ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> a san francisco aldi has received national recognition after being transformed into a public space. the alleyway is now known as mitch plaza. it was given the smart growth award. the epa commended the project for its historical content and helping to revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. >>> we are coming up on the first clear the air alert of the winter season. that means it is illegal to burn fire logs inside or outside. restrictions remain into effect until midnight tonight. >>> a critical meeting is underway right now in oakland that could be key in an effort to keep the a's in town. they are considering a site called victory court spree tonight's meeting is one step in the lengthy process that will allow the public to weigh in. mayor elect jean quan says that she supports the proposed plan. >> it is within walking distance to the lake and museum. it would be one of the best entertainment zones in the entire bay area. >> building the ball court would mean relocating a fire station. >>> be surfing competition at half moon bay is now openi

ken pritchett joins us live. >> reporter: antioch police briefed us this evening on the shooting that resulted in the death on a 2-year-old boy on his birthday. his parents are in jail facing felony charges. police say that the victim and his four year-old brother were playing in the master bedroom of his home. the boy's grandmother, the only other adult in the house, was in the living room. >> she heard a gunshot be the four brother entered the room. she found the 2-year-old boy in the issue. >> reporter: police can be seen arresting the child's father. they also arrested the boy's mother. >> it was determined that she had recently purchased a handgun. he had removed the gun from the state, voted it, and place it in the drawer -- the safe loaded it, and, placed it in the drawer. >> reporter: the victim's name has not been released. >> he was the sweetest person you could ever meet. >> reporter: this neighbor says that the victim was like the grandson -- was like a grandson to her. >> you do not need it is easy for a child to find something like that and they think it's a toy and they

ken pritchett is in san bruno now with the details, ken. >> reporter: with this fence blind behind me, you can see the blast zone. it appears that investigators have a better idea of what did not cause the explosion. >> the september ninth explosion was not caused by a preexisting leak or excavation damage. that's according to the ntsb. >> we move on to looking for yet another cause. >> reporter: jackie spears says this update from the ntsb does raise serious concerns about pg & e's records. >> we know that they didn't know what they had under the ground at this location. >> reporter: the pipeline examined by the ntsb had many welded seams, but pg & e had reported to investigators that this was a seamless section of pipe. >> we know there's a discrepancy there, and we're working to look at all of the records for that pipeline. >> reporter: pg & e offered no reason why they had differing reporting. a final report is due late next year. in the meantime rebuilding a neighborhood where eight lives were lost continues. and some lawmakers say until we have answers,pg & e should restrict use

ken pritchett has more. ken? >> reporter: they et -- they voted here last night but the city council members we talked to said they weren't available to comment on explain that vote. megagrowths may be on hold but some say the plan will go go through. this man is founder of oakster damage university and part of a group of investors who plan to apply for one of eight city permits but never approved of the megagrow approach. >> i think they are gonna look in to allowing more, maller cultivation facilities which is what we lobbied for from the beginning. >> reporter: oakland has moved to allow industrial scale marijuana cultivation drew national attention. the alameda county d.a.'s office says council members may -- the counsel memorials says they will change their ordinance. lee doesn't consider this a s etback. >> this is one delay. i think history is on our side. >> reporter: lee says he and others -- lee says he and others delayed submitting their applications to the city because they expected this delay. the ci

ken pritchett, ktvu news. >>> today gavin newsom refused to sign a hire ordnance. so far there's a faith agreement. mayor newsom is sending the ordinance back for more review. >>> the san francisco 49ers team will stay in san francisco likely for the next four years. a tentative deal reached by the niners and the mayor newsom allows the team to leave in 2015. the deal still needs to be approved by the board of supervisors. >>> jerry brown's budget cuts are hitting the state's lobbying groups in washington, d.c. the director of the state office tells the sacramento bee that it has cut the budget. >>> earlier this month we brought you the story of a school in san pablo that was in the verge of closing at the end of the year. many families were devastated. tonight there could be new life for that school. rob roth has been following this story since the start, he joins u now in san pablo with the latest. >> reporter: the gates here remain locked until after winter break, for a while it seemed they would remain blocked. but we've learned that the school will not close a

