not determining fault. what the contractors were doing is they were working on a rural -- like a jeep trail. it really isn't even a road for all intents and purposes. and during the process of them dragging on this road the vehicle lost control and rolled and tumbled down approximately 250 feet of hill. >> scott, we believe the contractors here were hired by a county agency. will there be some changes now in how they review their policies and in terms of where they send their contractors? >> as far as where the contractors are sent, they are contracted through the mid-peninsula open space, and that's up to them at this point to determine how they continue to run their contractors. chp's investigating the incident in cooperation with the sheriff's office. and cal fire. and we're working to ascertain exactly what happened at the time of the collision. >> okay. very good.

scott nemeth with the chp. an accident in rural san mateo county. we're learning more tonight about that teenager who was gunned down right after school yesterday. near a recreation center in east oakland. we're told 17-year-old ditiyan franklin jr. was set to graduate from castlemont leadership prep school in just two weeks. right now police say they have not made any arrests. franklin is one of four people, by the way, who has been shot dead in oakland in just the past five days. nbc bay area's elyse kirschner joins us from oakland police headquarters with more. >> reporter: authorities here at oakland pd don't know what's causing this spike. some speculate it may be the poor economy. whatever the reason they admit they have a serious problem, especially because it's so hard to get witnesses of violent crimes to come forward. >> so that's -- like you know, just going. it's like really, really, really like hard for us. >> reporter: three of monique

lawrence's classmates equalitymont castlemont leadership high school have been shot in the last year. >> i know it's real hard for his mom to know that in three weeks from now your son was going to be crossing the stage getting his high school diploma and all that was just going at the drop of a dime. >> reporter: the latest victim, 17-year-old dichlt tiyan franklin, was killed in broad daylight while riding his bike at 80th and bancroft avenues. >> and he was a kid regarded as unusually responsible and dedicated. he was an assistant, an aide in the principal's office. he was sort of a model of the character we'd like to see in our students. and so this is all inexplicable. this is just all really troubling and disheartening for the school community. >> reporter: police say there were at least 50 witnesses to the shooting. no one has come forward. >> we do not believe at this time that this kid was armed. we do not believe he was involved in any back and forth gunfire. unfortunately, it looks like he was the intended target. >> it was sad today. in a lot of classes we was offering therapy in all the

classes. >> reporter: with graduation just weeks ago florence says the killings have been especially hard. still, she believes fear will stop witnesses from contacting authorities. >> people just don't want to be seen because if somebody see you like oh, this person so and so said this and sew and so said that and it can be like a retaliation thing. >> we need people to be brave. we need people to do the right thing. this is a 17-year-old boy. this is, you know, the city of oakland issue and we need to band together as the city of oakland in solving this crime. >> reporter: school officials tell me there will be a small tribute for franklin during graduation in a few weeks. meanwhile, authorities are trying to figure out why he was an tended target. they say they don't believe he a.inngga if y have any information, you're asked to conttlaifak ondk police. liba i arean ki ncoinunnto's ldfoththn ollna.es tireboen gheiooerdsghitly dwi ce re andbefter satellite

esriagheaptung t destruction re. eth lowfuer tornado in missouri killed at least 125 people. today new estimates are giving crews a better indication of just how many people are still unaccounted for. we bring in nbc's jay gray, who leads our coverage of this tragic story in joplin, missouri. he joins us now with the very latest. and jay, one thing i'm hearing, the images on tv look bad, but in person it's far worse. what do you have tonight? >> reporter: yeah, i would agree with that wholeheartedly, raj. good to talk to you. they are overwhelming. the cleanup is really intensifying here. crews working through debris like this. as we step out, though, and look across the horizon here, you get a better sense of just how daunting, just how difficult their work is going to be. the overwhelming task of dealing with six miles of debris has started in joplin. >> doing everything we can for the community. >> reporter: there is so much twisted metal, splintered wood, and shattered glass that teams

work in waves with everything from frontloaders and backhoes to survivors pulling out what they can by hand. >> i guess this is the first ever i hear of getting these cars out, take it day by day. >> reporter: on this day as the cleanup effort intensifies city leaders stress they have not abandoned the search for survivors. >> we will not stop looking for people as the bulldozers come in and begin to clean up. >> reporter: we now know search and rescue teams are looking for at least 231 people still missing. officials released that number today for the first time since the storm. >> we will dedicate as much state resources as needed around the clock to make sure that all of those family members that have loved ones that they cannot find are connected. >> reporter: it's a dedication that many cling to as they struggle to push through the shattered remnants of what was their lives before the storm. >> this is forever.

