Night on the way. No rain in sight the next few days. A couple of live shots. As lisa said, fog could be a factor in the north bay. The bay bridge traffic is flowing nicely. No metering lights yet. Our traffic map is looking green which is great. A couple headsup holiday alerts. Golden gate Ferry Service reduced out of larkspur. Muni will be free after 8 00 p. M. Plenty of ways for you to get around. Sue, thank you. We all know what a problem mail theft is. This morning Antioch Police need your help identifying the suspected thief accused of taking mail straight from mail trucks. This photo of the suspect. Take a look at your screen. Hes accused of stealing mail from two vehicles in antioch over the last two days. Please contact Antioch Police if you recognize him or his blue car. San francisco is joining a federal lawsuit against the department of defense. The lawsuit accuses them of failing to report former military members to the National Background check system. City attorney Dennis Herrera claims the d. O. T. Has not submitted the reports for decades allowing guns to be sold to Service Members with a criminal history. The lawsuit comes after the november shooting at a church in texas that killed 26 people. The gunman served with the air force but he was courtmartialed in 2012 after being convicted of assaulting his wife and son. The lawsuit claims if this was reported the gunman would not have been able to buy the weapon used in the attack. They have refused to comment on the lawsuit. Two Appellate Courts refused emergency requests from the Trump Administration to lift lower court orders and maintain the ban on transgender troops. That means transgender individuals can enlist on january 1st despite other ongoing legal challenges. Over the summer President Trump tweeted that they would not be allowed to enlist in the military in any capacity. The issue could end up before the supreme court. New this morning a singer who made headlines this year for wearing a make America Great again dress to the grammys is now filing a Sexual Assault complaint against cory lewandowski. This photo of the two was taken last month. She said this was taken months before he slapped her twice on her back side. She says she plans to meet with detectives in washington next week about the complaint. More people are throwing their hat into the ring for San Francisco mayor. 14 people want to fill the seat of mayor ed lee who died two weeks ago from a heart attack. All of the candidates have filed for nomination. Their qualification status is still pending. Some of the wellknown names seeking the seat are former San Francisco supervisor angela alioto, former state senator mark leno, and current san francisccisco supervisor jane k. A special election will be held on june 5th. Biologists are trying to determine what killed a whale that washed up in point reyes on christmas eve. The whale had bruising on the right side of its head and neck area. It does not appear it died with a collision with a ship, show. The report should be complete within two weeks. Containment on the thomas fire in souer california continues to grow this morning. And fire Officials Say there is very little active fire actually left. The states largest ever wildfire is now 88 contained. Air quality has gotten healthier. Officials say people should make plans to enjoy the Santa Barbara and ventura areas. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Coast to coast snowfall continues and we are tracking it here at the live desk. The snow is creating dangerous driving conditions, and theres record breaking numbers in pennsylvania as well as upstate new york. In fact, more than 50 inches were dumped in some spots. Abc News ReporterSerena Marshall has more. Reporter whiteout conditions creating White Knuckle driving across the country from the city of erie, pennsylvania, where even those sent to clear the Roads Victims of the winter weather. Declaring a snow emergency after four and a half feet of snow fell in just 36 hours. It was higher than the snowblowers. Reporter interstate 90 outside of town backed up for miles. Lakeeffect snow has left buffalo buried. I could only do about 20 miles an hour. Reporter while in massachusetts thunder snow. And its not just snow. In illinois those subzero temperatures stopping locals winter plans. The girls wanted to go ice skating, and we tried, but its very cold. Reporter in connecticut for at least one family frozen roads meant winter fun. We dont need any concussions. Reporter 20 states from colorado to maine dealing with windchill advisories this morning. Temperatures hit 21 degrees below zero in duluth, minnesota, with a windchill of minus 44 causing steam and fog to rise. The bonechilling air and winter whiteout sending dozens of cars spinning off highways. In oregon at least one driver injured. Lost control, did a 360. Hit a car in the next lane and ended up here. Reporter in kansas at least four people died after sledding off the road. Parts of the northeast are bracing for as much as six feet