be getting it back. >> also, new at nine. new details on the death of oakland police officer twan lay. three suspects now under arrest will be in court tomorrow to snow to rain, i have it all in the forecast. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. i'll have the details on the

next storm. abc seven news at nine starts right now. >> building a better bay area moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc seven news. >> the chargers are extensive as you will see, and we may add additional charges as we obtain a additional evidence. >> murder charges and more against the man accused of killing oakland police officer twan lay. good evening. >> i'm ama daetz and i'm dan ashley. thanks for joining us. it was less than an hour ago that we heard from the alameda county district attorney giving us the most information yet about the charges against the suspects in the killing of oakland police officer twan lay. >> they are due in court tomorrow morning, less than a week after the shooting. it was before dawn last friday when officer lay was shot while responding to a burglary at a cannabis business along the embarcadero near the oakland estuary. >> abc seven news reporter tim johns is in the newsroom with a look at the latest on this case. tim >> yeah, dan ahmad, the district attorney, announced charges against three men tonight. those

three men are mark sanders, allen brown and sebron russell. alameda county district attorney pamela price saying her office is bringing murder charges against sanders and brown for the killing of oakland officer twan lay. lay was shot last week while working undercover, responding to an early morning burglary of a cannabis shop along oakland's waterfront. the third man, mr. russell, is being charged with burglary, but there could be more to come. >> at this time, we are not releasing the names or the number of individuals involved in this case is crucial to maintain the integrity of our investigation, especially since there are additional suspects whom we have yet to arrest. >> the da, the interim chief as well as oakland mayor sheng tao, stressed they have been working tirelessly in collaboration with one another to catch those they believe are responsible for ley's murder. the da, saying she met with officer ley's family earlier today, explaining the two primary suspects will face more than just murder charges. >> i assured them that my office will do everything within the

confines of our legal power to make sure that the men we believe, the man we believe shot and killed. officer lay, will serve the rest of his life in prison. >> and the interim chief says it's his understanding that officer ley's own handcuffs were used when they apprehended one of the murder suspects in the newsroom. tim johns, abc seven news. okay tim, thank you very much. >> and there is a gofundme set up to support officer ley's family. you see it here over $95,000 right now, raised. you can find a link to it on our website, abc seven news.com. >> all right. right now let's get a check of current conditions from live doppler seven. it looks quiet because we're in between storms, but we've still got weather to talk about. check out the big waves. sky seven spotted flying along ocean beach in san francisco today in the sierra. ski resorts are relishing new snow and so are some four legged visitors at palace tahoe. how cute is this little guy? this is video provided by the resort. it received nine inches of snow in

the last 24 hours, and more is on the way and for a look at both the fresh snow and the high surf, let's bring in abc seven news meteorologist sandhya patel . >> sandhya, give us the numbers. yeah, those numbers are actually good for this time of year. dan. and let's take a look at a live picture first and then we'll talk sierra snow numbers really quiet scene from zephyr cove. the wind is barely blowing there and the snow is gone. but here's what's left on the ground. 18in at sierra tahoe. sugar bowl in the last 24 hours, along with kirkwood picking up ten 11in, excuse me, 11. theres boreal ten, soda springs, ten. palisades tahoe nine inches of snow, and they'll be getting more as we take a look back at live doppler seven, you will notice over the last 24 hours, the snow has been coming down over the mountains. we had our share of showers even this morning with an isolated shower or two lingering into the afternoon. our next storm is developing in the pacific and it is headed our way, so get ready. we will be getting that storm

moving in here soon. out ahead of the storm, the waves have been kicking up a high surf advisory until 4 a.m. tomorrow, 15 footers right now. point arena, 12 footers in san francisco. so large breakers between 19 to 23ft bringing that risk of rip currents and certainly dangerous swimming and surfing conditions. here's a view from our santa cruz camera, where the surf has been up. but it is not quite as strong as the bay area coastline. it is gusty right now. half moon bay, 23 miles an hour. those winds will remain breezy as we head into the latter part of the night. and really going into tomorrow morning. breezy along the coastline for the afternoon and for the evening hours. here's a look at your planner over the next 24 hours. we are expecting clouds and fog tomorrow morning. 30s, 40s. bright skies by noon and it's going to be a milder afternoon with upper 50s to low 60s turning partly cloudy and cooler as we head towards 7 p.m. i'll be back with a closer look at that storm. a look at how much rain, how much snow, all of

