tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> facebook has settled a lawsuit over privacy issues but for one groupis not enough. they said facebook should not use any child's image or information in advertising and so today they asked a court to void the settlement. facebook can use a child's information for advertising if they get parent's permission. advocates say that shouldn't be an option. >>> a law maker introduced a will aimed at making california the first state to require warning labels on sodas. the bill has the support of several medical groups. it would require any drink with more than 75-calories per 12- ounces to display a warning that is contributes to obesity and diabetes and dental decay. >> screenings today for thousands of preschool children. 88 dentists are giving kids check ups. the project calls give kids a smile is organized by the dental society. the director expects to screen 8 to 9,000 children. >> we are doing oral dental screenings because many kids don't see a dentist, have cavities, have gum disease. >> assistants also help get them scheduled and teach them about brus

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> 18 states have legalized same-sex marriage. here is a look at them highlighted on this map. new mexico, illinois, new york, massachusetts which was the first state to do so and just three days ago, u.s. attorney general eric holder announced the government will recognize same-sex marriages even in states where they are not legal. the move includes bankruptcies cases, prison visitation rights and survivor benefits. >>> and our coverage continues on www.ktvu.com. we created a section with sound and video about the path to legalize same-sex marriage in california and the fight ovproposition -- over proposition 8. look under hot topics. >>> new developments tonight. a amber alert issued yesterday after a carjacking has been canceled. ktvu's john sasaki joins us from police headquarters with the turn in the investigation. john? >> reporter: this is a bizarre case and there is lot of questions to be answered. police spokes woman just wrapped up a press conference in which she said the amber alert has been canceled because there was n

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> shares of tesla spiked again. they beat predictions on 4th quarter sales, $46 million. for a while shares reached a high of $215 a share. it closed at $209.97, up 8%. >>> it took two thieves working together to pry open this door and get inside. the 1 thing they got away -- one thing they got away with. >> this lawn may look nice but the people say it has to go. how the drought is effecting the landscape for many residents. >> after the break, the showers showing up in the five-day forecast, we will see you back here with the details. hey! hi! ladies, how are you? let's taste some wine. ♪ ♪ seize your vacation with a southwest airlines sale. go to southwest.com, where our lowest fares are now available as low as $69 one-way. book now at southwest.com and carpe vacay. ♪ >>> a woman was hit and injured by a cement truck this afternoon in san francisco. it happened after 3:00 p.m. at california and fillmore streets. the woman was in her 70s and transported to san francisco general hospital. no word on her condition.

and only learned about them through the media. >> tom vacar is live with what needs to be brought tong. the once very solid ranks of management are afraid right now. >> reporter: he heads the toll authority. he learned it was leaking from the media. one of several defects he learn from reporters. he sent this e-mail to the official. he is demanding a list of all the remaining defects when they learned of them, how they will be fixed and what it will cost. >> items that are major issues in the newspapers are catching him by surprise. >> reporter: he spoke. >> at this time the over sight committee want to see all the issues that still remain. >> reporter: he is one of three people in charge of the committee. another member is the head of caltrans, the agency that is not providing the over sight committee with enough information. >> i think there is frustration about this particular issue and the timing of it. >> reporter: the leaks are minor, expected and fixable problems not normally reported. >> the fact that it was a significant issue in the media, people were frustrated. >> reporte

tom vacar, channel 2 news. >>> and the drought is prompting new rules for organic farmers, and couldr livelihood. >> reporter: this is a 2,400-acre farm in petaluma, in four generations never a drought so bad. >> we've lost probably two and a half, three months of what we call free feed. >> cows produce 5,500 gallons of milk a day. he and other farmers asked for a change in federal organic rules that require 100 days of grazing within walking distance of the barn. he says there's simply not enough grass. >> if it quits raining now and the drought continues, it will be real important that they change. how will we produce organic milk? >> this afternoon a usda official told me the organic pasture rules will changed it allowing farmers to bring in organic hay instead. >> i don't know if it changes the quality too much. it should be just for a short time depending on the drought. >> at the nearby market, organic milk is a huge seller. relaxed on rules disappointed customers. >> for her son, there really is no option. >> i still have to buy orging antic milk, right? what else are you goin

tom vacar, channel 2 news. >>> and the drought is prompting new rules for organic farmers, and couldave their livelihood. >> reporter: this is a 2,400-acre farm in petaluma, in four generations never a drought so bad. >> we've lost probably two and a half, three months of what we call free feed. >> cows produce 5,500 gallons of milk a day. he and other farmers asked for a change in federal organic rules that require 100 days of grazing within walking distance of the barn. he says there's simply not enough grass. >> if it quits raining now and the drought continues, it will be real important that they change. how will we produce organic milk? >> this afternoon a usda official told me the organic pasture rules will changed it allowing farmers to bring in organic hay instead. >> i don't know if it changes the quality too much. it should be just for a short time depending on the drought. >> at the nearby market, organic milk is a huge seller. relaxed on rules disappointed customers. >> for her son, there really is no option. >> i still have to buy orging antic milk, right? what else are

