presented sufficient evidence indicating that the expenses were not roughly divided evenly. that was really the core of this case, right, laura. >> yes. >> trying to establish that link that she somehow benefitted financially from this? >> that's exactly right. that was the whole sort of crux of it, and they kept pressing that even if they couldn't show an actual conflict, it just smelled funny, and it looked bad, and the judge says this, which i think is notable, the district attorney chose to continue supervising and paying wade while maintaining such a relationship. she further allowed the regular and loose exchange of money between them without any exact or verifiable measure of reconciliation. this lack of confirmed financial split creates the possibility and appearance that the district attorney benefited, and that's the crux of it, kristen. because of that appearance, that's why he is now giving her this choice to make again between having him removed or removing herself, which obviously she wouldn't want to

do. >> laura, finally, just very quickly, big picture here, what does all of this mean about when this case may actually go to trial and is it fair to say that this has already delayed any potential trial date? >> oh, certainly. this entire sort of -- this entire sort of debacle has derailed the case for months now. we all remember the televised hearings that went on for days. there's still no trial date set in this case. obviously the district attorney wanted to try it before the election. i would be shocked if that happened. so this entire sort of -- again, it sort of has derailed a little bit of the case. again, it is not a fatal blow. the indictment still stands but it has provided a problem for her office to resolve quickly. >> laura jarrett, thank you so much for that and helping us understand this complicated ruling. nbc's blayne alexander was first to report the news of the ruling this morning. she joins us now from atlanta.

blayne, as i'm reading through the court document i'm shocked by some of the language that the judge used. he called this a tremendous lapse in judgment and refers to the appearance of impropriety. he is not removing the d.a. from the case but he is not letting her off the hook either. >> you know what, kristen? he does not hold back on essentially scolding the d.a. saying, listen, there is not actually incongruencie here but it does look bad. when we talk about appearance though, i have to kind of break out and widen out and talk about the fact that not only has this really just dominated this confession over the past two-and-a-half months. remember, as you and laura were just discussing it essentially ground the case in georgia to a halt. it is the case many experts were calling the most legally perilous against former president donald trump. for the past two-and-a-half months none of the facts of the

case have been discussed. in addition to what is happening at the fulton county courthouse, we have to look at the fact it has sparked other investigations into the district attorney. a couple of blocks away there's a republican-led state committee that's investigating the very allegations and the chairman told me he expects to subpoena fani willis in coming weeks to get her to come and testify at the capital. a judge was signed into law this week giving lawmakers oversight over state prosecutors. it gives fani lewis the ability to continue with the change of making the change with nathan wade but it will continue. i have spoken with a source familiar with the judge's thinking and interesting context about the timing, this order has been written more than a week.

he has been fine tuning it but it tells me he heard the decision soon after hearing the summation arguments from the attorneys a couple of weeks ago. it tells me it is tied to politics. donald trump is on the ballot in november but fani willis and scott mcafee are running for reelection. the judge has drawn a couple of opponents but the fact it was written before that shows there was no basically legal leanings in the fact that he made this before he had owe opponents. the other issue is security. the judge has received threats against him and his family. he has on young children. why put it out today? a source tells me that it allows for him to put proper security measures in place. he had been working with the sheriff's office to make sure the security was in place before the order was released. >> fascinating, blayne. the judge, in his early 30s, talk a little bit about what he

have witnessed in court. of course, the surprise testimony by fani willis herself, nathan wade taking the stand. fani willis's father even taking the stand to talk about the fact that the family typically pays for things in cash, and that's why there wouldn't be a more robust written record of the financial transactions between fani willis and nathan wade. this really was a spectacle that unravelled there. >> reporter: it absolutely was. we got into personal details of the district attorney and her relationship with nathan wade. we hard about her preference of grey goose vodka over wine. these are things nobody ever would have thought would have entered the conversation when talking about the prosecution of donald trump. yes, the other thing, of course, one thing that stands out here in georgia, is that all of this is televised, all of this is playing out on live tv. when we talk about that appearance going forward and kind of what it looks like for the case, aside from the legal

