Two people died in a fiery chopper explosion near seattles space needle. Hi everyone, good afternoon, im frank mallicoat. And im michelle griego. It happened as the tv news helicopter took off from the station. Kpix 5 cate caugurian is learning more from the newsroom. Cate . Reporter frank, we now know the names of the two People Killed in the crash. Helicopter pilot gary firstner and long time news photographer bill stroffman. The only piece of burned metal that can be identified is the tail of komos news helicopters. Federal investigators are on the scene and expected to update us in the next hour. Now eyewitnesses from our sister station in seattle say they saw a man with a flashlight walk around komos copter and it looked like he was inspecting it and took off an the tragic fatal flight. Oh my god. Reporter flames and smoke filled the seattle intersection after a local news helicopter crashed near the citys famous space needle killing both people on board. The copter burst into flames after hitting at least three cars leaving one of the drivers with burns to more than 50 of his body. He walked out of his car, he was bleeding and it sure was a little bit shirt was a little bet on fire and he walked about 20 feet and collapsed. Reporter the seattle affiliate says the helicopter was lifting off from this rooftop when it may have struck the side of the building and crashed. Witnesses who saw the chopper take off from the roof say it didnt look right. Noticed that it was about four and a half feet off the building, maybe a little higher as of that. I thought it might have been taking off and it did a counterclockwise turn and then went off and the nose dove into just kind of went into a size nosedive into the street. I saw the whole street light up on fire and a huge smoke cloud come up and about 55 feet of gasoline fire. I just thought its over for the people inside. Reporter authorities are still looking into what may have caused the accident. I dont know what led it to crash onto the ground. Im sure thats something the ntsb looking into interviewing not only witnesses but getting the radio traffic communication with the helicopter and faa as well. Reporter we are hearing that investigators from the faa and ntsb have been on scene for nearly two hours and a lot of work ahead of them certainly. Official says the area will be closed off through wednesday if not longer as they try to determine what may have caused the crash. Michelle . Back to you. This is so tragic and it hits so close to home. We fly the news choppers daily and unfortunately this isnt the first time weve seen an incident like this involve news helicopters. Reporter seven years ago two news helicopters collided in phoenix as they covered a police chase and michelle four people in the copters were killed. And for the latest update os temperature story just head to on the story just head to kpix. Com. Some live video this noon just in a moments ago moments ago authorities airlifted a person found unconscious in san jose down a hillside. Thats the chopper that completed the rescue and lets see where it happened. Thats sleeve video of the chopper there. It was down a steep ravine this is near the creek road rather and alum rock avenue. Once the chopper landed in a nearby parking lot they rushed the victim into an ambulance. No word yet on that persons condition. And a bay area man is among 14 people charged in a multinational Child Exploitation case. 25yearold unga of fremont is accused of conspiring to operate a child porn organize poor website. Pornography website. Federal officials dismantled the website. They have identified at least 250 victims and 39 states and five different countries. Happening today, mcdonalds workers who say theyre cheated out of overtime pay are holding a protest in oakland. This is happening at a Mcdonalds Restaurant on 12th street in the fruitvale district and it all follows Class Action Lawsuits in three states including california. Kpix 5 reporter mark kelly is at the scene of the protest right now. Mark . Reporter thats right michelle. The issue here for workers is they say mcdonalds has not been paying them specifically for overtime that they worked and now a Class Action Lawsuit has been filed in three different states. All across the country. Now this mcdonalds here in fruitvale has actually been friendly to these protestors this morning. Allowing them inside to let their voice be heard. Heres a little bit from the rally earlier. [ people chanting ] the workers charged mcdonalds with committing wage theft. Forcing workers to work off the clock and not spay overtime. Pay overtime. Even accusing mcdonalds of erasing the overtime on their time sheets. Now the Class Action Lawsuits have been filed in three states. California, new york, and michigan. But plaintiffs say mcdonalds is just the start of this effort. These corporations make billions they say and next theyre suing other fast food chains. Nine hours straight with only a ten minute break the whole day. And they didnt give me my overtime or nothing when i looked in the paycheck and they were like oh well give you it next paycheck so they wouldnt have to give me the overtime. Workers have rights that theyre asserting and they need to be paid by mcdonalds according to the lawsuit. Reporter now were going to show you mcdonalds response. They are they say reviewing allegations in the lawsuit and quote mcdonalds and our independent owner operators share a concern and commitment to the wellbeing and fair treatment of all people who work at Mcdonalds Restaurants. Now the rally just wrapped up here in the last 15 minutes. They headed down the street there. But congresswoman barbara lee was also here. Shes leading the fight on the National Level against these fast food chains and their wage laws. Live in fruitvale, mark kelly, kpix 5. All right mark thank you. President Vladimir Putin says ukraine is now a part of russia after a treaty signing ceremony this morning. Cheers erupted in russias Parliament Today as putin welcomed what he called the reunification of crimea and russia. Putin calls the weekend referendum vote a convincing figure and United States and European Union meanwhile also enacted new sanctions targettings russian officials targeting russian officials. In our hearts know that crimea has always been and will always be a part of russia. Russia has offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than land grab. Ukraines Prime Minister says the conflict in crimeaest collated to military from est collated to military escalated to military from political. New details in the death of a woman in castro valley. Her husband has now turned himself in. Alameda county Sheriffs Office says fungm eventeddered late last night. He was wanted in the shooting of his 45yearold wife. Her teenage daughter found her body last friday night. Authorities had gone to the house three times if 2009 to handle in 2009 to handle domestic disputes. Got plenty of public help in finding a suspect. Tips helped them find and arrest tyler larson from antioch suspected of driving on to a sidewalk along willow pass road sunday night. 