>> reporter: their american dream battered, but their spirit unbroken. >> we will survive. we're americans, after all. we're missourians. we're joplinites. we'll survive. >> reporter: survivors working through debris like this and still fighting, though, many will tell you they feel like they've already been pushed past their limits here. live in joplin, missouri, i'm jay gray. diane, now back to you. >> all right. thanks a lot, jay. there were tornadoes here in northern california as well that caused some damage, although not nearly as severe, of course, as the midwest. the tornadoes hit near chico, paradise, and durham in butte county. that's about 100 miles north of sacramento. most of the damage was to the almond crop in that area, which could severely impact the economy there and the supply of almonds nationwide. almond trees take four to five years to turn profitable, apparently. the tornadoes also hit, as you saw there, some homes and garages. one almond grower said he lost 25,000 trees. others say the storm took them completely by surprise. >> tornado in california.

i mean, i saw it when i was on down the road, and i just stopped and was amazed. i'd never seen anything like that. >> reporter: farmers say the damage to the crops could reach into the tens of millions of dollars. the los angeles police department is pursuing cautiously in the bryan stow beating case. the police chief saying today lapd will present its case soon. the case against 31-year-old giovanni ramirez, who they detained last weekend. lapd also remained tight-lipped about the results of last night's line-up, where witnesses were asked if they recognized stow's attacker. police chief charlie beck went on to say that the department won't move ahead until it has an abundance of evidence. now, when asked whether he was still confident he had the right man in custody, beck said, and we quote, "absolutely." >> absolutely. you know, there are standards for arrest in this states. we have met that standard. we have exceeded that standard. we have met the standard for obtaining search warrants based on -- based on information that we have that has not been made

public. you know, i am as sure as you need to be to make an arrest and pursue a prosecution. >> beck added that there's still a $250,000 reward for information leading to another arrest. they are saying, and they are still sifting through more than 700 clues in this ongoing case. this is the water cooler topic around the bay area for many people today. and it goes from bad to worse. devastating news for the giants. their young star, buster posey, likely out for the season. the team revealing today that posey has a broken bone in his lower left leg and severely strained ligaments in his left ankle. it all happened last night. you probably saw it. the gruesome collision at home plate. a game that was televised right here on nbc bay area. let's bring in nbc's monte francis, who joins us now from at&t park. this is one of the most shocking storylines we've seen in giants history. buster posey really the bedrock of this franchise. what's the latest?

>> reporter: that's right, raj. and giants fans are taking this pretty hard. many of them told us that they are in shock. now, the team has not officially said that posey's out for the rest of the season, but we talked to a doctor today who said considering his own injuries that that is the most likely scenario. it was a moment to make giants fans cringe. their star player, catcher buster posey, in a painful collision with florida's scott cousins. the collision left the national league's rookie of the year with a broken bone in his lower left leg and likely some torn ligaments. >> there's one angle that they show that clearly let us know that this was not just a simple injury. >> reporter: dr. keith dinato is an orthopedic surgeon at pacific medical center. he says posey's injuries will likely require surgery. >> it's going to be a season-ending injury, unfortunately. the recovery time is usually long. just to get bones to heal in a healthy adult is about eight

weeks. and if you're talking about ligamen ligaments, especially in the knee, those may take as long if not longer. >> reporter: 245 wthat was not welcome news to the thousands of giants fans attending today's game against the marlins at at&t park. >> after seeing that last night it's kind of hard. i didn't even know if i wanted to come today. >> it was a huge shock, you know. i really don't know what they're going to do coming up. some of us are thinking trade. some of us are thinking other things. i would love to see him come back. obviously, that's probably not an option. >> reporter: wendy bryant and her two friends came to the game offering prayers for posey. >> i'm sure that he's pretty devastated today and frustrated, and we hope that there's a speedy recovery and this isn't something that's going to cause him too much pain. >> reporter: and the real question is can the team bounce back from this setback? today's game did not provide any hope of that. the marlins completed a sweep against the giants. the score was 1-0. live in san francisco, monte francis, nbc bay area news. >> okay. i see you watching like this,

