employees are facing salary cuts and layoffs, something unheard of in the past. today the issue is front and center in san jose where firefighters make an average of $180,000 a year, that's average. they went door-to-door with a warning for people they protect. nbc bay area garvin thomas is in san jose with details. garvin? >> reporter: diane, the budget problem here in san jose, a $118 million deficit is not just a firefighter's problem. what's making the firefighters in the city different is most other city unions including the police department have made agreements to make concessions to chip away at the deficit and save some jobs. the firefighters last proposal was rejected meaning what's likely to come are layoffs and reduced staffing including here at fire station 30, west of downtown. so what the firefighters did here today and in one other neighborhood on the east side is decided to go door-to-door and take their message away from the

negotiating table and talk to people at front doors. they were handing out leaflets and telling people that cuts in staffing means increased response time. what they do is different than what other city departments do because people's lives depend on them. the question for the union is, if police can agree to concessions, why not firefighters? >> we've made an identical proposal in that all of the features that were incorporated in the police officer's proposal we have and we have some added value features in ours so ours is worth even more money. >> but the city's response to that is that staffing for police departments is very different than staffing for fire departments, as they work differently and the same proposal can't be used for both. that's one reason why the firefighters latest proposal was rejected. the city says, in response to these threatened cuts, that they're rolling out something called "dynamic staffing" something that will help them move firefighters around the city more easily and help keep

response time down, even with fewer firefighters. reporting live from san jose, garvin thomas, nbc bay area. >> thank you. speaking of fires, fire crews are battling a six-alarm grass fire burni ining vakville. some of those properties have horses as you can see. the fire is just one of three burning right now in solano county. two 13-year-old children were shot last night in east oakland and police say they are looking for the person responsible. the shooting happened just before 11:00 last night near the intersection of 83 hrd avenue and olive street. the police initially said it was a child and adult that was shot. they're not saying what led up to the shooting or releasing information on a suspect just yet. neighbors say there was a large party last night with children and adults spilling into the street. >> i heard a lot of music and

i'm thinking they're having like a weekend party. i heard a lot of kids in the backyard and then all the sudden i heard like two shots and i see a whole bunch of people running into my yard, hopping over the gate. and i hear kids screaming. >> reporter: police say the two victims, a girl and boy, are expected to recover. neither of their injuries are life-threatening. some of the 80 oakland police officers laid off could soon be back on the job, but this time working for free. more than 60 officers say they will volunteer to work in the unpaid reserve to keep up their training certification. if they don't walk a beat for 60 days in a row they'd have to go through 130 hours of training to get back on the opd force when and if there's a position to rehire them. the department says it hopes to have the reserves on the streets by august. and farther north, vallejo police officers are doubling up. police leaders say it's too dangerous for officers to patrol

alone there. the move means that only half as many police cars will be on the streets. the new rule is not expected to stave bankrupt city any money but critics say it skimps on public protection. they use the partner system and it will speed up response times because they won't have to wait for backup. the move comes a week after the vallejo week announced it will suspend their canine and s.w.a.t. programs starting on august 1st because of budget cuts. garlic to the rescue. the gilroy garlic festival is going on this weekend and the smell is sweet to area charities hurting in this economy. damian trujillo has a look for us. >> we have the shrimp. that is about 3500 pounds. about 4,000 pounds of garlic. >> reporter: the reason they come from all over the world. more than 100,000 of them over the weekend. >> i'm here to enjoy garlic. i love it so i'm going to keep eating it.

>> the aroma lured her here all the way from l a. >> this is some sausage here. >> calamari, and later on i'll get the scampi and then -- >> the more they eat -- >> i have crab garlic rice and -- >> reporter: the more the until stays opened. that's also more money going back to local charities and it couldn't come at a better time with diminishing state and county funds. >> the economy is in bad shape. so grants and money available for nonprofits more and more difficult to come about. >> the bottom line is that this is all good for gilroy. >> reporter: the mayor bridged the local budget gap with firefighter contract concessions and some layoffs. the festival will help city coffers a little but for local charities it's never sounded or smelled better.

damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. when you travel by bus or van you likely expect to arrive safely. today officers worked to make sure that happened. officers inspected tour buses at great america park to check for potential safety violations both mechanical and driver-related coming in the wake of thursday's deadly greyhound crash that killed six people including three women inside an suv that the bus hit. the chp says a small number of buses cut corners on safety. >> our goal is to ensure that no one's safety is compromised. when these drivers are taking people to different destinations they usually carry a group of people. usually, if it's something tragic or a serious crash, lots of people are usually injured. >> chp says it conducts 2,000 inspections each year. coming up next at 6:00, the case of the tree killer that's stumped the police. we'll show you the bay area park where dozens of beloved trees

are being chopped down in the dead of night. and the bay area lake being overrun by algae. we'll have a look at that. and this is a high school stage but these are not teenagers. a look at a unique a bay area performing arts school is trying to

