i'm raj mathai. next on "nbc bay area news tonight," the slow and painful divorce. we have inside information about today's negotiations between the a's and the city of oakland. it's not just about the coliseum. also, more storms coming this weekend. we've got an early look at the timeline. plus, it's where you go when it's a matter of life or death. one of the south bay's only trauma centers is closing. so what does that mean for patients?

and a beloved water park may be saved. the tentative deal that would keep raging waters flowing. good evening. this is "nbc bay area news tonight." i'm raj mathai. we begin with that new information about the city of oakland and its negotiations with the a's to keep them in oakland, at least for a few more years. this is painful for a's fans, negotiating this divorce in slow motion essentially. late today, we talked to a's president, dave kaval, and we have heard from the city of oakland as well about today's big meeting between the two sides. they haven't talked since the a's announced they're bolting for vegas. who was in the room where it happened? this is the negotiating team.

so what's at stake? bottom line, the a's need a place to play. their lease at the coliseum expires after this season, and their vegas ballpark won't be ready until 2028 at least. so both sides are trying to work out a deal for the 2025, '26, and '27 seasons. both sides tell us the talks today were positive. former a's executive andy dolich says, though, we've been down this road before. >> they said they had a positive meeting. we have heard that so many times for so many different locations, and the gut punch to oakland and its millions and millions of fans is that they're still focused on a new domed or retractible dome stadium in las vegas in 2028. >> yeah, more on that las vegas situation in a moment. now, one of the proposeles on the table today, the a's said they're willing to share the oakland coliseum with the oakland roots and soul.

those are the two soccer teams in town. currently the roots play at cal state east bay. the a's are negotiating with the african american sports and entertainment group, who wants to buy the a's half of the coliseum site. the a's own 50% of the site. they bought it for $85 million. it might be a good move for john fisher, the owner, to sell to a local group and part ways altogether with oakland. now, one of the big sticking points for oakland is the a's name and a future expansion team. mayor thao has repeatedly told me they want something significant in return for extending the lease at the coliseum. however, those two deal points are not within the a's power. that's up to ron manfred. the city of oakland is meeting with the commissioner separately according to a's president dave kaval. it would be manfred's decision along with owners whether to allow the a's name to stay in

oakland and whether to award an mlb expansion team to oakland. both of those options, though, are unlikely. so where are we now with that a's ballpark site in las vegas? i was there last week at the tropicana hotel right on the strip. it's going to close in april. kaval tells me they want to begin demolition of this site this fall and start construction next year. as for the ballpark renderings and financing plans, still nothing from the a's. but the team could release the renderings to the public as early as next month. all this is happening as oakland's new independent baseball team is announcing its new home. the oakland b's, the ballers, are moving to west oakland. the site has a lot of history but also needs a lot of love. that story coming up in ten minutes. some other headlines we're watching tonight. a fight at a high school basketball game on the peninsula. players, students, and parents sadly getting involved. one adult was arrested.

another one could face charges. it happened tuesday night at a game in palo alto between the host school and wilcox high of santa clara. palo alto police say after a tense overtime win by gunn, some of the students got into an argument with wilcox players. then some parents began pushing each other. when one woman pulled out her cell phone to start recording, another woman pushed her to the ground. she was cited for misdemeanor battery. police say a man may also face a similar charge. people we talked to today excused the students essentially but not the parents. >> incidents are going to erupt like that. we see that all up and down from little kids to professionals. but for parents at that age, i think they have to learn to let the kids -- you know, let the administrators, the coaches, the kids take care of it. >> the santa clara unified school district issued a statement saying, quote, the district and school are aware of the incident in the videos. the conduct of the adults, especially, is disappointing.

