we're a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot, a nation that believes all men and women are created equal. >> history is made today as president obama signs the landmark law to repeal the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. >> it ends a 17-year-old policy implemented under president clinton to hide orientation or

face discharge. the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" will not go into effect immediately. >> "don't ask, don't tell" will stay until the president says it happens within a few months. (cheers and applause) >> with that a new law repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. >> no longer will tens of thousands of men in american uniform be asked to live a lie or look over their shoulder to serve a country they love. >> it's estimated since the ban went into effect in 1993 more than 14,000 military members have been discharged. a retired on the left wearing the brown suit, we spoke to her by phone less than an hour ago. >> such a momentum tus occasion

and one working for 18 years. to watch it unfold and watching it happen. i was incredibly excited and proud. >> a general who served 46 years celebrated the signing and said it's about time. as a former commander, he said it the "don't ask, don't tell" policy never really made a difference. >> they always served with other troops and everybody knows what their orientation is. >> for now the old policy is mains in effect until top officials certify the change is ready to take place. >> i've spoken to every one of the service chiefs and they are all committed to implementing this change swiftly and efficiently. we are not gonna be dragging our feet to get this done. >> military officials are still sorting out a number of legal questions raised now that the ban has ended.

they include pending expulsion proceedings and when those ousted might rejoin. >> reaching a deal on the bill to help the september 11 first responders who became sick from world trade center dust. the deal calls for up to $4 billion in healthcare and economic aid over five years. the measure provides $2 billion less than a bill proposed by democratic senators from new york earlier this week. the senate and the house are expected to vote later today. >> president obama a huge victory on his top foreign ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with russia. passage appears to be assured after 11 republicans joined democrats yesterday to end the debate on the agreement. the president should have the two-thirds majority he needs when the senate votes on final approval later today. it will allow president obama to continue efforts to improve

relations with russia. >> the bay area is drying out after a strong length of wet weather. this is how it was at the 101 and 380 interchange. san francisco international airport continues to have some delays. this morning arrivals are averaging 41 minutes late. and in the sierra, more snow fell. you can see trucks putting on chains on the side of interstate 80 there. chains are also required on highway 88. let's get the very latest from meteorologist mike nicco. >> how quiet live doppler 7 hd is this morning. good morning to you. hardly a radar blitz except mountain view and i think these a really thick cloud. 40 minute flight arrival delays into sfo. to see if your specific flight is affected, you need to go to the flight tracker at abc7news.com. here's a look at the big picture. a few radar returns out in the central valley. otherwise it's really quiet

other than santa rosa reporting light rain last hour. they had the most rain overnight. 8300ths. two-thirds of an inch in petaluma and napa, an inch in mill valley and tapered to a half inch in oakland, piedmont area, san francisco. look how dramatically it dropped off. a tenth of an inch palo alto, fremont. livermore 1300th and concord dropping to 2500. the south you've seen the pictures. it keeps going. heavy rain and that's where it's going to stay for today. our next chance of rain this weekend. >> the days of rain here have also created sewage spills of that now shut down four san mateo county beaches. rock away closed until further notice. the rain that soaked us over the weekend caused sewers to overflow and that sent harmful bacteria into the beach water.

>> forecasters say the worst of the heavy rain is over but not until it flooded many areas and forced dozens of evacuations this morning. laguna beach in orange county is covered with mud after runoff flows down the streets. the foot hills of los angeles county, evacuation orders remain in effect for 200 homes in flint ridge. that's where summer wildfires left steep hillsides bear and prone to mudslides. some residents say they're not leaving. >> once you leave, you're not able to go back to your home. >> authorities say the threat of mudslides will remain several weeks even if the rain stops. this was the fifth storm to pound southern california in the past week. >> wow, look at that! in northern arizona, floodwaters ripped through a retirement community washing away five unoccupied homes. rain is still threatening

several other homes. one man suffered a heart attack as flooding reached his home yesterday. he was taken to a local hospital. >> and in other news today, a pedestrian was killed in santa rosa early this morning but there's confusion exactly how the person ended up on highway 101. the chp says the victim was struck just north of the mendocino avenue overpass about 1:30 this morning. but investigators say it's not clear if the person was walking along highway 101 or was getting out of a vehicle when it happened. santa rosa police closed the far right lane for a while but now all lanes have reopened. >> governor schwarzenegger has now announced the the $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. these pictures are obviously not the right pictures. we apologize for that but let me tell you about governor schwarzenegger announcing the $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in a vallejo murder that happened in november of last year. police say he was shot several times on cherry street. he was found in a car.

