slippers to their owner, a hollywood memorabilia collector today. the owner immediately gave them to an auction house and it will go on a tour around the country before they go up for sale in december. don't forget you can watch our newscast whenever you want 24/7 on roku and other streaming platforms. raj mathai with what we've got going on next. a mother, uncle and grandfather accused of killing a three-year-old and an exorcism like ritual. we will tell you what investigators said today. former president trump walking back controversial remarks that he made over the weekend at a rally. our political analyst joins us to look at polls that show whether they will hurt him in the election. the ceo of united airlines trying to calm the fears of passengers who may be thinking twice about boarding one of his planes following numerous scared

scares. the news at 5:30 starts right now. thank you for joining us. i'm kira klapper. >> i'm raj mathai. we start with a heartbreaking case involving a little girl. three people are accused of killing her during an exorcism like ritual in san jose. the next step in this gutwrenching case. ian cull was the only reporter in the courtroom. >> the mother of the three-year- old, as well as uncle and grandfather face felony charges of child abuse leading to death as prosecutors began laying out evidence against them. the preliminary hearing finally began in the case of a young girl killed in what police call an exorcism like ritual. she is identified only as aureli dough . one of the lead investigators took the stand to describe his interviews with the defendants seen in video from past hearings.

cameras were not allowed in court. he said the girls mother claudia hernandez told him god had taken her child because aureli was possessed with a demon. it was hard saying everything will be okay and we won't be found guilty. in the interview it says she killed her daughter but did not mean to and that grandfather described how he held the girls tightly across to his chest for two hours saying she was acting like the girl in the movie the exorcist but the grandfather says it was not an exorcism even though they were trying to rid her of being possessed. none of the defendants tried any life-saving measures. the defense attorneys objected to certain lines of questioning but will get their chance to cross-examine. the family of the defendant was in court but did not want to comment and say they cannot talk until it's over. we spoke about why the preliminary hearing would be so detailed. >> they want to lay out their

case because they want to show what each individual-- individual defendant did relative to the death of this child so it is important that this is a probable cause hearing but at the same time it is setting up the case for trial. >> the preliminary hearing is expected to last through next tuesday at which point the judge will decide if the case moves on to trial. ian cull, nbc bay area news. a former san francisco public utilities commission chief is going to prison. he was convicted on fraud charges as part of the fbi wide ranging investigation into corruption in san francisco city government. a judge sentenced him to two years in prison. kelly stepped down in the 2020 investigation and a total of 10 individuals including former public works director's have been implicated in that scandal. former president trump is defending himself after several inflammatory comments that he made over the weekend and at a

rally he used the word bloodbath wild talking about chinese car manufacturers. >> we are going to put a 100% terrace on every single car that comes across the line and you will not be able to sell those. if i get elected. if i don't get elected it's going to be a bloodbath. that's going to be the least of it, a bloodbath for the country. that will be the least of it but they are not going to sell those cars. >> mister trump insists that he was referring to imports killing the auto industry but the biden campaign rejecting that and releasing a new advertisement highlighting what they call a pattern of donald trump calling for political violence and accusing him of wanting another january 6. >> nice to have you back on the program. the former president continues to view january 6 as an act of patriotism and not a crime. what is the public perception? >> you wouldn't be surprised if

i told you it depends on who you are talking to. republicans look at it one way and democrats another and we have a couple of survey questions to look at. take a look. when you see the democrats they say 86% say well of course and you look at republicans and 51% of them say no it was not an insurrection. right there you have dramatic differences between democrats and republicans which, it gives us one more data point in terms of the polarization not only within the country but between the parties and leaders. i guess what we should be looking at in terms of analysis is maybe that independent. is that what the biden team is looking at? >> you are absolutely right and that's what a lot of us are looking at. you see 61% of the independence who say yes he was, in fact, an insurrection case. if you will go under the nose it was only 30%. so there you have it. the small group, perhaps 30% or more which is not so small,

saying yes it was an insurrection. we have to watch these people throughout the rest of the campaign because where they go is in all likelihood where the country goes. >> he has had-- mister trump claims he has no responsibility. do others agree or is it largely along party lines? same kind of questions and answer but let's look at the data to see how it pops out. 78% of democrats say that trump has a lot responsibility for what happen in that attack. you go to republicans. 69% say well a little or none. that's dramatic. look at independence. 40% said little to none. 45%, 44% say 55% say he has a lot. there's a gap, and in a close

election, 16 points is a world. >> we are reading the tea leaves. what does it mean for reelection chances and how does the trump team react to this? >> taken in january, a very reliable survey asks what do you think? with this indictment is a going to be helping somebody, helping trump get votes or not? look what happens here. democrats are less likely, 60% to vote for drum trump. but the others say yeah we are more likely. less likely to democrats, more likely for republicans, look at the independence. 39% say less likely. that is a 2 - 1 difference. pick the question, whichever one. there's going to be a minor or major difference on every one of those. we know how much democrats are going to go and which way, republicans are going to go. it's the independence of more than ever that hold the keys to the outcome at least as it

looks today. >> it's going to be a fascinating run up until november. thank you for your time. >> we are going to stick with donald trump right now and have details out of his civil fraud case. trump is asking for a court to step in before he has to pay up. the reason his lawyers say, it is practically impossible to get a bond. his trial started in october of last year and the state of new york accused him of lying about his wealth as he grew his real estate empire. a judge ruled last month that he is to pay $464 million and he then filed an appeal been in a court filing today his lawyers say he can't afford an appeal bond and should not have to. he says his properties in new york should cover the money that he is owed. if an appeals court does not step in to freeze his payments, the judge is free to start seizing properties next week. we are tracking developing stories at sfo.

