Transcripts For KGO ABC7 News 500AM 20131009

Im kristen sze. Im eric thomas. A sig alert could make a mess of the morning commute after a fatal accident on interstate 80 involving a suspected dui driver and the chb. Abc News Reporter Amy Hollyfield is live in richmond with the latest. Amy . Reporter eric, look at the car behind me. It flew off of the freeway, rolled down that embankment and landed right there. This is on the exit ramp for central here in the richmond el serrito border. The driver did die. The off ramp is closed. He was westbound on interstate 80 passing a construction site when a chp officer who was at that site saw him passing and noticed his front tire was so flat he was driving on the rim. The officer was going to pursue him to see if he needed help. To see if he was drunk. Just to see what was going on with this guy. But investigators say they dont even know if the officer had time to turn on his lights and siren. That this all happened so fast. They put out a Little Information over the radio. All of a sudden it was like, oh, hit the Center Divide. Oh, went off the shoulder. Reporter this is westbound. This is the central exit. It is closed. I asked chp officers to give me an idea of how long they would be here doing their investigation. They say its tough to say. Could be another hour, could be another two hours. You might not want to plan for this exit in your morning commute if you need it. Lets just assume at this point it will be closed. Well keep you updated on how long until theyre going to be able to get it reopened. No one else was injured in this crash. Chp says at this point they may never know what happened with this driver, what was going on with him, but he did not survive this crash. Live in richmond, Amy Hollyfield, abc 7 news. Amy, thank you so much. Once again, amy says it could be another one to two hours before they open that ramp. More on the commute this morning. Leyla gulen. Thats right. Its going to be a sig alert until further notice. No word as to when thats going to be lifted. Right now what we do know is that the Central Avenue onramp to westbound 80 is going to be shut down. What you can do to get on to 80 is take 580 instead. That will help you get on your way. As you make that drive past the hoffman split through albany into berkeley moving along at top speeds. The north eastbound side of South Hampton its a carver s v a deer. 680 also looking clear as you head in and out of venetia. Walnut creek southbound side of 680. A buildup of taillights. Coming away from highway 4 going to be a short nineminute commute. With a look at our weather, we are looking at cooler temperatures. Very chilly, in fact, in some areas. If you are in the north bay or parts of the south bay, certainly along the coast, it is going to be downright cold, in the 40s. As we take a look at our live doppler 7 hd radar satellite we do have an area of some moisture being shown in sacramento. For the most part in the bay area were not going to be seeing any showers. We are anticipating light shower or two in some areas. Really its just going to be centered right around mt. Hamilton which is in the south bay just to the east there. But some clouds will be visiting us. And then it will clear up. As we take a look from our roof cam towards the the embarkadaro, nice. As we take a quick look from our tower cam across San Francisco, again, clear conditions. Twinkling lights. A crisp forecast. Its going to be colder. Ill have your full accu weather seven day forecast in a bit. Kristen and eric, over to you. Down to the wire to see if they can work out a deal and avoid a strike. The bay area commuters fear it could happen as early as midnight tomorrow. Abc 7 News Reporter matt keller live at the fremont b. A. R. T. Station. The clock is ticking. At least both sides are talking. Good news for the b. A. R. T. Riders here concerned about another potential b. A. R. T. Strike. Last night 200 supporters rallied at Oakland City Hall to the cal trans building where negotiations are taking place. Both sides ended talks last night around 10 00. Question is, can they reach an agreement before thursdays midnight deadline when the 60 day cooling off period comes to an end . Technically, the two sides can negotiate beyond the deadline, but Union Leaders say its unlikely. I mean, if you dont have any deadlines, youre not going to get to any deal. I think everybodys looking at this deadline very seriously of thursday night to try to get to an agreement. Reporter the union did not issue a 72 hour strike notice monday night. Thats more of a courtesy for b. A. R. T. Riders than a requirement. Workers could still strike friday. The unions and b. A. R. T. Management are scheduled to talk again this morning starting at 9 30. Matt keller, abc 7 news. If theres a strike, be sure to check out abc7news. Com. We pulled together lots of info to help you get around including how transit agencies are planning on handling extra passengers. You also find realtime traffic maps and our exclusive ways traffic app. Follow us on twitter abc7newsbayarea. President obama and House Speaker john boehner have not made any radical shifts in position on the Government Shutdown or debt limit. Boehner told reporters yesterday he is not drawing lines in the sand. Hours later, president obama said he absolutely would negotiate with republicans if Congress First sent him shortterm budget and debt limit measures. Meantime the secretary of Veterans Affairs is set to testify before a House Committee today. He says more than 3 million veterans will not receive disability compensation next month if the shutdown continues into late october. San franciscos cliff house restaurant is now closed for a second time since the shutdown began. The restaurant above ocean beach is a concession era of the Golden Gate National recreation area. It first closed last