Wet and windy conditions. Flooding and downed trees. Been a rough morning on bay area roads. Tracking when more rain is moving into the bay area. And what makes a good communicate or. You might be surprised who the best and worst communicate torz were of 2015. Theyre not even teenagers and already making their name in the kitchen. Were live with two local contestants from the Food Networks kids baking championship. The best holiday song ever, holiday by madonna. Just think of all the christmas stuff. This is the antidote. You threw us for a loop. Gasia picked this and kept in the dark. I am thrilled youre back. Alex savidge here. Mike and sal enjoying another day off for this holiday week. Well start with our twitter question. In the spirit of the week, wed like to know your favorite holiday traditions. Things youre doing with your families these days, things you did growing up. Use the hashtag mornings on 2 the 9. Take a look at the rain behind us. Dark and stormy. Gray and windy. Wet and windy all across the bay, causing all sorts of problems. Trees are down all over the bay area. Large oak tree came crashing down in kent field. The power was out to about 50 customers in that area, but pg e crews got it back on a little while ago. 1,200 customers around the bay area are without power. The biggest damage in novato. The roadways were a bit rough this morning, are especially early on. A busy commute. I was filling in for sal at the traffic center, not easy to do, by the way. Were showing you all Three Bridges here, all still have a high wind advisory in effect. All those bridges you want to be extra cautious. Reports of flooding and standing water in a number of areas around the bay area this morning. When i drove across the bay bridge just a little while ago, it was windy. It was the shocking gusts that come and you feel your car go like this. Were you at 10 and 2 . Yes. Or were you at 9 and 3 . We talked about this all morning. I think when we grew up in drivers ed, we learned the 10 and 2. Its now supposed to be 9 and 3 because airbags when they come out and your hands are at 10 and 2, you could smack your arms into your face. 9 and 3. I didnt know that. Who knew you could learn so much on the 9. Or google. Or our twitter followers. Steve paulson, you were even getting tweets about this . Hot topic, thats for sure. The rain has been front and center. It looks like things are winding down, but were not completely done. There are still impulses zipping through. Russian river, marin county, some of the Higher Elevations into the Boulder Creek area and Santa Cruz Mountains, they can still get a lot of rain out of this. It could be a steady rain. For others, not so much. South bay it feels like weve got more rain in the last 24 hours than we did all year. Thats not really the case. The first couple systems favored the south bay far greater than the north bay, but things flipped big time in the last couple systems. Ben lowman, Santa Cruz Mountains over five. Russian river 4. Oakland hills, pleasant ton 3 to 3 and a half. Dublin fire station two. Danville 3 and a third. Santa cruz had over 2. Most locations about a half inch to an inch. Again thats just the last 24. Thats not a storm total. This was the best system weve seen in a long time, especially for the favored areas in this kind of pattern. There is some under this, but the radar doesnt hit it. Well deal with rain off and on. Wind howling. Moisture streaming in. Tomorrow looks to be better. 50s on the temps. Really mild. But the cold air is getting ready to go in. Look at the 32 in novato. Oakland airport had gusts of 44 miles an hour. Benecia bridge, gusts of 46. Still blustery day. Up in the sierra nevada, truckee at 41. For some it was all rain. The snow is above 7,000, but there was a lot there. We have an update for Christmas Eve and christmas day, its going to get darn cold around here. More coming up. Snow continuing to fall in the sierra, creating dangerous driving conditions as it always does. Yesterday the snow caused major delays on highway 50 and interstate 80. Caltrans reported a number of crashes and spinouts. Some drivers said it took them several hours longer than normal to get to destinations. Caltrans working around the clock trying to make sure the roads are clear. Several more inches of snow are expected to fall up there before christmas. It will be an extremely white christmas. If you are headed up to the sierra, be prepared. Bring the chains as well. Several drivers took to social media after getting stuck on highway 50 for several hours yesterday due to avalanche control. Thats when caltrans determines that an avalanche is threatening and crews use a system to release the avalanche. Caltrans shut it down for a couple hours, leaving many drivers with nowhere to go. Chain controls after it reopened. It was hard for them to get home. And im telling you even here in the bay area because of the misty rain, it took me hour and a half to get back into the city. It was a rough afternoon commute. For sure. People who live in east Contra Costa County being asked to clean up storm drains and creeks to prevent flooding. A lot of dry creeks are now flowing again and there is concern that too much water all of a sudden could cause the creeks to overflow, especially if they get filled with debris. Most of the creeks are the responsibility of of the private homeowner. You have need to get out into your own creek. That means removing downed trees, dead vegetation. Officials say once the water rises in the creeks, stay out of them. Once again, donald trump and Hillary Clinton, the democratic and republican front runners in the president ial race are taking aim directly at each other. All this began with Hillary Clintons controversial comments on saturday night. Take a listen. He is becoming isis best recruiter. They are going to people, showing