>> complete bay area news coverage starts right now. this is bay area news at 7:00. good evening. it is monday, december 6. i am gasia mikaelian, and this is bay area news at 7:00. the legal fight over same- sex marriage entered a new chapter today as the case came before a panel of three federal judges. during the hearing, the judges

heard arguments on two key issues. the first is, who has legal standing to defend the gay marriage ban since the governor and attorney general refused to do so? the second was to review a lower court ruling that found the state gay marriage ban was unconstitutional. >> discrimination against gays and lesbians hurts everyone in this country. >> the question is not weather people are harmed by whether people made a rational decision. >> proponent of the panel to issue a broad ruling declaring the ban unconstitutional in the nine western states. the court observers as the judges hinted at making a narrow ruling that would allow same-sex marriages here in california. regardless, the case is expected to be appealed to the u.s. supreme court. outside the courthouse, opponents and proponents held

rallies. some shouted and referenced god's law while supporters call for equality. >> this is the most important issue in my life be making sure that i have the right to marry. >> marriage has always come between a man and woman and i do not want to cheapen that in any way. >> there was a large police presence to make sure the debate did not get out of hand. you can view extended clips of the court hearing at our website, ktvu.com. the u.s. justice department is warning the city of oakland. as we report, the federal government has sent a letter to city leaders saying that the plan to tax marijuana farms is illegal. >> reporter: those in the business of medicinal marijuana say they are not surprised that federal officials appear to be

honing in on oakland's plan to allow large-scale marijuana farms. oakland city attorney john russo has confirmed that officials from the justice department have objections against the city's new ordinance. he released a statement saying they had expressed their concerns that it is in violation of the law. >> i think it is politics. i think the fact that republicans had a big sweep in the election. maybe obama is trying to appease them will work with them. >> reporter: he is founder of oaksterdam university and they planned on applying for a permit to run a large-scale farm. >> they can slow it down and maybe cause people to be less well regulated and not be able to pay taxes. but they are not going to stop it. >> reporter: recipients of the farms would be taxed and regulated in they would be

required to pay $211,000 in permit fees and pay a 5% business tax. federal officials think oakland's plan violates state law. some oakland residents think the city should fight back against the federal government. >> i think it is the city governments responsibility to do what their constituents want, regardless of what our federal government decides. >> reporter: a spokesperson would not say how they will respond to the obama administration because it is a legal matter. city officials are still trying to determine what their next course of action will be. police in richmond are not sure if a marijuana growing

operation that caught fire was legal or illegal. the pot plants growing in the garage caught fire. the fire department is yet to determine the cause of the fire and said it did appear to start in the garage a. the fbi is warning about a new scam called "smishing" and jana katsuyama is live in oakland tonight. >> it goes beyond your computer and e-mail by going directly to your mobile phone by installing malicious software that contact into your personal data, credit cards, and thinking. >> reporter: among mobile phone users, is a new word that still

is unfamiliar to many. >> reporter: i want to know what you think about smishing. >> i have no idea what that is. >> reporter: they say smishing is the cyber crime where criminals fish for information by sending text messages to your mobile phone. >> there are more ways to get data off your phone as they become more sophisticated because essentially you are carrying a small computer in your pocket. >> reporter: he works with a mobile company and says that consumers should never reply to a message even if it looks legitimate. it could be from a premium member that charges a fee or could provide a web link asks for personal credit card or banking information. >> you do not know if that is a hacked website work which an accompanying. >> reporter: they say that there are also messages that ask to download games or

applications. >> no one would know any difference. they have a premium rate number and it costs you $7 for every text. >> when my sons has a cell phone and he signed up for something and suddenly we were being charged. >> they are like weird numbers. >> i do not want my phone to get corrupted or anything like that. >> reporter: experts say you should delete any suspected smishing messages and by the way he smishing comes from a combination of phishing and sms. in oakland man could face murder charges following the death of his son. the child was brought into the children's hospital and died early sunday morning. police are awaiting the results of an autopsy but have arrested the father. investigators say they believe