week. According to the San Francisco chronicle the owners reopened it again on monday. However the National Park Service Found out and ordered it closed again until the shutdown ends. So the cliff house closed its doors again last night at midnight. The restaurant stands to lose 10,000 per day. The shutdown is also forcing First Lady Michelle Obama to cancel a fund raising trip in the bay area. She was supposed to arrive in los angeles on friday and spend the weekend here in the region. One of the planned events was a sunday brunch hosted by House Minority leader nancy pelosi. The Democratic Party says its just not right to hold fund swrn raisers while thousands of federal workers are furloughed. Developing news, the medical examiner still trying to identify a womans body found at San Francisco General Hospital. A reliable source tells abc 7 news the body was 57yearold Lynne Spalding, a patient last seen 18 days ago. An employee found the body in a rarely used stairwell around the fourth floor of the hospital yesterday morning. Investigators are talking to staff and looking at Surveillance Video to figure out what happened. Spalding disappeared from sf general on september 21st, two days after being admitted for an infection. Abc 7 News Reporter Katie Marzullo will have the latest in the next half hour. The salmonella outbreak linked to foster farms chicken is very complex and involves serious strains of the bacteria according to federal health officials. The centers for Disease Control and prevention says the contamination involves seven strains of bacteria, some resistant to antibiotic. Its sickened 278 people in 18 states, mostly here in california. 42 of those cases required hospital care. Until inspectors can find the exact source of the contamination, the chicken is still being sold in stores. Foster farms says chicken is safe when fully cooked. You can find more information on our website, abc7news. Com. A natural gas pipeline that has san carlos officials worried will remain shut down despite objections by pg e. Theyve ordered the utility to keep pipeline 147 closed while it investigates whether the pipe poses a danger. On friday san carlos officials persuaded a judge to step in and ordered the pipeline shut down after an internal memo from a pg e engineer expressed concerns it could explode just like the deadly incident in san bru nrk o. It runs on britain avenue between highway 101 and interstate 280. 5 09. Oakland as return home to play a fifth and deciding game tomorrow evening in the divisional playoff series against the detroit tigers. As lost game four in detroit yesterday. They took an early lead, 30, with help from jed lowries homer. The tigers came roaring back to win the game, 84, and tie the best of five series at two games apiece. Tomorrows game at the coliseum begins at 5 00. The winner will advance to the League Championship series against the boston red sox. And, of course, we love seeing your as pride. Check out this little fellow decked out in his as gear. Look at that green bow tie there. Is that a child sized barbecue grill, too . Why, yes, it is. Didnt know they make them like that. Awesome. Oh, yes. Got to have transportable grills. Email your fan photos to us. You can also share them with us on facebook or twitter abc7newsbayarea. Leyla gulen right now in for mike this morning. Also looking at problems on the roadways. Were starting in richmond where we have a sig alert thats ongoing due to a fatality westbound side of 80. Central avenue onramp shut down for at least another two hours due to an earlier chase, and the person being chased did die of their injuries. If you need to get on to 80 take 580 instead. The rest of your drive across 80 into berkeley not a problem. Mass transit also on time. B. A. R. T. , cal train, muni not seeing problems. No delays to speak of. A live look outside as we take a peek at san matteo. See traffic moving quite well there. Over to the highrise and foster city. Only going to take you 14 short minutes. Lets check out some weather where we do have cooler temperatures, certainly. Live doppler 7 hd radar satellite returns, clouds coming into the area due to this trough of low pressure coming into the bay area. Not going to bring us the moisture we were expecting but breezier conditions today. As we look from our mt. Tam cam toward San Francisco we can see bouncing up and down a little bit. Gustier conditions. Cooler as well. Looking ahead to the next three days starting with tomorrow were going to see some temperatures warming up across the bay area. Partly cloudy skies, but its going to actually remain clear along the coast. Temperatures not going to increase along the coast. Just going to stay about the same. If you are inland, thats where youre going to be seeing the biggest difference. It will continue to stay warm as you head into sunday and into the beginning of next week. Kristen, eric. Leyla, thank you. 5 12. The two mens Apparel Company that may stitch together a big deal, the Bloomberg Business report is next. Questions over a home loan cost a top education leader on the peninsula her position. How to top a million dolla mom swaps one of my snacks for a yoplait. I dont mind, i mean its orange creme. And when mom said bobby was too edgy. sup girl. I just swapped him out for tyler. sup girl. Mom never questioned bobby again. Two can play at this game. [ female announcer ] swap one snack a week for a yoplait. And everybody wins. Yoplait. It is so good. K at them withrybody wins. We co back in our day, that uverse wireless receiver. We couldnt just move the tv wherever we wanted. Yeah, our birthday entertainment was a mathemagician. Because if theres anything that improves magic, its math. The only thing he taught us was how to subtract kids from a party. Lets get some cake in you. I could go for some cake. [ male announcer ] switch and add