>> in the news this saturday morning, august 6,, a of, a helicopter crashing in afghanistan has killed 7 u.s. special operations troops and some soldiers. and the the u.s. triple-a rating is lowered to double-a plus. >> 56 degrees downtown. we have mist and drizzle. a cool afternoon but warming in the seven-day outlook. >> good morning. i'm terry mcsweeney. tragic news out of afghanistan. a nature toe helicopter crashed overnight reportedly killing 31 u.s. special operations troop and 7 soldiers. it was brought down with a rocket attack. n.a.t.o. confirmed the crash and said there was enemy activity in the area but said it's still

investigating the exact cause. the president hamid karzai has confirmed the casualties. this is the highest number of casualties in one incident during the decade-long war. for the first time the u.s. has lost its top credit rating. the u.s. rating has been down graded from triple a to double-a plus by standard and poors. >> the s&p down grade men's for the first time in u.s. history the u.s. has a credit score hats less than perfect. it's a unprecedented black mark on a global scale. >> it's a sad day in the united states to see something like this happen. >> she runs econ no systems. she said even more than the debt crisis, they expressed concern

congress will be unpredictable and ineffective in making the spending cuts they promised. >> i think it's a wake-up call and hopefully they will get their act together and work to enact the spending reductions that they agreed to. >> the immediate impact of the credit down grade will be to increase the interest the government pace on its $14 trillion debt which could republican he will to higher interest rates to consumers. the question is will one down grade make a difference? many say the three major rating companies lost credibility when they continued to give a triple-a rate to go sub prime mortgage-backed security. >> the same standard and poors is really what caused the recession to begin with. >> the white house and treasury department are blasting the s&p analysis as fundamentally flawed, and that sentiment extends to main street. >> all of the people of that been watching the market have anticipated this to begin with. it's not going to mean anything to you or me. >> the volatility on wall

street, though, is getting harder to predict. the past two weeks have been brutal, erasing more than $1 trillion in wealth. >> while i think the markets might have a short term reaction to the news of a downgrade, over the long-term i think the reaction would be very limited. >> corina rusk, abc7 news. >> england, france and has a double-a. it is better than russia's. >> and a phillies fan remains in critical condition following an accident on thursday night's game. >> he was struck in a crosswalk by a hit-and-run driver who was later arrested. baseball fans are sending their good wishes to the little boy. >> baseball fans stood as the announcer asked for a moment of silence and a quick recovery for 9-year-old ryan white.

>> joanne from philadelphia hopes the city treats him well. >> take care of him. please take care of him. all right. we want him back. >> white was struck by a hit-and-run driver. his family, here from pennsylvania for the phillies and giants game, remember just returning to their hotel after the game. police say 21-year-old andrew vargas was driving this toyota pickup and hit the boy as he crossed mission and montgomery streets. they say vargas sideswiped and swiped other cars's fled the scene. phillies fans say it hits home. >> sad to hear, especially from our hometown, being in that unfortunate accident. >> this man was seconds away when the incident happened. >> a young patrol officer walked up, put out license plate and the next thing you knew we knew they were in oakland and the next thing we knew they were asking for witnesses to come and make statements. >> about a dozen people gave statements. 45 minutes after the hit-and-run, police had

21-year-old vargas in custody. they arrested him at his hayward apartment. he was arrested after he failed a field sobriety test. phillies fan nate norris hopes for justice. >> i think it's the right guy and i think the law is pretty strong in this case and he will be punished pretty well for what he did. >> the chief went to the san francisco general hospital to deliver toys for ryan. >> we thought we would drop some on the little guy so its there when he weak up. >> vargas said he panicked after he hit white and three other people after he fled the scene. he will be charged with felony hit-and-run and the dui will be an enhancement to the charge. abc7 news. >> the coast guard is asking for help in missing for a bay area sailor who might be lost at sea. the man was sailing from alameda to san diego with his 27-foot

