i am consumer editor tom vacar, the boring begins still ahead. >>> also on bay area news at 7:00, when a new study is telling about the communication patterns of blue whales. >>> we are still on the fog watch here in the bay area. the weather changes in the fight a forecast. i will have that coming up in a few minutes -- and the five day forecast. woman: did you bring the camera phone? man: i did. do you wanna go first? i've been waiting for this all day. ok, this is from... aunt stacey. introducing chase quickdeposit. just photograph the front and back of your check using the chase mobile app on your iphone, and hit send. it went through. this is so cool. this is so cool. you wanna try it? yea. ok. all right. who's next? make a deposit from anywhere, anytime-- with your iphone. to mister and misses walker. why would they send my parents a check? chase what matters. ♪ the most powerful half-ton crew in america has a powertrain backed for 100,000 miles. chevy silverado half-ton a consumers digest best buy and the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickups on the road. now get 0%

tom vacar has the report. >> reporter: could these be replaced by this, answer yes, emphatically yes.ith minor modifications, scanning a smart phone is no more difficult than reading a credit card's magnetic strip. that could put all of your credit cards on something you already carry. >> competition cuts costs for everyone. as long as this is just as secure as credit card payment, offers a similar reward structure and can carry people's privacy i don't see how this could be anything but good. >> reporter: a consulting firm says americans carry billions of the cards. giving them 82% of the u.s. plastic card market. but if other well healed players, namely at&t and verizon go into smart systems, that could change the market in a different way. those 18 to 24 would pay with smart phones. but we found some reservations. >> i mean i would probably end up blowing a lot of money on stupid little things i don't need because it's so easy to pay for them. >> i do purchase a few things online, i'm slowly warming to that. but maybe i'd have to have a few people around me that have said, this isn

. >>> a beautiful day around the bay area, tom vacar is off today. we go to mark tamayo. >> we look at fog rolling in. right now in fact, we can show you the view from up above. here the low clouds and fog still hugging a good portion of the bay. but here we go closed down san francisco, also ocean beach and daily city, that cloud deck already pushing into the region. and wider across the bay. that cloud deck will be on the increase with that good on shore breeze. a look at some of the current numbers just updated a few numbers ago. san francisco 60 degrees, we are talking about some 80s also. today a little bit warmer than yesterday. santa rosa topped out at 81 degrees. fairfield 89, livermore 85 85 degrees and san jose reporting sunny skies. the over all weather story is this, you pretty much know in the short term, fog increases overnight. a little bit cooler for your tuesday. the extended forecast, we introduce more cooling especially by the weekend. temperatures for tomorrow afternoon, you can see the rains for the low 60s coast side. quite a fe

for a closer look at the reason for the delays, we go to tom vacar. >> reporter: in the last two years, recession blogged airlines took a lot of airplanes out in the desert in moth balls, perhaps too many. >> reporter: it was bustling on a tuesday today at sfo more than i've seen in a long while. being on time is a challenge according to late arriving passengers we talked to today. >> you could hear the frustration of the passengers when they came on and said, we're going to be delayed 10 minutes, then we're going to be another 15 minutes, people want to get home. >> reporter: before airlines take moth ball planes out of the desert and hire new crews, they want to make sure the recession is over. >> by the time the people get through the tsa line and then get to the airline it's not as smooth as it used to be. >> the counters were busy everywhere i wept. >> reporter: the government rules are tightening up. >> because of less legislation, the airlines are apprehensive of pulling out of the gate. >> we've had the early booking we've never seen before, it's getting bad out there. >> repor

i'm consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> today nummi demonstrated new clipper gates. the new gates along with service are being tested at the busy bay area center. >> the fact that we can all get around with the same card, is a wonderful thing. >> $11 million in stimulus funding helps speed the improvements, translink cards will grow. munni riders will have to get a clipper card to buy their monthly pass. >>> drivers at gas stations have a little good news: the average price of a gallon of unleaded is $2.75. nationwide that's down a few pennnys in recent days. but the bay area is bucking the trend. san francisco prices average $2.27 up three cents from a week ago. san jose is unchanged at $3.19. >>> i think i'm just going to stop complaining about the weather and just roll with it. because it seems like we're never going to have a heat wave around here. >> not in the seven day forecast but we always look toward september and october. looks like we're going to count on that. at least we can always have hope. low clouds and fog, if you like the new weather pattern you m

