then like go ahead. >> it's disgusting to have my friend from cedar able to play a lesbian role in our musical that she can't even be in the yearbook which is your physical embodiment of high school a week before we graduate. >> reporter: sacred heart cathedral says the school welcomes gay and transgender students but the tuxedo violates the dress code. parents say it's time for a policy change. >> it's going to have to change especially living in san frcisco. it's going to have to you know -- this will probably, uhm, spearhead a change i think. >> reporter: leaving school with her girlfriend, jessica says she is feels overwhelmed by all of the support. >> i've seen people with all the ties, you know, honestly i have cried multiple times overwhelmed with all the support so i want to thank everybody who is supporting me right now. >> reporter: and in just the last hour, we saw jessica and her girlfriend and family walking into the school to talk with the administrators about

the school policy. and also about what she might be wearing for graduation. so coming up at 6:00, should there be a policy change? i will certainly have the outcome. in san francisco, juliette goodrich, kpix 5. >> now, the school also did release a statement late today and it says, the events have sparked a campuswide dialogue which will result in a revision of policy. breaking news from the santa cruz mountains. within the last hour, a fire has broken out near the summit on mount madonna. cal fire says so far it has burned at least 5 acres. there are homes in that area but so far they are not being threatened by these flames. chopper 5 now on the scene as you can see right now. there's a cloud of smoke coming from that fire zone. now, we are going to keep monitoring this situation more updates as we go along tonight. but for right now, the smoke in an area not threatening homes. right now investigators are looking into whether a firebug is behind a dozen suspicious grassfires in novato. in the past 24 hours, fires

broke out in several locations around highway 101 and 37 interchange. two of them were set at homes. kpix 5's brian webb reports this is not the first time novato residents have had to worry about a firebug. brian. >> reporter: a few of the fires were set under tall trees like this one apparently trying to torch the entire tree and spark much bigger fires. still smoky up here and all of this wreaks of the serial arsonist who struck in 2012. cell phone pictures and video show one of several fires set overnight alarming this tight- knit neighborhood in novato. >> i think it's very scary. >> who would want to do this? >> reporter: by daylight, small patches of scorched earth mark more than a dozen fires sparked between midnight and 3 a.m. from the side of a trail to the top of a hill, a christmas wreath hanging from a front door and a car in a garage that sent the owner to the hospital after he tried to stamp it out.

>> it's very disconcerting for us given the big fire, you know, in san diego and all the homes being destroyed. >> reporter: it was two years ago a rash of similar fires were set in the same neighborhood 60 of them but the firebug was never caught and the cases were never solved. police tell us they are working new leads and reviewing old records on past persons of interest and known firebugs in the area. >> reviewing the information and people of interest in those cases and are trying to see if there's any connection at all. >> reporter: so far, investigators can't say if this is a firebug looking for a cheap thrill or something more sinister. and they haven't found any obvious patterns in this trial by fire investigation. >> we take this very seriously. we're upstaffing our engine companies today and we very much have our eye on the situation. >> reporter: throw in record dry conditions and fresh memories of arsons past and it's safe to say this novato neighborhood is on full alert again. >> our neighborhood here is a

nice neighborhood. we don't want to see this happen. >> reporter: the man who went to the hospital was suffering from smoke inhalation. i'm told he is doing better. as we go into nightfall you can bet a lot of people in this neighborhood will be sleeping with one eye open tonight. live in novato, brian webb, kpix 5. authorities in walnut creek are on a similar hunt looking for an arsonist they believe is responsible for five fires that popped up within the arbolado park neighborhood in the last 10 days. the latest was last night around 7:30. about 3 acres burned in total. developing news tonight. at least 11 wildfires are still burning in san diego county. more than 10,000 acres have been torched so far. a little good news, some people were allowed to return home today after at least 100,000 people were evacuated this week. authorities say one person was killed by the flames in a carlsbad transient encampment.

listen to these terrified san diego residents to captured the overpowering flames. >> wow. there it is right there. there it is right there. oh, [ censored ] ! [ loud noise ] >> oh, my god! oh, my god!! >> that is so scary. time lapse footage shows how erratic winds fueled the fast- moving san marcos fire yesterday. in two hours the white smoke overtakes the blue sky. out of the 11 fires four are giving firefighters the most difficult time tonight. cbs reporter bigad shaban is one at the most volatile wildfires the flames in san marcos only 10% contained tonight. bigad. >> reporter: yeah, good to be with you. officials here are actually still performing damage assessments. so far five homes have been

destroyed by the wildfire in san mash coast including this one -- in san marcos including this one. firefighters are still struggling to calm the flames even though temperatures have cooled down. massive flames tore through the camp pendleton marine base flaring up just yards away from these buildings. at least two separate fires have scorched more than 14,000 acres of mostly brush around the compound. just south in san marcos, firefighters are scrambling to douse hot spots. >> we're still worried about the fires' push to the south but right now the wind is in our favor. the humidity is coming up. >> reporter: more than 1,000 firefighters are working to put out the san marcos fire alone. the flames have already burned more than 3,000 acres and they quickly turned this home into rubble and twisted metal. thousands of residents in san marcos were allowed to return. >> it looks terrible. >> reporter: but david and sherry roberts' home of 20 years is gone. >> just totally devastating, you know? it's just, uhm --

