sal knows me all too well. the shoreline amphitheater which was a world away from livermore. i had a great time, that was the mid-90s. >> somebody said he snuck into a concert when he was 13. >> i liked one, that was i saw the show at the kaiser, that is a gem around here. my first was at the warfield in san francisco. it was jerry garcia by himself. >> my first one was at the coliseum with the rolling stones. >> somebody said they snuck into a show and saw some things he should not have seen. we are now at home and my little boys are bringing home words we have not taught them and we will talk about this. swearwords. vulgar words. we will talk more about this. there is a lot of talk about what allegedly was set in washington but this made me think about when your little ones come home with a word, how do you address that? if you freak out now the kid knows if i say this word mom freaks out.>> we just don't talk about it, we move on but if it is repetitive we have to talk. >> that is how i am.>> that is interesting because you don't want to give power to the word. some people are even picking it up at home. >> not at my house. it is a good check for the parents. a lot of people are talking about a certain word many people allege was set in washington by the president. but first let's start in california with a terrible situation in southern california. authorities are continuing to search for any survivors who might be trapped by the mudslides. at this .17 people are confirmed dead. as many as 43 others listed as missing. the sheriff has declared the community of montecito a mandatory evacuation zone. among those who died is a 61- year-old real estate agent, by phone we spoke with her friend and business partner that said rebecca was a great friend and adventure seeker who loved the outdoors. >> she embodied strength and grace and elegance and poise and love. all in one human being. she was taken from us too soon, but she will always remain in our hearts.>> a 30% emergency response team from marin county is in montecito helping with recovery. they were there three weeks ago fighting the thomas fire. phil shuman from los angeles shows us a church in montecito that was heavily battered by the mudslide. >> this church took the full force of mother nature's blow. 26 hillside acres, a religious retreat now covered in thick mud , debris and what is left of structures. this photo posted to instagram shows the two-story chapel filled with mud. a crucifix overlooking the damage, this after the 60-year- old center had cleaned up in the aftermath of last month's thomas fire. >> it is a very special wonderful place. >> this neighbor whose family has been in the hills of montecito since the 1920s lived just outside of the mud filled gates as they all evacuated, she rode out the storm. >> it was frightening. it was just plain scary. there was a huge ball of fire with rain coming down like i have never seen before. it was harder than any tropical storm. >> for now the church is deserted, abandoned just trying to navigate through the property and surrounding hillside that was a path for the massive debris flow is dangerous and difficult. >> this is destruction like i have never seen in santa barbara. this looks more like the outflow of a large glacier in alaska. >> to see this much devastation is incomprehensible. >> this church has been described as a beloved sanctuary for the heart, mind and spirit. a sanctuary is no doubt what many people will be needing in the weeks months and years to come as they try to recover and rebuild from this tragedy that is forever scarred. in montecito, phil shuman, fox 11 news. >> the thick mud and debris making it difficult for emergency crews to reach people stranded. the sheriff's office brought in a vehicle used by the swat team to help with rescue efforts. this vehicle is one of the few machines that can carry rescue personnel and navigate them through the mud. president trump went to twitter to defend himself over accusations of a racist comment during a bipartisan meeting over immigration reform. lauren blanchard reports the president said his words were tough not racist. >> a series of morning tweets from the president saying the latest bipartisan plan is a big step backwards. not a fair deal showing a deal on daca is far from done. president trump admits he used to tough language during a closed-door meeting but despite reports of using vulgarity he says that was not the language used. the language was not used and it is very clear this is the democrats trying to derail the process. >> reports that the president used racially charged language to ask why the united states would accept immigrants from haiti and african countries drawing strong reaction. >> during the course of his comments, he said things that were hate filled, vile, and racist. he used those words. i understand how powerful they are, we have seen the comments in the press. they are accurate. >> the president blasting off another tweet saying i never said anything derogatory about haitians. supporters say that he raised a fair question. >> we have the right to determine who will make the best americans. who brings the drive the skills the love of the constitution to make america better. that is not racist. >> it seems it is back to the drawing board for lawmakers to make a deal on immigration and daca. congress is up against a tight deadline to pass a federal budget given the extension to avoid a government shutdown is next friday. in washington lauren blanchard, ktvu fox 2 news. >> the question of the day is how concerned are you with the president's use of the phrase "s-hole countries"? from the poll results 67% are very, 7% are somewhat and 26% not at all. one viewer says i can't imagine who these people are not outraged? enlighten me. >> another viewer says these remarks are upsetting but we have to stick together as people. we need to have more compassion for other countries we don't live in.