tonight? >> reporter: absolutely, tom. it's an exciting day for same-sex marriage supporters which makes up for the lack of sleep that many of them told us they endured last night. but the truth is, it was a little bit anti-climactic. so many people seem to know while this is a big step, there's a long road ahead. it may take a while for people to figure out the nuances in the court ruling handed down today by federal court judge vaughn walker. but many in this same-sex marriage activists say all that matters is that they won. they say when walker declared proposition 8 which defines marriage as only between a man and woman, unconstitutional, it only cemented the argument that many of these people have been making for years. they say everyone regardless of sexual orientation has the right

to marry and today, the judge agreed with them. >> it was just -- it seemed obvious to me and obvious to most people that there wasn't much defense for taking our rights away with for treating our relationship differently. i mean, i think that's what the trial proved and obviously, that's what the judge found. now it's time to celebrate. >> reporter: immediately after the ruling was released, one same-sex couple decide to take their chances and attempt to get a marriage license at city hall but after being told to wait a few minutes they were told that a stay had been issued that would put a hold on allowing gay couples to start getting married once again. to say that this is confusing does not even accurately sum this up. it may take a while before legal representatives on both sides of the issue actually wade through this more than 1100-page documet that was issued by the court today.

but for now, a night of celebration is in the works. pro gay rights marchers are supposed to wind their way through the city and end up right here. >> well, we have lost tracy grant. but, again, prop 8, overturned today by judge von walker. those are disappointed in the judge's decision. a handful of prop 8 supporters were at the court. we were live in san francisco with their reaction to this decision. cheryl? >> reporter: lisa, it's tough to balance the story when the voices were in favor of same-sex marriage are so loud. and those who are in favor of traditional marriage seem so quiet. today we met a couple in front of the san francisco federal building. they just get engaged. they had a sign, marriage is between a man and a woman, and they talked to anyone who would listen. they say that the people of california voted in 2008 to

protect marriage in the traditional sense and they are disappointed that the judge reversed the will of the people. >> i'd be upset that we no longer live in a democracy. i would say is that as overturning a whole principal of the ballot box. and just having judges, one unelected judge decide everything, i think that's outrageous that that would happen in our country. >> i'm -- this doesn't feel like america really right now. >> reporter: the alliance defense fund released a statement saying, in part, in perk we should respect and up hold the right of a free people to make policy choices through the democratic process. those in favor of proposition 8 say that they will appeal, but that appeals process as tracy said, could take a very long time. reporting live in san francisco, i'm cheryl heard, nbc bay area news. february of 2004 when san francisco's new mayor, gavin newsom, paved the way for the

state's first same-sex marriages. okayed marriage licenses for gay couples and he's champions that cause ever since and today he praised the legal team who won today's decision. >> they did not just set out to win a lower-court decision. they set out to make a case that can withstand scrutiny. either at the appellate level but most importantly, at the supreme court level. >> newsom says he knows the issue has more hearings, motions and trials ahead of. it the governor issued a statement after that ruling which read, quote, there are strong feelings on both sides of this issue and i am glad that all of the points were respected tloit the proceedings. we should also recognize that there will continue to be different points of view in the wake of this decision. for the hundreds of thousands of californians and gay and lesbian household this is decision affirms the full legal protections and sanctions i believe everyone deserves. well, let's look at the timeline of the gay marriage issue here in san francisco. its been six years since the

mayor, gavin newsom, set the legal drama in motion. tissuing of marriage licenses that was until the state supreme court stepped in. the following year at san francisco superior court judge upheld same-sex marriage declaring california's ban unconstitutional. in 2006, the state court of appeals ruled the other way saying that excluding gays and lesbians was constitutional. then in may of 2008, the state supreme court okayed same-sex marriages which were briefly allowed to take place and that set the stage for prop 8, with 252% of california voters deciding -- 52% of california vote voters defined marriage as a man and a woman and that's the ruling. the federal judge determined that prop 8 violates the state's constitution. same-sex marriage certainly has become an epic legal battle in california. it's going to go on for some time, apparently. legal analysts, they join us

