the orange mesh is 30 feet above the ground, just as high as the elevated tracks would be if the state moves forward with an elevated rail structure. the poles are 59 feet tall, and the wires between them represent where the electrified cables will hover above the tracks. these poles are only placed 30 feet apart, but the real width would be between 80 and 120 feet. >> i mean aesthetically does that sound okay? >> no. no. i think it would really deter -- away from the history of this wonderful building. >> reporter: she doesn't live very far from where the tracks would run. >> i would much rather if they would build it underground. >> reporter: so would the city of burlingame. the peninsula rail program presented two options -- elevated tracks or a trench structure. burlingame elected officials nixed both. then they came up with this architectural experiment to find out how residents would react to it p many admit there's no stopping the bullet train. >> i would love to see it being built but i would like for it to enhance our lives and not to ruin the way the city and its character is. >> reporter: now, many fear that erecting these very visible tracks would divide the town both physically and mentally. several peninsula cities actually filed a lawsuit to try to slow down this high-speed rail. burlingame wasn't one of them. but some of its residents joined suit. tracy grant, nbc bay area news. they're only teenagers but in the eyes of the law they're adults. a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old will be charges as adults in the arson fire which burned down most of the south bay elementary school last july 37 nbc bay area's george kiriyama's live tonight at trace elementary with more on the d.a.'s decision. george? >> reporter: this is what's left of the main building here at trace elementary school. these two teenage boys accused of starting the fire last july, as you said, have been charged as adults. and they face a possible sentence of life in prison. now, 16-year-old lazarus thomas real baez and 17-year-old clayfort guion were arraigned on charges of aggravated arson. district attorney dolores carr made her decisioned based on what she says is the seriousness of this case. it was 12 million nasdaq damage and carr says she wants to send out the message that those who burn down buildings anywhere will be held accountable. clearly she says this was not a childish prank. >> we believe there is evidence that will show that this setting of this fire at trace elementary was premeditated and that these offenders intentionally tried and were successful in burning this building down. >> reporter: fire investigators say the two teens never attend trace elementary. last year they both attended del mar high school in san jose. real baez and guion are expected to enter their pleas next wednesday. we're live at trace elementary school san jose, george kiriy a kiriyama, nbc bay area news. hands-free no more. gas stations across the state are scram toblg remove thousands of faulty gas nozzle latches. tonight gas station owners and customers are fuming over changes that will cost them both money and time. nbc bay area's jodi hernandez is live right now where customers are reacting tonight. jody? >> and they certainly are. in this busy world we live in, every minute, every second counts 37 so when you can let the gas pump do the work for you like you're seeing here it really frees you up to do other things like perhaps washing your windows like this gentleman is doing here, make a phone call. but i'll tell you, that convenience is about to change as the state forces hundreds of gas stations to remove these hands-free latches. customers up and down the state are noticing changes at the pump. at many gas stations those latches that allow you to pump hands-free are being removed. >> i'm a busy man. i've got enough other things to do in life without having to stand here and hold this. >> i'm standing here. i can be doing other things. i could be going inside, getting sodas, you know, making more money for the gas station. >> reporter: but the state says the latches made by vapor systems technology are dangerous. more than a dozen have gotten stuck, spraying customers with gasoline. >> i'm sitting on a time bomb right now. it could happen anytime. >> reporter: gas station owner joe tran understands why the latches must go, but he's angry the state just forced him to spend tens of thousands of dollars installing the emission trapping nozzle systems only to determine they're potentially dangerous. >> if i'm standing here with a person who approved the system, i want to strangle him and then i go to jail. that's what i want to do. but i don't know who that is. but i want to strangle him first and let him know how frustrated i am. and then i go to jail. i don't mind. i just would let him know that we are very frustrated. and we've got no money for this. >> it's just a ridiculous overreaction that's going to completely inconvenience the consumers, and it's just not fair. >> reporter: rob wood owns five gas stations in solano county. he says the latches haven't caused any problems for his customers, with you he thinksry moving them will. >> it will probably force some foreign object into the nozzle that makes it even more dangerous or they will potentially stop shopping at the service stations that have the convenient hold open latches and find other places to fuel. >> reporter: now, we are back here live. you are looking at those latches that the state says could potentially stick. the owner of this gas station was waiting on the judge's ruling. now that that ruling has been made, he has somebody scheduled to come here on monday and remove all the latches. reporting live in sassoon city, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, jodi. not far from the site of the deadly san bruno gas explosion residents today report aid strong smell of gas. luckily it was nothing to worry about. pg&e crews in hillsborough have been working at the juniper serra rest stop. the pipeline linked to the explosion has been shut off since the tragic explosion and fire. now the utility company says it's rerouting the gas connector so it can provide more reliable service to customers when the winter comes around. pg&e says they tried to head off concerns by warn residents they were working on this project. >> there were questions, just kind of wondering what you're doing obviously about the gas smell that they might smell, and obviously we assured them as very safe. >> the project should be done by early november. well, san francisco police today released