>> another viewer says all critics need to do is leave the us and take residency in one of those "s-hole countries" to prove him wrong. >> it is something everyone is talking about, thank you for joining in on the conversation. will share more responses coming up. thank you for using the hashtag tvu. this could be the worst flu season in 10 years and some hospitals are taking steps to prepare for the overflow of patients. employees from seton medical center set up a tent for a level i surge plan. the extra space is just in case they need more room to triage or treat patients since right now they have more than usual due to the flu. many cities have started public service announcements to warn everybody about the flu. san francisco is warning everybody to get the flu shot and people are being encouraged to wash their hands often and stay home when sick. there have been 29 flu -related deaths in the state. we are joined by the deputy health director for alameda county. thank you for being with us. can we start with the situation in the bay area? do you believe the flu has reached the peak?>> that is a great question. certainly we have been into the flu season for 4 to 6 weeks as a activity has been lasting for a while. as we have been hearing, we are getting high levels with the influenza illness activity in clinics and hospitals. >> so it is trending upward. >> yes and we are not sure when we will peak. >> there is a lot of information about getting the flu. if i shake someone's hand who has a and then touch my mouth it is likely i will get it? can washing my hands help me? what about airborne things? >> so, small droplets can cause people to infect each other. definitely when you are coughing or sneezing stay a few feet away. remind everyone to cough into your arm or sleeve or tissue. we are so used to doing it in our hands, the kids are doing that but then we touch other things. >> let's say that you have the flu and you touch that and then i touch that, and then you touch her eye or your mouth. then you could infect yourself. >> on this map of california it seems san diego county, los angeles as well is getting hit harder now than the bay area. one question, why is that and also when it comes to the actual strain, is this one more deadly than others?>> definitely the flu impacts different areas at different times. as you have heard it is widespread in california and we have seen a big impact in alameda county as well with hospitals they are getting overwhelmed. the other question about what kind of flu is more serious, there are a few subgroups, within the first we divide them into two different types. this one seems to cause more severe disease especially in the elderly or young children. >> is that the same one from australia? >> yes it is and we believe it is the same strain. >> people can die from the flu. so what is it that kills them? dehydration or the immune system is low? is it because they get pneumonia? what is it that ends up killing you? >> the most common one is pneumonia in the lungs or breathing problems causing a severe infection in your lungs and then causing problems breathing. depending on other underlying diseases like maybe asthma or other diseases. sometimes you can get a secondary or superinfection with another bacteria and you are more susceptible to that. >> let's talk about the vaccine. we had a question of the day poll and half of the people responded saying they got the vaccine. for those who don't, many people say i got it once and i got sick afterward, is there a live strain? >> that is average from what we see, half of people especially adults are getting vaccinated but we recommend everyone get vaccinated every year. i vaccinated myself and my family. there was on the market, there was a nasal spray vaccine that was the live vaccine. right now for this year and last year, it has not been recommended because it was not as effective. >> when people look to australia and they have seen a 10% effectiveness does that feed into our thinking? why should i bother with 10%?