i'm stephanie chuang. i am live at university of oakland where a small group of teachers and students returned. we hear from a teacher how it feels to be back. san francisco suspended sheriff resuming the fight to keep his job. where the battle moves today for ross mirkarimi. and a driver slams into a concrete barrier and flips his car before it burst into flames. why he is going to jail instead of the hospital. good morning, everybody. thank you very much for joining us. i'm jon kelley. >> i'm marla tellez. three weeks to the day since their classmates became victims of a mass murder. students at oikos university are

returning to the campus. many still bear the scars of the trauma. some so severe they will not be back. nbc bay area stephanie chuang is live with the comments from one member of the school staff. stephanie, good morning. >> reporter: marla, good morning to you. you know, it has been very quiet all morning long. it has really just been a small group of teachers and students that have come back to the campus. inside, administrators did tell us that there really has been only one class this morning. seems others may have been cancelled. the staff and students who did show up understandably didn't want to speak, except one teacher who described the difficulties of being back. >> still dealing with emotion keep coming back, it is tough. >> the pain is still fresh for oikos teacher lucas garcia, three weeks after the shooting rampage that left seven people dead. he helped students escape the building as a gunman shot and killed six nursing students and

a receptionist. garcia returned to the oakland campus this morning for his first day back teaching his class. >> thought it was important i come back, show that everything is fine with me and with our class. i want to make sure they're okay and let them express how they feel. i'm just going to play it by ear i think. >> reporter: nursing students are continuing classes in fremont at another college campus, but a handful of teachers and students from other schools drove in this morning, avoiding the cameras, returning to a school still riddled with reminders of the deadly shooting. bouquets of flowers, two small hills of teddy bears, paying tribute to the victims whose pictures are still outside the entrance. administrators say they'll speak tomorrow. they say the oikos family has grown closer as they deal with a pain no one else understands. >> they have been supporting

each other well, and it will be nice to see everybody together. >> reporter: the nursing students will not be coming back to campus in oakland where you see the memorial is still up. they will be leaded to unitec which has its own nursing programs, so it seems it has the right resources. the suspect, one goh is expected in court in a week. stephanie chuang, nbc bay area news. a robbery busted by a gas station employee going above and beyond the call of duty. before 10:00, a woman with a handgun tried to hold up this arco station. she pulled the gun and demanded cash in the register. that's when one of the workers on duty decided to take matters into his hands. he wrestled the gun away. the would be thief got away, but didn't make off with money. police are checking store surveillance cameras for more clues to the crime. and a driver in oakland

going to jail instead of the hospital after surviving a very fiery crash. police say the man slammed his suv right into the concrete retaining wall on southbound 880 near broadway exit at 3:00 a.m. the vehicle flipped over, burst into flames, and came very close to tumbling right off the highway and down a 40 foot drop. somehow the driver was only slightly hurt. he felt police and a driver forced him into the crash. no other drivers were involved and this driver is held on suspicion of drunk driving charges. the next chapter in ross mirkarimi's fight for his job begins later today. that's when the ethics commission hearings will resume. they will decide whether he should be removed from office permanently. the mayor suspended mirkarimi after he pled guilty to a single misdemeanor domestic abuse charge. efforts to fight the suspension in court were unsuccessful. this afternoon, the next hearing is before the commission which

will take several days. the commission recommendation then goes before the board of supervisors for final decision. after much ado, the trial of former presidential candidate john edwards is officially under way, with his daughter by his side, edwards arrived at district court in greensboro, north carolina this morning. jury selection and opening arguments expected today. he is accused of using more than a million dollars in campaign contributions to hide an extramarital affair with a former mistress, rielle hunter, in 2008. >> this section of the federal election law and definition of what a contribution is has never been challenged in this way. >> edwards faces six criminal counts if convicted on all counts, and could face 30 years in prison and $1.5 million fine. they're calling it an apology mistake. the attorney for accused killer george zimmerman says his client's sorrowful statement

during a bail hearing friday was mistimed. he says he has fears for zimmerman's safety since set free on $150,000 bail. >> reporter: he stared ahead ignoring photographers as he stepped to a waiting suv that drove away. >> i want to get him somewhere where he is safe and available, sorry, and available to help me, but it's difficult. >> reporter: in days leading up to release, his attorney would only say that zimmerman will be in a secure and secret location, likely outside the state of florida. >> i think there's a lot of emotions wrapped around the case, and we're worried some of those emotions are still negative and that that may play out against george. >> reporter: trayvon martin's parents. >> i believe justice will be served. >> reporter: who have been so vocal before zimmerman's arrest have been silent since friday's