time tom vacar. how they help people most affected by tough economic times still ahead. >>> more on the breaking news. a grass fire burning near highway 4 in unincorpo contra costa county, next. u owi stgoth n csechkint al?ye cckhiou t'noepitsls es u stakthchkan-phh-rhtn ern't eyott? h.oht's t rei. itlswos thas t'noepitsls es al?doouha a o.. u stakthchkan-phh-rhtn ern't eyott? a! pshtvoa.th's ol t'noepitsls es al?doouha a o.. u stakthchkan-phh-rhtn ern't l's . y,ai wr'my0? pshtvoa.th's ol t'noepitsls es al?doouha a o.. aschki. lcetoanitche.n ern't y,h'updu . aswh mte >>> we have more now on the breaking news coming out of the east bay. a grass fire, two alarm grass fire burning in the live pictures burning right now near san marco boulevard near highway 4 in unincorporated contra costa county near the city of bay point. we're told its burning in a relatively remote area but there are some homes in the vicinity. we have not heard of any evacuations at this hour but if that changes we will of course le

tom vacar has the story. >> reporter: bay area mexicana passengers faced delays and uncertainty all day today. >> we came to the airport, we checked in and they said they didn't know what plane they were able to put us on. >> reporter: before mexicana could file for protective access, three planes were seized. with so much chaos in mexico, some passengers took mexicana's assistants to drive them to another competitor so the they could get out while they could. >> reporter: here in san jose -- >> mexicana told us this morning they reduced from nine flights to week to seven flights a week. >> reporter: here in oakland, the same story. >> mexicana will continue service to guatalajara and they service that market six days a week instead of seven days a week. >> reporter: what will happen with the still scheduled late night flight is still unknown. >> very bad news. i'm not going to use them anymore. >> that was ktvu's tom vacar. >>> nummi is making a u turn and restoring most of the service cuts they cut a month ago. primarily to light rail route, overnight service and key bus lines. the re

our consumer editor tom vacar join us now from the west side of the tunnel with details. >> reporter: we big projects that bring big jobs require big financing, in this case $420 million worth. >> reporter: buca operating shops. >> i think it's going to be very important. we noticed that the back up cause many customers to not even come into the area. with the flu new bore, i think we're gointo find much more action in the area. >> reporter: richard ray -- >> it puts a lot of people to work, as far as the roadway going to the bay area, it's quite a mess in the afternoon. you know that's when i go to work at 5:00. >> reporter: not far away a of construction workers is already on-site preparing it for this huge auger machine that will cut right through the mountain. stimulus dollars will cover 197.5 million. another 8 million will come from contra costa sales taxes. the remainder is coming from state, local, and other sources including bridge tolls. >> i think we need it. there's a lot of people up there working, i see it all the time. >> reporter: it'll take more than a year to auger t

consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> house officials say that will be -- whooping coughs spreading, and so far this year the state department of public health has more than 3300 confirmed and suspected cases of whopping cough. health officials are urging people to vaccinate their children and themselves. >>> a livermore this group construction company will pay over $12 million. they will pay the money for back pay and the rest will go to the state compensation insurance fund to pay civil the penalties. they build universal housing back in march the attorney- general sioux country builders on behalf of the workers after they claimed they were being underpaid. >>> dismal news from the u.s. housing market the cars department reported that new- home sales fell pulpit 4% in july from the month before and sales in july happened at the slowest pace since 1963 yesterday aker report indicated existing home sales dropped in july to the lowest level in decades. >> today's home sales report sent stock expand into a tailspin and barkin bargain hunters stepped in and the stocks recove

