the silicon valley. >> reporter: from electric cars to solar cars to cars that drive themselves, this is where you want to be if you want to drive into the future. >> being able to sit in a traffic jam, let go of the steering wheel and have the car carry you through in the times where you don't want to drive. >> reporter: getting a grip on what's coming up around the bend. >> let's not forget tess la. as more car companies want to set up shop here, they're growing and hiring. jessica? >> that's good news. thank you very much, scott. new tonight at 6:00, executives won't get their bonuses after all in spite of the company declaring bankruptcy. today a bankruptcy judge in delaware approved $370,000 worth of bonuses from some executives at the fremont solar panelmaker. the company and its top bosses got a lot of heat for shutting down despite half a billion dollar loan from the obama administration. solyndra said it needed to retain some employees to help maneuver it through bankruptcy. he was looking for an imaginary girlfriend named zoe. details emerging today in court as a 23-year-old man, reporte y ly mentally ill, was formally charged with murder. you spoke to daniel dewitt's parents and they are all heart broken about what happened. >> reporter: they're absolutely devastated. they say they have been trying to get their son into a long-term mental health care facility for years. they also said their son has been talking about an imaginary 6 foot helicopter flying girlfriend for the past 12 months. and today we learned that that he was talking about the imaginary girlfriend the night of the attack. >> we always had a fear of him hurting himself or going to jail or hurting someone else. >> reporter: and the dewitt family's worst fears have come true. 23-year-old daniel dewitt was formally charged today with murder, for the killing of long time berkeley hills resident, peter cukor. investigators say dewitt bludgeoned cukor to death with a ceramic planter saturday night. dewitt's family says the suspect's a paranoid schizophrenic who should have been institutionalized. >> he struggled for the last five years and we have been fighting the system for the last five years to get them to keep him in there, long-term care. >> reporter: newly released court documents investigators say dewitt told the 67-year-old victim he was a psychic. and was told to go on to cukor's property to find a woman named zoe. according to the probable cause statement, a blood covered dewitt later told investigators he was indeed looking for his fiancee zoe. >> zoe is fictitious girlfriend he has, he's made up, in his mind. and that's zoe. been there for about a year now. >> reporter: dewitt's father says his son talked about zoe flying around in a helicopter and driving a lamborghini. the family's upset a judge wouldn't listen to their pleas to keep dewitt in a mental facility. now he faces murder charges and an innocent man is dead. >> we really feel sorry for the family that has been involved, and innocent people, an innocent family, and we know they're going through a lot and i'm really -- i really feel sorry for them and really sorry that this has happened. >> reporter: dewitt did not enter a plea today. the judge wanted to give him a chance to meet with the public defender. he'll be back in court tomorrow. in oakland, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. on this ash wednesday, an east bay church was vandalized and tonight police are calling it a hate crime. it happened at saint anne's catholic church in union city. a parishioner arrived at 7:00 this morning to find the walls spray painted and statues damaged. the faces of mary and jesus were spray painted black. ash wednesday is the start of the six week season of fast and prayer observed by catholics. they are dramatic images, four east bay schools on lockdown. we'll start in fremont where police appraising residents for helping track down three burglary suspects. our nbc chop wears above tper w scene this morning. robertson high and miller elementary schools were briefly locked down as the search expanded for three suspects. police could be seen in the area where residents say he returned home to find three strangers inside of his house. he was injured in a brief scuffle before they ran off. >> the only way we could tell which way they were going was from the home owners calling in. they're surprised to find a couple of guys hunkered down in their backyard or breaking down their fence. they got on the phone immediately, stayed inside their houses and gave us a call and we were able to stay ahead of the suspects. >> you see it here. the police were right there waiting for at least one of the suspects. all three were eventually caught at different locations. police traced one suspect to a nearby home, surrounded that home and instructed this man to crawl across the lawn towards them where he was promptly arrested. >> another school, this one in oakland, also had anything but a normal day. students at maxwell park elementary in oakland had to evacuate their classrooms late this morning. the tense moments started after a nearby resident was seen cleaning out his car and placing a shotgun on the sidewalk next to the vehicle. that alarmed neighbors and school officials. the suspect was found a short time later and taken into custody. the students were allowed back at the class safe and sound. family members confirmed his cousin was the man shot and wounded by an oakland police officer. sunday night, 24-year-old tony jones was shot once in the back by an oakland officer as he ran from the van that police had stopped. jones is still hospitalized tonight. police say jones was armed with a gun but his attorney denies it. as well as earlier police claims that jones may have been involved in a robbery earlier that day. oscar grant, you know, became a household name after several camera phones recorded his death at a b.a.r.t. station on new year's eve in 2009. he and several other men were accused of fighting on the train. an officer shot grant in the back killing him. mehserle later claimed he meant to grab the stun gun but fired his revolver instead. mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. in san francisco, another legal maneuver by sheriff ross mirkarimi. his attorney filed a