fields. >> reporter: music to the ears of hundreds of people who passed through a job fair aimed specifically at former solyndra employees looking to stay in solar. >> every other job i had, i was doing something for the company. but once you work in solar, you feel like you're doing something for the world. you feel like you're doing more. >> reporter: it's a feeling a lot of green tech workers have, and why many people here told us they would like to hook up with another solar company. >> i like solar. i believe in it. the technology is there. we're kind of getting ransacked by our competition in china. so it's tough, tough market. >> henry, i think we'll probably call you in. >> reporter: a ray of hope. >> yeah, i'm open for anything. >> reporter: for job seekers like ron. the solar industry is growing more than 50% from this time last year, much of that growth coming from here in the bay area. janelle? >> thank you so much. new tonight at 6:00, governor jerry brown sails into the bay area today, bears gifts of jobs. he will sign a bill that will allow the city to seek millions of dollars for upgrades and repairs to the waterfront. all in time for the america's cup. >> we're all here today to be part of a signing of a bill that is going to put $40 million a year available for doing the infrastructure, fixing up everything so san francisco can take the lead in the world cup racing. >> the bill allows san francisco to divert property tax revenues from the state to build roads and other infrastructure improvements in specified areas in the city. the money is expected to fund hundreds of construction projects and other jobs in the bay area. more jobs are also expected from a compromise law signed by the governor today. the new law gives the world's largest online retailer, amazon.com, a one-year break from collecting sales taxes on internet transactions in california. it's intended to allow amazon and other online stores time to lobby congress on national standards on taxing online purchases. the original law had fuelled a contentious debate between the state and amazon, with the company threatening to cut ties with 25,000 businesses and push for a reform to repeal the law. the california bank based at the heart of the democratic campaign fraud scandal is the focus of a civil lawsuit filed today by senator dianne feinstein. first california bank is named in the lawsuit awith feinstein's former treasury kinde durkee. it alleges first california bank assisted in the illegal transfers of embezzled money. durkee faces federal charges after authorities took her into custody earlier this month. happening right now, celebrating the life of cindy nguyen. friends and family are gathering to remember a well respected businesswoman and a popular radio host. meanwhile, police are still working around the clock on that crime spree that led to her murder. we bring in nbc bay area's george kiriyama. i believe you're at the same shopping mall where nguyen was originally carjacked. >> reporter: this is the spot where she was carjacked and kidnapped last week. they're still setting up the celebration of life stage right now. they're setting up the stage, doing the mic checks. this event will begin in about an hour. but the big news tonight, though, san jose police have dropped the arrest warrant for juan de la serta. the warrant for his arrest was obtained by sjpd directly from a judge without going through the d.a.'s office. and after police talked to the d.a.'s office, it was determined that while there was enough evidence to arrest de la serta, there was not enough evidence to charge him with anything. now de la serta is co-owner of the tree house marijuana collective in san jose, and he was one of two people police were looking for allegedly helping crimewave suspect paul ray castillo. castillo is acharged of killing cindy nguyen, carjacking her and kidnapping her as well as shooting and injuring a man at a willow glen restaurant. even though the arrest warrant has been dropped, san jose police would still like to talk to de la serta. they believe he has information that will help them with their information. but so far de la serta has not come forward. live in san jose tonight, george kiriyama, nbc bay area news. >> okay, george, thank you so much. a chilling cold case confession was made by a convicted criminal this morning. he admitted to strangling a south bay girl on halloween night more than a decade ago. 50-year-old wilbur atchley admits he strangled sylvia lee in 1995. he says he met the girl at a light rail stop in san jose and took a taxi to a spot near the park where he killed her and left her body in a creek. he is serving a 60-year sentence for unrelated crimes. he'll serve an additional 15 years for lee's murder. the one-day strike by 23,000 registered nurses in northern and central california yesterday is becoming a larger demonstration than expected. registered nurses working at all sutter health care facilities and