ktvu's jade hernandez is there right now. jade, what's the very latest? what's happening? >> reporter: well, we just spoke with the san rafael spokeswoman. we'll hear from her in a second. we're live at the command post. david, as you mentioned, it's good news for commuters, westbound 580 has reopened but police say this morning the hostage situation is still going on inside of this hotel you see right behind me. that is the extended stay hotel here in san rafael. around midnight before the california highway patrol reopened the freeway, police play placed an eight by 10 metal plate in front of the hotel room where the man is believed to be holed up. the plate acts as a barrier or shield for nearby freeway traffic. yesterday after hours of negotiation s.w.a.t team members broke a ground-floor level at the hotel. police say the man is on the second floor. initially officers tracked him to this spot after a stabbing of a grocery store worker during a shoplifting incident on sunday. this is surveillance video of the man. we spoke to san rafael's spokeswoman 20 minutes ago to give us an update on the suspect and the woman he claims to have with him. this is what she had to say. >> he says his girlfriend was in the room with him. she has not come out, she's not been released, we've had no contact with her. we are operating under the premise that she is in there with him and hasn't been free to leave and this is a hostage situation. >> reporter: this was a traffic nightmare for many commuters yesterday, starting yesterday morning. besides closing part of 580 -- the 580 freeway, police also closed the richmond san rafael bridge about 11:15 yesterday morning. while the highway was closed, the bridge reopened around 12:20, but this aerial view was able to show you that backup. now, i want to let you know that 75 to 80 officers are still out here this morning and all of those officers come from several different counties, marin and sonoma and 12 different law enforcement agencies. so a lot of backup out here. we're going to continue to update you on the situation and we'll have live reports from san rafael throughout the morning. reporting live, jade hernandez ktvu channel 2 news. >> jade, we'll keep watching the situation in san rafael throughout the morning newscast. you can also get more information and also see video from the scene online at our channel 2 website, ktvu.com. other developing news that we're following right now, a search continues at this hour for a man missing in the waters off san francisco. his canoe overturned near treasure island last night. ktvu's tara moreiarty just spoke with the coast guard about their efforts to find the man. good morning, tara. >> reporter: good morning. that's right the coast guard is combing the waters of the san francisco bay to try to find this missing canoer. now once daylight hits, a helicopter will also resume its search. now here's what we understand what happened, around 6:15 last night three men went out on the water in a canoe near treasure island, two made it back, one did not. now, there are a lot of agencies that have been looking for this man, san francisco fire department, san francisco police, berkeley police all have done land and air searches. the land park services also looked near the golden gate bridge, angel island and alcatraz. so far no luck. >> there are three people in a canoe near treasure island, the canoe capsized, two people swam to shore and the third person stayed with the canoe. the two people that made it to shore went to their home to change their clothes and when they came back to find their friend, they couldn't find him or the canoe. >> reporter: now, the coast guard tells us they are not sure if the man involved, the missing canoer had a life jacket on or had any type of wet suit. we do know, according to our meteorologist mark, he says the water temperature is around 65 degrees right now in the san francisco bay. now, according to some marine experts, under those conditions, you can survive anywhere from two to 40 hours without protective clothing. we'll, of course, be following this story all morning for you and be here once daybreak hits and that helicopter goes out to look for the missing canoer. live off yorba buena island, tara moreiarty, ktvu news. a violent morning in southern israel after several coordinated attacks killed at least five people. buses, private cars, even soldiers have been targeted right near israel's border with egypt and just 20 minutes ago israeli television reported a fourth attack by gunmen. there are also unconfirmed reports that an anti-tank missile was fired from egypt into israel. also reports this morning of another bob oil spill -- possible oil spill accident by bp in the gulf of mexico. the oil giant just announced a sheen has been spotted in the water. it's a shiny coating, it floats on the surface of the water, may be coming from either leaked or spilled oil. bp isn't saying where the oil came from, but that it was not found near any existing oil operations. you'll recall back in april of last year a bp oil well blew up in the gulf, killing 11 workers. it also led to the worst offshore oil spill in american history. president obama is going on vacation, this as republicans who want to take his job continue on the campaign trail. coming up a little bit later at 5:15, we'll have a live report from our washington d.c. newsroom with the attention texas governor rick perry is now getting about his comments about global warming. in the meantime, vice president jekyll island today continues his -- president joe biden today continues his four-day visit in china. >> biden was given an honor guard welcoming ceremony today. the ceremony was followed by official talks with china's vice president. biden says the close