You're watching Northern California News at 11. NCN, serving all of Northern California.
And now, Alan Marsden and Megan Newquist with your news. Dave Van Ory with weather. And
Chad Abramson on sports. NCN News at 11 starts now.
Good evening and thank you for choosing NCN at 11 o'clock. I'm Megan Newquist.
And I'm Alan Marsden. Flags are flying at half staff at fire stations across Northern
California tonight following the tragic deaths of three North State firefighters. The three
were part of a U.S. Forest Service crew killed early yesterday morning when their engine
backed off a logging road and fell 800 feet down a steep ravine. They were fighting the
1,600-acre stanza fire in Klamath National Forest, about 10 miles south of Happy Camp.
Those killed were 51-year-old Stephen Oustad of Westwood, 29-year-old Heather DiPolo of
Redding, and 19-year-old John Self of Susanville. Investigators are now reconstructing the accident.
Well two firefighters did survive that tragic accident. 19-year-old Alex Glover was released
from the hospital today. His crewmate, 20-year-old Ryan Smith of Chester, is in serious condition
tonight at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. At a press conference today, Glover thanked
the firefighters who rescued him and says despite everything that's happened, it won't
stop him from doing his job. I do look to keep on pursuing my job as a firefighter.
I want to get back out there as soon as possible, as soon as I can. Meantime, Ryan Smith's father
says his son's head injury has not gotten any worse and says Ryan is expected to fully
recover. Well there was a memorial service held tonight near the site of the deadly accident
as friends and family honored the firefighters that did not survive. As we mentioned, one
of them was Captain Steve Austad. We met up with friends of the 51-year-old today who
say he was full of life and always there with a smile. Jennifer Rogers has more. I don't
think there'll be the laughter anymore. The sounds of crying. Bill Bieris from the state
officer. Most people are in shock and they're just trying to come to terms and deal with
the news. I didn't want to hear about any of them but it hurt. It was going to hurt
with any of them but Steve and I go back. Austad dedicated 25 years of his life to fighting
fires and he was only two years from retirement. The captain on the engine was my best friend.
Friend to many, he was also known as a star actor in many local plays. Steve was a really
happy joking person. His comical personality is now remembered at a makeshift memorial
in his Westwood home. And yet another memorial. Flags here at the Forest Service are flying
half-mass in remembrance of those who lost their lives. Steve is a great man. He's going
to be really missed. Now Austad will also be remembered as a founding member of Butte
County's Sterling City Volunteer Company 12. A standoff at the Los Angeles Times building
is over tonight. Police captured a man threatening to blow up the building. He claimed to have
a bomb in his backpack. The building was evacuated but officials say they expect to get the newspaper
out on Tuesday. Several dozen writers and reporters were sent to three satellite offices
to put out the national and Los Angeles editions of the paper. No word on who the man was or
why he was threatening the paper. Well investigators have retrieved a pair of recording devices
from an Amtrak train that derailed outside Washington D.C. today. More than 90 people
were injured, six of them critically. The NTSB's vice chairman says the locomotive's
two event recorders, which are similar to an airplane's black boxes, will tell them
just how fast the train was going and what the engineer was doing when the train derailed.
Early word is heat in the mid-90s could have warped the tracks. The accident comes at a
particularly difficult time for Amtrak, which is trying to emerge from its worst budget
crisis in its 31 year history. Another train accident today proved fatal. This one happened
near Reno. It happened at about 4.30 in the town of Mogul, five miles west of Reno. The
driver of the car died at the scene. The passenger was flown to a Reno hospital in critical condition.
This after the car had apparently driven onto the track in front of the oncoming train.
The car was dragged for about a quarter of a mile after the collision. There were no crossing guard arms at the intersection,
but police are not yet saying exactly what caused the accident. And more trouble for
Amtrak tonight, this time with a Chico connection. The Coast Starlight train from L.A. to Seattle
struck a cabbage truck just before nine tonight, seven miles north of Salinas. That train was
due to arrive in Chico at 1.55 a.m. There were no injuries in that collision, but right
now the train's operator is waiting for another engine to arrive so passengers can be transferred.
