airports. it's cuts that no one seems to like but that no one can stop. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. president obama is heading back to the united states after wrapping up his visit to the middle east. he visited petra in jordan before departing for the capital, amman. jordan was the last stop on president obama's four-day trip to israel and the palestinian territories. it was his first visit as president. new details surrounding san jose's tenth homicide of the year. police released a picture today of the man, did they suspect of stabbing a young mother to death on friday. the crime happened in broad daylight in a parking lot across the street from the sheriff's department. 25-year-old juan ramirez had been stocking sandra cruz for about two years. the 29-year-old victim leaves behind a 10-year-old son and was afraid of ramirez. she had a restraining order against him. >> she was doing all the right things. she was contacting the police

department, reporting these crimes, pulling out restraining orders trying to protect herself from this individual. it's unfortunate this happened. it appeared that she was doing everything she could do to avoid him. >> investigators say ramirez may be headed to mexico possibly driving a dark green 1996 toyota pickup truck. if you have any information on his whereabouts, you're asked to call the san jose police department. a developing story out of san francisco. three men were shot at a nightclub at south beach early this morning. shooting happened about 1:15 at a club called 330 ritz. investigators don't know what led up to the shooting. police are reviewing surveillance tapes outside the nightclub. the victims were all men in their 20s. one is in critical condition. the other two suffered nonlife threatening injuries. also in san francisco, arson investigators are calling a fire that happened about a block from the transamerica pyramid this morning suspicious. firefighters battled the flames at a restaurant on commercial street for about an hour.

the cause of the fire is under investigation. on tuesday, the u.s. supreme court will for the first time take up the issue of same-sex marriage. 6 of the 9 justices are catholic, though they have taken an oath to decide cases based on the constitution, the catholic church itself has taken a strong stance against day marriage. monte francis sat down within oun o one-on-one with salvador cordileone. >> reporter: the u unapologetic when it comes to his stance on day marriage. >> it's the challenge of being counter cultural. you know, misunderstood. >> reporter: since being named archbishop of san francisco last summer, salvatore cordileone has faced criticism just about every

time he speaks out on the issue of gay marriage. the most recent backlash came when he told a catholic newspaper that legalizing same-sex marriage would be akin to legalizing male breast feeding. he says it is a statement he doesn't regret making. >> i was trying to demonstrate that it's something that exists in nature. and it would be legislating something that is contrary to nature. >> reporter: cordileone chairs a committee of american bishops dedicated to promoting traditional marriage. he is a believer in reparative therapy, the idea that gay people can be made straight, and said legalizing gay marriage could lead to legalizing polygamy. the archbishop says he knows gay individuals but doesn't personally know gay couples, such as the plaintiffs in the case before the supreme court, christian perry and sandy steer

of berkeley who have four children. >> there should be permanent solution to this problem of our constitutional rights. >> reporter: they say the case is not just about their rights as a couple but the rights of their family. >> it's important for children to grow up feeling like they have the same protections as everyone else. they're equal. they don't have to worry about being second class citizens. >> it's not a denial that two parents of the same sex can't love the children in their home. but there's one thing they can't give the children, that's a mother or a father. >> reporter: polls show that attitudes have changed dramatically in recent times with the majority of americans now favoring same-sex marriage. the archbishop says he doesn't want to be defined by what he's against. he labels himself as someone who wants to preserve the traditional definition of marriage. he says no matter what happens on tuesday with the supreme court, he is calling for a civil debate. live in san francisco, monty

franci francis. >> santa clara county held its second gun buy back of the year today but it was also part gang affiliation dropoff. teens came to drop off everything from clothing and shoes in dang colors to small weapons. the collection was held at the most holy trinity church in san jose as part of unity day. across town, more than 500 handguns, shotguns and rifles were collected. the founder of east side heros who co-hosted the event said the dropoff is in response to decades of gang violence in the area. >> a unique portion of our event is gang attire, gang color turn in, as well as pocket drives, brass knuckles, that kids themselves are motivated to bring in. we had the middle schooler drop off about 20 of those items. >> counselors were also on hand at the drop off to help with

anyone who wanted to talk about the shooting at fisher middle school. the zip code has the highest number of gang related arrests in the city. next at 5:00, history made in the catholic church. the meeting that may never happen again. we'll explain. also why this deputy saw an alligator problem and decided to take matters into her own hands. i'm kimberly tere live in san jose where march madness is in full swing. why one bay area teen has all the fans out here rooting for the them. >> temperatures today were in the lower 70s, lots of blue sky, but things are about to change. we're tracking a series of storms out in the pacific. details straight ahead. launch sequence initiated.

