Transcripts For KNTV Today In The Bay 20160924

Meteorologist anthony slaughter. Youre going to notice it once you step outside this morning. Were already starting off milder than we were even yesterday. Clear skies just like yesterday and thats going to lead to a very bright and warm day. Heres what im talking about. Those temperatures not as cold. 57 in san jose, 60 in San Francisco and 52 in the north bay. Look at these numbers later on. Were talking about 10 degrees warmer in some spots. 92 today for concord, 95 for fair field, son jose at 88, santa cruz, 85, look at San Francisco after yesterday, only reaching 70, you will be at 80 today. There is a heat advisory that goes into Effect Tomorrow afternoon that remains in effect for monday along with the red flag fire warning for ports of the bay area. Well talking about that in about ten minutes. All right. Well be careful out there. Thank you very much, anthony. We are following developing news out of seattle. A gunman who opened fire at a Shopping Mall is still on the loose. State troopers now say that five people, four women and one man, were killed inside a macys store at the cascade mall in the city of burlington, which is about 70 miles north of seattle. Washington state Police Released this photo of the suspect. The gunman armed with a rifle was last seen walking away from the mall toward the interstate there. The shooting happened just before 7 00 last night and witnesses say the man with the rifle walked into that macys store, opened fire, was screaming a womans name. The mall, including a cloudrowd movie theater, was evacuated. I turn around and i hear a shot. You know, sounded like a clap and next thing you know, another shot and then after that, bang, bang, bang, and i heard i heard like about seven or eight shots and at that point, i dropped whatever i had in my hand and i just started running. How the immediate neighborhood was on lockdown after police got reports that a suspect tried to break into a nearby house. Were going to continue to provide updates on our digital platform throughout the day and if the man hunt is successful, well bring that to you as well the uprising in charlotte, north carolina, is impacting the president ial race. Hillary clinton will no longer visit charlotte today. The citys mayor asked the two leading candidates delay their visits because of the civil unrest. Four days after police shot and killed keith scott, the frustration is still rising. Last night again, there was a midnight curfew and again, hundreds of protesters took to the streets before and after midnight. Adding to the anger and frustration, these dramatic Images Released by keith scotts family. That voice is his wife. Dont shoot him. Dont shoot him. He has no weapon. You can hear scotts wife and see the tense show down that is the first publicly released f t footage related to this shooting. President obama is encouraging people to be part of the solution instead of res cysting change. History doesnt always move in a straight line, and without vigilance, we can go backwards as well as forwards. The president speaking at the opening of the National Museum of africanamerican history went on to say that he hopes that the museum will help black and white americans see Current Events in a historical context. Back here at home, Berkeley Police have stepped up patrols because of a recent rash of violence in that city. More shots were fire on ellis avenue but no word yet on whether anyone was hurt. This was the scene near the station on thursday night. Police say a man walked up to a group of people and started firing on them, including a 19yearold man. Several other recent shootings are all believed to be related. Well, is it trash or is it a trap . A warning for dog walkers that a popular San Francisco dog park where someone might be intentionally breaking bottles to harm pets. Dog owners are spreading the word on social media, warning each other to be on the lookout for the person responsible for that broken glass. One man says he didnt want to believe it until he actually saw for himself. He didnt want to be identified, but he did tell us that two people warned him about the problem as they picked up sharp pieces around those trees. I see a lady picking up glass, telling me that theres people in this neighborhood throwing glass every morning, trying to get the dog injured. Many dog owners already are keeping a closer eye on their pooches because in 2013 and 2014, someone left poison treats for dogs near twin peaks in San Francisco. One dog did die. First the accusations and now the formal charges. Here is the first of five officers charged in a bay area sex scandal. He pleaded not guilty to charges of felony obstruction of justice and engaging in prostitution. This is all linked to the Sexual Exploitation case of a richmond teenager whose name is jasmine. According to court documents, he warn warned jazmyn in exchange for sex. Two men are accused of robbing more than a dozen Street Vendors at gunpoint. 19yearold richard low pez and 24yearold Michael Lopez targeted Street Vendors. Several of those victims report being beat skpn pistol whipped. Police say the suspects stole money, food, and cell phones. Funeral services this morning for a chinatown icon who is being remembered by the states top elected leaders. 