today on getting answers, trying to combat the rising cost of living with a minimum wage increase. >> now how one bay area city is

considering a proposal that could create one of the highest, highest minimum wages in the country. plus, celebrate those who support leadership and civic engagement in asian pacific islander communities. we're talking to the ceo of the nonprofit, a papa, following the organization's gala this weekend, marking a comeback after a wildfire. but first, tackling the sobering topic of domestic violence as a 29 year old tech analyst makes his first court appearance today in the deadly stabbing of his girlfriend. you're watching getting answers. i'm kristen sze . thanks for joining us. it is a stunning headline grabbing case. a 27 year old kimberly wong, who had gone to sacred heart high school in atherton, graduated from the university of washington and was working in the tech industry in san francisco, discovered dead during a welfare check in the home she shared with her boyfriend. today scott fisher made his first court appearance in san francisco and pleaded not

guilty to the charge of domestic violence homicide. neighbors told reporters they were shocked. yet intimate partner violence is all too common. joining us live now to talk about it is orchid pucci, executive director of the asian women's shelter orchid. thanks for joining us today. >> thank you for having me. >> such a sad yet important topic. look, with regard to this case, san francisco police saying this is the first domestic violence related homicide of the year in the city . is this an anomaly or are domestic killings actually this rare? >> unfortunately, domestic violence killings aren't in any way rare really anywhere anywhere across the country, including here in the bay area, including in san francisco. >> can you share some numbers with us so we know what it looks like here in the bay area in the state and across the country, women killed by their romantic partners either current or ex.

>> yes, i, i think, um, i think unfortunately, unfortunately, this is still a topic that is so commonly we either actively covered up or just, uh, disregarded, um, and not talked about. and i think in reality, there are so many numbers that you can, i mean, unfortunately numbers that you can choose from to help you understand how significant of a problem this is. um, one one for example, one number that we talk about in our field is that, you know, since 911, um, since 911, uh, the women who have been killed specifically in this case, women who have been killed by current or former partners, far outnumber the lives lost from the war in afghanistan. the war in iraq, and nine over 11 itself. that's really eye opening. >> and i'm looking at this other set orchid that says nationally,

1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men are victims of domestic violence. at some point in their lifetime. they don't all end in death. but many get seriously injured as well. and i wanted to ask you, you have you done studies or looked at what is causing all this? what is it trending up? is it trending down? and what are the typical reasons? >> um, i think that in general, i think it trends up and down with other social pressures, other factors going on for any community, but even those trends, they all fall in the general pattern of this being pandemic level violence all the time. and i think causes are all over the place. there are there are sort of root causes for how this type of entitled violence happens. and then there are exacerbating factors. so a lot of times people think, oh, it's because of the alcohol or, oh,

it's because of the meth or oh, it's because of poverty, it's because of immigration, it's because of racism, it's because of all of these things. that's why domestic violence and we don't talk about it that way. we don't say you don't you don't you don't choose to commit this type of violence because something else was done to you. uh- you choose to do this type of violence because you learn violence. you learn control, you learn entitlement. you have the opportunity to do it and you choose to do it. >> so not putting it on external factors, but that the perpetrator had a choice here. look, we don't know a lot about the fisher case, but police say kimberly wong and scott fisher lived together in the presidio heights. there were no outward indicators, at least that have been revealed yet that she had been at risk. right. this is the doorbell where you see there last names there on the door. look, are there usually signs before something bad, tragic like this happens? what are the

red flags? >> yeah, you know, no two cases look exactly the same. and yes, there are trends. so so one of the things that we talk about out in our communities is that it's important to know that you don't need to have a tremendous documented history of physical violence for something to become a lethal situation. that actually quite frequently some domestic violence homicides actually are the first case of known physical violence outside of that relationship. it's the first time the neighbors know it's the first time the families know in some cases the first time that the closest friends know. and in some cases literally. so far as anybody can know, because you can't ask the person who has lost their life the first time that that that control, all that coercive control took on a physical violence manifestation. in other times there are flags. if there

