right now at 5:00, awaiting a verdict. former president trump braces for a judge's ruling in a civil fraud trial, capping a very busy week in court. we're live in washington with the potential impact from this verdict. winter weather advisory. a new round of snow blanketing the sierra.

what you need to keep in mind if you're heading there. and breaking news in russia where the leading opposition figure has suddenly died in prison. the unusual circumstances surrounding the death of alexei navalny. this is "today in the bay." friday morning, thanks for starting your morning with us. 5:00. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. we'll get a look at the commute in just a bit with mike. let's start with the forecast. the winter weather advisory heading your way. >> rain in the bay area, when they get the snow, we're getting the rain. that comes in later tonight, into the day tomorrow. so we do have much of today to get ready for that rain that will be impacting us for much of the weekend. here is a look at our current temperatures right now as you head out the door. it's in the mid-40s for walnut creek and san francisco it's 49 degrees, and 50 in oakland and in san jose. our high temperature this afternoon headed for the upper 60s in san jose, so even though we are going to have a lot of

clouds, it's still going to be very mild and headed for the mid-60s for dublin, with some low to mid-60s for much of the north bay. we're going to talk about arrival of the storm system and what to expect as it moves in with another one behind that coming up in the full microclimate forecast. mike, you were checking on a roadway hazard in san jose. >> reported at 101/280. i've been watching for the last few minutes, there's been no disturbance, no flashing lights and no problems. we'll continue to watch that report. typical of where we see the first slowing, not there. too early, especially on a friday. 87 does show slowing into downtown. the rest of the bay shows a nice smooth flow of traffic. even out of the altamont pass. that's friday for the early start. we'll continue to track that. no slowing at the bay bridge, of course. >> thank you. and don't forget you can track what's going on with that weather from our website. we have a free nbc bay area app.

see the qr code on your screen? scan it, it will take you right to the radar from your smartphone. the app is free to download. to breaking news out of russia, where prison authorities say leading opposition figure alexei navalny is dead. so far, there are no specific details on his cause of death, but authorities do say that he recently became ill after a walk. navalny was always a vocal critic of vladimir putin. now, in 2020, prior to his arrest, he nearly died after being poisoned, after being treated in germany he returned to russia, where he was sentenced to 19 years in prison and placed in solitary confinement. late last year he was transferred to a remote and what many consider unforgiving prison north of the arctic circle. happening today, former president donald trump may be hit with millions of dollars in penalties stemming from a new york civil case where the judge ruled he inflated his fortune. >> this comes following a

dramatic day in an atlanta courtroom involving the georgia district attorney prosecuting trump in the election interference case. "today in the bay"'s brie jackson is live in washington this morning. brie, trump's legal team insists that fani willis has an ethical conflict here. >> reporter: that's right, good morning. in a contentious back and forth, fulton d.a. fani willis acknowledged a personal relationship with the special prosecutor appointed to former president trump's election interference case in georgia. now, there are concerns about whether their relationship began before or after her office hired him for trump's case. today could be judgment day in new york for former president trump, a verdict is expected in his civil fraud trial. this, after he was in court thursday in a separate case regarding hush money allegations. >> instead of being in south carolina and other states campaigning, i'm stuck here.

it's an election interference case. nobody has ever seen anything like it in this country. it's a disgrace. >> reporter: meanwhile, the tables were turned in georgia where the fulton county district attorney, fani willis, took the witness stand. she acknowledged having a relationship with nathan wade, who she hired as a special prosecutor in georgia's election interference case against former president trump. there are allegations that she benefitted financially in the form of romantic getaways. >> i object to you getting records. you've been intrusive into people's personal lives. you're confused. you think i'm on trial. these people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. i'm not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial. >> reporter: attorneys describe the relationship as a potential conflict of interest. >> this speaks at the heart of mrs. willis' integrity and her credibility and her judgment making as a prosecutor. >> reporter: trump's defense team wants willis removed from the election interference case

or the charges against him dismissed. >> this is getting ugly, it's getting messy, and my guess is it's not going to get better. >> reporter: a consequential week in the courtroom for the former president. >> and today we are expecting a decision in trump's civil fraud case. the former president faces a $370 million fine and a lifetime ban from the real estate industry in new york. marcus, laura. >> all right, this is one certainly to continue to follow. thank you for the update. also happening today, a south bay man accused of shooting and critically injuring a police officer is due for a court hearing. it happened last summer. he attacked his pregnant wife and then ambushed responding officers. that's when one officer was shot and her partner dragged her to safety. she then spent more than two months in the hospital. the next round of wet weather not far away. you may be thinking this is the perfect time to hit the slopes.

