but it also brought down the carpet business next door. the carpet business has since been rebuilt. when i asked one of the people what was going on, they told me that they had suspicions that this wall might come down earlier. >> one of the residents from the area noticed the wall was leaning and notified the authorities and the fire department came out and looked at it and made a decision right there. >> reporter: and we take a look at some of the pictures of the fire i was talking about earlier. you can see how big the flames were. premature there i meant to tell you about it now but you can see how big the flames were. in fact as i mentioned earlier people at our job saw it coming into work and told us about it. we got over here as quickly as we can and the carpet business has been rebuilt. the question now it's not been occupied since that fire. you can't see it now but the roof is completely gone. so if you have a chance to look at it from above the building's completely gutted. and as i said the people we talked to around here believe this all happened in the past couple days they believe the rains we had yesterday was the main cause. one more thing i want to show you before we go, you see these doors over here. look at this building it's kind of shotty but the doors are fairly brand new. they say the doors were just put in there because the owner of the building wanted to keep people squatting out of the building. but also possibly thinking about doing something with that building in the near future. looks like that will not happen. live in oakland, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. time now 5:03. more than a dozen bay area war veterans are homeless this morning. they were chased into the streets by a fast moving fire in east palo alto. ktvu's tara moriarty joining us live to tell us if some of those veterans actually had to jump to save their lives. good morning, tara. >> reporter: good morning, dave. as you take a look behind me you can see just how extensive the damage is from this fire. it started back in the kitchen and then worked its way all through the house. you can see how the flames left along side of the roof here and then there's a window right over here on the second story. and this is where a man actually jumped when this fire was going strong. now according to fire officials, two more people jumped out the back window to escape the flames. you can imagine how chaotic the scene was here at this home in east palo alto. it's a facility that houses more than a dozen veterans. firefighters threw applauders when they arrived in order to save people trapped yapsters. one vet says he was able to walk out. >> i was on my computer and i heard the smoke alarms go off. and i opened my bedroom door and just billows of black smoke were pouring in. >> reporter: luckily this fire happened around 4:30 in the afternoon. so people were awake and they were able to get out safely. but one issue investigators will be looking at today, the staircase. it was really burning when crews arrived and was unusable. now apparently it is the only way to get from floor to floor. officials say that's okay for a home, but this is more of a hotel-type situation. >> when you have people jumping out of windows, we have a problem. is that because of where the fire was so that's kind of a happenstance issue or we needed to have another way to get to that floor. >> reporter: officials say the fire ignited in the kitchen while someone was trying to cook. and that man ran around the house letting people know about the fire and crews say that may have helped save lives. the 14 veterans who live here are safe but currently homeless. the v.a. is putting them up. there's still a fire truck here. you can see there are some staff members here and there. actually here to keep an eye in case there are any flare ups with this fire obviously out now. live in east palo alto, tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. an effort to clean up the sidewalks gets underway today in san francisco's bay view hunters point. the city says illegal dumping on the streets is a big problem in the area. a team of city workers will be going door to door this afternoon telling business owners and residents that it is illegal to dump couches, mattresses and construction materials on the sidewalk. the illegal dumping costs taxpayers millions of dollars to clean up. time now 5:05. violent oakland street gangs been the focus of a critical court hearing tomorrow. a judge will start hearing testimony about imposing restrictions on dozens of suspected gang members in oakland's fruit vale neighborhood. the city attorney says the existing injunction in the northern part of oakland has been a tremendous success in fighting violent crime and drug dealing. last year a judge barred suspected gang members from hanging out together. and he imposed a 10:00 p.m. curfew. however critics say the city should focus more on creating education and job programs that will steer young people away from gangs. well, we are bracing for more rain, more wind, even snow throughout northern california today. and the chp is bracing for more accidents on the roads. chp is moving its resources around today getting ready for the storm. police officers who normally work inside, they're being moved outside to help with traffic enforcement. all of this after officers in sonoma county responded to