i'm consume ireditor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> mineta san jose airport has closed one of the runway thes today. this is for a taxiway project. this should not impact operations and schedules. the project is not expected to be fully completed until february. you can see from the camera, the skies look pretty sunny in the south bay. let's check in with mark tamayo. >> quite a bit of sunshine across most of the bay area for this afternoon. the temperatures coast side, we have patchy fog nearby. as a result the beach is not warming up too much primarily in the lower 60s. in fact, the fog has been increasing the last two or four hours. right now a factor out towards atascadero and we're expecting an increase in the fog in the afternoon, primarily right near the shoreline. in san francisco, overall, clouds. you can see a few patches of clouds. downtown is enjoying sunshine. 62 degrees. fairfield, 71. livermore, 69 and san jose at last check, right around 70 degrees. weather tori for today, a little bit -- story for today, a little bit of changes, warmer. by wednesday and thursday,

our consumer editor tom vacar has a live report. >> one of them is the alexandria theater. >> reporter: two defendants are charged with a combined total of 320 felonies. san francisco's district attorney says the pair filed false documents with the city aker department of building inspection. >> these dependence reported to be licensed and approved property lines, surveys, permits, inspections and they were not licensed to do that work. >> reporter: the two and falsified the stands and the signatures of licensed engineers. the most serious charges is a conspiracy, filing false documents, forgery, false impersonation and aggravated identity theft. it appears the people who paid for the work were the victims, too. >> the evidence shows at this point that the homeowners involved in these cases were innocents participants in these acts of fraud. >> reporter: making matters worse, the amex the building inspectors approved with the question 500 documents the men submitted, many with obvious mistakes. >> we do not at this point have any patterns. but the investigation is ongoing. >> reporter:

tom vacar live at the caldecott tonight is live to show it to us before it literally disappears underground. >> reporter: you will see that they are doing some drilling here, the idea being to make sure that there's nothing that they're going to run into when that big auger finally comes through. the new oar will not delay congestion, but it'll make it a shorter commute. workers are already on-site. this huge $5.2 million custom german built moor will be the primary tool in excavating the tunnel. this will power through the rock and dirt. tunnel regulars can hardly wait. >> the traffic is horrendous, no matter what time in the afternoon that we go or the morning, we usually take fish tank road and over the road and back to the clairmont just to beat the congestion. >> reporter: starting monday is when these 50 dump trucks a day will haul rocks and dirt to be used at the construction site at san francisco's hunter's point. any contaminants will be hauled to special hazardous waste dumps. but some near by residents are already worried about dirt, dust and noise. >> during the day you do

i'm consumer editor tom vacar, that story is still ahead. . >>> san francisco supervisors discussed a first in the nation measure today that would levy a city-wide fee on alcohol sales. [ chanting ] >> supporters say the fee would jen 6 again rate $17 million a year to treat those with alcohol abuse problems but opponents say it would hurt bars and restaurants. the budget and finance committee held public hearings on the idea today. the plan would add about 4% to the cost of alcoholic beverages purchased in the city. the full board of supervisors is expected to consider the measure in september. san francisco is also considering expanding its ban on the sale of tobacco products. currently drug stores are prohibited from selling tobacco. now, supervisors are debating extending that want to grocery stores with on site pharmacies. opponents say the expansion would not have a big impact because there often are liquor stores selling tobacco near liquor stores. they say they want to minimize nonsmoker expose you are to cigarettes. >>> they added jobs in july and it propelled the stock marke

ktvu's consumer editor, tom vacar reports. >> reporter: there are more than twice the amount of homes for sale. but real estate attorney tara nicolle nelson says that number is way understated, because -- . >> it doesn't even touch on the shadow inventory of homes that we know are foreclosed on, own by the bank and the owner walked way and the bank hasn't foreclosed on it because they don't want to be responsible for the home. >> reporter: since the recession began, banks filing foreclosure notices an 7 million homes and repossessed many of them, while other homeowners simply walked away. so why aren't the streets just lined with for-sale signs? >> there are millions of home and nobody knows how many, because really it's a secret that the banks hold in their own books. but those homes would really have reported only making this inventory issue worse. >> reporter: it's already hit perhaps the nation's best real estate market, the city by the bay. >> i am san francisco and almost a quarter of the homes had drops. >> re drops. >> the economy is bad and it doesn't do you any good to have