>> the window is closing if you're hoping to get to tahoe in time to enjoy it over the holiday weekend. "today in the bay" cinthia pimentel is here this morning and conditions are about to get a lot more challenging if you're heading to the sierra. >> that's right. heavy snow is expected to fall in the sierra and many skiers and snowboarders want to capitalize on the three-day weekend, and plus what's known as ski week. a live look along interstate 80 at donner summit. no chain controls in effect for now, but that will likely change this weekend as a couple of storms hit the area. the tahoe area is expected to get about 10 inches lake level to possibly 2 feet or more on the higher elevations. as we move the timeline through about wednesday of next week. also looking at your screen, the blue that you see here is the winter weather advisory. it goes into effect tomorrow morning, and behind that a winter storm watch on sunday afternoon through wednesday

morning, which could get upgraded to a winter storm warning. so check back here with us throughout the weekend for the latest. leave as early as you can today, because by tomorrow at noon, it could be too late. we're advancing the timeline for you. then you get another small window on sunday, but be prepared to stay for a couple of days. we spoke with resort consultant kevin cooper who says don't wait if your plans include heading to tahoe this weekend. >> we're going to have two storms coming in, that's going to impact the highs, 80, 50, state route 88, state route 104, 168 and highway 4. so have that road kit available and ready to go. give yourself plenty of time. leave the bay as early as possible to come on up. >> cooper adds if you plan to head to tahoe, set your expectations. he says it's going to be windy so there may be delays getting on and off the slopes. make sure to wear extra layers, pack your car with tools and emergency supplies and food just

in case. caltrans officials are recommending checking road conditions before you go. yesterday we told you a story of drivers getting caught off guard by the treacherous conditions on wednesday night. we don't want that to happen to you, so prepare ahead of time. a good tip, practice putting those chains on your tires if you've never done it before. >> that is good advice. it's not easy to do. 5:08 right now. that same snow heading to the sierra will start as rain right here in the bay area and this may be a soaker. >> another atmospheric river is headed our way. >> think of an atmospheric river as a river in the sky. it can certainly bring as much moisture as the mississippi river, sometimes 15 times more. so as we see this common satellite imagery that we have when we talk about storms coming our way, we have an area of low pressure and it's drawing in all of the tropical moisture from the equator and near hawaii

across the pacific and into the west coast. let's visualize this. so we see that plume of moisture coming across the ocean, and it's a narrow band. it's only at about 250 to 375 miles wide. but as we take a look at the height of it, it flows low across the ocean, only at about 10,000 feet high. for reference, airplanes fly at 30,000 feet. as the low-moving band of moisture moves across the ocean and into our coastline, it meets up with the mountains that wrings a lot of the moisture out of it. it's forced to rise. we see the heaviest rainfall happening along the coastline. as it moves toward the valleys, a lot of that rainfall is not as heavy. this is really important to california's water supply. it brings about half of our yearly rainfall. but in the process, it can cause flooding, as well as mudslides, and that's why we talk a lot about them. >> good intel, kari.

i have a little intel as we look toward that presidents' day weekend. kari was talking about the rain and that did impact your roadways. but we do want to talk about track work going on that will impact folks riding b.a.r.t. the b.a.r.t. system is going to be canceled for the red line as you travel through el cerrito, del norte and richmond. then it will be resumed by the orange line and yellow line through here. they're doing track work all weekend, so that portion of the red line, the red line in general will be out again, the yellow and orange as substitutes. they've also postponed this closure, so 680 will not be closed this weekend. that's great news for drivers, but we do have to have another future weekend that we'll have the closure. for caltrans, there's a lot of work they've had to do and the last weekends have been canceled because of weather. we do have a little slowing that started out of the altamont

pass. folks want to end the weekend early because it is a holiday weekend. weekend. can we start now?

