i'm tony kovaleski. good night. [ laughter ] he loves me. he loves me not. he loves me. me not. ♪ he loves me! that's right. [ mom ] warm and flaky in 15, everyone loves pillsbury grands! [ girl ] make dinner pop! [ female announcer ] holiday cookies are a big job. everything has to be just right. perfection is in the details. ♪ pillsbury cookie dough. make the holidays pop! ] pillsbury cookie dough. >> announcer: the following program is sponsored by operation smile. every year, hundreds of thousands of children are born with cleft lip and or cleft palate. >> dr. bill magee: why should any child, anywhere on this planet, have to live a life of misery. >> kathy majette: a lot of people think that children that are born with these deformities are cursed. just imagine a life alone, that nobody wanted to be around you. >> norrie oelkers: and we had children coming in for screening with brown bags over their head. they're never allowed to leave their house unless they have a bag on their heads. >> kathy majette: some children don't live, because they have problems with eatin

here's chief investigative reporter tony kovaleski. >> and thank you for joining us. for the next 30 minutes, we investigate. exposing stories, uncovering issues, and holding government accountable. we begin on the tarmac with an investigation into the growing demands of pilots. >> asiana crash has refocused attention on how foreign pilots learn to fly. how many are getting trained right here in the states but have very different standards for getting in the cockpit than american pilots. >> it took 23-year-old anthony yon three yeefrs book study just to get here. he's prepping his cessna 172 aircraft as part of the 10 to 12-month process to fulfill his dream. >> i really wanted to be someone like that, because it's special. >> a dream he's had since he was 10. back home in china. >> for a 10-year-old kid like i was. >> a dream of becoming a commercial pilot. this man from to nies yeah shares his dream. according to the faa, nearly 24,000 foreign pilots have gotten either commercial or air transport license over the last four years. here in america. yon and thousands o

here's chief investigative reporter tony kovaleski. >> thank you for joining us. for the next 30 minutes, we invest. we like to call it accountable journalism. uncovering important issues, exposing problems that need to be fixed. let's begin across the border where millions of americans are leaving the country to get medical procedures on the cheap. an option insurance companies are covering. it's a practice critics argue that can actually come at a greater cost. investigative reporter traveled to mexico to see it firsthand. >> 1,500 miles travel traveled. months of waiting to experience this. >> i'm going to go walk in the water tonight. >> yes, i really have. and that sounds crazy. it sounds nuts. >> crazy because general hins flew from california, leaving some of arguably the best medical providers in the world to come here to this hospital in pu puerto vallarta, mexico. she's such a believer in medical tourism, she's about to have her first surgery outside of the u.s. >> this will actually end up helping everyone in the united states who goes to the american h

i'm investigative reporter tony kovaleski. >> much more still to come on "today in the bay." up next, a lot is riding on the 49ers final regular season game against the cardinals. we'll let you know what a win could mean for the niners and their playoff positioning. >>> you are watching "today in the bay." >> almost 7:44 on your sunday morning. a live look right now at o.co coliseum where the raiders will wrap up their season against the broncos. pryor gets the start and looks to leave the silver and black to their fifth win of the year, which would be a one-game improvement over last season if you're looking for any consolation. that's a 1:25 game. >>> things are a bit different for the 49ers. they're in the valley of the sun today to take on the arizona cardinals. nfc playoff seedings are still very much in the air, and at stake here. by the end of the day the niners could end up anywhere from the first overall seed in the nfc to the sixth and final seed. the team says they are only thinking right now about the cardinals. >> we aren't in full control of where we're going to

here's chief investigative reporter tony kovalesky. >> during the past year, our investigative unit haswith you more than 150 investigations. journalism that has changed laws, exposed safety issues and questioned decisions from some of the state's most powerful. now a look back at 2013 through the lens of we investigate. >> this is a box of pork that was in a shed in concord for five hours before it came here to this restaurant. >> do aldon smith get the star treatment? >> yes, he certainly did. >> did aldon smith receive preferential treatment? >> he did not receive preferential treatment. >> would you like to see it? >> it speaks for itself. it's self-explanatory. you have it. >> so it's okay to change sick time to administrative leave. you're okay with that? >> it's the same -- first of all, it's the same thing. >> if everybody in the county did that, our budget would be totally out of control. >> i said we need to get my animals after that tarmac. they're not supposed to be the tarmac. they're supposed to be in an air conditioned van. >> i'm so sorry. please forgive me. >> sedona's

