consumer editor tom vacar ktvu channel 2 news. >>> senior have a new tool. the state commissioner launched seniors.ca.gov to report fraud and abuse. >> they would take their assets, and tie it up so they can't access it. >> the department says they will be tracking hits to the website to determine how often it is used. we have a link on www.ktvu.com. >>> we got clouds out there. temperatures today, mild. not much different than yesterday. 60s and low 70s. this is the system i am tracking, this area here. this will work its way towards the coast as we go into the next 36-48 hours. that is why we introduced sprinkles into the forecast. not a big deal if it happens and it would be light and widely scattered. tomorrow there is a chance of a sprinkle and again on wednesday. not a big deal. here is the system. what happens, you can see it triggered sprinkles right there, right? as it winds south and southeast, some sprinkles come our way. temperatures are the things you will notice most. over night lows will be cool. low 40s. 30s in the cool spots. the next couple

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> caught in the act. a resident in san jose provided police with an important clue and today it paid off as officers swarmed a neighborhood and broke up a group of burglars. ktvu's robert handa is live in san jose with the pictures and why this case is far from over. robert? >> reporter: pictures they needed because the san jose police department has been struggling with the problem. burglaries going up, and fewer officers to respond. we are going to show you pictures that helped catch the burglars. >>> san jose police officers make six arrests. these are pictures from a citizens of burglars breaking into a home through a backdoor today in san jose. we are not showing faces because the suspects are juveniles but in the pictures they are smiling, while carrying merchandise into the vehicle. >> we see cash taken, ipad, computers, apple devices, electronics, tvs. >> reporter: officers believe they burglarized two homes in the past two days. but a neighborhood captured the vehicle that led arrests. >> third s

ktvu consumer editor tom vacar is live in emeryville with the new study that is good news for the u.sonomy. >> reporter: indeed. each of us will be spending about $30 more dollars this year than last. for the retail dependent u.s. economy today's survey seems to make one thing plain. >> it will be a good solid holiday season without a doubt. it may be a strong holiday season. but at least we're not going backwards. >> reporter: the national study shows 63% of us will spend the same as last year. this yearover all average spend willing be $582. of those that will spend more half say they will spend $250 more this year. a fourth will spend $750 or more. and 8% say the sky is the limit. just over half say they have cash set aside and more than a fourth of the shoppers will have a smart phone or digital tablet to compare prices. >> they are really empowered with technology. they are bargain hunters. if they don't find the right thing at the right price they don't buy. >> reporter: but in california we still found an abundance of caution among consumers. >> every year we do less and less.

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> more details now. the top three wine destinations are on the west coast. sonoma county tops the list. napa valley comes in second. third place goes to oregon. >>> the department of the interior has announced 27 new national landmarks today, and two of them are right here in the bay area. one is the united states post office and courthouse in san francisco, also home as the james r. browning u.s. court of appeals. it was built between 1897 and 1905. the other is the drakes bay. that is the location of the first encounter between california indians and europeans. >>> caltrans is alerting drivers about this weekend. san mateo-hayward bridge closure for seismic upgrades and repairs. it will be shut down from 10 p.m. on friday until 5 on friday. they are repairing a cracked beam discovered two years ago. they also plan to replace 60 feet of the bridge deck. >> we'll pick up the old deck sections, pick up the new deck sections and put them in place. >> the bridge work won't be done in one weekend. caltrans w

reporting live tom vacar ktvu channel 2 news. go giants. >> the mayors of san francisco and detroit made the traditional bet on the game but with a new twist. instead of wagering sore dough bread and electric power automobiles they have put up what some might consider more dignified steaks. the losing mayor will travel to the other city where they will take part of a day of service. >> we cannot get enough of the viewer photos. all of the fans are sending them to us. take a look here. this is little hunter and he is already ready to watch the game. he has little row mote control in his hand. >> what bet tire celebrate this orange october than with pumpkins. about the same size as this pumpkin. seven-month-old kie. >> keep those photos coming. e-mail us directly at photos@ktvu.com. >>> stay with us our live conch begins at 4:30 immediately following this newscast. >>> man as died after being crushed in a workplace accident. about 9:30 this morning at the ports ben e nutter terminal. worker in his earnly 50s was performing maintena