another issue at united airlines and a long delay from passengers taking off from there to japan as the ceo of united tried to ease fears for passengers. a string of problems started two weeks ago and we've documented it at length including a tire that fell off of the united flight during takeoff. since that point united has experienced one problem after another. the ceo today scott kirby issuing a statement saying the incidents are unrelated. he assured safety is a top priority and even said he's beginning a new training program for workers and as for that flight from sfo his maintenance team needed more time and the flight was delayed more than five hours. it took off for japan about 30 minutes ago. imposters are targeting spring break travelers like you to steal your money.

we will help you avoid these tricksters next.

attention spring breakers. look out for airline imposters. >> there's a warning and that is our warning from a consumer investigator chris comer up. >> more than a year ago we warned you about thieves posing as airline employees. some viewers like alice who did a simple web search for an airline phone number said they ended up calling a scammer who posed as an airline agent and charged them unnecessary fees. some fees are still at it. this woman just alerted our nbc sister station in dallas and called what she thought was an american airlines phone number but later learned she was off by one digit. before that realization she called the number and an alleged agent told her to fork

over $900 to fix a ticket glitch. here's what he said. >> i just want to make sure that you understand that if you don't pay for this seat, when you get to the airport your husband is going to be on standby. i specifically said to him are you a scammer? and he said no, i've got all your flight information here. >> while he was a scammer. there was no error or need to spend $900. luckily sam smelled a rat. she spoke up. if you are flying and need to contact the airline dial carefully starting with the number on your receipt or the airline website and before you call, triple check at the number that you punched in matches the real number. we often recommend contacting airlines on social media and that is a savi way to get quick service but carriers caution there are airline imposters online as well. to find an official account start on its website and then click their little social media icons. if you spot an airline imposters let us know. scan the qr code to fill out

our consumer complaints online. we are getting a sneak peek at some of the major sporting events coming to the bay area and there are a bunch of them. the host committee is helping to coordinate these major events including the nba all- star game which is next year. super bowl lx and the fifa world cup and the president of every local sports team is part of this committee including jeff smith, the president of san francisco is new wnba team. >> if those events are coming to fruition we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to showcase why this region, and why this community are ones that should benefit from these opportunities. >> of the committee is working on getting even more major sporting events to the bay area. >> if you are sitting inside watching sports you are missing out on this beautiful weather.

>> the window that we are in right now, incredible because once the rain gets here next weekend it's going to be like-- great, i know. and really feel like it's getting here fast after all of the sunlight we've enjoyed the past couple of days. just stellar. let's move into what's happening as we roll through tomorrow. no rainfall one pressure continues to move on toward the north. we will get some sunshine and the only thing tomorrow morning is the chance for fog to start. looks like we will have that chance throughout the bay area and some drizzle on the coast line but then it all clears back as we head into the afternoon for those mostly sunny skies. morning temperatures as we go through tomorrow dipping back into the 40s for much of the bay area. 47 through the south bay, the peninsula 49 and try valley 36 so the weather is with us for tomorrow. 50 in san francisco and the east bay at 48. with that increased sunshine going to get back up into the

70s so we are still looking at incredible weather tomorrow it will put us at 71 in cupertino, 74 in morgan hill to alameda county end up to 69, vallejo. 72 pleasanton and 66 in hayward. that's because we have that cool ocean breeze with us and not quite 70s in redwood city will be at 67. 58 in the marina because of the ocean breeze but you get away from the ocean breeze and we are still back into the low 70s here. santa rosa, nevada, sonoma and right here through napa. enjoy every single second of this because we have changes on the way and what i'm looking at is one storm system that's going to sit and linger friday saturday and sunday for widespread rain chances. the three-day total still look extremely hot. closer to 1 1/4 " on the range and snow that could be up to 3'. let's get you in closer on the rain totals.

