] life insurance you can use while you're still living. you are one lucky lady. mm-hmm. [ male announcer ] learn more from your state farm agent today. new this morning, u.c. berkeley announced a new program to help students strugglig foei pay for their education, specifically the middle class. much closer to changing their name and their address. what's next in their push to move south. alcohol use by teenarsfo reaches historic lows new survey shows they're turn iing to something else. beautiful looking day in oakland right now. started off very cool. it's starting to heat up. that's the good news. the 11:00 am news starts right now.

good morning, everyone. thank you very much for joining us. i'm jon kelley. >> and i'm marla tellez. it's becoming harder and harder for middle class families to send their kids to college. the university just unveiled a first of its kind program, designed to help. christie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, marla. a group of students shrinking here at urch.c. berkeley. that's middle-class students. this program puts a cap on the amount that their parents are expected to contribute to that student's education at 15% of their income. specifically targets parents

between $140,000 and $180,000 a year. in the past, the u.c. system has seen a 9% drop in middle income students. tuition went up 8% in the fall and seems to keep rising. it sparked student protests over the amount of student loan debts students are taking on. undergraduate tuition alone is $13,000 a year. that's more like $32,000 when you include room and board and all the extras. this new scenario offers new aid but some students are still a little skeptical. >> our ambition is that not only will it be ongoing, but assuming that my own hope turns out correct that we would be able to. >> they can say a lot of things.

until they actually do it and make it affordable to the lower and middle-class americans, we won't get any benefits out of it. >> reporter: under the scenario they're talking about, parents that make $100,000 a year would be expected to contribute $15,000 to their education and the student is expected to contribute $8,000 a year and the u.c. system kicking in $9,000. it's only available at u.c. berkeley. applications are available in january. and this would be for the fall of 2012. that's the latest from here. reporting live at u.c. berkeley. jon and marla, back to you. >> christie, thank you very much. parents angry about school closures in oakland are fighting back with a recall campaign. board members who voted to close five elementary schools earlier this year. the board says the cuts were needed for budget reasons.

parents say they will rally this afternoon before today's school board meeting at 5:00. the use of police batons is the subject of a hearing today in sack rollmeramesacramento. they're discussing how police handled demonstrations although u.c. davis and berkeley. occupy protests at the port of oakland proving extremely costly. the port director says the economic loss was in the range of $4 million to $8 million. asian imports to the central valley exports. monday's demonstrations shut down six of seven terminals, causing the port to cancel, at one point, an entire shift. it is the nfl's ball now in an effort to bring the 49ers to the south bay. unanimously proving to borrow $850 million to build next to

great america. the city will use stadium revenue and naming rights to pay off the loan. san francisco officials are still hopeful the team does not leave the city. >> you never know. things can happen. even if you're behind in the fourth quarter by two touchdowns, things happen. fumbles happen. interceptions happen. >> it is still not a done deal. the plan requires the nfl to pitch in more than $150 million to cover the rest of the construction expenses. the mission, try iing to st a deadly trend. police in belmont out to send a safety message to drivers and pedestrians. trying to catch careless drivers out there. they'll also be looking for pedestrians who aren't crossing the street in marked areas. this was planned before a deadly car versus pedestrian collision, which occurred sunday night. they're supposed to clean up

restaurants in san francisco but several safety inspectors apparently got caught up in some dirty business. district attorney george gascone are announcing charges against two former health inspectors. they are accused of accepting money from restaurants in exchange to provide -- they were pocketing a couple of thousand dollars a month with the scheme. the state's pension funds, an argument says, are growing out of control. they face a long-term shortfall the size of half a trillion dollars. researchers say the shortfall is too massive by only cutting future payouts. former state assemblyman joe nation says it will cost the state $4 million each and every

day the lawmakers don't come up with a fix. critics say the report is based on faulty data. google is donating $11.5 million for the intervention and rescue of people being held, forced to work or provide sex against their will. part of google's $40 million end of year charitable donations. in total, the company doled out more than $100 million in donations this year. >> very, very generous by google stepping up and try iing to hel out those in need on many, many fronts. time to check out the weather. >> it was called this morning. i can tell you that. >> meteorologist christina loren telling us it looks like we'll warm up nicely. >> yes. so cold marla tellez broke out something she hasn't in a while.

