reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> republican presidential hopeful mitt romney hit the campaign trail today promising to make changes in energy policy if elected. >> we will get north america independent where we don't have to buy oil from the middle east. >> many of his supporters were there, including the governors of new jersey and louisiana. >> president obama today presided over a rally in florida today taking several shots at his rival. >> if you think where he should set our sites lower like that, then go ahead, send these folks to washington. that was a rhetorical question. >> he spoke in orlando. he said mitt romney's policies would cut taxes for the rich and impose hardships on the middle class. he plans to wrap up his swing with a stop in virginia. >>> we have video of an attempted jewelry heist but the business owner was ready. what he did that had the bandit scrambling to the door. >> the service amtrakophorouss that could cost them mill -- amtrak has that could cost them millions of dollars a year. . >>> we have a safety recall on a household item. sears r

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar is live to show us how the levies stood up and what it means for the state. >> reporter: water, 15-20 feet higher is just waiting for a weakness. >> going down. >> reporter: ucla researchers used this machine to generate earthquakes. the levy system has never been tested by a major earthquake. >> we have a poor idea of how soils underneath will respond. >> reporter: levies project water and utility lines lines and homes and farms but water. >> it is important to explain the behavior you are anticipating so you can make it plain to the people that are providing you the funding. >> reporter: how realistic is this? consider this is done on the land the levies sit on. the ground is shaking. and we are experiencing what they would experience in a earthquake. students are here to help and bring fresh perspectives to the project. >> the more people you have brain storming and thinking about it, looking at the data, the more ideas will come out. >> such an experience to be outside, all year we are stuck in classes but getting hands on experience during had sum

consumer editor tom vacar is live with new information about the investigation and the pictures. tom? >> reporter: just like the ntsb investigators airplane crashes they investigate chemical accidents such as the one here at the chevron refinery. minutes ago the csb released these pictures taken from peer 39 of the vapor cloud hundreds of feet high that ignited and destroyed a major fuel producing facility at the chevron refinery. over the weekend the state of california's lead investigators criticized such news conferences as grand standing but the federal director today was having none of it. >> we explain to the community how these things happen and what fouled be the consequences -- what could be the consequences. they tend to take positions that stonewall the community. >> reporter: communities for a better environment, a group investigating refinery accidents say they need to do a better job. >> i can say for a fact that past investigations over and over again have shown that companies cut corners when the public lets them. >> reporter: so possible cullpability may be part

a company shows tom vacar the upgrades the county might want to start thinking about. >>> police are releasing new information on a homicide. police arrested martinez high school arrested neutrophil -- michael howard. juan munoz was inside a store when he was killed. police say they can't release details but they told us the stabbing was not gang related. it was one of several homicides this week. >> that cost for our department to call back the off duty motorcycle officers. they came back on duty to relieve the officers. >> as of today there have been 32 homicides in san jose. >>> we showed you the long lines last night, people camping out in front of a new chick-fil-a. and the lines got longer today. ktvu's robert handa tells us not everyone was there for the feud. some are still mad at chick-fil- a's ceo. >> reporter: as you can see it is still biz e-- busy here at the chick-fil-a. today's opening drew a big crowd of customers and protesters. >>> the doors to chick-fil-a opened at 6:00 a.m. and people began crowding in, some camped over night to get free coupons. >> nuts for chick

tom vacar is working right now to go through the entire decision.om will be back here in less than half an hour to show us what he's learned. >>> in contra costa county, three fire stations recently closed could soon be reopened. allie is in brentwood and tells us how -- >> reporter: outside the building, there's a notice letting people know the station has been closed since july 1. but that could soon change. in the next couple of months, this station and two others in east contra costa could be back open again. at 5:00 this morning, east contra costa firefighters rushed to a house fire on second street in brentwood. >> the engine was coming from all the way across town. >> reporter: he says they would have gotten there sooner if station 54 was still open. 15 firefighters lost their jobs after county voters rejected a partial tax measure in june. it's been a long summer for firefighters, but today, the district got some good news. >> they got good news in an e- mail this morning. >> reporter: the federal government awarded east contra costa fire wi

