spending fight is looming. before the fight over the automatic spending cuts, the government is calling for congress to avoid across the board cuts that could devastate the economy. bri brian mohr with the story from washington. >> the nation's governors, democrat and republican alike, are calling on congress to disarm the ticking time bomb known as the sequester. >> the uncertainty of sequestration is harming our state and national economy. >> reporter: if congress can't find middle ground and agree on big spending cuts, automatic across-the-board spending cuts will slash the military and defense budgets. >> remember, sequestration originally designed by the administration and congress as something so odious, so repellant, it would force both sides to a compromise. >> reporter: right now, chances are not looking great. the president blames

republicans. >> are they seriously prepared to inflict more pain on the middle class because they refuse to ask more of those at the very top? >> reporter: republicans blame the president. >> house republicans have passed two bills to replace the president's sequester. why won't he work with us? >> reporter: the countdown clock is ticking down to march 1st and a belt tightening that will squeeze just about everyone. brian mo brian moore,nbc washington. and we're told 2,000 secure cameras have been installed throughout rome, many focused on the vatican, volunteers and paramedics will be in st. pete her's square and the streets leading to the vatican. he will retire on thursday and

most of the cardinals will gather to choose the next pope. this is the first time in 600 years that a pope resigned. after being granted bail, oscar pistorius is staying at his uncle's home in pretoria. private security guards stood watch outside the home. the chief magistrate set bail for the south african olympian at $113,000. pist pistorius must hand over his passport and any guns he might own. >> it is not a sports case, no judgment being given. can we hold this guy so he can have his way later? i don't think he is a flight risk. he's a national figure, well known everywhere. >> pistorius cannot leave the district of pretoria without permission of his probaon officer. mc hammer says his arrest

was a result of racial profiling. he was booked on charges including resisting an officer. hammer claims today in a tweet that a male officer knocked on his car window and then asked "are you on parole or probation?" he said after that, the officer tried to pull him out of his car. hammer most known for his hit "you can't touch this" and "too legit to quit." for the first time in years, an oakland man is a free man. an emotional reunion between the man and his mother. it took four year investigation by a san francisco law firm, a private investigator and the innocence project to free ross. allegations that the oakland police department pressured a witness to identify ross as the shooter. they are not dwelling on the years lost, they are cherishing

what is to come. >> since god talked to me. i really saw angels. he blessed me to be free again. >> he said i'll be all right, mom. it will be all right. and sure it will be all right, because the lord let me live to see him get out. >> ross is originally from louisiana and he will be taking a much-needed vacation there to see his four adult children. police in okland, looking for a gunman who shot at an ac transit bus around 12:30 a.m. near 55th avenue and international boulevard. investigators say about half dozen rounds hit the bus, breaking its back window, leaving two passengers with minor cuts. two other passengers hurt when the driver quickly hit the gas to get out of danger. police trying to figure out why the bus was targeted as well. hundreds of guns have been taken off bay area streets in recent months, thanks to gun buyback programs. nbc bay area kimberly carrie live in palo alto where one such event was held today. >> reporter: today in a matter

of two hours and 40 minutes, 355 firearms exchanged for cash, no questions asked. the gun buyback happened at the parking lot of the east palo alto library, filled with cars today, whose drivers were waiting to turn in those guns. the reason for giving up those guns were varied. one man said he has kids and really has no reason to have the gun in the house. the operation is a joint effort between menlo park, palo alto, and east palo alto. a nonprofit group provided the cash for the guns. $52,000 was exchanged for the guns, including 11 assault weapons. >> i think there are way too many guns out there aren't being used. don't want to risk losing them, getting them in the wrong hands. i think this is a great way to ince incentivize us to get rid of guns. >> no question, every gun off the street is one less potential

murder or suicide or accidental shooting. >> reporter: the gun buyback program was so successful, less than three hours into the four-hour event, they were out of money. some got vouchers, the others told to hit to the santa clara county fairgrounds for their gun buyback program. if you are wondering, those who turned in a handgun got $100, $200 for a rifle and $300 for an assault weapon. nbc in palo alto. two men seriously burned after an electrical explosion at a warehouse in san jose. fire officials were called in around 9:00 this morning. three men were working on an electrical unit in the back of the building when it exploded, causing the fire. one man was critically injured, another suffered serious burns

to the hands and face. an investigation isunderway. a 49er arrested for driving under the influence. the team responds. after three years of waiting, a bay area library opens is door today. why the grand opening took so long. i'm jodi hernandez in san francisco, where thousands have lined up to celebrate the year of the snake. we'll take you live along the parade route, coming up. and it looks dry along the parade route. but chilly. 51 degrees right now. breezy outside at some early-morning light rain fell across the bay area. seven-day forecast looks unusually dry. you will be surprised about where temperatures are headed. a look at the forecast, when we come right back. mom, i invited justin over for lunch.