i'm consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> workers say they can't escape the stench. next what officials are telling us about a smelly problem they can be the seem to get rid of. >>> also ahead, a terrifying scene at a bullfight when an angry bull breaks through a barrier and runs through a crowd of spectators. >>> and later a crack down on drivers. see how many were caught using cell phones. >>> construction crews returned to san jose maneta international airport trying to track down the source of a very bad smell. so far they have not been successful. the strong odor is at the ticket counter. but officials say it's not there all the time. when it is, workers say on a scale from one to 10 it's an eight and smells like a sewer or outhouse. the airport is taking measures to clear the air. >> they have ventilation fans back there and a few doors open to keep ventilation going. we have air-conditioning so it keeps the place cool. >> reporter: the foul smell was first noticed about five months ago. some airlines say they're fed up with the problems they may with hold rent

tom vacar is live with more on this project. >> reporter: frank, it's finally realistic to say one day there really will be a light at the end of this tunnel. they stard carving up up what will eventually be the fourth bore of the tunnel. >> today is the day we dig. >> reporter: for the third time it was bored in the -- in the 160s -- 1960s -- >> we did things like rebuild the eastern span of the bay bridge. >> reporter: almost half of the funding of the $450 million project came from the american recovery act. >> this tunnel is the second largest recovery act project in the nation. we have more than 11,000 projects related to highways, bridges on a national basis. >> reporter: plans along the tunnel were final id long ago -- finalized long ago. >> we would not have the opportunity to be here today because this project wouldn't have been ready to move to construction as quickly as it has. >> reporter: all toll it's going to take about 18 months to drill this tunnel. about -- the tunnel will open some time in 2014. >> once this opens, all of the restaurants and theaters on both sides, a

i'm consumer editor tom vacar. >>> a reported month to month 27% drop in home sales across the countrytriggered a sell off across the country today. the dow briefly fell back below 12%. it did recover some but it was still done about 133 points. >>> changing coming to a gas station near you. those hanley little latches we use so we're not stuck at the pump are being taken away. >>> and president is to fire all his econ our real national pastime? saving money. and like baseball people love their stats. i started bringing my lunch to work -- 50 bucks a week in my pocket. here's a good one: state farm insures 40 million drivers. more than geico and progressive combined. i saved because i'm accident-free. of course, with so many ways to save including discounts of up to 40%, having that many customers shouldn't be a surprise. so ask a neighbor about state farm, then call an agent at 1-800-state-farm or go online. >>> here's another look live at that wildfire burning east of mount diablo. if you are just joining us, calfire says 375 acres have burned. right now this fire is 50% contained. o

ktvu consumer editor tom vacar is at the meeting and joins us now live with details of what happened. >> it happened right here at the puc, peter darby got into his speech and called him, a dumb meter. opponents say smart meters are banned for pg & e customers for two reasons. first off, money. >> thousands of customers have demanded that the pcu stop pg & e from installing smart meters. >> reporter: they defend the meters based on hard data. >> we've done an independent assessment of this and brought an independent firm. what it has shown is that more than 99% of the meters are working correctly. >> reporter: the first problem, energy put out by the meters. >> risking california's health more, while we're learning more about cell phone radiation. >> reporter: darby says the meters placed well away from customers are only activated to 45 seconds a day. he compared that to cell phone users that use cell phones only 10 minutes a day. >> riduation from cell phones is 13 times more than smart meters. >> you can teach the simplest man the most complex of subjects if his mind is open. but y

