news in america. >> stay for us on "gma." and have a wonderful tuesday. a live look from downtown san francisco. and warm temperatures already around the bay. yesterday may have been the hottest day of the year. but today we'll top it. we'll talk about how it affects other aspects of the weather, too. >> the scorching weather means the fire danger will be higher and the air quality will be bad. today is the first spare the air day of the season. >> also this morning, oakland police are in a standoff with a man they think is armed and refusing to come out of his house. neighbors are warned to shelter in place. >> traffic is flowing well. but of course we have a lot of major roadwork going on in hayward. i'll have details, live shot of the bay bridge toll plaza. >> g.o.p. presidential candidate mitt romney brings his campaign to the bay area today.

a new poll gives him a strong early lead in california against other republican candidates. >> good evening. i'm karina rusk. >> i'm eric thomas. thank you for inviting to us your home. a fraternity house on the campus of san jose state is burning. these are live pictures you can see. that fire engulfed the roof and the attic area of the area. it started before 3:30 this morning at the kappa sigma house in the 100 block of south 11 street. it took firefighters about, well firefighters say residents were already evacuating when they arrived. there is no word yet on any injuries. again, we're on the scene of the massive fire of the fraternity on the campus of san jose state university. there were reports earlier that the fire had gotten out of control to the point where firefighters were thinking about evacuating the building. abc7's nick smith is headed to the scene. he will have more in a live report coming up at 5:00

a.m. we are right now track iing this fire. whether there are injuries. we don't believe there are but we'll let you know. >> following developing news in oakland where a massive fire gutted a victorian overnight and injured a firefighter. this fire started after 2:00 this morning at a home on the 1700 block of 23rd avenue. it took firefighters an hour to get it knocked down. we're told one firefighter suffered minor injuries battling the blaze. the homeowner told investigators it began with a small electrical fire that was too big to put out on her own. eight people lived in the home, including three children. none were injured. the red cross is helping them find somewhere else to stay. also, a developing police situation in oakland where a barricaded man forced police to lock down a neighborhood all night. a swat team first blocked off the neighborhood around cairo and empire streets, just before 8:30 last night. after checking on reports of

an armed man walking around a neighborhood. neighbors have been told to shelter in place. >> you won't need a calendar to tell you that summer officially starts today. take a step outside this afternoon. >> it is going to be a scorcher. mike nicco is here with more on the temperatures. mike? >> we'll start by taking a look back at yesterday, yesterday was the hottest day in the bay area. in the 90s. were not the exception. they were the rule. 88 in san francisco. 71 in half moon bay and santa cruz. 30 degrees cooler along the coast than we were around the bay and inland. today, the air is stagnant again. because of that, we have poor air quality in the inland valley of the east bay. the temperatures, 100 there. 90 around the bay. cooling trend on the way. i'll tell you when it gets here. >> thank you. more on the air quality. the forecast is to be unhealthy so the bay area air quality management district has declared the first spare the air day of the year due to smog.

there is no free transit offered today and no restriction on wood burning. high smog levels often coincide with hot weather. young children, elderly and people with respiratory problems should take precautions to avoid expose sure to the smoggy air. everybody else is encouraged to carpool, take public transit, walk or ride a bicycle to reduce air pollution today. >> today's hot weather raises concerns about fire danger. a walnut creek neighborhood is especially worried. it it's been noted that the neighborhood is vulnerable. >> it is very dangerous. if you get any burn in that area, the structures are threatened. >> in the past, cows grazed on the hillside cutting it

down but it injured when some were attacked an injured. so now they plan to use goats, but some are petitioning to bring cows back saying cows will eat more grass. there is new questions about pg&e oversight of the national gas line, following the release of the company's internal memo. the media partner, "san jose mercury news" shows the memo shows the utility was alerted 20 years ago that the pipeline record-keeping system was disorganized and out of date. the memo released by the state public utility commission yesterday are part of last september's pipeline explosion investigation, the explosion in san bruno that killed eight people. pg&e's records and information coordinator in the 1990s had concerns. they needed to update the pipeline records, but the utility didn't think it was a priority. his job was later eliminated. >> you will see warning signs on highways today to watch out for highway workers after the death of a

