. >> matt ford, ladies and gentlemen. the bell ringing competition is a two-part event today. we have professionals competing for a number of prizes in the coveted title of world champion bell ringer. for the amateur portion we have executives from some of our local media outlets competing for first, second, and third place trophies. the competition started with preliminaries. 37 contestants went through filling out the paperwork and a chance to proceed to the finals. all cable car crews were invited to compete. this year they have six finalists competing here at union square, competing against the two-time current champion mr. leonard oates. going to be tough. two years with the tiara, hard to give up. individual trophies welcome awarded to all six professional bell ringers. first, second, and third prizes will not only win trophies but a most -- host of prizes from our he steemed sponsors. we have the prize table right next to all the lovely doughnuts at this time we would like to thank our supporters and sponsors, without whom we could not do this every year. the sfmta, mun

from the mta, i want to thank matt ford for his staff. [applause] from the puc, ed harrington, thank you for allowing us to work with mark -- michael carlin. doug schumacher, thank you for the great work you did on the office -- from the mayor's office of housing. then there are great members of our board of directors. they include, for many years, claudine chang. larry delcarlo. larry mazolo jr. lord richardson. john paul samaha. [applause] to members of the treasure island citizen advisory board, countless hours from our citizens involved in every way, especially the president, karen knkowles pierce. [applause] she has worked so well with the other island residents including becky hoge, john conners, and bnetty lettington. we have our organizations on treasure island, who have been working so hard for us, and of so many other important things ever present our city. including the director of the homeless initiative, sarah. [applause] thank you. member organization that are included in this initiative have been the boys and girls club of

i am not going to go to both the superintendent and matt ford. they have been proactive in which safety to school can be approved. i know sue is also here who works with transportation authority who actually places security officers on public transportation. obviously not all. but also works collaboratively. can you talk about your efforts and perhaps have you joined by director ford. >> well, i think it's a joint effort. it's always changing. and also the police chief, who we have a pretty tight relationship with the school district in terms of when things happen. we get on the phone and we're talking about what do we do? we have had to change starting times and ending time so they are not over lapping in different routes so we don't get different turfs. we have had to look at rerouting where kids have to stop to take another transit. those areas are safe. sometimes we have worked directly. they have put police out there and we always find hot spots that come up. you think you have solved it and then a new one pops up. the best help for us is to

from the mta, i want to thank matt ford for his staff.se] from the puc, ed harrington, thank you for allowing us to work with mark -- michael carlin. doug schumacher, thank you for the great work you did on the office -- from the mayor's office of housing. then there are great members of our board of directors. they include, for many years, claudine chang. larry delcarlo.

. >> the man that oversees the taxi fleet, matt ford says he is leaving the municipal transportationmonth. it comes three days after an arbitrator imposed a contract on muni operators. they say ford has done little to improve muni. >>> a civil grand jury is calling for a whole rethinking in response to emergencies. the san jose mercury news reports a grand jury report found that 70% of fire department calls are medical emergencies. just 4 are fire related. they have to respond the same way with three or more firefighters on an engine costing half an million dollars. that is five times the cost of an ambulance. the grand jury says it's wasteful when paramedics can address the majority of calls that are not fire related. >> san jose's fire department is getting a boost from washington, a $15 million federal grant will allow the city to rehire 49 firefighters laid off last year because of budget cuts. the city has to keep the firefighters on the job for two years in order to get all the federal money. >> more than half the fire department, it will be decision on their part. >> we miss t

matt dillon in "gunsmoke" from 1955 to 1975. he worked with hundreds of actors, some of whom you certainly recognize, harrison ford, charles bronson. he died of natural causes. arness was 88 years old. >>> say good morning to my man reynolds wolf. good morning. i was saying right before we went into that story, you remember arness? everybody remembers that show even though it was before our time, if you will. >> my memories on james arness are fair to partly cloudy. reruns but certainly a great american. across there great country we're going to be dealing with incredibly warm temperatures not all over the nails, but in the southeast, southern plains, it will be roasting out there. we'll show you how high the temperatures will go and how long the heat wave will last. more in just a few seconds. >> reynolds see you in just a few. >>> we have found a link between ellen degeneres and al qaeda. and the link, would you believe, is a cupcake? i'll explain in 60 seconds. >>> 11 minutes past the hour now. renltds joining me for this. the missouri river shut down right now. high water levels and flooding. what's going on here? melting snow