i'm marianne favro. 4,000 nurses are walking off the job "today in the bay" area. i'll have that story with a live report from the burlingame. protesters clash are berkeley police as officers try to push them out of civic center park. now protesters admit there is a problem at the camp. find out what they're saying. >> plus, christmas trees are the center of attention this time of year, but this is also the time when they can become most dangerous. what you can do to prevent fires coming up. >> and a live look outside. beautiful day across the bay. the winds blowing the clouds away. it's thursday, december 22 ncd.

you're watching nbc bay area. good morning and thanks for being with us at 11:00. i'm marla tellez. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. they're off the job and on the picket lines again. thousands of bay area nurses staging a one-day strike. >> the target, nine hospitals in the sutter health network. the issue? contract concessions. nbc bay area's marianne favro is live at the medical have in burlingame with how it will affect patients. more on that. >> well, let me show you what's happening right now here at the sutter hospital in burlingame. you can see there are about 40 nurses out here. they have been here since 7:00 this morning. many of them are carrying pickett signs that they say they are striking for patient safety. a total of 4,000 nurses are striking at nine bay area hospitals. some nurses say sutter wants to

take away support staff, sick leave and other benefits. >> we're out here because sutter has made really egregious cuts to a lot of our benefits on some of the patient care issues and the nurses are out here to protect patient care. >> well, the nurses historically have a very rich benefited contract. you know, making as much as $136,000 a year on average. and the position of the california nurses has been to accept no concessions, even in this economy. >> reporter: sutter also says the company is not trying to take away nurses' sick leave. sutter has brought in replacement workers who will receive two days of additional on the job training at the hospital. but some patients are apprehensive. in september, during another nurses strike at sutter, one patient dies at all ta bait summit medical center in oakland

after she received the wrong dose of medication from a replacement nurse. today 125 nurses from this hospital are striking. that's about 70% of the rns scheduled to work today. sutter is asking the striking nurses to return to work on december 24th. reporting live from burlingame, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. thank you very much, mary ann. another attack on a popular east bay trail. police say a woman and her daughter were held at gunpoint tuesday on the delta trail in bay port, the same trail where a woman was sexually assaulted late last month. the latest victim handed over her purse to two men who ran off. >> protesters at one of the bay areas last remaining occupy camps are holding their ground today. video posted on youtube shows a confrontation between berkeley police and some of the occupiers there. police ordered them to leave by 10:00 last night after south baying calls about violent

incidents lapping at the camp. something they're not denying. >> poverty is violent. these are things that happen on the street all the time. unfortunately, these things kind of got concentrated here and that's a good point. beat would have appreciated the police not ignoring this place up until today. >> as of this morning, a handful of tents still pitched in civic center park and protesters say they have no plans to leave. >> the golden state warriors say a relationship between monta ellis and a former team employee was consensual. erica smith and her attorney filed a civil suit against ellis and the war yars claiming ellises harassed her with dozens of text messages some of them including explicit pictures. she worked for the team for three years in the community relations department. she claims she was fired to cover it up. the warriors denewrongdoing.

san leandro police discovered a marijuana grow house. officers found more than 00 marijuana plants. more than $2,000 in cash as well as a mercedes-benz were confiscated. a 42-year-old woman inside the house was also arrested. a greater police presence is expected in the south san francisco neighborhood where three gang members died one year ago today. the city's police chief says he's worried about retaliation on the anniversary of those shootings. last december, three men were gunned down and three others hurt at ace lane and linden avenue. no arrests have been made. since the murders, the city has created an anti-gang unit and arrested more than 100 gang members. sentencing for the mastermind convicted in a sensational south bay murder for hire case is expect the to be postponed again. paul garcia is set to be sentenced today for the murder of his former business colleague mark achilli in 2008.

