Transcripts For KTVU KTVU Noon News 20130222

A good day for the family, you will hear why they have justice at last. A meth and his manhole is one reason they are considering a ban of certain items. A woman famous for a scam of a human finger is back in the news at noon. Complete bay area news coverage, starts right now. This is ktvu channel 2 news at noon. God is good all the time. I am so proud that god brought him through. A grateful mother at a bay area courthouse after learning her son will by rested after being falsely convicted years ago. Good afternoon, i am tori campbell, a man in prison for nearly 7 years could be released today. Brian flores joins us live to let us know why even prosecutors now say the inmate should be cleared. Reporter right, tori, ronald ross spend close to 7 years at the prison for a crime that both sides say he was never a part of. We spoke with his mother this afternoon and she says she could not be any more happier. I am overwhelmed. I am just praising the lord or jesus christ or lord and savior that he touched the hearts and souls of people to understand and read and see that ronald was innocent. Reporter now cameras were not allowed in the courtroom during the hearing today so these are photos of ronald before he was wrongly convicted. These are provided to us by a group called the Innocence Project at santa clara university. Who about 4 years ago looked at his case and says he was innocent. Ross was convicted in 2006 for a shooting in oakland but the victim back then picked ross out of a photo line up but now says he never believed ross was the shooter and he was pressured by police and feared the real gunman would come after him. Several years later he will be set free this afternoon and in court this afternoon ross was crying when the judge says congratulations mr. Ross and good luck to you. He even got a hug from his mother. I feel great. I feel great. Lord knows i feel great. I feel like hollarring, but i might go to jail if i be hollarring. I am so excited i dont know what to do. I have never feel like this in my life. I am 77 years old and i have never feel like this in my life. God is so good. He awesome. And we plan to go to the jail and plan to go pick him up and take him home and take him to his moms house and i think she is planning to have dinner with her sound and i think they are both excited about that. You can see how in the courtroom how emotional it was for ronald and his mom. It is no joke. What is next for ross his attorneys say he will be released this around and his mom says there will be a party to celebrate. His attorneys say he is thinking about moving back to louisiana to spend time with other Family Members. We also asked his family whether they have any hatred toward the Police Department and they dont, just glad he is coming home. It should be mentioned another suspected shooter in this case, is currently serving time at jail for another crime back in 2011. Live in oakland, brian flores, ktvu channel 2news. At that same courthouse this morning the bomb squad blew up what they deemed a suspicious package. It turned out to be a back pack filled with tools. A man was told he could not take it into the courthouse so he put it in the bush, someone found it and called police. No want was hurt. Oscar pistorius is free on bail as he awaits trial in the valentines day shooting death of his girlfriend. His bail was set at a million south african rand or 113,000 american dollars, but as a condition he is ordered to turn over his passport and guns and check in with police twice a week and not allowed to return to the crime scene, which is his home. Pistorius left the court after an hour. He says he mistakenly shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp believing she was an intruder but prosecutors say it was intentional. His next hearing is june. The search continues for a black range rover suv involved in this shooting and crash yesterday morning in vegas that left three people dead including a rapper from oakland, kenneth cherry, also known as kenny clutch. Police say a confrontation at a hotels Valet Parking stand led someone in the suv to shoot into his maserati, which crashed into a taxi, setting it on fire and killing the cabs driver and passenger. Police are studying Traffic Camera video in hopes of identifying those in the suv. All over the country today president obamas nonprofit Advocacy Group is Holding Events in support of the president s Gun Violence Reduction plan. This day of action is the First National mobilization since the Group Organizing for action was launched in january. Volunteers who helped reelect president obama are now trying to help get his policies through congress. Todays events include rallies phone banks and candlelight vigils and several of those are happening here in the bay area. At 5 00 this evening people will gather at the larkspur Ferry Terminal and also a vigil there and two in san jose, they will gather at those places tonight. Three peninsula cities plan to hold a gun buyback tomorrow in east palo alto, menlo park and palo alto will join them for the gun buyback from 10 00 until 2 00 there. Authorities will pay between 1 and 300 dollars depending on the type of gun. A conference is underway right now in frap frap focusing on how to keep young adults from becoming repeat offenders. The meeting involves police, prosecutors, public defenders and probation officials and also trying to come up with ways to prevent violence among those in what they call the transitional age group. Currently it was 20 of our homicide rates 18 to 25 so we want to bring to light in San Francisco there needs to be a focus the organizes say one of the most important things to figure out is how to make sure young adults have jack sees to the Public Services that would keep them from committing crimes repeatedly. The infamous chili finger leady from san jose is back in jail, accused of making up a new story about a different body part. Anna ayala went to prison for planting a severed finger in a bowl of chili in a scheme now she is accused of lying to protect her son found with an injured ankle outside their home. They made up a story about two men shooting her son but police later uncovered evidence he shot himself. Her son has that previous burglary conviction and is not allowed to own a gun. A deadly accident in redwood city and a young woman was killed in a solo car crash this morning. It happened shortly after 4 00 a a. M. On east bayshore road. Police say her car crashed into a fire hydrant then a power pole. She was ejected and died at the scene, Family Members tell ktvu, the victim, 20 years olds was returning home. She cause of the crash is under investigation. Police are searching for a hitandrun driver involved in a crash into a bus. It happened around 5 15 this morning at tully road at east capitol expressway. The vta says its express bus was hit by a car tehran a red light. 