the child may have been suffocated. three people were handing out sentences today. they were between 30 and 34 years. they pleaded guilty to 12 felonies. the boy escaped and got help as seen here. a man accused of assaulting a 2-year-old girl will have to wait until wednesday to enter a plea. eugene lemos is being held without bail. he appeared in court where the judge delayed a plea hearing. police say that he sexually assaulted the girl at a dollar tree store. a teenager accused of the troubleshooting that killed three people and wounded one is

to be charged tomorrow. he also faces one count of attempted murder. the november 16 shooting took the lives of richard perez and cameron silva. a 21-year-old woman was wounded and is expected to recover. investigators say he knew the victims. new accusations have surfaced accusing the san francisco crime lab of a cover- up in handling drug evidence. >> reporter: is recently released anonymous letter was written in july and claims that a rookie criminalist two years ago switched samples needy in a case and that her supervisor raced evidence of the switch. >> there was no misconduct in this case. there was no evidence compromised either. >> reporter: they see that the

criminalist identified and documented an accidental mixup but the lab director denied knowing about the problems and investigators said lab workers improperly disposed of there notes. >> the original documentation was discarded. that was a concern because discarding original documentation is not acceptable. >> the policy, which is supported by the fbi was that you did not have to keep your handwritten notes. at that time we did not. >> reporter: the public defender is calling for a criminal investigation into the incident. >> this is a situation that was brought to light by an informant who apparently worked in the lab or had access. otherwise we would not have found out about it. >> reporter: the society of crime lab directors did certify them for another five years.

the police chief presented lab workers with that certificate. david stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. the u.s. supreme court today announced it will hear an appeal of the wal-mart job discrimination case. it is the largest employment lawsuit in u.s. history and involves claims that wal-mart discriminated against women employees in pay and promotion opportunities. the issue to decide that the claim of gender bias but if more than 1 million people can join the 6 million plaintiffs. trading was mixed on wall street today. the dow jones finished down 19 points and the nasdaq was up three. to the university of california system the they are looking at ways to maintain revenue and released a list of 20

recommendations. those recommendations include increasing the percentage of out-of-state students from six to 10% of the student body. they also suggested creating degrees that can be earned in three years and offering online courses. out-of-state students pay three times more than california residents. a new legislator was sworn in today and lawmakers went right to work. a report from sacramento on what governor schwarzenegger calls the state's dire financial troubles. >> still a few scattered, high clouds across the bay area tonight. we have two more rain clouds in the five day forecast. i will have the timing of our next-door and, coming up. lightning fast. lightning strong.

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>> california still facing severe budget problems the legislature met today. the governor is proposing another round of budget cuts as jim vargas reports. >> reporter: the governor is proposing another $3 billion in cuts. on the chopping block is food stamps, child care, and welfare programs. and eliminating the majority of money for county mental health services. >> the longer we wait, the harder it will get. >> reporter: on this first day of the new legislature there were pledges to work together. >> the time has picked us members to help, california by one of the most daunting chapters in its history. >> you cannot sustain the type of benefits and programs and help that we would like to get all californians if we cannot get the private sector back into good shape. >> reporter: behind the scenes,

the feeling among democrats is to wait for jerry brown to take office next month. >> i voted against the initial budget because of those cuts to children and education and poor people. it's just more of the same. >> reporter: every day lawmakers says it puts the state deeper into whole. >> it is important to start right now. >> reporter: the governor cannot call the lawmakers back into session but with jerry brown spending more time in sacramento he was there this morning and arnold schwarzenegger is looking a lot like a lame duck no one is paying attention to. a counselor faces multiple child molestation charges. thomas perez jewell was arrested on november 18th.