pretrial motion asking a judge to exclude statements that his wife made to neighbors about the alleged domestic abuse incident on new year's eve. prosecutors claim mirkarimi bruised her arm during an argument in front of their 2-year-old son. today, the sheriff spoke briefly to reporters. >> we're just setting up for pretrial, pretrial, for back here the 24th, just setting up was there a plea offer? >> no. >> the sheriff mentioned there he'll be back in court for his trial this friday. that's when it officially begins. his legal team also wants to exclude a 45-second video taken by lopez's neighbor in which the former venezuelan tv star alleges she was assaulted by mirkarimi on two separate occasions. a key provision has been struck down in the defense of marriage act. jeffrey white says the u.s. government can't tee dee nigh health benefits to the wife of a same sex court employee by relying on the 1996 law that bars government recognition of same sex unions. he claims the refusal to supply health insurance to the wife is unjustified. also today, mark leno introduced a new bill that states no member of leathery will be forced to perform a marriage that is contrary to his or her faith. it protects churches from losing tax exempt status if they choose not to perform a marriage, contrary to their faith. a married couple in charge of an east bay organization that helps low income people is facing felony charges tonight. they're accused of stealing money from that organization. nanette dillard and paul daniels were high ranking executives with the associated community action program or acap. the company allegedly submitted false financial statements to the federal government. they're accused of then using the extra money on spa treatments, home improvement projects, and even maintenance work for the homes of their family members. the acap had to shut its doors last year following severe financial trouble. take two and call me in the morning. coming up, if you need surgery, instead, take a pill. the device developed here in the bay area that could travel through your blood dream and what it could mean for doctors. i'm kris sanchez in oakland. the princess culture is more about cute dressup. it is a $4 billion industry. coming up, we hear from the author of "cinderella ate my daughter" and what the long-term impact is on our girls. a pricey problem at california's colleges. text books and the csu system now has a unique plan to lower costs for students. good evening. temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above average with some of our warmest weather in the north bay. santa rosa hitting 80 and topping out at a new record here. your average 62 degrees this time of the year. and for tomorrow, it will stay warm and above average in the south bay. we'll let you know etti-sng heat will last in a few minutes. ng the high cost of college textbooks is challenging the cal state university system to try something new to help students get more for their money. advertising. posters and ads for books, publishers will be geeing around campuses. in exchange for the publicity, they will represent electronic versions of its books for 60% off the price of a hard copy. the school profame students cou experience a case of deja vu later this year. you may remember this one day walkout in november at cal state east bay. it might happen again. contract negotiations remain unsuccessful. the csu faculty union will vote whether to strike at all 23 campuses. the negotiations have been under way for 18 months now and the points of contention continue to be salary, limits on class sizes, and the csu's for property arm. two months after their wayward cannonball tore through a neighborhood, the myth busters are back and plenty of people are there to greet them. in less than an hour, they will speak at dublin high school's engineering academy open house. you may recall in december while filming a segment for the popular show, a cannonball misfired. it ripped through a home while the people were living there and were asleep. and bounced off another roof before landing right there into that minivan. there aren't any seats left for the event tonight. all 1,000 seats were quickly claimed by students in the dublin school district. in 15 minutes, the san jose quakes will find out if their dream of a new stadium is close to reality. the city is already green lighted permits for the $60 million facility, but a nearby resident is concerned about potential noise and lights. the earthquakes say the design of the stadium as well as new guidelines will take care of any concerns. >> we have a variety of things including designing the stadium with open end towards the actual airport, banning loud noisemakers and not having concerts at the venue at least to start. all those things together will mitigate the sound impact of the stadium. >> city officials recommended the board reject the last minute appeal and approve the project. respect the art work. a ballot measure to preverve the tower is headed to voters. it includes food and beverage stands and late night parties. that measure will now go up for a vote in june. most of us love our neighborhood restaurants, but this restaurant is even older than the neighborhood. >> joe shows us one of the oldest restaurants in the bay area, marking a dining milestone. >> reporter: -- this stretch of san francisco known as bay shore boulevard where there is no sight of the bay or a shore. >> the aisisle creek came up in front of this place. and behind it was all marsh land. >> reporter: the creek was filled in after the 1906 quake. the restaurant that took its name from the local catch is still here. >> it originally started as the oak dale bar. and then turned into the oakdale bar and clam house. >> reporter: the old clam house is considered san francisco's oldest restaurant, operating in its original location, just how old? >> well, the year this opened, abraham lincoln was inaugurated. >> reporter: that was 1861. this week the restaurant is marking its 150th anniversary. >> well, this is the oldest picture we have of the old clam house. >> reporter: a chart ticks off all the owners. last year names were added to the list, peeling away decades of additions. >> we thought they were going to change it into something more