politicians... "he's bad. i'm good." blah, blah. let's shake things up. with katie porter. porter refuses corporate pac money. and leads the fight to ban congressional stock trading. katie porter. taking on big banks to make housing more affordable. and drug company ceos to stop their price gouging. most politicians just fight each other. while katie porter fights for you. for senate - democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. two teens die in recent weeks doing a dangerous stunt on bart trains. it's called surfing. who's doing it? and what is bart doing to prevent it? since tomorrow is valentine's day, chocolate may be on your mind,

but not all chocolates are created equal. which ones are the most heart healthy for your sweetheart? but first, tonight, san francisco's school board meeting. a vote will be taken to change the way school board members are elected. at the heart of the battle is a law aiming to ensure minority voting rights. but is that law being abused? you're watching, getting answers. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. it's a complicated issue, but i ask that you stay with me because if it hasn't already happened in your kids school district or maybe town, it will soon. throughout california, school districts have been switching over from at large to district elections to fill school board seats. um today, tonight, san francisco is poised to become the latest to do so. but critics say this is a misprint interpretation of the law and the victim is kids education. joining us live now to share different viewpoints scott rafferty, a walnut creek lawyer who's threat of a lawsuit is triggering san francisco's change. he's on the right, and

john trasvina, a san francisco native and human rights attorney, past president of the mexican american legal defense and education fund and former dean of university of san francisco's law school. gentlemen, welcome. >> good to see you, kirsten. >> uh, scott, i'll start with you because, well, i should tell our viewers, scott, you sent san francisco unified a demand letter threatening a lawsuit, but that got the ball rolling. john, you wrote an op ed in the chronicle today opposing the switch to district elections for board seats. and scott, i'll start with you. what did you allege in the letter and what did you ask the district to do? well it's really a petition to comply with the california voting rights act. >> so i, i try not to threaten, um, because i think the board should and will do the right thing, which is to empower neighborhoods, uh, especially minority neighborhoods, uh, where voter participation is very low and they need to have, uh, an equal voice on the, uh, on the school board. uh, they

have at least as many children. those children are often require are often in segregated schools. um, and they have, uh, a perspective that needs to be related not only by, um, the, the, the board. this isn't about the board incumbents. uh, it's about about having an authentic, uh, ability to choose and hold accountable someone who represents the interests of your particular neighborhood. okay and it saves a hell of a lot of money. uh, it would probably save $800,000 every four years. and it avoids the enormously expense and inefficiency of the, uh, citywide recall that we had just, uh, two years ago. so it's going to mean a more competent, uh, more board that really knows its constituents. uh, and, and is accountable to those constituents. we don't need we

don't need an out-of-town lawyer who doesn't have ties to san francisco to tell us about our elections in november. >> we'll have four incumbents on the ballot, unless you get in the way. one african american, one latino, one asian american and one white incumbent for the last 50 years, we have been electing minority candidates. we are not like the other districts that you've taken on. so quite candidly, you're just chasing the wrong ambulance. san francisco has diversity among the board. uh, at large elected board of education members, more diversity than our district elected supervisors. our schools have a lot of challenges. i haven't seen you at any of the meetings. i haven't seen you help out on the budget, help out on algebra, help out on improving quality education. what we ■need is for the school board to focus on. it's a diverse board. it's been a diverse board. uh, and they need to focus on improving our quality education. >> gentlemen, if i could just give our viewers a little context here. san francisco is

not the first. in fact, it's one of the later ones. i believe in terms of school districts, to try to switch over to district as a result of the california voting rights act, which i just want to share with our viewers what it says, or part of it anyway, it says it prohibits the use of an at large election in a political subdivision. if it would impair the ability of a protected class as defined to elect candidates of its choice or otherwise influence the outcome of an election. john, you actually work for the author of the california voting rights act. so explain to us the spirit of the law and help our viewers understand how something that, you know, had that intent of ensuring minority, uh, representation has led to so many lawsuits? >> yeah. so i can avila my mentor, my colleague has past president of the mexican american legal defense and educational fund, wrote this law with the immigration lawyer, robert rubin to focus on places like salinas, tulare county, places that for decades had

large percentages of latino residents but never elected somebody to the supervisors or to the city council. it was in contrast, and since 1972, we have elected a very diverse school board in san francisco. right now, there are two african americans out of seven on the board. i don't know how, i don't i don't believe that scott can tell you, uh, that we can have that that, uh, same kind of percentage on the school board later on. it doesn't. it's totally divorced from educational outcomes in our city . and we do not violate the law because there's two parts of it. one is it's not all at large. elections that are bad. it's at large that limit the voice of and vote of minority communities. that's not the record in san francisco. >> yes. scott did you look at i know i understand you've taken on about 30 school districts, um, and or jurisdictions. and i wonder if you look closely at san francisco and what your