ken pritchett made his way to the sierra and says scientists were surprised on what they found today. gurkey has performed the measure of the snow packs for decades. this year's results. >> i'm pretty surprised. the southern sierra is even more phenomenal. it started building about two weeks and and has seemingly not let up. >> reporter: here it was 158% of normal for this test site in the central sierra off highway 50, a big difference from last year. >> pretty much double that we had last year, same location, same time of year. >> reporter: the key to a healthy water supply is continued snowfall in january through march. >> most of the reservoirs are in flood control mode meaning they're making releases to main storage for flood control space. so everyone though we're starting out with a pretty phenomenal snow pack. come april 1st, it may not be so good. >>> in fact, the snow pack results for the state are about 200% of normal so you know the blizzard conditions there in south lake tahoe made it difficult for us to bring you ken pritchett's live report. it is a blizzard there tonigh

i talked to ken pritchett, he's up there at south shore and he said listen it's a big storm. he's been in a lot of these. it's coming down hard, windy conditions, it's a full out blizzard. thursday not a bad day. friday not a bad day. saturday more showers coming our way. this was the real deal and it's moving through. we have that urban and stream advisory. it remains in effect through 1:00 a.m. the north bay urban flood advisory drops at midnight. wind advisories staying in effect. but a fast moving storm and this is what you get. if this thing stalled out, and we've seen that happen. when that happens everything breaks lose. this one is very progressive. >>> from bay area nature lovers spent this day counting birds. >> like a nonstop just stream of looms going by. >> reporter: the annual san francisco bird count is going on. the associate says the number of birds have climbed in the last years. >>> elton john has something new to sing about. the legendary singer and his husband david furnish are now parents. on christmas day, a surrogate gave birth to their son. the couple

i talked to ken pritchett, he's up there at south shore and he said listen it's a big storm. he's been in a lot of these. it's coming down hard, windy conditions, it's a full out blizzard. thursday not a bad day. friday not a bad day. saturday more showers coming our way. this was the real deal and it's moving through. we have that urban and stream advisory. it remains in effect through 1:00 a.m. the north bay urban flood advisory drops at midnight. wind advisories staying in effect. but a fast moving storm and this is what you get. if this thing stalled out, and we've seen that happen. when that happens everything breaks lose. this one is very progressive. >>> from bay area nature lovers spent this day counting birds. >> like a nonstop just stream of looms going by. >> reporter: the annual san francisco bird count is going on. the associate says the number of birds have climbed in the last years. >>> elton john has something new to sing about. the legendary singer and his husband david furnish are now parents. on christmas day, a surrogate gave birth to their son. the couple

ken pritchett live in oakland. >> reporter: that 9-year-old is recovering here at children's hospital. many questions remain unanswered about last night's shooting at this house. who did it, why and the question that likely can't be answered, why would anybody shoot a 9-year-old girl? yesterday there was a door here, a door opened by a child. >> unidentityed individual had come to the individual and knocked on the door, the girl opened the door, one shot was fired and then nine to ten more shots were fired. >> reporter: police say it happened at about 10:30 last night. there are bullet holes and shattered glass and through the window we talked to the victim's aunt. she is afraid and didn't want her face shown. she was upstairs. >> crazy. lot of kids in this house run around crying because some bleep shot the house. >> reporter: the little girl is in stable condition with gun shot wounds to the neck and back. the aunt runs a daycare and said the house must have been targeted by mistake. >> i'm sure, we don't have any problem was anybody. >> reporter: police didn't release information a

ken pritchett is up in the snow, sal castaneda following the

ktvu's ken pritchett live in antioch tonight with our report. ken-- >> reporter: frank, we're at police headquarters where antioch police briefs us. a 2-year-old boy suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head from according to police a handgun that has recently been purchased by the boy's mother. first let's take a look at the child's father. 26-year-old eddy karr. he was arrested along with the 2-year-old's mother for felony child endangerment resulting in death and reckless storage of a firearm. at their home, the 2-year-old and his 4-year-old brother were being watched over by their grandmother. she was in the living room, the boys were in the parent's bedroom. a gunshot was heard by the grandmother. the 4-year-old came running out. when the grandmother went into the bedroom she found the two- year-old boy there with a gunshot wound to the head. the boy was taken to the hospital aunt pronounced dead. the handgun had been in a safe until this morning when the father for some reason loaded the gun and placed it in an unsecured drawer accessible

ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> the u.s. environmental protection agency is giving san francisco's mid plaza the national award. mint plaza in downtown san francisco used to be the old jessie alley t was converted two years ago into a public plaza and festival space. >>> coming up at 6:00, it's c alled "operation second c hance." 1700 people here have take advantage of it and avoided spending time in jail over the holidays. we'll explain how it works and who qualifies for it. julie haener is in the newsroom with a look at some other stories. >>> also, at 6:00, will the as stay in oakland? >>> also ahead they don't cause a -- they don't call them man's best friend for nothing. why this dog is being called a hero -- hero tonight and how it almost lost its life in the process. >>> and a new development in a horrible crime against three women. what police released today in hopes of catching the two suspects. see you the 6:00. >>> ever look in the night sky and wonder how many stars are up there? well, the answer may be a lot mor

as ken pritchett explains today, that report raises questions. >> what caused that pg & e pipeline to explode? jackie spears says the ntsb update rules down the cause. >> we now move on to looking for yet another cause. >> reporter: the damage section of the pipeline was taken to an ntsb lab for analysis. what investigators did find was that the pipeline was not seamless but had been welded together with many seams. >> it troubles me, greatly and i think that that is one of the issues that we have to address swiftly. >> as part of this investigation we have been conducting an exhaustive check of our records to ensure their accuracy. we're providing all of this information to the ntsb. >> reporter: ntsb offered no information about the incorrect condition of the pipe but have not -- paul palavos mother lives within a block of the blast zone. >> hopefully they will get it right to make sure everything is okay. as far as that, no. she feels very safe. >>> one concern for lawmakers is if pg & e lawmakers were correct about this pipeline, what about the rest in their system. ntsb investiga

as ken pritchett explains today, that report raises questions. >> what caused that pg & e pipeline to explode? jackie spears says the ntsb update rules down the cause. >> we now move on to looking for yet another cause. >> reporter: the damage section of the pipeline was taken to an ntsb lab for analysis. what investigators did find was that the pipeline was not seamless but had been welded together with many seams. >> it troubles me, greatly and i think that that is one of the issues that we have to address swiftly. >> as part of this investigation we have been conducting an exhaustive check of our records to ensure their accuracy. we're providing all of this information to the ntsb. >> reporter: ntsb offered no information about the incorrect condition of the pipe but have not -- paul palavos mother lives within a block of the blast zone. >> hopefully they will get it right to make sure everything is okay. as far as that, no. she feels very safe. >>> one concern for lawmakers is if pg & e lawmakers were correct about this pipeline, what about the rest in their system. ntsb investiga

in gold river, ken pritchett? >>> for the very latest, you can always log on to ktvu.com. and there's a list where you can pick up free sandbags. >>> dozens of hotel workers are raising their voices right now at san francisco's union square. >> they are protesting self- contract negotiations between their unions and the unions of hilton. the hotel tonight is telling a different story. >> they are paying their top officers bonuses of $3.5 million this year. and the expenses for our hotel are about 2.5 million to pay for everything that we need. >> there's an offer on the table right now but the unions walked away from it. it preserves pension, it preserves health care and it preserves wages. we would hope the unions would find that good in a bad economy. >> reporter: its workers have gone more than 16 months without a contract, it's calling for a boycott of the union hotel. >>> a forensic expert testified that dna evidence linked several defendants to the gang rape of a teenager. a crime lab supervisor said dna samples from four of the defendants have been linked to semen f

