state right now. my understanding it's happening throughout the country. it's very hard to recruit and retain

the therapists, case managers, substance use counselors, psychiatrists all across the profession that are needed to provide help. >> a real shortage of mental health professionals reaches crisis level now. good evening. thank you for joining us. >> i'm dan ashley and i'm ama daetz. the shortage is impacting schools, hospitals and nonprofits throughout the bay area. >> abc seven news reporter luz pena spoke with experts who say this is the worst shortage that they have seen loose in decades. >> that's right. yeah. mental health professionals are reaching a breaking point. experts were sounding the alarm before the pandemic, but now the need is even greater and the shortage is only increasing in the exodus and lack of mental health professionals is alarming. experts throughout the bay area, the most difficult workforce shortage that i've seen in 30 plus years in this field, david pineda is the ceo of momentum for health. they serve more than 4000 individuals experiencing behavioral health challenges in silicon valley every year. pineda's team is

seeing the challenges to attract and retain mental health professionals firsthand. >> it takes us a longer time to hire a licensed clinician in that extra time. that means the existing staff have to see more people. >> their data shows communities of color are experiencing the biggest shortage. what led to this? >> you know, a lot of things. it's as we know, it's very difficult. i mean, it's a very high cost of living area. a lot of the graduate schools got smaller, so the pool just got smaller. and now you see with the baby boomers, they're all retiring. >> a report by the silicon valley institute for regional studies found that approximately 25% of students earning degrees in behavioral health plan to stay in santa clara county, and another 25% say they may remain in the bay area. the biggest roadblock is the cost of living. >> what we need are higher competitive rates. we knew we had a problem before the pandemic. there were more therapists and substance use

counselors and psychiatrists and peer counselors that were retiring or leaving the profession than were coming into it. >> the shortage of mental health professionals is also impacting the legal system. we have clients who are spending sometimes months longer than they need to in mental health facilities, locked uh, psychiatric facilities and hospital wards because the doctors agree they could be safely in the community with adequate support. >> but there aren't the mental health professionals available to work with them. >> experts are now urging the government to intervene. >> turning their attention to this issue is that's how this gets solved. >> and we know the federal government is working on incentives for future mental health professionals with student loan payment programs and stipends for internships. if you go into the public behavioral health system, experts say, that's still not enough. the need is so great. luz pena, abc seven new >> it really is. all right,

louis, thank you. now, if you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, we have resources to help. just go to our website, abc seven news.com/take action. and for more urgent matters in suicide crisis, lifeline can be reached by dialing 988. >> santa clara county is working to minimize health care disruptions if thousands of nurses walk off the job next week. >> that is our top priority to ensure continued access to absolutely essential health care services, and we're taking all appropriate steps to ensure that those services will continue uninterrupted. >> 4000 nurses are set to strike for three days starting april 2nd, after hitting an impasse in contract negotiations. tentative agreements have been made on key terms, including workplace safety. but a sticking point is pay. if the strike proceeds as planned, some appointments and surgeries may be postponed, but the county will spend $50 million to keep essential services running with temporary

staff. officials in livermore and pleasanton are demanding better performance from the ambulance company that provides emergency service to alameda county. >> the east bay times is reporting that officials there are accusing foulke of poor performance and delayed response times, claiming its ambulance were late to one in every six medical emergencies in their cities. the abc7 news i-team has previously looked into foulke response times in the east bay. it found that alameda county fined foulke $215,000 in 2021 for failing to meet contractually agreed to response time standards in just over an hour. >> a town hall is scheduled to discuss the martinez refinery's impact on residents health. congressmember mark desaulnier wants to get the leaders of the refinery to testify in front of the house about the recent chemical releases. abc seven news reporter ryan curry spoke with desaulnier and residents who say something has to be done about the refinery. >> some people who live in

martinez have had enough with this refinery as soon as it's possible, i might want to consider moving away from here. elena cruz is suing the refinery. for what she says is a public nuisance. the chemical release is coming from the martinez refining company. have her worried about her health. >> they didn't seem to have so much problems with all these coke dust releases and all these flare ups and as many incidents as they've had the last few years. so it's concerning that it's getting worse and they're, they're not really paying attention to what they're doing or they're not being, regulated correctly. >> on thanksgiving in 2022, the refinery released around 20 tons of spent catalyst, a metal laden toxic dust. there have also been several flaring incidents and another chemical release in july of last year, several agencies are investigating the refinery, including the county health department and the fbi. now, congress member mark desaulnier wants to hear from people living nearby. >> unfortunately, there's been this uptick of incidents and we're worried that when this

