moreganza louisiana with the latest. >> reporter: the spillway was opened in louisiana this afternoon for the first time in many years. >> it is an historic day. >> and opening the spillway could inundate 3,000 square miles of low lying swamp and cropland affects thousands of residents. the release will be gradual, beginning with one of 125 flood gates. more gates will be opened as the floodwaters move downstream. >> it is going to be under tremendous pressure for quite a long time. >> and just 24 hours, water in this field will be two feet deep. engineers say opening the spillway will relief the pressure on the levee to protect baton rouge and new orleans and lower the level at the mouth of the river. if the mississippi rises too high, the coast guard could be forced to close the river to navigation. >> we're trying to do everything we can to keep all waterways open but we also understand that at certain points we've got to look at the safety of the mariners and the safety of the flood control structures. >> thousands in the water's path are beginning to evacuate but across this area, people here in cajun country knew there was always a risk. >> everybody has lived here. everybody understands these levees are here for a reason. everybody knows one day you may have a lot of water. it is just here is the day. >> the corps of engineers expect the spillway to be in operation for at least two or three weeks. reporting from louisiana, i'm randall pinkston, back to you, ann. >> thank you very much. well, brian stowe finally can come home to the bay area. doctors in l.a. say the injured giants fan is now stable enough to be flown in a private jet to san francisco. and once here, he will be admitted to sf general. why there? it is because of one man, dr. jeffrey manly, chief of neurosurgery, who has specialized experience in brain and spinal injuries. police are still looking for two men suspected of severely beating stou outside dodgers stadium six weeks ago. in marin county, an 83-year-old man has died after driving off highway 1 near stinson beach today. highway patrol officers say the unidentified victim's car fell about 200 feet down the cliff about 11:30. the accident forced the closure of one lane on the state highway for several hours. no one else was in the car. no one else was injured. a helicopter retrieved the body. chp just determined the man committed suicide. a driver is recovering in the hospital tonight after his pick-up truck was hit by a freight train in martinez. the accident happened last night on the union pacific tracks that cross the entrance to the martinez marina. rescue workers had to climb over the train to reach the driver and get him out of the overturned truck. the jaws of life were used to free him. police are investigating how the truck ended up on the tracks. >> it appears based on preliminary investigation that the vehicle was on the track. we are unsure at this point as to how it ended up on the tracks. the gates were down from what the witnesses said. >> the driver suffered a leg injury. he was air lifted to the medical center. several amtrak trains were delayed while the tracks were cleared. a concord liquor store owner will find out if charges will be filed for illegally selling smoke bombs. a concerned grandmother called the contra costa county fire department after her 11-year-old grandson bought smoke bombs from the store in the 1500 block of monument boulevard. the fire department officials say store employees were cooperative and claim they didn't know the fireworks were illegal. the store says it had been selling the products for about a year. a startling site in san mateo county. a mountain lion was spotted about 7:00 this morning, on west glennway in woodside. cougars are most active at dawn, dusk or night. and people in the area are advised not to hike or jog during those times. if you do encounter a mountain lion, experts say do not run. instead, face the animal, make noise, and throw rocks or other objects. thousands of recent college grads are now hitting the job market. anne makovec tells us about their prospects in this tough economy. >> class of 2011! >> reporter: the enthusiasm of 2400uc berkeley grads filled edward stadium saturday. >> i love you mom. >> what are you going to do now? >> save the world. >> reporter: that could be easier said than done. >> right now, i'm kind of in a moot phase. i'm looking towards graduate school or something like that. >> keegan wethington now has a degree in japanese history, but he doesn't have a lot of cash. >> right now, i would just like any job i can get. i'm applying for everything. >> reporter: karen majored in public health and legal studies. >> i don't know. i will see. i do want to do nonprofit work. i think there is a lot of work to do in that area. >> what are you going to do to make money in the meantime? >> i'm not quite sure. >> reporter: well, there is hope. a new survey of employers found that companies plan to hire 10% more new grads with bachelor's degrees than they did last year. the first increase in two years. with most of the