a wireless receiver. Get uverse tv for 19 a month for 2 years with qualifying bundles. Rethink possible. Prove it. Enough is enough. Dcon baits are specially formulated to kill in one feeding. Guaranteed. Dcon. Get out. Welcome back. 5 15. The father of the 9yearold minnesota boy who hopped a flight to vegas without a ticket is speaking out about his sons behavioral issues. The boys dad who did not want to be identified said he thought his son was going to a friends house when he left their north minneapolis home last wednesday. He said he had no idea his son would ride light rail to the airport and somehow get past security and board a plane to las vegas. He admits his son has issues. I dont have the answer. Okay . I have a 9yearold. To me, hes got a behavior problem. I dont know what to do. I love my son. Im not giving up on my son. Dad says hes reached out to agencies for help and has been told the child has done nothing significant enough to warrant special assistance. The boy will be sent back to minnesota where an investigation is under way. The president of the San Carlos Elementary School board has resigned after an abc 7 news report uncovered a questionable loan made to the superintendent. Last month superintendent craig baker took out a oneyear bridge loan so he could buy this 1. 3 million house and move to san carlos from redwood city. But he got the loan a day before the school board took formal action to approve it, although the board later agreed to create a public timeline on what happened. President beth hunkafellor resigned when her colleagues refused a more complete audit. She served more than 20 years but was not running for reelection. Investors waiting to see if hewlettpackard will announce nor belt tightening. Meg whitman will give an update. Whitman has already said the company will not grow next year. It is in the middle of cutting 29,000 jobs. Analysts believe more may be needed. The one time Silicon Valley leader was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial average last month. Hp shares have fallen 17 in the past three months, losing half their value since 2010. 5 17. An economist with strong bay area ties is about to get a big promotion in washington. Heres jane king with this mornings Bloomberg Business report. Good morning. We may be about to get the first female head of the fed. The white house says president obama plans to nominate Federal Reserve vice chair janet yellen in succeed ben bernanke. She would be the first woman ever to lead the fed and one of the few to lead a central bank anywhere in the world. Rival samsung introducing what it calls the worlds first curb screen phone. It goes on sale in korea tomorrow for about 1,000. Samsung says the curved design makes it easier to control with one hand. Big merger in the works in the apparel business. Joseph a. Bank offers to buy mens warehouse for 2. 3 billion in cash. In the meantime, the shutdown is bad news for beer lovers. The Treasury Agency that approves new breweries, recipes and labels is closed. A. P. Says brewers think when it does reopen the effect could hangover with the backlog continues to cause delays in the pipeline. At the new york stock exchange, im jane king with the Bloomberg Business report. 5 18. Are you looking for a Stocking Stuffer and you got a couple Million Dollars in your wallet . Check out this years Neiman Marcus christmas book which was unveiled in dallas. Spend the night in a glass house. Drive away in an aston martin. Go hunting with a trained falcon. Its the 87th edition and focuses on fantasy gifts. Because everyones dreams everybody dreams of a giant box of falcons. We do . To go hunting with. Dont you . What happened to those hunka munga diamonds . Personal Business Jets . That i was always hoping youd buy me. Working on it. Settle for the tie. Thanks. Time now for a look at the traffic out there. Problems with a sig alert in richmond. Leyla . Yes, indeed. That problem is going to stick with us for at least another couple hours. Westbound 80 Central Avenue onramp is going to be shut down due to a fatality this morning. We also have this. Car versus a deer. A couple. The first in san matteo. Eastbound side of 92. South 280 is where youll find it. We are looking at some westbound slowing on 92. 280 remains in the clear. Not seeing delays. Venetia eastbound at 780 at South Hampton, another car versus a deer. Spectators slowing in the westbound direction along 780. The rest of the drive remains clear until you get a bit farther to the west. As we take a look outside, heres going to be a picture of this. Berkeley commute coming down 80. As you can see that traffic really building as you make it over towards the maze. Eastbound traffic not bad despite the sig alert that awaits those folks up ahead. More on that coming up in a little bit. Right now lets talk about some weather where we do have this pattern of cooler weather thats been visiting the bay area for the last few days. Its going to be sticking around for another day. Then things will start to warm up. A look at our live doppler 7 hd radar satellite, we do have moisture reported in sacramento. Clouds also. We have partly cloudy skies for much of the bay area. Its all due to this, a trough of low pressure coming in from washington. So from the Pacific Northwest its bringing those temperatures down. The moisture that we were expecting to hit us today, actually tonight, is really going to be affecting mt. Hamilton at best. Nil for San Francisco, the south bay, and the east bay as well. Mostly to the southeastern portion. It is also bringing with it some snow in our higher elevations. If you do plan on heading out to the sierra, one to four inches expected above 6,000 feet. Especially south of highway 50. Thats where you can see the heaviest snow. Gusts up to 20 Miles Per Hour. Watch out for the slippery roads. Its going to