modern where we tried to maintain the integrity of the place. >> reporter: but there is still plenty of history here. the main room lists to the side like an old ship and some of the more modern art work dates back to around 1910. >> so i think that this is a pictu picture. >> reporter: clams are a staple of the menu and so is one other old tradition. >> everyone gets a little glass of hot clam juice. >> reporter: though some long time customers didn't initially appreciate the changes, michael couldn't quite put his finger on what was different. >> i can't tell. it looks very old. and maybe it is the tablecloths. >> reporter: oregon maybe it is the walls infused with an old soul, living history of steamed beer and a glass of hot clam juice. in a sense, maybe some things don't change. at least not that much. >> could use a little bit of that right now. maybe we could do some outside dining too. >> we can with the weather. jeff ranieri. >> that would be nice. nice cold drink, cold beverage of some sort. today was all about the winds, wind change in the bay area and we see numbers drastically different, up about 5 to 8 degrees from the daytime highs to the northwesterly winds up to the north bay, that did produce some of the hottest weather in santa rosa at 80, the new record. also, 79 in livermore. napa, 78 and concord at 78. let's take you outside to our downtown san francisco. this is the beauty of the bay area. visibility ten miles and or better. beautiful array of colors in the sky for tonight. if you're headed to downtown san francisco, it is going to get cold and quickly with the mainly clear skies. 73 in fremont. cooler there. and plenty of upper 70s here. san francisco topping out at 71 degrees. let's bring you to the current numbers, dropping to 56 in san francisco and 58 in san mateo. more of an on shore flow across the northern peninsula and holding on to plenty of heat from livermore to concord. close to 70 degree. let's look at the storm track. the nearest sign of any kind of potential rainfall, now 1,579 miles away. any hope of this coming our way? not right now. high pressure off shore, that will keep it warm here through tomorrow. and then we'll start to see some larger changes this weekend. with stagnant air in place, allergy forecasts for tomorrow going to be unbearable. everyone pretty much in the high category as we look at thursday's forecast. for the morning, we'll start off at 47, 45 in napa, plenty of low 40s into santa rosa. day planner, we start off clear at 8:00 a.m. through the noon hour, also sunny. by 4:00 p.m., plenty of mid-70s expected bay side and also inland, that will top out more records. and we also do have a wind advisory for tomorrow. this will increase our fire danger. we'll have more coming up and more on our seven-day forecast on when the next best chance is of maybe getting a few areas of drizzle across the bay area. >> thank you, jeff. we'll enjoy that sunshine while we have it though. still ahead, an important health warning, a discovery in the bay area that has health investigators going undercover. also, teaming up, how california leaders and tech giants are working to ensure personal information does stay private. a special citizenship ceremony in the south bay with the serious high tech flare. we're back in a ♪ [ male announcer ] 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celebration happening for the upstanding americans of choice. that was really meaningful. >> the resipients include former secretary of state madeleine albright and author and nobel peace prize winner elie wiesel. republican candidates are wrapping up their debate in arizona. last night we discussed the rick santorum surge in arizona and michigan. but does it mean anything here in california? yes. santorum is scoring well. larry gersten joins us tonight. it shows santorum is -- but is he electable? >> this is nothing short of phenomenal what we have seen in the last couple of days. because of the brief time span that has taken rick santorum to catch romney. it is amazing. look at the two most recent field polls, raj. this is eight days apart. that's the deal here. eight days apart. you can see what happens. romney down seven points, santorum up seven points. ron paul has been on the deal getting seven points. the real difference is the shrinking differential between mitt romney, rick santorum, from 20 points to six points. this all in eight nights. >> so is it more that the republicans are enjoying rick santorum, excuse me, or not enjoying romney? what is the difference here? >> it is complicated. it all gets to the fact that we have two types of conservatives that dominate the republican party in california. you got the fiscal conservative, you got the evangelical conservatives. as the economy prepares, the fiscal conservatives aren't so worried. or as worried about improvement. now that they see it coming, but it is the evangelicals, they feel their issues haven't been addressed. and santorum is the authentic voice for them, to represent their cries. so what is the takeaway here? the evangelicals are the loudest voices. and for now, they appear to be carrying the most clout in this topsy-turvy contest. it is not meant for the weak. >> in california, we don't get to do this too often but will our primary mean something? will it be a factor in this race? >> good question. it has been 60 years since we had an open convention. one in which no one came in with enough delegates to win. it could happen this time. i'll tell you why. because all the republican primaries from this point on are going to allocate their delegates proportionately, dividing things up three or four different ways. here is another fact. when the democrats, barack obama and hillary clinton, remember that race, all of four years ago, were running very even in that time, the superdelegates, those uncommitted leader with 20% of the votes, they were key to avoiding an open convention. we know what happened. obama won before that time. this time, only 7% of republicans are super delegates. what does that mean? it means it will be difficult for that group, the super delegates, to end the tussle early. this race is far from over. and it could go all the way with california for once playing a big part. >> larry, thank you for your insight as alw