punishment. >> there's no right way to do the wrong thing. no humane way to strap a human being down to a table and methodically put them to death. >> if he was found guilty, convicted, sounds good to me. >> i don't know, i don't know what his state mind was at the time. i can't pass judgment on that. >> the department of corrections unveiled its new death chamber this week and announced they have implemented new procedures. live outside san quentin prison, john sasaki. late today freed higher sarah shourd met face to face with the president of the country that imprisoned her for more than a year. shourd and her mother met with ahmadinejad in a new york hotel room. shourd pleaded for the release of her fiancee and friend. there's not a lot of details about exactly what was discussed but shourd said after the meeting said quote, i'm going to keep pushing every minute of their release. she called the encounter a very gracious gesture. and the white house has ordered the pentagon to reinstate a mayor released for the don't ask don't tell law. we could see temperatures over 100 degrees in the coming days and tomorrow is also going to be a spare the air day. a lot to think about but is the weather also something to worry about? ktvu's robert handa is live in the south bay tonight to tell us. >> reporter: well frank, we're in the san jose foothills where it's already pretty warm. we wanted to give you a look at the areas where ktvu chief meteorologist bill martin says will be the hot spots. and there it is, all of it. once the heat kicks in we're all going to be feeling the heat. hot and getting hotter. >> fog will be coming down and hopefully cooling the temperature. >> summer is over. >> summer is over buddy. >> reporter: hot temperatures in september shouldn't be unexpected. but when it's hot outside, children and seniors can underestimate the outcomes. >> they could suffer from heat exhaustion. it's when you start getting dehydrated you might get a little light headed. maybe a little upset stomach. >> reporter: a lot of people began beating the heat near the ocean today for the santa cruz beach boardwalk. workers are relieved they have a good summer and are delighted to get a summer weekends during offseason or so called shoulder season. >> well september and october are our shoulder seasons so any bump we can get is helpful. it's nice to have this kind of weather this late in the season. >> reporter: they insist it's not fall, it's indian summer. >> to feel the sun on your body beating from south san francisco and san francisco we've had fog and it's been overcast and so this is a great welcome. >> reporter: parents are cautioned to make sure babies and children are covered in strollers, leaving them exposed is a common mistake when weather changes suddenly. healthy air and warmer temperatures have prompted air quality managers to issue a spare the air advisory. the alert is for tomorrow when high winds may cause bad conditions. officials say that exhaust can cause serious health problems especially for the elderly, very young children and people with heart or lung disease. unhealthy is not the only thing when it comes to to the heat. >> definitely heating up around here. let me just say, this is what happens this time of year. this is the height of fire season, this is the type of weather we get in the fall. this weather is going to go through october and lots of times it goes into november i've seen it go into december. nothing crazy here. it's going to be very warm. warmer than we've had. coast temperatures will be in the 70s. of course it's a spare the air day. what that means is in the east bay hills and in the hills of the north bay, the winds will pick up. but look at the numbers, 15- miles-an-hour during the oak lands hills fire which was essentially in october or early october. the winds were 50, 60-miles-an- hour. this is a very mild offshore wind event. we do not have any fire advisories at this point. when i come back i'm going to show you which days on the weekends are going to be the hottest, we'll see you back here. >> thank you bill, keep in mind for more on the forecast and temperatures in your neighborhood, you can go to our website. in san bruno tonight there are new questions about what may have led to that pipeline explosion. this comes as we were given a tour of the clean up area where giant exka excavators were being used to pick up debris that were once a part of someone's life. ken pritchett is live with our report. >> reporter: let's take a look quickly at live pictures of day two of the clean up. as we take a look at news, pg & e says it could not comment specifically about a chronic utility has released a report. pg & e did says the an extraordinarily rare phenomenon where bacteria would corrode if inside of a pipeline, but that they had no information on the corrosion of this pipeline. we got a close up look at day two of the clean up. you see a lot that had a home on it this morning. that lawn has been completely cleared. the crews