closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc live look at a chilly downtown san francisco. record lows this morning. we'll show you those tell turns and how long they will hang around. >> with the low temperatures look out for possible black ice. right now quiet bay area freeways looking light at the bay bridge toll. i'm terry mcsweeney at san francisco international airport with the story of the northern california couple who had been on that cruise ship that went down in the waters off italy. but made a decision that may have saved their lives. a strange story coming up. unbelievable story of heroism has gone a long time without being acknowledged. today the navy will honor a 95-year-old world war ii vet from the bay area. good morning 4:30 a.m. on

this frigid tuesday morning. thank you for joining us, i'm eric thomas. i'm kristen sze. we have record low temperatures. let's start with temperatures. you can see we are in the low to mid 20s in fairfield, napa, santa rosa, and livermore. upper 20s mountain view, novato. freezing concord, los gatos, san jose, redwood city. 34 fremont upper 30s near 40 oakland, highway highway and san francisco 31 santa rosa, 32 watsonville, entirety salinas, 22 gilroy. all these -- areas monterey bay, salinas, santa clara, east and north bay all under the freeze warning. we'll have temperatures until at least 8:00 this morning. probably too late to protect the plans. maybe you can get out there and do it -- now.

we'll be checking in throughout the newscast to find out more. 4:31. a northern california couple is home after their voyage on that ill-fated cruise ship that sank off the italian coast. terry mcsweeney is live at sfo where the family landed a couple of hours ago. >> reporter: they came in late last night this is a couple from the sacramento valley. they had been on the costa concordia and they got off one port before it went down. they got off in rome. day decision that may have saved their lives. take a look at that ship now and you will get a good idea of what we are talking about the ship on its side. dozens missing. several dead. the captain being charge with manslaughter. james had a chance to meet the captain. sat down, talked to the captain. came away, anything but impressed.

>> we met the captain several times. the captain's table was next to ours at our dinner seating. my first impression, i told my wife, i says that captain doesn't care about anybody but himself. the whole air about him, you know. that's just the first impression. >> reporter: he says his stateroom ended up underwater. getting off in rome may have saved his wife and his wife's life. in a half hour, we are going to hear from him talk about something else he noticed on that ship besides a captain who didn't seem to care about on the ship. what he will say has to do with every american. that story coming up in half an hour. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. this morning rescuers have increased the number of people missing from that ship.

the number has jumped from 16 to 29. nobody has explained why. the captain of the costa concordia will appear before a judge today. he's facing possible manslaughter charges and abandoneding ship. the owners of the cruise liner accuse him of going off course, veering too close to shore. new images show passengers escape and forming a human chain to reach lifeboats. concerns are growing about an environmental disaster if the oil begins leaking into a nearby marine sanctuary. it could take as much as four weeks to safely offload the 500,000 gallons of oil still onboard. pg&e says all power restored after a blown transformer caused police to issue a shelter in place order last night. the outage was reported after 10 p.m.. police issued the order over concerns of a gas leak. pg&e says the blown transformer affected 300

electricity customers near pacific avenue and lion street. there was no gas leak and everything is back to normal. mayor ed lee says there are no plans to suspend san francisco's sheriff ross mirkarimi while he deals with domestic violence charges. the former supervisor is scheduled to be arraigned thursday on three charges, including domestic violence, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. he's accused of bruising his wife's arm. he was backed friday and released on $30 -- $35,000 bail. he's under court order to stay away from his family. mirkarimi says he plans to go to work in morning. officials set to release details on the planned westbound closure of the span. next month's closure would last two to three days so crews can reconfigure the road. it would take traffic on to a new westbound edie detour.

allowing the -- eastern span to open ahead of schedule. the project will require dry weather. any rain would postpone or leten the president's day weekend closure >> -- today a menlo park man will receive an honor more than 60 years . a sailor -- 60 years late. a sail already never thought his country would recognize him. a lot to do with the color of his squint. >> reporter: just about everything. carl clark is black. -- when he enlisted black sailors were only allowed to serve as cooks and stewards, servants. may 3rd, 1945 clark and his men saved lives. he was onboard the ship when it was tacked the ship was mit by kamikaze planes and two bombs -- after the first plane hit his collarbone was broken. >> the explosion blew me into

the air over the super structure to the other side of the ship. by that time, the last plane had slammed into our ship. we had lost power and were dead in the water. i carried at least six wounded shipmates up to the first-aid station. my men removed their helmets and life jackets and were assisting the doctor with saving lives. >> reporter: clark is credited with single-handedly using a fire hose that would take four men to operate and putting out a fire near the ammunition locker. if the locker had caught fire the explosion would have cracked the ship in half. clark said after the battle his captain thanked him but there would be no acknowledgement from washington. now more than 60 years later the secretary of the navy is coming to move fit field to give hem -- moffett field to give him the medical.

