friday, march 4th. i'm pam cook. >> i'm dave clark. let's check traffic. >> reporter: good morning. a ridge of high pressure in place for the last business day of the week and that's going to equal nice weather. patchy fog expected to develop. fair skies expected throughout the afternoon. increases high clouds ahead. we'll show you where. we'll show you what you can expect between now and then coming up. good morning, sal. >> reporter: right now on the san maeo bridge traffic is moving well getting out to the high-rise with no major issues. this morning's commute will be okay on the golden gate bridge southbound 101 heading to the toll plaza. thank you. just about three hours ago a rocket launch by nasa from southern california carrying in

earth observation satellite failed to reach orbit. nasa say this launch of the glory satellite went well but a protective nose cone on the rocket just didn't separate from satellite like it should have about three minutes after this launch. that meant the spacecraft was just too heavy to ever reach orbit. we're getting unconfirmed reports that the rocket came down in the ocean. we'll have more details as they are available. we might think locking up your valuables in your car is enough but thieves if freemont have proven dozens of people wrong. we have more on what is being targeted. >> reporter: good morning, jade. >> reporter: it's a sad lesson to learn that leaving change, a couple of dollars in your car entices thieves. that's exactly what happened in this parking lot yesterday morning right here in freemont. a thief or thieves broke into about 40 cars. we don't know this morning if

they were broken in all at the same time for if the break ins were staggered. we do know the calls came pouring in yesterday morning. a train depot is located at 37260 freemont boulevard. right now the police department is warning anyone who parked in in lot or any other lot, do the observe. put your valuables out of sight and that includes that change you leave behind in your cup holder. jade hernandez, ktvu, channel 2 news. in overnight news a rollover crash on highway 4 sent the driver to the hospital.

the highway patrol said the car heading website on highway 4 left the roadway, rolled over several times and then ended up on the eastbound side of the highway near the hill crest exit. the woman driving the car had to be taken out using the jaws of life. she was taken to the hospital. all this happened just after 11:00 last night but it's still not clear what caused the car to leave the roadway. time now 5:02. just hours ago work crews finished yet another big construction job on the new bay bridge. cladeen talked to them to tell us ha they said. >> reporter: we have been talking about the latest milestone in this project. i want to show you what we're talking about. as we zoom in you can see the tower of this new suspension bridge. you can see the flashing red light, which is the crane that sits on top. work to get the next section of

that tower up was completed just after 10:00 this morning. i'm going to show you some animation because this shows you what crews were doing. the suspension tower is a single suspension. when finished it will be 525 feet tall. right now it's at about 480 feet. the work to get that upstarted on monday and despite fears that weather would delay the work things moved faster than expected. crews finished as early as this crew takes one more big step toward completion. >> it's a milestone for us because we're coming close to our height which is 525 feet. tower is the signature portion of the bridge and it's sort of the reason why we built this bridge was to do something that was iconic to the bay area. >> reporter: back live out here again looking at this 480-foot tower that just has one more

section to go before it's completed. that next section will go up in the next few weeks. coming up in the next half hour we'll talk about this next big step for the bay bridge project, where it goes from here and what you can expect. time now 5:04. angry uc berkeley students claiming victory after a seven hour protest. there you can see about eight students led out of wheeler hall at about 9:30 last night. they took over the fourth floor ledge of the building yesterday afternoon. they were protesting state budget cuts as well as disciplinary action against demonstrators. they did come down but said the fight is not over. >> we do have to keep mobilizing and have to continue to organize and fight back. >> all of protesters were cited

for trespassing. university officials say 26 classes had to be canceled affecting more than a thousand students. this morning police are issuing an important warning to joggers. that's following a bizarre attack on a residential street wednesday night. police say a masked man snuck up on a jogger and hit her with a rock. the attack became more violent. >> pulled out what may be a pocket knife and gave small lacerations to her face and neck. >> the woman was able to get away and drove herself to a hospital where she was treat and released. the victim said her masked attacker dehanded money but did not take her ipod. we've obtained exclusive video of another controversial drug bust in san francisco. this was taken few year's eve. it shows plain clothes officers serving a warrant.

