racoons attacking human, it sounds bizarre but it's happening in one bay area

community. >> it's not the first time. ktvu's debra villalon spoke to if woman. >> reporter: this was the scariest attack and the worse. a woman finds herself fighting off five racoons. >> i don't remember how it happened, i just remember screaming bloody murder. the other four dropped out of this trees some where and they all started to follow us. once i tripped i was afraid that they were going to jump on top of me and we weren't able

to be fight them off. >> reporter: dozens of streets are in trees and emerging at night. calls in service show an exploding population. >> when their population increases they can't expand out. >> reporter: across alameda since june 9 people have been bitten. at washington park it seems everyone has had run ins with racoons. >> they're like rats. we've had them running in through the doggie dog and rummaging through our kitchen. >> reporter: i >> i wouldn't want this to

happen to an elder person that couldn't get away. >> reporter: now racoon bites are very sharp, her bite was through her jeans. debra villalon. crews are being towed back to dry land tonight. the carnival splendor is now being towed to encenada. that fire was left with no air- conditioning or power. officials say the ship should arrive in port by this time tomorrow night. a long running labor dispute at ac transit is over

tonight.arbitrators reached a binding agreement. ac transit said the new three year contract will shave $3 million off its deficits during the next three years. the deal requires employees to boost contributions to their health plans. the agreement means it won't have to implement more service cuts next month. >> no ac transit cuts. >> reporter: news of the labor agreement came shortly before community groups staged this rally in downtown oakland. supporters want full service restored. ac transit has already cut bus service 15% this year to deal with this budget shortage. even with today's new contract, there may be more service cuts next year. there is a flaw in the new clipper card used on multiple

area transit lines. it's a loophole that's costing taxpayers but as ktvu's jana katsuyama report, right now there's no plan to fix the situation. >> reporter: the clipper card allows passengers to ride bart, nummi and other transportation without buying a new ticket. but now a problem looms allowing those with a clipper card to ride for $2. we bought clipper cards for a minimum of $2. we also bought a $2 bart ticket. for a ride to san francisco that normally costs $3.10. what happened? when we tried to exit at the powell station, we put the bart ticket in and the machine remained closed. but with the $2 clipper card we

were able to exit. and the card showed a negative 10-cent balance. if you throw the card away, the transportation commission and taxpayers are stuck with the bill. >> that's not very fair. but i'm sure people take advantage any way they can but hopefully they fix that if it's possible to fix. >> if everyone is traveling around for two dollars, that sucks for everyone that's paying full price. >> reporter: one problem is there there's no way to add value to the cards before exiting any train station. >> this is designed as a customer convenience so we wouldn't have customers who were trapped in the systems. >> reporter: to add machines would cost tens of millions of the dollars. and so far most people have been honest. they've pulled 250,000 cards. >> of that number 5% carried a negative balance. >> reporter: that negative balance on these cards do have

a limit of $10. they plan to monitor the situation and make change s if the abuse becomes too widespread. in oakland, jana katsuyama, ktvu channel 2 news. san francisco's board of supervisors has begun the process of selecting a replacement for mayor gavin newsom when he becomes lieutenant governor. some think it's better to start sooner rather than later. >> i think it'll be chaos no matter what. if we wait till january 4th. there's going to be a lot of that discussion going on. there's going to be people jockeying for position. >> reporter: avalos introduced a notion to hold a vote as soon as next week. david chu wants a process laid out first and that could take weeks.

the person selected would take place in january. more than a dozen law enforcement agencies joined forces today in the bay area to crack down on a suspected drug gang. agents say they arrested 16 suspects all of whom they were looking for. in the process some law-abiding neighbors were taken by surprise by the show of force. >> a bunch of them like, bang, bang, bang one right after the other. i got up, so i thought it was coming from the backyard. and this whole street was full of s.w.a.t. >> reporter: during the sweep, officials say they found five marijuana grow houses. they also seized about a ton of marijuana, a dozen weapons and

$100,000 in cash. there's simmering anger after police officers shot and killed an unarmed man. the man's family and others invoke the name of oscar grant saying the incident raises new questions about police use of force. amber lee has been talking to people on both sides and is live now with police officers. >> there's anger and frustration on the streets of east oakland tonight and it's direct here at oakland police. >> it's time now for the injustice that's been happening in this african american community of east oakland. >> reporter: dozens gathered to pay respect to the derrek jones. >> he was the nicest, sweetest dude around he wasn't going to hurt a fly.