46yearold Yolanda Tiscareno was struck and killed. The victim had five children and one grandchild. Developing news out of san jose, homicide investigators are trying to establish a motive after a man was found shot to death at a home on eppling lane. As kpix 5 reporter kiet do tells us there are other key questions remaining. Jetliner. What i well, there was one body found in a home. A fire had started there and they discovered the body and there was a gunshot to the head. They also found some pot plants inside. And well hope to get that report later from kiet do. Coming up, theres more evidence that the pilot or copilot may have played a Critical Role in the disappearance of a malaysian jet liner. What investigators say points to them. Good morning everyone, or good afternoon. We are here at lake merit and this will be the scene where 10,000 people will gather this weekend. Well tell you why with mobile weather as the news continues. Hi, im meteorologist Lawrence Karnow in the kpix 5 weather center. Winter is finally winding down. Here comes spring. Well tell you all about it coming up. ,,,,,,, the malaysian jetliner. Us Officials Say a Computer System had been pre progra to turn the plane off cours some new evidence suggests that the pilot or perhaps copilot may have played a crucial role in the disappearance of that malaysian jet liner. The u. S. Officials say a Computer System had been preprogrammed to turn the plane off course. Cbs reporter seth done asked malaysian fills about that report today officials about that report today. Reporter the report in the knock times citing New York Times citing the possibility that the plane turned west might have been preentered into an on board computer possibly even before the plane took off. Was the planes path a westward direction programmed into the aircrafts flight Management System . As far as were concerned, the aircraft was programmed to fly to beijing. Reporter is it plausible is it something youre considering . Once youre in the aircraft, anything is possible. Reporter one of the other issues raised in the press briefing was that this is not just a massive logistical effort but also a massive diplomatic effort too as many countries are involved in the search. We spoke with occupy of the pilots friends one of the pilots friends earlier today. The stress is mounting. We want answers. If this is what im going through imagine your family. Reporter in china, family members of passengers have demanded answers and said that they were threatening a Hunger Strike the malaysian authorities didnt get them answers soon. Meanwhile, china has said it will deploy 21 satellites to help refine the search. Seth done, cbs news, kuala lumpur, malaysia. Chinese Officials Say they checked the backgrounds of all its citizens on board and found no links to terrorism. 26 countries are involved in the search for that plane. The Rolling Stones have canceled their first concert of their australian tour after the apparent suicide of mick jaggers long time girlfriend lwren scott was found hanging from a scarf yesterday in her new york apartment. She was wellknown as a former known as a former model. No suicide note was found but the company was said to be nearly 6 million in debt. And caltrain is out with some Surveillance Video of an extremely close call last month at the redwood city station. Watch. Well, that man ran across those tracks and just missed being hit by that express train. He followed several other people who had crossed as bells sounded from the approaching train. Cal tran says not only is it dangerous but it also disrupts the commute. Because they investigate every close call and thats about as close as you can get. I cringe every time i see that video. Just uncomfortable. It is. Who is that guy . I dont know. That much maybe . He wasnt thinking much thats for sure. Hey guys winter is almost over. [ applause ] i know. I barely knew you. Hardly any rain at all this year but you know what . We could get in some more rain as we look to next week. But right now weve got some great weather outside. Lots of sunshine. Looking good right now if you are headed out the door and not seeing the strong winds that we had yesterday. 67degrees in santa rosa. 66 in san jose and 64 degrees in san francisco. As we sail into this afternoon were enjoying just a gentle sea breeze outside and sunny skies continuing with some very mild temperatures and then tonight should be mostly clear and a little cool and the weather going to be dry right into spring now. High pressure in control its going to stick around and be a dominant ridge over the next five to seven days. Then it looks like it will break down into next week but in the meantime some very mild temperatures. Places getting near 80 degrees by tomorrows afternoon. Around the state 70s in the Central Valley and about 66 degrees in the monterey bay and about 47 still cool in lake tahoe. Showing you skies being nice and clear throughout the afternoon. And tonight, weak offshore wind continuing to keep your skies mostly clear. That means tomorrow waking up to sunnyside up. Temperatures looks like this today. Plan on 72 in san jose. At 68 in san mateo and 64 degrees in pacifica and east bay temperatures under sunny skies. 