs5. >>> in a massive demonstration last month, the occupy movement managed to shut down the port of portland. this time they won't be welcome. >> what macaw is the coast coast's most powerful action, coming on november 2, when thousands marched and shut it down overnight. since then the movement has taken many hits. city after city has evicted campers, setting up tents. occupy plans another attempt to shut down the west coast ports, including the port of portland with some support. children would still be exploited. we would not have health care benefits and the only way we got that was through struggle. >> they said the shut down is in part to show support for the dock workers, labor disputers. but the international president says that the union has not voted to support the shutdown. they said that support is one thing, organization from outside groups attempting to struggle, in order to advance the general idea is one another. it's not like they will get much support from their load. >> we don't want them monitoring it. what they don't realize is the more

linda yee has more on what they found. linda. >> reporter: well, liz, high level meetings late this afternoon between pg&e officials and the state public utilities commission as well as city fire officials, the mayor ordered protocols and oversights in place to make sure what happened here last night, that blackout at candlestick, doesn't happen when the 9ers go into the play- offs next month. it was a fireworks show no one wanted. one of two main circuit lines feeding 2,000 volts of power into the stadium failed plunging candlestick park into darkness minutes before kickoff. >> obviously, we all experienced kind of a national embarrassment for had to happen. >> reporter: this afternoon, investigators with pg&e and the california public utilities commission examined the power line that's now been repaired. they know what happened. >> it was unfortunately one of the power lines separated from itself. what happened is, there's something called a splice and it essentially is like a chinese finger cuff. it gets tighter and tigh

reporting live from pier 29 in san francisco, linda yee, cbs 5. >> the air around the bay area is about as unhealthy right now as it was after the 2008 wildfires. air quality officials say people who ignored the christmas weekend burn ban are largely to blame. it turns out neighbors are ratting each other out. hundreds of tips about illegal fires poured in on the 24th and 25th. authorities are sorting through them and may go after repeat offenders. lawrence karnow says there may be another wood-burning ban this weekend for new year's. >> we got high pressure building in again. you know what, this is kind of a typical la nina pattern we're seeing outside. high pressure building in on the west coast sends that jet stream to the north. all the storms head in that direction so we're just not able to mix out the atmosphere. so we're left with hazy conditions and pollutants building up in the atmosphere. it looks like tomorrow we should see some improvement. good quality air is expected in the central bay also in the south-central bay and the east bay, as well. still moderate air quality in t

we have team coverage beginning with linda yee with an update from the neighborhood as well as the story of construction workers who helped pull people from the burning buildings. >> reporter: lots of stories of heroism tonight. this is a five-alarm fire, 140 firefighters on the scene. the cause of the fire is still under investigation. it's still so hot, fire investigators can't step inside to pick through the rubble right now. it took the firefighters three hours to get this fire under control. it was intense and dangerous. flames roared through a three- story wooden victorian. it's where the fire started shortly before noon. within minutes, the fire swept through a 25-unit apartment building next door and continued spreading to two other buildings. mark was sleeping in his unit when he was rescued. >> i heard a lot of yelling and banging and what not. and people banging on buildings and windows and what not. and then so i threw some clothes on real quick because i wasn't sure what was going on. actually my door got busted open by the construction workers that are actually working on t

linda yee with details of a new plan to preserve the city status as a major player in professional sportsrter: allen, they are desperate to stay in the game. today, they sent a letter to major league baseball saying, please deal with us, let's negotiate. we have all these plans. we'll build a brand new as stadium. in fact, we'll build a whole new sports complex if that's what it takes. >> he got it. >> reporter: oakland is making it clear. it wants the as to stay and it's begging major league baseball to hear what it's got. it can build and deliver a

linda yee with details to try to keep the city a major player in professional sports. >> reporter: city officials are desperate to stay in the game so today they wrote a letter to major league baseball saying they are ready to play ball and build a brand-new baseball stadium even in an entire sports new complex if that's what it takes to keep their team. >>> reporter: oakland is making it clear it wants the as to stay and it's begging major league baseball to hear what it's got. it can build and deliver a brand-new baseball stadium by opening day 2016. >> we have experienced interest from very serious planners, large-scale developers, people who have managed, developed and run sports facilities in the past and all of them indicate there would be private financing available for the kind of project we're talking about. >> reporter: the city is offering one of two sites, a downtown waterfront ballpark at victory court near jack london square or a massive sports hotel and entertainment complex at the current site, which would be known as coliseum city. they say the community is on board. >>

