marianne? >> reporter: investigators are convinced that whoever may have abducted sierra lamar knew this area very well which is why they have now expanded their search to local waterways. the search for missing morgan hill teenager sierra lamar expanded to the water today as members of the santa clara county underwater search and rescue unit used a zodiac and kayak to check ponds near sierra's home. given the dense brush, often a kayak search was the only option. >> by boat we're able to see things either in the water or close to the water that are visually unable to be seen by the people on the ground. >> reporter: divers will only get in the water if they find significant evidence. sheriff lori smith says the investigation is focused on the morgan hill area. >> we believe that the person is familiar with the area, is known in the area. we believe this was not a planned crime. it was a situational crime. it was instinctive. it was fast. >> reporter: deputies also used dogs to scour acres near se sierra's home. the 15-year-old was last seen march 16th. sheriff smith says both sierra's mother and father took polygraph tests but won't comment on results. nearly 300 volunteers from the community also came out today to search fields near sierra's home. >> we live somewhat up her way and just the idea after girl missing in our town here in morgan hill which small as it is sucks and we really feel that everyone in this community should get out and look for her. >> reporter: ted love lives in morgan hill and says he won't let his daughter haley play outside by herself. so far volunteers have found 150 items of interest. now sheriff's investigators are looking at every single one of those items to see if they may be possibly connected to this case. reporting live in morgan hill, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> okay, thank you, marianne. new details tonight and a courtroom snag in the san francisco mass murder. prosecutors are outlining details of last week's killing. the suspect in the case binh thai luc, made his first appearance in court today. he was arrested over the weekend following the grisly discovery of five bodies in a home near san francisco city college. in new court filings today prosecutors say the murders were committed during a burglary. also today public defender jeff adachi asked his office represent luc. a possible conflict of interest because they recently presented luc brother who is a potential witness in another case. >> i'll let you know he's a hard working man, a man who works in the construction trade. the family and friends that we spoke to are shocked that he's in this position. >> the court put off arraignment to tomorrow morning to give adachi time to make his case. the man is being held without bail. >> the san francisco district attorney's office is charging luc with capital crimes. that means if convicted he could face the death penalty. however, based on the d.a.'s track record, it's unlikely he'll pursue the death penalty in this case. nbc bay area's jodi hernandez joins us now in san francisco. jodi, will the d.a. get any public pressure on either side of this debate? >> reporter: well, i'm certain he will get a lot of pressure. san fr san francisco hasn't sent anyone to death row since 1991 and though the killings of five people have shocked the community, chances are it won't result in a death sentence if the suspect is convicted. binh thai luc charged with five counts of murder with special circumstances, charges that make him elliigible for the death penalty. >> truly if there was a case that deserved the death penalty, this is it. >> reporter: father of poly klaas says in his book seeking the death penalty is a no-brainer. >> anyone vicious enough to wipe out an entire family, to absolutely murder five people in cold blood, deserves to stand for the death penalty. >> reporter: though the killings are horrific, district attorney george garcon says it's unlikely he'll pursue the maximum sentence. he has gone on record saying he's philosophically opposed to the death penalty and would support abolishing it in california altogether. >> i hope that he keeps his electoral promise that he is not going to look for the death penalty in any case. >> reporter: a victim outreach coordinator for an anti-death penalty organization and the niece of a murder victim says seeking executions isn't the answer in any case. >> it really doesn't serve us as a society to be vengeful, you know. an irrational act, what this man did, was absolutely totally horrific. it's a completely ir rational act. why are we as a society going to react in the same way? >> reporter: the track record seems to support that anti-death stance. in the past ten years not a single person has been sentenced to death in san francisco county. while alameda county has sent 16 people to death row over the last decade. >> if i were a cold-blooded killer, i would choose victims in san francisco because i know they might go lightly on me. >> reporter: while there's plenty of debate whether the death penalty is a deterrent, san francisco's leaders have been reluctant to support it. the mayor says it's important to let the investigation unfold. >> there's plenty of time to discuss that in the future. right now i think i'm just focused on making sure the police have had a complete effort to do their best job possible because public safety is really my number one concern right now. >> reporter: it will likely take some time before a determination is made on whether or not to seek the death penalty in this case. i must point out though california has sentenced some 44 people to death over the past decade, the last time somebody was actually executed here was in 2006. reporting live in san francisco, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. going public. we may soon know more about the police pepper spray incident that became a rallying cry for the occupy movement in california. an east bay judge says the task force investigating the pepper spraying of students at a uc-davis rally last fall can can release its report about what happened. but before it is released, all police officer names must be removed. the move to make that report public saying it would compromise the privacy and the safety of its officers. the judge says the release of the report will have to wait for at least 21 days to give the officers involved a chance to appeal. new at 6:00, locked up. detectives in livermore say forensic evidence led them to a serial rapist targeting pros it at this institutes. andres rodriguez is facing charges including rape, robbery and criminal