that coming up. ama all right, we'll check back. thank you. sandhya santa cruz saw large waves today. abc seven news, south bay reporter dustin dorsey was there as people from all over came to check out the swells from east cliff to west cliff, santa cruz look more like the north shore of hawaii, with the sun shining bright over the blue water and big waves. >> the past few weeks of high surf has been a dream for surfers like dylan lum and his friends from san francisco. >> there's not much like surf anywhere else right now. um, so the winds are, like, favorable right here, right now. and we're just going to get some before the storm come. >> yeah. how great is these last few weeks been for these waves that. yeah. aren't usually this great? >> yeah. i mean, it's been really fun and surfed out here last week. it's been kind of stormy, but still like really, really fun through these swells. >> as busy as it was in the water, the coastline was packed with visitors from all over enjoying nature show. >> the waves and the ocean are such a big part of santa cruz, so it's like when we get big waves, it's always fun to see.

and we saw some big ones. >> uh- i live in reno right now, so it's been a while. but for residents here in santa cruz, these massive waves are becoming a common sight. >> laura morgan and her husband say they look forward to this time of year every year we just live in a beautiful place. >> we're always a little surprised when we walk down here. we don't. we don't really see it coming. >> i think as fun as the surprise factor is for those watching from afar, the idea of not seeing it coming is one of the dangers of the ocean. when it comes to these big waves. with so many people swimming, surfing or viewing waves too close, it is kept california state parks lifeguards pretty busy the last few weeks have definitely been busy. >> we've seen an uptick in rescues for sure, with a lot of surfers out. you know, the new year, christmas, everyone's getting new equipment. um, last week was definitely interesting. >> the state park lifeguard tyler lamer, says the most common rescues of late were needed when beachgoers got stuck in the water after tides rose and when people watching the waves got knocked off of the rocks and rip currents took them out to sea. lamer is urging caution for all visitors and says if you're unfamiliar with

major waves like these, stay safe and stay away. just remember the ocean is unpredictable and you never know what you're going to get. >> so just you know, check your local forecast and if you're not comfortable getting out there, stay out of the water, lamer says. >> sneaker waves and debris in the water can be dangerous as well. so he says, stay off the rocks and don't turn your back to the water to stay safe in santa cruz. dustin dawsey abc seven news some unfortunate. new developments to a story we brought you last night on abc seven news. >> the search for a stolen sculpture in san jose. turns out the local artists metalwork has been completely destroyed. edith rosenberg says the nine foot tall piece, which he spent months creating, was cut up and sold as scrap. he had bolted the sculpture to the ground outside his studio so it could rust for part of the design, surveillance video showed a man with a truck. here it is stealing the sculpture on new year's day, officers tracked down the driver, who they say confessed to scrapping the sculpture at a recycling center. officers could

not find the pieces. the company may actually face penalties. police arrested the man for grand theft. again, they say he confessed to cutting it up and selling it tonight. >> progress to report when it comes to building a better bay area, san francisco city officials say this holiday season was a success, with big reductions in retail theft and car break ins. abc seven news reporter luz pena is in the newsroom with the numbers. it's a new year, and the city of san francisco says the latest crime numbers point to a positive shift during the holidays. >> a 48% reduction during the holiday is on on theft. and this is greatly contributed by the fact that we had officers present in and around union square. other retail shopping areas along market street. >> according to the city, between november 20th of 2023 and january 1st, compared to the same time period in 2022, san francisco saw a 48% reduction in larceny theft, including retail theft and auto break-ins. a 17%

reduction in motor vehicle theft , a 26% reduction in burglaries numbers the mayor views as progress from years past. images from 2021 show thieves targeted in union square and stealing close to $300,000 worth of merchandise. these images were viewed nationwide. died two years later. a different story. my hope is that momentum will carry us through for the rest of 2024 and continue because this is exactly what san francisco has been about and will continue to be about. according to the mayor's office, union square saw an 11% increase in unique daily visitors. >> the holidays were absolutely magic this year. we're really excited. i mean, it felt like years past. you really saw people coming from all over the greater bay area. >> the executive chef at sears fine food on union square noticed the change. >> the larger compared with this year, maybe like 20% more up union square alliance security guards were on foot throughout the holidays. >> we caught up with them to get

their take. how was it out here during the holidays? >> it was calm. it was peaceful. no problems at all. >> did you see any crime at all? uh, no. >> this year. go ahead. i don't see no crime. >> but the enhanced sfpd presence won't be at union square for ever. >> it won't be like it was during the holiday season, because we know there's an uptick in the number of shoppers. but there still will be a significant presence. >> we asked sfpd assisted chief david lazar about this. he said the department has been running operations with officers outside of stores and arresting thieves, and despite being 500 officers short, they are feeling confident. >> we actually had 40 blitz operations in the last two years, resulting in about 300 arrests. so we're going to push forward in 2024 and continue to do that work. but it's also using technology, using uh. we're now able to use live surveillance monitoring. >> and the union square alliance estimates a financial boost in the tens of millions of dollars