of snow. Meteorologists warn that with the windchill frostbite is possible with as little as 30 minutes of exposure. Serena marshall, abc news, washington. Good news for travelers heading to or from our three bay area airports. There are no delays right now. Boy, can you imagine minus 44 degrees windchill. Lisa . Mike is not here today but i am. This pattern locked in across the lower 48. That means more mild air for us as you look at live doppler 7. You dont see a lot of cloud cover but we do have dense fog up to the north. Temperatures are freezing here with numbers right around 33, 34 degrees from santa rosa and napa. 45 in fremont. Mild around the bay. Chilly out there. Youll need the jacket in the morning. By the afternoon our east bay is warming into the lower 60s with plenty of sunshine. So another dry day on the way and the rest of us, low 60s from san jose to about 62 in san rafael and then tonight some patchy fog. Another chilly evening and a look at your new years forecast coming up. Sue . All right. We are heading to san rafael to take a look at your drive novato through northern san rafael and the lucas valley road area. You can see traffic is moving beautifully. The taillights head southbound. In fact, you have a straight shot from here, which would be towards the civic center, into San Francisco via the golden gate. Just a pair of headlights westbound from the richmond side of things. You can see green on our maps. Some drive times in a couple of minutes. Sue, thank you. San franciscos giant new Sales Force Transit Center is now up and running. The Transit Center replaces the old terminal demolished in 2011. A fiveacre rooftop park and stretches three city blocks, twice the length of the transamerica pyramid. They have been testing buses since the beginning of this month. The agency is using the slow holiday week to move a single bus line into the new structure while construction continues. A lot of people are off for the holiday week. We didnt want to inconvenience people as we decided to start this week and ease people in. Officials say transit and greyhound could be moved into the new center as early as june. B. A. R. T. Riders, you will be paying more come january 1st. That means the minimum fare will increase to 2 for adults. Paper ticket users will pay 50 cents more each ride. The agency hopes that hike will encourage customers to use cards for fare payment. More kids will be covered under the youth discount, though. Eligibility is expanding to include everyone under the age of 18. Fares will increase for vta customers in the new year. Adultbased goes up 25 cents. This is the first fare increase since the year 2009. With its new fare structure, young riders will be paying less. Weve put a link to all the fare changes on our website, abc7news. Com. Changing the law to stop drunk driving. What alcohol manufacturers can do starting january 1st to ensure your safety. And why a beloved Family Business is closing up shop after three generations. A standout deputy praised this morning. What he did instead of citing a homeless man for panhandling. As we head to break a live look at the toll plaza right now. Were keeping tabs on superior accuracy in the palm of your hand. The new accuweather app from abc 7 news. Minutebyminute forecasts keeping you safe. Search accuweather and download now. Good morning to you. Heading out of town you wont run into any delays in terms of precipitation, 61 later on. 74 in los angeles. More sunshine. It looks like more mild weather for the next several days. Back home if you are heading up to the Sierra Nevada overnight lows in the 20s. Partly cloudy. Warmer for your thursday. Look at the afternoon high, upper 50s. Lisa, thank you. Right now it is illegal in california for an Alcohol Company to provide a ride home to someone who has been drinking at an event but that will change come january 1st. The movement to change the law began in the south bay with evan lowe. He believes the new rule will help prevent drunk driving. Abc 7 News ReporterKatie Marzullo explains. Reporter when planning for the super bowl in santa clara evan lowe saw something in California Law he didnt like. During this time it became apparent to myself that these companies were not able to provide free or discounted rides to individuals getting home safely. Reporter hes talking about companies that make alcohol. But starting january 1st, alcohol manufacturers can partner with a ride share or cab company ahead of an event like the super bowl and make arrangements for partygoers. Its my belief individuals and adults will continue to do the activities they deem fit for themselves, and its imperative in the state of california we provide them an opportunity to do so but responsibly. Reporter groups like alcohol justice oppose the change. On its website it says the bill implicitly allows for beer manufacturers. The people we talked with disagree. I just think its freedom of choice ultimately, and i dont think it will cause necessarily people to drink more than they would. I think people will be going to the parties to drink or at least theyll be part of it. I think providing free rides makes perfect sense. Reporter the rides could come in the form of a voucher or Discount Code n. San jose, Katie Marzullo, abc 7 news. Happening today Law Enforcement wants to get the message out driving under the influence extends past alcohol. The percentage of drivers in deadly crashes who have other impairing substances in their system has risen 38. 