first in san jose. you've got samsung right there, you've got cisco there. people telling us this has got to change. >> i would hope pg&e would do the inspections and take care of what is necessary, that is needed. >> that was the consensus of those we spoke to at north first street, an intersection very busy during the day. word from pg&e that the natural gas pipeline that runs underneath the street here is on the top priority list for repairs under another section of pipe near the milpitas border. >> that's the beginning of the process. makes you want to know where are they precisely, what condition are they in? what can we do to help? what can pg&e do? can they do it faster? >> pg&e wanted to make what mayor reed describes as a courtesy call before it turns over the entire list of pipelines later today we know there are two sites in milpitas, one in livermore, one in south san francisco and one in fremont. but it's the one at first that has one man doing his best to stay calm. >> i'm trying to not be too paranoid about it but it makes me reconsider coming in and just working from home downtown instead of coming around here. it's a risk after what i've seen. >> mayor reed says his job is all about finding solutions and a big part of this solution may come from people very near this risky pipeline. >> this is silicon valley. there's undoubtedly technology that could help pg&e understand the condition of their pipelines, take proactive measures to prevent problems rather than waiting for an explosion. >> well, as things stand right now, pg&e says it plans to do the repairs out here sometime in 2012 after what happened in san bruno a couple weeks ago. that may not be soon enough. live in san jose, terry mcsweeney, abc 7 news. >> terry, thanks a lot. the bay area's first freeway express lane is open for business. solo drivers on 680 can now pay to use the carpool lane. abc 7's jenelle wang is live in fremont. jenelle, you drove it. any confusion? >> actually i was a little bit confused and a little anxious because it was my first time even though everything was clearly marked and chp told me some people were actually cutting across all lanes to try to get into the express lane. there was a backup at highway 84 and 680. alteration officials and chp were very happy with the first day. solo driverss? you can now buy your way into a faster commute by using your fas trak pass. all you have to do is pay an electronic toll and you can zip down a 14-mile stretch at 680 between sunol and milpitas. >> i would where using the express lane. >> once i got to 84 it was wide open so why get on? >> if you do get on, you only have three chances. the locations are marked in green, highway 84, washington boulevard and mission boulevard. and you can only exit in three spots. those are marked in red, auto mall parkway, jacklynn road. >> spend a little extra time figuring out those routes so you don't find yourself in a situation where you're taking chances and crossing over double white lines or finding yourself in a situation where you're crossing all lanes to take an exit which can be extremely dangerous. >> the toll amount depends on congestion. 30 cents when there's no traffic, up to $6 during peak times. you will automatically be charged when you enter the expressway lane. today we never saw the toll higher than $1.75 for the entire stretch. motorcycles can still use the lane for free. just put your transponder in the fas trak mylar bag so you won't get charged. but if you are a solo driver, watch out. chp will look for cheaters. if they see an amber-colored light it means you have a transponder or no transponder at all. fine if you're a carpooler, not if you're solo. well, for driving in the express lane illegally is $370. no report of how many tickets issued this morning. that will be tallied at the ends of the day. my advice, drive it a few times and you'll get used to it. reporting live in fremont, i'm jenelle wang, abc 7 news. >> thanks a lot. in the north bay grief counselors are helping students at several schools all week after a 15-year-old boy was killed in a terrible car crash on friday. four other boys were hurt. counselors are on hand at novato high school to help students through the grieving process. all the boys in the accident are from that school. the 17-year-old critically injured has been upgraded to serious condition and was taken off a ventilator. >> we are in the process of trying to begin the healing process. and we have grief counselors for individual and groups today in our schools. >> the chp says the bmw was likely speeding as it rounded a curve on novato boulevard, lost control and hit a big rig carrying a load of cattle. after the 16-year-old driver's released from the hospital, police say he'll be booked into juvenile hall for various charges including suspected dui and driving without a valid driver's license. oracle's controversial new co-president mark hurd spoke for the first time about his new job at the company's annual open world conference in san francisco. >> i'm also thrilled to be here. so i'm really excited to be part of this. i've been coming to these events for a while. and i'm glad to be part of the team. >> h. p. forced out the ceo in the wake of a sexual harassment investigation. the company's now suing to stop hurd from working at competitor oracle. hurd never mentioned h. p. during today's speech. he unveiled a data storage computer. it's part of the company's push to steal business from h. p. and ibm. >> the longest recession the company faced since world war ii is over. announced the recession