♪ >> sounds pretty good. the drama plays on and off the stage as this south bay high school. these are not teenagers but alum

from the past 30 years in san jose's lincoln high school. they are performing to raise money to keep the highly-regarded performing arts program running at that school. some lung came from los angeles to play their part. >> i never would have entertained the thought of going into this field if it hadn't been for the things i learned at lincoln and the support and inspiration i got here. it chokes me up. i'm really devastated to think of this school without the performing arts program. >> the school is hoping to raise $75,000. there's another performance, by the way, in case you're interested, set for 8:00 tonight. people looking to cool off in the south bay won't be able to go to the lake any time soon. that is, that's because of a potentially harmful algae bloom in the south san jose lake. the blue/green algae is especially dangerous for small children and the lake will be closed until thing a gee dissipates which could come when the weather cools off which is

when folks won't need the lake anymore. fresh fruit and vegetables are a luxury in some neighborhoods and that's the reason behind the new farmer's market that opened today. it will provide fresh food for people in daily city and the market will be opened every saturday from 9:00 to 1:00 through october. and some at 6:00, the investigation into who is cutting down dozens of trees in a bay area park? and now the city is offering a reward. we'll show you. and death-defying charity work over the edge of a bay area skyscraper. beautiful day to do it. still sunshine across the santa clara valleys. here's san jose downtown. e'll have fog tomorrowlng morng and we'll have your weekend forecast coming up in a bit. [ female announcer ] jobs leaving.

a budget disaster. california on the brink. jerry brown's plan? you run for office and the assumption is, oh, i know what to do. you don't. i didn't have a plan for california. [ female announcer ] with our state in crisis, we need a governor with a plan. you need a real plan, something i'll acknowledge i did not have. [ female announcer ] jerry brown. no plan then. no plan now. meg whitman. a plan for jobs.

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there's a tree tragedy going on in golden gate park. someone has been killing the elm, dogwood and cherry trees in five separate incidents in the park since may. the city is offering a $2,000 reward. tracy grant has a look. >> reporter: not only did someone commit a massacre of these trees here in golden gate park, if you look over here at this tree, that's been cut down, right in here, it looks like the beginnings of a bird's nest so they'll have to find a new home. >> i was shocked. i can't understand why anybody would want to kill a tree. >> the family is stumped. they took a day trip from palo alto to golden gate park and found themselves surrounded by dead trees. >> it looks like a power tool

was used to cut it. it's a very smooth cut and relatively little saw dust. so something very sharp sand powerful went through quickly. >> the department of recreation and parks says a total of 44 trees have been chopped, yanked out of the ground or had their roots sliced. these are the latest victims. 14 were attacked on wednesday night and the tree's lives were cut short. some were planted by staff and volunteers a few months ago on earth day. >> we're stunned that somebody would do this. unfortunately there are some people that behave very badly in our parks and it's very damaging. >> reporter: he said they constantly deal with vandals that cut the irrigation systems or spray paint the walls but these latest incidents have been particularly disturbing. they're working closely with the san francisco police department to catch him in the act. we have a message for the hardwood hacker. >> i would say to someone, get some help. this is a sick thing.

>> reporter: the department of rec and parks said it will try to find some way to get more park patrols out here so that this doesn't happen again. in san francisco, tracy grant, nbc bay area news. in san francisco, police say they broke up a plan to sell illegal transfer tickets. investigators have had a sting operation and they arrested two men teaming up to sell the tickets. one of them, a san francisco muni employee. both are due in court next friday for a preliminary hearing. san jose held a parade and festival in honor of disabled americans. this is the 20th nirmg of the americans with disabilities act. the landmark legislation made it illegal to discriminate against someone with a disability. in san francisco this weekend, fundraising taken to

new heights, 38 stories to be exact. this is the over the edge event where adrenalin-craving participants repel down the side of the grand hyatt hotel to raise awareness and money for the special olympics. san francisco personality kicked things off by raising $1500 from the lesbian and gay community. >> all of sit about a cause. and in this, i wasn't familiar with this until about six months ago and once you hear the cause, the kids get to go to camp and compete and train, all free of charge because of the money we raise here and at other events. >> propelling in sequence. nice. more than 100 pledged to go over the edge yesterday and today all for the special olympics. we have craig checking out the weather. it was a perfect day in san francisco but the fog is coming back in. it's fast. we reached a high of 60 degrees in san francisco. 88 in livermore and you talk about the fog, look at this. pretty thick.

we've got a lot through the evening hours. there's san francisco looking toward the transamerica pyramid. if you were with us at 5:00 you can barely make out the building and at times we can't make it out. look at this. the golden gate, here's a better perspective of it. headlights are on some cars and at times you may need to put your windshield wiper on to get rid of the mist. it hadn't reached oakland yet but the hayze is out there. the south end of the bay, there's a live shot over san jose looking to fremont. we've dropped to 58 degrees in san francisco. all that cold air covering most of the city. 36 in oakland. 80s on the other side of the hill closer to livermore. from they va to.