relationship with china is very important to the u.s. >> the united states of america is -- plans on and will continue to be engaged totally in the world. >> chinese leaders are expressing concern about the civility of chinese investments of the u.s. after the recent debt ceiling debate and near default by the u.s. government. following his tour through china today, biden heads to mongolia and then to japan. time now 5:07. back here at home there's been a second cyber attack against bart. this one leaked the personal information of bart police officers. somebody hacked into the bart police union's website yesterday morning, and they posted the personal information of more than 100 police officers, including their home addresses. now, this hack attack and another one that happened over the weekend of bart's marketing website comes after bart cut off cell phone service inside its downtown stations last week to try to block a planned protest. >> this is a policy discussion, bring it to the bart board. we're going to be meeting next week, let's talk about it there. leave the innocent people out of it. >> now, a hacker group blasted bart's decision to cut off the cell phone communication. it also took credit for the weekend attack, but is denying responsibility for leaking that private information about bart bart police officers. just a few minutes after 5:00, actually, eight minutes after 5:00. late get a check now on the traffic and see how things are moving at 5:08. >> heather and dave, good morning to you. right now traffic is moving along very nicely in most areas. let's go outside and take a look at the east shore freeway and westbound interstate 80 looks good coming out to the mac arthur maze, no issues on the way down from vallejo and eventually into oakland. the commute looks good at the bay bridge toll plaza, a nice drive coming into san francisco and the south bay, northbound 280 traffic is off to a very nice start. the road work that we had has been picked up. 5:08, let's go to mark. >> hi there, sal. the fog back with us in parts of the bay area this morning. you see it hugging the coastline here and a few patches pushing into the bay. even santa rosa reporting some overcast and visibility down to about a half mile. but clear reports as you work your way inland out toward concord and livermore. here we go for today, clearing skies near the coast. tomorrow some morning fog, temperatures a little bit cooler and the cooling trend will continue as we do head into the weekend. current numbers, most of the bay area starting out this morning in the 50s. napa right now checking in 57, hayward 59 and san jose at last check, like i said reporting the cloud cover, 61 degrees. high pressure returns a bit today and as a result we'll call it borderline hot, warmest locations inland, right around the 90-degree mark. some changes beginning tomorrow as this weather system moves in from the north, this area of low pressure and that will bring in a noticeable change for temperatures friday into saturday. saturday will be the coolest day of the upcoming weekend, a little bit of a bounce in the numbers for sunday. here's our forecast model showing you some of the fog this morning, pulling back to near the coast this afternoon, revealing mostly sunny skies. we could have a patch or two of some fog for the beaches later on today. temperatures this morning most areas 53 to 58 degrees. by 12:00 coastal fog, we're still warming up. and then by 4:00 warm inland with a big temperature range from the low 60s all the way to the lower 90s out toward antioch and brentwood. oakland tops out in the lower 70s. freemont 78. here's a look ahead, your extended forecast with your weekend always in view, temperatures a touch cooler for tomorrow, cooling continues for saturday, a little bit of a bump in the numbers for sunday and into monday. another weather check just minutes away. death threats against a late night talk show host, the remarks from david letterman that have angered users of a jihaddist website. also some parents in pennsylvania will have something new to consider at this year's school orientation, the at-home test some students may be taking. good morning. san mateo bridge traffic looking pretty good heading out to the high rise. we'll tell you more about the morning commute straight ahead. a pennsylvania school district is joining with a nonprofit to provide at-home drug tests for students. parents in the hempfield area school district can sign up to receive the drug testing kits during school orientation. the kits will be mailed to the students' homes and parents will be notified at random when to take the sample and mail it in. those kit tests for 10 different types of drugs. >> the school is i think going as far as we possibly can go, and from here i think that the responsibility lies in the parents. we're only making the drug kits available to parents and our students and it's strictly of their own will. it's voluntary. >> if the student fails the test, only the parents will be notified. the district says they are targeting sixth and seventh-grade students because 13 is the average age of drug experimentation. the petaaluminuma police department is enforcing traffic safety as kids head back to school this morning. additional police officers and volunteers will be in the area around meadow elementary school and corona creek elementary school. they will be enforcing traffic and pedestrian laws as well as increasing the level of traffic safety. this is the 14th year of the safe routes to school operation. time now 5:14. well, president obama leaves washington today for a 10-day vacation to martha's vinyard. as ktvu's alison burns reports, the campaign trail is really heating up for the republicans who want his job. alison. >> reporter: dave, that's right. first this morning president obama is going to be getting his daily economic and national security briefings at the white house, then he leaves with his family for a 10-day trip to martha's vineyard, a trip they've made for the last two summers. this is video from last year's vacation, and, again, the trip is prompting plenty of criticism. gop frontrunner mitt romney says it's wrong for the president to take time off in the midst of so much economic turmoil. but republican presidential candidates are hoping to steal the spotlight now and some of them have a new target this week, the environmental protection agency. they're using their stump speeches to blast e.p.a. regulations. texas governor rick perry yesterday expressed his skepticism about global warming. >> i think we're seeing it almost weekly or even daily scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change. >> reporter: and congresswoman michele bachmann is promising gas prices will drop below $2 a gallon if she's president. i'll have more on that for you during my next update in about an hour. for now, live in washington d.c., alison burns, ktvu, channel 2 news. time now 5:16. a jihaddist website making death threats against david letterman. now, this comes after letterman joked about the death of an al-qaida leader killed during an airstrike in june. that joke angered a user of the website who wrote and i'm quoting now, someone needs to cut the tongue of this lowly jew and shut it forever. david letterman who's not jewish has not said anything about that threat. the parent company of the san jose sharks is cutting jobs. silicon valley sports and entertainment says it is restructuring to put itself in a position to grow in the future. there are reports 19 people have been laid off, but the company is not saying which positions are being eliminated. time now 5:16. the monterey county spca is taking care of dozens of pelicans that are suffering from fish hook-related injuries. more than 50 pelicans have been rescued over the past couple of weeks. look at this picture. now, fish lines tangled around one of the bird's legs right there. people are being urged to safely dispose of fish hooks and lines so things like that don't happen again. a ban on threatened sea otters in the waters of southern california may soon be lifted. that ban was imposed 24 years ago in an effort to protect the threatened species from things like oil spills. sea oters were relocated to make a separate colony, but most of the otters left. the u.s. fish and wildlife service now says their effort just didn't work. a public hearing on the proposal to lift the ban is set for october in santa cruz. let's check in with sal. it's 5:17 on this thursday morning. how's it looking right now, sal? >> reporter: it's pretty good, heather and dave, good morning. we are off to a nice start. if you are driving anytime soon, you should see the roadways doing pretty well right now. westbound highway 4 certainly looks good if you're driving from antioch through pittsburgh and bay point. perhaps driving from concord to walnut creek on 680, that looks night. in oakland both directions off to a very good start. i want to mention in case you don't know that interstates 580 in san rafael has been reopened. it is between -- well, it's open for the entire way on the richmond bridge over to 101. so you don't have to worry about any closures today. at 5:18, let's go to mark. >> sal, good morning to you. once again the fog a big part of our forecast, at least to start out your morning, favoring the coast and right around the bay. watch for a big dropoff of visibilities. also you might encounter some spotty drizzle driving highway 1 over the next few hours in the short term, so you might encounter some wet roadways. just updated some current numbers from the 5:00 hour. you can see we're still tracking 50s. santa rosa at last check 3/4 of a mile, clear skies out towards concord and livermore. san jose reporting mostly cloudy conditions and hayward in the upper 50s. high pressure tries to return a little bit today and as a result warmest locations will be flirting with the 90-degree mark, but then as we do take this into friday and into saturday, this cooler weather system moves in, and so as a result this will initiate our next cooling trend. a noticeable dropoff in temperatures beginning tomorrow and that actually will continue into the first half of the weekend. microclimates for today, for the coast fog and drizzle this morning, skies becoming partly sunny into the afternoon hours, right around the bay some areas of fog at 8:00 this morning, but then an increase in sunshine. there is the eventual temperature range. and for the inland spots, plenty of sunshine for today, temperatures on track to reach the upper 80s, warmest locations right around 90 to 91 degrees. and here's our forecast model showing you that fog pulling back to near the coast. partly sunny skies for the beaches, but more sunshine out across the bay and out toward fairfield and antioch. wind speeds do pick up this afternoon. in fact, already a bit of a breeze right around fairfield. winds around 20 to 25 miles an hour and temperatures really not a big change from yesterday's highs. extended forecast with your weekend always in view, temperatures cool off just a touch for tomorrow and then saturday being the coolest day of the weekend, a little bit of a bump in the numbers for sunday and into monday. another update just minutes away. this morning european markets are falling and the declines are across all countries in all sectors. they're following the lead of most asian markets which also lost ground. the nikkei was down 1 1/4% after japan announced that exports fell more than 3% in july. the downturn was mostly because of the strong