that was awesome. thanks, jon. remember, conservation takes action. volunteer in your community, enjoy your local outdoors, and defend animals wherever you can. working together to boost their own sales this christmas. all so much of tennessee still without power. the cleanup now underway and the wreckage left behind by a deadly tornado and holiday cheer leads to some holiday gratitude. the bay area events

today designed to brighten christmas for those in need. abc seven news at five starts right now. >> building a better bay area moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc seven news, a show of unity on union street. >> it's a new approach. several san francisco small businesses are taking to attract customers this christmas season. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm diane lim. stores are pulling out all the stops to try and woo holiday shoppers in san francisco's cow hollow neighborhood. today, a big push to support small merchants with the first ever union street holiday stroll. abc seven news reporter suzanne fawn gives us a closer look. teddy kramer's got the right kicks and he's decked out in festive attire to welcome holiday shoppers. the co-organizer of union street holiday stroll is making the rounds and reminding small businesses and shoppers why it's important to support local on this one special sunday. it's been so hard for small businesses especially coming out

of the pandemic. >> so many small business owners have told me they're working twice as hard for half of the money. >> on this sunday, more than 30 local businesses are participate , stating, we've got groups like doctor treat, nico, nico, il corsaro, so every different kind of business, whether it's a restaurant or retailer or even a veterinary clinic, businesses marked by the festive balloon are offering things like free champagne or eggnog or deep discounts to draw in shoppers. now we're just starting nice, thoughtful gifts for everyone. >> love to check out the smaller businesses at nico, nico, shoppers who are looking for something unique. >> everything in the store is made by asian artists and or a brand globally and locally for foodie friends. what do you recommend? so i would recommend our mommy loves crab nuts. so these are filipino corn nuts. >> the owner of nico, nico is grateful for the extra support of local shoppers. >> my business opened in april and i think i'm still here today because of the support i've gotten from local residents and from people who want to support

shop. >> small organizers of union street holiday stroll say small businesses need your support, but there's so much competition online with all the special offers and deals that you see that if we come together on one day and offer our own special deals all in one moment, it will bring so many more people to the corridor and therefore we all benefit. meanwhile san francisco's union square is getting ready to launch its ten day long winter walk this coming friday. there's plenty of security, lots of festivities and, of course, plenty of shopping in san francisco. suzanne phan abc7 news. the fate of san francisco businesses large and small is just one of several topics tackled during our recent town hall. crime and the drug crisis. it is all on the table for discussion during take action. san francisco. it's a one hour direct questioning with mayor london breed police chief william scott and district attorney brooke jenkins about the city's prolonged problems and potential solutions. now, if you missed the town hall, the

full conversation will air on tv tonight at 6:00, right after world news. it's also available on the abc7 news bay area streaming app. you can find it wherever you happen to stream. severe thunderstorms, heavy rainfall and strong winds continue to pound portions of at least a dozen eastern states this evening and there is snow still to come. a reported 26 tornadoes touched down in parts of alabama, mississippi, kentucky and tennessee, where thousands remain in the dark due to power outages. the storm caused severe damage to homes and businesses, sending thousands to shelters at the height of the holiday season when a catastrophic tornado tore through the town of clarksville, tennessee, where its 150 mile an hour winds left an 18 mile trail of destruction. >> right now, we're just trying to be with all those people who have lost so much, just trying to work with all those first responders and volunteers and being here in a military community, volunteers is no shortage.

>> the storms are expected to continue to make their way up through the northeast, potentially threatening up to 50 million people with damaging winds and severe flooding. now, here in the bay area, we are faring much better, but we do have freeze and frost warnings. those have been lifted, but we are in for another chilly night. spencer, let's talk about how chilly we're talking here. >> okay, diane, we're so fortunate to have such mild and pleasant weather. the only major concern we have is a little morning chill. here's a view, a live view from mt. tam looking at mainly clear skies over the bay. we've got just a few high clouds around, but it's certainly calm and pleasant out there right now. wind speeds are generally below five miles per hour across most of the bay area. so calm and pleasant, a little on the cool side, but only seasonably cool with current temperature readings, mainly in the mid 50s. a few locations are down into the lower 50s already. so here's a look at our an early look at our weather headlines tonight. chilly inland once again, but not down to the freezing level.

