. >> and i'm scott mcgrew in for laura. we want to get right to rob with the forecast and a good-looking weekend ahead. >> the weekend will look pretty outstanding but 53 in san francisco. east wind at 14 so it's a little gusty across the span of the bay bridge right now. notice our temperatures throughout the day not changing a whole lot from where we're starting. we'll see in the 50s all day hau long with rain at times. same story right now on your 680 commute through dublin this morning. back to you. >> all right. let's go over to mike on the commute. >> yeah, rob has been talking about rain through the north bay and definitely it was an issue. we had some spinouts and trees down in sonoma county and solano county. but right here at the bay bridge, dimly lit this morning. some of those streetlights look like they were not turned on overnight. maybe some of this construction playing a factor in that as well. so wet roads and dimmer conditions at the toll plaza will play appear issue, but so far a pleasant driving approach

i'm scott mcgrew. >> and i'm marla tellez. it is 5:30 on your wednesday morning. brent and laura have the morning off. our top story this morning, the weather. it is triggering a state of emergency in parts of california. >> we have team coverage. kris sanchez is live in pacifica. christie smith following the weather in the east bay and rob mayeda in the weather center tracking the storm as it rolls over the bay area. let's start with rob. good morning. >> good morning. we're seeing the wettest part of the day right now with pockets of heavy rain crossing over right in time for your morning commute. notice the trend as we head towards noon and 4:00. we see the rain changing to scattered showers. later todaye'll see the showers shutting down. right now the radar firing big time over the peninsula and right now approaching oakland. it's been dry the last 5 to 10 minutes but that's about to change as heavier rain moves in and that's where nbc bay area's christie smith joins us, talking about the one-two punch of wind and rain causing problems. >> reporter: good morni

scott mcgrew is here with more thoon. >> reporter: good morning. we've talked about how bay area companies have billions in the bank so the president wants ceos from silicon valley to spend some of that money on hiring people. he's talking to the heads of google and cisco and a number of other companies, from pepsi to general electric. now, in exchange, those ceos would like to see some regulations relaxed. now, the meeting is just under way in washington as we speak and we've been listening to the president as he has been addressing the ceos, including those from silicon valley. if he says something newsworthy to our area, we will bring it right to you. >> thanks a lot, scott. the time now 6:35. >>> the clock is also ticking on a big decision that might impact how much money your family can make next year. >> it's all connected because the biological clock is ticking faster and faster. we'll answer why more 20-somethings are having children. >>> plus facebook's founder is the person of the year and one of his interns took on a worldwide project. w

i'm scott mcgrew. it is 4:30. let's go right to rob meteorologist -- that's a good name, i like it with yr mayed da forecast. >> a rainy forecast today. we'll take you into the east bay, 580/680 interchange, starting to see light frrain in fremont. more substantial rain lurking in the north bay. this is spilling south as you go through the morning commute. you can see the system on the bay area. rainfall totals around the north bay, 1 to 2 inches of rain the next 24 hours so pretty substantial rain there. for the east bay mainly a half inch to an inch of rain during the day today. dublin and livermore, upper 50s today. we'll see mid to upper 50s no matter where you go, from oakland to berkeley eastward to concord and pittsburg. we will have more opportunities for rain for the rest of the workweek but a changing forecast for the weekend. a look at that coming up. >>> let's turn over to mike. >> we're going from water to fire. an earlier report of a fire in haywood. an apartment building had some smoke. there was a

scott mcgrew is off today. it is now 4:30. we want to start with meteorologist christina loren. you were right on when it came to the timing of the storm. what can we expect the rest of the day? >> we've got a little more moisture coming your way this morning. good morning to you. it looks like this is what you can expect as we head throughout the morning tuhours. we'll see precipitation coming down mostly in the south bay, but let's go ahead and zoom in and show you where the showers are taking place in the east bay this morning. we just had a little bit of rain come down in places like livermore, right now pushing south towards fremont and san jose. as we head through the next couple of hours, all the showers will start to clear, butur a co blast behind it could drop our temperatures into the 30s overnight. we'll talk about that coming up. back to you. >>> of course this is having an effect on your morning commute. mike has a look at some of the trouble spots. >> stick with me first of all and i'll give you notes about napa, sonoma county. reports of flooding up there, as well