14 passengers were on board, 1 suffered a minor injury, both vehicles hat damage had damage but the driver of the car was able to drive off before police arrived. The bus had to be towed. Officials are set to take a vote on a styrofoam ban. Matt keller joins us live to explain why it is more than about that. Reporter good afternoon, yeah, they used this storm drain as an example to make their point, a trash capture device was installed in august next to coyote creek and has collected a lot of litter as you can secluding many styrofoam containers, several environmental Groups Joined him in pushing for the ordinance to ban the use of that. The supporters say the ban would significantly reduce trash in area waterways in the bay. The city councilman said changing to more environmental Friendly Food containers would not be a big expense for businesses. I encourage local businesss to talk to other businesses and cities and towns were bans have been enacted and i think we will see that the impact on restaurants is very very minimal. People dont realize that everything that ends up on our streets goes down storm drains and understands up in creeks in the bay. It doesnt go to Sewage Treatment plants like water from our homes. The city says it spends 5 Million Dollars a year for litter collection and styrofoam is a big part of that. They are scheduled to vote on whether to proceed with a ban on styrofoam food wear and its next meeting this tuesday. Supporters hope a final vote could come by the summer. If it did pass san jose would joan 30 others with the ban and in doing so would be the largest city, matt keller, ktvu channel 2 news. We have new details this noontime in the investigation of a crane collapse yesterday morning at the new eastern span of the bay bridge. Ktvu news has learned that the investigation will take about a month. This is new video just taken by chopper 2 at the port of oaklands peer 7, where investigators have moved the crane and metal bridge supports. This is also where officials from the federal cal federal osha, cal trans and the company that owns the crane will study it to determine what happen. No one was hurt in the accident. They have not paddled on these waters for 140 years. We will tell you where we are and why that changed today. We need more rain. Rosemary will tell us if it is coming. And we have been telling you about the student sit in at a bay area college. Ahead whether it is still going on. A protest at city college of San Francisco ended peacefully this morning. About 30 students spent the night on campus in the administration building, it ended after five of the students were granted a meeting set for monday with the schools interim chancellor, they are demanding more information and to be more involved in the administrations choices in its fight for stay accredited. A lot of people dont know what is going on. I dont know. So we want to know what is really going on and what really need to be done to keep our school going. City college is at risk of losing its accreditation and closing if it does not adopt financial reforms, it is required to file a report by then with them. Visitors to lake merit will notice something new, a 750 foot section of the lake merit channel is reopening, allowing boats to travel in it for the first time in 140 years, Tara Moriarty joins us live from there with details. Good afternoon. Reporter good afternoon. You just said it. This is the first time in 140 years that boaters have been able to go on the channel that connects lake merit to the oakland esuary and eventually you will be able to boat or kayak all the way to the bay. They welcomed them to the part separated since 1869. It was once an an open waterway to the bay. It is all part of the project. Eventually the dam will be removed as well as culverts, pedestrian tunnels and the freeway in order to make it flow completely. It was in no mans land. People there were homeless encampments constricted, just nobody came here, so today we are seeing a transformation the project will improve the Water Quality of the lake, provide four more acres of green space, walkways and room for wildlife habitat. By restoring these mud flats and letting the mig ray tory birds stay here, although the canadian geese we worry about, like many other people they come to oakland and never want to leave. In 1869 the former mayor built a narrow dam across the channel with gates to hold in the high tides forming lake merit, as time went on that took place and this project was to undue the negative impacts of that. In june the city planed to hold a party to celebrate the opening of the channel as well as the complete restoration of lake merit. Life from lake mere lake merit, tara more more, ktvu channel 2 news. They are preparing for cuts that are set to kick in one week from today. A study shows more than 2 Million People could lose their jobs if that takes place. Congressional democrats and republicans remain in a stalemate over how to avoid the across the board automatic cuts. Lets have a vote. You want to vote no and say you would prefer the consequences of the sequester to the alternative i just laid out that is your right but the American People deserve a vote. Some lawmakers are in washington but congress is on a week long break and wont return until monday. At this hour San Francisco police are issuing a warning to the Asian Community about a scam targeting consider citizens. It is an ongoing issue but police