implications here, certainly that appearance is very crucial as well. one important note i wasn't to add about nathan wade, kristin, he is somebody who has been on this from the very beginning. it is important to remember he was brought on to lead the special grand jury back in 2022 when they started bringing in witnesses, that eight-month period where you had testimony and the investigative part of all of this. so he really is, some could argue, perhaps one of the more familiar people with the facts of this case. so the fact that he is ostensibly going to have to leave, that is certainly notable as well considering his longevity on the case, kristin. >> well, the trump team's goal was delay, delay, delay, and in this case they have been effective at that. blayne alexander, an incredible job breaking this news. appreciate it. that does conclude our nbc news "special report." we will continue many of you to "the today show" and we continue coverage on our streaming network, "nbc

alert in the east bay, heading into a busy weekend. part of interstate 680 shutting down. we have team coverage navigating your way through the closure and the impact businesses are bracing for. i see someone going to the window and cracking it open while they're at a stop sign. literally pulling up behind them and cracks the window, grabs the backpack. >> targeting cars with drivers still inside. the worrying trend causing robberies to skyrocket even more in oakland. a deadly and destructive storm sweeps through the midwest overnight. the new details just coming into our newsroom as the sun begin to say give new light on the damage and destruction. this is "today in the bay."

good morning to you, thanks for allowing us to be a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. welcome to a friday morning, and windy at that. cinthia pimentel is in for kari this morning. >> we are starting off with clear skies and windy conditions as we take a look at satellite and radar. checking on san rafael in the north bay, we are off to a breezy start, and then the wind speeds will die down and we'll be in for a comfortable lunchtime hour at 68 degrees. as far as the rest of the bay area, the wind will exit and we'll be in for a nice, warm weekend, with temperatures in the low to mid-70s. i'll talk about all of our microclimates and what's ahead for the second to last week of march. for now, i'll send it back to you. well, our other top story, the weekend shutdown of a major freeway in the east bay. caltrans closing southbound 680 in pleasanton, the closure set to cause many folks to change plans. >> we've got team coverage this morning. mike inouye is showing us some of the workarounds.

let's check in with ginger conejero saab live with more on some of the impacts that drivers will face. >> reporter: good morning, laura and marcus. we are in pleasanton right by an entrance to a stretch of 680 between the 580/680 connecter, which will be closed until tomorrow morning. caltrans closing the stretch over the weekend will make the repair work faster and businesses and people that we've spoken with say they're not too happy about it. and that's specifically because it's happening on st. patrick's day weekend, a weekend that is supposed to be big for some of the businesses in the area. people from the south bay who are planning on attending saint patrick's day activities in dublin will be affected when they head back to the south bay. the owner of bosco's bones and brew also says this weekend was supposed to be their big grand opening party, but the closure has changed that.

>> because of the closure, it's definitely going to hurt our business, so we're moving it to another weekend. >> reporter: caltrans says the closure will replace a portion of the deteriorated roadway with new pavement and closing it for the weekend will accomplish the amount of work that 40 nighttime closures would. now, caltrans has put up a map of alternative routes. i know mike is also going to be talking about that in just a second here. but this is some news that people may want to take note of, especially coming into the weekend, guys. >> thank you. look, mike, a lot of folks will be traveling in that area over the weekend and they want to know, how do i avoid the influx of traffic. >> it looks really complicated. this has the morning commute combined with the closure. the closure is in purple. we're looking at the sign that says weekend closure south bay

680, from 580. the dublin interchange toward sunol. technically down to koopman, but highway 84. your alternate routes through the area are 580 back toward livermore, and then taking 84 through the area. there's construction and some barriers, but it's fully open. it will just be even more congested. the other way is over the dublin grade, castro valley y and down 880 and coming back on 84, which has one-way traffic control. you can continue south to mission or auto mall parkway and join up with 680 if you need to do that. right now this morning, it is your commute route and things are moving smoothly. everything is still open. it's tonight at 8:00 p.m., the closure for southbound 680. we'll talk about more impact coming up. thank you, mike. we have new developments this morning, one person behind bars after a deadly car-to-car shooting in fremont. it happened just before 10:00 a.m. on march 5th.