response is to some of the outcomes that john pointed out and whether this is the district to target? >> uh, yes. well, first of all, let's keep in mind that san francisco is the largest school district in the country to elect at large. it's four times larger than the largest city in america to elect at large, which is san uh, santa clarita, which is changing this, uh, this, um, no number. so it's about bringing democracy closer to the people. and, uh, there are two potential majority asian districts. they have a right to choose their own , uh, represented on on the, uh, on the school board, not to have the city as a whole decide. well, we'll have a diverse board , and this is who it's going to be. and those members should be accountable, uh, to their own communities. let's take algebra.

the only way you can influence the decision of the board on algebra is to show up at a meeting tonight and talk to all seven at once. if we had district elections, you would have of a trustee that you would go to in your own neighborhood, maybe meet them in the in in the supermarket and discuss these issues. they could have a town hall. you could have real representation. that's what democracy is. it needs to be closer to the people to have a school district elect from a juristic person that is larger than a congressional district. is just not the way, uh, democracy works. we have single member districts. we always have throughout american history, san francisco is really an outlier. no you're you're no, you are not only using the voting rights act, you're using the asian american community under your plan, asian, under the current system, asian american voters in the sunset and the richmond would vote for four members, a majority of the school board

this november. >> under your plan, they will get no vote this november. those districts will not be up. and that's what we're talking about. you want to talk about getting closer to democracy? well, come to town and talk to us. talk to those of us who have been involved in the schools for, for years, and you will find that you will not get the kind of response that you think you're going to get. this is a misuse of people. it's a misuse of the voting rights act. and we know what we know what's in it for lawyers who win, who win these cases. there's money. the voting rights act, our right to vote is not up for a deal. >> scott. i just want to ask you, you know, i understand and correct me if i'm wrong, that just in writing this letter that requires the district to pay you $30,000, there are those critics, especially, um, who would look at this and say, your true motivation, you know, as an outsider, may not be about the outcomes of the kids. how would you respond to that? >> well, uh, first of all, i don't think there's going to be litigation. i certainly haven't

threatened it. i'm counting on the school board to do the right thing, but, uh, i have researched this. i researched all the elections going back to 2012, and asked not just what the skin color or ethnicity of the of the board member is, but who voted for them. and are the votes of latinos and asians different than the rest of the electorate? and they are, because both of those communities care a lot more about education than the rest of the electorate. and, uh, the i don't understand how we can, uh, predict which neighborhoods are going to elect this november. the law requires that the high asian and high latino neighborhoods have preference. so i don't that doesn't. it requires it's low voter turnout districts and you should not come into town and denigrate. >> let me let me put you on hold only because we're just about out of time. and i know you have

very different viewpoints on this, but, john, i just want to ask you what you expect the school board to do tonight, right? in the sense that, uh, just about every district that has fought this has lost, and it does cost them money. it does cost them time. and as you know, algebra is on the ballot or there are a lot of issues for the district to try to get better outcomes for kids. um, is it your hope? do you think that bottom line, there's something that needs to be changed with regard to the law? the way your mentor had written it? um, to change the dynamic? >> now the law is fine. it's being misused, used. and for someone to come in and say that african americans or whites or anybody doesn't value education, keep that back in walnut creek, mister rafferty, san francisco is supporting the way we elect our elected officials, and we support our kids. this is a distraction to education. and frankly, you need to go elsewhere. we are out of time. >> john trasvina and scott rafferty, thank you both so much for it's a complicated issue. so

i do appreciate you making the time to explain your perspective. appreciate it. >> thank you. thank you. >> coming up next, local moms make an emotional appeal to stop a social media trend. their sons died doing. it's called train surfing. we'll discuss this issue with san francisco standard reporter garrett lahey when we come back are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for adults with hr positive, her2 negative metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole. ibrance may cause low white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. both of these can lead to death. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever,

chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are or plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. for more information about side effects talk to your doctor. thanks, mom. be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. a pfizer product. the economy is simply not working for millions of hard working families. they're working harder than ever and they still can't make enough to get by to afford food and medicine to even keep a roof over their heads. we need to build more housing that's truly affordable.