>> reporter: around 9:30 last night they responded to a domestic dispute. witnesses reported that jones wanted to kill a woman. >> this man choked her and struck her repeatedly. >> reporter: two officers made contact with jones. but that jones fled the scene and had a metal object in hand. police say the officers chased jones on foot for about two blocks before they ended up on a narrow street near by. >> he turned around and then placed his hands once again down toward his waistband. the entire time the officers are yelling for the man to get his hands up. officers then believing they were in a life threatening situation discharged their firearm striking the suspect. >> reporter: police now say jones was unarmed. they said they did find a metal object but would only say it was not a knife and not a gun. a man is now telling us that

the woman was attacking jones. >> she had a knife, and he took it from her. >> reporter: you saw this? >> i saw this. >> reporter: this incident is particularly hard to take coming on the heels of friday's sentencing of mehserle for killing oscar grant. the two oakland officers are placed on paid administrative leave. we have posted more of today's opd news conference along with the family's response. and we're seeing rain in the area, just as bill martin forecast. our cameras saw folks with their umbrellas out tonight trying to dodge rain drops. around the bay, most areas have seen less than .1 of an inch of rain with more falling around santa rosa. frank, right now i'm

tracking showers on live storm tracker 2. they're moving through the bay area. we're going to look at your tomorrow forecast as well. it looks like pot, say gets you high like pot but anybody can buy it. ♪

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available and many doctors say a dangerous way to get high. it is an herb spiced up with a drug that many americans are familiar with. john fowler has the story in tonight's special report. >> reporter: it looks like pot, it smokes like pot, some say it gets them high like pot. but it's not pot. marketed as spice, k2, dang more than 30 other brands, it's a sudden craze. the new buzz on the street. >> it's very po at potent, powerful. i've tried several ones. >> reporter: similar to thc the active ingredient in marijuana but chemically dis distinct, so

it's legal. just go to a spice shop. more than half the price of marijuana. here among the hookas, bongs or roach trays. >> we have people coming back and rebuying it. we have people on the service and people on probation and they're buying it. if you like a marijuana type high. and you want to pass a drug test, spice is a great thing to smoke. >> reporter: more and more employers require drug tests and most urine analysis won't read spice. 27 states restrict at least some of them but not california. >> if they want to buy it, they should be able to. as long as it's not hurting

anyone. >> reporter: doctors we talked to said it is hurting people. >> there's been some cases of seizures. one teen he saw recently nearly died. another seriously ill after smoking it. >> he did find the synthetic marijuana like compound in the blood in one of the patients and in the power. >> reporter: experts say synthetic cabanoid has sickened 1,600 people this year. >> they come in with hyper tension tacacardia anxiety. there's been reports of hallucination. i'm worried that could be people that really harm themselves with this. >> reporter: doctors warn that smoking marijuana does not prepare someone for synthetic

canabanoids. these pacts can have widely ranging sinoids. parents need to be aware. >> this incense may not raise the red flag that their child might be doing something that's potentially harmful. >> reporter: we've learned that next year the california legislature may take up restricting synthetic canabanoids. john fowler. and we posted more information about synthetic canabanoids. medical marijuana supporters rallied outside today's san jose city council meeting to protest recent raids on pot dispensaries. dispensary owners say they are being treated like criminals. police have a different viewpoint, they say some dispensaries are fronts and

that the people they've arrested were dealing drugs. san jose plans plans several hearings on this issue next month. and the board of supervisors voted 8-3 in favor of the ban to give toys in children's meals with more than 600-calories. it takes eight votes to override a veto if there is a veto and the board overrides it, the ban could take effect late next year. the clock is ticking for many who smoke in their apartments or even outside in santa clara county. the board of supervisors gave final approval today to laws that prohibit smoking in the common areas of multi unit residences in county parks and in all apartments,

condominiums and townhouses. the ban is scheduled to take effect in 19 months. housekeepers at hyatt hotels in san francisco, santa clara and six other cities filed complaints today against a hyatt chain. their complaint allege that the housekeepers are suffering injuries because of the hotel policies including the workload. plans to close it's officers in new jersey and china. lay off an unspecified number of employees and outsource it's rhythm to a third party company. it plans to concentrate on the company's online question and answer service in which real humans respond to questions