>> there is a lot of mixed information about that data. the sample sizes are smaller and those 10% numbers are just around that strain circulating now. you know, every flu season there are different strains and usually there are three or four. we have a good match it is just that that kind of flu does not seem to be more effective. every little bit is protecting. the analogy, i received about every day but they are not 100% affected -- effective but it is more protection than otherwise. >> there was a young girl who died in california because of the flu, should parents be concerned about misdiagnosis? >> i was reading about that and i think it is hard because a lot of illnesses start with nonspecific's like different fevers or chills. sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between the flu and a bacterial infection. oftentimes parents do know when the kids are sick so if they are sent home just come back to the hospital. >> dr. erica pan thank you for the information. stay with us on "ktvu mornings on 2", in a moment a warning about a specialty furniture company with hundreds of online sales. coming up we will look at why many customers are filing complaints against the company. a missouri business owned by a veteran offer specialty furniture designed to hide. >> some customers are waiting months and years for bad products and others are not even getting what they ordered. with hundreds of complaints across the country and here in the bay area we are taking a closer look at the small-town company.>> thousands of orders and in a large warehouse in tiny norwood, missouri is rough country rustic furniture and the core. >> the furniture looked amazing. >> lucy solano lives near santa rosa, she was one of 2 million facebook fans intrigued. she spent $1100 on a bedroom set, a christmas present for her fianci but another christmas has come and gone with no sign of her furniture. >> i want them to be shut down so they can't take anyone else's money. what they are doing is not right. >> emails blame the customer service manager calling her lazy. lucy wanted a refund, emails explain a check was in the mail arriving any day but lucy has received nothing. >> i want the company stopped. they have to be stopped. >> when she tried to post a negative facebook review her comments were deleted. veteran eric wacker in wyoming was banned from the page. >> i am not happy they better -- advertise veterans owned. >> he is waiting on a concealment flag, he has since rallied potential victims and another facebook group. >> there needs to be some level of trust and with this company the trust is lacking. >> the bbb has received hundreds of complaints nationwide mainly for a pattern of slow delivery. it has earned the company an f rating. >> they are not communicating. they may not have enough people staffing the phones or doing the work inside to build these furniture pieces. >> the owner never responded to our repeated emails and phone calls. he did defend the company by posting this video days before christmas.>> i am the owner and i am responsible. we have problems with previous contractors and previous employees. it is my fault so i take responsibility. >> customers like tricia and joe from rohnert park experienced months of delays and discounts they never received. 10 months after ordering most pieces were delivered. >> this one over here is super loose.>> left with no instructions. >> it was kind of like a puzzle. >> there are no predrilled holes. >> this is where it broke. >> questionable quality. >> it is a giant letdown. >> the freight company is not happy, they will be suing the company for not paying a long list of deliveries. in total demanding more than $690,000.>> that is the headboard and it is coming off. >> this bedroom was another posting on facebook upset with what she waited for.>> they are bad drawers. >> others who had to do the work themselves. >> damaged in shipping with broken pieces. overall, the quality is poor. >> the company offering discounts taking on new orders and then there is this $89,000 judgment against the owner for not paying his business loan. >> this is not a business. at best this is a scheme to continue to try to steal money from people. >> a claim that the owner denies. >> so, some people like lucy don't even get the furniture and then some get it but it is bad work. are they expecting money back especially lucy?>> lucy says she does not expect to get money back. the main thing you need to do is file a complaint with the better business bureau and with the missouri attorney general. they are finally looking at this. we don't know what they are going to do but that is the first step for the legal process. >> so they can shut it down?>> yes, the better business bureau cannot take legal action but they have an f rating. we got a letter from the business sent to us by the customers and the business was encouraging positive reviews to improve its image on the site. >> is word-of-mouth spreading purely through facebook? back in the old days if i had a bad experience at your store i would complain and they would tell their friends. this viral effect from facebook, is it bringing more people to be aware? >> i looked at my facebook and i had eight friends who were involved. they may have seen the pictures online or they may have seen the ads and they liked the photos so it is going to take people getting the word out about the company to realize. >> i did not know there was so much demand for hiding a firearm in your bedroom set. >> it is very unique. the problem is when you actually see it in person and see the hinges and see how it is put together, it is not what the pictures look like. >> people might be interpreted eating -- those likes as these people like it so it must be a good company. it is the new