68yearold rose pak died on sunday of Natural Causes following a kidney transplant. Hundreds of people filled the mortuary for the wake last night. Many people say she built political careers and brought citywide growth since she moved here from china in the 19 0s. Pak is applauded for a long list of accomplishments from Affordable Housing to helping to develop the central subway connecting chinatown, which is set to open in three years. No words can match what she meant to me and what i think she meant to the city. She was a thorn in the side of all the politicians, they were all scared of her in some ways. Funeral services for pak begin at 10 00 this morning inside old st. Marys church. Much more ahead on today in the bay. An exclusive story. Firefighters make a startling discovery that has one of their own now under a criminal investigation. And would you pay 43 bucks for this martini . Well, well show you why people in San Francisco are lining up to pay top dollar for fog. adlib it is 7 09 now and you can see a little bit of haze there. This is from the foster city side. Looks like traffic moving smoothly this morning, hopefully people going somewhere fun. More trouble for the San Francisco Fire Department. We have learned that a firefighters is now accused of stealing from his own department. His own colleague discovered those stolen items inside a garage while they were fighting a fire. Investigative reporter Jackson Vander beckon has this exclusive story. Reporter this building right behind me was where a fire hit and firefighters discovered their own equipment inside. That was on april 14 of this year. Documents weve obtained show that soon after the fire at the harrison street building, Police Seized a total of 25 department issued hoses and dozens of brass fittings from inside the building. It wasnt hard for investigators to tie the recovered equipment to firefighter mitchell lee. He listed the harrison street business as his address to the Fire Department. According to search warrants, lee told investigators that he bought some of the Fire Equipment at flea markets chls he picked up other pieces, he said, that had, quotes, been left behind, unquote, at fire scenes. He amgted, however, that he neglected to return them. Perhaps surprisingly, none of the items had been reported stolen. Lees attorney did not respond to calls on friday. At the building, lees specific Automatic Sprinkler Company business sign is no longer posted out front and lees father, melvin, did not want to talk about the allegations against his son. We have learned that lee has just been notified that the Fire Department intends to fire him. Meanwhile, prosecutors are trying to determine whether hell face criminal charges. Sources tell us that at least one commander at the scene has been told he faces disciplinary action for down playing the amount of Fire Department equipment involved. Nbc bay area news. Well, thats not all. Two other members of the Fire Department might be out of a job as well. One is accused of having sex in an ambulance while on duty. Sources tell nbc bay area that the two men work out of station 49 in the bay view. This incident happened some time in the last few months. Paramedics allegedly took an ambulance out for a drive and picked up a woman. One of the men had sex with the woman while the other drove. An investigation was launched after someone filed a formal complaint. Much more ahead on today in the bay, including snapchating without a phone. Wearable products that could take the tech world by storm. Just when you thought they thought of everything. You can see from beckly, sunshine, no fog and a little bit of haze developing. Well talk about your weekend forecast. Were talking 90s. Were back to explain. adlib good morning to you. Looking live at the sunrise over san jose, and we know the spartans are out of town in iowa and hopefully they will do very well there. Well, big news from snap shat. Hightech sunglasses, not quite google glass. Snapchat calls it technical. The wall street journal got a first look at those new spectacles modeled here. Works like this. Slip on the spectacles, tap a bitten and record up to 10 seconds of video and then that links to your phone. The snapchat app has 150 million daily users, nearly 15 million more than twitter. Seeingal dropped out of stanford to develop that company. Well a 43 martini is being offered up at a restaurant in San Francisco. Its pretty special. Its made with fog. Today in the bays ian cull has an explanation. Reporter San Francisco, drink it in. Well, now you actually can. The low level marine layer is now available on the top shelf. Its quite on interesting drink. Epic steak on the embarcadero is now using fog point. Were really proud to carry something so special and San Francisco. Hangar 1 harvests the fog using a sort of mesh. Creates a condensation that runs into a reservoir of sorts and theyre able to harvest about half a liter to a liter a day from each of these fog catchers. Reporter but that efforts going to cost you. The martini at epic steak is 43. Its an elegant vodka. The storyline behind it intrigued me. Reporter Robert Martin experiences fog most mornings so why not try it from a glass. Wasnt sure about the fog aspect of it. But actually added some flavor to it that i wasnt expecting. Reporter whether you like it or not, the fog in fog point martini is here and after a few, you might feel, well, like San Francisco in the morning. Ian cull, nbc bay area news. I wonder who wibuys it the most, if it is the locals who get a taste of karl the fog every single day or the visitors who say, im on