robbing them. >> can't say that a lot about many 90-year-olds. >> a bay area man remembered for his service to our country, his connection to general patton during world war ii. good morning, it's tuesday, december 28. i'm grace lee. sydnie and juliette have the morning off. we know the rain is coming, tracy, when can we expect it? how much can we expect? should we take cover? >> oh, my gosh, you're throwing it at me this morning. we could expect up to 2.5" especially in the north bay. when will it hit? best chance later on this afternoon through early tonight. could see about a few hours maybe four to five hours of some significant and heavy rainfall coupled with winds. wind advisories in effect, as well. storm on the way. we'll take a closer look at the details in just a few moments. for your traffic, here's liz. >> in the meantime it's not on the way yet. right now it is dry and everything looks good in the south bay. nice and quiet on 280 heading out of downtown san jose. same thing on the nimitz

freeway. this 880 through oakland. coliseum off in the distance. these headlights are moving southbound towards oakland airport. we do have a pothole though causing problems in the east bay completely shutting down an on-ramp. more about that coming up. back to you. >> thank you. car buyers beware. you could get robbed if you answer the wrong ad. sharon chin is in oakland, that's where police have tips on keeping your cash and what should we watch out for, sharon? >> reporter: well, oakland police say that what happens is that the victims are lured into a neighborhood thinking they are going to be buying a car and instead they end up being robbed at gunpoint. in at least one or two cases even beaten. oakland police say the victims answer ads on craigslist for deals on expensive cars that have exchanged e-mails and agreed to meet in on oakland neighborhood but they end up as armed robbery victims. in two cases, one on sunday, the victim was beaten. officers say criminals have

lured half dozen victims from all over northern california and robbed them of thousands. police say the robberies started in, seemed to take a break and picked up again here in december. the crime isn't new to oakland police. they arrested a man in 2009 for similar crimes related to craigslist ads and last spring oakland police made two arrests after a sting separation. police have tips. if you are buying from craigslist or any other website, don't agree to meet in secluded or residential areas. don't take a lot of cash with you. and if the person appears suspicious leave, especially if you don't see the vehicle you are wanting toby . police and crimestoppers say they are going to offer as much as a $10,000 reward for information lead together arrest of the suspects. >> thank you. police have run into a roadblock trying to solve a deathly shooting in south san francisco. they say no one is talking

after a triple murder last week. police say it's a lack of cooperation. investigators haven't given a motive for the shooting but they are looking into gang conflicts. anyone with information is asked to call the police. police are also looking into a shooting outside a san francisco nightclub. a fight near lot 46 on geary turned into a gun battle on sunday morning. two men were wounded but they will be okay. so far, no arrests have been made. this morning an 85-year-old man killed in a house fire is being remembered as a proud world war ii veteran and beloved neighbor. joe vazquez spoke with the veteran's son in walnut creek. >> there was this long line. >> reporter: keith brooks, jr., takes a look at the devastation that used to be his father's home. >> i remember fixing a short in that wall years ago. >> reporter: fire officials said his father, 85-year-old

keith brooks, sr., was upstairs when the fire started. neighbors reported flames just before 2:30. within the half hour the fire was how the but his father was dead. as was one of his beloved cats. they are still not sure why the fire started. >> general patton's hard driving turret crashes into it from two sides. >> reporter: his father fought under patton in world war ii as a member of the 86th infantry known as blackhawks. >> where patton was directing the tanks in that movie, he remembers seeing patton off from a distance. he was in that mud nest there, too. >> reporter: they won in germany so like many young americans he was sent off to japan to finish the war but never made it there. >> that's when they let off the atom bombs and so that turned around a lot of troops like his. >> reporter: mr. brooks married, had two children and eventually two grandchildren. he lived in walnut creek and was an accountant until he