>> that little piece of paradise. >> reporter: the wildfire in san marcos is one of 11 near san diego that has ravaged at least 20,000 acres and destroyed at least 8 homes. massive plumes of smoke from the fires are even visible from space. police arrested this 19-year- old and two others on suspicion of attempted arson for allegedly starting at least three brush fires. but authorities have not connected them to the other larger fires. the cause of those wildfires is still under investigation. and cooler more humid conditions are expected to begin settling into the area today and provide much-needed relief through the weekend. >> thank you. another look at the fire burning on top of mount madonna in the santa cruz mountains. chopper 5 giving us a very good idea of where fire crews are working this fire right now. they are trying to surround what has become about a 5- to 7- acre fire.

flames reported about an hour ago on pole line road. there are homes in the area, none too close to this, an outbuilding you see there on the left-hand side of the screen but the smoke coming up white so they are getting some water on that. let's bring in chief meteorologist paul deanno to check on our wind conditions, how warm it is up there, paul. >> reporter: not as warm as the past couple of days but very breezy. the onshore flow is back west winds in that general vicinity anywhere from 10 to 20 miles per hour. a lot of folks have been saying, man, this is an early start to fire season. it is only fire season, we call it that, because typically it's the summertime when we're at our driest. we never really had a wet season this year. so the fire season ended late last year. it's beginning early this year. i just spoke with the national weather service about two hours ago and they say that the drought index which is what we really look at strongly when it comes to fire danger, it has never been drier on the drought index than it is right now over the past 50 years. so even though it is mid-may, even though this is early for fire season, we're talking about extreme fire danger

likely through the entire summer because we're done with the rain for the most part and this particular fire they are dealing with 10 to 20-mile-per- hour winds which is not critical but that breeze is in, a west wind bringing in more humidity. but high fire danger will be here for a long time to come. >> got to be careful. all right, paul, thanks so much. we'll see you in a few minutes. new at 5:00 a fugitive fire chief wanted for killing his girlfriend has been captured. orville fleming had been on the run since may 1. that's when the body of sarah june douglas was found inside their sacramento home. investigators thought he might try to hide out in the mountains or head for mexico. he didn't go very far. he was arrested at a bus stop in elk grove. he had been hiding in the woods nearby, investigators say. bay area drivers bruised and battered by potholes. >> the bike wasn't going. >> who is on the hook? how to make sure you don't get stuck with the damage. >> when i saw the video, every

time i thought about it, i started crying. >> a girl on a scooter sent flying by that out of control car. hear from the shaken and very lucky survivor. ,, ,,,,,,

by a claims of sexual harassment at an all boys catholic school in san mateo result in a lawsuit by a female teacher. kimberly says they failed to protect her for through years of humiliation calling it a sordid atmosphere of boys will be boys where students competed to get up-skirt photos of female teachers. >> i had buy been a victim of repeated sexual harassment by students and it started three years ago when there was explicit language used about me in a very violent way in a bathroom wall that was graffitid on the bathroom wall. >> she says the harassment also includes sexually explicit

tweets as well as inappropriate videos and pictures of her. the school says six students were expelled, six others suspended. the school says, last year's incident was tragic and the disrespect shown by certain former students does not reflect what we teach and model here at sarah high school. we felt a deep -- serra high school. we felt a deep level of compassion for the teacher. the teenaged stowaway has raised questions about security at mineta san jose airport. congressman swalwell proposed ways to close the gaps. he says there are a variety of technologies available to improve security. a fence and surveillance cameras were not enough to stop the breach by the south bay teenager. >> and while we are all happy to hear that the teenager is safe and alive, this raised important questions about how we protect our perimeters and how vulnerable our airports are and the aircraft are and what this could mean to the

traveling public. >> six security companies recently toured the san jose airport. any changes would need to be approved by the tsa. potholes wrecking cars. one even left a bay area driver with broken ribs. how to make sure you don't get stuck with the bill. >> and saving a life, well, no sweat for this hero cat. but can she handle the pressure of the pitchers mound? ,, ,, dog: what's this? mattress discounters' what's this? mattress discounters' memorial day sale ending? but mattress discounters has the largest selection of memory foam mattresses under one "roof." comforpedic, icomfort, optimum, and wow, four years interest-free financing