vessel. he left on july 25th but never araved. his son tried unsuccessfully to reach himpy phone. the coast guard issued an alert but so far there are not any sightings of the boat. police hope a surveillance tape will help them track down a man that stabbed a man playing bingo the other night." this man is approached by two men who grabbed the bag he's carrying. he suffers a minor stab wound when he fights back. >> we have pictures of them going out the driveway. the type of car is identifiable and the plates very obvious. >> wow. >> so i suspect that some of that will help the police. >> the thieves didn't get away with any cash. the bag he was carrying carried only paperwork. >> a 4-year-old boy abducted from a homeless shelter was

found safe. the mother said she thought the 52-year-old annette took the boy. the police issued an amber alert saying they believed hale was not known to drive and may have walked away with the boy. later they took hal into custody when he was found. and a company has agreed to pay a $170,000 fine for air quality violations. the richmond refinery underreported pollution 27 times between 2005 and 2009. that's according to the pay area air quality management district. it involves sulfur dioxide gases sent to the plant's flares. they said they fixed the problem. coming up next, fake ids. they are so good it's hard to spot the real one. the danger to your kids and yourself. also the iconic burning manifest

value now has a place to call

[bell tolling] >> the japanese city of hiroshima marked the anniversary of the atom mick bomb attack. that bombing destroyed most of the city and killed about 140,000 people. anniversary was especially painful for many japanese who were still struggling after the earthquake and tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown in march. and counter fitting is so good it's nearly impossible to spot a fake id card.

why they could put the lives of your children in peril. >> i'm 18 years old. >> i'm 19 years old. >> it's easy. >> fill out your application, pay $100. >> i didn't have any trouble. >> it's easy and fast. fake ids from over the internet coming from safer seas. >> i got it from china. >> they are flooding america's borders. secretly shifts in everything from playing cards. >> right behind the playing cards you find the phony ids. >> and to what else, in side a game of chinese checkers. frequently underestimated as a right of passage, underage drinking takes lives. lydia and michael lost their son, alex, to a driver drinking with a fake id in berkeley, california. >> it's the most brutal word that a parent can hear. >> more access to false i.d.s

ultimately means more death on the road. >> the sheriff, working with customs in chicago, has confiscated more than 1700 in the past six months. >> they have water marks and holograms, they have it all. >> parents have to wake up. >> the website selling them originates in china, calling them novelty items. but the under 21 crowd knows exactly what they are for. the new rage because side by side impossible to tell the real from the fake. this philadelphia student, whose identity we freed to disguise. >> they just mail you a toy from china and once you break it apart there's ids in there. >> gym alilla reporting. comedians are rallying around jerry lewis. we are protesting his abrupt dismissal from the muscular dystrophy telephone. in may jerry issued other statement he expected to host

the telethon this year for the last time. he hasn't commented since he was told he won't be hosting >> the world famous burning manifest value is coming to fran, or at least a part of it is. the minds be mind the annual desert gathering are teaming i am with the city of san francisco for the burning man's project. yesterday they announced a protect. >> to build an urban cultural center inside the market district and he this said the project is a perfect fit with the city's goal to improve that neighborhood. >> in this year alone we are bringing twitter, an incredible technology company to this area, we are bringing artists and theaters, we are bringing small businesses and new hampshire burger giants, and we are bringing burning man. >> the project includes classrooms, gallaries and space for gatherings and ceremonies. lisa is here with a look at your saturday, sunday and beyond

forecast. >> did you use the wipers this morning? >> i did. coming in from the golden gate bridge and on lombard street. >> we are looking at some changes in the days ahead. we have a cool weekend on tap. one of the days will be warmer and then we are finally looking at a steady warmup. i'll tell you about it coming up. >> and also take a look where it got very hot last night. benches clear as the giants and phillies rivalry escalates in a big way. we have that coming up in sports.