that ceremony is -- 1:00 this afternoon. katie marzullo, abc7 news. wow. >> it has taken a long time for some people who did heroic things in the war to get their due recognition. >> it is important not just for him but all americans with >> indeed. 10 years ago they gave the medal of honor to the black soldiers who earned it during the war but never got it, 50 years too >> 4-38 now. >> this morning i have to say getting out of bed was extra tough. running into bath rope and slippers freezing in so many -- bathrobe and slippers freezing in so many places. >> when feet hit the floor. >> good morning temperatures from one degree cooler in fairfield to 11 in santa rosa all of us cooler than questioned. mainly calm, a little breeze concord and oakland five

miles per hour hayward and san jose seven miles per hour that to feel two to five degrees cooler than wait is. coldest 8:00 19 napa, -- 23 santa rosa, mid to upper 20s concord, livermore, palo alto, morgan hill everybody else below freezing until oakland, san francisco and half moon bay. noon everybody jumps up into the 45, 46 to 47° range with total sunshine. a few high clouds into the afternoon hours. we'll hang out in the upper 40s to near 50°. any rain light in the north bay wednesday then waves of rain heavy at time force thursday to a lesser extent friday another system will come in for saturday and sunday looks like dry monday time for traffic. still quiet. i want to show you a few live cameras.

of course with the coal temperatures look out for black ice. 101 san rafael headlights moving southbound still looks great no accidents north bay. 680 walnut creek flowing well, north main exit as you head southbound towards highway 24. also, checking out a live shot in san jose, no problems, very light for headlights moving northbound out of downtown area and towards kind coup. i want to take you -- towards cupertino. i want to take you to the waze traffic maps yesterday we had a problem north 101 through morgan hill. we were able to find drivers on monterey road they were moving along nicely. the drivers are those bubbles we have a traffic spotter member who just joined 10 days ago. south bay no problems. find out more about this application by going to

abc7news.com/waze. download the free traffic app to your iphone, android or blackberry. 4:40. >> the race is on to grab tickets for sunday's 49ers nfc championship playoff game. >> it is a definite go i'll take those tickets. >> what you need to know to get yours and how you may be able to get prime tickets that come with field passes, free. going dark on the internet, major website's plan to log-off to protest a controversial billcucucucu3q we believe keeping kids healthy can start with healthy hands. with the lysol no-touch hand soap system healthy hands can be automatic.

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the world's most popular online encyclopedia plans to shutdown tomorrow in protest. wikipedia is joining other tech companies to oppose an anti-piracy bill under consideration in congress. media companies and other supporters say the legislation is needed to to protect electric wall property and jobs. those in the tech industry say -- say it could give courts the power to take down a website that links pirated material hosted in a foreign country. >> this could interfire with the free speech rights of companies like google to link to sites that are accused of copyright violation. even though google may have not done anything wrong sink linking to it could be a violation of the law. >> i have a message to the users of wikipedia, 25 million a day in america. >> wikipedia is joining other sites like reddit in the planned shutdown which could last from 24 to 48 hours. some 49er fans are willing

to pay thousands for sunday's game. [ unintelligible ] ticket brokers are scrambling as fans fight for a chance to be there. season ticket holders can buy tickets tomorrow at 10 a.m.. any remaining seats will go on sale at 1 p.m.. ticketmaster is handling all sales. team president york is offering four free tickets to whomever gives the best reason why they deserve them. they come with feel passes. you have until 5:00 today, 5 p.m. to send your answer via twitter. be clever and they may be

used. >> which would use somebody else's name if i were you after that. >> i know. leader of the republican pack. any poll out this morning reveals what a big difference a few victories are making for mitt romney. skiers, snowboarders, can see the big change coming this week. proposed changes to the cal grant financial aid program that critics say will hurt low income students the most.

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those spots are actually leftover food and detergent residue that can redeposit on your dishware during the rinse cycle. gross. jet-dry rinse agent helps wash them away so the only thing left behind is the shine. jet-dry rinses away residues for a sparkling shine. temperatures across the country are getting colder fargo 3. seattle 33°. portland 38. some of the cool weather starting to make it into st. louis, chicago 34. new york 46. d.c. 55. 63 atlanta. one airport with flight arrival delays, o'hare. all other airports even the

regional ones here locally on time. when you travel today with all that rain on the way use our flight tracker at abc7news.com at the bottom. 4:48. republican presidential politicses, mitt romney gaining momentum primary voters in south carolina prepare to cast ballots saturday. new poll shows 35% of those surveyed support romney. up five points from last month. romney now has a 2-1 lead over newt gingrich who trails with 17%. ron paul 16%. rick santorum has 13%. the candidates squared off in the first of two debates in south carolina last night. the field got bitter with -- thin we are huntsman pulling out of the race. many say if mitt romney wins in south carolina, the race for the nomination is all but over. scott goldberg has more on the

debate in myrtle beach, sponsored by fox news. >> reporter: five shared the state. mitt romney and those still battling to be the anti-romney. are going to go out and have somebody criticize me for restoring voting rights to people who served their time and paid their debt, why didn't you try to change that when you were governor of massachusetts? >> first of all, >> i think is part of what a campaign is about to raise questions and see whether or not your competitor can answer them effectively, before you get to a general election. >> reporter: when huntsman bowed out he suggested the others should do the same. romney wind in the room when huntsman endorsed him. bad blood isn't the only reason. >> branded or embraced by the moderate candidate in this race is probably not something he was looking forward to >> reporter: the stakes in south carolina are high, since 1980, every winner of the republican primary there has gone on to win the nomination for president.

