>> reporter: developing news out of san francisco where two people have died in an overnight house fire. firefighters say they had a tough time even getting to them. we'll explain why coming up. and a clown connection? the bizarre twist involving a robbery at steve jobs' home and a popular bay area clown. plus, the bay area just weeks away from another major bridge shutting down. we'll have all those details straight ahead. good morning and thanks for being with us. i'm marla tellez. >> i'm jon kelly. good morning, everybody. a south beach city making sure the roads for bikers are safer these days. starting today a new anti-harassment law for cyclists goes into effect in sunnyvale.

this ordinance gives extra legal protection to rider os the ron ped nbc bay area's bob redell is in sunnyvale with the latest. >> reporter: this new bike anti-harassment ordinance that goes into account here today in sunnyvale makes it a civil offense for a driver to menace a bicycli bicyclist. harass can range from assault to trying to run a bicyclist off the road to making a threat. much of that is clearly already in the criminal sense, by also making it a civil offense this ordinance makes it easier for a cyclist to take a driver to court. in civil court, it's much easier to prove wrongdoing since the burden of proof is lower than in criminal court. this new ordinance gives the judge the discretion to trip it will amount of damages awarded to the cyclist. >> i don't think it's been a big issue. i've never been harassed myself by any drivers. i don't see it as a big problem. >> it's probably notes me. i think most drivers are

adapting to having bicyclists on the road. >> anythiime they can raise awareness of raising our roads is important. >> reporter: sunnyvale is not the first si in the area to enact its ordinance. berkeley did the same this past february. and prior to them, it was los angeles. here in sunnyvale, bob redell, nbc bay area news. this morning just hours after a deadly house fire in san francisco, there are a lot of questions surrounding the investigation, including could massive piles of junk packed inside all over the building been the actual cause of this tragedy. nbc bay area's christie smith is live in san francisco now with the details for us. christie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, marla. well, firefighters pulled out some of the smoldering debris from inside of this home. they said there were piles and piles of debris inside, and one firefighter told me he actually had to turn sideways to try and

move around inside, making it really hard to find people who desperately needed help. >> i woke up, and there was a big bang, a big explosion, and i ran out because i thought somebody was actually breaking into my house. the whole house, like, shook up. >> reporter: thomas kennedy was rocked out of his sleep at 3:30 this morning as sirens blared. san francisco firefighters trying to put out the fire at this elderly neighbor's home. but the fire chief said what was inside slowed down the response. >> and i've seen situations like this before, but this is one of the worst i've seen in terms of the amount of stuff in the garage and the house. >> reporter: the home on vienna street in the excelsior district stuffed from floor to creeling with debris -- furniture, newspapers, food products, eight feet high. >> typically, a small residence like this we're able to access and find our way around, and quickly, even though we're challenged with the fire. took about 20 minutes to locate the first victim and another ten to get to the second victim.

>> reporter: one man was pulled out, but firefighters were unable to revive him. the other died inside. neighbors say one of the men was disabled. they knew the home was full but never thought it would come to this. >> yeah, i knew it was like this, but, you know, what can you do? some people live like this. i feel bad for the guys. >> reporter: and we are back here live. just about every room many the house, firefighters say, was absolutely packed. arson investigators are arriving back on scene. they have a couple of follow-up questions for neighbors. no word yet on a cause but firefighters say that there was at least $80,000 worth of damage. reporting live in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. new this morning, oakland police have arrested the man they believe is responsible for two sexual assaults and they say there could be more victims. hakeem jackson, seen here, was arrested in july in las vegas and then brought back to the bay area. investigators say jackson showed

a handgun and a stun gun in two separate attacks. he uses the escort website my d myredbook.com to contact potential victims. remember that famous ipad we told you about earlier this week, ripped off from steve jobs' house in palo alto? strange but true, that exact ipad has been helping a clown entertain unsuspecting kids and tourists all over the bay area. the tablets ended up in the hand of kenneth kahn, a well-known street performer at pier 39, who literally goes by the title kenny the clown. even one sf best weekly's worst artist back in 2008. now, police say he was given the ipad by his friend, kariem mcfarlin. police arrested mcfarlin earlier this week for allegedly breaking into the late apple co-founder's home back in july. police say he stole an ipad, two iphones, one i-mac and one mac book along with some jewelry and some champagne. kahn says he had no idea that