investigators say sylvester carver shot another driver near a stevenson boulevard. the victim was taken to the hospital and later died. on wednesday, police arrested carver at a home in richmond. he was booked into the santa rita jail on several charges. in just a few hours, a suspect accused in the deadly stabbing of a tech executive in san francisco is due back in court. neem oh momeni is accused of killing bob lee back in april. lee was the founder of cash app. according to court documents, it happened during a dispute about momeni's sister. this morning a preliminary hearing is set to happen ahead of a possible jury trial. the oakland police department is warning about an uptick in smash-and-grab robberies, specifically targeting drivers while they're still inside their cars. according to oakland police, those robberies in the city are up by 32% compared to this time last year. and the current trend for several of those cases involves suspects targeting drivers while

they're just sitting in their car. now, police say that when the driver stops the car, the suspect breaks the passenger side window and then steals any belongings they can get their hands on. one person telling us he witnessed firsthand a couple of those. >> you hear a couple of honks and you see someone going into the window and cracking it open while they're at a stop sign. literally someone pulling up to the stop sign and they crack the window, grab the backpack and they're out. >> opd says that it's actively investigating this trend and also reminding individuals to store any of those items in their trunk. they're also saying if this should happen to you or if you see this happening, call 911 immediately, or if you're followed don't hesitate to call 911. those pushing back against uc berkeley's plan to develop people's park plan to make their voices heard. a march and rally is planned for tonight. uc berkeley wants to build student and affordable housing at people's park.

organizers are urging the school to consider alternative sites for the development. the california supreme court will hear an appeal next month in los angeles, after a lower court ruled the university's environmental impact report was inadequate. a lower court cited the uc system did not have potential alternatives to housing and didn't show the impacts on noise and displacement. that trial starts on april 3rd. new overnight, severe storms slammed the midwest, causing a lot of damage there. i want you to check out this new video. we're just getting this into our newsroom. it's showing an apparent tornado touching down in ohio. at least two people are dead after a tornado hit a mobile home park outside of columbus. at the indiana border, homes were damaged and destroyed. we know these storms can happen at any moment, but what's causing those is moving toward

the east? >> the storms are starting to push down into parts of alabama, atlanta at this hour. the good news is we don't have any watches or warnings for tornadoes as we go throughout the morning. as far as what was happening in ohio, we're starting to learn more. it might have been an ef-3. as surveyors go out and gather up data, we'll definitely start to learn more. as far as why tornadoes are very prone in this area known as tornado alley, it's because we have a mix of some different air masses, cold air from canada mixing in with moist air from the gulf of mexico. that creates all of that instability for the storms to be produced. we'll keep an eye on that, and of course we'll keep an eye on our microclimate forecast here in the bay area. clear skies and some sunny and warm weather is ahead. we'll talk about that. i want to go to mike, who has details on a crash in fremont. >> this is on 680 southbound, so your commute direction, and this is near the washington exit in the irvington district. no slowing showed up over the

last few minutes, but it does sound like someone has their door stuck and they can't get out, there may be another vehicle in the center divide. that is southbound. that is okay as far as the lanes, but this weekend that's the area we just talked about the closure, ginger talked about the major change, and i'm giving you reroutes. 84 or all the way over to 880. hopefully it will reopen before the commute on monday morning. that will influence traveling into dublin for the the st. patrick's day parade. now, the east bay right now, pretty typical light friday pattern in your typical directions. starting tomorrow and sunday as well, b.a.r.t. has a disruption, no service between richmond and el cerrito del norte, no red line. the options are on bart.gov. you have to switch some trains. the warriors facing off with the lakers this weekend, but will steph curry play? ahead, an update on his injury

and when he is expected to return to practice. it's also a big day for wordle users and mctrouble at mcdonald's. let's take you to the futures this morning. nothing gold, all red this morning. and all that snow in the sierra is opening up a rare ski lift. how soon you can get into the action and why it's not for the faint o heart. yofu

it is finally friday. the time is 6:19. we're going over to berkeley, whether you're heading to work or school on the cal campus, it's going to be a nice afternoon to soak up all of that sunshine. 68 degrees as we go into the 1:00 hour, with the winds dying down by that point. we'll talk about the rest of the bay area and what's ahead for the weekend coming up. and right now we're looking at san mateo bridge, the taillights westbound. your commute direction. the volume very manageable right now. no major brake tapping going on. we'll show you how things are buildiec metering lights have been on for a while at the bay bridge. we'll look at the backup. good morning. very happy friday to you. it's also the ides of march. bitcoin stabbing new investors in the back. they tried to get in on record prices and look what happened. bitcoin fell about 10%. also, mcdonald's restaurants overseas are reporting computer problems, japan especially. mcdonald's restaurants here just

opening up. we haven't seen any problems spreading nationwide. some locations in asia were taking orders with pencil and paper. the company says the problems have been resolved. spacex had problems of its own with a test flight of its unmanned starship. it launched fine, but the rocket was lost in re-entry. this is spacex's third launch of starship. you're going to hear the collective ah, as mission control loses contact. >> you want the heat shield tiles pointed down so they can absorb the heat. >> as always, spacex calls it a success as they will learn from their mistakes. as thomas edison said, i know a thousand ways not to make a light bulb. today marks the thousandth game of wordle, it's a morning tradition for people who send scores to friend. "the new york times" bought the game from the developer in january of 2022.

