but we begin with breaking news this morning. some amazing images coming into your newsroom of a deadly greyhound bus crash. this happened in fresno this morning. take a look at the destruction. >> the bus is just completely destroyed. as i understand, there were also a couple of cars involved. as many as five people may have been killed in this accident. obviously, they are still working the scene. emergency crews are there. still assessing how many have been hurt. we'll try to get more information on exactly where this bus husband headed. mike inouye has been following it. it was headed to sacramento but then on to the bay area. >> word is it's clearly on the northbound side from our reports at mckinley avenue and sacramento where this next destination. we don't have any more word on the personnel there. tragic pictures here. you see all the damage done to the bus. what i'm told is the fact this bus could have suffered more deaths. the majority of the folks were injured.

but five deaths as a result of the loaded bus as well as two other cars because that bus did not roll over as it could have. it was stopped by a tree there. you see all those folks beak taken away. word is you can get off the freeway. the impact will be big for the morning commute through the central valley. i'll let you know as we get more word on the injuries. any details on the passengers. this is northbound 99 at fresno. 99 closer to stockton and tracy. that is still open right now and the rest of the morning commute should move smoothly. southbound side is open. want to be sure people are clear about that. southbound side is open. laura, back to you as we continue to track this accident. >> thank you very much, mike. people living in the east bay may be asked to pay hundreds of dollars more per year for police protection. nbc bay area's christie smith is live at oakland city hall where they'll decide to put the idea before voters. more taxes during tough economic times. this could be a tough sell.

>> reporter: that's right. business owners say that any bump in the sales tax just couldn't come at a worse time. but you also have homeowners who may be asked to shoulder a new parcel tax up to $360 a year for at least five years. this would help pay for things like more police officers on the streets and there are two schools of thought on it. homeowners who feel that safety is certainly worth the price and those who feel the city council keeps going back to the well for more money when it's already been given. now the council will ask voters to amend measure y. that to that was a money-making ordinance. but after the layoff recently of 80 police officers, they couldn't collect it anymore. so they're going to be looking at the least a half dozen options. tonight they'll be looking at bumping the utility tax. also a higher tax on medical marijuana up to 12%. this would be for the november ballot measure.

city council meeting tonight here at 5:30. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, christie. newly released surveillance video may be the key to catching the suspects who police say killed a virginia man on an oakland city corner. this recording was taken just feet from the crime scene and minutes before 45-year-old jing hong kang was shot to death sunday night. investigators think that the man and woman you can clearly see on the tape may have pulled the trigger after robbing kang of just $17. the father of three was in the bay area for a job interview at google. if you have information, you are asked to call oakland police. volunteers are giving seven early childhood development centers in oakland a temporary reprieve. all of them were set to close at the end of the month. but now parents, laid off workers and community leaders will help staff each one through august 31st. state and city budget cuts mean that there's not enough money to keep the facilities open. school district officials will

determine if they can find some cash to try to keep those centers open permanently. do you feel like the economy is getting better? scott mcgrew says most people have deep concerns. >> you see this in retail sales, in home sales, consumer confidence. lots of people taking a wait and see attitude. and the latest survey finds two-thirds of americans think the economy has several years of recovery before we see anything better. turns out the head of the fed, ben bernanke, agrees with you. stocks sank wednesday after bernanke told congress he expected very slow progress in the economy. but said the fed would not take any new action to speed things up. that sent wall street much slower yesterday. we talked about this before. we used to think of the economic cycle as these ups and downs. these perfect waves. what we are seeing this time is not the recovery we've seen in the past. there may be sort of a new reality to unemployment and pay and the economy. >> oh, yeah. and it hurts a lot of people. it's scary times.