last until 8 00 p. M. Tonight. Our highs for today around the bay area, going to be on the cooler side. As you can see we do have temperatures really in the upper 60s to lower and mid70area. Highest temperature 74 degrees expected in antioch. Overnight lows, its going to be chilly still. About 54 degrees in oakland. Upper 40s to the lower 50s for pretty much all of the bay area including the south bay. 52 degrees in san jose is expected. Heres a look at my accu weather seven tday forecast. The chance of rain later tonight centered over mt. Hamilton. Dry for everyone else with a warmup come tomorrow. Slight cooldown because of another trough of low pressure coming in on friday. But then a beautiful weekend awaits us. Kristen, eric, over to you. Leyla, thank you. 5 21. Ahead, seven things to know as you start your day. Happily married. Im serious, we compare our direct rates side by side to find you a great deal, even if its not with us. [ ding ] oh, thats helpful well, our company does that, too. Actually, we invented that. Its like a sauna in here. Helping you save, even if its not with us now, thats progressive call or click today. No mas pantalones hey little m ms wow great costumes. What are you guys like four or five . Fortysix. Alright, yeah ok. Here you go. You dont understand, slick. Were here for the party. Whoo yeah, thats cute [ laughi put your hand down. To those whove encountered welcome to covered california. New, Affordable Health plans so you can be ready for whatever comes your way. Enroll today at coveredca. Com. 5 24. Whether youre just joining us or heading out the door, seven things to know. Breaking news in richmond where a chp pursuit ended in the deadly crash of a suspected dui driver. Central avenue onramp to westbound 80 is closed right now. Abc 7 News Reporter Amy Hollyfield is live at the scene and will have an update in just a few minutes. Number two, well tell you how to get around that sig alert coming up. Right now take a look at the bay bridge toll plaza. Light conditions. Thats indicative of pretty much the rest of the bay area. We dont have any accidents. Just minor fender benders out there. Quiet conditions persist. Breaking news in berkeley where an Early Morning fire broke out in an Apartment Building on harrison street. Residents say a neighbor woke everyone up after his apartment caught fire. Three people are now looking for a new place to stay. Youre actually looking there at number four. The medal examiner working to identify a womans body found at San Francisco General Hospital. A reliable source tells abc 7 news its the body of 57yearold Lynne Spalding who disappeared from the hospital 2 1 2 weeks ago. Number five, we have 42 1 2 hours left before the 60 day cooling off period for b. A. R. T. Ends and its union says no deal is reached by tomorrow night at midnight, workers could go on strike friday morning. B. A. R. T. s board of directors will be briefed on talks later today. President obama and House Speaker john boehner are increasing the pressure on each other to end the deadlock over the Government Shutdown and federal debt limit. The secretary of Veterans Affairs is set to tell a House Committee today that more than 3 million veterans will face delays in disability benefits if the shutdown continues. Number seven, heres a look from our sutro tower cam toward San Francisco and the bay bridge. Highs for today going to be rather modest, topping out in the upper 60s, lower 70s, but nice and dry. Leyla, thank you. Unusual site at the Sacramento Zoo where a Sumatran Tiger underwent surgery. Surgeons from the zoo and Uc Davis School of veterinary medicine removed a blockage caused by stones in the tigers urinary tract yesterday. Doctors implanted a thin flexible tube between the big cats right kidney and its bladder. The tiger was out of surgery and back in its den by midafternoon. Officials are up beat about its chances for recovery. Having a happy marriage may depend on your genes. Uc berkeley researchers wondered why some spouses are in tune with their marriages emotional climate and others seem oblivious. Scientists discovered people with a certain gene variant were more sensitive to the state of their marriage. We looked at their marriages over 20 years. If the emotions were positive, they got happier and happier. If the emotions were negative, they got less and less happy with their marriage. If you had the other variant of the gene, the emotions just didnt get to you. Researchers say the findings dont mean youre hard wired to have a happy marriage. But you may be more sensitive to the emotional quality of it. They also say the link between genes, emotion and marital satisfaction strengthens as we age. If that doesnt qualify for a nobel peace price i dont know what research does. Can you imagine having your spouses genomes tested before the marriage to find out . Yeah. I need to know. 5 27. The abc 7 morning news continues at 5 30 with the days top stories. This man just won a real nobel price. And hes from the bay area. Coming up, the Ground Breaking research leading to the new honor. A frightening discovery in a north bay home. Why fbi agents have been called people go to a mattress store, and essentially they just get sold something. We provide the exact individualization that your body needs. Before you invest in a mattress, discover the bed clinically proven to improve sleep quality. Once you experience it, theres no going back. Oh, yeah at our columbus day event, save 500 to 700 on the final closeout of our Performance Series mattress sets. But hurry ends soon only at a sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just 699. 99. Sleep number. Comfort individualized. 