if you've never seen it before, here is a look. don't panic, i am not going to show you today's results. but i will say i start with the word arose as my first guest. will shorts recommends that, and it works really well. we're getting ready for our sunday morning show, "press here" and our special guest is the interesting and funny, guy kawasaki. starting with the pandemic, we've been shooting the show in a podcast file. a lot of people watch it online after it airs on tv. that podcast style can lead to a certain amount of confusion on what is, after all, a television show on a broadcast network. >> the way that -- you know, can i use profanity on this show? >> you cannot. it's television. so you can say something like gosh darn. >> okay.

>> he goes on to get flustered. you can see guy kawasaki using family friendly language 9:00 a.m. sunday morning on nbc bay area right after "meet the press." >> at least he asked. >> it's always interesting when people ask. >> i mean, i will admit on the podcast we do. i've let them say what they want because it's not fcc, right? >> there are many other words. >> he found another word. >> thanks so much, scott. let's talk about steph curry because he is back practicing with the team after injuring his ankle last week. the warriors lost two of the three games he missed. the team right now down in l.a. preparing to face the lakers tomorrow. head coach steve kerr says that he is hopeful steph can play. his return would come just in time to help the team push for the nba playoffs. >> i played a mother/daughter game last week and i'm feeling the pain. >> it was the same night that happened. >> it was. >> he should have been watching you instead.

>> no, no, no. if you classify yourself as an expert on the slopes, you may want to consider heading to lake tahoe this weekend. we have a live look, glorious palisades tahoe, where a rare ski run will be opening again. according to sf gate, the silverado lift hasn't been in use this season, but thanks to the recent snowfall, crews say they'll open it soon. it would be open to advanced skiers and snowboarders. if all goes well, it could be open on monday. >> great for the skiers out there. >> very experienced ones. >> not me. >> not yet. >> i'm pre-beginner, if that is a category. >> we can take a lesson together. >> i have a take a lesson again. it's been a while. >> it's good to know. some people overestimate their skill. silverado is a long way.

>> sometimes i'm, like, what did i get myself into? >> we'll pack ourselves into laura's car next time she's going. >> count me in. >> i haven't had a lot of windows because of all of the storms. finally things are opening up. there's a lot of sunshine in my forecast, so it's a good weekend to escape. if you want to do a staycation, that's not bad at all. california is just beautiful right now, especially the bay area. but we are just dealing with a little bit of the remnants of this wind advisory this morning, until at least 11:00, and then into the afternoon winds will start to calm down. but those gusts could be anywhere from 50 to 60 miles an our bay area hilltops. temperatures today, 71 in downtown san jose, that's gorgeous for the city. 75 in concord as well. if you see beautiful temperatures in san francisco, you know it's going to be nice everywhere else. this will continue as we go through the day tomorrow, making weekend plans. temperatures will be just a

touch cooler, but still 70s on the board. you can't complain about that in the middle of march. as we go into sunday, a nice day to celebrate st. patrick's day with all of the parades going on around the bay area. 64 in san francisco, 69 in hayward, and some low 70s from santa rosa into concord and down through morgan hill. as we go ahead and talk about saying good-bye to winter and officially welcoming spring on tuesday, we're seeing clear and dry for the next couple of days before the rain system tries to make its way into the bay area. but that won't be until at least maybe late on friday of next week into the weekend, bringing along with it some more of that sierra snow for all of us to go up there and learn from our ski lessons and our ski instructors. as far as our seven-day forecast, in san francisco it will be windy to start our day, but mixed in with sunshine, temperatures in the 60s and 70s all weekend long in the valleys. i want to go to mike, checking on the bay bridge metering lights.