It should arrive in Chico one and a half to two hours late. In political news, the state
budget is almost a month late and the state assembly is not any closer to reaching an
agreement. Meantime, the state's capital gains, income taxes, and sales taxes are lower than
projected. That means lawmakers may have to make additional cuts. Republicans say the
decline in state revenue should push lawmakers to cut further. We're looking further to see
where we can go on perhaps a modest package of additional cuts, but I'm not sure where
they will come from. Frankly, a tax increase is critical to solving this budget problem
and there's just no way that we're going to be able to balance the budget without one.
Meantime, the Democratic assembly budget chair says the problem can't be solved with cuts
alone. The state's fiscal year began July 1st. Lawmakers and legislative staffers will
not receive paychecks until a budget is passed. State energy officials say California is moving
forward with building new power plants. Starting more plant construction is necessary to improve
the state's power supply. At the Capitol today, state officials announced new power plants
that can produce enough energy to operate about three million homes. Energy officials
say it's critical to build more plants to replace aging facilities. We do not have an
adequate reserve capacity yet in the state. And on a hot day, we barely have the 7 percent
operating reserves. Power officials say the state agency expects to gain about 3,600 megawatts
from plants scheduled to be running by next summer, and another 2,400 megawatts are expected
the following year. Eighteen days after violent winds ripped through the North State town
of East Quincy, the federal government today declared it a disaster area. Back on July
11th, a microburst tore off roofs, toppled trees, and downed power lines. Today's declaration
gives affected residents and business owners an opportunity for low-interest loans. On
Wednesday, the U.S. Small Business Administration will open a disaster office at Quincy's Public
Health Department on East Main Street. You can also call the SBA toll-free at 1-800-488-5323,
or you can go online to SBA.gov. You know, I was up there for that story, and it was
absolutely amazing to see the huge, I mean, they were one 200-foot tall tree just toppled
like nothing. Yeah, and a lot of people, they all thought it was a tornado that hit them.
Well, I talked to two folks up there, one a rancher, the other one a local resident.
I'm usually up there, and had a question to me. He said, yeah, he saw this swirling wind.
You know, vortex. And that's what I think really what it was. A microburst hits the
ground, flips up like this, and starts spinning. It's what's known as a gustnado. And that's
what I believe hit Quincy. Nonetheless, lots of damage, regardless. Looking at what we
have right now off to our west, there's some tropical moisture from what was once Hurricane
Elita. We're going to talk about that a little bit later on, but let's talk about these current
temperatures. 82 reading, 67 Sacramento, 60 for San Francisco. The cool Delta breeze will
continue at least to keep temperatures at bay. 88 to 98 in the valley, 90 to 99 in the
mountains. And we'll have that forecast coming up in just a little bit, guys. Alright, Dave,
thank you. Well, a new survey finds the average driver is stuck in traffic 56 hours a year,
at least in some California cities. A lot of that time is spent, of course, at red lights.
Chico is upgrading its traffic signals today after a glitch in the system led to ongoing
complaints on the Esplanade. Joe Marino brings us the story. Another wait at a red light,
tapping your head until it's your turn. I don't think it's so much waiting for the line. It's
when you have to go through two or three lights to get through. The Esplanade, one of Chico's
most scenic streets, recently got out of whack at the intersections of 8th and 9th Avenues.
We had quite a few phone calls, 20 to 30 a day, asking what was going on. A telephone
interconnect system failed, and workers say it's been hard to bring it back online. The
person who did it was very brilliant in the way he did it, but we can't seem to figure
out exactly what he'd done. But it won't be a problem for long. Very soon we're looking
at putting GPS units on each of the controllers so we can control the exact time, and we should
have perfect synchronization at that point. So just how long does it take before the light
goes back to green? Public Works officials say red lights last up to 120 seconds in Chico.