5 30 on this wednesday morning. Well get right to that breaking news. Im eric thomas. Im kristen sze. A sig alert on a very busy bay area freeway after a chp pursuit ended in a deadly crash. Abc 7 News Reporter Amy Hollyfield along interstate 80 in richmond. Amy . Reporter kristen, the car is still here. The off ramp still closed. The central off rb interstate 80 in richmond. That car flipped down the embankment and landed here on this off ramp. The driver died. Firefighters had to cut the top of his mini van off just to get in there to get him out. He was westbound on interstate 80 about 1 40 this morning. And he passed a construction site when the car caught the eye of chp officers who were there patrolling or watching over that construction site. They say his front tire was so flat they actually heard him before they saw him. We had two vehicles working the closure. Two officers. They heard the vehicle come by. The vehicle was actually driving on its rim. Thats what brought their attention to it originally. Reporter investigators dont even know if the officers had time to turn on the lights and sirens before he then hit the Center Divide and crossed over all lanes on interstate 80, flew off the freeway and rolled down the embankment. He died in that car. They have not reloose ereleased or age. The investigation is still under way. They think this off ramp could be closed for maybe another hour. Reporting live here in richmond, Amy Hollyfield, abc 7 news. Thank you. 5 32. Its having an impact on freeways and could be for quite some time. Leyla gulen. First it was reported that the onramp to westbound 80 was shut down. Now we know that its the off ramp that is going to be shut down until further notice as amy was just telling us. Lets go to our ways app right now where weve been depending on them to tell us whats happening in the area. We have people reporting its at a complete standstill as you make the approach to Central Avenue. Definitely an active scene causing heavy delays. Traffic your own traffic with the abc 7 exclusive ways app. Go to google play or the app store. Live look outside. Drive into central san rafael is quiet and at top speeds as you make that commute in the southbound direction. No problems out here. Certainly no problems in the weather department. Although we do have a wint er weather advisory for the sierra. Live doppler 7 hd showing us reports of moisture in sacramento. We have low pressure coming in. Its going to be dumping snow in the sierra. That could also cause tresh rouse driving conditions along highway 50. We have partly cloudy skies to wake up to this morning and into the evening hours. But for our day planner, the next 12 hours, cooler temperatures will greet us as we head out the door. Bring a light sweater or jacket. As we head into lunchtime, you can see temperatures modestly coming up to about 66 degrees inland. Its going to cool off with a breezier condition later on tonight. Ill have yourccuweather seven day forecast coming up. More breaking news this time from berkeley where investigators are working to find out if a fireplace log is to blame for an Early Morning fire that left three people displaced from their homes. It broke out in an Apartment Building on carrison street shortly after midnight in the upper unit of the fourplex. Residents say a neighbor woke everybody up by knocking on doors saying his apartment was on fire. They think it was started by a dura flame log that rolled out of his fireplace into his living room. Everybody got out safely. We could find out today if the body found in a stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital was that of a patient who went missing last month. Abc 7 News Reporter Katie Marzullo is live in the newsroom with the latest. Reporter we just talked with a spoke person for San Francisco general. She let us know they will make an announcement today. We dont know what time. About the identity of the body that was found in the stairwell. So far, the medical examiner has not said publicly. But a reliable source does tell us, abc 7 news, that the body is that of 57yearold Lynne Spalding. Inside the hospital we do have a picture we can show you. It was taken inside. This is 57yearold Lynne Spalding. Next youll see inside the Hospital Police officer crime scene tape blocking the stairwell where the body was found. Its actually an exterior stairwell on the fourth floor. Lynne spalding checked into the hospital with an infection last month. She was put on medication that made her disoriented and she disappeared two days later. That was more than two weeks ago. Friends and family created a facebook page. Theyve been searching for her tirelessly. Then yesterday the awful news. Lynnes daughter is obviously i dont use this word lightly, traumatized. Its very difficult when you get a call from someone saying we think we found your mothers body. San Francisco Police and sheriffs deputies are investigating, talking with hospital staff, and going over Surveillance Video. The hospital up until now, again, we expect to hear from them today, has not said much other than finding out what happened is top priority. Live in the newsroom, Katie Marzullo, abc 7 news. Thanks. 