they believe he was a victim of an attempted robbery. >> animal control officers are still on the hunt for one of two pitbulls that attacked a woman monday night in her driveway. last night they caught one of the animals. susan was bitten on the back leg and arm while she tried to fight off the dogs. a neighbor finally scared the dogs away. animal control officers went door to door yesterday trying to find the pitbull's owner and other dog. the dog still on the loose is described as a white pitbull with gray spots. if you see it, you're asked to call animal control immediately. >> burlingame, peninsula assemblyman jerry hill is outlining a bill that would crack down on bus operators. a 19-year-old died after hours of drinking on a so-called booze cruise. it would require bus operators

to check to see if passengers are under the age of 21 and inform them that drinking alcohol on the bus is illegal. bus drivers that break that law would pay fines of at least $2,000. >> a group of elementary students can now call themselves published authors. >> the science project that's getting them some recognition. >> i'm terry mcsweeney live in richmond. you talk about christmas magic. there's a ymca here that's been turned into a christmas wish list come true. for 6,000 people. you'll see the magic and feel it after the break. 3q

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>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >> thousands of needy families are really feeling the christmas spirit in richmond. >> firefighters and police officers are giving out toys, food and more at their annual holiday giveaway. >> terry mcsweeney joins us on 20th street. >> the giveaway began at 8:00 this morning, goes until 6:00 this evening. inside this ymca enough toys and food for about 6,000 people in kensington and richmond that registered for this about 12 months ago. without this program, santa might have passed them by that year. >> take that smile and multiply

it by oh, maybe that many toy bags and add this many bicycles and that many food bags and you understand how big a deal this giveaway is. for the kids outside, it's like christmas morning. >> you never know if you're going to get like a bicycle or -- you never know. >> hot wheels, barbie dolls. everything the kids would want. >> richmond firefighter rod woods has been organizing this event for 23 years. he says somewhere around 6,000 parents and children were registered for this giveaway six months ago. no walk-ups allowed. >> we have some families actually that are in line that gave to the program in the past. and now they're in line because they're in need. >> one of those in line and in need is betty gibbs. >> i'm a single parent with four kids. and i'm here to help my kids out so they can have a good christmas for little things they

can get, what i can't share with them. >> priscilla knows what all this means for their family. >> it means a good christmas because we weren't gonna have one without it. >> the guy with the santa hat jumping around. that looks like the police chief. ho ho ho! it is the chief. >> not chief right now? >> not right now, no. but this is great. so many great volunteers helping us out. really a nice day. a lot of had things come together here. >> outside waiting in this line for hours for a chance had the christmas is ariana chavez that knows all the ingredients needed for a perfect christmas are here today. >> some presents and a christmas tree. >> how does that make you feel? >> happy! >> all the food, all the toys out here donated by the community and some big players like chevron, b.p. oil and wal-mart. and, again, if you are not registered, don't come out here. if you are registered, lucky you.

live in richmond, terry mcsweeney, abc 7 news. >> terry, thanks very much. >> folks getting into the christmas spirit but what about that big forecast. >> yeah, looks like we have some dry weather. let's take a look at our ever-drying sky over san francisco. light rain being reported in santa rosa. talk about the next two days and how it will be dry and when the rain returns this weekend. >> mike, thank you. >> and a record-breaking performance by a women's basketball team that even has the president sending his congratulations. >> and the lindsay lohan drama continues. new accusations that say the actress got rough during rehab.

♪ the university of connecticut women's basketball team has now set a new record winning 89 games in a row. the record is monumental and caught president obama's attention. the team's coach got a congratulatory phone call. >> we owe you a little gratitude, the lesson you gave them on the basketball court paid off. i appreciate you doing that for 'em. we have not lost.

