time on abcnews.com. ♪ a possible central predator targeting women in an east bay apartment complex. the attacks that have some people there living in fear. >> also the only suspect arrested in the shooting death of a german tourist was released from a san francisco jail overnight. >> here's a look from downtown san francisco. notice the clouds aren't quite as thick right now over the bay bridge but mist and drizzle waiting for you and cooler temperatures for one last day. >> a live shot right now of walnut creek. a good start this morning through contra costa county. no major accidents. i will tell you about the road work going on right now. >> it is a wednesday morning. 4:30. thank you for joining us. i'm kristen sze. >> i'm eric thomas. our top story this half hour, this morning's sheriff deputies and are outside of walnut creek

searching for a man behind a string of sexual assaults at one apartment complex. these attacks started in late june. terry mcsweeney is live at the park regionsy apartments. terry, the most recent attack was yesterday? >> that's right. it was yesterday morning 8:30. the sun was up and it happened here at the park regency apartments. it's the third one in six weeks. apparently the work of the same man using different techniques to gain entry. yesterday morning a woman woke up here with a hand over her mouth. she fought back. eventually, according to the victim's mother, grabbing a can of pepper spray she kept nearby and emptied it in the face of the attacker. he ran. deputies and unable to locate this man. the posters started going up out here after a rape on july 6th. that woman had her apartment unlocked. june 30th, that was the first attack. a man asked a woman if he could come in and have a glass of

water. he entered the apartment, covered her mouth. she fought back and screamed and got the attention of her boyfriend and the man got away again that time. joining us now from the contra costa county sheriff's department. the woman had pepper spray nearby, is that something people should perhaps do out here? >> i think it's very important for anybody to prepare themselves mentally, physically and if they have a device such as pepper spray or mace that they're trained to use, to be able to access it and use it. >> other basic tips, maybe go over them again to remind everybody. >> be aware of your surroundings, parking your car, going to your door, leaving your door of your residence. be aware of people around you. if somebody looks suspicious call the police. dial 9-1-1, let us come out, check them out. lock your doors, lock your windows. just be aware of what's going on around you and in your

neighborhood. >> lieutenant charles goose. thank you for coming out here this morning. coming up in half an hour, we're going to tell you about a fourth attack abc 7 has found out about. we'll have that in 30 minutes. live in unincorporated walnut creek. terry mcsweeney, abc 7 news. >> thank you so much. marin county nearly 14,000 pg&e customers have their electricity back on following a power failure last night. an equipment malfunction caused the nearly five-hour blackout. during the power outage there was a shooting in novato. it happened at the intersection of lakewood drive and sunset parkway. the victim was shot in the torso and rushed shall to the hospital with serious injuries. >> the only suspect arrested in connection with the shooting death of a german tourist was released from jail. there's not enough evidence yet to file charges against 18-year-old phillip stewart. police arrested him monday in connection with the shooting

death of a 59-year-old schroeder. schroeder was caught in the crossfire of a shoot-out between two groups of young people near her hotel in the theater district sunday night. investigators will continue to pore over evidence including surveillance video until they can make their case. >> some 100 members of the california national guard are spending their first night at home following a year in iraq. governor schwarzenegger was on hand to greet the police brigade yesterday afternoon at travis air force base. the primary mission was training iraqi police. >> very well done. and i think the iraqis appreciate it and learned a lot and are good people to work with. >> feels good to be back ot south point for sure. >> so glad to be home. been a long year. >> the 49th was the last military police unit deployed to iraq. they return as part of the continuing drawdown of u.s. troops there. >> an oakland airman killed in action in world war ii is finally home. army sergeant john balisio was a

crewman shot down over germany in 1944. a few years ago a german search team found the wreckage, his dog tags and remains. he was identified by dna. he was buried yesterday at holy cross cemetery with full military honors. >> it's 4:35. both sides in the a. c. transit labor dispute returned to court today. a. c. transit is asking the judge to reconsider his ruling that order the agency to enter into binding arbitration with the union for a new contract. a. c. transit says it is complying with the judge's order to honor the old contract with workers while the two sides negotiate a new agreement but no new talks have been scheduled. they had imposed a new contract on the drivers last month and that resulted in sick calls from 160 drivers or more every day for the last several weeks. a. c. transit reinstated the old contract last sunday but the agency says 122 operators still called in sick yesterday or

