♪ and this is a live look at downtown san francisco. notice you can see a few clouds. the sea breeze is back and so are the cool, comfortable temperatures. we'll show you who will drop nearly 20 degrees today compared to yesterday. >> in the headlines this morning, people in a peninsula neighborhood are waking up to a smelly mess. a ruptured pipe sent sewage flooding into garages in several homes in redwood shores. >> a strike is leaving garbage piled up in parts of san mateo county for a second day. >> there maybe a major break in the killing of a tourist in union square. >> good morning. heading into san francisco on the bay bridge there's road work to be on the lookout for. we'll tell you how many lanes are blocked and when it will be

cleared coming up. >> for thursday at 4:30, thank you so much for starting your day. i'm kristen sze. >> i'm eric thomas. >> it was a lot easier to sleep in the bay area overnight with those scorching temperatures starting to cooldown. >> the latest from mike. >> start with the current temperatures. you'll notice it, have the windows open it's much cooler this morning. a lot more 50s from napa, novato, san francisco, menlo park, half moon bay and fremont. low 60s in most neighborhoods and 70s in the hills around los gatos. but these temperatures are anywhere from 20 degrees cooler in fremont to 14 san jose to 10 in concord, 6 san francisco, 7 oakland and novato and santa rosa. this afternoon noon our biggest drop in the north bay valleys and the south bay where we'll be the low 80s which is about 20 degrees cooler than yesterday. we'll take a look at the rest of your forecast in a minute. >> on the peninsula this morning, residents of redwood shores are being warned not to come into contact with the

lagoon after a sewage spill last night. public works department officials say a 14 inch failed sending sewage into several homes at the lighthouse cove community. large vacuum trucks are taking sewage out of wet wells so officials can turn off pumps. they will open up the ground to determine if the main ruptured or if a valve failed. >> it's a very large spill. so some goods have been impacted and we've just gone into the lagoon. we don't want residents to come in contact with the lagoon. >> officials use this code red system to notify the residents about the hazard. water quality samples are tested in the lab and the lagoon will be analyzed until it's deemed safe. >> another problem for peninsula residents, a sudden garbage strike has left some neighborhoods a mess. that strike began yesterday and it will last at least until

tomorrow. abc 7's amy hollyfield reports. brian burgess was surprised when he got home from work and found his garbage can was still full of garbage. >> i thought what's going on? this is unusual. atypical. my garbage is always picked up on wednesdays. so i wondered what the heck. >> the strike is a big concern for restaurants. the owners of gangko are worried about the smell their food scraps will create the next couple days. >> i don't know what should i do, you know. i have a big fear for us. >> i have the right to be angry. we hope they will understand all these 12 employees want is a fair contract with fair conditions. >> the 12 employees who walked off the job this morning work for allied waste injuries at the landfill near half moon bay. when they decided to strike, hundreds of garbage collectors joined them in support. they'll be back on the job friday. it all caught company officials

off guard. >> we are doing everything we can to resolve the situation that was out of our control and really as a surprise to us. >> the 12 workers haven't had a contract since december and say recent offers from the company are not acceptable. >> offering only 3% wages, and then they had a lot of wage on the health insurance, they want the workers to pay more for health insurance. >> finding sympathy from customers will be tough. >> now's not a good time for that. no, i think it's freeze time. it's my -- that's my mode. >> our refrigerator broke, and all our stuff is in the garbage now. so it's -- it's not gonna be very good for a couple days. >> the trash is expected to start getting picked up on friday but could take a couple days to catch up. abc 7 news. >> this morning oakland police are investigating the shooting death of a 13-year-old boy. the fifth homicide in the city within the last week.

it happened last night around 9:30 at bancroft and 62nd avenue. police have no suspect description right now and have not identified the victim. this is the city's 58th homicide of the year. that pace is still below the number of homicides at the same point last year. this morning the oakland police union says statistics show crime has increased in the city since 80 officers were laid off. our media partner the oakland tribune reports statistics released by the union show robberies and assaults rose 8.5% between july 13th and august 13th. the number of burglaries and vehicle thefts increased during that time. department officials and city council members say one month is not enough time to gauge what's happening. a more accurate evaluation will be year to date stats. in june they laid off 80 police officers to cut $31 million from its budget deficit. >> there may be a major break in