ken pritchett is in with late details. >> reporter: vallejo place made that arrest yesterday afternoon. a few hours ago i spoke to the co-owner of that day care who says the allegations against her son are false. this is 30-year-old samuel cowper, he was living at his parents home, a home which is also licensed as day care for ten years. but not now, the license was suspended after two girls claimed the suspect molested her. >> the second girl is now eight years girl, she last attended this care facility about two years ago. she's saying that during that time, mr. samuel cowper caused her to disrobe and take pictures of her while she was nude. >> reporter: the day care did not report that cowpert was living in the home so no background check was conducted. the day care's owner, cowper's mother says her son has never been in trouble. and there may be more victims. >> that is a concern of ours not knowing how many victims are out there that be unwilling to come forward. >> reporter: investigators took cameras, computers and other evidence from the home. cowper faces two counts of lewd co

ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> google has released a powerful new online tool that illustrates the evolution of language. it was unveiled today and enables users to type any word or phrase and see how its usage frequency has changed. google says its data set holds 500 billion words and phrases from 5 million books in english and five other languages. >>> a state-of-the-art project is taking shape in the heart of san francisco. how city hall will be helping the environment. chief meteorologist bill martin is on storm watch and he will be here with an y ar news at 7:00 on your computer. we are streaming live on the web at ktvu.com. so, we book a flight to hawaii using our points from chase sapphire. last minute... on christmas. and sitting next to us, chevy chase. and we really hit it off. we play golf, and then the luau. he's like da vinci with ice. and after, we help hang christmas decorations. wait, wait, wait. you flew last minute... on christmas... with points from chase sapphire? yeah. amazing. believe it. with points from chase sapphire, you can book airline tickets with n

ken pritchett has the update. >> reporter: they prepare to search the backcountry on skis and snow shoes for the skier missing since 1:30 yesterday afternoon. >> the weather has been a big- time factor in the search. the heavy snow has prevented us from using a lot of are told. >> reporter: search teams stayed in the backcountry overnight and through most of today. the sheriff's department says that she is an experienced skier. >> i think her friends and her, the intent was to snowboard down and circle back around. that was not the case. >> reporter: they did find tracks but they were quickly erased by the blowing snow. survival overnight might seem improbable, but there is reason for hope. >> we have had many searches out here incidents where people have been in these conditions for four or five or six days. >> reporter: several factors will come into play. is she in an area that is sheltered from the wind? they do say she was wearing warm clothing and a comment and she had a limited knowledge of survival skills -- and a helmet and she had a limited knowledge of survival skills. >>> a m

ken pritchett will be following that for the 5:00 news. reporting live in san mateo, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 n ews. >> thank you, kraig. >>> some rain put a damper on the morning commute. are we done with the rain for now or is some still falling? >> still a little bit. most of it was this morning but occasionally bands are going through giving us light rain, but some decent totals, especially toward the north. there a lot of cloud cover streaming toward the pacific. today is more clouds than anything else. it's on the mild side. things are starting to pick up a little bit. it was very windy rain for a while up in the sierra. that's since turned to know. you can see some of the coverage is by ginning to increase -- beginning to increase. after that it find of -- kind of tails off. this is just a little teaser of what's to come later in the week. we'll have more on that in our weather segment. >> all right. look forward to that. thank you. >>> not good news for the local economy, silicon valley giant yahoo! is getting ready to hand out

ken pritchett. >> the weather is delaying some flights out of san francisco national airport ask sfo saying short hall flights up and down the coast are delayed about 30 to 60 minutes. other flights aren't affected. bad weather in the uk has lead to most flights being canceled in and out of britain. the duty manager is urging everybody heading to the airport to call airlines for the latest information. operations at san jose and oakland are running smoothly. >> it's slow going to the sierra where up to two feet of new snow has fallen. a combination of course rain, ice and snow is making for less than ideal conditions. there was a steady stream of traffic late this afternoon on interstate 80 as you can see here. chains are required tonight on i-80 from king vail to donor lake and on highway 50. for all the latest on the series of wet weather systems heading toward the bay be sure to log on to the website and there you will find live radar maps and locations to pick up sandbags. that's all at ktvu.com. >> just in time before that next storm arrives construction crews today finished sta

