lectured him on turning his life around, then shook his hand and let him go. >> i said, please shake hand, don't come back again. promise. he said yes. >> reporter: the manager says he let him walk because a getaway car was circling outside, and he feared more armed men may come in shooting. >> it could have very easily been a tragedy. >> reporter: fairfield police say it's one of the strangest cases they've seen. while it looks like a victory for the good guys, they say taking on an armed suspect should be a last resort. >> robberies are specifically for the purpose of trying to get money. if that's what their demand is, give it to them and stay safe. >> reporter: the wing stop manager says on hindsight maybe he should have complied. he's just glad he's still here to retell the story. >> 100% lucky. more than 100%. i was so lucky he didn't shoot me. >> reporter: the restaurant manager did not want to show his face, but he says he is pretty certain that the robber will not return here to the wing stop. but he does want him to stop his criminal ways. in fairfield, jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> incredible story. thank you. this just in. a young woman has died in the castro this afternoon after being hit by a muni bus. the woman was hit about 2:30 in the afternoon at the intersection of 18th and hartford streets. fire department crews arrived almost immediately. the victim was pronounced dead at the scene. our nbc helicopter was above the scene. she's thought to be in her late 20s. no word yet on what caused the accident. a 4-year-old boy is dead tonight. [ technical difficulty ] >> the boy was rushed to the hospital but died early this morning. >> i can't believe. hurt me so bad. why would somebody do that? if they hit a kid, stop, try to help him. >> reporter: he was walking with his mother, twin sister and 6-year-old sister along the crosswalk to jacobs park on west 9th street in santa rosa at about 6:00 yesterday evening. one car stopped to let the family pass. a man watched in horror at what happened next. >> to see the car, how hard they hit the baby, you know. the baby probably go up a few feet. and they never stopped. >> reporter: o j eda says there were many witnesses who went straight to police with descriptions of the car and driver. he asked a nearby apartment manager if he saw the car. >> yes, i saw the carment. >> reporter: a tipster spotted the driver later pulling decals off the car and hopping into another vehicle. police arrested 22-year-old marcos lopez garcia shortly afterwards. residents say something needs to be done it the fact that drivers regularly speed through the intersection and the crosswalk. >> maybe paint the curbs here more yellow so they can see, maybe some stop signs or some flashlights like the one down at the street. >> reporter: police say marcos lopez garcia of driving without a license, and it's not the first time he's done that. he's gotten ticket for that same thing before. he's being held in lieu of half a million dollars bail. live in santa rose atraca-- ros traci grant, nbc bay area news. christopher butler is expected to be released on $1 million bail later in san francisco. butler pleaded not guilty 17 criminal count in federal court this morning. the indictment alleges butler and former department of justice anti-drug task force agent norman welsh stole drug evidence from police lockers, robbed prostitute during phony sting operations, and ran a brothel in pleasant hill. butler's father put up the bail. butler is already out on $900,000 fwhbail in county. medical examiners have identified the body of a canoer who s disappeared in the bay earlier this week. the body of michael butler was found yesterday on brooks island in richmond. butler had been missing since wednesday evening. near island when it overturned.s butler climbed back into the canoe while his two friends swam it shore and -- swam to shore and went home to change. when they returned, butler was nowhere to be found. california's jobless rate is rising according to the employment development department. california's unemployment rate rose from 11.8 university june to 12% in july. compare that to the national number which decreased in july falling to 9.1%. among bay area county, marin county had the lowest rate at 8.2%, while solano county had the highest at 12.2%. one bay area bright spot comes from vta, which this morning announced over $150 million in state funds to improve highways, putting a lot of people to work over the next several years. >> it's a lot of jobs for people on the projects. it's improving the roadways so people can get to jobs. it's a significant boost to the economy. >> coming up at 6:00, we'll tell you where more jobs can be found in the bay area. it seems like almost every day there's a round of layoffs somewhere in the country. today is no exception. bank of america, the country's largest, announcing they plan on laying off thousands of workers gijing next month. b of a plans to cut 3,500 jobs by the end of september. that's a little more than 1% of its work force of nearly 300,000 people. it's the second string of layoffs this year for b of a. it's unclear whether this round of cuts will happen in a certain part of the country. but a b of a spokesman did say the layoffs would be spread across most of the business units. a wall street -- well, wall street could soon be called fall street if massive point losses continue for much longer. the dow industrial average dropped another 172 points today, which is 1.5%. another volatile session of trading, you'll see the numbers here, in the past two days alone, the dow has dropped 592 points, more than 5% of its value. the nasdaq slid 38 points today. the nasdaq has lost 18% of its value over the last four weeks. and the s&p 500 is also down. a former executive accused of shaking down vendors claims he's bankrupt. omar siddiqui filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy last month claiming $137 million in debt, much of it to las vegas casinos. the list includes more than $11 million to the mgm grand and nearly $6 million to caesar's palace. at least five vendors are suing him claims he owes them more than $10 million. he's accused of pressuring eventtors kick back money, to keep their products on store shelves. he has pleaded not guilty. of butts about it, smoking inside your own apartment might soon be illegal. a bill currently awaiting governor brown's signature would allow landlords of apartments and condos to make units and even entire buildings smoke free. the bill's author says the legislation is designed to give families more smoke-free options. 