thank you very much. 6:04. the family of a drug suspect who died after police shot him with a taser is suing the city of san jose. officers stopped 38-year-old prince swazer iii because they thought he was involved in drug trafficking. he resisted arrest and swallows cocaine in an attempt to hide it. officers stunned him with a taser and he later died at the hospital. in the civil rights lawsuit, his patients say their son was cooperate with officers' demands before they tackled him. shoppers in san mateo county may be shelling out more for sales tax. county supervisors are looking at putting a sales tax increase on the november ballot. they'll consider the proposal on tuesday. the increase could potentially raise $30 million a year for the cash-strapped county. critics say even a small increase could push the county sales tax to near 10% and drive shoppers to other counties. >> scott valley going to be the latest city to say no to smart

meters. city council has halted the controversial meters until hearings can be held to determine if those could lead to health issues. and there are also concerns about inacroot readings. scott valley joins the growing list of bay area communities issuing moratoriums on the meters. fairfax approved one earlier this month. san francisco supervisors are also talking about doing the same thing. ac transit riders may want to prepare for more canciled trips en routes and longer waits today. bus drivers are expected to continue their sick-out for the fourth straight day. yesterday, about 250 operators called in sick over what they say is an unfair work contract. after failed negotiations on sunday, ac transit imposed a new contract on employees that changes work rules and charges them more for health insurance. ac transit says changes are needed to close this massive budget crisis. the union denies it. the sick-out protest. there will be a union meeting in oakland for hundreds of ac transit union workers this morning. new this morning, a live

look from a parking lot near san francisco international airport where seven cars caught fire. look at them. they are just completely destroyed. it looks like you see how closely parked the cars tor one another. so it apparently started at one car and then spread to all the others. seven of them destroyed. arson investigators are on the scene this morning. they are trying to figure out what happened. whether it was just an accidental fire -- the car caught fire for some reason or if somebody started it intentionally. there are at least seven cars destroyed this morning. a new hospital set to be built in san francisco. people who drive through that area are going to have to deal with a few traffic changes and headaches in the meantime. construction on the massive earthquake-safe building will start early next year on cathedral hill. that means traffic delays for surrounding streets, including post vanness avenue and geary boulevard. the project will affect 18 intersections in all. the hospital can hold about 555

beds and an underground parking lot. so it's a pretty big area. 18 intersections. if you are going through there, expect delays for a while. let's see if there are any delays this morning. mike following things for us. >> good morning. we'll take you to 880 just south of the 92 interchange. an accident around tennyson. it may have cleared but it's been there long enough to cause slowing. you see the slow southbound drive from a street to tennyson. maybe a little past there. i don't have any confirmation those lanes may still be blocked. speed sensors showing 880 and 92 past the scene okay. just immediately between the bridge itself and tennyson there's a problem. live look at the bridge shows you the volume of traffic heading away from us with the tail lights starting to pick up there. headlights coming off the peninsula side. then you can't see the peninsula because of the haze, the low clouds, fog getting closer to the coast. pacific ocean. you may see some other issues related to slowing and the fog there. we'll take you back to the map.

we're talking about livermore where the slowing starts here coming out of the alta mont pass out of the tri-valley area. that's your slowdown here. in the central valley we continue to watch the closure of northbound 99 at -- in fresno because of the deadly accident and, of course, also the low clouds and fog. no major slowing but it's starting to dip in speed coming through pleasanton as is pretty predictable this time of morning. >> dip in speed. dip in temperatures. especially by the coast. bundle up. >> it is cold. and all the mist in places. you saw the headlines. mild only into the 80s in some of the warmer temperatures. i also mentioned this. delays at sfo. 52 minutes for some arriving flights because of the low ceiling. fog 2,000 feet deep. some of those planes need to be equipped with the right equipment and have the right pilots in order to land. a couple of delays at sfo. that wind will come out of the

northwest. high, 60s, 70s and a couple places close to 80 degrees. the fog sits off the coast. you'll need layers. only 59 pacifica. 76 livermore. 77 in san jose and 68 in richmond. as we go through the remainder of the week, we've got enough wind to keep us in the 70s and 80s through saturday and sunday. next weekend, only in the 70s. mild conditions through next week as well. >> still cold. thanks, craig. the man behind one important 9/11 museum design gets ready to give a bay area attraction a new look. and a roller coaster for the usda worker falsely accused of raceively. we have breaking details on what she says about the latest offer from the government. and nerds unite. one of california's more colorful events gets under way today. and this is what we're looking at as we head out. some of the coastal haze. the lights turned off on the golden gate. still a chilly one. we'll take a specific look atis ing hois smeisupomin up c

snerk feels more like fall than sumner some areas. >> actually broke out the long sleeves yesterday. craig herera is here with a look at some of the numbers. first nbc bay area's bob redell. he's outside brafg what usually is the coldest time of day out there. bob, did they tell you you were going to -- doesn't like like they told you you were going to be out there. you got your warm weather gear on. >> i am so underdressed. the hypothermia is about to set in. but i'm willing to -- it is one of the coolest summers in the bay area in over four years. it's not like people are out here wearing scarves. excuse me, sir? hey, good morning. with nbc bay area. why are you wearing a scarf?