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dramatic crash in pennsylva you see the girl riding her scooter on the sidewalk. a police hits an 8-year-old girl survives this dramatic crash in pennsylvania. the girl is riding her scooter on the sidewalk. it happens fast. the car on the run from police hit a parked car and sent that car crashing into the girl. here it is again. 8-year-old cassidy sent flying. her 5-year-old sister got out of the way just in time. >> when i saw the video, every time i thought about it, i started crying. >> oh. >> because it hurted my feelings and i didn't like what i saw. >> we don't either. cassidy had a slight concussion. other than that, not seriously hurt. two men have been charged in connection with that crash. another roadway danger. tonight a pothole horror story. julie watts on the man who has the scrapes to prove it. >> it's this one right here. >> reporter: this is the pothole that brought bill jenner and his bicycle to a

crashing halt. >> the wheel went in, the motion kept me going but the bike wasn't going. >> and now left him with two broken ribs and plenty of bruises. >> this is like a war zone! >> reporter: his wife katie says it's not their family's first encounter with one of oakland's potholes. three years ago, their car hit one that caused $500 in damage. yet oakland refused to reimburse them. >> their reason was telling us we had the wrong tire. >> reporter: and while the city couldn't comment on that claim, it acknowledges had has a pothole problem. >> we have a tremendous backlog in potholes. our streets throughout oakland are in tremendous disrepair. >> reporter: jason mitchell of oakland public works says just this week the city has begun a pothole blitz of sorts launching an app to allow people to report potholes. oakland expects to fill at least 2,000 of them in the next couple months. >> our crews are trying to get out there as urgently as possible. >> reporter: but what about people like ginner who have already been hurt or whose car gets damaged before the hole is

fixed? it depends on where the pothole is. if it's on the highway or an off-ramp you submit the claim to caltrans. but if it's on a city street, then you submit a claim to the city. usually the department of public works or the city attorney. that's where oakland has referred the jenners for bill's bicycle injury an encourages people like katie to keep reporting problematic potholes. >> i report it whenever i see it. but now lately there are so many on the street, i gave up. >> reporter: whether it's the city street or a highway, you generally have to make a claim within 6 months of damage or injury. and you may have a better chance of getting paid if someone else has already complained about that particular pothole. and remember, if you have a consumer problem, give us a call 888-5-helps-u. >> i wouldn't wait six months. >> reporter: the sooner the better. >> especially if you have physical evidence. >> reporter: generally your case is better if you can prove the city knew about it and

didn't fix it yet. general motors has been slapped way record fine for delaying a recall on a deadly defect. safety regulators hit gm with a $35 million fine. the largest civilian penalty ever given by the government as the result of a recall investigation. the feds say gm knew about a faulty ignition switch as early as 2001 but did not issue a recall until earlier this year. at least 13 people have died in crashes linked to that problem. >> what we will never accept is a person or a company that knows danger exists and says nothing. >> gm has agreed to pay the fines and submit to additional oversight. ceo mary barra said in a statement, we will now focus on the goal of becoming an industry leader in safety. we will emerge from this situation a stronger company. a man's body was found in folsom lake this morning. it hasn't been identified, but it's thought to be one of the four men killed in a boat

accident. a speedboat going more than 100 miles an hour capsized on the lake last saturday. crews have been searching the waters since then but have not had any luck. california is experiencing a dramatic spike in the number of cases of whooping cough. doctors say the best defense, get vaccinated. more than 1700 cases have been reported since january. that's more than triple the number of cases the same time last year. more than 90% of the cases are in kids under the age of 18, but anyone can get it. whooping cough also known as pertussis, starts out like a cold and ends up in a long coughing fit. well, there's some good news on the job front in california. the state's unemployment rate fell in april to 7.8%. that is the first time in nearly 6 years that it has dipped below 8%. they say it's a sign the economy has rebounded but it's still well above the national average of 6.3%.

another check of that fire burning on mount madonna in the santa cruz mountains. the fire is burning about five to seven acres near pole line road. just in the last few minutes we have seen a plane and helicopter doing air drops on that fire. crews are getting a handle on it. no homes are threatened. chief meteorologist paul deanno is live on the rooftop with more. >> winds are gusting 10 to 20 miles an hour. it's bringing in humidity because it's an onshore flow. this has the potential to be one of the most dangerous fire seasons on record, the driest time we have had since 50 years. you can see the flags behind me, they are blowing from the west now. we had the offshore wind for a long time. now the wind direction has changed. it is a west-to-east wind cooling us down and increasing