i ate breakfast and got heartburn, third day this week. so i took my heartburn pill and some antacids. we're having mexican tonight, so another pill then? unless we eat later, then pill later? if i get a snack now, pill now? skip the snack, pill later... late dinner, pill now? aghh i've got heartburn in my head. [ male announcer ] stop the madness of treating frequent heartburn. it's simple with prilosec otc. one pill a day. twenty-four hours. zero heartburn. no heartburn in the first place. great. these are our ocean spray sparkling juice drinks in cranberry and pomegranate blueberry. they have bubbles and come in these really cool cans. it's real fruit juice, crisp sparkling water, and no added sugar. comes in diet, too. it's refreshing, tasty -- the whole family will love it. you want one? i'll wait a bit. all right. mmm.

refreshing. real juice. real bubbly. find it in the juice aisle. >> 5:17 on this saturday morning. we are looking out from the roof cam at the abc7 studios near broadway and the embarcadero. you see the bay bridge. we have some mist coming down in parts of the bay area, at least we did a short while ago. we have a warming trend to talk about. lisa will talk about all of that coming up in a minute or so. hawaii's volcano is on the move again. the base dropped 280 feast. look at a time lapsed video of the voluntary can eck event which began on wednesday. even though it's slowing, it's believe the flow could last for month. it's one of the world's most active volcanoes and has been

erupting since january, 1983. >> the weak economy means a lot of families are reassessing how much they will spend on back to school items this year. that's expecting one retailer to expect a drop in sales. >> back to school shoppers are out in force but with a keen eye of buying only the essentials and at the lowest possible price. >> i hit the clearance rack first. then after that, then i'll go for the regular price stuff. >> dollar tree in pleasant hills, the first stop in many in the market for the best buys on pencils, pads and binders. >> just knowing the prices every year from buying them the last 17 years, i know when you pay more and when you pay less. >> according to the national retail federation, american families with school age children will spend an average of $603.63 on clothing, school supplies and electronics this year. about three dollars less than last year. at the gap store in concord sun valley mall, school uniforms are

hot sellers along with blue jeans, jackets and other basics. >> i'm finding people are a little more cost conscious? >> definitely now with the down economy customers are definitely looking at the prices and trying to see if we have any great promotions going on. >> beatrice is buying for four school age children. >> are you more careful this year than maybe last year? >> yeah, i am. i'm always watching out for sales and good deals. >> what's the one thing you absolutely have to have for school this year? >> i want a new backpack. >> we need more and we essencely need the backpacks for the high school students. >> pleasant hills crisis center has collected about 400 backpacks so far for local students who might otherwise go without. they are hoping to collect at least 400 more in the coming weeks. >> we are seeing still 100 new families every month so all those families will need school supplies and whatnot for their kids. >> anyone want to help collect

the remaining 400 backpacks can contact them directly. that information is on our website, abc7news.com. in concord, laura anthony, abc7 news. before we think too much about going back to school, let us enjoy, speaking for the youngsters out there, the remainder of the summer vacation. >> right. we don't want to rush it. >> yeah. august just started, right? >> yeah, just getting going. >> right. and the warming trend just getting going too. >> there you have it. all right. >> summer begins in a couple days. we are looking at mist and drizzle. emeryville, the sun up at 6:17. setting at 8:13. boy, we've had measurable mist and drizzle the past several days. today no difference. still a west wind blowing out toward the delta. we are looking at breezy conditions to get started. we will look for similar conditions the next couple days and then the changes begin toward warmer weather. 06 redwood city, 61 mountain

view. napa, 57 and as well as 57 at the coast. highlights, you may need the wipers this morning if you are out early. little change today and tomorrow. maybe a degree cooler tomorrow. but that sea breeze will be with us each and every day over the weekend. it will back off as we head toward next week when that marine layer becomes more compressed as high pressure builds on in. here's the fog cast right now with fog out toward 685. by 10:00 still a few patches over the bay. by 11:00 we will see sunshine. notice the 80s in our inland valleys. at least we've managed some mid-80s and 70s elsewhere around the bay with 60s confined in the coast. just an hour or two of sunshined san francisco. highs in the mid-60s. the reason the marine layer isn't going anywhere is because of these several areas of low pressure to the north of us. it will keep it intact about