almost 40 accidents yesterday. and police have reopened the southbound lanes of interstate 880 in hayward following this very bad accident. an suv, a van and a car collided about 8:30 last night. five people including a child were hurt. all of them had to be rushed to the hospital. an injured dog also received some emergency treatment. chp investigation into the cause of the crash continues. the incoming storm could cause more flight delays at sfo today. last night some arriving flights were delayed for nearly three hours because of wind and rain. and when arrivals are late, departures may be delayed as well. we will continue to cover the storm throughout the morning. stay with us, and throughout the day, our website at ktvu.com has the very latest on the winter storms moving in to northern california. you can also check on ski conditions there. just click on the weather tab. all right. time now 5:07. sal is an expert on getting you to where you need to go. >> yes, he is. >> that's right. and one of the things we might want to consider today is how the commute will be getting there but also going back because of the weather that steve has been forecasting. so, again, as we look at the east shore freeway traffic looks good right now. but the weather will be with us for the entire day. and this afternoon it's going to be worse. factor that into your plans. looking at the bay bridge toll plaza right now looks good coming into san francisco and no problems getting into the city. also this morning's commute northbound 280 traffic looks good up to highway 17. at 5:08, here's steve. sal, thank you. very good morning. rain totals to show you in a second. a lot more on the way. what's over us right now is little stuff. cloudy, windy, higher elevations over 35 miles per hour. it's coming out of the south. rainstorm direction this isn't really a storm but it's a decent system. st. helena an inch and a half. san francisco .29. oakland .15. petaluma half inch. rodeo, crockett .40. after that there was hardly anything. concord, san carlos, redwood city, .07. i think mountain view at .01. san jose .03. livermore .01. to the north decent totals. to the south not much unless you're in the santa cruz mountains. 50s. it's really mild out there because of the south wind and cloud cover with very light rain. there goes yesterday's system which cranked up the wind machine right there. that gave us the rain. here comes the next system. a lot of cold air. today cloudy and rain. tomorrow cold air plunges in. it's going to get really cold by wednesday night. light rain only in the morning. mainly cloudy and windy. moderate to heavy rain then moves in later this afternoon. so we start off cloudy. light rain. mainly peninsula, south bay, east bay. evening rain though will sweep through. 50s for some. mid-60s for others because of that south-southeast wind. five-day forecast has cloudy skies, rain tonight into early wednesday and then here comes the cold air. that will take us wednesday night into thursday next system friday another round of showers could be. it's almost a wish forecast for saturday. we wish it would be okay. >> yes, we do. chinese new year's day. >> it will be a close call. >> we will all be there rain or shine. >> that's right. >> the chinese new year's parade saturday night. the city of san jose says it is broke and this morning hundreds of city workers know they may soon be out of a job. but despite the budget crunch, efforts to unify the city are still a priority. we'll tell you why. plus how long is too long to be stuck in a plane on the tarmac? the limits one bay area lawmaker is proposing. good morning. westbound highway 4 traffic looks pretty good coming up @ willow pass grade. another update straight ahead. later on today members of parliament broke into a chant calling for the execution of opposition leaders following a protest on the streets of tehran. tens of thousands of protesters defied government warnings not to demonstrate yesterday. riot police battled protesters with batons and tear gas. reportedly one person was killed. a major policy addressed today, secretary of state hillary clinton will warn repressive governments around the world that restricting the internet will not hold back demands for democratic reform. secretary clinton will pledge u.s. support for citizens trying to use the internet to promote democracy with the recent uprising in egypt as an example. she says regimes that restrict internet usage may be able to with stand calls for change in the short-term, but not forever. now the committee appointed by egypt's ruling military to amend the constitution says the new document will only be temporary until democratic rule is established. the committee says restrictions on freedoms will be removed. the military has been in power since president mubarak stepped down on friday. and says it will hand over power to an elected government watch elections. time now 5:14. today napa county congressman will introduce a bill for improved passenger rights on planes. allison burns reports, thompson and others want to make sure that passengers are protected from long delays on the tarmac. allison. >> reporter: dave, here's the good news, the number of tarmac delays has dropped dramatically now that airlines are facing steep fines and passenger rights crews want to make sure it stays that way. remember the big storm in new york over christmas? even