governor jerry brown prosed it today and ktvu's tom vacar is at the reservoir with why this billion dollars plan may be a drop in a very dry bucket. >> reporter: indeed. the bill will help. >> increase the -- >> reporter: the bill has many goals and put on the fast track. money for emergency drinking water for communities facing shortages and economic aid tohard hit communities, including -- to hard hit communities including farm relief. since this is state money expect fights as others will see what might be in it for their customers. >> we are hoping there will be opportunities for us. >> the legislation also provides funds for shovel ready water and flood projects, fish and wildlife protections, more aggressive ground water management and funds farm equipment upgrades. >> this isn't enough. >> reporter: he says politicians aren't very forth right. >> an element of denial. i think they could do more. to tell people how bad the situation is. >> reporter: the other player legislators fear. >> we need to deal with the grurilla in the room. 80% of the water goes to agricultural. as the drough

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >> thank you, tom vacar in the caldecott tunnel. thank you. >>> oakland new minimum wage law is causing problems for some businesses. >> already proven we are taking a big hit. >> why owners are forced to close their doors and the plea to the city for help. >> big plans by a bay area police department. the area where you could see police officers flying drones by 2017. >> tracking the sprinkles right now. how much longer they will last and more sprinkles in the five- day forecast. >> right now a live look at interstate 80. the university over crossing there at the top of the screen. busy. just like it normally is in the commute direction. the right lanes towards richmond. >> a look at the conditions that golden gate bridge, the headlights in the southbound direction. everything look goods at this time of night. (scal): good day, m'lady! i am sir-can-a-lot, here to save you from another breakfast bore. wake up those eggs with glorious spam! see what spam can! do... at spam.com . >>> new at 6:00 p.m. problems with oaklands' new minimu

tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >> similar crashes happened before. 2013, 33 people were killed when thelot intentionally crashed the plane once the co- pilot left the cockpit. in 1999 a flight crashed into the atlantic 30 minutes after taking off from new york. 217 people were killed. investigators believe the co- pilot crashed that plane as well. >>> moving forward with a plan to legalize marijuana in claf. the lieutenant governor talks about the effort and the hurdles. >> new information about an inmate who escaped custody. >> and locked in and ready to go. san francisco giants madison bumgarner and busty poser work on being in sync with each other. >> see the new commercials from the giants, coming up. >>> lieutenant governor is moving forward with efforts to legalize marijuana in california, including plans for public forums. now a blue ribbon commission outlined the challenges. he told us one issue is how marijuana would be taxed and whether medical marijuana users would have to pay the tax and concerned about the health of children. >> children are telling tus is easer -- telling

ktvu's tom vacar is live there now. tom, at one point, officials were so concerned, they said anyone evacuating should not use their car because it could be an ignition source. >> reporter: this incident involved about 20 square blocks starting at 8 d.a -- 8:30 this morning at sycamore. the county sent out a very scary morning instructing residents to leave on foot, not use their cars, for fear of igniting the gas. residents were told only to take essential items and to keep all pets on a leash or a cage. they were told their lock their doors and windows and stay off the phone except when calling 911. >> it was really scary, though. you hear this boom and then -- i see these guys running. i grabbed my friend, i told him you better run. let's do it. gas line leak. >> reporter: as it turns out, the leak was only a threat to about a dozen nearby homes which remain without gas service at this hour. the complete shut hour was two hours after the digging occurred. a third-party construction crew apparently dug into a high pres

tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >>> all right. let's talk about our weather now. chief meteorologist, what do you know? another beautiful day in the bay area. >> warm outside today. i mean, really nice. >> the air conditioner going on. temperatures above average. mid-70s. continues this way through the week. no rain to talk about. what we are talking about is frosty mornings. warm afternoons. air quality less than great but no spare the air alerts and tree pollens moderate to high. live storm tracker 2, you see nothing going on. dry, drying dry. last week we got rain and snow in the mountains. snow did okay. couple feet of snow up there. anything helps. next thing that is coming in here, next week. right now it doesn't look like a major event. transition to a wetter type pattern. cooler pattern. inin the meantime we have a cool in the morning, frosty in the north bay, south and east bay, early morning hours. around the bay, chilly. friday in san francisco, highlighted by 65 degrees at lunchtime. 70 degrees for a day time high. no coastal fog tomorrow. little. i di