from our newsroom and steven, thanks for being with us. >> thank you, tom. >> there's an immediate objective for the anti-gay marriage side and that's to prevent any gay marriages from taking place immediately? >> that's right. the pro-prop 8 people have asked for a stay from judge walker not to implement his ruling until they have their day in court at the ninth circuit. if judge walker denies that i think you'll see them appeal to the ninth circuit and ask for an immediate stay so we don't have what happened before with some gay kboums alieued to get marry and then a change in the law and that stopping. >> is there a chance that judge walker would say "no." you can't have the stay? >> he's going to listen to both sides. they have to get briefs in by friday and then he'll make the decision. but his riemg said that this is a fundamental constitutional right to marry and it's unlikely he'll not allow them to get married pendsing this appellate court. when you give someone a constitutional right you can't with hold it for that amount of

time. i think ultimately his ruling will go through. >> and when that does, assuming that it does, what recourse do the anti-gay marriage people have? >> what will happen is they'll take their case to the ninth circuit and try to stoipt and have a new hearing before the ninth circuit and say judge walker was wrong but judge walker had a full evidentiary trial and all of these issues were litigated. expert witnesses were called. so he's got a very sound record and the problem with the defense is they did not put on a lot of evidence. they took the approach that this is the will of the people. the traditional way we've always done things but jaj walker said, that's not good must have. that's not a rational reason for denying people the right to marry. >> a lot of people thought that the anti-gay marriage side did not have a very good case in front of judge walker. are they likely to having change their strategy if they get to the ninth circuit court of appeals? >> that's an interesting question whether they're locked in by the record at the district

court or they can present new evidence. the ninth circuit will have to make the decision. that's with why i think judge walker was careful to give both sides the opportunity. tell me why this is either unconstitutional or constitutional. what's the rational basis for this rule and the defense didn't attack that other than to go after some more nebulous concepts like it deinstitutionalizes marriage. judge walker said you haven't given me any evidence of that. gay marriage is rel in some countries and states and the sky hadn't fallen since those things have happened and judge walker asked for evidence. what is wrong with this? that, i think, was his disappointment with the defense. >> in ten seconds, if this case gets to the supreme court, how long could it take to finally get a judgment? >> i think that will take years and the supreme court may not hear it right away because they may want to wait for a conflict in the law to see if some other district court in another part of the united states finds in a different way and that's when the supreme court will step in to say, this has to be decided.

this is the rule of the land. >> all right, steven clark, thank you. >> thank you, tom. we just got a statement from attorney general jerry brown and he said the judge's decision to overturn california's ban on gay marriage is great news. there's also reaction from the meg whitman camp. he says that meg supported proposition 8 and believes marriage is between a man and a woman. meg also strongly supports california's civil union laws and today's ruling is the first step in a process that will continue. once again, that's from darrell ing, the spokesperson for meg whitman. we'll continue to follow developments in the frop 8 decision on air and online at nbcbayarea.com. you can always sign up for breaking news alerts to get the news instant lir. ahead, a healthy start without the problems. next at 5:00, the new way bay area mothers are getting advice on taking the pain out of breastfeeding. and it's all in the details. the surprising findings of a new report from the gulf saying most of the oil is gone.

and seeing your friends on facebook is great. wouldn't you like to talk to them? now one company is making it possible to reach oud and touch them for free! >> you saved my life because i probably never would have went in. >> a dog bites man story with a twist. why the dog may have just saved his owner's life. and good evening. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. a strong marine layer already back in the coastline right now. it's 64 in san francisco. we'll fell you about the springtime temperatures holding on and let you know if this is the coolest summer so far on record.