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ visit your volvo car retailer for special offers during our presidents' day sales event. good friday morning to you.

it is now 5:14, as we take a look at what to expect today in livermore. we're not looking at a lot of sunshine today. in fact, mostly cloudy. but at least our temperatures are still mild. we're going from upper 40s this morning to low 60s for the afternoon. we'll talk about when we'll need umbrellas in a few minutes. yesterday, eastbound 80, the lower deck of the bay bridge was jammed coming out of san francisco. look there, flashing lights. there is a report of something else going on this morning. flashing lights right here, they're heading to the treasure island area. we'll check that out. traffic is still flowing. we'll check that out. good morning. happy friday to you. stocks continue to rise after that middle of the week stumble. s&p 500 set yet a new record. the electric car company lucid lowering prices as its competitor, tesla, continues to drop prices over and over. this may be the most

important thing you see all day. it's a guy sitting on the clouds, and, yes, you've seen computer generated video before. but it's not just a cg effect. the whole thing is fake. the man is fake, the book is fake, this man does not exist. he was created by ai. it gets better. what you just saw is from a text prop, show me a man sitting in the clouds reading a book or show me a woman walking in tokyo. type it in and you get it. nothing you see is real. it's a new ai program from the openai company. they call it sora. now, this is a real person who says he got scammed out of $8,000 by someone on the phone pretending to be his credit union. he tells me it was just a perfect storm. he was rushing through an airport, his atm card had been declined recently. one of those situations where he was caught off guard. >> the flight that i was going to catch, i was very late to get

to because the airport was in chaos. instead of having an hour or two to call the bank, i had minutes. it was just a bunch of things lining up precisely in the right way for these fraudsters. >> the reason i'm telling you this story is because corey is an expert in hacking and cyber crimes. here he is giving a lecture about fraud and hacking at the hacking conference death con. if means if someone can fool him into giving up bank information, they can fool anybody. >> look, i've worked in digital human rights for more than 20 years with the electronic frontier foundation and a lot of that has to do with information and security questions. i write best-selling science fiction novels about this and i'm in the middle of a trilogy. i have one coming out in a few days about a forensic accountant in silicon valley who busts high-tech scams. >> so if you get fooled, don't feel bad. tell somebody.

if you're an older person, tell one of your adult children. tell somebody, i got fooled, because if corey can get fooled, anyone can. >> now he's a character in his own book. >> exactly. poor guy. >> yeah. thanks, scott. trending this morning, an absolute legend cements her status in women's college basketball. >> recovered by marshall. here comes clark. will she go for history? >> that is the moment university of iowa's caitlin clark broke the all-time record for points in women's basketball when she scored her 3,528th point. she did it last night in her 103rd game with the hawkeyes and ended the night with 3,569. here is her reaction after the game. >> it's pretty unreal. this crowd is unreal. i'm just really grateful, honestly, to be able to be here

and make so many of my dreams come true with so many amazing people that have supported me, my coaches, teammates, my family. i just feel a lot of gratitude. >> the hawkeyes have four regular season games left, along with likely a march madness run. the all-time leading men's scorer is only about 100 points away. nice to see the excitement. >> steph curry is going to have a three-point competition. we should do that. >> she's going to do it. by our mathematics, she has to average 25 points a game to do it and catch him before the ncaa tournament. i think she can do it. >> i think so. >> better get out right now if you want to play outside. the weather is changing. we will have a lot of changes going into the weekend, and you want to spend some time getting ready for the potential of heavy rain, as well as power outages. we had that last time with the last storms that moved in.

as we get started in san jose, at least you can get to work and most likely get home without any issues. it's just going to be cloudy today. we are going to see a lot of clouds coming in, but also some humidity that will be kicking up as we go into the evening, and eventually the clouds will be rolling in. as the seven-day forecast comes up at the bottom of the screen, you'll see we are going to have some mild temperatures over the next few days, our high up to 64 today in san francisco -- 68, rather, in san jose, 64 in martinez. and then looking at temperatures tomorrow, slightly cooler as that rain comes in. we can already see the clouds extending across northern california, and also some light snow starting to kick in for the northern sierra. but this is the wide view of the storm, that atmospheric river that's coming in that's bringing in that plume of all of that moisture, and that's going to be brought right over to the bay area starting early tomorrow morning. so we're seeing the rain picking up, with some clusters of heavy