the killing of a german tourist near union square. the police chief told a commission meeting that he believes strongly the suspects have been identified. 50-year-old shore was shot to death on august 8th when two groups of men opened fire on each other on mason street and she was in the crossfire. police arrested an 18-year-old san francisco man but prosecutors decided there wasn't enough evidence to charge him. they later served a search warrant on a fremont home without making an arrest. >> bart spent more than $6 million dealing with the aftermath of the fatal shooting of oscar grant. $1.5 million went to his daughter as part of the settlement. almost as much went to overtime and special pay for officers who investigated the killing or worked during protests. a jury found former bart officers johannes mehserle guilty of involuntary

manslaughter in july. he's sentenced in november. >> delaying plan fare increases for six months. the transit agency has an unexpected $8.8 million budget surplus. according to the san francisco examiner, the board's president wants to use some of that surplus to defer a scheduled inflation rate increase that's instituted every two years. early projections have fares increasing by just 2% in january 2012 in this struggling economy. if this proposal is approved, the freeze wouldn't take effect until july of 2012. >> california state university is under court order to release documents relating to sarah palin's appearance in june. the staff of the county superior court ruled the school must turn over details of the appearance contract which would include how many the former gop candidate was paid and where the money came from. they filed a lawsuit in april after csu refused to disclose

the documents. she makes $100,000 per speech. >> a brush fire should be fully contained. it was 90% contained last nigh. the blaze grew to nearly 400 acres fueled by the high temperatures and low humidity we've had this week. no buildings were lost and investigators are still looking to see if a downed power line may have caused this fire. in san jose fire concerns are prompting park officials to keep allen rock regional park close ford a second day. entrances to the park will be blocked and no activities of any kind will be allowed during the emergency closure. the park is expected to reopen tomorrow with park officials not making a final decision until they determine if fire conditions will allow them to do that. >> all right. during the heat wave we've never had a red flag alert, still we're looking for the fire danger to start coming down. >> yes. and also the sleeping comfort to go up, michael. >> that's key. >> yes.

hopefully a lot of your coworkers won't be quite as grouchy as yesterday and even more so tomorrow, it will be friday. plus we'll all get a decent night's sleep because it will be much cooler this time tomorrow. we talked about 10 to 20 degrees. the 10 is in san francisco. we dropped from 74 to 64 and a 15 degree drop in redwood city from 91 to 76 today. oakland drops 18 degrees from a record high of 88 yesterday to 18. santa rosa's record high of 103 down to 80 today. san jose, third day in a row we set a record yesterday, 100 to 82 today. that's an 18 degree drop and concord tied a record of 103 dropping to 86, 17 dress cooler today. you may not need the air conditioner in most neighborhoods. the coolest weather along the coast where the clouds are back and where they'll hang this afternoon, 59 half moon bay. we'll hit 90 antioch, about 92 brentwood and that's as warm as it's gonna get in the bay area. your accu-weather seven-day

forecast, 4 to 6 degrees cooler tomorrow and another 10 degree drop on saturday. may have some drizzle in the morning giving way to a partly sunny afternoon. we'll have clouds mixed with sunshine and temperatures below average sunday and then the clouds go away in the morning and temperatures get back to average. above average by wednesday of next week. turn it over to megan, first look at traffic. >> good morning. if you're getting ready to leave the house, the only thing that may slow you down is road work. if you're heading into san francisco on the upper deck, the two right lanes are blocked between the toll plaza and treasure island. should be cleared by about 5:00 though. commuting throughout the south bay, let's get a live look in san jose. this is 101 at the 880 overcrossing. no problems here heading northbound but you will find some road work northbound 101, the ramp to southbound and northbound 880 is closed until 5:00. road work northbound 101, a couple lanes blocked around hellier. eric, kristen. >> megan, thanks a lot. it's 4:40. >> the protests today against