during the holidays. and regarding the theft numbers are abc seven news data team double checked the city's data and the numbers are accurate. in the newsroom, luz pena, abc seven news. >> we want to make sure you have the full picture of crime where you live with the abc seven neighborhood safety tracker. it shows you a wide range of statistics on public safety over the years for san francisco, oakland and san jose. you'll find it at abc seven news.com, and we'll continue to work on building a better bay area tonight. >> still to come, the battle against drugs in the tenderloin. see where that ongoing fight stands right now. >> and next, a mall that's part of hollywood's history gets a new life. and it will help california prepare for the future in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy.

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samtrans offered free service to passengers on the train. none of the 36 passengers on board was

injured. >> another delayed today when a bart train stalled on the tracks in the east bay. sky seven was over the scene. the train stalled around eight this morning between concord and the north concord martinez station and was cleared about two hours later. about 300 people had to be taken to a new train, forcing bart to bus passengers between the stations. the stuck train led to delays in both the sfo airport and antioch directions, and new details about the bart train that derailed and caught fire on new year's day, injuring nine passengers, happened in between the lafayette and orinda stations, and bart says that section of track is in good working order now. bart says monday morning it lost the ability to remotely shift the tracks to route trains in the correct direction that meant the operator of an antioch bound train had to stop the train, get out and manually move the tracks . once the operator got the train moving again, they realized the train was crossing over, going in the wrong direction. bart control told the operator to reverse the train to get it realigned, and that is

when two cars derailed. >> well, now to a big announcement today for the university of california system. an old empty mall in los angeles is going to be turned into a high tech information and research hub. reporter christiane cordero, from our sister station in l.a, has the story. >> it's a three story part of la's past, whose exterior played a role in 1995. clueless. and inside was a playground for tom petty's free fall in. today, the west side pavilion opened its doors with a future in mind. the mall itself closed about five years ago. we're standing on what was its roof. two miles north of us is ucla campus, which had the vision to make this their own. as a research park, specifically in tech and health care. the $700 million project is a public private partnership with the state picking up a $200 million chunk of the tab. so what about an old mall made california? want to buy it for this as opposed to

any other option? i think the alternative a lot of people in california may come to is something like affordable housing. well, i think i think it was candidly with full transparency. >> google and google made the initial investment with a similar vision in mind. >> the research happening here will include innovations beyond what we can currently understand, like quantum computers and the next couple of years, we're going to see machines that could do things that could never be done on any conceivable classical machine. >> and that's when the funds really going to start. >> and topics people often pretend to understand, like immunology, the covid 19 pandemic made it crystal clear that we need a much better understanding of the field of immunology and launching this institute will position ucla at the forefront of immunology research. new cancer treatments are among the possibilities for when this opens. in roughly five years. possibilities affecting southern california with aspirations well beyond it. >> it's a race with china. this is a race for global dominance in this space, this is about exponentials. >> in los angeles. christiane

cordero abc seven news very interesting. >> fun fact ama worked in that mall in college, right? i did at nordstrom in brass plum. >> it was fun. it's crazy that it's just gone now. right. going to turn into something else. >> but good news obviously. absolutely all right. let's turn our attention to the forecast. still rain out there. >> yep. let's get to meteorologist sandyha patel. sandhya. yeah. >> all is quiet on the western front. but we will get some more rain coming into the bay area. dan. and let me show you a live picture right now from our east bay hills camera. as we look all across the bay. the visibility is good right now. believe it or not, but temperatures, dew points are getting a little bit closer. santa rosa 43 degrees right now with the dew point of 41, you can bet there will be some patchy fog later on tonight. certainly is cool out there. 42 in san ramon, 43 in livermore, 51 san jose and oakland 52 san francisco. let's check out some other temperatures. 38 degrees right now in calistoga. it is getting chilly. 43 santa rosa and it is 48 in sonoma. so taking a look at the 24 hour temperature

change, just about everyone running a little bit lower than where they were yesterday, with a few exception, is seven degrees cooler in santa rosa, two degrees cooler in san jose and down six in livermore. as we look at live doppler seven, everything is quiet right now. as i mentioned, we are in between storms and let's talk about what the last storm brought. so over an inch of rain in santa rosa, kentfield san francisco, picking up a third of an inch. you will notice 6/10 in oakland, a good amount in livermore, 6/10 there as well. san jose 4700. san same thing for los gatos. redwood city 6200 and ben lowman picking up over an inch of rain. we are going to be adding to those totals as we hit the weekend, when our next storm comes in. right now, low 50s from san francisco to oakland. here's a live view from our oakland airport camera, where it is pretty quiet right now as well. san jose 51 degrees san mateo 52 degrees. right now in half moon bay, it is 54 from our sutro tower camera san francisco. just sparkling, but

