at 5:00, ready to strike. in just a few hours thousands of ride share drivers across the runt are preparing to strike. also, the response from yuber

and lyft. the most harm he's ever had is getting hit by a golf ball when he's sitting in a golf cart. >> ahead, we hear from nikki haley, the final opponent still battling republican front-runner donald trump. her exclusive sit-down with craig melvin. and the new guidance the cdc is expected to roll out and the impact it will have on you. this is "today in the bay." here we go, wednesday morning. 5:00. happy valentine's day to you as well. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. we'll get a look at the commute in just a bit. first, let's talk about this weather that we're tracking. >> rain coming for the afternoon, spreading across the bay area. and there's more ahead. so we do have a few more hours to at least have a dry morning commute, but then as we go throughout the day, the rain will be rolling in. we'll also see some gusty winds at times. and then as we go into the day

tomorrow, there will be a brief break, a couple of spotty showers here and there. for the weekend, we will have an atmospheric river coming in, as well as gusty winds, and also the potential of flooding. taking a look at our current temperature right now, it is 49 in oakland and in san francisco, it is 51 in san jose, and 46 in livermore. here is a look at our high temperatures for the afternoon. very much like yesterday, not much of a change. even though we are going to see a lot more clouds coming in. we'll be tracking rain coming in with an hour-by-hour forecast. mike, a couple of reasons to slow down. >> one is the mist. it is showing a little glow as we look at the golden gate bridge. slicker conditions possible as the height rain has come in in a few spots around the bay. not enough to show on the road weather index. not on this map. what does show up is the slowing. another reason why you're going to slow is because of this work zone, westbound highway 4. it looks like they may be clearing right now. there is a crew just past willow

pass road. it's starting to move better. everything else is moving nicely. again, the road weather index, the green highlighting showing up in a couple of patches. i'll check out the new crash that shows up around the san mateo bridge toll plaza. 5:02 right now. happening today, thousands of ride share drivers are expected to go on strike in a push for better pay. "today in the bay"'s bob redell joins us live from the east bay. what kind of impact do you think we'll see in the bay area? >> reporter: it is not clear yet, laura. good morning to you. the coalition behind today's strike says its drivers will not provide rides between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in ten u.s. cities, it will be at airports. none of those cities are here in the bay area. all of them are on the east coast and midwest or in texas. the coalition tells us it's possible some bay area areas could go on strike. the justice for app workers

coalition, which represents about 130,000 drivers for uber, lyft and doordash, says they are striking today in an effort to get better pay. according to gridwise, which analyzes gig mobility data, uber drivers' monthly gross earnings fell about 17% in 2023, while lyft's monthly average, they went up 2.5%. in a statement, uber said, in part, quote, these types of events have rarely had any impact on trips, pricing or driver availability, and we expect the same today. that's because the vast majority of drivers are satisfied, earnings remain strong. as of last quarter, drivers in the u.s. were making about $33 per utilized hour. we also continue to act on driver feedback, adding new safety features to the app and improving our account deactivation processes. uber does not expect any impact from the strike.

lyft said in part, quote, we are constantly working to improve the driver experience, which is why just this month we released a series of new offers and commitments aimed at increasing driver pay and transparency. this includes a new earnings commitment and an improved deactivation appeals process. now drivers will always make at least 70% of the weekly rider fares after external fees, part of our customer obsessed focus on drivers. as independent contractors, drivers don't have all the same protections as full-time employees, including federal and state protections around organizing a union and work stoppage. it's also common for gig workers to have their acts deactivated without explanation. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> we'll follow how today goes. thanks, bob. turning now to decision 2024, and a sit-down you will only see on nbc. gop presidential contender nikki haley sitting down for an exclusive interview with the