mike sugerman talked to people about their frantic escape but we start with linda yee who tells you aboutordinary construction crew that pulled victims to safety. >> reporter: elizabeth, lots of stories today of heroism in the face of horrible circumstances. this was a five-alarm fire that burned-out of control for three hours. it was so intense and dangerous, it was tough to fight. >>> reporter: flames roared through a three- story wooden victorian. it's where the fire started shortly before noon. within minutes, the fire swept through a 25-unit apartment building next door and continued spreading to two other buildings. mark was sleeping in his unit when he was rescued. >> i heard a lot of yelling and banging and what not. and people banging on buildings anwi

linda yee on what they found out and what they are saying. >> well, level meetings late this afternoon between pg&e officials and the state public utilities commission as well as city fire officials, the mayor ordered protocols and oversights in place to make sure what happened here last night, that blackout at candlestick, doesn't happen when the 9ers go into the play- offs next month. it was a fireworks show no one wanted. one of two main circuit lines feeding 2,000 volts of power into the stadium failed plunging candlestick park into darkness minutes before kickoff. >> obviously, we all experienced kind of a national embarrassment for had to happen. >> reporter: this afternoon, investigators with pg&e and the california public utilities commission examined the power line that's now been repaired. they know what happened. >> it was unfortunately one of the power lines separated from itself. what happened is, there's something called a splice and it essentially is like a chinese finger cuff. it gets tighter and tighter over time and binds the two ends of a power line together. >> repo

linda yee looked into the tour company that organized the trip. >> reporter: it's four days of action, sports and entertainment, a $500 adventure package for high school students on winter break, except this week's tour had more than advertised. marijuana, drug paraphernalia and alcohol stashed in suitcases the owner of summer winter action tours or popularly known as s.w.a.t. told me it wasn't his fault kids violated the zero tolerance policy. >> it's a parent issue. >> reporter: he concedes teenagers on break mean trouble but they are often the minority. so in every trip there is a bad apple? >> of course. because i'd be naive. would you think i would be lying if i said no, it's a statistical stat. go on the internet and see what high school students do these days. >> reporter: he owned s.w.a.t. for 15 years. he is a former skier and world traveler and says his chaperones are trained to spot and handle troublemakers but students at acalanes high say drug use on the ski trip isn't a secret. >> the amount of drugs confiscated was like a ridiculous amount of contraband but like i mean,

reporter: -- to remember for all the wrong reasons. [ pause ] >> that was mike sugerman reporting and linda yee had some audio issues there at the very end. thank you. >>> a fast-moving grassfire came dangerously close to homes in vallejo but it is under control. it started about 2 p.m. this afternoon north of highway 37. that fire burned nearly 30 acres. that cloud of black smoke seen for many parts of the bay area today. crews were able to keep the flames away from homes on nearby sonora pass road. >> it reached a fence in the back. it's difficult to access the fireline in an area that's surrounded by water. difficult to place fire engines in that area. >> no buildings were burned. but no word yet on what started that fire. >>> scary moments this afternoon for dozens of passengers on a bus that crashed through a fence. take a look at this. after running off the road, the public transit bus wound the in a field. the bus was just about to drop off passengers at the pittsburg- bay point bart station. six people were taken to hospitals to be checked out. officials are looking into the possibility

linda yee records some of the firefighters were back as well trying to make things a little brighter for the victims. >> reporter: they also found some new clues. the fire started in the corner apartment building and not in that victorian next door as they originally thought. investigators say something burned in that trash area. that's where the inferno began, which drastically changed so many lives. >>> reporter: today was all about heartbreaking loss and salvaging what memories they could from the ruins. and it was the first time they saw what was left of what they once called home. >> the fire was right behind my wall. it melted my stuff. >> reporter: the five-alarm fire was san francisco's biggest in six years. two buildings destroyed, two others damaged. and fire investigators now know it all started in an alleyway where the garbage is collected behind the 25-unit apartment building on pierce street. >> investigators are asking questions, whether it was something that was discarded and the type of material at this point. it's undetermined. we do know that the origin is at the b