on the floor, two dogs were on top of her. >> a gruesome attack leads to a public warning. a san jose woman is mauled by two pit bulls as she tries to get in her car. >> both those dogs are on the loose and she is not the animal's first target. officers are actively searching the neighborhood. terry mcsweeney joins us live with the latest. >> animal control officers on foot and vehicles scouring this neighborhood to find the pit

bulls that attacked that woman last evening about 6:30 because the animal control officers are positive these animals will attack again. >> the dried blood in the driveway gives you an idea how savage the attack was. the victim susan can give you a better idea. >> did they put stitches in you? >> yeah. >> she was bitten twice on her back, leg and most viciously on her arm while trying to get something from her minivan. >> behind here. no. >> these dogs kept coming after you and stopped you from getting back in your house. >> uh-huh, yeah. >> fortunately a neighbor just pulled into his driveway and saw the attack. >> this is when i hit one of the dogs first. >> saw one dog protecting the other dog and knocked her down and attacked her. >> i had a brick, hit one of 'em. and the other one on top of the girl. she was laying on her back. kept on shaking her. i grab a few more rocks.

i hit i think the first one with the rocks, too. kind of look at me like this. that's when i hit 'em with another brick. and then kind of took off to the bushes. >> just moments before that attack, the pitbulls had her trapped in her car just down the street. >> i can't out of my car because the dog is like walking around here. and i called my family. said don't go outside and don't try to get out the garage because the dog might go inside. >> she and her father chased the dogs off but only towards another victim and only to return moments later. >> the dogs go there and try to attack one old man. so we tried to, you know, again. >> animal control is cruising the neighborhood and going door to door to find the animals. when they find them they're prepared to remove them from the neighborhood. until the animals are caught -- >> scary. >> animal control officers are fairly certain these are not

stray pitbulls. they belong to someone and they believe that the owner is someone within about a mile r d radius of right here. that's how far they would tend to roam from home. >> terry, thanks very much. oakland police will hold a news conference to answer questions about a high-speed chase yesterday that ended with officers killing one of the suspects. the they arrested two others and a fourth man is still on the loose. the chase began in an oakland neighborhood. they spotted a car tied to a shooting that occurred last week. the suspects took off running. police shot one of the men. they found an assault weapon nearby but the man's mother is questioning whether it was his. the fourth suspect they are still looking for is armed and very dangerous. >> chp investigators say a crash that killed a 47-year-old woman last month in san mateo county was caused by an unsafe turn she made before colliding with a big

rig. that's from the san jose mercury news. lauren ward died after the big rig hit her car on alpine road near interstate 280 on november 4th. it was the third fatal crash the truck driver was involved in but officials ruled at least two of those were not the big rig driver's fault. this afternoon a contra costa county man is scheduled to make his first court appearance today in the shooting death of a popular east palo alto drug and anti-violence counselor. david lewis was gunned down six months ago in the parking garage in the hillsdale mall in san mateo. but it wasn't until earlier this week that police developed a lead that led to the arrest of the suspect. police said he had approached them to give them a tip in the case but during the questioning earlier this week investigators noticed inconsistencies in his story. they had known each other since they were teenagers. >> a judge is expected to decide today whether seven defendants

in the richmond high school gang rape case will stand trial. a contra costa judge indicated that the youngest defendant 16-year-old cody ray smith will likely not stand trial in adult court. the judge ruled that smith's interview is inadmissible because he was questioned after he invoked his rights to remain silent. six other defendants will find out whether they go on trial for the rape, beating and robbery of a 16-year-old girl outside a high school homecoming dance. >> today the oakland city council is expected to talk about legal concerns and the new law regulating and taxing marijuana farms. the council approved an ordinance in july allowing four cultivation permits. nancy o'malley is warning it could open up city officials to arrests by federal drug agents. john russo told members law officials in washington have also expressed concerns about

that cult vague law. >> san mateo county supervisors are set to vote on formally asking san francisco mayor gavin newsom to veto the local hiring policy. last week san francisco supervisors passed a measure requiring contractors working for the city to set aside half the jobs on those projects for city residents. that would affect work at sfo which is owned by the city but located within san mateo county as well as the rebuild project. san francisco recently tabled a plan to charge a toll to drivers entering from san mateo county during peak hours after the county threatened to retaliate. >> the census bureau released state population totals today and shows california experienced its slowest growth percentage rate since the census began back in 1790. the population grew by 7.2 million residents. used to reallocate 35