>> the metering lights have been active for 40 minutes now and we're just starting to see a little bit of a backup. pretty typical pattern out of oakland. that's great for a friday. the span moves more slowly on the incline. there is an incident on the bridge near treasure island's tunnel, but it's coming out of san francisco and there's no slowing and no major injuries. typical build in the westbound direction, typical spots for highway 4, 37, and the bridge out of richmond. vasco road, very easy drive, and so is the mild altamont pass. we've all got a lot more ahead at 6:30, including marking four years since the covid shutdown in the bay area. hospitals were overwhelmed, businesses forced to shutter. all while fear of the unknown certainly took over. this morning a very different story. one of the faces behind the bay area's pandemic response joins us live to move us forward on where covid stands today. to be back home where it all

excited is exciting. to have family and friends come and watch me play, it's a dream come true. >> well, kicking off the season, we are live with a soccer legend as the bay area's new women's soccer team hits the field on the road this

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right now at 6:30, moving you forward, four years later, this weekend marks the anniversary of the bay area's

covid-19 shutdown. we take a look back at the pandemic and talk about life now with a local infectious disease expert with more on how we're moving forward. slowing down drivers in san francisco. the new speed cameras being installed throughout the city. a warm-up for the st. patrick's day weekend. we're tracking it ahead of fun festivities as you make your plans. this is "today in the bay." 6:30 on your friday morning. thanks for starting your day with us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. let's get a look at that friday forecast this morning. cinthia pimentel has been keeping us up to date of what we can expect out there. what about the wind? we saw it yesterday. today, too? >> it's still a bit breezy this morning, but then by this afternoon, marcus and laura, we'll push it aside because the wind speeds are going to die down, we'll be officially out of the wind advisory. i want you to drive carefully this morning, avoid any downed

trees and power lines and just look at where we're headed with our daytime highs today. 75 from santa rosa over into concord, hayward and san jose. 71 in san francisco. so just a gorgeous day to soak up all of that sunshine that will be with us through the entire weekend for st. patrick's day, and as we welcome spring into next week, we'll be feeling like it with temperatures in the 70s. that's a long stretch of time to soak in all the sunshine. mike, what is going on in dublin? >> the map showed 71, a great temperature, having the st. patrick's day festival. we've got some crowds coming in. if you're heading there, that involves 680 and the closure. we'll talk about that in the next report. we do want to talk about the crash right now, south 680 at washington. no major injuries, but there were some implications getting one of the car doors open. a smooth drive, just a typical lighter build, later kicking in for westbound directions. good news, the muni subway

service will stop their early closure tonight and tonight is the last night it will happen, then we're back to normal schedule. we'll talk about 680 and some more reroutes coming up. >> thanks, mike. this sunday marks four years since a time i'm sure we all can remember, the beginning of the bay area shutdown due to covid-19. now, today far more is known about coronavirus and how to contain it. this is compared to when those first cases were being reported. researchers still making some discoveries. joining us this morning live is ucsf infectious disease specialist, dr. peter chin-hong. i want to thank you for joining us this morning. look, you helped us make it through all of that and you were updating us on changes and how we can manage ourselves and our community. talk to us about where we are today. how are we dealing with coronavirus and how we live in it? >> well, marcus, it's really interesting and pretty wild to reflect on four years. i think where we've come is

we've seen signs progress at a dizzies pace in vaccines saving millions of lives and helping other diseases, the mrna vaccines in the future, and diagnostic testing. we've transformed our lives, hybrid work, telehealth, and we've gotten stronger. our immune systems are stronger, so with the level of test positivity that we had just last month, we should have been seeing a ton more hospitalizations, but we didn't. it wasn't very long that we were seeing 2,000 deaths a day, and now we're seeing about 500 deaths a week in the united states, probably still too much. but coming a long way. >> and to think about it, when it was all happening to us, we learned how to live with it. certainly washing our hands and things like that. for some people it seems like a common cold, but it's still deadly for some people. let's talk about that, because pushing for the vaccine. we keep telling people, if you can't get the vaccine.

and how has that been adapting with cdc regulations? things are changing daily. >> i think the biggest takeaway point is that the schedule for vaccines has gotten a lot simpler. you don't have to keep track of how many months this, how many shots you've had. there's a new formulation, did you get it, yes or no, and then you move on. so the fact that only 22% of americans have gotten the latest shot is two small and i think we get to get that number up, particularly in those over 65. and that number is about 42%. so i think still a long way to go. we're still seeing, like i said, about 500 deaths a week in the united states, 95% of those deaths are in people who haven't had the latest shot. >> and the thing about it, this virus is so different. i got the virus before there was

