This is CBS.
Straight ahead on CBS 47 at 6 will a familiar face team up with Fresno State's new men's basketball coach.
Also a day after an accident flips a fire engine, a heroic story you haven't heard till now.
And after Oregon, could California become the second state to approve assisted suicide?
CBS 47 On Your Side starts now.
Good evening, I'm Ken Malloy.
And I'm Zara Arboleta. Our top story tonight, they both coached at Clovis West and Fresno City.
They both wanted to coach at Fresno State.
And now, they both just might work together.
Steve Cleveland and Vance Wahlberg are teaming up and at least talk about things.
Of course this comes just a few days after Steve Cleveland was announced as head coach of the Fresno State men's basketball team.
CBS 47's Paul Leffler is in the newsroom.
Paul, weren't these two coaches rivals just a couple days ago?
Well they really were, Zara. It's funny how things change in a hurry. Now it looks like they're mending fences.
They both of course nailed their interviews for the job.
The committee would have been pleased with either one.
Fresno State President John Welty picked Cleveland over Wahlberg.
And now Cleveland wants to pick Wahlberg as his top assistant.
Wahlberg is very happy at Fresno City College where he could enter next season on a 34 game win streak defending state champ.
But he told me today he's agreed to meet with Cleveland tomorrow to discuss joining his staff at Fresno State.
Cleveland was not available for comment, but he did have this to say when I talked to him, when we talked to him after he got hired on Saturday.
Certain Vance is one that I have great respect for and he coached my sons.
He's a great man and a great coach and been a big part of this community.
So I look forward to talking to Vance and going through that thing.
I know that he wanted his job and be a big part of it and it's not to say that he couldn't be a part of this someday either.
Wahlberg wouldn't tell me what the chances of his working for Cleveland would be, but they will meet tomorrow.
We'll of course have more on those intriguing developments then.
I'll also have more later in the show and I'll tell you which one of Vance Wahlberg's former players wants to go pro now.
In the newsroom, I'm Paul Leffler, CBS 47, on your side.
And in tonight's web poll, if Steve Cleveland hires Vance Wahlberg as his assistant coach,
how will it affect your interest in Fresno State basketball?
Log on to CBS 47.TV to take part in the poll.
We'll have the results for you tonight at 11.
A developing story out of southeast Fresno at this hour.
Streets are shut down after an accident between a motorcycle and a van.
Maple at Huntington Boulevard is closed in both directions at this hour while investigators look into that crash.
Around four o'clock this afternoon, police say a van pulled out in front of a motorcycle.
The driver of the motorcycle now in critical condition at this hour.
The driver of the van was also taken to the hospital.
No word yet on when Maple will reopen.
In our continuing coverage of the Marcus Wesson murder trial, today's hearing was cut short because a member of the jury got sick.
But before they were excused, the jury listened to audio tapes of police interviewing Wesson's wife Elizabeth shortly after nine members of her family were murdered.
CBS 47's Kathleen Rhodes joins us live at the Fresno County Courthouse.
Kathleen, how much new information is the jury actually getting out of these tapes?
Well, a lot of this information the jury has already heard, but there are a few things that Elizabeth Wesson told police that contradict what she said on the witness stand.
For example, Elizabeth Wesson denied having any knowledge of a family suicide pact.
But a couple of weeks after the murders, she told police that her husband would say that God's children are to be protected from the outside world.
And if they were threatened, they should be sent to God.
Now when detectives asked her what that meant, Elizabeth said, quote, I guess it means putting them to sleep.
Now Elizabeth Wesson told police that she was afraid of her husband the day of the murders.
She said that he called to her from inside of the bedroom where the bodies were found, but that she got scared and ran out of the house and that she left two of her daughters behind.
Those girls were later found dead.
But Elizabeth Wesson defended her husband and again said that she was not told about the suicide pact.
She said, quote, he never told me that he was going to do something.
I really didn't think that he would harm my children.
Now the jury has written transcripts of the tapes that they are listening to and they've been following along the last couple of days in court.
They seem to be a little bit bored.
And again, a lot of this information they heard during Elizabeth Wesson's five days on the witness stand.