retired. >> well loved, respected person here by the entire neighborhood. didn't have a grouchy bone in his body. you can't say that a lot about many 90-year-olds let alone some 56-year-olds such as me. [ laughter ] >> reporter: he was passionate about his old unit the blackhawks. he was the webmaster for the website that chronicled the lives and deaths of many of his colleagues from the greatest generation. even though he never was one for sharing war stories with his family. his generation was him them. saved the world. >> yeah. were quiet about it, too. just their job. >> reporter: joe vazquez, cbs 5. 6:05. let's check traffic and weather. tracy, so far conditions not bad, right? >> so far, so good. forecast here we go, pinpoint doppler, got some light rainfall out there currently. mostly north of the golden gate. here's a look at what we're expecting as we move into the

afternoon. pinpoint forecast, this is all based on model data. love it. it does a good job of showing us when we are expecting the heaviest rainfall. through this morning, just some light showers but boy take a look at what happens once you move into the afternoon around 3:00. potential for heavy rainfall moving to the north bay and eventually sinking down to the south and east bay. could see up to 2.5" of rainfall in the north bay when it's all said and done so we do have a flash flood watch in effect for marin, napa and sonoma counties for late this evening through tonight, wind advisory in effect for the entire bay area. winds gusting as high as 55 miles per hour. and a winter storm warning in effect for the sierra. snowfall up to 30 inches. that's a look at your weather. for your traffic, here's liz. >> thanks, tracy. we are just hearing about new roadwork in fremont. sounds like they are shutting down all westbound lanes of stevenson boulevard around civic center drive because of bart's warm springs extension

project. westbound lanes shut down from 9 a.m. until 3:00 this afternoon. dumbarton bridge, highway 84 quiet to menlo park. san mateo bridge fine in the commute direction. this is lighter than typical at this time of the morning. it is only a 13 minute or less drive time between hayward and 101 toward foster city. eastbound 92 good towards the east bay. they picked up construction near the 880/92 interchange that closed the connector ramp overnight. and the on-ramp is still shut down at cummings skyway because of a pothole until about 7:30 this morning. back to you >> thank you. we have some good news for commuters. the major freeway about to get a face-lift. >> plus, a birthday gone wild. the crime spree a bay area man

went on before he turned 19. >> the gift that keeps on giving. the mistake people are making with those gift cards. ,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

birthday wish two-week crime we have just a few showers out there this morning. but we are really looking at a

system that's going to bring some heavy rainfall to the bay area this afternoon as well as this evening. we'll take a look at the big forecast in just a few moments. police say a man turned 19 on december 6. between the 6th and 19th he is accused of impersonating a cop, trying to pull over cars on the peninsula, courting an underaged girl, texting death threats to a friend and finally trying to sell marijuana on a train platform. so far police have offered no motive for the alleged birthday crime spree. but they did say the man has no criminal past. >> it's an interesting way to "celebrate" one's 19th birthday in the weeks after that by engaging in multiple felony counts that can expose him to many years in state prison. >> the crimes happened at hillsdale mall, the train

platform and local freeways. he pled not guilty to the charges last week. he remains in custody on $110,000 in bail. the court hearing is set for monday. a 50-year-old woman accused of attacking air travelers is in custody. witnesses at sfo say the woman grabbed a dustpan and started swinging at a customer at a food court in terminal 3. when police confronted the woman she grabbed a bottle and threatened to throw it at the officers. she was arrested and taken to the mental health facility. it will soon be smooth sailing on the freeway between walnut creek and danville next year. caltrans plans to replace nearly 13 miles of interstate 680. it will also extend the carpool lane for southbound 680 by a mile into walnut creek. the work was supposed to begin last summer. but the "contra costa times" reports that it was delayed because of the state budget

stalemate. time now 6:12. they are some of the best films of all time. the movies that are being preserved in the library of congress. plus, a major deal for julian assange. what the founder of wikileaks has agreed to do and how much money he is getting for it. and light volume this morning at the bay bridge toll plaza. we'll have a full check of your morning commute coming up right after the break. ,,,,,,,,,,,,