here are working carefully but they are also working quickly as time is an issue. >> expect for the chimney still standing there was little to demolish. a giant excavator scooped up gutted cars and chipped away at concrete walls and foundations of the 37 homes destroyed by the gas pipe explosion. >> as far as i'm concerned, they became my house. and i'm treating these as though this is my property, my homes. >> reporter: san mateo county health director dean peterson says the goal is to prevent a public health hazard while respecting property owners. >> there are some homes that have the walls have fallen down. those walls will be removed and if it looks like there's anything down there, we'll shut the equipment down. we'll bring the homeowners back in. >> the county is paying for the clean up and will look for reimbursement later. as is the debris field is not a public healthy threat. and water is being used to keep the dust in place and out of the air. but the need to finish this job by mid-october is driven by concern of coming rains that could spread the soot and debris. >> i do not want to be in a position to have to deal with the run off that's going to be coming off of these properties. that would be a task that would be near impossible. >> reporter: the county says it has no hard deadline to finish this work, they hope to do it by mid-october but that is just a goal and that could be set back for example if they should find personal items in the debris of one of these homes and they have to bring the homeowner in to retrieve those items. in san bruno, ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. the three final victims from the san bruno pipeline explosion were laid to rest today. a funeral service for levon, greg and william bulles were held today. the three were three of the seven people killed in the september 9th last. two more people have been charged with posing of victims of those san bruno explosion. they were arrested earlier this week. they allegedly went to a disaster assistance center posing as victims in order to get gift cards and other aid. prosecutors said bennett and taylor are charged with a number of charges, including perjury and identity theft. lisa justin was charged last week. to keep track of all the latest information on the san bruno explosion. you can go to our website and look at the special section that we've developed for that on our website, ktvu.com. a robbery that happened this morning appears to have been carefully planned. about 10:00 a.m. three masked men came into the store. they sprayed three employees in the face with pepper spray. then used a hammer to break a display case. >> we went down to make sure everybody was okay. we had already called 911. we were on the phone with 911 as soon as we knew what was happening. >> police say they will look at surveillance video to get a detailed description. it's giving bart tickets to up to 300 returns vets. bart launched the military pass program in january. tomorrow bart will offer the bart tickets to more than 100 military men and women at an event. i'm lyndsey palo live, phillip garrido's case is now on hold. and a warning is going out to female students at one bay area community college. e ret ma oilwi totr wco l wcote the case against phillip garrido hit the breaks today. garrido is accused of kidnapping and raping dugard. >> reporter: the judge agreed suspending the criminal charges against him. garrido appeared in court with a buzz cut and a blank stair. the judge went on questioning garrido to stand trial. galman says she's visited her client and reported persistent trouble in the meetings. >> when somebody wants to go to trial for crazy reasons. however district attorney says he is confident garrido is competent. his own observations of garridoincluding the defendant looking away and seeming disinterested when his attorney talk to him are troubling. garrido's lawyer says it's an issue of fairness which will not significantly delay a trial. >> in case that somebody is really seriously seriously ill, that delay is only may be a couple of months. so i mean we're not talking about a significant delay in time. the next step will be determining the parameters of a competency hearing. as this latest twist unfolded, garrido did not react. >> i mean you saw him. it just kind of didn't phase him. >> reporter: to give you an idea of the scope of the case, the judge said today that the people have turned over about 150,000 pagesover discovery that would be equal to about 375 copies of the el dorado county phone book and there's more discoveries still in the way. phillip garrido will be on the way october 8th. what's next for his wife nancy garrido? she's up for a preliminary hearing in october. female students in san jose city college are being urged to exercise caution after two recent assaults. the most recent took place around 4:00 in the afternoon on tuesday at the lee avenue parking garage when a man grabbed a woman in the stairwell. torch natsly she -- fortunately she was able to escape. on tuesday about 5:30 in the morning another woman was forced in her car and raped in the parking lot. campus police do not believe the same man is responsible for the attacks. officers are working on sketches of the two suspects. a mountain lion has been spotted twice now in the past two days. the mountain lion was seen at 8:15 this morning and also yesterday near the pescadero elementary school. the big cat was on a rage in the backside of the school in the community of pescadero. no kids were in any danger. it is a rural area so mountain lions are not uncommon. sheriff's deputies will be monitoring the area and keeping an eye on the cat for the days to come. and firefighters have been fighting a wildfire in the cleveland national forest. crews contained the fire this morning between orange and river side counties. it broke out yesterday in thick brush and briefly threatened buildings. no injuries have been reported. the cause of the fire is still under investigation. we talked about some health conditions, but i think many people are happy to see the weather we're getting. >> don't be led to believe this is crazy or unusual weather this is what we get as we head into the height of the fire season. that's my main concern, with the heat coming on fire danger will go up substantially. it certainly did today as humidities went up. you will see the numbers, you can see the colors. colors corresponding to napa low 90s. out toward concord in the mid- 80s. there's near 90-degrees in fairfield and it's cooler around the bay. you can just pop in some numbers there. some numbers definitely up a good five to 10 degrees over yesterday. we've been in a gradual warming trend. if you're out in pacifica, it's one of those rare nights where you'll be able to walk out in shorts or t-shirt and enjoy temperatures in the 60s. everybody else as well. a nice night to go out and have a night in the town. warming up this weekend so heat really rolling in here sunday and monday. sunday could get into the upper 90s, low 100s. monday should be one of the hottest days as we go into the ends of the weekend. the forecast highs, i mentioned this last night they are all coming west ward. this is the forecast map for tomorrow, for your saturday. that's a lot of 90s. in fairfield and up into this area you're looking at upper 90s. along the coast you're going to find 60s and 70s. i suspect those in san francisco will easily get into the upper 60s and 70s. we're going to go mid-70s to low 80s out at the beach, ocean beach in an francisco, be careful for the rip tides. be careful if you're headed out to the beach. back here, five day forecast, we're going to show you the hottest days. >> we'll see you then. four california condors will soon get a home. the condors were raised in captivity. the group was hatched in idaho. california condors have been brought back from the brink of extension. only 32 were in existence in 1937. the soon to be wild condors will join 73 others that are flying free in the grand canyon area. ahead, alcatraz island is inhabited in a new and different way tonight. >> reporter: live in alcatraz island, i'll tell you when you can see it. and what a new ktvu field poll shows of how things have changed. new at 6:00, 12 people robbed in less than six hours all in one bay area city. we learn what most of the victims had in common and what police are warning everyonenot to do. you might think that it's okay to toss away, see the unprecedented way bay area police are trying to stop it. plus it may be your only dependable source of water if the big one hits. a look at the feat taking place under ground. something unusual is coming to alcatraz. in the coming weeks actors will be performing one of the most famous plays in history on the island. it gets even more interesting, because visitors will also be a part of the performance. paul chambers is on alcatraz with our report. >> reporter: for the next two months, not only visitors will be able to see this historic sight, they will be able to get a special treat when they see one of shakespeare most popular plays, hamlet. actors from the bay area troop called we players will bring the play alive on alcatraz island. for the last 10 year, the group's founder and director roy has done sight specific shows, most recently from four point. >> i saw that production and i saw there was an opportunity to partner in a much bigger way and bring the park services mission across through theater. >> reporter: for the last two years, roy and members of the national park service have worked in ways to weave together the theme of the play and connect it to the island's history. >> it has all the history here. the civil war, the prison, the indian occupation and everything. >> what it means to be free and whether that can be something that can be granted or taken away. hamlet is grappeling with these questions. >> reporter: the visitors will not only get to see the play, they will be able to be in it. >> you can look