>> because i was cold. >> okay. two things. i stand corrected. and secondly, take that, mike wallace. i don't think he ever had a hard-hitting interview like that. so we did find someone wearing a scarf. sir in all seriousness, temps are down. temps are down about three degrees on average. san jose since mid-may has been averaging around 76.7 degrees according to the national weather service. normally closer to 80 degrees. worldwide, though, temperatures are at some of their warmest according to noaa, the national oceanic and atmospheric association. why is this all happening? i wish we had someone here who could help us answer that question. anyone that you guys know of? >> that guy right there. >> me, me, pick me. >> it's true. back east they've had just record heat. now here in the bay area, some really cold temperatures.

>> i want to show you a graphic. you talked about variances. look at san jose. typically 85. today 77. what i want to show you is this graphic here. you talk about the heat in the east coast. also across the central half of the united states.hi we've got a lot of hot air right over the central part of the united states. this is actually an el nino year and the jet stream has moved up to the north. when that happens, imagine all that heat. you've got heat and heat rises. so when heat rises there's an empty space down below. some air needs to fill that. and we've got all the fog off the coast. that rushes in from the coast. of course, it's blocked by the sierra range. so it doesn't make it to the central part of the country. but for us, since that cooler sair being pulled right in, we continue to get cooler temperatures. this is going to be the chain right -- the -- as we go through the weekend, we'll continue to see more of those cooler conditions. back to you. >> thank you for the update. this morning, the agriculture official who was fired after her racial comments were taken out of context just

got a new job offer from the federal government. several leaders have apologized to shirley sherrod. she says she's not angry over her hasty dismissal. tracie potts is live in washington, d.c., where even the white house chimed in. >> reporter: good morning. she says she's not angry but she also says she's not sure she's interested in that new job. her boss, agriculture secretary tom vilsack has said he wants her to come back on board after he apologized for firing her on monday. he said he wants her back on board inspect some sort of capacity that he says will be unique in dealing with the ongoing discrimination issues within his department. but she says she's not sure that would be effective. she also said in a "today" show interview here on the east coast this morning that she's not sure she can forgive that blogger who initially put that video out there. he was trying to attack the naacp. she got caught in the crossfire making comments that appeared to be racially motivated, but they

were edited and when looking at the full tape, her bosses decide she should not have been fired. the white house has also now given her an apology. so at this point, she's just weighing whether or not she wants to continue while here in washington, there is sort of a big debate over whether this is a left versus right issue between the naacp and these conservative bloggers. >> yeah, or if they jumped the gun not doing enough investigation as to what was actually said when and in what context. thank you very much, tracie. it will be interesting to watch. the question this morning, is it okay to laugh about osama bin lad cnn scott mcgrew is here to show us a controversial new movie out. >> is terrorism comedy not generally going to mix but there's this movie made in india. it's released now. it's banned in parts of the world. the baliwood plot revolves around a down on his luck pakistani tv reporter who fakes an exclusive interview with osama bin laden.

