a busy day right now on abc

seven news at three, tracking a shakeup in the presidential race as robert f kennedy jr drops out. plus, it's not just covid surging this summer. the warning from health leaders what's old is new again. but 1st august chill and even some possible rain to start the weekend. good afternoon i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. yeah, it's a pretty gloomy gray friday for us. let's take a look. live outside across the bay area. it is certainly feeling more like fall than summer today, with below average temperatures and even a chance of light rain for some spots. the national weather service says august is typically our second driest month, so a splash of rain isn't too unusual. but abc seven news meteorologist drew tuma will have a look at your weekend forecast coming up later in the show. now to your voice, your vote. independent presidential candidate robert f kennedy jr suspends his long shot campaign and endorses republican former president trump. the iconic democratic kennedy family was

never supportive of rfk jr. s run. his siblings, in fact, said in a joint statement today, quote, our brother bobby's decision to endorse trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. it is a sad ending to a sad story. end quote. the kennedy family first supported president biden and now vice president harris. abc news reporter nguyen looks at how this twist might change up the race. >> today, independent presidential candidate robert f kennedy jr says spending his long shot candidacy for the white house. >> it's with a sense of victory and not defeat that i am suspending my campaign activities. >> the nephew of former democratic president john f kennedy throwing his support behind donald trump. >> that's big. he's a great guy, respected by everybody. >> how much that might impact the 2024 race is still unclear.

>> my colleagues at 538 looked into this and the data suggests that maybe there's about a half a percentage point of gain for trump in some of that. if folks are supporting rfk jr, it's because they don't like the major parties. and so they may just end up not voting at all. >> it comes a day after vice president kamala harris stood on the biggest political stage of her life, closing the four day democratic national convention. i accept your nomination to be president of the united states. harris accusing trump of stripping women's reproductive rights and putting america's security and democracy at risk. >> just imagine, donald trump with no guardrails as pro-palestinian demonstrators marched outside, harris addressed the war in the middle east, saying she and president biden are working out a ceasefire deal. the scale of suffering is heartbreaking. >> harris, also acknowledging her unusual path to the top of the ticket after biden withdrew

from the race. >> the path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected, but i'm no stranger to unlikely journeys. >> former president trump has hit several key battleground states this week, including north carolina, nevada and arizona. this comes as nebraska becomes the ninth state to officially add abortion rights to the november ballot. and when abc news, washington. >> it's been a week of ups and downs for oakland. from the highs of positive shout outs by harris on the dnc stage to the lows of another deadly series of crimes, four people have been killed in shootings this week, plus a hit and run crash that killed a 17 year old girl in a crosswalk. >> you know, we've had five people to lose their lives in this, in this last seven days. and all through you know, being people, being reckless and senseless in their actions. >> police shared new details today about a mass shooting in a

parking lot last saturday. they now say four people were shot in an argument over a parking spot. two of them died. two people have been arrested. chief floyd mitchell says oakland has to do better. ahead on abc seven news at four. we'll hear from the community groups trying to end the violence. it was every airline passengers nightmare and it made headlines around the world. a bay area off duty pilot accused of trying to crash a jet headed to san francisco last year. today, for the first time, that pilot is sharing his side of the story. joseph emerson from pleasant hill sat down with abc news reporter gio benitez and explains his spiral into near catastrophe. >> i did something unfathomable to me, something i, i have to take responsibility for and i, i regret. >> this morning, joseph emerson, the alaska airlines pilot now facing 84 charges after allegedly trying to take down a passenger jet in october.

speaking on camera for the first time as he awaits trial, sarah and i would like our story to be of some value, right? >> we think it tells a larger story on pilot health. >> it was last october when emerson was catching a ride in the cockpit jump seat on a flight from everett, washington, to san francisco when he says nothing felt real. >> there was a feeling of being trapped, like, am i trapped in this, in this airplane? this is not real. i need to wake up. >> emerson says he had taken psychedelic mushrooms for the first time two days before the flight, thinking they might help with depression, but believes he was still hallucinating. during that flight, he stood up and pulled the handles in the cockpit that are meant to shut off the engines. in the case of a fire. it didn't work, and if it had that could have brought the plane down. >> there are two red handles in front of my face, thinking that i was going to wake up, thinkin, this is my way to get out of this non-real reality. i reached