the judge plans to delay sentencing so he can review a defense motion for a new trial. garcia was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill the los gatos bar owner in a love triangle involving a woman he was dating. >> he's earned a nickname for his age. there's no speculation the so-called geezer bandit may not be as old as he looks. take a look. this is surveillance video at one of 16 california banks he is suspected of robbing. witnesses say he wears a mask and gloves aceh he moves too fast for an elderly man. a $20,000 reward is being offered in the case. san jose firefighters are warning families today about the dangers of dried out christmas trees. they've been blamed for two fires in the past two weeks. nbc bay area's damian trujillo is live on kauai drive, the scene of the latest fire. good morning. >> good morning. this fire erupted on monday evening and the owally family lost everything from wallets to

christmas presents. now, police say the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but they say the christmas tree was just inches away from the fireplace. they believe a spark from the fireplace ignited the tree. then the rest of the house. the tree in another home also caught fire on december 13th. that one was caused by lights on the free. but the homeowners were able to douse the fire before crews arrived. so the fire department warns homeowners to be careful, avoid extension cords if possible and keep the tree watered if possible. especially if it's sitting in your living room for a few weeks now. >> not atypical this time of year for trees to get really dry and if they're in place whereas they have an ignition source like a fireplace or a heater, a space heater, this does happen. >> reporter: everyone in the oally home got out safely but there are no remnants of a christmas tree in the home. everything was destroyed by

monday's fire. so the fire department also warns if you don't have to keep your christmas tree lit overnight, turn it off. it might make things safer. we're live in san jose. damian trujillo. >> thanks, damian. a big present from wells fargo bank today. the bang is donating $250,000 to the church. the money will go towards women's services, a walk-in aid center and a mobile dental van. glad says it will help them better serve the underserved community. >> we could set a record for a high today. >> we could smash temperature records. >> amazing. it's december. >> we had near record lows just two the days ago. now our focus shifts to near record highs up in the north bay in particular. napa, you're running 2 degrees warmer than where you were at your highest point yesterday. it's only 11:08. take a look at oakland right

now. that camera shaking around. the wind is warming us up. i'll tell you where the temperatures are headed. fairfield, temperatures are warming quickly. as we head throughout the next few hours, 61 degrees already in napa. i'm forecasting 71 degrees. breaking an old temperature record of 68 back in 1999. so basically w haven't seen temperatures this warm on this december date since 1901 in places like san jose. 66 degrees later on. i'll tell you city by city how hot it's going to be. using hot in december is bizarre. >> we're in winter now officially. >> the first official day. i should have mentioned that. that makes it even more bizarre. >> mother nature has a sense of humor. >> she's moody. >> we know nothing about that. >> not at all. still ahead, the deadlock and gridlock in washington. the latest posturing and surprising defection over the payroll tax cut.

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welcome back everyone. a beautiful live look outside. golden gate bridge first full day of winter. you'd never know it across the bay. it's going to be a warm one. we'll check the full forecast coming up. >> a break in the rains raise in the payroll tax cut. mitch mcconnell now says he think the house should pass the two-month extension. that's not what john boehner has been pushing. he wants to vote on a new bill with a one-year extension. the white house is posting this countdown clock on its homepage representing the time left before taxes go up if congress cannot reach a deal. the president was back on the phone this morning with house leaders he's promising to begin work immediately to help congress pass the full year extension as soon as the short-term compromise is passed.

160 million americans face a new year's tax hike if agreement is not reached. more than one million unemployed american californians will be ached if that deal is not cut. some as early as next month. 100,000 people in their final federal extension will stop getting benefits after the first week of january. too much money, not enough jobs. criticism of california's $100 billion high speed rail project now extends to the promise of jobs. supporters said a million people would be employed in some manner before and after the construction. but the mercury news reports the number is more like 20 to 60,000 a year and only a few thousand positions would be permanent. construction is set to begin late next year. >> scott mcgrew says best buy might be getting a lump of coal for christmas this year. scott? >> yeah, this is just flabbergasting. it's hard to think of a way a