rain at about 1:00 to 2:00 tomorrow morning for the north bay. much of the rest of the bay area may not see any rain, especially san jose and the tri-valley. it may take until the afternoon before that rain really starts to ramp up, while the coastline in the north bay will see rain off and on throughout the day. and then as we go into the weekend, saturday, sunday, some waves of rain, in total we're looking at some of our rainfall totals much higher farther north, closer to an inch and a half to two inches for spots like santa rosa and ukiah. look at san jose, maybe a little less than a half inch of rainfall, and closer to three-quarters of an inch of rain for san francisco. we have not only one, but two atmospheric rivers coming in. the next is late sunday night into monday, so there's not much of a break in between. there will be waves of rain in the forecast through wednesday, and at that point we could start to see some of our water levels rising along the rivers and creeks, as well as issues with downed trees as we get the

continuation of a few days of rain in a row. looking at san francisco's temperatures, we're headed for low 60s. the rain may linger into wednesday. mike, you saw traffic stopped on the bay bridge? >> we had seen all traffic. see the headlights coming into, back toward the east bay? those lights had stopped, as we saw those flashing lights out of san francisco. it turns out it was a disabled vehicle. it looks like everything is taken care of because the traffic backed up for just a few seconds. everything seems to have smoothed out over the last three minutes across from san francisco in toward oakland. so we're still watching, but the build we really expect is coming in the westbound direction and it should be lighter and easier. right now, heads up, the headline is bay bridge is moving smoothly in both directions and that's really what people care about as far as the flow of traffic between oakland and san francisco. just a little bit of slowing coming into concord, later commute build for a friday. the note up here, lower visibility, not bad through novato, but enough to be on our

road weather index and the rest of the commute is moving smoothly. back to you. 5:22 right now. coming up next, nbc bay area responds. >> you're looking at reviews and you find a five-star business but you have to ask yourself where those stars came from. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. we'll show you how to spot a fake review next.

we asked three people who track bogus reviews to help you spot a fake. we're going to hear from amber, a federal trade commission lawyer, steve at the better business bureau, and kay, a fake review crusader. kay says scrutinize the account that wrote the review and watch for signs someone is paying them. here is a tell, posting multiple reviews for places all around the country all on the same day. tip two, look for rip-off reviews. kay says word-for-word copycats are exploding. checking to see if it's a duplicate is easy. take the text, highlight it, copy it and paste it. put it in a google search. amber, the federal lawyer, says hunt for intel. >> our best advice is to take the time to look at multiple sources. >> tip three, check the company's history. snap this qr code.

it will take you to a list of 4,900 businesses that yelp has flagged for suspected phonies over the years. tip four from steve at the bbb, look for brand mentions. he says paid reviewers are known to drop brand names right in the middle of the review. if you're skeptical, steve says take your questions offline. >> you can call the company and ask them to verify these reviews. >> thanks, chris. much more news ahead, including tracking this incoming storm. coming up on "today in the bay," meteorologist kari hall is timing the incoming wet weather and when it's expected to reach your neighborhoo

right now at 5:30, a new line for people trying to make it in the bay. we're live with the promise of new affordable housing projects and the imminent announcement from governor newsom. another shot of protection? the cdc may be considering adding another covid booster. new details on when it may become available and the groups it's most likely to benefit. >> another storm brewing. meteorologist kari hall is tracking the timeline and the impact on your holiday weekend plans. this is "today in the bay." good friday morning to you all. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. let's start out with a look at the forecast. everyone is going to be talking about it. meteorologist kari hall is tracking the big incoming storm. >> we have not only one, but two

storms coming this weekend. i know it's a holiday weekend, people are making plans. we also need to plan for more rain coming in. let's get a look at what to expect, our live view of san francisco, where we have a cloudy start to the morning. it's going to be cloudy and mild today with temperatures in the mid to upper 60s. we have a stormy weekend ahead that could start as early as tonight for the north bay, much of the rest of the bay area with lingering rain into tuesday. during that time we could see gusty winds, dangerous surf, as well as flooding possible as the system comes in and taps into that tropical moisture, which means that we could have heavier rain as we go into the weekend. mike, you want to talk about what's not happening this morning. >> i'm trying not to be negative. what's going on is over in the tri-valley. we take this map, you see a little bit of slowing out of the altamont pass and some of these folks head south on 680. that was going to have a full closure. the last few days we've been