up and i grabbed it, and i pulled the levers. >> did you know what the levers were at the time? >> what i thought is, this is going to wake me up. i know what those levers do in a real airplane, right? and i need to wake up from this. it's, seconds of my life. i wish i could change, and i can't serve the pilots react to the difficult situation that i just handed. and i said, you guys want me off the flight deck? i'm off the flight deck. >> he left the cockpit, listened to one of the pilots. >> we've got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit. >> emerson says he then tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit door, but a flight attendant stopped him. >> i put my hand on the lever. i didn't operate the lever. she put my hand, her hand on mine. and i think around that period is when i said, i don't understand what's real. i need you to tough cuff me in the air. >> he texted his wife. >> he texted me, i've made a big mistake. >> and what were you thinking at that point? >> i was like, what in the hell is he talking about? and i immediately got on flightaware because that's how i can track

him. and i saw that the plane was diverted and, i think i texted ■him back, is this becaue of you? >> emerson says he'd been struggling with some form of depression ever since his best friend, scott suddenly passed away, but didn't turn to a psychiatrist for medication, worrying a formal diagnosis could end his career. he instead turned to alcohol, and eventually those psychedelic mushrooms in october. >> coming into this, i hadn't really been sleeping a lot the night that i took the magic mushrooms and i did not sleep that that night, and so this cumulative sleep deficit, i believe, may have also impacted, just my perception of what was going on. >> emerson. now, speaking about it all in the new documentary, the new york times presents lie to fly on fx as he and his wife focus on increasing awareness about mental health in the cockpit. >> right now, there's a perception out there that if you raise your hand and say something's not right, there's a very real possibility that you don't fly again.

>> at least one doctor saying at an ntsb summit in december, it's time to modernize the mental health regulations for pilots. >> who would you rather fly with a pilot who's depressed or a pilot who's depressed on medication? and that's what it comes down to. i think if pilots and controllers were able to obtain a proper diagnosis and be in a proper course of treatment, and if they're safe in that course of treatment. >> right. keep pilots uh- controllers undergoing treatment who are safe on the job. i think that's a better system. >> emerson faces 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person, and one count of endangering aircraft in first degree. he's pleaded not guilty. incredibly, he says this has made his marriage and relationship with his children much stronger. >> i'm doing the best i can to work through that process right now, and i'm better for it, which is kind of a weird thing to say, but i really am better

for all of this, it's not not the way i would have engineered, but i'm just doing my best toda. >> all right. that was gio benitez reporting. it's not just covid behind those coughs and sniffles. other viruses are on the rise. and today we're getting an expert's take on why these surges are hitting now. plus, these mail thieves stole the wrong package. one resident's booby trap that helped investigators make an arrest

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at home tests. biden administration officials just announced americans will be able to request free tests in the

mail starting in late september. you can get four tests in this round by requesting them on covidtests.gov. covid is not the only virus making a strong showing. this summer. whooping cough, monkeypox and something called slapped cheek virus are all climbing. what are the factors causing this and how can you protect yourself and your family? joining us live now to talk about the latest trends, ucsf infectious diseases specialist doctor peter chin-hong. doctor chin-hong, great to see you. >> always a pleasure, christine. thanks for having me on. all right. >> well, we got a lot to talk about starting with covid. is it showing any signs of slowing down? i think the cdc wastewater analysis seems to suggest no. right? >> i think nationally, no. but there is some glimmer of hope. hawaii. nevada down for sure. california, stop going up. so plateauing right now. we have fewer employees calling in sick just locally. so i think that we are making some progress, however slow. >> okay. well that's good to

hear, especially because kids are going back to school right now. so a lot of people, you know, gathering in small, tight spaces. can i just ask you, you know, is it hitting people less hard this time around, >> i think it's variable. >> some people still have more serious disease. you can't predict who's having more serious symptoms even if they don't go to the hospital. but in general, yes, hospitalizations are way down compared to last summer and the summer before. and i'm hoping that we'll continue to see a drop in hospitalizations as we move on from the summers at least. >> right. and i think the fda just approved a new booster. right. but is it targeting you know, the strain going around right now? very well. and who actually still needs to get it? i mean, is it okay for most healthy kids and young adults to just skip it? >> yeah. so the fda just approved the new version of the covid shot. it's based on the variants circulating right now called the fluid variants. even