Reporting live in downtown Fresno, Kathleen Rhodes, CBS 47 on your side.
Thank you, Kathleen. The trial is scheduled to resume tomorrow morning.
The jury has a few more hours of the tapes to listen to.
Prosecutors will then call Wesson's daughter Gypsy to the stand.
In tonight's crime alert, Fresno police have made arrests in a citywide series of robberies.
Investigators say from January till March, four men were responsible for 13 business robberies in Fresno.
The armed men had a system worked out and their violence grew with each crime.
One of the suspects who was armed would be posted at the front door of the business as a lookout.
That all of the suspects terrorized workers or employees as well as customers with guns and threats of violence.
The robbery stretched across the city from Kings Canyon to North First Street.
Last Thursday, two suspects were arrested, 21-year-old Terese Jefferson and 21-year-old Eddie Robinson.
But two more suspects are still at large.
Police say 22-year-old Andrew Thomas and 21-year-old Kinte Hayes should be considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information on the crimes or the suspect's whereabouts should contact Fresno police at 621-2427.
One man is dead. Another is in custody after a fight in Clovis.
Just after 10 o'clock last night, gunshots were heard at an apartment complex in Clovis.
A 54-year-old man was shot in the leg and he later died on the way to the hospital.
Police learned the victim was drinking with friends in the area when he got into a fight with another man.
That man, 50-year-old Jack Ward, was arrested around 5 o'clock this morning.
Police confronted him at his apartment where he had been asleep since the shooting.
New at 6, police now say a 14-year-old Merced girl lied about being kidnapped at Knife Point last week.
She claimed that she was forced into the trunk of a car, taken to the country and then sexually assaulted.
Investigators say she still claims she was sexually assaulted but isn't providing any more information.
Michael Jackson's defense team must once again try to discredit an emotional and compelling witness today.
A woman testified that she let her son sleep in the singer's bed after he cried about it.
The mother of Jackson's 1993 accuser described on the stand today how he sobbed and trembled one night,
begging her to let her son sleep in his room.
She eventually gave in to his pleas.
Don't you trust me, he said. Another time he said there's nothing wrong, there's nothing going on.
More than a decade ago, Jackson reportedly paid the witness and her son more than $20 million for their silence.
Since then, though, the state of California passed a code allowing the past of the accused in certain types of trials to help prove a current case.
The prosecution is trying to plant seeds, trying to prove that Jackson has a history of touching boys inappropriately.
The defense's only alternative again was to try and discredit this latest witness.
In this case, though, Jackson's attorneys may have their work cut out for them.
This was a settlement that Michael Jackson agreed to. He paid money.
So, juries might also ask themselves, well, why did he pay money if there was nothing to what she and her son were saying.
The woman told jurors Jackson gave her expensive jewelry and took her on shopping sprees and trips after her son slept in his room more than three dozen times.
The question for the jury is why did she do it.
This accuser and his family has not cooperated in any law enforcement investigation and no charges were ever filed against Jackson in this case.
If convicted on all charges, Jackson faces up to 20 years in prison.
The Merced Fire Department says a blaze that claimed a toddler's life was most likely an accident.
21-month-old boy died in the apartment fire early Friday morning.
Investigators say the blaze started in a back bedroom two other children and the boy's parents managed to escape, but the fire was too hot.
They tried to rescue the toddler.
Two Fresno County firefighters are out of the hospital tonight recovering from injuries when their engine truck overturned and burst into flames yesterday.
Take a look at video from the scene at Temperance in American in Fresno County.
Authorities say the truck flipped over after the driver swerved to avoid a car that had run a stop sign.
Inside that car, a man and a baby, neither of whom were injured.
CBS 47's Christine Lazar has more now on the firefighters conditions.
They're really lucky that cab didn't squash these windows closely.
Fire captain Darrell Day surveys what's left of this fire truck crushed and burned.
Amazingly, the two firefighters who were riding inside of it walked away with only minor injuries.
I would imagine they're pretty sore after being knocked around in an engine like that. They have to take a beating.
Chief Kim Pennington used to work with both firefighters and spoke with them Monday morning.
How are their spirits?