above you, below you, behind you, there's stuff way off in the distance. >> reporter: for those who want to come to alcatraz just to see the island, don't fret, the actors will play and will not interfere the play. opening night will be a week from tomorrow. the play will run every weekend until october 24th. back here live you can see the actors are rearsing. these actors are rehearsing it and they're doing it for free, they're all volunteers. if you want a chance to check it out, lock on to our website and i'll tell you the details right then and there. actress lyndsey lohan is challenging a court order. the beverly hills judge today sent lohan without bail. lo lohan admitted to failing a drug test on her twitter page. the last couple of years, san francisco's cruise business has been on the decline. now there's signs of hope. i'm consumer editor tom vacar, what's planned ahead. and mayor gavin newsom has a lead in the governor's race. what a new ktvu field poll shows how things have changed. jump starts the business down here. the rising tide of cruise ships coming to san francisco could soon lift business for the tourism industry as a whole. san francisco passenger cruise business seems to hit bottom and is now beginning to show new signs of life. tom vacar joins us now live from san francisco's embarcadero. >> reporter: if done right this new pier in as little as two years could bolster san francisco's tourism business and bring many many jobs. the cruise ships that flooded the area with tourists for most of the week have moved on. >> i love them. i look forward to seeing them come into town when they do come. >> reporter: the number of cruise ships arriving have been on a five year slide. from 84 at an all time high to 41 this year. >> the ship business gets us through the slow time and in the summertime when it first starts out, it really jump starts the business down here. >> reporter: the problem with san francisco's cruise business is that it's usually forday trippers. people who stop for just a few hours. to really make money in the cruise business for the city and the bay area, you have to have ships starting or ending their cruises right here. >> you generally going to get one, two, or three nights tacked on in your own city when you have those cruises that originate around or on your location. >> reporter: the city hopes to have a new classy cruise terminal built here on pier 27. >> it's within walking distance of the ward. >> the you're like likely to get cruise ships leaving from san francisco which we don't have them now. >> they design it as a big plaza that would be great. like justin herman plaza like size. a big open space is what i'm talking about. >> the terminal will also have space for special events when cruise ships are not here. we're hoping to make it a multi use facility. >> reporter: san francisco gets the americas cup, the 2014 completion date could be moved up a year because it would provide viewing space for thousands of onlookers from its 2-acre public plaza that will be along the bay side. reporting live, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. the battle over extending the bush tax cuts appears less and less likely to take place until after the midterm elections next month. majority leader harry reed announced that the house will not take up the issue. democrats want to keep tax cuts for earners under $250,000, republicans want all of the bush tax cut renewed including cuts for the wealthiest americans. >> the middle class will have a tax cut. it will be done in this congress. there is no question about that. >> if we let this go to the next step with the reversion of these tax levels to the 2000 prelevels its will create another katrina in this country. >> president obama is opposed to extending the tax cuts to the wealthiest americans. new home sales fell to their worse records. sales were down 29% from the same time one year ago. the worse month for new home sales ever was back in may with just 282,000 homes sold. despite those gloomy housing numbers stocked soared in wall street today capping the fourth straight week of gains. >> better than expected durable goods report brought out investors and pushed stocks higher. the dow rose 197 points to close at 8,160. the nasdaq was up 54 points to end at 2,381. for more financial and consumer news go to kdvu.tvu.com. gavin newsom is losing ground for the lieutenant governor seat. back in july newsom had a 9.4 lead. 26% say they don't know who they'll be voting for in november or say they aren't inclined to vote for either candidate. newsom, a democrat holds a strong lead in the metropolitan areas. and maldonado holds a strong lead in the suburb areas. a field poll did not directly ask voters if the -- support of each candidate was split evenly between genders. ktvu's exclusive field poll shows 35% of voters plan to cast their ball lon for cooley while 35% support harris. 