is a risk factors, high risk factors. so if there is a firearm in in possession in the home or just in possession, easily gotten from a friend, that that takes the lethality risk and just skyrockets, it if there has been sort of this up close a lot of times people talk about, you know any type of air constriction of strangulation as a sign of real concern lethality. other other signs are if there has been this system of control that doesn't have to have had physical violence in it. but if there's been this system of these are the rules and you follow these rules, and if you don't, the punishment is up to me. if that system is in place and you suddenly make the change to challenge it. you talk about leaving for the first time. you talk about telling

somebody for the first time. you say, no, i'm going to go join this student group anyway. i know you don't like it. i'm going anyway. whatever that step is to try to assert a little bit of freedom and autonomy in your life. sometimes it's that moment that it makes the biggest that sort of risk environment come alive. and that's why a lot of times people think it's like, oh, just decide to leave. why don't you just leave? why keep living with this person? why stay with this person? nothing is that simple. ever. >> so if control is a possible manifestation of something that could lead to violence, right? but at the same time, you fear triggering something. if you see that control and you want to break free, how does one deal with that? do they go for help? where do they go? what do you suggest? yeah i suggest that people kind of do two things. >> one, trust their own knowledge. two, you know, there

are there are survivors of domestic violence in every single conversation, every audience, every workplace, every everywhere. and those people you out there watching, you know what you know what your situation is like better than anybody else knows it. you know, when are those little pockets of time when you might be able to make a phone call or talk to somebody, you know, amongst your friends who might be able to listen to you and help you think through what to do instead of judge you, blame you, tell you what to do. so first is just trusting that knowledge. um, and then second is just finding planning for that safe moment or safe person who can be sort of that first opening so that this isolation that gets worse and worse over time, the sense of hopelessness that can also

deepen and get worse over time. so if you can break that downward spiral and just reach out to somebody, somebody and know that you don't have to tell anyone everything ever. you don't have to. you don't have to anything until you choose to do it. but if you if you're just all alone, the spiral tends to go down. it doesn't open up uh- right. >> or we only have about 30s. but i do want to ask you this because you've given some important advice to women, but of course this is not on the women. it is it is on the perpetrator. was you talked about entitlement being a piece of that. so given that, what would you change about society, our culture? what should we be teaching our our boys or men if that's what this is about? yeah >> oh, my gosh. i've so, so many this in 30s. >> more things to say about

that. yeah. i really think to the people who are raising masculine children and raising little boys and teenagers, it is a huge thing to teach value, reward, compassion, thinking about other people, putting somebody else first that nobody owes you anything, nobody owes, even though you you love your child and you want them to be happy. >> see you saying that it is the way of the world for you to get everything that you want and for people to be concerned about your well-being and emotional happiness at all times. that is a detriment to society. teaching compassion that other people are of value, that other dreams are as important as yours is so important. >> you we're going to have to have you back to have another conversation about that. but you are the executive director of the asian women's shelter, and we thank you for coming on to share this important information. thank you so much. thank you. if you or someone you know is struggling with domestic violence, mental health or something else, there is help

out there, find local resources at abc7 news.com/take action after the break. one bay area city considers raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour. the mayor of that city will join us next to talk about the proposal and why that is coming up. now