Very good, very good. They're ready to come back to work as soon as they're released.
Chief Pennington heralded the firefighters actions.
If they hadn't swerved, the baby and the man inside the car may have died.
At the scene, one of the firefighters opted not to be airlifted to the hospital so the baby could be taken instead.
He made the point that that child goes before me, be airlifted, and he was ground transported.
So you know, even when they're in pain, they still, you know, they were there to serve.
Chief Pennington, along with five other CDF firefighters from around the state, are now investigating the crash.
Standard procedure for an accident this serious.
The main reason is to come up with a way to prevent these accidents from occurring again if there's a way to do that.
The investigation will take about two days.
They'll conduct interviews, go back out to the crash site, and pick apart what's left of this fire truck, which as you can see, isn't much.
In Fresno County, I'm Christine Lozare, CBS 47, on your side.
Christine also says tonight the 19-year-old driver of the car was arrested for failure to yield and hit and run.
Well, it looks like winter is returning at least up to our North meteorologist.
Kevin Musso has your first look at our TrueView forecast.
Right you are. After a day in the 70s, temperatures will topple once again.
Here's what our skyline will look like over the next 36 hours.
You will notice an increase of clouds as we progress into Tuesday, tomorrow's high 68.
And then Wednesday morning, increasing clouds and even a chance of rain northward and a strong storm through northern California.
You don't want to miss that. Moderate for our allergy pollen count and low on the mold side.
The rest of the TrueView, eight minutes away.
All right, Kev, thanks still to come on CBS 47 at 6. Take a deep breath if you can.
We'll list the top ailments in the valley and most involved are lungs and noses.
And we'll show you the new push in Sacramento over assisted suicide.
Watching CBS 47 at 6.
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The Tulare County Office of Education does more than educate the children.
They're also a powerful resource that serves the families of Tulare County in a variety of exciting ways.
See what's new under the stars. The newly opened Peña Planetarium in Visalia is offering public shows on Thursday and Friday evenings.
The Tulare County Office of Education and Jim Finak County Superintendent of Schools are proud sponsors of the Gold Star Leader Program, recognizing and encouraging students to reach out to serve their communities.
Or watching CBS 47 On Your Side with Ken Malloy, Zara Arboleta, Kevin Musso with Trueview Weather and Paul Leffler on sports.
Fifteen years ago, California voters rejected a ballot proposal to legalize assisted suicide.
But tomorrow, a new proposal goes before the assembly judiciary committee.
It would allow the prescription of life ending drugs to terminally ill patients.
Under the measure, two doctors must agree that the patient has six months or less to live.
Both doctors would submit reports to the state health department.
The patient must also make two oral requests and a written note to end his or her life.
Protesters of the bill have already started showing up on the state capitol.
Autopsies are not required, so there's no way to really know the deceased was terminally ill, opening the door to another Dr. Kavorkian.
I think the opponents, for a number of different moral reasons or reasons of fear, are saying a lot of these things.
But we've been very, very careful about making sure this bill has numerous safeguards to protect people.
The assisted suicide measure is modeled after the seven-year-old Oregon law.
As the weather warms up, air quality usually takes a hit, and that affects many of us here in the valley.
CBS 47's Susie Frankeberger takes a look at what's going around.
Bronchitis shows up on just about every list this week, and it's tough to battle when it's mixed with allergies.
Dr. Karen Hanson-Smith in Fresno reports sinus infections are common, along with bronchitis and tonsillitis.
Dr. Terry Brown with Sequoia Family Medical Center in Porterville is seeing children with viral syndrome.
That's a combination of fever, headache, body aches, cough, and sore throat.
She's also treating skin infections and pneumonia, mostly viral and kids under the age of two.
Dr. Jeffrey Gardner in Clovis also reports numerous cases of bronchitis, ear infections, and throat infections.
And Dr. Lucia Morales-Chavez with the Fresno Children's Medical Group is treating throat infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
One of our doctors is still seeing the flu, but it's declined now to an average of about two cases a week.
I'm Susie Frankeberger, CBS 47, on your side.
Coming up, what's in a name? Controversy erupts again over a valley mascot.