you notice that shaky camera there as we look towards city hall 43, in petaluma and santa rosa. it is 45 degrees in napa, 46 in concord. all right. let's talk about the headlines overnight going into early tomorrow morning. high clouds and some patchy fog. a high surf advisory for rough surf through tomorrow morning. and then saturday rain is going to make a return. so be ready to have those umbrellas handy once again. all right. we're going to go hour by hour tonight. temperatures in the 40s and 50s at 10:20 p.m. as we go into tomorrow morning. numbers will be coming down into the 30s and 40s. there will be some fog around, along with some higher clouds. and then by early afternoon, the skies will just brighten up. you will see plenty of sun, but notice those temperatures are going to be very reflective of winter, with mainly 50s and a few low 60s popping up first thing tomorrow morning. temperatures down to about 37 in napa, 38 in fairfield, 37 livermore. these are some of our colder spots, and we'll have partly to mostly cloudy skies to start the day

tomorrow afternoon. you're going to see plenty of sun around the noontime hour, but some more high clouds will move in for the afternoon. we'll go with 61 in santa rosa, a warmer day than today, 61 in san jose, 59. san francisco, 60. in oakland. also in concord, 61 degrees in fairfield. now we're going to fast forward to the weekend. here comes more snow on saturday. it's in the sierra northern california mountains. the rain starts to move into the bay area saturday morning going into the evening, it's a pretty wet one for much of california. and then here comes another system on wednesday. but there's a slight chance that we could see some precipitation as early as tuesday. so this is just an early estimate for saturday's system. you're looking at anywhere between about a 10th of an inch to three quarters of an inch of rain. when all is said and done, and we will take any rain we can get. as you check out the accuweather seven day forecast, the most important thing is that the ground can absorb it, and we get those few days in between to dry out. so

the accuweather seven day does feature patchy fog mix of sun and cirrus. those high, thin, wispy clouds for your thursday, an isolated morning shower early on friday is not out of the question, but you're still pretty much in a quiet mode. scattered showers level one saturday. chill is going to be around for your sunday and your monday mornings and the mornings and the afternoons are going to be cool. tuesday. slight chance and rain is back again on wednesday with a level one system. dan and anna. >> all right. thank you sandhya. >> all right. coming up next. what air traffic control recordings. tell us about the moments before a japanese passenger jet and coast guard plane collided. how did the two planes end up in the same space? stay with u (packet tears) (tea bag clanks) (water pours) - listening to people that drink bigelow tea is so important to my family, because making that perfect cup, it's the reason we do what we do hi, guys! - hi! - hey! - so what are you guys drinking? - constant comment. - when i'm drinking bigelow tea, it's just a moment for me. it's just me time. - that's what a cup of tea is. - it is. - a moment for you, someone you love.

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killed in a strike in beirut, lebanon. now, israel has not taken responsibility for either of these events. >> israel has not taken responsibility. and whoever did this, it's not an attack on the lebanese state. it's not an attack on the hezbollah terrorist organization. whoever did this, it's an attack on hamas. that's very clear. >> but not everyone believes it, considering hezbollah and the idf have repeatedly exchanged fire near the lebanese border, the us is pledging to continue support of israel in the war and also with humanitarian aid to civilians in gaza. >> developing news the death toll from japan's new year's day earthquake has risen to 78. another 51 people are listed as missing. the 7.6 magnitude quake was centered near noto, about 185 miles from tokyo, nearly 33,000 people are staying at evacuation centers. water power and cell phone service are still down in some areas, weather forecasts warned of heavy rain in the area, leading to worries about landslides and further damage to half crumbled homes.

and in tokyo, the investigation into a deadly plane crash yesterday between a japan airlines jet and a coast guard plane carrying earthquake relief is focusing on air traffic control, recording. they indicate the passenger plane had clearance to use the runway. it was coming in to land. transcripts showed no clear takeoff approval was given to the coast guard plane. five crew members on that plane were killed. one survived, and everyone on the commercial jet evacuated and survived, and beer cans and a smoked joint that's what was found inside an airplane that was stolen from nevada and flown to california. >> stealing that plane was only one of the crimes over the weekend. plus this this is cocaine, salt, cocaine, salt. >> yeah. >> targeting drugs in the tenderloin. abc seven news reporter liam melendez looks into the numbers just ahead

