i'm marla tellez. >> i'm jon kelley. nurses at two dozen area hospitals unified and walking off the job. >> part of a stewide strike that some say is the largest he ever. one of those is ultimate ta bates oakland where chrissy smith joins us live now with the latest. good morning, christie. >> good morning to you. we're four hours into it and the nurses are still going strong, walking the picket line at summit hospital in oakland. 34 hospitals involved, many in the east bay. we're waiting for nurses from characterize about to march over here. all this going on in a hospital spokesperson says patient care is happening is as usual. >> pickett signs came out before dawn and by 7:00 sharp -- >> what do we want? >> contracts. >> thousands of nurses went on a one-day strike. leslie has worked at summit in oakland for 24 years. >> we're forced to strike to

i'm marla tellez.'m going to explain why the queen of day time tv is coming to facebook coming up. >> it's not the iphone 5 but a cool new phone does hit store shelves today. >> a live look outside this time from the east bay this morning. looks like traffic's picking up. we'll check with our traffic guru on this thursday, september 8th, this is "today in the bay." >> good morning to you. thanks for joining us. it's 5:30 now. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and for the record i want everybody to know she is our news guru then. i'm jon kelley. good morning. let's check in with our weather -- >> i'm the dawn of weather. >> the dawn. >> yeah. >> you are so good. good morning to you. we actually have really, really good weather out there for today. if you were too hot yesterday it's going to be much cooler inland. you can probably give your ac a break even in the south bay. your temperatures are mild, we're in the upper 50s, a couple of 60s as well in fairfield and livermore. i'll let you know what we're expec

here's nbc bay area marla tellez. >> as hot air balloons hang high above the napa valley. prestigious grapes hang on the vines below. but not for much longer. >> we're really excited about the quality. >> reporter: but like the last couple of years, workers got a late start on the harvest. they're just two weeks into it, all because of mother nature and the cool spring and summer she delivered again during a more normal year the harvest can begin in july. >> we see cool years. we see wet years. dry years, hot years. as farmers we need to be prepared to deal with what mother nature hands out. >> john is vice president of the napa valley grape growers. we caught up with him. he says more time on the vine generally means more flavor. if the grapes are picked by the end of october. >> when the grapes are ready, they taste great. >> they will pick 1,000 tons of grapes for the 500 acres before the harvest ends in six weeks. a crew of 340 picks a ton of grapes a day. that's close to 29,000 bottles a day. marla tellez. nbc bay area news. >> oh, it is big business, like we said. so

here's nbc bay area's marla tellez. >> reporter: as the fog rolls over the san bruno hills and the windin the glenview neighborhood, so does the rebuilding process. >> it's exciting to see the houses and taking form -- >> reporter: it's a neighborhood connie jackson knows well. she visits it at least once a week. she's done so since the night that forever changed the city she manages. [ sirens ] >> i was at city hall. i was meeting with a couple of my staff. and we -- we heard the explosion -- >> reporter: from el camino royale she saw the sky-high flames that charred cars, destroyed homes, and took lives. >> it was mass confusion and chaos in those first moment. >> reporter: the infamous pipeline explosion also meant connie's role as city manager would never quite be the same. her days are now consumed with keeping up with pg&e and keeping in touch with the neighborhood. >> it's been a tough year for the families and for the community as a whole. >> reporter: today a quiet calm lingers here, and dried roses and a teddy bear hang in loving memory on claremont street. inside city hall, a

i'm marla tellez. >> christina loren is here to sprinkle sunshine or whatever else you have. >> sprinkle a little particulate matter. >> you can really kind of grab it. it's going to be thick out there. our third consecutive spare the air day. air quality is kind of at its worst. we haven't seen three consecutive spare the air days all summer long. it looxz like this will be the hottest day of the summer so far. there's only about three days left in summer. we'll talk about when we'll cool off. rain in the forecast as well. first though 5:01. >>> night quite as much activity on the incident report as yesterday. this accident did just pop up recently, southbound 680 at crow canyon road. a car went into the center divide. this is in the area where the construction is in the off ramming. i'm happy to note those construction crews are safe there and clear from crow canyon. that's a boring map. i'll show you a better map coming up. i'll get more creative. >> you're happy, we're happy. >>> breaking news this morning out of iran. after more than two years stuck in jail in that country, it's rep

i'm marla tellez. >> and i'm jon kelley. a gaping reminder of the tragedy in san bruno will finally be closed and a community can begin to heal. >> the massive crater left by the deadly gas explosion will be filled. that crater sits in the san bruno. marianne favro has more. >> reporter: the mayor of san bruno and other city officials will be among the first to shovel dirt to fill the crater caused by the explosion last year. that explosion killed eight people. for the neighborhood here, this is symbolic of closing a wound in the community. neighbors here lil' will be given the opportunity to shovel dirt in the hole. pg&e's contractor will fill the hole this afternoon as paving work and other sidewalk repairs should take about three weeks. neighbors here got a letter from pg&e, telling them to expect about three weeks of construction. this hole may get closed today but neighbors say they hope legislators will close the hole in loop holes in regulations so that a tragedy like this won't happen again. you are seeing people mil