aspect. >> as you heard in that piece, there is another face work book group who are now sharing their horror stories and something else i learned. the owner's wife of the company opened or filed for a new business name called rustic concealment solutions. now they are taking new customers and sending emails from that company. >> so that is perfectly legal though changing your company name. coming up, we will take you to the south bay where more than a dozen people have been displaced by a big fire in a san jose apartment complex. we will tell you how neighbors jumped into action even before fire crews arrived. a fire in san jose forced several families to run for their lives as flames raced from the front of a building to the back. the dangerous situation facing tenants and firefighters. >> reporter: the initial 911 call had a language barrier. the initial caller said the word fire but then hung up the phone so only one single engine showed up at first and it quickly turned into a three alarm fire as a high-risk rescue situation but they have said luckily there was a lot of good samaritans to help pull people from the fire. san jose officials say the call came in just after midnight. the two-story apartment building was on fire and they feared people were trapped inside. the fire was upgraded to a three alarm and firefighters went into rescue mode. good samaritans worked to get people out before the crews arrived. >> my uncle, he got us to the van and then he started knocking on the doors and the windows getting the fire signatures to calm down the flames. before the firefighters came he made sure everyone was out. >> we very much appreciate good samaritans regarding public safety. people looking to help out neighbors and you are right, banging on the door it's getting people out saves lives. that must happen before the first team gets here. >> reporter: 16 people are now displaced including five children. luckily nobody was injured. firefighters knocked down the fire by 1:30. they believe the fire started in the first or second floor unit in the front left of the building. the fire is still under investigation. they do not know the cause or the exact origin of the fire. officials have said they are crediting smoke alarms for saving a lot of lives. they heard the alarms going off when they arrived. we spoke with a couple of people who have been displaced and they have a hotel set up from the red cross. >> leigh martinez, thank you. coming up we will take you to the east bay, following $9 million in budget cuts the district decided to give itself a slight raise. we will have reaction from the parents. a bay area chef is trying to help out the worst cook in america. we will talk live with one of the contestants from here in the bay area. continuing coverage of reaction to president trump's reported vulgar comments about immigrants from haiti, el salvador and africa. the president tweeted this morning he has been misquoted but illinois senator dick durbin who was in the room says he heard the hate filled vial racist language. >> you have seen the comments in the press, i have not read one of them that is inaccurate. to no surprise the president started tweeting this morning did knowing -- denying he used to the words but it is true. he said these things repeatedly. >> the remark causing so much controversy, the president reportedly said why are we having all of these people from "s-hole countries" come here? the president went on to suggest the us should take in more immigrants from norway. >> question of the day, how concerned are you with the use of the phrase to describe other countries? 68% say very concerned, 7% say somewhat, 25% say not at all. i have a tweet from raymond who says comments like these are about racism and ignorance. >> how does this differ from anything he has had before and someone else has said not concerned, where's the proof? but then we heard from senator dick durbin. >> as always to comment we will leave the question of all day, just go to social media. president trump spoke at an event honoring martin luther king jr. at the white house. he did not address the fallout from this meeting. instead he delivered a scripted speech praising dr. king's legacy and his work. >> today we celebrate dr. king for standing up for the self- evident truth americans hold so dear that no matter what the color of our skin is or the place of our birth, we are all created equal by god. >> this was a prescheduled event for the president. for more on the other headlines we have been working on let's get to dave clark. >> here are some of your top stories. president trump will get his first medical checkup today as president. he will be examined at walter reed military hospital. the president is not required to get annual physicals but every president since ronald reagan has had the exam on a regular basis and then released a report to the public to show they are fit for duty. a readout of president trump's exam will be released after completion. calls are growing in san francisco for the city to permanently honor the memory of the late mayor ed lee. acting mayor london breed wants to rename poor smith square in chinatown. the city recreations commission received several requests to rename facilities after ed lee