can i tell you them? >> of course you can. >> the long underwear. she's smart. you won't need that long underwear tonight. clouds will serve as a blanket and trap in some of the daytime heat we will pick up today. we have showers on the way thursday early. we'll see a cool and cloudy afternoon thursday. quick shot of rain clears out of here. enough moisture to provide another round of frost as we wake up friday morning. very cold conditions yet again. we'll get one mild night. i'll take you through that forecast and we'll time out those showers coming up. still ahead, president obama thanks the troops. his message to the men and women in uniform at ft. bragg as the iraq war comes to an end. >> reporter: i'm bob redell. why uncle sam wants you to hang up the phone for good, even your bluetooth while you're behind the wheel. that story, coming up.

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[ female announcer ] choose the bundle that fits your life. at&t. welcome back, everybody. president obama marking the end of the iraq war, telling troops the u.s. is leaving peacefully and leaving behind a better nation. >> crossing the border of iraq with their heads held high. >> the president and first lady, michellespeaking to troops in ft. bragg, making sure the government does all it can to ensure veterans have jobs when they get back home.

u.s. department of labor, nine of the bay area's 12 chuck e. cheese's have paid a total of almost $30,000 in fines for violating federal child labor laws. according to the department of labor, locations allowed teenaged employees to operate machinery, including a trash compacter and dough mixer. redwood city, brentwood, newark, san bruno, cupertino and two in san jose. more teenagers are using pot and see it as less of a risk while alcohol use among that age group has dropped to historic lows. that's a survey of 47,000 teenageers. they found one of every 15 high school seniors reported smoking pot on a daily or nearly day basis, the highest rate since

1981. on the flip side, alcohol use continues to decline, but it's still an issue. 40% of 12th graders reported drinking in the previous 30 days before taking the survey, compared to 54% in 1991. hanging up that cell phone for good once you get behind the wheel of a car. bob redell explains. >> reporter: national transportation safety board now looks at talking while behind the wheel and other forms of distracted driving as the new dui. it's become so dangerous in their eyes that they're now recommending that all states ban all forms of cell phone use while you're behind the wheel, texting, e-mailing and talking, even if you're hands free, which is legal in the state of california. a big part of this concern stems from this. over 3,000 people were killed last year because of distracted driving, including two teens in

missouri, one texting while driving, the other a passenger on a school bus. texting while driving is already illegal in that state for drivers under 21. the board doesn't believe that law is enforced enough. texting and e-mailing while driving is illegal for all drivers in this state, california, washington, d.c. and 34 other states. >> ntsb thinks even a bluetooth is dangerous. that any sort of talking is dangerous. you don't agree? >> not on that. >> reporter: why? >> with the blue tooth you're actually safe. >> it's a great idea but my question is, what about the newer cars with the cell phone option inside of it? >> makes sense. it's caused a lot of problems with people out there trying to do two things at the same time. >> reporter: even talking hands free? >> i think it's pretty distracting. i'm guilty myself, but -- >> reporter: the ntsb cannot

force states to adopt their recommendation. it's just that. but it does carry a lot of weight in congress and state legislatures. bob redell, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, bob. your neighborhood post office might be safe from closure after all, at least for now. u.s. postal service will delay the shutting down or consolidating of thousands of post offices across the country after requests from lawmakers. congress first needs to pass legislation to overhaul the troubled agency. no post offices will be closed or merged until may 15th at the earliest. if you're thinking of buying one of those brand new big screen tvs for christmas, experts say you may want to wait until after the new year to get it done. retail chains largely focused on high-end models. for demand, tv sales have been low. and cheaper sets for other rooms

in their home. news.com, sales on those high-end sets could get much bigger, starting in january. they're the hot new gadgets to have this holiday. amazon's kindle fire and the nook from barnes & noble. which one is better? we talk ed to a tech expert for this hands-on review. >> out of nowhere, ipad established a market for tablets. the market's new, cheaper smaller rivals, kindle fire and nook tablet want in on. >> ipad is much more of a computer than these two devices, but most of what people do on an ipad is consume media. >> msnbc's deputy tech editor says media consumption, books, movies and games is what these new android gadgets are counting on. >> they deliver about the same reading and entertainment