i'm marla tellez. >> and i'm jon kelley. two cal grads are finally seeing the world as a beautiful thing outside the prison walls for the very first time in two years. >> josh fattal and shane bauer, jailed as spies, have left a prison in iran as free men. we do have some newv video. here it is, convoy of diplomats leading the men to the airport. they will eventually be taken all the way back to the u.s. for family and friends waking up to this news in the bay area, relief and excitement to close the chapter on this long ordeal. christie smith is live with more details. >> reporter: one professor here at u.c. berkeley said he got the call about this early this morning and was so excited he couldn't stop shaking. he taught shane bauer here in a journalism class. he and everyone here at u.c. berkeley saying this was a long time coming. >> too bad that hikers can't go around other countries and explore the environment without getting caught up in politics. especially close to home, because they were berkeley graduates. it's nic

i'm marla tellez. >> and i'm jon kelley. midair bomb threat forcing an alaskan airplane to land at oakland airport. >> that plane is now in a remote area. alaskan airlines flight 342 landed about 7:55 this morning. the plane was searched because a letter containing a bomb threat was found at sfo. when it landed in oakland, all the 132 passengers and their luggage were taken off that plane and screened. of course, we will continue to update you on this situation as it develops. >>> this morning, the agonizing wait continues for an east bay family as investigators work to find out if a body found over the weekend is, in fact, that of missing student michelle le. today, investigators may be able to determine the gender of the body, if it's male or female, found by volunteers in a rugged area off 680 between pleventon and senol. meantime, the woman accused of killing michelle le and dumping her body faces charges in court this morning. joining us now from the court is hayward is christie smith. >> reporter: good morning. we've b

i'm marla tellez. >> and i'm jon kelley. a lot to get to today. news out of berkeley. a controversial bake sale on the campus. it is making news not because of the selection of sweets but for the pricing structure it is using. bob redell is live at the bake sale some call racist. >> reporter: good morning. the campus republicans wanted to get a conversation going about sb 185 which would allow public universities to take race and gender into consideration during admissions. you can see it certainly got a lot of people talking with their bake sale, one that they themselves admit is racist. see if i can get this gentleman. can you scoot over quick? we want to show this. they are asking people to pay a price based on the color of their skin. these are recommended prices, they're not forcing them on anyone. the customers have to choose which race they want to align with. regardless of their actual skin color. there have been plenty of takers. looks like they're close to running out of cupcakes and cookies. some of these people are for the cause, some are against the cause.

i'm marla tellez. >> and i'm jon kelley.e start things off with solyndra executives getting an earful on capitol hill. they are taking it without a single word. >> face-to-face with executives, saying taxpayers will be footing this bill. a $530 million bill. nbc bay area's damian trujillo is live at solyndra headquarters. what do they have to say? >> reporter: that panel stopped short of calling solydra executives liars and of pulling off a heist. they didn't say much. for an hour and 15 minutes, the subcommittee laid it on two top executives of solyndra. >> brian harrison met with me in committee fss less than two months ago, look immediate in the eye and assured me that everything was just fine and the company was on track to be cash-flow positive. >> reporter: yet two months later, solyndra filed for chapter 11 and laid off its 1,100 employees after a $50 million loan bushed by the obama white house. two weeks ago, the fbi raided company headquarters. executives sitting before us today had the audacity to tell members of

i'm marla tellez. >> i'm jon kkelly. >> police know who killed the president of the hell's chapter butot sure they're going to track him down. >> the prosecutor says the suspect has ties to the bay area and may be hiding somewhere nearby. investigators say he is a member of the vagos motorcycleal gang wanted for killing jeff pet pettigrew in sparks, nevada, just last week. >> another bay area man arrested in the shoot-out has two court dates today. this morning, 36-year-old cesar villagrana will face felony charges in a nevada courtroom linked to the shooting. he has a separate hearing in santa cruz today for an unrelated case. in march, he was arrested for carrying an unregistered gun. aptos. >> they are armed, dangerous and ripping off stores in the east bay. >> but how they do it and what they're taking is, well, just plain bizarre. "today in the bay's" christie spith is following the investigation and got a chance to watch the surveillance tapes of the suspects in action. good morning. >> good morning to you. i've seen security tape of one of these incidents, one in pleasant hill.

i'm marla tellez. >> i'm jon kelley. for a fugitive accused of killing a northern california city councilman has heated up after a shoot-out between alameda county deputies and that suspect. >> george, what can you tell us right now? >> reporter: we just talked with mendocino county sheriff tom alman a short time ago. he told us today is the day he's hoping to find aaron bassler and arrest him. deputies from mendocino and sacramento counties got their gear ready to head into the forest in an area near north spur, which is 15 miles east of here. that's where they believe bassler is hiding after he shot fish and game employee last month. he kwon fronted alameda sheriffs deputies. each time shots were fired. it's unclear if bassler was hit. the sheriff says last night more shots were fired in the area, although it's not clear who fired those shots. the sheriff tells me he believes that bassler is still in the forest and did not escape anywhere else. >> we're very comfortable saying he's still in the area nearby. i'm also co