yen and the ongoing impact of the march tsunami and earthquake. investors were also concerned after an uneven day on wall street. speaking of wall street, let's take a look and see how the dow closed yesterday. it was actually up about four points, however, u.s. stock futures are down right now, obviously following the lead of the global markets. we will, of course, be following all of the developments on wall street and bring you those numbers coming up in just a little bit. in the meantime, the "new york times" reports the federal government is investigating standard and poors credit agency. the justice department is now looking into cases where analysts may have actually wanted to lower ratings on mortgage bonds, but were not allowed to by other s & p business managers. the paper says the investigation started before the agency downgraded the u.s. credit rating, but it could intensify the political firestorm created by the drop from aaa to aa plus. time now 5:21. new early warning technology to protect california from a tsunami, but will it be enough to keep coastal cities safe? also some people who lost everything in the earthquake and tsunami in japan just got a big chunk of it back. and if you're driving on 580 or 880 or the macarthur maze, looks good pretty good getting to the bay bridge toll plaza. more traffic and weather coming up soon. okay, kids, we can record one more show. who should get it? i really love jennifer. yeah, she's great. yeah. yeah. kyle's got that thick head of hair. and that should be rewarded. okay, moment of truth. on "three," say which kid you love the most. ooh, fun, yeah. one, two, three. jennifer. jennifer. whoa. wow. she's so pretty. yeah. or we give it to kyle. it's really all he's got. [ male announcer ] switch to at&t u-verse and record four shows all at the same time. just $29 a month for 6 months. at&t. good thursday morning. time now 5:24. some fog this morning, increasing sunshine this afternoon for san mateo, a forecast high very nice 74 degrees. in india, a 72-year-old activist has now been given permission by the government to begin a hunger strike. protestors have taken to the streets all over that country in support of the activist. now, originally he was arrested as he prepared to stop eating to protest government corruption. but then he reached a deal with police that will allow him to fast for two weeks. in japan people have turned in thousands of wallets containing $48 million in cash following the earthquake and tsunami there. more than 5700 safes that washed ashore along japan's coast were hauled to police centers by volunteers and search and rescue crews. japanese authorities say nearly all of the valuables have now been returned. that was after months spent tracking down the owners. time now 5:25. bay area technology originally used to track oil spills now can be used as a tsunami warning system. take a look at these antennas. these are all part of a radar system that spans the coast of california. they're designed to track oil spills, but they can also provide early tsunami warning. >> give you more detail on the timing and height of the wave at that location. so, yeah, it's definitely an improvement. >> scientists say this technology can provide coastal towns with enough warning to evacuate from a tsunami that may be approaching. however, this system costs about $5 million a year to operate. california just may not have the money to keep it going. in santa cruz, the search continues for vandals who targeted a cemetery. police say a hand full of headstones were defaced at a cemetery on evergreen street last monday. the vandals also reportedly scrolled a threat against the cemetery's caretaker. no word on how much it'll cost to clean up the graffiti. anyone, though, with information is asked to call santa cruz police. the board of the sonoma marin area rail transit district has approved a new plan that could bring more money to the agency. smart officials signed off on a deal that makes them eligible for $33 million from the metropolitan transportation commission. but it also delays the start of service until 2016. the rail project has become more controversial as costs have mounted. right now a police standoff in san rafael continues and we are now hearing that communication between police and the holdup -- holed-up suspect has slowed down. >> reporter: in freemont, the fire department thinks a fire at a junior high school yesterday was an arson. >> reporter: good morning. if you're driving around the bay, suddenly we're getting just a little bit of slow traffic here and there. we'll tell you where the trouble spot thes are. @wñ wñ good morning to you. welcome back. this is ktvu channel 2 morning news. it's thursday, august 18th, i'm dave clark. >> good morning, everyone. i'm heather holmes filling in for pam. it is 5:30, a time when i'm usually sleeping, i must admit. let's check in now with mark. lot of people, though, getting up and around, getting ready for school and work. what's the forecast for today, mark? >> i'm usually dreaming about the weather this time of day. low clouds and fog at the coast, pushing back into the bay. no big changes with the clouds clearing back to near the shoreline this afternoon. there's the eventual temperature range, a big range, about 30 degrees, the low 60s for the beaches, warmest locations approaching the 90-degree mark. an afternoon breeze will kick up. we'll have the forecast coming up. sal is standing by and has an update on traffic. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mark. highway 4 is off to a pretty decent start here on highway 4 heading up to the bay point area, but this area already getting busy, believe it or not in antioch as you head west and also brentwood. the morning commute looks good on interstate 880 in oakland. now let's go back to the desk. developing news that we are following right now in san rafael. that's where a police standoff continues at this hour, and just hours ago the chp reopened interstate 580 after making sure drivers would be safe from any possible gunfire. right now a man is barricaded in a second-floor room of this extended stay hotel on francisco boulevard. police say he may be responsible for stabbing a san rafael grocery store worker on sunday. now, this standoff began around 8:30 yesterday morning when police tracked him back to the hotel and then evacuated guests. >> the cops knocked on my door and asked me to evacuate the building because there was a situation going on downstairs with a woman who locked himself in a room with a gun. >> just before 1:00 a.m., a one-inch thick steel plate was actually put in front of the suspect's window. you can see it there. police say this would prevent any possible gunfire from hitting drivers on nearby 580. police believe the man's girlfriend is also inside that room with him and is treating this as a hostage situation. we will keep watching this situation in san rafael throughout our morning newscast. you can also get more information as well as see video from the scene online at our website ktvu.com. your time right now 5:32. a suspicious fire at a freemont junior high school was deliberately set and police are now searching for arsonists. ktvu's craig debro live at the scene right now, craig, what do you know about what happened? >> reporter: good morning, dave. i just talked with a security guard here and he tells me this fire happened at the boys and girls locker rooms which are actually located on this side of the school over here at wal teres junior high school located on logan. now, it started around 7:15, the alarm went off, somebody called it in, got to check with the fire department exactly how that happened. the fire department came out here with about 20 firefighters. they say they had it out in about a half an hour. by that time $100,000 damage had already been done. there's actually no -- there goes the security guard right there. there's actually no school this week, but there is an orientation at the school this week, so there were kids on campus, the school is not in session. that starts next week. we're not sure if the kids were here at the time, it was 7:15, so it was a little bit later than you might think. there's the security guard right there. i'm going to try to catch up with him and see if we can get closer and give you a look at what that damage looks like for the next report here from freemont. live in freemont, kraig debro, ktvu news. happening right now, rescue crews are in the waters off san francisco looking for a missing canoeist. tara talked with searchers about the efforts under way and the extra manpower that could be brought in soon. tara. >> reporter: two more coast guard vessels just left the port about a half an hour ago. now that makes three boats total out on the water looking for this missing canoer. now, the conditions are favorable at daybreak, a helicopter will also resume its search. now, here's what happened, just after 6:00 last night two men reported their friend missing off of treasure island. the boat capsized, the group swam back to shore. two of them decided to go home and change their clothes. the other actually went back to the canoe to get some personal belongings, so when the two friends came back, their friend was gone. >> we always operate under the assumption that there's a possibility for survival. the coast guard would like to emphasize the importance of having safety gear, life jackets, emergency whistles, flares and even personal emergency position indicating radio beacons. >> reporter: and that proper gear can make all the difference when the coast guard is trying to find you in an emergency. now, we have no word yet on whether this missing canoer was indeed wearing a life jacket or not. we talked to ktvu's meteorologist mark tamio. he says the current water temperature in the pay is about 65 degrees. experts says you can survive two to 40 hours under these conditions without protective clothing. if you remember a couple of weeks back we had the missing wind surfer near the san mateo bridge. the water temperature then was about 70 degrees, but she was wearing a wet suit. we're live in yorba buena island, tara moreia rktvu news. a football player badly injured during a game in san francisco, in fact, he was in a coma for a while is going to be released today from a rehab center. 2-year-old mark mcà govern can now walk and talk, even kick a ball again. mcà govern will still receive outpatient therapy. his family temporarily moved from ireland to the bay area to help take care of him. mcà govern was badly injured after another player reportedly knocked him down during a game back in june. a person of interest has been named in the investigation of this case, but so far police still have not charged him with anything. alameda county sheriff's deputies detained two men overnight after authorities say they saw them throwing things off of a roof of a building in oakland. the two men were on top of a building on international boulevard and 14th avenue around 10:00 last night. that's when alameda county sheriff's deputies from laney college say they saw them throwing building materials off of the roof. the two men were detained. oakland police and firefighters were called in to investigate where this material was coming from. that investigation continues. the second suspect in the shooting death of a little boy in oakland is scheduled to make an appearance in a las vegas courtroom in just about an hour from now. 22-year-old willie torerence is accused of using the car use inside last week's