homv, ktvu fox 2 news -- tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >>> what a day. >> good morning outside. for st. patrick's day. to bill now to find out if -- [ talking at the same time ] >> we dropped the ball big time -- [ talking at the same time ] >> where is the green? >> we have nothing. nothing. the weather has been great. highs today mid-70s. we are going to continue in this pattern through the week. no rain. we are dry in this 5 day period. highs like today, the numbers today. tomorrow's numbers right there again. 74 antioch. the loop doesn't show you much. i don't have to know it is march -- i would go this is march. just stream creeping to the north. systems are fractured. this is the time of year, right, days get longer. jet stream recedes to the north. the tropical systems shut down. that is what you expect to see in the spring. that is what we are getting. current numbers, 60s. low 70s east of fairfield. 71 walnut creek. 63 hayward. 66 in san jose right now. over night lows tonight, mid- 40s. i haven't had reports of patchy valley fog in a couple days. some places it could.

tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >>> one of the bay area's biggest ballet companies could be forced to close its doors. >> effected us. >> the effort to keep people dancing. >> this street sign in the east bay, not everyone is laughing. >> after the break, tracking the warm up. you noticed it today. you will notice it more as the week goes on. details when i come back. >> live pictures of interstate 80. you can see it is very heavy in both directions. particularly on the left hand side. those lanes with the head lights towards us, that traffic is bring effected by the sit -- being effected by that situation on interstate 580 where a couple cars were involved in a shooting and a crash and several lanes are blocked as a result. a tough evening commute tonight around the bay area. ♪ at kaiser permanente everything you need is under one roof. another way care and coverage together makes life easier. okay, a little easier. become a member of kaiser permanente. because together, we thrive. ♪ [ birds chirping ] [ inhales, exhales ] [ announcer ] cigarettes are not just dangerous when they're smoked

tom vacar, thank you, tom. we have a special section on our home page dedicated to california's drought. you can read more about the water restrictions. >>> a heads up for b.a.r.t. riders. weekend track closures are planned in oakland in april. between fruit vail and the -- fruitvale and the coliseum, from april to august. a.c. transit will offer free bus rides during the stations -- from the station during the closure. >>> a city bus was involved in a deadly head on collision this morning about 5:45 a.m. the driver of the car was killed. people in the neighborhood say that is a dangerous intersection that police used to patrol more often. >> before we had a shortage of police officers this was pretty well patrolled for speed. and they would sit right here at this intersection and pull people over. now we don't see that anymore. they need to hire more officers. >> witnesses tell us the driver of the car ran a stop sign. authorities at this point haven't released his name. four people on the bus were taken to th

ktvu's tom vacar with more on what led up to the decision. tom? >> reporter: next time they make it here to oakland, local law won't allow elephants but similarity soon that will be -- similarity soon that will be true from coast to coast. >> the circus is giving in to pressure and allegations of abuse to exclude elephants. the reason, painful control devices that through negative reinforcement force elephants to do tricks. officials maintain they do not abuse the elephants and take lent care of them. >> i think it is a -- excellent care of them. >> i think it is a great thing. >> reporter: the zoo uses target sticks with taped paper at the tend to get the elephant to point at it in exchange for a treat. >> to allow us to access those parts of the bodies for care, if we have an injury, we can have vets look that areas. >> reporter: he says the painful bull hook and the hauling around, and making them do tricks became more unacceptable forcing the circus to drop the animals from a life of doing tricks. >> the only reason this is happening is becaus

ktvu's tom vacar live with what the project means for getting b.a.r.t. closer to the south bay. tom? >> if anyone had any doubts b.a.r.t. meant to come, look at this. the station, it will be done by the end of the year and it means to do exactly that. >> reporter: b.a.r.t. pushed southward is well underway from the north and the south. the traption authority closed -- transauthority closed -- the -- transformation authority claused the claused the station -- closed the station for a while. it will be transformed into a transportation hub. >> that ridership going at the station will be more than 50 times. opening day we will serve 303,100 patients a day. >> past the mid-point in construction. we are a short time away with service planned for 2017. >>> this station will open at the end of the year. the milpitas station 2017. and the entire b.a.r.t. necklace surrounding the bay is 2023. reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >> i feel like you have been reporting on this for as long as you have been here at ktvu. what do people in the area have to say about it finally happening