children's hospital oakland won't be allowed back on the job until a five-day contract with replacement workers expires. a spokesperson for the california nurses association says the hospitals are punishing the nurses who took part in yesterday's one-day strike. hospital officials deny the accusation and said they had to sign a five-day contract for the replacement nurses, even though they only needed them to cover the one day. it's an anxious night for some parents in the east bay. oakland's school superintendent is finalizing his list. his list of which schools to close. at least eight schools are expected to be shut down because of budget cuts. nbc bay area's jodi hernandez joins us now at one of the schools that the district is considering closing. and jodi, we talk so much about budget cuts. this is a tangible effect of what might happen. >> reporter: it really is. people here at kaiser elementary school are very worried this school is on the possible closure list. parents have been making signs and posters like this one here. this one says kaiser's got it all. tonight parents are hoping it will be enough to save it from the chopping block. >> kaiser, keep kaiser! >> reporter: kids at kaiser elementary are sounding off tonight, hoping their little voices will help save their school. >> keep kaiser! keep kaiser! >> everybody just feels very sad. we're going to write letters about this. and i just hope the school stays open. . >> reporter: kaiser is among eight schools in oakland targeted for possible closure. the district says it simply has too many schools for the number of children it serves. >> that's an incredible strain on our resources and prevents us from investing fully in schools and in students because our resources are spread too thinly across more than 100 schools. >> reporter: but parents are baffled that kaiser has been earmarked for closure. parents say it's one of the most diverse and inclusive schools in the district. with test scores that just keep climbing. >> we're a very high achieving school, and we have increased area pis by about 5 to 10% every year, and we continue to do that. >> we can't wrap our minds about why would you close a school like this? this is a school that has a waiting list in every grade. >> reporter: renee sanchez has been driving her 9-year-old son to the campus from their home in east oakland since he was in kindergarten. little gabrielle is choked up about what might happen. >> i have a lot of friends here. and i have some good teachers. and i have the greatest principal i ever had. >> reporter: that's why children and their parents are so determined to fight. the kids hope their little voices are heard as the superintendent finalize his formal closure list. >> save our school! save our school! save our school! >> reporter: and we are back here live. you're looking at a banner that the children made here today. parents plan to take this banner and march to the next school board meeting on tuesday. again, the district superintendent is right now finalizing his recommended school closure list. that list is going to be posted on the district's website tomorrow at 5:00. now i've got to point out that this school has survived a lot through the years. it including the oakland hills firestorm that absolutely devastated this neighborhood 20 years ago. parents hope that it will be able to survive this. reporting live in oakland, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> jodi, thank you so much for the update. >> whether it's kaiser or any of the other schools, it's going to be so hard for the parents and the kids. >> i know. still ahead tonight at 6:00, he is an academy award-winning actor, and now he may be one of the best allies for the freed hikers in iran. how sean penn played a role in their release. i'm kimberly tere in fremont where one bank is investing in new technology, hoping to protect their customers from crook. we'll tell you how it works coming up in a live report. and one-on-one with a new boss. meg whitman, her candid comments about her new job and the future of hewlett-packard. good evening. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. already lining up here in dozens. i'll tell you all about this weekend event and how you can take part, plus your forecast in just a few minutes. new technology is adding another line of defense between consumers and crooks. today a local bank unveiled a new debit card that allows your private information to remain just that, private. nbc bay area's kimberly tere has the new details. she joins us live from fremont to explain how it works. kimberly? >> reporter: each one of fremont bank's debit cards will be embedded with a microchip. when it's read during a transaction, a one-time code will be transmitted instead of a card holder's personal account information. it's called certi-flash, and fremont bank is the first in the west to adopt the new technology. the new debit cards will use embedded chips to