officially lasted 18 months. it started in december of 2007 and ended in june 2009. the economy lost more than 7 million jobs during that time. that's the biggest job loss since world war ii. president obama says he isn't celebrating the report saying times are still very hard for people who are out of work and many others still struggling to pay their bills. iran's president is in new york today for the united nations general assembly this week. he's speaking out on the two u.c. berkeley graduates still imprisoned in iran. mahmoud ahmadinejad hopes they'll soon be released like sarah shourd was last week provided they can prove they had no ill intentions when entering the country. >> with the president in the country, the mothers of two american hikers believe it's the perfect chance to meet with him and appeal for the release of their sons, shane bauer and josh fattal who have been held 13 months after being accused of crossing illegally into iran. >> just showing the very, very human face of a mother wanting her son home. and we are two mothers faces with two sons in prison. >> both mothers are hoping the iranian authorities will show the same compassion sarah shourd experienced last week. >> my disappointment in not sharing this with shane and josh was crushing. and i stand before you today only one-third free. >> standing firm that none of the three were spies, she spoke guardedly about her two companions thanking iranian leaders careful not to put their chances for freedom at risk. >> my gratitude goes to president mahmoud ahmadinejad for my compassionate release for detention. >> he said the men did violate the law. >> at the end of the day there's a law that determines who stays in prison and who does not. >> not comforting words for the two mothers or for sarah shourd. >> is it safe to eat? coming up, a genetically altered fish that may be swimming on to your dinner table. an unwelcome visitor, the dead whale that had people buzzing at a beach today. our state is in a real mess. and i'm not going to give you any phony plans or snappy slogans that don't go anywhere. we have to make some tough decisions. we have to live within our means. we have got to take the power from the state capitol and move it down to the local level, closer to the people. and no new taxes, without voter approval. we have got to pull together not as republicans or as democrats but as californians first. at this stage in my life, i'm prepared to do exactly that. >> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. a dead humpback whale washed up on ocean beach this morning. this is the second time in less than a week a decaying whale has been spotted in the bay. an official from the oceanic administration says the mammal will be examined for a cause of detective before it's removed. just last thursday a cargo ship dragged another whale carcass into the port of oakland. today the food and drug administration is debating whether to allow genetically modified salmon to be sold in stores and restaurants. federal regulators are holding two days of hearings on the issue. the massachusetts company is pushing for approval saying its genetically modified fish are safe and environmentally sustainable, but critics say they could harmel wild salmon population. whether the fish should be labelled differently than wild salmon. if it's approved, it would be the first time regulators have allowed a genetically engineered animal to be sold as food. looking outside, mike, loving that sunshine in san francisco. >> a little warmer in some areas than yesterday. a cooling trend on the way just as fall arrives on the calendar. how cool it's going to get before the big-time heat this weekend. going to feel like summer in a lot of places. royally bizarre. prince charles comes clean about interesting habits that have some calling him looney. an open court admission. paris hilton cuts a deal. i spend three hours on my homework -- or at least that's what my mom thinks. with high speed internet from at&t, i get my homework done fast, leaving me time to download movies and music and chat with my fends. 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[ boy ] sure! tell your friends hi for me. ♪ [ female announcer ] high speed internet from at&t. ♪ traumatic video from croatia. watch as a 56-year-old man is rescued from his quickly sinking ship. a rescue swimmer got to the boat as it began to sink. the rescuer and man are pulled out right there. he had just seconds before the vessel sinks into the water. heavy weekend floods have left hundreds of people homeless after heavy rain swelled rivers, damaged buildings and washed out roads. let's talk about home. sunshine after some little drizzle, little rain yesterday. >> yeah. we had a little bit. especially the north bay where we thought the heaviest rain would fall, a tenth of inch in santa rosa. that's gone for now. let's take a look -- >> warmer, huh? >> yeah. show you what's going on. cool picture. some of the fog that's lifting as we speak and leaving us with a mostly sunny sky around the bay and inland. mount tamalpais about 69 degrees. sausalito and tiburon. a naturally beautiful picture to show you from south beach. towards sutro, twin peaks. you see colors in there, the reds and the greens just absolutely gorgeous. the long shadows of fall showing up even as we near the noon hour. we can sit and stare at this all day but we've got a forecast to do. the clouds pretty thick. you can see from stinson beach all the way down the peninsula coast. and temperatures, because of that only 59 half moon bay. mid to upper 60s everywhere. 