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stories: oakland police are warning forecast for this morning, rain from healdsburg, calistoga and rainfall into vallejo and fairfield. forecast for the morning, here's what you can expect. cloudy start with a chance of rainfall. temperatures in the lower 50s to the lower 50s. for this afternoon, cloudy with rainfall, more widespread rainfall could be heavy at times, and winds picking up. winds up to about 50 miles an hour later on today. as a major storm system moves towards the bay area. flash flood watch in effect for north bay counties for tonight. wind advisory for the entire bay area. winds gusting as high as 55 miles an hour. and a winter storm warning for

the sierra. up to 30 inches of more snowfall. so here's a look at what's going to be happening. our model timing it all out for us. light showers through early this afternoon and then heavy rainfall illustrated by the red, the green, the magenta, the purple. you name it. it's all coming in through the bay area. best chance for heavy rainfall from 4:00 this afternoon to the overnight hours. it will all add up through tonight 2.5" of rainfall in the north bay. up to an inch in the east bay. 1.5" in the peninsula. 2" in the santa cruz mountains and .5" in the south bay. looks like later on today could be a washout. a few leftover showers in the forecast wednesday. sunshine thursday and friday, and then after that. the first weekend of 2011, more showers expected. that's a look at your weather. for your traffic, here's elizabeth. >> thanks. when you see that magenta, you know it's going to be a doozy as we like to say.

>> yes. >> all right. westbound highway 4, no doozies in the traffic department. everything is nice and light. unusually light in fact. westbound 4, we always see at least yellow on our sensors by this time of the morning. typically we see red meaning speeds according to our little color bar here under 25 miles per hour. so these the good news. not as many cars on the road. same thing on westbound 580 out of the altamont pass. should be a quick trip all the way out towards pleasanton. we'll take outside. so it's dry, not much fog this morning. enjoy it while it lasts. the weather is great. and the commute is doing well up and down the nimitz. traffic picking up. no metering lights on at the bay bridge. they usually turn them on around 6:20 but yesterday they turned them on just before 7:00 and then they turned them off a half hour, 40 minutes later

because traffic never really backed up. so we'll see what they do today. so far there is no sign of the metering lights being turned on. typically it starts to slow a bit up the incline and we are not seeing any sign of that at all. so nice ride into san francisco and in the south bay we have not seen any big incidents, no hot spots so far this morning. these headlights are traffic coming northbound 280 approaching the 880 interchange as as you can see from the green easy ride towards cupertino and same thing for the silicon valley commute westbound 237 not seeing any signs of slowing there. just quickly westbound stevenson boulevard will be closed in those westbound lanes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. as part of the bart warm springs extension project so be prepared for delays through there. back to you. >> thank you. let's take a look at the morning's top stories. oakland police are warning craigslist car buyers to beware. they say a number of people have been robbed recently when they went to remote areas in north and east oakland in

response to car ads. sunday one victim was badly beaten. criticism about a retired fire chief who was still working in the south bay. kenneth waldvogel continues to lead firefighters as a search for the permanent chief continues. there are complaints that he is collecting a healthy pension plus hourly pay based on his former salary. east coast airports are open again after the big blizzard but a lot of travelers are still stuck in the terminals. around 7,000 flights were cancelled during the snowstorm. airport officials warn passengers that rescheduling is going to take some time. a big decision for president obama when he returns from vacation from hawaii. he is expected to announce his choice for top economic advisor. the person will take part in nearly every economic decision

the administration makes. the national unemployment rate 9.6%. the founder of wikileaks says he has to write a autobiography to keep his website afloat. a publishing house struck a deal with him. it will bring in a million dollars. he only agreed to write it because he is under financial pressure. this morning the library of congress has added 25 new movies to its registry. among them, "saturday night fever" and the empire strikes back. each year the library selects movies with historical significance. there are 550 films in the national film registry. 6:21. he is in office only for a few more days. the last-minute defeat governor schwarzenegger could suffer before he leaves sacramento. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