congressional seats. the new numbers in california will not gain any seats in the house of representatives for the first time in 90 years. california remains at 53. texas appears to be the big winner gaining four seats. nationwide the population has grown to 308.7 million and that is the slowest growth since the great depression. >> officials around the world are on high alert for possible terror attacks this holiday season. as t. j. winick reports one of the biggest concerns is home grown terrorists. >> the latest scare was in rome just this morning when an explosive device was discovered in a subway car. it turns out the bomb wasn't equipped with a detonator but does underscore worldwide concerns of a terror attack around the holiday. >> the threat is real. the threat is different. the threat is constant. >> just last week an friday and homeland security bulletin went up to 18,000 law enforcement agencies warning them the holiday season provides attractive opportunities for

terrorists. it is imperative law enforcement and security personnel remain alert for indicators of attack planning. the attorney general told abc news that home grown radicals are among its major concern. 50 americans have been charged with acts of terrorism the last 18 months. >> the threat changed from simply worrying about foreigners coming here to worrying about people in the united states, american citizens raised here, born here. you didn't worry about this even two years ago. >> british officials are just fast worried. yesterday police arrested a dozen member, muslims of pakistani origin. police believe this was a plot to bomb multiple locations, shopping centers, nightclubs and iconic landmarks. >> with the information we had, i believe that today's arrests were absolutely necessary in order to keep the public safe. >> metro officials in washington

d.c. began random inspections of passengers' bags and packages this morning five days after first announcing the checks. >> we have some developing unless you now, a strong 7.4 earthquake has struck off the coast of southern japan. the country's meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning. the quake hit about 80 miles off the island in the pacific ocean. meteorologist are saying there could be a tsunami on nearby islands and don't have immediate report of damage or injuries. >> a new snag in efforts to save historic hangar one at moffett field. >> the date is set. we now know exactly when a controversial power plant in san francisco will close its door for good. >> on the brink of history, the woman's college basketball team suddenly in the national

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>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >> caltran is hurrying to beat the next storm. this live picture from sky 7 hd, this is why they're trying to get the work done. maintenance workers busy trying to fix potholes. this is sonoma county where they closed down one lane there. the one lane is getting by to carry out some of those emergency repairs. large potholes there have developed in that right lane. this is southbound 101 at west

sierra avenue. the recent storm systems have weakened the highway and repair crews expect to be filling the potholes well into the afternoon. >> san francisco the power plant will be going out of business for the new year. san francisco mayor gavin newsom just announced the city's last fossil fuel burning plant will cease operations at the first of the year. that closure after a lot of controversy. residents have fought long and hard to get that plant closed because of health concerns. and this morning funding to remore moffett field hangar one is in the air a month after this thought they had the money, would be available the funds had been recruited that congress ditched last week. it would have been used to reas to have the hangar after its toxic siding was removed. now $20 million for the project but it was counting on another $8 million from the now deceased congressional earmark.

the media doesn't report on women's college basketball often but tonight it will. the ladies in connecticut on the brink of history. they'll break a record that's lasted 37 years. karen traverse reports. >> november 16th, 2008, the connecticut women's basketball team beat georgia tech and since then they have kept winning and winning and winning. the huskies have wracked up 87 conservative victories. >> one more win and they'll breaks the record met by the ucla men's basketball team in the 1970s. >> the reason they are having a heart attack, a brunch of women, breaking the men's record.

>> don't try to call them the lady's. they are crushing their opponent averaging 30 points since the start of the streak. >> if this were a men's team trying to reach and break the ucla men's record of almost 40 years ago, there would be saturation coverage by now. >> pat summit are bitter rivals. even she had to give credit where credit is due. >> amazing. i mean, what gino and his staff has been able to do -- records are something everybody hangs on. and this is a great record. this guy's not over by any means. >> it may seem routine but last sunday the huskies celebrated number 88. >> taking a minute to realize how special it is. >> the huskies take on florida state and history tonight on their home court in connecticut. karen traverse, abc news. >> wow! >> 89, whoa! >> meteorologist mike nicco ahead with the forecast. >> not like they've been beating up on cupcakes, the two, three,

four ranked teams. amazing. still flight arrival delays into sfo only 41 minutes so that's down from this morning but they will pick up tonight along with our storms. we'll talk about flooding and potential for hail and power outages in evening and overnight hours. >> also ahead, why researchers say milk and cheating can lower your chances of getting diabetes. >> another royal engagement. first it was prprprprprprprprprr

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♪ dairy products some experts have said are not all that good for us. they may be good for some of us after all. they may lower the risk of type two diabetes. people with the highest blood levels of this fatty acid reduced their odds of type two diabetes by 62%. researchers warn it's a little too soon to make any specific dietary recommendations. >> you're not recommending ice cream!