jobs in tech, engineering, business and accounting. >> is that a job offer you were getting? >> well, not right now but i do have a job offer in san francisco. >> reporter: vanessa got a job at a financial software company with her degree in political economy. and believes the job market is improving. >> i would maybe think that is true for my friends but i mean they're all really smart people and i think we're hard workers and we did a lot to try to find the right job for us. >> this will be the dream, like you go to college and then of course, you have a lot of job offers afterwards, but i mean it is a bit depressing but i'm not letting it get me down. >> reporter: at uc berkeley, anne makovec, cbs 5 eyewitness news. >> uc berkeley graduating senior, austin whitney, rose from his whole chair today, to walk across the stage. along with 2400 others at today's graduation ceremony. a berkeley engineering professor and his team of graduate students created the robotic legs that allowed whitney to stand and walk. that was something he was not able to do since a car accident paralyzed him in 2007. >> what these guys all gave to me today, it was overpowering at some points. and just quite remark able. >> in the future, the exo skeleton legs could be used for rehabilitation. and as an alternative to wheelchair. the berkeley team named the project after whitney because of his insight. his closest advisors are in the dark. mike huckabee is expected to announce if he will run for president on his own tv show. in a city that likes to party. one of the biggest. the preparation is under way for tomorrow's beta breakers. not much of a spring. now, it is back to winter in the bay area. here comes that cold rain. and it will affect that rain tomorrow. we will talk about that coming up. ,,,,,,,,,, 3q i'm robin sue joss. i like to make roast beef and it leaves a lot of baked on grease. when i took the finish challenge i open the dishwasher, everything was very shiny. i used to use cascade now i use finish quantum. take the finish challenge for yourself. if you don't see a difference, it's free. > many say that they're unable to contact relatives in libya or have been asked not to call, because their families fear reprisal from the government. other bay area headlines, cal train says its weekend baby bullet service is so successful, it is going to keep it running. the express service adds two round trip trains to the schedule, cal train says weekend ridership is growing, ever since it launched the pilot program in january. some of that admittedly due to the giants season starting. three, two, one. [ cheering ] >> and in san francisco, a celebration for the grand reopening of the merced branch library. it has been closed for the past two years during renovations. now it is seismically strengthened and technologically updated and nor environmentally friendly. the city's latest construction funded by a voter-approved measure. will he or won't he? former arkansas governor mike huckabee is expected to announce tonight whether he will run for president. huckabee told his viewers to tune in to the fox news show tonight for an important announcement. and he has not given any clues as to which way he will go. he has been in the lead or near the top of virtually every poll of republican primary voters. just a few days ago, former house speaker newt gingrich announced his bid for the white house. the shuttle endeavour is set to blast off monday morning. it will be nasa's next to last shuttle flight. endeavour will fly to the international space station under the command of astronaut mark kelly, husband of representative gabrielle giffords. the congresswoman is in the hospital recovering from her gunshot wound but is expected to be at cape canaveral for the second launch attempt. tomorrow marks the 100th year of a rowdy san francisco tradition. what the city is doing to crack down on the chaos known as beta breakers. many of us may be done with the rain. but the rain is not done with us just yet. nor rain tonight. maybe some thunderstorms. we will talk about that next. ,, never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles compared to what a cancer patient goes through is a walk in the park. from the moment i registered, people started immediately supporting me. i walk with my sister. our relationship has gone to a whole new level because of training together. you meet the most wonderful, inspiring people. when you accomplish those 60 miles, it's truly life-changing. (man) register today for the... because everyone deserves a lifetime. the fun at the tenth annual "tende hundreds of families came out today to join in on the fun at the 10th annual tenderloin family fair. the celebration included good food, games, lots of fun, proceeds from the fair go to support programs for the hundreds of kids who attend the tenderloin community elementary school each day. the event was sponsored by the bay area women and children's center which focuses on the need of low income families. organizers are keeping their fingers crossed that the 100th beta breakers tomorrow