businesses could be hit with new fees if they don't pay their back traffic better than usual across the bay area. here's a live look at the golden gate. we are watching mass transit. it might be a wet commute home. a full look at the morning drive coming up in a few minutes. more than 90, 000 california businesses could be hit with some new fees if they don't pay their back taxes to the state. a law passed this year allows the new fees. they could be up to $925 a year

for a business that is more than $50,000 behind in paying its taxes. the new fee taxes and surcharges could boost state revenues up to 22.$5 million. a propose sale of state buildings is on hold for the time being. yesterday a state appeals court says a stay will remain in effect at least until a hearing in late january. so unless the california supreme court steps in this week, the sale will no longer be in the hands of outgoing governor schwarzenegger. he wants to sell 11 buildings and then rent them back but plaintiffs say that's a waste of money. mike singletary is looking for a new job this morning. the former 49ers head coach was let go sunday hours after the team's loss to st. louis. it took them out of the play- off race. a lot of fans we talked to say they respect what singletary tried to build for the team. it was a valiant attempt. >> he is a victim.

he is a defensive coordinator. he is not an xo man. who is on the team? it starts at the top. >> they had a win/loss of 18- 22. the 49ers now plan to high a new general manager who will then find a permanent replacement for mike singletary. 6:26. coming up, did you get a gift card for christmas? well, how they might cost you more in the long run. police warn about a car buying scam that use a popular website to lure victims. that story coming up. and we have some showers out there this morning from healdsburg, petaluma, napa, vallejo, fairfield, showers for the morning with heavy rainfall expected later on this evening. we'll take a look at the forecast coming up. ,,,,,,,,,,,, it's really delicious, mom.

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your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado, l.l.c. good morning. 6:29. it's tuesday, december 28. i'm grace lee, sydnie and juliette have the morning off. if you looking to buy a car online, oakland police say watch out. sharon chin is in oakland, where some would-be buyers have become crime victims. sharon. >> reporter: police say that the victims think they are getting a great deal on an expensive car but in the end, they end up being robbed at gunpoint. oakland police say that the victims are answering ads on craigslist. they agreed to meet in

oakland's diamond or rockridge neighborhoods and they are robbed by armed suspects instead. in two cases, one on sunday, the victim was beaten. officers say criminals have robbed half dozen victims several thousand dollars and police and crimestoppers are offering up to a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects who apparently began the robberies in april and picked up the pace again this month. now, oakland police have seen the crime before. they arrested a man in 2009 for a similar robbery using craigslist ads and last may officers made a pair of arrests after a sting operation. some safety tips from the officers now. they say that if you buy from websites like craigslist, don't agree to meet in a secluded or residential area, meet someplace in public, visible. don't carry large amounts of catch. if person appears suspicious, leave, especially if you don't see the vehicle that you're supposed to be buying.

and police say that these robbers have been lured from all over northern california from sacramento, stockton, lodi and san jose. >> is there anything on the ad itself that we should watch out for that could tip a consumer? >> reporter: i think perhaps one of the best tips if it's such a great deal that it seems very incredible, then be suspicious about that. and if you also take the tips that the police are giving, the fact that if you are going to meet someplace have it very, very public. maybe have somebody go with you. just be sure to be safe. use the police tips and use a bit of common sense. >> all right. some good advice from sharon chin in oakland. thank you. 6:31. a santa clara officer spent a christmas week end in jail. 36-year-old clay rojas is under federal indictment accused of passing confidential information to a member of the

hells angels. rojas is accused of giving dmv information to william bettencourt because he allegedly owed him monday. they are both under arrest. a retiring south bay fire chief is criticized because of his compensation. the "mercury news" reports that the outgoing chief in santa clara county is drawing both his pension and a salary. kcbs radio's matt bigler joneses now with more on what is going on and what's the latest over this fight. >> reporter: well, the fire chief for santa clara county is scheduled to retire in just a few days at the beginning of the new year. and at that point, he will start taking his pension, which is about $212,000 a year. we are talking about fire chief kenneth waldvogel. he will be making his old salary of $236,000 annually. now, as you can imagine, this is sparking a lot of outrage in santa clara county. some taxpayers are accusing the