good morning, everyone, i'm scott mcgrew. the next time that you check into a hotel or try on get past a bouncer at a popular nightclub the kind of room you get or whether you get past that velvet rope may very well depend on whether the people know who you are on twitter. >> do you know who i am? >> do you know who i am? >> do you know who i am? >> do people know who the [ bleep ] i am. >> i don't why i'm going. >> in this day in age figuring out who you are and whether you're worth, letting past the velvet rope, can be figured out mathematically. the max plank institute in germany studied the influence of twitter users and found it's not the total number of followers that make you influential, but the quality of those followers. how often they retweet your messages, repeat what you say, and how often you come up in electronic conversation. measure that and you can instantly get a score of sorts, whether the person you're dealing with is -- >> kind of a big deal. >> really? >> advertising age says a casino in las vegas and v

i am scott mcgrew. it is 4:30. we'll get you started with a cold and wet hour-by-hour forecast and rob mayeda. good morning, rob. >> good morning, scott. we're seeing a little fog out there as well this morning and our temperatures mostly 30s, maybe not quite as cold as those 20s we've seen at this hour the last few mornings but look out for patchy fog towards the tri-valley. we also have a spare the air alert for basically a no burn day. no wood-burning fireplaces or stoves as we have particulate matter pollution starting to ramp up. the worst of it up in the north bay valleys. not much in the way of clouds but we've got showers moving down the north coast and that will start to arrive around the east bay a little later on this week. despite the chilly start to the morning, not really a bad forecast. you can see some of the warmer places around pleasanton close to 60, even oakland near 60 degrees. we'll be watching increasing chances of rain as we wrap up the rest of the week. we have a look at that in the seven-d

i'm scott mcgrew. it is 4:30. let's immediately talk to rob about, goodness gracious, all kinds of stuff going on. >> we've been seeing some pretty wild weather here but it's actually worse in southern california and off to the east this morning. you can see the snow flying in the sierra. around the bay area, as we take you into the south bay, fremont looking at the rain. scattered showers across highway 17. across the tri-valley you're seeing some rain. heavier rain right around san francisco, pacifica heading up to the golden gate bridge, about to see a downpour in the next ten minutes. across the north bay you can see pockets of rain heading off to the north and east. if you want to find some sunshine, we'll see some clearing skies and a dry forecast by tomorrow morning that will probably lead to some patchy fog. so today kind of a rainy start. we'll see mid to upper 50s for highs today and then the sun will come out with scattered showers. the showers should shut down by later on this afternoon. highs in the m

scott mcgrew joins us with more. >> there are really only three buckets you can draw from if you want to reduce the deficit. defense, medicare and social security. those are the three big expenses for government. president obama's deficit commission, made up of democrats and republicans, has suggested raising the retirement age to 9 69, adding 15 cents to the gas tax, even taking away our mortgage tax deduction. we'll hear more from the commission today on what they're going to recommend. >> there is one clear thread in this complex tapestry of debt, deficit and interest and that is this. america, you have a serious problem. time is short to address it. so we have done our level best in this effort, and meeting the terms of the executive order of the president who created us. >> you can almost hear the defeat in his voice because the commission can only recommend, they can't cut your social security. in fact they may not have enough votes to get out of their own commission and send this recommendation to congress. if they can, that will come friday. laura, this is a lot like all the r

mcgrew has the story. >> yahoo! has released its most list of most searched for terms in 2010. the top spot was the bp oil spill. the most searched for term this year, followed by the world cup. remember the vuvuzela. for all the interest, do you even remember who won this? in third place was singer miley cyrus and the rest of the list is pretty much other celebrities. we're getting the numbers back on monday's online sales. the so-called cyber monday where online stores give discounts, sales were up 31% for that day compared to the previous friday. this, according to core metrics. amazon.com got the most visits followed by walmart. cyber monday is totally made up. a lady came up with the word to describe this tendency for people to come back to work after thanksgiving and use work computers to shop, but these days we have computers at home, we don't even shop much from work anymore. but stores online have lowered those prices. it's become sort of self-fulfilling. back to you. >> kind of interesting. >>> a live look