the humidity. take a peek at what we have going on outside now. beautiful view from mount vaca and we have temperatures that are generally in the 60s near the water including san bruno, oakland and san francisco, 63. we're cooler in livermore but i wouldn't call it chilly. you're 84 now in san jose 76. santa rosa checking in right now at 82 degrees. for the first half of the month of may, it has been toasty. this is a significant deviation from normal. san francisco and livermore five degrees above average for the month. and santa rosa nearly 4 degrees above average for the month. overnight tonight we'll get some relief. it will be the coolest night we have had all week. some 40s out there in the north bay. santa rosa 49. fairfield, vacaville 49 degrees. fremont down to 52. san jose 53 degrees. let me set the stage for you. we still have that big strong ridge of high pressure but it has moved. it is now centered to our south. the clockwise flow around it is now giving us a west-to-east or onshore flow moving through the maps in time. we are going to see a low pressure area developing to our north. rainfall for the northwest. but that will induce a stronger onshore flow over the weekend. that's why it won't be as warm.

rain will get close. some much-needed rain will make it into northern california, perhaps as far south as ukiah. it's going to miss us but we'll see a stronger onshore flow for the next several days. so what to expect? we are looking at temperatures dropping down to about 50 degrees overnight tonight. there will be fog and low cloud cover anywhere near the water tonight. cooling continues over the weekend. temperatures drop both tomorrow and sunday. and that fire danger doesn't matter if we have the humidity back or not, it is so dry, the fire danger will be elevated for the next several months. highs tomorrow mountain view 74, milpitas 75, morgan hill 80, east bay widespread 70s and low 80s. we are talking temperatures around walnut creek of 79, antioch 79, dublin tomorrow 77 degrees. to the north bay we go where in mill valley we'll have a high of 75. san francisco should be sunny in the afternoon, 67 degrees. petaluma 75 degrees. and up north toward ukiah and clearlake highs approaching 80 degrees with sunshine tomorrow. here is your extended forecast. couple of degrees cooler on sunday a little cloudier in the morning, as well.

we bottom out on monday where we barely make it even into the 70s inland but as we look at the full seven-day forecast, we will warm back up toward the end of next week but i don't see a return to another heat wave. fire, that is a word you're going to hear us say 1,000 times over the summer because the fire danger is elevated and guys, we are seeing some of those fires play out they both southern and northern california. it is just so dry outside right now. >> boy, it's dangerous. >> reporter: it is. >> thank you, paul. paramedic busts a move behind the wheel. the hysterical dance party goes viral but his boss didn't find this funny at all.

things up for patients who e fighting for their lives. the san francisco giants pir "tossed out the first paintbrush" at st mary's hospital cancer center. it s and matt cain is helping brighten things up for patients fighting for their lives. he tossed out the first paint brush at saint mary's hospital cancer center. it's undergoing renovations and one of the exam rooms is going to have a giants theme to it. the project was made possible by the nonprofit, rooms that

rock for chemo. we knew this was coming. the hero cat that saved a boy from a dog attack has become quite the sensation. >> oh, yeah. now she is going to s.w.a.t. out the first pitch at a local minor league baseball game. and by now you have probably seen this viral video. tara the cat chases off the neighbor's dog as it bites the leg of a 4-year-old boy. the bakersfield blaze confirms the tabby will take the mound next tuesday. not sure how she will throw out the first pitch. but she is fast. video of an enthusiastic emt in new jersey is taking the internet by storm and the driver reprimanded. cameras in the ambulance caught jonathan williams grooving to a song by rhianna. the bosses say the problem is that he is taking his hands off the wheel, creating a very unsafe environment. he was not in service and said he wouldn't do it with patients

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after being closed for sevel storied bay are i'm ken bastida in the kpix 5 newsroom. new at 6:00 tonight, after being closed for several years, a storied bay area hotel is finally back open. why the $40 million renovation might not change what's being called the ugly truth about the area. >> and after being scorned even receiving death threats how a guy who was blamed for a baby bird massacre is revealing a feathered friendly side of himself. allen, liz? >> all right. we'll see you then. thanks for watching us at 5:00. the "cbs evening news" is next.

>> and remember, the latest news and weather are always on our website, kpix.com. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com >> alfonsi: tonight, fined to the max. g.m. gets a record penalty for not disclosing a deadly defect. >> literally, silence can kill. >> alfonsi: jeff glor has the words g.m. told employees to use and not to use. ben tracy and carter evans are with crews battling california wildfires, from the ground and from the air. jeff pegues tells us how two jetliners ca w t close. from turkey, protests over the mine disaster. holly williams is there. >> reporter: the police are now using a water cannon and tear gas to try to force people off the streets. >> alfonsi: and steve hartman "on the road." it doesn't start out well for the student teacher. >> she threw a golf ball in my direction and hit me in the head. >> alfonsi: but their lives took a sharp turn. captioning sponsored b