notified there will not be a closure for southbound 680 because of the incoming storms. no closure for southbound 680 this holiday weekend. no backup at the bay bridge because it is friday, but coming up in a few minutes, we'll talk about what is going to be closed in addition, as well as maybe getaway traffic. making it in the bay may be about to get a huge boost. there's a big announcement in the works from governor nus i'm newsom and it may include new housing. >> ginger conejero saab is live for us in san francisco. the governor will be highlighting new efforts from one project already a success here in the bay area. >> reporter: that's right, marcus and laura. the governor will be in oakland later this morning to announce the latest round in home key awards. now, if project home key does not sound familiar, maybe project room key does. this is part of california's response to the pandemic. it focused on providing shelter

options for people who are experiencing homelessness. that evolved during the pandemic. project home key builds on that progress. there have been two rounds and today governor newsom will announce how we can expect it will rapidly transform. former office spaces, hotels and other buildings across california into housing options. last year more than $730 million in grant funding were made available to cities, counties and other local public entities. we'll have to see what the numbers look like for the new year. as the governor highlights home key, he is changing his tune about a promise on tiny homes specifically in san jose. instead of delivering 200 pre built tiny homes to the city, he is sending money instead. a $12 million check for the city to do it themselves. san jose city leaders say that's not enough and they will have to fill the $5 to $10 million gap

to build the homes themselves. those units are slated for land next to vta's work yard and it's part of the city's plan to build more than 1,400 temporary beds for transitional housing. we'll see if the governor will be asked about changing his tune there later this morning. he'll be in oakland around 11:00 and we'll bring you the latest on air and online at nbcbayarea.com. >> we'll look forward to it. thank you so much. well, police are crediting observant neighbors with helping bust an alleged brothel operating out of one east bay home. the home located in san leandro. surveillance video from nearby shows when officers this week conducted a raid obtaining a search warrant there. so 60-year-old jianhua chen was arrested. police say they launched surveillance after neighbors reported suspicious activity. one neighbor called it a constant string of cars going in and out over the past year.

>> it was scary because some people wander around, looking for the address. i talked to a couple of them, who are you looking for? oh, i'm looking for a friend. >> now, the suspect, chen, is in custody facing multiple charges. his first court date is scheduled for later this month. new this morning, new hints the cdc may be ready to recommend another covid booster shot as soon as this spring. the new booster would be another dose of the same vaccine already approved last fall, which only two in ten americans received. it's believed to be effective against the subvariant linked to most current infections. people over 65 or with weak immune systems would likely be recommended to get it. a final decision by the cdc is expected in two weeks with the idea of making it available sooner rather than later. a live look in san francisco, where lunar new year events are in full swing, celebrating the year of the

dragon. the new year parade starts next weekend. a little before 2:00 p.m. today, students at strafford school will celebrate the event with performances and a fashion show. meteorologist kari hall is here right now. i know you could be a part of that show, but you've got to show us what it looks like weather-wise. >> it's not bad today. we are going to see some clouds lingering overhead. we don't have to worry about any rain today. we've been talking about it, so in your mind, you're, like, okay, when is this coming? we will see it tomorrow and it may effect the festival there in the downtown area. we're going to see waves of rain coming in, light to moderate rain. our temperatures holding steady in the upper 50s. and also in the upper 50s for the sharks game on saturday. at least this one is inside, so you may be looking for indoor activities as our temperatures come down to the mid-50s, as you're heading out of s.a.p.

center. then we also have the earthquakes 50th anniversary block party on sunday evening at the san pedro square market, and it will most likely be raining and it may get heavier as we go later into the evening. if you're driving along the coastline today, not bad. temperatures in the low 60s. we will only see mid-50s as the rain comes in anywhere along the coastline you want to stay well away from the water, as we have a high surf advisory that starts tomorrow morning and continues through sunday afternoon. some of those breakers may reach 22 feet, so we'll be watching out for that. we'll talk about the incoming rain in our forecast. mike has a look at where we can find lower gas prices. >> some folks might be trying to get away for the holiday weekend. gas prices here. head to socal, gilroy, it might be late to get these bargains because they're at $4.37 on arco, it cuts you over from 101 over to 152 there.