monday. 4:35 now. bart's board of directors is set to decide tomorrow if they should spend about half of the $4.5 million budget surplus on temporary fare reductions. officials delayed the vote after a survey found most riders would rather have clean cars and longer service hours than a temporary 3% cut in fares. bart directors did approve spending son more than $2 million on cleaning cars, extra station managers and a new emergency operations center if the board does not pass the fare reductions plan by a two-thirds vote, that part of the surplus will be kept in a reserve fund. >> house speaker nancy pelosi will take part in this morning's ground breaking for the trans bay terminal in downtown san francisco. tearing down the old terminal is expected to create 48,000 new jobs in constructing the new one. the old site at first and mission will be replaced with a hub that will service nine transportation systems including california high-speed rail. service from the old terminal

has been moved to a temporary location two blocks away at howard and main street. it will operate the next seven years until the new terminal is completed. temporary but used for quite a while. >> long temporary. 4:37. kind of like the weather this summer. long, temporary cooling. >> how much more temperatures do we have to put up in terms of drizzle and colder temperatures. >> good question. the spring that will never end. i think we'll have drizzle again tonight and that may be it for a while. we definitely have some out there this morning, too. we made it to wednesday and temperatures stuck in the 50s just about everywhere. los gatos 49. in fact, we're seeing the biggest 24-hour drop in los gatos. 13 degrees cooler this morning than yesterday. 3 redwood city, slightly warmer around san francisco, half moon bay, san jose and concord about 2 degrees. everybody else pretty close to where we were. same thing for this afternoon. maybe slightly cooler. look at the 60s from santa cruz, san francisco, san rafael,

richmond and oakland. low to mid-70s fremont, palo alto, san mateo. napa, vos, some of the warmest weather clear lake. livermore 80, concord about 78 degrees. here's your accu-weather seven-day forecast. it changes starting tomorrow. we'll see the sun shine about two hours quicker. that will warm temperatures up about 2 to 4 degrees. we'll keep adding temperatures to the forecast or at least degrees i should say. we always have temperatures in the forecast. saturday, sunday and even monday could be the warmest with mid-90s inland and low 60s at the coast. we also have traffic every day. here's frances. >> we do, mike. in fact, road work going on on the bay bridge. a couple right lanes are blocked until about 5:00 this morning. here's a live shot now. not slowing anyone down. a lot of times they clear it well before 5:00. there was also a stall on the upper deck that cleared quickly. as you can guess it cleared quickly enough, early enough there are no delays right now at

the bay bridge toll plaza. looking light right there. head over to the north bay. if you're making your way on southbound 101 from the park expressway down towards peppers, lanes are blocked. heads up there and that's scheduled until 5:00 as well. no big delays in the north bay. and we'll check south the san mateo bridge for you as well. it's looking good all arounds the bay area right now. the drive time across from 880 to 101 or vice versa is only 14 minutes. >> thank you very much. >> republican meg whitman gains a key endorsement in her bid for california governor. >> it's payback time for wells fargo customers. why they have $200 million coming their way. >> the new deal that means

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interstate 680 walnut creek. those taillights heading southbound from creek boulevard, you can see traffic is light this hour. a bit of mist out there. may run into it periodically. keep the wipers handy. they're on your car, i guess you can't leave them. >> take them off if you really want to. >> make sure you use them every now and again if you need to. >> more news. candidate for governor meg whitman picked up a keen doorsment. the concern growers association is backing her bid. fruit and vegetable growers and shippers, the president says they support whitman to upgrade the water system. in connecticut former professional wrestling executive linda mcmahon won the primary last night. mcmahon and her husband vince operated world wrestling entertainment from the startup in 1980 until last year when she announced her candidatessy.

powered $26 million into her campaign. >> wells fargo customers could have the green headed their way. yesterday a federal judge ordered the san francisco bank to pay back more than $200 million to its customers, all because wells routinely posted larger transactions first which often led to more bounced checks for smaller purchases. the bank defended the practice saying it gave higher priority to more important payments such as mortgages and car loans. >> netflix users will have more options when they go online. the company announced a $1 billion deal given the rights of dream movies from paramount, lionsscape and mgm. more than half the movies can be streamed on netflix but after yesterday's deal those from ironman ii to the godfather will be available. >> still ahead, a deadly plane crash in alaska that killed a former senator also hits home