we go to tom vacar who's live tonight in walnut creek, tom. >> reporter: frank it's a bitter pill to swallow. the banks can borrow money for free from uncle sam, but getting a home loan is tough. >> reporter: peterson erected a for sale sign. a home now worth half what the owner paid for it. the owner hopes to rent it for now to try to arrange a short sale. >> a lot of it has to do with constantly calling the bank and talking with negotiators. >> reporter: peterson say more than 10% are unoccupied and available. john mann specializes on short sales. >> we used to have multiple officers and now that's not showing. a few months ago, houses were on the market for 10 days. >> reporter: how can it be with home prices way down and interest rates setting a new record low each of the last six weeks, the buyers are not scooping the homes up. >> they're worried about their job, and they're not in a hurry to get a home. >> reporter: fha homes easier to qualify for government qualified homes once considered poor man's loans are becoming more and more popular every day everywhere. >> but most mar

i'm consumer editor tom vacar. >>> a reported month to month 27% drop in home sales across the countrytriggered a sell off across the country today. the dow briefly fell back below 12%. it did recover some but it was still done about 133 points. >>> changing coming to a gas station near you. those hanley little latches we use so we're not stuck at the pump are being taken away. >>> and president is to fire all his economic team. that's what republicans are calling for. >>> bill martin is back in a few minutes with tomorrow's forecast. the news continues in 90 seconds. >>> here's another look live at that wildfire burning east of mount diablo. if you are just joining us, calfire says 375 acres have burned. right now this fire is 50% contained. ficials at mount diablo park say they plan to close the park this evening. to word if the park will be reopened tomorrow. >>> the state fire marshall has ordered some 3,000 gas stations to remove latches at the pump because the gas could splatter. ktvu's debra villalone live in san francisco with our report. >> reporter: it's happened five times a

tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, tom. >>> it is 8:34.general motors has issued a recall for 250,000 of its vehicles because of problems with their seat belts. the recall affects the chevrolet tra ve the buick aun chav, the gncacakia and the saturn outlook, all 2009-2010 vehicles. problem is with the second-row seat belts. they could easily become damaged when not latched. >>> the "american idol" edition wristbands are being handed out right now. claudine wong has been talking with people in line. >> reporter: we've moved across the water to at&t park where they've lined people up. this is where they are moving people over to get their wristbands. maybe key stop this group of people. you got your wristband? >> i got my wristband. >> reporter: how long did it take for you guys to -- >> we've been here since like 3:00. >> reporter: what else did they give you? >> i will show you. i will show you. >> reporter: what you got? >> we got audition tape. and then we got dlafning -- >> reporter: you're ready to go. they will give you seats inside s

i'm consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> workers say they can't escape the stench. next what officials are telling us about a smelly problem they can be the seem to get rid of. >>> also ahead, a terrifying scene at a bullfight when an angry bull breaks through a barrier and runs through ú droiiiid. what this droid does will change how you do web connections. this creates a mobile 3g hotspot, powerful enough to fuel multiple devices at will. putting you at the center of your own world wide web. introducing the new droid x. the next generation of does. >>> construction crews returned to san jose maneta international airport trying to track down the source of a very bad smell. so far they have not been successful. the strong odor is at the ticket counter. but officials say it's not there all the time. when it is, workers say on a scale from one to 10 it's an eight and smells like a sewer or outhouse. the airport is taking measures to clear the air. >> they have ventilation fans back there and a few doors open to keep ventilation going. we have air-conditioning so it ke

reporting live, consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> looks like ac tran silt will have to engage in binding arbitration after all to settle an ongoing labor dispute. the bus company lost its bid to have the judge reconsider its original order. ac transit argued the union didn't keep its promise to not engage in any strike activity, but the judge ruled there was no evidence the union had anything to do with a recent spike in driver absenteeism. ac transit management reinstated the old contract for drivers after a ruling last week that it could not impose a new contract. >>> just a few minutes ago the deadline passed to file papers to run for mayor of oakland and a number of candidates jumped into the already crowded field. that was city council member jane quan submitting her papers today. they joined about a dozen candidates who signed up to run for mayor including educator terence kendel and college professor joe toomey. current mayor ron dell hales recently announced he will not seek a second term. >>> the white house says it is on track with plans to end the combat m

