4th of July Fireworks in America

Today News In USA - Independence Day is always a great time to get together with family and friends and watch rockets light up the night sky. But with the Happy Forth of July falling on a Friday this year, the Bay Area will be abuzz with fireworks, festivities and food. While the sale of fireworks is banned in some parts of the Bay, it’s still free to enjoy major shows put on by the pros. Consult the following list for some top spots to enjoy the holiday.

Alameda County Fair

The fireworks go off Friday at 9:45 p.m. at the fair, which runs until July 6 and opens every day at 11 a.m. Make sure to bring plenty of water to the fairgrounds in Pleasanton. Temperatures have been hitting the triple digits this week, and dozens have been treated for heat-related illness. Click here for details.

Berkeley

The Berkeley Marina is the place to go. Starting at noon Friday, visitors can check out bands, do activities with kids and chow down at an assortment of food carts. At 9:35 p.m., the fireworks start at the end of the Berkeley Pier. Click here for details.

Danville

For those looking for events early in the day, the annual Danville parade attracts around 40,000 people, according to the city’s website. Starting at 9 a.m., antique cars, floats and bands will cruise through the city’s downtown. For more information and the parade route click here.

Napa

Celebrations in Napa kick off Friday with a parade and end with fireworks. The Napa Sunrise Rotary Parade starts at 10 a.m. in downtown Napa. Fireworks will go off over Veterans Park between Main and 3rd streets starting at 9:30 p.m. Click here for details.

Richmond

Looking for something unique to do Thursday? The Oakland East Bay Symphony is teaming up with the city of Richmond to host a celebration featuring live music, food and fireworks. Doors open inside the historic Craneway Pavilion on Richmond’s waterfront at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The symphony will begin its concert at 8 p.m. with a 9:15 p.m. crescendo as fireworks illuminate the sky. Click here for details.

San Francisco

One of the best places to see fireworks is Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf. At 9:30 p.m. Friday, spectators will be treated to a glorious display over the San Francisco Bay. Events start at noon with music and activities at the pier’s Entrance Plaza Stage. Click here for details.

San Jose

The Rotary Club of San Jose will be putting on a free fireworks display Friday at Discovery Meadow. Organizers expect big crowds for the spectacle and urge attendees to take public transportation to the event. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will be expanding bus and light rail service to accommodate the masses hoping to catch the 9:30 p.m. show. Click here for details.

San Rafael

The Marin County Fair, which continues through Sunday, will have fireworks every night at 9:30 p.m. Click here for details.

Santa Rosa

The Red, White & Boom! celebration kicks off at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds on Friday. Live music starts at 4 p.m., with fireworks at 9:30 p.m. - 4th of July Fireworks in America

Hurricane Arthur Forces

Hurricane Arthur

Today News In USA - As Hurricane Arthur muscled up early Thursday evening, heavy rain began to fall along the coast of North Carolina. The National Weather Service in Wilmington said 1 1/3 inches of rain fell during one hour Thursday afternoon. The office also tweeted that there was some flooding just south of downtown. The storm's strongest sustained winds were 90 mph CNN correspondents at Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington and Atlantic Beach said most people in those two tourist destinations were heeding authorities' calls to stay out of the surf. "We starting to see the water come up a little further," said Marc Leford, the facilities manager at the Shell Island Resort in Wrightsville Beach. "The guests are hanging tight. They seem to be having a good time. They're ready to wait it out." The storm, which developed into a hurricane early in the day, was expected to grow to Category 2 strength with winds of 105 mph before grazing the coast, then steadily weaken as it is pushed out to sea by a cold front, meteorologists said. Arthur is expected to bring storm surges of up to 5 feet, as well as large, damaging waves, high winds and dangerous rip currents that authorities warned could sweep even the strongest swimmers out to sea. Hurricane Arthur is strengthening over the Atlantic, with forecasters predicting it will become a strong Category 2 as it threatens to deliver North Carolina a glancing blow on Independence Day. The hurricane's maximum sustained winds Thursday were 90 mph as the storm's outer bands started to reach southern parts of North Carolina. Category 2 hurricanes pack winds of more than 96 mph. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Arthur is about 225 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras and moving north around 13 mph with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph. Predicted heavy rains and winds prompted thousands of vacationers and residents to leave parts of the state's popular flood-prone Outer Banks. Hatteras island was under a mandatory evacuation order for visitors and residents, with officials asking an estimated 35,000 people to leave through North Carolina Route 12, the only road on and off the island. Forecasters expect Arthur to whip past the Outer Banks -- a 200-mile string of narrow barrier islands with about 57,000 permanent residents -- on Friday without making landfall but still bringing rain, heavy winds, storm surge and dangerous rip tides. Before the storm hit, tourism officials had expected 250,000 people to travel to the Outer Banks for the holiday weekend. Gov. Pat McCrory warned people not to risk their safety by trying to salvage their barbecues and pre-paid beach vacations. 

