yearsing ayochl a part of his is still there. >> two weeks ago i heard a motorcycle that sounded like a call to prayer in a mosque. i had cold sweats and i was at work soy had to stop working. >> he was with the national guard with three years in the middle east. many returning solders will finds things at home are different. >> i don't know if my family is different. i know i am. i know that. it's just hard to relate to people sometimes. >> more than 30,000 troops are now making their way back home to california. and will need jobs, health care and many will need counseling. >> scared by letting people know what i've done or seen they'll think of me differently. >> for the first time he came to the vet center here and other vets have volunteered to point returning vets to medical care, counseling and jobs.

services they know they need. help is available to anyone who served in the military. >> i have a lot of people, you know, falling through the cracks. >> and veteran's administration is preparing for the surge and want to make sure everyone of them has access to programs. especially those helping them transition foo job autos before we get them to the employer they're ready. job ready. >> and he had five jobs in six years and his appearance today is a huge step in his finally coming home. >> i guess i'm just tired of keeping it inside. >> and combat veterans say troops will need support from friends and family if they're going to transition back to civilian live. >> thank you very much. and human error is being blamed for a million gallon geyser that erupted in south san francisco. >> it sent water spewing 60

feet into the air causing a mudslide that damaged several homes and cars. the san francisco public utilities commission said a coupling connected to an old pipe to a new one was not installed properly. >> engineers are inspecting all 35 location was similar link autos of the 35, 28 were defined proper lism we have found seven. this is not designed properly. we've had design changes to make sure they're corrected. >> the san francisco p.u.c. owns and manages broken pipe, part of a hetch hetchy system delivering water to two and a half million people in the bay area. >> broken pipe forced a closure of several streets today near broadway plaza center. the ruptured six-inch pipe feeds a fire hydrant and broke about 8:00 this morning and some businesses had to deal with more than it streamed into store fronts but opened as usual. >> investigators are on the

scene of a fatal crash that shut down did he have devil's slide this afternoon. sky 7 was overhead after a motorcycle collided with a pickup truck. a motorcyclist was kill skptd crash happened south of the new bypass tunnels after 3:00 p.m. witnesses reported seeing the motorcyclist traveling fast right before the accident but no determination yet on who crossed center line. a private plane crashed this afternoon near a runway in concord. sky 7 was over that scene and fire and crews removed two men from the small plane and put them on stretchers. and faa says pilot declared an emergency and crashed trying to return to the run waivemt a nursing supervisor at the hospital says both under good condition and could be released tonight. >> and the holidays could not lift end of the year home prices. home prices are down 32% since

the housing bubble burst. december saw a second month of declines, in the bay area, housing prices dropped and though prices are down they're not as suppressed as national figure. median home price hovers under $700,000. >> and two key indicators of the economy give mixed messages about the future, one says consumer confidence is growing and another says home prices continue to fall as you just saw. and we're live with a closer look. >> the economy may not be operating on all cylinders yet. we may be seeing some forward motion as a result. >> the crowds just before christmas displayed a new consumer confidence. >> it feels like things are looking up a little bit.

>> and that is reflected in the latest index, 64.5 this month. and seeing people walking with shopping bags and buying rubbed off. kit yarrow is a consumer psychologist z talked to us via apple face time and an electronics store. >> some of the increased confidence has to do with crowd mentality that people feel like other people are feeling more positively. that makes them feel mer positively. >> the real test comes in weeks and months ahead. as income tax time approaches. >> i feel like january is the time people have new year's resolutions and they're going back to the gym. and. >> andrea is the owner of frost cup take factory and confidence to keep her four full time and four part time

employees, however, as prices continue to slide that can drag down consumer spending. >> seeing prices go down and down and watch our house value drop. and so... >> when you see that, does that make you less confident? >> yes. >> another factor is job security. the private sector has been hard hit, many jobs are still in jeopardy. >> i work in education and the budget the way it ssh i don't know if my job is save. i'd like to think it s but you never know. >> retailers may be influence bid stronger confidence by raising prices. and deep discounts may not be necessary much longer in order to stimulate spending. >> tough economy is forcing a tough decision by sears, closing 100 sears and k mart stores around the country. the people who own businesses near those stores are certainly worried.

