between the two crimes? cheryl herd has the latest for us. cheryl? >> oakland police were able to make an arrest because citizens got involved. a license plate reported to police is what started the whole thing. a short high-speed chase ended here in oakland. >> he hit the pole right here and then the car ended up stopping right there. and he got out, ran, ran a couple yards down. >> reporter: the driver was caught and police say he's a suspect in two drugstore robbies. >> we did recover items that were taken in the pharmacy. i don't want to elaborate. >> reporter: a police detective was sent out to take a closer look at the items inside the car. they were looking for a possible link between what happened here and a home invasion and sexual assault that happened in the oakland hill in the the early morning. a woman living on willton street heard her talk barking, went downstairs, when she was confronted by a intruder. she was sexually assaulted, robbed, all the while her husband and children slept. >> the robbery occurred early today and they had a suspect description. so if they feel there may be a link, they're going to investigate all the avenues and this is just one of them they pursue. >> reporter: police are investigating the link between the driver of this car, because of what they found inside of it. police confirm that items taken from the pharmacy holdup on la salle were found in the car. they also confirm that drugs taken from the high street pharmacy on macarthur boulevard were confiscated from that same car. sources within the department say there may have been drugs discovered in the car from a drugstore robbery several days ago. police are investigating if those drugs were a part of the items taken from the home where the sexual assault took place. and that is the possible link to this whole thing. now, police have other information that they're holding very close. the suspect will go before a photo lineup. the victim will look and see if he is in fact the suspect in this case. reporting live, i'm cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. an oakland group is predicting outrage at the prospect of messerly being released early. a hearing will determine if time served will qualify for an early revees. riots followed the shooting of grant and the involuntary manslaughter verdict. a south bay family is hoping that national attention could ease a personal nightmare. the 2008 murder will be featured saturday night on a show similar to "america's most wanted." the family sat down with george. he joins us live from san jose. >> reporter: the suspect in this case was last seen in brownsville, texas. tonight, the victim's parents are coming forward with their story, hoping at least the capture of their son's killer. >> even now, it don't seem like it's going to be three years. >> reporter: three years may seem like a long time for some. but for them, it feels just like yesterday their son, 29-year-old joseph, was sitting in their living room with their two other boys. they think about him every day, wishing he was still here. >> since this happened, it's like they gave us a life sentence in hell. >> reporter: investigators are looking for this man, javier jiminez. detectives say a fight broke out in stockton in 2008. during the brawl, he stabbed and killed joseph. >> her to a piece of my heart and i'm just done. >> reporter: joseph is buried in san jose. his mom visits every day to spend time with him. it helps her cope with the devastating loss. >> i just feel better after i'm over there. like he says, i do go over there every day. i don't care if it's rain or shine, sometimes i just lay down and talk to him. >> reporter: even if he's arrested and prosecuted with their son's murder, they say it still won't ease the pay. >> i'm worried when they do sentence him, because if they only give him only a small amount of time, that's another stab for me because my son is gone forever. >> reporter: the family is offering a $5,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of a suspect. if you know anything, police call the sheriff's office. >> thank you, george. her own family thought that she would bail and run, so tonight, she is facing a $5 million bail. she's still in an l.a. county jail, and will be picked up on tuesday. police say she snuck into her son's home and stole a 4-month-old baby last sunday and she tried to pass off the baby as her own newborn. police found the baby 24 hours later, hundreds of miles away in el monte. a former state assemblyman from the bay area is putting his political career on stand by to deal with a brain tumor. the redwood city democrat e-mailed supporters tuesday, saying he had a brain tumor removed two weeks ago. now he plans to contain the tumor with chemo therapy. still, the 67-year-old is keeping a positive at touchdown and says his recovery has been great and he feels "improved and reinvig rated." the san francisco d.a. dismissed 34 cases, now connected to a growing police misconduct scandal. also today, a public defender released new video in another controversial drug arrest case. this time the video shows an alleged drug deal taking place in april of last year. officers claim the suspect, who was seen in the video wearing a white shirt, spat out crack cocaine out of his mouth and told it to an undercover officer. he says the veo a clearly shows there was no transfer of any drugs. >> this opens up a whole new pandora's box, because we are talking about buy/bust operations on the streets involving officers where reports are clearly being falsified. >> the fbi is now looking into all the charges of misconduct. so far 14 officers remain on the job, but are off plain clothes patrol. the district attorney is left in a curious spot. law enforcement will be out in force this memorial day weekend. dui checkpoints are planned around the bay area. some say those checkpoints now target illegal immigrants who are driving without a license. jean elle has more on what's down the road. >> reporter: the san francisco police department is running a dui checkpoint here. the goal of a sobriety checkpoint is to get drunk drivers off the road, but some say these check points are losing focus and they're working to change that. the first long