5 35. A Stanford University professor is one of three researchers sharing this years nobel prize in chemistry. The Royal Swedish Academy of sciences, you can find this on the website as you see here on the ipad, the work of three researchers honored including stanfords Michael Levitt along with two others, they laid the foundation for the computer models used to understand and predict chemical processes. The Nobel Committee said their Research Made it possible to map chemical reactions which occur at lightning speed. If we can go back and see whats going on on the website. The nobel site. Well, it will show you things like professor levitt has three citizenships. U. S. , british and israeli. President obama will nominate janet yellen for chairman of the Federal Reserve today. Yellen is the current vice chair of the fed. She knows the bay area very well. Shes a professor amerita. Todd university of california berkeley. She served as ceo of the Federal Reserve bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010. Mr. Obama will make the announcement at noon our time. If confirmed the 57yearold would become the first woman to ever chair the Federal Reserve. In a few hours a San Francisco man is due in federal court charged with master minding a notorious online black market for illegal drugs. Ross ulbrichts attorney is expected to ask for his release on bail. Hes not expected to enter a plea on charges he ano, maam mousily ran the 1 billion narcotics website known as silk road. Ulbricht is also charged with using the website to hire someone to kill a former employee. The 29yearold was arrested october 1st in a San Francisco Branch Library while Authorities Say he was chatting online with a cooperating witness. A petaluma neighborhood is quieter this morning after being swarmed by local and federal agents in search of bombs at a mans home. Agents and police spent much of the day at a home on quarry road yesterday after police discovered two live bombs and two partially constructed devices. It was called off around 10 00 last night. Police first discovered the explosives while responding to a call about a despondent man with a gun monday. They arrested 30yearold ismail moylan. Hes being held on 1 million bail. Investigators say theres no current threat to the neighborhood now. Oakland homeowners are planning a rally in front of city hall today to support richmonds plan to help rescue underwater mortgages and to call on oakland leaders to adopt similar efforts. In July Richmond became the first city in the nation offering to purchase more than 600 mortgages from banks and achieve principal reduction from homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. A delegation of oakland homeowners says its also planning to call on banks to work with families that are trying to keep their homes. This morning thousands of f students all around the bay area will be getting some physical education even before they get to class. Today is International Walk and roll to school day. In San Francisco, more than 12,000 students are expected to walk or ride their bikes to the citys 76 Public Schools instead of getting car rides from parents. The event is trying to bring awareness about safe routes for walking and bicycling as well as promoting exercise. If youre driving around the school today, do be extra cautious. Great advice every day. Also advice today, avoid interstate 80 in the richmond area, right . Thats right. As we take you over to richmond, this is where we have the sig alert that will be in effect for another couple hours. Right now the Central Avenue off ramp from westbound 80 is currently shut down. Thats causing pretty nasty heavy conditions as you approach it. We just took a look at our ways app. Thats where we have our abc 7 wasers reporting back to us that traffic is at a complete standstill. You want to try to avoid it or give yourself some extra time before you head out on to the road. As we take you over to the kaldicott tunnel, a car with a flat tire blocking one of the lanes to repair it. Watch out for that. A little bit of slowing as you come out. I. It picks up at piedmont. Live look outside. A picture of our weather. Lets talk about that, shall we . We do see on our live doppler 7 hd radar satellite some clouds are coming to visit us. That is all due to this area of low pressure thats coming in from the Pacific Northwest. Its going to be visiting us mainly in the sierra where its going to be bringing us some snow showers starting at 9 00 a. M. , weve got a winter advisory that will last until 8 00 p. M. Tonight. For the most part were going to be remaining dry in the bay area. Over mt. Hamilton, that is where we do have a slight chance of some showers. As we take a look right now, live picture from our sutro tower cam toward San Francisco. Twinkling bay bridge in the distance. Gorgeous clear morning to greet us. A very cool one, indeed. Inland temperatures going to be topping out in the lower to mid70s. Around the bay, the upper 60s. Along the coast it stays cool. 59 degrees will be your high in santa cruz. Full accuweather seven day forecast in a bit. Over to you. Thanks. 5 40. Next, the special tribute cal trans will allow families who lost loved ones on the old eastern bridge. New details in the motorcycle road rage case. Why an undercover Police Officer is under arrest. Makes an epic journey throughr pines, wildflowers, and aspens. And is matched only by our journey to capture its scent. Crafted by expert perfumers for your home, air wick mountain woodlands and crisp air is part of our limited edition National Park collection. Airwick. The craft of fragrance. Well take something tasty and healthy. If you wanna go and fly with me its buzz the bee on your tv oh how did i get this way . Hey must be the honey theres a party going on in your cereal bowl os can help lower cholesterol oh why does it taste so great . Hey must be the honey hey must be the honey hey must be the honey its 5 44. This morning Emergency Management crews are at the scene of a natural gas pipeline explosion in rural northwestern oklahoma. This blast happened in the town of roston in Harper County last night. The flames can be seen across the oklahoma panhandle and as far as 50 miles away in southern kansas. Four homes within two miles of the fire have been evacuated. There are no injuries reported. Officials say the fire is contained and theyre going to let the fire burn itself out. The cause is still unknown. An undercover new York Police Detective is due in court this morning for his role in a violent confrontation between motorcycle riders and an suv driver. Wojciech braszczok turned himself in yesterday. Police say he pounded on and kicked a familys suv