though airports were basically crippled, passengers were given food and water and allowed to get off the plane if it had been stuck for more than three hours. in fact ever sinced department of transportation set a fine of $27,000 last year for every passenger stuck more than three hours, no u.s. carrier has broken the rules. but the airlines don't like the fines and have been canceling more flights. now house republicans want to reverse them. passenger groups and some congressional democrats want the fines and tarmac limits written into law and they want more protections on international flights. i'll have more on that for you during my next update in about an hour. for now we're live in washington d.c., allison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. time now 5:16. well, the berkeley city council meets tonight. they're going to vote on a resolution to invite two detainees from guantanamo to relocate to berkeley once they're released from the prison. one of the detainees is a russian ballet dancer. the other is an algierian man who once worked as a chef. under this proposed plan the two would live with families in berkeley. a member of the berkeley's peace and justice commission says the move would "right some of the wrongs of the federal government." the new republican led house of representatives just passed an extension of the patriot act. the bill was designed to combat terrorism after the september 11 attacks but criticized as a "infringement on civil liberties and privacy rights" now the u.s. senate must act on the bill before it expires in a couple weeks. in san jose hundreds of jobs could be at risk even if unions make concessions. the city is facing a $110 million budget shortfall. mayor chuck reed is calling for 10% pay cuts from 11 unions to save jobs. but he also warns warns that even if they get concessions there could still be layoffs. here's what some citizens have to say. >> i'll pay cut. i'll weather it if it happens but whether or not one day at time. >> i don't know if i'll be able to keep my house and pay all my bills because i'm barely making it now. >> the mayor blames out of control retirement costs which are projected to reach $61 million this coming fiscal year. time now 5:17. san jose's budget troubles could mean less money to keep the cities downtown clean. right now the city helps pay for ground works. that pays for trash pick up, graffiti removal and cleaner sidewalks. property owners who agree to increase their property assessments also chipped in some money. strained finances could force the city to cut its contributions. but some say that money is an investment to keep downtown safe and beautiful. the san jose city council votes tonight on whether to move ahead with an energy saving plan that would dim street lights. some of them any way, the idea is to convert all 62,000 street lights in the city to l.e.d. lights that can be dimmed. it's estimated that could cut san jose's $4 million annual street light energy bill by more than half. some say they want to see just how much darker streets will be. good point. let's check in with sal for a check on the streets. good morning. right now traffic is doing pretty well around the bay area. if you're looking at the san mateo bridge that traffic looks pretty good heading to the high- rise driving over to highway 101 no major problems. also the morning commute looks okay on westbound bay bridge coming across into san francisco. it has been a nice drive. this morning's drive across 237 is looking good. and 880 getting there is nice. so as i look at the chp list not a lot going on when it comes to accidents and stalled vehicles. just make sure we don't have anything -- we haven't missed southbound 680 at mission boulevard there is an accident on the right shoulder but there's no major slow down. 5:19ment let's go to steve. thank you. cloudy skies. very light rain right now. this is in advance of a system now plowing into the north coast. northern part of the state. it will be with us this afternoon and tonight. what's over us now is very light. you might encounter some but generally cloudy and windy skies. some of the rain's been okay. for the first system to breakthrough this month st. helena an inch and and a half. san francisco .29. oakland .15. santa rosa picked up two- thirds. napa about the same. petaluma half inch of rain. rodeo crockett .42. mill valley .4. after that it was light. concord, san carlos .07. everyone will get in on it later on. because of this south wind temperatures in the 50s. 50 to 54. hayward the warmest 54. livermore 50. temperatures though they'll be plunging by tomorrow because the very cold air right there. that's all cold air. this whole system is sliding southward and will be in line for us. today's cloudy, then rain. moderate to heavy rain by this evening. windy at times. already some higher elevations getting gusts over 30 miles an hour. forecast model on the rainfall by noon it's moving into the north bay and by the afternoon it's slicing through. the evening commute could be really tough unless you're parter south. and by tonight it's over everybody. winter storm warnings for the mountains. starts for sierra at noon along with wind advisories. snow level around 5,000 feet and tomorrow it will drop right off the table. tomorrow we'll get the colder air and scattered showers. then the next system to come in won't be here