they kick in the door and arrest the 28-year-old suspect. two officers have already been named in a misconduct investigation involving earlier arrests. >> the officers have been given an administrative assignment during the investigation. >> prosecutors have dropped charges in this case and two others. legal experts say more san francisco drug cases could be affected. a young man accused of robbing oakland grocery shoppers will face additional charges when he appears in court next week. he's accused of robbing four women when they came home. investigators have found five other victims since his arrest last month. let's go straight taking shape sal. he'll help you get where you need to go this friday morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. traffic is doing pretty well around the bay area right now.

as you look at the east shore freeway 80 traffic is moving along nicely with no major problems. the morning commute looks good if you are driving on bay bridge approach. westbound traffic looks nice coming into the san francisco. this is a look at 280 northbound right through downtown san jose. it's a nice drive. hopefully this friday will have lighter than usual conditions. let's go to rosemary. >> reporter: we have a mild day in store for you. a cool start. we are dry. 39 degrees right now in santa rosa and parts of the north bay reporting a little bit of fog this morning. take it easy out there. 49 degrees right now. 46 degrees hayward as well. a ridge of high pressure in place for today. we are going to remain dry today through the first half of tomorrow. partly sunny skies. we'll start to see the high clouds increase later today.

bring us a little bit of filtered sunshine. satellite view for you here. here is the trough sitting just off the gulf of alaska here. this is the moisture down here. the subtropical moisture that we'll be tapping into once again looking at anywhere from quarter inch of rain to maybe half inch along the north bay. your forecast rolling you through friday and into saturday. no problems to report. we will continue with the dry conditions. by saturday afternoon into early evening north bay first rolling through by sunday morning we are all waking up with wet weather. if you have some place to be sunday morning plan on having that umbrella. afternoon highs for today a tad warmer than yesterday. 63 for napa this afternoon. 64 redwoods city. 66 in freemont. your five-day forecast here. we want to know what is happening for the weekend. if you're headed to tahoe this weekend snow levels expected to

be down about 5000 feet. late saturday into sunday you will need your chain or snow tires getting over the summit. for today we've got a nice one in store. upper 60s for the afternoon. mid 60 for tomorrow. cool on sunday with rainy conditions expected. mid-50s on monday. back to the desk. this morning dozens of people are without power in the east bay. not because of weather but two separate car accidents involving utility poles. about 30 minutes ago pg&e told us customers should get their service back by 7 a.m. originally more than 2000 people lost power. 66 customers in richmond have been without power yesterday morning. they're service should be restored in just about an hour. san jose firefighters just agreed to a 10% pay cut to help

the city deal with a 100 million-dollar deficit. >> that's a big sacrifice. we know it will be difficult for the members to continue doing their work while taking a pay cut. >> as part of this deal no workers will be laid off. scientists have put together a picture of what the most typical person on earth looks like. we'll show you. also, why a bay area congresswoman said the government is responsible for an attack on low income people.

it's now early afternoon in libya and antigovernment protests are taking place where ghadafi still maintains control. organizers called on the libyan people to gather in the streets after their noon prayers. the latest report says more than 1000 people are now marching calling for him to step down.

oakland congresswoman barbara lee says the plan to cut $61 billion from the federal budget targets the most needy people. she would rather see cuts in the defense budget and ending the wars in iraq and afghanistan instead of cutting social programs. you football fans you have some reason for hope this morning as the players and the owners have averted a lock out, at least for now, but another deadline is looming tonight. >> reporter: under this temporary agreement the deal expires tonight. this time they are not meeting face-to-face. they are sitting down separately. they have been dead locked over a deal that would shift for profits to owners and extend the

