but i couldn't make it over. what really got me to quit was my little sister. i saw her vaping. so i was back in the mountain, but this time. she was up there with me. it's weird what you can do for others that... you won't do for yourself. it'll take effect and how much it could be. plus more snow for the sierra. but is it enough? a look at the conditions this weekend and for the season ahead. and a push to remove donald trump from california primary ballot due to his role in the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol? you're watching

getting answers. i'm karina nova. first, we're going to start with the weather and another day of huge breakers and a risk of rip currents. right now, a high surf advisory is in effect along the stretch of the coast. and abc seven news weather anchor spencer christian is tracking it and joins us with the details. spencer. >> okay, karina, you may recall earlier in the week the waves were even higher and a bit more dangerous. right now, though, they're still elevated and we have a high surf advisory in effect until 4:00 tomorrow morning. a large breakers may reach heights of 15 to 23ft. right now you can see wave heights are currently right around 14 15ft, which is still pretty high. there's the risk of dangerous rip currents. and of course, these are dangerous swimming and surfing conditions, so it's advisable to stay away from the coastline. the stormy had yesterday of course, was partly responsible for whipping up those high waves as it was out at sea. we still have pretty strong winds at sea and as you can see right now in the satellite radar composite image, those clouds and the showers we had yesterday and this morning are moving out. so we'll get a

one day break with some sunny skies tomorrow. and then another storm at the end of the week. right now though, we're still looking at pretty gusty winds near the coastline up to about 20 to 25mph or higher, but at least we can expect clearer skies tonight. a sunny and dry day tomorrow before the next storm comes in and we may have more elevated surf conditions as that happens. uh. karina. >> all right. spencer thank you. seems like it's just going to be on and off all week long, on and off, which is a decent pattern to have in the winter because it means you get those rains and those snows, but you get a little break. >> so we don't get overwhelmed by precipitation. >> and it was nice to see the sunshine today. spencer, don't forget you can track the high surf and other weather conditions with the same live doppler seven that spencer and the rest of our weather team use. just search abc seven bay area in your device's app store and download it now to the effort to remove donald trump from the primary ballot. it's a move being attempted in maine and colorado, citing the 14th amendment, trump filed an appeal

in maine and just this afternoon, he formally asked the supreme court to overturn the colorado ruling. but what about the ballot here in california? joining us live now to discuss her decision to keep trump on the march 5th primary ballot is california secretary of state shirley weber. robert, thank you so much for being here today. >> thank you for the invitation. of course. >> uh, maine and colorado are citing section three, the insurrectionist ban of the us constitution 14th amendment, which they say prevent trump from holding office. why is that not applicable here in california? >> well, the issue in california, and that's different than colorado as well as in maine, is that we don't have a process for doing that. um, and, and if you look at colorado, uh, they did not wasn't the secretary of state who did it? they have in their constitution the ability to form this committee that then would, uh, based on some complaints, would

investigate it. and make a decision about it. and the same is true in maine. and so maine had this, uh, requirement that if a 3 or 4 people basically complained and said someone should not be on the ballot, then they would form this. then they required the secretary of state to call a meeting in five days to do this. to do that, and then to make those decisions, we don't have that provision in california. we're we're we're covered by election code and our election code, basically, uh, tells us what who's qualified to be on the ballot and who's not, but it also doesn't give us the authority to, to remove people from the ballot unless it's written in the codes. and so we then have to go to court. and that's why you often hear a lot of court cases in california that is there now we've had people to file complaints with us, with the courts and unfortunate or fortunately, depending on what side you're on, the courts have tossed out every, um, every one of the cases that have come forward. uh, we still have 1 or 2 cases that are still in the courts, but we don't have the authority to necessarily go in and actually take someone off the

ballot based on the constitution. and then that the provision in the constitution doesn't say who does it. it doesn't say because it doesn't say that the legislature should do it. it doesn't give us a process for accomplishing it. and so our challenge has been figuring out the process that's there. working to make sure that those who can file complaints do so. we've had some folks to do it. and then they uh- it didn't pass muster in terms of what they were talking about or what they were arguing for. and so we have not had adequate legislation coming forward that would allow us to do it in every piece that has come forward. the courts have tossed it out. >> that's, uh, interesting to know. i'm sure a lot of viewers, uh, now have the answer to that, that they've been looking for. but let's talk about lieutenant governor eleni kounalakis, who urged you to quote, explore every legal option to remove trump from the ballot. were you not persuaded or was it just the reasoning that you you mentioned that, uh, you know, you made that decision?