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two days before the day to take out the election papers, the oakland mayor, ron december dellums, he won't seek re-election. in a meeting with about 50 city department heads he announced he's not running for personal reasons. dellums is not elaborating but in his statement he explained that, quote, it's time to pass the baton to the next generation of leadership. after many years as a bay area congressman, dellums was elected mayor in 2006 by a very narrow margin. crossing the 50% majority mark by a razor-thin 155 votes. help is just a click away for east bay mothers struggling with breastfeeding. three contra costa health clinics launched a first of its kind service to allow moms to get face-to-face breastfeeding advise by way of video conferencing. jodi shows us how it works. >> reporter: she wants desperately to breastfeed her

new borne baby. but it hadn't been easy the baby is not able to latch on, she says. now, help may be just a click away. >> hi, good morning. >> reporter: you're looking at a new service that uses teleconferencing technology to connect new mothers to breastfeeding counselors for face-to-face consultation at their primary doctor's office. >> these video units are on a secure t-1 line that's a direct video link so it's just as private as a doctor's visit. >> health care providers already have the equipment on hand but until now, had only used it to dial up language interpreters. >> the system is in place. it doesn't cost another -- it doesn't cost another penny to use the device at all. >> it can be challenges in the first weeks to few weeks of a

newborn's life to have breast feed. we hope to provide resources to moms so they can breastfeed because we know there's so many medical benefits. >> that's why this mom wants to breast-feed her 7 day old baby. she plans to dial up help at her next visit to the doctors. jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> the service being offered are in martinez, antioch and brentwood. if successful it could expand across the state. identity they'ves have a new target, kids! a loophole in the law that has prosecutor s stumped. on line thieves are taking advantage. kids social security numbers are usually desirable because their clean. the they've iend e find the numbers on line and sell them to people with bad credit who run up huge debt. parents say it's just not something on their radar. >> it's a very strange idea that live children's social security

number, wouldn't you need more than a social security number to establish a credit i.d.? >> reporter: spirits say parents would routinely check their child's credit record and be careful about giving out the number and keep a careful eye on what your kids do online. you may have noticed one or two of them. the large green highway signs covered with graffiti. this is what one of those signs looks like now. caltrans spent the last two days cleaning the signs that were unreadable. crews say summer months are always the busiest for the taggers because school is out. >> i know what exit i'm coming off of but people who are here from out of turn won't know what exit they're coming from. >> crews say the taggers usually strike back in a couple of days after the signs are cleaned. they spent tuesday cleaning signs in san jose and san francisco and this morning they moved to contra costa county. static success.

a new report indicates about a quarter of the spilled oil remains in the gulf and it's degrading quickly with the rest contained, cleaned up or disbursed. still, bp is continuing with the relief well to ensure the well responsible for leaking more than 152 million gallons of oil into the gulf is capped permanently. >> now we have equalized the hydrostatic pressure of the sea water with the pressure inside the capping stack and basically have reached a static condition in the well that allows us to have high confidence that there will be no oil leaking into the environment. >> some scientists criticize the federal report questioning the signs behind it. the head of noaa and the company launched a new application that

gives facebook users free calls around the world and they don't have to dial up using the app. the feature can be use order a wi-fi network or over data carriers, 3-g or 4-g networks. it does not united states minutes but it will use up data which could be a concern for subscribers with limited data plans. keeps evolving. as long as they don't close caption the conversation and put it on facebook. >> no physical contact. you know? >> come on! okay, jeff? some fog and cooler air aloft but temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees below average. it's amazing. let's look and we have some perspective on this summer cooling. we've been talking about mild weather for three weeks. what does that mean in the scope of the weather here in the bay area? so far we've had the coolest july in san jose on record and also, right now, when it comes to the numbers when you average