a vaccine. i came out okay, no changes. but some people got the virus and had long covid, still dealing with symptoms. how is that progressing with where we are now? do we know more about that and why it's happening? >> yes, we're beginning to know a little bit more. the two big reasons that people think is that you have little bits of virus still in your body causing the immune system to get very angry. so two things. extra virus in the body staying a long time, and an angry immune system. so recently investigators from ucsf showed that the virus can persist in some people for as long as 14 months in the blood and 12 months in tissue. so i think that is important, because if there's extra virus in some people, maybe antivirals, maybe monoclonal antibodies could mop up some of that extra virus and improve the

systems in those people. >> ucsf infectious disease doctor peter chin-hong joining us. thank you for helping us through this. >> thank you so much, marcus. this morning a new push to crack down on speeding drivers in san francisco. sfmta plans to mount more than 30 new speed cameras on some of its dangerous streets. it stems from legislation governor gavin newsom signed last year. it allows san francisco, oakland, san jose, and three other california cities to install them. busy areas like embarcadero, and mission street in soma are slated to get cameras. there will be a total of 33. each of the 11 supervisor districts will get at least two speed cameras. we posted the complete list of the potential locations on our website, nbcbayarea.com. turning to decision 2024, we're expecting another update

tonight in the very close race to replace long-time congresswoman anna eshoo. former san jose mayor sam liccardo is still in first place for the district 16 seat, but this morning silicon valley assemblyman evan low is ahead of santa clara county supervisor joe simitian by just 63 votes. the top two candidates will advance to the november ballot. more than 23,000 ballots still need to be counted. the next update is expected today at 5:00. well, sunday is st. patrick's day, so pull your green out. and as always, our bay area community of dublin is going all out. dublin celebrating its 40th annual st. patrick's day festival. the lions club will host the parade. there is a shamrock 5k run and walk, and a gala tonight. tomorrow and sunday the festival will feature irish music and dancing, irish food and a family-friendly carnival. you can get all the information you need to know through

dublin.ca.gov or go through dublin's new app where you can get tickets quickly. >> if they download the dublin event app, they can purchase carnival tickets ahead of time in order to kind of not be in line for that long. and believe it or not, dublin's irish sister city is the coastal town of bray. san jose is actually dublin's irish sister city. san francisco's is cork and santa clara is the sister city of limerick. >> interesting. >> a little limerick for you. for a look at how the weather is shaping up for this busy weekend, it kind of feels like spring festivities are ready. >> we're ready to go outside after a heavy winter with all of that rain and snowfall. let's check on dublin for our weekend, with saturday and sunday all the festivities going on. beautiful sunshine, go out there and enjoy.

temperatures nearly 70 degrees as you go into the afternoon tomorrow. and tomorrow also in san francisco, a comfortable day, mid-60s as you go and do the parade and the festival along market street. we're going to go over into oakland, there's also a marathon and also a smaller run for the kiddos that will kick off on saturday. sunday is the marathon for the longer distance runners. gorgeous skies. as you go into the morning, just a light layer, then you'll shed it as you go and enjoy the run. going out to muir woods, it makes me happy to see the hillsides beautiful and lush, a comfortable day to go hiking. just enjoying the weekend with temperatures in the 60s. i'll finish off with one more, tahoe. beautiful live look with the mountain in the distance. go up and enjoy with sunshine, wear your sunscreen and take lots of pictures. mike, you've got weekend travel concerns. >> i do, because friday traffic

is all green. it's not really a concern. it's standard. you talked about the festivals over the weekend in dublin. for folks from the south bay, heading north on 680, that's fine into dublin. southbound, any time after 9:00 p.m., you see the purple stretch that's heading south from the dublin interchange back into fremont and the south bay. that's closed. so you'll have to take the reroute, we've been talking this about. the yellow arrows are the shorter route to livermore and through highway 84. you can go the opposite direction on 580 over through the dublin grade, castro valley, the castro valley y, down 880, and that will be a longer drive. b.a.r.t. delays as well. changes in the system. it's a very busy weekend for caltrans drivers due to the closure i just talked about, but the other project is impacting b.a.r.t. riders in the east bay, extending to those heading to sfo. >> we have major track work taking place between richmond

and el cerrito del norte stations, which means the red line service will be canceled and we'll have free buses that will connect those two stations. and so a big impact for people who are traveling from the richmond area down to sfo. you would simply take a orange line train and then transfer to a yellow line train to get to the airport. >> so as jim allison points out, b.a.r.t. spokesperson, even though we do have the red line stopped, there is still a way to get to where you're going. go to bart.gov and that will get you maps, schedule changes, updates and any changes they may have as far as their schedule goes, if there are any delays. they typically don't have a problem with that schedule. more self-driving vehicles are coming to the bay area. coming up next, the latest tech giant to bring in their fleet and which local cities will see these new cars. breaking news in the georgia trump trial, and president

biden's white house asks for congress to end its impeachment inquiry. the bay area's national women's soccer league kicks off its season this weekend. it's on the road. but we're going to tell you what you need to do in the next two weeks to be ready for the home opener. and we're talking

good friday morning.