happens, usually there's something else going on underneath. >> county investigators say pbf energy did not properly train its workers, and one of them had to work a 20 hour shift during the thanksgiving day incident. congressman desaulnier wants company management held accountable. >> these things should not be happening. 1 or 2 isolated ones. these are happening at this refinery, in my view, because of the safety culture and because management isn't enforcing the spirit of the law in and they're not enforcing the letter of the law. >> and he worries it will only get worse. pbf energy bought the refinery from shell in 2020. he says if things keep going the way they are, someone will die. >> this has gone on too long and i'm afraid if we wait with our enforcement, somebody's going to die, like happened in tosco or people will be injured workers, and that obviously the neighborhood will continue to be impacted. >> neighborhoods like the one where cruz lives. >> it's very dangerous to have that type of thing going on.

>> we reached out to pbf energy and are waiting for a reply. congress member desaulnier says it's possible he and other members of the house will make the ceo and leaders of pbf energy testify before congress in martinez. ryan curry abc seven news. >> a recent push to let cars back onto market street in san francisco has been circulating recently. according to the san francisco chronicle, sectors of the business community have considered reopening the downtown street for the past year or so. mayoral candidate mark farrell also has the idea included in his economic vitality platform. businesses believe this could help the city's struggling downtown economy by bringing more shoppers into that area. >> a new report says san francisco's office vacancy is now at an all time high. the san francisco business times says the rate rose to 36.6% in the first quarter of 2024. that is up a full point from the fourth quarter of 2023, based on preliminary data from real estate services firm cbre. the

report says the numbers have been steadily increasing since the start of the pandemic. on the plus side, the report says the amount of square footage prospective tenants are looking for is up now. >> as for residential real estate, the bay area market is heating up this spring. houses are selling quickly once they're listed and prices are ticking up. as abc seven news reporter leslie brinkley explains, even bigger changes are coming this summer as changes in agent commissions will have a real impact on buyers and sellers. very good. >> so it's going to be a big spring. >> it's going to be a big spring. it's going to be a big spring because it's already a big winter. >> the bay east association of realtors says a listed home is selling 25% faster than it did a year ago. homes in contra costa and alameda county's average only 23 days on the market right now, and even though interest rates are higher than where they were two years ago, the pace of home sales is still really quick. >> homes are not sitting on the market. >> the median sales price in the east bay ticked up between january and february to around $1.2 million. there are big

changes on the horizon after the national association of realtors agreed to settle a major class action lawsuit on march 15th over the commission rates, real estate agents are paid starting this summer. real estate attorneys say more agents could be knocked out of the industry as commission becomes a more negotiable item. >> buyers and sellers really need to advocate for themselves and understand that they do not have to agree to a 6% commission or a 5% commission. there's plenty of other people who will take a lower commission and allow for a more affordable housing transaction to occur. >> even a small reduction in the commission rate could yield big savings. tens of thousands of dollars for sellers and buyers in the expensive bay area real estate market. >> with this settlement, it could accelerate the adoption of new business models. i've already seen a few, such as a flat fee service, tech driven brokerage firm is open bidding structures on homes and

increased transparency among consumers. >> you may see a type of, negotiation to smaller fees. and because i do believe that the agents are still very much so needed, it's a lot that's up in the air. and then also we're going to see how the mortgage industry, how they will support this as well. >> change is coming in the east bay. i'm leslie brinkley, abc seven news. >> ahead. still ahead. we are learning new details about this weekend's deadly mountain lion attack that killed one man and injured his brother. >> but first, after the break, federal investigators raid the homes of sean diddy combs, both in los angeles and miami. we'll have details when abc seven news chevy silverado with the turbomax engine and best-in-class standard torque. and the chevy silverado hd with up to 14 available camera views. do more in a chevy truck, get yours now.