though it's not exactly cp3, it's close enough. and my priority population is really those over 65 and immune compromised. those are the people we're seeing in the hospital. other people may benefit, however, because it's circulating and close to the virus that's circulating right now. you actually get a big buffer against infection. and we do know that it has a 70%, drop in long covid symptoms by getting the vaccine. >> all right. let's talk about some other things. right. because it's not just about covid. we understand whooping cough is coming back too. after laying low during the pandemic. why >> just like rsv, just like other viruses, we know that when people are apart that they tend to spread disease less often and also because they get sick less often, particularly kids, they don't have as many antibodies. so you see everyone just catching up right now with

whooping cough. but that's only part of the story. the other part is that we've seen a trend even before covid, of more and more whooping cough happening, as we lose immunity, as adults. >> so i guess, you know, before we get to what can you do about it to protect yourself or try to just indulge in this theory that i have? i wonder, you know, as all these things are happening because one people are traveling more this summer, you know, the whole revenge travel thing, right? people put it off for a long time, and then i have this weird theory about, you know, hey, only one big bad can dominate at any one time. that includes viruses. so if covid is retreating, all these other viruses can come to the foreground and say, ha ha, now's my time. >> yes, there is this idea of, you know, the ecosystem of infections. we know about the microbiome. if you have one, it kind of crowds out the others, even if you have the same number of people getting together. so that might certainly be part of it. we know that some of these viruses actually go in 3 to 5 year cycles, and that's part of

that crowding out theory that you have. kristen okay. >> all right. >> so like is there a vaccine for whooping cough. how do you prevent it. >> so it's you can you know, when people get a tetanus shot every ten years, you can ask for one that includes pertussis, not everyone gets a dpt, which includes the p for pertussis. you might just get a diphtheria and tetanus, but it is available. it is approved. not everybody asks for it or gets it. and the reason why adults should get it is that we protect our newborns. we protect the young people because they have much less lung reserve when they get whooping cough. >> okay. okay. >> there's also the parvovirus, a respiratory virus that causes cheeks to get red and rashy almost like looking like agents have been slapped. what's that about? >> so for that virus again, all these viruses, whooping cough, parvovirus, uh- covid, rsv, they're all spread by respiratory droplets and for many of them by contact as well.

so parvovirus is one of those. the big, difference with parvovirus is that it has a lot of effects on pregnant people because it can cause anemia in the fetus. it can cause miscarriages. and that's why, you know, we pay a lot of attention, particularly when pregnant people get parvovirus, and when infants get it, they may have a flu like symptoms and, and get this characteristic rash. adults may get joint problems and pains and immune compromised individuals may get anemia just like that unborn fetus. so you know, very different symptoms for different populations. >> right. so are we seeing a lot of those cases yet in the us right now, >> we are seeing more. again, that's the theme of today compared to during the pandemic. and, so not like a ton more, but just awareness, so that when people have a cold at home, you

know, that adage of stay home when you're sick applies to all of these things because some of these viruses may have consequences to pregnant people, etc. pregnant people should be very careful as they are in general about getting any cold like thing, because it could be one of these, illnesses which can look very similar in the beginning. >> right? right, right. and as you said, there could be in some cases, long term complications. so i also want to touch on just mpox the outbreak more severe variant i understand is going around. right. are we seeing it here. >> we haven't seen it in the us yet. we will probably get a few cases because of global travel. there's already one in sweden, at least one in thailand announced recently. there's a boat outside argentina that's been quarantined because they're worried that somebody has mpox in it with this new variant, i think we just have to be aware it's not a big threat in the united states as yet. and i think the designation as a public health emergency of an

international concern is really to try to nip it in the bud. there have been more than 15,000 cases of this particular variant in africa and 13 countries right now. so we kind of have to do something. >> okay, even if the w.h.o. says right now, this is not the new covid, right. but okay, so since we have less than a minute, just if you could wrap it up by giving us your best doctor's advice on how we head into this fall, especially if you're taking care of the elderly or you have children. but for all of us, i think just be mindful of who is around you, who's in your context, who you live with. >> even though we've kind of been downplaying many of these infections, it can still have consequences for your loved ones. try to get as much protection as possible and, you know, enjoy each other, as much as you can, but try to be as responsible as possible. >> all right. thank you so much, doctor peter chin-hong always great talking with you. >> same here. kristen. >> bye bye. skyrocketing rents coming up. and prosecutors say

an algorithm is to blame. the new fight against the landlord tool that san francisco is already trying to ban. todd