droogt. police say rival gang members were the intended target, but a stray bullet ended up hitting 3-year-old carlos na. police arrested the suspected gunman in pittsburgh a day after that shooting. the little boy's killing has prompted calls by at least two oakland city councilmembers to expand gang injunctions and also impose a youth curfew, but some, including the nava family criticize those proposals. >> if it's work, if it's education, you know, if it's programs for kid to stay off the streets, that's what we really need to work on. we need to work on, you know, learning how to be with each other and learning how to work with each other. >> councilman de la fuen te and reid plan to seek tougher rules next month when the council convenes from its summer recession. two teenagers have been arrest inside connection with that nevada wildfire that is still burning out of control this morning. it's called the ray may fire. look at this. it's already burned 2800 acres east of lake tahoe. authorities say it was started by an illegal campfire set by two 15 years old. two firefighters suffered non-life threatening injuries. some homes are still threatened by this. at the moment there's still no estimate of when they'll have this fire under control. in the meantime firefighters in monterey county are getting the upper hand on a wildfire there. it's now 75% contained. now, this fire started tuesday afternoon off monroe canyon road, that's west of king city. it's burned 215 acres. the cause of the fire, that's still not known. no buildings are in danger at the moment and so far no evacuations have been ordered. time now is 5:38 on this thursday morning. drivers have complained for years now about the terrible condition of one east bay freeway. coming up a little bit later at 5:45, how caltrans is now taking steps that should hold off similar complaints at least 45 years into the future. time now 5:38. let's go to sal. you have everything still under control, sal? >> reporter: dave, i'm trying. so far so good. we do have some things going on out there that are -- well, we're seeing some slow traffic is what i'm trying to say in some areas already believe it or not as people are out on the road. but not here in san jose. it looks pretty good as we start in the south for this report, it's very nice driving up to the south bay up into the valley. no major problems. if you are driving onto any of the bridges, for example, the san mateo bridge, that's a nice looking span heading out to the high rise. and this morning's drive at the bay bridge toll plaza so far is light heading west. at 5:39, let's go to mark. >> hi there, sal. good morning to you. once again this morning the fog making a comeback coastside right around the bay and even some dense parts up in santa rosa reporting visibilities down to about 3/4 of a mile. in the clear skies out for the inland spots towards concord, livermore and antioch, reporting clear skies. clearing skies near the coast and tomorrow a little cooler. for the weekend we do bring in more fog and a cooling trend, especially as we do head into the first half of the weekend. current numbers out there, most of the bay area starting out this early thursday morning in the 50s. a few low 60s to report for red wood city, san jose, livermore reporting 56 degrees. for your thursday, high pressure tries to rebuild a little bit. that means the warmest locations bordering on the warm side, warm to hot, 89 to 90 degrees. here's a change as we do set this up into friday and also saturday, is this weather system moves in from the north. this will deepen the marine layer and as a result we do cool things off into the weekend. here's our forecast model showing you some of the fog this morning, pulling to back near the coastline this afternoon, so still some patchy coastal fog and temperatures this morning mainly in the 50s. by 12:00 patchy coastal fog and then here's the eventual temperature range across most of the region. warmest locations approaching the lower 90s right around the bay, basically upper 60s to low 70s and these temperatures are about the same as yesterday, could be about two to three degrees warmer than wednesday's readings. san francisco right around 66. here is your extended forecast with your weekend always in view and temperatures cool off a touch for friday and saturday, a little bit of a bump in the numbers for sunday and into monday of next week. another weather check just minutes away. >> looking forward to that, thank you, mark. getting tough on syria, the message for syria's president that could come today from the white house. also a new security program is being tested at a boston airport. will it mean a friendlier travel experience? >> reporter: good morning. if you're driving in from the antioch area, let's say you're trying to drive to concord, you have a lot of people who are driving in the same direction as you on the very same freeway. good thursday morning, time now 5:43. mostly sunny skies for the inland spots today and temperatures warming up, especially livermore with a forecast high 89 degrees. time now 5:43. welcome back, good morning to you. here's a quick look at some of the top stories we're following for you right now. as we speak, a man with a gun still barricaded inside a second-floor hotel room of the extended stay hotel in san rafael. police believe he may be the person who stabbed a grocery store worker over the weekend. his girlfriend may also be in that room. police are treating this as a hostage situation. also right now three rescue boats are out there looking for a man in the waters off treasure island. his canoe overturned last night. we don't know yet if he was wearing a life jacket. and president obama heads out on a 10-day family vacation today at martha's vineyard, that