a lot of the roadways early on a little drizzle out there as we have fog and low clouds that have spread well on shore. the temperatures rather mild into the 60s. we'll have more on your weather coming up. >> the golden gate bridge camera was a little slick this morning. also we'll talk about some overnight roadwork. it's still out there causing some brake lights on northbound 880 as you approach high street. so we'll give you your latest travel times coming up. >> you had a lot more on your notes. >> that was from my producer claudia. she gives me a list in the morning. the city of richmond has decided it will fight the big banks foreclosing on people's homes. kpix 5 reporter christin ayers tells us the ambitious plan faces its first big test today. >> we should stand up against wall street and for our community. if not us, then who will? [ applause ] reporter: richmond's mayor thundered those words to raucous applause and in a meeting that lasted until after 2 a.m. won a victory, approval of a bold measure that would pit this working class refinery

town directly against the banking industry. >> yes, it's a bold move that's needed. >> reporter: richmond is a city where roughly half of homes are under water. >> i am under water. and i have been twice denied modification by my lender at a time when i sorely need it. >> reporter: mayor mclaughlin's measure is unlike any other in the nation. it clears richmond to buy underwater mortgages from the banks at fair market value. the goal? to refinance the mortgages so that homeowners can afford their payments. if the banks don't agree, richmond has threatened to seize the mortgages anyway using eminent domain. >> is it risky? to me, it's risky to not do anything. >> reporter: but opponents including a few city council members say the biggest risk is bankrupting richmond. >> we are prepared to fight the banking industry with millions and millions of dollars? not me. >> reporter: already, the banks are fighting the measure. wells fargo and deutsche bank are suing to stop richmond from

using eminent domain but mclaughlin insists the law is on her side. >> we think we're going to win. >> reporter: that will be up to a judge. a hearing will determine whether the banks have a case or whether their lawsuit is premature and should be thrown out. in richmond, christin ayers, kpix 5. >> the mayor says richmond will be prejudiced from bankruptcy through something called joint powers authority and that means richmond will form alliances with other cities interested in similar programs. happening today u.s. secretary of state john kerry arriving in geneva, switzerland a short time ago. kerry will speak with russian officials about syria. the united states is looking into russia's proposal to have international inspectors seize and destroy the syrian government's chemical weapons. the meetings are scheduled today and tomorrow. so while kerry is in switzerland, "new york times" readers are waking up this morning to find an op. ed. peace on the syrian crisis written by vladimir putin.

kpix 5 reporter joe vazquez reports, the russian president made his case against the use of military force on the syrian government. reporter: president putin wrote we must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement. and he honda in on the argument -- honed in on the arguments that the americans are using against getting involved in another conflict. afghanistan is reeling, he wrote. libya is divided into tribes and clans. and in iraq the civil war continues. >> my fellow americans -- >> reporter: president obama said america had to act after innocent people, many of them children, were gassed. >> i believe we should act. that's what makes american different. that's what makes us exceptional . >> reporter: president putin takes exception to american exceptionalism. international is the law. we have to follow it whether we like it or not. we are all different.

we must not forget that god created us different. joe vazquez, kpix 5. >> putin says he wrote the column because there is "insufficient communication between our two societies." a body was discovered in a motorhome destroyed by the clover fire near redding. deputies found the remains of a 56-year-old man yesterday nearly 8,000 acres have burned. 80 buildings were destroyed. and 30 others are damaged. about 300 homes are still threatened and right now that fire is 50% contained. full containment is expected by sunday. and firefighters hope to have the morgan fire completely under control by tomorrow. that fire burning on mount diablo is now 80% contained. 75 families were allowed to go back home. more than 3100 acres have burned since the fire started on sunday. and some say the fire on mount diablo is being used to send a political message. kpix 5's ryan takeo shows us it's popping up around contra costa county.

