Alameda county supervisor predicted our Health Clinics will get hut. Our w. I. C. Program which is a program for mothers they get nutrition for their newborn babies and we have several sites in Alameda County that would also experience a large cut. Reporter education would also take a hit. This would undo a lot of the good a lot of californians are willing to invest in the schools. Perhaps as much as 10 for the special needs students and the Meals Program that so many of the students in georgia are growing up california are growing up in poverty and they need that meal. Reporter its not just the immediate cuts that worries the local officials, its also the ongoing uncertainty that comes from the stalemate in washington. A stalemate that bay area officials fear could affect the economy just when its starting to recover. We were looking forward to a better economy and this would just ruin all of the progress thats been made over the last year, year and a half. Just say no that they cant get together. Thats probably the worst decisions in the future. Reporter phil matier, cbs 5. He says local officials want to attract new investment to the area. A federal worker here in San Francisco saved the day for a few people with International Travel plans that needed a little help. The duty officer decided to go to work at the San FranciscoPassport Office yesterday to help some folks out. He got passports to people with life or death travel situations and didnt have to do that after president obama declared Christmas Eve a federal holiday. Many other people though were upset that they could not get their passports they need to visit some family members. Extremely frustrating and disappointing that i cant see them either for my wifes birthday or my daughter for christmas. Dozens of people had appointments to get their passports yesterday but fridays holiday declaration meant the office was closed except for emergency cases that that duty officer took care of. And from sacramento now, a surprise Christmas Gift for dozens of former inmates. The governor signed pardons for people whose crimes range from drug offenses to robbery. Cbs 5 reporter ian schwartz now has the story of an excon whos starting a whole new life this morning. You know, i was young. I was out of high school. Reporter tim benedict says he was dumb and hanging around some bad people 20 years ago. They were involved in things they shouldnt have been in manufacturing methamphetamine. Reporter ken too. He joins an inmate fire crew not knowing he was about to have an experience that would change his life forever. At the 1993 malibu fires he saved a young boys life. I just remembered i pulled that out and how can i live with myself if i didnt try . Reporter Readers Digest featured the Second Chance story. He was paroled from prison after two years and spent the last two decades waiting for today. A pardon from the governor. Years after he first asked. The state that locked him up officially forgave him for his crime. Christmas eve you know to find this out, what a gift. You know to finally have you know some closure to you know a long story that you know i did something dumb when i was younger. Reporter today ken is older, wiser and engaged and he volunteers at area schools and competes in body building events with his fiance. Hes such an excellent role model for me you know and i love him for that. Reporter both are celebrating the christmas pardon a priceless acknowledgment not of the man he was but the one hes become. But its not the end of continuing to do whats right. And to give back. And to continue to try to live your life you know in a positive manner. That was ian schwartz reporting. Well, there is plenty of holiday spirit in San Francisco this christmas morning. Volunteers are heading to gliden Memorial Church to start preparing two christmas feasts that will be served today. Glide will provide breakfast you this 7 00 until 8 30 this morning. Then the annual christmas celebrations and dinner begin at 9 00. By 2 00 this afternoon, thousands of poor and homeless will dine at glide. The church is always looking for volunteers and donors to help out. It is 4 36 now. San francisco firefighters are spending today giving toys to kids all across the city. And they did a little singing yesterday. Thousands of toys were donates on Christmas Eve. The union says the demand for toys was up some 15 this year. And theres some uncertainty right now in East Palo Alto this Christmas Day with crews scrambling to repair a levee ahead of the next storm coming our way. I know as soon as this afternoon. On sunday heavy rain caused the San Francisco creek to spill over the levee. It caused flooding in a new neighborhood near the creeks and some people briefly evacuated. Neighbors theyre concerned about the rainy season ahead even though damage was minimal this time around. It was like up this high and we were afraid that it was going to go in there but when we got back there was no water damage to the house. Crews are putting in overtime sandbagging and making all the emergency repairs as more rain is coming as soon as this afternoon. Mayor agrica says the city is already working on a longterm solution. And people in much of the country are getting some real Winter Weather on this christmas holiday. Today much of oklahoma, arkansas are