ktvu's tom vacar is here now, why have prices gone up so much more in california? >> reporter: this is the hard lessen on how supply and demand work. >> reporter: california gas prices sky rocketed more than twice as much as the rest of the nation. >> oil prices went up and that would have explained 30 cents of the increase. but we have seen abincrease of a dollar -- an increase of a dollar of gallon. >> reporter: because california consumes all the gas the refineries produce, a small description is modified. on february 6 a facility shut down. a fire at exxon mobil refinery took that out. that cost california 1/5 of the capacity at a bad time of year. wait, there is more. >> this is a time we always get price spikes as they switch from making winter blend to summer blend. >> reporter: in the bay area a gallon of regular averages $3.38. that is a penny higher than yesterday. 48 cents higher than a week ago and 87 cents higher than a month ago. >> we also have refineries that don't keep more than 10 days delay of gas on hand. which is a small country. the rest of th

ktvu's tom vacar with answers tonight. >> the winds changed. the days of wild animals amusing people for profit are numbered in one of the wildest cities. >> reporter: three san francisco supervisors have submitted legislation that would ban the use of wild animals for entertainment purposes. while or exotic includes skunks to apes, to sea mammals. this would include any live performances from circuses to street performers to home parties. >> if you have a party and you are trying to have exotic animals perform tricks, we have jurisdiction over. >> reporter: san francisco would become the 11th california city to have such a ban. >> these exotic animals that are used for entertainment are physically tortured. >> reporter: it includes the filming of movies within the city where they might be used. dogs, cats and horses would be exempt. the most important exemption, zoos and aquariums. >> we are guardians of the bay and trying to save wildlife in the real world and we use this as education so people learn about the animals. it makes the connection

ktvu's tom vacar in our newsroom now to explain. tom. >> in fact, two of them. high-technology has many unanticipated consequences, but sometimes very good ones. >> we first showed you san francisco based metro mile when it launched california service last july. you simply plug this device into your car's on board computer port and pay for your car insurance based on the actual miles you drive. it monitors not only mileage, but the location of the car. ryan and his partner both metro mile customers learned of an unexpected benefit two days ago. >> my partner gets up to go to work and he comes back inside and says, the car is gone. >> he opened up his app on his smart phone and looked for his car's where abouts. >> the car is not in the valley, but in bay view. >> he called the police department and gave them the location of the car, but soon the car started moving around making it hard for the police to find. so he called metro mile and got hooked up with customer service agent, alex bosman who looked up his car on her system. >> ours is faster so i was able to

tom vacar -- runs through sunday.ktvu fox 2 news. >> people letting their lawns go, i was out over the weekend and i said dad, what is up with the lan, he said we decided to let it go. >> here is the best thing about the drought, this is what we are supposed to do. this is california. we know it is a drought climate. it could be 10 years, there have been 30 year droughts. before we got here, this someplace all about, sometimes we get water, sometimes we don't get any water. in australia they had a similar problem, and they came up with drought plants like we are doing now. the best thing about this is we are going what can we do? maybe we truck water. put in gravel gardens. maybe all the things you heard are probably things that we are going to have to adhere to. this is a turning point in california's history. in the history of the state, this drought is a turning point. we are going to start to step up and do what we have to do to conserve water. no more turning the faucet on and not thinking about it. we remember t

tom vacar, things are just getting worse. >> reporter: a whole lot worse. at 5:00, the meeting ended for the board of directors and they learned this. if there is no march miracle, california will be much, much deeper, near the bottom or a very depleted reservoir. east bay mud's border directors knew it was coming but it was no less worrisome. >> a pretty grim forecast. >> reporter: january was the driest month ever recorded. the clock and the calendar have now become enemies to all california water suppliers. >> now that we are in march and went sir about to end, we are looking at water supply projections about to rival what the east bay saw in the 1977 drought or the one in the late 80s. >>> east bay mud's reservoirs are only 55% of capacity. the watershed has an average of one foot of snow on the ground compared to the usual six feet. today, statewide snow pack which was 33% of normal this time last year is now just 19%. just 1% higher than the 1991 modern low of 18%. we would need another 11 inches of rain just to get halfway between the driest and wett

tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >>> it is what a lot of us have been waiting for. baseball is back. the first exhibition game in spring training was held today for the giants and a's. they faced off today in mesa, arizona. madison bumgarner and the champions struggled. ktvu's scott reiss is here now. it is just exhibition so. >> it is. stay again, baseball is back. >> baseball is back. [ talking at the same time ] [ laughter ] >> madison bumgarner not picking up where he left off in october but it is spring training baseball. it is all good. dues rejoice. especially when the giants -- cause to rejoice special when the giants and a's play. madison bumgarner was too busy serving up balls. he hit two home runs. went 3-3. tim lincecum uncorks the wild pitch. struck out two in one inning of work. the giants home-run, adam duval. it is only march. a's win 9-4. and coming up at 6:00 p.m. we will hear from bruce bochy on madison bumgarner's perform and we look ahead to my weekend at spring training. i am fired up. i will be there sunday. >> thank you. >>> california's sierra nevada no pack