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the third round of the ncaa tournament continues today. the h pavilion is hosting some games. kimberly tere has the latest on the game that's about to go underway. >> reporter: cal is playing 50 miles away from home, but with all the blue and gold in here, in less than two hours, number

cal will be taking on syracuse. cal beat montana 81-34 on thursday. fans say they will be rooting for cal, of course, but most predict it will be a very close gam game. >> it's amazing. it's so good we got the good draw, got to be local here, playing a great syracuse team today. should be exciting. >> cal will take it down against syracuse. syracuse is the better team. >> are you guys cal fans? >> absolutely. >> do you have the bears on your bracket? >> of course, any good cal fan has them going to the sweet 16. i had them working right through. i figured it's a gimme. >> reporter: right now the oregon ducks are playing against st. louis, then cal and syracuse will take the court at 6:40 this evening. live in san jose, kimberly tere, nbc bay area news. >> still to come at 5:00, a

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it was a historic meeting that has never been seen before and may not be seen again. for the first time, a former pope met the current pope. >> reporter: pope benedict xvi met pope francis at the hele pad. they embraced in what was going

to be one of the many moving moments of this historic meeting. they moved on to a private chapel where pope benedict offered the private stool reserved for the pope to pray, pope francis said, no we are brothers we will pray together. pope francis said you are the first person i thought of when i saw it. they moved on to have an informal meeting. then pope francis left with the same white helicopter back to vatican city where eventually pope emeritus benedict xvi will return to retire indefinitely in a private monastery from where he has already pledged unconditional obedience and reverence to the current pope,

pop franc pope francis. millions of people will be turning off lights tonight in honor of earth hour. it will make a statement about the concern over climate change. the bay area will be participating in a big way. san francisco was named the earth hour capital this year and the golden gate bridge, the bay bridge and the bay lights and city hall all expected to go dark. again, that's 8:30 to 9:30 tonight. the recent weather has winemakers in lermore nervous. this week starts bud break, the start of growing season. wine makers had to irrigate earlier this year because of drought conditions, and now they're worried temperatures will take a dive. >> it is our biggest threat. not worried so much about rain, but just 30 minutes of exposure under 30 degrees can damage the buds at this point. >> livermore is celebrating the beginning of bud break with a barrel tasting this weekend.

the winemakers are on edge, ante, calm them down, would you, please? >> the good news, we're not expecting freezing temperatures in the seven days. that's good news. we are expecting rain, even better. if you can't get the sunshine, at least you can get some rain. that's what we're looking at here across the next couple of days. temperatures still comfortable. falling from the 70s. 67 in san jose. san francisco at 58. let's tabke you outside and sho you what it's looking like. blue sky, high, thin clouds passing through from time to time. the perspective in san jose -- or san francisco, you can see no fog at golden gate bridge. that's good news. we are look at changing conditions over the next couple of days. the weather we had today and over the next couple of days, that will be history. we are tracking a series of storms out in the pacific. both are still getting their act together.

as they move this way, this is what will offer the chance of rain. the first shot of rain will move through earlier as tuesday night into wednesday. both of these systems will set up off the coast of california. lots of tropical moisture will be coming in kind of what we saw this past week with a humid atmosphere. we will see a repeat of that come wednesday. this first system, it's not a strong system. only trace amounts with this system, even a tenth of an inch with rainfall that will move out of here. for the weekend, unfortunately it's easter weekend, if you have plans, make sure you keep a backup plan. looks like showers will be in the picture, at least through saturday with another additional quarter inch. so not a major storm, but definitely offering rain for the dry air that we've had. this is one of the driest years on record. temperatures back in the 40s, 30s for some inland valleys. low 70s, a few degrees warmer than today.

74 in gilroy. 70 in san jose. low 70s across the tri valley. in the bay, upper 60s with the onshore flow. north bay, 71 in napa, 72 in santa rosa. 68 in san francisco. three-day forecast, the clouds back in for monday. tuesday, we will start to see the cloud activity hug the coast. and drizzle will be with us at least tuesday night into wednesday. wednesday, thursday, friday, even for saturday, there's a good chance of showers. this is not a major storm, but it is going to give us at least another quarter inch. you know, at this point, terry, every little drop is very necessary, especially since we've been the driest on record since 1957. >> i think you did ease the fears of winemakers in livermore. >> hopefully. >> thanks. let's bring in mindi bach with a look at sports. >> hi, good to see you. the a's not kind.

the bay area teams meet for the second time this spring, but when we come back, cal looking to make the sweet 16 for the first time in 16 years. we'll be live from hp pavilion. the bear prepared for their showdown with syracuse next.

