i am tom vacar, that story ahead. back here the fog will come back, it will be cold, i will have the tuesday morning temperature forecast for your neighborhood. cçrrú alright, so we have $10. you could get two things for $4 and one for $2. or five things for $2. or one for $6 and two for $2. [ male announcer ] with denny's 2-4-6-8 value menu, we're open to all new ways to save you money. [ imitates explosion ] [ male announcer ] dnyny's. . unlike other stores, we don't make you come back to save! get up to $20 off with no exclusions. we make christmas affordable. you make it yours. jcpenney. no exclusions. with jcpcash get 10...15 or... $20 off. storewide. unlike other stores, we don't make you come back to save! get up to $20 off with no exclusions. we make christmas affordable. you make it yours. jcpenney. >>> happeningright now protesters taking their message right to the port of oakland. and those who conduct business in the nation's fifth busiest port just a few minutes ago this crowd of protesters arrived there

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar is live today. >> reporter: the pilots say with the new rules we willbe safer but it will take two years to implement the new rules. >> reporter: three years ago two pilots made errors that killed all on board near new york. fatigue contributes to 30% of all transportation accidents. >> they won't be alert. if they -- incidence of an emergency they won't react as quickly. >> reporter: even if a fipilet is commuting as a passenger, that's considered duty time. duty time can't exceed 14 hours. flight time is limited to 8-9 hours. pilots must get 10 hours arrest between flights and during any week must get 30 hours arrest. >> they are human and as we are driving cars we become exhausted. i feel that pilots have the lives of so many people in their hands so we should respect that and give them the rest they need. >> i think it's a terrific idea. the more rest the bester for the passengers. >> reporter: the industry will pay $300 million a year to implement the rules. ticket prices are likely to rise. >> getting there in one piece is the primary factor. >> r

tom vacar, ktvu. >>> dozens of people met today at the contra costa jewish center. a parent today told ktvu that they are trying to work something out to keep the preschool open until june. the center's gym will stay open. >>> santa was on patrol in oakland this morning with a little help from his team of motorcycle officers. >> these are my elfs, let's go elfs. >> reporter: santa and the police team toured oakland looking for families with children instead of giving out tickets the officers passed out toys to girls and boys they met along the way. >> first i thought something was wrong. but then i saw santa and the police pulled us over. then they said that they were going to give us presents. >> you don't get pulled over by santa very often. >> the toys were donated by the police drill team. >>> flying is out, driving is in for holiday travelers this year. the company estimates 10 million californians will drive to their holiday destination out of 11.4 million travelers. it's an increase of 2.5% over last year. meanwhile aaa predicts air travel will drop 10%. >>>

tom vacar is at the federal office where the regional headquarters is located and he has some donation ideas for you. >> reporter: should you choose to do it, this year's very last gift could become a gift to yourself come april. donate that car, motorcycle, boat or plane tomorrow or saturday and you could save a lot of money on your taxes. the salvation army has a program that is a model of how charities can do it right. that includes repairing and reselling many of the best donated cars back to the public. >> we do everything internally which means 100% of the proceeds go right back into the salvation army's adult rehabilitation center. >> reporter: but don't try to inflate your donation's value. >> you're limited in most cases to the amount that the charity sells the car for. in the old days you used to be able to deduct the fair market value. >> reporter: and you will need proof. >> the charity will send you a form. that form will tell you the amount they sold it for. >>> here at is spca though cars are welcome, cash is more common. >> we probably get about 40% of our donations in

tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> here is how stocks did. the dow dropped 69 and nasdaq off 9. trading light all week due to the holidays. the markets closed on monday in observance of new years. >>> san francisco spent the year sobering up. the web site daily base released the annual list of what it calls the nation's drunkest cities. san francisco went from 3rd to 22nd place. 8.2 responding to the survey said they were heavy drinkers. this year boston reached the top of the list of the drinkingest cities in the nation. >>> this year's massive quake and tsunami nejapan closed a san francisco market. the market is closing due to japanese food prices that skyrocketed after the disaster. the market is doing business there since 1906 quake here that survived the family's entournament. now the third generation wants to retire and the 4th generation does not want to run the store. the store closes tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. >>> he led the bay area's 4th largest city for decades. tad that era in fremont is over. after the mayor died yesterday from an illness. ktvu's robert honda shows us

tom vacar is live at the west oakland b.a.r.t. station where police are trying to make sure b.a.r.t. riders don't become victims of thieves. >> reporter: it's rush hour right now but a little later it won't be. the dark and time of night has made people not want to ride b.a.r.t. here tonight b.a.r.t. is fighting back. tonight and tomorrow night, 5:00 until 9:00, b.a.r.t. and oakland police along with community volunteers are escorting anyone who asks to any parking spot or home within three blocks of the west oakland b.a.r.t. station and they'll do it next week on the 21st at san leandro's bay fair b.a.r.t. station. >> holiday time people tend to have more shopping bags and things like that with them and we definitely want them to feel it's okay to ride b.a.r.t. and walk around the community. >> that's fantastic, i'm going to the symphony and we're getting back between 7:00 and 8:00, we had parked across the street. makes me a little nervous but this is where i usually come to san francisco. >> it makes people feel safe especially