70 in benicia and vallejo and 71degrees if walnut creek. Inside the bay 71 in oakland and 68 in san francisco. And about 70 in petaluma. Very nice weather and cool overnight tonight. Temperatures dropping off in the low 40s in towards santa rosa. About 46 in san jose for an overnight low. And some 50s at the coastline. The sunset time tonight is at 7 20 and as we look toward the end of winter, thats right. Spring officially begins on thursday. Some very mild temperatures. Then we start to cool down for the weekend. But it looks like we may just get back into a wet weather pattern and that first full weekend of spring guys, well have more on that throughout the guy. Someone is getting excited. Getting excited about it. Okay lawrence thanks. The weather will be perfect for a big run this weekend anyways in oakland. And thats where we find kpix 5s Roberta Gonzales and the mobile weather lab. Hi roberta. Reporter its absolutely a glorious day here in oakland. Currently its 63degrees. Average high is 64 degrees and here we are overlooking lake merritt. Barely a ripple on the lake. Because there is not a breeze to be noticed. It is a Beautiful Day and this weekend promises to be just equally as gorgeous. Gene is here to tell us whats going on here in oakland this weekend. This weekend, we have the fifth anniversary of the oakland running festival. A marathon Half Marathon, four Person Team Relay and 5k and kids fun run. Reporter the somebody doesnt know what a 5k is . Please explain. Its 3. 1 miles and roughly a lap around lake merritt. Reporter if you have fun run for the kids. A 5k, a Half Marathon and a marathon just about something for everybody. Thats the idea of the event to come run and show off oakland. Reporter i have to admit out of the five youll be having now. I participated in three or four now and this is one of my favorite races in the entire world. We were just recently named by competitor magazine as the best marathon in the west coast. Primarily because of fan support along the course. Reporter people stacked up in three rows cheering you on. The firefighters the police officers. But the local residents as well. Right the residents have loved the race since year one. They line up all along the course. They cheer the runners on whether theyre running 3. 1 miles or the 26. 2mile course. Economically what has this done for oakland . 12 million, and hotel and restaurant revenue and 1 million to local charities. Reporter amazing its going to be a great day here on sunday. Please come out and support the runners or participate yourself. You can have more information at kpix. Com. And click on links and numbers. From mobile weather in oakland, Roberta Gonzales, kpix 5. Coming up, finally a way to detect spoiled food without having to do the sniff test. ,,,,,,,,,, u well, today a bay area congressman got his hands darety at a takery dirty at a bakery. Eric swolwell this morning helped bake bread and decorate a little cake and also served a couple of customers too. All part of his effort to get a sense of the daily life of some of his constituents. My job is to work in the congress and tell the story of immigration. Immigration reform and the countrys history of immigrants and that there are real people working in real bakeries right now who are counting on the congress to do something. He took his turn serving customers at a family owned bakery and owner says now that he is trained they might even offer him a job. Who knows . Researchers in china have come up with a system that can tell you whether food has gone bad. These tags about the size of a corn kernel change color over time and one big benefit . No need for the sniff test. Milk for instance my husband will smell it and test it that way. I dont want to smell rotten milk. Who wants to right . The researchers say they came up with the idea to keep people from throwing out food thats still good. Keeping along the food theme now. Lunchtime and tony and Stephanie Stephanie tantillo have a simple roman pasta dish. The e were going to central itly to bring you the beautiful pasta dish. It means cheese and pepper and we have in here is first we melted down some of the butt we are the black pepper. And then we melted in pasta in the water. Then the cheese. The water will start absorbing that cheese. The cheese will start absorbing the water. About a half a couple of pasta water. More pepper to it. Oh the flavors on this is look at that. Look how beautiful that shooks stephanie. All absorb together and it comes together on the plate. Just a great comfort meal too. Okay and add a little one which is nice. Just a little bit right here in the middle. And thats it. And a little bit more. Pepper. Stephanie its a beautiful dish. Justify a beautiful thing. Thank you bella. Beautiful. Time to eat. Well, sometimes its inevitable to turn into a Fast Food Restaurant when youre running late for work but new Research Indicates that where we live could have some real weighty effects on our bodies. And a reminder, if you got a Consumer Problem or question, give us a , [ no audio ] ,,,,,,,,, not just rising prices. How its also changing the lookd quality of your food. That story and more at five. Heres a way yo coming up tonight at 5 00, were feeling the pinch of the drought with our grocery bills. But its not just rising prices. How its also changing the look and the quality of your food as well. That story and much more coming up tonight at 5 00. And finally, heres a way you might be able to lose a lose a little weight. Dont drive past Fast Food Restaurants. Researchers found they are twice as likely to be obese and they ate 15 more food. The university of cambridge said eating at a Fast Food Restaurant is more a matter of convenience than of taste. Its true. But its so hard. What if thats on the way the only route you have . You can smell it and i swear they pipe that smell out. Now im craving french fries, great. We can work that out. Have a great afternoon everyone. [ captions by caption colorado, llc 8007757838 email comments captioncolorado. Com ] katie hi. Ridge hi. [ door close] katie so, you saw brooke . Ridge [ sighs ] katie howd that go . Ridge it was complicated. Katie shes determined to get you back. Ridge and she made that clear. Katie so, whatd you say . Brooke [ sighs ]