2,000 feet deep. as high pressure begins to build westward, the low clouds and fog becoming more compressed and we will look for a little bit of easterly flow coming our way into next week. that will bring us back up into the 90s. so little change over the weekend. we will continue to see the pattern with some afternoon sunshine or late morning sunshine. today, though, it's getting warmer in the sacramento value, the san way queen valley with plenty of low to mid-90s here. 91 joe systemty -- yosemite. and 83 in the peninsula. and you will be warming up through the mid-70s. 65 is the way it should feel early august here so not doing too bad. in the north bay upper 70s, petaluma. 77 napa. near east bay the cool afternoon sea breeze with 68 in berkeley. 73 in union city.

and out over the hills some low to mid-80s. pretty pleasant day in dublin today at 82, and the fog this morning with mist and drizzle and then 70 in watsonville. here's the accuweather seven-day forecast. a degree or two change tomorrow. not much. inland it will come down a few degrees. but then by monday and tuesday, wednesday, warming it up, 5 degrees or so. it should feel hot inland and pleasant elsewhere. >> thanks very much, lisa. in sports tension should be running high at at&t park this afternoon. matt cain battles cole hamels as the giants try to rebounds losing the first two games against the phils. last night it intensified with a bench clearing brawl with the phillies 9-2 win over the giants. here's larry with the highlights and post-game reaction. >> good morning. the bad blood that was slowly rising between the giants and phillies boiled over last night. a brawl with the benches emptying in game two their series. start with jonathan sanchez.

he's back from the disabled list. and he says hello. he would say a lot more later on. the homer tied it up at 1. sanchez goes 4 2/3, gave up 5 runs. stanford man, john mayberry junior, two out, two-run beam. 4-1 phils. giants answering fire with fire. eli whiteside. giants down 5-2. nelson bake it open with four runs and ramon ramirez drills victorino in the back in the sixth. chaos ensues. eli bounces up and down and tackles him. the benches empty. full-scale scrum. then just as things seem to calm down the flying hawaiian, victorino, gets lose and knocks down the giants hitting coach. whiteside, victorino, ramirez, all get ejected. we will see if suspensions follow. and afterwards everybody was talking about the fight. >> hey, it's baseball. you know, they happen fast and

tempers flare. it just is part of the game. >> you think he threw it intentionally. >> absolutely i think he did. and that's why i took a step forward. again, i had no intentions of going out there and charging mound. i just wanted to know why in that situation he was around the plate all night and throughout that inning and with two outs, i get up to the plate and the first pitch is at my back. i just wanted to go out there and get an answer. i had no intentions of charging the mound. i did step forward and eli felt like, from looking at his reaction, thought i was going to go and he started jumping around. and polanco calm in and he tackled polanco and everything escalated from there. >> not as much drama in tampa. a's lose another road game. fifth inning longoria doubles in damon. and he gave up four runs. here it comes, there it goes for coco crisp.

wow, this might have been picked up on russian radar. a's down 4-2. but the a's come right back. two outs. two-run single off breslow. a's fall 8-4. they have lost 30 of their last 37 on the road. the raiders found their new tight end. kevin voss will fill the void. he's regarded as a better blocker than miller. goes 6'6", 235. had a hip injury last year. seems to be healthy. voss gates 4-year, $16 million contract. half is guaranteed. had 35 catches, five for touchdowns last season with new york. the cowboys didn't make the playoffs last year. this could be the difference maker on the left. peewee herman at training camp. why? we have no idea. he posted on twitter, trying out for the dallas cowboys. if he can throw better than tony romo, the cowboys have a lot of problems. mike shumann will be here with all your highlights at 5:00

p.m., six and eleven. see what happens today with the giants and the phillies. have a great weekend, everybody. i'm larry beil. coming up next at 5:30, the president signs a bill to put thousands of faa construction crews back on the job while local people say it's a mixed blessing. the social networking site that lets parents keep an eye on what [ male announcer ] kentucky grilled chicken. now with new bigger white meat breast pieces, marinated for juiciness. freshly seasoned and slow grilled by real cooks.