scott goldberg, abc news, new york. new hope for businesses at sierra ski resorts with pacific storm predicted this week. lack of snow has translated into a 50% drop in business for december. the ski resorts have managed to stay open by turning more than 36 million gallons of water into man laid snow that hasn't brought the business that natural -- manmade snow that hasn't brought the business that natural snow delivers. >> if we get snow now we hope all the skiers join us. we've already lost our christmas, a good six to eight weeks of the season. in snow country it is difficult to recover. >> it is the same story at a gas station on i-80 where snow brings a big surge in business. they are all looking forward to a big storm to bring in more customers and they lost out on mlk weekend too. >> indeed.

>> there's president's day that is later. we'll get mike in to talk about what we are facing. when it is cold like this, there is always the possibility of black ice on the roads. >> let's check in with frances. we are definitely keeping an eye on that so far drivers haven't reported any. we'll let you know as soon as we here. right -- as we hear. right now no delays at the bay bridge toll, we'll look across the span, looking good as you head into san francisco, no trouble in the eastbound direction either. i want to take you to the waze traffic maps this shows all the drivers starting to hit the roads. quite a few who joined the abc7 group here one in san francisco city boy 415. they are not reporting any problems. some folks on 580 dave who joined nine days ago.

with all the drivers on the road there isn't any slowing reported yet. you can have this application available to you while you drive. download it from abc7news.com/ waze. you can put it on your iphone, smartphone, what is great is when you run into a traffic jam, it gives you some city street information that other drive -- if other drivers are in that area. the more folks join the more detailed the information. if you sign up for don't forget to join the spotter group this is our second week since we've introduced this application we now have 1300 members. please join i can hopefully include new my reports. more weather with mike. live look from emeryville to san francisco it is rather calm and definitely cold. just as cold as we thought it

was going to be with clear conditions. freeze warning lasts until 8:00 for the north bay, east bay valleys, bay shoreline, santa clara, monterey salinas not included the coast in san francisco. temperatures are going to remain above freezing. you can see san francisco 40 half moon bay 37 same oakland everybody else close to freezing if not below exception fremont 34, antioch 36. 21 fairfield, napa downtown 24. at the airport it is 20°. as you get closer to american canyon it is getting colder. we are below freezing at or below, santa clara, monterey close 35°. highlights record cold morning a few threatened, sunny and cool this afternoon high clouds tonight almost as cold as this morning. probably won't have any freeze warnings temperatures up a little.

wet pattern starts for all of us thursday could last 10 days. 47 clear lake the rest of us in the low to mid 50s, emphasis on low 50s barely making it to 53, santa rosa, oakland and palo alto. monterey a low to mid 50s as you head inland you will probably be mostly sunny a few more high clouds farther north. around the state today you can see rain in eureka high elevation snow 49, 46 chico low 50s sacramento to fresno warmer today in tahoe 36, 58 big sur low 60s l.a. and in san diego. tonight you can see temperatures near freezing if not be flow most of our inland valleys, fremont, palo alto and san jose, 39 oakland, 44 san francisco, 38 san rafael. jet stream all the way up to the arctic circle bringing cold air through alaska across canada into our neighborhoods.

good news, this next system warm core. when it comes in everything will fall in the form of rain you can see it thursday morning heavier rain thursday afternoon. another bout of heavy rain friday. last push saturday into sunday. we could have a little minor flooding so get those gutters cleaned and some of your grates around the street. temperatures in the 50s. high school teacher from livermore will be back in court today to face 24 counts of sexual assault for a relationship with a boy under the age of 15. last week livermore police arrested 40-year-old marie johnson who teaches at granada high. she began exchanging techs with the 14-year-old it grew into a -- sexual relationship over six months beginning in december of 2010. police believe there was just

the one child involved. it is an honor long overdue. today a bay area world war ii veteran will be recognized for a heroic act he performed years ago. next, why it has taken so long. >> reporter: i'm amy hollyfield live in sunnyvale it is freezing armory is full of homeless people seeking shelter. the story coming up. surviving a disaster. hear from two northern california passengers who set sail on an ill-fated cruise what they have to say about the captain and crew. hey guys, breakfast!

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