who died in december of a heart attack. as soon as monday the mavericks big wave surf contest may be held. early next week big waves could be in the area so surfers were told to be ready. organizers could make the final decision today. the contest has a new organizer and a new name. the mavericks challenge. those are some of your morning headlines, mike, sal, gasia back to you. a story we told you about yesterday morning. a woman is recovering after being bitten by a sea lion in the aquatic park. >> these incidents were once rare but now there have been four attacks in the last month. tara moriarty reports on the latest victim and some explanation. >> 65-year-old irene was doing her swim with a friend in the aquatic park when she says out of the blue a sea lion bit her leg. the fourth attack since mid december. >> this is unusual. >> the staff veterinarian at the marine mammal center says nobody knows exactly why there has been the attacks. >> it is easy to forget they are wild and sometimes they may be unpredictable. >> christian was bitten on december 14. >> he was angry. his mouth was opened and he was looking at me. >> the animal followed him and displayed aggressive behavior. >> i was frightened. he was a bull as you could tell by the bump on his head. i knew it was a male. with his mouth he was showing his teeth. >> the unexplained behavior could be due to a bio toxin affecting their brains throwing them offkilter or they could be injured like this sea lion at pier 39 whose neck was cut open by a fishing line.>> if they are feeling pain and somebody is near them they may react defensively. >> swimmers from the dolphin club say that they will still work out in the water but they are prepared for any encounters.>> they say you are kind of supposed to swim back gently with no thrashing. >> some experts attribute the odd behavior to a recent dip in the herring population causing them to get territorial overfeeding zones. at least three victims were attacked near the sea lion highway. >> it is kind of stupid to be swimming on the sea lion highway. it was kind of my fault. >> if you are swimming in the water and a sea lion approaches you the best thing to do is get out of the water. from san francisco, tara moriarty, ktvu fox 2 news. the weekend is here and i am wondering what the weather will look like.>> tgi friday. we have some great weather with a little bit of morning fog as visibility is down in many areas for folks that are trying to get to the roadways. this is a look down into areas of the oakland estuary where you can see it is very very gray and the fog is at the ground. santa rosa 50 degrees, san francisco 54, oakland 50 as well. upper 40s in livermore and san jose 53. with all the cloud coverage it is cool out and you can see the satellite view shows the fog near the coastline of the south bay stretching to san francisco but then south of half moon bay near pacifica it is clear into santa cruz where they are enjoying the nice sunshine over the santa cruz mountains. in the bay and the inner east bay it is especially thick. look at the visibility. san francisco eight miles, san jose three miles, shifting to the inner east bay oakland down to 1/2 mile, inland in the valley locations we have less. concorde and livermore at 1/4 mile and that dark shade of gray shows you how widespread. napa down to about 1/4 mile across the sonoma valley into santa rosa and highway 101 as well. into the second part of the day and the afternoon the fog will burn away and we will have mostly clear skies for the afternoon with temperatures from the low to mid 60s. 62 in oakland, 65 morgan hill. the extended forecast for the bay area weekend is more of the same with morning fog followed by afternoon sunshine. temperatures are okay with a modest warm-up getting through the weekend. hopefully you have monday off but then we have a switch bringing back rain by monday night into tuesday. tyler florence is testing self-proclaimed disaster in the kitchen and turning the chefs into food masters. the worst cooks in america will be on sunday on the food network. they will lead a team of bad cooks through a boot camp and the person who makes the biggest change will win bragging rights and $25,000. >> joining us this morning is jonathan, one of the contestants from this season from livermore. thank you for coming in. how bad are you? describe for everybody before you went on the show. >> it was pretty bad. i try to make things in the house for the kids but eventually i was kicked out completely and i was told from now on i will be the guy who does the prep work. and then i can cleanup. i am an excellent dishwasher pick >> but you have a desire to improve. >> yes i do. i was going to share a story. i made some food the other night, i bought the meat and cut it in half. i ended up cooking half of the meat and put that on the plate. so i decided to clean the pan in between. to get the black stuff off the bottom, so i ended up putting the new meat on top but it ended up tasting like soap. i did not rinse it well enough.>> at least the kids got the good stuff. so what kind of clues did you get that you were a bad cook? people would taste your food and say i'm not eating this?>> the kids would never eat it.