will be problem-free. the city has set up barricades in an effort to keep crowds from pouring on the course, in addition to new policies this year to crack down on some of the problems. no alcohol will be allowed. so falled drunk tent, yes, where people caught drinking will be taken to sober up. and of course, lots of street closures during the race will make getting around the city difficult. sections of beel, howard, main and spear streets, as well as the great highway will be closed. your best bet to get to the race will be mass transit. bart will begin service at 5:00 a.m. and caltrans will put on extra trains and the golden gate ferries will run extra trips. for complete information, check our web site cbs-sf .com. >> you have to plan for everything but rain. >> weather will be a big factor. a lot of folks have trouble keeping their clothes on in that race but we have cold showers coming tomorrow and that may change things just a bit as we will see unusually cold weather drops into the bay area. we've seen the clouds making our way across the skies today. not too far away, we will see raindrops moving in. looking fairly ominous over the bay and a couple of breaks in the clouds. but we've got a rain band that is just sitting off the coastline. that is moving onshore, a little bit later, and you can already see it, on the high def doppler radar. and starting to see the rain show up out there. mostly light stuff right now. but as we head through the evening, this is going to get going and looks good as the front moves through and not only bring some rain but some thunderstorms likely imbedded, brief heavy downpours and maybe some hail in through the night tonight and into tomorrow. and looks very impressive from outer pace where we see a lot of the moisture making its way in across the bay area but not containing any rain. we had to wait for the main cold front just sitting off the coastline now and moving onshore and get things going. temperatures right now, it was cool in spots today. still some 50s all around the bay area right now. 53 in pacifica. and 57 in oakland. and 56 degrees in livermore. the winds just starting to pick up, too. around the state for tomorrow, let's plan on a wet one, with the possibility of some thunderstorms in the monterey bay. and 55 degrees there. and 63 in sacramento. and the high country, you bet, winter storm warnings are up. for tonight, into tomorrow, and as we could see, get this, another foot of snow above 8,000 feet. and simply amazing. expect snow all the way down to about 3500 feet. and we could even see some snow right here in the bay area. so if you're traveling up there the next few day, folks, prepare for some winter like weather. the storm system brings unusually cold air into the bay area. you can see the cold speckled clouds off the coastline. what is interesting is the low is going to travel right near the coast and as it does, it is going to be enough to bring that instability and the cold temperatures and the chance of some thunderstorms in the bay area. real possibility. overnight tonight. and all right, let's try to time this out for you. 7:00. you can see the showers already beginning to move on shore. and you can see the pockets of yellow. those are are probably isolated heavier amounts of rainfall moving through the bay area with some imbedded thunderstorms coming on by. and for the race tomorrow, you will notice some scattered showers, so it doesn't like solid rain for beta breakers but you will see cold showers moving on through and on and off throughout the day with the possibility of a few more lightning strikes tomorrow. you get the idea. it is going to be a cold unsettled day around the bay area. the temperatures well below the averages as we head in toward the afternoon. mainly in the 50s. if we get to low 60s. we're lucky into san jose. we're not done there. we will see the raindrops continue tomorrow. and monday. and guess what. in the afternoon, on monday. another storm system moves in. showers likely to continue into tuesday. and i think we dry things out on wednesday and thursday. i will tell you what. next weekend looks iffy again. it looks like we could see some showers return to the bay area next weekend. right now, just partly cloudy skies. and we will see what happens. >> everything is out of sync here. >> can't wait until summer. >> thank you, lawrence. kim coyle is here with a positive story. i love to hear this one. >> a local kid and remarkable what he was able to come back from, a south bay pitcher comes back from a brain injury to throw a no-hitter. and the best pitching staff in baseball shows off its latest weapon. highlights from the coliseum next in sports. ,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the invitational is being played as we speak but suspiciously quiet, isn't it? >> there could be cheating going on. >> cheating? >> i don't know. dennis is not playing this year. >> oh, no. >> and ken, too. >> that's terrible. i'm going to be in trouble for that. the a's pitching staff has the best e.r.a. in baseball and with the average age