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> two men are hospitalized in a shooting in oakland and some say one of the victims is a military veteran. the news crew was a block away covering the funeral of a young homicide victim when they heard four gun shots ring out at 82nd avenue near outlook avenue. it happened after 10:20 this morning. someone came up and opened fire on the two victims as they were sitting in an suv. >> and as far as the suspects were looking for one or possibly two suspects at this time, it's still unclear. >> police tell us the victim's injuries don't appear to be life threatening and there is no indication the shooting is related to the funeral. >>> today, the family of the young homicide victim said goodbye and took cold front from a final act of generosity on. [ singing ] amazing grace. >> 23-year-old charles butler jr. was looking forward to his first assignmen with the merchant marines when he was shot and killed three days before christmas. butler's liver went to a fellow of the church member who was gravely ill, his pancreas and kidthy saved anoth

tom vacar. >>> in vallejo police are investigating a homicide tonight. authorities were called to stuts alley just after 1:00 where they found the body of michael webster. webster was in some kind of confrontation at illinois street where she was shot. he then ran off and collapsed and died in an alley. police have no suspect as of yesterday, webster is the 16th homicide in vallejo so far this year. >>> four people were injured, three of them seriously after a head on collision. you can see how bad it was. the crash happened just before 3:30 this afternoon at skyline boulevard in herb street that's near lake merced. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. >>> tonight the state budget crisis deepens with school bus service potentially cancelled and even more cuts to higher education social services. ken pritchett live to explain to us how fallen tax revenues are behind these cuts. >> these are the so called trigger cuts that were crafted by the legislature earlier this year as part of the process of passing a budget, well those trigger cuts w

tom vacar, ktvu news, consumer editor. and jill tucker, staff writer also with "the chronicle." jill, what's the story in this disturbing rise on homeless families on the street in san francisco? >> i asked that same question this week when they came out with the numbers at a press conference at city hall. isn't the economy getting better? should we be seeing relief? they said, what we do know is we have more families been ever on the waiting list for shelter. last week, they had 267 families on the wait list for 59 city-funded rooms. and it's also reflected in the schools where there are 2,200 children who are classified as homeless. that's up 400 from the year before. so we're seeing a very disturbing trend in san francisco that's in the schools. it's on the streets. these are families that are not necessarily sleeping in parks or out in the open. but they are in cars, they're in shelters. they are doubled up in parms or they're in single resident occupancy hotels and are also having large families. so it is a troubling trend across the city that has homeless advocates scratch

tom vacar. >>> the frenzy over those tennis shoes spread far and wide. early morning temperatures in the areas dropped in the 20s, scores of people streamed into the mall and waited for an athletic shoe store to open. >>> in a seattle suburb a mob of people pushed and shoved into a mall. police there say they had to use pepper spray to get unruly shoe seekers under control. >>> santa's elfs are not the only ones with busy fingers this time of year. shoplifting is up 6% from the same period last year according to the global theft barometer. theft is up because of the economic. others say people do it for the thrill or to relief depression. research suggests almost 3/4 of shoplifters said they stole on the spur of the moment. >>> some people are going to have a very bad evening before the night is through. eric rasmussen tells us the crack down on drunk drivers is under way and authorities aren't messing around. >> reporter: frank of course i'm not going to tell you exactly where we are here in union city. this is one of a few dui checkpoints going on in t

tom vacar. >>> the frenzy over those tennis shoes spread far and wide. early morning temperatures in the areas dropped in the 20s, scores of people streamed into the mall and waited for an athletic shoe store to open. >>> in a seattle suburb a mob of people pushed and shoved into a mall. police there say they had to use pepper spray to get unruly shoe seekers under control. >>> santa's elfs are not the only ones with busy fingers this time of year. shoplifting is up 6% from the same period last year according to the global theft barometer. theft is up because of the economic. others say people do it for the thrill or to relief depression. research suggests almost 3/4 of shoplifters said they stole on the spur of the moment. >>> some people are going to have a very bad evening before the night is through. eric rasmussen tells us the crack down on drunk drivers is under way and authorities aren't messing around. >> reporter: frank of course i'm not going to tell you exactly where we are here in union city. this is one of a few dui checkpoints going on in t