reporter: maybe this warning is a sign of the economic times. as budgets tighten, contra costa county firefighters wanted to send a strong message. >> our goal was to get the public informed. >> reporter: the union president says the signs let voters know another firehouse is expected to close in january. it comes after voters rejected measure q last year, the 75 parcel tax that failed leading to five stations closing. the voters' decision closed station 11 located 4.5 minutes from the fire. no one knows what different station 11 would have made in fighting the morgan fire. wells said he has been warning local leaders that stations closing would hurt response times. >> we have known that we have been at -- that this -- something i like to was inevitable. >> reporter: what's curious about all this is the timing. a couple of days after the morgan fire started, union leaders raised questions about fire response near mount diablo. then this sign went up overnight in front of station 5 in pleasant hill. >> this was prior to the fire. >> reporter: wells says it's

one of several across the county. he told us they started days before the morgan fire sparked. >> both signs went up prior to that i put out a press release explaining why the signs were put up. >> reporter: a county supervisor said a new firefighter tax won't be on the next ballot but could come down the road because large fires remind us of what it takes to fight them, then we'll see if the strongly worded messages hold any extra value. in contra costa county, ryan takeo, kpix 5. >> the contra costa county taxpayers association which opposed the parcel tax tells us it was voted down because of concerns over spiraling pension costs. oakland police say it is their biggest break so far in the search for the killer of 8- year-old alaysha carradine. this sketch released yesterday is of the man who police say killed the little girl while she was at a sleepover at her best friend's home in the diamond district back in july. investigators say the gunman rang the doorbell then just started shooting.

alaysha was killed, two other children and grandmother were injured. $35,000 reward is now offered for tips leading to the arrest and the conviction of that suspect. months after an oakland toddler disappeared there's still no sign of daphne webb. kpix 5's brian webb talked to a family member who is keeping hope alive as daphne's second birthday approaches. >> my niece is still missing. >> you think she's alive? >> i pray that she's alive. >> reporter: daphne webb's great aunt is keeping the faith the little girl is still alive but feeling frustrated with the police force out of touch for over two weeks. >> i haven't had any contact with the police recently. >> reporter: is that frustrating to you? >> very frustrating, yes. >> reporter: what do you want from them at this point, at least just contact? >> just an update. where are we at with finding her? >> reporter: this is where the story starts, the last place daphne was seen. her father says he parked around the corner then went in to buy some items and by the

time he got out, daphne was gone. we went to daphne's dad's home john webb still called a person of interest. nobody answered the door. >> why would you leave your kid in a car on a busy street like this? >> reporter: oakland pd tells me up to a dozen detectives are working active leads on a daily basis and say they still have one more site to search but won't say when or where it will be. >> i find that hard to believe in a metropolis city like oakland for a baby to come up missing and nobody knows anything. >> reporter: in one month, daphne turns 2. brian webb, kpix 5. >> there is a $20,000 reward for any information about daphne webb's disappearance. 4:38 now. let's get a check on the weather. i had the windshield wipers going this morning. >> pretty damp out there on some of the roads approaching the coastline. we have a lot of drizzle this morning. i think as we head toward the afternoon a lot of sunshine temperatures maybe a few degrees warmer outside. all right, out there right now we have a lot of numbers into

the 60s at this time. we have society 50s toward the coastline. but cloudy skies all the way into livermore and concord. you're clear into fairfield at 61. still, you can see the low clouds have swept onshore and that thick cloud bank continuing some dense fog approaching the coastline and that drizzle, as well. by the afternoon, these temperatures running below the average but still warmer than yesterday. we are going to see about 84 degrees and very comfortable into livermore, about 68 degrees in san francisco and about 82 and sunny in concord. more on your weather in a few minutes. right now let's check the roads with elizabeth. >> reporter: thanks, lawrence. and out towards the golden gate bridge you can see the damp roadways this morning. we are seeing it on the approach to the bay bridge and golden gate bridge. be careful heading into san francisco from marin county. the drive time looks pretty good. unfortunately that's not the case on the nimitz. they have that usual overnight roadwork approaching high street. northbound and southbound 880. we are really seeing the delays northbound right now. it looks like from high street out towards embarcadero. if you'red hadding towards downtown oakland, by the way, all that should be picked up in