now he gets osama bin laden on tv by dressing up a local chicken farmer as the terrorist. it's all a big spoof. in the end, because it's baliwood, everyone breaks into song and dance. the question is whether the world is ready for a comedy about al qaeda. speaking of movies, netflix has seen major changes to its business. not only has it added millions of subscribers. it now says 60% of videos watched by customers were watched streaming online and not by dvd. netflix also says it's taking tv episodes very seriously. you have hulu and itunes. they offer tv. now netflix is saying this may be where the real future is at. it started to offer entire seasons of tv episodes that you can watch on netflix for free assuming you have the netflix subscription. >> thanks, scott. now to an update on the story we first brought you

earlier this month. we told you abouts. target wantg to go to san francisco. now they want not one, but two stores. target confirmed it wants a new story in the metrion entertainment district. we already told you about the one at the city shopping plaza on geary. a lot of locals were quick to tell store representatives what they wanted if target does move into town, including hiring local contractors and solid antidiscrimination policies. target says each store could employ between 200 and 250 people. >> the architects in charge of designing the museum of the world trade center site will be in charge of the blueprints at a local landmark. they beat out 34 other finalists to design the new wing of the san francisco museum of modern art. the $250 million expansion will be the city's largest private project between now and the

opening in 2016. it will increase the size of the museum by 160,000 square feet. thousands of fans will flock to the annual comic con convention this weekend. the annual event is in san diego and many people say it's kind of a pilgrimage of sorts for sci-fi fans all around the world. and it's also very big business for hollywood. major studios use that convention to preview movies and tv shows and generate some buzz online. the comic book movie has become a big deal and the internet has really taken over the way people talk about movies. >> it worked in 2007 when teaser footage of the first "iron man" movie sent a b-list superhero to the top of the box office. now clips from the upcoming movie "the green hornet" and nbc's new fall series "the event" will also premiere this year at comic con set for saturday. so if you are going down there, check it out. >> a blue mohawk there.

6:40 right now. want to check in with mike with a look at the morning commute. >> the fremont accident on the southbound side of 880. actually, we had no confirmation that two lanes were cleared. i get back. a sig-alert has been called and it's canceled. so the lanes did cancel. that sig-alert only lasted six minutes. when chp thinks it's going to take a half hour to clear, that's great news. not cleared quickly enough to avoid any slowdown. making that merge over toward the san mateo bridge. so that will probably stick around for much of your morning commute there. heading down towards teenyson, it will get cleared a little bit toward newark and highway 84. heading north to the bay bridge, we'll show you the toll plaza and the backup in the cash lanes. fast track and more cash lanes getting off 880. your cash lanes off to the left. those are the issue. the backup going back to about the back of the parking lot. moving pretty slowly for the rest of the approach and the maze. the east bay.

livermore continues to show the slowdown as you are coming out of the area. and then through the alta mont pass and through the heart of livermore. speeds fluctuating between 50s and 40s through the area. 17 minutes for your average drive there. the south bay moving slowly as well. sunol grade not showing any major slowdown. the construction has picked up. northbound roouts showing a nice drive. north long the peninsula, very nice as well. and still the water main break but the slowing around lombard and buchanan has cleared. back over to you. >> thank you, mike. we continue to follow breaking news out of the central valley. northbound highway 99 in fresno this morning. this is a scene of a deadly bus crash. take a look at these pictures coming into our newsroom minutes ago. the bus crash happened early this morning about 2:15. reportedly took the lives of at least five people. there were some other vehicles involved. you see the people out there on the streets.

paramedics taking people away on stretchers this morning. a lot of injuries to report. and certainly affecting the morning commute through there. >> also not sure exactly where the bus was ultimately headed. we know it was on its way to sacramento. then we don't know. sometimes those buses end up coming to the bay area which could mean there could be bay area people on board. obviously, highway 99 is one of the main north/south routes. you have business through the central valley and down to l.a., that is closed right now. at least in the northbound lanes. they have a detour. get around on city streets. something to watch for if you are in that area this morning.

good morning. 6:26. want to start with this live shot, san francisco looking toward the bay bridge. look at all the haze and cloudy conditions. temperatures this hour are in the 50s all over most of the bay area. there's going to be a lot of cloud cover for most of the morning. 52 san francisco. 58 in oakland. walnut creek 55. same for livermore. san jose, 55 degrees.

as you might imagine, with the low ceilings, we have delays at sfo. 52 minutes for some arriving flights due to some slow ceilings. that's a lot of fog out there. a little spin just to our west. that's going to help push that fog well our direction this afternoon. since it's not attached to the jet stream. it's not going to move for a couple of days. we'll continue with mild conditions inland. we'll get some sunshine. we'll continue with 60s, 70s and a couple of 80s. >> thanks a lot, craig. the giants might open next season on the road. boy is it on the road. it's in taiwan. they would play the arizona diamondbacks. the mercury news says the players have to agree to the proposal from major league baseball before any of this can happen. but if it is approved, the games will be the first of the giants play first regular season games outside of the u.s., puerto rico or canada. so halfway around the world would be a cool thing to do. an update to the child care center closings we first told you about yesterday, just ahead. plus, some people have a terrible end to their vacation.

