southern california are placing blame. the thomas fire burned more than 440 square miles so far and destroyed more than 1,000 buildings. many of them, the majority of them homes. lawsuits claim southern california edison started the blaze. either throu c activities or faulty equipment. and that lack of water pressure hampered efforts to control the flames. and lass -- also in california. >>> from fire to ice. the ice skating national championships are under way. the years of brian boitano, you had gershwin played. something classic. exactly. just now, moments ago, you had one skater who skated to this. >> this kind of shocked the crowd. ♪ >> that is skater jimmy ma. he likes to shake things up. last year he did this to a medley by eminem. >> very nice, i think i could go with this. the crowd is, looks a little bit shocked by that. >> not singing along. >>> coming up, why alex trebek is taking a break from jeopardy, and what he's now saying to his fans. >>> and how fans of justin bieber will soon be able to get an up close and personal look at mementos from his formative years. >>> but first, here's a look at today's forecast. ♪ >>> "world news now" weather, brought to you by febreze. i love you, basem

southern california says that negligence by two utility companies contributed to widespread destruction from the wildfires in december and the deadly mudslide last week. the lawsuit was filed in santa barbara superior court and names southern california edison and the montecito water district. the lawsuit claims that the equipment calls the fire and mudslide only occurred because vegetation that held the soul back was burnt to the district. they was also accused of not maintaining their equipment which led to a catastrophic break in the water line. >>> we had some rain and showers out there this morning. it was real light. fort bragg had almost 1 inch of rain. san jose had very little rain. very light rain. but the flow is good and encouraging. it is not going to switch around anytime soon. we are going to continue with a strong westerly flow of clausen moisture into early next week, and that is a good sign for us. as we head into thursday, we will have more rain. fog will be the story to that. -- tonight. we had a lot of fog and we will probably see a dense fog again in the valley. if you are traveling that way, then just know there is going to be a bunch of fog tomorrow. the forecast overnight low temperature will be right on the dew poin

they have some of the best minds in the business at edison international in southern california.ams of people devoted to making their projects as safe as possible. heavily regulated utilities and the regulators are after them. at the reality is this thing is under investigation. the investigation hasn't concluded yet and we haven't yet seen convincing evidence that it is at a sin that was not careful and because this thing. we have to wait and respect the process and see what happens, but it is still under investigation and the plaintiffs attorneys who wrote those phrases that you quoted, they stand to make a boatload of money, the attorneys do if things go their way so of course they will make their case as best they can. the only other thing i would add briefly is that at the time these fires broke out, wins are clocked in excess of 70 miles per hour in the area where the fire started. >> shannon: does not indicate that maybe they should have delayed the work or done something with those conditions? >> we will see when they were both adults of the investigation, but i'm not sur

. >>> southern california edison sparked the largest wildfire in state history. the suit claimed the utility performed construction near a facility in an unsafe manner, which caused vegetation to catch fire. it also claim edison failed to safely maintain its overhead and electric communications facilities. the thomas fire has burned more than 281,000 acres, destroyed more than -- another couple weeks containment. >>> i grew up here, my parents' home. they wake up every day and it's hard for them. they say, you know, we'll never get our life back to the way it was before. >> pg&e is facing dozens of lawsuits. a third party owned and installed and maintained the electrical equipment. >>> as you're about to see, in this case, the writing isn't on the wall, it is on the sidewalk literally. in san francisco people have spray painted mix me messages by street drains. abc 7 news reporter melanie wood row is live with response from the city. melanie? >> reporter: you can see it right here, a spray painted arrow in front of this catch space, and with the words, fix me, i'

now a lawsuit alleges that southern california edison negligently started the thomas fire.he largest officially recorded wildfire in modern state history. the thomas fire has burned over 281,000 acres and as of this morning it is 92% contained. plaintiffs believe that sce's employees and/or contractors construction activities caused the ignition of dry vegetation at a construction site which set off the massive wildfires on december 4th. >>> this week the secretary of the department of homeland security toured areas devastated by the wine country wildfires. now we have an idea of how much debris has been cleared at this point. she says the weight of the debris is equal to nearly the entire weight of the golden gate bridge. more than 245,000 acres were burned in the fires and nearly 9,000 structures were destroyed. federal and state officials say debris clean-up could wrap up within the next two months. >>> a spike in flu cases is prompting some bay area hospitals to take measures to protect patients. jackie ward reports. >> reporter: four people in santa clara county have a