i'm scott mcgrew. >> and i'm marla tellez. brent and laura are off today. christie smith and kris sanchez are live out in the elements this morning. we start with meteorologist rob mayeda to find out how long the rain is going to last. rob. >> well, this morning we've been watching that rain slowly heading out of the bay area. i'll show you the temperatures first hour by hour. most of the bay area heading right to the warmest part of the day, 2:00. we'll see mid to upper 50s today, but we'll see sun breaking through the clouds. one of the changes we're already seeing this morning is some of heavy rain has moved on but over san francisco and heading to the east bay, bay bridge, golden gate bridges getting hit by pretty good rain. we'll talk more about this system that is slow to leave the bay area and our next storm coming in for the weekend in just a few minutes. back to you. >>> several homeowners across the east bay are cleaning up after getting soaked. >> today in the east bay's christie smith is live in oakland this morning where a tree fell into a hous

coming up "today in the bay," business and tech reporter, scott mcgrew, will show us everything we need to know about super saturday deals and the last-minute push on whether that will have a big-time impact for stores. we will even show you how to find some super parking spots. >>> this morning, police are on the manhunt for the real life grinches behind a holiday heist in the south bay. the owner of this home says he gets a kick out of decorating the heck out of hit home. he woke up to his dogs barking and two people ransacking his christmas decorations and running off with two light displays shaped like labrador retreefrs. what the grinches didn't know is he had the cameras rolling. >> i turned the cameras on and i saw somebody up on the front porch here. we had two labrador light-up dogs. one was missing and the other one was quickly being taken off the porch. >> all the suspects appear to drive off in a four-door white sedan. the video isn't clear enough for the license plates to show up. the south bay grandmother says, her 5-year-old grandmother begged her for an inflatable christ

mcgrew, and traffic with mike inouye. [ female announcer ] dry, cracked hands? gold bond ultimate concentrated cream heals and protects like lotion can't. gold bond concentrated therapy. real medicine, ultimate healing. come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage: five years or 50,000 miles of complimentary scheduled maintenance, and no cost replacement of wear and tear items. visit your bay area jaguar dealer during the platinum celebration for a $599 lease offer on the 2011 xf. >>> good morning, everybody. the time is 5:13. a live look outside this morning. the oakland airport in the distance there. i do believe they have more service to hawaii these days if you're looking to get away and get warm. >> why are you telling me? >> i believe we talked about that earlier this week. right now it is 5:13. >>> a terrifying scene unfolded during a florida school board meeting yesterday. it

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i'm scott mcgrew. it is 4:30. let's start with meteorologist rob mayeda, your east bay forecast and commute as well. >> mike has the morning off. i wish the traffic will take the morning off but we'll watch that for you. right now 40s and 50s outside. a little chilly in a few spots. not much wind. patchy fog will be the thing that will slow down your morning commute. it's mainly out toward the delta and up toward napa. visibility less than a mile. here's the radar view across the east bay. off to the east, chain controls up in the sierra along interstate 80 and highway 50 so if you're heading to the high country, look out for that. our next round of significant rain will hold off till friday but it will pack quite a punch. not a bad day around the east bay but a little cool. 55 livermore, 56 richmond, some upper 50s in the warmer places today, but notice as we head inland out towards fairfield, highs in the low 50s. coming up we'll talk more about pretty heavy rain totals as we approach the weekend and your seven-

." >> good morning, everyone, i'm scott mcgrew. it may sound counterintuitive but one of the best ways to succeed in high-tech is to share your company's secrets and help other organizations stand on your shoulders. put another way -- first developers, developers, developers, developers. >> reporter: this is microsoft's steve ballmer some years ago making a spectacle of himself while also making an important point. >> yes. >> reporter: third party developers are key to the success of many high-tech companies. the apple iphone is more than a pretty telephone because it's also a platform for tens of thousands of apps created by outside developers. facebook encouraged the use of its software, what programmers call its a.p.i. by third parties that led to the success of the company of zynga, maker of games found on facebook. i-5 a small manufacturer of memory chips that can turn any come ra into a wi-fi-enabled camera jus opened up its a.p.i. to developers. already successful company with a very clever product helps its outside relation