and nick snij is live in oakland with the story. >> good evening, sears has not said which stores they plan to close but on the web site they sthai in order to raise the bot yoim yom line therk need to shut the doors on 120 big box stores that has business owners worried about their own financial futures. >> so sporty and excited. >> mary owned and operated her store for seven years. >> don't you think your mom would look great in that? >> she fears the closing of the sears department store would be bad for business. >> not having other anchor stores in the area, so i believe would it have an adverse feekt there is not enough down here as it is to draw people. >> robert's scooter shop still operates on the block. sears holding corporation plans to close between 100 and

120 sears and k mart stores and have not said how many jobs will be lost. >> if you start take waig things like sears, then i don't know what they would do to replace that. >> this slatest move to fix the retailer struggling to hold on to customers finding other ways to buy good autos shopping habits change. goi where it's convenient. it's convenient, i'll go there. >> looking at sales? >> of course. >> patricia is a customer retailers depend on. >> jackets. you know? and outer wear. >> but customers are not shopping enough a cording to a statement, revenue at most stores is down by more than 5% and holiday shopping wasn't enough to save them. >> a lot of the larger stores have gotten away from customer service. >> sears says they'll no longer prop up their marginally performing stores but will concentrate on cash again rating stores. some fear what may move in if

sears decides to move out. >> every time something closes what opens behind that alls does not seem to be the right thing. >> sears and k mart combined have more than 4,000 stores in the united states and canada. and at the start of the morning's trading their shares were down 18.9%, lowest point in more than three years. nick smith abc 7 news. >> thank you very much. police in fremont hope that two drivers will come forward after they both hit and killed a military veteran on a busy street. witnesses say a newer silver toyota rav 4 struck the 56-year-old while he was crossing the street last night. investigators believe he was not in the crosswalk. a four-door honda accord hit him on the ground. >> if there is someone out there that saw something get in touch with us. you know? i guess that is the right thing to do. >> this is a very busy intersection.

i know other vehicles may have seen what occurred but not realized the vehicles hit a pedestrian. >> police say good samaritans performed cpr on him. his family says he lived in a homeless camp. he serve wtd marine corps in the 1980s. >> and a man who san francisco prosecutors claim posed as a physician's assistant and smoked a he cigar during a liposuction procedure entered a not guilty plea today this, is the 49-year-old last friday wearing the orange jump su. he is a s.alleged to have run a phony clinic and offered rock bottom prices. authorities claim he made the woman getting liposuction hold her own iv bag during the procedure. >> and bay area doctors and emergency workers are bracing for what is likely to be the busiest weekend of the year. new year's eve follows -- fals on a saturday, so experts are

expecting an increase in emergency room visits from partiers who overdo it. last year, on a friday, san francisco emergency rooms saw a 50% increase in the new year's patients. doctors say some years half of the room visits are due to alcohol, including drunk driving and alcohol overdoses. >> and a lot more to bring you at 6:00. coming up, homeowners need to know about an important change. why police there say they'll no longer respond to some burglar alarms. >> and bay area is suffering from unusually bad air for this time of the year, what is behind it and what you can do to approve it. >> and the jet stream is active. lots of rainy weather, will any of it come our way? i'll have the kft coming up. >> it's that time of the year. environmently sensible way to get rid of your christmas tree. stay with us. the news at 6:00 continues.

>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. a new policy on burglar alarm response, police will no longer answer alarms that are not verified. the department says officers responded to 12,000 alarm calls last year, 98% of them were false. and security company officials claim the response could lead to citizens investigating possible emergencies themselves. >> they're not trained and may not be armed. it's very daempk russ to have untrained people responding to alarms. that is what happens in the great majority of the case autos if they have indication the suspect is there or if the suspect is gone, but... we believe someone burglarized

the house we're going to go out to all bank alarm and firearms dealer autos leader as agree, pointing out ill it will allow officers to focus on high priority call autos this is supposed to be a rainy season but not this year, not so far. it's been dry, mild and hazy. and that is come wining to create health problems for some people. we're live from marina green with more on affects of the year's winter air. >> yes. good evening, dan. this has not been a good winter for those with respiratory problems and mainly because pollution levels have been higher than years past. now, many just want to know how soon air quality will improve. for karen and her son, zach a simple bike ride this winter has been tough. >> coughing and sneezing. and so it's been a tough