no whining if you're going to wine country. $4.19 at santa rosa's valero on sonoma highway. if you're going to stay around the bay, concord continues to dominate the list of the best prices with $3.65. a lot of them to report that price point. valero on willow pass road is the one we call out from gasbuddy.com. the roadways, a smooth flow of traffic, friday with a lighter build. there's no slowing on the eastshore freeway. right in that area between richmond and the del norte station and el cerrito, there will be weekend b.a.r.t. work. there will not be b.a.r.t. service on the red line. there will be no red line anywhere south of there, b.a.r.t. will pick up with the yellow line, as well as the orange line, to take up the slack to the peninsula. the south bay, an easy light drive. back to you. >> thank you so much. coming up, a tale of two cities when it comes to the a's, amidst new talks to stay at the

coliseum. meantime, in washington, a blockbuster change in the hunter biden story. and we are moving you forward with our school shout-out series. >> this is ninth grade health at cal high. >> good morning, bay area! >> all right, good morning to you as well. we love to see your students take part. you can email your video to us at schoolshoutout@nbcuni.com.

good friday morning. the time is 5:41. we're taking a look at the bay bridge commute for you, and it starts out with temperatures in the upper 40s. grab that coffee, turn on the heater a little bit. we are going to have a milder afternoon, but not much sunshine. we are getting ready for two rounds of weekend rain. i'll have more on that coming up in a few minutes. the earlier issue with that lower deck, no problems out of san francisco. the san mateo bridge, nothing to report. great news. i'll show you where things are changing. kari is talking about the forecast and i'll talk about the weather's impact on your drive. some merchants in the area surrounding san francisco's north beach and chinatown are expressing outrage over a new plan to open a first of its kind supportive housing facility.

mayor london breed yesterday previewed the future site, what's being called a new sober living community. it will sit at the current site of the hotel north beach. this is a single room occupancy hotel on kearny near columbus. now, the new clinic will offer about 150 rooms for people in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, but nearby merchants, they are feeling blindsided saying they were never told about that plan. >> we can't have something like this in our neighborhood right now, because this can be that nail to our coffin. >> the idea that we're bringing in a population that's going to be criminals is completely wrong. >> now, mayor breed admits her people dropped the ball in letting neighbors know, but supporters say that the new facility is critical as the city grapples with a record number of drug overdoses and it will provide on-site supportive services and 24-hour staff to focus on illicit activity. outside its doors, the homeless oversight commission may

finalize a plan as soon as april. a follow-up this morning on the a's move to las vegas, and word of a new stadium rendering. las vegas review journal reports the sketches involved the same property where the future stadium is now expected to open, on the grounds of the tropicana hotel now slated to close in april. but the renderings are not been released and the financing plan is still taking shape. it all comes as team leaders yesterday held new talks with east bay leaders about extending the coliseum lease past the end of the season. both sides called the talks productive. a blockbuster in washington, the fbi has arrested its own informant for lying in the bidens. >> scott mcgrew, this is the witness who told fbi joe and hunter biden actually conspired to commit crimes? >> that's right. and a claim quickly scooped up by the republican committee trying to impeach president biden. but the fbi says they were all lies. the man, alexander smirnov, made

wild claims about the bidens, claiming the ukrainian energy company paid biden millions of dollars. none of this is true according to an indictment. the fbi has always been suspicious of smirnov. a lot of people come into the fbi claiming a lot of things. much of it was easily disprovable. but the republican-led house oversight committee got its hands on some of those documents and some of the claims made to the fbi and ran with them. senator chuck grassley at one point reading the claims into the record without naming a witness. the claims have been disproven. the man who made the claims arrested. the same special counsel prosecuting hunter biden is the one who brought the charges against smirnov. other news, the prosecutor going after donald trump in georgia is under investigation

herself for what some consider an inappropriate relationship with one of her fellow lawyers. fani willis paid the prosecutor taxpayer money and critics say benefits from that because he spends money on her. so whether they have a relationship and when that relationship started is the question a judge in georgia is trying to figure out. that, and if willis should be replaced as prosecutor in the election interference case. here is a bit of system with a good helping of southern euphemism. >> my question was, you had the place you laid your head. >> when? >> has he ever visited you at the place you laid your head. >> let's be clear because you've lie let me tell you which one you lied in. this is the truth. no, no, no, it is a lie. >> it's a big day for donald trump. one of the biggest because today we learn if he'll ever be allowed to do business in new york state ever again and whether he'll have to pay as