Storms not due into Northern California till tomorrow, but with TrueView, I can show it to you today.
Coming up next.
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Gray hair and a beard is pugnacious.
And now, your TrueView Weather.
Four live radars sweeping around California.
Not seeing much today, but by this time tomorrow it will be a different story.
Now, whether we're WeLift.
See what's happening right over our skies.
Right near the station here, 71, mostly cloudy, light winds.
By the way, our rooftop is right over there.
I'm looking at me right there.
Okay, let's take a flight through the valley floor.
70 right now in Visalia.
Brilliant blue sky.
It's been a very pleasant day today.
Very seasonal temperatures.
Low 70s is what we'd expect for the second week of April.
71 for Fresno.
Further northward, it's cooling.
Now it's down to 69.
And you do see some cooler air moving in from the northwest, even from that vantage point.
Northwest winds at 9 miles per hour.
You'd hardly know that something is about to change dramatically.
And it certainly is for northern California.
And maybe even by this time tomorrow night from around right here, Merced, northward into Modesto.
Most valley locations, upper 60s, low 70s.
I've got my hand planted right on a cold air mass.
And there's a pocket of clouds right out here that will continue to move right into northern California by this time tomorrow night.
Here's something you're used to seeing, this vantage point.
But we're going to take you up here as we advance the clock.
Watch this, guys.
Seven o'clock, eight o'clock, nine o'clock, 11 o'clock.
Around midnight, all of a sudden there it shows up.
And there you see the snowflakes hitting the ground.
By the way, that's Mount Shasta right there.
So northern California rain and snow.
How will that affect us close to home as we pull on back?
Cooler conditions as we have a nice little onshore flow of cooler air making itself right back into the valley.
Overnight lows tonight in the 40s, valley wide.
Tomorrow we drop anywhere from four to five degrees, valley wide.
And from Merced northward, there's a good shot of getting rain late in the evening tomorrow night.
Good shot would be 20 percent or better.
Further northward you head, it'll be a stronger possibility.
59 for Yosemite, a 30 to 40 percent chance of rain or snow above six thousand feet.
And the Grizzlies are on a home stint to kick off their season.
68 for Tuesday, Wednesday morning, 46.
Good air quality continues.
Boy, I love being able to share that.
I wish I could do something about the allergies, but I can't do that.
And there we see it.
We're toppling back into the 60s after a day in the low 70s today.
But we will head back to the 70s and enjoy sunshine at the end of the week and on into the upcoming weekend.
So this is what we continue to do in springtime as topsy-turvy weather.
Thanks, Kevin.
A bill to ban the use of the term the redskin as a high school mascot could reach Governor Schwarzenegger's desk this year.
For the third time, the bill was introduced by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg of Los Angeles.
It would outlaw what she calls an offensive mascot used by five high schools in the state.
They include Tulare, Chowchilla and Gustin.
The bill was approved by the Assembly Education Committee just last week.
Up next in sports, more on the possibility of Vance Wahlberg coaching in the Save Mart Center after all.
Plus, one of Wahlberg's old players at Clovis West makes a big decision about his basketball future.
Paul Leffler has sports next.
This segment of CBS 47 is brought to you by Valley Stone Works.
Next in set edition, finally Charles and Camilla make it official, the Royal Wedding Day.
And we have exclusive details from inside.
Then they call her the Susan Lucchia Beauty Patchants.
Year after year after year she lost.
I changed my hair, my gown, my attitude. It didn't matter.
And then?
And I went, oh great, here it goes again, you know, I know the protocol.
They call it the name, I step to my left.
Next in set edition, tonight at 6.30 on CBS 47.
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And now, CBS 47 Sports.
I look forward to talking to Vance and going through that thing.
I know that he wanted his job and be a big part of it.
And it's not to say that he couldn't be a part of this someday either.
Fresno State had to pick one or the other.
Now there's a chance the Bulldogs could get both.
Steve Cleveland and Vance Wahlberg are ready to mend fences.
Cleveland, the Fresno native who left BYU after beating out Wahlberg for the opening of Fresno State,
wants the reigning state champ from Fresno City to be his top assistant.