we are still investigating this matter. palo alto unified district is also reviewing this incident. also tonight, a brief break from the rain. you're looking at the bay bridge here from our bay bridge camera. dry and not too cloudy, but that's about to change. more storms are headed our way. look at that. our radar is going to light up in the next several days. those storms are going to arrive for the holiday weekend. our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri is tracking it all. jeff's going to join us a bit later with the timeline of each round of the rain. le with, here's something to celebrate. it looks like a popular water park in the south bay will be saved. we're talking about raging waters in san jose. the former owners abruptly announced last year that the water park would close. but san jose city leaders say they've worked out a tentative deal to reopen it this summer. that's a few months from now. this agreement is with a new operator, california dreaming entertainment. they've agreed to short-lease

through next summer while the city works on a longer, more robust deal. some city leaders say this push to save raging waters is personal. >> in fact, in eighth grade, that's where we took our eighth grade trip, hanging out with friends, hanging out at the wave pool. >> joining us now is nbc's damian trujillo. you've been in this area for decades. why is this place so special? >> reporter: well, it's like a landmark for east san jose, just like almaden valley has almaden lake. the rose garden has the rose garden. east san jose has raging waters. so it's been a landmark in this area. it's been a boom for the economy here because it requires jobs. also the visitors frequent the restaurants and the shops around the east side of san jose, so it's a really big deal, not to mention my kids took field trips as well to raging waters in school. so it's a big deal for the young and the old. >> what do we know about this new operator? is this all above board? >> reporter: yeah. you know, it's a company that

owns a similar park in sacramento. and so the plan is for them to kind of lease it for a short term, for two summers. then after that, the city wants to work out a long-term deal, maybe a 20-year deal either with this company or one other company that can take its place because they said they were just abruptly hit when the last company bailed out on it. this gives them a year and a half to kind of plan ahead and see what might be next in the future. >> this is an old facility. they're only in town, this new company, for perhaps one or two summers. are they going to upgrade it? is the property okay? >> $6 million is what they promise to invest between now and this summer. they're going to refurbish the slides. they're going to do some landscaping and add a wine garden as well. so the city says the company is committed to making sure that this is a viable place, a place where people want to go to

visit. >> you know i got to ask this. could this deal fall apart? >> reporter: well, you know, the city council to vote against it at the end of february. but it's highly unlikely. this is a highly touted place, a venue in east san jose. anything can happen, but my gut tells me the city is going to approve it, and we're going to have raging waters for at least the next two years. >> thanks for your input. appreciate it. we have a follow-up to a story we first reported last night. one of the only trauma centers in the south bay is closing. tonight we're learning more about the impact this could have. yesterday regional medical center in east san jose announced it would close its trauma unit later this year. now, trauma units typically operate inside emergency rooms, but specialize in life-or-death situations. the hospital says the trauma center isn't being used enough to keep it open. instead, it will use the resources to add 20 more beds inside the e.r. but some are worried that the

change will mean a significant drop-off in care. >> we don't ever want to see lifesaving medical services cut, particularly in our lower income neighborhoods. the fact that east side san jose will have to travel farther to get to a trauma center is concerning. >> bay area traffic, we know how that is. this could prevent a delay in care. >> so where will trauma patients go instead? the next closest are valley med or stanford. joining us now is dr. renee shaw with ucsf. she spent 20 years studying emergency and trauma centers. dr. shaw, nice to have you back on the program -- or on the program i should say. does patient care suffer when trauma units close? >> absolutely, raj. what i can tell you is my team and i have spent the past 20 years documenting what happens when trauma centers close.

so we studied this in california, and we show that when a trauma center closes and there is an increase in driving distance, there's a 21% increase in death rates. and that's not an increase that goes away. we actually tracked this effect for two years after the closure, and that increase in death rates remained. >> as you probably know, san jose is the most populated, the biggest city in the bay area. has something like this happened before in san jose? >> there was a san jose hospital in the early 2000s actually was a trauma center. actually that was when hca bought both of these hospitals. it's kind of a complicated scenario, but hca closed san jose hospital, which offered trauma services, and now it's happening again. >> do you ever get into -- we heard the mayor say it's always alarming when it closes in east san jose, which is not as affluent as other parts of san jose. does the socioeconomics come into play with all this?