i'm tom vacar. progress still ahead. >>> and the stages are set for the bay area's largest music festival. what you need to know about getting around san francisco this weekend. . >>> and in weather part of the bay area heating up. coming up the temperature change. how much warmer you can expect for your thursday and the hottest day of the upcoming weekend. ♪ ♪ pop goes the world ♪ it goes something like this ♪ everybody here is a friend of mine ♪ ♪ everybody, tell me, have you heard? ♪ [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with new tide pods... a powerful three-in-one detergent that cleans, brightens, and fights stains. just one removes more stains than the 6 next leading pacs combined. pop in. stand out. . >>> the investigating a head-on chain reaction crash on highway 4 the san joaquin county line. it happened about 630 this morning. maz as four people were hurt. two injured were air lifted to the hospital t. crash closed both directions of highway 4 for more than an hour. . >>> b

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar joins us live to take us inside. >> reporter: what a place because a lot more stuff is going in here, the good news is, and it is good news, less stuff is being buried in there. >> reporter: they say this $45 million facility is the largest recycling facility on earth. they will recycle all the commercial waste from san jose. >> it has many, many attributes. the private sector fronted the money. >> reporter: this facility can process 110-tons of waste an hour. >> the state of the art facility that will be able to recycle 80% of what used to be going into the landfills. >> reporter: some is exported to over seas markets. like any processed material, the purer it is, the more it is worth. in this case it could mean the difference between making money and making no money at all. lots of humans make sure extraneous materials are removed. >> a lot of people realize we recycle plastic and aluminum but there are many more things, fiber, news print and cardboard and sirufoam block -- stiruhome block styrofoam block. >> reporter: reporting live, consumer editor

consumer editor tom vacar ktvu channel 2 news. >> more details on the announcement.mazon's ceo will announce a new larger kindle fire 2. also expected, a new smaller 7-inch kindle that will be lighter and thinner. you can watch ktvu newscast even when you are away, download the ktvu app and be connected anytime anywhere. >>> pg&e crews are scheduled to perform pressure tests on a section of pipeline in south san francisco. crews will be focused on ridge road. after the test it will be monitored for 8 hours. if any section does not meet standers they will be replaced. >>> the government is said to begin a aerial radiation survey over the bay area. it will measure naturally occurring radiation in the care. it will fly every day through sunday. the government says the information will be used to improve the way radiation is measured. >>> crucial week for legislators. the session ends friday giving lawmakers a few more days to pass laws. they expect democrats to vote for a pension reform bill. he says lawmakers are still working out details with governor jerry brown. >>>

reporting live, consumer editor tom vacar ktvu channel 2 news. >>> some experts say it might be betterfor your teeth to drink tap water because it contains fluoride and most bottled water does not. it was added decades ago to help fight tooth decay. >>> city workers in los angeles are such big fans of the olympics they are in hot water with their bosses. so many city employees are watching the olympics online at work they are tying up the internet. they sent out an e-mail declare olympic web viewing off limits. >> it may cause the internal network to have trouble to malfunction. but it just means everybody is not going to get what they want as quickly as they want. >> one said taxpayers are not paying them to watch the games. you can take a break from the olympics tonight, we are here at 10:00, come on over at 10:00 and get caught up on all the news. and bill martin is here to get us caught up on the weather. a tail of two different areas, fog and heat. >> coast, they are wearing hoods. and inland they are in shorts because it is hot inland and cool along the coast where the fog sits.

ktvu's tom vacar is in richmond where he went looking for answers and he is here with what he learned today. >> reporter: last tuesday chevron promises specifics, since then it only spoke in generalities. >> i think that it would be helpful to them and their image to, you know, bring out what they know or find out. >> i feel comfortable between what is going on. >> reporter: the -- last november all three were inspected. the 12-inch pipe was corroded and replaced it but the 8-inch pipe was not replaced. [no audio] >> maybe they just missed in their maintenance cycles. >> reporter: sometimes a new replacement pipe may fail because it is not compatible with the old pipe it is welded to. >> if you put different metals together they can interact together in ways that either material wouldn't exhibit if it were by itself. >>> corrosion could be another factor. >> there may have been water outside of the pipe that might have accumulated. >> reporter: chevron admits there were structural damage to the greater crude processing unit. >> heat itself can induce changes to the materials. >> repor