winter because of that. >> with pollution levels up, their asthma has been the worst in years. so bad, that zach was rushed to the hospital. >> they had to give him a breathing treatment. and he was on prednisone. >> he recovered. now, karen doubles her medication this winter. the polluted air triggering attacks you can see all over the bay area. it's that thick gray layer on the horizon sometimes it doesn't seem to move. >> we have very unhealthy christmas weekend air quality wise. we had a lot of wood burning unfortunately. people were not heeding the call. air pollution, smoke pollution was at unhealthy level autos with 10 spare the air days air quality officials say air may not improve soon. and the problem? the weather and wood smoke. on christmas day, air quality

levels were dangerously unhealthy. and at least warning that we can see that again this new year's weekend. >> this cap, and a layer that caps air in the bay area well. don't get as much movement that. is what we've seen in december. it's made air quality unhealthy for us. >> on no-burn days, 77 people were possibly violating the no burn ban. karen and her son hope people will remember those who struggle to breathe before they burn. >> i urge people to know before te burn check to see if it's spare the air night so we keep particulate matter low so that we have a healthy community for everybody. >> and air quality experts say the outlook for this week is expect to see a slight improve nmt our air quality. for next couple days but this weekend, get ready. we can see another jump in pollution levels and they may have to call another spare the

air day. possibly this weekend but then, as you know, a lot of that really depends on what the weather may hold. live from marina green abc 7 news. >> and on that subject thank you very much. >> we need rain to clean this out. >> we do. good news is that go expect improvements so they have atmosphere will begin to mix out just a bit. we can use a good down pour and strong gusts of wind. and there is a live view right now from our camera. and there is where you can see a little portion of the new span of the bay bridge still under construction. getting closer to completion. let's take a look at our readings under partly cloudy to mainly clear skies. some cool conditions in spots. there is 40 degrees in napa. and there is 34 in mountain view z these are the highlights. it rb partly cloudy skies

tonight with patchy fog developing overnight z chance of showers, a slight chance of showers in the nornl bay thursday and friday. and we'll have dry and mild conditions for new year's weekend. let's talk about tonight's conditions. fog is developing in parts of the north bay z inland east bay locations. and 38 degrees expected low in livermore. and 39 antioch. 36 fairfield. and 36 santa rosa and we'll see 40 or just above in most other locations as lows. and sat lilt tells a complete story of our weather. and weather that should be ours. jet stream is active. lots of storms there. flowing into pacific northwest. north of the bay area into washington and oregon. and time line there overnight you'll see rain pushing into northwest there north of our area. and there is wednesday night we'll see light rain pushing

south ward down into perhaps northern sonoma county about as close as it will get. might see light rainfall there into thursday. and the remainder will be probably dry foo weekend and into next week. we do have lovely days ahead. tomorrow, mainly sunny skies. sunday, high temperatures into low 60s. 62 in santa clara and san jose. and there is 62 in redwood city. on the coast from cool pacifica with a high of 56 to mild with a high of 60 tomorrow. downtown san francisco, a high of 58, sunset district, 57 tomorrow, north bay mainly low 60s. 61 in calistoga and novato. and near east bay highs will be generalry just above 60 degrees. and there is inland east bay, low 60s.

62 in dublin and livermore. and near monterey bay milder and a little bit sunnier, highs into low to mid-60s and here is the accu-weather forecast. and we'll see that slight chance of rain in the north bay on thursday and friday. again, generally dry conditions and a nice lovely day on saturday. and sunday take a walk on the mild side. highs mid-60s inland and around the bay. low 60s on the coast. beautiful weather. it's so dry. >> yes. >> i don't, i hope it won't thb way in january. >> and just ahead this could be someone's lucky night. >> megamillions jackpot hasn't seen a winner in eight weeks.