"today" show. at this point, polls show former president trump will clinch the gop nomination, but with the south carolina primary just ten days away, haley, the state's former governor, is looking to gain ground. "today in the bay"'s brie jackson is live in washington. what is haley saying about her campaign? >> reporter: good morning, marcus. so nikki haley says her campaign is getting through to independents, republicans, reagan democrats and voters who, quote, want the anger to stop. a key point of this one-on-one with "today" show's craig melvin were recent remarks made by trump a at a rally over the weekend, where he questioned the whereabouts of haley's question in a mocking way. he's in the national guard and is at a year-long deployment in africa. the former u.n. ambassador says trump is no longer qualified to be president. >> if you don't know the value

of our men and women in uniform, if you don't know the sacrifice that they go through, why should i as a military spouse and all our military families trust you to know you're going to keep them out of harm's way? the reality is, he's never been anywhere near a military uniform, he's never had to sleep on the ground, he's never known how to sacrifice, and the most harm he's ever possibly had is getting hit by a golf ball when he's sitting in a golf cart. that's the truth. >> melvin also questioned haley about her willingness to support trump if he becomes the eventual gop nominee, even if he is convicted of crimes. she says that america will not elect a convicted criminal. haley admits she has to do better than the 43% gop voter support she received in the new hampshire primary when it comes to the south carolina primary later this month, and she says even if she does not do that well, she still does not plan to drop out of the race. >> looks like she's not holding

back. thank you so much, brie. you can watch the full interview with former u.n. ambassador and gop presidential candidate nikki haley coming up after "today in the bay." that's straight ahead on the "today" show at 7:00 this morning. 5:07 right now. illegal border crossings plummeted last month according to u.s. customs and border protection. the agency says they're down 50% because of winter weather. the number of people illegally crossing from mexico is expected to rise in the spring. the new numbers come after congress impeached homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas on charges of willfully not enforcing border laws. the immigration is at a record high under president biden's administration. the cdc may be look to go scale back on covid guidelines starting this spring. the agency is expected to recommend people no longer need to isolate once they have been fever free for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild or

improving. currently, the cdc says people should isolate for at least five days if they test positive. the potential change was first reported by the "washington post." ahead in our streaming newscast at 7:00 this morning, we will talk to a doctor, peter chin-hong, about the covid restrictions, where cases stand and what researchers are now learning about long covid. to a live look in downtown san jose on this wednesday morning. that's where, happening today, mayor matt mahan will lay out a new plan to expand efforts to crack down on retail crime. in early 2022, leaders first rolled out the sj cam program to boost the use of shared surveillance. the new pilot effort will work in conjunction with that program. this is called the capture crime. it focuses on commercial and business centers. today's unveiling gets under way a little after 10:00 this morning. ahead of the next storm, you can walk down the pacifica peer.

pier. it looks like there are more crew members, people working. the city will reopen half of the main deck later today. the pier has been shut down since late december after being pounded by strong waves and storms. the closure has been impacting businesses that really rely on visitors. now we want to check in with meteorologist kari hall, because we know you were telling us storms are moving our way. that rain we're talking about, is it going to be as heavy as wave seen in recent weeks? >> it's going to be very light. quick moving. we're going to see the storm in and out of here. the fishermen are already on the pier waiting for it to open. we are going to see the seas getting a little more churned up compared to recently. as of now, things are fairly quiet as we get light showers ahead of the cold front that's going to be moving in. we'll start to see the rain in the north bay around 9:00 to 10:00. as we go throughout the late morning into the afternoon, it

really picks up in intensity and continues to make its way across the bay area. some of us may not see it until later on this afternoon, into the evening, and then some lingering isolated showers later tonight. but this looks to be in and out of here fairly quickly. we do have two bigger storms on the way. i'll have more on that in a few minutes. mike has been checking out where we can find lower gas prices. >> over here, yesterday we talked a lot about vallejo with some great prices. today concord dominates the best in the bay area, $3.65 at the valero on willow pass road. in the middle here, the south bay, sunnyvale is good with $3.77 at great gas on north matilda avenue. in the north bay, larkspur just under 4 bucks, so $3.99, cash payers, marin gas on magnolia avenue. this is information on gasbuddy.com. on the roadways, we have information on the crash just away from the san mateo bridge toll plaza. it's eastbound, getting off of

the bridge heading over from the peninsula, so counter-commute. we have a light commute right now. as best i can tell, it's out of lanes but chp doesn't have a lot of information on the log. the headlights, there may be a set of flashing lights on the hayward side. things are moving slowly right now and rain is coming later. >> thanks, mike. a flower on the most important day is not ideal. ahead on "today in the bay," consumer investigator chris chmura responds to viewers whose flower purchases turned thorny. flower purchases turned thorny. if you haven't got a