ktvu's tom vacar is at that station where he spoke to the owner's son today. tom?a lot of people. take a look. this is where the ticket was sold. there hasn't been a line. the biggest line was 5 people. the fact is, people are taking this in stride. when the next jackpot comes up you can bet this place will be crowded because the odds yesterday were 1-175 million. >> reporter: officials were not surprised about -- >> we don't know who the winner is. >> the other big winner, owners of the selling gas station. >> they will get a million dollars bonus for selling the winning ticket and they are very excited. >> the owner's son stood in because the owner wanted peace and left his cell phone behind. >> the reason was he wanted me to handle the business. he didn't want headaches on the trip. >> reporter: the son will continue to work. >> thankful. nervous. he will reinvest in the business. make it more pleasant experience for the customers. >> the flood of media making it a surreal experience. >> largest amount before this was $10,000. >> the 425 million would be paid ov

ktvu's tom vacar went inside the bridge with engineers today. how they plan to fix the problem tonight at 6:00 p.m. >>> an inmate made it break for it but where it started made it trickier to catch him. ktvu's claudine wong is live. you spoke to witnesses and they are describe agcaotic scene here. -- describing a chaotic scene here. >> reporter: the scuffle happened in the tunnels beneath the building, tunnels that connect the courthouse to the jail. >> reporter: he was working on landscaping outside the courthouse when the scuffle from below ground made its way out a backdoor. >> i hear get to the ground now and they tackled this guy, cops come out, sheriff's deputies come out, covered in a substance. >> reporter: it came from a fire expenseuisher that the inmate -- extinguisher that the inmate used. >> he tated to broadcast for a door -- attempted to escape from a door. he used the fire extinguisher on the deputies. he cause tased and -- he was tased and taken into custodies. >>> the deputies were headachen to -- were taken to the hospital for

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> more details now. massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2003 and then colorado and california legalized it -- connecticut and california legalized it. in 2009 four states joined on and 2012 the president said he supported gay marriage. >>> the legislation that will allow the federal government to increase its borrowing limit is headed to president president obama's desk. the senate approved the measure 55-43 after it cleared a filibuster hurdle. the senate's top two republicans provided crucial momentum and several others switched their votes. >>> snow and ice are crippling the southeast. a quarter million people across several states are in the dark. drivers are dealing with slick roads. in tens one report -- tennessee one reporter captured a drive spinning out. tonight all eyes on atlanta. live with whether or not they are expected to fair better than the last storm. >> reporter: i can tell you it is fairing better already. we are on hour 20 of steady rain, sleet and snow

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> a record number of california college students are applying for financial aid. that's according to a new report from the department of education. in the past six years there has been a 74% increase in the number of students applying for financial aid. and financial aid is not just for low income students there's also assistance for families americaning $150,000 a year. students are encouraged to apply before the march 2 deadline. >>> new action tonight on conditions in the richmond housing authority. our cameras found mold and bugs this morning when residents led us inside. now the city council is expected to weigh in in the meeting starting in just 90 minutes. rob roth reports after speaking with residents and seeing the deplorable conditions for himself. >> aisha jeffrey and 3-year-old daughter showed us their bathtub that barely drains. jeffrey says bath water recently came out of her sink. >> across the walk we saw mold on the wall next to a child's bed. >> it's getting bad. i have my little girl. i don't want her inhaling that mo

tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> a big bold change is coming to the grocery aisle. fda is changing your shopping experience in hopes you will become healthier. >> we continue a cover breaking news, you see westbound 580 is closed to all traffic just after the 238 split. chp investigators are looking into reports of a freeway shooting the. shooting there. ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing really good around ♪ ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit tired ♪ ♪ of living off the taste of the air ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ finally, i have a manly chocolatey snack ♪ ♪ and fiber so my wife won't give me any more flack ♪ ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ ♪ >>> we continue to follow breaking news in the east bay. a major traffic back up on westbound 580 after the 238 split. this is why. news chopper 2 showing us investigators walking on the road as they investigate reports of a freeway shooting. traffic is slow out of the trivalley area. westbound 580 not the commute direction for the evening commute but things