in the highs and lows, the santa rosa the top five coolest summer. at this point san jose at number nine with an average of 78.7. the next week looks like it will stabilize and we could continue to go down in the record books as we head throughout august. but not many complaints. it's still pretty sweet outside. 64 in oakland. chillier than it should be for this time of year with temperatures about 8 to 9 degrees off the mark. winds northwest at 15. even though we're seeing winds primarily out of the north and northwest which typically warms us up it is not enough to get these temperatures up higher because we still have cooler air aloft. we're only looking at 75 in santa rosa. 59 in san francisco. 66 in san mateo. only 74 in san jose and 81 in livermore. we'll continue the trend of downward numbers on thursday. plenty of 70s coming back as we

get more of a springtime pattern. and we're looking at that possible record-cool summer as we continue to the next couple of weeks. here's the fog offshore. we're used to that but the thing we're not used so is the high pressure so far out in the pacific, with it well out here. it's having little influence on us and in terms of heating us up. so we'll stay with this onshore cooling flow and that cooler air aloft keeps us with 70s for tomorrow. for many inland locations it should be in the 90s this time of year. for friday, summer continues to stay away. as for tomorrow morning, we'll start up at 6:00 a.m. with conditions in the mid 50s and for tomorrow, even the south bay, upper 70s to near 80 degrees. some of the biggest drops. only 75 in san jose. 73 in dublin. for the peninsula, 60 to near 70. these are the temperatures we usually see when we have a rain some moving in. no rain but just that summer cooling.

and here for the north baf we'll go anywhere from 70 in san rafael to 85. seven-day forecast looks great as far as i'm concerned. upper 70s to low 80s right through wednesday. there you have it. >> the coldest winter we ever spent was -- >> you got it. thanks, jeff. billionaires with a big heart? still to come at 5:00, see the bay area big shots giving their fortunes away at warren but h e buffett's request. >> did a etdiabndes ae takisthinsue e diabetes and take the isine to his own mouth? those people are happy 'cause they're gonna have a good time, and they've got extra money in their pocket. those are happy passengers. how much does it cost for those snacks again? nothing. at southwest airlines, when we have a sale, it's a sale.

[ male announcer ] southwest airlines has flights starting at $49 one-way. book now only at southwest.com. [ rand ] how can you not want to get on the plane? come on and get on the plane. we're saving you money. now that's a plane full of happy. [ employees ] grab your bag. it's on. [ ding ]

aapartmently, when bill gates and warren buffett ask you to sign a pledge you sign it, but don't expect him to ask you unless you're worth a few billion. they've gotten about 40 billionaires to promise they will leave half of their fortunes to charity when they go to that great hedge fund in the sky. bay area billionaires larry ellison and star wars creator george lucas have signed on.

buffett says so far those who have said no are billionaires that inherited most of their wealth. a western michigan man is praising his dog for eating his big toe saying it saved his life. he stubbornly refused to see a doctor for his infected toe and he was hiding it from his wife who is a nurse. two weeks ago when his wife, rosy, got her citizenship they celebrated a little too much which left jerry pseasd out. he woke up with a bloody foot, nine toes and a guilty dog. >> he's a hero. he just ate tin fedex. so he saved my life because i probably never would have went in. >> he chued off t-- he chewed of the infected part. he knew where to stop. >> just to the first knuckle, where the toenail bed is, gone, bone and everything. >> okay, we know it's dinnertime.

because of his dog, jerry now knows he's diabetic and he's given up drinking. >> and our top stories, prop 8, overturned. what this droid does will change how you do movies. with blockbuster on demand, this does hit films on a 4.3-inch screen so big,

the way you see them will never be the same. introducing the new droid x. pre-loaded with blockbuster. the next generatoen dofs.

recapping, the landmark legal ruling as a federal judge overturned california's prop 8, the ban on same-sex marriage. there's some celebrating under way across the state tonight, it is not clear if same-sex marriages will be be performed any time soon. the federal judge put a stay on his own order while he examines whether today's decision should be suspended while the prop 8 backers pursue their appeals in a higher court. the judge ordered both sides to submit written arguments by friday. stay with us. we have a lot more on this

ruling and its political ramifications on the news at 6:00. >> nbc nightly news is next. 6:re local news coming up at