weekend of the summer weeks off with dui checkpoints all over the bay area. the goal is to get accused drunk drivers like timothy mcgowen off the road. the district attorney's office says mcgowan got three duis in three different cities in three days. a judge increased his bail to keep him off the road. drunk drivers go to jail and have their car impounded. but civil rights groups say they have turned into immigration checkpoints. >> they didn't focus on the duis. >> reporter: according to california watch, a research group says sobriety check points grab less drunk drivers than unlicensed drivers. >> so many consequences of losing the car, because they can't take their kids to school, they can't go to work, they lose their job. >> reporter: changes are shifting into gear. the state assembly just passed legislation that limits when officers can impound an unlicensed driver's car. instead of losing it for 30 days, it can be moved and left in a safe area where a licensed driver can pick it up. courts have ruled that driving without a license does not warrant losing property, and police policy should reflect the ruling. the unlicensed drivers get to keep the car but they are not out of trouble. >> of course they're going to get a ticket for not having a license. >> reporter: critics of this legislation say unlicensed drivers are dangerous and should lose their vehicles. the bill now moves on to the state senate. reporting live, jean elle. coming up, a new way to make sure you have the freshest food on the grill. it's a rating system for meat. how it works. and this memorial day weekend, americans paying tribute to our four-legged veterans. tonight, life after the military for america's special forces dogs. and buster posey talks about his injury for the first time. good evening. sunshine today and temperatures still cooler than average with 69 in san jose. tonight, the clouds start to roll in. we'll talk about the cloud cover but yes, even m sornie sierrano possible this weekend. your memorial day weekend forecast coming up. 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[ male announcer ] from pre-approval to closing, citi is with you every step of the way. what's your story? citi can help you write it. it was certainly one of the oddest stories of the week. facebook co-founder jeff zuckerberg only eats meat from animals he kills himself. that may be extreme, but a lot of people would like to know more about the meat they eat. now there is a way. vickie winn has more on this story. >> the rating system on all our beef is one. >> reporter: this could be more than many people ever wanted to know about their meat. >> the basics are, no anti-biot anti-biotics, no added hormones for growth. >> reporter: tim edwards says the company's new animal welfare rating system is a big step toward improving the lives of farm animals and ultimately food safety. >> level two means that they have lots of room, they have access to outdoors. >> reporter: signs and stickers help customers figure out what it means. >> as time goes on, you're going to see more and more guests ask questions about it, more and more guests actually start to understand what it does mean, and jump right on the bandwagon. >> reporter: the system was launched by the global animal partnership, which rates a farm's conditions and animal treatment. it ranges from step one, which means no crates, cages or crowding to step five, which means the animals spend their entire lives on one farm, including pork, beef and chicken. >> the higher the rating system, the better. >> reporter: lauren runs a beef ranch in oklahoma and says happy cows make better beef. >> they're pretty much free to roam. it's a low stress environment. we don't use any electric cattle prods or anything like this. >> reporter: ratings, she says, are an assurance farms do what they claim. >> it tells you actually how natural that system is or that ranch raises their animals to be either completely unaltered, virtually no human contact all the way down to access to pasture. >> reporter: the ultimate goal is to get most major grocers to adopt ratings. vickie winn, nbc bay area news. oil prices are finally falling over the past few weeks. the average nation wide is now $3.81 down from over $4 a few weeks ago. california always has higher gas prices. we're now at $4.01. gas prices in the bay area are falling. the triple-a fuel gauge shows tanks up costs $4.05 a gallon. oakland is at $4.05. san francisco still up around $4.17, but is down a dime. this weekend will not be the unofficial kickoff to summer in the sierra, that's because there's still snow on the ground in the sierra. we have a report that campers are preparing for some very cold overnight lows. >> reporter: the memorial state park is open this weekend, with every one of the 50 available camp sites reserved. and a few campers have already settled in here at 6,000 feet. >> the first thing he said is, we're going to start a fire. it's cold. >> reporter: maria had her heart set on a sierra getaway. >> got a heater in the tent, so we're hoping to stay warm tonight. >> reporter: the ranger says people coming up this weekend better be prepared for cold weather. >> i would recommend carrying your warmest clothes. you need to make sure your sleeping bags are rated for being, again, the lows being in the 20s and just being prepared. >> reporter: travel today was easy. the roads dry and the traffic light. but with some rain and snow coming this weekend, the scene can quickly change to this. chp has some advice for holiday drivers. >> transition from rain to slush to snow, pull ahead and put your chains on. >> put them on. tom says that's what you should be doing. he tells us there's still plenty of snow in the high country. squat and kirkwood will be open for skiing on memorial day weekend, which is kind of freaky to think about. >> snow now and more snow on the way. >> that's unbelievable, jeff. >> it really is. rarely happens. we've had all-time record setting snow this season. after a stunning sunset like we had tonight, it is hard to believe right across the san francisco bay at about 8:20 this evening. it's chilly out there. we have currently 53 in santa rosa. 55 in san jose and 53 in livermore. a lot happening