before the driver was pulled free and beaten. The detective will likely face riot and criminal mischief charges. Police say braszczok was off duty at the time. An nypd source says he lied to his superiors about his role in the attack. Four others have already been charged. Police say more arrests are likely. Some people will be saying an emotional personal farewell on the old bay bridge, the eastern span, before it is demolished. The chp is inviting bay area families who have lost loved ones on the old eastern span to participate in a memorial on the bridge on november 9th. Officers will escort family members on to the span and allow the family time to reflect. The idea came about after a mother who lost her son in a crash on the bridge asked if she could visit the site before its torn down. The massive project to upgrade the bay areas water supply has reached a milestone. Miners connected the two ends of a tunnel being built in the east bay yesterday. The San Francisco Public Utilities commission provided us with this video. The 3 1 2 mile long stretch will eventually be lined with a pipe to carry water for millions of customers who use water from the hetch hetchy system. The tunnel should be finished by next fall. Endurance swimmer diana nyad is 24 hours into her 48 hour swimming marathon. And she is in the pink cap right there in this live picture from new york. In the water right there in manhattan. The 64yearold is swimming in a 40 yard pool set up in harold square. Her goal is to raise money for people still struggling with superstorm sandy. Last month nyad became the first person to swim from cuba to florida without a shark cage. 5 46. Time for a check on traffic. Because weve had this continuing sig alert this morning. Leyla . It is still there. No estimated time of reopening the central off ramp from westbound 80. This is in richmond. Right now we are experiencing pretty heavy traffic. Ill have travel times in just a little bit. Right now bumper to bumper as you head out of tracy over the pass and into livermore. Take a look at that. 17 Miles Per Hour as you pass grant line road. One you pass basco you start to see the speeds jumping up just a little bit. Youre still going to be tapping on the brakes as you approach the dublin interchange. Drive time afk along highway 4 westbound from antioch into hercules, 40 minutes will get you there along 80 westbound from 4 to the maze, just under 20 minutes. These numbers keep going up and up because of the sig alert. 87 northbound from 85 to the san jose airport, also under ten minutes. Pretty quiet in san jose. A live look outside at the golden gate bridge. So coming out ofs sos lee toe into San Francisco. A few extra cars. Quite a few extra than a half hour ago. Still top speed. No crashes to report out there. As far as weather goes, it is cooler. Cooler and drier. I think everyone, if you dont like the rain so much, some areas will need the rain, but we dont expect to see any drizzle as we were expecting for some of the bay area that we were reporting earlier this week. It looks like that low trough that was coming out of the Pacific Northwest quickly moved to the east. What it is going to do is bring a little bit of a sprinkle over mt. Hamilton. But our day planner for the next 12 hours, starting off on the chilly side. Mostly greeted by sunshine today as we head into lunchtime. Temperatures will jump up just a little bit. By the evening though, partly cloudy skies will return. That will keep your temperatures on the low side. As we take a look for the next three days, live look from downtown cam. See how it is ever so slightly bouncing up and down. Taking a look towards San Francisco, nice and clear out there. The next three days, though, we do see a ramp up of our temperatures. Another weaker trough of low pressure coming in on friday. Thats going to bring the temperatures down. Then it all comes back up again on saturday with 76 degrees reported inland. 74 around the bay. 64 degrees along the coast. Sunday even warmer still. Ill have your full accuweather sevenday forecast coming up in just a little bit. Right now eric, kristen, over to you. 5 48. Bay area scientists are claiming a major breakthrough in their goal of achieving selfsustaining nuclear fusion. Scientists working at the National Ignition facility inside the Lawrence Livermore lab conducted an experience last month using the worlds most powerful laser. The lab provided this animation. During the test, the amount of energy released through the fusion reaction exceeded the amount of energy being absorbed by the fuel. This marked the first time thats been achieved in any facility in the world. Harnessing fusion, the process that powers the sun, could provide an unlimited and cheap source of energy. All right. Thats terrific. 5 49. Should spanking be considered child abuse . Something a lot of parents debate. Coming up, a court ruling that could change the way you maybe discipline your children. Inches off your waist, but damage to your health. Why so many women are squeezing into this despite the risk. Coming up in our 6 00 hour, beef mom swaps one of my snacks for a yoplait. I dont mind, i mean its orange creme. And when mom said bobby was too edgy. sup girl. I just swapped him out for tyler. sup girl. Mom never questioned bobby again. Two can play at this game. [ female announcer ] swap one snack a week for a yoplait. And everybody wins. Yoplait. It is so good. Prove it. Enough is enough. Dcon baits are specially formulated to kill in one feeding. Guaranteed. Dcon. Get out. Welcome back. 5 52. Starbucks is hoping lawmakers on capitol hill will learn a lesson from a plan to give away free coffee. Thats right. Today through friday the chain is offering a free tall brewed coffee to any customer in the u. S. Who buys another person a beverage. Kind of a come together kind of a thing. Ceo Howard