"Don't put your stupid hat on," McCrory said Wednesday, urging swimmers and surfers to avoid the water regardless of how good the waves might look. McCrory also declared a state of emergency for 25 coastal and adjoining counties. "Our major goal is to ensure that no lives are lost during this upcoming storm," including those of emergency workers, McCrory said. But the next day, even as the storm gathered strength, McCrory said: "Of course, this holiday weekend, the July 4th weekend, is one of the biggest weekends for coastal tourism in the state, and we anticipate a beautiful weekend after the Tropical Storm Arthur or the Hurricane Arthur is out of North Carolina." Some visitors stayed put, hopeful the fast-moving storm would follow predictions to pass through by Friday afternoon. About 20 miles north of the only bridge off Hatteras, Sean Fitzgerald and his 5-year-old son, Cade, enjoyed a sunny morning lounging in beach chairs in the town of Kill Devil Hills. The sand was dotted with tourists. A handful of surfers took to the water. Like all areas north of Oregon Inlet, Kill Devils Hills wasn't under an evacuation. Fitzgerald said he saw no need to disrupt his family's vacation. "I plan to sit on the beach as long as the sun is here," then head out for a seafood dinner, said Fitzgerald, 44, of Fairfax, Virginia. The National Hurricane Center predicted Arthur would swipe the North Carolina coast early Friday with winds of up to 85 mph and then be off the coast of New England later in the day, eventually making landfall in Canada's maritime provinces as a tropical storm. Outer Banks residents and out-of-town visitors who fail to evacuate ahead of the hurricane's expected arrival should prepare for possibly getting stuck for several days without food, water or power, National Hurricane Center forecaster Stacy Steward said Thursday. "We want the public to take this system very seriously, go ahead and start their preparations because time is beginning to run out," he said. The first named storm of the Atlantic season prompted a hurricane warning for much of the North Carolina coast. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for coastal areas in South Carolina and Virginia. On the Outer Banks' Ocracoke Island, accessible only by ferry, a voluntary evacuation was under way. Officials, hotel owners and would-be vacationers as far north as New England were also carefully watching forecasts. The storm was enough of a concern that officials in Boston decided to move the annual Boston Pops July 4th concert and fireworks show up by a day because of potential heavy rain Friday night. And rip tides were a threat as far north as New Jersey. One of the Outer Banks visitors who planned to leave Thursday was Gary Reinhardt, 63, of Sarasota, Florida. "I'm worried about the road. It took way too long to get here," he said, a reference to the two-and-a-half hours it took him and his wife, Lori Reinhardt, to get onto the island last Sunday in normal summertime traffic, when no storms were in sight. Other areas of the Outer Banks were taking a cautious, but still-optimistic approach: No evacuations had been ordered for areas north of Hatteras, including the popular town of Kill Devil Hills, which was the site of the Wright brothers' first controlled, powered airplane flights in December 1903. Nancy Janitz, 60, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, said she was ready, thanks to technology.

USA National Soccer Team's Next Generation

USA National Soccer Team's Next Generation

Today News In USA - Earlier, Argentina outlasted Switzerland, 1-0 in extra time. Despite Tim Howard flying all over the place, the United States bowed out of the World Cup on Tuesday with a 2-1 extra-time loss to Belgium in the round of 16. For starters, the team’s 10 MLS players will fly back to the States to rejoin their professional clubs over the next few days (midfielder Mix Diskerud also will rejoin Rosenborg in Norway’s professional league, which follows roughly the same schedule as MLS). For the national team, the only match on the immediate schedule is a Sept. 3 friendly against the Czech Republic in Prague. The first window for international matches in 2015 is March 23-31. The winner will play the United States — the 2013 Gold Cup winner — for the right to play in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. If the United States wins the 2015 Gold Cup, it automatically clinches the right to play in the Confederations Cup, the eight-team tournament that is considered a rehearsal for the next World Cup. Expect a U.S. roster filled with mostly untested players at the Gold Cup. 