i am consumer entered tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> one of the most influential democratic congressman died today at the age of 82. former chicago representative served 18 terms in the house before losing his seat in 1994. the heat chaired the powerful ways and means committee be needed to eight rewrite of the u.s. tax code. he served 17 months in jail. president bill clinton pardoned him six years later. >>> jurors in the corruption trial of former illinois governor rod blagojevich told the judge today after 11 days they have deadlocked on some of the 24 counts against him. blagojevich face and stomach faces criminal charges including trying to sell a senate seat -- faces criminal charges and the judge will meet with jurors tomorrow. >>> california's budget is now 42 days overdue in state workers are taking their battle over wage cuts and furloughs to a theater near you. the governor makes a cameo appearance in the new movie "the expendables" and workers say they will boycott the film but a spokesman says that the governor appeared in the film as a favor and took him just one saturday

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar is here now with more, tom. >> california used to be exempt from suchdownturns but today even the most desirable places are feeling pain once unknown. the costantinos have a beautiful home on peacock gap, a slice of heaven in heavenly marin. but it's been on sale since last year and the buying season is done again. the the price of the home has before listen cut twice. there are homes for sale everywhere in marin. san francisco based truli a.com follows home prices nationwide. >> when 5.5 or six months of inventory is what we would like to see. >> reporter: even though interest rates are at record lows. >> interest rates will be zero and people will not buy homes if they don't have jobs. they will not buy homes if they don't feel their job is stable and secure. >> reporter: cancellation of the home buyers tax credit ended the boom. nelson says there's a bigger problem. >> high unemployment levels and unemployment levels that just don't seem to be changing very much as the months go on really have pressed pause on the real estate market recovery. >> repo

electric cars the auto factories here have gone silent, but some have live on in a different form and tom vacar brought us this report in march. >> old richmond plant is a refurbished historical site where ford built car as well as world war ii tank and jeeps. after closing it laid decaying for decades. thanks in part to emeryville- based orton developers, it houses businesses. >> well, it takes great leadership and great is fine and a lot of hard work. if it's a good deal, it makes sense and you can always find the money. >> reporter: it took the orton development company only two years to convert the property to its current uses, but to get to that point, it took 52 years. these days oakland's 73rd avenue and foothill is home to theeastmont town center where the long defunct mall stood. for a half century, up until the mid-60t,gm built cars here in a long-gone factory. this area never recovered from the loss of those good jobs. gm's fremont plant operated for 22 years and closed in '88. finally the 16-year-old great mall of the bay occupies an old plant that closed 11 years prior to the mall'

our consumer editor tom vacar has our report. >> reporter: two defendant, jimmy jen and gong mink phoninge charged with a combined 320 felonies spanning 20 years. san francisco's district attorney says the pair filed false documents with the city's department of building inspection. >> these defendants purported to be licensed and purported to be licensed to approve property lines, surveys, permits and inspectionings and they were not license todd do that. >> reporter: they falsified the signatures and stamps of two licensed engineers who were unaware it was happening. the most serious charges, conspiracy, filing false documents to a government agency, forgery, false impersonation and aggravated identity theft. it appears the people who paid for the work were victims too. >> as far as the evidence shows us at this point that the homeowners involved in these cases were in a sense participants in these acts of fraud. >> reporter: making matters worse, city building inspectors apparently approved without question 500 documents the men submitted, many with obvious mistakes. >> but we don't, a