of the starting rotation only 24, it may stay that way for quite some time. mike ellis might have some trouble swinging the bat but he lass no problem signing it. tyson ross has been making the most of his opportunity by filling in for dallas braiden. strikes out eight in seven innings. bottom of the 2nd. cliff pennington slaps one through the right side. gordon beckham knocks it down. it gets away from him. and kevin scores from second to gives a's a 1-0 lead. david began the day with 999 career hits and makes number 1,000 count. derrick barton and josh willingham come in to score. a two-run triple. and there is a 6-2 win for the a's. ross allowed two runs in 7 and 1/3 innings today and has been brilliant in the last four starts. going 2-0 with a 1.69 e.r.a. and 18 strike-outs in 27 innings. somewhere bill murray is predicting the heavy stuff won't come until later. a 4 1/2 hour weather delay at the players championship. when play resumed, the players were able to get a few holes in. 11 under is the tie for the lead. they begin play tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. that's the east coast time. and it is sharks series with the red wings, it goes down as one of the best in nhl history and it was only the second round. the head coach todd mcclellan is well aware the games only get bigger now. >> the games in the series that i've been involved in, the national hockey league, your heart gets going, and it gets revved up. i remember winning the cup and how anxious you get, and i felt that this round. you know, and i shared that with the players. we will need a little more poise, a little more composure moving ahead because those feelings will come back a lot quicker now. the sharks won just four regular season games with the canucks. the sharks are dead even in the post season. scoring 38 goals and allowing 38 goals. rich martinez was a two sports star at live oak high school until one night he was rushed to the hospital and heard the news every athlete hears the most. >> i was pretty shocked. and when they told me, i wouldn't be able to play contact sports again, so i knew football was out of the question, but i was thinking what about baseball? >> it has often been said that the junior year is the most challenging for a high school student. that was certainly the case last year for live oaks rich martinez. after doctors discovered a brain cyst and had to perform two surgeries in less than a month. >> probably after the first surgery, i just remember i was always in pain. i was laying in bed and they would have to come and wake me up every two hours just to put an iv, the fluids inside me. >> two months later, rich returned to school. but he had one final hurdle to clear before getting back on the field. >> my mom probably didn't want me to play it. because she thought it was too dangerous though. but i told them that i want to play. it i love baseball. so eventually, i got to them. >> and everybody was pulling for him that he would be able to play again, because he had such a passion for the game, and we're just thrilled that he is able to still able to compete and obviously at a high level. >> talking to rich, you would never know what he has been through. but watching him play, there is one clear symbol of his past. >> i felt a little unusual, but i got used to it after a while. until i start getting sweaty, it gets a little slippery, but that's fine. i don't care. >> obviously, he has gone through more than what most kids go through in a lifetime but he is young. it is a high school baseball game. and we're out here to teach them life lessons. and you know, he has learned a lot of lessons with what he has gone through. >> rich has been the acorn's best pitcher this season. and a couple weeks ago, the soft-spoken senior made a bold statement on the mound. letting everyone know he was indeed all the way back. >> i was just walking over here, i gave my teammates a high five and stuff and the announcer was like ritchie martinez threw a know hitter and i was like whoa, i did? i was shocked. i didn't know. that is a pretty good accomplishment. it is pretty hard to throw a no-hitter. i didn't know i had it until the end but i like that. >> pretty good no doubt. >> and his career will not end at live oak and he will play baseball at a junior college in the bay area. >> remarkable story. >> thank you very much, kim. well, they were just weeks away from graduating. how san jose state university is honoring two students shot and killed on campus this week. plus, they're ready, set, go, just hours away, a live report on the preparations for the notoriously rowdy beta breakers. those stories coming up in half an hour on cbs 5 eyewitness news at 6:30. that's it for cbs 5 eyewitness news at 5:30. we will see you back here in a half an hour. have a great night. plump raisins. sweet cranberries. and crisp, fresh apples. freshly made, just for you. ♪ ba-ba-ba ♪ ba-ba-ba-ba ♪ ba-ba-ba... introducing mcdonald's new fruit & maple oatmeal. ♪ ba-ba-ba-ba it tastes as good as it sounds. the simple joy of "wholesome meets delicious." ♪