. >>> i'm tom vacar, getting rid of electronic items for hard cash, still ahead. >>> back here in 10e're going to look at your bay area weekend. i'll let you know which day will be the warmest. >>> new at 6:00 -- >> graffiti vandalism is an ongoing and expensive problem in the south bay. but police say they may have taken down one of the biggest tagging crews in the south bay. >>> thousands of infants have died in santa clara county. now health experts have issued a warning they say could save lives. >>> could a vision of the future include cars that drive themselves? wait until you hear what google has just patented. 60% off all blankets. and 50% off diamond jewelry. plus, with jcpcash, get $10 off when you spend just 25. no exclusions! unlike other stores, we don't make you come back to save. go to jcp.com to see everything on sale. we make christmas affordable. you make it yours. jcpenney. >>> cupertino based apple is reportedly expanding over seas. an israeli financial newspaper says the center will focus on semi conductors. it would be apple's first r & d center outside of calif

ktvus consumer editor tom vacar is in oakland with analysis and projects. tom. >> reporter: we're looking forward if it all goes right. it could be let's at the end of the tunnel. if not, it could be the headlights of the train. the stock markets experienced wild fluctuations all year long. >> and may be the market didn't go down this year when you mention the housing and the job situation in the united states. you know, at the end of the year, we see both starting to firm up. >> reporter: last year, they were 620 points lower than today's close, a again of 5 1/2% minus 3 1/2% for inflake. >> it's gone up a little bit but took a big plunge from where it was three to four years ago. >> reporter: the s&p500 was flat for the year and the nasdaq market lost 2%. >> and that is a gamble will, an extreme gamble at the moment. >> if the economy improved, would you consider it as less of a gamble? >> i think so. >> and paired with other investments, i think the days of putting your money in the stock market are probably gone. >> reporter: while stocks have take know

tom vacar has more on who the police are looking for, tom? >> reporter: well, it is clear now, but just a few hours ago this intersection, it was choked with police cars and it was cut off by crime scene tape. about 1:30 this afternoon, a routine traffic stop turned into chaos when the driver decided to make a sudden move. >> he giant got out of the vehicle, running southbound towards sutter street. next the officers chased him. the suspect turned respect, firing several rounds at the officers. >> reporter: that set off a short gun battle. >> they were able to fire back on the suspect who was firing upon them. resulting in the suspect getting struck, possibly in the head or neck. >> the suspect was face down at that time. and a lot of pled of blood came out of his face. >> reporter: but later, police say the woman in the car made a move. >> the passenger slid over to the driver's side and made off with the vehicle. >> reporter: now police closed off areas, stopping traffic in the upper tender loin for several hours. the identity of the woman

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> the massive response to the fire meant the city's water system was working overtime. firefighters tapped into multiple hydrants in the neighborhood that activity stirred up sediment from the bottom of the water main and left tap water in the area brown. but city water officials say it has been chlorinated and despite its look it is safe to drink. >>> the fire devastated one of san francisco's historic gem. a centuries old historic building. it was built in 1915. the structure was kind of a construction boom that followed the 1906 earthquake. the 1015 pierce street apartment building was four stories tall with 27 rental units. >>> firefighters were able to take pictures as they arrived aopb the scene -- arrive on the scene. engine eight sent us this picture. the next picture shows the flames burning through the building, the top floor and back pretty much destroyed. we've also posted more of that incredible video on our website. just look on our home page for our link to our raw video as well as a slide show of pictures throughout the

i understand we have tom vacar on the bridge. >> reporter: what happened, we were in oakland doing interviews on another story. so when we got the call, we drove over. you cannot see so much smoke. the winds are blowing very high, it's pretty -- smoke is laying down. in a normal situation, the smoke would rise in the air and you could see it -- see it in all locations. the big factor is gonna be the reality that -- when wind blows on a fire that's already big, it tends to blow embers and tends to cause things close to that. so the fire department's situation right now is pretty clear. they have to protect the other buildings because the -- but the problem is in that neighborhoods, homes are so close together and they are all constructed that -- this is a potential -- this potentially is a very, very seer cuss problem. didn't see much before but now that we're in the city, we can see the situation. we'll give you further reports. >> it's up to four alarms. that's dozens and dozens of more firefighters. like i said, it's one of those cases where mutual aid is being looked at. i also understand