threat. police arrested him for attacking and robnghr t ee atstre oinigve mewowhn to livermore rivigdr where of mo yexnen ge its money in exchange forchsex. through theintermet he arranimto ee mim h on portola avenue. police say after attacking the women in their cars, he stole their i.d.s and cell phones. detectives believe there could be more victims. getting together to grieve. a candlelight vigil is being held for a 14-year-old boy who died while playing basketball at school. he collapsed yesterday during pe class. an autopsy was performed today but we won't know the results for weeks. today grief counselors were on hand and students wore the school colors, also his favorite color, blue, in his honor. one of his coaches describes him as a standout athlete and a hard working student. he was also the young eest of t children. get ready to open your wallets. the city of san jose says it's in dire need of street repairs and it might look to taxpayers to fund it. they've taken step number one, making a list of the worst streets in need of the most work. one of those streets on that priority list, damian. >> reporter: the city spends about $18 million a year in street repairs. city leaders tell me they need to spend about $100 million to keep up with that maintenance, something that they're not sure where they're going to get. they might need to go to t taxpayers if they can get that kind of money in this case. so until it gets that money, some of these streets might be neglected. take a drive on any of san jose's 2,400 miles of road and you're likely to run into one of these. just ask glenn heinrich. >> you think you're dodging one and all of a sudden, boom, you hit another one. they have to do something about that. >> reporter: the city grades 21% of san jose's roads as poor, and if nothing is done about it the transportation director says that number could more than double in the next few years. and that might mean higher maintenance bills for commuters. >> yeah, right along here on the right lane it's really bad. my car is really low to the ground, so i feel them all. >> reporter: now the city will designate 400 miles of road as part of a priority street network meaning they will get all the attention. that includes what's called grand boulevards and main streets, downtown, shopping malls, and auto rows are also part of the plan. the network includes bikeway and bus transit corridors and all six lane thoroughfares. that means city crews like this one will have to put this pothole on st. james street on the back burner. and with the recent rains, that could mean the increasing potholes on thaneighborhood strs will have to get overlooked. whatever it takes to make sure he doesn't get an unwanted bill from his mechanic. the idea is in the preliminary stages at this point. but when you need $100 million a year 0 to keep up, something's got to give. we're live in san jose, i'm damian trujillo. >> cal train is heading for a makeover. in the next eight years or so cal train track also become electric making way for quieter, faster, and more efficient cars. as today's vote by the metropolitan transportation commission is the first step in the modernization process which has been in the works for years. the project will use a mix of local, regional and federal funding and rely on a partnership between several transit agencies, cities, and counties. still ahead here at 6:00, the story you'll see only on nbc bay area. students suspended after a cheating scandal rocks a local high school. how it could affect their college career. i'm scott budman. coming up after the break, a local job fair that's full of holes and a big day for bay area ipos and we're just getting started. and be warned. police searching for suspects connected to a new scam which targets certain women. and, good evening, i'm jeff ranieri in the nbc bay area weather center. the storm track is starting to lift just off to the north and that is going to bring us a little bit of change here in the forecast as we head throughout tomorrow, primarily some sun creeping back into the forecast. we're going to have details in our next storm system and what it means for your weekend in minutes. they are some of the sweetest jobs in the bay area, and one of them could be yours. business and tech reporter scott budman is here with the job that is full of holes. >> yes, full of holes, jessica, because you'll be working for a doughnut company. krispy kreme holding a job fair in concord. you may remember buying their doughnuts in concord before they close add few years ago. thousand the company says it's going to reopen its concord location in the willow shopping center, and it's got 85 job openings to fill. google, meanwhile, wants you to check into its hangout. announcing plans to beef up its google plus with new apps. among them student doodle. a local app that allows you to share a doodle pad drawing online has been hot lately. here is another way to do it socially. cisco still in shopping mode. the san jose networker today saying it will buy clear access, a startup company that makes software for internet service providers. investors also willing to spend money today on bay area ipos. two companies went public to rave reviews. here is a rare look inside a company as it makes employees wealthy. it's a rare inside look at a silicon valley ipo as executives of san jose-based vocera rang the opening bell on wall street. employees cheered and watched cnbc from headquarters. >> when i first started working here, there were 12 of us in a little 2,100-square-foot offense so to go from that to this is amazing. just amazing to see it happen. >> today was a big day. a big day for the company. it's been a long time in coming. a lot of people have spent a lot of time and effort in making this happen. we went public today. >> vocera, which makes mobile communications devices for the health care industry, hopped out of the gate jumping more than 40% at the open. it, along with annie's foods of berkeley, had huge stock debuts making it a day where for employees the food and drink just tasted better with extra money in their bank accounts. >> i came in the year after sandy came in and we didn't even have a product. they just said this thing is going to do this and that. and next thing you know, it's working. it's doing it. >> working for customers and for investors. on an otherwise down day, vocera up at the close. annie's foods up 89% on day one. coming up on a local ipo calendar, online retailer in san mateo expecting to go public tomorrow morning and of course facebo facebook. we expect that one in may. raj? >> okay, scott, thank