nfl season. player lock out is looming and 2011 season is still in jeopardy. president obama is making clear he won't intervene. >> i'm a big football fan, but i also think that for an industry that's making $9 billion a year in revenue they can figure out how to divide it up in a sensible way. >> reporter: it's still unclear whether the sides are any closer to an agreement with today's extension. we talked to one player that is optimistic there will be a 2011 season. i'll have that during my next update. we now know what the most typical face looks like. researchers concludessed that a 28-year-old chinese man is the

most typical face on the planet. they say within 20 years the most typical person in the world will live in india. >> you don't say. >> it's not us. time now 5:16. sal is not typical but he knows about a typical morning commute. >> reporter: how many times have people told me i'm not typical? many, many times. let's go out and take a look at what we have. we want a typical commute that will be lighter than usual. i'm down with that. traffic is moving along okay here on highway 24. that was slang for i approve of that. this morning if you're driving in livemore on 580 as you drive up to the 280 interchange that traffic is moving along well. let's go to rosemary. >> reporter: sal, i think you will be down with this forecast.

a mix of sunshine and clouds expected for today. a little bit of patchy fog developing out there. some coming in from the cost. the fog that starts to develop when we reach our viewpoint and we have that lingering moisture. for the afternoon our temps in the upper 50s to upper 60s so how about that. the clouds that roll in will be the high clouds that we get before the next storm and we are expecting another storm in time for the second half of the weekend. let's enjoy today. your current temperatures 39 degrees. 40 degrees in will livermore. i'm enjoying this weather. planning that wardrobe for the kids, dress in layers. a cool start but then a nice mild afternoon. for the evening hours we are expecting cooler conditions with the cloudy conditions returning and they will thicken up

throughout the night. mid-40s to mid-50s as we roll into our 9:00 hour. sunsetting just after 6:00 these days so the days are growing longer. we're going to be nice today and most of tomorrow. we could be rather gray. the chance for raining moving into the north bay. our temperatures will begin to cool just a bit on saturday, more so on sunday. the overnight hours into sunday the rain will spread and we are all likely to see some by sunday morning and it will stick around for the rest of the weekend starting in the upper 40s. the center of this storm will be rolling through on monday. that's when we will see our coolest afternoon. chance for showers as we get back to work on monday. crude oil prices are just below the 102-dollar a barrel

but just barely. libya's oil production has been cut. onlyists predict gas prices will continue to rise into the weekend. checking in on the numbers. it looks like a pretty flat indication of how we will open up this morning. we are waiting for the monthly unemployment report. it comes out in ten minutes. it's really unclear which way the market will head. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all posted pretty strong gains yesterday. target stores will pay more than $22 million to settle a lawsuit. two years ago they were sued for illegally dumping hazardous waste including paint, oven cleaners and chemical drain openers. they say they have a comprehensive program for taking care of the products.

time now 5:20. new state records show the fourth four richest counties in california are right here in the bay area. san mateo came in at number two and santa clara was a close third. signs there could be other flaws in gas pipelines similar to what caused a deadly pipeline explosion. we'll tell you about the two steps pg&e is now promising to take following three days of scrutiny in washington, d.c. the very bold action a bay area grandma took when an intrudesser came into her house. good morning. if you're driving in san francisco northbound 101 traffic

looks good approaching the 80 split. we'll tell you more straight ahead.

welcome back. sun and clouds expected for the afternoon. we have rain on the way arriving

by late saturday. pg&e promising to improve safety. they say they will mail a safety letter to all customers living within 2000 feet of one of its pipelines. they will also start installing safety valves inside of those pipes that can be shut off remotely. all these changes come after the company really got slammed at an ntsb hearing this week. >> it's exactly the type of progress we could hope for in a public hearing like this. >> at the happying pg&e was criticized for failing to let the public and city officials know about the pipelines in the community. they also criticized pg&e for the quality of the wells on its pipelines. they determined it was a weld in the seem in the san bruno pipe that ruptured. another expert also criticized