from customers. former uss basketball star quinnton daily has died in las vegas at the age of 49. daily also played in the nba including as number 20 for seattle. his past always haunted him. as a usf student he pleaded guilty to attempted assault on a nursing student. he has been charged with assault with attempt to rape. recently daily worked with at risk youth. there's still a few light showers out there right now. a drizzle basically throughout the bay area. we've had almost a half inch of rain up in mill valley. i know it's snowing up in truckee light snow. temperatures around here are

going to be pretty cool. we'll go to mountain view, sunny, clearing but cool. we're going to look at the forecast for the next couple of days. i'll show you which cities will warm up the most and which cities will be the coolest tonight. major gavin newsom and six san francisco supervisors have taken a step forward to hold the next america's cup race. they created an agreement that lays up plans for holding the race on the bay. south of the bay bridge and building an america's cup village on the shoreline. it now moves into the full board of supervisors. inside that building, rock & roll history all collected during a long career

ships at sasoon bay will soon bring life to mara island. the u.s. maritime administration awarded a $3 million contract to the allied defense recycling company. other fleets have been sent to texas for dismantling. it's unclear tonight exactly what was lost when a san carlos warehouse full of neil young's memorabilia caught on fire. damage is estimated as more than $1 million.

guitars, paintings, vintage cars and other memorabilia was in the storage. 70% of what was in that warehouse was salvaged. fire crews arrived about noon to say that the coffee roster had got so hot it started a fire. jeremiah pick says the fire was put out so quickly his business will not be affected. after he admitted that he joined an online customer group critical of those controversial smart meters. after complaints from consumers groups saying he had used a fake online name. debro apologized. a pg & e spokesperson says that

it does not come postseason what debro did and it has an ongoing investigation. virgin america airline today reported it's first profit in the third quarter of 2010. that compares to a net loss of almost $6 million for the same quarter last year. the airline launched it's international service at san francisco airport. and palo alto based tesla

motorsish issued it's preliminary -- the africa channel aims to highlight the beauty, diversity, the art and the music of the continent and show americans a side of africa they may not be familiar with. congresswoman barbara lee is attending the party and says as americans understanding the continent of africa, they will be better equipped to deal with racism here at home. was it a

in the south bay a debate is renewed as a church considers putting up a radio tower. the proposed tower would go on the roof of the first presbyterian church. lloyd lacuesta is at the church right now. >> reporter: as all of us know in order to make a call like this there has to be a cell phone tower near by to send and receive calls. now this church, the first presbyterian church is proposing a tower on the top of this church. >> we're getting blasted with microwaves and it's resinating on our body.

>> reporter: this is a rendition of the antenna, it'll be housed 29.5 feet aboveground in a chimney shaped structure on the roof of the church's fellowship hall. on the church's ground is a preschool for some 70 children. >> i don't know how powerful it would be, like ten cell phones for one kid. >> my understanding is that it's much much less energy than in a kitchen appliance. >> reporter: the church would receive $1,700 a month for the cell phone tower. but the pastor says the church is doing it for the community not for the money. as for health concerns -- >> i'm in the faith business and i trust people and i have to trust what people that i really, who are part of the faith community and have looked

at this very closely. >> reporter: tomorrow the administrator at city hall will make the final decision which still could be appealed to the city council. lloyd lacuesta. gamers lined up to get their hands on what is considered to be the hottest selling video game ever. this is call of duty black ops. there's a variety other scene all of which look like it's out of the movie acopolypse now. >> if you're not in line you're

not living life. sciu the state's largest employee union ratified a -- 95,000 union members who work for the state of california will also be required to take one day of unpaid leave every month. that's less than the three furlough days governor arnold schwarzenegger ordered for other state workers. according to the governor's office, the new contract will save the state $333 million a year. a california state university finance committee approved a tuition hike. by the fall of 2011, the annual tuition for csu students would be $4,804. the full board of trustees is set to vote on the proposal tomorrow.

yee has called a conference tomorrow to announce that he is a candidate for the mayor of san francisco. we also talked to yee's chief of staff. he says the news conference will be at 10:30 tomorrow at city hall. yee has served one term in the state senate but was approved for a second term last week. it's been a long time coming, but it's finally paying off for homeless vets in san francisco who need a place to live. an old city building is being converted into housing in an effort led by the china town community development center. ktvu's rita williams has our report. >> reporter: the figures are sobering. many say a grateful nation does not leave it's veterans behind. yet a third of the homeless on our nation's streets once were proud military men and women. >> i actually you the country.