ken pritchett has hour report from alpine meadows. >> reporter: this is video of search and rescue teams this morning as they prepare to search the backcountry on skis and snowshoes for the snowboarder missing since 1:30 yesterday afternoon. >> the weather has been a big factor in the search. the high winds, the avalanche hazards, and heavy snow has really present us from using tools we can use. >> those search teams stayed in the treacherous backcountry overnight and through most of today. willis is an intermediate skier who left the boundaries. >> i think that her friends and her the intent was to snowboard down and circle back around. but one fortunately that wane the case. >> search teams did find tracks but they were erased by the blowing snow, with such harsh conditions more than 2 feet of snow, survival overnight might seem improbable but there is reason for hope. >> we have had many searches out here, many incidents where people have been out in the conditions for four or five, six days. >> the sheriff's department says a lot of factors come into play. did she create a snow cave

. >>> ktvu's ken pritchett is live with san francisco, ken. >> reporter: frank, at this time tomorrow night san francisco city hall will look quite different. it'll be illuminated red to mark aids day. there has been progress made but also a rise in the disease. >> young people always feel invincible, looks like it's less severe. that it's not as important a disorder because there's a treatment for it. but this is so wrong. >> reporter: dr. chou says while infection rates are steady, youth rates are rising. the past year has seen advances in treatment and outreach and cuts to aids programs. center mark leno says the governor vetoed $56 million in treatment one of which provided medicine to indegent patients. >> it's the humane thing to do because it keeps people alive. >> reporter: at the asian and pacific wellness center, new and ominous the research was discussed. hiv infection rates will surpass latinos in five years and african americans by 2020. senate director thomas says outreach is more critical than ever. >> we are seeing huge rises in the epidemic, particularly in men and me

in oakland, ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> a hercules man is facing criminal charges for allegedly stealing if electronics from hotel rooms. investigators say 28-year-old robert huang gained access to a hotel room and stole go laptops. one of them was later recognized on a craigslist ad. officers arrested huang for possession of stolen property, bureaury and possession of burglary tools. >> three people accused of abusing and shackling a tracy teenager are expected to be sentenced. michael schumacher and his wife and the legal guardian caren ramirez pleaded guilty to charges including use of a deadly weapon and causing great body injury to a child. all face sentences of at least 30 years from in print. the cause made national headlines after the victim escaped and ran to a nearby health club. >>> we have new details about jail letters by the woman held withhold punta gorda duggard for 18 years. the two are charged with kidnapping duggard in 1991. >>> a sea lion who has been strand on land before had to be rescued today. this is na'au a 170-pound female california sea lion. marine m

ken pritchett reports. >> reporter: when a sign that marks the american river is partially under water you know the river is high. >> it is definitely running way above what it normally does. >> reporter: bill bootenes walks his dogs along the river, but where he walks is now unwater. the large release of water is intended to reduce that very risk. >> the thing is, we want to make sure that we have room for the storms that are forecast to come into the area. >> reporter: lewis moore with the federal bureau of reclamation says fulsome lake is -- this large of release in december is unusual. >> it's been a few years. this is the second year where conditions have been improved where three, four years prior we were in drought situation. >> reporter: releasing water now leaves room for the eventual run off. but the snow pack is not the immediate concern, it is the several inches of rain expected by this time next week. the reservoirs were so last week that releases of this type were not necessary ahead of a december storm. it's a sign the reservoirs are in better shape. >>> the suspect in a