ktvu's tom vacar reports the plan will likely be approved later this week. >> reporter: a buck on april 7. >> it would go to the board on friday morning at 10:00 a.m. >> cash tolls $7 and fast track '6. two years later up a quarter and a half buck a year after that. the increases will leave the bridge $20 million short. >> this will not solve it. >> reporter: even with the new increase the bridge still face as $5 million a year deficit unless they decide to do something they used to do, charge pedestrians and bikes. if they charge just $1 it would be wiped out. >> no sidewalk stole on the table -- toll on the table. >> we asked folks about that. >> sometimes you have to pay for up keep and maintaining. i rather we all contribute than lose something. >> if there was concession for locals, i wouldn't mind it. >> half of all toll money subsidizes to prevent grid lock. the other half goes to run and maintain the ridge. upgrades enables the bridge to remain even after a earthquake. the bridge should last for hundreds of more years. tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> earlier today families w

ktvu's tom vacar investigates why customers are having to pay for the water that never reaches theiritical information for him in the hills as well as any utility that has loose soils. >> it will get worse. >> reporter: they put sonic sensing devices at two test points and then a program traces the leak to a distance along the water main. >> when the ground moves usually at a joint, service connection it breaks there. >> reporter: they immediately call in a repair crew, one of many to do the hard, expensive work. the crew also has to jackhammer out a road bed 8 to10 inches thick. -- to 10 inches thick. the digging goes on hour after hour. leading to the leak coming from a home service valve. this must be hand carved away. after 10 hours the leaking is finally fixed and reburied. crews handle 3,000 leak as year. some quickly fixed but many others worse. >> more than half are more than 50 years ago. >> reporter: the california department of water says utilities lose 10% of their water to pipe leaks. all bay area water utilities reported less than 10%. advocates say it is way too much.

tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> and our coverage of the storm continues throughout the newscast, we will have more on the rain that is falling over the bay area and the commute, especially the breaking news involving b.a.r.t. service stopped right now between 16 and 24 street stations in san francisco. >>> dozens of students file a complaint against university of california at berkeley, saying they were sexual assaulted and the school didn't do enough about it. ktvu's john sasaki is live. they say people who committed sexual assault just walked free there on campus. >> reporter: the women are furious because they were assaulted and because the university's response left them feeling victimized again. >> reporter: university of california at berkeley is one of the best universities in the world. >> last year i was assaulted. >> reporter: now a group of students is arguing it is also a place where sexual assault isn't taken seriously. >> there is hundreds and they are not being -- no disciplinary action taken. >> reporter: 31 women are filing complaints because of the assaults. >> man

ktvu's tom vacar is at the tank farm and they are worried about air quality? >> reporter: a lot of stuff. you could call it protecting my home or call it not in my backyard. whatever you call it, the fact is a few citizens can make people stop and think. >>> till the 1990s this oil tank farm fed petroleum fuel. they want to convert it into a crude oil facility. this was on a fast track to be approved last fall till a few local folks did research. much of the crude would come from trains. >> it is tar sands with the dirty oil. heavy metal. >> we have a recognized earthquake model that shows it has a high potential. >> these trains they want to bring the oils in with are like bombs on railroad tracks. when they derail they explode. >> reporter: they gathered thousands of signatures shown here in yellow. they said many homeowners were not told what they were buying into. >> many people questioned why are they there,ering everybody was told they have been -- everybody was told they have been detactivated. >> reporter: research -- deactivated. >> reporter: research

a sold out crowd is going to meet on this issue later tonight, tom vacar has the story. >> reporter:now this is a coin. this is a bit coin. an intangible that exists only in a shared computer and is backed only by the faith of the people who spend real money to get them. cups and cakes bakery in san francisco is one of the few brick and mortar retailer set up to exchange their goodies in bit coin accounts. there are no bit coin regulators or regulations. >> it's a speculative instrument. the one attribute it has going for it is it's scarce. >> reporter: because there can only be so many bitcoins created. the more people want bitcoins the they go up in value. bitcoin's nonguaranteed value is what people are willing to pay for it. >> what we know of speculative that they rise and fall in price. and that's going to happen to bitcoin. >> reporter: sean personell is a bitcoin supporter. >> but you're right there's nowhere to go to if your money is taken and there's no recourse. it's not backed like something like gold or something else. >> reporter: but as more and more people regard it a