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[ employees ] grab your bag. it's on. nine eight seven six five four three two one. good morning. time is 6:30. do you know where your money is? markets about to open. the new york stock exchange. this is the nasdaq. we always like to watch that. there some are scary predictions from the fed chair. we'll have more coming up. oakland turning to voters for money. the big bailout issues up for debate tonight. and a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. the commute getting started here. the backup forming. we're tracking your roadways all around the bay. but we begin with breaking news out of the central valley in fresno this morning. these amazing images coming into our newsroom. a horrible, a deadly freyhound bus crash that happened on highway 99 early this morning about 2:15. greyhoupd bus reportedly crashed with two other cars. northbound highway 99 in fresno is closed down this morning as

they try to assist so many people. chp confirms that five people, in fact, died. there were so many other injuries, as you take a look at the impact of that crash. firefighters arriving on the scene as well. the bus reportedly hit a car. it veered off the freeway and hit a eucalyptus tree. we know that the greyhound bus was headed to sacramento. we're now hearing from people at the scene. >> what did you find out? how did you find out? >> somebody gave me change to use the telephone. i don't know what happened. big accident. he has a broken leg and broken -- >> once again, a deadly bus crash in the central valley. highway 99. this smk kinly avenue in fresno. we do know the bus was headed to sacramento. let me tell you the bus number. it is 30601. and greyhound is now providing

an information line. 1-800-972-4583 for more information. the number is at the bottom of your screen. >> our sistercation ksee in fresno is covering this. let's listen in and see if we can get some new information. >> -- showing that there were 47 passengers, plus the driver on board the greyhound bus. and as i said, at this point, it looks like we've got everyone accounted for. but again, we're not sure how many others were in the other vehicles. and so we're still, again, trying to piece everything together. >> exactly how did this happen as we're hearing a variety of things. the bus avoided something. what was it? >> we're not exactly sure. all we know is that we're trying to piece together the bus was heading northbound 99 and the suv, the trail blazer was overturned in the fast lane. not sure if it happened right in front of the bus or if it was already there. that's still to be determined.

but after the greyhound, the trail blazer veered off to the right striking a honda srv and down the embankment. the driver of the honda crv just had minor injuries. and then the others we're just not quite sure from what vehicle and how many exactly. >> what's amazing, too -- >> we've been taking a live video from our sister station in fresno this morning where there was a horrible accident. just take a look at the impact of that. the greyhound bus is huge. >> to recap a few important details. 47 people were on the bus. we are so far confirming five people were killed. it did hit an suv and a honda. but they don't know how many people in those vehicles may have been affected. so they are still trying to sort that out. and an important help line. if you may have known somebody that could have been on this bus call 1-800-972-4583.

the number of the bus is 30601. so you can call amtrak -- or greyhound and try to get the information on that if you are concerned that somebody you may have known was on that bus and try to get some details. we'll keep you posted as well and let you know when highway 99 might reopen. city of oakland wants to raise taxes to pay for police protection. they are considering several options, including one that could have households paying hundreds of dollars more per year. nbc bay area's christie smith live in oakland with the options that were on the table. >> good morning. they are looking at about a half dozen options, including a new parcel tax for homeowners that could run up to $360 a year. and that would be for about five years. but it's going to be a tough sell for a number of reasons. this needs two-thirds majority vote to even pass. now basically people here in oakland are being asked to amend

measure y. that's an ordinance that raise money for police, fire and violence prevention programs. recently when 80 officers were laid off, the city couldn't collect it anymore. so if the amending measure y fails or if the money-making measure fails, then both of them fail, so this is really an uphill battle on two fronts. homeowners have to decide whether paying up is worth the safety of more police officers when they've been asked to do this before. some of the other options they are looking at, expanding the utility tax, a slightly higher sales tax and also raising the sales tax up to 12% on medical marijuana. now the council meets tonight at 5:30. they're going to be deciding on these things that would go on the november ballot. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, christie, for the update. new this morning, arson investigators are at sfo's long-term parking lot. they are checking out damage from a fire that burned six cars