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the islander communities through increased leadership this week. and there was an event hosted by a papa. it honors those exemplifying the non profits mission of empowering diverse communities and increasing voter engagement and developing a new generation of aapi leaders. the

gala also commemorated the 30th anniversary of the ying ranch in vacaville. joining us live now is papa national ceo mary ying lou. mary, thank you for coming on the show today. congrats ulations. >> hi. thank you. thank you so much. kristin >> look, for those who don't know now, talk about why this 30th anniversary of the ying ranch is so special. it's in vacaville, is still kind of in the bay area, but on the outskirts. what is that place? why is it special to the community? >> the yin ranch has been so near and dear to our heart and the greater community here in solano county and also northern california. it is actually a beautiful property that has been dedicated to the community. my parents and regina yin and our family has been there for over 30. amazing years, especially the last three years have been very challenging because our beloved community center was burned down and many people lost their properties in the

lightning strikes fire of 2020. and our community really rallied friends and supporters all came together. we have been able to rebuild from the ashes. so this is our 30th year anniversary and three years in celebration since we rebuilt the pavilion into a beautiful community center and are able to host many nonprofits and including the papa organization, which promotes leadership and civic engagement for many student interns in the community. >> there are a couple of things i want to mention about that, because look, first of all, your your your parents, the yin's opened all these mcdona fields across northern california as immigrants really couldn't get a lot of franchises. they took a chance on on your dad. and it just went from there. and now in terms of giving back, this is one way. and talk about how that ranch and also papa's work has supported kind of the birth of a lot of asian american leaders in politics. and i guess civics.

>> yes. we recently held our unity and awards gala at a papa for the special event that was held at the yin ranch pavilion. and there were over 150 local and national leaders that joined us, including our governor, gavin newsom, and the theme was focused on unity and diversity. as that is our strength, and that is our common ground that we are focused on as we move together and work together in collaboration. and that's so important, especially for our asian american pacific islander communities. we have been very diverse and we partnered with over 180 different organizations , asians, and we recently honored many of them, including naacp and national action network, as among our partners and the governor inspired us with this remarks, really focusing on moving forward together. so the event was very nonpartisan, bipartisan, and

there were it's an amazing reunion of family and friends. it just meant so much for everyone to get together, to be able to celebrate our strengths and how focused we are on working together, moving forward . >> all right. well, congratulations on the rebuilding of the ying ranch pavilion. it looks beautiful. and mary ying lou, thank you for coming on to share papa's work as well. best to you. >> so much. thank you so much. thank you. we really appreciate all the support you want to give a shout out to all of our chapter leaders who made it possible from across the country. thank you. >> all right. thank you. we'll take a short break and you should feel that, like, right back here. oh, yeah, i felt that! good, that is so much better than last week. thanks,

i've been doing 'em every night while i'm watching tv. - oh, what are you watching? it's a mystery. high quality care that meets you where you are.

it's not the case everywhere, but we've got spencer christian in house and i love nothing more than take a look at what we've got and look ahead to the geminid. geminid meteor right. that's going to be, i think, peak ing wednesday night, early thursday morning. so i'm hoping

for clear skies around here. spencer yeah, well, for the most part, we have partly to mostly sunny days ahead for the remainder of the week. >> at night, though, we may see increasing clouds near the coast and bay and most locations. so, you know, can't say for sure that we're going to have a clear night on wednesday into thursday . but let me show you what's happening right now, though. here's a look at our satellite radar composite image. big ridge of high pressure has been and will continue to be the controlling factor in our weather for a while. you see a few high clouds moving in our direction. but basically we've got sunny skies today. we'll see a little bit of increase in clouds tonight near the coast and bay. and that will probably be the pattern going into the middle of the week. so overall, all i think viewing conditions away from the coast and away from the bay will be pretty good for the for the geminid meteor showers. >> yeah. you to know that. >> so i appreciate you letting me know. okay now our next segment, the rising cost of living. it's a problem plaguing people across the bay area. now officials on the peninsula are considering raising their city's minimum wage to $20 an hour as a

possible solution. but while this could help employees, what does it mean for small businesses? joining us now to discuss this is the mayor of halfmoon bay, deborah penrose. rose. and, deborah, thanks for coming on today. you're welcome. >> so happy to be here. well this is different. >> i mean, it is a first, i think. but halfmoon bay is current minimum wage, i think is already 1645 and it goes up in january to 17. right. so it's on the high side, but this proposal is for $20 an hour. >> that's right. in fact, it was back in 2020 that we increased our living wage ahead of most of the other cities in the county. we are now asking for $20 an hour. so where are we at this proposal? >> what is required? what are the steps before it takes effect and when would it take effect? >> well, it will take effect sometime in early 2024. we