86% of californians don't smoke, but smoke-free apartments and condos are relatively hard to find. >> we have lease agreement or rental agreement out there that can prohibit pets. can prohibit noise or the loud activity for the sake of the quality living environment for the other tenants. yet we haven't done it for whether people can smoke or not smoke. >> reporter: an estimated 30% of california housing is apartments and condos. a brutal killing of three cub scouts nearly 20 years ago. today, why the men known as the west memphis three walked free. and san francisco's interim mayor was a no show of sort last night at the debate. why he went bar hopping instead. and the positives of plastic. the last-minute change to some california textbooks about the virtues of plastic bags. and good afternoon, i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. a lotren hen i of sunshine dow the southay.ouay but temperatures -- talk about mild. well below average with already 52348 san francisco and 75 in sunnyvale, we'll talk more about this cooling trend coming up. there's been a dramatic development in the case of three arkansas men known as the west memphis three. two decades ago they were teenager convicted of killing three cub scouts in what police and prosecutors described as a satanic ritual. after their lawyers presented some new dna evidence, the three men were set free today. but there's a catch -- here's nbc's chris clackum. >> reporter: free for the first time in 18 years, the west memphis three met with the media just moments after their release. as defiant as ever over their not in. >> this of not justice. >> we can still try clear our names. >> reporter: damian eckels, jason baldwin, jesse miskelly jr., were all convicted of murdering and mutilating three 8-year-old cub scouts in west memphis, arkansas, in 1993. police called the killings part of a satanic ritual led pie eckels, who was put on death row. and meekly followed by baldwin and miskelly who received life sentences. >> i'm an outcast, i'm a freak. >> reporter: documentaries over the two decades since described the three not as murderers but as misfits. celebrities like actor johnny depp took up their kauds, as well as eddie vetter of pearl jam and natalie mane of the dixie chicks, who were in the courtroom friday when the three agreed to a legal maneuver that lets them maintain their innocence while acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them. >> they would have to come with some concrete, physical evidence, and i they didn't have any. >> reporter: a local sprr defiant and stands by the original convictions. >> i have no reason to believe that there was anyone else involved in the homicide of these three children but the throw defendants who pled guilty today. >> reporter: outside the courthouse, the three were greeted by supporter, even to include some of the victims' families. >> there's no winners here. my son's still dead. >> reporter: the prosecutor said the state considers the case closed. but the west memphis three disagree. [ applause ] >> reporter: chris clackum, nbc news. in other news, interim san francisco mayor ed lee is taking heat today. he missed last night's marlin forum. instead he hit a pub crawl in the lower hate. he defended the decision and said he will be attending many more pub crawls in the future. talking to undecided voters about the issues they care about. the former supervisor is blasting lee for not joining other candidates at the debate which focused largely onners affecting people living around the lower hate, lower fillmore and western edition neighborhoods. a new curriculum is being tested in 14 bay area schools. it's called the california curriculum. covers all the basics. but when it comes to environmental studies, there was an 11th hour adjustment. the book originally only included the hazards of plastic shopping bags, but after getting pressure from the plastic industry about a section of the positives of using plastic bags, that was added to the text booker the positives. the section is called the advantages of plastic shopping bags. according to the revised version, plastic bags can be reused and take less energy to make than paper bags. they also cost less to transport. you'll want to slow down through school zones in san francisco. the city is lowering speed limits around schools from 25 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour. the new limits will affect over 200 public and private schools around the city. the change is part of the city's effort to reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities by 25% by 2016. and by 50% by 2021. the mayor's office says the project which costs more than $300,000, will be paid for by local sales taxes and san francisco's muni operating funds. those back-to-school sales may seem like a good deal, but in actuality they might not be. retailers are trying to do more with less. according to the marketing research group npd, less material is being useded to offset the rising