despite a lot of criticism that his choice of vacation spots is inappropriate given the state of the economy. that well-to-do island resort is a summer hangout for the wealthy and well connected. the u.s. military has sent two more armed predator drones to libya. that's in response to requests from nato commanders. the pentagon says the armed drones are used for surveillance, but that they can also strike targets when needed. nato says in recent days the rebels have made significant gains in their battle against libyan government forces. a white house call for syria's president to step down could happen today. we've just learned that secretary of state hillary clinton will make an announcement at 7:00 a.m. regarding syria. the obama administration is reportedly expected to announce new sanctions on president bashar ala sad's regime. human right groups accuse syria of killing more than 1800 civilians since the uprisings began there back in march. time now 5:45. prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a san quentin inmate accused of killing another prisoner. lawyers for 31-year-old frank souza were notified of the d.a.'s plans this week. souza is accused of stabbing fellow inmate edward schaefer to death at san quentin last july. schaefer was serving time for a 2009 dui crash in nevada that killed a 9-year-old girl and badly injured her father. souza is already serving 60 years to life for the murder of a homeless man in san jose. planning to travel anytime soon? the tsa is testing a new program that using friendly conversation to detect suspicious behavior. for the next two months passengers at boston's logan international airport will need to pass a new security checkpoint. under the new behavior detection program, passengers will have to provide not only their boarding pass and i.d., but they'll also have to answer a few questions from tsa officials. after 60 days the tsa will decide whether to expand this program to other airports. due to budget cuts, napa valley college no longer serving food from its cafeteria, but that doesn't mean students will go hungry. instead the school will conduct a food truck pilot program. about six food trucks will be available there on campus from 11 o'clock a.m. to 2:00 p.m. monday through thursday. 15 total trucks are participating so students will have varying food options. the trucks will pay $50 per day to operate on campus. time now 5:46. interstate 680 through central costra costa county is getting a big upgrade in its paving. that's a 13-mile stretch of freeway between rungear road and costa boulevard. that road was built in 1964. it was supposed to get a major overhaul in 1984, but budget cuts led to only minor repairs being done. the drivers say they know how bad that freeway is. >> the roads' in worse shape than it's ever been, there's more potholes than there's ever been. >> big splits in the concrete and stuff. >> caltrans says big sections of the freeway are being ripped up and being replaced with a new kind of concrete. it's expected to last 45 years. all this work is being done mostly at nighttime, so it won't inconvenience all you drivers out there. >> yeah. won't it be fabulous once it's complete? >> sweet and chute smooth. >> that's right. no complaints about that. sal, anybody complaining about the traffic now? >> reporter: no. we're off to a good start, guys. one of the things we like about this thursday morning commute, we haven't had a lot of problems just yet and hopefully it'll stay that way. let's look at the east shore. one thing we're noticing is that more people are coming out onto the roads as we get closer to 6:00 and we always kind of sit around here and say, wow, there's a lot of people on the road earlier and earlier all the time. so far no one has gotten into a wreck on a major road. we've had a couple of minor things go on, though. a look at interstate 880. traffic is moving along very nicely here as you drive on interstate 880 northbound and southbound. just want to remind you that interstate 580 coming off the richmond bridge has reopened, so this morning you will be able to use 101 to 580 to get to the richmond bridge in both directions. yesterday, of course, it was closed for so long that people probably wondering if it's open. a lot of people went to bed and didn't know if it was going to be open. i'm here to tell you it's open. 5:48, let's go to mark. >> hi there, sal. that is very good news this morning. also we have some patchy dense fog so that will be a factor at least limiting your visibilities driving highway 1 this morning, right near the immediate coastline. and we could also have some spotty drizzle out there. so really no big changes compared to yesterday. the fog, the marine layer is little bit shallower and as a result we have some more dense reports out there with the fog. current numbers, santa rosa 52 degrees, concord 57, reporting clear skies out toward the interior for concord, livermore. san jose at last check 61 degrees. for today for your thursday high pressure dry tries to build in and as a result the warmest locations kind of bordering the hot side, nothing too extreme, upper 80s, to lower 90s. at the coast, though, we have the other extreme with temperatures only in the lower 60s. friday and saturday a bit of a cooling trend as we increase the clouds, as a weather system moves in from the north. with that fog and drizzle for the coast this morning, skies becoming partly sunny this afternoon. right around the bay increasing sunshine, temperatures low 70s to the lower 80s. and then for the inland neighborhoods, temperatures this morning in the 50s. a big rebound this afternoon, upper 80s to the lower 90s. here's our forecast model showing you some of that fog pulling back to near the coastline. we could have a