>> well, the lieutenant governor had won, had not asked her what had we done? i mean, it would have been helpful if she had really, uh, sent a letter to me or called. and she does when she wants to, uh, and asked, what's going on, what's happening? if she had, she would have seen that not only my office and the 18 attorneys in my office, but several attorneys and the attorney general's office, uh, have been working on this particular issue for since it came out. and we have from the very beginning, i was saying, do we have the authority to do this ? what would be the process? how do we get it done? and we've been really going through all of these things. and as i said, we've had people to file suits and each each case has come forward, has been dismissed by the courts as either not having standing or not fillled in the right court or whatever it may be, but we have not been sitting around idly doing this. we have spent hundreds of hours basically dealing with this issue because it is a very complicated issue. and that's probably what many other states are doing as well, because every state has its own set of rules and regulations that govern its elections. and the process for

elections, and whether they have elections or caucuses and all those kinds of things. and so that is one of the reasons why it's going to be very, very important that the supreme court takes this issue up, answers the critical questions of who can do this? what's the process that's involved? uh, what are the standards that would be used for insurrection? when is a conviction necessary or not? i mean, we need these questions answered because, uh, running for president is a national effort. and uh, and every state that has to set up its own rules and regulations or has different provisions that govern its state election is, um, is not really going to get us to the place where we can actually come to a good, sound conclusion and that would affect everyone in the nation. so we have not been just sitting around. in fact, i had sent a letter to, uh, the lieutenant governor telling her that if she, uh, if she wants to know, call me because we have the information, uh, the cases that have come forward have been public cases. they haven't been private, and those have been following the cases. know that they've been dismissed. and for various reasons. so it was surprising to get a letter

saying use every means possible because that's what we've done to make sure that we're within the law, to make sure that if we have an opportunity to do it, we would do it. but we're not on a wild hunt either. and i think that's one of the things we don't want to give the impression that that we're determined to do this. even if the law doesn't give us the opportunity to do it. we operate by the provisions and the and the constitution of california and the laws of california. so um, so those are the kinds of challenges that we face. and we've communicated that with the lieutenant governor. she has not gotten back to us on it, but, um, you know, she sent the letter and the letter went to, uh, the really social media much before it went to me. and there hadn't been a conversation and say, what are you guys doing? what can we do? you know, those kinds of things. uh, but we have used every means possible, and we have looked at every case that's come forward, not only in california but across the nation, to see if there's some provisions in it that cover us. uh, when colorado made its decision, i immediately called our attorneys and said, what do they have that we don't have? and what they had was not the

work of the secretary of state, but they had put in their constitution a provision that allowed this committee and this commission to basically operate and do the work that was there and then issue it to the secretary of state. so they had done that. and, uh, and we're our folks obviously are looking at our own constitution and the and the laws and governance that govern our elections to see if in the future we have some provisions that need to be updated and improved. >> yeah. so to follow up on that, now that you've already certified the candidate list for the presidential primary election, are you able to change it? sure >> we probably could go back and do it. um, we could probably, definitely change it for the general election. i mean, if someone is determined to is not qualified, and we discovered new information concerning it, uh, we would have to basically, uh, adhere to that. so, uh, we're not that concerned about this coming up because obviously we still have time, if necessary, to make changes in those in the provisions and to make changes in the list if we needed to. >> okay. and, um, do you agree

with governor newsom that taking trump off the ballot is political and that trump should be beat at the polls instead? >> well, there's no question that that there that, uh, that if folks are opposed to trump, they should be beat at the polls. they shouldn't necessarily we shouldn't always have to look for some, uh, judicial effort to, to basically express our opinion. if the majority of the people want trump off the off the ballot, they should or defeat it, they should defeat them there. but i think the governor also, and i don't want to say what the governor is thinking, but he's looked at this as well as we have it, and when you get to the point where you don't really have the opportunity as a, as a governor or the secretary of state to basically do the things that you think people would want done, uh, or that are done by law, then you really have to encourage people to use the means that they have. and at this point, you know, the most powerful means we have is at the ballot box to basically go get people to go vote. if people are so disgruntled and upset with trump, they can easily vote him out. and that would be extremely