costs of making clothes. inexpensive tricks like additional stitching, fake button holes, and fancy tags are being added and marketed as a redesign. prices are being raised by an average of 10% across the board. so that sale that you might be purchasing of something may really just be a way to get you to pay last year's non-sale price. brag rights are on the line between oakland and san francisco this weekend. the city's mayors are taking the stakes a bit higher. the 49ers and raider face off saturday at candlestick national park an exhibition game. san francisco mayor ed lee and oakland mayor gene kwan agreed to a friendly wager. if the 49ers win, mayor kwan will send lee's office wine and from oakland and blue bottle coffee. if the raiders win, mayor lee will send crab from, from's wharf, jeer deli chocolate, and phil's coffee. win or lose, everyone is invited to celebrate the art and soul festival. >> a preseason game. usually we do this for the super bowl. let's bring in jeff ranieri, chief meteorologist. is it sfli. >> it's finally friday. >> yes, it's here. both of those winnings sound good. a win-win on either situation. blue bottle coffee, crab -- pretty good. the fog rolled in strong with the westerly wind throughout the entire day. numbers about 15 degrees below national averagessistant rosa. just 75 degrees. you should be at 95 degrees. danville, 78. no doubt pleasant but cool to krd at the coastline. the fog was persistent. 66 now in san francisco and fogged in from our san bruno mountain camera. can't even sea te the city skyl. looking toward san francisco, fog stacking up to 2,000 feet with 62 in oakland. the other numbers, down in sunny valley to 75, 74 in san jose. a ten-degree departure why from our averages.napa, cool in wine country. possibly 40s on the map. definitely drizzle for the coastline. for the weekend, yes, mild for august weather. 70s and 80s. more 70s than 80s. we're talking about even the chance here of some august thunderstorms in my seven-day forecast. a little tropical moisture may make it in in the next seven days. for the next 48 hours, we'll call it mild here with plenty of 70s inland. fog tomorrow morning and throughout sunday, the cool winds are going to stay with us throughout this weekend. let's look at the fog pattern as we head throughout tonight. it's going to be moving in, widespread low clouds in the north bay, also for the peninsula. by tomorrow morning, also the east bay and south bay getting in on cloud cover. it's not going to clear until 2:00 p.m. reminiscent of how it was today. took a long time for those low clouds to move on out. 54 in los gatos. 50 in santa rosa with efforts. 56 in livermore. tomorrow we're going with upper 70s to near 80 in the south bay. 76 in fremont. 77 in palo alto. 79 in dublin. and upper 60s to low 70s here across the peninsula right into san francisco. 58 in half moon bay. 76 in benecia. 73 in napa. 77 in kentfield. and for your saturday, we look like this in the north bay -- 73 in novato, and 74 in san rafael. more any time on the weather channel on cable. you'll see in the weekend forecast, it stays mild for saturday and sunday. and then we'll slowly turn up the warmth here as we head throughout wednesday, thursday, and friday. no 90s, no triple digits. just, well, nice, comfortable stride here the next couple of days. >> i was along the coast today. was freezing. i was like, where's my parka. so cold. >> you could have used five layers out there. >> i know. >> we're going into the weekend so we're okay. >> yes. up next, an earth-changing discovery. researchers make disturbing new findings about the damage from the devastating earthquake in japan back in march. and a strange new threat s is itresg dintroy the coral . it's a region still in shock. last night a sizable earthquake hit japan. it triggered a brief tsunami advisory. as of now there's no report of damage or injuries. the 6.5 quake struck just 70 miles away from the fukushima nuclear power plant. and new information is being released tonight regarding the devastating earthquake back in march. scientists say that quake created fissures on the ocean floor and destroyed the deep sea ecosystem across the region. they found no sign of sea organisms that one lived in the -- that once lived in the ecosystem. it will take a long time to find if the ecosystem can be revived. human cannot get the disease, but we can give it to underwater sea creatures and it's killing them. it's called white pox. there are hundred of variety of coral but a variety off the florida keys is susceptible to the kind of bacteria that gives people urinary tract infections. the professors behind the studies say improved white water treatment, something underway in the caribbean already, will address and solve the problem. an american icon is out of a job. in a surprise marketing overhaul, the burger king has been dethroned. and mom is now the new queen. the fast food franchise is dumping the long-time king. the character that you see in commercials. it will 401(k) instead on fresh not and health, things that appeal to moms. burger king has been losing grounds to mcdonald's, and the new owners and new ceo want to revive the brand. in an ad campaign beginning this weekend, burger king will roll out a commercial showing only fresh ingredient being washed, sliced, and diced. it will show no royalty and no toys. so a new era for burger king. coming up, surprising new lotenochgy you might encounter the next time you board a plane in europe. no it was bound to happen. boarding a plane in europe is resembling a sci-fi movie. they're using holograms as virtual boarding agents because they don't take bathroom breaks ear go on strike. >> the holograms materialize when a real boarding agent presses a button at the gate. the images are rear projected on to a human