communicate with readers. >> instead of swiping the card, you just tap it. and all that was transferred was an algorithmic security code. it doesn't know my name, expiration card or the code. >> reporter: when it transmits, a unique code for each transaction, protecting the card holder's private information. >> the worst that could happen is a crook could intercept that code. it's unusable. they can't create plastic from it. they can't go out and do another transaction. >> it is very good to see fremont bank take the initiative to start this. most banks in the united states do not want to deal with this issue. >> reporter: the new cards will be distributed to a pilot group of 500 customer next month. but fremont bank hopes to have them in the wallets of all 25,000 of their customers by next year. >> i think it's great. anything that will prevent or help prevent identity theft is a big help nowadays, because there is so much of it going on. >> it will just make the transition go much faster and secured, well, i'm all for it. i think it should be a good move. >> reporter: fremont's bank next move is to get its 700 merchants to purchase this equipment, which costs between 25 and $100. the bank says it is willing to subsidize some of that cost. right now consumers only have a limited number of outlets to utilize the new technology. but fremont bank hopes in time other banks and more merchants will buy into it. >> from a banker perspective, we sell trust. we sell security. and confidence to our customers. so what is good for one banker is good for all bankers. >> reporter: the cost for the new debit cards is significantly higher. right now the cost for an average debit card, a normal debit card is about $2.65. the newer ones with the embedded microchip will cost about $7. but fremont bank says it believes it will be able to make up the difference with the reduction of losses of fraud within the first year. live in fremont, kimberly tere, nbc bay area news. >> okay, kimberly, thank you. also in fremont, the city is showing you what it's really like to fight crime and fires. it's all about twitter. today fremont police and fire departments are live tweeting. you can see all of the public safety calls that come through the 911 center. pretty interesting. the tweets will continue until 2:00 in the morning. the event hopes to spread awareness to fremont residents on the daily efforts of the police and fire departments. when a life hangs in the balance, they'll be ready to act. some south bay residents are learning cpr after a near drowning in san jose. the city's firefighters and paramedics held a cpr clinic this morning at the park keely apartments in san jose. parents and children practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation. >> whenever somebody is drowning at the pool, you should -- you should do the chest. you should push the chest really hard. and when you see water coming out, then that's a sign. and you should probably get some help. >> he is learning quickly. and it can save a life. someone nearly drowned at the same pool one month ago. a scary morning for diners at a denny's restaurant in the south bay. a man walked into restaurant on blossom hill road near santa teresa boulevard armed with a knife around 4:30 this morning. police say he then ordered everyone to leave. employees and customers left the dennys, and officers surrounded the restaurant. police arrested him just after 6:00 this morning. no one was taken hostage during the incident, and no one was hurt, fortunately. the man will now undergood a psychiatric evaluation. underaged tobacco sales are at an all-time low. an undercover survey by the california department of public health found only about 5% of stores sold tobacco to minors. health officials belief the trend can be attributed to the public's attitude about smoking and on stores educating their employees about the law. >> it wasn't that many years ago that children could actually get cigarettes with just a note from their parents. and now people are very aware that it's inappropriate for kids to buy cigarettes, and there is much more diligence at the state level, at the county level, and at the retail level. >> and apparently it's working. california has the lowest level of smokers in the nation. well, usually when we do big foodie events in the bay area, it's big money, right? >> yes. >> this is the big foodie event this weekend. it's in oakland, and it's about 5 bucks? >> 5 bucks to get you in. >> that's what we like. >> actually, it is free, you guys. but the food is $5 for like these huge portions. i'm already full. i'm ready for my nap out here. yeah. it's unbelievable. the smell of this gourmet food is in the air. i'm actually probably stopping traffic right ear in front of me. take a look back here behind me. all of these folks, how are you all doing? wave to the camera. they're out the oakland eat real festival. they are waiting in line for some amazing food. have you been