the girth well that encircled the pipe. a would be robber got an unexpected surprise after coming face-to-face with a gun total grandmother in richmond. >> i was in my bed and i heard a noise. >> she's 84 and lives alone and said chef not about to become a victim. she grabbed a.34 caliber gun from her night stand. she said when the intruder saw her and her gun he took off running and she fired a shot. >> my mind told me get that gun. >> you didn't hesitate to fire it either? >> oh, no. no. >> the bullet went into wall and the suspect escaped through a book door. a new security door has been installed. as for the gun it's right where it needs to be, ready if needed

again. the certainly continues in livermore today for someone who stole a couple's dog. zoe is described as nine pounds with a pink and white collar. the thief made out with several items from the home including electronics and jewelry. we're going to let you hear from man accused of driving more than a hundred miles an hour with his wife on the hoods of his car. what he told the judge about the wild drive. why a jogger said she was attacked by a would be thief. good morning. if you're driving on 280 northbound you can see traffic is moving along very nicely. we'll tell you more about the

morning commute straight ahead.

welcome back. >> time now is 5:30. what is the weather like? >> reporter: you're going to enjoy this day. it's going to feel like spring out there. we are off to a cool start. by the afternoon we'll be sitting in the 60s. we are looking at rain and snow

but the wind gusts expected to pick up to 20. no advisories at the moment. snow level is about 5000 feet. that's your weekend there. we'll talk about our weekend here in just a moment. right now on line interstate 80 the traffic is moving along very nicely. also this morning's commute is going to be okay if you are driving on interstate 880. let's go back to the desk. this morning police are issuing an important warning to joggers following a bizarre attack on a residential street. craig joins us to tell us it's involving a violent man wearing a mask. >> reporter: that's the allegation. they're trying to investigate this rare and scary crime. i've been inside talking to dispatchers trying to get more information about it. a joggers attack after being

confronted by a marked man. this happened on the 400 block of green field wednesday night. a man snuck up behind her while jogging. the man said he demanded money. >> we don't have street robberies in that sort of fashion. if we have something it's at a bank or from vehicles or homes. >> reporter: she said she returned home on foot, got into her car and drive to keiser. she treated for small cuts on her face and released. police didn't get the report until 9:30. they will try to find out why the big gap. time now 5:32 this morning. an investigation continues afteranother frightening attack at napa state hospital.

this happeneddier this week. hospital workers say a patient ripped off the clothing of female employee and tried to rape her. they say two members of the nursing staff were there at the time of the attack. >> it took five staff members to contain him and get him off of this woman while he continued to attempt to rape her. >> officials say the suspect wasn't considered a dangerous patient but this is the third inmate attack of a napa hospital worker in recent months and in one attack a nurse was strangled to death. police say william moson beat a driver with a hammer wednesday afternoon. police say he got out of his car and attacked the other driver. he says he was angry because the other driver cut him off. the victim is expected to survive. a shocking confession from man accused of driving on the freeway with his wife clinging

to the hood of his mini van. he told a judge i did that all to my wife and i'm guilty. he also said he wants to represent himself. he drove at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour with his wife on the hoods of the car after they got into an argument. just hours ago work crews finished yet another big construction job on the new bay bridge. >> reporter: this is a big step. a major development do report overnight. it has to do with the suspension tower. you can see from where we're standing. you can see the tower. it's dark up and lit up. there's a red light flashing. this latest section of this tower wads completed at 1:30

this morning. crews started the 24 hour work on monday. this is video from news chopper 2. it's a bit of a surprise because they finished early. we have been talking to barts project spokesperson. getting the section done has really been a morale booster. >> yes, it is. it's really been a great month here on the bay bridge. we have been able to shift the schedule around and come up with way by doing some new designs here in oakland. see the suspension bridge just

hit its time schedule. >> reporter: let's take you back out live. you are looking at that 480-foot tower. what's next? there's a saddle that goes on top of that section. that will go up in the next couple of months. that really is the last section and then they will attach the cables. that is on property near the headquarters. we're hoping to give you a look at that a little later this morning. we will head into headquarters now because they will give a more formal reading with some animation and how this work is all done. stay with us on the morning news and we'll keep you updated. ridership on bart is on the way up. the numbers have been going up since july. officials say that's one sign the committee is getting better, recovering because more people are finding jobs and taking trains to work. they say the portion that comes from sales tax is 10% higher