in a story only on 2 tonight, ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar joins us more with what he learned. >> reporter: consider this, since the fire happened bay area gas prices have gone up 37 cents a gallon, that is a 20% faster rise than the nation as a whole, the only explanation is the fire here that should not have happened. >> reporter: one source says it will be 6-12 months in repair, that guarantees higher than necessary gas prices. >> i think we are at the mercy. we pay what we need to pay. >> it becomes so stressful i try not to pay too much attention. >> unfair and a hardship. it is unfortunate. >> reporter: was cal-osha doing all it could to enforce inspection standards? >> they are what keeps us all safe. >> reporter: cal-osha declined to do interviews with me since the fire. but they could not decline to answer public act requests, how many inspections have they done? >> need to be protected by it. >> reporter: since 20005, 19 inspections -- 2005, 19 inspections. zero this year till the fire. >> sounds like neglect but that would be fuel for all the people who are suing. >> i

tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> gas prices continue their slow but steady march higher today.ational wide average prices are $3.63 marking a mid-way point. here in the bay area it'll cost you $3.93 to fill up in san francisco. san jose is just a bit cheaper at $3.86. >>> continue to stay with ktvu news for more coverage of the refinery fire. we have a crew at that community meeting which is set to start here in just about 15 minutes. we'll have an update at 6:00. >>> after four months of delays a brand new casino opened its doors today in san jose. casino matrix held a soft opening today. it was supposed to open in april and just received final approval from gaming officials. only the ground floor could open today and all card games must be visible and open to the public. that did not deter about 75 customers who were lined up when the doors opened at 10:30 this morning. >> this place is so beautiful. i mean i was like actually the first one walking in these doors saying here we are. just excited because we've been waiting for the last four months. >> reporter: casino official

joining me tonight are lisa krieger, tom vacar,

we have tom vacar and josh richman and laura sydell with us. tom, the fire at the california refinery was absolutely enorm s enormous. what caused it? >> they know what caused it. a leak in an 8 inch pipe started to grow. whether you are brewing this fuel and this is a device that actually creates feed stock for gasoline and diesel. it is brewed at a temperature way in excess of its ignition point. once it makes contact with the air, it smells air and says time to burn. it started burning and burning. what happened was, it got worse and worse and worse and it incinerated the facility to the point where although chevron will not talk about it, it is likely to be down for one to three months. it has had a huge impact on gas prices. as of early this morning, okay, the statewide average is $3.99 a gallon. that is up 16 cents from a week ago. san francisco is at $4.07. and san jose is up 14 cents. that's this morning. i drove by gas stations this morning with higher prices this afternoon. they can raise them throughout the day. as a result, we are s

joining me tonight are lisa krieger, tom vacar, ktvu

i'm tom vacar. the story still ahead. >> our bay area warmup will amplify as we head into the second half of your week. i'll have your numbers for tomorrow coming up what do you think of this one? really? what's this? this is a rose i made from a turnip. let's try together. perfect. two worlds that fit in one kitchen. come in today and save up to 20% on a kitchen from ikea. . >>> major delay this is morning for commuters on highway 880. two accidents happen within just about 30 minutes of each other. a big rig collideed with at least two other vehicles of the southbound lane near the stevens creek boulevard and off ramp near san jose. that accident happened just before 830 as the same location as an earlier accident. >>> fire feethers are saying it's a miracle no one was seriously injured or killed. it happened on ocean and capital in the city's i think l side district. spoke with one neighbor who was forced to leave her home. . >> we obtained this exclusive video from a neighbor who lived right beh

joining me tonight are lisa krieger, tom vacar, ktvu news. and rachel gordon, san francisco chronicle, city hall reporter. rachel, i want you to explain the scope of the hospital deal and what caused it to fall apart. >> this is a huge hospital deal. $2.5 billion. it was supposed to be the rebuild of two hospitals in san francisco. building a 555-bed hospital for the medical center. cathedral hill at van ness and gary. also to rebuild st. luke's hospital in the mission district. one of the only acute care emergency room hospitals on that part of the city. mayor lee said he came together with a big deal with the hospital in spring. he was ready to go forward with it. money for housing and transit. then the board of superiors got a hold of it and said hold on, not so fast. we have a lot of concerns here. a couple of the concerns, how long would st. luke's be left open? it is used by a lot of poor people. what kind of money would there be for community benefits? huge project will have an impact on the central part of the city. one of the stickin