vacation, ill pay 43. This morning, there is no fog. Whatever youre stepping out to do. No martini. But it is 5 00 somewhere, right . Always. Lets start off with your forecast this morning. Good morning, bay area. We made it through the weekend, were looking at temperatures in the 50s and you know what . Not as cold as it has been in the past couple of mornings so as you get out to walk the dog this morning, going for an early jog, you may not need that heavier jacket and by this afternoon, shorts, flipflops, sunscreen and shades. And remember that water if youre going to be oultds for a long amount of time, especially if youre a construction worker, working on route trivalley today, 80 for San Francisco, even the peninsula today will be in the 80s and the 90s for the south bay now because of the heat and High Pressure that creates this sinking air in the atmosphere, were going to see stagnant air in our lower parts of the atmosphere this weekend, and thats going to lead to air quality that begins to suffer from the north bay through the east bay, the peninsula, and for the south bay as well, so everywhere, if you suffer from asthma or have respiratory ailments, limit your time outside this weekend. Keep in mind its going to be hot. Even by lunch thyme, temperatures in the 80s for our warmest locations. The reason be it, High Pressure is pushing the storm track way to the north and that allows for a lot of the heat that typically sits across the southern part of the state, los angeles, the four corners region, thats going to build in as we head toward the next couple of days and thats going to lead to some very hot weather e. Heres what im talking about. Not bad at the coastline, but inland valley like walnut creek, napa, lower 90s this afternoon and look down toward southern california. Look what happens over the next couple days. Back tomorrow, looking at temperatures across the entire state near 100 degrees for inland valleys from napa to walnut creek, even fresno, bakersfield. Now because of this excessive heat and we usually dont see heat like this, in fact, any time you get above 95 degrees, thats dangerous heat so a heat advisory goes into effect for tomorrow across the entire bay area for the afternoon hours. It will go into effect again on monday for the afternoon hours and along with that, we have a red flag fire warning in the north bay for our valleys and mountains there. So do keep in mind if youre going to be headed to wine country, we have a heightened fire risk there. Burning is highly discouraged and really across the bay area just because it has been so dry. Temperatures today, hot but not dangerously hot until tomorrow. But the heat building. 87 palo alto. Tomorrow forecast, tack on about 5 degrees from wherever youre at, another warm one. Temperatures 100 degrees, thats why we have that heat advisory in effect, especially if you have to work outside for a long amount of time. San francisco is going to get in on the heat as we head to the next couple of days and then we fall back into the 60s by wednesday. But over the next couple days, its going to be hot. Check on your pets and elderly neighbors as well. Always check on our neighbors. Thank you very much. Much more ahead on today in the bay. Coming up, generating change instead of profits. I dont build things anymore. Im a cheerleader, a fundraiser, an advocate. In this mornings bay area proud, the incredible milestone for a Silicon Valley text pioneer. Were used to big numbers in the illicon vaey so ten fruchterman well, were used to big numbers in the Silicon Valley, so 10 million isnt always a big deal. But when you talk about 10 million books, it is a big deal. Todtoday in the bays Garvin Thomas has this mornings bay area proud. Reporter Jim Fruchterman says he wanted to be an engineer because he wanted to build things and solve problems. Well, jim says he doesnt build things anymore. But solving problems . Well, some call him the god father of doing that with technology. The concept of using technology to solve the worlds problems is a popular one these days. In fact, they hold whole conferences about it in San Francisco and thousands attend. You know, we need capital to get it going. Reporter when Jim Fruchterman first had the idea, though, well, he could have held his convention in a phone booth, if youre old enough to know what that technology looks like. Id say i was in the wilderness for ten years. All my friends were like, jim, you could make billions selling dog food over the internet. Im like, i dont want to sell dog food over the internet. Reporter jim was an undergraduate at cal tech in the 1970s, see thie studying to be Rocket Scientist when he had what he called his one good idea. Developing Character Recognition Technology that would help make books more widely accessible to the visually impaired. It took a few years and a few e detours to get it off the ground which would but when jim did. It quickly became successful. People have this impact with vision. Reporter jim has spent the decades since extolling the virtues of using tech for social benefits. He ended up founding benetech. And that one good idea of jims . Well, that became book share, and this month, celebrated an impressive milestone. Delivery of its 10 millionth ebook for people with difficulty reading standard print. 