. >>> you probably noticed you are paying more at the pump, ktvu fox 2 news tom vacar shows us we are getting a bargain. >> reporter: for many californians pain at the pump and frustration returned. >> feels like it is going back to where it was. we became accustomed to prices being higher. >> first they become really high and then low. so just ease our pain for a little bit and then high again. >> stabilizing is the best you can ask for. >> reporter: gas prices have leveled off. an average of gas prices showed today, yesterday and a week ago, prices stabilized at $3.43 a gallon. a month ago they were $2.71. 72 cents a gallon less but a year ago it was $3.94. 51 cents higher than today. >> the whole sale market turned around. >> prices on the whole sale market in california have come down 40 cents a gallon over the last couple weeks. that hasn't started coming through yet to the retail. but the prices stopped going up. >> reporter: what could screw up this trend? one or more of several important circumstances. temporary loss of another refinery, as happened last month at exxon mobil r

ktvu's tom vacar says some say the bridge isn't the real threat to the fish. tom? >> indeed.s may be the site of a misplaced environmental battle. >> this is the smelt. a fish that grows to 4, 5 inches and wanders over rivers, the san francisco bay, and the ocean. >> used to be the most abundant fish and now they are rare. >> reporter: dismantle the pillars could be done mechanically and they could be imploded that would collapse them in a few seconds. either way fish will be killed. 1 or 2% of the remaining population. >> it is clear that the level of the impact would be much, much lower. >> reporter: populations of the smelt and others have been compromised by low water flows resulting from the drought and rerouting water to farming and urban use. >> maybe this is not the year to do this particular project. >> if they can wait till next spring that would be great. >> reporter: in reality what happens at the bridge pales to the real threat, too much water being diverted from the bay. >> if the flows don't improve, this fish will go extinct. >> reporter: they have weighed som

ktvu's tom vacar is here now to explain what is new and what remains the same. >> reporter: some of the restrictions may seem tame but every drop of water counts. >> reporter: the board voted to give local water agencies new standards to enforce and more powers. >> it is necessary because we are in the most severe drought that we have experienced and we want our urban areas to be resilient enough to weather what could be a very dry next year or two. >> the big change, local agencies that have not yet already restricted watering must now adopt a twice a week standard. agencies that adopted restrictions can keep them. another biggy. home owners are barred from sprinkling lawns on rainy days and the following two days. >> the rules about outdoor landscaping could save a good deal of water. >> reporter: they must notify users to repair leaks if someone tells them of them. other restrictions, not allowing restaurants to bring water to your table unless you ask for it. hotels must give guests the option to decline fresh towels. >> those are educational. >> reporter: continuing existing restri

tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >> yeah. good outcome there. you think back to 1982 when there was a similar tunnel fire in the caldecott tunnel, back then 7 people were killed. >> yeah. i was there. what is interesting about all that is this, every tunnel in the united states, every tunnel that has been built goes back to that moment and says how do we make sure this outcome doesn't happen again. that was an awful thing. it was completely something they couldn't control and every suggest has been -- tunnel has been built with that in mind. they are state of the art. >> tom vacar at the caldecott tunnel thank you. >>> to developing news from napa. two men are dead after a shooting and a police chase. ktvu's allie rasmus is live to put this together for us. >> reporter: this started before noon when ditch patchers gotyish dispatchers got a call -- dispatchers got a call. when deputies arrived they found two men in a venyard. one man was -- vineyard -- vineyard, one man was dead, the other man led police on a chase. the suv took off on highway 29

ktvu's tom vacar explains. >> reporter: the building boom could not avoid the port slow down.been delayed as contractors waited for huge glass windows. major construction firms get no special preference. >> when you are inside the terminals you are the same as the little guy. >> reporter: today the port appears to be normal. not too many shipsduction. but away from the dock -- ships docked. but away from the dock, jammed. >> yesterday there were 19 vessels anchored waiting for birds at the ports of los angeles and long beach. almost all of the vessels are destined for oakland after they discharge the southern california cargo. >> they are off loading but then we have a jam up inside the terminals. everybody tries to reroute. >> reporter: this santa rosa supplier of construction materials rerouted his work through the port of houston and railed it to oakland hoping to avoid the mess. >> still got backed up here because they are so backed up. >> reporter: he put a critical order in his truck to take to the job site. >> clients are trying to move in, this is the last bit of stone