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> more details now on the recent troubles for the new bridge. last month engineers said they were rushed to complete their work and when they noticed cracked wells they say the head of the project told them not to put their concerns in writing and last year dozens of snapped rods and broken bolts had to be repaired. caltrans insists the bridge is safe. >>> now to the weather. we are in a drought emergency but the weekend storm left a lot of people happy. ktvu's chief meteorologist bill martin has a look at who got the most rain. >> the north bay lot of rain. measuring it in feet. 15 inches. south bay, under an inch of rain. 14-inch disparity. water shed, a ton of water. well in lake tahoe. kent field 12 inches. towards the heyward. amazing the differences in the accumulations. this is how it went. percents of average came up. down 13% of average. now 40% of average in santa rosa. 33 oakland. san jose 28% of average. i will show you what happened here, we are getting a break from the showers. the jet stream wants to shift south towards th

ktvu's tom vacar was at that announcement. he's live now on treasure island. tom, we have seen this before. >> yeah. the question becomes are these dumb or deliberate defects or simply tweakable troubles. there are allegations that the steel road decks on the sitting tower suspension span were misfitted and welded in a way that they'll break from normal use or in an earthquake. >> the position of the project is that this is not an issue. it does not affect the structural stability of the bridge. it does not affect its seismic performance in the event of an earthquake. >> caltrans also commented on several hundred water leaks in the supposedly watertight steel road decks found when it rained a couple of weeks ago. >> there are leak holes, dehumidify kags. we anticipated water, and we have the steps in place to manage this issue. >> gordon says demolition of the old bridge road decks continues on schedule with work to dismantle the double peaked section to be obvious next month. he also says the pedestrian and bike path will be closed on weekends in april to ins

jill tucker, daffodil altan, and tom vacar, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >>> coming up, aook at troubled public housing lodges in richmond. first, university of missouri football star michael sam ignited a national conversation earlier this month by announcing he's gay. this weekend in indianapolis, he'll be under scrutiny at the annual gathering of top college prospect who work out for nfl coaches and executives. if sam is drafted in may, he would become the first openly gay player on a pro football team. here in the bay area, golden state warriors president rick welch understands what sam is facing on a personal level. welch is the highest ranking openly gay executive in men's professional sports. he spoke earlier with scott schaefer. >> rick welch, welcome. >> thank you. >> it's been about three years since you came out. you were with the phoenix suns at the time. tell me what's been going through your mind in the last two weeks as you've seen michael sam with his revelation. >> well, it's 2014, so my conversations with him have been by text. i haven't met him yet, but

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> we are tracking a new storm heading our way tonight. >> and our chief meteorologist bill martin is tracking the changing conditions. he joins us now from the weather center. bill. >> the good thing is like judy points out, there's one storm -- actually two storms. there's one behind it. this one that comes in tomorrow or wednesday is going to really mess with the commutes. we'll talk about this. then the system behind it. here's no. 1. here's no. 2. system no. 2 is going to roll in on friday and whack the friday morning commute. the live radar sweeps right now just shows how moist the atmosphere is. green areas, that's not rain in the ground but indication of how thick this crowd cover is and how moist the atmosphere. it's getting all primed up and ready for that system as it rolls in here tomorrow. the rain fall accumulations, i'm going to roll this through a couple of days all the way into friday, friday about 2:00. you're going to see. we're talking about the models suggesting anywhere from 3 inches to 2 inches in napa to 2-and-a-ha

tom vacar tells us bridge workers need to figure out how the water is getting in and how to fix it. >s on the new span from this week's storm, but some water ended up inside the supposedly watertight steal decks held up by the cables. >> they don't know exactly where it's coming in, and how quick it will take to resolve. we had to climb way up there to the top of the inside of the roadway of the bridge. >> it's certainly something that we're taking seriously. >> cal trans's highest bridge engineer, is richard lamb. >> for these bolts in particular, we're seeing water coming down from the surface. >> you could barely see signs of the leak and no pooled water. >> there's no corrosion. certainly we're taking this issue very seriously and it takes a fair amount of time for corrosion to manifest itself. >> forensic failure engineers at berkley research company labs say any water spells long-term corrosion and rust trouble. >> this could have an impact within ten years or so, depending on the thickness of the steal and the severity of the severe. >> so there's a safety factor built into the

tom vacar tells us bridge workers need to figure out how the water is getting in and how to fix it. > standing water still remains on the new span from this week's storm, but some water ended up inside the supposedly watertight steal decks held up by the cables. >> they don't know exactly where it's coming in, and how quick it will take to resolve. we had to climb way up there to the top of the inside of the roadway of the bridge. >> it's certainly something that we're taking seriously. >> cal trans's highest bridge engineer, is richard lamb. >> for these bolts in particular, we're seeing water coming down from the surface. >> you could barely see signs of the leak and no pooled water. >> there's no corrosion. certainly we're taking this issue very seriously and it takes a fair amount of time for corrosion to manifest itself. >> forensic failure engineers at berkley research company labs say any water spells long-term corrosion and rust trouble. >> this could have an impact within ten years or so, depending on the thickness of the steal and the severity of the severe. >> so there's a