the time is 6:45. we're checking in in mountain view this morning. grab a light jacket as we deal with those pesky winds this morning. it should die down as we go into the middle part of the day, from lunchtime on enjoy all of the sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. we'll talk about all the 70s throughout our microclimates today and for the weekend coming up. we're talking about traffic building out of richmond, heading toward san rafael. westbound 580 shows slowing. the bay bridge toll plaza shows no backup. we have a lighter commute because it's friday. the white house is calling for congress to end its impeachment inquiry into president joe biden. scott mcgrew joins us now. some republicans looking for an off-ramp. >> ken buck was one of them. republicans warning the house is going to look foolish if it keeps at it, ken buck was warning they were chasing what

was an imagined history. writing a letter to the speaker of the house saying it's clear the investigation has found no evidence of wrongdoing, listing dozens of examples of witnesses refuting the republicans' allegations against biden. we brought this as breaking news this morning, a judge in georgia will let prosecutor fani willis stay on the trump racketeering case if she removes her boyfriend, nathan wade, from the case, or she can keep him but remove herself and her entire office from the prosecution. one of the trump allies charged in the case said willis had a conflict of interest when she hired and then paid a man with whom she was interesting an intimate relationship. it's fair to say this is a win for nobody. the judge blasted willis for the appearance of a conflict of interest, and her decisions. he called it a tremendous lapse in judgment and said she behaved unprofessionally on the stand, but didn't take her off the case, which would have been a huge win for trump and the rest

of the defense because many feel a replacement prosecutor might drop or lessen the charges. an unexpected and controversial call from a top senator, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu must go, chum schumer saying that, making that call from the floor of the u.s. senate. >> i have known prime minister netanyahu for a very long time. while we have vehemently disagreed on many occasions, i will always respect his bravery on the battlefield as a younger man and i believe in his heart he has his priority, the security of israel. however, i also believe prime minister netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interest of israel. >> many world leaders, including president biden, have welcomed worried about the ferocity of

israel's attack on gaza and widespread starvation among civilians. but to call for the resignation of a democratically elected leader is very unusual. america, after all, gets very upset when other countries interfere with our politics. >> all right, scott, thank you. new this morning, amazon's self-driving car unit zook is expanding road testing in las vegas and california. this will include driving at higher speeds, going out at night and adding more routes. amazon testing these cars in san francisco, foster city, seattle and las vegas. of course, this all comes after the competitor waymo debuted its robotaxis in los angeles. this is a history making weekend for bay area sports. the bay fc kicking off their inaugural season in the national women's soccer league. the first game is on the road. >> "today in the bay"'s kris sanchez is joining us live with

one of the legendary founders, telling us why we need to get those tickets to the first home opener just a few weeks away, kris. >> reporter: maybe it's serendipity that the season opener is on the road because that gives us two weeks to get really hyped up. brandi chastain with with us and you are super psyched about this. >> the little girl in me is jumping for joy every day, thinking we are one day closer to march 30th, which is when we kick off. we have players from around the world. we are going to connect our nine bridges to our nine communities, so go to the website, bayfc.com. get your tickets now because i don't want to have anybody sad they didn't get tickets. >> reporter: it's going to sell out. you have two weeks to buy your merch. you've got the soccer ball. love how you tie in all of the communities. love your jacket, too, by the way. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: and remind us, the colors are poppy and navy and

fog. and this is the jersey. you have it signed by all the players. super cool. we also saw them practicing at san jose state university. how do you feel about your roster? >> oh, we have some game-changers. alex was our first player, went to santa clara university. we've got rachel from zambia. we have a player from nigeria, venezuela, mexico. we've got a wonderful robust team, and we're really excited to kick it off. >> reporter: it kind of represents the diversity of the bay area, too. i'm going to put up a full screen because there are different ways to get tickets. the best way is to go on the website, the bay fc website will direct you to tickets. and there are not very many available. there's also a bay fc app, so you can track your players. >> get all the latest news, stay