10 million. Sounds like a lot, though to jim, its just the beginning. I think about 10 million books as a down payment on how were going to help the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the longterm who all need access to books for education, employment, for just being more full member of society. Reporter one reason book share was able to reach 10 million downloads is they have a lot of books to begin with. There are more than 400,000 books available on their site. Garvin thomas, nbc bay area news. So many books. Still ahead on today in the bay, a tech super star under fire for his political views. The Virtual Reality pioneer who now faces real criticism in Silicon Valley. Plus. Nothings getting done. Lots of deadlocks. We investigate the federal Elections Commission, digging down into the agencys own voting records to see how the Agency Charged with protecting your vote does little to nothing at all. Im kris sanchez with anthony slaughter with a look at your good morning to you. Were looking live at the Golden Gate Bridge and you know when you can see all that blue sky and that golden gate, its going to be a hot one. Not just there but all around the bay, and in fact, perhaps dangerous heat tomorrow even. Yeah, especially tomorrow afternoon, thats when were going to be looking at the most dangerous heat, temperatures will be topping out near 100 degrees. Thats tomorrow but even today were looking at temperatures climbing into the 90s so yes its going to be a hot weekend across the bay area. From son jose, we have clear skies as well. Temperatures not as cold as they have been the last couple mornings back into the 50s with 60 in San Francisco. Later on this afternoon, youll be at 80 degrees so a warm day there. 87 for palo alto and look at those 90s creeping back in. Well be looking at 91 to livermore and up in wine country today, 90s so just keep that water handy and spf, especially for tomorrow. Well talk about that heat advisory that goes into Effect Tomorrow and a red flag fire warning. That is going to be key for tomorrow. Yes, especially how hot and dangerous we are at the end of fire season but its been so dry. Thank you very much, anthony. Were following developing news near seattle where a gunman opened fire at a Shopping Mall and is still on the run. State troopers say five people, one woman and one man, were killed inside a macys store. You can see on the map, its about 70 miles north of seattle. Washington state Police Released this photo of the suspect, taken by a Security Camera inside the mall. A man was armed with a rifle and was last seen walking away from the mall toward the interstate. The shooting happened just before 7 00 last night, witnesses say the man with the rifle walked into that macys store and started firing. The mall, including a crowded movie theater, all evacuated and a mall employee who was on break inside that macys store described the scene. I turn around and i hear a shot, you know, sounded like a clap. And next thing you know, another shot and then after that, bang, bang, bang, bang, and i heard, like, about seven or eight shots and at that point, i dropped whatever i had in my hand and i just started running. The immediate neighborhood was on lockdown after police got reports that the suspect had tried to break into a nearby house. Were going to keep watching this story for you. We will put updates up on all of our digital platforms throughout the day. A highprofile case continues to develop. The teenager accused of beating and robbing an 88yearold woman showed no signs of remorse in court. Zachary quinn never made eye contact with the victims family during yesterdays court hearing. The charges against him include attempted murder. Investigators say he viciously attacked flo douglas last week in her East San Jose home, stole her car and the jewelry she was wearing. The 88yearold remains in intense i ha intensive care but her family says she is conscious and able to talk a little bit. Shes 78 pounds, wet. Wet. For you to go in there and beat somebody like that, its unheard of. My heart is so heavy because this is unbelievable. I cant believe that our family is here right now. Quinn will return to court in november to enter a plea. Well, congress has come through with some big money to upgrade local airport security. Highprofile Security Breaches in the last couple of years have made the improvements a very high priority, especially at san jose manetta international. The airport is now getting more than 15 million in federal grants to pay for that work. Half of the money will fund perimeter fencing and equip it with state of the art surveillance technologies. The balance of the money will repave a large area thats used for parking commercial, charter and cargo aircraft. Well, he started one of the hottest Tech Companies in the world, but now, he is backtracking from his political stance. All of it stemming from his views about donald trump. Who are we talking about . Palmer luckey, who started oculus, the Virtual Reality headset, denying earlier reports that he supports donald trump and was anonymously donating money to a group criticizing hillary clinton. He claims hes a lib taertariand does not support trump. On his facebook page, he posted this apology. I am deeply sorry that my actions are negatively impacting the perception of oculus and its partners. The recent news stories about me do not accurately represent my views. Luckey, by the way, sold oculus to facebook for 2 billion in 2014. Texas senator ted cruz formally threw his support behind the republican president ial candidate. This is a major