a sketch of a man who attacked a couple visiting coit tower back in august. they say this man and his accomplice attacked two people at the tower just before 2:00 a.m. on august 21st. investigators say the couple, approached by two large men, who then attacked them, punching them at times with brass knuckles. the man's jaw was broken, and when his companion rushed to him she was struck in the nose and robbed. a santa clara police officer is out on bond tonight. clay rojas is a five-year veteran of the department. he's accused of supplying private and confidential dmv information to hell's angels. police chief steve lodge says this is an isolated incident and adds "the remaining members of my department are hard-working, ethical professionals who are just as appalled as i am at this breach of the public's trust." investigators arrested rojas along with helz angel member william 3we9encourt and a san jose member vivian rodriguez. it's unclear how the trio worked together or what they did with all that information. well, the feds are not backing down, voulg to go after californians even if prop 19 passes and possessing small amounts of pot in the state becomes legal. nbc bay area's damian trujillo joins us with the fed's threat to california. >> attorney general eric holder said today marijuana is against federal law and that supersedes state law. the warning came in a letter from holder to former chiefs of the d.e.a. in that letter holder said his office would continue enforcing laws against pot and all other illegal drugs even if voters in california pass proposition 19. the federal government has been feuding with california since 1996, when voters here passed a law legalizing pot for medicinal use. retail pot dispensaries in the state face continued raids by federal agents. under the bush administration. holder's letter signaled today's government would continue its long standoff with the california government over pot. the attorney general said prop 19 would make it difficult for the feds to fight drug traffickers who distribute marijuana along with cocaine and other drugs. in the past the u.s. supreme court has ruled the federal government has the right to enfare enforce its ban regardless of any state laws. a late-inning curveball could cost the city of san jose a chance to lure the oakland a's. the problem? money. the city may not have enough money to secure the last few parcels to build a downtown ballpark. for over a year there's been talk of moving the a's to the south bay. san jose's redevelopment agency has been buying up land in preparation for construction, but now there's word the redevelopment agency doesn't have the cash to seal the deal. there's also speculation the a's owner, lou wolf, may step in to help buy some of that land. well, still ahead, the commute may be smoother across one of the bay area's biggest bridges by monday, but repairs may hurt your weekend plans. we'll have an update from caltrans next. plus, one of the smoothest talkers in the world hits the campaign trail in southern california. where you can see former president bill clinton yourself. and good evening. chief meteorologist jeff rainieri. temperatures at the coastline backing up to the 80s inland and you can see by tomorrow much cooler there at 11:00 a.m. and we're also going tab to be talking about some showers in your seven-day forecast. there's the fog right now as we leave youh this live pictureit erica building downtown. you know it's bad when the press asks if you'd take a lie detector test. meg whitman didn't tell the truth about not voting or about how long she lived in california. she got caught in insider deals at goldman sachs. she changed her story about physically abusing an employee. she campaigned as tough as nails on immigration knowing her housekeeper of 9 years was undocumented. her tv ads have been condemned as false and misleading. and even her hometown newspaper said meg whitman has demonstrated "a loose relationship with the truth" the loma prieta quake was a magnitude 7.1 and it cause major damage. 63 people died. right now the bay bridge is under construction to withstand the big quake. that work is expected to be done by 2013. other projects around the bay area are under way to retrofit highways, public buildings, all of them hoping to withstand a magnitude 8 quake. the u.s. geological survey says there is a 63% chance an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 or greater will happen before 2031. california democrats rolling out the heavy artillery today with former president bill clinton campaigning for several candidates including old political nemesis jerry brown. clinton is at a rally right now in orange county. for congresswoman loretta sanchez. about 600 people are in attendance. later tonight he's at ucla with candidate jerry brown and gavin newsom. well, clinton is speaking in the bay area on sunday. he'll start his afternoon in napa at the uptown theater. then he'll make his way to san jose to join the vote 2010 rally with jerry brown and mayor newsom. and that rally starts at 7:00. meanwhile, secretary of state hillary clinton is getting ready to talk to a san francisco audience in just about an hour. she'll speak to the commonwealth club in san francisco about innovation and american leadership. tickets to that event sold out. former alaska governor sarah palin is in california urging her followers to fight back at the ballot box. she told voters in sacramento today that the elections are about the little guy who's been forgotten in washington. she's predicting people will use their vote to send a message to lawmakers. palin also spoke to a conservative group in san jose yesterday. she told them the country needs to elect business-minded people who won't give up on their principles for the sake of bipartisanship. well, thousands are expected to be at the alameda county fairgrounds this weekend for a tea party election rally. it'll be held saturday at the fairgrounds in pleasanton between 11:00 and 6:00. several tea party candidates will speak in preparation for the november elections. a stern warning tonight for the state department toward california voters. attorney general eric holder says the federal government will enforce all drug laws, even if california does pass proposition 19 in november. prop 19 would legalize marijuana in the state. holder warned the justice department strongly opposes that proposition and vowed to remain committed to enforcing federal law. the feds have clashed with california since 1996, when voters passed another proposition allowing medicinal marijuana in the state. all right. it's going to be a change this weekend in the weather. we're going to flip back to fall. jeff ranieri joins us now. >> yes. it seems like mother nature, she has answered our prayers today. we have finally started to see some marked cooling. it was about a day late. but now that it has arrived, very enjoyable outside. from the coastline right to our inland spots. take a look at this. napa some 22 degrees cooler at this hour as compared to this time yesterday. so what does that mean for our temperatures in a lot cooler. especially in santa cruz. 62 for you. 64 in san francisco. 