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this is nature valley... delicious granola bars made with 100% natural ingredients. nature valley. 100% natural, 100% delicious. >> still dealing with oppressive heat. 102 dallas, 99 st. louis. that's not the heat index. it will feel like 110, even 115 and sunshine. some of that hot air starting to spill into denver and 95 and d.c. at 98. high pressure is in control. no organized areas of severe weather expected but flight arrival delays at o'hare. check out our flight tracker. it will have the specific flights and how long they're going to be at abc7news.com. eric? >> all right, mike, thank you very much. the nation's most famous flight attendant is out of jail this morning and talking. steven slater's sudden and explosive exit from his job

seems to have resonated with unhappy workers everywhere making him something of a folk hero. mike is in new york with details. >> steven slater's exit from jail -- >> you gonna lose your job? >> more than likely. >> not aspect tack lar as the one that landed him in the national spotlight. >> tell me about all the support you've gotten. >> very, very appreciated. >> the jetblue flight attendant was working a flight in new york monday. prosecutors say a passenger ignored his order to stay seated. her luggage hit him in the head. infewer rated, slater unloaded an expletive-laced on the p. a. system. >> he grabbed a couple of beers, activated the emergency chute. >> we just had a flight attendant deployed. >> and it slid out of the plane. slater confessed a signed statement to the judge yesterday. the man who says he's logged nearly 30 years as a flight

attendant is now piloting a new movement. >> seems like something here has resonated with a few people. that's kind of neat. >> thousands of supporters are taking to social media. slater's mom, a former flight attendant herself is fighting for her son's reputation. >> i don't think think people in the service industry should be abused by anybody. >> even his ex-wife backs him saying he truly enjoys flying, a passion that's grounded at least for now. >> he definitely exited in a grand fashion. (laughter) he is a dramatic fellow. so i wouldn't expect any less of him. >> he's charged with two felonies. his next court appearance is set for september 7th. abc news, new york. >> the plane that crashed in alaska that took the life of

former senator ted stevens killed the father of a popular stanford football player an due phillips. a statement was issued, we're struck with deep sadness by the tragic and sudden death of bill. his legacy lives on through his four sons. the four incredible young men he raised. it went down en route to a salmon fishing camp. federal investigators will examine the wreckage today. they're looking at weather as a possible cause. five were killed in the crash including former senator stevens. four others survived including sean o'keefe in critical condition. >> nasa is trying to figure out the cost of saving a mountainview landmark that's scheduled for destruction next year. the navy has already hired the contractor to dismantle it next spring. it was built in the 1930s to

store the navy's colossal blitz. nasa is asking engineers how much it might cost to fix the historic hangar. they have never put out an estimate but others said it could cost between 15 and $40 million. >> 4:50. you guys tired of using your windshield wipers coming into work. >> once or twice. rather see some sunshine. so, yeah. how about you? >> not so much today. the past two days on and off but that's going to change very, very, very soon? >> very, very, very soon? >> friday. >> friday? >> something like a little mist. friday morning should be a lot drier. that will lead to some warmer weather as we head into the weekend. good morning. we've made it to wednesday and it looks pretty cloudy in downtown san francisco. those temperatures, we're running cooler at 49.

mid to upper 50s in most other neighborhoods. cloud cover and mid-50s. low sunshine again today, cooler in the forecast. a warming trend that tries to take over our neighborhoods tomorrow. the greatest temperature change will be in our inland valleys, especially the east bay. 5:00 to 8:00, same routine. thickening marine layer. clouds pushing deeper into our neighborhoods. by noon only the east bay and the south bay valleys looking to be clear. everybody else pretty cloudy and by 2:00 clouds back to the coast. everybody else sunny. 50s to pretty much 70s. may get to 80 in a few areas. on the fringes of the bay area. pittsburgh, antioch, livermore. upper 70s throughout the east bay valleys. mid to upper 60s to san leandro and hayward. may hit 80 in los gatos. that's definitely the exception. as is millbrae, 68. otherwise low to mid-70s on the peninsula. coast upper 50s today.