chief of double dipping. >> he doesn't sound right. uhm....... double dipping is a specialty of wall street. >> and i really don't think that we need to spend the money like that when we're laying off other firefighters that we need or policemen that we need. i think there should be another way around that. >> reporter: county executive jeff smith is defending this arrangement with the chief. he tells the "mercury news" the chief is actually saving the county money by sticking around while they search for his replacement. and he will only be staying through june. now, there is a bill in the state senate right now that would require that retirees who are taking a pension, public retirees have to wait six months before they can be rehired by the same organization, ending double dipping. but, of course, that has to pass through sacramento. reporting live in san jose, i'm matt bigler for cbs 5. >> thank you, matt.

san francisco police have arrested a man who they say robbed one electronics store while saying he had an explosive device. on friday a man entered a radioshack in the marina district. he demanded money saying he had c4 explosives. police arrested a 19-year-old suspect who may have been involved in a similar crime in another electronics store on thursday. a san francisco lawmaker is backing away from a ban on raves in california. assemblywoman fiona ma says she wants to speak with various groups before moving forward with her bill to ban raves at public venues. the "chronicle" reports ma plans to meet with people from the entertainment street, local government official, law enforcement as well as young people about this issue. 6:34. there is a storm coming. tracy is tracking the very latest. got to watch out for that magenta, right, trace is? >> the magenta, fuscia. the brighter the color, the

more trouble we are in. the colors so far are just light green showing light rainfall in the north bay but here's what we are concerned about. we do have a huge storm that's on the way. it is going to dump some heavy rainfall across the bay area as well as windy conditions. it's going to be moving in. heaviest rainfall is expected from 4:00 in the afternoon until midnight. that's a very wide range of times to see heavy rainfall. that's what we're expecting up to 2.5" in the north bay, up to 1" in the east bay, .5" in the south bay, 1.5" in the peninsula and 2" in the santa cruz mountains. in addition, we have a flash flood watch in effect for north bay counties because of heavy runoff. winds gusting as high a 55 miles per hour and a wind storm warning in effect for the sierra today and tomorrow.

snowfall up to 30" possible. that's a look at your weather. for your traffic, here's liz. >> thanks, tracy. all right. we got a new accident now in los gatos. it's on lark avenue as you approach northbound 17. so we know that chp is on scene. it sounds like a minivan went into the guardrail there. i don't have a lot more details than that but yeah, expect some delays lark avenue highway 17. bay bridge toll plaza no metering lights again at 6:36. i need glasses. 6:36. right now, traffic very light heading into san francisco. looks good from the incline towards the "s" curve. i had mentioned earlier that they turned the metering lights on for a short bit of time during the morning commute yesterday but they quickly turned them off because traffic didn't stack up. we have yet to determine what's going to happen later on. no delay heading into san francisco from the east bay. nimitz freeway, 880 through oakland, taillights northbound through high street. so far, so good passing the coliseum into downtown oakland.

back to you. >> thank you. snow not falling in the northeast anymore but the headaches are far from over especially from you traveling by air. thousands of flights were cancelled during the storm. whit johnson tells us that airports are now scrambling to rebook all those passengers. >> reporter: northeast airports are back open but that doesn't mean passengers are going anywhere anytime soon. >> trying to get to new orleans. unfortunately, i don't think it's going to happen today. they say they can book me on a thursday flight. i'm supposed to come back on thursday. >> reporter: thousands of travelers may be stranded for days art massive blizzard dump two feet of snow in some areas. >> we're in limbo. i'm aggravated. really aggravated. >> reporter: it's not just the weather. many airlines moved their planes and crews ahead of the storm and still have to get them back in place. on top of that, nearly 7,000 flights were cancelled during an already busy travel season. >> every flight is overbooked by like eight people plus there's over 50 on standby for every flight until saturday. >> reporter: and train service