freeway worker in san diego. caltrans worker was picking up litter along interstate 15 when he was struck by a car. 52-year-old richard gonzalez is the third highway worker to die on the job in 48 days. the driver of the white cadillac that struck him was detained at the scene by the highway patrol. caltrain workers say drivers often ignore the posted signs. >> you see a truck with a sign, arrow pointed this way. they will still come right up on you. it's scary sometimes. but i'll be like there's impact and they want to give you the finger. we're just doing what we told. >> the head of caltrans has ordered a statewide review of safety procedures for highway workers and the c.h.p. will be ticketing drivers who won't slow down. >> it's 4:36 now. it may be tough to hail a cab this afternoon in san francisco. cabbies are planning to stage a two-hour strike beginning at noon. they plan to spend the two

hours circling city hall in a protest against new regulations, including one that allows cab companies to charge drivers a 5% fee on rides paid for by credit card. the municipal transportation agency is considering tracking cabs electronically and putting more taxis on the street. >> republican presidential hopeful mitt romney visited the bay area today. as part of a three-day fundraising campaign through the state. romney was in idaho falls yesterday. attending a private rundraiser. among the stop in california is barbecue at the portola valley home of scott mcnealy. he will hit sacramento, los angeles and orange county. the latest field poll shows romney holds a solid lead over the party rivals in california. and is preferred by 25% of republican voters. there is word this morning that long-time north bay congresswoman lynn woolsey is set to retire next year. she is set to announce she is leaving office at the end

of term in 2012. she is planning a news conference monday to discuss the future. woolsey represented marrin and sonoma county for 20 years. a draft of a redistricting map released last week indicates that woolsey's congressional district would shift significantly if the change is approved. a lawyer for the three miles per hour hikers charged with espionage in iran says a new hearing set of july 31 has been set in this case. shane bauer, josh fattal and sarah shourd were detained in late july in 2009 along the iran/iraq border. they deny spying charges. bauer and fattal are in custody. shourd was released last year on $500,000 bail and refused to return to iran for trial. iran says it expects to make a final decision in the case by late august. time now is 4:38. yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. that record won't stay around long. >> no. today is the first day of

summer and it will live up to it. mike nicco is here. >> summer starts this morning. then it will get really hot this afternoon. good morning to you. it looks like we'll have this again. we'll build upon it and see more widespread triple digits where yesterday we fell short. we were like 98, 99 inland areas. today we'll bust through the cap. a look at the satellite. not much going on here whatsoever. there is a little bit of a surge of marine layer clouds down around big sur and monterey. don't think they'll make it here. not especially when they have the calm conditions. the winds are fastest in fairfield. they're just seven miles per hour in the southwest. east wind at napa at 3. west wind at sfo at 6. half moon bay, northeast wind at three. that's it. everybody else is calm and warm. a lot of low to mid-60s. even 74 in antioch right now. 51 at half moon bay. the cool spot at 57 in san francisco. by the afternoon hours, half moon bay will still be relatively comfortable at 74. mid-to-upper 80s around san

francisco, rich -- richmond, oakland. mid-to-upper 90s in south bay, north bay. look at the widespread 100 in east bay valley. down around the monterey bay we have the temperatures in the mid-70s for the bay and mid-to-upper 90s inland. the accuweather seven-day forecast -- cooling hits the coast tomorrow. parts of the bay. starts to reach inland thursday. by friday, all of our temperatures are back to average. it may be cooler than average saturday, sunday and monday. looks like it will be a cooling and drying trend. good morning, frances. >> good morning, mike. well the roads still look great right now. but there is a major closure right now going on in hayward. eastbound 92 is shut down from his parian. the connection ramp to 880 is shut down. there are detours in place and it should be cleared by 5:00. as we go outside, you will find the traffic is still light. heading in to san mateo -- rather out of san mateo to hayward.

eastbound. and no problems as you make your way westbound on the right-hand side in the foster city. eric, karina? >> okay. thank you very much, frances. it's 4:41. >> still ahead, the new tactic the family of a missing bay area nursing student is taking in an effort to find her. president obama is set to deliver new information on the future of u.s. troops in afghanistan.