until around thursday. there's still a timing difference and location difference. one forecast model wants to take it south the other two say it's coming over the bay area. today cloudy, light rain in the morning. windy at times and then evening rain. that will make it for everybody. highs today 50s and 60s. farther south get the south wind morgan hill to gill require 60s. antioch 63. cold air on wednesday. next rain thursday and colder on friday with showers. overnight crude oil prices dropped to their lowest level in 12 weeks. that's after the latest report that u.s. supplies continue to build. now that's outweighing concerns over growing tensions in the middle east. however, traders remain concerned that spreading unrest could interfere with crude oil production. checking in on wall street, looks like a quiet can't really tell how stocks are going to go this morning, but we probably will in the next ten minutes because retail sales figures come out for january. that's at 5:30. that could certainly shed some light on the economy. analysts expect the news to be fairly good showing a continually steadily but slowly growing economy. marriott international plans to spin into two separate companies. the hotel giant will spin-off the timeshare division. posted $1.2 billion in revenue last year that's about 10% of the total company's revenue. time now 5:22. a man hunt for a u.s. soldier on the run. a search that started in georgia could possibly end up here in california. a battle over hungry customers in santa rosa. where restaurant owners say the city is allowing competitors to drive up and drive down sales. good morning. highway 4 coming over to concord looks pretty good so far. tell you more about the morning commute and a warning for the afternoon drive. the moment you feel run down or achy nip flu-like symptoms in the bud, with oscillococcinum. get oscillo and feel like yourself again. oscillococcinum, nip it in the bud. good morning. we have cloudy skies. very light rain moving through right now. not a big deal. windy though at times. highs 50s and 60s. by late this afternoon into the evening moderate to heavy rain will move through. windy conditions with off and on rain and snow up in the sierra. the snow level's around 5,000 feet. if you're heading up there there's already winter weather advisories out all starts around noon today and goes into tonight. so the wind will be a big story. some rain. some snow. it will do up and come way down by late tonight into wednesday. some of the snow yesterday though the first snow they've had in a couple of weeks and that certainly helping but the wind didn't really help matters up there. couple locations, couple resorts had to close early. have gusts over 50 to 60 miles an hour and that may be the case again today. if you are heading up there take it easy. take it slow. you'll get there. don't be surprised at a few delays. thank you. time now 5:26. a u.s. army private who escaped from military custody in georgia may now be headed here to california. the 20-year-old escaped from army jail guards friday as he was being returned to jail after a doctor's appointment. he is accused of raping a 15- year-old girl. he's awaiting extradition tholos angeles county. he's a native of palm dale. he could be armed and is considered dangerous. a food fight is growing in sonoma county with some restaurants now saying one city is favoring food trucks. the city of santa rosa is in the middle of an eight week program called munch monday. the program allows food trucks to park on city streets and offer gourmet lunches to the work crowd. downtown restaurants are criticizing the program. they argue that the city is giving the trucks an unfair advantage by letting them park for free. but one food truck owner we talked to disagrees. >> people come here and then after they stay here they go and walk around downtown to have a beer. something that we don't have. >> downtown santa rosa restaurants are now in the process of forming an association in case munch monday becomes a permanent event. all right. time now 5:27. more bad news this morning for those applying to jam packed california colleges. a perk for those who now live in california may be going away. we'll tell you about a proposal to bring former guantanamo bay detainees to live in berkeley. also a big boost for bart and its plans to go south, but now another possible roadblock 3,000 miles away. good morning. if you're on highway 680 at 24 so far traffic looks good. more about the morning commute straight ahead. well, good morning to you. welcome back. this is the ktvu channel 2 morning news. it's already tuesday february 15th. i'm dave clark. good morning. i'm pam cook. time now is 5:31. it sounds like the afternoon and evening commute could be pretty tough. let's check in with steve. >> that's correct. we have cloudy skies. very light rain. we had a band go through a couple hours ago. temperatures in the 50s but by this afternoon and evening tonight the cold front will come blasting throughful we'll have a rainy afternoon and evening. until then cloudy, windy and very mild with highs upper 50s low to mid-60s. now an update on traffic with sal. steve, right now highway 24 at 680 that traffic is moving along okay. the region area is not too bad. also this morning's commute if you are on the golden gate bridge it looks good. 5:31. back to the desk. sal, thank you. more than