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and 110 lightly sweetened calories. more grains. less you! multigrain cheerios. good morning. it's 4:43. let's take a live look here at the bay bridge. looking at it from the eastern direction here. and you can see traffic is moving fine, and you know what else we'll see out there is some fog cooling a lot of the areas down. and everybody will get it pretty soon. we'll check with mike on the time line. >> and islamic leader from africa is working to win the release of three u.c. berkeley graduates jailed in iran. the families of sarah, shane and josh, the chairman of the organization of the islamic conference has agreed to intervene in their case. the families are working with iranian authorities at the highest levels. they believe his involvement will help move the case in a

positive direction. the americans have been jailed in iran since july of last year after being captured while hiking along the iraq-iran border. iran is accusing them of spying. >> the outcry against smart meters is expected this morning in santa cruz county. the wireless meters are due to be installed in captola. some residents are planning a protest outside the company's office at 38th. just this week watsonville banned smart meters because of health concerns about the wireless technology. a dozen other cities and counties are doing the same or looking into delaying or banning the meters. >> 4:44 now. still ahead, the vote they're getting today that could look to rehire dozens of firefighters in san jose. >> protecting homes and businesses from wild fires. >> the car that stops itself when you can't. we'll look at amazing fiber one chewy bar. how'd you do that?

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welcome back. not only cooler here but the pacific northwest. the heat on around phoenix at 106 and mid to upper 80s along the eastern seaboard from d.c. to new york, boston. no flight delays at major airports and no widespread severe weather expected. our flight tracker at abc7news.com anytime you travel. kristen. >> mike, thanks a lot. 4:47. starting today san jose firefighters will vote on a pay package that might bring back some laid off workers. last month 49 firefighters after back and forth between the city and union. firefighters will vote whether still accept a 9% compensation reduction and a requirement cost increase. even if it's approved, there's no guarantee it will bring back the laid off workers. >> now that fire season is clearly upon us, the term defensible space is more important than ever. in fire prone contra costa county, one organization is

offering grant money to community grounds who need help funding their fire safety projects. laura anthony reports from walnut creek. it's hard to see how a swim club could be a fire danger. but with all the trees and brush around it, walnut creek sunny hills aquatic club is just that this time of year. >> we have a large tree overstory here and fuel from the spinning. a lot of things need attending to. >> it's an expensive job in that they have 30 members raising the money to pay for the creation of defensible space is a huge challenge. now from a supplemental grant, sunny hills can afford to do the work. the club is just six safety projects recently approved for funding from the nonprofit. >> they will do tree removal but they have no way to dispose of it so they use our dollars for

chipping. >> even with the grant money, making the property here at sunny hills fire safe is no simple task. for one thing there's at least six variety of trees here. >> just because you want to eliminate a tree doesn't mean you can do it. there's a permit process. >> gary is just uphill from sunny hills. he's relieved the swim club is going to clean up its property. >> the fire danger is a real issue that has to be dealt with. if they can get a grant to clear some of the dead growth off the trees and stuff i'm for it. >> the diablo fire safe council still has another $70,000 to dole out just in time for the height of fire season. laura anthony, abc 7 news. now, if you're interested in one of those defensible space grants, you can get details from the link on our website at abc7news.com. >> until this week it's been so cool this summer. a lot of people stop thinking about fire season.

but it's absolutely still here. >> when it comes upon us, it's here and you gotta do something about that. a lot of communities will cite you if you don't have defensible space. >> even with it turning cooler, we'll still have those dry fuels that anytime a fire starts it could go up quickly. hopefully it won't spread because the breezes are back, too. good morning to you. it's on this thursday that we look out upon a cloudy sky over downtown san francisco from our roof cam here. front and vallejo streets. let's take a look at temperatures. if you're leaving the house now, santa rosa, redwood city, mountain view, san jose, livermore, antioch, concord and fairfield in the low to mid-60s. everybody else mid to upper 50s. monterey cloudy conditions and temperatures 50s inland. so number one highlights and dramatic drop in the temperatures from 10 degrees in san francisco to about 23 degrees up around santa rosa.

more clouds and cooler again tonight and we'll keep the cooling trend going through the weekend with our coolest highs saturday and to a lesser extent on sunday. here we are at 5:00 this morning. see the cloud cover moving into the north bay around most of the bay but not into the east bay valleys and just not quite all over the santa clara valley. it will make it push to the east and by 8:00 clear retreat back to the coast by noon. hang out there throughout the afternoon keeping you in the 50s, 60s and 70s around the bay and 80s in our inland valleys and that is 10 to 20 degrees cooler than just 24 hours ago. down in the east bay valleys, we'll have mid to upper 80s in most neighborhoods. fairfield, antioch and brentwood should crack 91 again. richmond and berkeley mid to upper 60s. low to mid-70s until union city, fremont, castro valley, upper 70s for you. south bay low to mid-80s. los gatos 87. peninsula low to mid-70s with