>> absolutely. a lot of moves made by these hospitals because we have a health care system basically placed in a market economy, we know hospitals generally act as economic entities, not as charitable organizations. so these moves are basically profit-driven. >> from a medical point of view, they can go to valley med or stanford. that's eight miles away or 20 miles away. is that a dangerous trade-off? >> i mean minutes matter in trauma. i've worked in the e.r.s in both santa clara valley and stanford, and i know that these aren't hospitals with excess capacity. we know that when you have to drive farther, minutes can be life or death, and we've shown that. >> dr. renee hsia, appreciate your input. have a good evening. >> thank you. up next, oakland's new independent baseball team now has a place to play. we're going to be joined by the ceo of the oakland ballers. plus, it's known as the biggest night in fashion, at least in this country. the special connection between this year's met gala and the east bay. you're watching "nbc bay aa news tonreig

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park. where exactly is this baseball park? it's in west oakland, not far from the freeway entrance to the bay bridge. you see it there on this map, raimondi is full of history. it was home to some of the first integrated baseball games in america back in the 1940s. legends played here. bay area legends, hall of famer frank robinson played here as did curt flood. the oakland b's admit the park has seen better days. that's why the team will make a $1.6 million upgrade to bring the field up to league standards. joining us now is paul friedman, the co-founder and ceo of the oakland ballers. paul, nice to see you. i got to say you guys are getting a lot of buzz here. a lot of fans are embracing the b's because the a's are planning on leaving. do you sense that? >> yeah. i mean so far the response from the fans has been overwhelming. my co-founder and i started this team because we're fans ourselves, and we love baseball, and we love the community of

oakland. and we think that oakland needs a baseball team. we're hopeful other fans would agree with us, but so far the response has been tremendously overwhelming. we think we've hit a vibe, which is fantastic because we can now build a team together. >> despite what anyone says, oakland is a baseball town. why raimondi park? what led you there? >> you said it. you know, it's one of the most historical baseball parks in the country. at one point in time, the oakland tribune said more professional baseball players got their start there than any other park in the country. if you're a fan of oakland, this is a dream home. it's a home we really kind of wanted to have, and the city of oakland came forward. the parks department came forward. the local council member came forward and said we think we can make this work for you to play here. the idea was so exciting that we went for it. >> i don't think i've been there for about 20 or 25 years. what's in the surrounding areas? has it changed? and what can you do to upgrade it with that $1.6 million? >> the surrounding area itself

is deeply historical, and it's a beautiful neighborhood. there's a lot of industry. there's a lot of new condos. it's a really beautiful and, you know, energized area. we hope to activate it through the love of baseball. we're making an investment into the play space. so the $1.6 million gift in place that we're offering to the city of oakland is to include the playing space. it's to pad the walls and bring a warning track and make it a pro-quality field. we will use that for 48 days a year, and the city of oakland can use it for the other 317 days. we hope it becomes the premier play space for youth baseball, for softball. we're going to put in a video board, and we've been talking to the community about having movie nights in the park. we really hope that, you know, this becomes something that the community really celebrates. >> paul, you've really struck a chord with a lot of people. are you getting a lot of financing from big businesses and not just kind of the fans? >> yeah. well, we started raising money from about 53 local investors, and these aren't the normal like

big tech investors that you hear about. it's, you know, local people who are really interested in supporting the team. we certainly have, as we've announced, had outreach from much bigger organizations that kind of want to sponsor the team. we'll certainly announce some of those going forward. but we started at our roots, which is that we are fans. this is a fan-driven team, and we build from there. >> remind me opening day. are you going to release who's throwing out the first pitch yet? >> we will not release who's throwing out the first pitch. we're welcome to big heroes. i got a lot of heroes that i'd like to offer the first pitch. opening day in oakland is on june 4th. >> we wish you the best of luck. we will be there watching. we love the name and the merch as well, paul. good luck. >> thanks so much. it's often called the biggest night in fashion, and this year, one of oakland's own will be leading it. we're talking about the met gala in new york city. all those outrageous and beautiful gowns and dresses. the annual fund-raiser of the

metropolitan museum hosted by anna wintour. each year she selects a handful of celebrities as her co-chairs. this year, zendaya, who grew up in oakland. she's also no stranger to the gala herself. she's been there five times before, including in 2019, when she wore that cinderella dress you saw there. zendaya will be co-chair alongside bad bunny, j.lo, and chris hemsworth. quite the night. let's take you outside. a live look now in san jose. it's beautiful, but here comes a