bopd hearing. >> trayvon martin wept in that courtroom, tears was running down his eyes. normally he is the strong one. >> reporter: the strength their attorney says will be tested by zimmerman's release. >> they have to live with the judge's decision. they're praying, trying to hope his freedom is temporary, because the damage he caused to them is permanent. >> reporter: zimmerman left jail with a brown paper bag, and according to sheriff's deputies, a gps monitoring bracelet that provides immediate, real time information on where he's staying. jay gray, nbc news, sanford, florida. here in the bay area, keeping you safe in the south bay got a little easier. san jose police just unveiled a new national broadband they say is crucial in emergencies. the national network will allow first responders to communicate with each other in case of catastrophe. for example, san jose would be able to tap into another police force frequency to coordinate a

mutual aid response. the san jose police chief was spearheading that effort for a couple of years. well, the pg&e saying the deadly san bruno disaster was an accident. that's what they're saying and they're going with that story. because of that, it shouldn't have to pay punitive damage to victims' families. in recent court documents, they claim there's no evidence deliberate wrongdoing required for such damages. hundreds of victims are suing the utility in civil court, demanding punitive damages, millions in compensation to homes and lost loved ones. that civil trial is set for this coming july. meantime, a 1989 memo shows the san bruno pipeline had a history of bad wells. the recently uncovered document details investigation into a 1988 leak about nine miles south of the san bruno blast. that memo concluded the leak was likely caused by a defective well, the very same problem

investigators say contributed to the san bruno explosion. pg&e says the findings were not definitive and didn't require it test the entire 51 mile long pipeline. just as the flowers in the trees are starting to rebloom, a late season snowstorm is gripping the northeast right now. up to a foot and a half is expected in higher elevations of western pennsylvania and upstate new york. one of the areas being buried is punxsutawney, pennsylvania. the groundhog told everyone to expect six weeks of winter 12 weeks ago. >> came up a little short. he was on the right track. keep it real and talk to the paid meteorologist. >> he is a rodent. doesn't take a groundhog to show you the clouds are breaking

apart. we have a nice looking afternoon. the clouds hovered over the city by the bay in the greater bay area for the past few hours. we have limited sunshine, making way to cooler temperatures in places like san jose. usually we see upper 60s at this point. sunnyvale, you climb into the 70s, not long before san jose, livermore, concord gets on the train. it all works like this. temperatures in the 70s inland. tomorrow, drizzle, mild, cloudy conditions. rain returns. heading to the midsection of the week, i have a good handle on the system. i can time it at your doorstep to the minute. we will get to that forecast coming up. precision. working hard today. >> thank you very much. see you in a few minutes. another community stunned by sudden disappearance of a child. what the fbi is sin tghi us morning that has parents concerned. and what the state is going to do is still up in the air, but more and more school districts are on board with something called transitional kindergarten. i'm christie smith.

i'll explain in a live report. you probably don't know who the dutch prime ministes but bt he is having a huge effect on the markets this morning. we'll take a look coming up. ♪ beth! hi! looking good. you've lost some weight. thanks. you noticed. these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right -- whole grain.

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welcome back. there's a desperate search for a six-year-old girl that vanished from her bedroom over the weekend. over 150 law enforcement officers are canvassing a three mile radius of her home. her parents say they put her to bed friday night and she was just gone the next morning. the fbi brought in specially trained dogs to check the home. investigators say they found, quote, suspicious circumstances around a possible entry point. >> there's just no possible way that the family would have anything to do with this. the window was knocked out of her room, the screen rather, so there's just no possibility that she ran away. >> last night in tucson, family and friends and neighbors holding a candlelight vigil for

the girl they knows as isa. detectives say her parents are cooperating right now with the investigation. and another search, this one in new york city turned up dry, three decades after six-year-old etan patz disappeared. investigators are looking for clues in a basement near his home. cnn says that search is over, they didn't find human remains and they found a possible blood stain, but field test turned up negative. days after etan patz vanished, a carpenter that worked out of a basement there reportedly poured a new concrete floor. it was never dug up until now. parents across california have been on pins and needles the past month since the governor put transitional kindergarten on the budget hit list. now, some hope for its survival. christie smith is live in oakland to ex-plap why some school districts are moving forward anyway.

christie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. talking about big districts, l.a. unified, green leaf elementary is oakland's pilot school for transitional kindergarten, who don't make the birthday cutoff, a little too young, new grade level appears to be happening, no matter what the state does. the nonprofit preschool california is watching the progress. more than 170 districts are on board. this is video we shot this morning of traditional kindergarten class. next year, oakland will be offering 10 schools up that have transitional kindergarten. california law used to say kids had to be five by december 2nd to start school, but that's bumped up to september 1st over two years. it puts california in line with what other states are doing. could cost california millions and the governor is considering not making it a requirement, but the legislature seems to indicate they want it. an oakland schools spokesman says the district decided the

benefits outweighed the costs. >> it falls on districts to prioritize if they want to have that, because you're budgeting on uncertainty. if the budget were not resolved to our satisfaction, which means there would be funding for tk, you have to be prepared for that negative development. we decided to attack it up front, and regardless of what the funding situation is at the state level, we will be providing transitional kindergarten here in oakland. >> reporter: other districts on board with transitional kinder garden, san jose unified, san francisco, antioch, vallejo, and burlingame. the governor will release a revised budget in mid may. live in oakland, christie smith, nbc bay area news. bay area schools are the winner of a national green ribbon award. the atheenian school is one of four in the state to be honored. winners were announced in washington, d.c. this morning.