a dozen bay area war veterans are homeless right now. they were chased into the streets by a fast moving fire in east palo alto. ktvu's tara moriarty joining us live to tell us if some of those vets had to actually jump to save their lives. what happened, tara? >> reporter: well, we did hear a report of one man that lives inside of this house actually jumping from the second story window. but what we want to show you right now is where this fire started. if you follow me up here, this is the kitchen. and this is apparently where it all started. firefighters allowed access to the kitchen and this is where the man was cooking yesterday afternoon when his house mates say he turned on the wrong burner or something and some grease ignited the fire. he ran throughout the house letting everyone know they needed to get out. flames leapt quickly throughout the home on bay road. this is actually a board and care facility that houses more than a dozen veterans. one man actually jumped from the second story window and firefighters threw up more ladders when they arrived in order to save people trapped upstairs. >> one guy was stuck on the second floor. and i looked up and i saw the fire was really coming from the back forward and he was hovering on the edge and covering his mouth with a wet cloth. and the firefighters got a ladder up there and he came down safely. >> reporter: now luckily this fire happened around 4:30 in the afternoon. so people were awake and were able to get out safely. one issue investigators will be looking at today, the staircase. the flames were so intense there that crews were unable to use it to access the people upstairs. now apparently it's the only way to get from floor to floor. officials say that's okay for a home, but this is more of a hotel-type situation. investigators will be examining that more closely today. the 14 vets who live here are all safe, but homeless. so the v.a. is currently putting them up. if we take a look back here live you can see the inside where all the damage is. you can see the ceiling here is completely burned. very, very heavy extensive damage. this is a very big home. this is about 6,000 square feet i'm told. now there are fire crews still here on the scene. and they tell me that they're actually on fire watch. they are making sure that there are no more flare ups. live in east palo alto, i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. well, tonight the berkeley city council once again takes on a controversial issue. ktvu channel 2 reporter in berkeley with the invitation the council may vote to extend to two guantanamo bay detainees. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, pam. it is item number 18 on the berkeley city council agenda for tonight's meeting at 7:30. it's proposed by the city's peace and justice commission. their resolution asks the city of berkeley to invite one or two guantanamo bay detainees to come live here. and the resolution specifically lists two men as possible candidates. one is a former russian ballet dancer. the other is a chef from algeria. both are currently being held at guantanamo bay. but the commission says the men have never been charged with a crime by the u.s. government and that they expect the men will be released at some point. the resolution says if the men were brought to the u.s. and berkeley the city would help them find housing and job training. and in their written resolution the peace and justice commission includes some local nonprofits and volunteers they say would be willing to do that to help the men. but under current u.s. law anyone who's ever been detained at guantanamo bay is not allowed to live in the u.s. so berkeley's city manager is recommending the council take no action on this resolution at this point because it's not even allowed under federal law. reporting live in berkeley, ktvu channel 2 news. also tonight the berkeley city council will consider a watered down version of a bill that caused a national controversy. back in december the council briefly considered a resolution to call bradly manning a hero. he's the army private suspected of leaking the wikileaks documents. but the council was widely criticized for honoring a man some consider a criminal. so tonight the council will vote on a new resolution calling for manning to be given humane treatment while he awaits his trial. time now 5:36. smoking inside your own home may be on the way out in one east bay community. tonight the dublin city council will debate the baboon smoking in apartment complexes. right now all facilities with 16 or more apartments must make half of them nonsmoking units. the council is expected to vote tonight on increasing that to 70% nonsmoking. a man and woman in critical condition this morning suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. firefighters found the couple unconscious when they broke into their wattsonville apartment sunday night after responding to reports of a gas leak. now 18 others had already evacuated the building. inspectors found inside decades old wall heaters in the injured couple's apartment and in one other unit. they're saying those heaters were not vented according to current code standards. several city supervisors will be among those attending a fire victim fundraiser in san francisco tonight. it is to help those who lost their homes in a series of suspicious fires in the castro district earlier