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>> president obama is calling on congress to shift focus from the deficit to jobs. in his weekly and radio and internet address today he's asking congress to pass a series of initiatives to spur job growth. they are extending payroll tax cuts for another year and passing free trade agreements and patent reform. >> we have to do whatever we can to help folks find work, to help reeight the climate you can put up the job listings and where

incomes are rising again for people. we have to rebuild the economy in the sense of security that middle class families have felt slipping away for years. while deficit reduction has to be part of it. it's not the only thing we have to do. >> congress won't take up any measures until they return from their recess in september. president obama signed a bill ending the two week partial shut down of the federal aviation administration. that moneys thousands of construction workers would be going back to work. but it severely cost the government and taxpayers. some members of congress hoped to slash about $16 million from the faa budget but the resulting standoff ended up costing $390 million in lost tax revenue. that's about $30 million per day. abc7s sergio romo has details on how the shutdown continues to affect one key bay area project. the gate remains padlocked and the construction crews that should be there are not on the job building a brand new

$31 million control tower at oakland international airport. the project, ground to a standstill two weeks ago, thanks to congressional gridlock on the faa's budget. tim leads one of the construction crews at the oakland airport. he said the new faa funding deal is a mixed blessing. >> not real sure if we can start the project as quick as they turned it off a couple weeks ago. >> that's because part of his team is now working on this office tower in santa clara. >> now that there is a congressional deal, getting this crew back to work in oakland won't be easy, and it also won't be cheap. >> well, we've start the doing other things as a company. we've laid off manpower. >> he said there will be a slight delay in pulling his team back together again once he gets the call that the oakland airport tower is back on track. they will still need to track down key beats of equipment, like a multimillion-dollar super crane which they were just days from using it. >> we were three days away from that day when we got shut down.

now the crane is no longer available and we have to find a crane to replace it, which is at a pretty good cost. >> in washington it ended with a simply legitimate laytive procedures that only took two senators and a few minutes to end. >> hearing no objection, so ordered. >> but back here in the bay area, news of the temporary faa deal is bittersweet. >> it's great to be going back to work but the government didn't do their job and here we are facing a huge deficit and they are just add to go it. >> in san jose, abc7 news. today some of the two dozen police officers that oakland has rehired are going to be back on patrol. the department now has 659 officers, including 27 rehires, who have started retraining and will be back on the street by mid-august. another five officers will be brought on by d.c. police chief anthony, said he

will put them in high crime areas, especially east oakland, which has 65% of the city's homicides. he was able to rehire some of the 85 officers laid off last year because of budget cuts. and he's hoping to find money to pay for another three dozen officers. 35 new members were welcomed into the ranks with the first graduating class in six years. there were more than 6,000 applicants for those positions. it's the first firefighting class in which everyone was trained as an emergency medical technician. >> over the next few years i would like to beef you have the staff a little bit more but it's challenging with the economy and the fiscal constraints we have. certainly today is a step in the right direction to have 35 new members in our department. >> currently the fire department does not have funding for another training class. there was a somber tribute at the graduation. a moment of silence to remember