you. > california is slowly but surely putting the recession in its rear-view mirror. that's the optimistic vision of a new study. economists predict the unemployment rate, now near ly 11%, will fall to under 8% in less than two years. they single out the bay area as outpacing the nation thanks to tech. anderson's forecast says los angeles will need twice as long until 2016 to return to its prerecession levels. experts say the housing crisis will slow l.a.'s recovery. the turnis around can't come quickly enough for so many people here in the bay area who are not making ends meet. food banks are playing a vital role. one in particular says it's down to bare bones with no major food drives planned until mid may. we saw a lot of empty shelves at the alameda county food bank. workers say they're sorting the last of the goods donated over the holidays and supplies dip, the demand is staying strong. >> the most efficient, quickest way to help us right now is cash donations. we can take every dollar we receive and turn it into $5 worth of food. >> the food bank says it received more than 650,000 pounds from the holiday food drive, but that big christmas surge typically only lasts through the end of march which is right about now. >> the window to hold the mavericks surf is contest is closing fast. if you're looking to ride the mavericks excitement, you still have a chance to do so. organizers are putting on the first of its kind festival this saturday in half moon day. it will include a lied band and an awards show. saturday the mavericks surf contest window officially closes and the committee will make a final decision whether or not to hold the competition within the next 24 hours. >> we have the perfect person to ask, our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. are you getting out there on your surfboard, jeff? >> no. i haven't done that probably since i was about 11. yes. i used to surf. i grew up in florida. what's that, jessica? >> no, you're not going. >> that is an absolute. i'll just stand and watch by the coastline if it does get kicked off. 68 in san jose. 66 in livermore. 6 had in san rafael. open in santa rosa, also 68. looking at radar we are tracking a few showers up near eureka. not much across the bay area right now as we are starting to clear out after some impressive rainfall totals. picking up 3.39 in the past 24 hou hours. san martin 1.37. get a look at our temperatures right now. 62 in san mateo. 62 in concord. warmer throughout for you in sunnyvale. a pocket of heat for you at the moment but that's going to be starting to drop off for tonight. out to our sky camera network and what we'll find 207b9 tonight is a mix of sun and clouds as we look out to the east bay. not a bad view tonight. and back into san francisco you can see shrouded with the onshore flow and the fog coming back so there will be a few areas of drizzle tonight possible if you do have dinner plans. we are done with that. we'll just find some area clouds for tomorrow morning and then as we head throughout the afternoon hours we are expecting a decent amount of sunshine for novato, concord, fremont and down to san jose. that's going to help to bump our temperatures up as we head into thursday. for the morning hours we'll start primarily in the 40s for concord, fremont, san jose with 48, 49 in san francisco and 45 in santa rosa. throughout tomorrow a mix of some sun and clouds and also for interior sections we could actually get near 70 degrees by 4:00 p.m. and with all this rain lately we thought we'd take a look at where this drought is still persisting for a lot of the southwest, even for southern and central california. for us in northern california we're going to start to see some improvement we think as we head throughout the north bay but here is the problem. even with still some rain in our seven-day forecast, the peninsula, the east bay and also the south bay looks to stay in an ongoing drought as we head throughout the next month, month and a half, as we remain 30% to 50%. we'll have details on that next storm which unfortunately for some of you will arrive just in time for the weekend in just a few moments. >> all right, jeff, we'll see you soon. still ahead at 6:00, the magic bean, the supplement being linked to weight loss. >> also ahead, washed up. not your average beam from a pier. >> the connection to the california national guard. ♪ [ camera shutters clicking ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] announcing southwest airlines nationwide sale, with flights all over the country starting at only 69 dollars one-way. hurry and book now, only at southwest.com. ♪ a major fish heist at half moon bay. police are looking for more than 400 pounds of fresh fish that was stolen. police say the bandits took the morningstar fisheries during a weekend heist. that's just south of half moon bay. the thieves pulled away with the palate holding 444 pounds of fresh halibut, flounder and crab on sunday night. employees didn't notice the fish was missing until the following morning. the value of the stolen fish more than $2,000. a historic day in sacramento as governor brown promotes the first latina to the rank of brigadier general in the national california national guard. today the governor presented the honor to colonel sylvia crockett. crockett's promotion comes during women's history month. crockett talked about the importance of the guard's youth program. >> the reason i really like the youth program job is i have an opportunity to work with so many of our youth who have been kicked aside, and those kids, you know, they're trying to survive let alone to thrive. and the california national guard has just harnessed this great opportunity. we have these wonderful youth programs. >> crockett has been serving in the california national guard since 1982 when she joined the 129th rescue wing in santa clara count requesty. they were caught off guard. students were asked for their school i.d.s just to cross the campus plaza. the could go college held a checkpoint simulation to dramatize the issue surrounding strict immigration laws. the event was called, your papers, please, and was hosted by the school's ministry center. school, faculty and staff were asked to provide a valid campus i.d. before being allowed to walk across the barricaded plaza. it was to raise awareness of current border patrol policies and immigration laws being drafted in states like arizona and georgia. an environmental milestone in san francisco. back in november san francisco reached that milestone by collecting its 1 millionth ton of food scraps. today those scrap