waiting long in this line? >> forever. >> are you looking forward to it? >> yes. i'm so hungry, coy eat the microphone. we'll comp you out. i don't want you to eat the microphone. back behind us, how you guys doing? and live music and plenty of over events happening. not only tonight, but through this weekend. we're going to do this round-robin of sorts. kind of like my own food network show. come on in, william. tell us who you're with and what your dish is that you have out here tonight. >> i'm william hills. i'm with hopa, san francisco. we do filipino cuisine. chicken adobo, the basics, and one of the interesting new dishes is the mushu pork adobo. gingered scallion sauce and crepes. >> it's only $5 for portions like this. this is unreal at the oakland eat real festival. we've got to bring in hurry next person real quick. thank you so much. what's your name and what is your food truck here? >> i'm gail lillian and i'm with leave a felafel. i've got red cabbage with toasted black says me seed, chimichurri and tahini on o falafel. >> this is sushi. quail egg, garlic fried rice, and sea salt, han harvested sea salt. >> that looks too good. >> the wow truck. the wow truck. >> five bucks for portions like that and free to get in. also free courtesy of the nbc bay area weather team, let's good ahead and get a look as we head throughout the next 48 hours. what we're going to find is some much cooler weather coming in as we head throughout this first weekend of fall. is everyone excited fall coming? it's arrived. yes. we're getting some cheers. what about the showers. no. they do not like that. yes, chance of showers coming our way as we head throughout sunday. it's not a big storm. but we still could see some isolated showers in the north bay down to san francisco. maybe even into oakland, but that's not going to stop this event from happening on sunday. tomorrow morning, upper 50s and low 60s. and as we head throughout 10:00 and leonardo a.m., numbers in the 60s as we head throughout the east and the south bay. down here at jack london square in oakland, you can see numbers will be near 70 degrees by 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. and also some dry weather with some sun mixed in. it's the oakland eat real festival. $5 for the food portions, and it's going to be happening all the way through sunday. you can come out tonight. we have a lot of nbc bay area fans out here that want to get try of some of this food. as we come become out live, this is some sort of a pork something bun. i know it looks great. and who watches nbc bay area over here? you do. you're actually recording us. this is for you. from me to you. >> life is about timing. >> it is about timing. thanks for being a loyal viewer. >> thank you. >> we're going to send it back to you with that. >> happy eats. >> wait, jeff, i also watch nbc bay area. what do i get? >> you get to come to work tomorrow. >> very good. >> on saturday no less. >> thank you so much. >> i'll get you some food, janelle. >> okay. >> jeff ranieri having fun at jack london square. doctors and nurses come into contact with them every day, and they may be a breeding ground for deadly germs. days before president obama visits california, including the bay area, police investigate an incident at within of his campaign offices. and a new challenge for netflix. details of a new service that may damage the already reeling company. we're back in a moment. was it a hate crime? lapd and the fbi are investigating a case of vandalism at president obama's west coast reelection office. someone used a bb gun to shoot at the office and an object, possibly a crowbar, was apparently thrown through the window. gordon tokamatsu from our l.a. station has more. >> reporter: for a place that serves as statewide headquarters for obama for america, the location is hardly eye catching. corner of centinela and jefferson, tinted windows barely revealing campaign signs and slogans. but thursday night someone made a pretty noticeable political statement here. a door and a plate glass window blown out, even as three staffers and a volunteer worked inside. >> it's the idea of what happened, not really the severity of what happened to the building. >> reporter: the item used still a question mark tonight. this appears to have been caused by a pellet or bb gun. but this probably by something much larger. the attack comes three days before a california fundraising trip by the president, which will start in san diego and end in northern california. his monday itinerary includes a 5:00 p.m. stop in los angeles, highlighted by an appearance at the house of blues in west worldwide hollywood, and a $17,000 a plate dinner at the fig and olive restaurant in hollywood. >> the timeliness, i'm sure it was timed that way on purpose. >> reporter: vicky valenzuela is not alone. attacking a campaign office like this so close to a presidential visit serious enough now to get attention from federal law enforcement. l.