than last july which means people are spending. >> it's very expensive to fill my tank up. i would rather park the car and get on bart and go. >> the all time high ridership was in 2008. that's when gas first hit $4. last month bart reported carrying 346,000 passengers on an average weekday. that's almost 10% higher than last year. i think a lot of people are trying to figure out ways to save gas. public transportation may be a very good way to do it. >> reporter: if you can drive you can drive when there's as little stop and go traffic as possible. that will help you out. for example, if you're driving you want to get on the road

early. let's move along and take a look at the commute. this morning's commute westbound bay bridge stay light coming into san francisco. 5:37. let's go to rosemary. >> reporter: it is friday and hopefully that puts a smile on your face. some of us reporting some pretty thick fog at this time. san jose checking in at 45

degrees. we'll continue with partly cloudy skies. we'll be partly the mostly cloudy today. it will be that nice filtered sunshine that brings us enough warmth. we're looking at the possibility of temperatures being warmer than yesterday. a good looking friday for you here. the storm is expected to arrive the second half of friday. a quarter inch of rain for most of us so not a big rainmaker. we'll see a little bit more there and could be a little gusty at times when the front swings on through tomorrow or should i say into sunday. forecast highs for today 64 expected in berkeley. 65 in hayward. upper 50s along the coast.

58 pacifica. 66 morgan hill this afternoon. again a great looking day today into tomorrow. increasing clouds which could be mostly cloudy for our saturday. we begin to shave our afternoon highs. sunday we're wet. we're cooler. we're damp. tuesday 60 degrees. back to the desk. thank you. the american idol judges were supposed to pick 12 finalists, but they didn't. the unexpected results of last night's show and what it means for those two bay area contestants. he disappeared four years ago, he was assumedded to be dead. why the government is convinced

a retired fbi agent is alive.

good morning to you. we'll have partly cloudy skies. we're going to be dry but the rain will return. it comes as early as saturday night. >> thank you. welcome back. good morning to you. a student stand offer at uc berkeley ended last night. eight demonstrators came down from a ledge after more than

seven hours. they were cited for trespassing. ktvu has obtained this video. this latest tape wads taken new year's eve. recent video taped arrest have put several san francisco drug cases in jeopardy. 16-year-old west leonard had just made the game winning shot. he collapsed shortly after this photo was taken. paramedics performed cpr but he later died at the hospital.

his cause of death has not yet been determined. he's the second student athlete to die in the last 14 months. last january a wrestler suffered a seizure at home hours after a match and he later died. a retired fbi agent who vanished four years ago in iran is now believed to be alive. last night the state department says it has evidence that he is somewhere in southwest asia. it's believed the government captured the 62-year-old in 2007. his family says he was in the country looking into a cigarette smuggling operation. investigators now focusing on what killed a mans of found buried in his own backyard. investigators confirmed yesterday the body is that of

74-year-old dale smith. he was reported missing by a neighbor last month. his wife bought 300 pounds of sand last year but her lawyers are not saying if it was for the patio area where his body was found. 1500 state workers in wisconsin could end their workweek today with a pink slip. governor scott walker is threatening to issue the pink slip unless one of the senate democrats doesn't return to the state. all 14 senate democrats are still hiding in neighboring illinois refusing to vote on a bill that would take away collective bargaining rights by employee unions. 17 days of protest are over at wisconsin state capital building. yesterday a judge ordered the protesters to leave the building

at closing time. the judge ruled that state officials illegal he restricted access to the capital. american idol is now down to 13 contestants and two of them are from northern california. idol began with 24 contestanst and then they made the biggest cut, cutting down to 13. the judges had to make some pretty tough decisions. >> i go by feeling. if they're making me feel something, i know they are making somebody else feel something. >> all in all it's been a roller coaster ride. >> now the top 13 will perform next wednesday at 8:00 right