because the country supported me. i let them down when i went off on my vendor. >> reporter: after 15 years living on the streets, vietnam era veteran george edward smith says he's clean and sober now and has been for 11 months. thanks to sorts to plow share transitional program on treasure island, smith now 67 has a temporary home. >> i love it here because they give you a steam back, you're somebody. >> reporter: today san francisco officials started tearing down the guts of the landmark city building so they can build it back for chronically homeless senior vets like smith. >> to make sure that we're there not only in the battlefield abroad but the battlefield here at home. >> reporter: the building built in 1916 as the city's juvenile

detention center is only 25 feet deep. >> 275 to 300 square feet per unit. full apartment, full kitchens. >> reporter: drafted and sent to vietnam when he was just 18. rudy navarros now 65 says he's still a work in progress. >> this has given you a future you didn't have? >> yes, it's given me my life back. >> i let the flag down. i'm picking the flag back up now. >> reporter: the two army buddies say, when veterans commons is ready for veterans services in about 20 months they hope they'll be ready too. rita williams, ktvu channel 2 news. it is worth up to $400 million, but who owns it. the court battle over the second largest emerald in the world and the bay area man who claims it's his. and we're tracking a few live showers, we'll talk about

those. i'll tell you about when it i'll tell you about when it will end and ú twizzlers. the twist you can't resist.

>> a parolee made his first court appearance this morning. cameras were not allowed in the courtroom where 43-year-old gary scott holland made a brief appearance. he is charged with murder, burglary, robbery and attempted rape in the stabbing and beating death of 46-year-old kathleen moran. elizabeth smart took the stand for the second straight day today in the kidnap trial

of brian david mitchell. today smart who is now 23 years old described the nine months when she was held against her will. smart was kidnapped from her salt lake city home eight years ago at the age of 14. she testified today that mitchell's desire to find another kidnapping victim is what led them to return to utah after traveling to california and nevada. mitchell has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. a new health clinic opened in san francisco today for people who have jobs but no health insurance. the clinic by the bay is staffed bid volunteer retired doctors and nurses. today's opening put the spotlight on republican plans to try and overturn president obama's health care reform. senator diane feinstein said she is alarmed by what seems to be a personal vendetta against

the president. >> that's a whole new thing in american politicians. >> reporter: as for the clinic, it's funded by donations from hospitals, health care companies and private individuals. uninsured single adults must make less than $27,000 a yore to year to use it. president yono reported president obama with an award honoring his mother. tomorrow president obama is scheduled to deliver a major address to reach out to the muslim world. in haiti, doctors counted 73 confirmed cases of cholera at hospitals in the capital of port-au-prince today. until now the cholera outbreak has been confined to outlying areas. the capital with its population of almost 3 million people

living in dire conditions is ripe for spreading the disease. in vancouver, an immigration meeting was held today for the young asian man who disguised himself as an elderly man. the man belongs to an organization in china who's members must suffer retribution if his name is revealed. aen man from morgan hill testified today that he is the rightful owner of the world's second largest emerald which could be worth more than $10 million. he bought the 850-pound emerald in 2001 for $60,000. he says the brazilian miners kept it and told him the

shipper had lost it. it is a mystery that has a lot of people wondering what it was. was. we asked our own so, we book a flight to hawaii using our points from chase sapphire. last minute... on christmas. and sitting next to us, chevy chase. and we really hit it off. we play golf, and then the luau. he's like da vinci with ice. and after, we help hang christmas decorations.

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it look like a missile but u.s. authorities say it wasn't one of theirs. so what was it that streaked across the evening sky of the california coast. tonight we asked our own experts, ken wayne has the story. >> there's nothing conclusive that looks to me like a missile con trail or jet con trail. >> reporter: he says the angle of the picture makes it next to impossible to determine what

this is. the but others have their own ideas. >> it could be a test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile. >> reporter: the pentagon says it didn't fire a missile. the aerospace command or norad says they are confirming to determine the nature. which leads the other theory, it's the contrail or water vapor of a plane contrai will recollect. >> it's an optical illusion that looks like it's going up when in fact, it's going toward the camera. >> reporter: the faa issued a statement saying it ran radar replays of a large area west of los angeles at approximately 5:00 a.m. pacific time on monday, the