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building a better bay area means ending rampant drug dealing and drug use in san francisco. tenderloin more than six months ago, san francisco police received a directive from the mayor to start making more drug related arrests targeting both dealers and users, and abc seven news reporter liam melendez has a look at the latest numbers in the impact these arrests are having. >> abc seven news was invited to follow plain clothes officers during one of many drug surveillance operations in the two neighborhoods where drug dealing is rampant. >> all right. not yet, but you guys just come eastbound mission. >> we have people who are observing the actions of this suspect, and we're going to try to move in and make an arrest at this time, this last year, 2023, police arrested. 960 suspected dealers in the tenderloin neighborhood alone, compared to 566 the previous year. >> 2022. we were there for one

of them. let me ask you what went down here. so we're doing a narcotics, uh, surveillance operation where we set up one officer watching the area. >> they observe, uh, what they believe to be a suspected hand to hand narcotics transaction. then they radio us in the arrest team. they give us a description, a detailed physical description of the person they tell us where they're at as the arrest team, we move in and we place the person under arrest. and then we wait for the officer that saw the observation. we wait for them to come over here and then they conduct a search because he has not been convicted. >> we are not showing his face. police find several stashes in his backpack of what they believe is crack cocaine. the most officers here are certified spanish speakers. where is he from? uh uh. >> jared, let me see. so he has a honduran passport. >> so he's from honduras. a lot of people from dealing drugs from honduras. >> very, very many. yeah.

>> drug sales, property crime. >> one of the arguments made by the former district attorney was that many dealers were immigrants from honduras who had been illegally trafficked to the united states in court. many still use that as part of their defense. but that's not what officers say they hear on the streets, as do many people say that they're here because they fear for the lives of their families. in honduras, they've been threatened from from my experience, we're not really ever really told that they're here to send money back home. >> not because they're, uh, victims of human trafficking or anything like that. >> the suspected dealer gave police a different name from that on his passport, which he happens to have with him. he had been arrested before using a false name. police told us half of the suspects arrested for the sale of drugs were either on probation, on pretrial release, or had active stay away orders.

this, despite requests made in court by the current da to keep them in custody. >> we're explaining that many of them have been arrested, not once, not twice, even three times, for dealing fentanyl in our city. and these judges are not taking it seriously. they're allowing the courthouse to be a revolving door. >> the number of drug users in the tenderloin arrested in 2023, nearly doubled from the previous year. so how is it that the city will have the deadliest year on record for accidental drug overdose causes, with 752 through november 20th, 23? health department officials have tried to make sense of this disparity by explaining that arresting someone and forcing them into treatment often backfires was, in fact, their risk of overdose. >> sometimes sort of paradox goes up. we've said you can't use you may and created a situation where they're not using opioids. they're tolerance goes down and a relapse can be

deadly. it just shows how much of a of a battle this is with, uh, trying to keep people alive and people are still going to continue to use. >> and we have an update on the person who was arrested on december 21st. now according to police, he was charged with possession to sell drugs and released five days later while awaiting trial. even though he had been arrested before for selling drugs in the newsroom, lyanne melendez, abc seven news and tonight we're getting our first look at some previously unsealed court documents from the jeffrey epstein case. >> epstein was accused of abusing young girls and women for years, and died by suicide while awaiting trial. abc news reporter zohreen shah has a look at the first batch of court documents that was released today, some previously sealed court documents pertaining to jeffrey epstein have started to be unsealed, and the paperwork, part of a long settled defamation case brought by

virginia giuffre, who has claimed she was one of epstein's victims. >> this is the litigation system working without doubt. virginia giuffre's lawsuit. this stuff wouldn't have been exchanged because it was relevant to the claims, and now the court has decided there's no good basis to keep this stuff under wraps from the public. >> giuffre previously claimed she was a teen sex slave ordered by epstein and his partner ghislaine maxwell, to have sex with powerful men. a federal judge ordered the unsealing of these documents, which includes people associated with epstein for various reasons, including some high profile names, many already publicly known, including names of presidents, royalty and hollywood stars. one of the documents discusses former president bill clinton, who flew around the world on epstein's private jet but was not accused of wrongdoing. in that 2016 document, giuffre's attorneys sought to depose clinton as part of her defamation lawsuit against maxwell because they argued he could provide information about

his close relationship with her. and in 2011, giuffre claimed she had seen clinton on epstein's private caribbean island shortly after his presidency ended and had dinner with him and claimed to have witnessed maxwell flying. clinton to the island in a big black helicopter. that request to depose him, denied by a federal judge in a still redacted order. she made no allegations of wrongdoing against clinton after epstein's 2019 arrest, a spokesperson for clinton said the former president had not had any contact with epstein since 2005, knew nothing of epstein's crimes and had never been to the island, according to a portion of her april 2016 unsealed deposition. maxwell said the allegations that former president clinton had a meal on jeffrey epstein's private caribbean island were 100% false. maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and other crimes for helping epstein abuse teenage girls, and is serving a 20 year sentence, which she is appealing. zohreen shah, abc news, los angeles.