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microclimate weather, certified most accurate by weatherate. >> good wednesday morning. the time is 5:14. let's get a look at our morning planner for martinez. it's going to be in the upper 40s as you head out, mostly cloudy. the clouds will linger and eventually the rain will come in. here it will be around 11:00 to 12:00, picking up for the afternoon into the evening commute. we'll talk more about how much rain we're expecting and what's ahead for your weekend in a few minutes. so all dry right now, as we said, at the san mateo bridge. you missed the traffic break during the commercial break and now we're back to normal. on the span there may be activity as chp has arrived, eastbound 92 at the toll plaza. everything seems like it's open. we're going to monitor for the next few minutes to make sure it

clears. we'll check back. good morning. happy valentine's day to you. wall street with a lot of valentine red. a big sell-off after the latest inflation numbers showed prices rising a little more than expected. now, look out for all the inflation news, we'll talk about it in politics when we do that in a half an hour. in the meantime, i did look around, looking for some kind of stocks that had a valentine's day related sort of thing to it. love is southwest airlines. that's all i could find. i kept looking around. that seemed appropriate. i looked for hugs and kisses, no such symbols on the american market. so we'll have to settle for lyft. that company's stock jumped a bit after a typo in its financial returns led investors to think the company had made more money than it had. it got corrected, but by then investors had already bought in. we do, unfortunately, have to talk about cisco.

the company reports after the markets close this afternoon. predictions have been thousands of jobs are on the line. a reuters report responsible for that. cisco based in san jose. we do expect a lot of the cuts would come from there, but it's hard to actually say where the workers are. i mean, so many of them work remotely these days. on a much smaller scale, instacart also laying off 250 employees, buying back a half a billion dollars worth of stock, which i'm sure many of those employees wonder if they could have better spent them on keeping them. take a look at these faces. see anybody you might be interested in dating? you can date any of them or all of them, for that matter, because they're not real. they're created by ai, a company called nomi. they make artificial companions that you can text and interact with on your phone like they're a real person. a couple other companies have tried this. there's one called replica. nomi says it's better moss the

companion you choose will remember what you said. for instance, if you tell them they're going on a hike today, you had mentioned you had a dog a week ago, he or she might suggest you take sparky with you. >> the memory is such a critical part of any sort of human relationship and it's no different on the companion side of things. building a relationship is in many ways building shared values. >> here it is in action. the app picked a friend for me. she's too young for me. i didn't do that, laura. we ended up having a conversation about industrial ai use and failure prediction, which was not very romantic. but if you want to get romantic, the company says that's kind of the point. your relationship is whatever you want it to be. i mean, whatever you want it to be. >> companionship should cover everything, and a censored ai is one that you can't fully open up to. so what you do in the privacy of your home is your business and we're not here to interfere with that in any way.

>> nor do they read it in any way. so your boyfriend or girlfriend. it is interesting to think how often you text people you know and don't see them, yet you still have a relationship with them. and this is sort of that fuzzy in between. he did say, you know, the spicy side aside, he said it's really growing with elderly people. >> i was thinking about that, the loneliness factor. it's really important to have friends. >> the thing about it on the romantic side of it, once you get to a certain point in this conversation, you want to meet. you want to touch. >> it's a computer. >> i'm sure they're working on it. >> there's a fee for the extras sort of thing, but it's free. >> what's your girlfriend's name? >> i think it's michaela. >> we've got to work on it. >> what's funny is i don't know my real girlfriend's phone number. i never dial it. >> exactly.

>> you better get it in case of an emergency. >> thanks, scott. this day of love, overlooking san francisco, also ash wednesday today. a lot going on, including another storm headed in, kari. >> so we are going to see things changing very quickly as we go into the late morning, into the afternoon. and temperatures are about the same that we've seen throughout much of the week, starting out in the 40s and even low 50s. san jose at 51 degrees. we're at 49 in oakland. and then as we go into the morning, the system will be dropping in, bringing yet another round of rain. but we're not expecting this to cause any major problems. so that's the good thing about it. it's going to be in and out quickly. and then we'll go back to a brief break in the activity before more storms come in for the weekend. stormranger is showing light showers moving through from marin county to the coastline,