the ipad belonged to the job or the fact it was stolen until police showed up at his door. mcfarlin is due in court on monday. search crews in yosemite will resume their efforts this morning to find a 6-year-old boy swept away in the merced river. the boy and his 10-year-old brother were hiking the popular mist trail with their family from southern california when they stopped to cool off in that river. the swift current carried them away. the body of the 10-year-old was found about 150 yard downstream. the 6-year-old is still missing. marin county police trying to figure out how a woman died after her body was discovered near stinson beach. a witness reported the body last night near red rock beach about half a mile from stinson. he could see the woman down on the rocks. she did not respond to his calls and the tide was coming in about 10 to 15 feet away from her. firefighters ended up reaching the woman, theyed to resuscitate her for several minutes before

pronouncing her dead. a police pursuit end in a deadly crash in oakland. a car led chp officers on a short pursuit, then ran a stop sign before plowing into a palm tree at 7th street near maritime street. this all happened just before 2:00 this morning. the driver ended up dying on impact. there was a passenger in the car. that person has major injuries. there is no word just yet on why the officers were chasing the car in the first place. in the south bay, san jose police are looking for a gunman who opened fire on a teenaged boy. officers were called to the scene late last night on sanders aver light near interstate and 680. investigators say the teen was shot once and his injuries are life-threatening. the suspect took off before police arrived. so far police say they have no motive. well, a traffic warning right now. a live look. we are going to give you a live look. there we go. at the dumbarton bridge. in just two weeks lit close again for a crucial part of the seismic retrofit project.

so consider yourself warned. crews held a press conference this morning to update the public on the labor day closure. the three-day closure is the second since may. the entire bridge will be closed, so cal transcan replace the expansion joins on the eastern side of the bridge on all six lanes. commuters are encouraged to start planning alternate routes by using highway 237 and highway 92, san mateo bridge. the seismic retrofit is set to be completed by early 2013. once again, president obama's oakland campaign office became a target for protesters last night. this is video, a little hard to see here, but it is of the live stream posted by protesters who took over the building. they began a sit-in around 5:30 yesterday afternoon. eventually six people were arrested. protesters were demanding justice for bin laden brad lehmaning, the army private accused of leaking thousands of documents to wikileaks. the fate of san francisco's embattled sheriff ross mirkarimi is now in the hands of the board

of supervisors. the commission voted 4-1 to uphold one charge of official misconduct related to that new year's eve fight in which mirkarimi bruised his wife's arm. the commission determining his domestic violence conviction makes the suspended sheriff unfit for office and will now forward its recommendation to the board of supervisors. the board is expected to make its decision in september. longtime teacher has been fired from a school in the north bay over allegations of inappropriate relationships with three students 30 years ago. the san rafael police department says it is investigating the claims, but so far that teacher has not been arrested. the marin academy in san rafael has not released the teacher's name just yet, but the school says the teacher's worked there for 35 years and adds it asked the teacher to cut off all contact with students and faculty. the question is, is the coast clear? let's check the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> and the answer is no, it

certainly isn't, young girl. >> it's not? >> no. she's a young woman. correct that. but she's right on the point. we have quite a bit of cloud cover and some showers coming down over the city by the bay. now we want to start here in san jose just to show you, we do have some high and midlevel moisture moving in, monsoonal moisture creeping in from the south. let's show you that radar now. i widened out to show you basically just how far to the east we're seeing these showers and thunderstorms, mostly in the central valley right now. watch, look at that red flare-up, those isolated thunderstorms starting to develop. as we accumulate more and more daytime heating, we'll see more of this, more of these spotty cells around the bay area. we're not expecting any sort of a deluge of rain but certainly you might have to use your umbrella, especially in oakland and san francisco. those clouds are keeping your temperatures down here in the 60s there and are concerned when it comes to the thunderstorms. as we head through the next few hours, thing will get interesting. it will be warmer and we'll see

more of that moisture surge to the north. rob mayeda and myself will be tracking those showers and thunderstorms for you. we'll talk about which cities have the best chance of getting a little action in my full forecast. but finally a little action to talk about. >> we'll check back with you in a couple minutes. still ahead, turning on troops. new details of a deadly shooting involving u.s. troops and our allies. and new unemployment numbers are out for the state of california. what they could indicate for the job market. and a different kind of presidential monument. see the new hometown honor for the president and the first lady. we take you back live outside for a look at the san mateo bridge. skies a little gray out there as christina is warning you. you may want to dust off that umbrella, get ready for the weekend. release me, momigus!