70s antioch and fairfield. monterey bay, the clearing hasn't quite hit yet, at least not santa cruz and monterey, upper 50s to near 60. salinas and gilroy sunshine and upper 60s to low 70. there is that sunshine that will lead us to warmer weather, especially inland. mostly cloudy as we kind of change a little as the cold front drops near it's going to bring us a cooler tuesday and wednesday. once it passes, high pressure's back and looks like real warmth this weekend, even the coast. today san jose, 1 degree cooler. oakland 1 degree warmer. redwood city, concord all about 1 to 5 degrees warmer than yesterday. start in the south bay where we have mid to upper 70s with san jose and los gatos the warm spots 78. low to mid-70s with the sunny sky over the peninsula. over on the beaches we'll eventually see sunshine around half moon bay, pacifica. around the sunset, daly city. mid-60s for you. sausalito near 70. mid to upper 70s the north bay valleys. sunshine at your beaches and mid-60s. low to mid-70s sunny skies. richmond 68. mid to upper 70s. may hit 80 brentwood. same thing for morgan hill. santa cruz you see the sunshine and 74 but the lack of sunshine at least early is going to keep monterey around 68 degrees. take a look what's going on upstairs. you can see a nice clearing trends after that cold front came through yesterday. that's a weak area of high pressure that's going to bring us the brighter conditions this afternoon. but this low with the jet stream is going to bring back the sea breeze. that's going to cool our temperatures tomorrow and wednesday and leave us with a little more cloud cover during the overnight. you can see it tonight, most of the bay socked in. the north bay will have fog. low to mid-50s there. mid to upper 50s for the rest of us. that cooler air will arrive tomorrow. 4 degrees cooler across the board. a couple more degrees wednesday afternoon. autumn as far as astronomy is concerned, astronomical autumn and warmer. mid-90s inland over the weekend. mid to upper 80s around the bay. looking for one of those sunny weekends in the fall at the beach, this is one of those. >> just don't look at the calendar. just go with it. thanks, mike. in order to avoid jail, paris hilton pleaded guilty in a nevada courtroom to two misdemeanor drug charges. the heiress admitted she was in possession of cocaine. she'll serve a year of probation and complete a drug abuse program. she was arrested inside a resort in las vegas after police say a small plastic bag containing cocaine spilled out of her purse. today she pleaded guilty to drug possession and obstructing an officer. >> what did you do on august 27th, 2010 within clark county, nevada, that caused you to plead guilty. >> i was in possession as well as telling an officer. >> first of all as to the possession, what did you possess? >> cocaine. >> she faces a year in prison if she violates the probation or is arrested for anything other than a minor traffic violation. meanwhile britain's prince charles is coming clean about some eccentric behavior in a bbc documentary. he admits to his interviewer he eaves drops on the thousands of tourists who visits his home. he sometimes lies down on the floor and listens to what tourists are saying as they walk around the house. the prince also confesses to talking to trees and plants in his garden. he knows people have called him looney in the past but he says speaking to the plants keeps them "relativelily sane." up next, "dancing with the stars" is back. see which special guest will be in tonighththththt a bill that will require school cafeterias to offer free drinking water is on governor schwarzenegger's desk. the author, mark leno of san francisco, says most people are surprised to hear that many school districts don't make fresh drinking water available with students getting meals. his bill requires schools to provide water at no charge starting next july. today on oprah at 4:00, waiting for superman. the documentary about the grim state of america's public schools. then on abc 7 news at 5:00, the local charter school getting a million dollar donation from oprah's angel network today. plus waiting for pg&e to release its list for the riskiest pipelines in the bay area. whether they lie in your neighborhood or workplace. those stories and more at 5:00. finally this morning abc's hit show "dancing with the stars" will kick off its 11th season tonight. celebrities include bristol palin, mike the situation, brady bunch mom florence henderson and david hasselhoff. sarah palin says she'll be in the audience as bristol's number one fan. two former pro athletes are competing, kirk warner and rick fox will test their foot work off the field. fox has paired up with the bay area's cheryl berk who has won the title twice as a pro. you can catch the "dancing with the stars" two-hour premier here on abc 7. it starts at 8 p.m.. got that tivo'd in your family? >> yes, absolutely. >> wife is hoping to pick up additional success there? >> maybe. of course. >> pretty nice days ahead. >> we do. santa cruz, look how beautiful. and even more sunshine this weekend. >> awesome. fiber one chewy bar. how'd you do that? do what? it tastes too good to be fiber. you ma it taste like chocolate. it has 35% of your daily value of fiber. do it again. turn it into sometng tasty. this guy's doing magic. there's chocolate chips in here w. hod you do that? right! tasty fiber, that's a good one! ok, umm...read her mind. what's she thinking? that's right! i'm not thinking anything! 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