do you remember 1997, what you were doing back then? that's the last time the cal men's basketball team reached the sweet 16. it's a feat the bears could repeat tonight as they take on syracuse. for more we bring in scott reiss live from hp pavilion. it's not a small task. >> reporter: no question. syracuse has been to seven sweet 16s over that span. the bears have their work cut out for them. this the second ever meeting between the two schools. the first november of 2009. syracuse won that game 95-73. the orange always tough, playing in a very good big east conference. they have 27 wins this season. but cal will have a decided home-court advantage. >> that gives us a little more energy to play. if you make a big play, your fans are really into it, all

that stuff. i mean, it's going to be a lot of fans there. it's not even going to be our fans, some other teams may stay over to look at the games. i feel like it's all up to us. the fans will not be the ones out there helping us win. it's going to be cal basketball out there helping each other win. we'll be the ones who have to make the play. it's up to us to win. >> cal in the middle of the year was playing the best of anybody in the pac-12. so i think it's hard to judge people and teams and, you know, even based on results in the ncaa tournament. i don't think you can always go by that either. it's difficult to try to figure this stuff out. >> there is a game going on right now inside hp pavilion. oregon leads st. louis by 16. this bodes well for cal, because oregon, like the bears, a pac-12

school and a 12 seed taking on a 4 seed. we'll see if the bucks can finish the deal and if cal can follow suit later. live from san jose, scott reiss, nbc bay area news. just over a week away from the giants opening day match-up with the giants april 1st down in los angeles. the last few days of spring training is a time for players to work out the final kinks, that including tim lincecum, who got the start against the a's today. this one taking place at scottsdale stadium. you would think bill gates would be a mariners fan. apparently he roots for the orange and black. tim lincecum with a 9.39 e.r.a., it just climbed higher. cespedes with a two-run shot. his third home run of the spring. top of the second, no outs two on. er eric sogard 3 for 3. lincecum gave up five earned runs in three innings pitched. brandon belt, what a spring he's

having. this is his seventh home run of the spring. he two yesterday. he has seven all of last season, but the giants lose big, 12-5. coming up tonight at 6:00, some sharks highlights from minnesota, hopefully they can make the playoffs, also stanford's run in the nit tournament for you. >> mindi, thank you very much. when we come back, why a florida deputy took on a large repti reptile.

most people wouldn't dare wrestle with an alligator, but one florida school officer tamed the beast with her bare hands and it's all caught on tape. >> i didn't want to risk the gator getting into the residential neighborhood. >> the florida deputy mom spotted the seven-foot long

intruder near clairemont middle school and she said not at my school. she made sure it couldn't come into contact with the students. she wrestled the 250-pound reptile back and forth to tire it out so she could tape his jaw shot. the lake county sheriff deputy said she also taped the gators eyes so as not to hurt him. that calmed down the alligator and calmed him down while they waited for help. two things to take away, how to properly wrestle an alligatorment. >> have tape nearby. >> and keep the students safe, and the second thing is we have rain in the forecast. we do have rain in the forecast. if you do start to get outside, hopefully you don't see gators wednesday through friday. looks like showers, even into the weekend. keep those umbrellas handy. >> all right. thanks for watching nbc bay area news at 5:00. nbc "nightly news" is next. on this saturday night, surprise storm. a powerful and dangerous system

causes big problems in the west. dozens of vehicles in a chain-reaction crash shut down a major interstate. tonight the latest as it makes its way across the country. close encounter. what was it streaking across the sky last night that had people wondering? in plain sight. a disturbing sign of the times as more and more colleges open food banks to help students in need. and, making a difference, one couple's labor of love, a school where girls with so little are taught that they, too, can have big dreams. good evening. it is not a fun time to be a weather forecaster. or groundhog, for that matter. the winter of our discontent is overstaying its welcome, into spring. in many parts of the country,

including the 17 states that are right now under a winter storm watch or warning. the spring blast of snow is causing major travel problems in denver tonight. and as the storm tracks eastward along interstate 70, kansas city, st. louis, indianapolis, even the mountains of west virginia, are some of the places under warnings. we have it all covered tonight starting in johnstown, colorado, where megan fitzgerald from kusa tv joins us with the latest from there. megan, good evening. >> good evening, lester. it has been a long day for travelers. slick and snow-packed roads caused a delay and a pileup of nearly 50 cars on interstate 25, which is just behind us here. this interstate was shut down for eight hours while investigators worked to figure out how this all happened. >> get back, all right? >> reporter: this was the scene of a massive chain-reaction accident this morning. an oil rig on fire by the side of the interstate.