reversal for ted cruz, the senator cited several reasons for his decision, including his pledge to support the party. Well, just two more days until the first president ial debate of the election season and the show down is really between monday night football and the president ial debate. Were going to air the debate here on nbc. It is going to focus on topics such as security, achieving prosperity, and the direction of america. Campaign insiders say the candidates are preparing each in their own way. This is mrs. Clintons chance to give us a warm knowledge. This is about knowledge and experience, deep experience, deep knowledge, and she has to have a warm conversation with america. Trump has resisted planning for this debate, so its very hard to know what hes going to do because its not clear he has a plan going into it. Experts say that unpredictability could be trumps strategy to throw clinton off her game. Again, the president ial debate will air monday evening live right here on nbc. Lester holt will be the moderator whats being referred to as a gaping hole in the story of america, africanamerican history and now the much talked about museum of africanamerican history and culture officially opens today. People from all around the world are flocking to be part of this long awaited opening, including a marin county woman. Reporter im looking for our place, africanamericans, black people, our history to be told. Reporter that history is documented here in the National Museum of africanamerican history in washington, d. C. Randy bryant, a blogger and mother of two teenage boys cant wait to see it. I feel as if we have had a hard time in america facing our true history sometimes, because its oftentimes extremely painful, ugly to look at, and i think its now time to look at it. Reporter this three tiered structure sits along the National Mall in the nations capital. The idea of a museum like this has been in the works for decades. I think the timing of the museum greeting the American Public and public from around the world could not be better. Hopefully our resolve to work across divisions and to understand each other better throughout the country. Reporter the artifacts inside this museum cover everything from slavery to modern times. Some of it grown out of the bay area, like this statue of raised fists of olympians tommy smith and john carlos. So we use that platform to take a stand. Its not just africanamerican history. Its history. And not just for me to know but for my children. Reporter millions of people will now get to see africanamerican history under one roof starting on saturday. We are comfortable looking at some of the mistakes and atrocities in other countries, but we have a difficult time looking at our own. Reporter cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. Much more ahead on today in the bay. The giants are known for their october torture, but this end to the season might be just too much for some fans. Well show you what happened last night in san diego. adlib it is 7 38 right now. Were waking up in campbell this morning. We showed you the water tower lit up in teal for the teal run. This is about where the race is going to get started in about an hour and a half. The teal run is meant to raise awareness for ovarian cancer, and its a lucky thing theyre doing it today and not tomorrow because anthony slaughter says there will be a heat advisory in effect. Well talk with him a little bit later. Well, the baseball playoffs begin in two weeks and the giants are clinging on for dear life. Their season going to come down to the wire once again, and this picture says it all. Bad news for San Francisco last night in san diego where the giants lost 72. However, they still owned one of the two wild card spots with eight games remaining in the regular season. Torture. In oakland, one of the new warriors players threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the as game last night. 611 and the rest of the dubs will be in Training Camp on monday. The as lose to the rangers. Their final home game is tomorrow. And would you believe the sharks are also back in action. The players checked in for duty coming off their most successful season in franchise history. Some Unfinished Business in san jose, team teal looking to get back to the stanley cup finals after losing to pittsburgh last year. Yesterday, the sharks got right to work. Thursdays always like the first day of school, youre a little bit nervous. You got your new clothes, new gear. So i think its just more of anxiety or anticipation of the season and the excitement that, you know, youre starting another year and you want to start it on the right note. The regular season begins october 12. Still ahead on today in the bay, theyre supposed to enforce the law to make sure that our elections are fair. But our Investigative Unit found that the federal agency that oversees campaign law is stuck in political gridlock. Well, were going back to summer as we ahead to the weekend, sunshine this morning for you, it will continue to see warm temperatures, a heat advisory goes into effect for tomorrow. Were back to detail with with your weekend forecast. Welcome back on this saturday morning. Start you with our sky camera network. You can see from every microclimate this morning, waking up to sunshine. Back into the 50s, 59 in San Francisco, 57 right now in the south bay. Later on this afternoon, it is going to be a warm day across the entire