isn't much better. amtrak expects only limited trips today between boston and new york and is warning customers to expect more delays and cancellations. a massive clean-up operation is also under way here in times square where the city is gearing up for the biggest party of the year. monday night, snow plows made room for the nearly one million people expected on new year's eve. >> we'll get it ready. we always do every year. >> reporter: and there's plenty of work to do. the monster storm hit new york city especially hard. in less than 24 hours, the region got nearly four times the amount of snow it usually sees in the entire month of december. whit johnson, cbs news, new york. 6:38 now. a fire overnight in an abandoned warehouse in new orleans has left eight homeless people dead. the building was fully ablaze when fire trucks got there this morning. two survivors told firefighters that the victims had been burning wood in a barrel. they were trying to stay warm

during a freezing night. some had fallen unconscious possibly due to a build-up of carbon monoxide. this morning, people in walnut creek are remembering a proud world war ii veteran who died in a fire. neighbors reported flames yesterday afternoon at a house on drayton court. the body of keith brooks senior was found upstairs. he had fought under general patton in the 86th infantry. >> where patton was directing the tanks in that movie, he remembers seeing patton off from a distance. he was in there, too. >> after the war in ironedded, brooks eventually came home, got married and started a family after the war in europe ended. the cause of the fire is unknown. violent crime in richmond is down this year. for the first 11 months of 2010, homicide was down from 44

to 21 compared to last year. firearms assaults fell 27%. city leaders credit increased civic participation, smarter public policy as well as the city's police department. it reached full staffing for the first time in nearly 10 years. the stores are celebrating one of their biggest shopping years ever. jason brooks breaks down the numbers in our moneywatch report. plus, got a gift card in your stocking this christmas? the smart way to use them without overspending. ,,,,

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good morning. it's the calm before the storm. it is calm compared to what we're expecting later on today. light showers moving in through healdsburg, petaluma, sonoma, napa, vallejo and fairfield. but heavier rainfall also in the forecast, that's going to be later on today. here's a look at what we are expecting as you head out the door this morning. a cloudy start with a chance of showers. temperatures ranging from the lower 40s to the lower 50s. this afternoon, the showers moving into rainfall. widespread rainfall heavy at times, winds also expected to pick up temperatures in the 50s. we'll take a look. flash flood watch in effect for

north bay counties for this evening through tonight. wind advisory in effect for the entire bay area. winds gusting as high as 55 miles an hour. winter storm warning in effect that will be for today and tomorrow up to 30" of snowfall. so what's bringing all this rainfall? well, it is a pretty significant storm system. so we are going to take a look at it. it is all based on model data and we're using the colors to tell story. light green showing light rainfall from 2 to 3:00 in the afternoon then the yellow orange and red, the purple the magenta, this is where you're more likely to see heavy rainfall moving in from 4:00 in the afternoon to midnight. that's a very long time frame to be seeing heavy rainfall. that's why we have significant rainfall amounts. up to 2.5" of rainfall for the north bay tonight, one inch in the east bay, inch and a half in the peninsula, 2" in the santa cruz mountains, a half inch in the south bay and

again, it will be windy. so here's a look at what you can expect after today. today into tomorrow, leftover showers. thursday and friday, sunshine just in time for new year's eve. saturday and sunday, more showers to greet you for the beginning of 2011. that's a look at your weather this morning. for your traffic, here's liz. >> i think the storm is making you a little giddy. you seem excited about it. [ laughter ] >> all right. let's go back out to los gatos. lark avenue before northbound 17 we have an accident minivan into the guardrail. we don't know about lanes blocked. chp is on scene. the rest of the south bay no problems. here's traffic out of downtown san jose. in the northbound lanes of two two the headlights are approaching the 880 interchange. quick trip along the peninsula 101 and 280 moving fine. got a flight towards sfo you're