sunshine. menlo park, palo alto and mountain view and los altos, 70s and low 80s. downtown south san francisco mid-60s. sausalito in the upper 60s. 76 san rafael and upper 70s to lower 80s in the north bay valleys with mid to upper 50s at your beaches. look at caramel. 62 today but monterey, watson vil mid to upper 60s. low to mid-80s hollister, gilroy and morgan hill. cooler weather inland, sacramento 92 and with that push we'll have some scattered, highly scattered thunderstorms along the sierra from tahoe at 81 to the possibility of a scattered storm around palm springs and 104. accu-weather seven-day forecast, the temperatures just keep tumbling. another 10 to 14 degrees cooler around the bay and inland by saturday. morning drizzle is possible. temperatures though by monday will be 10 degrees warmer and then about another 6 degrees warmer by wednesday. good morning, megan. >> good morning. caltrain's hard at work this

thursday morning. we're starting off at the bay bridge toll plaza. no problem here getting through the tolls and good work for that road work on the upper deck of the bay bridge should be cleared in five minutes. road work to be on the lookout for in pleasanton. two lanes blocked between hacienda drive and airway parkway. that should be cleared by about 6:00. also road work continues in solano county eastbound 80 between highway 12 and base parkway. a couple lanes blocked there and that also should be cleared by about 7:00 this morning. the latest traffic updates, you can always go to abc7news.com. just click on the traffic link under abc 7 extras. kristen. >> megan, thanks a lot. 4:53 now. a compromises in the parking battle of two high schools in alos altos. this means no one, not even residents can park there between 2 and 8 p.m..

there were problems created by students but the city council chose not to ban parking on a street near los altos high school. >> a pedestrian detection system, the first of its kind is available in the new volvo. abc 7's transportation reporter heather takes a look. >> yeah. so we're driving along the street. i'm going 5 or 6 mph and maybe i even dropped something in back so i'm looking for it -- >> this 2011 f 60 pulled over and slammed on the brakes itself when a driver was about to hit a pedestrian or a dummy that looks bike one in this case. because we're made up of mostly water, tells the radar it's closing in. the camera processes it against all the stored images, about 10,000 stored images in this computer and it has to determine

it is indeed a human being. >> the car barns the driver with a flash of light and brakes for you. the form must be human and at least 32 inches tall so small children and pets won't be protected. the way to disengage the system is tap lightly on the brakes. similar collision avoidance auto breaking systems are already available from other car makers including volvo but pedestrian technology takes it one step further. >> it's much more complicated and sophisticated to build technology that will stop for a human being than a car. >> it shows the auto braking system in sweden this year. it was a prototype vehicle and the problem was corrected. a website for car owners says in today's market hi-tech is the key to success. >> it's a race to, you know, gaining sales. and to be the first to come out with this new technology definitely.

but it also has serious benefits for the drivers. >> according to a national transit advocacy group, in 2008, 620 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents in california, 72 in san francisco and oakland. the volume f-60 will start at $38,000 with the detection system available as the technology option. abc 7 news. in spain they're cleaning up tomato juice from the streets of a village after the annual food fight fiesta. it's estimated 40,000 people stood shoulder to shoulder in yesterday's event in the village 25 miles north of valencia. a hundred tons of ripe fruit was thrown during this one hour of food fighting, all in good fun. it started in 1945 when a group of young friends began throwing their lunch at each other one day near a vegetable stand on the town square. they met again the next year creating the annual tradition.

it's nice they try to save on detergent by not wearing tops. >> i was thinking, maybe somebody should throw pasta and parmesan and you have dinner. a legal fight in the north bay. just ahead, why marin general hospital says center health owes it more than $100 million. >> i'm terry mcsweeney live at redwood shores where a sewage spill has spilled into a lag goon, the street and people's homes and now we're being told there may be another spill later this morning. we'll tell you about it in a live report. [ female announcer ] back to school means back to busy mornings. that's why i got them pillsbury toaster strudel. warm flaky pastry with delicious sweet filling my kids will love. plus i get two boxtops for their school. toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. and these arthe ones you'll love on a tuesday. pillsbury crescent dogs,

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