the next 20 minutes or so. also being picked up by about 5:00 is the roadwork in the south bay in san jose, sluggish past the 280 interchange towards bascomb. so just for a few exits there. and here's a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. no delay approaching the pay gates. and you are still cruising all the way into san francisco. mass transit nothing to report so far bart systemwide on time. that's traffic. back to you. >> all right, elizabeth. thank you. time now is 4:40. sin city under surveillance. how police are keeping a close eye on the vegas strip. >> and speaking of surveillance, yahoo's ceo opens up about the government's spying program. when we come back. ,,,,,,,, [z

vegas police have been usin cameras to keep an eye on pe for the last two months. you might want to behave on the las vegas strip. does anyone do that on the las vegas strip? i don't think you behave in las vegas. >> police have been using 37 cameras to keep an eye on people for the last two month. some of them are posted at busy intersections. and they can zoom in close. the equipment costs roughly

$300,000. >> big brother is always watching now. yahoo and facebook have gotten a lot of flak for their role in the government's surveillance program. critics say they should just come clean about the whole thing. so why don't they? listen to what yahoo's ceo marissa mayer had to say. >> at yahoo on each request we review it, we scrutinize it we push back on a lot, we push back on a lot of local government. we push back on requests in terms of the nsa. we can't talk about -- >> why? >> because they're classified. >> why?! >> and so -- i mean -- just -- >> let's just say look right now you were just to tell us the truth about what's going on the stuff that's classified. what do you think would happen to you? >> uhm, i mean, releasing classified information is treason. >> then what would happen. >> and you are incarcerated. >> well, that was yahoo. as for facebook's ceo mark zuckerberg he didn't mince words either. >> frankly, i think that the government blew it.

i think that they blew it on communicating, uhm, what they were basically the balance of what they were going for. >> zuckerberg and mayer appeared at the techcrunch conference here in san francisco. yahoo and facebook are suing to try to force the government to let them reveal more details about the government's spying programs. and let's take a look now into boulder, colorado. this video shows a woman and her dog being rescued in boulder overnight. several days of heavy downpours have caused flash flooding in boulder county, water now gushing through streets and also buildings. heavy rains have triggered mud slides there. several homes have been evacuated and one person has died. by the way, the cu campus is closed because of the flooding.

>> we have fog and drizzle early on. looks wet at the coastline. it's going to start to clear up toward the afternoon. 50s and some 60s right now. in the latter part of the day, hey, you know what, these temperatures are going to be warmer. let's plan on 80s inland. you will see a lot of 70s and sunshine inside the bay and 60s coastside with some lingering clouds. well, here's the low we're talking about dragging up some of the moisture causing some of the flooding into colorado. some of it will be in the sierra nevada where there's a 10 to 20% chance of thunderstorms there. we are going to keep things relatively dry here except for the drizzle. temperatures going to be a little warmer especially inland for today. not much change out toward the coastline. 90s into the valleys. chance of thunderstorms in the sierra nevada. about 70 in the monterey bay. around our bay sunshine 79 in san jose, 78 sunnyvale, east bay temperatures in the mid-80s in brentwood, 84 degrees livermore. and 81 in pleasant hill.

inside the bay 73 in oakland. 68 degrees in san francisco. and 64 a little fog into daly city. next couple of days we'll warm those temperatures up slightly. then we'll cool things down. low pressure drops in on sunday. looks like that cooling trend continues as we head in toward the middle of next week. let's check the roads with elizabeth. >> reporter: thanks, lawrence. and at 4:46 this morning, except for some overnight drizzle and a little bit of roadwork out there not much to slow you down no big hot spots. so we'll show you some of the first spots that usually tend to back up. westbound 4 looks really good coming off of the antioch bridge towards concord. there was a wind advisory on the antioch bridge earlier but that has been canceled. so checking the other rides that tend to back up quickly is westbound 580 looking crowded as you head towards the dublin interchange. but traffic is still move at the limit out of tracy from 205 to the altamont pass, 14 minutes between the altamont pass and pleasanton. down to the south bay you will notice some slowing on 880.