. >> and ktvu's fox 2's tam tom vacar went on the tour. tom is here now with what he saw.is what we have. a quarter billion dollar brand- new headquarters for the san francisco police department. also we have southern station police station and engine house number 4. all in one building, all of it opens next week. 200 people have signed up to tour the building today and tomorrow. sitting among mission days brand-new buildings, the ball park, and the waterfront, is an iconic structure. art, and spectacular views. in the reception area, a solemn tribute to those officers killed in the line of duty. this is the most facility in existence anywhere. >> it represents the city very well. we moved ahead. we have gotten e-mail after everybody else in @ private sector got it. so here we are. we are getting on the cutting edge. >> the idea, use everything natural, including light, waste nothing, including sunk and shower water as well as rain. >> capture rainwater for irrigation and to use for the cooling towers. and we'll be capturing water to flush toilets. >> the structure rests o

tom vacar landed upside down under a bridge so it was difficult to see from the road. >> there was arman who came to fish along the river and noticed the vehicle. >> written rescue -- when it rescue crews arrived they found the girl hanging upside down. her mother was dead. the toddler rushed to a hospital. officials say the girl is in stable condition. a family member says she is doing okay. three police officers who entered the river were also taken to the hospital. >>> three people recovering from injuries after a crash that happened at about 8:00 last night. one man and two women were taken to the hospital. police say crews had to cut to a car door to get access to the victims. details have not been released about the cars. all three people are expect it to be okay. the cause of the crash is unknown. >>> some of the fans of the hit tv show" full house" missed an opportunity over the weekend. the actor, john stay most went to the house made famous by that show on friday. look at the bottom of the screen. the people did not even see him. the actor posted this photo on instagram. it

tom vacar, ktvu news. >>> once again another round of plenty of sunshine out there and those warm temperaturesup into the 70s. we'll do it all over into the seven day forecast. then a few changes into the weekend. you see the closest cloud bank is out to the north over 200 miles and here's the next storm. it's not going to be the next storm for us but about 150 miles to the west. all that energy will be heading up and over us with our dry weather pattern here to stay. a few high clouds approaching the tip of california and also patchy fog developing up there as well. current numbers you can see cooling off into the 40s already. 49 in santa rosa. san jose pleasant in the upper 50s into 57. here's our live camera looking out toward the bay bridge. out toward san francisco bay. forecast headlines, fair skies. tomorrow mostly sunny. it'll be warm. the fog makes a come back. and even right around the bay. but here's the key headline in the short term as strong high pressure is over head. and the sinking air that is warming air. that coupled with that offshore breeze really warmed up the area for to

tom vacar looks at how it could cost you for the ride.eporter: their riders believes that taxes are too expensive and less reliable. officially sanction cabs are mandated requirements and costs. it's easier, cheaper and less bureaucratic for those who are uber drivers. some uber drivers sued the company claiming they're employees entitled to employee based benefits. writer opinion is certainly divided. >> i would say an employee. i have a friend who works for uber. >> the contractor's pay is lower and because we're drivers hours are flexibility. >> i think it's a combination of the two that the drivers using his or her own car or own vehicle, but employed by uber in the sense they've checked this person out and that credential. >> golden gate law school says six standards apply. >> what they boil down to is the degree of control that the employer has over the work and conduct of the workers. >> such things is requirements placed on the drivers such as the permissible vehicles, dress insurance requirements, maintenance and schedules will h

tom vacar, ktvu fox 2 news. >>> it looks like singers robin thick and pharell williams are on the hook for copyright infringement. >> the jury returned a verdict saying blurred lines is a copy of the marvin gay sign called got to give it up. williams and thick says the song is completely original. it has earned more than $16 million in profits: ahead, a growing number of athletes are getting hurt. inside a one of a kind center that specializes in helps these kids and their interesting theory on why kids are getting hurt more often and why those injuries are more serious. >> plus, we will explain why federal marshalls have seized america's top boat. >> right after the break, we are checking in with the showers in the forecast for your bay area wednesday and there is a warmup in the five day. we will get into that as well. thanks for the ride around norfolk! and i just wanted to say geico is proud to have served the military for over 75 years! roger that. captain's waiting to give you a tour of the wisconsin now. could've parked a little bit closer... it's gonna be dark by the time i get