video of donald trump insulting islam and muslims in order to recruit more radical jihad. Donald trump called that a flat out lie. The Clinton Campaign hasnt been able to produce any such video since. Donald trump is on video and isis is using him on the video to recruit. And it turned out to be a lie. Shes a liar. Trumps Campaign SaysHillary Clinton should apologize. A spokesperson for clinton saying, quote, hell no. The other response from the Clinton Campaign, Hillary Clinton will not be apologizing for correctly pointing out how Donald Trumps hateful rhetoric only helps isis recruit more terrorist. What do you think about that exchange . Well, i think were going to hear more along those lines in the future. I think theyre both setting their sights on each other and this is almost what i expected. Whats troubling is that you make a Statement LikeHillary Clinton did during a debate, obviously all eyes on her and she makes that claim. But they dont necessarily have the proof to back it up. At least we havent seen that yet. And thats troubling. And her campaign didnt address the actual video piece of it in the response. I think she was trying to say that overall, it is creating hostility, but not one specific video. Now we may be seeing fallout. There is a new poll out this morning. For the very first time, it looks like ted cruz is actually closer than ever to donald trump. Trump at 28, cruz at 24. This is a national mashup right here. Rubio and carson down at 12 and 10 . Look at this finding. This is whether you would be embarrassed if donald trump was president. More than 50 of respondents say they would be embarrassed. Compare that to clinton, who is in the mid30s right there. Thats really troubling for donald trump, especially when you consider in that poll the largest number of people that were pold, theyre still undecided. Willing to change their mind. This is the first solid evidence we may be seeing, the gap that donald trump has. His lead is shrinking and people are embarrassed about what hes saying. When you watch at that debate and i did watch it on saturday night it seems as though the democrats are setting up want to set up donald trump as the nominee on the republican side. Right. Because they think oh, donald trump is a gift to the democrats. Donald trump yesterday had a Major Press Conference where he set all sorts of controversial things. Take a listen to the one causing the most uproar across the country. She was going to beat obama. I dont know who would be worse. How does it get worse . She was favored to win and she got trumped. She lost. Wow. Many people stunned across the country that he used that word, of course that refers to male g eshgs genetalia. Many saying this is does not sound president ial. That this is a new low and were better than that. You think finally hes gone too far . We keep saying that across the country and then there is a new controversy and his poll numbers go up. Now for the first time controversial comments and the poll numbers shrinking. We also heard him say the other day, just last night, that Hillary Clintons bathroom break was, quote, disgusting and a lot of women taking issue with that, saying that thats a blatantly sexist comment. Well see. Whether its true or not, i dont know that you have to bring that up on the campaign trail. I think a comment like that doesnt sit well with women voters. I think it doesnt belong there. Lets turn to something a local politician did here in San Francisco. We talked about scott weiner, rides muni, tries to improve the city. Hes had runins with nasty people at city hall and that may have helped him keep calm while he was getting mugged near the bart station. A woman grabbed his cellphone. He bargained with him to get the phone back. They agree on a price and when the supervisor took the cash out, at a nearby atm, he made sure the suspects were captured on Bank Surveillance camera. The woman was caught. I certainly wouldnt do anything of the sort. No. To stay cool in that situation is incredible. Hes a very calm guy. Ive talked to him. I tell myself its only a phone. Exactly. Let them have it of. He did something else. Thankfully it worked out okay. Police get a big break in their search for someone trying to steal credit card information from shoppers at bay area grocery stores. And a series of car crashes by one driver. Investigators say that person is facing a number of charges. Gary, is this teleprompter right . Sweet molasses i need to start shopping immediately. Save on thousands of last minute deals at target. Dont forget you can theorder on target. Com and pick up in store the same day. I ordered this today. Its for you. Boop barbie a new tie order by december 24th 6pm. It is now 9 16. Welcome back to the 9. We are going to check in on stocks. Well see that the dow is up, not too much, but up is better than down. 66 points right now. S p up slightly. Nasdaq flat. We head over to brian flores for your top stories. Federal investigators need your help identifying a man suspected of planting a skimming device at a safeway store. Surveillance video caught pictures of the man on bancroft road. A clerk saw him install the skimming device at a check out stand. The device was quickly removed before any consumer data was compromised. Safeway found another skimming device at a store in dublin. It was installed by another suspect on the same day and they do believe the cases are connected. Police berkeley say the man found dead over the weekend at a Fraternity House fell from a significant height. He was found at 7 30 saturday morning at the top of channel way. Police say he was a member of a fraternity, but was currently enrolled at lany college. Investigators say there is no indication of foul play, but do believe alcohol was a factor. Signs will go up around the Golden Gate Bridge reminding people that the bridge is a