and that's about what we'll see, at least in the near term. then at 9:00 to 10:00, we'll see that rain coming into the north bay, starting to pick up in intensity as we go toward noon into 1:00, and then you see the oranges, the yellows and reds showing heavier rainfall. that's right at about 2:30, moving into san francisco, up toward napa, and continuing to make its way into the east bay by 4:00 to 5:00, and then later on tonight it starts to gradually break up and then taper off. we're going to start out tomorrow morning dry, but also still the wetness, the dampness left behind after this rainfall. so we're looking at anywhere from about a quarter to about three-tenths of an inch of rainfall for most of us. it may be higher farther to the north. that's round one of the rain. we talked about more storms coming in. the next one arrives late friday and throughout the day on saturday. looks pretty soggy. there may be a brief break on sunday before the next round comes in late sunday evening and

continues into monday. both of these weather systems has a potential of tapping into subtropical moisture, making it an atmospheric river. so we are going to see also the sierra getting a decent amount of snow. the first round, the cold front we'll see today will bring us will 7 to possibly 20 inches of snow, and that's before the weekend. after the weekend, into early next week in total, we could see potentially 44 inches of rain for kingvale -- or snow, i should say, 44 inches of snow going into the presidents' day weekend. so if you do have travel plans, heads up that it's going to be really hard to get there. looking at our seven-day forecast, temperatures hold steady with some low 60s. our rain will be off and on into at least next tuesday. mike, did the san mateo bridge clear up? >> it cleared up after the first traffic break. whatever crash happened, there were no injuries. clear from the eastbound direction. westbound commute easy. so is 880 feeding into the area

for now. we're looking at a smooth drive throughout most of the east bay. highway 37, just one or two blips going on. the commute is building. this is not necessarily the commute. this is also the area where we had that construction crew causing more slowing from early this morning. so there may still be some distraction. there is a commute building coming from bailey road out of bay point into concord. vasco road, we also have a disabled vehicle, so watch for that on the shoulder. back to you. it is 5:22 right now. coming up next, nbc bay area responds. >> millions of flowers are in transit to lovebirds, which means some flower complaints are probably en route to our responds team. i'm consumer investigatorhris c

good morning. we've been taking your complaints almost eight years now, and i'm happy to report we don't hear from many heartbroken viewers with flower problems, even though flowers are the number three valentine's day gift behind candy and cards. still, folks like diana and victor and karen, all told us about flower failures. the most memorable, jennifer in san jose. a florist advertised that bouquet and then delivered that limp arrangement. we hoped jennifer get a $70

refund. what if your flowers aren't lovely? speak up. flowers are expensive. refunds and redeliveries are on the table. we found some florists guaranteeing 100% quality and satisfaction. your satisfaction with your cut roses, by the way, should extend longer than a week after delivery. the agriculture pros at uc davis say when roses are properly handled, most commercially cut roses will easily last in the vase ten days. so what does properly handled mean? pro flowers and 1-800 flowers recommend you cut an anch or so off the stems at a 45-degree angle, remove wilting buds or leaves and place them in a clean vase with luke warm water and swap the water every day or so, or asap if the water is cloudy. if you're away from home longer than a day, pro flowers says you can put your flowers in the

refrigerator, like many florists do, to extend their life. we hope your flowers are beautiful. if not, let us know. scan the qr code to fill out our consumer complaint form online. i can buy myself flowers, but will i want to? up ahead, we're talking last-minute prices for valentine's day flowers and new trends for this year's valentine's day .

right now at 5:30, a dangerous stunt turns deadly. the new warning for families following the recent deaths of two teenagers who each died surfing b.a.r.t. trains, and the desperate message some hope social media companies will hear. and moving you forward into more affordability in the east bay. one community votes on rent control and also eviction protections, but what does it mean for the landlords providing the housing? i have that. also, a live look outside this morning where rain is set to return today. meteorologist kari hall has an update on the timeline on when a wet valentine's day forecast will start. this is "today in the bay." rain, rain, go away. love, stay here today. >> look at you rhyming this morning. >> good morning to you all. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. let's start with a look at that

forecast. meteorologist kari hall is tracking what we can expect with the storm moving into the bay area. >> how about roses are red, the radar is green? i don't know. >> i like where you're going. >> so let's get started this morning with a look at our valentine's day forecast. we are expecting some rain to come back, and it's going to get a little gusty at times later this afternoon. tomorrow there will be a brief break with a few spotty showers, but then for the weekend we'll be prepping for possibly two atmospheric rivers coming in. we're starting out with some light rain here and there for marin county to the coastline, and it's going to start out with sprinkles. the heavier stuff coming in later this morning into the afternoon, starting first in the north bay and then making its way across the bay area as we go into the evening commute. so we are going to have a soggy valentine's day evening, but then we'll take a break. we'll talk more about that. mike, you're watching the changes coming out of richmond.