>> what kind of things? basics? >> like chicken nuggets and corndogs were my staple i never try to go outside of that. >> why the desire to improve do you like to eat?>> yes i do and i wanted to make my fianci happy. so far that has not worked. >> so in the competition are you meeting people who are worse than you are?>> i was the first one off. i'm pretty sure i am the worst.>> i am always curious about how people cook and eat as adults is how they were cooked for as children. growing up, were your parents good cooks?>> absolutely. >> so none of that was passed down? >> that is strange. you would think they would have gotten you in the kitchen. i already have my daughter helping out with some things. >> i was focused on other things or trying to focus on other things so i never picked it up. >> maybe if you learn how to cook you can make sure this does not happen to your children. >> that's right. my fianci is an excellent cook so i try to learn from her. hopefully they will pick up her skills.>> we have had tyler florence on and in your brief time in the studio did you pick up anything from him?>> i did learn something. the salt actually brings out the flavors in food right? i always thought salt was just added to food if you like salty food like french fries but it does bring out the flavor. the chef try to teach me how to cut an onion but i'm trying to figure that out.>> don't worry, i'm with you on that one. >> jonathan from livermore one of the worst cooks in the country, thank you for joining us. coming up, comedian joe will be performing in the bay area this weekend. he will be joining us a live on the set to talk more. the next guest started at a las vegas coffee shop and became a regular on chelsea lately and is now headlining his own tour.>> i used to cry and tell my mom, i'm never going to do this, do it for me. and my mom looked at me and put her hand on my shoulder and said promise me okay? never have kids. >> very nice. this weekend comedian jo koy is bringing his jokes to the warfield in san francisco. six shows are all sold out but catch him now with us right now. welcome to the bay area. so you have had specials, on comedy central right and now netflix. how big is netflix getting?>> for a comic it is life- changing, but it is the same way internationally. i have been going to the philippines now we have south africa and dubai and all of these places asking for me, god bless netflix. they have the blueprint but to get on was a challenge. a lot of work. it was my 28th year in stand up and i had two previous specials that netflix did not offer and i was a little hurt but then it was like let's just shoot it. so i drain my son's bank account. >> you went on to have kids even after what your mom told you. so i have to talk about your family. your mom is from the philippines so a lot of it is based on what your mom told you. my parents are armenian but so much of what you do, that is like armenian parenting, do you hear that from other races? >> aside from the immigrants i will hear it from everyone. i will go to nashville and people are like my mama does the same thing. moms are moms. it was just mine had a funny accent. >> it is funny when you use that accent. can you give me her voice just a little bit?>> when i do my mom's voice she will say i don't talk like that. it is exactly like that. >> i love you with chelsea handler. do you think before you got on the show with her, what was your biggest break? >> i met chelsea handler through john lovett. he and i used to do a show together during the myspace days. remember myspace? then he came up to me and said i want you to meet chelsea handler. she is hysterical. she is my only friend on myspace. i went to myspace and it was his only friend and the next thing you know she was opening and then she asked me, she said i have a show idea and it blew up overnight. it was one of the best meetings in my career. >> she has made headlines with her tweets but is it hard as a comedian? do you dive into the politics?>> i don't stay away from it but i don't have interest in it. comedy is different genres. there is all kinds. people like me who just like to do family humor and stuff. it is a certain style. >> one of the funniest things you do is your comedy about family. >> i just enjoy telling the joke to someone like you who i don't know and then you say my mom does the same thing. that is what i like to hear. >> do you screen your jokes? like mom can i say this? >> never. never never. i did one joke on the special and i was so nervous. it was between my sister and mom when they got into a fight when she was in high school. when i did that in front of them i was so nervous and it was so hard because there was so much truth to it. they were sitting next to each other and i was praying like i don't want a fight to break out but they loved it. so i was like yes i did that. i was glad to put that out. >> we seem to star in the small markets and then there is a moment words like this is not my stuff, this is terrible. have you ever had a moment like that? >> yes, idaho. i think i was three years into it. i was in a nightclub and we couldn't sit anybody on the dance floor because we don't want to miss with the dance floor so we put the chairs outside of the dance floor and it was one of those