much as $370 million for defrauding banks. this trial was never about a verdict. that's done. the judge in the case already decided trump, his sons and the company lied to banks to secure loans. today's decision is what to do about it. the sentence. there are a lot of questions about whether trump can afford not just the $370 million fine, if that's what it ends up being, his legal costs are mounting. he spent $50 million in donor money last year on lawyers. and the four criminal cases haven't even gotten under way yet. other things making headlines, the congressional committee that decides such things says nikki haley should get secret service protection early as threats pour in. and we're now 14 days from the next government shutdown. congress has two weeks to do something, or they would have two weeks if they were there. they all went home for the next 11 days. >> that leaves us even less time. thank you very much. well, it's time for the weekend, and happening this

weekend, car enthusiasts and buyers now in the market for a new car flocking to the south bay. >> that's because an old favorite is returning, the silicon valley auto show. "today in the bay"'s kris sanchez is live this morning. kris, a big favorite for a lot of folks out there. how are things looking this morning? >> reporter: well, it is looking a little quiet right now. but it is giving the vibe of rebel without a cause. i feel like i should start the race. but, gentlemen, rev your engines, sounds very different now because there's so many electric options and so many of them are more affordable and there are more incentives. we have brian moody from autotrader. this is a good time to buy. >> yes, this is a good time to buy. prices are down somewhat versus a year ago, about 3.5%. if you were thinking about buyer a car and you thought it's so expensive, rethink it. not only are prices down, but there are more manufacturer programs and incentives.

that, plus everyone assumes that every new car is super expensive. that's not true. there are many affordable cars here. >> reporter: let's take a walk. it looks like blue is really kind of the trending color right now. >> you don't think about color until you get here and see all of these together, grays, matte finishes and blues. you can see six different blues in one location, and they're all blue but all dramatically different. volkswagen, honda, toyota, they all look different, but they're all still part of the blue family. >> we're seeing some bigger cars. it looked like things were getting smaller, because we were being so conscious about our fuel needs. >> there's both. there's large suvs, which people tend to gravitate toward, but there's also smaller cars, hybrids and electric vehicles. so there's a lot of both if you come here. there's hybrids, electrics, gas powered. all of that is here in one place. >> you said the prices have come down by about 3%. there's no more supply chain

issues, so you won't have to wait two years to get it. >> that's a really good point. about a year and a half ago, we would have been talking about lack of supply. you might not get the exact car you want. today it's more than double. there's an abundance of inventory, which works well for the consumer when there's more choices, consumers get what they want, and prices are trending downwards. if you think you can't afford one, look for programs like low financing and i bet you'll be surprised. >> and even if you looked six months ago, things are a little different now. >> yes, even if it was six months ago. the other thing that's weird is, like, the interest rates are high. >> yes, i just had to get a new car and i was, like, no, my credit is really good. >> consider this. interest rates are high, that is true, generally speaking. but some of these incentives, it's more than 100% greater incentive today than a year ago. some of that includes low financing. you might have one car that's a

very high interest rate, the one right next to it, 1.9%. you have to do search. >> reporter: thank you very much. so this is a lot of stuff that you want to buy that's practical, but then there's stuff that you want to buy and drive, something super cute like this. there are also electric porsches. we'll show you that because i know that kari hall's son is a motor head and we're going to get something for him. he's going to want an electric porsche. >> is that the new volkswagen van they're bringing back? >> reporter: it is. isn't it cute? look at the little seats. you probably saw this in the super bowl. the colors are super cool. and now they are available. it's not just a prototype that you can dream about. now, again, you can't buy anything here. you just come to get inspired and then go to your dealership and say i want this feature, that feature, this color and this financing, and you put your foot down.