7 since 2006. The driver involved in the crash that killed a chp officer in hayward is accused of being impaired by alcohol and marijuana. The Alameda CountySheriffs Office is sharing a story about how one of their own helped out a panhandler start to turn his life around. The Sheriffs Office posted this photo of michael on the left and deputy jacob sawwell. He tried to give him a citation for panhandling in hayward. Michael said he didnt have an i. D. To show him so he took him to the dmv. After three trips there and finally getting an official birth certificate, michael is now the proud owner of a california Senior Citizen i. D. The Sheriffs Office says the next step is to help him get benefits and a parttime job. Small act of kindness goes a long way. Lisa argen in for mike nicco tracking our weather this morning. Hi there. Live doppler 7. Notice most of the bay area is clear. We do have some fog over parts of the north bay. Where we have it is dense with visibility reduced to a quarter mile. Do be careful. Theres a little bit around half moon bay. A couple mile visibility there. We widen the perspective. A big dome of High Pressure still over the state of california. So the storm track riding up and over this big ridge thats been keeping us dry for the entire month waking up this morning two to four degrees cooler in the south bay, even seven degrees colder along the coast. High temperatures today a lot like yesterday. Plenty of sunshine. Fog will be off the coast. Well see highs right around 60 today in oakland. 63 in concord. Normal highs, upper 50s. A good five to six degrees above average. Mild weather here today. That means cool numbers through the overnight hours, and it looks like we are going to stay rather cool for the end of the year, but it looks like precipitation chances are coming out of our extended outlook. Ill give you a look at that in just a moment. You can download our accuweather app and get the hour by hour details right in the palm of your hand. Here is sue with a look at our traffic. We go outside to walnut creek. This is south 680. Those taillights past north main and on to the 24 intersection where traffic is flowing nicely. If your drive takes from you concord south on 680, an eightminute drive to 24. 24 to the tunnel is another eight or nine minutes. Another look at the bay bridge toll plaza this morning. No problems here. Just a couple of cars stacked up in the righthand cash lanes. Otherwise not looking at any delays. If youre heading out now a look at your drive times. All green and that is great. Easy going. A bittersweet story now, flowers will soon stop blooming at one east bay flower shop after more than eight decades in business. On University Avenue in Downtown Berkeley will close its doors after 85 years. The owners grandfather opened the business in 1932. The store has been in the family three generations now. Owners say its time to retire. I love our customers. Everybody has a story. They come in for a birthday, an anniversary, a newborn baby. They all have a story. That man and his wife are still figuring out how theyre going to be spending their retirement. The flower shop will close for good by the end of the week. Hopefully they enjoy their retirement after all those decades. Okay, if you have the fever and chills, you may have the flu. How this winters flu season is hitting harder than usual. The gift of sight. New technology helping the blind understand what its like to see. First this mornings tech bytes. Todays tech bytes, the library of congress will no longer archive the text of every tweet. The decision is largely because of the dramatic increase in twitter activity since the collection began. Selective tweets will still be collected mostly based on events like elections. A tesla pickup truck is on the way. Elon musk says he is dying to make it and is next on the list after the model y. That crossover is scheduled for 2019 or 2020. Musk says the pickup will be about the size of the ford f150 or larger. Pretty cool. And the topselling product on amazon in any category was apparently amazons own smart home device the echo dot. Millions were sold and the dot is temporarily sold out. The most popular recipe was for chocolate chip cookies. Yum. Now i want some. Really . Really . Really . Really . Really . Really . See zero in a whole new way. Get zero down, zero deposit, zero first months payment, and zero due at signing on select volkswagen models. Now with the people first warranty. For mildtomoderate eczema . It can be used almost everywhere on almost everybody. The