like many people watching those highlights. >> it's so hard to watch. >> tim lincecum, brian wilson, they get a lot of the headlines because they're colorful personalities, but buster posey really the bedrock and the mainstay of this franchise. >> it's difficult. but he'll be back. >> he's young enough. >> yeah, he's a kid. >> his career will be fine. but it looks likely that this season he won't be back. a huge blow for the giants. >> thanks, raj. will your car stand the test? the reviews are in. and we'll see which small cars made the top of the safety rhys list. a potential health risk for women. it's all about drinking another cup of coffee every day. we're back in a moment. from searching to news, google has revolutionized the way we live, right? so up next it wants to change the way you shop. details on how it works coming up next. and good afternoon. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. well, it was sunny out there and comfortable. still well below average. we're calling it cool here right now with 67 in concord. 65 in fairfield. 62 in san mateo. 58 in san francisco.

there we go. all right. let's take a look at tonight, gt teeeratures dropping down into the low 50s. and we're tracking some showers to the north, let you know what that means for your weekend, coming up.

size apparently does matter, at least when it comes to trying to save on money and cast gas. but a lot of us fear driving a small car could cut down on the pain at the pump but leave us in pain if we're in an accident perhaps. tonight a new study shows small cars are safer than ever before. nbc bay area's laura garcia cannon explains. >> reporter: 13 of the smallest and most fuel-efficient cars in the country were put through the rigors of every type crash test. the insurance institute for highway safety could throw at them. and all passed. a far cry from the results of just a few years ago, when

safety standards were actually lower. >> and the criteria in 2006 were not as strong as they are today. we've add things because vehicle safety has improved. and there were only three small cars on the top safety pick list in 2006. >> reporter: nearly half the field earned the institute's top safety pick designation, including ford's focus, honda civic, hyundai's elantra, the lexus ct hybrid, the nissan juke, and toyota's hybrid, the prius. safety features like side airbags and electronic stability control are now standard equipment. but they're still small cars. >> you can't engineer away the laws of physics. so if you're concerned about crash-worthiness, a larger, bigger car, a larger, heavier car is a better choice. >> reporter: the test results are obviously comforting to manufacturers who say it's always their intent to build cars with both technology and safety in mind. laura garcia-cannon, nbc bay area news. >> and just in time for the long memorial day weekend, gas prices

seem to have taken a bit of a dip in the bay area, but it's certainly not cheap. we wouldn't go that far. in fact, average prices are still about a dollar more than they were a year ago. in san francisco the most expensive gas around at $4.18 a gallon for regular unleaded. that's an average. and in san jose and oakland the average for a gallon of regular unleaded is at $4.06. an arizona law penalizing businesses which hire undocumented workers was upheld by the u.s. supreme court today. that gives hope to some arizona activists that the court will favor arizona's broader and highly controversial immigration crackdown, known as sb1070. today's ruling upholds a 2007 law giving the state authority to impose sanctions on employers who hire illegal workers. three democrats dissented, saying the law could discriminate against anyone who speaks with an accent. well, the g-8, the union of world economic powers-s meeting this week in france, and they've invited some silicon valley heavy hitters to discuss

internet economy. facebook's mark zuckerberg traded in his hoodie for a suit and tie. looking sharp. google's eric schmidt also attended. before the doors closed on the private meeting, german chancellor angela merkel asked zuckerberg if he'd seen the movie "the social network." he replied he didn't like it, prompting a round of laughter. president barack obama also met privately today with russia's president and the prime minister of japan. topping our health watch tonight, caffeine and fertility. researchers today are reporting that too much coffee or caffeinated soda might impair fertility. it does apparently in mice. researchers found caffeine reduced the activity of the muss lds in the fallopian tubes which of course carry the igz from the ovaries to the womb. experts say the amount of caffeine given to the mice, by the way, was the human equivalent of just about two cups of coffee a today. let's bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. yesterday we had tornadoes. anything as crazy as what we saw yesterday? >> no, not at all.

the radar scans around, it is dry here in this over 300-mile radius right now, but it was some wild weather. just in case you missed our coverage last night of this event, i did want to take you all in and just show you the locations of where these tornadoes did touch down. reported tornadoes, we haven't seen any confirmed reports coming back yet from the national weather service in terms of size and strength. but likely all of these tornadoes either an ef-0 or ef1. we had one reported in willows near the interstate 5 corner, one in oroville. in oroville we had some power damage, and also some power lines down. a wild, wild evening for us yesterday. right now it's cool for us we should be in the 80s for this time of year for our inland spots, but currently only the 60s. 67 livermore, san jose. 69 in sunnyvale, and right now 58 in san francisco. throughout tonight we'll see some clouds and also some breezy conditions. and for friday here's the thing. the storm track is going to be just to the north. so we will see some showers here.