he appeared in court this morning to hear the new charges against him and did not enter a plea. investigators say they believe that jewell molested one of the boys in the picture and bail has been set by $.6 million. a woman was stabbed to death at the delta fair shopping center. they arrested roy price of antioch at the scene. there's a new after a legislation to make it illegal for state prison inmates to have cell phones. the bill introduced today comes in the wake of reports in the los angeles times that notorious killer charles manson was caught with a cell phone last year. they said he used a backbone to make calls. they say that the smuggling of cell phones is a pervasive problem. >> we know they are being used to orchestrate hits and intimidate witnesses and those

sorts of things. i want to bring about consequences. >> the use of cell phones by inmates violates prison rules but is not a crime. this is the third time the senator has attempted to get his bill passed and signed into law. facebook escaping profile pages a makeover. they began rolling out a new designed with greater emphasis on photos. they are also adding new ways to group of friends by work, school, family and other possibilities. all of its users can test the new design now and the rollout will be completed in time. budget cuts may call two and a san jose holiday parade. the parade was a huge success yesterday dying more than 100,000 spectators but officials say they could be forced to cancel it next year.

>> i think it is a big risk. i do not think we will have enough money to pay for it. definitely we cannot do it again like we did this year. >> the parade costs the city about $200,000 only receive $150,000 from sponsors. still ahead, some sad news about a sea lion found a long way from home. is more rain on the way? mark tamayo will have there forecast, coming up. if there's no tv nearby, you can watch bay area news at 7:00 on your computer. we are streaming live on the web at ktvu.com.

>> a sea lion that wandered along the streets in contra costa county will have to be euthanized. caretakers tell us that the california sea lion has brain damage likely from eating toxic algae. they have had to rescue the sea lion twice this year. on saturday she was found an elementary school. a big chill has settled in. in chicago the windchill was 13

below zero. freezing temperatures are being felt from england all the way to florida. the city of buffalo has reportedly cleared 9000 truckloads from its roads. we cannot complain about a 40-degree temperatures across the region. as far as rain chances, we do have a few rain clouds in the five day forecast. right now i'm live stormtracker 2, there's not a lot to show you but a few light showers moving into mendocino county. the first thing tomorrow morning you can see temperatures across the region. most areas will be in the 40s. the coolest spot will be in napa at 39 degrees.

here's the satellite and radar. we have a few leftover showers this morning. showers up to our north and quite a few clouds in the pacific. we have the possibility of some clouds in the forecast for your tuesday. but still starting up again concord at 44 degrees. our afternoon high around 60 degrees. high pressure returns on tuesday and with that age i pattern and partly cloudy skies. readings in the lower 60s. you can see what happens out of wednesday into thursdays. showers are a good batch wednesday into thursday. here's our forecast model. a nice job showing the rainfall up to the north. not a whole lot to show tomorrow afternoon. then we take this into wednesday and we could have a bite commute wednesday morning from 8:00 until 1 0:00.

-- a wet commute wednesday morning from 8:00 until 10:00. antioch is right around 60. san francisco, 59. partly cloudy. clouds could be on the increase mid-to late afternoon. san jose is 63. wind speeds from around 15 to 20 miles per hour. here's a look ahead at your five-day forecast. wednesday there is that raincloud. still a fairly good chance thursday as well. there's a chance for a few leftover sprinkles by friday. mostly for the morning hours. right now the weekend is shaping up to be a nice one. no rain clouds for the upcoming

weekend. until now and then we are talking about storms wednesday into thursday. >> thank you, mark. a bay area high school students scored big at a science competition in washington dc today. he won a $20,000 scholarship in the math and science technology competition could he used computer data to analyze organ transplant rejection. he was also the winner of excellence in computer science award. some happy students got an early holiday gift today. business executives took some time to build bicycles for children who do not have one. that is our report for tonight. i am gasia mikaelian. our coverage continues online at ktvu.com and with our 10:00 news. tmz is up next right here on tv

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