nodrone zone. The National Park service which owns the land banned the use of drones. The concern is that they could crash and injure pedestrians and cyclists or even cause Car Accidents on the span. According to new federal rules that went into effect this week, drones must be registered to make it easier to identify their owners. People in the south bay are mourning the deaths of a family of five killed in a plane crash over the weekend. The family has been identified as jason and olga price and their three children. They took off saturday in their private plane headed to vegas when something went wrong. The plane crashed into an Almond Orchard in bakersfield. One neighbor was friends with the mother. She was always the life of the party, very social and very talkative. Very loving. And thats how i remember the kids as well. Very sweet, sweet kids. Now, the ntsb is at the crash scene trying to determine what happened. They hope to have a preliminary report in the next seven to ten days. Those are your Morning Headlines from the newsroom here downstairs. Ross, well toss it back to you upstairs. Thanks a lot, brian. A 19yearold suspected drunk driver is under arrest this morning in san jose, accused of four separate crashes. One of them turning deadly. It happened last night. The last pileup occurred 15 minutes later at center and single ton roads. Officers say the suspect ran a red light and smashed into the drivers side of another car, killing that driver. Our traffic Investigation Unit is here and they are conducting that part of the investigation. Well let them make some determinations once they complete fact finding and then the suspect will be charged after that. The suspect was taken to the hospital for treatment. The four crashes involved a total of six cars. No one else fortunately was hurt in any of the collisions. Bail hearing set for this morning for the woman accused of plowing into dozens of people on the las vegas strip, killing one. 24yearold Lakeisha Holloway charged with murder, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and child abuse because her threeyearold daughter was in the car at the time of the crash. Holloway told investigators she had been been drinking or using drugs, but under extreme stress because security guards kept running her off as she tried to sleep in the car. Oh, my god, what is goingn . This is las vegas. This is christmas. And i cant say what i want to say on tv. Police at this point are awaiting the results of blood tests to determine if holloway was, are in fact, under the influence. The crash killed a 32yearold tourist and injured at least 35 others, three remain in Critical Condition this morning. Were learning the woman had had problems with being homeless before, drug problems, turned her life around. She was featured in a video of doing so and now apparently went over the edge one more time and took all these people with her. With her child in the car and moving place to place. Sad story. Coming up here on mornings on 2 the 9, steph curry and Kim Kardashian, they are among them. Up next, we are talking about the list of the best and worst communicate tors of 2015. Secret santa in uniform. Vallejo Police BroughtHoliday Cheer to dozens of un suspecting people, all thanks to one big donation. When some people speak, it in spires a nation. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Martin luther king, junior. A number of politicians have said things that maybe people cringe, however. Its about one country united under god. We arent red americans. Were not blue americans. I think sarah palin may have the record in politics, inducing the most krifrngz in some people. What separates the good from the bad. How to inspire your audience to action. He joins us live this morning on the 9 to break it down. Hes the author. You released a list of best and worst. Lets start with the best. Misty copeland, famed ballerina. Tell us what makes her at the top of your best list. You wouldnt expect the ballerina to be the number one. She wasnt number one, but on the list of best. If you look at any opportunity shes spoken, there is a grace, humility, she stands out. What about can you give us a good example of the worst . Martin shkreli is in the news in the last week, number one worst. I do have to admit we shared that on tuesday or wednesday and then the rest of the week he got arrested and then he had to resign from his role. But it wasnt what he did with the drugs of upping the price. It was his communications of how he handled the challenge with the press, with media. Its just an arrogance that came out. You say its your emotional connection and your content. Its what youre saying and how youre saying it. I have to take issue with two of the people you have on your worst list. Justin bieber and Kim Kardashian. Youre telling me with millions and millions of followers, they cant communicate. We are not going to lessen their followers. We want to call out what stands out. With the justin bieber, think of the opportunities. Ton of opportunities for more sponsor ships. I even wanted the picture of his eyebrows up, giving that dull look. Thats what comes out. Kim kardashian, they can get away with a lot more than all of us. But Kim Kardashian is an originator of the vocal fry. Its when i talk to you with an upswing at the end of a sentencement thats the reason we do this sentence. Thats the reason we do this list. What should i do or not do. How do you improve your communication skills . The best can get better and the worst can change. What do i need to change or work on differently. We had apologies that are scripted. We want people to learn from that. That is not real and authentic. Its somebody elses words youre just sharing, but advice for people in every day communications, when ear on the air, what is the single most important thing to being a great comm