want to reinform people about the scam. It involves preying on the fears in culture. What happens is they will convince them a Family Member is sick or cursed and say the only sway way to get rid of it is to place jewelry or cash in a bag to be blessed, they hand it back but it has worthless items in it and not the valuables. The parade has become a tradition, see the festivities tonight at 6 00. Our coverage will be hosted by julie haener and the author Ben Fong Torres and stream it live. The Justice Department has joined a lawsuit against lance armstrong. It was joined by them. He was stripped of that title. It alleges he concealed his use of drugs for over a decade and defrauded his long time sponsor the u. S. Postal service. Sources say the two sides have been holding settlement talks but are 10s of millions of dollars apart on how much armstrong should pay in the settlement case. Two chp helicopter pilots came to the rescue of a hiker stalked by a Mountain Lion. It happened last weekend on the stephens trail near colfax in placer county. The hiker made a frantic 911 call, saying the Mountain Lion was quickly moving in on him. The helicopter pilots found him frantically waving a flash light with the Mountain Lion standing 20 feet in front of him. The sound of the chopper probably saved his life. I have never scared off a  Mountain Lion before useing a helicopter. I shoulder to think what would have happened if he didnt have a cell phone or something to call for help. He later went there to put up warning signs but was forced to shoot and kill the Mountain Lion when it aggressively approached him. It is shaping up to be a nice day. Plenty of sunshine, wall to wall from the coast inland. Giving you a live look there at san jose and the airport. 58 degrees san jose and barely a cloud in the sky. Air quality today good to moderate and that is where we will stay, 56 hayward and oakland, 50s concord, napa 54, walnut creek, the warm spot at this hour, 66 for you. Seeing a few low 60s in some of the neighborhoods in and around walnut creek as well. So we have a fairly pleasant weekend in store. I am tracking this weak system here but it is really not going to bring us much. Maybe a few clouds, maybe a little drizzle tomorrow morning but it is going to take an insidetrack. We call it an inside slider so moisture starved and again only going to bring us perhaps a few clouds and maybe cool us down a little bit on saturday. Take a look. At noontime you can see that line of rain well north. About 5 00, 6 00, it is over the northwest corner of california, the clouds increase by tonight, tahoe may receive snow but that is about it. I will fast forward you into tomorrow morning. We wake up with clouds, maybe drizzle here and there. If you are heading to tahoe for the weekend morning showers so snow tomorrow morning then clears out, by 1 00 with sunny skies and tahoe as well, behind this system breezy, so temperatures tomorrow cooler and breezy in some areas. For today mostly sunny. Temperatures upper 50s to low 60s. 60 degrees oakland today, 62 san rafael, 64 napa, south bay low 60s san jose, 63 morgan hill, these numbers a few degrees warmer than yesterday. Again with plenty of sunshine. If you are going out to the Chinese New Year parade tomorrow we will see you out there again, a little cool and breezy, 50 degrees expected in San Francisco as the parade begins and will remain into the 40s and 50s into the evening hours, your extended forecast with your weekend in view, that is through the morning hours, more sunshine by the afternoon, notice temperatures take a dip tomorrow and rebound quickly and into monday and tuesday back into the 60s and the rest of february looks pretty dry. Yeah, no rain at all, which we do need still. Yes. All right, thank you rosemary. You got it. Democrats no longer have a super majority in the state senate. Late this morning Central Valley Democrat Michael rubio announced he is resigning. His resignation takes effect today. That means democrats now have 26 senate seats, so one shy of the 2 3 control it needs to maintain a super majority. No word yet on who will replace him. Democrats still have a strong super majority in the assembly. Stocks headed up again. We will tell you why. And it is time to stop and smell the flowers. We will tell you where you can go this weekend to do that. I know. I know i need to quit this. Well, how about. That smokers helpline . Yeah, they can give me a plan. Help me through the rough spots. So youre ready to. Quit . Everyone wants me to quit my doctor, my wife, the dog. Not good for the dog. Anyone else . Hmm . What . Anyone else want you to quit . Me i want me to quit. Tdd 8009334833 rings woman smokers helpline. Oh, hi, its me. Strong earning reports have sent stocks higher following a two day decline, Hewlett Packard shares up 13 after they reported better than expected earnings. The dow currently up 89, the nasdaq up 22, s p up 9. A rally is getting underway now at San Francisco city hall in support of a name change at San Francisco International Airport. Supporters want to change the name to harvey milk International Airport after the late gay rights leader and San Francisco supervisor. Critics say change in the name would be costly and could confuse International Travelers who have become accustomed to the sfo moniqueer but supporters say it would be ideal for that. If you are a flower lover you might want to take that in this weekend. The largest or kid orchid show started yesterday and runs until then, you will be able to see 150,000 orchids from around the world. Tickets are 15 dollars at the door with a discount for seniors and children are free with a paying adult. Today on ktvu channel 2 news at 5 00, you have heard plenty about sequestration, we found out how much longer your wait to be at the airport if it kicks in, plus what the plan would mean for several local control towers if those automatic cuts kick in next week. Thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news, we will see you the next time news breaks, we are always here for you on ktvu. Com and mobile ktvu. Com. Send comments to comments captioncolorado. Com captions by terry james, caption colorado, llc