experience. >> reporter: they're also both wi-fi devices but the kindle fire relies on it more for streaming media and accessing content stored in the cloud. >> they put only 8 gigabytes of storage, which means ten movies whereas the nook has on-board storage options. >> reporter: they also differ in their physical design. >> the nook has a little bit better design. there's a home button you can press, volume buttons on the side. the kindle went for the no button, minimalist thing. >> it gives nook points for longer battery life while kindle scores with wider array at offerings. it's also about $50 cheaper. >> it could be a coke and pepsi situation, where the kindle sells a ton but the nook tablet actually does very, very well. >> rockman suggests the tablet choice for many consumers could be as simple as company

preference. okay. it's not steve jobs or herman cain. "time" magine named its person of the year this morning. the winner is, protesters. in making its selection, they described descent across the middle east, europe and the u.s. protesters are reshaping global politics. facebook founder and ceo mark zuckerberg got the top honor last year. >> interesting choice on that one. >> re interesting. it's time to check back in with meteorologist christina loren. >> the last full week of fall as we kick off next thursday, the first official day of winter. this morning, we still have low clouds hanging around us, keeping your temperatures down in the north bay. it's hazy out here, san jose. we have a pretty good layer of haze. we have a spare the air day in place. let's go ahead and talk about your air quality. moderate levels along the

peninsula and the bay. unhealthy readings in the north bay. keep that in mind if you suffer from asthma, respiratory issues. much better air quality as a result. we'll lose the 60s 61 in los gatos, 58 in san francisco with clouds clearing before they roll back in ahead of an area of low pressure. that's right now barreling toward the california coast. as we head through tonight, cloudy conditions will keep your conditions 5 to 10 degrees warmer than where we ended up this morning. it looks like we'll start to see our first showers in ukiah northward about midnight and then they'll spread south. we'll stop the clock on futurecast at 3:00 am. that's when we'll see the first action in the north bay. continue that clock until 7:00 am. getting wet over the greater bay area. the whole thing blows out very quickly tomorrow. left with cloudy and cool

conditions. that's our last chance of rain in the extended period. nice dry pattern, nice stretch of fair weather from friday to tuesday. 60 degrees tuesday. a couple of cool days to get through. showers thursday. i think we'll see a clear enough sky thursday night to make way to widespread frost friday morning. after that, weekend looks good for outdoor activities. a lot of people still have stockings to stuff. if you need to do any shopping, you don't have to dodge the showers to do so. >> very good news on that. coming up, the unusual purchase by universities, children's groups and museums around the world. why they recently snapped up web domains usually used by porn sites. and in the bay area, what's keeping inmates busy all year. >> to join the discussion, check us out on facebook. search nbc bay area. it's that easy.

purchase by cal and several other universities, museums and other groups, buying xxx domain names. they went on sale as an a alternative to dot com sites. they did it to prevent porn sites from grabbing the addresses first. stanford did it as well, along with the vatican, boy scouts and girl scouts. paying more to get rid of some trash. city council approving a measure to charge homeowners an extra 5% for garbage pickup. homeowners will now pay more than $17 each for pickup.

to cover rising collection costs. chp on the lookout for litter bugs today, trying to clean up the bay area roadways. they want to bring attention to how the trash can be harmful to the environment and dangerous to drivers. caltrans picking up trash all over bay area roads. busy in the south bay. these are not your traditional elves but inmates at elmwood correctional facility. they've been working hard all year year, using their woodworking tale talents making toys for kids in need. this is the 11th year for the project. the toys will be sent to the military's toys tot for tots

program. >

welcome back. 11:26. showers south of santa rosa about 3:00 am, moving ove the greater bay area, leaving us with cloudy and cool conditions. keep that umbrella handy. after that, we stay dry for a while. back to you guys. finally this morning, a new survey shows one of the least vain cities in the country. >> that's the good side. sacramento also ranking the nation's least handsome. that's right. living social website polled cities across the country. 23% considered local men handsome. >> ouch. >> less plastic surgery and poorer personal hygiene than others on that survey. they also reported fewer people

spray tanning. >> the vainest cities, chicago, atlanta, philadelphia, phoenix and miami number one on the list. i've never been to miami. >> bringing the heat.