friday it's a quarter to a half inch up towards the north bay and parts of the elevation of the east bay. on saturdays forecast we could get into a 2:45 quarters of an inch and rainfall totals by sunday should start to ramp down trace amounts to about a quarter of an inch. sierra snow we think friday and saturday specifically a little bit lingering into sunday would really stack up. we might get into some road closures. 28 " in king vail, 12 in south tahoe, maybe 25 in kirkwood and that's going to add to the current snowpack which is pretty much going to guarantee that after that storm system the upcoming weekend everybody is 100% or better. central sierra including tahoe, 99% of normal and all that is important because snowpack provides one third of our state's water supply. three more days of the sun before the rain chances rollback

in for the upcoming weekend with temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s in san francisco. we will go for 75 tomorrow and 61 on saturday which is going to be a hard turn this upcoming weekend but i know that everybody got outside and did a lot of soaking up the sun. i was just looking at the sky. some gardening, probably fit into much of that. you want to sit in the chair and relax but that was hard to come by. >> are you going to call out sick tomorrow? it's the payoff. it looks good. up next this is no ordinary up next this is no ordinary ga [alarmme rings] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [alarm rings] ♪♪

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>> it is crunch time for the warriors as they continue to fight for a playoff spot. tonight they are back home. >> 16 games remaining in the regular-season. 16 games. the warriors beat the lakers down in la. steph curry returned to the line up and scored 31 points in the victory after missing three games with an ankle injury. a lot of stars were courtside. >> i was at the game where he injured his ankle. >> curry is back and hopefully the warriors are back. right there they are the ninth see out of 10. >> as for tonight's game it

will be fun to watch for a variety of reasons. the team is celebrating all things women with an all-female telecast honoring women's empowerment month. play-by-play announcer jenny cavnar will call the game and women will also hold all the microphones pregame and post game. you can see all of these incredible ladies right there on your screen with coverage on nbc sports bay area beginning at 6:00. >> here's another shocker. another giants fan favorite is leaving the team but it's not a player. they are saying farewell to renel brooks-moon. >> batting sixth, first baseman number nine back, brandon bell. >> we can't say goodbye to her now, she's part of the fabric of the bay area. the giants say renel brooks- moon will not return to the team this season. 24 years as the public address announcer inside the ballpark in her first year coincided with the giants first year at the ballpark in china basin. it is a mutual agreement after

a new contract could not be reached. no word yet on who will replace her. she's not really replaceable but no word on who will take over that job. are you ready? march madness is here and it's about to begin. st. marys, the men will play thursday while stanford the women play friday against norfolk state and a lot of people are going to start wagering and doing friendly office pools. more than $52 billion expected to be wagered-- excuse me, $2 billion expected to be wagered on the tournaments, the men's and women's. that is according to the american gaming association. that is nearly twice as much believed to be bet on this year's super bowl which is kind of chump change. university of connecticut men won it all last year on the women's side of south carolina are the favorites but we are rooting

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resident biden warned israel's prime minister against a grand eat-- invasion in rafah. the world leader spoke on the phone today and is the first call in roughly a month. biden asked israel to send a team to washington dc so

israeli leaders can hear about mister biden's concern of this possible ground invasion in rafah. more than 1 million people have taken refuge there in the southwestern gaza strip along the border with egypt. rafah also serves as a primary entry point for humanitarian assistance entering gaza from egypt . it confirmed that benjamin netanyahu agreed to the invitation and the leaders also spoke about the prospect of a cease-fire that could last for a few weeks. and the olympics be used to promote peace in ukraine? the president of france and manual mccrone hopes that it can and is asking the russian president to observe a cease- fire in ukraine during the paris games. back in 2022 russia invaded ukraine during the winter olympics and the olympic committee claimed that it breached the olympic truce. athletes now face restrictions as punishment for that invasion. today vladimir putin responded to that a crest request saying

russia is ready to talk about a cease-fire during the olympics, but that he needs to consider russia's interests on the front line. the olympic torch has its very own security team which is not surprising. it will be lit next month and will embark on an international journey before finally arriving in france. today a french special task force conducted a drill to practice what will happen if the torch is attacked by intruders. the team quickly circled the intruders and this is just a drill here, took away the torch. french police say they will be on high alert for any type of threat during the relay and when the games begin in late july. >> weren't you a torchbearer? >> i was in san francisco. >> what a cool opportunity. get ready to watch the olympics by the way, on the big screen this summer. nbc has teamed up with amc theaters to select daytime games live. it will be at 160 locations

across the country and you can watch starting july 27 which is the day after the opening ceremony continuing all the way through august 11. purchase your tickets through amc and streaming platforms will be airing all of the games. you can watch from the comfort of your own couch. an animal cruelty investigation. what two people did to this german shepherd. who police are looking for and how long and how the dog is doing tonight. california speeding up plans to empty out death row but hundreds of inmates are still there. when they will be moving and where they will end up. >> gas prices and if they are going to go any higher.

the news at 6:00 starts right now. thank you for being with us on this monday. i'm raj mathai. >> and i am janelle wang a young dog named marley shot in the head for no apparent reason. this is marley. she did survive but the people who did it got away and san jose police are asking people for help finding them. marianne is in san jose with our top story. >> after she was shot she was taken here to the san jose care center where the medical team stabilized her. >> this votto shows her shortly after she was shot. a bullet went through her muzzle , traveled through her jaw and hit her paul. one of her toes had to be amputated. >> how can somebody shoot a dog that is very defenseless? >> san jose police say the shooting happened near the dog's home and neighbors are stunned.