overnight. the fire started around 12:30 last night. right now investigators don't know how it started. >> right now we don't know. that's what the fire department wants the arson team to look at. it's highly unusual for a car parked in the middle of an open air lot on a cool, damp night to ignite on its own. >> certainly a rough thing to come out to after a vacation. sfo is looking at dmv records in hopes of contacting the owners of the cars that are damaged. some schools in oakland will be able to stay open. the schools were set to close next week, but parents, laid-off workers and community leaders all volunteered to staff each school through august. the state reduced some funding for those centers, and with the city cutting $13 million from its budget there is no funding to keep the facilities open. now the governor's office blames the closures on the legislature's failure to pass a new budget. >> hyatt hotel workers in san francisco will join a nationwide

protest today. they'll rally at 4:00 this afternoon to protest what they say is unfair treatment. the workers are members of the union unite here local 2. they include cooks, bellmen, dishwashers and housekeepers. sticking points include health care and retirement coverage. the march will start in the plaza near the four seasons hotel near third and market streets. it will eventually end at union square. time 6:37. could be a very interesting day on wall street after some comments from the fed. scott mcgrew checking the opening markets on the markets. >> ben bernanke saying things are highly unusual. dow industrials are up 119 points. nasdaq up 32 with kid on the nasdaq. ebay up about $1.10 after that company said that its paypal unit did very, very well in san jose. laura? >> thank you very much, scott. in just hours, b.a.r.t. will consider temporarily reducing fares. riders are saying, thanks, but no thanks.

80% of riders surveyed by b.a.r.t. don't want the four-month fare rollback b.a.r.t. is paurchg when b.a.r.t. discovered a $4.5 million surplus, directors decided to roll back fares 3% for four months as a thank you to riders. but riders say they'd rather have longer service hours and cleaner cars. b.a.r.t.'s board will vote on the rollbacks at 9:00 a.m. in oakland. right now 6:38. we want to check your morning commute. >> b.a.r.t. lines not reporting any delays. always nice to hear about updates you have from all sides of the transportation system because the roadways sometimes, you don't want to watch the slowdowns. the southbound side at malorie coming through fremont. see the slowing happening just over the last minute and a half. we have an accident now currently blocking two lanes in the southbound direction. northbound is okay. southbound heading toward the auto mall and then mission. that will be the slowdown by an accident that occurred in just the last five minutes.

now north heading towards the san mateo bridge. the northbound side moves slowly. slowing from 238 past the bridge and down past tennyson where the earlier accident caused a sig-alert for a short six minutes. livermore, a nice easy drive. and east peninsula drive. there's a widening project that's completed. that's good news for folks traveling through this area. >> we'll send it right over to craig. certainly cooler after this morning. >> telling people to bundle up in july. >> our summertime. we get the fog at the coast but 90s inland. not the case today. bundle up today, tomorrow. waking up to 50s. highs. livermore, 76. 83. 60 san francisco. we have enough fog coming through in the morning hours. delays at sfo, 52 minutes for arriving flights. another cool one. a major security breach at the state fair. how police say thieves got away with $100,000.

and i'm bob redell live here in oakland. what's next for ac transit bus riders who could be entering what would be their fourth dave sick-out. we could find out. i'll explain coming up in a live report. forget man versus nature. how about whale versus boat. hear about the couple who survived after a 40-ton whale tried to hitch a ride right on top of them.

here's a live look at the

broken oil well at the bottom of the gulf. the cap is still holding tight. but it may have to be pulled off. nbc bay area's charles had lock is leading our continuing coverage from venice, louisiana. charles, mother nature may toss the relief workers a curveball on this one. >> that's right. just as bp is tantalizingly close to permanently killing this well and ending this catastrophe in the gulf of mexico, at least as far as the flow of oil is concerned, mother nature is intervening. the national hurricane center is watching an area of disturbed weather that could become a low pressure system later today. perhaps a tropical storm by the weekend. entering the gulf of mexico and because of that, the coast guard and bp have decided to stop work on the relief well and wait in place and they will be probably evacuating the area if this storm moves into the gulf of mexico because a lot of those ships, 65 of them in all around the deep water horizon site, would have to evacuate in case the storm came through.