34% are still undecided. cooley has lost some ground since the last field poll. san jose hospitals are leading the way. the new plan that will help you avoid the wait at the emergency room. you inhale, they inhale. millions of children continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke. secondhand smoke causes asthma, a disease that cannot be cured. protect your loved ones. during a speak to the u.n. general assembly ahmadinejad said that most of the word believes that the u.s. orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. president obama called the speech hateful, especially since it was made so close to ground zero. >> people of all ethnicity who see this as the worse attacks ever see this as hateful. they're reportedly trying to determine if chief randy adams broke a law by cutting a deal with bell that guaranteed him a disability requirement. under the deal adams would have to pay taxes on only half of his potential annual pension. on tuesday the mayor and city manager were among eight current and former officials arrested in a corruption investigation. governor arnold schwarzenegger is attacking one of the state's biggest union for their support of a ballot measure that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana. legalizing marijuana would make the state a laughing stock and put the public at risk. he spent most of the column attacking the lsiu saying that the state could do more as opposed to legalizing marijuana. concord is the latest bay area community to crack down on marijuana dispensaries. the city claims herbal essence misrespected himself as a holistic healing center. the. you're weight can have a major relationship to the chance that you will face critical depression. 23% of obese have been diagnosed with depression. being simply overweight made people slightly to be depressed . being depressed could suffer to their overeating. vitamin c can rapidly improve the moods of hospitalized patients. in a double blind study, scientists gave patients doses of vitamin c or vitamin d for a week to ten days. people who took vitamin c experienced a dramatic improvement on their mood. while those takes vitamin d experienced no change. many patients had extremely low levels of vitamin c, and doctors doubt that vitamin c would have an impact in the mood of healthy people. was he doing it for publicity or because he really cares? the issue that comedian steven colbert was testifying about on capitol hill and why some people were not amused. your weekend is here for many of us. i'll have the details on what you can expect. which forecast, which day will be the hottest? i'll let you know. south of laredo, there's a place... so hot, rattlesnakes combust. ♪ but we go, cause ya gotta eat bold. [ male announcer subway fiery footlong subs. the bold-acious new turkey jalapeño melt and buffalo chicken. subway. eat bold! a bay area member of congress invited comedian steven colbert to talk about immigration. he did so in character. he got a few but not many laughs. he did however get serious when asked one crucial question. carol hann has details from washington, d.c. >> reporter: take a look at the media circus that erupts when comedy collides with congress here on capitol hill. navigating a gauntlet of media, steven colbert arrived. >> leave thee committee room completely. >> reporter: but he came from an invitation to talk about the day he spent picking beans. >> i'm just playing a little farmville. >> reporter: bay union put on a call for all americans to do the work of farm laborers. only seven people responded and colbert accused those of accusing migrants takes american jobs. >> j o bs. >> reporter: the only time his mask came off was when he was asked. >> why are you interested in this issue? >> i like talking about people who don't have any power. and this seems one of the least powerful people in the united states are migrant workers who come and do our work, but don't have any rights as a result. >> it's the right of american workers that have colbert critics riled up. but today their side seems lost under the laughter. in washington, carol hann. two san jose hospitals are now the first in california northern california that is to offer emergency room wait times by text message. good samaritan hospital and the regional medical center say that will help people which emergency room has the shortest wait time. the wait times are posted on both hospital websites, they are updated every 30 minutes. coming up next at 6:00, continuing coverage on the garrido case. julie haener is in the newsroom with a look at the other stories we're working on. california death penalty, what the judge decided today and what it means for next week's schedule execution of a convicted killer at san quentin. also ahead, a huge $350 million project is just getting under way. we'll explain what that tunnel will be used for. plus why you might be interested what's going to happen between 10 and 2:00 p.m. tomorrow at several locations around the bay. we'll see you at 6:00. julie, thank you. well a new warning is out about the spread of a destructive