Schultz wants to set an example for lawmakers on getting along to resolve the political gridlock in washington. Starbucks has gotten political before. Remember, asking customers to keep guns out of starbucks after mass shootings. A state Appeals Court in san jose has ruled that normal spanking does not qualify as child abuse. The panel overturned a trial judges ruling that a mother should be reported for child abuse for spanking her 12yearold daughter so hard with a wooden spoon that it left bruises. The Appeals Court found that the overall circumstances did not warrant a child abuse report. The ruling is designed to set a legal precedent. When it comes to the role of parents a new study finds moms still do most of the work, according to a new pew report. Mothers spend much more time than fathers feeding children, giving baths and teaching their kids. The Washington Post reports moms still carry much of the load because of long standing parental roles. The Research Also found that mothers find housework, paid work and free time more meaningful than fathers do. I know you got trouble believing that house work part. Yeah. The meaningful part. I do think women tend to theres something to be done. We just want to get it done. Exactly. Talk about kristen getting things done. She does it all the time. Youre a wonder woman. I dont think so. But thank you, thats sweet. For all the other wonder women out there if youre going to be taking your babies to school this morning, you want to pack a sweater because its going to be a chilly one. But so far, looks like traffic is a breeze. As we take a look right now at some green conditions on most of our roadways. Watch out for this. Debris reported in lanes northbound side of 680 at crow canyon road. Top speeds out of san ramon and into danville. Not a problem out there. Where we do have a problem is in richmond. Ill have more on that coming up in just a little bit. Right now, speaking of sweaters, it is a cool one this morning. Temperatures have continued to go down about five to ten degrees difference from yesterday. Radar satellite, live doppler 7 hd showing some clouds that are moving into the bay area. Thats all due to a trough of low pressure thats going to be visiting us as we head into the latter part of the day. As you head back over i want to tell you we do have some snow thats being reported because the sierras, actually going to be winter advisory. Thats going to last until 9 00 tonight. And then it looks like things will start to clear out by the end of the week. More on that coming up in a little bit. Eric, kristen, over to you. 5 55. Almost a week after opening the States Health Insurance Exchange officials are calling cover california nothing short of phenomenal. More than 16,000 people have completed applications for health insurance. Another 27,000 have set up accounts. More than 978,000 individuals visited the website. 59,000 calls were logged at two of the three call Centers Currently staffed. A trend known as corset shaping has been coming back in fashion. But doctors are warning of some potentially dangerous consequences. The process involves wearing a corsetlike device to make the waist smaller without exercise or surgery. The corset is worn for four hours a day to start. Then its made tighter in increments. Experts say it can actually move the lower ribs, making the waist smaller by several inches. But one expert says it could lead to problems like weakened muscles. Constipation and more. Your joint movement is not going to be nearly as normal as it should be. The lungs cant inflate as well as they should because the ribs are going to be constrained. If theres any women out there that are wearing it with any heart conditions, i would be that would be a red flag. The medical corsets cost about 150 and should be worn always and only under medical supervision. Chinese researchers may have solved a puzzle thats plagued man kind for centuries. How to cure a hangover. Its not an ancient secret of herbs and roots. Scientists looked at 57 beverages and concluded the soft drink sprite was best at helping the body recover from the dehydration, sour stomach and pounding headache that often comes the morning after a night of spirited drinking. Sprite was found to help speed up an enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the body. The study is published in food and function, the journal of Britains Royal Society of chemistry. Thank goodness ive never needed sprite for that. 5 57. First the cliff house was closed. Then it reopened. Now San Franciscos iconic restaurant is closed again. Straight ahead, what led to this latest decision . Coming up, a deadly crash in the east bay after the Highway Patrol chases a suspected drunk driver. Were live with the closure and the impact on morning drivers. Later, samsung unveils its newest smartphone. Its unlike anything else currently on the market. What makes this g that breaking news at 6 00 is in richard mond. An off ramp on interstate 80 remains closed after an overnight police per suit leads to a fatal crash. Amy hollyfield. Reporter kristen, look, the car is behind me. Its still here. Its on its side here on the central off ramp off of westbound interstate 80. The driver of this car died. He was westbound. He was passing a construction site and chp officers who were at the site saw him passing and noticed that his front tire was so flat he was driving on the rim. They were going to pursue him, see if he needed help, see if he was drunk, trying to figure out what the story was. But they say they dont even know if they had time to get their lights and sirens on. This all happened so fast. They put out a Little Information over the radio. All of a sudden it was like, oh, hit the Center Divide, oh, went off the shoulder. Reporter this westbound central off ramp closed. And i just checked in with the chp to see