company could generate bad press than a failure to deliver something you paid for by christmas. but best buy says a small number of gadgets that customers bought on black friday online will not be available by christmas. the sales were canceled by best buy on the best buy support forum on the internet, one poster says "best buy killed christmas." speaking of bad press, oh, look who's opening the dow industrials and the new york stock exchange this morning. yes, it's fedex, the same company that dropped that package you've seen on youtube a million times. fedex having its busiest day. for the second week in a row, first time jobless claims were lower than expected. the lowest since 2008. acame just bought a company called contendo for a quarter billion dollars. back to you. >> thanks so much, scott. santa's workshop is kicking things into overdrive today as

santa and his helpers put the finishing touches on christmas gifts. >> bob redell checked in with santa to see how things are going. >> reporter: north pole. population 2,226. 25 of white sox don't even come close to minimum height requirements. >> who are you calling short? >>. >> reporter: then there's the not so tiny reindeer and one very large ball of jolly. that happens to belong to the town's most famous resident. santa claus was gracious enough to take time out of his extremely busy schedule to give us an extended one-on-one sitdown interview. are we rolling? santa, are you ready for christmas eve? >> yes, i am. >> thanks. >> merry christmas. >> you, too. >> reporter: you can see why he's so busy. 150,000 wish lists have poured into the north pole post office this month alone. >> most kids want a bicycle.

i don't know where you would ride it in the north pole today. >> on top of the 2,000 to 3,000 live requests from kids who sit on his lap each and every day. >> what do you want for christmas? >> an alarm clock. >> alarm clock? wow. justin bieber watch. that's nice. what would you like, sweetheart? >> a type writer. >> my first typewriter, wow. i didn't know kids knew what they were. >> santa tells usi touches and ipads along with barbie and legos are on the popular request list this year by the kids. if you're wondering about the temp, much warmer this year, a couple degrees above zero. a couple degrees warmer, she would be out here in speedos. bob redell for nbc news. >> bob can certainly thaw out when it comes to the bay area. >> christina loren joins us to look at the forecast. >> not quite speedo weather though. we're looking pretty good for today. we do have some changes on the

way. your temperatures are running much, much warmer. take a look at the system that's developing out in the pacific. and i want to start with this because we've been so dry lately. but this is a really good looking system and every time i check, the chances for rain next week looking more and more promising. so that's good news. we're up to about a 40% chance for widespread showers across the bay area. as we kickoff looks like tuesday and wednesday of next week. this is what we're looking at right now, winds of change have moved in and boy, they have nudged your temperatures up substantially. we're running up to 15 degrees warmer at this point than we were just 24 hours ago. i think we'll see the 70s later on today in places like santa rosa, 71 degrees is the high in the fairfield and 66 degrees in san jose, near record heat. the places i've indicated, we could be touching on temperature records in places like santa rosa, napa and san jose. tune into my chief meteorologist jeff ranieritant at 5:00, 6:00,

and 11:00. an area of low pressure sitting to our south. generating a tight pressure gradient pumping winds from the bay area through the los angeles basin. so it's really gusty at this point. the los angeles county mountains, take it easy through there. tonight, low pressure tarts to drift off to the east. high pressure states stays put making for mild conditions. temperatures are going to be really cold again tomorrow morning once we lose the wind. here's that is system of low pressure i wanted to show you. very substantial. we're seeing this start to dig a little bit more. white is moisture. so our rain chances are looking more promising for late tuesday into wednesday as the system of low pressure starts to drop down as the jet stream dips to the south. this is what we're forecasting. i think the north bay will start to get their first showers probably tuesday evening and the rest of the bay area by wednesday morning getting some light showers. we need the rain running at about 40% of average for a normal year here in the bay area. so this is where we're headed.