bay. Were talking 80s and 90s for inland valley today, 93 for the trivalley and 83 for San Francisco and 85 for the peninsula. Meanwhile, wine country, even in the 90s there. Unfortunately because of the heat, whenever you get this hot and High Pressure creates a sinking in the air that allows for very stagnant air so moderate air quality at least for this week, air quality will begin to suffer going from the good category back to the moderate category and we may have to watch things closely because with fire danger heightened today and tomorrow, if we have any more fires break out, we could be talking about another spare the air weekend. So keep watching that closely. Last weekend, we hat hed heat l this. We have cool weather at least for the past couple of days. High pressure is going to set up right off the coastline and around it you get those clock wise rotating winds around the center and our winds are going to be offshore and warm us very quickly. Look at walnut creek today. 92 degrees, 93 for napa and so if youre traveling anywhere, not too bad today but by tomorrow, temperatures get hot, dangerous, uncomfortable heat. 99 for walnut creek so if you have to be outside for a long period of time tomorrow, take frequent breaks and drink plenty of water. Heat advisory in effect for the entire bay area, including the north bay where we also have red flag fire warnings and this is where we have the highest potential of seeing fires, new ones, at least this weekend, because of the heightened dry conditions and with gusty winds across higher hill tops especially in the north bay. Hot temperatures across the entire bay. If youre looking for some cool spots. 74 today, 87, though, for palo alto and even 85 today for santa cruz, those inland valleys, 90s, santa rosa, 88 degrees today for san jose. The heat will be the story really the next couple of days. In fact youll notice by monday, the heat peaks to 100 degrees. Tuesday, gradual cooling but you wont really notice it until the end of the week heading to thursday and friday when temperatures go back to the 80s, land, back into the 60s for San Francisco, but today, tomorrow, monday are going to be hot days across the bay area, so take it easy out there and remember, check on folks around you, neighbors, pets, friends, its always nice to do. And it just takes a minute. Thank you, anthony still ahead on today in the bay, deadlocks and delays at the federal Agency Responsible for making sure our elections are fair and equal. We investigate the agencys voting records to see how it is protecting our voting laws and what we found is that they do little to nothing at all. Well, the federal Elections Commission is supposed to enforce the law and make sure that our elections are fair and equal, but we discovered that that federal agency, which oversees campaign law, is stuck, instead, in political gridlock. Senior Investigative Reporter explains how this is going to impact us all. Reporter we looked at thousands of complaints that came before the federal Election Commission dating back to the year 2000 and found complaints that linger in the system for years with no action. Four years ago, it was a sensation in los angeles county. I dont want to leave l. A. Reporter a proposed ordinance put before voters to require porn stars to use condoms when filming explicit scenes. I want people to have the right to be predicted. Reporter but voters missed the bigger impact that campaign had on general election law as a whole. A mandatory condom law will not make our workplace any safer. Reporter because foreign money backed much of the opposition to measure b, the federal Elections Commission, the fec, was asked to step in. American election law prohibits foreign money from funding political campaigns but despite that, in this case, the fec did nothing, forcing californias Fair Political Practices Commission to intervene and move to stop the foreign money. This issue was really, really upsetting to me. Reporter bay area native ann once worked for californias fpcc. She now serves on the fec in washington. Were not accomplishing what congress intended us to accomplish. Reporter founded in the wake of the watergate scandal, the fec is made up of three republicans, two democrats, and an independent who our analysis found voted with the democrats, causing a deadlock. The fec was designed to create, regulate and enforce election law. Unfortunately, we dont really do any of those things. Reporter so we teamed with our nbc investigative partners in washington, d. C. , to check the fecs own records and see if that was true. Reviewing nearly 1900 cases, dating back to 2000, we found the average investigation of a complaint took a year and two and a half months to complete or close. Even cases where they took no action. 