up to date. learn your cheers. join the bridge brigade. we're going to have some cheers in the stadium. it's going to be amazing. please join us. >> reporter: i'm going to pass you the ball just so i can say i played soccer with brandi chastain. >> it's okay, kris played basketball. he's the goalie. [ laughter ] >> reporter: so exciting. one of the credentials we didn't mention, she's a "today in the bay" viewer. >> we love her for that. >> i'm up with you early in the morning. >> reporter: she said, where is kari? >> celebrating her birthday week. >> practicing soccer. >> it's going to be so much fun to go out and support them when they come to town. thank you. let's talk about the weather, because it's windy out there for folks who are going to head out. >> into the afternoon you can play all the soccer you want, just make sure you wear short sleeves and a hat to protect you from the sunshine. it's friday, and we are starting off pretty mild through san

jose. oakland, not too far behind. san francisco, just clear skies in the 60s. here we go with the winds. they are still in the 30 to 40 mile an hour range locally, still a little blustery into the higher elevations. by the time we are out of here for work and for school or whatever that you have to do during the first half of the day, then the wind speeds start to die down in the second half, and through the weekend as well. as far as our microclimates go, we'll also low to mid-70s through san jose, east san jose at 75 degrees today. into the east bay, widespread 70s as we go from oakland into walnut creek and livermore at 71. and a lot of comfortable 70s through the peninsula, daly city and redwood city, 73 degrees for you there, and 70s in downtown san francisco, out toward the outer sunset. the north bay very comfortable out in wine country, 74 in napa, and toward the coastline almost 70 degrees. as far as our seven-day forecast goes, 70s for our st. patrick's

day weekend in our inland valleys, and san francisco will be nice and comfortable, too. mike says the commute is growing a little bit. >> a little bit in the south bay. 87 sees slowing as well as 101. just a couple seconds away from reminding you about the weekend closure for southbound 680. i wanted to touch on this crash, highway 4, on the shoulder. it's the commute direction but very little impact. in fact, the bay bridge toll plaza, even though the metering lights are on. >> thank you so much. it is 6:53 right now. happening now, bay area wastewater treatment plants have ten years to make upgrades. the san francisco regional water control board is behind the move and says all 37 bay area plants have to reduce fertilizer and sewage in their water by 40%. the estimated price tag to do that is $11 billion. the board is also adopting changes as part of a requirement for permits by june 12th.

this comes after a harmful algae bloom in 2022 and 2023. it infected bay area water and damaged aquatic life. and up next, a look at our top stories, including a big closure in the east bay. ahead this morning on "today in the bay," we're going to look at the work set to get under way on i-680 and the impact it may have on your weekend plans. plus, this weekend also marks four years since the bay area began the shutdown due to covid-19. we're moving you forward with a look back at what has changed since and the initialnset of since and the initialnset of th oe ( ♪♪ )

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6:58. welcome back. we are moving you forward with a look at our top stories. >> first, caltrans closing

southbound 680 in pleasanton. the stretch between the 580/680 connecter and highway 84 will be closed from 9:00 tonight until early monday morning. caltrans says the closure will replace a portion of the deteriorated roadway with new pavement. the agency said it will accomplish the amount of work that 40 nighttime closures would. this weekend marks four years since the bay area's covid-19 shelter-in-place order. >> the world health organization didn't end the covid emergency until just last may. since the start of the pandemic, 7 million people worldwide died. 1 million people right here in the u.s. minutes ago we spoke with ucsf infectious disease expert dr. peter chin-hong, and he says so far only 22% of americans have gotten the latest covid vaccine despite the injection schedule becoming more streamlined since the first one rolled out. last look at that forecast for us. >> we have a little bit of the wind to deal with this morning, but then a calmer afternoon, and

that's going to take us through the entire weekend celebrating st. patrick's day. we'll call out the tri-valley, because everything is fine as you would expect on this friday. highway 84, that's the one we're concerned with. today it's fine. starting over the weekend, it's an alternate to the closure on 680. >> literally, highway 84 activate. we continue "today in the bay" on roku and other streaming platforms. watch our 7:00 a.m. newscast coming up next. that's what's happening on "today in the bay." it is going to be a nice day, so get out and enjoy it. and it's frida good friday morning. a deadly tornado outbreak overnight. >> yeah, and the threat is not over. it is march the 15th. this is "today." path of destruction.