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afghanistan. the captain died last thursday. the son of a santa clara judge and appellate court justice. he's survived by his brothers michael and martin. the service is set for 3:00 tomorrow in the gymnasium of st. francis high school in mountain voou. just a day after seven u.s. soldiers died, a newly recruited afghan police officer kills two u.s. service members today in the far western province of farah. it's been a growing and ugly trend there. witnesses say mohammed ismail, who was just recruited five days ago, shot the u.s. troops moments after they gave him a gun as a gift. ismail was shot and killed in the coalition and afghan forces returned fire. afghan security forces right now or people wear tharg uniforms have opened fire on international forces seven times in just the past two weeks. and right now, united nations peacekeepers packing up and heading out of syria. the u.n. says it's pulling most

of its observers from that country after failed attempts to broker a cease-fire. the u.n. will keep a small office open in damascus, trying to support the peace efforts there. over the past few days, the syrian government has stepped up air strikes in areas controlled by rebels. activists say 20,000 people have died in syria since the civil war first started just 17 months ago. moving on now to decision 2012, this morning the obama campaign continues to press mitt romney about releasing more of his tax returns. as the battle over medicare continues on the campaign trail. obama and romney are trying to convince voters young and old their plan is the most financially fit. romney says he will not release more tax returns. but while using a white board in south carolina yesterday to explain how his medicare plan would work, he did give his clearest explanation yet of what he has paid to uncle sam. >> the past ten years i never

paid less than 13%. the most recent years, 13.6% or something like that. >> romney has already made his 2010 tax return public, and as you heard there has estimated his 2011 return. but obama's campaign is not satisfied. they want proof. the state of california continues to lag behind the rest of the nation when it comes to jobs. scott mcgrew says the golden gate isn't making much gold. good morning. yeah. we've talk about how the bay area seems like an i labd when it comes to the economy. when you consider california as a whole, though, we have the third highest unemployment in the nation behind nevada and rhode island of all places. california's unemployment rate 10.7% according to the latest data, with 25,000 jobs added last month, far above the nationwide average of 8.3%. little bit of good news, it is the 12th straight month of jobs gain. as i mentioned, bay area gaining jobs more quickly than any other area in the state.

that's some unusual bad news this morning from mountain view where coupons.com was structured and 25 people don't have jobs any longer. the spokesman at the company says the engineering department was particularly hard hit. every penny lost in facebook stock today means a new low. the stock trading about 3.5% lower this morning, this a day after the end of the first lock-up where the early investors could sell stock if they so chose. another lock-up ends in november when employees at facebook can sell. apple briefly hit new highs this morning as well. back to you. okay, scott. thanks so much. drivers in the south bay should expect to see some traffic delays in south san jose this weekend. monterey road will be closed in both directions at blossom hill road beginning at 10:00 tonight. the closure is to allow cranes to be put in place as construction continues on the blossom hill road pedestrian bridge. that's set to open next month. traffic lights and street signals will be affected and

various side streets will be closed as well. the road is expected to reopen in time for the morning commute on monday. meantime in the north bay and san francisco, be warned, road construction will cause some serious traffic headaches this weekend for both muni riders and drivers. muni will be replacing part of its track on duboce avenue at church and western streets. the result, northbound lanes will be closed on church street near market. southbound traffic lanes will remain open, but the j church line will only operate between balboa park and market streets. things, they're hoping, to expect to normal in time for that big morning commute on monday. before we think about monday, let's think and talk about the weekend. >> enjoy. soaking in the weekend. >> meteorologist christina loren is tracking the forecast for us. who wants to sleep in? who doesn't want to go to work tomorrow? right here. good morning to you. and we'll have some good sleeping-in weather for you.