The USA National Soccer Team will host the 2016 Copa America Centenario, the annual South American tournament that also will feature six CONCACAF teams. Then there’s the 2016 Olympics, also in Brazil, assuming the group of younger American players qualifies. Soon after the Copa America ends in June 2016, the Americans will begin two-stage qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Turns out, Juergen Klinsmann was correct after all. The U.S. scored once, the first goal against Belgium at the Cup outside of a penalty kick. With gradual upgrades of Major League Soccer, the World Cup's prep school for many Americans, and proper placement of worthy players overseas, plus more coaches on the youth level who can knowledgeably instruct and are not just the well-meaning parents of the left midfielder. Of more immediate concern, while Team USA players justifiably can pop their shirt buttons out of pride, those aiming for the next World Cup must consider a sobering thought.

New Hot Scene With Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz

Today News In USA - In her new movie “Hot Tape,” Cameron Diaz gets hot on camera for the first time. It’s just a part of the role. “It’s a weird job, right?” the actress said. “I found myself in a room in the middle of nowhere Massachusetts at 11:00 at night doing a childbirth scene, and everybody’s screaming at one another — Jason, the cameramen, the director. Crazy s—t, right? A fun job.’” “I love it. Fear, mostly. You just don’t worry that time registers anything awful.” The 41-year-old actress stunned in a series of shots for the August issue of Esquire magazine and opened up about stripping down completely nude for new film "Hot Tape" and her life decision to not have children. Despite having to sacrifice showing some skin in the name of the job, Diaz described acting to Esquire as "weird" but "great." "It's a weird job, right?" the star said. A fun job.'"

How a Tropical Storm Arthur Forms Off Florida

Tropical Storm

Today News In USA - With a holiday weekend on the horizon, the National Hurricane Center says the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is gradually becoming more organized off Florida. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says a tropical storm watch is in effect for the state's east coast, from Fort Pierce to Flagler Beach. As of early Tuesday afternoon, the storm was located 80 miles east-southeast of Cape Canaveral, reports CBS Miami. It was moving to the northwest at near 5 mph with maximum sustained winds of near 40 miles per hour. The National Hurricane Center says Arthur is expected to strengthen in the next 48 hours. The storm is forecast to produce rainfall accumulations of 1 to 3 inches, mainly across the eastern Florida peninsula. A tropical storm watch was in effect for a swath of Florida's east coast, and the National Hurricane Center in Miami urged those as far north as parts of Virginia to monitor Arthur's path. Off Florida's Space Coast beaches - the closest to Arthur - the sky was cloudy and winds fairly normal, said Eisen Witcher, assistant chief of Brevard County Ocean Rescue. Red flags warned of rough surf, and beachgoers were advised to get into the water only in areas with manned lifeguard stands. But overall, Witcher said, "it's business as usual." Red flags also flew at Daytona Beach. By mid-day, a dozen swimmers had been aided by lifeguards when they got caught in a rip current. On any given day, 15 to 20 swimmers need help, said Tammy Marris, spokeswoman for the Volusia County Beach Patrol. There were no official warnings for other states, but forecasters started to warn of rain, heavy surf and swells, and potential rip tides. The hurricane arthur center urged those all the way north to parts of Virginia to monitor Arthur's progress. 

On North Carolina's Outer Banks, the motel Shutters on the Banks is completely booked for the holiday weekend, general manager John Zeller said, despite National Weather Service forecasts for potentially heavy rain, gusty winds and isolated tornadoes late Thursday and Friday. "We have received some cancellations but not too many," he said. "Basically we are telling people to kind of wait and see what happens. We're a little too far out at this point. I think everybody is kind of watching the weather." He said the motel has a 72-hour advance notice on cancellations but will waive it if the storm's track head toward the area or warnings are issued. In Folly Beach, South Carolina, dozens of people fished from the pier under sunny skies Tuesday. Others surfed on the gentle swells, sunbathed and looked for shells. In Savannah, rooms in the downtown historic district were expected to be at least 80 percent full for the Fourth of July weekend, when crowds back the beach on neighboring Tybee Island. Hotel managers and vacation rental owners were watching forecasts, hoping the storm will stay off Georgia's 100-mile coastline. Cancellations aren't when storms approach, but those calls weren't coming in Tuesday afternoon, Marinelli said. Tropical Storm Arthur was expected to begin a northwestward motion on Tuesday followed by a turn to the north on Wednesday, CBS Miami reports. On the forecast track it will remain offshore and move east of the Florida coastline during the next day or so.