good evening again, time is running out. do you have a ticket? jackpot for the megamillions is more than $206 million. and that is no one has taken the jackpot since the first of november. and if you'd like cash, you

can bring home $152 kblinl after taxes. the drawing is tonight at 8:00. if you have a ticket good luck and please remember your favorite news team if you win. >> yes. right. and maybe they can think about doing this, local residents are helping to raise funds to keep two state parks open. and they're set to close in july because of budget cuts to the department of parks and recreation. now, the foundations have announced a camp dwrin raise half a million dollars between now and then to keep the park open. and three other groups have joined that campaign. >> and this is the season, tree recycling about to get underway in san francisco. the two garbage companies will pick up christmas trees from january 3-13. all have you do is put your

tree next to your garbage can on the regular pick up day. and wood chips get used for bio fuel in tracy. >> and governor jerry brown has money on his mind wrapping up his first year back in the governor's office how he rates his own performance and what he says about running for reelection autos and the growing gap between members of congress skpefr one else. why some say they should be paid more. >> more retailers want to e mail you a receipt. but should you let them? 7 on your side is coming up. c

in sacramento governor brown had the state capitol to himself during the break to talk about a plan to tax high income earners.

he wants to raise the sales tax to support schools. and. >> merry christmas. >> governor brown started off with a friendly word. >> the cuts i'm going to propose are going to be difficult and they'll assume a tax increase voted by voters. and putting it together will be probably just as hard as last year. >> the governor is pushing the initiative temporarily raise the state sales tax by a half cent and raisin come taxes on couples earning more than a half pillin dollars a year. >> these taxes may stave off some of the cuts but choices that are for voters in november is that we want to try to protect our school autos they blasted the governor before brown spoke. >> and this is the wrong thing for california. no one can say taking $10 billion out is going help california rebound.

>> and this boutique owner is against a higher tax. >> being a small business owner i just feel like i'm in business to pay taxes. i never can keep up on paying on taxes. >> and garo thinks the schools need money. >> would you be willing to pay fr a tax increase? >> i personally think i would be. it shouldn't come to where it's add @ now. the situation here n but yes. i would. >> governor brown talk btd occupy oakland movement in the city he used to be mayor and called it a scream. >> i don't think jean kwan needs anymore critic autos i asked the governor if he was thinking about another term. >> i don't know how i'm going feel in a couple of years. this is exciting. i mean i can't tell you how much i like being governor of california. >> that is going to be tested in the coming months.

the governor tries to get his pension reform plan passed and convince voters higher taxes will help in the long run. >> one week to go before the iowa caucuses, republican candidates were back after a break for holiday weekend. latest gallup poll has newt gingrich on top but he's in third place on recent iowa polls. >> and i thought i'd come to a conclusion in september or okay. i've not gotten to that point where my head and heart come together. >> hundreds of gathering this week vowing to interrupt candidates at events and kafr inside and outside campaign offices. they say they want to change the political diea lochlg lochlgt -- dialogue. >> and democrats are greeting

nebraska senator ben nelson's decision to retire rather than run for a third term saying it sets up a republican victory in nebraska's next senate race. republicans need just four seats and there are no democrats in line to take nelson's place in nebraska. >> we're talking about washington as middle class americans get poorer members of congress, getting richer. >> one component of analysis coming out of latest financial reports from members of congress. >> and there is more on the growing wealth gap. >> the income gap has doubled since the 198s. and it isn't because the salary members of congress are paid. in six years, middle class american's net worth dropped 8%. net worth of members of congress has gone up 15%

according to the analysis and in tiburon richard wane told me congress is out of tuch the direction wrong to be socialistic. i don't happen to agree with that. >> in richmond, andy says it's just the opposite. >> i think they're accumulating more wealth to the wealthy. >> how you view the disparity may depend on the point of view. the gap doesn't have that much to do with 174,000s members of congress are paid. >> the truth is that they have not really had in real terms a pay raise since 1950s. >> and the dean of public policy just completed a book on the wealth divide. california congressman darrell

issa has $448 million is the richest member and nancy pelosi has got over $100 million and senator feinstein is 14th with $69 million. more people who made a lot of money or married a lot of money are running for public office but not for the paycheck. >> we've got a congress composed of well off people that. is, i think the biggest problem here. >> when it costs so much and takes so much time to run for congress says professor brady it's more something only the rich can afford. >> we'd like to be a job where folks who are not that well off would say this is a good job. i can make money here, it's worth me running for it professor brady says democracy would be better served when more people could afford to run. but with a congressional pay freeze, laura richardson told