we need to address this terrible epidemic of homelessness. we need to invest in good paying jobs, union jobs and investments in our future. this, this is why i'm running for the us senate. i'm adam schiff and i approve this message. her sons. the trend is called train surfing. it's where young people climb aboard. then ride atop a train and then post videos of the stunt on social media. both mothers spoke with our partners at the san francisco standard. the report

details their calls for change and begs people to stop doing this. joining us live now is garrett leahy, one of three standard reporters who worked on the story. garrett, thanks for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> this is just such a tragedy to see, especially, you know, them being teenagers. and they died in separate incidents in the last two weeks. um, tell us about these young men and their incidents. how and when it happened. >> sure. so the first, uh, person who died was a 19 year old named daniel barron. he was a skyline college student. it's a community college, uh, kind of near the san francisco where it meets the peninsula. and and he went to go to school. >> right. this is his graduation picture from lowell high school. >> that's correct. yes. he's a lowell high graduate. um, and he was attending, uh, skyline college. he had ambitions to go to law school. um, he was a trained surfer victim. on january 29th, and his body was found between the balboa park

and daly city. bart stations on that day. and then the 15 year old boy who died sunday, um, from bart surfing, also, his body was found near where daniel's was about 3/10 of a mile away. um, and he was a high school freshman. uh, the mother has asked that the b not be named. and didn't want to say what high school he went to just out of privacy concerns for the family. >> you know, before we get into these two young men, a little bit more and what can be done just for our viewers who had not heard of train surfing before, we actually have video of a man doing it on vta in the south bay on a train back in 2022. two again, i don't want to encourage this. it is so dangerous. no one should be doing it, but just quickly. this is what it is and gary, you can see how risky it is. what is prompting, i guess

mostly young men to think this is a good idea. is there a force pushing them to do it? >> you know, we haven't been able to cover too much about what drives the fad, but we spoke to the mothers and what they both told us was they believed that seeing these videos on social media and some of the positive comments they get, can be, um, you know, kind of reward. >> this behavior and drive them to want to attempt this stunt themselves and to keep on doing it. um, and it doesn't have to just be trains. there's also video of people doing it on busses as uh- doing so on either a train or a bus is obviously very dangerous, and especially on something as high speed as bart is. uh, certainly it can be very dangerous to do it seems like there's a certain bravado that goes with that. >> i think your report says the 15 year old, um, who died had posted dare devil stunts on his instagram. right? and he had a tagline like, i act like i have nine lives. that's right.

>> i, uh, confirmed with the boy's mother that that was the boy's instagram account. and it shows him doing stunts like riding on bart and muni, but also climbing high cranes, climbing high buildings, and looking down at the street below. um, so it was very, very disturbing to see those videos and that there were so many on this boy's account. yeah. >> and then, you know, if you see another team posting that and getting a lot of likes, then as a teen you may be influenced to say, hey, maybe you know, please. but i mean, they might think it's a good idea to do it. so let me ask you, um, you mentioned those two locations were very close by, like where they both passed away. so is there something about that area that makes it easy for it to kind of be a point to jump onto the train or try to do it there? >> you know,e did don't have too much. >> we weren't able to get too much infmation from from either agency on on how to get on top of the trains as far as

that specific area. we're not totally sure if there's something that is, you know, makes it a prime location to surf on a bart train where we're still trying to look into that, i see. >> yeah, i only asked because, you know, i wonder if bart is looking to make some infrastructure or you know, improvements or barriers or something in that vicinity. um, what is bart doing? what is their response is, so, you know, bart hasn't really provided any comments on the fat itself or how they are planning to address it. >> we also asked the sfmta for comment. they run the local san francisco busses and trains. uh, they said that they are urging social media platforms to take down these videos and that they are testing new technology to prevent people from doing things like accessing muni metro tunnels. um, but they said they can't comment on their methods and strategies without undermining them. so we also couldn't get information from them on what they're doing to address this. >> you know, if somebody was caught doing that, are they

issued a citation or so we aware that that the mta certainly will try to investigate, uh, incidents like this. >> and there are, you know, cameras in vehicles, busses, trains that will show passengers was, you know, getting on and passengers suspect of trying to climb on the roof. but we still don't know too much about the actual enforcement process. and how that's carried out. >> look, i know you talked with the 19 year old daniel's mom extensively, and i want to end with him because he had hopes and dreams and she had strong opinions about all of this. what would you like to share? >> well, you know, i, i hate to adt i actually was not the one. i was not the reporter who interviewed daniel's mom, but i did interview the 15 year old's mom. um, and what the 15 year old's mother said was that he she wants him to be remembered as someone who was full of life, someone who cared deeply for his friends and his community. he, um, he had a lot of different