>> over here, what do you call those, clouds? that's your department. anyway, they're moving around, as she's been talking about. not here yet. the traffic, that's my department, that's also been building. saw a lot more lights over the last few minutes than earlier this morning. no slowing yet at this part of the bay. we cross 580, no slowing out of richmond. we have slowing at the top out of vallejo, highway 34 into concord, much more slowing and a slowdown on the incline. metering lights should be turned on any second at the bay bridge. a new crash reported 580 at greenville. chp should arrive shortly. we'll follow up. back to you. >> thank you. making it in the bay will likely soon become a little easier for struggling renters in concord. in a late-night vote leaders passed a new rent control ordinance. >> the vote was far from unanimous and the reaction inside city hall got so rowdy that some people were asked to leave. "today in the bay"'s kris sanchez is here with a closer

look at what this new rule will mean for renters as well as those landlords. >> housing obviously is a very passionate issue and in concord this rent control ordinance has the potential of impacting tens of thousands of people, renters and landlords alike. here is the moment when that ordinance passed. >> if this ordinance were to pass tonight, it would mean housing stability for tens of thousands of renters across the city. >> for most of our housing providers that have been in an eviction moratorium with a lot of restrictions over the last three plus years, they've been faced with trying to recover from that period, and so a lot of restrictions, a lot of caps to how much they could raise rent during that period are pretty significant. >> those two folks were talking to us ahead of the vote. the rallies before the city council meeting were pretty lively, as that vote represents years of back and forth on rent

increases, not just because of the pandemic. now, this is now capped, rent is capped between 5% and 10%. it is dependent on people's income. it is dependent on what the county has to say. there's a state law. so it is a very complicated issue there. this applies to multi-unit rental facilities. so if you have a home that you rent, this doesn't affect you. if you have an apartment complex, duplex, that will affect you. but only on units that were built before 1995. there's also more action on just cause evictions, and landlords who evict their tenants through no fault of the tenant, so if the tenant does nothing wrong, the landlord might have to eat the cost of moving those tenants elsewhere. it's complicated. it went super late into the night. we'll most more details on nbcbayarea.com. >> sounds good. well, in an aboutface from santa clara county's district attorney, who is now planning to dismiss multiple criminal

cases -- >> before we get to that, let's go to this story. social media is being called out for the second death in two weeks, tied to an alarming stunt going on in san francisco. for the second time in two weeks, a teenager has been killed while surfing atop of a b.a.r.t. train. both deaths happened along the same stretch between balboa and daly city stations. the latest case, a 15-year-old boy died sunday after falling from the train. the video includes footage he actually posted prior to his death. some are now calling for social media outlets to take down all video glorifying train surfing. san francisco supervisor is also recommending parents talk to their children and friends to talk to each other about the obvious dangers. >> i think trying to raise awareness among san franciscans that kids are doing this and it is very dangerous and it is killing people. >> now, in the other case, a

19-year-old fell to death on january 29th. b.a.r.t. is also looking at ways to make it more difficult to scale its train cars' exteriors. an aboutface from santa clara county's district attorney, planning to dismiss multiple criminal cases he believes have been taint bid an ongoing racist text investigation. robert handa first broke the story last fall. officer mark mcnamara was terminated when racist and homophobic texts surfaced, which prompted the d.a.'s office to review 54 cases in which he was listed as an involved officer through testimony or evidence. prosecutors previously dismissed 13 cases prior to the review. now another five are expected to be dismissed. all involving misdemeanor drug convictions. the other 36 cases will remain active. in a letter to the public defender's office, d.a. rosen

concludes, while the investigation is ongoing concerning further potential text messages, we have learned enough already to conclude that he is a bigoted man, a disgrace to public service, and we do not trust him. alphabet, waymo is updating its self-driving software as part of a voluntary recall. the move follows two recent incidents in phoenix when two waymo robotaxis crashed into the same towed pickup truck within minutes. both cars were empty. no one is injured. the software is said to better detect the motion of a towed vehicle and it marks their first ever recall. self-driving cars are facing intense scrutiny. yesterday san mateo supervisors took a step to try to limit expansion. supervisors supported a resolution that would give local jurisdictions a say in allowing the taxis to operate. the cpuc currently has sole