radar replays did not reveal any fast moving unidentified targets in that area. researchers are happy the mystery at least have people interested about what's in the sky. >> sure it's fun to talk about. i don't think i would be worried about any danger. >> reporter: it is a mystery tonight. if it was a commercial jet, it sure got a lot of people talking. again that was ken wayne reporting. singapore airlines today grounded three of their super jumbo jet. inspections were done because a similar engine on a qantas

exploded. a second run turned up oil leaks. and a new car pool lane is going to open. a ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for 1:00 in the afternoon. the union representing firefighters at the presidio says unless the city council takes action, that engine will be shut down tomorrow. the south marin fire district is set to handle energy calls in the marin head lands. the fire department is accused of fighting fires in the presidio. there's amazing showers out there. let's go to live storm tracker ii. they are light at best. more of a drizzle, i'm going to pull it in a little closer, and stick a loop on it. we'll see the progress registration of the shower as they meander through the bay area. accumulations have been light

other than the north bay where we see nearly a half inch of rain in the millvalely. you see what's happening in san jose. that's a light drizzle event. you're going to get .1. the moisture will be on those roads when you wake up tomorrow morning. there shouldn't be anything coming from the school when you wake up in the morning. take it slow, there might be some frost in the north bay but not much. the extended forecast, we're going into a warmer trend. the computer models are dry. we haven't seen that in a while because we've had, each week we've had something in the models. tomorrow morning, cool. not as cool as tomorrow morning but that system dries up. light dusting of snow, it was cold up in lake tahoe.

today was a little bit drizzly. go ahead and make your weekend plans because the weather looks really, really cool. daytime high tomorrow in the afternoon say, maximum heating right now is about 2:33. 62degrees in oakland at 2:30 temperatures are going to drop quickly after that. days are getting shorter as we get into the winter solstice. 62 in danville, these the temperatures a good 20 degrees cooler than they were last week at this time. you remember last week? upper 80s, mid-80s. 62 in san mateo. we start off cool, we ended nice. we warm a little bit each day. look at the top tier, i've changed the numbers, the lows for the overnight lows are in the bottom and the highs are at the top. typically we have coast in the

evening. you can see toward the weekend, we get back into the low 70s. >> they might be a little bit slow in the morning. >> thank you, bill. a new phone app is being developed in britain to help diagnose sexually transmitted diseases. a phone app would be put into a phone and get a result immediately. there's been a big

in san francisco this morning, yes that's jennifer lopez along with steven tyler and randy jackson. they all arrived for round tree of american idol. the auditions are expected to continue tomorrow. the american idol san francisco session is scheduled to air at the beginning of the season in january and if february of next year right here on channel 2. sports director mark ibanez

joins us now. a rough day for the sharks. >> i think the sharks have shown a pretty good immune system. victory has not come in the rate we've become used to. firstperiod 1:42 into the game. we have got 2-2 on we go to overtime. after a controversial face off. the ducks will wind up winning it. with a deflection, redirection and there you have it with just 33 picks left in overtime. looked like we were going to have a shoot out despite the fact that the sharks outshot the ducks 41-20 they get only one point for that game. the 49ers fighting to become

something other than a little bit of an afterthought around here. a string of victory from high demand. as of tonight, we don't even know who the quarterback against the rams might be. dan johnson is in charge of getting troy smith up to speed over in london against denver. isn't saying but i think it's pretty clear as to how he's leaning. >> you have to develop more plays for him to make within the structure of the offense as we go forward. so the plays aren't coming off a scramble and broken plays and things like that. each week you have to kind of design and develop a different game plan to make sure that you keep the guys like troy smith out of harm's way and not put the team in jeopardy. >> reporter: all right, early success for the warriors that are hoping to make that a habit. but health always a major concern with them if they are

going to be able to win. monta ellis did go down and hard. it does look like he will not be down for long. an mri and a ct scan today reveal only a strained lower back following the nasty spill he took in the final moments. monday ellis the lead scorer, nine points a game listed as day-to-day. he is with his teammates who play the nicks tomorrow night in new york. after the way he came through in the postseason, you better believe it, renteria is worthy of his own parade. they were going to plan one and have one. what a class act he is. renteria notifies officials there that he would prefer they spend the money on aiding flood victims in columbia rather than a parade celebrating his world series heroics. a gesture that speaks to

renteria's character. and that is sports for a tuesday night. >> isn't that something. >> be sure to join ktvu morning