tomorrow we'll have a mix of sun and high clouds. it'll be a seasonably cool and then the week ahead will bring us mainly sunny days with relatively mild weather. certainly for mid-december. but there is a little rain on the horizon. i'll get to that when i do the accuweather seven day forecast a little bit later. >> dion all right, sounds good. spencer thanks. san francisco is home to several events today designed to brighten the holidays for those in need. hundreds of children living in san francisco's single room occupancy hotels received holiday gifts from the mayor and city officials. local hospitals and churches donated toys as a thank you to the city for moving 100 families into healthy, affordable housing. i am so happy and proud of the work that we have done together that made it possible for so many of you who were living in very cramped conditions to now spread out and in some cases have your own bedroom to live in.

>> san francisco. so in dignity. >> mayor breed says fighting for families is not only important, but also personal. she lived in public housing growing up where eight family members shared just two bedrooms. meanwhile the third annual holiday give back was held in san francisco's mission district. and local businesses, as well as city agencies and other groups, donate toys and hot meals to families in need. the event was held in the mission cultural center and included plenty of free family fun, including a visit from santa and the grinch. some attendees were very grateful for the community's generous support. >> being a single mom and living in san francisco, this helps a lot of us. and then being from this community, seeing that they did this, it's wonderful to be able to see. we're grateful for this to know that, you know, especially being from the mission, this is something that they're able to do for us. this is wonderful. >> so that's a big deal. more

than 600 toys were distributed today to kids in need. well, the calls are getting louder for the presidents of some of the country's most elite universities to resign. one of them has already done so. still ahead, the fallout from testimony in washington that's raised questions about anti-semitism and bullying and a very fun day here at levi's. >> the forty-niners get their 10th win in a row, five in our 10th win of the season, five in a row. h

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ah, no, that question is being asked of the presidents of some of america's most prestigious schools, and some of them are finding it difficult to answer. >> it's already cost one of them her job. there is growing backlash to the testimony on capitol hill about campus anti semitism. the president of the university of pennsylvania is stepping down and others could follow after failing to condemn calls for the genocide of jews as explicitly against harassing and bullying policy. abc's melissa adan has more. >> a bombshell resignation at one of america's most prestigious universities union versity of pennsylvania president liz mcgill stepping down saturday after facing mounting criticism following this highly charged moment on capitol hill last week. when representative stefanik asked whether calls for the genocide of jews would violate their campus codes of conduct if the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment. >> yes, i am asking specifically

calling for the genocide of jews. does that concern institute bullying or harassment ? >> if it is directed and severe or pervasive, it is harassment. >> soon after, the chairman of the university's board of trustees also resigning. some students there say the school has not sufficiently responded to anti-semitism on campus. >> president mcgill is in action . fuels what has been happening, but she's just adding, i would say, fuel to the fire for the presidents of harvard and mit who also testified facing enormous backlash, accused of not doing enough to crack down on anti-semitism and hate on campus. >> does calling for the genocide of jews violate harvard's rules of bullying and harassment? yes or no? >> it can be, depending on the context. >> what's the context? >> targeted as an individual, the schools say they are beefing up security and setting up task

forces. >> but that's not enough for some donors. now, withdrawing massive donations, blaming the school's stance on combating anti semitism. in a statement, the university of pennsylvania says mcgill will remain a tenured faculty. meanwhile harvard's president apologizing for her comments and mit saying they're standing behind their president through all of this. but keep in mind, the department of education now investigating six more schools for reports of discrimination melissa. don abc news, washington. >> notorious conspiracy theorist alex jones is returning to x with a little help from elon musk. the right wing firebrand was banned from the platform back in 2018 for repeatedly breaking the site's rules on harassment and hate speech. musk posted the results of his unscientific poll showing 70% of its users voting in favor of jones reinstatement, even though the tech billionaire admitted that bringing jones back would be bad for x financially. musk

argued that it was necessary for free speech. alex jones is ex account was reactivated. this morning. still to come, a big change to an old christmas favorite in the south bay. also reason to keep your eyes on the skies this week when an ongoing meteor shower is expected to really flare up. >> i'm spencer christian. speaking of the skies, we have just a few harmless high clouds moving through the bay area right now, but things are going to remain mainly calm and dry for the week ahead. i'll have the accuweather forecast in just