77 in san rafael. it was still warm here for those of you in the south bay and also the east bay. temperatures did once again come down about five to eight degrees. and look at this. well, you can't see much. but the point is the fog is rolling in here to our san bruno mountain camera right along the coastline. the usual shot not visible at all. here in oakland over the past half hour the fog has shrouded the city skyline so much so you can't even see san francisco from oakland at 66. for a lot of us this is, well, spelling relief for us at this hour. it's been four days of record-setting temperatures. let's take a look at this fog. the problem the past two days is the fog has hung out around santa cruz and monterey but now we've had more of a stronger southerly push. we now have this fog moving right into the north bay, also the san francisco bay, and eventually that will move into parts of oakland tonight and for sections of the east bay. let's look at the wider pattern because of course the weekend coming up, a lot of you want to do stuff outside. we do not have any rain in the forecast for saturday. we're just tracking some cooler air at this point. however, we do have some showers in our seven-day forecast and i'll be detailing that for you a little bit later on. let's look at the saturday forecast for those of you in the south bay. 6:00 a.m. a little bit low cloud cover on the cooler side near 60 degrees. by 9:00 a.m. mostly sunny instead of temperatures in the upper 70s and 80s we're only talking about low 70s pape nice refreshing and crisp start to your saturday. otherwise here, 6:00 a.m. south bay sunnyvale, 58 degrees, 61 concord 58 fairfield. by 11:00 a.m. we'll warm up but not too much. more on the mild side for saturday with that cool air arriving and kind of combining with the fog. if you're doing any traveling tonight for the weekend it's still the northeast. that's our hot spot. we had a warmer nor'easter move in. a lot of wind here throughout boston near norl new york as well and new england. so if you're traveling that way that certainly can slow you down through tonight. all right. coming up we'll have details on this possible showers in our forecast and also some cooler weather for sunday. that's coming up later on. >> thanks, jeff. well, today in the bay nbc bay area's own brent, laura, and mike showed some bay area proud volunteers on meals on wheels in heyward this morning. helped pack meals even went on some deliveries. the program operates weekdays and it's always looking for volunteers to help them assemble and deliver more than 550 meals a day to homebound seniors in alameda county. to find out more information and sign up to be a volunteer, visit bayareaproud.com. >> that was a nice gesture. state lawmakers are creating a way for people on the verge of foreclosure to try to save their financial lives. and it's not the kind of duck you usually associate with bath time. see the damage after a tree crashes into a bay area home. trapping a man in the shower. plus they're competing with thousands of people who have more experience and know-how. we'll talk to some new college graduates in the bay area about how they're planning on finding a job. [ male announcer ] carly fiorina. as ceo, she laid off 30,000 workers and shipped jobs to china. china. india. russia. poland. i know precisely why those jobs go. [ male announcer ] because fiorina shipped them there. to shanghai instead of san jose. bangalore instead of burbank. proudly stamping her products "made in china." 30,000 workers gone while fiorina took $100 million for herself. carly fiorina. outsourcing jobs. out for herself. [ barbara boxer ] i'm barbara boxer, and i approved this message. friday night fog beginning to roll in. over the golden gate bridge. as the landmark prepares for a busy, busy weekend. not too bad on the bridge right now. a settlement deal for the former ceo of countrywide financial, angelo mozilo. mozilo will pay a record $67 million fine to the s.e.c. to settle insider trading and fraud charges. the s.e.c. claims mozilo knew there was a looming disaster in the subprime mortgage market but kept approving billions in shaky loans and that he lied to his clients. by settling mozilo will avoid a trial that could have provided fodder for future criminal charges. in the meantime assemblyman john garamendi is calling for a statewide moratorium on foreclosures. he wants the state to have time to investigate whether lenders broke laws. this comes on the heels of the decision from major banks like jpmorgan chase to suspend all foreclosures to look for errors in paperwork. if you're one of 58 million americans who gets a social security check, don't look for a raise next year. inflation is too low to warrant an increase for 2011. that announcement from the social security administration today marks only the second year without an increase since adjustments for inflation were adopted back in 1975. the first year without an increase was this year. cost of living adjustments are automatically set each year for inflation measure, adopted by congress back in the 1970s. that low inflation and high unemployment are keeping the company slow to grow, something the federal reserve says it will tackle in the next months. today the fed announced it is stepping in again buying more treasury bonds. the u.s. central bank hopes to add more liquidity into the market and ultimately more cash into the pockets of main street americans. on the flip side, consumers are spending more. retail sales are up in september. that is the third consecutive month according to new numbers released by the fed today. the .6% is larger than most economists expected. college students are doing what they can to make sure they'll get hired when they graduate. more than 300 students at san jose's evergreen valley college showed up for careerfest. they learned about the jobs that are still out there including those in the nursing profession and they attend a workshop to help improve their resumes and the