42 of all those cases went on longer than a year. Compare that to californias fppc, where only 12 of the cases stay open longer than a year. Its dysfunctional. Reporter mark everson is a former irs commissioner who also ran for president as a republican this campaign cycle. I think the members themselves understand it and i think that the political players understand it, and thats why they can take advantage of it. Reporter we dug even further and found the problems of delays grew starting after 2009. This graph shows the number of closed or decided cases dropping dramatically through this year. In fact, our analysis found that it now takes an average of a year and ten months to even get to a vote. And when they did vote, republicans voted as a block 98 of the time. Democrats and that independent voted together 87 of the time. The fec is atrocious at enforcing our Campaign Finance laws. Reporter paul ryan serves as Deputy Director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal center. Nothings getting done. Reporter the fecs own calendar even shows deadlocks kept cases open four years or longer. One case remained open nine and a half years. The republican commissioners are just as unwilling to enforce the law against democrats who break it as they are to enforce it against republicans who break it, so theyre not trying to do republicans a favor. Theyre trying to do all candidates and parties and outside groups, big spenders, a favor by letting them run rough shod over the law. Reporter do you believe there are people in power in congress who like it this way . I do believe that there are people in power who like it. There are people who do not want any change at the fec. Reporter why . Because they understand that if the law is actually enforced at the fec, it can have implications for how campaigns are run. I would strongly dispute that. Reporter republican appointees spoke to us through their chairman. Theres no signaling, so to speak, to say that youre free and clear to do whatever you want because were just not going to enforce. The cases where weve had a disagreement are based on a disagreement over what the law requires and prohibits. Reporter but even chairman peterson conceded the fec can do better. There have been times when i think all of us would agree that we need to do a better job and i think that we have done a better job this year at getting through those matters. Reporter why should mom and dad at home care about this . They should care about the fact that we are supposed to make sure that its fair. Reporter seems like you cant get agreement on anything. Not on very much. Reporter republican commissioners also gave us a four page statement refuting the characterization that the fec was dysfunctional. The statement defends the votes and the ideological splits saying this is part of the first amendment. You can read the entire at the same time plus other statements from other commissioners and see our entire Data Analysis of all these votes. Go to our website, nbc bay area. Com. Im steven stock, nbc bay area news. Still ahead on today in the bay, were going to talk we are clear the shelter segment features friends from pets in eden. A heartwarming story about this guy, how a familys love his kept him alive a lot longer than expected. Segment featuring some special guests from petin well, finally this morning, our clear the shelters segment featuring some special guests from pets in need and a special topic today, executive director is here with sheila and milo. Generally, we dont want to see the same pets here coming back because that means they have not found their forever homes but moi low is a different story because you want to talk about the fact that he went into foster care so he could have a nice end of his life. Right. When i saw milo almost two years ago, i thought, you know, how stad this little guy is, and we were having discussions at the shelter about euthanizing him because he looks so sad and he seemed like he was suffering. And we decided to try to find a family that would take him in for a week or two. We didnt expect him to live any longer than a month. You just didnt want him to die in the shelter. He had been abused in the shelter and had cancer. And skin problems. We can see there. And eye problems. Right. So, like, you just thought maybe he could have a nice place to live out his last days. Sheila, youve loved him too much, it appears. Yeah, yeah. He got lucky. We had just lost our own dog the week prior to hearing about milo, and my daughter, who is 11 at the time, wasnt sure whether we should do this. We didnt know whether we wanted to go through experiencing another loss like that. She came back to me a few minutes later and said, we cant let him die in the shelter. We have to take him. So, we took him in, and we were prepared to lose him in a few weeks. We didnt think hed live very long, but he thrived and its been 19 months. And i can see youre getting emotional. If you lose a pet, it is one of the most devastating things. It really is. You dont imagine it when you get them as puppies and you knew this going in that he might not make it. Yeah. We didnt expect him to live this long. Not only has he survived, hes done wonderfully. You cannot guess you can see some of the outward signs of other ailments, but hes doing great. Perfect stamina, hes happy. Youve done a wonderful thing. So its foster hospice or fospice. You have milos story on the pets in need website. So you can read about that. It is another opportunity to help the folks at pets in need and clear the shelters. Thank you both so much for coming in. Milo, happy rest of your life. Have a great day. engine revs get ready to roll and put the pedal down terrific trucks terrific trucks the terrific trucks are coming to your town terrific trucks terrific trucks sparky, frontend loader, digger, dug and semi, stotz blinker, the scooper tork, the dump truck calls the shots terrific trucks get in gear hit the road we can move mountains we can carry the load terrific trucks dig deep, well have fun terrific trucks get terrific jobs done tork sparky was excited that her new attachment had finally