the two firefighters who died battling a house fire in june. beginning the school year missouri law is making it illegal for teachers to be friends with students on social networking sites such as face work. the idea is to protect students from any sexual misconduct or other inappropriate contact but it's controversial in the bay area where social networking is now a standard tool for many teachers. there is a local solution. >> at this conference on technology in schools. >> 18 con valley teachers are learning the latest computer tools that will help them in the classroom. facebook is not one of them. >> there is stuff that i put up there that i want my students to see. but other stuff i wouldn't want them to see, stuff about my children or family that's not for them. >> missouri lawmakers agree, make illegal for teachers there to interact with any student under the age of 18 on facebook or any other social networking site, including twitter. the former ceo of sun

microsystems, scott mcclain neeley, said that's wrong and he says he hopes it will change. >> i'm comfortable longer term we will understand that online distance shift and time-shifted education will be a very important component of everybody's education process. >> none of these teachers we spoke to interact with students through facebook. still one of them says she she's nothing wrong with students and teachers communicating through facebook. >> i think it's important for us to extend our learning communities and to solidify them as one community. >> many silicon valley school districts already forbid teachers to friend students on facebook. >> i don't use facebook. the students i work with i use what is accessible with the district. >> this is one site school districts do allow, even in missouri. the company is based in san mateo. the wall is remarkably similar to facebook, but this website is there for students and their

teachers to discuss, share and learn only school-related materials. students and teachers cannot have private conversations with each other or share with those outside their classroom network. >> in addition to that, we have parent accounts and school administrator accounts which provide those extra layers of visibility. >> they now have 2 million subscribers and just last september edmoto had half a million subscribers so you can see how it's growing. it's free and available in spanish and portuguese. abc7 news. >> the weekend is here and that's why lisa will tell us exactly what it is like wherever in the bay area you happen to be going. >> we've had subtle changes day-to-day. one thing consistent is the on shore flow, the marine layer and mist and drizzle. and this, a bit of a foggy shot from the room camera. we will see 60s and sundown town, but the rest of the bay

area get ready for some summertime weather coming your way. i'll explain next. >> and also a growing encampment that's hard to see. why the official say they are powerless to do anything about it. hey! you want that? you want a warm, super-delicious strawberry toaster strudel yeah but now i have nothing to eat sureou do. hey!

you can have the pop tart! pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat with totino's pizza rolls. big pizza taste in a bite size roll that my kids can't resist. plus i get two box tops for their school. totino's pizza rolls. the pizza way to snack.

>> seems to me it's been a cooler than average summer. >> and it's the second consecutive summer we've had a cool spring and the averages are way down because of the troughs that continue to park themselves north of us. this fog layer will evaporate, scatter out. it's about 2,000 feet deep. we will look for some improvement in terms of warmer

temperatures, more summer-like readings after the weekend. but, you know, the afternoon really hasn't been so bad. it's been very pleasant all around the bay. right now we are starting out at 660 redwood center. upper 60s liver mohr. clear skies in concord but the fog is all around the bay. we are looking at the clearing, of course, starting by the delta, working its way back across the bay. so the drizzle, the mist this morning. little change over the weekend. a couple of degrees up, a couple of degrees down. then a warming trend begins on monday that will decrease the on-shore flow. the marine layer becoming more compressed. tracy is clear but the fog is around 580 and 680. but by 11:00 we will look at east bay sun and the fog hung up along the san mateo coast. once again, the temperature profile, 60s coast, 70s around the bay and and a couple

of 80s and mid-80s in the inland valleys. pretty nice day out there although we will be looking at things beginning to warm up around here. one trough is moving out and another one taking its place. so the end result, not much change. the marine layer has been stuck at around 2,000 feet and the sea breeze comes in in the afternoon and just when we get that sunshine in the city or at the beaches, the fog moves back in. so today, tomorrow we are looking at very little change. numbers right around normal. maybe a degree or two below normal. but in the valleys things have been heating up a little bit. in the mid-90s, fresno, 92 sacramento. the low clouds and fog banked up along the shoreline. no real change in our wind to scour it out. that change is coming, though, and we will see less of the on-shore push by monday. 77 in sunyvale today as well as