a unified school board is stepping down. laney montgomery says she is resigning for health and personal reasons. mayor london breed appointed her to the school board in 2022. breed appointed former teacher and administrator phil kim to now join the board in muhammad's place. this comes ahead of the school board election in november, and while the district grapples with a financial crisis that will require school closures, the superintendent is expected to reveal the list of schools next month. the justice department and california's attorney general are suing a real estate software company, saying it's helping landlords coordinate rent hikes. the company, realpage, is accused of violating antitrust laws. the justice department and ag bonta

say the website's algorithm illegally shared rent pricing information, allowing landlords to avoid competition and maximize rents. realpage says the doj is scapegoating a technology being used responsibly. last month, san francisco moved forward with a ban on ai based software like realpage. all right, let's take a live look outside. it's a gray friday for much of the bay area. pretty much throughout the bay, right. a cooler than average start to the weekend with some drizzly conditions in your forecast. abc seven news meteorologist drew tuma has a look at how much rain we might get. >> the accuweather headlines we're talking about a cloudy afd some mist and drizzle on the way later this evening and overnight. heading into the weekend, we will bring back the sunshine. those temperatures start to warm up by sunday, and then next week those temperatures are off to the races. the summer sizzle is back. we are going above average, turning hot away from the coast for much of next week.

want to give you an update on tropical storm mona? it's right here. the latest from the national hurricane center winds 45mph, gusting to 60mph. it's moving to the west at 16mph. so what we're looking at is the center of the storm will stay south of the big island through the weekend and early next week, likely strengthening to a category one hurricane. there is a tropical storm. watch out for the big island will likely see anywhere from 5 to 10in of rain in spots, especially on our highest peaks. winds. not a huge issue, 15 to 35mph, but there will be rough surf on south facing beaches. live doppler seven along with satellite. back here at home, a lot of cloud cover. incoming. look at this moisture. live doppler seven is picking up on that. we have drizzle in the forecast throughout the evening and into the overnight hours. so future weather. it's just a cloudy day. get used to the gray skies first thing tomorrow morning. we're picking up on some of that drizzle. you'll begin your saturday with gray skies, but sunshine prevails for the back half of the day and that leads to a bright sunday. looking at

those drizzle estimates, just don't be surprised if you feel a light shower later on this evening or early tomorrow morning. won't add up to much, but it will create some damp pavement out there. today. it's all about the clouds, mainly overcast, temperatures 5 to 15 degrees below average. the mid 60s to the mid 70s. that is about it for our daytime highs overnight tonight. we'll keep the clouds. we'll keep the chance of some spotty drizzle if not a light shower in spots. overnight lows mainly in the upper 50s to the lower 60s. accuweather seven day forecast shows you cloudy and cool with drizzle today. morning clouds giving way to sunshine in the afternoon on saturday. sunday it is a sunny end to the weekend, and it's also a warmer end to the weekend and we'll crank up that heat for much of next week by tuesday, it just feels like summer across the board and will keep those temperatures above average through thursday. on the seven-day forecast. >> all right, that's your forecast. now this family ordered apple juice. so how did their toddler end up drunk the restaurant mix up that ended with an air trip. plus fed up

with mail thieves, one californian used tech to help we have a drug, homelessness, and economic recovery crisis, because the system that's supposed to fix things is the problem. record budgets. fewer officers. business killing bureaucracy. the insiders won't change a system built for their benefit. i'm daniel lurie and san francisco needs a mayor unafraid to take on the status quo, bring accountability, and stop the excuses.

deputies in santa barbara county say a woman was fed up with thefts from her post office box, so she mailed herself a package with an airtag, she reported. when that package was stolen and the sheriff's office used the location information to track down two thieves. investigators found mail from more than a dozen people in their possession. a restaurant in salinas is under investigation after it gave alcohol to a little girl. she ended up in the emergency room instead of apple juice. she was given a cup full of cooking wine. her parents

then noticed their toddler was acting odd. >> she was swaying. she was falling over. she was leaning on the walls. she couldn't hold her head up. she was slurring her words. >> the parents quickly headed to the emergency room. a blood test revealed the child's blood alcohol level was just over 0.1%. for comparison, the legal limit for adult intoxication is less than that at 0.08%. the manager of the restaurant said the incident was a mistake and explained that wine was being stored in an old container labeled apple juice. oh well. the young girl has now fully recovered. thank you so much for joining us. world news tonight with david muir starts right now and i'll see you back here at 4:00. >> linsey: tonight, the race is on. today, former president trump getting the endorsement of rfk