under winter storm warning and there is a blizzard watch for western kentucky right now. Theyll have a white christmas. Along the gulf coast storms could bring strong wind, hail, to parts of mississippi, alabama and eastern louisiana. I just got a text from buddies in New Hampshire they got a little dissing up there. Dusting up there. Already getting text messages. Well, its 7 00 out there. Thats true. Everybodys up and rolling. Hey guys we have a serious storm headed for the bay area on Christmas Day. Doesnt look like its going to get here this morning in most parts of the bay area but by this afternoon how about this . You can see the clouds moving across the skies and wont be long and the rain will start to fall in parts of the north bay and slowly sag to the south throughout the day. Could see embedded thunderstorms in this on Christmas Day. Still it looks like things are going to stay a bit unsettled. You can see the showers off the coastline right now mainly holding up to the north here but it will continue to work its way southward throughout the day. The winds are going to ramp up too. Good day to stay inside and enjoy your families if you can. Highs only in the 50s. When might we see a break . Thats coming numb a few minutes. Back to you. And well take you outside if you are hitting the roads at all this morning. Traveling to visit family or friends. Heres a live look outside at 880 and 237 in mill pee dis. Everything is extra quiet so far. No big accidents or major hot spots. 880 is moving fine this morning. Frank is here counting the number of cars on the freeway. Not too bad at all if youre in the south bay at all. These are all live drive time sensors and so far everything is moving at the speed limit. Some more bay area headlines now. Police blame street racing for a crash that left one man in critical condition. Officers say a car hit the man yesterday afternoon as he was crossing broadway at hogan avenue. The driver then took off. Witnesses told police two cars were racing when the man was hit and police are locking now for a black 90s honda civic with front end damage. A 90yearold san jose woman was killed yesterday when her car was hit by another car. The driver of the second car was taken to the hospital. Investigators are looking into whether drugs or alcohol played a role. And things are looking up for one east bay city. Richmonds homicide rates are down and theyre no longer on the most dangerous list. This year 18 people were killed. Thats a drop from 45 just three years ago and in fact its the lowest number in the city of richmond since 2001. Time now is 4 40 on this christmas morning. Next a gas leak grounds a flight in arizona. He targets people like and a shocking attack on Christmas Eve. The ambush on volunteer firefighters and what were learning about the gunman now. Plus, a Popular Video service taken down by an outage. The connection to amazons cloud service. ,,,,, welcome se my lcret d you are . Air. An your Worst Nightmare mr. Box. Since you foolishly brought back your bonus jack i have copied your two pure beef patties, lettuce, melting cheese, pickles, and middle bun, plus fries and a drink for 4. 49. And now you will tell me what is in your secret sauce uh, i think i know. We all know, pretty obvious. You couldnt tell me when i handed out the wienerdog lasers . you can only see lawrence right now i know. Does it offcamera. Its a song you dont want stuck in your head especial hi over will toll days on this chris especially over the holidays on Christmas Day. They showed off the horse riding skills from the viral dance and korean rapper psy galloped to youtube history with one billion view for his song and theyre still counting. Yesterday cnn ranked him eighth most intriguing person in the world. Whos seven then . These are questions i cant answer but hes number eight. He made a lot of money off the one song. Apparently just a big mansion in l. A. And now heres lawrence with the weather forecast. Is it gangnam style . No, really. Hey Global Christmas blessing from the vaticanty. The head of the Roman Catholic church delivered the annual Christmas Day message an hour ago. Overnight the faithful packed st. Peters basilica and he asked everyone to remember the essence of christmas rather than a commercial celebration. And also overnight, thousands packed major square in bethlehem to celebrate in the town where jesus was born. The Tourism Ministry says tourism numbers increased some 20 in the last year and they say 10,000 foreign pilgrims are expected in the town today for christmas celebrations in bethlehem. And check this out. Queen elizabeth tried something a little less traditional for her christmas message. She delivered her holiday wishes in 3d. The 86yearold royal head of state sported 3d glasses to review her work and of course they are fit for a queen studded with crystals in the shape of the letter q. Royal insiders hinted she did not return them to the recycle bin. No she didnt. She held on to those. The crystals. Keep them for herself. Weatherwise, you know, we had a dry early morning. We did . Santa is done now. Hes chilling. He ischilling right now and its a good day to do it because we have a pretty serious storm headed our way. In fact our Doppler Radar is picking up some rain develops. Most of of this just some scout showers