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says the geminids are particularly special because they originate from an asteroid rather than a comet. and during peak activity and in perfect viewing conditions, you can see up to 120 meteors an hour. this video does not do it justice, clearly. pretty interesting, though. >> it makes me curious. well, i have seen the showers before and i'm thinking ahead to wednesday night into thursday when our skies are going from partly cloudy to mostly clear. >> oh, we might get lucky. >> we might have pretty good viewing conditions. yeah, we shall see. let's keep our fingers crossed. meanwhile let's look at current conditions. here's a look at our satellite radar composite image. high pressure is the dominant feature in our weather right now, as evidenced by the clockwise circular motion that you see on with the clouds here moving sort of in a clockwise direction. so this is high pressure for a fair weather system, bringing us mainly clear skies. but there are high clouds nonetheless, moving through the bay area sky. the wind right now is very calm

and virtually all locations, the only breezy spot is san francisco with 11 mile per hour winds at and 24 hour temperature change shows that most inland locations, even some spots down on the peninsula, are two, three, four degrees cooler than they were at this time yesterday evening. here's a view from sutro tower looking out over san francisco, where it's 55 degrees right now. we also have mid 50s at oakland and hayward and san jose, 53 at san mateo, 54 at half moon bay. oh, what a stunning view of the western sky right now. the post sunset sky from our east bay hills camera 54 right now. santa rosa, petaluma 4851 at napa. you can see it's a little bit cooler in our north bay locations. fairfield, 49 and we have low to mid 50s at concord and livermore and excuse me, these are our forecast headlines. we'll start with tonight and overnight chilly again, but not freezing and frosty the way the last two mornings were. tomorrow we expect a mix of sun and high clouds, a very pleasant day, relatively mild. and for the

week ahead, it'll be mainly sunny and milder than it's been of late. so a little bit of december warmth is coming our way. here's our forecast animation for the overnight hours starting at 11 p.m. tonight. notice lots of clearing early, but then in the early morning hours after night has gone away, we'll see some high clouds sweeping through the sky. so we'll start the day tomorrow with a mix of sun and clouds. later in the day, it gets clearer. so sunny towards the end of the day and into the early evening hours tomorrow, we'll have clear skies followed by looks like a pretty sunny day on tuesday as well. so this next week is going to get off to a mainly mild and calm start overnight lows generally in the mid to upper 30s in the inland valleys, low 40s just about everywhere else. highs tomorrow mid 50s, mid 50s to low 60s i should say at the coast. low 60s right around the bay shoreline, not a very wide range of highs at all, about 62 degrees in most locations. we'll see some low to mid 60s in our inland areas up to about 64, 65 degrees. and here is the accuweather seven

day forecast. so the week ahead, as i mentioned, is going to be dry and calm. it looks like the cloudiest day will be on friday. we start on thursday with partly cloudy skies, a mix of sun and clouds and a few more clouds move into the picture on friday, but no hint of rain on friday. a bit of december. whoops. i just broke the set here. >> technical difficulties. >> technical difficulties. almost broke my chair and i'm not very happy. december warmth on saturday with highs in the mid to upper 60s but it will cool down slightly next sunday. it looks like next sunday is our best chance of some rainfall moving into the bay area in the next seven days. >> and we'll also keep an eye on the skies for middle parts of this week. >> the geminids. and i'll try to fix this chair. oh, yes. >> please stop breaking things in the studio. spencer all right. let's move on to sports now. as you can see, chris is live from levi's stadium. lots of good stuff to talk about. chris >> yeah, a chair free zone for me out here at levi's. no chairs

allowed, at least while i'm doing this stand up. the niners going for their fifth straight win, taking on division foe seattle and the niners. they go bird hunting here at levi's. another win against birds is san francisco. their 10th win of the season highlights reaction coming up in a