good morning, everyone. 4:43 on the abc7 morning news. enjoy this. this darkness, this relatively cool weather. it's going to heat up later today. we'll probably reach triple digits. mike says the hottest day of the year so far. he will let you know about that and the air quality. frances has traffic for you coming up. >> the family of missing student michele le is turning to a private investigator to help figure out what happened to her. she disappeared three weeks ago on kaiser hospital a

nursing student. they're investigating the disaperience as a homicide. they promise the confidentiality and protection to anyone who may be afraid to come forward until now. there is more information on abc7news.com under see it on tv. tomorrow, president obama will announce how many troops will come home next month. he will show how many military will be handed over to the afghan army. >> with americans saying the afghanistan war is not worth the cost, president obama will announce tomorrow how many troops will come home. >> the president is in the process of finalizing the decision on the pace and scope of the drawdown. >> the decision facing the president is whether they

should follow the advice. >> we're war weary, then we'd lose the war. >> or does he make the decision based on polls showing a war weary public. >> when you look at the situation on the ground in afghanistan, it's bleak. >> the size of the drawdown has to be large enough to keep the president's promise to withdrawal troops but small enough to satisfy military commanders. worry that afghanistan remains too fragile. diplomatic relations with the country remain tense. after president hamid karzai said u.s. forces run the risk of becoming occupiers of the country. >> when i hear your leaders call us occupiers and liken it to the brutal enemy of afghan people, my people are filled with confusion and grow weary with our effort here. >> with more than 100,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan, a modest draw down in the military opinion would be no more than 5,000 troops. with americans wanting less involvement and osama bin laden now dead, some are calling for a larger number, suggesting that the

president can decide on a number as high as 15,000 troops. peggy bunker, abc news. the time is 4:45. coming up, the free offer to make today the perfect day to visit any of the nation's national parks. >> also, the impact the slowdown in travel at a bay area airport is about to have on businesses who took a chance. >> plus, changing the way you fly. how your trash could be the fuel on the next plane you have in your next flight out of town. >> the scary new warnings that will soon be printed on every pack of cigarettes. [ male announcer ] bring home a complete meal for your family.

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welcome back. 4:48. the lower 48 forecast. 65 in fargo to 108 in phoenix. hot and humidity from dallas all the way to d.c. and new york. in fact, that's where severe weather is likely. as you look at the big area of yellow.

no delays at the airports right now. but they will develop with the severe weather. we'll track them and you can, too. flight tracker, abc7news.com. here is eric. all right, mike. thank you very much. it's 4:49 now. we're taking you back to our breaking news story of the morning in san jose on the campus of san jose state. this is the fire still burning out of control at the kappa sigma house in the 100 block of south 11 street. this fire apparently started in the attic. as you can see, has burned through the roof. our nick smith has just arrived on the scene. he is getting in place now, gathering some information. we'll take nick live coming up with information on this fire in just a couple of minutes. stick around for that. >> it's 4:49. plans are in the works to build a plant in gilroy to build first jet fuel approved for aviation use in the country. it will be produced by bioenergy company solina using agricultural and urban

waste otherwise headed for land fills. 11 major airlines including united, continental, southwest and fedex signed letter of intent to use the fuel at any one of the three major bay area airports. the head of solina spoke to us by skype via the paris air show and says the new fuel would not require any changes in the airport or in the planes. >> it's drop-in fuel. they can drop it in the jet. storage system and the airport. without having to change engines. or storage facility. >> they expect to convert 550,000 metric tons of waste to 60 million gallons of fuel per year by 2015. it's win or go home for the cal baseball team, as they take on texas a&m in the college world series at 11:00 this morning. the bears will start freshman pitcher kyle porter. cal lost the opener in the college world series on sunday, falling to top

ranked virginia 4-1. the bears had to fight through budget cuts and must-win games to get to the world series in omaha. no room for error now that the double elimination tournament continues. remember, cal almost didn't have a baseball team this season. >> they have overcome a lot of challenges. we're going to have overcome challenges in the heat today. >> drink early, often. water. >> water. >> yes. >> we lost power for two hours yesterday in my neighborhood. from 4:00 to 6:00. the hottest part of the day. >> how does that happen? >> i don't know! >> we have known for a week this was going to happen. how come -- never mind. [ laughter ] moving on. hopefully you don't lose power today. just give me a call if you want. come on down. >> that's nice of you, buddy. >> if my air is not working, my parents, they motor home has a generator. we'll pile in there. >> you're taken care of. >> go to the motor home and stay cool all six of the dogs. let's move on again. 4:52. looking down on fairly clear