I think they should be shorter. In paradise, I've counted, they're 17 seconds. That's
two minutes for a red compared to 35 seconds for a green light. But somehow the math evens
out, and traffic engineers say it adds up to a smooth ride for commuters. We strive
for a perfect traffic pattern that can't always be achieved, but we try to look forward in
the future and see what the big picture is. Now installing the GPS system on the Esplanade
will be up and running in about a next month or so, and will save the city a great deal
of money. The city will pay only $27,000 in a one-time fee compared to $9,000 a month
to operate the current system. Hopefully more green light. Yes. Coming up next on NCN
at 11, state lawmakers are proposing a plan they say will give added protection against
suspected terrorists. We'll have the details. And U.S. intelligence says the son of Osama
bin Laden may be assuming the leadership role in the al-Qaeda terrorist network. We'll have
a special report. But first, investors took advantage of the down market, snatching up
stocks. The flurry of trading sent the Dow up 447 points, its third biggest one-day gain
ever. Here are the closing numbers. Law enforcement officials are saying they need stronger surveillance
laws to monitor suspected terrorists. Lawmakers are considering a plan to beef up the state's
wiretapping laws. Under current law, law enforcement officers with probable cause can ask a judge
for a court order. But officers are required to renew that order every 72 hours. Will a
new proposal supported by Governor Davis extend the renewal period to six days? The measure
would cover communication via phone, cellular phone and pagers. The legislation would not
permit surveillance of e-mail or computer communication. The wiretapping bill has cleared
the state assembly. It will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee next month.
And while state lawmakers look to crack down on terrorists, there are new reports tonight
that one of Osama bin Laden's sons is taking a much more active role in the leadership
of the Al-Qaeda terror network. More now from Jim Miklashevsky. Last November, at the height
of the war in Afghanistan, the younger children of Osama bin Laden celebrate around the wreckage
of a crashed U.S. military helicopter. In the background stood Sa'ad bin Laden, Osama's
third eldest son. But he's not in the background anymore. U.S. intelligence reveals that 21-year-old
Sa'ad is taking a larger role in running Al-Qaeda. It's suspected, for example, it was the 21-year-old
Sa'ad behind the April terrorist attack on a synagogue in Tunisia, and that Sa'ad continues
to plan future terrorist operations. If that's the case, where is his father? The FBI's chief
of counterterrorism said recently he thinks Osama bin Laden is dead. I personally think
he's probably not with us anymore, but I have no evidence to support that. While there is
no hard evidence, no body, no matching DNA, there is a growing sense within the intelligence
community that bin Laden may in fact be dead. This videotape released last December shows
bin Laden frail and gone. It's the last time the outside world has seen or heard him. His
supporters repeatedly claim another tape is on the way, but none has surfaced, leading experts
to believe bin Laden is either dead or seriously hurt. It's in his interest to make a tape
to show the world, ha ha, you didn't get me, but he has not made that tape. Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld said today even if bin Laden's dead, Al-Qaeda survives. If Osama bin Laden disappeared,
which would be nice, that it would not change greatly the Al-Qaeda operations. U.S. officials
say bin Laden's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is still alive and active. Well, straight
ahead, Dave will be in to let us know how the rest of the work week is shaping up weather-wise.
And then in sports, it appears the NBA's leading assist man is coming to the West Coast. We'll
tell you which jersey Andre Miller could be wearing next year. A little later on our show,
some beached whales are the focus of a rescue effort today at Cape Cod.
Dave's here now with weather and not bad news this week, right?
Unless you like the 100s. No, I don't.
So I guess I do have good news to give you then, Alan. We're looking at temperatures
pretty much holding at bay with 90s for the most part, low to mid as a whole. We'll talk
about that in more detail in a bit. 80 degrees for Chico now, same for Redding. 78 Red Bluff,
78 Oroville and Paradise with 75. Taking a look at the high temperatures today, well,
we had 102 for Redding. That was the hot spot and because the Delta breeze didn't make it
that far, it made it as far as, well, Red Bluff actually. Corning with 95, we had 89
for Chico. 87 in my hometown of Conkow, 92 Gridley. 107 for Weaverville and take a look
at some of the other numbers in the higher elevations. Well, one number will stand out
at you. Bernie with 100 degrees. They're not getting the influence of that Delta breeze.