>> i'm here at a new exhibit called fashioning san francisco, a century of style. here to tell us all about it is laura. nice to see you, laura. >> nice to see you too. >> can you tell us about this exhibit? >> this exhibition is a celebration of the museum's permanent collection of high fashion, and we're so excited to share it with our audiences. >> so what kind of designers can

people expect to see here? >> there are over 50 designers' works on view, ranging from christian dior to locals. and how many sections are there to explore? there are seven sections to explore in the exhibition. it's both chronological, and i think there will be a surprise for everyone. for everyone. >> be sure to check othis ad? typical. 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.

welcome back. we call this friday adjacent. happy thursday night to you. >> i know. i was saying to you i thought it was friday for a minute today. >> wishful thinking. almost there. >> close enough. right here across the bay area, we are currently dry, but we do have that rain coming in. we've got you all the details on the timing and the totals right now in that microclimate forecast. as we roll through tomorrow morning, we'll start it off dry here with that cloud cover staying with us. temperatures in the 40s to 50s. through the day tomorrow, cloud cover stays with us. no need for the sunglasses. we'll see temperatures in the low to mid-60s across the bay area. but how about that rain? we see that next storm system moving in with that atmospheric river as we head through saturday. heaviest certainly looks to be the north bay focused. starts to arrive in the morning. look at this rain estimate, anywhere from a half to 2 inches. a little bit of wind up to about 45 miles per hour. after the saturday storm, we'd see our next one lining up sunday night. and here's the thing about that. could actually linger into

tuesday's forecast. so some higher totals with that one. let me get you into the totals. on saturday, a big contrast than what we expect here. 1 to 2 inches for the north bay. south bay, only a quarter to a half inch. if you're up in the north bay, that's going to be the strongest impacts. then sunday night into monday, an additional 1 to 2 inches for the north bay. santa cruz mountains, 1 to 2. anywhere from three-quarters to 1 1/2 from the south bay to the east bay and right over to the peninsula. out of all of this, the north bay is going to be hardest hit. we'll see creeks, streams and rivers rising pretty fast. when it comes to this weekend, i think sunday during the morning and the day is going to be a break in between those storms. so a lot coming our way, but at least we've got a little window in between both of those storms from saturday into monday. >> that is key on this holiday weekend. thank you, jeff. as we wrap up, mario lopez just getting started with "access hollywood." >> well, tonight we're

continuing to celebrate our valentine's day love with harry and meghan who spent the holidays on the slopes and gwen stefani got quite the sparkly valentine's day gift from husband blake shelton. then jen and ben 2.0 was more than just a return to romance. it also inspired j.lo's return to the recording studio. >> i think some artists get inspired when they like are heartbroken or tortured or tormented. that's not me. i'm the opposite of that. i go into the studio when i feel like, you know, a tremendous amount of love. >> my girl rockin' a zorro hat right there. plus we'll take a look back on the original mr. and mrs. smith. yes, we're talking bran jelena. we've got on that and more momentsway on "access hollywood." coming up tonight in prime time here on nbc, our law & order lineup beginning at 8:00. svu at 9:00. organized crime at 10:00. then on our 11:00 news, remember that fleet of vta cars that haven't moved for years.

our investigative unit broke that story. now our story is prompting change. that's coming up at 11:00. that's going to do it for us at 7:00. for everyone here at nbc bay area, including our producer alicia corso, thanks for joining us. we hope you enjoy your evening, and we hope to see you back at 11:00.

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the acts of heroism as celebration turns into tragedy in kansas city. welcome to "access hollywood." i'm mario lopez. while all of us were watching the chiefs celebrate their super bowl win during the parade yesterday, chaos erupted when shots were fired. and as we honor the victims