>> tonight, former president trump is fighting to keep himself on the gop primary ballot in two states. trump filed an appeal with the u.s. supreme court over his name removal in colorado. he's also requesting a maine court to overturn the secretary of state's decision to remove him from their 2024 primary ballot. the secretary of state says it's her legal obligation to remove trump, citing a provision in the constitution that prohibits anyone who engaged in insurrection from holding office. >> certainly, it's unprecedented for a secretary of state to deprive a presidential candidate of ballot access under section three of the 14th amendment. it's also unprecedented for a presidential candidate to engage in insurrection. >> ian trump denies that he engaged in the january 6th insurrection at the capitol. he says the secretary of state is a biased decision maker. california is one of several states that debated trump's eligibility based on the 14th amendment. today, abc seven spoke with california secretary of state shirley weber on the decision to keep donald trump on

the primary ballot here. >> and so maine had this requirement that if a 3 or 4 people basically complained and said someone should not be on the ballot, then they would form this uh- 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 our election code and our election code, basically. uh it 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 remove people from the ballot unless it's written in the codes. and so we then have to go to court. >> she added that she and her office spent hundreds of hours working on their decision. in a group of house republicans is turning up the pressure on the biden administration to stem the flow of migrants across the southern border. but the president blames republicans for rejecting his border security proposals meant to alleviate the issue. abc news reporter emma nguyen has more from washington today, house republican is touring the southern border keen

on making the influx of migrants into the u.s. front and center this election year under president biden, america has laid out a welcome mat to illegal immigrants, smugglers and cartels. >> this december alone, sources telling abc news. customs and border protection reported more than 300,000 migrants encounters , but the white house is instead pointing the finger at republicans, accusing them of exacerbating the problem at the border, noting how the house gop has refused to fund president biden's supplemental spending package, which includes money to hire more border agents, among other provisions. >> so we need the resources to actually do the work, and they keep getting in the way. >> house republicans keep getting in the way. >> meanwhile, as texas governor greg abbott busses hundreds of migrants out of state to so-called sanctuary cities, some, like chicago and new york, are approving new ordinances to find bus companies for arriving without notice. the bitter border battle comes as house republicans ramp up efforts to

impeach secretary of homeland security alejandro mayorkas for his handling of the crisis, an official hearing now announced for next week as part of the impeachment proceedings, the department of homeland security telling abc news this is a baseless political exercise. mayorkas with this reaction on cnn, i am surrounded by incredibly talented and dedicated people, and i'm incredibly proud to work alongside them and to support them in advancing the mission of the department of homeland security. mayorkas is now working with a group of senate leaders to try and reach a new bipartisan border security package that lawmakers can vote on. upon returning from holiday recess and when abc news washington. >> in nevada, a small airplane was stolen over the weekend and by the looks of it, the thief wasn't a very good pilot. reporter jacqueline schulz has the story from north las vegas police say four days in a row, a

thief burglarized planes. >> but on day number four, he succeeded in stealing one. and the thief took off in this plane . police confirmed the faa plane registered for a 2020 kitfox single engine plane. this is the plane's short lived flight path documented on flightaware. after 30 minutes, shortly after 4 p.m, tracking stops by the california border, sometimes saturday night, the owner of the plane who asked to remain anonymous, says they got an urgent series of calls from the air force saying a sensor went off and asked if they had just crashed or had a hard landing. this is where the plane was found in a field just a few miles from the barstow airport, police say. san bernardino deputies confront 40 year old damien zacharias caught him after he took off in the desert. authorities asked the plane's owner to come to california to move their property, and this is what the owner found inside beer cans, beer bottles, a smoked joint on the floor. authorities did not say where the plane was headed, but the owner says they found a binder with directions on how to land an airport in corona. the owner says there was so much