There's no help because it's not getting up that high. So we could see temperatures at
or above what we're seeing in the valley for tomorrow and even the following day the way
things are looking right now. 97 Red Bluff, 91 for Oroville. Taking a look at what we
have though now on the satellite picture, though you'll see this moisture coming up
plain as day. That's part of what was once Hurricane Ellada. Nothing more than just Pacific
moisture, subtropical moisture moving northward. We're seeing that in our sunsets and we will
continue to see sunsets with those high thin clouds setting. Also the smoke there making
that orange tinge, that orange tinge looking really nice picturesque wise, but doing a
whole lot of nothing otherwise. Delta breeze is in place. It will continue not into just
Wednesday the way things are looking, but also right in through the remainder of the
week. By the way, notice these high thin clouds here, even mid level clouds. We'll see some
clouds from that tropical moisture off the coast. But otherwise we're looking at just
a slight chance of some mountain thunderstorms for Wednesday and Thursday and that's about
it. Look at this right here, an upper level low doing what's known as retrograding or
drifting west going backwards in other words, and that's helping to take in that moisture
and pull it in the same general direction. Otherwise we could have seen valley thunderstorm
activity. Yeah, it was a possibility. We were talking about that last week. The models were
indicating the potential at least. Looking at there, the tropical depression, Elinida
just hanging around down moving off toward the west northwest rather slowly, 14 miles
an hour. Jet stream, the ridge, the Pacific ridge, and that's going to control our weather.
This Pacific ridge looks like temperatures overnight are going to be on the cool side.
And again, daytime highs, no 100s, at least not for the most part. We'll see that here
in their forecast. Reading with 64 overnight. Reading not bad considering what you had yesterday's
high 109 degrees. So nice cool down too as well. Red bluff 62, 59 for Chico, 56 for Willows,
55 Yuba City, Marysville, Oroville, close to 60. 47 for Chester, 60 McGallion, Paradise,
Quincy 52, 57 for Mount Shasta. There you go, Reading. I'm going to keep the hundreds away
from you. I don't know if Mother Nature will do that though, but I'm going to do it. 98
for Chico with 90 degrees, 88 Yuba City, Marysville, and then looking at the higher elevations
again temperatures running about the same. As I said, some spots could be hotter like
Weaverville with 100, Bernie 94, 85 McGallion, 88 for Paradise, close to 100 for Quincy,
99 we're going with. And the extended forecast, mountain thunderstorms are possible, not likely,
Wednesday and Thursday. Otherwise 90s, basically low 90s really on average, and 88 even on
Wednesday. So we're going to stay away from the triple digits. Good deal. How do you like
that? Wonderful. Thanks Dave. Up next in sports, Giants had the day off, but the A's were in
action. Plus the Niners, they're taking a look at their kickers. We've got the scoop
from Stockton. And Gold Glove All-Star Scott Rowland is no longer a Philadelphia Philly.
Chad will tell you where he's headed next in sports. You're watching NCN on KHSL. Chad's
in our sports and you have a lot on your plate tonight. A lot of my play, the Giants are off,
but the A's they're on the hot seat these days. Starting the night three games out, both
the Angels and Mariners, both those teams with comeback victories tonight. So the pressure
on Oakland, we go to the Coliseum, the A's big lead evaporates in the 7th, 6, 5 Oakland,
two on for the Indians and Lee Stevens off Mike Magnani after Hudson gave up a few. The
other way through and shot his first as an Indian. A shut down from there, lose 8, 6,
now four back in the West. Giants and Phillies playing tomorrow. Kenny Lofton will be in
the lineup for the Giants. Barry Bonds won't. He's out till at least Friday with the hamstring.
Another guy that won't be in the Phillies lineup, third baseman Scott Rowland. Rowland
finally traded. He's going to St. Louis. He wanted out of Philly. He finally got it.