the leader some of us are not in the financial situation you're in. so here is the pop quiz. did pelosi vote against the pay raise because she's wealthy? doesn't need the money? no. congress approval rating is at a historic low. imagine if they had voted to give themselves more mchblt she's a better politician than that. >> and speaking of money, money matters stocks finished mostly flat on the day of light holiday trading dow jones dipped two points and nasdaq dropped six points and yemen's outgoing president will be allowed to come to the united states for some medical treatment. he is recovering from severe injuries suffered in a june attack. white house is hoping that this decision will ease tensions in yemen buttan lifts say koit incite more violence.

and an election to replace him is set for february. >> one of the uc berkeley graduates imprisoned once in iran is now speaking up against the iranian government average nally thanking the regime, she accused iran of using her to further its own political causes and disregarding justice and human liberty. shourd expressed her views for an article she wrote saying thanks expressed was out of fear for fellow hikers. >> and a lot more to get to here tonight. coming up a local surgeon's unique technique. >> helping to straighten out a spinal deform ti.

a new procedure is changing lives from young patients who suffer from a debilitating deform ti. >> i loved, i loved dancing and just energy and the dynamics of it. >> ballet had been a passion for sarah until her instructor noticed something that threatened not only her ability to dance but quality of life. >> she would tell me to stand up straight. she noticed that i was hunched over a little bit. she asked me if i had

scoliosis. >> you can see the curve she has. >> it is a deform ti that twists the spine. walnut creek surgeon specializes in treating scoliosis. >> one side is higher than another. ribs get thrown off. the spine is rotated. ribs get thrown off on one side. if you think hunch back of notre dame, that created that hunch back. >> the doctor turned to a technique that involves placing rods and screws in a new way. >> it's put in the lefthand rod then bring the spine to the rod. then put in a second rod stabilizing it. but because the first is in place, the second doesn't add anything to the correction he says with the nur system hardware on both sites sidz is

interconnected. during the operation that takes a good part of the day, surgeons straighten the spine in sections, anchoring hardware to the operating table. >> when it's perfect, it's perfect as we can get it we tighten it down. so in effect we're correcting by using both sides of the spine. both sides of the instrumentation rather than only half. >> vertebrae then fused together to keep it solid. in this case, surgeons corrected both bending and twisting of her spine and she's hoping to regain mobility to do the things she loves. >> i love to be able to just get back on the dance floor and perform, again. >> and now though it involved modified hardware it's treated as a standard scoliosis surgery there is typically no additional cost. there is a link on our web site to the spine network of california. just go to abc 7 news.com. >> and just ahead from 7 on

your side... e mail receipts may be good for the environment. >> but there is a down side to getting receipts

-dad, why e you getting that? -that's my cereal. is there a prize in there? oh, there's prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are the great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a perhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

is your wallet overflowing from holiday shop something. >> now, paper receipt may be disappearing into history. >> like everything else, it's going digital now. more retailers offering to skip the paper and will e mail you a receipt. that way, you get an instant record of your purchases but should you be giving out e mail to those merchants? the trend took off here. and customers could instantly receive receipts here. >> this is better. if you have it, you can put your e mail. this is easier to just have it in the box. >> now, others are following the lead. nordstroms offers receipts by

e mail. so do the gap and urban outfitters. >> five years from now, based on projections we're seeing, i think that this will be it. >> the ceo of seamless receipts of new york makes software for paperless receipts saying it gives a new way to reach out to customer autos it's not for retailers to get them to come back to another purchase. >> he says 30% to 50% say yes when offered e mails but is it a good idea for you to give a retailer your personal information just to get a receipt? some customers said it is. >> i can make a file on the computer, it's greener z i don't like wasting paper. >> others, however, see this as an invasion of privacy. >> i decline and say no. you may not have my phone number or e mail. >> you may see the indochl