arm of an arm wrestler . The back of a quarterback . The face of a fairy . Prescription eucrisa is a nose to toes eczema ointment. It blocks overactive pde4 enzymes within your skin. And its steroidfree. Do not use if you are allergic to eucrisa or its ingredients. Allergic reactions may occur at or near the application site. The most common side effect is application site pain. Ask your doctor about eucrisa. Good morning. The fog in the north bay. Theres a little bit along the coast. The temperatures in the 50s, in the low to mid60s by the afternoon. Well above average and plenty of sunshine. Natasha . Lisa, thank you. Flu season about to peak. Its looking worse than normal. Six times the number of flu case this is year compared to last year. Despite the fact the vaccine is only 10 effective, doctors are still saying you should get it. Extraordinary technology is making a huge difference for those who are blind. A new type of glasses is helping envision the world around them. San franciscobased sees these wifi connected glasses. Agents guide users through their everyday lives. And these three brothers and their dad rely on it to get around. I see the pole in front of you, i can see the mountains on the far end. Right now it is partially cloudy, but i can still see the blue sky. For all of us its so good because we have something we can use to see our lives more. Plans range for unlimited minutes per month. So if theyre relying on it every single moment of the day, wow, isnt that incredible . Really interesting application of technology that can make a big difference. I love it. Good morning to you. Were starting out with some cold temperatures around the bay. In fact, numbers are in the low 30s in the north bay. Bundle up if youre heading out early. You have fog to deal with. 33 in san ramone. Its 40 in san jose. 39 in oakland. Another chilly start for you. Pretty good visibility here in San Francisco. Temperatures near 60 away from the coast by noontime. Low 60s by 4 00 this afternoon. If you liked yesterday, today a lot like that. Sue . And you mentioned the fog. We do see it rolling in at the Richmond San Rafael bridge. Live to the mcarthur maze. 880 and 80 all rolling into the berkeley turn there without any delay. Into the mcarthur maze looking at a 30minute drive or less. Look at some of your b. A. R. T. , ferry and ace trains all running on schedule. Four years after a mysterious syndrome killed star fish theyre making a comeback. Theyve been spotted in southern california. Marine biologists noticed from 2013 to 2014 star fish started getting sick. The cause is still unclear. It may have been a virus. Speaking of animals, a placer sheriffs deputy is back on the bear beat. He first spotted these bears in november and then yesterday saw them again in the same area Walking Around the tahoe city post office. The Sheriffs Office says its very unusual the bears are not hibernating. Too much to do in tahoe. Hopefully staying away from the humans. Coming up next, everything you need to know aabout Recreational Cannabis becoming legal. Details of a new proposals and reaction from city leaders. Plus the reason people are lining up to pay their property tax this is week. Jessica castro, a woman of many languages. She is studying for her masters degree like right now. Shes always reading multiple books at a time. Jessica volunteers with kids. Athletic, adventurous. The girl can dance. Bright and early jess is jamming. Our live desk was totally made for her. There is a lot happening in the morning and jess is best at breaking it down. Better days start here. If yyou need to stay downeaway from it. Call 911. Let our First Responders come out and handle it. Police and fire will respond as well as pg e. Pg e will make the scene safe. My wish was a clubhouse, but we call it the wish house. People visit National Parks from all over the world. Food tastes better when you dont have to cook it. He was just supposed to be my dog. I dont know why. vo were proud that, on behalf of our owners, the subaru share the love event will have donated over one hundred fifteen Million Dollars in just ten years. Get 0 financing for 63 months on select models. Plus well donate 250 to charity. And you smell gas, your first step is to get out, travel to a safe distance until you cant smell the gas anymore, and then call 911. The First Responders will come out, and theyll make it safe for you and your community. Were halfway through the week already, december 27th. Reggie on vacation and it is a ladies desk today. Natasha zouves, Jessica Castro here, sue hall tracking traffic, and lisa argen in. Great to see you, lisa. Hi, everyone. We are looking at fog. Visibility reduced in the north bay. If youre heading out early youre down to a quarter mile, even some along the coast. Elsewhere in good shape. It is a cool morning with temperatures in the 40s from concord. 43 in san ramone. In the next couple hours into the 50s. By 1 00 were flirting with 60 in napa and petaluma and then by 7 00 tonight still mild in the low 50