important. um, we don't want this to seem like this is a political thing that that you know, people want trump. and as a result, we are organized against him to take him off the ballot because we're opposed to him, because he's a republican and we're a democrat. i mean, that in itself would be the wrong thing to do because people would then complain and say, oh my god, once again, they use political trickery to basically undo an election, which they have talked about for the last four years with no with no evidence. so you can imagine how long they would talk if we did something that didn't appear to be, uh, that didn't pass the smell test. and so that's one of the reasons why we're making sure that what we do in california really does is, uh, adhere to the law. uh, looks carefully at it, give everyone an opportunity to raise the issues and to and to basically carry out the law. now, if, if, if the supreme court orders us to remove him from the ballot, we will we will follow the law of the supreme court. we will do that. and we're looking forward to see what the supreme court has to say, because it is essential that they they weigh in on this issue, this is probably the most important

issue of our time. we've seen a lot of things, but this one is extremely important because it talks about who is qualified to be president of the united states. it talks about insurrection. it talks about democracy. it talks about voting . all of those things are essential to the government that we have. and the solution to many of those, if it can't be found in the legislature, is to have our our supreme court actually weigh in on what does our constitution really say and what are the means and what is fair and what is just. i am optimistic and hopeful that they will basically weigh in on this case. there is no more important case that i can think of than this one. >> all right. secretary of state shirley weber, thank you so much for that insight. and some perspective as to the work that's being done in your office right now. and yes, we all will be watching and waiting to see what the supreme court has to say about this. again, thank you for your time. >> well, thank you for the opportunity. appreciate it. >> up next, many california homeowners will have to pay even more for home insurance. guess who it impacts? and by how much?

we'll get

policies will soon see a drastic rate increase. on average 20. the company just received approval from state regulators. state farm is the largest home insurer in california. joining us live now is joel lautier, consumer advocate from united policyholders. thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> first, can you tell us who this will impact specific early? >> yeah, i couldn't say who specifically. when you get a rate increase of this magnitude

approved by the department of insurance, it plays out differently for every homeowner, perhaps in the state based on the territory they live in, the exposures they have type of house, type of roof. but the thing to really know is that while it's a 20% overall, that could mean a 2 or 3 or 5% increase for some homeowners with state farm, while others could see a 30 or 40 or 50% increase. some times even greater if, um, they have the higher exposure was 30, 40, or 50% increase. >> i mean, that's a huge number. when could people see that increase, show up for their homeowner's insurance? >> yeah, in uh, by law, insurers have to give a 45 day notice of renewal that would state your premium, what the premium will

be for the coming year and the limits on your dwelling. so i expect these increases will be coming out in the next, uh, just few weeks that the notices, uh, telling people what their increase will be, will, will be uh, coming to their mailbox. and with that 45 day notice, uh, you do have the opportunity to shop for another insurer there, but i think many people know this is one of the more challenging market s to find another carrier. um but, um, you know, there's there are ways to shop that market and see if you can do better than the state farm premium. >> we'll get to that in a second. but what was the reasoning for raising the rates again, in some cases by 50% is you're saying. >> yeah. uh, first, the department of insurance has to approve a rate increase, which

means the insurer has to demonstrate that its losses are increasing at a pace that warrants a rate increase of that magnitude. and so, uh, state farm did make a rate filing. it got approved by the department of insurance. i think there was even a consumer group involved in evaluating. seeing that rate increase. consumer watchdog, which, uh, does a great job trying to advocate for consumers getting fair rates. but the state farm was able to, uh, prove it has the data that support the increase. and so part of that rate filing indicates where those rates will fall. the you know, the largest increases and, um, kind of the range of increases that will be involved from small to large, as i mentioned, joel, any advice now for people who don't want to

or can't afford the higher rates ? yeah. um the only thing you really can do because for most of us, we have mortgages and have to maintain homeowners insurance generally or we need it for our rental dwelling or, you know, condominium, uh, you know, policy holders where i work has a web page, uh, dropped by your insurer so that people can turn to online to look for some shopping hints. the california department of insurance at insurance ca.gov also has a top ten tips finding homeowners coverage. one of the links on those top ten tips is the 800 number of every insurer that writes homeowners insurance in california, and you can call those 800 numbers and ask if there's a local agent. or you can get a direct quote from

that insurer and, you know, do all you can to shop the marketplace. but again, it's very challenging to find carriers that are writing new coverage, particularly for those in areas like the sierra foothills or areas that have experienced recent wildfire losses. >> well, joel, thank you so much for that information. and where people can go to see if they can get a lower rate. we really appreciate your time today. >> yeah, thanks for having me. >> and still ahead, checking on the snow levels in the sierra, we're going to talk about the recent snow survey and what it means for the state as a whole. plus a look at the conditions