here on ktvu channel 2. the transportation authority has thrown a lifeline to cal train. they face a 30 million-dollar budget shortfall and delayed a fiscal emergency yesterday. it does not have its own dedicated source of money like other transit systems and depends on money from those other transit agencies. we depend on sal. you taking care of the folks on 101? >> reporter: we are. a nice drive with no major issues right past the billboard there and all the way into downtown san francisco. it's a nice time to be driving. traffic is moving along very nilsly. you can accomplish that same

thing same thing for 580 westbound. we have dry roads out there this morning dealing with a bit of fog. we are going to continue with this dry weather for today and tomorrow. high clouds will be increasing for the afternoon. we'll be sitting in the 40s as we roll through the 7:00 hour. our noontime numbers feeling pretty good. your rain forecast for you, notice no trouble here. it really takes the second half of saturday before we begin to

see it and it slides over the north bay first. areas around is a taking shape roasa could be seeing this rain. it really takes to the evening hours while we sleep. we'll wake up sunday morning with rainy conditions and the rainy conditions will last throughout the afternoon. let's enjoy this afternoon. low 60s expected for areas right around napa. 56 in freemont. 66 degrees for gilroy. for tomorrow we're beginning to be dry at least the first half of the day. our clouds will thicken up a bit. 60 degrees on sunday and we're going to be wet. it can be a little breezy at

times. monday lingering showers. the storm will push on through and the center of the storm that's been hanging over the gulf of alaska will move through. we quickly rebound to partly cloudy skies and 60 degrees on tuesday. pam. just a few minutes ago the u.s. labor department said the national unemployment rate dropped. it stands at 8.9%. economist forecast an increase to 9.1% as people who stopped looking for jobs return to certainly for work. analysts also say the economy created jobs in february. right now looks like a pretty good alternate on that news. anyone who bought a first generation ipad can get money back from apple. apple will refund $100 to anyone who bought the old version on february 16th until last wednesday when the company

announced it was cutting the price. they must apply for the refund by the middle of this month and have your original receipt. time now 5:52. 50,000 mazda vehicles are being recalled because of spiders. 2009 and 2010 mazda models were affected in this recall. spiders can crawl up into the ventilation system making spider webs in there making it vulnerable to cracks and leaks. mazda dealers will inspect the cars and install the equipment

to keep the spiders out. why one race has started for san francisco bay to brakers rigs.

the moment you feel run down or achy nip flu-like symptoms in the bud, with oscillococcinum. get oscillo and feel like yourself again. oscillococcinum, nip it in the bud. at least two people are in

police custody in india after being accused of setting their boss on fire. it happened after a dozen workers in a feel factory found out they were being laid off. police say that's when they doused the boss. he died from severe burns. it's looking like the nba sacramento kings won't be calling it home much longer. they are determined to move to anaheim. only chance is if negotiations fall through. the owners told the mayor they would not be willing to sell the team even if a group steps up to buy it. the kingss are been in sacramento for 26 years. a couple's beach wedding video has become a you tube sensation after they were

knocked over by a rogue wave. oh, boy. kathy moore and bryan got married on october 23rd. because of the bad weather on the wedding day they returned to the beach days later to take some photos. the couple says they have gotten some offers to sell the videos to comedy shows but they aren't interested in making money off of it. more people are registering this year for the annual bay to breakers race in san francisco. more than 41,000 people have signed up. that's a report for this time of year. there are enough spaces for 50,000. the popularity of the race is being contributed to the fact it's the 100th anniversary and the newly approved ban on alcohol and floats. some people are talking it could be the last. a shocking attack on dozens

of parked cars. what stunned bay area commuters found at the end of a hard day of work and what can prevent it from happening again. plus another bay bridge construction milestone. we'll have the live report on what bridge crews have just done. good morning to you. giving you a live look this morning. we are off to a much cooler start. we'll show you what to expect for your friday and the weekend coming up.