sky. a few high clouds roaming through. what will happen this afternoon, a big story again. air quality could be poor. especially inland valley of the east bay. barely, 100 is the threshold. 101. built-up of ground-based ozone could happen there. temperatures, 74 in antioch. 51 in half moon bay. 23-degree spread from the coast all the way to the inland valleys. most of us in the low to mid-60s. around the monterey bay, we have temperatures in the mid-to-upper 50s. even as you head inland. so sunny today. hot this afternoon. this isn't the movie "groundhog," but today will top it. poor air quality, likely today. cooler everywhere by saturday. almost a 20-degree drop in most neighborhoods. a look at the clouds. notice the absence of them once again this morning. a slight sea breeze could develop. coast in 70s. the 80s and the 90s will dominate the bay and 100s dominate the east bay valley. we'll start over in the

south bay. we'll have widespread mid-to-upper 90s today. we may get near 100 in los gatos. we'll have 86 at millbrae. 89 in san mateo. mid-90s for most of the peninsula. low to mid-70s along the coast today. to mid-80s in downtown and saucelito. mid-to-upper 90s in north bay valley. comfortable in the beaches. upper 80s to low 90s in the east bay shore. oakland at 88. 92 in castro valley and fremont. look at the 100s in the east bay valley today. 98 in dublin to 99 in pleasanton. 76 in monterey today. look at the mid-to-upper 70s. santa cruz, watsonville. not bad there. 82 in salinas. heat is on inland with the mid-to-upper 90s. morgan hill, gilroy and hollister. traveling around the state. upper 90s throughout the central valley. 75 at tahoe. big sur, to 76 in l.a. 106, the hot spot in palm springs. briveng it home tonight. 50s in half moon bay, santa

cruz, san francisco and cloverdale. antioch is 74. the difference tomorrow, you can see cool air up the coast while you drop eight degrees. same thing with the bay. hot again inland. the heat will dissipate inland thursday. then by friday, saturday, sunday, temperatures are back where they should be for this time of the year. have a great day. frances? >> of course, you're telling us it's a spare the air day. good idea to take mass transit. not free today. system report nothing delays right now. as we go outside, a light commute is what you will find at this time of the morning. a live shot of 280/17 now. highway 17, you notice they will have an overnight roadwork going on between summit road and bear creek road. that is scheduled until 6:00. that is both directions of highway 17. we'll also check out contra costa county. where the ride in walnut creek looks great. southbound here, approaching highway 24. no trouble at all in the north bay. with the live shot of 101. in san rafael.

headlights move southbound just past lucas valley. heading toward marrin civic center. get the latest traffic conditions when you want going to the website abc7news.com. it's under the bay area traffic link. karina? >> thank you, frances. talking about getting around. a drop in the number of flights at manetta airport means gates will close and businesses as well. they're set to vote today to amend the contract to close a deli and the nearby newsstand sunset news. both were in little used part of the airport. officials hope the closure will be temporary. >> our number one objective at the airport right now is to get more flights and airlines. once we're successful and we have a need to open one or six of the gates we can do so at a moment's notice. >> gates closed are terminal

a-plus, located furthest from the security check point and the closures will not impact flight traffic. >> cigarette packs are about to get new labels with grim images. details the health risk of tobacco. the food and drug administration today is expected to roll out nine new warning labels. the images include people dying of cancer. all are designed to shock smokers to quitting and prevent others from starting. cigarette makers will have until the fall of 2012 to comply. the national park service is celebrating the first day of summer with a freebie. it's allowing free entry today to every national park in the country. that means you can enjoy spectacular site like waterfall in yosemite for free. the usual fee to enter the park is $20 per car. the heavy snow runoff has rivers and stream in yosemite running full of water. >> just beautiful there. next on abc7 news at 5:00 a.m. -- we continue to follow breaking news in san jose, where firefighters are battling to control a fire at a fraternity house.

we are live at the scene. the heat the san francisco board of supervisors is expected to face today. as they consider a huge severance package for the outgoing chief of muni. [ diane lane ] is your anti-wrinkle cream gone...

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