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thousands of people are lined up on the streets of san francisco right now. >> they are there to enjoy the annual chinese new year's parade, and nbc bay area jodi hernandez is right in the middle of it. what's going on, jodi? >> it's exciting out here. the parade minutes from starting, we're here at market near second street. hundreds have lined up to watch what will most certainly be a sflar event. it's ab event that will be

filled with stunning floats and elaborate costumes slithering through the streets of san francisco to celebrate the year of the snake. this is the largest celebration of its kind outside of asia, and is known as one of the top ten parades in the country. 5,000 people will participate in the parade itself, again, that parade will feature fire crackers, dragons, and, of course, floats. >> the floats, they are designed and built by dave thomas, our float builder, and he's done a spectacular job. i think he's topped himself this year. you will see some spectacular things out there. and every one of the floats is an illuminated float. only nighttime parade in the country that's illuminated. >> the kids have their blankets, we have our family ready to go, and we're just waiting and we'll walk up to chinatown and see the fire crackers and have a great

day. >> reporter: and we are back here live. you can see folks are anxiously awaiting for this parade to begin, folks have come from all over the bay area, all over the country really. again, it will start at 5:15. this two-mile parade route, goes up market street, through union square and also through chinatown. i am told that the finale will be spectacular. it will feature a 268-foot golden dragon and 60,000 fire crackers. reporting live in san francisco, i am jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> get out the earplugs. >> thank goodness the weather is nice. half the time it's raining. still ahead, michelle obama as you have never seen her before the video that has gone viral after jimmy fallon's appearance. and what job she has her eye on after her husband's final term in the white house.

13 years ago, san jose voter as proved a bonds measure to build six new libraries and expand 14 existing branches. one of the libraries was finally open to the public. the city didn't have the money to operate and maintain it until now. hundreds came out for the baskin library ribbon cutting.

community members see it as a hard-fought long awaited opening. >> we have been waiting so long for the library and gym to open. it is a wonderful location, so, yeah, we're really excited. >> three other new libraries have been moth balled. city leaders say there still isn't enough money to operate them. people braved the cold in costumes to take the dip in icy water. >> more than 1,000 people took part in the polar plunge in support of the special olympics. the funds raised help provide one full season of sports instruction and competition for special olympics concept. >> very cool concept, way too cold for me. >> cold concept. >> absolutely. a little windy. took a hike. chilly out today. sunny. >> sun out, but san francisco, only 51 degrees, so the polar

plunge, the sunshine out, water temperature might have been warmer than the air temperature at times today around san francisco, 55 degrees in san jose, 59 in morgan hill, upper 50s in the tri-valley and we have west/northwest winds 15 to 25 miles per hour. high pressure building in from the west and the trough, which brought us the light rain, moving off to the east, cranking up the winds a little bit. in terms of the rainfall, we had .03 inch of rain in san francisco, .05 in parts of the santa cruise mountains. same story in the tri-valley. i hope you envoyed it. the seven-day forecast is trending much drier than we were thinking about a couple of days ago. the system that brought the light rain to the east of the sierra and this is the story of one of the driest starts to any year blocking ridge of high pressure, reestablishing itself to the west so the storm track continues to move to the north and that's a very moisture rich plume. we could use that across

northern california. we won't see it. the high will strengthen and build. second half of next week, not only dry conditions, but storms move off to the north and 60s and 70s for highs. very likely as we pass wednesday and thursday. so the futurecast for clouds and rain, not look more lonely than you see now. clear skies, chilly start, 30s and 40s during the morning. and 35 in liver more. and wind-protected valleys, thanks to the dry air. we could see the 30s in the north bay valleys, and mostly 40s. a cooler start tomorrow morning than we saw this morning with the drizzle and clouds. kept temperatures this up morning. tomorrow, low to mid 60s from san jose southward, 65 in santa cruz, over to pleasanton and we should see mid 60s tomorrow. the breezes won't be quite as strong. temperatures come up more, near 60 in san francisco and 63 in oakland. so dry weather will wrap up the

weekend. we'll see one more system briefly cool us down on monday, a few extra clouds and watch the temperatures wednesday, thursday, and friday. 60s and 70s in the forecast. lots of sunshine. pleasant, almost early-springlike weather. and it could use the rain and more snow. nothing of that coming up in the seven-day forecast. pleasant weather to wrap up the weekend. >> we'll take it. thank you very much. check up with comcast sports net with a look at sports. what's going on, henry. >> are you ready for somebody to step up to the plate? the champs are back, and they realize that teams want to knock them off the top of the mountain. but the giants are up for the challenge. when we return, we'll go out to arizona for the giants and a s league opener.

welcome back to nbc bay area. baseball player has a spring in their step at spring training today. we had action on the diamond. let's head out to cactus state for the giants and angels baseball opener for both teams. voge induces the groundout to second from andrew ramin. vog us, two scoreless giants down one. sandoval, single to right center, and angel pagan and jackson williams laces a double down the left line. sandoval will score all the way from first base. j giants go on to win 4-1.