authority. the final rush in what many call the super bowl for the flower industry. >> in case you forget, today the valentine's day, and right about now a lot of people are probably still trying to get flowers on their to-do list. "today in the bay"'s ginger conejero saab is live for us this morning at the flower mart in san francisco. ginger, we're guessing it is pretty busy. they're getting ready to get all the arrangements together. >> reporter: well, that's funny that you mentioned, marcus, people waking up this morning probably thinking, oh, no, i haven't bought flowers or done anything for valentine's day. we've got you covered. we are here at the flower mart in san francisco, and we're going to talk about trends, prices, all those things you want to know for valentine's day. raul is going to break it down for us. really, i've been noticing that there's different colors here in the spread. let's talk about the new trends for this year's valentine's day. >> that is correct. pink, it's been the surprise for this valentine's.

the pink colors are very popular. surprisingly, traditional is red, and it's still a trend, the red roses, of course. but pink have been one of the biggest color sales this valentine's. >> reporter: we're looking at some of those pink flowers. talk to us about how much a dozen pink roses are going to set you back or even the other kind of special premium flowers. >> we're wholesale. most of our bunches are 25 stems in the pack, and prices could range from $35 up to $45, depending on the size and the color of the roses. some of the roses, you can find them from $15 up to $18 a bunch. the other premium, this was the hottest item on valentine's, it's italian, we've completely

sold out on this beautiful flower. like i said, pink is becoming the color for this valentine's day. >> reporter: we're going to hear more about what the flower industry here, the local flower industry has kind of been experiencing, with the rains and weather and how that's impacted it. we'll talk about that in the next hour. thank you so much for joining us. we'll have more from the flower mart. you do still have time. the flower mart is open to the general public by 8:00 this morning. to this is one of those special days where you can kind of walk in, grab your last-minute flowers and have a nice start to your valentine's day. i'll send it back to you. >> i bet it smells wonderful in there. >> i know a lot of guys are very happy for a place like that. >> today is the day. all right, for the valentine's day forecast, maybe going out to dinner later, take an umbrella. >> cuddle up. it's going to be cool and also rainy. so, i don't know -- >> ladies, what are you going to

do with that hair? >> now we're starting out with temperatures in the upper 40s, and we're at 51 right now in san jose. one of the warmer spots. it is a little bit milder now that we're getting these clouds coming in. the rain still well to the north of us. it will be arriving by the next few hours, and the north bay is going to be sooner with a few light spotty showers at 8:00. at noon, the rain is picking up and it just continues throughout much of the afternoon. gradually tapering off around 6:00 to 7:00 in the north bay. all of the bay area we'll see that rain at some point with gusty winds that could be at about 15 to 20 miles per hour, a little higher near the coast. we'll take a break before more rain comes in this weekend. mike, you were saying the slowing has started in san jose. >> this is not a surprise. we know this pattern in the south bay, about this time we see that first burst of traffic. slow through this section. it will clear up in about 20 minutes. maybe 25 minutes. this we don't anticipate, but we got notified there's going to be

landscape work today and tomorrow between 9:30 and 4:00 p.m. the rain might come in a little earlier and they might have to clear it. this is one lane of north 17 around redwood estates. watch for them, slow as the signs ask for. this is postponed because of rain this weekend. kari talks about it coming in friday again. southbound 680 will not close. they're going to reschedule that and we don't know when. they'll let us know when the next three-day weekend happens. the warriors are playing tonight, home after a long road trip, they're just having the game at 7:00 p.m. go warriors. they'll hit the road again. let's send them off with good support. coming into the city, we predict a backup that happens right now with the metering lights on for a few minutes. we have backup filling in to about mid parking lot. >> thanks, mike. understanding the struggles of the trans community. coming up, a closer look at the difficulties some face and the hurdles that keep many from prospering.

plus, chaos continues at the capitol. nikki haley is speaking out against donald trump as well. all ahead in politics. and a hartfelt tribute to a legend. the one of a kind honor for the late tony bennett tha