it's because of that overnight roadwork. it's northbound and southbound. it looks like 280 at stevens creek. again, now both directions our sensors are picking up some brake lights and a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza, some drivers reporting some slick conditions this morning heading to the macarthur maze and the toll plaza but no delay as you head into san francisco. the nimitz freeway still seeing that little bit of a bottleneck northbound towards high street where they have lanes blocked. that is traffic. back to you. 4:47 now. for the first time in five year, minimum wage workers in california could get a raise. governor brown threw his support behind a bill that would push the current $8 to $9 an hour by 2014 and $10 by 2016. >> very tough. very, very tough. >> only do so much. >> opponents say the increase is too fast for business to

handle. the legislators would need to pass the bill by today before they go on recess storm. groundbreaking at 10 a.m. at the site of an affordable housing complex in san francisco. the 75-unit building on broadway will include retail space. ed lee will be among the speakers. san jose mayor chuck reed is considered a pretty even keeled guy but is steamed about what he and others consider to be abuse of california's environmental laws. now there's a move to change the law because of what kiet do is about to show us. critics say it's not blackmail but greenmail. >> it's apparently never enough. >> reporter: this is as fired up as we have seen san jose mayor chuck reed in quite some time. >> it strikes me as, you know, another abuse of the [ indiscernible ] process. >> reporter: he is talking about this 22-acre plot in north san jose set aside for burrowing owls like this. a developer wanted to temporarily stockpile dirt on

the land but the santa clara valley audubon society filed this appeal under the california environmental quality act or ceqa saying the dirt pile would harm the owls. then all of a sudden the audubon society withdrew the appeal saying they had come to an agreement with the developer although they couldn't talk about the details. but the city said the settlement was somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000. was this greenmailing? >> that's a polite term for extortion from developers. >> reporter: the $300,000 settlement will go to protect the habitat and legal fees. the audubon society says they are just looking out for the birds. >> there is no abuse in doing our job in protecting those re resources. >> reporter: then there is the project one south market. a construction workers cited an appeal citing a laundry list of environmental problems. the union's ceo took the podium

at city hall last month but barely talked about the environment at all. >> bringing in subcontractors to bring in lesser skilled lower paid workers from sacramento hurts all local workers in the construction industry. >> reporter: the council denied the union's appeal. mayor reed said they were trying to use see request to pressure the builder to hire more of their workers. >> i think that's an abuse. >> reporter: he maintains his concerns are legitimate and the union man wouldn't have done any differently. >> we draw a line in the sand and say no more. we are going to fight for local people to get local jobs and i make no apologies for that. >> reporter: then governor ronald reagan signed ceqa into law in 1970 to protect the environment and public projects. senate president darrell steinberg says the law has been beneficial but it's got to be amended to stop special interests from taking advantage of it. >> there will be folks who are opposed because what i have been trying all year, it's been a bit challenging, some would say painful, to find that

elusive middle ground between those who say that the statute's perfect and doesn't need to be changed and those who say that it needs to be fundamentally rewritten. >> reporter: it's a blessing and curse. kiet do, kpix 5. >> the bill is winding its way through the legislature now where the wording changes daily. basically it would make it harder to use the environmental argument. 4:51. not what you expect to see when you walk down the street. this black bear who ended up being actually very shy. coming up. >> and from black bears to black bats. how these weekend animals ended up at a bay area elementary school. ,,