delay-free right now on 101. east bay, a pothole developed overnight and they closed the on-ramp. the cummings skyway on-ramp to eastbound 80 caltrans crews are out there. they are telling us they won't be able to re-open the on-ramp until 7:30 a.m. but traffic overall is light across the bay area. westbound 80 no delay at all through hercules down into pinole or berkeley. as you can see, our drive time is updating. never mind. it should be 18 or 19 minutes for that stretch of westbound 80 from the carquinez bridge to the maze but as you approach bay bridge toll plaza, there are still no metering lights and it's an easy ride from the incline towards the "s" curve so no problems commuting into san francisco this morning. but as tracy told us, it may be a wet commute home. so you may want to consider mass transit including bart which is running on time. back to you. >> thank you. we want to go to the housing market now. home prices are dropping in the nation's largest cities and they are expected to fall

through next year. here now is jason brooks with kcbs and cbsmoneywatch.com. jason what can we expect here? >> grace, the one factor in the economy that has shown very little improvement at all even with jobs coming back a bit is the housing market. the kay schiller report backs that up. looking at a 1.3% decline in the top 20 market in october from september, the bay area actually had a worse decline dropping 1.9%. that was also worse than the month before. although the bay area still has one of the better year-over- year numbers up 2.2%, while the top 20 markets were down .8%. fall happened to be when we saw a large moratorium on foreclosures. that hurt sales in the housing market. and simply with unemployment remaining very high, there just isn't a lot of demand for the housing market and we saw a lot of that demand stripped down earlier this year where those federal tax credits. not expected to see a rebound in the housing market anytime

soon. better numbers when it comes to retail sales. some reports say it looks like it was the best holiday shopping season since 2006. red book and icsc, both came out and said we saw sales gains last week of around 4.6 to 4.8% over the year before. we'll see if retailers see much more of that in the coming month when people bring back stuff and start buying on all those discounts out there. stock market was very quiet yesterday. it will be the same today. it's always that way between christmas and new year's and with that snowstorm back east it has kept a lot of traders away from work. the dow is lower by about 1 point, nasdaq down by 2 and grace, the s&p is up by about 1. >> some good news and bad news from jason brooks with kcbs and cbsmoneywatch.com. thank you. 6:48. time now for a look at what's coming up later this morning on "the early show." russ mitchell is joining us now from new york city. good morning to you, russ. >> reporter: hey, grace, good

morning to you. guess what, the blizzard of 2010 is over but cities are still feeling it, stranding thousands of holiday travelers and airport. we have team coverage just ahead. plus, retailers are looking optimistically to the new year as total holiday sales are expected to approach 2007 records. we'll have expert analysis and an interview with sir paul mccartney receiving the kennedy center honors that. and more coming up this morning on the tuesday edition of "the early show." grace, it's much better in new york today. i'm sure it's fantastic in san francisco. >> it is. there is a storm coming but russian, you stay warm out there. >> thank you. see ya. >> thank you very much. if you have a gift card this holiday season, you might want to set a budget. julie watts is on the consumerwatch and she explains more. >> reporter: many stockings were stuffed with gift cards

this year. but as it turns out, they are the gift that keeps on taking. >> usually $50 isn't enough. >> it's usually cash out of your pocket so it's easier to spend. >> reporter: a study from the journal of experimental psychology found shoppers who paid with a $50 gift card spent 13 to 26% more than those given $50 in cash and a consumer psychologist says that's no surprise. >> people spend a little more frivolously with a gift card than cash. >> reporter: she says concerns over wasting money actually lead to spending more. >> turns out consumers doesn't like to have small balance on gift cards. they will buy something additional rather than to walk around with a gift card with $3 or $4 left on it. >> reporter: as long as you live in california, that's not a problem. consumer law dictates the stores have to give you cash for any balance under $10. >> california has been the pioneer in the area. >> reporter: the consumer federation of california says our state law is good to give

cardholders. stores have to wait two years before they charge you a fee for not using your card. and even then, the fees restricted are-to-a dollar a month but he says it's still a good idea to use it right away astors make millions off folks who stash them and forget about them. >> home depot declared a $44 million profit. that's the amount of old gift cards that were sitting in people's drawers unredeemed that they then could declare a profits. >> i like getting presents rather than gift cards. >> reporter: but the national retail federation says 77% of shoppers were planning on buying at least one gift card this year. so if you are the recipient, keep in mind to think of them as cash. register your card so you can track your balance and you don't have to worry about losing it. those features are usually offered online. julie watts, cbs 5. time now 6:51.