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i'm peter dixon and in kenya... we built a hospital that provides maternal care. as a marine... we fought against the taliban and their crimes against women. and in hillary clinton's state department... we took on gender-based violence in the congo. now extremists are banning abortion and contraception right here at home. so, i'm running for congress to help stop them. for your family... and mine. i approved this message because this is who we are. with the freestyle libre 3 system... know your glucose levels no fingersticks needed. all with the world's smallest and thinnest sensor. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c. try it for free at freestylelibre.us. good wednesday morning. it is now 5:46. let's get a look at our day planner for morgan hill where we're going to see most of the

morning stay cloudy, temperatures going from upper 40s to upper 50s today. and the rain arrives around 2:00, but gets heavier from 4:00 to 6:00 this evening. i'm tracking this for all of our microclimates. we'll talk about what to expect with our weekend storms in a few minutes. we're looking ahead. we're looking at the flashing lights i just spotted right there. looks like everything is off to the shoulder, southbound 880 as you approach the tesla plant on the other side of the freeway. a smooth drive into the south bay. there may be another issue near the bay bridge. history made. the house has impeached one of president biden's cabinet members. >> scott mcgrew is here right now. alejandro mayorkas becomes just the second cabinet member in history to face impeachment. >> exactly right. the other was back in 1876. the big difference between then and now is congress levelled specific accusations of crimes

against president grant's secretary of war. mayorkas, a much thinner set of accusations. it was the second time republican-led congress tried to impeach mayorkas on vague charges of not carrying out policy. the yeses won by a single vote, thanks to republican steve scalise showing up from cancer treatments, and two democrats mia, including one in california. now, remember when someone is impeached, it means they're accused. it's the senate that decides their guilt. it's unlikely the senate will even hold a vote on this. so mayorkas' job is secure. remember, at the same time, republican leadership in the house is accusing mayorkas of dithering on border security, the same republican leadership told the senate it would not consider a brand new border bill that would have solved many of the problems it's complaining about, a bill written by fellow republicans. the house doesn't look look it's

going to pass any bill. it tried to fund the defense of israel on its own. that bill failed. leadership has indicated it won't introduce a bill to fund israel, ukraine and taiwan passed by the senate, leaving president biden calling the whole affair dumb and shameful. >> no other president in our history has ever bowed down to a russian dictator. let me say this as clearly as i can, i never will. for god's sake, it's dumb, it's shameful, it's dangerous, it's un-american. >> you may recall over the weekend donald trump made fun of nikki haley's husband, asking where he was as his wife campaigned. he was missing, he said. nikki haley's husband is deployed in the horn of africa and this morning on "today" nikki haley is calling trump out. >> you said he's no longer qualified to be president. >> if you don't know the value of our men and women in uniform, if you don't know the sacrifice that they go through, why should

i as a military spouse and all our military families trust you to know you're going to keep them out of harm's way? if you are saying you're going to side with putin, then i know it's going to cause a war, not stop a war, why would any military family feel like you could go and keep our men and women protected? >> haley will be on the "today" show at 7:00. craig will challenge her on her promise to support trump if he's the nominee. >> thanks so much, scott. well, new this morning, the national center of transgender equality is releasing the largest ever survey of its kind examining the experiences and challenges faced by 92,000 trans people. more than one-third say that they have experienced poverty when that survey was conducted back in 2022. and that's when the national average of poverty was much lower at about 11%. trans people experienced unemployment at a rate of 18% at

that point, as opposed to less than 8% nationally. the survey director says with new legislation specifically working trans people, the numbers have some very important takeaways. >> we should start listening to trans people's stories, learning from their experience and lifting up their voices. trans people are people like all human beings. trans people want nothing more and deserve nothing less than to be treated with compassion, kindness and love. >> now, the study does have more hopeful findings. about 94% say they became more satisfied with life after transitioning their gender, and just 3% say that they were less satisfied. there's no better day than valentine's day to leave your heart in san francisco, and that's probably what city leaders will be doing this morning as part of a heartfelt dedication. mayor breed will be on hand for a cable car unveiling event to honor the late great tony bennett. it takes place outside the