. >>> you're watching "today in the east bay" with scott mcgrew, weather with christina loren, traffic with mike inouye. choices: some are minor; others life-changing. but what if your small choices matter the most, like, the stairs or the elevator? baked or fried? what if these small choices determine if you'll be the 1 out of every 3 women who'll die of heart disease this year? these choices might not seem like life-changing today, but women are dying of heart disease at the rate of almost 1 per minute. luckily, it's mostly preventable. choose to act. make your choice at goredforwomen.org. s >>> welcome back, everybody. another live look outside this morning. a little bit warmer than what we saw yesterday, not by a whole lot, but christina has a look at your forecast as we start the new year. it is new year's day this morning at 4:44. there's a major roadblock on the way to yosemite for new year's eve. state leaders closed highway 140 into the park after a dump truck-sized rock fell onto the road. it fell about a half a mile east of yosemite view lodge just inside the park boundary.

mcgrew says, one of the most powerful as well. >> reporter: "time" magazine points out if facebook were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world and mark zuckerberg is its t-shirt wearing head of state. >> "time" magazine's person of the year? >> "time" magazine's person of the year for 2010 is mark zuckerberg, the founder of facebook, the ceo of facebook. something that's transforming the way we live our lives every day. >> reporter: the honor puts zuckerberg on the level of luminaries like bill clinton and gorbachev and hitler and stalin. the dotcom billionaire is not the youngest person ever honored. at 26 he ties queen elizabeth named person of the year back in 1952. charles lindbergh "time's" first person of the year was 25. zuckerberg responded to the recognition through naturally enough facebook where he paioind out facebook is the work of a team and he says i'm happy to be a part of that. back to you. >> he's a part of that. among runners-up, julian assange and miners in chile. he follows the likes of ben bernanke, president obama, russian prime minister vla

. >>> i'm scott mcgrew. coming up at 9:00, one of my favorite people alex bloomberg of "this american life" with join me on "press here" a better understanding than anyone about the economy, toxic assets. we promise we will make it interesting. great guy. joins sarah lacy, and john swartz on "press here" after "meet the press" later this morning. >>> welcome back. good morning. thank you for joining us. 7:39 on this gorgeous sunday morning. here's a live look as the sunrises this morning. >>> this time of year, many people start thinking about getting into shape. google trend show searchs for gyms spike in late december as people make their new year's resolutions. but, gym memberships can be pricey. so joining me now is fitness expert jill mccall. thank you for joining us this morning. >> good morning. thanks so much. >> you say you do not need a gym in order to get in shape to lose that weight. how do we do it then? >> you don't. you can use the world as your gym. everything is right at your finger tips in

. >>> coming up on "today in the bay," business and tech reporter, scott mcgrew, has everything you need to know about the super saturday deals and a last-minute push to have big-time pay-outs at the stores. coming up at 7:00, a holiday heist. the grinch is caught on camera. more local news coming up in 30 minutes. rye now, back to the "today" show. it is exactly one week until christmas and we hope everyone on the plaza has started their shopping before today. back inside, studio 1a i'm amy robach along with lester holt. and coming up this half hour, casey anthony is back in the news. >> the 24-year-old mother stands trial accused of murdering her daughter caylee. new evidence has just been released in the case. we're going to tell you about some of the details from letters she's written to what she would like to do once released from prison. >> then, the diana effect. she was the people's princess, and of course, prince william's mother. 13 years now, after her death, she is still a force in his life. coming up we'll take a look at how diana still remains a guiding hand, including in h

i'm scott mcgrew. we'll check in with mike inouye. >> the upper deck of the bay bridge, the backup goes back toward the maze. wet conditions there. but a stalled delivery truck as your heading towards treasure island so that will be an issue until the bridge crew can help that person off of the bridge. we'll look a little further south. both directions of 880 slow, north through oakland not so bad but south down to the dumbarton bridge very slow. an earlier accident has cleared but the rain continues through this area and that will be a factor for the morning commute. here's the south because with northbound directions where they take up slowing as well. the area you showed with a lot of rain now showing a lot of slowing. >>> san francisco and oakland, you can see pretty good rain coming around down around the golden gate bridge. mike just pointed out from fremont down into san jose starting to see some downpours in the santa clara valley. we'll be in and out of the rain at times. this line of rain whi