we have not lost since you've been inaugurated. how about we keep that streak going a couple more years, huh. >> last night's 89th win means the connecticut huskies now have the longest winning streak in division one collect basketball. they surpassed the record set by the ucla men's basketball team coached by john wooden in the 1970s. wooden's grandson was in the stands for last night's historic win. the last time u.conn women lost a game was against stanford. 2008. >> some historic snow or at least massive snow in tahoe. >> feet, 10, 12 feet in some areas. take a look what's going on there where some folks getting an early start on some of the best skiing you can find around. going to hang around and we'll add to it this weekend while we're adding to our rain totals

here back at home. another perspective here at the golden gate bridge, fairly dry. but pretty cloud. that's the way it's going to be. breaks in the clouds, even a sprinkle or two possible. still seeing some light rain at least being reported in santa rosa. temperatures pretty mild. upper 50s mountain view and san jose. monterey bay knocking on the door of 60 degrees. santa cruz, everybody else in the mid to upper 50s, even inland. highlights, partly sunny and dry this afternoon. cooler tonight with valley fog forming, even frost possible in the deepest and coldest of the north bay valleys. dry tomorrow and friday and wet for saturday and sunday. temperatures today will be in the mid to upper 50s. the exception clear lake at about 52 degrees. a scattered showers still possible mainly in lake county and some of the higher elevations.

inland 60 to 61 degrees. tonight we're going to deal with snow. at least until 4:00 this afternoon. up in the sierra, winter weather advisory continues above 5,000 feet. 8 inches of new snow by the time it ends. thankfully winds aren't too bad as you saw from heavenly. only 35. you can ski in that. look at the 30s inland. mid-30s around the reporting stations north bay. rural areas, that's where i think we'll see frost and fog. mid-40s around the bay and out to the coast. what we're watching over the last ten hours, the low takes more of a southerly trip. that's why we didn't have the gusty winds. but the rainfall amounts we saw were pretty much spot on. sinking air on the back side of it. that's why we're seeing the dry weather over the coast. especially tonight you can see we clear out a little by 5:00.

temperatures tomorrow morning about 6 to 15 degrees cooler than what we dealt with this morning. won't be completely sunny. high clouds stream through it tomorrow so at least it will be dry so you can get outside with no problem. same thing on friday. a few more high clouds on friday and the storminess comes back into the forecast saturday evening and into sunday. then it looks like monday and tuesday will be dry before more rain comes in next wednesday and thursday. >> all right, mike. thanks very much. >> more lindsay lohan drama this morning. we have new developments. she's denying charges by a staffer at her rehab clinic that she had been drinking alcohol on the night of an incident. a staffer at the betty ford clinic in los angeles says the actress attacked her and caused her to sprain her arm. lohan reportedly left the clinic then returned and refused an alcohol test. the technician tells her she's on workers comp from her

injuries. lohan says these a lie and that the staffer actually grabbed and pushed her. the betty ford center says they fired the staffer for breaking confidentiality by talking to dmv. >> the 2011 model year, that's the most the agency has ever issued. german car maker volkswagen top the list as the safest new vehicles followed by general motors, ford and toyota. this year's award more than double the number of safety picks last year. >> diabetes testing strips are being recalled over inaccurate readings. the food and drug administration says they're recalling up to 359 million test strips. they're marketed under half a dozen brand names. precision, exceed-pro, precision extra, medicine optum. the strips can give a false low blood sugar reading.

they blame it on a defect that limits the amount of blood each strip absorbs. >> a study conducted and written by a group of eight to ten year olds, the children from an elementary school investigated the way bumble bees see colors and patterns in a local church yard. the group trained bees to go to their targets of different colors by giving them a sugar award. it went through a peer review and the report was published in biology letters. >> if that school wasn't so far llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllls

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>> stanford university is raking in a lot of money from its inventions. they generated $65 million in income for the up the last year despite the downed economy. total earnings from all its inventions were just over $1 billion during the past four decades with more than half coming from just two ideas, the hypertest searching used by google brought in $336.5 million. while the ground breaking dna splicing technology brought in $225 million and dsl technology brought in $28.7 million. >> today on oprah at 4:00, singing sensations from the past and present. mudslides in six california counties. tonight live to one of the

hardest hit areas. a great year for the airline industry in the u.s. "7 on your side" investigates whether those big profits will push airlines to start rolling back those extra fees. >> looks like for now a couple dry days to get your shopping done for the holidays. >> starting to see some sunshine outside and that will continue to build through the forecast at least for thursday and friday. we'll have clouds to go with that but at least it will be dry for all those things you need to do outside. saturday and sunday not so much. pretty powerful storm, one like we had last night will come through saturday night. >> mike, thanks very much. >> and thank you for joining us on abc 7 news. >> "who wants to be a millionaire" is coming up next. >> have a great day. >> bye-bye! iñiñiñiñiñiñiñiñiññ