damage to the plane engine and propeller they had to tow it. why would someone steal a plane north las vegas police say the motive is unknown, and the faa and tsa are investigating. the day before the owner of this plane says they told investigators twice they were concerned someone was trying to steal an aircraft. they fillled two burglary reports last week. the owner found the locks were broken. the plane was untied, a cover was removed and the master engine turned on. all signs. the burglary victim says someone was trying to move a plane. >> heaven forbid that something could have happened with this pilot that stole the airplane. we all agree that we would like to feel safer, that we would like to have the airport more secure. >> jeff lustig, an aviation attorney with two planes out of north las vegas, is one of several pilots who would like to see additional security measures in light of these break ins and theft, promoting more video feeds, more surveillance, having armed security after hours. >> but safety is a state of mind, and considering everything that's happened, i think that the pilots would greatly benefit

from a meeting to discuss these issues. >> jacqueline schulz, fox five news local las vegas is not a crazy story. >> now the suspect will be brought back to las vegas to face the charges. >> an absolutely wild scene in a las vegas courtroom today on an entirely different case in the video. might be disturbing because it is violent. >> yeah, wild. a judge was attacked by a defendant who did not like the sentence he received. watch. hey and cursing security moved in to pull him off. the judge. more punches thrown. a marshal was injured in the incident and was taken to the hospital with a dislocated shoulder. >> the judge was hurt but did not need to go to the hospital. the defendant was being sentenced for aggravated battery and requested probation, but the judge denied it and sentenced him to jail. now he faces new felony charges of battery. >> all right. coming up next, we help you tackle your new year's resolutions. the two steps to take first to reduce credit card

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or sell their assets. following a strong rally. the dow dropped nearly 285 points. the nasdaq slumped about 174. the s&p 500 went down 38. the public is likely to get a break from interest rate hikes soon. details of the federal reserve's policy meeting were released today, revealing the fed expecting to cut interest rates for the first time in almost a year. inflation is just below 3% and down from the four decade high it reached in the middle of last year. well, americans are paying near record high interest rates on a record high amount of credit card debt. yeah >> question is, is downsizing debt on your list of new year's

resolutions? reporter karin caifa has some advice. >> the numbers are still trickling in, but americans were on track to spend a pretty hefty amount over the holidays, so if you are looking to tackle holiday debt or debt that has piled up amid higher inflation, experts say there are some steps you can take right now. for millions of americans, lingering credit card debt followed their finances into the new year, even if it just happened over the holiday or it happened over the last couple of years. >> you know, you need to get rid of that debt. >> americans collective credit card balances soared to a new high of more than $1 trillion in 2023, according to the federal reserve bank of new york. meanwhile, the average interest rates for credit cards spiked at more than 22% in 2023 amid the federal reserve's interest rate hikes to curb inflation. and while debt can feel isolating, households with credit card debt aren't an exception right now, according to consumer finance analyst beverly hartzog. despite more promising economic numbers,

when inflation slows down, that just means that the rate of prices slows down as it's going up, it's still going up and that's why so many are feeling the pinch of having not enough money to actually pay your monthly bills. >> and that's how a lot of people got into credit card debt. >> hartzog says households can make a fresh start in the new year, with two major first steps creating a budget and tracking expenses. think of that as your financial foundation. >> you have those two things in place, and you have control over how you spend your money. >> other key action items toward paying down debt hartzog says making a list of all credit card balances and knowing your credit score as a starting point. credit scores can also help consumers decide on an approach to paying down debt for households with good credit scores, a balance transfer to a credit card with a lower or temporary zero interest rate may be an option, and help cut down on the interest that's paid over time. in washington, i'm karin caifa.

>> in addition to financial resolutions, a lot of people want to work on their health in the new year. >> that always tops the list. a new report says the best diet for 2024. really nothing new. for the seventh year in a row, the mediterranean style of eating is top, says u.s. news and world report. the dash diet, which stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension, was named second best. ranked third is the mind diet, which combines those two eating plans and a focus on brain health, medical and nutrition experts ranked a total of 30 eating plans, all three top diets are plant based, with a focus on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and seeds. >> we have a few dry days in the forecast before the rain returns. see the updated timing in sandy's seven-day forecast next. the abc seven storm impact scale. >> it's going to be a two moderate storm from 1 to 5, light to severe. >> know exactly how every storm will impact you. wet and windy. >> once again, be prepared with the abc seven storm impact scale from abc