we have a warning for you bargain hunters in the bay area. how robbers are using craigslist to take advantage of car buyers. if you have a comment or story idea to share with us, email brian@cbs5.com.

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welcome back. car buyers beware. you could get robbed if you answer the wrong ad. sharon chin is in oakland where police have tips for you on keeping your cash. >> reporter: the victims think they are getting a great deal but are robbed at gunpoint. police say the victims agree to meet in oakland's diamond or rockridge neighborhoods after answering an ad on craigslist they get robbed. on sunday a victim was beaten. officers say half a dozen victims have been robbed of thousands since april. police say if buy from websiting like craigslist don't agree to meet in secluded or

residential areas. don't carry large amounts of of cash with you. and if the person appears suspicious, just leave. especially if you don't see the vehicle that you're supposed to be buying. police say the robbers have lured victims from all over northern california from sacramento and san jose, stockton and lodi. so be careful. >> sharon chin live in oakland, thank you. commuters can expect a smoother ride on the freeway between walnut creek and danville. that could come next year. caltrans plans to replace nearly 13 miles of interstate 680. it will also extend the carpool lane for a mile around walnut creek. the work was supposed to begin last night but it was delayed because of that state budget stalemate. back in business. the major airports on the east coast are open again this morning. but it could still be days

before some travelers get home. the northeast blizzard forced airlines to cancel nearly 7,000 flights across the country. many airlines move their planes and crews before the storm and they still need to get them back in place. 6:57. the storm may be calmer on the east coast but here, there is one coming. tracy has the latest in our forecast. >> hey, thanks, grace. that's right. we are seeing some light scattered showers right now. mostly in the north bay impacting napa and sonoma. petaluma to novato and fairfield. but that's not what we're concerned about. another storm -- i guess you could say the center of this storm is going to be moving in and that's going to be later on today. here's a look at how much rainfall we're expecting. could get heavy at times. 2.5" in the north bay, 2" in the santa cruz mountains, half inch in the south bay, one inch in the east bay quite a bit of rainfall in addition to that we have a wind advisory for the bay area tonight. winds gusting as high as 55

miles an hour. a few leftover showers webs, wednesday, sunshine thursday and friday, showers in the bay area for the weekend. that's a look at your weather. for your traffic, here's liz. >> thanks, tracy. still having a sinkhole in the east bay and it has the on-ramp closed. the cummings skyway on-ramp to eastbound 80 crews are trying to fix button it. the ramp is closed. here's a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. no metering lights, no delay yet heading into san francisco. drive time was showing 21 minutes. about 21 minutes from the carquinez bridge to the maze. a little sluggish through hercules. no accidents reported though just seeing our usual congestion through that stretch. not the case though for your silicon valley ride. westbound 237 still looks great

as you head out of milpitas towards san jose. and mass transit we have been talking a lot about this because you may want to avoid a wet commute home. hop on bart instead. bart, ace, muni, caltrain everything is on schedules remember our radio partners when you hit the roads, kcbs 740-am and 106.9-fm. back to you. >> thank you. a remind their cbs 5 is teaming up with whole foods to feed hungry families this holiday season. we have kicked off our "food for bay area families" fundraiser. you can help by dropping non- perishable food item to whole foods and make a cash donation as you check out. if you want more information, very easy to do, all you have to do is check it out on cbs5.com. that's also where we'll have updates for news, weather and traffic. thank you for watching cbs "early edition." we are going to have more news