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fifth straight win while a seattle team was hoping to avoid losing their fourth straight and they didn't have starting quarterback geno smith, who was

out with a groin injury. the highlights we go. george kittle. i mean, he always knows where the cameras. sup? yeah. what's up, george? very first play. what's up to christian mccoy? get it to him and watch the stanford man take the pitch and weave in and out of traffic. the only question can he go all the way? and he stopped at about the three yard line, 72 yard run. the niners scored play later. make it seven nothing. he had 145 yards rushing, but no touchdown. second quarter 10 to 7 they're down dial it up for deebo what a perfect pass from brock purdy to deebo samuel 54 yards and in 14 1040 niners lead at the half purdy playing lights out third quarter still just a four point game purdy to another one of his favorites brandon are you oh another big play explosives in this game six catches 126 yards he went over 1000 yards for the year. later on the drive in the red zone, purdy throws across his body. deebo into the end zone. no he's just short. but get him the ball on the very next play, a jet sweep. he's in on samuel another game with a receiving touchdown

and rushing score 150 total yards 2110 niners seattle scored quick to get within five but the niners get back quicker george kittle oh wow another explosive into the end zone 44 yards the flag was on the defense 28 to 16 san francisco seattle wide receiver dk metcalf was not happy. bash his and breaks the helmet heater never seen that before. he was ejected late purdy a career high 368 yards passing niners win 28 to 16 that is five in a row. >> we play and take every game. one week at a time. so they were on our schedule twice and that's how we handled it and that's how we looked at it. i'm a part of a special group, you know, any one of our guys, any, any one of our eligibles, man, you get the ball in their hands and then they can go do the rest. >> i wouldn't say i'm faster. it's just like when i'm in the open field. i think i just got another gear that people haven't seen. so they was like, yo, deebo, ain't no use that fast. but really can move. >> we just got to continue to find ways to win no matter what.

but we also got to make sure that we're correcting any mistakes that we're making out there. so we're we're able to continue to get better into, you know, obviously, the more important part of the season that we're in. >> all right. how about the rams and ravens niners host baltimore on christmas right here on abc seven and a couple of weeks tied at 31 in overtime rams punt and the ravens tylan wallace takes it back 76 yards down the sideline for the stay up walk off win as the ravens improve to ten and three 3731 in overtime last night at chase center world championship boxing the bay area's own devin the dream haney moving up to 140 taking on regis prograis and he wins by unanimous decision taking the wbc super lightweight title 31 and oh and he's now a two division champion. >> i'm the light, you know, it was a blessing or a dream come true. i've always dreamed of these moments. and the time came and the bay area came out and supported me. so you know, thank you to everybody that came out. >> 40 niners going to keep an

eye on that. eagles cowboys game. they actually want the cowboys to win to help the niners get that number one seed dion it's been a good day chris thank you. >> well, still ahead, a welcomed holiday change in the south bay. what's new at an old christmas favorite in san jose but his vision dimmed with age. he had amd. i didn't know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. his struggle with vision loss from amd made me want to help you see warning signs of ga. like straight lines that seem wavy, blurry, or missing visual spots that make it hard to see faces like this one, or trouble with low light that makes driving at night a real challenge.

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celebrate special needs guests.

there were interactive attractions for different kinds of visitors, like a wishing well that vibrates at the drop of a coin for deaf people. some exhibits removed fencing for the visually impaired to interact with displays with their hands. there's also a sensory santa who understands those who need more quiet time or don't like to be touched. plus, a group of musicians with different abilities. the new hope band entertained the crowd. i love that inclusivity. >> yeah. inclusivity indeed. yeah. it's special. a beautiful setup, too. >> yeah, it was meant to be. yeah, it really was. >> yeah. >> well, that's all the time we have for this edition of abc7 news at more than 50 million under a flood threat, as the powerful storm that ravaged the south takes aim at the i-95 corridor. the punishing storm has already claimed six lives and injured dozens more. a state of emergency declared in tennessee.