tom vacar has the story on how you might be able to get involved. >> reporter: veronica salazar knows how to make great traditional mexican food. >> i learned in the kitchen. my family has a restaurant in mexico. i grow up in mexico. >> what she did not know was how to turn her skills into a paying business. that's why san francisco's first incubator kitchen is proving to a recipe for success. >> there is a clear entrepreneur yell spirit. they did not have access to the resources they would need. this program was born out of this neighborhood. there was a need for the women in this neighborhood to formalize their food business. >> it's really a great opportunity for all women. i want to say to this woman who have the business at home, they have to come here. they want to make more money. they want to grow up with this kitchen. it's really, really nice opportunity for the woman. >> this saturday you can have a taste of success and learn about it at a street festival that will be held in san francisco. >> you will see people who have often times started selling on the street, formalized

tom vacar with more on all of this. >> reporter: this just in, pg & e has just been able to get mount zion back on regular power as it was able to fix this thing that took a better part of the day to do. several times now, pg & e has had to deal with reckless thefts. this generator is one of mount zion's energy lifelines. due to explosive growths in china, worldwide copper prices are on the rise. that makes stealing even the small amount highly profitable. >> it cancelled all surgeries and everything that they had to put off. >> reporter: so what's it worth? here's 10 pounds of cooper wire. at a recycler you will get $3.25 a pound. 32.50 for free. pg & e security chief bob puts is a retired san francisco police officer. >> most cooper thieves steal it because they can get the quick buck for the quick fix. >> reporter: experience thieves can cut the wire in minutes. >> we have had several people that have been electrocuted. >> reporter: the thieves using private vehicles usually strike between 2:00 and 6:00 a.m. >> our crews are fully uniformed. they have the insignias. if anyone sees

i'm consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> 8:50.ville's hero pilot, chesley sully sullenberger joined a gathering of heroes in alabama. >> we're very fortunate in this country to have people who are willing to choose to serve in our armed forces during wartime. and to serve a cause greater than themselves. >> sully was addressing a group that included the 26th living medal of honor winners. that's america's highest military honor. suen burger was presented with the american spirit award for his heroism for last year's emergency airplane landing in new york city's hudson river. >>> ten minutes before 9:00. an old favorite and some newcomers took center stage at the prime time emmy award show last night. >> and the emmy goes to jane lynch. >> jane lynch won one of the stars of "glee" took home the award for outstanding performing actress. >>> you'll find more emmy coverage on our website. go to ktvu.com and click on the emmy 200 tab on the -- 2010 tab on the front page. >>> up next, some free legal advice for anyone planning to attend

. >>> i'm consumer editor tom vacar, the latest on the disorder both sides of the border, still ahead> a major league tax hike. >>> getting to know your neighbors, why millions of the people around the country are gathering to do just that tonight. what they hope to accomplish. >>> good evening everyone i'm heather holmes in tonight for julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. at this hour the san jose city council is still dealing with some hot button issues including labor issues with city firefighters and government employees. some decisions could lead to changing the san jose charter which is the city's version of the constitution. robert handa is live at city hall where the debate is raging

we go to tom vacar for some answers. >> well, the recession is a big reason right now. but we've come a long way from those dark days of the blackouts. from here pg&e controls the power grid. on really hot days too many air conditioners can alert the system so alerts to major users to conserve power work. >> and also ensures that 2003 have enough energy running through the system to meet our customers' energy demands. >> today customers say they think most folks are more aware. >> i've been reminded how important it is to make sure the lights are all turned out before you leave, make sure the bulbs the one -- make sure the bulbs that are you using save energy. use of solar systems on homes and businesses is way up. >> we have had a record amount of customers who are investing in solar-generating systems on their holes. >> pg&e is already building or contracting for up to 500- megawatts of solar panel. the equivalent of one gas powered fire plant. >> investing in reflewable energy but also seeking to rebuild renewable generation sources. >> biomass will soon be a major c