this month. investigators say an arsonist set fire to several victorian homes. no one was hurt. but the fires left several people homeless and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. now tonight's fundraiser will be at the look out bar and grill at 16th and market. it will be from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. and donations will be accepted at the door. san diego state university has become the first cal state campus to turn away local, qualified applicants. there's concern that the practice will spread to other campuses in the csu system. csu officials say they relaxed the local guarantee to help boost graduation rates by admitting the most qualified applicants. california's legislative analyst office is urging lawmakers to take steps to protect student access to local csu campuses. time now 5:37. well, the 50 year battle to bring bart to san jose just cleared another big hurdle. yesterday the federal transit administration recommended that bart get $130 million in federal money. that will clear the way for construction to start in 2012. however, republicans on capitol hill have to approve that first. and they've already promised to slash billions of dollars out of president obama's transportation budget which by the way was also released yesterday. time now 5:38. go back over to sal because some of the roads are wet this morning. and then people should prepare this morning for a pretty tough afternoon commute. right? that's right. one of the things we like to warn you about is getting there may be a little easier than not getting there. we already have a crash this morning southbound 880 at mission boulevard. this morning the commute isn't that bad weather-wise as that crash is there. we'll see what happens. again, steve has been telling us this afternoon we're not going to have a really good commute. so i will just go ahead and say if you can take public transportation, you might be better off. let's move along and take a look at live pictures. 880 a little farther up in oakland looks good in both directions. morning commute on westbound bay bridge that traffic is moving welcoming into san francisco. let's get to steve. sal, thank you, sir. very good morning to you all. cloudy skies. light rain. not a big deal moving through right now. maybe you heard a little pitter patter on the roof. the stronger part of the system coming in this afternoon. and then tonight. now winter weather advisories already out for the northern mountains. they kick in at noon. snow level around 5,000 feet. by tomorrow morning it will go down to around 2,000 feet as the cold air comes in. cloudy windy morning. the rainfall six this is the first we've had in the month of february was pretty good. st. helena 1.5. san francisco .29. lower elevations did not pick up that much. oakland .15. some okay totals in the north bay. petaluma half inch. rodeo, crockett, .42. after that it was less than a tenth of an inch concord, san carlos, san jose, mountain view, livermore, anywhere from .01 to .07. more on the way. mild conditions. morgan hill said is it supposed to be this mild? well, yeah, when south wind and temperatures in the 50s everybody's in on this. 53 napa. 53 san jose. hayward leader of the pack at 54 that's because out in advance it's really cold dynamic system right there. that's what's driving through. so the front comes by tonight. head out the door and go home a little early because light rain only in the morning. cloudy, windy. then moderate to heavy rain comes in by this afternoon. cloudy with rain very windy at times especially coast higher elevations. it will kick up heels later on for everybody. evening rain, some moderate. cloudy mild in the morning 48 to 54. by noon cloudy, breezy, 54 to 60. rain could be starting in the north bay and then sweep over for everyone by tonight. 56 to 64 on the highs. some of this rain could be moderate to heavy especially north and up in towards the russian river. colder. showers on wednesday. another system on thursday. then another blast of cold air on friday. pam and dave. all right. steve, you ready for the storm? >> not really. >> neither am i. time now 5:41. we'll tell you why bay area high-tech leaders are getting ready for the ultimate business meeting. we'll tell you all about it. and the reason there are some angry commuters and what they can do about it this week. good morning. traffic on the upper deck of the bay bridge looks pretty good coming into san francisco. another update straight ahead. ♪ atst fwa.ean ougog t bk. wi cseuidesi yr arho, u stnaa cte,hise a de. ougog t bk. wi cke sp rwd yr arho, good morning. very light rain. mainly south bay, little bit santa cruz mountains. cloudy and windy. heavier rain comes in this afternoon. high and mild to start. 