daly city about 58. downtown south san francisco, sausalito, low to mid-60s with san rafael 6. low to mid-70s through the north bay valleys and mid to upper 80s clear lake. around the monterey bay, check out monterey, carmel. right around 60 with mid to upper 60s. santa cruz, hollister and gilroy. today still cool around sacramento at 84. chico even dropping to 89. 93 fresno. hot palm springs at 102. heading to vegas about 103. bring it back home, third game in the four-game series with the cubs. a 7:15 first pitch, cloudy and cool just like the last couple nights. temperatures 60 dropping to 56. tonight you see the cloud cover, pretty extensive once again but it looks like it will be cool with low to mid-50s and probably the last night we find widespread mist and drizzle. the tropical low pressure bringing us this cool weather

replaced by an area of high pressure. that calming influence will bring us warmer weather. by sunday everywhere would be at least 4 to 10 degrees warmer than what we're dealing with today. i hope you have a great wednesday. here's frances. >> hi, mike. we're gonna start in the south bay this time at a look at highway 87. you see traffic pretty light right now. now, on 280 just a heads up. the 7th street on-ramp closed until 8:00. if you're thinking about the 10th or 11th street on-ramp, that's closed until 6 a.m.. burt an alternate. let's check out the golden gate bridge for you. they should be switching the lane configuration any minute now, right arounds 5:00. we'll start to see four lanes heading southbound soon. we'll check out 101 in san rafael. so a quiet, nice start this morning as you make your way southbound out of novato to the golden gate bridge. only about 19 minutes. and interstate 80 in berkeley. the drive time westbound here with these headlights is 19

minutes from the carquinez bridge to the maze. you can always find out the latest drive times by going to abc7news.com. you'll find it under the bay area traffic link. eric? >> frances, thank you very much. this morning a battle over bocci ball continues in san francisco. over a proposal to build a bocci billion court. no cost to the city. seems like a good idea, right. as carolyn tyler reports, the plan is already getting knocked around. some say it's the oldest game known to man kind. these days bocci ball seems to be growing in popularity. on this patch of green across from san francisco's ferry building where homeless people hang out, two bocci ball courts might be built. local businessmen including one with deep political ties to the mayor are offering what's described as a $200,000 gift to the city to pay for the courts. >> hopefully this will bring people from their offices or the

farmer's market to come and have fun and play a game. >> the proposed courts are in supervisor david chew's district. >> right now during the worst economic recession, the great depression, it's really helpful to have gifts to the city. and i thought this was appropriate. >> but some are looking that gift horse in the mouth. jamie whitaker says his south of market community group was never consulted. and might prefer a playground instead. >> green space is very valuable to us. and it should not just be decided upon by the highest bidder what that park space becomes. >> diana taylor's neighborhood organization was asked its opinion. they like the idea of a playground but feel it would be shortsighted not to go along with what's actually on the table. >> if there's nothing really bad i can think of to say about a bocci ball court. it seems pretty all american to me or all italian or whatever it is. >> but another activist came to city hall adamantly opposed. >> and the whole matter is to

get rid of the homeless. that's not gonna cut it. the courts could be built fairly quickly. young people in a job training program run by the local labors union would do the job. but for now if you want to play bocci, head to aquatic park. a vote on the new project has been delayed because so many people have so much to say. in san francisco, carolyn tyler, abc 7 news. residents in san francisco's castro district can finally look forward to some new restaurants. the board of supervisors has listed a long-time ban on new eateries moving in. the castro was one of few neighborhoods that barred new restaurants unless they were replacing an old one. the supervisor's plan approved last night comes with many restrictions and gives neighbors a big say before any openings. residents hope it will allow the popular ice sandwich shop evicted recently to relocate within the area. >> this morning a kidnapped kitten from san francisco found 2500 miles away in new york city

is back at the local spca. jack daniels was flown back to the bay area yesterday a little more than a year after disappearing from san francisco's spca. officials were able to attract jack back to the bay area with the help of a special microchip implanted in his shoulder. he looks healthy and didn't appear to have spent much time outdoors after he was found wandering the streets in harlem. probably looking for silvia's, have a meal. once you've had a meal at silvia's, you always wanna go back. >> dry cat food won't cut it. >> no. >> ahead at 5:00, a series of assaults that may involve a single attacker at one east bay apartment complex. >> a move overnight that could escalate a standoff over a ♪ ♪ ye ♪

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