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let's check your microclimate forecast. we take knew fremont. we have some sunshine coming your way after some low clouds this morning. temperature of 74 degrees. >> and your morning commute is a little wet heading towards golden gate bridge or the bay bridge this morning. fortunately there's no big delays. and the san mateo bridge it is a 13-minute drive between hayward and the peninsula. we'll have more "timesaver traffic" coming up. thank you, liz. a big black bear walking down a tennessee street quickly became the center of attention. yeah, i guess so. like paparazzi. folks in tennessee chased this bear just to take a photo. you can see the bear running up and down some stairs trying to get away from the crowd. think he's a little shy. he seemed more nervous than the people. it eventually went back to the woods after having his fill of downtown folks. >> i would be running not going up to it to take a picture. >> i'd probably take a photo but have my sneakers on. >> oh, boy. all right. well, a vallejo elementary

school has been invaded by a colony of bats. some believe the weekend animals may have been making their home at glen cove elementary school for years. kpix 5's don ford on how they were finally discovered. >> reporter: they come out some say by the hundreds every night. this cell phone video shows bats leaving the roof towers of the glen cove elementary school in vallejo. each morning at dawn they return to the school. kids at the school are excited. >> we're going to have some bats. >> they bite. they usually like to live in small dark places. so they just needed a place to live. >> reporter: parents were a little more cautious. >> you never know what a child is going to do with a bat. you know? he could go and try and play with a bat. there could be a problem there so you never know. >> i don't think there will be no harm to nobody. long they stay to they selves and they will be all right. as long as the kids stay to they selves they will be fine two that too. >> reporter: george's wife teaches at glen cove and inches she has been exposed to bat guano and it may be responsible

for her recent poor health. >> the bat guano makes symptoms like the flu running high fever, swelling, she starting to have these symptoms but we never knew about it until this past friday when we heard about the problem about the bats. >> reporter: the vallejo school district said they didn't know about the bats until last week. now the school district has tested all the buildings and has declared them safe for staff and students. school district says, all this excitement about the bats will be over soon. they say the bats will be removed by october 1. in vallejo, don ford, kpix 5. >> a little creepy with the bats. the school has been told to put up screens in the attic to prevent any more bats from getting in. well, it is one big mystery and the insiders we talked to they are staying tight-lipped. >> they are. the question: where is the new troll on the eastern span of the bay bridge? well, we know this good luck troll is somewhere on the new span. who knew? authorities say it's only visible to those who seek it out though. it replaces an old one that used to live on the old section. it was placed there for good luck after the loma prieta

earthquake of '89 but it's since been taken down. it's somewhere on the bridge. >> it looks like lawrence, don't you think? >> does it really? [ laughter ] >> yeah? >> just a bit. >> lawrence is a little chunkier though. a new plan to help bullet buses speed through the busiest streets. why it could be a transit rider's dream or a driver's nightmare. >> and it is a battle pitting david versus goliath. all about home mortgages. richmond's unique plan today is going to court. ,,,,,,,,

[ phone ringing ] [ daughter ] hi mom. hey honey, the trip's great, very relaxing. are you sure you can't make it? but you come every year! you could be playing bingo right now! woooo! and there's movie night -- you love movies!

[ laughs ] sorry honey, can't hear you -- bad connection. love you! [ laughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] bold flavors for the bold hearted -- progresso heart healthy soup. russian president vladimir putin strikes back at president obama on syria. >> president putin wrote, we must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement. >> her father says he parked around the corner, then went in to buy some items. and by the time he got back out, daffy was gone. >> the little girl went missing

nine weeks ago and now police say they have a break in the case of daphne webb. >> we should stand up against wall street and for our commute. if not us, then who will? >> the city of richmond will take on the banks, the goal to refinance mortgages so that homeowners can afford their payments. >> they're crazy. they can't be doing that. it ruins it for all the working guys that are out here. >> it's the new plan to transform some of the busiest san francisco streets into a transit rider's dream. or a driver's nightmare depending on how you look at it. from across the bay to around the world, the stories that matter on "kpix 5 news this morning. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald. hi, everyone. and good morning. thursday is here. it's september the 12th. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm michelle griego. time now is 5:00. let's get a check with lawrence and weather. >> thank you very much, good morning, guys. yeah. we have some low clouds and fog around the bay area and it's a bit damp