50s end up with upper 50s to low and mid-60s. all right, steve. welcome back. here's a quick look at stories we're following for you right now at 5:44. [ indiscernible ] >> what you're looking at is amazing. this is iran. today parliament members are chanting. they're calling for government opposition leaders to be executed. all of this comes after tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated on the streets of tehran. also later today napa county councilman introducing a bill that would give airline passengers more rights. his three hour rule would require airlines to give passengers the choice of either getting off or staying on a plane that's been on the ground for three hours or longer. in an effort to clean up the sidewalks starts today in san francisco's bay view hunters point. team of workers will go door to door this afternoon telling business owners and residents it's illegal to dump things on the sidewalk. president obama is coming to the bay area thursday evening to meet with high-tech business leaders. now so far the white house has only said that the president will talk with business leaders in a session that will stress jobs, innovation and green technology. no specific information has been released on where that meeting will be held or if any part of it will be made public. now the president is expected to stay overnight here in the bay area then head to oregon on friday. the nephew osteal lee lama was killed in florida while taking part in a 300-mile walk for tibet. he was hit by an suv on the side of the state highway about 7:30 last night. he was 45 years old. and, again, the son osteally lama's late brother. he was walking to raise awareness for the tibet fight for independence from china. no word on what caused the death of a passenger on board cal train. a crew member found the man about 2:00 yesterday afternoon when the train stopped at the hillsdale station. the name of the man has not been released. time now 5:46. all this week cal train commuters are getting a chance to speak out about those planned big cut backs at cal train. last night some angry train riders attended this public hearing in san jose. responded to the plan to close down 16 stations and also raise fares. part of cal train's plan to wipe out a record budget deficit. >> the problem is that ridership doesn't pay for the service. transit doesn't make money. transit doesn't even break even. >> i'm certainly one rider that you would lose if the san antonio station closes. >> now there's going to be another public hearing in san francisco. that's tomorrow night. then two more in san carlos and gill roy thursday night. a nonprofit organization that wants to offer money for bone marrow donations will argue its case in a pasadena appeals courtroom today. the national organ transplant act prohibits the sale of body organs. but more marrow donors.org says it should not apply to bone marrow because the body regenerates it and offering money could also encourage more donations from people with a rare type of bone marrow. a broad new study suggests a strong link between high fiber diets and longer life. researchers for the national institutes of health and the aarp say people who eat the highest amount of fiber were 22% less likely to die from several diseases. they say fiber can improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels, blood pressure and inflammation. it can also reduce the risk of colon cancer, promote weight loss and work against killers like pneumonia and the flu. time now 5:47. tv coverage planned for the trial of michael jackson's doctor will be talked about at a hearing today. dr. conrad murray has already pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with michael jackson's death. his lawyers are also expected to present a list of witnesses who could be called to testify. that trial is expected to begin march 24th. well, windshield washer fluid is credited with saving the life of an elderly man who was lost in the desert of arizona. the 84-year-old, right there, spent five nights in the desert after missing his exit off the freeway. police say he drove on 17 miles of dirt road then had an accident. he was finally found by some campers who flagged down a helicopter that was searching for him. he suffers from dementia but he was able to use some things in his car to help him survive. >> he took a rock, opened the hood of his car and broke the windshield wiper fluid and was using that with a napkin to keep him hydrated. >> incredible. hank also sipped some of the fluid. he ate the dinner leftovers that he found still in his car. and he kept warm by using the floor mats as makeshift blankets. >> incredible story. 5:49 is the time. let's go back to sal to check in on the roads this morning. sal. >> all right. pam and dave, this morning's commute is already marred by an accident on 880 southbound at mission boulevard. the traffic is not all that effected so far because it's early. but you'll see the emergency vehicles there. the traffic on the freeway looks okay. if you're driving to the south bay so far it's nice looking drive on 101 and on 85 and 87. but, again -- i'll be saying this a lot pardon me if you hear it, you might want to consider not driving this afternoon. why? our meteorologist steve paulson will tell you why in just a moment. this is a look at highway 24. it's a hint though. has something to do with weather. traffic is moving along okay on highway 24. and in san francisco northbound 101 approaching the beatles sign, that's right, it's going to be okay. now let's go to steve. sal, you are correct, sir. >> thank you, steve. >> i deputized him a long timing a because he knows what he's talking about traffic-wise and weather-wise. very sharp. break this down. we had two weeks of dry warm weather. remember that? we had temperatures about a week ago near 80 degrees. this week the big change is yesterday i know we had some rain but it was mainly a windy day. today will be a rain day, this afternoon, tonight and then tomorrow the cold