Word was Wahlberg wouldn't consider it, but now that's changed.
The two coaches, as we told you earlier in the show,
Wahlberg and Cleveland will meet in person tomorrow after Cleveland gets back from Utah.
They will discuss the possibility of Wahlberg serving on Cleveland's staff as an assistant coach.
We will talk to both of them tomorrow and let you know how that went.
Meanwhile, one of Wahlberg's former players at Clovis West is ready for the pros.
Maybe Chris Hernandez, Stanford's junior point guard out of Clovis West, is declaring for the NBA draft,
but he is not signing with an agent.
So if he decides to pull out of the draft by June 21st,
he could still return to Stanford for his senior season.
Chris is on track to graduate in May so he could have his degree and play in the NBA
without going back for that senior season.
Again, he has until June 21st to make a decision on that.
The big event here in Fresno this weekend, Hoop It Up,
sponsored by Channel 47 out at the Save Mart Center parking lot this weekend.
All the action, that's Jimmy Moore, former Lamar High and Nevada star.
His team lost in the finals of the Top Gun Division to NBN Amundsen.
That stands for nothing but net.
Several Valley High School coaches, the Brothers Amundsen, winning that championship.
The Fresno Grizzlies host the Portland Beavers tonight.
A big debut for the Giants' top prospect.
It'll be the first triple-A start ever for right-hander Matt Kane.
I talked to him about his expectations for the season.
What's your personal goal for the season?
My personal goal? I mean, I'd love to get to the big leagues sometime this season,
but just to come here and pitch good, to stay consistent all year.
And yes, Matt Kane is able, but he's not his brother's keeper.
Hank Blaylock, the keeper of the home run, Rangers up 4-2, but the Angels had an answer.
Erstad sends it to deep center field. At the wall, Erstad ties it!
Darren Erstad tying the game for the Angels in the ninth at the ballpark at Arlington.
Orlando Cabrera in the tenth. That's gone as well.
The Angels get the win in extra innings, 7-6.
It was back to the bench today for Visalius Brad Mills.
The Exeter high grad resumed his role as the Red Sox bench coach today
with his good friend Terry Francona resuming managerial duties after returning from the hospital.
Francona had to show up at Fenway today because it was the day the Red Sox got their World Series rings.
Their first home game of the season.
Throwing out those first pitches, Boston Legends Bobby Orr, Bill Russell,
and Teddy Bruski, who's won a couple rings with the Patriots.
How about former Fresno Grizzly Doug Maribilly starting the scoring with a two run shot over the Green Monster.
The Red Sox pound the Yankees today 8-1.
Brad Mills, by the way, 2-2 while running the show for the Sox.
That's not too bad.
Not bad at all.
Christina Clark, Adriana Chico, both WAC players of the week for Fresno State.
Alright. Very good. Thanks.
Still to come on CBS 47 at 6, it was once the place to hang out on a Saturday night.
We say goodbye to the Mid-State Bowl next.
We'll be right back.
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Ah, the sounds of bowling balls and crashing pins were replaced by folly walls
and splintered wood at the old Mid-State Bowl.
New at 6, many folks around Fresno have fond memories of the old bowling alley at Clinton and Weber.
But the walls came tumbling down at the Mid-State Bowl this morning.
Business had dropped off after decades of operation and the bowling alley was shut down,
taking its place now a supermarket shopping center.
With knocking this building down, demolishing this building,
we're hoping that we're going to be able to make this a catalyst to the neighborhood again.
The eight acres of land was purchased from the city's redevelopment agency.
Alright. A lot of people who remember that place bowling there when they were kids,
they're pretty sad today about that. Yeah, but they'll put something nice and new there, sparkling clean.
There you go. 68 tomorrow, so gone are the 70s we felt today.
Three days in the 60s, then back to a pleasant end of the week and weekend.
So, looks like the forecast looks nice.
Well, that'll do it for this edition of CBS 47 at 6. Thanks for watching.
We'll see you back here tonight at 11. Good night.
We'll see you back here tonight at 11. Good night.
Two and a half then. It all happens CBS Tonight and later Don't Miss Dave on the late.