. >>> southern california edison sparked the largest wildfire in state history.claimed the utility performed construction near a facility in an unsafe manner, which caused vegetation to catch fire. it also claim edison failed to safely maintain its overhead and electric communications facilities. the thomas fire has burned more than more than -- another couple weeks containment. >>> i grew up here, my parents' home. they wake up every day and it's hard for them. they say, you know, we'll never get our life back to the way it was before. >> pg&e is facing dozens of lawsuits. a third party owned and installed and maintained the electrical equipment. >>> as you're about to see, in this case, the writing isn't on the wall, it is on the sidewalk literally. in san francisco people have spray painted mix me messages by street drains. abc 7 news reporter melanie wood row is live with response from the city. melanie? >> reporter: you can see it right here, a spray painted arrow in front of this catch space, and with the words, fix me, i'm broken. this is at pacific and bu

california mudslide victims an electric company and local water district, lawsuit accuses southern california edison of negligence, one of its transformers sparked the thomas fire that torched more than 280,000 acres of land leaving hillsides stripped bare of vegetation which contributed to the deadly maoud slides. the lawsuit calling out montecito water district claiming a water main failure added millions of gallons to the mud. hundreds of homes there were damaged and destroyed. 20 people were killed. >> julie: north korea and south korea agreeing to form a joint women's ice hockey team for the olympics game and the athletes will march together at the opening ceremonies next month in south korea. yesterday the secretary warned america if america is at a fragile stage with north korea what happens as the regime continues to beef up its nuclear arsenal. here is secretary tillerson. >> with respect to whether americans should be concerned about a war with north korea, i think we all need to be very sober and clear eyed that that threat is growing and if north korea is not -- does not choose to pathwa

edison, southern california edison and san diego gas and electric have both requested authority to close their 100% offering programmes in their service territories. they have such low participation, they're saying it is not worthwhile for them to continue their programmes. thank you. >> commissioners, anything else? >> move the item. >> second. >> any other discussion? any public comment? >> thank you, president kwon and commissioners. happy new year. 350 bay area. we definitely support this and i support everything that ms. hale said. i wasn't planning on speaking, but to commissioner caen's point, about the spiral, i think it does bear, you know, just elaborating a little bit more. we're in a bit of a unique situation because a lot of the other c.c.a.'s roll in their whole service territory within six monthings or a year and so there is kind of this critical period where folks are us -- us is -- susceptible, if you will, to the choice and opting out of pg millimetre e which is a pretty beefy choice which is what's in front of them. we're in a situation where, for multiple years, peopl

critics believe the north is trying to divide south korea >>> they claim the company southern california edisontarted the thomas fire. >> lawsuits were filed last month on behalf of nine residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the fire. the thomas fire is the largest wildfire in modern california history. >>> long time jeopardy host alex trebek had surgery for blood clots in his brain but says he'll be back soon. >> trebek announced he had the surgery during the show's holiday break after a two day hospital stay his prognosis is excellent we're hearing. the 77-year-old has hosted the popular game show since 1984. >> don't forget to play the lottery tonight. mega millions jackpot is worth $418 million. it's the fourth largest jackpot in mega millions history. the powerball is now up to $550 million. >> and if you forget tonight then don't forget the powerball is on saturday, right, so, back to back. >> dreams. >> dream on. coming up on fox5 news morning, security flaws in nearly every computer in the country could leave you vulnerable to identity theft. >> and buyer beware. 13 states

instead of southern california edison driving around -- smart buildings, hvac systems will go out. art mobility. why autonomous vehicles? over and over, safer roads less , congestion. 50% of the congestion in california is not recurrent. meaning, there are special events -- whether, the first rain, a lot of accidents. a big cause of congestion is accidents. the system will get more efficient if cars refused to crash. air quality was mentioned. i have a slide on increased accessibility. we are focused on that. that was mentioned before we throw that in. it has to be true. you are all safe drivers so i appreciate that. the highest percentage increase in the fatality rate, if memory serves me is bicycles and , pedestrians. forre asking people to walk their health and bicycle for their health and yet the , fatality rate is going up. we need to do something about that. we need to protect the vehicles, but protect the bicyclists and pedestrians. a study was done by the texas transportation institute. they studied an autonomous vehicle carrying four passengers self-driving versus a single