things where i wanted to kill myself. it was the hardest night of my life. i wanted to quit because nobody was laughing. i was on the stage with a drum set behind me and i was like what am i doing but those are the ones that make you appreciate the good stuff. >> sold out shows at the warfield, multiple shows. >> i want you to know that is a dream come true. the warfield has always been that theater. on behalf of every comic. i was texting rob schneider and he said kill it at the warfield. it is legendary. >> my first concert was there with jerry garcia. take care of the house. >> i promise i will. it is all new stuff by the way. breaking the mold. >> congratulations on the netflix special. we will be right back. we will probably take some pictures maybe get a hug. hey hun. look at all this extra room i have on this king size ikea bed. are you wearing a... duvet cover? why yes. yes i am. where's mom? we finally redid our bedroom and she's prettttttttttty into it. what's your dream? at ikea, we help you live it. make the dream yours. hey hun. look at all this extra room i have on this king size ikea bed. are you wearing a... duvet cover? why yes. yes i am. where's mom? we finally redid our bedroom and she's prettttttttttty into it. what's your dream? at ikea, we help you live it. make the dream yours. a new controversy is brewing at the oakland school district. the district is facing a $9 million budget deficit but the board of trustees voted to give itself a pay raise. >> i don't usually lobby you on these things but i will ask, please join me and doe improve -- approve the increase. >> wednesday five of the seven school board members voted to award themselves a monthly increase of 5%. the bump raises the total stipend to $829 per month. at the same meeting the board voted to reduce the hours of 50 district employees.>> we do this essentially as volunteers. for me, the job takes at least 20 hours a week and sometimes more. sometimes it is a full-time job. when i decided to run for school board i didn't know there was any stipend. i was surprised to see this. to see this on the agenda for these reasons that the director has pointed out. the optics of it are not good. >> teachers parents and students protested about budget cuts. opponents say that board members work hard and deserve to be compensated but they also say the school board earns $500 per month in san francisco and oakland board members make $300 more serving less students. chicago may be the first city in the country to test out a new device that will tell officers if drivers were texting during an accident. the device can be connected to the driver cell phone and withstand and scan the phone for information when the driver would have been operating the vehicle. chicago city council voted yesterday to allow the police department to study the handheld device. a number of states are considering equipping law enforcement with the devices nationwide. traffic deaths are on the rise with 40,000 last year. a number of the crashes involve people distracted on their cell phones. bart is making some changes making shorter people more comfortable. some trains now have longer straps to hold onto. they were installed in 187 cars. many riders took to twitter saying they were excited that they could finally hold on like everyone else. some people in the bay area are reacting to the news of coach jon gruden returning to the raiders in a unique way. chp posted this photo to twitter after they caught a driver using the carpool lane with a chucky doll as a passenger. jon gruden was nicknamed after chucky years ago. the chp says we know jon gruden is back and we love it too but this will definitely not work as your carpal passenger but hilarious. here is your carpal ticket. i look for stories with good return policies but a woman in santa clarita is pushing the limit by to -- returning her christmas tree to costco 10 days after christmas because the tree was dead. this is the tree that was in her home for weeks. a man saw the return happening and posted a photo on facebook. apparently costco gave the woman a refund. costco is known for its generous return policy. costco workers say that they have seen a number of items being returned like empty wine bottles and plants. i looked online and saw somebody returned a bag of beef bones and got their money back after they said the money was not good.>> in nordstrom people would call it an atm because they were so generous. >> we will see you at noon. psst, grocery cart 12 o'clock. oooh and she looks like the no artificial sweeteners type, she'll love us. right? we are the new light & fit greek yogurt with zero artificial sweeteners. zerooooo! ooh eye contact. be cool. ♪ ♪ yeah girl, 13 grams of protein. 90 calories. yaaasssss! (loudspeaker) clean-up in the dairy aisle. we're the new light & fit greek nonfat yogurt with zero artificial sweeteners. come and get us. >> announcer: live from new york city, it's "the wendy williams show." ♪ say it like you mean it feel it baby feel it ♪ now here's wendy! [ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ] >> wendy: thank you for watching. say hello to my co-host. [ cheers and applause ] how you doin'? i'm ready to go! let's get started. it's time for hot topics. [ applause ]