tom vacar, consumer editor. and carla, senior political writer for the "san francisco chronicle."arla, as we face the new year, we look back and we see the rise of the occupy movement becoming a real force while our congress continues to battle it out. so where have we been and where are we going? >> well, i mean, you are absolutely right, belva. you know, this wasn't just a -- 2011 was the year for discontent. maybe capping off the decade of our discontent. it's no mistake that "time" magazine talked about this protester as the person of the year when you talk about the latest polls showing 75% of americans saying they want to put this year in the rear-view mirror as quickly as possible. a lot of big themes drove politics on a national scale. and, obviously, the economy. we're going to talk about the economy and jobs being the main thing. but when you talk about some of the words we kept hearing, you know, end of the american dream was one of the phrases. more and more americans felt like their children were not going to do as well as they were. rising college costs. cutbacks are

reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> when the new eastern span opens drivers will have a great view. we had a chance to drive on the bridge and this is what the view looks like. after you past treasure island it won't have over-under traffic. that's how. >> announcer: was when the bridge first opened. till 1962 cars drove in both direction on the upper tuck. our coverage continues on our website. log on to www.ktvu.com to see video of the new view and you will find the animation of the project. >>> malfraction in fremont this afternoon. they were testing a car battery inside a scrubber but there was a problem that sent smoke out of the plant. this is a picture that was posted on our facebook page. you can see it there. the fire department says everything is under control and that there was no danger to those around the plant. >>> happening now. a live picture from inside the u.s. capital building. reporters are waiting on a briefing on a crucial vote on the payroll tax cut. the folks of their stair down is a bill that would extend payroll tax cut. scott is in washington

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar tell us that led to a crucial decision at a near by assisted livingcility. >>> shortly after the ferocious fire broke out, the administrator of the assisted living facility on mcallister decided to get their 100 elderly clients out. >> there was smoke coming into the building so we closed all the windows. they are elderly and compromised. >> reporter: the concern quickly turned to the fire reaching the facility. >> the fire department didn't deem it necessary. but just in case it jumps we started to do a voluntary evacuation at about 12:0. >> reporter: moving the patients is a daunting task since some are immobile. others are too slow to leave at a fast pace. >> we received a call from their administrators saying they needed support and they were evacuating the residents, we literally jumped in our cars and here we are. i see other institutions that are here. the institution of aging, on lok i'm sure the community is gathering today as they should and as we want to do for each other. >> reporter: by early evening, many of the residents were already be

. >> reporter: just a few days >> reporter: -- tom vacar. >>> ucla researchers visited the cafeteriast 14 children's hospitals in california. they found that 81% officered impulse items such as ice cream near the cash registers. 31% provided nutrition information and just 25% offered whole wheat bread. but all the cafeterias visited officered skim milk and all had a salad bar. >>> the saddest cities in america list. st.petersburg florida tops that list. not a single bay area city made the saddest top 10. actually no california city makes the list of frown towns until you hit sacramento at number 16. oakland comes in at number 40. stockton is 48. san francisco is 81st out of the top 100. men's health came up with the list by calculating suicide and unemployment rate and by tracking the number of households that use antidepressants. >>> the national weather service has issued a storm warning. up to 2 feet of snow is expected to fall in the mountains near las vegas. >>> all in the newsroom people are trading stories about wind damage. there's a lot of those stories around there. >> a lot

ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar tell us that led to a crucial decision at a near by assisted livingcility. >>> shortly after the ferocious fire broke out, the administrator of the assisted living facility on mcallister decided to get their 100 elderly clients out. >> there was smoke coming into the building so we closed all the windows. they are elderly and compromised. >> reporter: the concern quickly turned to the fire reaching the facility. >> the fire department didn't deem it necessary. but just in case it jumps we started to do a voluntary evacuation at about 12:0. >> reporter: moving the patients is a daunting task since some are immobile. others are too slow to leave at a fast pace. >> we received a call from their administrators saying they needed support and they were evacuating the residents, we literally jumped in our cars and here we are. i see other institutions that are here. the institution of aging, on lok i'm sure the community is gathering today as they should and as we want to do for each other. >> reporter: by early evening, many of the residents were already be

tom vacar joins us live at the oakland federal building to explain how you can help out and cash in. >> reporter: indeed, if you want a tax break when it comes to this, stopping by a local charity tomorrow or saturday might be a very smart thing to do. everything in this san francisco salvation army store or any of its stores is donated. the customers get a break, the donors get a big tax break. >> we would love to have them. >> reporter: if you are one of the many people who received electronics this holiday season, don't put the old ones in a closet or down in the basement or garage, donate them. you will do good and get a tax deduction. >> resale of those items to people who are looking for something a little more low cost, that's definitely something that we're interested and something that benefits others. >> you need to make that move by december 31st. >> the irs says what you give must be wearable or workable. >> if you donate household goods or clothing it has to be in good use condition or better to be able to deduct it. >> reporter: officer supplies are welcomed at local sc