and san francisco 65 today with low clouds and fog over golden gate park. 75 san rafael, up toward clear lake you warm to around 90. near east bay looking at 68 berkeley, 73 union city. fremont mid-70s and out over the hills a pretty nice afternoon. getting used to the low to mid-80s. 82 dublin and 85 fairfield with mid-80s livermore and down by the monterey bay foggy with some mist this morning and 68 in salinas. today we look for the clearing at about ten, eleven o'clock. tomorrow a couple degrees cooler, you may not notice it. and into monday, tuesday, wednesday, a gradual warmup everywhere, coast, inland and bay, but very modest and nothing too extreme. >> and people have options. >> that's right. >> all right. thanks a lot. everyone knows there's a homeless problem in downtown san francisco, but it's also an issue in neighbors near the great highway where it's not as

noticeable. people are living on the streets there as well not outdoors but in cars, campers and advance. carolyn has this morning's assignment 7 report. >> it's summertime and the rvs are lined up along this street below the great highway across from san francisco's ocean beach. but these aren't vacation campers. they are people like this man, whose vehicle is his home. >> i've been living in this city all my life. how i live and where i live is none of your business. >> he's arguing with john, who heads up the neighborhood watch. his group has had enough of this encampment. sometimes as many as 20rvs park on a two-block stretch. >> not everyone in the vehicles are a problem, but we have a fair number in a group this large that do have issues and we have a lot of public drinking, push intoxication, drug use, sales. used needles outside the rvs and this is where we walk, this is are our children walk. >> some of them come up and get

their sewage and dump it into our sewer system, as well as some of them urinate in the park as well as deaf indicate as well. i have pictures to prove that. >> police say the situation has existed for years. >> why has it been allowed to go on for decades? >> i think because of the lack ever the limitation that is we have right now on our enforcement. >> there is a city law against sleeping in vehicles from ten at night until six in the morning. but officers have to actually see a violator to cite him. park and control leaves warnings indicating its illegal to park in one spot for longer than 72 hours. but those who are savvy have figured that out. to comply with this warning campers only need to move one block away and they can park until they receive another notice. so as one officer says, it's a game of cat and mouse. >> i got a right to survive. i'm a human being. that's where i'm coming from. >> homeless advocates say a

renewed police crackdown will not work. >> people get pushed from one neighborhood to another, and that's kind of the pattern. we focus on one neighborhood and push them to somewhere else. that's not a sustainable solution of any kind. >> the district supervisor is examining strategies. though she said the focus should be not just on the campers, but also commercial vehicles that are taking up public space. >> one of the things that we've talked about potentially a permitting idea for oversize vehicles would be one issue. some kind of registration is another potential option. >> the sargent said the solution might be a designated area somewhere in the city for rvs. >> let's make it an appropriate place where there are bathrooms available and showers available. >> good long-term solution this john's opinion. >> short term? they got to go. >> a new enforcement push has moved some vehicles along, but everyone agrees they will be back. in san francisco's, caroline

tyler, abc7 news. >> don't go away, 7 on your side is next. >> pg&e smart meters have come under attack but another utility is quietly installing wireless meters of its own. i'm michael finney. these sweehoney clustery things have fiber? fiber one. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. uh forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one! i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet honey cereal, you'll love it. are you guys alright? yeah. [ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyo recognition. fibeone.

morning. it looks like night down below and just about daytime up above. find out more about what this all means from lisa in just a little bit. there has been plenty of protests surrounding pg&e's new smart meters. some say it leads to overbilling and other worry about radiation exposure. few realize there's another utility quietly installing their own version of smart meters.