the morning no major activity until later on today. Nonetheless you can see most of the rainfall staying to the knot now but it is going to pick up and intensify. The winds are also going to be kicken up maybe over 30 miles an hour into the afternoon. So if youre headed out the door today mostly cloudy and chilly start to the morning. Rain and wind this afternoon with the possibility of some isolated thunderstorms on Christmas Day and then the weather going to stay unsettled probably some more showers after that. Significant storm system daytona 500ing into the die area diving into the bay area. Here we go again especially in the afternoon things going to be very stormy to the latter part of the day. Around the state too be careful out there. It is going to be dangerous. Possible thunderstorms in the sacramento valley. Lots of snow in the high country and of course winter storm warnings up there. Lets time it out for you. In the middle of the day and the afternoon starlets to move on through. And then by the evening hours most of it is down in to the south bay then it sweeps out and scattered showers after that. And then things begin to settle down a little bit but even some pockets of rainfall going to have to watch out for the possibility of isolated flooding. Its going to be a cool day outside only 40s over the mountain top. A lot of 50s into the east bay and maybe only 51 in the napa valley. 51 livermore. Inside the bay keep you cool. 54 in san leandro. Next couple of days more showers continue on wednesday a brief break on thursday. Then more storms expected as we head in toward friday and at least the first part of the weekend. Guys back to you. Okay, thanks lawrence. If youre hitting the roads maybe a good idea to get the early start. Right now everything is dry and looking good to the bay bridge toll plaza. No delay right now into San Francisco. A very quiet so far on this christmas morning. We are getting report of a couple of what sounds like more minor fenderbenders. Actually shut down a ramp on the northbound 880 to saratoga. Actually shut down while crews clear the scene. The main lines of the freeway appear to be moving just fine. The golden gate bridge. Should we wait for a car to come . We might have to wait until 7 00. Not much going on traffic wise. One more camera just because and theres a couple of cars out there. Breaking news we have a car out there. 880 and 237. 4 47 now. The United States marine corps is about to crack down on drinking. It will do random tests on marines and sailors starting in the new year. 1 or higher may be referred to a counselor and those at. 4 or higher will be checked for fitness for duty. A recent study found that binge drinking on the drive. The company tweeted an apology last night saying the outage was caused by amazons web service, the twitter feed also says engineers are trying to fix a tough night on Christmas Eve. Lot of people watching movies. The Company Spokesman said the outage stretched across the americas. A u. S. Airways flight crew has quite a story to tell on this christmas morning. Their planes tail caught fire last night forcing them to evacuate the plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International airport. Passengers were not yet on the plane good news there. Which was bound for vancouver. Nobody was hurt. The flames were quickly doused with foam as you can see. The cause of that fire still is unknown. Well, no injuries reported today after a passenger plane made an Emergency Landing on a road in miramar. The plane a folker 100 was carrying 65 passengers this morning. It had just taken off from the myanmars largest city. So far no word on what forced the pilot to land that plane. And police in upstate new york still dont know why a man shot and killed two for thes who were try firefighters who were trying to respond to a house fire. Awful story, cbs news is in western new york a town thats clearly in shock. Reporter candles are burning for two firefighters killed in an ambush the day before christmas. Our men are hurt and theyre not going to be home with their families now. Reporter Police Believe 63 yearold William Spangler intentionally set fire to a house and car in order to lure First Responders to his neighborhood. Oh im sorry, i just its just christmas. I mean who targets people on christmas . Reporter Authorities Say spangler injured two volunteer firefighters and killed two more before shooting himself. 19yearold thomas k achouka was filled in for married firefighters. Mike ciporini was named firefighter of the year two weeks ago. So its very its a very difficult situation. Reporter condolences have been pouring into this fire station from around the world. And now two families are spending their christmas making funeral arrangements. Right now were organizing what we need to do to bury two of our members. Reporter and the death toll could grow higher. Spanglers sister is unaccounted for. Police believe she and others might have been trapped in the fire that consumed seven houses. So we can get into those homes and see you know, god im hoping that everyone was able to escape from the inferno. Reporter police hope the rubble has cooled down enough to allow them to begin investigating today. For cbs news, webster, new york. Back in 1980 spangler was convicted of killing his 92 