so another delay caused this time by mother nature. laura? >> one that could be out of control for a while. thank you, charles. workers on the deepwater horizon rig had safety concerns long before the well exploded in march. "the new york times" published parts of a confidential survey filled out by workers on the rig. they said equipment was unreliable and that staying on schedule took precedence over maintaining the rig. 11 workers died when that rig exploded. >> a major security breach at the state fair in sacramento. police say two armed robbers stole $100,000 from the fair's safe deposit bank. police spent the night conducting an aerial and ground search. the suspects wore fair food service uniforms. ac transit workers are calling in sick due to what they call an unfair contract. bob, can commuters expect delays

this morning? >> well, to be determined, i guess, there, laura. if history is any judge they've been doing the sick-outs for the last three days. this would be the fourth day. we see no reason they wouldn't continue with that. we could find out what the next move is for ac transit bus riders. at 10:00 a.m., a union meeting here in oakland for hundreds of the ac transit workers, including those bus drivers. the meeting, according to the union, they've advertised it as a discussion about the recently imposed contract. and its impact on workers and the riding public. ac transit improved the new -- imposed the new contract on the workers on sunday. since then, drivers have been calling in sick at a rate more than double the normal, causing delays for bus riders. >> that is so selfish. and so wrong to a community that's struggling not only to get to jobs but people are homeless and fighting for their lives right now and you want to strike? my thing is do what you do, but don't expect any sympathy from the public.

none. you will get none, ac transit. >> in spite of that, regular riders said ac transsit not on strike. the union denies what's been going on this sweek a sick-out protest. they say drivers are calling in sick because they've been asked to drive a route they're not trained for or because of changes in their work schedule that are less convenient leaving some workers in a lurch for childcare. that new contract imposed on them changed work rules and increased their health care costs. a judge has ordered the union and ac transit to settle this ongoing contract with an arbitrator. the union has asked a judge to stop the imposition of this contract. the judge isn't expected to rule on that until next friday, a week from tomorrow. reporting live here in oakland, bob redell, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, gob. the bay area has a new park to enjoy. a kickoff celebration for the dublin hills park just orth north 580. it's a 520-re park.

it gives hikers a gorgeous view of san francisco, mt.52 tam and just about everything in between. rails are openeto hikers, bikers and equestrians. more than 100,000 acres of parkland so enjoy the new one. a coup whole decided to spend the day whale watching got a whole lot more than they bargained for. a 40-ton whale was in south african waters twhen crashed into their sailboat snapping the mast in half. take a look at the sooifs this. the whale left barnacles and pieces of blubber on the deck but swam off and seemed fine. they talked about the on-deck ordeal. >> i saw this huge monster shape come out of the water. and that's it. i mean, it just happened in an instant. it was quite frightening. >> blow me down, blow off my top

siders. you can catch the rest of that interview coming up on the "today" show. >> and he is going to chase that whale around the world. >> they ought to write a book about this. >> you've got a warning about something. >> there's a study in australia. surveying 1,000 couples about their attitudes towards relationships. and found those couples who go and see a lot of romantic comedies, where everything turns out perfect in the end, have an unrealistic view about how love should be. the study is commissioned by filmmakers. it says 1 in 4 women who are fans of these romantic comedies expect their man to know what they are thinking. here's a strange quiz this morning. the actor who is going to play mark zuckerberg in "the social network" has a cousin who works at facebook who meets with the real zuckerberg every day.