to the north of the north bay at this point. so that will mean some grang'll sun as we head throughout friday. and ahead we're still looking at this cloudy and cool pattern staying with us. you can see the cloud pattern pushing just over washington and oregon. and that's where that cloud line's going to stay as we head right into the weekend. it's going to be kind of dicey here. we're going to be dodging some potential shower activity. but really at this point it looks like as this frontal system moves to the north of us we'll stay mainly on the cloudy side here the next 48 hours way few 70s inland for friday. so it's definitely not going to be warm to hot for this weekend at all. and for friday looks like the clouds are going to linger. so we could be a lot worse, but it shab lot better this time of the year. throughout tonight we'll see the cloud cover starting to build here near the north bay, and by 6:00 a.m. tomorrow the clouds really start into crease with only a very, very slight chance of a shower near santa rosa. in the afternoon and evening hours on friday we'll start to see those clear skies rebound and a very nice finish to our friday with a lot of sunshine. and you can see for the eastern

seaboard we're still following severe weather with even tornado watch boxes for central pa and also for central new york. if you're headed that way, doing any traveling, you'll want to watch out for potential delays. tonight in the east bay we're looking at conditions in the low 50s and also plenty of 40s here from los gatos right into the north bay. as far as tomorrow goes, we're going to be close to some 70s here in the south bay, 72 in san jose, 69 in redwood city, 69 in moraga, 69 in benicia, 67 in richmond. sometimes when you walk a different way it just kind of makes it all feel fresh. >> you usually go the other way. >> yes. you guys can't see that. but i had to pick something up on the way. feels like a different studio now. >> very smooth. >> yes. thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> 57 up there into bodega bay. for your seven-day we have temperatures in the low 70s with some dry weather this weekend. he with just have to watch out for those clouds there for friday and for saturday. and you know what i was picking up? my script. >> let's go. >> yes. i have a little bit of reading

to do here. ceo, all this week artists from around the country have set up shop in sonoma. this week the sonoma plain air artist keith wicks has painted an original oil pangting of the sebastianti theater. you can enter to win by going to nbc bay area.com and you click the offers tab and you could actually win this painting. now, all of the art that is for sale this weekend, all these proceeds will go toward benefiting area schools and programs. it's called sonoma plain air. artists out there doing renditions of different things. and you can buy it and support charity. >> and hang out in sonoma which is always nice, right? >> and next time you forget your script it's right there on the teleprompter. >> i had to make some changes. anyway. making it those those mile lettingou ch in on your rlines frequent flyer miles. ai

most people here in the bay

area are familiar with google map, google earth, and even google doodle. but get ready for google wallet. the tech giant is working with mastercard and citibank to turn the smartphone into a virtual purse. it would contain your coupons, your receipts, loyalty cards, and even your credit card. it launches apparently this summer if all goes well but only in san francisco and in new york. expansion will be slow because at first the google wallet will work on only one kind of phone. and you can take a guess. the google nexus. >> of course. well, this stoirks it gets frustrating. if you ever want to cash in on your frequent flyer miles only to be denied, try southwest airlines. a new study shows that southwest leads the way for frequent flyers who successfully redeem their miles. the study, done by consulting firm ideaworks, shows southwest had frequent flyer available seats 99% of the time. jetblue is second with seats available to frequent flyers 79% of the time. the worst on the list, well,

united comes in at 11thith wit 71%. but they're not the worst. availability is the worst for us airways and delta which didn't have seats available for 3 out of 4 times for their flyers. we'll be back in a moment.

as we head into graduation season, some of the country's most notable people go back to college. not to take class but to talk to one. that's why comedian amy poehler was at harvard this week. >> in many ways i learn from you. i don't have many answers, just questions. specifically, when i use face time on my ipad and i'm talking to someone and i take a picture, sometimes the screen freezes. how do i fix that? >> you're at the wrong campus. you should be at stanford to ask

those questions. the "saturday night live" star kept her speech lighthearted. but seriously encouraged the students to find a group of people they like and find inspiring and work with that group of people throughout their career. >> very nice. >> we've worked together for ten years now? >> yeah. i like you. >> there we go. >> good night.