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happening. it happened during a police pursuit from napa into the east bay. look at this. the vehicle was connected to a burglary of a lululemon store. the crash is on lakeshore avenue in oakland, right by east shore park. you can see there's a pile of clothing on lakeshore about a half block from that crashed car. we can show you that as we pull out. we understand a suspect grabbed some clothing, ran after the crash. we're also told three people were arrested as a result of this. there you see the pile of clothing there behind the police car, the highway patrol vehicle. we'll have more details as soon as they come in from near lake merritt in oakland. >> hip hop mogul sean diddy combs is los angeles and miami homes were raided today. our sister station, kabc in los angeles, reports two of combs sons were detained outside the holmby hills home while federal agents executed a search warrant . homeland security investigations is the lead agency and says the raid is part of an ongoing investigation, but didn't give an exact reason. combs has recently been connected to legal troubles

involving lawsuits over alleged sexual assaults and sex trafficking. no arrests were made during the search. >> a longtime san jose high school teacher has been arrested for raping and sexually assaulting a student more than 20 years ago. police say there were multiple assaults between 2002 and 2003, when the suspect taught at lee high school and worked as a track and field and football coach at los gatos high school. the investigation began about two and a half weeks ago. police arrested the teacher on friday, the campbell union high school district has placed the teacher on administrative leave and the superintendent says the district is actively working with investigators. another san jose teacher has been arrested and booked on charges of annoying or molesting a student at ace empower academy. that's a school for students in fifth through eighth grades. the school administrators reported this after finding inappropriate notes, finding rather inappropriate notes on campus. in mid-december, police say the

teacher also sent inappropriate texts to the student. >> it is very traumatic. it is scary and it is confusing, especially when you're dealing with someone who is a person of trust, someone you look up to. so we do want to let all survivors know that it is okay to come forward. >> the teacher claims there was never any physical contact. he has resigned and is no longer on campus. school officials tell abc seven news they are very concerned about this inappropriate contact and take allegations very seriously. >> new details about saturday's mountain lion attack that killed a young man and badly injured his brother. authorities say. 21 year-old jalen brooks was killed in the weekend attack. 18 year-old wyatt brooks was injured. their family issued a statement calling taillon's death devastating. they also expressed their gratitude for the outpouring of support and prayers theroers were searching for. deer antlers near georgetown, about 50 miles outside sacrament. you see it on the map there whe the mountain lion attacked wyatt first, then turned on talon when

he grabbed the animal. it's the first deadly mountain lion attack in northern

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count for real. the giants and a's will face off in the bay bridge series. exhibition games. >> abc seven sports anchor chris alvarez is live at the oakland coliseum with the story. chris >> hi, dan and amaya. baseball is back. it's been a long winter, although it kind of feels like winter here tonight at the coliseum and a full spring training. and now we got two more tune ups, bay bridge style, before the regular season begins on thursday afternoon, you're seeing some live pictures of the giants warming up here at the coliseum. tomorrow's sight will be oracle park for another exhibition game, and plenty of familiar faces are back. you see mark kotsay, the a's manager. bob melvin now on this side of the bay. j.d. davis, a former giant along with alex wood, ross stripling, other former giants that are a's. you see zack gelof, he's got his handshake

game already ready. uh- some former a's are now wearing orange and black, including bob melvin and matt chapman, with opening day three days away, both sides excited for the 2024 journey to begin. >> the excitement of just coming back here to the bay, being in the coliseum, getting to play the giants, you know, seeing bo, mel uh- on the other side, you know, you feel that energy and you feel you know, really how close opening day is. it's great. >> you know, obviously we've made some key acquisitions here toward the end of spring, we feel like we have a much better team than we started spring with. and, you know, being here is a great segway. it's always a great segway into the season and that these have a little bit more impact than normal spring trainings. you know, they're in big league parks. they're well attended for the most part. so it's always a nice, you know, lead into the season. >> and that regular season begins for the giants in san diego on thursday. the a's will host cleveland here thursday

night. and the big story there is going to be the block party boy scott, in the parking lot a couple hours before the game, casey pratt will be here. i'll be here. we'll have all the coverage thursday night. obviously a baseball game, but a whole lot going on with the a's and their stadium situation. larry beil has more on the stream tonight. also talking warriors basketball and i'll be back at 650 for sports. talking baseball. and why these two sides the bob melvin he gets a little fired up when the giants and a's take each other on. >> yeah a lot of people do chris thanks so much. >> well san francisco 40 niners ceo jed york is set to become the football team's primary owner, according to the sf chronicle. york has purchased enough equity from his mother, who currently owns the team. york has overseen the franchise for the past 13 seasons. this move is part of an effort to keep ownership in the york family's name, which currently owns 95% of the 40 niners. the nfl is expected to approve the change in title this week. >> all right, well, while we're talking change, the weather is about to take a bit of a turn. yes.