air comes in. no, really. plunging cold air will come in and it will be a sharp turn compared to what we've had in the first few weeks of this month. we've only had five days of rain i believe since the first of the year. so i mean things have needed to change a little bit. first system coming in yesterday did okay. i mean not too bad. gave us a couple one-hundredths for a few but over an inch some of the usual suspects russian river area, santa cruz mountains. the front though is aligning itself. you can see eureka north of fort brag. st. helena 1.5. after that there wasn't much tenth of an inch to about two- thirds of an inch santa rosa. san francisco .29: oakland .15. very mild. temperatures with the south wind out ahead of it 50s low to mid. everyone's in the same temperature range there. only a four degree spread. that is really cold air. that's a very dynamic system right there. the front's here. that's later today. and that's tomorrow as that all comes down and makes it all the way to southern california. a forecast model for cloud and rain. and it's a good looking model too. first system comes in. you can see already up towards lake county. then by around noon starting to make it into the north bay. by this afternoon and tonight san francisco, sacramento north now, again, that's an approximate. by this evening it goes through everybody. now winter weather advisories and wind advisories already out for the northern mountains. starts up in the sierra at noon. snow level around 5,000 feet and then tomorrow it will just i think down to 2,000. tomorrow we get the cold air. that will be the more showery pattern. hit and miss, wait a few minutes. notice more cold air than anything else. another system close on thursday. one projection takes it south. the other two say no we're going to bring it right into the bay area. my consensus is i think it will be over us. we have 48 hours to tackle that. speaking of 48 lows 48 to 54. cloudy, mild in the morning. some light rain. by noon cloudy, breezy to windy. 54, 60 rain coming down from the north and then by tonight rain moderate to heavy. upper 50s low to mid-60s in advance of that south winds. very mild. morgan hill, gill roy. lost gatos 60s there. colder by wednesday. next system thursday and cold and showery by friday. maybe a break on saturday. just a few minutes ago the commerce department reported retail sales were up slightly last month, but the stock market is now headed lower. it is the seventh month in a row that sales have been up, but it is the weakest report since last summer. now the biggest winners for december gas stations, auto retailers and online stores. consumers spent less at bars, restaurants and sporting good stores. a closer look at the opening bell but looks like stocks headed lower on that report. shelve ron says it will appeal a $9.5 billion judgment imposed by a judge in ecuador in a major environmental case. the judge says the san ramon based company is responsible for oil drilling contamination in a wide section of the jungle near the head of the amazon river. they have said they cannot get a fair trial in ecuador. that award is believed to be the highest for an environmental lawsuit. and star bucks confirms it plans to expand its reach into the single serving coffee drinks. there are reports that star bucks is in talks with green mountain company in vermont which dominates the market in single serve machines. star bucks agreement with kraft to distribute its roast and ground coffee in grocery stores expires at the end of this month. get to talk about the battle of the super brains. why some very smart men are butting heads with a very smart computer. which one is jeopardy? cleaning up after san francisco's big pillow fight and why the leftovers are going to the dogs. welcome back to the morning news. man and machine are tied after the first round of jeopardy pitting two champions against an ibm computer. >> you can't confuse it or trick it. it doesn't get frustrated. but it will sometimes make questions because it doesn't understand the questions that well. >> it seems to be outperforming ken jennings though who won a record 74 consecutive rounds of jeopardy. that's why he's back doing this. after one of three rounds jennings had $2,000 to wattson's $5,000. the other human, brad rutter is tied with wattson. the event wraps up tomorrow. taxpayers will pay the clean up bill for a san francisco valentine's day tradition. >> our job is to keep the city clean. and we don't have any resources that we need. and having this extra burden just makes it harder for everyone. >> huge pillow fight. this one at justin herman plaza drew hundreds of people. last year took two days and $35,000 to clean up the mess left behind. but last night the city got some help from a nonprofit group. pillows for puppies say they collected 150 garbage bags full of trash and 300 pillows. they'll be donated to the puppies at homeless shelters. pillows for puppies. they put their lives on the line for america, but this morning they are homeless. what's next for war veterans on the peninsula after a fire chased them right out into the streets? plus will berkeley be the next stop for guantanamo bay terror suspect? cloudily, very light rain right now. mainly cloudy and windy. when will the rain arrive? the answer and forecasted highs in two minutes. city of oakland closed a street because of a wall tilting