7 on your side michael finney has the story. >> the owners of this san francisco's duplex may not know about it but they are about to get a new smart water meter installed out front. the water department said the old meters are wearing out so they are installing these electronic meters at all 177,000 homes in the city. >> we are taking advantage of an opportunity to go beyond replacing the meter and also up grading the technology and providing for them to be automatically red. >> the new meters have the wireless transmitters that send water use through the airways four times a day to a central computers. it will help consumers track their consumption and detect leaks. the project has gone on quietly compared to the battles of pg&e's smart meters. >> please don't allow pg&e to put more smoke and mirrors in front of the public. >> i think it's kind of been slipped under the radar. >> stu matthews has protested

pg&e's smart meter out of concerns about health impact of. >> the flyer we got basically said this is not optional. >> amy isn't going to let it happen at her house. she was arrested trying to block installation after pg&e smart meter also because of concerns over radiation. now she's put a sign over the old water meter still serving her house warning do not install a wireless meter. >> it's my house, it's my front yard. i don't want an rf remitter on my property. >> they use the same technology as pg&e's smart meters, although they remit lower levels of radio waves. and data is being given directly to a collector unit like the one here. on the other hand, pg&e's smart

meter data bounces from house to house on the way to collectors. the water department's suzanne said water meters are safe. emissions fall below levels allowed, and it's over the sidewalk. >> if you stood over it you would get less than the radio frequency you would get from a baby monitor in your home. >> protestters aren't convinced. >> why would we want to install rf emitters every 25 feet along a sidewalk in san francisco? i walk to bart, for example, i am going to pass 60 or 07 houses. >> the city's puc is considering an opt-out program considering to a proposal at pg&e. customers would turn off the transmitter and possibly pay extra for a meter reader. the water agency also wants to ensure the accuracy of the meters and wireless data

transmission. as pg&e customers blooded them with complaints that the smart meters caused their bills to skyrocket. >> if there's a change in your water bill it will relate to the amount of water being counted through your meter. so a new meter may, just by the virtue of it being a new meter, be more accurate. >> the water department is still billing customers based on manual readings until the wireless transmission is tested. new york city is installing the same system in the east bay municipal utility commission is also considering a plan to opt out. if you have a concern let me go about it. i'm michael finney, 7 on your side. coming up next, taking a walk in the wild where you can explore the life of a man at the forefront of california's green revolution. @i@iiññ'ñ'ñ'ñ'ñ'ñ'ñ't

>> herest winning numbers from last night. >> someone had the winning ticket. someone got all those numbers but that ticket was not purchased in california. so your chances of having purchased it are greatly reduced. jackpot for tuesday night's drawing down to a mere $12 million. >> intruder. 111, march 14th. >> back to his old course. >> star trek is getting its own theme park, except it won't be in the united states. it's going to be in jordan on the gulf. king abdullah ii is a well-known treky. he had a nonspeaking roll in the star trek in the '90s.

remember that episode? the amusement park construction begins next year. the environmentalist known as the father of the national parks is the the focus of a new interactive exhibition at the oakland museum of california. the tribute of john muier's work. we have a preview. >> it's called a walk in the wild and it's a way of getting a fresh perspective on john, a man whose mission was to preserve our wilderness. the environment was his passion. >> he was the first, i would say first modern environmentalist because he used his writings, his contacts with celebrities and politicians to get the word out and get the gears in motion to protect the beautiful and endangered places. >> in a letter from theodore roosevelt. and he founded this club. and he explored history, science and art. there is a re-creation of a giant tree where hew3 took refue

during a fire. this showcase lets us follow in john mure's footsteps. >> he knew what nature had in store, he knew how to survive. >> what an extreme mount near he was and what challenges he put himself in to be able to get to the point where he would find what he wanted up there in the mountains. >> this show is a lifetime dream for this woman. it's taken her four years to assemble it from other museum and private collections, giving us a better chance to understand john, the man. >> he was driven by curiosity, emersing himself through experience and trying to understand the natural world. >> it is an indelible experience we experienced today because of what nature can bring to our lives. >> to enjoy something in solitude, that's what the wilderness is. it's a place for saluted without human interference. >> the exhibit will be here

through saturday. next at six, america's credit slapped with a lower rating. why we are no longer the safest investment in the world.

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