here is chief investigative reporter tony kovaleski. >> for the next 30 minutes we investigate exposingtories, uncovering issues and holding government accountable. we begin on the tarmac with an investigation on the growing demands of pilots. critics say it could affect your safety. the asiana crash at sfo last summer

tony kovaleski is here with an exclusive investigation.ere's missing money and four years of delays? >> exactly. what we found raises questions about the faa's credibility and attention to detail. we've questioned how serious accusations involving millions of dollars can continue to sit in a state of limbo. tonight, we investigate the faa's audit unresolved, nearly four years later. >> we've responded to the letter. >> reporter: she's the director of san jose's airport. trying to explain a series of delays, trying to justify an example of government inefficiency. this is an audit that started four years ago. as we sit here today, it's still not finished. >> it's a lot of complicated issues. >> reporter: back in 2010, the federal aviation administration, accused the city of san jose of improperly using airport profits. >> i think we're close to buttoning it up. and we can move on to other things at that point. >> reporter: it's not acceptable to not finalize an audit after three years. >> reporter: he is the former executive in the faa and

. >> tonight chief investigative reporter tony kovaleski is following your money and raising questionsabout the faa and a federal audit that has been stalled nearly four years. what are you paying for and what happened to create this latest delay? we investigate tonight at 11 on nbc bay area news. >>> happening today, nurses who work for kaiser permanente are protesting the closing of a pediatric unit. this morning members of the california nurses association will march to kaiser's headquarters in oakland to protest the decision. the higher-ups say at kaiser there are not that many children hospitalized in hayward and they'll get better care in oakland. >>> palo alto officials will consider allowing tesla motors to add a pair of sign to its showroom today. the signs would exceed requirements that restricts the size of wall signs. adding the new signs would also go over the number of signs companies are allowed to put on each wall. tesla says the signs will make their property look more beautiful and that the current signs can be missed by people driving by even walking by. pe >>> faceb

tony kovalesky joins us with more. have they figure out what caused that pipe to ignite? >> 24 hours after the flame was put out midday yesterday, this is what it looked like in oakland hills. the flames first reported about 8:30 in the morning. flames burned through the street for 3:13. fortunately nobody was injuried. now, here's what we learned today. the leak was discovered in the elbow of a four-inch diameter steel pipe. the ignition source, the cause of the crack and the pipe and exactly what happened are now the focus of investigation by pg&e and the california public utilities commission. pgapd & e has hired a third party to lead the investigation. and the section of pipe that failed will be tested. according to the eutility, that portion of the oakland hills had its last leak surveyed in april 2012 and there were no leaks found at that time and no leaks reported since. pg&e expects for this investigation to take two or three weeks. members of the public utility commission safety and enforcement division are also investigated. included in that investigation will b

i'm investigative reporter tony kovaleski. >> some say it's a much needed break from the holiday stress. where thousands of people showed up for an epic christmas pillow fight. and paid to be there. >> and a holiday-like display in the east bay. of. >> you can see the holiday lites. 40s and 50s right now. but what's not so nice again is another spare the air day again for thursday. and likely one more as we head towards friday. we'll talk about our air quality issues and near record-breaking temperatures coming up. >> a pair of extreme christmas light celebrations you have to see to believe. ♪ then when you know foggy christmas eve ♪ ♪ >> no fog in livermore. just a long line to see deke and dave's holiday lights. a. >> thank you. we have a great crew. >> dave and his team of volunteers strung more than 370,000 lights at his house on hill crest avenue. this is months in the making. >> then we start dropping cords in december. we start putting the lites up in october. a another magic lites up all of december. >> ins we're pretty magical. we got to see elves enat skaus. >> i like to leave