few leftover patches near parts of the shoreline this afternoon. and here's a look at your forecast highs, really not a big change from yesterday's readings. san francisco 66, san jose 81, concord 88 and a look ahead, your extended forecast with your weekend always in view. a touch cooler for your friday. saturday the coolest day of the upcoming weekend. another weather check coming up in a few minutes. >> see you then. thank you, mark. a few minutes ago the labor department announced first-time claims for jobless benefits and the announcement was that those benefits were actually up by 9,000 last week. now, that put them at 408,000. they had actually slipped below 400,000 the week before for the first time since april. economists had forecasted a small increase, but expected the number to be very close to the stpowrndz mark. invest -- 400,000 mark. investors pulled $123 billion out of u.s. stock funds during five trading days last month. that's the biggest stampede out of the market since the crisis three years ago. analysts say rumors that the u.s. would have its credit rating downgraded started the outflow of money from the markets on august 4th. economists say while the number sounds large, they say it actually represents only about one half of 1% of all of the money invested in u.s. stocks. newspapers are mysteriously vanishing from racks and driveways all around the country. thieves are apparently stealing newspapers as the practice of extreme coup awning grows. officials say the trend has been fueled by tv shows that follow people who clip coupons and roll carts of groceries out of the store for just a few dollars. police say they've started arresting people who pay for one newspaper but then end up stealing as many as 200. >> wow! >> i know. time now 5:51. heather, they're saying san francisco has made history. what the mayor and police chief say they're proud of in the city and how the maintenance will be safer in the future. also a frightening robbery like something out of a movie and it was caught on tape. searching for the robbers who were gone in less than a minute. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm? [ jake ] uh... khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ there is an all-out manhunt in orlando right now to get these bank robbers off the street. take a look. the three men stormed a bank with high-powered rifles yesterday afternoon and it was all captured on surveillance video as you can see here. they ordered the tellers and a customer to get down on the floor while they robbed the bank. it's unclear just how much money they got away with. no one, though, was injured. meanwhile, the distinctive bank robber who's been robbing banks here in northern california is now in police custody. cynthia van holland was arrested earlier this week after allegedly robbing a bank in auburn. she's been dubbed the bad hair bandit. you can see why. she's suspected of robbing about 20 banks in the northwest all since december all while wearing different hairdos. van holland's husband, christopher alhropbzo was also arrested. he is accused of being his wife's getaway driver. the crime rate in san francisco is at a historic low according to the police. the police chief and mayor ed lee say violent crime dropped 6% in the first half of this year. they're crediting increased cooperation between the police, city departments and the community. a free camping trip to help steer kids away from gaengs will soon be offer -- gangs will soon be offered in san francisco. mayor lee says he's planning to send about 50 young people to a weeklong trip to camp. the date hasn't been announced yet. but this trip is expected to be offered in the next couple of weeks. the mayor says the camp will be the opposite of scared straight-type programs. this trip will focus on team building and fun outdoor activities. a bay area man is setting off on a very ambitious swim tomorrow. 40-year-old jamie patrick says he's going to swim 111 miles in the sacramento river. he figures it'll take him about 34 hours. kayakers will be on his side the entire time and he's planning not to sleep at all. patrick says swimming is his passion and he's doing this to raise money for charity. it would have to be your passion if you're willing to do it for more than 30 hours. let's check in with sal. sal, are you a swimmer? >> reporter: at least i was, anyway. good morning, everyone. traffic is doing pretty well. i haven't been swimming much these days. maybe i should get back into that, huh. northbound 280 getting up to 880, the traffic is moving along very nicely getting up to highway 17. no major problems. 680 southbound also looks very nice. and if you're wondering about the bay bridge toll plaza, well, it is getting more crowded but it's still not a big problem getting into san francisco. at 5:57, let's go back to the desk. >> sal, thank you. a bay area freeway has reopened but a gunman is still out there barricaded in san rafael. where it's happening and what police are doing to keep people safe and why the police are cautious about storming that hotel. plus just who torched the school in freemont. the continuing search this morning for arsonists. and a look outside this morning at 5:57, plenty of low clouds over the coast and near the bay, temperatures in the 50s. as far as temperatures for today, not a big change, but our next cooling trend is right around the corner. i'll have more on that coming up in a few minutes. >> reporter: the good news for commuters is westbound 580 has reopened but a gunman is still holed up at a san rafael hotel. we're live at the command post with an update. right now the coast guard is searching the bay for a missing canoeist. the series of events that has crews concerned about the man's safety. and when arson --