and we have the wind picking pup. mostly from the northwest. 10 to 20 miles per hour so a lot of cold air is getting blown in. we have the feature off the kohl's spinning that in so that's why we're getting that throughout the evening. temperature vls drops from where we were this time yesterday, an indication of what's to come. i wanted to show you this monsoon, what we have going on now. monsoon in the summertime. thunderstorms over new mexico, utah and colorado. a lot is getting pulled up along the sierra. look at the lightning strikes in the past one hour. quite a bit of them. there is high fire danger for the sierra tomorrow. tonight and tomorrow. they're going to get some heavy downpours but some lightning strikes could start off the fires. look at reno getting quite a bit of lightning. head to the higher country for hiking or camping, prepare for

that. if you see lightning take shelter and be away from that. this spinning right here and that's the strong push of the cold marine air and making it nice and deep so tomorrow morning we'll wake up to about 2,000 feet of that. that throw sending that monsoon up in our direction giving us more thunderstormers through the sierra tomorrow. there's a chance some of that could reach napa county and some hills but most will stay across the sairp, nevada. since the fog is so thick tomorrow and it will take a lot longer to burn off, temperatures will close to where we were today. bakersfield to may dear ro and modesto and sacramento, 100 degrees. and high fire danger for reno and lake tahoe due to lightning strikes. bay area highs, 62 in san francisco. lower 60s at the beach. 86 in livermore. and the garlic festival, more mid 80s. the fog is so thick with the sea

breeze, upper 70s and hope 80s on wednesday, thursday and friday. >> really? thank you, craig. a beautiful day to pay tribute toetser vibli e t co.liumse cup'sg ninext.

the oakland a's hosted a "thank you party" for veterans for iraq and afghanistan. they were on hand to thank the families. several returning veterans are disabled. christian, who lost both of his legs in an explosion was chosen to get to throw out the first pitch. he said the support of the team and the fans means a whole lot. >> first of all it's an honor. it's going to be very exciting for me. and something i'll remember from now on. i'll always remember something i always wanted to do and i've been given the opportunity to. >> the department of veterans' is fars was on hand to offer vets information on education benefits and health care. we've got our check on the

a's and giants. good day for them. helping out the veterans and then getting to work. making up for lost time in a hurry. we have highlights from the coliseum. tonight, the rookie continuing to hunt down a record. catching some flax fromhe t ac hes. who's mad at the former raiders's coach? sports is next.

he led the a's in home runs for the last three seasons and for that, he was rewarded with a demotion. after returning to the big club back in may, now he's starting to pick up right where he left off homering in four of his last seven games. as for the pitching, today, he took care of that as he faced the white sox at the coliseum sooe yum striking out five and allowing two runs in six innings

and the a's wasting no time. singling to center and cliff pennington, 3-2, a's. the bottom of the fourth and the power is back on the a little longball. the only question is, did the ball actually go out? the umps discuss and yes, it's a home run. and the next batter, no doubt about this one. solo home run to right center and a's going back-to-back and they get another and he's now homered in five of his last eight games. the a's may be without the services of ben sheets for the rest of the season. not because he's on the virge of being dealt. instead, the team put the starter on the disabled list with right elbow inflammation. he's been dealing with this for the last couple of starts. sheets said he couldn't be out the minimum 15 days or the issue could be season-ending. remember when the giants had a hard time winning anywhere

except china basin except when the anywhere fell somewhere in the national league? all of that appears to be a distant memory. the giants take their fourth straight road series. arizona now where it was, the rookie show. buster posey trying to extend a hit streak and bumgarner looking for his fourth win and posy wasting no time. extends his hit streak to 17 games, the second longest for a giants' rookie. bumgarner, bo only of the three, bumgarner with a shutout. so far, the giants lead at 1-0. today, the giants placing their own pitcher on the disabled list. jeremy affeldt will be out of service for the next couple of weeks with a left oblique strain. he was warming up in the pen last night in arizona. the giants have recalled joe martinez from fresno.

that means that bruce bochey, he's ready. and the induction of the hall of fame. plus, the panda and his uniform, can you tell them apart? it only happened four times before on the pga tour and today one golfer was on the virge of doing it again. what is "it?" ranking the 60 mark. round three of the canadian open in toronto and what a heck of a round for carl patterson. he shot a 10 under, a hair away from an 11 under and breaking the 60 mark. when his 30-foot birdie putt graces the edge, instead, he has to settle for a 620, but that breaks the mark and he's tied for second, four shots back. and kippen.

and he talked about how he went about hiring away a tennessee assistant. he recently never asked for permission to talk to the assistant. that's customary. instead he he want him a voice mail after the hire was made. fisher said he's disappointed in kippen's lack of professionalism. everyone raise your hand if you've heard that before. >> really? >> lane. >> i was doing this. >> all right. thank you, laura. >> thanks for choosing the bay area at 6:00. see you back here at 11:00. until then, have a good night. you're watching "giants clubhouse" on nbc bay area. >> we have jon miller covered at home and to