flooded with promotions but most allow to you opt out of receiving ads by clicking or going a large extra step, calling summer service. others like gap stores won't send promotions unless you register to receive them. and says receipts themselves can be a marketing tool. urban outfitters links customers to store catalog. banana republic let's customer click to like the store. some say it's too much interaction. >> i don't need e mail account you know clogged up with save 20% here and there. >> the technology is just starting to get adopted so. we aren't necessarily seeing the long term implications. >> over at the electronic fronteer foundation there is concern hackers can get a hold of the personal records. >> financial transactions are sensitive. we may purchase from stores

and that we don't necessarily want a record oof recommendation? consider setting up a separate account for items like e-receipts like this man does. >> i have e mail address for friends and that stuff. then, everything else. junk mail, whatever it may oob mine will be dan ashley.com. no. no. >> i'll take care of it and all retailers we've mention have had privacy policy that's promise they'll not sell or share your address and some will keep track to send promotions. you should ask how they plan to use data. then, you need to decide if you trust them. >> new world. >> anything i can do to help you by the way. and let's update the forecast. >> we're going to look back. this is a time lapse view this

afternoon and there is mainly blue skies. you can see thin, broken clouds moving overhead. tomorrow most of the state will be dry again but there will be rain up north and there is a high of 53 degrees and notice, nothing traveling to the sierra tomorrow. interest tl is real snow badly needed. there is 74 palm springs and here in the bay area there is a mild day with highs into low to low to mid 6 ows except for upper 50s near the skbai parts of the lower north bay. here is the accu-weather forecast. there is a slight chance of rain. a dry, mild new year's weekend coming up. new year's day, high temperatures mid-60s. and hello, january 1. we'll see a slight chance of rain again monday and tuesday.

and we're going see no significant rainfall events coming our way which is unfortunate because it's dry. >> nfl announces pro bowl roster. >> and you may be surprise bid how many raiders and ososos

join me tonight at 9:00, he may look slow but this turtle is a world travel yes, his amazing 4600 mile journey. then at 11:00 watch out for icebergs. the titanic memorial cruise seems like a sure way to tempt fate, we'll see what that is all about. >> wow. >> rick qan is here with sports now. >> and larry beil is off. and seth curry, everybody is worried about the ankle. >> yes. and looks like it's going to be okay. the car is now listed as day-to-day after jufring his ankle, he might sit out the home game against the knicks. he reinjured himself when he came down on kyle corver's foot. before that, he looked great. as for last night's win, coach

jackson was pleased but says there is a long way to go. >> it would never satisfied. you know? we look at the film or play and excited about it. and it doesn't stop there. we're going keep on building and not fall in love with doing it one night. there is 66 games. >> and former warrior fan fafr rit has been signed by knicks so he should be in uniform tomorrow when new york comes to oracle arena. >> despite being thin, 49ers released raylen edwards. he's been ineffective because of knee and shoulder injuries. the 49ers tied patriots foremost player was eight. their running back tackled and kickers making the team on defense justin smith and carlos rogers and the raiders had three players named to the pro-bowl.

>> and tomorrow night cal takes on number 24, texas at holiday bowl. bears are a three-point under dog. cal is five and two in bowl games. and says the bears will rely on quarterback jack maynard and his brother. a duo kept improving as the season went on. >> they've grown old together. i mean you know through the years they've got a lot of experience with one another. they play different positions. this helps when you know where he's going to be. and he's pretty special. so keep up with it. i think zach is growing and developed over the years just getting to know our offense and things like that. it's different. >> and that game features ill skpil ucla. today players and coaches met with the media. also on hand ronnie lott and

jerry rice there to support the goal of providing food for the needy. >> this is a great community we've been able to play for. it's a great community that stands for thing that's are a little bit bigger than themselves. >> hunger is something we have to deal with. i don't look at it as being -- well, you can look at it as being a problem but most important thing is that it can be beat. >> you know the campaign thopz raise money to provide 25 million. >> thank you. >> that is our report i'm dan ashley. >> thanks for joining us. >> see you at 9:00 and 11:00.

captioned by closed captioning services, inc. this is "jeopardy!" introducing today's contestants-- of international science and technology policy from washington, d.c... an elementary schoolteacher from woodbridge, ontario... and our returning champion-- a tutor from highland park, new jersey... whose 7-day cash winnings total...