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take a moment to take in fort point. >> it was just a beautiful day by the golden gate bridge. as you can see, just an iconic image. so beautiful all it is, man, i could watch that forever. >> i know right? but we need to find out the forecast. >> meteorologist sandhya patel is back. sandy. >> yeah, it is mesmerizing, that's for sure. but we all have to use caution if at the coast and ama and dan. let's take a look at a live picture from the high country. this is showing you snow on the ground from reno uh. absolutely gorgeous view. they have had some snow in the sierra. as you know, and on the nevada side as well. so basically looking back at satellite and radar, you will notice that the storm that brought us the rain pushed into southern california and brought them rain and snow as well. right now they do have a winter weather advisory. tsay uh- going across some parts of highway five that is going until 10 a.m. tomorrow. so they are expecting

some more snow showers now for this sierra. we have a winter storm watch that is already been issued for saturday, 7 a.m. until 10 a.m. sunday, 10 to 20in of snow possible travel will be very difficult and that snow level will be really crashing. 2500 to 3500ft. so we are talking about low snow levels well below passes. carry the chains. expect major delays if you're heading up, but it will be nice to see the snow once the storm has passed by. sunday night we're talking about two feet of snow in some of the resorts. by next week. the middle of next week, we will be noticing that some places like kirkwood, donner are picking up 32in of snow on live doppler seven a few clouds out there tomorrow afternoon. it's going to be a lot of sun, a few passing clouds, milder weather, upper 50s to low 60s. and then we're going to take a look at what's going to happen. so tomorrow morning we start out with the fog and the high clouds at noontime, brighter skies and then here comes a few showers

early friday, isolated possibility. that's not our storm. our storm comes in on saturday. it's a level one on the accuweather seven day forecast with those scattered showers. chilly mornings, especially sunday and monday mornings. and then we'll get a slight chance of wet weather tuesday. but a better opportunity on wednesday with another level one storm. so we're tracking pair of storms. dan and ana coming our way in the accuweather seven day forecast. >> good thanks sandy. >> well, a wonderful honor for our abc colleague mark consuelos. the actor producer and talk show host is featured on the cover of diversity. com magazine. in the profile piece, mark describes how he got into acting by happenstance and why it is so important to him that latinos and diversity are represented in the entertainment industry. he also spoke about the honor of being named grand marshal in the los angeles mexican independence parade, telling the magazine, quote, what a gift it was. i got to go to the mexican consulate and meet all the people that were responsible for the parade. that was really great. and i got to honor my father, came to

this country when he was a teenager from mexico. so we've posted a link to the article on our website, abc seven news.com. and of course, you can watch live with kelly and mark weekdays at 9 a.m. well tomorrow the golden bachelor will become the golden groom. >> we'll get to see gary turner and his fiance, teresa, tie the knot right here on abc seven. the wedding officiant will be one of the season's runner ups. susan you can watch the golden wedding tomorrow night at 8:00. right here on abc seven. and coming up tonight on abc seven at ten. >> catch. wheel of fortune, followed by jeopardy! then stay with us for abc seven news at 11. do remember that abc seven news is streaming 24 over seven. get the abc seven bay area app and join us whenever you want. wherever you are. >> well, coming up here, if you need a sign that the holidays are over, you'll find them all over one san francisco neighborhood. stay with us (♪♪)

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season was smooth, nearly 2.5 million people pass through the terminals. well, that's not a record. it is about 91% of the travelers in 2019 showing that we are nearly back to pre-pandemic levels nationwide. the numbers show a similar rebound, with more than 32 million people screened at airports across the country from december 21st to yesterday, january 2nd. that's nearly 15% more than the same period last year. >> all right, here's a question. now that christmas is over, do you know how to properly dispose of your tree? >> yeah, might seem obvious, but in one san francisco neighborhood, there appears to be some confusion. take a look. >> yeah, this was the scene in the marina district this morning where it looked like a christmas tree. cemetery trees just strewn all over the place. >> we found trees on sidewalks, crosswalks. one was in the street next to a parked car, and some were even piled on street corners and driveways. >> can you believe that? look at this san francisco recycles trees for free, but residents

have to place them next to their bins on their regular pickup day, and if they're taller than four feet, they must be cut to size. the recycling program runs through next friday. >> that is crazy. all right, that is it for this edition of abc seven news. thank you for joining us. i'm on the date. >> i'm dan ashley for sandhya patel. all of us. we appreciate your time. we'll see you again in one hour. over on right here on abc seven news at 11. >> this is abc 724 seven. >> in san francisco, live at levi's stadium in san jose. >> live in oakland. >> you're watching abc seven news live anytime, anywhere. >> we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are where you are. >> never miss a moment of the news that matters to you. download our abc seven bay area streaming

from sony pictures studios, it's america's game! ♪♪ wheel... of... fortune! ladies and gentlemen, here are the stars of our show-- pat sajak and vanna white! [cheers and applause] cheer, cheer. i love that "applause" sign. it really helps our life. -thank you, jim. -thank you. thanks, everybody. have a nice trip to the puzzle board. okay. ♪♪ grab those devices. let's get goin'.