tomorrow. clouds moving in, also the possibility of a little bit of drizzle. as we head throughout the weekend, we're going to see these cooler temperatures staying with us, and some sierra snow showers possible in the forecast. it's all from this weaker system that's transitioning right across california. that will keep us on the cloudy side and cooler with only a few 70s expected inland. right now at this point, memorial day looks like a warmer and also the driest day in the forecast. let's get a look as we head into tomorrow. tomorrow morning specifically, that cloud cover widespread, and take a look at this. by noon, a little bit of shower activity offshore. nothing that's heavy, but throughout the afternoon, we could see a few areas of showers develop across the bay area and the temperatures staying in the upper 60s. if you're heading to the sierra, 1 to 3 inches of snow possible saturday night into sunday, right across lake tahoe. tonight, mid to upper forts in the south bay. kind of cold with 50 down in santa cruz. tomorrow, 71 in morgan hill. 67 in livermore. 67 in dublin. redwood city 68. scattered showers and a mix of sun for saturday. we will see those improving conditions on sunday and also for memorial day. morning time on the weather channel on your travel forecast, you can see on your seven-day, partly cloudy skies on sunday. mostly sunny on monday. so memorial day is the best of the three days. tomorrow is a mixed bag. so hang in there. it will start off cloudy but will get better each and every day. >> all right. that's something to settle for. >> thank you very much. coming up, the once-in-a-lifetime experience that will have you set for life. tonight, we take ynsou ithide ass you iide the class that teaches you how to marry a millionaire. [ male announcer ] it was forged from the fires of imagination. sculpted by an unyielding passion for design. ♪ and tempered by 125 years of legendary performance. introducing the all-new 2012 cls from mercedes-benz. where the world's greatest automobiles take shape. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. downtown san jose is being invaded this weekend by fans of the popular japanese art form anime. >> last year, over 16,000 people in various costumes made their way to san jose. the three-day event gives fans a chance to break aware from their everyday persona and change into a character or person that they've always wanted to be. >> it's my chance to be the real me, who i'm afraid to show other people in everyday life, because whether i be scared of how they would react or anything. here you can be anybody and you're accepted. >> if you would like to join in on the fun, lit be the san jose convention center -- oh, my god, horses -- it runs through monday. i want to be selma hyak. when we return, buster posey speaks for the first time since his injury. does he think the collision is illegal? buster posey spoke for the first time today since getting injured in that violent collision wednesday night. in a conference call, posey said he will probably miss the rest of the season and he's "100% sure that when he does return, he will return as a catcher, no question." posey also stated he didn't think the runner scott coursens diin athnyg illegal, but the hit could have been avoided saying "i feel coursens had a choice to slide or directly come at me, and he came directly at me. i want to make this very clear, i'm not out to vilify cousins. it happened, it's over with." larry bear also weighed in today. >> it's clearly a legal play. so you can't say if it's a legal play, you can't say it's a dirty play. so it was within the limits of the game as it's constituted now. the question, is maybe there should be rule changes that can protect both sides. >> posey has surgery scheduled for some time next week. as for buster's teammate tonight in walk, giants rookie shortstop brandon crawford made his debut. and in his third at-bat with the bases loaded, you guessed it, a grand slam. the giants were trailing 3-1. he becomes only the sixth player in major league history to hit a grand slam in his first game. san francisco went on to win 5-4, breaking a three-game losing streak. now to a story about america's four-legged veterans. a navy s.e.a.l. dog named cairo helped in that mission to kill osama bin laden. mari payton shows what happens to military dogs once their tours of duty is done. >> reporter: responding to commands in foreign languages and trained to sniff out bombs and insurgents. >> they're definitely heroes. they're extremely important. they can hear and sense things long before a human can. >> reporter: since a navy s.e.a.l. dog helped in the mission to kill osama bin laden, the demand to own one of these military dogs has increased. he says a dog fully trained is worth up to $50,000. >> people now realize the need for what happens to these guys after their career in the military. >> reporter: in the past, military dogs were euthanized once their tours of duty were done or simply left behind in the war zone. that changed in 2000 when a law was passed allowing the dogs to be adopted. each year, about 300 dogs are put up for adoption. officials say they've received more than 400 adoption applications since the may 2nd raid. he says not all military dogs are adoptable. some suffer from ptsd or have medical problems. still, he says many make great pets and are screened author roy. >> they also go through an individual temperament test with the military prior to becoming available for adoption. so i think that they're making sure that these are going to be safe, sound animals. >> reporter: mari payton, nbc news. >> as for cairo the dog in the bin laden mission, they haven't released any details about him, becauseis hwork, even so how exactly does one go about snagging a millionaire for a husband? >> i have no idea. >> well, one school in china, in china, says it's all a matter of course work. >> the beijing moral education center offers courses at $46 an hour, and there are many women willing to pay the price. the school has more than 2,800 students. as evidence of its success, 30 students have married in the last ten months. no word on how many have managed to catch a millionaire or a billionaire. >> have a good night. nf