[ laughter ] >> reporter: i just negotiated. >> thanks so much, kris. >> a lot of cool concept cars. >> my son loves the classic cars and custom cars. he was spending a lot of time in that area. >> that's good. being indoors this weekend might be good. >> absolutely. we're going to have some wet weather. so something like that, some indoor activities, it may be best for what you plan to do this weekend. we are cloudy today. the rain holds off. but tomorrow rain will be coming in. it will be off and on throughout the day. it won't be raining the entire weekend. but we are going to see not only one, but two storms coming our way that's going to cause some gusty winds and flooding, and also heavy sierra snow. a look at what we are seeing now, rain just to our north, but a lot of clouds already spreading in. and we're going to see the storm system as it gets closer pull in some tropical moisture, and that's going to make the

rainfall a little heavier and may pose some problems once we get toward the end of the weekend into presidents' day. we're starting out with scattered showers early tomorrow morning, even before sunrise we're seeing light rain coming in. but there will be some pockets of heavy rain with the focus mostly on the coastline and parts of the north bay. it may take a while before we see it really starting to come down for spots like san jose or livermore, all the way up through the inland east bay because of the typical nature that we see with these storms that are low in the atmosphere, take some time to make it over the hills and off the coastline. so we are going to see some of the heavier rain in the south bay tomorrow evening, and for the weekend we're looking at about an inch of rainfall or more in the north bay, while it will most likely be a half inch to three-quarters of an inch of rain south. going through the forecast, looking into presidents' day, another wave of heavy rain. and that's going to most likely be when we start to see problems arising from the flooding to the

possibility of landslides and downed trees. and the rain lingers even into wednesday. so we are looking at a very busy active weather pattern, but hopefully the storm we see right behind that moves farther south and we can have some dry weather next weekend. we'll be watching out for that. but definitely plan on some waves of rain this weekend. and if you do have monday off, you might want to have some plans to stay inside. if you're planning to go to the sierra, make sure that you're flexible with when you can come back. we're looking at off and on rain in san francisco, with highs in the upper 50s. mike, you were trying to see the golden gate bridge. >> behind my name. there you go. a little bit there. a little bit over here. there's 101 coming out of the robin williams tunnel. the clouds drifted through and we've been doing that for the last half hour. you can still see the water, so everything is okay. the traffic flow on our sensors make it clearly illustrated.

a little slowing for 37 and it just cleared from highway 4. the road weather index shows us the conditions may be foggier. lower visibility toward petaluma. as we look at the rest of the bay, it's a smooth flow of traffic. it's friday, so a later start to our commute. happening now, former ucsf administrator will spend the next year and a half behind bars for stealing tuition payments. sandra le is a former program officer for the nursing school. four months ago she pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $2 million in student tuition payments. authorities say an audit five years ago led to an investigation and she used that money for gambling, home improvements and other expenses. a judge yesterday sentenced her to 20 months in prison. she's also required to pay back all of that money. ahead at 6:00, new developments in this week's deadly shooting during a super bowl parade. police now believe they know what led to the gunfire that sent thousands running for their

lives. plus, a winter weather advisory kicking in for the sierra. forecaster cinthia pimentel will dig deeper into how much snow 're talking awebo

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5:58 right now. our responds team has highlighted how some businesses are generating some five-star reviews. they're copying and pasting all over the internet. >> sometimes word for word, and because so many of us use reviews every day, consumer investigator chris chmura is here showing us four ways to see if a review is suspicious. we asked three people who track bogus reviews to help you spot a fake. we're going to hear from amber, a federal trade commission lawyer, steve at the better business bureau, and kay, a fake review crusaders. kay spent years investigating reviews. she says scrutinize the account that wrote the review. watch out for signs someone is paying them to post reviews. posting multiple reviews for places all around the country all on the same day. tip two, look for rip-off

reviews. kay says word-for-word copycats are exploding. checking to see if it's a dup duplicate is easy. copy the text, and paste it. google it. >> hunt for intel. >> our best advice is to take the time to look at multiple sources. >> check three, check the company's history. snap this qr code that will take you to a list of 4,900 businesses that yelp has flagged for suspected phonies. tip four from steve at the bbb, look for brand mentions. he says paid reviewers are known to drop brand names in the middle of the review. take your questions offline. >> you can call a company and ask them to verify these reviews. >> thanks, chris. well, right now at 6:00, bracing for the storm. new atmospheric river taking aim right at the bay area. meteorologist kari hall is tracking that timeline.