. >>> it is the most comprehensive report in the san bruno -- ktvu's ken pritchett live now in san bruno at the blast zone with more, ken. >> as you can see there are still flowers affixed to a chain link fence where lives were lost. there are many empty lots here in this neighborhood. once black, now they are green covered in grass. there's been progress in rebuilding here and progress in the investigation. today's report answers some questions but does not provide a cost. >> what caused that pg & e pipeline to explode on september 9th killing eight and destroying 35 homes. jackie spears says the ntsb report gives some clues. >> we've revealed some piercing of piles due to some excavations. we now move on looking for yet another cause. >> reporter: the damage section of pipeline was taken to an ntsb lab for analysis. what analysis found that the pipeline was not intact like p & g said, but had many repaired areas. there is no indication that seams or a lack there of played a role in the explosion. with the final report still pending, neighbors are stuck waiting for answers. paul palavo'

. >>> ktvu's ken pritchett is at sfo tonight, he'll have a complete report coming up live from sfo at 6:00. >>> construction crews are working to repair a levee. construction crews began work a few minutes ago at low tide and have just three hours to repair the leak before the tide returns. no homes or farmland are threatened by the leak. >>> for the very latest weather in your neighborhood any time be sure to log on to our website ktvu.com. just click on the weather tab. >>> new information tonight about what happened in the moments just before oakland police shot and killed a teenagers following a high speed chase. authorities are also painting a troubling picture tonight about the suspects background. patti lee is back in oakland with our report, patti. >> reporter: oakland police say the men who drove into this fence then fled on foot were known members of a gang. one of which aimed this pistol at a police officer willing to fire. oakland's assistant chief jordan explains how efforts to arrest gang members led to the a officer shooting. >> the occupants were armed with an assault

ktvu's ken pritchett is live now at sfo on the very latest with this security flap. >> reporter: that pilot used his cell phone camera to snap the security that we're all used to. but it's what he shot behind scenes, his security blind scenes he says shows a gaping hole in airport security. >> reporter: he has kept both the airline he works for and his identity a secret. this is the pilot from sacramento that shot video at sfo. video he posted to you tube in september. >> you can see airport security is a farce. it's only smoke and mirrors. >> reporter: the pilot claims that people are checked by sfo but not the people behind the scenes. >> how secure is the airport when everybody inside is checked but everybody on the floor is not. >> authorized personnel, slide card through reader. >> reporter: the videos were removed from you tube. the pilot who was authorized to carry a gun on board, says this videos show federal agents confiscating his gun after what he calls a security lapse. pilots we spoke to were not mixed on the situation. >> i think he did nothing wrong. he should make it p

ken pritchett reports. >> reporter: when a sign that marks the american river is partially under water you know the river is high. >> it is definitely running way above what it normally does. >> reporter: bill bootenes walks his dogs along the river, but where he walks is now unwater. the large release of water is intended to reduce that very risk. >> the thing is, we want to make sure that we have room for the storms that are forecast to come into the area. >> reporter: lewis moore with the federal bureau of reclamation says fulsome lake is -- this large of release in december is unusual. >> it's been a few years. this is the second year where conditions have been improved where three, four years prior we were in drought situation. >> reporter: releasing water now leaves room for the eventual run off. but the snow pack is not the immediate concern, it is the several inches of rain expected by this time next week. the reservoirs were so last week that releases of this type were not necessary ahead of a december storm. it's a sign the reservoirs are in better shape. >>> the suspect in a

ken pritchett is live from the nevada state line with more on the conditions up there via telephone. >> reporter: good morning, tori. we're at stateline. i can tell you right now, the conditions -- the snow is coming down, it's a light snow. lot-- not a lot of wind right now. it's a completely different story. very strong winds here in s tateline. you might be able to hear the sound of front loaders here in our hotel parking lotter chooing out -- clear everything out the snow so the cars can get out of the parking lot. a foot of snow fell at our location here at lake level. as you mentioned on a more curious note, there is that search for the snowboarder up in alpine meadows. and that search effort was hampered because of what was described by resort personnel there it's blizzard-like conditions. i can tell you from being just at lake level with the -- there is a strong -- with the strong winds and the blowing snow last night at the higher elevation. it's easy to see how those search efforts could be hampered because of the missing s nowboarder. they said they had two feet of snow at