to have the ordinance written by staff. the council decided to go for it. the ordinance needs to be written and then we need to have a public hearings. and that's a two step process where do you expect that to be completed? oh, probably no later than march. and that would be for businesses that have more than 25 employees is in 2024 and 2025, it will go to all employees. >> and is this across all job sectors? because i'm thinking about how starting april 1st, next year, right. the minimum wage for fast food workers here in california will increase to $20 an hour. that was part of a bill signed into law by governor newsom. is this to align with that at all? but it seems to go farther than that. >> has nothing to do with that. it has to do with the fact that we have people living in poverty here who cannot afford to live here, who are living three, four families to a room, to a house,

a crazy situation in and we want to increase the minimum wage so that they can, in fact, live. and $20 an hour is nothing. it's really not even a livable wage. >> i was just going to say, has the cost of living increased a lot in halfmoon bay? i think we show some videos from a farm and you know, obviously a couple of years ago when there was that mass shooting that brought to light that a lot of people were living in squalid conditions who were working in the halfmoon bay area. has that become a bigger and bigger issue to in problem? >> well, that's farmworker housing that you're talking about. the increase in the minimum wage would not just be for farmworkers, it would be for all employees. the cost of living in san mateo county is 84% higher than the national average in halfmoon bay, it's 170% higher than the national

average. >> how did halfmoon bay grow so much in terms of the cost of living? i mean, those of us who have been in the bay area for a long time remember when it was kind of a sleepy, quiet coastal community where you could still afford to get a house where things were a little bit cheaper? what happened? >> it's very reflective of the rest of san mateo county. we have the very, very wealthy here. we have billionaires living in half moon bay. we have millionaire living in half moon bay, and then we have the service population actually bring the food to the table, wash the dishes and the restaurants come and clean our homes, take care of our gardens. all of our service workers and they're living in poverty. they're they're our cost of living has gone up for them, but they're wages have not. >> like you said, some live two families in one dwelling, three families, and many have more than one full time job. but what

about obviously, if it were to be $20 an hour, that would benefit the folks on the lower end of that wage scale. but what about for small businesses? i mean, i know you said it has to be, i think immediately 25 and over. right. so like not the tiniest companies or businesses, but then eventually everyone and i'm just wondering if you've worked with them or figured out a way to offset their challenges to pay a higher wage. >> you know, the center on wage and employment dynamics, the chair of uc berkeley's center on wage and employment dynamics right. says it is it kills job vacancies. it doesn't kill jobs, higher wages make it easier to recruit workers and retain them. turnover rates go down. other research shows that like like in all likelihood, these workers who have a better wage are going to be more productive and has there been a labor shortage in

halfmoon bay? oh, yeah, absolutely. okay >> so this will people are moving out of have this service service industry is moving out. i see. so i'm wondering, is it your goal as part of this to see that perhaps people nobody has to work more than one full time job or to have to have two full time jobs? as you know, there's a national movement for $15 wage. the idea, you know, is so that people don't have to carry two full time jobs. >> i don't think that with $20 an hour, you're going to end that. i think even at $20 an hour, people are going to have to work two full time jobs. >> but it would be a start. so we'll see where this proposal goes and whether it passes. as half moon bay's mayor, deborah penrose, thank you so much for coming on to talk about the $20 an hour idea in half moon bay. >> thank you. >> we'll take a

a streaming tv app. it's available on apple tv, google tv and fire tv and roku. just search abc seven bay area and download it now. thanks for joining us today. we'll be back here at 3:00 tomorrow. world news tonight with david muir is coming up next and tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. part of an apartment building collapsing in new york city. the search for victims at this hour. and we have breaking news coming in from the supreme court involving dd