consumer editor tom vacar ktvu channel 2 news. >>> oakland police are investigating a pair of shooting. the latest happened in north oakland at 12:40 a.m. this morning. investigators say there is conflicting information about where the victim was in a car or on the street. the victim was treated for a gun shot wound at a hospital and in stable condition tonight. two hours earlier a man was shot while driving a car on church street. officers say the victim showed up in a car that had been riddled with bullets. he is in stable condition. investigators do not believe they are related. >>> the fbi just left a home in contra costa county. 12 fbi technicians were there to help police investigation the death of a woman. susie ko was found dead friday inside her home. a autopsy report says she was stabbed and suffered head trauma. they also continue to look for the family's car that was stolen. the family and friend eare gathering at -- gathering to hold a candlelight vigil tonight. >>> we know the name of a six- year-old girl who was killed on saturday. she was hit along with two pedestrians

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar live with what happened and what he learned about all of this. >> reporter: a tipster told us hackers actually tried to get personal information. what we can say, it appears what they were really trying to do is compromise national security. >> reporter: the district is computerized with general access and password only access. one day the district got what seemed like a strange communication. >> seems like a strange communication because it was the u.s. naval intelligence, said one of our servers were compromised. >> reporter: by hackers to steal information from the fbi and cia. they said they were using innocent servers to bounce around the internet with their final targets the fbi and the cia. this makes it difficult to trace the hackers. did they gain access to the district files? >> no. we have been told our firewall wasn't breached. they used it to cover their tracks but they never got through our firewall which is where that information is. >> reporter: since there was no breach, uncle sam asked them to leave the server up and running to

consumer editor tom vacar ktvu channel 2 news. >>> nfl football player turned actor alex karras died los angeles. he was well known for his role as a father on webster and blazing saddles. he played for the detroit lions. he was suing the nfl over treatment of head injuries. >>> we should know tomorrow what caused the death of a panda cub. it was born september 16. the cub had liver abnormalities. the final results will be announced in washington, d.c. tomorrow morning. >>> a rescue at sea caught on tape. they were called out to rescue a fisherman and his run away boat. after they saved the man they turned their attention to the run away boat that was in danger of causing damage. they gained enough speed and then finally stopped that run away vehicle. >>> tonight a lottery player may be planning how they will spend the winnings. a winning ticket was told in santa clara. the person has 180 days to claim the prize. >>> now to our weather. >> last night, that deal -- [ talking at the same time ] >> there is a chance for that again and what we experienced today in the mountains, the that

reporting live, consumer editor, tom vacar, ktvu, channel 2news. >>> the treasury department a announced that the federal budget deficit exceeds $1 trillion but is down 16% from a year ago and stands at $1.1 trillion for the fiscal year that ended september 30th. >>> on wall street, the major markets ended the day mixed finishing out the worst week since june. the dow jones industrial average ended up two points and the nasdaq lost five points and the srx s & p was down four points. for the week, the three big indices were down by more than 2%. >>> top official is found guilty of embezzlement. >> and a new push to legalize marijuana. how it could impact federal law. >> and see how this heated political debate between two congressional candidates nearly turned violent. money to our schools. "misleading." out here. it. but there's hope. straight to our schools... keeps it there. politicians. to really help our schools, vote yes on thirty-eight. >>> a navy helicopter spotted something unusual floating in the pacific ocean off the san diego coast earlier this week. bales and bales of marijua

ktvu consumer editor tom vacar tells us how the storm is affecting bay area airports fox for tens ofthousands of travelers stranded by sandy it's a waiting game. >> right now our best guess is that san francisco we're going to cancel about 55 flights. there will be all of the flights canceled for tomorrow. >> reporter: sfo's united terminal the major complaint lack of information. >> they originally told me that all flights were caused until thursday. i was out here for a convention. so hoping to rebook and get back as soon as i can. >> with all the technology that we have nowadays, where i get an automated call telling me i need to check in. there is no reason to i can't get an automated call to say your flight has been delayed or canceled. >> reporter: for all of these people who have been waiting here for hours and hours, only two agents to serve them. >> i imagine that the managers behind the desk are not coming out to help and i don't take it out on the people here working. it's the upper-level management not doing them their jobs. management is putting them at non-storm airport