>> abc seven news meteorologist sandhya patel is here. sandhya yeah. >> we're going to start to notice the winds die down, which i think a lot of people are talking about. dan. and let me show you a live picture right now from our emeryville camera. yeah, it's a pretty bouncy view. gusty conditions with us started yesterday and still with us today. a lot of cloud cover as well. if you are stepping out, grab that jacket. gusty winds at 7:00. partly cloudy, turning mostly cloudy overnight. still breezy along the coastline early tomorrow morning, but those winds will back off and we are looking at partly cloudy conditions at 7 a.m. the storm is long gone, but high pressure has been building in and the winds are coming out of the northwest and they have been gusty coming off that cool ocean water 30 miles an hour at sfo and oakland right now as we check out the hourly forecast, you will notice the winds remain elevated even going into 8 p.m. still 20 to 25 miles an hour at the lower elevations, stronger at the higher elevations. tomorrow morning, winds will ease, except near the coast, where it will still be breezy and then pretty much lighter. winds for tomorrow will allow us

to warm up. i want to show you some beautiful views from our tower cameras right now. as you will notice from pier 39, there's some peeks of blue. the rain is long gone. we did have a few early morning showers, but now we're taking a look at the rain totals since last friday. looking at over an inch in los gatos, san jose, 5/5700 in oakland, 6700, san francisco 6000/800 in santa rosa. even places like livermore picking up a good deal of rain, 50s and 60s on your numbers right now. here's a look at the headlines through tonight. breezy to gusty tomorrow. mostly sunny and milder weather and starting wednesday, wet pattern begins. it's not going to be wet nonstop, but i'm going to show that to you in just a moment. first thing tomorrow morning. grab that jacket because it will start out cool. 30s, 40s with a mix of patchy fog and higher clouds as well. tomorrow afternoon or lower clouds? excuse me, tomorrow afternoon. upper 50s to the upper 60s. plenty of sun for you to get out and enjoy. it's a level one for wednesday. a light system bringing us scattered showers, moderate in the evening and

breezy at times. 10:00 wednesday morning. you see, just a few showers around 2:00. still very spotty, but then by evening you'll notice more widespread rain moving through here. there will be pockets that will be moderate at times, and then the showers will linger into early thursday before they move on out. so rainfall projections anywhere from about four hundredths of an inch in the southern part of our viewing area to half an inch in the northern part. here's a look at the accuweather seven day forecast. it's a dry day tomorrow. after that, it turns unsettled from wednesday all the way through saturday. level one for both systems. sunday right now looks nice for easter, although one computer model keeps hinting at the possibility of some showers. i'm trying to schedule the rain so that the easter egg hunts. we appreciate it. yeah, so the little ones don't have ronnie easter egg hunts, but we'll see. >> okay, keep us posted. thank you. sandy. >> all right. still ahead, one bay area restaurant is taking

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app. just search abc seven bay area and download it. >> a san francisco restaurant is dialing back its upcharge fee. cfi.co is lowering its upcharge by half. according to sfgate, people who dine in will now pay 5% more than those who order takeout instead of 10. restaurant owners say they originally raised the price during the pandemic to ensure better wages for employees. now, they say they want to help customers who may be struggling financially. >> we still have much more news ahead. >> we do. let's go to abc seven news anchor stephanie sierra for a look at what's coming up at 530. steph. thanks, dan. >> and tonight we're looking into a program that could be coming back to oakland with the help of alameda county inmates. if it moves forward, it would allow inmates to use time served by volunteering out on the streets to clean up parts of oakland. coming up, the changes that would impact the santa rita jail and baseball is back. a preview of tonight's bay bridge series. and for the first time, we hear from dodgers superstar shohei ohtani about the theft

allegations facing his interpreter, abc seven sports director larry beil joins us live to discuss all that and more. join us for those stories at 530 on abc seven. bay area streaming tv. back to you. >> okay, stephanie, thank you. >> and you can download the abc seven app or head to abc seven news.com to join the stream in just two minutes. and if you're watching us here on tv world news tonight with david muir is next for sandhya patel. >> all of us, we appreciate your time. i'm dan ashley and i'm ama daetz. >> we'll see you again at six.

news as we come on the air, the extraordinary scene unfolding right now. federal agents on the scene, the raids in los angeles and miami. the raids at the home of music mogul sean combs. homeland security agents late today moving in on both homes belonging to diddy. tonight why federal authorities say they are on the scene.