64 degrees, a california christmas. you'll get to ride the new bike if that's what you get under the tree. 61 degrees on monday. clouds increase on tuesday and rain on wednesday. back to you ladies. >> thanks so much. christmas is just a few days away. santa still needs a lot of help meeting the needs of some pay area families. find out how you can help. >> plus a grammy award for one of the most well-known names in the tech world. what steve jobs is being recognized for. >> and to join the discussion, check us out on facebook, search nbc bay area. we're back i te ♪ [ ukulele strumming ]

♪ [ folksy whistling ] [ man ] quitting is a fight you can't let yourself lose. it can take many tries. but keep trying, you will beat smoking. honey, you okay? yeah, i'm fine. ♪ [ ukulele ]

welcome back, everyone. we've been talking about what a gorgeous day it is across the bay area. look at that sky out there. clear as a bell because the winds are blowing through. a warm one, as well. 11:21 right now. >> it seems like an unlikely and ironic honor, but apple co-founder steve jobs will be honored pos humusly with a grammy for special merit award.

>> in a statement, the academy says it chose jobs because of the products and technology that transformed the way we consume music, tv, movies and books. it's a technology many in the industry fought though and still resent for the loss of recording revenue. the honor will be given in the special ceremony in february. tahoe ski resorts say they have plenty of snow this christmas. it's not the kind that falls from the sky. crews have been working around the clock producing manmade snow for skiers and snow borders. operators say they're taking advantage of the cold weather to make as much snow as they can and until the real stuff starts falling. forecasters say this is the driest december in recent memory. >> christmas just three days away and thousands of families are still in need here in the bay area. and the east palo alto police department wants to help. it is encouraging donations for a christmas toy drive. they're making a public plea for new or unwrapped toys or just cash donations, donations can be

dropped off at the east palo alto police department. all must be made by tomorrow night. in the east bay, the fire and police departments from richmond and el cerrito are hosting a holiday toy drive under way right now at the corner of south 20th and marin streets in richmond. the police and fire departments expect to serve about 800 people this holiday season. another reason for kids to be glued to the computer this weekend, how they can be super sleuths in stalking santa. >> a shortage that may mean sawer kisses tma iy it s'tsno.christmas. say it isn't so. [ female announcer ] holiday plus cookies plus memories

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welcome back. only 11:25 and some cities are already in the 60s. taking a live look at san jose, you can see how beautiful it is out there. that wind not only warming us up, it's cleaning out that air quality. it keeps all that haze from just staying suspended in our

atmosphere as it mixes it up. throughout this afternoon, the climb continues. 58 degrees in hayward. and san francisco, you are even enjoying these wonderful conditions for this time of year. 55 degrees, that's your average high. we already hit it. napa will break a temperature record later today. we continue on with the stretch of fair weather, christmas sunday looking good. 64 degrees, ladies back to you. >> thanks so much. well, fedex says it's making things right after this video went viral. the youtube version of the worker tossing a package containing a computer monitor over a fence, it got more than 2 million views. now fedex says the matter has been resolved with the customer. the company replaced the broken monitor with a new one and fedex says it will discipline the employee but is not saying just how. mommy might need to take santa claus somewhere else this christmas. >> mistletoe is in short supply.

florists say drought and bad weather made the plantsents scarce. texas says 60% of its supply was wiped out.retailers say it would cost about $5 a sprig and it's not worth the money. somehow we think holiday lovers don't mind. >> those don't right there. >> well, santa's gearing up pore his trip around the world. this weekend you can see exactly where he's going. >> that's right. he keeps track of us. now you can keep track of him starting saturday morning, kids can track his progress online. just go to norad san tan.org to find out where jolly old st. nick is headed. this year, you can also follow him on twitter. yeah, his twitter handle is #norad santa. if you don't want to grab your computer or smartphone, you can dial his number un. norad will patch you through to old st. nick himself. 1-877-hinorad.

there's no escaping santa. >> santa has a twitter handle. >> a modern day. >> modern day technology. here we are. >> thanks so much for being with us. join us tonight at 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00. >> all day on nbcbayarea.com.