i'm consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> a private job survey shows there may be little hope for the unemployment rate to come down before election day. adp says its poll of private employers indicates they added about 162,000 jobs in september. that is down from the 189,000 added in august. analysts say the economy needs to add about 200,000 jobs a month to lower the unemployment rate. the u.s. labor department is scheduled to release its jobs report and the september unemployment rate this friday. on wall street today, stocks edged up slightly. the dow added 12 points. nasdaq rose 15. and the s&p 500 was five points higher at close. >>> the g street overpass on highway 4, investigators say a 49-year-old man reported that something came through his windshield about 9:45 last thursday night and hit him in the arm. he was treated at the hospital. right about the same time, a woman told police that something shattered her windshield. she was not hurt. back on monday night, something hit an ambulance driving on highway 4. no one was hurt in that incident either. >>> with th

it involves cars between 2007 and 2009 and ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar tells us the concern is the cars could catch fire. >> reporter: half million toyotas are right here in california. many toyotas are being recalled because power window switches could cause smoke or a fire. >> no accidents have been reported about this. there is no case of fire linked to this. so customers don't have to worry. >> every consumer should have a fire extinguisher. >> reporter: the repair is simple, quick and free. >> it is yet another blemish on toyota's reputation for quality. and what happened is during the 2000s toyota tried to become the number one car seller in

in studio, we have tom vacar, computer editor for ktvu news and josh richman, regional political reporter for the bay asia news group. and joe garofoli, political reporter for "the san francisco chronicle." joe, you were in denver for the first presidential debate. must have been hard covering it, since there were so many people tweeting that night. tell us what's happened since then. how are the candidates -- >> things have really evolved over the last 40 ho8 hours. it was widely perceived that the president did not have a good night. didn't really realize the date is also a show, not just a competition of ideas. but in the intervening 48 hours, been a lot of fact checking, some of the stuff that romney said, that's catching up to him and the job numbers have come out today. and those have been helpful to the president, a little pit, the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8%, the lowest since he's been president, and that helps. because the republicans have been saying the last three years, unemployment rate has been high and not dropping below 8%. so, this is sort of a symbolic victory. not

ktvu's tom vacar profiles proposition 33. >> reporter: auto insurance prop 33 makes golden promises. >> it will save me and california drivers money every month and makes it easier for drivers to switch insurance companies, leading to more competition and lower rates. >> reporter: under prop 33 the law would require that any discount you have earned at one company would be good at another company. but for many consumers who had no insurance or a break in coverage over last five years big sur charges could be in the offing. including new drivers, those who do not have cars, those who quit driving because of recession or chaos to take public transit. >> my response would be that i do believe that competition can be increased and there can be a more robust market in carriage and proposition 33 will do that. >> reporter: current law passed by california voters 24 years ago when rates were running wild requires that your rates be based primarily on your driving record, the number of years you have driven, the number of miles you drive. prop 33 would make whether or not you have had contin

ktvu's tom vacar live from the airport to put all the details in perspective for us. >> reporter: itppened here 18 months ago and many folks

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar is live in oakland with the economic impact an a's win could have outside the coliseum. >> reporter: we are at mcgoes to. if you look -- mcgees. if you look. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: a bonus for the employee whose get more days of business. for fans happy chance to splurge. >> been a giants efan -- fan. i thought i should get posy gear. >> impulse shopping myself. but really, really looked at the prices. >> reporter: across the street from at&t park, even though the giants weren't home, business boom. they dug deep. the question is, does this create extra spending or is this just robbing peter to pay pall. >> if it means we are not going to the movies, to the mall, we have to take into account not only what it is that adds to spending but we need to consider what sport substitutes for in the way of spending. >> probably just yea for winning. >> reporter: wouldn't stop you from going to the movies? >> no. >> i might feel guilty, yeah. it might impact my purchases. any other purchases. >> reporter: those business is tania washington here if the te