The Phillies get another young arm though. Bud Smith threw a no-hitter last year. Plus
Mike Timlin and Placido Polanco rolling a free agent at the end of the year there to
help the cards during their stretch drive. NBA, the Kings hire an assistant coach to
replace Pete Carrell who's working in the front office now. Terry Porter, the new guy
on the bench, just finished a 17-year career at the NBA today announcing that replays will
exist. Refs will look at replays at the end of each quarter if controversies arise. A
trade arising tonight in the NBA. Not official but pretty close. Cavaliers sending Andre
Miller to the Clippers. Miller led the league in assists last year. Miller and Bryant-Stith
to the Clips for Darius Miles and Harold Jamison. Miles, a high flyer, will play on a bad team
trying to come in last and get the first overall pick in 2003 which will be LeBron James, a
kid out of high school. Allen Iverson isn't scot-free but close of the 14 counts. He only
faces two now after today's preliminary hearing. All four felony counts are missed. Only faced
with two terroristic threat charges now. The people he allegedly terrorized had fudged
their story so it may all be thrown out now. The Niners kick off the preseason in Osaka,
Japan on Sunday against the Redskins. Today the team checking out their kicking game.
Hot day in Stockton as the Niners get the second week of camp rolling. The two kickers,
Jose Cortez and Jeff Chandler. Cortez a little inconsistent last year so the team drafted
Chandler in the fourth round out of Florida. Coach Steve Mariucci watching this battle
closely while the kickers fight it out for that one spot. Trying to make every kick.
That's all you really can do. You can't forecast anything and you can't look back at yesterday
so I'm just going out and making sure each kick counts. It's about fighting for the
job and they're going to take the one thing that's going to win the game for them. So
I'm just trying to keep my job over here. I'm just trying to get the ball high.
Tempers flaring towards the end of practice today. Kevin Barlow running the ball and the
new guy defensive lineman Jim Flanagan gives Barlow a bigger shot than normal. The two
go at it. No punches actually thrown and both did make up afterwards. Here we go. Just for
you Dave. John Gruden looking to bark it already. First day of buck camp at Disney World. Already
a controversy quarterback. Which Johnson robbed the Bills cast off of Brad Johnson a hold
over from last year while Vannori already has a Gruden Beanie baby the coach says. The coach
says no controversy. Rob's a flashy guy now. He has a howlitzer. He has a legitimate jugs
machine and he's caught my eye several times. But we like Brad Johnson again. He's the starting
quarterback. We've got a long way to go. That's the last Buccaneer report you get until the
season. Kids playing with the guys who paved the way tonight. The annual battle of Big
Horn pitting Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus up against the Spaniards lead Trevino and
El Nino Sergio Garcia. Woods and Jack up most of the day in Southern California on this
made for TV event. Tiger on the first his approach. Woods with birdie nine of the first
sixteen holes they played and sticks that one for the one up lead. How about Jack. He's
still got it. The Golden Bear is approach on the ninth and he sticks that one. Woods
and Jack win three up with two holes. Well of course they do. Of course they do. He was
teamed up with Tiger Woods. Two greatest players. But the other two did play pretty good. But
Tiger was just on fire. They only played sixteen holes. Tiger birdied nine of them. Alright
thanks Chad. Very nice. Thank you. Still to come you've heard of Beached Whales before
but can you imagine dozens of them all on one beach. When NCN at eleven comes back we'll
let you know what volunteers in Massachusetts are trying to do to save them. Dave's got
our final check on weather tonight and what we can expect tomorrow. Not bad. I mean in
the nutshell if you like numbers that are below one hundred fifty five to sixty five
in the valley. Mountains forty seven to fifty seven should be. And eighty eight to ninety
eight in the valley so we're staying out of the hundreds in the mountains. Actually maybe
a degree or two warmer. We'll see. Okay. Thank you Dave. Finally tonight nearly four dozen
pilot whales are off and swimming on their own once again. They were among a large group
that beached themselves on Cape Cod today. Vacationers and other volunteers have been
tending to the small whales trying to keep their skin moist and push them back into the
sea. Volunteers used buckets of water and wet towels to try to keep the whales damp.
Nine of the whales though died before rescuers could push them out into the deeper water.
It's not unusual for pilot whales to strand themselves on shore since they tend to socialize
and feed in groups and stay near the coastline. Wow. What a vacation for those people out
there you know. A lot of work yeah. Fifty some pilot whales. Amazing. Wow. A lot of
work. That'll do it for this newscast hope to see you back here again tomorrow night.
Have a great evening everyone. Thanks for watching NCN on KHSL.