tom vacar tells us how much prices go up depends on how fast the refinery problem is fixed. >> it's what we don't know that can really hit us in the pocket. >> you're absolutely right there was additional damage. >> over the next month or two we're going to have a shortage of gasoline if this outage is as serious as it seems. >> reporter: the problems at the refinery here may be abating but the problems for consumers at the pump may just be beginning. >> so far today we've seen the price spike on the wholesale market about 25 cents a gallon. if that maintains we're going to see that come through to the pump pretty quickly. there's really no slack in the california refining capacity. particularly this time of year we're imports gasoline from other parts of the country. >> reporter: importing more will be a major challenge if prices start to spike. >> when we have an unforeseen outage like this you can't really get a new shipment that wasn't already scheduled into california. so when we do have these sorts of outages we see a price spike. >> reporter: other refineries could reap a huge ben

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar is live to explain why so many people did not hear what they were expectingo. >> reporter: and it is who wasn't there that raised eyebrows. >> reporter: residents wanted to know what investigators found so far. >> i am interested in what has been going on. >> what type of chemicals were released, are they harmful. >> i hope to find out what was in the smoke. >> reporter: the common answer was still investigating. >> investigations last 12-18 months. >> in our haste to provide information as soon as possible we are indicated we are not seeing anything. >> after 30 years of saying the same thing i come to the conclusion the district is lying. period. >> reporter: they showed up to answer questions, one did not, cal-osha. they chose only to submit a statement. two years ago they pronounced all of california's refinery's safe. >> they are being told to shut up or they don't want to provide the information. >> reporter: we learned due to damage of the facility investigators still have not examined the failed pipe. >> i have not put my hands on that pipe. >> report

tom vacar tells us how much prices go up depends on how fast the refinery problem fixed. >> it's whatn't know that can really hit us in the pocket. >> you're absolutely right there was additional damage. >> over the next month or two we're going to have a shortage of gasoline if this outage is as serious as it seems. >> reporter: the problems at the refinery here may be abating but the problems for consumers at the pump may just be beginning. >> so far today we've seen the price spike on the wholesale market about 25 cents a gallon. if that maintains we're going to see that come through to the pump pretty quickly. there's really no slack in the california refining capacity. particularly this time of year we're imports gasoline from other parts of the country. >> reporter: importing more will be a major challenge if prices start to spike. >> when we have an unforeseen outage like this you can't really get a new shipment that wasn't already scheduled into california. so when we do have these sorts of outages we see a price spike. >> reporter: other refineries could reap a huge benefit.

consumer editor tom vacar ktvu channel 2 news. >>> a law maker on the peninsula urged regulators to reject a plan by pg&e to have rate payers foot the bill for pipeline repairs. the state public utilities commission ordered all systems to be -- pg&e proposed a upgrade plan but jerry hill said today rate payers already paid for the existing pipe system. >> it was not properly taken care of, not properly tested in the manner that is appropriate, now we are expected to pick up pg&e's request 95% of that cost. >> hill wants pg&e share holders to pay the costs but a pg&e spokesperson said share holders have already paid $1.5 billion. >>> apple became the most highly valued company in history, with stocks surging, they reached $621 billion. that beats the record set by microsoft during the days of the boom. investigators have been pushing stock price up in anticipation of the iphone 5. apple stock rose $17 today. a gain of 2.63%. facebook stock hit a new low today, dropped to $18.75 a chair to close at -- share to close at $21.01. >>> on wall street today the stock market finished flat. the dow

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> and we posted the reported on the low speed chase crash on our website, it is www.ktvu.com and you will find it under web links. >>> the is new information on the man suspected at gunning down people at a sikh temple. the gunman is wade michael page. a 40-year-old army veteran. officers shot him dead at the scene yesterday. he served in the army in the 1990s. he opened fire at a sikh temple outside milwaukee. three survivors were seriously hurt, including a police officer trying to help the victims. >> he was met by the suspect who ambushed him. the officer was shot 8-9 times at the incident at close range. >> investigators are calling the attack a possible hate crime or an act of domestic terrorism. the largest sikh temple in the country is here in the bay area in san jose. ktvu's ann rubin is live at the temple and tells us some of the members have strong connections to the victims in wisconsin. >> reporter: people at the temple realized they had close connections to several of the victims. >> reporter: they came to pray and mourn,