>> high-fat cheesecake? >> no, no, no. >> maybe a little hot chocolate. if you're up late watching the moon and the stars. >> the eclipse? >> pretty nice last night. why don't we take a look what happened overnight. the clouds cleared just long enough and thin enough for people to get a glimpse of something that hasn't happened in more than three centuries. a lunar eclipse coinciding with the winter solstice. this is a shot from one of our viewers who sends us a lot of photos. we appreciate christopher. the last time the lunar eclipse coincided with the winter solstice was december 21st, 1638. that was a long time ago. if you have weather or video photos you'd like to share, you can upload them or e-mail them. especially with what's going to happen tonight. let's take a look outside, show you what's going on. quiet weather from emeryville back to san francisco. a multi-layered left of clouds

out there. pretty quiet right now but as far as live doppler 7 hd shows, there are a few radar returns that anything that does fall is going to be very light. a couple hundredths of an inch. the big bad storm still to our norm. that's what's going to move in during the evening hours. until then mostly cloudy. upper 40s antioch and los gatos. the rest of us low to mid-50s. around the monterey bay, pretty much the same across the board in the mid-50s. mostly cloudy today with scattered light rain. heavy rain tonight. it will also have some thunder, small hail. may see some flooding, breezy conditions that could cause power outages. mainly dry tomorrow, thursday and friday and another storm will roll in for the weekend. as far as our temperatures today, i think we hit the low to mid-50s in the north bay with mid to upper 50s for the rest of us. around the monterey bay, pretty much seeing the same thing. mid to upper 50s, mostly cloudy, a scattered light rain, less than a couple hundredths of an

inch. tomorrow morning looking at just leftovers of this storm. temperatures mid to upper 40s inland, low to 50s around bay. take a look what's going on. to our south the records. the heart of the storm is still down to the south rounding through the trough now picking up energy and moisture. this is coming down from alaska so it's going to be a colder storm for the sierra. lower those snow levels and bring us heavy downpours along the front. that's why we'll see flooding. a whole lot of rain in a small little window. look at the scattered showers for the evening commute and the heavy rain blasts through and out of are here by 7:00. we'll see even some sunshine by the afternoon. a little cleanup time. three-quarters of an inch but in the mountains 1 to 2 inches. here's what we're looking at for the sierra.

winter storm watch tonight. 4 to 8 inches at lake level. almost two feet above that. seven-day forecast, once we get past that thursday and friday should be dry but another pretty strong storm for saturday and sunday and monday should be dry. temperature mid to upper 50s through the seven-day forecast. this will be going on during our newscast tonight. coffee tv 20, 9:00 and backs here at 11:00. >> i hear wedding bells. britain celebrating not just one royal engagement but two. queen elizabeth's eldest granddaughter will marry her long-time boyfriend mike kindle. she is 12th in line to the throne. she's an accomplished equestrian. her fiancée a 32-year-old star rugby player. her cousins prince williams marry kate middleton in april.

>> coming upllllllllllllllllllll

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>> today on oprah winfrey at 4:00, the love story reunion. keeping your health insurance costs down. "7 on your side" examples a proposal that would make it tougher for company to raise your rates. and she makes the celebrities look good on dancing with the stars. cheryl burke has a new gig right here in the bay area. can't wait to see that. those stories and more on abc 7 unless you at 5:00. >> finally the first day of winter brought snow to the polar bear exhibit at the san

francisco zoo. the polar bears seemed to really enjoy the 10 tons of ice and all the treats scattered around its home. >> he was born in the wild and came to the zoo in 1985. about 30 years old. >> slides around there, enjoying it. all that snow was donated. wasn't made. it was donated by the san francisco ice company. because we don't have snow here. >> he looks a little dirty to me, all that white hair. >> looks like a big cat to me. let's take a look and show you what's going on. remember, this is going to come in 10:00 to 4:00 in the morning. while the numbers don't look as impressive over the weekend, it's going to fall in a much smaller time frame. that's why we have runoff and

you can see