not so much the case if you're waking up in the central valley as we have some thunder boomers out there. i'll show you in just a moment. but i want to show you the difference we're seeing right now from san francisco down to san jose. so, san francisco has areas where you're completely cloudy at this point and some areas where ythe sun is completely breaking through. one of those days you walk out and don't think you need the umbrella, you could get caught by a stray shower or two. old glory blowing in the wind. lot of instability out there today. let's show you san jose, high and midlevel moisture and this is increasing. the clouds increase throughout the day today. let's show you the central valley an what they're getting. tracy to the south, we had some strong cells develop. you see that red? those are thunderstorms. we could see some of the thunderstorms right here over our local mountains as we head through this afternoon and temperatures warm up. right now still picking up light, spotty cells to the east. it looks like of richmond, we'll get that activity as we head through next 15 to 20 minutes

and enit will start to deteriora deteriorate. we're not talking about a whole lot of rain, but you can see the monsoonal moisture is creeping up from the south. yeah. that's very, very tropical moisture coming up. so in combination with that, we have an area of low pressure that's kind of sucking it in, intercepting some of that moisture and bringing it into the bay area. it gets interesting through this afternoon. as we get warmer, you'll notice more humidity in the atmosphere. we'll talk act potential for thunderstorms tomorrow, as well, although we have a little better chance of seeing those today. here's how it works out. if you live in the mountains, especially the south-facing mountains surrounding san jose, looks like you'll get some of that action. the further to the south you live, the better chances of seeing those thunderstorms. also the higher your terrain, the better the chance. north bay, you're fair game, same from the south bay mountains, even the santa cruz mountains although the chance is not as great, a little bit more of a slight chance there, still talking about that potential through this afternoon. you want to stay privy to the

forecast if you do live above 500 to 1,000 feet. now, monday into tuesday, we'll heat you up but just for a brief period. 89 degrees tuesday, then as we head through the remainder of next week, finally getting seasonal weather for the end of august. back to you. >> have a great weekend. thanks so much. maybe we're not so smart when it comes to our smartphone. still ahead, how our state ranks when it comes to keeping our gadgets out of harm's way. and it was a huge explosion in brooklyn last night. but, no, it's not a catastrophe you might think. who and what is behind the massive blast. details next.

welcome back. more green acres are in store for the east bay. the east bay regional park district is buying more than a thousand acres to expand pleasanton bridge regional park into the foothills. the deal protects large swatches of sunol ridge and will offer hikers sweeping views of the east bay.

the property also include sunol peak. and ready for this? how about a little hollywood magic blowing up part of the big apple? >> whooo! >> oh, yeah. that's what we're talking about. no worries. this one is a controlled explosion shaking up brooklyn. part of a safe stunt for the hit tv series "boardwalk empire," one of my favorites. new york firefighters and police were on hand to supervise the explosion and made sure to keep everybody very safe. well so, many of us cannot live without our smartphone, but how well do we actually take care of them? a new list out today says the state where is iphones and ipads suffer the most damage. one of the nation's largest warranty providers, square trade, looked at iphone and ipod damages and found america's clumsiest state is mississippi. about 1 in 3 iphones were likely to be broken or damaged there. californians, perhaps, understandably, are a little more careful with their high-tech dpaj ets with a 15% to 19% casualty rate, but our state

not number one on the list of cry care and eye protection. the state that's most careful with its gadgets, i wap. strange but interesting list. the first couple getting their first kiss carved in stone.

do you remember your very first kiss? >> yes. >> of course you do. we all do. mine was i think 27 years old, 28. anyway, the first lady and the president actually forget their first kiss, they have something to remind them. >> a large granite boulder and plaque lock the spot the couple first locked lips in 1989 in front of a baskin' robbins in hyde park, chicago. the shop is now closed, a subway has replaced it, but the spot where they shared that moment is set in stone. >> presidential magic. >> so nice. >> you feel the love. >> thanks for being with us. release me, momigus!

that's mom to you. and you should eat something that's good for you before you go outside. never! come on james. it's a new fiber one chewy bar. chocolatey and delicious. fiber one chewy bar, huh? mmm. refueled space captain james.