reporting live, consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu news. >>> the oil industry's trade association the american petroleum institute talked about rising prices. here's how a chief economy talks about price spikes. >> i didn't see anything unusual in terms of what the supply and demand factors are. it's important to remember that california had declined fairly significantly in price. so increasing a little on a day- to-day basis is not unusual. >> reporter: many other economists not paid by the oil industries see a direct connection between chevron's fire and rising prices. >>> work is set to begin monday on a lone tree way bypass undercrossing. it's part of the project to widen that highway to laurel road in oakley. traffic will be restricted to one lane. the widening project is expected to be complete by spring of 2015. >>> a petaluma bay company is recalling cheese distributed as partial wheels to restaurants and stores here in california as well as north carolina and florida. the cheeses are the shepherd's way big woods blue dated july 19th through july 27, 2011 and the pond hopper. according

tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> earlier in this newscast we had a live report from new orleans andlins and she was really being pushed around by the strong winds. in the next 15 minutes we're going to go back for a live update and see if the conditions have changed. >>> new at 10:00 the growing number of homeless youth in santa clara county. we're told many of those now on the streets were previously in the foster system. janine de la vega is live now in santa clara where she met a young man who is fighting the problem while living in his car. janine. >> reporter: julie there's an estimated 600 homeless youth living in santa clara county but there's only 20 beds in this one shelter. tonight advocates want to bring awareness to the problem. >> the only thing i do have is all packed inside this car. from my school books to my religious materials. >> reporter: this is where 23- year-old joshua vendlin lives. he was attending school but lost his job and could not afford rent. >> i came to move down to san jose because i know san jose is a bigger city. has more job opportunities. >> rep

fox's tom vacar with more. >> reporter: today's children are the most technically sophisticated ever.they all have a smartphone or some type of internet access on them 24/7. >> reporter: but -- >> they don't have the same cognitive abilities. they have less impulse control. they truly are more vulnerable than adults. >> reporter: example, many so- called free online games. >> just tells you if you pay this amount of money, you get this amount of stuff or like points for a game. >> reporter: it's a huge opportunity for marketers. >> kids today are so much more influential than any other generation of children in getting their parents to buy what they want. >> they talk about that all the time, did you see this on this page or did you see what this person got? >> reporter: internet marketers are so sophisticated these days they can track a person's individual browsing and custom tailor advertising to them, even children. >> making me realize i don't have a handle on it. i think i need to pay more attention. >> reporter: today the ftc proposed updated privacy rules to protect children un

tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> earlier in this newscast we had a live report from new orleans andeard from nicole collins and she was really being pushed around by the strong winds. in the next 15 minutes we're going to go back for a live update and see if the conditions have changed. >>> new at 10:00 the growing number of homeless youth in santa clara county. we're told many of those now on the streets were previously in the foster system. janine de la vega is live now in santa clara where she met a young man who is fighting the problem while living in his car. janine. >> reporter: julie there's an estimated 600 homeless youth living in santa clara county but there's only 20 beds in this one shelter. tonight advocates want to bring awareness to the problem. >> the only thing i do have is all packed inside this car. from my school books to my religious materials. >> reporter: this is where 23- year-old joshua vendlin lives. he was attending school but lost his job and could not afford rent. >> i came to move down to san jose because i know san jose is a bigger city. has more job o

tom vacar joins us live from the san bruno blast site with details of both of events today. >> reporter: it was a day of concrete action to say the least and as yet unrealized assurances. the pumping of concrete into eleven00 feet of the main assures it will never carries go through this neighborhood again. pg&e's c.e.o. tony early tried to order it. he also committed up to a $500 millions word of upgrades through the end of next year. by the end of next year 700 miles of the most critical high pressure lines will have been fully inspected and tested. maximum pressures on 3,000 more miles of lines have already been verified. looking into the future? >> we plan to invest about $5 billion a year in capital expenditures over the next several years. we'll create about 30,000 jobs in that 2014 had-2016 time period. these are good jobs. >> early wants to resolve all san bruno injury and property claims by the end of the year. he expects the accident will cost $1.6 billion. >> we really need to get on with all the work that we need to do. >> some of the eight wrongful death cases have already