it is recognized for promoting sustainable living and protecting the environment. >> congratulations to them. the savings may be hard to notice, but the trend is news. better to have something than nothing. gas prices are dropping nationally. they fell more than 5 cents a gallon in the past two weeks, according to the lundburg survey. here in the bay area, dropped 3 cents. oakland, $4.16, san jose, $4.17, and san francisco, $4.28. more fuel efficient cars are driving a trend, record high car sales. latest figures show the number of americans making aurechas jumped 20%. another factor behind the numbers, the average age of a car out on the road is now more than ten years old. that is the highest in recorded history. european politics weighing heavily on the american stock market this morning. leaders from france and holland. scott mccrew looks at what went

wrong. >> good morning. i don't expect i would have followed french politics so carefully, but remember, europe is america's largest trading partner, and what happens there is very important. the decisions that french voters make will have an effect on the continent and perhaps us. president nicolas sarkozy didn't get enough votes over the weekend to prevent a runoff. it is possible he will lose to holland in the next election. holland rejecting plans in place by germany and france to save the european economy. now, france and germany have been pushing all the countries in europe for a new austerity, cutting programs, reducing pensions, and it is clear that if sarkozy loses his position, this whole idea of european austerity could go away. meanwhile, in holland, the prime minister of the netherlands stepped down after that country rejected a lot of calls for

austerity there. mark rutte was trying to decide to cut the dutch budget to levels mandated by eu officials in brussels, was unable to. so politicians there dissolved the dutch government. you have two factors here that are very important to america's economy that you've never really paid attention to before. closer to home, invivio starts to trade shares this week. they make devices that help put video on the internet. you may recall last week, we had three ipos, proof point one, info blocks another, those closed higher on the first day of trading on friday, splunk traded much higher first day of trading. all of those are lower with the rest of the markets today, but another bay area ipo in the works this time for wednesday. >> that makes four ipos in less than two weeks.

>> lots of money flowing around. time to check in with meteorologist christina loren to find out what's happening this week. maybe an umbrella? >> maybe. we will get a couple of nice days. we have a nice live shot here, white puffy clouds. they're fair weather clouds and they'll be with us today. we have fair weather. 63 in san jose, 64 for livermore, and another three hours of warming to go before we get our daytime highs. satellite imagery tells the story. the cool down is because of the cloud cover, natural ac off the pacific, keeping things mild. we have a fair amount of stratus in the north bay and peninsula. sunshine here and east bay takes longer for sunshine to break out. just about a half hour or hour away now. 73 the forecast high in san

jose. 70 degrees in santa rosa. a great looking forecast for the first two days of the week. then things start to change. this area of low pressure starts to track closer to the california coastline. this is going to increase on shore flow. we expect drizzle tomorrow. wednesday, rain returns. talking a lot of rain here in the bay area. future cast shows you tomorrow, a little drizzle here at the coastline. stop the clock at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow, looks good. then the rain moves in. 11:00 a.m. wednesday, talking heavy rain coming down over san francisco to san mateo. keep future cast running, stop it at 5:00 a.m. thursday. rough commute shaping up here, rain from santa rosa to san francisco. waiting on heavy rain at that point, it will make it in about 7:00 to 10:00 thursday. second half of thursday, temperatures on the mild side. friday, we warm back up to 70 degrees. sun comes out and warms us up for another great outdoor plan

weekend. back to you guys. >> thank you, christina. a bizarre boom heard for miles. experts say it is no mystery. to join the discussion, join us on facebook. search nbc bay area. ch

you either heard about this or heard it yourself. experts say a bright light and loud explosion that rattled parts of california and nevada was a boom. it prompted a flood of calls. it rattled windows and shook houses from sacramento to bake bakersfield. some reported a fireball in the sky at the same time. >> there was a low rumble that got louder like a rocket taking off, then it shook the house.

>> experts say that meteor likely broke above the earth above the sierra, southwest of reno. japan gave the u.s. a gift of cherry blossom trees. later today, san francisco gets a few more. a tree planting ceremony will be at the japanese tea garden in golden gate park. the mayor ed lee will be there and the consul. it gives them the chance to reflect on the legacy of exchanges and importance of their relationship. coming up after the break, going out op a -- on a limb to track precious chicks.

scientists from university of santa cruz crawling on a ledge later today, 33 stories up at the pg&e building in downtown san francisco to band four baby falcons to keep track of them. also, there will be a phone number to call if the birds are found. have a great day. >> help them spread their wings! [ female announcer ] what would you call an ordinary breakfast pastry

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