that came out as the real zuckerberg talked with diane sawyer in an interview last night. this movie about facebook is based on the book "accidental billionaires." it's a fictsionalized understanding of how facebook came around. so you'll see more and more controversy about this. a lot of stuff may not have really happened the way it did. >> how many people use facebook? >> about 500 million, i've heard. >> extraordinary. amazing. >> how many people served. the morning pep talk you have to see before walk out the door. plus putting more officers on the door and keeping schools opened. one of the biggest cities turns to voters trying to get out of the red. >> more fog over the bay area. it's going to take awhile to burn off. i'll have your forecast coming up. and we're still pretty bay area proud of this one. cheer sf gave it her all but didn't make it to the next round of "america's got talent." she did raise money for aids and others with life-challenging

problems. they are celebrating their 30th year.

new this morning, the usda official who was fired after being accused of racial comments must now decide if she wants her job back. shirley sherrod was fired monday after a conservative blog posted an edited version of what she said about a white farmer 24 years ago. on the "today" show, sherrod said the blogger meant to divide people. >> he knew that his actions would take shirlee sherrod down. he didn't mind doing that.

he thought, i think he probably hoped it would also deal with the naacp. it would be hard for me to forgive him at this point. >> you can watch the rest of that interview coming up on the "today" show. oakland city leaders are brainstorming ways to raise money trying to rehire some of those police officers who were recently laid off. one of the plans could cost taxpayers hundreds of more dollars. nbc bay area's christie smith live this morning in oakland. christie, oakland voters are going to have to decide how much more they're going to shell out. >> that's right. you know, the oakland city council is looking at the least a half a dozen options here trying to raise money. they are looking at everything from a higher medical marijuana tax. also on the more controversial end, a higher parcel tax for homeowners. these are just some of the things they are looking at. voters want their police department restored and those who are willing to pay for it. but there are also those who blame oakland city council saying they should have done a

better job managing taxpayer money. the council is asking voters to amend measure y which pays for things -- helps pay for things like police, fire and violence prevention programs when they laid off the 80 officers earlier in the week, they couldn't collect that. now there are again about a half a dozen options on the table for the november ballot. the city council expected to weigh in on those this evening at 5:30. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, christie. we're also keeping our eye on a horrible bus accident. it happened in central valley this morning. live look now at the scene. it looks like they are trying to clean it up. it happened on highway 99. northbound lanes were closed this morning. six people confirmed dead. this is a look at some video that we have that came into our newsroom. look at the destruction. it was a huge greyhound bus traveling northbound. we know it was headed towards sacramento. we don't know if it was making its way to the bay area as well.

it was bus 30601. i tell you that in case you perhaps had family members that were on it. greyhound has given us information hotline numbers. 1-800-972-4583. multiple paramedics were called out to the scene to assist. there were so many people that were injured. six people died. quite a mess on highway 99. no doubt will affect the commute down there. want to check in with mike inouye with a look at our morning commute here as well. >> i did want to point out on the map, the bus accident, this is in fresno, northbound 99 at mckinley. the highway in the northbound direction is currently closed all lanes. they're hoping to open a couple. this is out in fresno. this will not affect most of the morning commute very far out there. what will affect it is at stevenson boulevard. a sig-alert has been issued. it's blocking two lanes. things slow coming out of san leandro because of an earlier

sig-alert there continuing down through fremont and toward auto mall parkway and durham. livermore a little slow there. our live shot down through the south bay. san jose, all directions moving slowly. but there's that haze in the air. and that will be an issue closer to the coast as far as visibility. >> temperatures a good 5 to 10 degrees higher than average. 60s, 70s and 80s. just look at that. we usually have nice warm temperatures. live over sunol. temperatures in the 50s. we'll get to 60. san francisco, 76 livermore. 77 san jose. 73 in napa. brent and laur awe'll have more of that cool condition tomorrow. now to one of those youtube finds that makes your day. one little girl inspired thousands of people. check out her morning pep talk. >> my whole house is great. i can do anything good. i like my school. i like anything. i like my dad. i like my cousin. i like my aunt. i like my addison.

i like my mom. i like my sisters. i like my dad. >> i like my dad. i like my mom. i like everything. life is good. yeah, get it going. >> coffee is great for kids. >> we had a huge debate in our newsroom about another adorable kid. we'll bring you that one tomorrow and get your opinion on it. >> thanks for joining us this morning. "today" show coming up next. >> have a great day. love your mom. love your dad. give them a call. >> the weather guy. >> great. >> thanks. have a good one.