fairmont hotel at california street. the street was we named for him back in 2018. the beloved crooner died last summer at the age of 96. quite the legacy. trending this morning, scrabble players now have a few more options, as in 1,700 new words just added to dictionary.com. >> here are a few of the favorites. mid, bussin, the ick, pretty privilege, energy poverty, today's word of the day, bed rotting. i'm not sure what that means. that's a noun meaning the practice of spending an abnormal amount of time in the bed, often with snacks or electric devices to escape increased activity or stress. interesting. i do that quite often. the site says the new words reflect things like new online trends, health and well-being, social issues, anxieties over

climate change, and the economy. >> so bed rotting replaced vegging out? >> i guess, or being lazy. >> can't use that now because veggies are good. we don't want to give a bad rap to the veggies. is the weather bussin today? >> if you're taking b.a.r.t. or driving, watch out. i'll handle that afterwards. >> let's get started on this valentine's day. we're going to see a lot of changes as we go into the late morning, into the afternoon. our temperatures will be in the mid-40s as you head out the door in dublin. it's in the low 50s elsewhere. a fairly cool start but don't forget the umbrella. we're going to see rain coming in later this morning, into the afternoon. right now it's still well to the north of us. as we get a closer look with our

mobile doppler radar, light showers starting in marin county, near the coastline. we're going to see the heavier rain picking up by about noon. in the north bay, we're seeing light rain. picking up at 1:00 to 2:00, with some heavier downpours and gusty winds. the rain will continue to spread across the bay area, and by the evening commute it's raining pretty hard for most areas, but then tapering off later tonight. and then for tomorrow into friday, we're going to have a brief break, but we're looking at a quarter to half inch of rainfall for most of us. it could be as high as one inch of rainfall for ben lomond. into the weekend, two storm systems friday into saturday, another monday into tuesday. in total, we could see about 4 to 8 inches of rainfall in the coastal mountains and 2 to 4 inches for the bay. winds could gust 45 miles per hour, which would bring down trees and cause more power

issues. also, with all of that heavy rain, we may once again have to worry about some flooding possible. so we do have three storm systems coming in. the first one today is going to be fairly weak. and then the next two will tap into some subtropical moisture, being enhanced by an atmospheric river. and that will drive in some heavier rainfall and some very high winds at times. and, of course, with this being a presidents' day weekend, some people may be heading out of town. you may have some plans outside. just a heads up that it's going to be really tough to get around, with the waves of rain that we'll see. now, there will be some breaks and it looks like that break will be on sunday morning. but the rain will be returning sunday evening into presidents' day and continuing into tuesday. not much of a change in temperatures. it's holding steady in the upper 50s to low 60s for highs. mike, you were looking at something at the bay bridge. >> over the last 20 minutes a lot was going on. the reports here, we widened out the camera and did see flashing

lights as you're approaching the bay bridge toll plaza. see how the lanes funnel out toward the area and then back in, narrowing as you hit the span for the bridge? that's one of the reasons there's slowing. there was a fire right here approaching the toll plaza, and then from the toll plaza camera, you can see that it is just off of the over-crossing. folks pretty much can't see it anymore, most of the flashing lights cleared over the last few minutes. so there is a backup at the bay bridge toll plaza. it started to clear a little. the speed sensors are fine off the berkeley curve once again. typical slowing at the bay bridge, highway 37 and highway 4. pushing down to 242, there may be a crash on surface streets, and the martinez area. i'll let you know if it's a major impact to folks in the local area. slowing out of the altamont pass, the crash still reported at greenville on the shoulder now. no problem for the dublin interchange. the south bay we have slowing for north 101, pretty typical. then in the north bay we're looking at some possible slowing as there was some mist and a

little bit of drizzle and possibly slick roadways. just use caution. kari's changes are still ahead. >> thanks, mike. happening now, valentine's day this year is intersecting with an important day in the catholic faith. today is ash wednesday, the first day of lent. that's a 40-day season of prayer, fasting and giving leading up to easter sunday. so over that time many observing catholics will choose something to give up, oftentimes it's something like meat, maybe smoking or alcohol. some catholics may also fast today or have an ash mark cross on their forehead. going on strike. ahead at 6:00 on "today in the bay," a live report on the thousands of rideshare workers set to walk off the job. the demands they're making and what you need to know if you're trying to catch a ride. plus, back open. the relief for one bay area pier shuttered by recent winter storms. a reminder, nbc bay area streams 24/7. you can watch us whenever you

like on roku or other streaming platforms. platforms. a lot more new

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ visit your volvo car retailer for special offers during our presidents' day sales event.