yearold grandmother with a hammer and he reached plea deal and served just 18 years in jail before he was released in 1998. A snowboarder died after being buried in an avalanche at a sierra ski resort. It happened yesterday at donor ski ranch. The death was one of several avalanche related emergencies in the lake tahoe area. Thats after a weekend storm dumped at least 3 feet of fresh snow there. He was identified at 45year old stephen mark andser southern. The area of the lead anderson. Area has been closed to skiered and snowboarders. They helped with a research and rescue operation near the city of livermore. A mans pickup truck drifted into a creek and he was stranded on top of his truck for nearly two hours. Firefighters brought in a helicopter to help. He was plucked to safety and treated at a hospital for hypothermia. Well, a similar rescue in a rain swollen river near los angeles. Rising waters stranded a man on the island where we understand he was trapped for hours. Glendale firefighters came to the rescue just before dawn. They were able to get the man aboard an inflatable raft and pull it back to shore. The man went to the hospital with symptoms of hypothermia but he is expected to recover. Mother nature has been busy. Thats right. It is 4 52 on Christmas Day. Holiday lights on display on the peninsula. Where people transformed this quiet neighborhood into a mini christmas themed park. The tricked out cameras that may be the next hot gadget for the holiday season. That much more when we come back. ,,,, Secondhand Smoke affects everyones health. Its not just irritating. It can cause Heart Disease and even death. Speak up about Secondhand Smoke. Your health and the health of your family depend on it. Ho ho ho. Mercuriry christmas other than. Look whats headed our way. Its not santa but a big storm in time for christmas, we will talk about that coming up. All right santa thanks. 4 55 now. The hottest gadget this year . Smart phones and experts say next year smart cameras could be a big hit too. There are already a couple out on the market here we go. Nikons new camera has wifi gps and apps. Wow. Samsungs galaxy cam can also go online allowing you to take pictures and immediately share them on social media. There are also camera memory cards with wifi chips. It sounds a lot like a smart phone actually. That means you can add online connectivity for your current cameras. So look out. See future story for brian . Cooley. No. Brian is asleep by the way. We love you buddy. Also smart phones may be an easy gift but electron tick gift cards are even easier and more popular. You dont even need to see the person youre gifting the card to. Just send it via email so its not too late send this gift. And if you happen to have received a lot of electronic gift cards experts recommend an app like tango card to organize them all. When it comes time to use the gift card in the store, the cashier can then scan the boar code on the smart phone or manually enter in the numbers listed on your smart phone. Its a great way to digitally organize all of your gift cards you dont have to worry about losing them or forgetting them. And if any gift card or traditional gift card isnt a good fit get cash for it through a website like cardhub. Com. Which is also a great idea. You know brian ill tell her. Thanks so much for calling he says Merry Christmas by the way. Having a little fun. Hes asleep. All right a Big Christmas tradition packing the entire family all in the car driving around admiring all the christmas decor. I used to do this with the kids. We did too and we got a spot on the peninsula you have to see here. Check out eucalyptus avenue in san carlos. This identify time of the year the street is known as Christmas Tree lane. The entire block goes all as you can see in a big way. Homeowners doll lop the houses and provide hot chocolate, a warm fire and yep even a little bit of snow. Thats awesome and great. All the houses get involved as much as one house. Glowing in Christmas Lights to make all the other neighbors angry. Exactly. We had that story yesterday. Why is this house doing this . Pretty can school stuff. It is 4 57. Oak Second Chances for california residents on this christmas morning. And dozens of california Prison Inmates pardoned in time for the holidays. The surprise news that caught some offguard. One San Francisco organization is looking to spread a Little Christmas cheer by serving up thousands of free meals, well tell you how you can help when we return on cbs 5. ,,,,,,, continues. The painful cuts that may hit critical progrs in the bay area and beyond. The fiscal cliff countdown continues. The painful cuts that may hit critical programs in the bay area and beyond. And were live in San Francisco where glide memorial is getting ready to serve up thousands of meals for the bay areas homeless and needy. Well tell you how you can help in just a moment. Here we go again. A christmas storm headed to the bay area. The one is going to pack a punch. We will talk about it coming up. Good morning and Merry Christmas. It is monday, december 25th. Im elizabeth wenger, michelle is off. Im frank mallicoat. 5 00 now on this holiday morning. And they may be on the holiday are we going to go to lawrence first . Were just going to jump it. Weve got grinches. Fiscal cliff is not far om