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by the uc berkeley central snow lab. they say they had already received nearly 11in of snow in

the last 24 hours, bringing the season total to more than 42in. but that's about 38% of average to date. and just yesterday, the state department of water resources conducted the first snow survey of the season, finding below average conditions . joining us live now to talk about this is andrew schwartz, the lead scientist and manager of uc berkeley's central sierra snow lab. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for having me on. >> well, the recent snow survey found the snowpack to be just one quarter of normal. so in your opinion, is there cause for concern? because we know we still have the rest of the winter ahead? >> well, we're always concerned when we're below what we would consider normal for this time of year. but that being said, it's not time to panic. just yet. we have had slow starts to years before that have wound up normal or even above average. so a lot hinges on the next four weeks or so, but not time to panic just

yet. >> okay, good to know. and when will we have a better idea of how good or bad the snow season will be? well we really start to look at the numbers come the beginning of february and into march, and if we're still lagging behind at that point, that's when we're really going to start to get concerned. >> most of our precipitation falls in december through february. that 90 day window is when we get most of our snow, so we really want to see it pick up soon. >> and this time last year we had an exceptional amount of snow with the snowpack at 177% of normal. is that helping our reservoir levels this year? >> yeah, the effects of last year's terrific winter still definitely helping us out. uh- the key now is that we want to see close to average, if not above average again this winter, if we can swing it so that those benefits can be carried forward in the future. because if we get a low year this year, we might not be able to carry a lot of that benefit forward from last year. >> and i have to ask, what

impact does climate change having on the snowpack? >> well, we're. seeing shorter winters overall. october november, april and may. those are kind of crunching down and we're starting to see more rain and snowfall during those months. so we're actually losing quite a bit of our snowpack during those months. and then across the course of the winter, and we're seeing more rain at higher elevations. >> and because this is an el nino year, what are we expecting in the months ahead? >> that's a very difficult question, to be honest with you, uh- of our last seven el ninos to have been above average, to have been below average and three have been right at average. so at this point, it's still kind of a coin flip, but we're definitely hoping for wetter weather, spring and late winter. >> yeah, of course a lot of people are hoping for that. and let's talk about this weekend because we know snow is coming more or is on the way in the next few days. uh, what's it going to look like for people who want to go there and enjoy the snow? >> well, it's going to look like

probably traveling on friday afternoon. is going to be best. uh, maybe early saturday if you're up early in the morning, but we're expecting it anywhere from another probably 1 to 2ft, maybe a little bit less than that up here on the summit, which means that i-80 highway 50, anywhere coming up to, uh, the lake tahoe area is going to be quite treacherous once that storm impacts late on saturday. so realistically, skiing could be good. but make sure your travel times avoid those big storm moments. >> okay, that sounds good and we're looking right now at live pictures of zephyr cove. there you can see it's coming down. so i know a lot of the skiers snowboarders, all those ski resorts, uh, very excited about this latest snowfall. thank you so much for your time today. we appreciate it. we'll be checking in with you once again a little bit later in the season. hopefully with some good news. andrew >> fingers crossed. thanks for having me on. >> fingers crossed. and a reminder you can get our live

newscasts breaking news, weather and more with our abc seven bay area streaming tv app. it's available on apple tv, google tv, fire tv and roku. just search abc seven bayrea and download

i would smoke once an hour. that didn't work either. all that would happen at some point of the day. i would end up doubling up. other ways that i tried to quit was i stopped buying cigarettes totally. but if i took three puffs off of like 15 friends, those didn't count because they weren't my cigarettes and they weren't full cigarettes. [laughs] you know, i went through a lot.

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start watching a programing note to remind you about tonight. the bulls take on the knicks at 5:00 right here on abc seven. that's followed by after the game. then at nine, we have a special edition of abc seven news at ten, it's wheel of fortune and jeopardy! and then don't forget to stay with us for abc seven news at 11. thank you so much for joining us for getting answers today. world news tonight with david muir is up tonight, new york city and the east bracing for a major winter storm. also tonight, bomb stlets targeting multiple state capitals. first tonight, this cross-country storm bringing snow, rain, strong winds to much of the east. washington, d.c. to philadelphia to new york city. potentially the biggest snow in new york city in nearly two years. rob marciano standing by to time this out. the deadly explosions in iran. at least 95 people killed, more than 200 wounded. two explos