interests. he had a great interest in science, a great interest in public transit. i like trains, um, and had the idea of maybe being a mechanic or maybe even a lawyer. he was very active in model united nations at his high school, so? so it's a real shameful loss. >> it really is. and garrett, i hope this article will get people to think about and decide against trying to train surf. garrett leahy with the standard. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> you can check out more of the san francisco standard's other original reporting as well on their website. sf standard.com. abc7 will continue to bring you more segments featuring the standards city focused journalism twice a week here on getting answers. coming up next, just in time for valentine's day. which chocolate is best as unhealthiest? back with

why not give the gift of health? joining us live now to talk about healthy chocolates is doctor uma naidu, a harvard nutritional psychiatrist and author of calm your mind with food and doctor naidu. so glad you can make it! >> thanks so much justin. nice to talk with you. >> all right. very timely. i mean, look chocolates, everyone's going to get them for valentine's, but all chocolates are not created equal. so tell us what we should be looking for if we care about our health. >> the type of chocolate you want to look for is the darkest, most natural form that you can get because this will have much less sugar in it and not the candy bar version that we usually know and like. because this is going to have more health benefits and specifically more brain benefit. this chocolate is actually a very nutrient dense food. if it's the extra dark, natural kind and even contains a large amount of

iron, which is plant based iron. and it turns out that the world health organization tells us that the largest nutritional deficiency in the world, especially in women and children, um, is iron deficiency. and it actually makes your anxiety worse. so eating a square or two of dark chocolate on occasion, especially the more natural kind, may actually be good for you. and eat it with a piece of citrus fruit, because that helps the absorption of the iron. >> what about dark chocolate, doctor? dark chocolate covered nuts. >> you know, a lot of those. if you look at the ingredients, they have sort of unhealthy fats and oils and also added sugar. that becomes the problem. but if you had, you know, and of course, on valentine's day, definitely enjoy some. but if you're looking more for the brain and the health benefits and certainly for calming benefits, have, you know, the little portion of nuts separately and you have a piece of dark chocolate and maybe a piece of clementine is something

like that because it makes it more flavorful. all but that's a better way than all the added ingredients in the in those chocolate covered nuts. >> okay, so what about white chocolates? i know some people like them. i tend to not because i can't taste the chocolate in them, but are those good or bad for you? >> it it isn't. it isn't actually chocolate and it's more of a i see, i think of a commercial product than actual chocolate, so i'm not surprised you can't taste it, and that they tend to have a lot of added sugars in them as well. um, so we want to really stay for the health benefits. we want to stay with those extra dark natural chocolate 70% or darker, the darker the better. and sometimes it takes your palate a little while to get used to them. >> ah, yes. okay, so you said the number is look for 70% cacao. is that what it is, darker okay or darker? >> 70% of darker. yes. i've seen it go up to like 80 or 85. >> i feel like when it gets in the 80s it's a little too bitter for me. like 70 sound just about right, right. >> often it takes a little bit

of getting used to and often when you reach that high, that sort of dark chocolate you enjoyed so much that you may, may even want less of it. but you really your palate gets used to it. and you study. the thing is that chocolate also has positive benefits on mood. a population study of more than 13,000 adults found that after they adjusted for a few other factors, the dark chocolate consumption actually helped lower depression by 70. that's seven zero. so you know, there's definitely more to dark chocolate uh- than meets the eye . and it's if you choose the right type, it's actually could be a really good, good food for us to enjoy in moderation. >> fantastic. so no need to feel guilty in moderation. doctor uma naidu, thank you so much. by the way, i want to show folks your book. it is called calm your mind with food a revolutionary guide to controlling your anxiety. thank you so much and

we'll take a short break. thanks so much. all right. thank you. we'll take a short break and be politicians... "he's bad. i'm good." blah, blah. let's shake things up. with katie porter. porter refuses corporate pac money. and leads the fight to ban congressional stock trading. katie porter. taking on big banks to make housing more affordable. and drug company ceos to stop their price gouging. most politicians just fight each other. while katie porter fights for you. for senate - democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message.

area world news tonight with david muir is next. and i'll see you back here at four. tonight, the major winter storm slamming the northeast. also, the new video. the deadly jet crash right onto a highway. survivors running. and the plane near buffalo, the emergency landing, when the door came off. first tonight, the heavy snow and flooding in the northeast. more than a foot of snow in some areas. cars and trks off highwa