pet in the bay area. three moths have been discovered. it has prompted the county to implement quarantine areas. that will require growers to follow several harvesting and cleaning that will help top the spread of the moth. a lot of people are getting ready for a warm bay area weekend. >> it's spare the air day tomorrow. that could put a hamper on your bar-be-q plans. it's going to be hot in many locations. take care of the pets. drink plenty of fluids and take it slow. it's not unexpected for this time of year but it is definitely going to be noticeable sunday and monday. out toward martinez. we have temperatures in the 80s right now. danville you're in the mid-80s in most places. mount diablo about 82 degrees. temperatures are tweaking downright now because it's getting a little bit later. these are the highs from today. 90 in fairfield, 92 in santa rosa. 81 in san francisco, forecast highs tomorrow warmer than these. clear and mild as we go into this evening. tomorrow it'll be warm again, sunday and monday will be the warmest days in the weekend. the 90s are coming out toward the coast. we see those right there. warm pressure moves in, fog is gone, fire danger comes tomorrow. because we are, even though it's been a cool summer we're right in the middle. this is the height of fire season. so we're talking about increased fire danger but we are not going to see the very strong winds that we saw. it's not going to be a big strong wind event. very warm temptures, humidities will be really low. the winds are really your biggest concern. that should not materialize. there's your forecast noontime to 4:00. you can see temperatures beginning to warm up for your saturday 92 in napa. 90 in vallejo, salsalito 94. very warm weekend, tomorrow's warmer but sunday and monday will be the warmest days on your bay area weekend. fire danger comes up, spare the air day on saturday. i don't know how they issued one for saturday and sunday, but they don't issue one for monday. could see some advisories go into effect. mark tamayo comes in saturday and sunday. i know that's going to be the first one to come in. and the one thing he's going to be watching out for is fire danger. if you go to the beaches be careful. swells coming up. a lot of people will want to go to the beach, we know how dangerous the beaches are this time of year. with the uncoming swells, the rips will be in place. where you'll be able to buy the i pad starting next month. and the recession closed a lot of dealerships but a new one just opened its doors and what this one is selling could make it a little more recession proof than others. the black widow spider's severe bite can cause coma and even death. the african black mamba can kill a man with one bite. but there's an even deadlier predator cigarettes, produced by big tobacco, which take a life every six point five seconds. don't be big tobacco's next victim. al?ye cckhiout'noepitsls es u stakthchkan-phh-rhtn ern't eyott? h.oht's t rei. itlswos thaskhiout'noepitsls es al?doouha a o.. u stakthchkan-phh-rhtn ern't eyott? a! pshtvoa.th's olout'noepitsls es al?doouha a o.. u stakthchkan-phh-rhtn ern't l's . y,ai wr'my0? pshtvoa.th's olout'noepitsls es al?doouha a o.. aschki. lcetoanitche.n ern't y,h'updu . aswh mte apple is expanding distribution of the i pad to target. target stores will carry all six models of the i pad starting on october 3rd. up until now the i pad was only available online or at apple stores or at best buy stores. the at least expensive i pad runs for $499 but target credit card holders will be able to get a 5% discount. a new auto showroom opened up today in oak lands and it's dedicated to ecofriendly cars. all the cars being sold at the honda showroom are hybrid. according to the showroom's general manager, it's another way that honda can contribute to oakland's sustainable city effort. >> we're looking to take care of our children, the future of this country and our planet, we want to make sure we do our part. >> the stickers on all the cars explain why each one of them is considered green. the green center showroom is located in the 3300 block of piedmont avenue. there's much more news just ahead on ktvu challenge two challenge two channel 2 news at 6:00. the water supply for 1/ 1/3 of the area was being protected in case of a major disaster, one scoop at a time today. we'll have that story next. decision day as the judge rules whether executions can resume in california for the first time in nearly five years. why the legal battle may still be far from over. 10 armed robberies in 10 hours in san francisco. who's being targeted and why police say the robbers are likely to strike again this weekend. good evening i'm julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. san francisco police have been following a string of robberies. groups of riders have been targeting people who ride mass transit. david stevenson has more on this. >> reporter: after a series of late night robberies, san francisco police have a warning for people