>> first game, it was a good ball game for us. guys played well. and we start this early in the 23rd, you think you will make a lot of mistakes, but, you know, i thought they played well. >> did what i wanted to do. sat down, got back up. had some traffic on the bases to deal with. and threw all my pitches and everything was coming out pretty good. so pretty good for the first one. >> tomorrow probably will feel like it's the first game. and, i mean, it was nice to go out there today and, you know, get to where it's in uniform. get to see my teammates. just about to get ready, to get healthy and see my team.

>> world champs looking great. what about the a's? cactus league opener with the brewers. chris young, swinging with the bases loaded. bottom of the inning, brawn takes chavez, deep for the solo home run, and bottom of the second, and athree double plays, but the brewers top the a's, 2-1 is the final. and offseason troubles for the 49ers, al netter, an offensive lineman, on the practice quadfor the 49ers last year, was arrested for driving under the influence. his arrest is the fourth such arrest since 2010. 49ers released a statement saying in part, the 49ers are aware of the recent matter involving al netter. we take these issues very seriously, but we'll reserve further comment at this time as this is an ongoing legal matter.

all right. also the sharks are in action right now without ryan clough, suspended pending a hearing due to a fight on friday, which he came off the bench to fight. and right now, the sharks scoreless against the dallas stars, early in the first period. an update for you coming up in the next hour. >> all right, henry. thank you very much. >> michelle obama let loose on jimmy fallon's late-night show. >> we'll show you what has people talking. yeah go hide. go on buddy. one, two... [ son ] come and find me! three! [ son ] are you even looking for me? i am looking! [ male announcer ] bite-sized chicken's grown up. kfc bites. freshly hand-breaded big bites of premium breast meat, seasoned in the colonel's original recipe. try 10 bites with an 8 piece meal for $19.99. [ son ] dad? [ male announcer ] today tastes so good.

am i don't know. any medications? [ son ] dad?

last immunization shots? really? honey, what's my blood pressure medicine called? one time i took something and i blew up like a puffer fish. i'm probably allergic to that. at kaiser permanente, your medical information is available to you and your doctors. quickly. securely. no guesswork required. better information. better care. kaiserpermanente. thrive. first lady michelle obama appeared on "late night with jimmy fallon." >> when asked if she would consider running for her husband's job in 2016. mrs. obama joked that there was

a different job she had her eye on. >> dream team 2016, michelle and hillary. what do you think? >> i have my eye on another job. i hear when jay leno retires -- >> oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> i'm thinking about putting my hat in the ring. what do you think? >> i'm done thinking about it. >> that was good. all right, check this out. the first lady set out to fight childhood obesity with her let's move campaign. just what she did during the show as well. jimmy fallon there dressed up like a mom in the pink sweater and the two of them spoofed the evolution of dance video with their evolution of dance video, called the evolution of mom dancing. she can move. a half million people have watched it since last night. >> the new haircut lends itself to dancing. it moves when she moves.

>> if you say so. >> i do. clearing skies and chilly temperatures tomorrow morning. low 30s for the morning. unlike today, mostly 60s across the board. and most of the weekend in the 70s thursday and friday. >> all right. >> thank you. >> thank you for watching nbc bay area news at 5:00. >> see you at 6:00. on this saturday night, daytona crash. on the eve of tomorrow's big race, a ten-car collision sends riders flying into the grandstand. high anxiety, we're at the cliff again. just six days before yet another deadline for spending cuts. with dire predictns of the consequences, why is this happening again? and how will it affect you? speaking out. one day after oscar pistorius was released on bail, the grieving parents of his slain girlfriend speak out for the

first time. pushing back. as pope benedict prepares to step down, the vatican lashes out over media reports and speculation on why he's retiring. and about some of those who might replace him. and, shaking it up. on how a song makes it to the top of the charts. some say it's about time. good evening. we begin with a developing story from daytona beach, florida, where late this afternoon a race car smashed into the fence and sent debris flying into the grandstands. it happened on the eve of the daytona 500 on the final lap of a nationwide series race. at least a dozen people were injured. nbc's janet shamlian is in daytona with the latest. janet, good evening. >> reporter: lester good evening to you. yes, this was a jaw-dropping crash and it happened right