consumer editor tom vacar live at sfo now with more on this, tom. >> reporter: truly an important placebecause sfo directly supports 25,000 jobs and lately a few hundred more. runway 101 which backs up along the 101 freeway has been completely repaved, resurfaced and restriped. years of use was wearing it out. >> it was big cracks, areas of failing where the planes could have issues on take off or landings. >> reporter: the stimulus money also paid for the runway and taxi lightning as well as better drainage to keep water off the runway for better landing. bottom line, won't be long until this airport is paid all that money back. >> the $14.5 million relates to 300 jobs. so this is more than just repaving a runway, this is about repairing families in america. >> to keep key sections of our economy working smoothly, stay competitive and keeping americans back at work. >>> out of the first six months of last year, i worked about two months. and then this job came up. >> this job gave you know 80 people in our company peace of mind that they were going to be working with good hours. >> we

tom vacar. >>> caltrans is reporting major progress in the construction of bay bridge. huge spans have just arrived from china. construction is moving so quickly and smoothly that the deck sections will be in place by next week. >> these sections here are 225 feet long and they weigh over 1,500-tons they're the largest parts of the roadbed that we're going to put in place. >> reporter: most of the projects major parts are here or will arrive soon including high strength wire. the cables will be used for the massive suspension arm of the signature tower which is currently in the process of going up. we have more information about the bay bridge project on our website ktvu.com just click on the bay bridge tab. >>> we are following breaking news right now on the san mateo coast. we just got word that a glass fire on pigeon point may have been contained. the fire broke out just after 3:00 p.m. on the east side of highway 1, calfire says it launched an aggressive attack with six engines, a chopper and two air tankers, power lines though are line in the area and pg & e is cur

our consumer editor tom vacar explains what they'll mean for you. >>> fire crews are using fire to helpbutterflies. non-native trees and plants are pushing out the lupin so they have been burning some of the non-native growth, hoping that it will help the butterfly population recover. >>> the biggest blockbuster in history is about to be rereleased. avatar special edition arrives in 3d theaters for an extra run. it includes extra footage including a sex scene between the two lead characters. >>> back now to our weather and bill, earlier you were talking about how it's almost as warm on the coast as tennis land which is pretty surprising. >> i alluded to that earlier. it's more of a fall type weather a -- pattern. the temperature spread isn't a typical summer spread it's more like october, november. we've got temperatures definitely on the warm side. it will be hotter tomorrow night. when you're here with us tomorrow night i'll be showing you temperatures that will be in the triple digits. the forecast will be more heat. tomorrow is a spare the air day as you know. there is a heat adviso

i'm tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> well, a large street food festival is being held in san franciscoct on saturday from 11:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. organizers expect as many as 40,000 people to attend. admission is free. now, we're gonna post a link on our channel 2 website, ktvu.com. just look under the web links. >>> and if street food is not to your taste, maybe you can go european. brittish grocer, fresh and easy, is coming here to the bay area. the chain opened stores in southern california four years ago. now they're venturing north with seven stores opening next year. now, they will -- there will be locations in san francisco's bayview neighborhood and others in san jose, danville, pacifica, walnut creek, concord and vallejo. fresh and easy says they want to change consumer habits. they have nearly 5,000 stores around the world. >>> drivers who have had fastrack for at least eight years may want to think twice before dialing the toll-free number. it turns out the fastrack transpoerders purchased before 2002 have a customer service number that goes to a fon sex line. the metropo

tom vacar will be able to tell us more. ♪ welcome to ultimate rewards from chase.blackouts, no restrictions on airfare and hotels, no limits to what you can get with ultimate rewards. no wonder it's called ultimate. available on chase credit, debit, and business cards. chase what matters. >>> in san jose, firefighters are trying to find a way to save at least some of the jobs of 49 firefighters who were laid off on friday. city officials say the latest proposal from the union doesn't go far enough to save costs. >>> right now, president obama -- and you are looking at a live picture from atlanta -- the president is addressing a convention of disabled veterans he's thanking the verts for their service -- veterans for their service and also updating them about the drawdown of the troops in iraq and also upgrading the strategy in the afghan war. >>> a 23-year-old man is facing several charges this morning in connection with five hit-and- run accidents in danville. there's his photo. he's kanan sherholtz, the younger brother of nate. police say he hit a bicyclist, a pe