in india. rogers made the list. okay, well, it's the top of the list. we'll get that list next time. we'll get it then. we are wrapping up a busy week here. as we head into mother's day weekend. we investigate why bart spent millions of dollars to buy new lights as a safety upgrade, but still hasn't installed those lights. also, the oakland police department has a dozen new officers after its graduation ceremony today. why? it's still in need of much more in its effort to crack down on crime. and former president trump's hush money trial continues, what was at the center of testimony today? and the star witness that is about to take the stand next. welcome back. the news at 530 starts right now. thanks so much for joining us. i'm janelle wang and i'm raj mathai. a lot of headaches for a lot of people. bart though, is back on track after a major service disruption . it all started at around 5 a.m. between the richmond station and oakland's macarthur station. bart said there was

some sort of equipment problem. this is video from the ashby bart station in berkeley. riders showing up this morning trying to get to work or wherever they need to be. but the gates were closed. it impacted the red and orange lines, causing major delays and frustration. i got to jump on a bus now to get home, i hope this doesn't happen tomorrow. i don't know if it's just a one day thing, but yeah, it's definitely an inconvenience and, they should have had shuttles for the people getting off the train to take them to their destination at least. but that wasn't the case. yeah it was a challenge. it took bart about six hours to restore normal service. another story involving bart. the agency promised to install brighter lights in the subway tunnel running under san francisco. this was billed as a safety upgrade, but six years have passed and those lights have yet to be installed. here's investigative reporter jaxon van derbeken. this is bart. subway tunnel under san francisco. you can see it's quite a dark space.

so dark that bart awarded a $12 million contract back in 2018 to make it much brighter. so we are going up considerably on the lighting. then bart project manager javed khan pitched the plan to install more than 2100 new lights, twice as many as bart had in the tunnel, saying it would bring ten times more light into the subway and bring the lighting up to current code so train operators could see better and passengers could evacuate more quickly during an emergency. for emergency egress, you want to be able to see the walkway and find the exit. but today, six years later, bart has yet to install those lights. so what happened? correct bart inspector general claudette beamer says the problem goes back to 2020, two years after the lighting contract was approved, when a whistleblower complained that bart was not getting its money's worth. it

didn't meet the standards. the specifications that they set out. the inspector general confirms the new lights were not as bright as bart wanted and wouldn't last as long as the contract specified. still, bart liked them because they would be easy to install and lower projected maintenance costs. after the inspector general's office got involved, bart fired the lighting contractor and settled with them for $2.4 million and vowed to install all 2182 fixtures, itself. this video we took in the subway shows that another four years later, those old dim fluorescent fixtures still line the tunnel and those new lights. bart promised to install most are in storage with time running out on their warranty. that's wasteful. yeah, you want to make sure that you're getting the best use out of your your your purchases. bart board member deborah allen, a frequent critic of bart management, has another word for

it. sometimes i do look at some of these things and say, gosh, you know, that's pretty that could be pretty absurd. i can see how the public would say that we reached out to bart. they wouldn't answer any specific questions about what's going on with the lighting, saying only that they're reviewing the inspector general's findings, and the agency acknowledges the procurement process did not meet our high standards. and we will work to do better in the future. during a recent audit committee meeting, bart deputy general manager michael jones suggested the audit process itself is to blame for all the delays, but quickly added there's multiple reasons why that project was not completed at, you know, at that time and at this point in time. okay, well, i'd love to know all the other reasons. bart officials now say they've installed roughly 30% of the lights they bought for san francisco. most in the berkeley hills tunnel. lack of time. but when allen asked whether any of

the uninstalled lights are still under warranty. is it gone? i mean, we're past the warranty. i really don't know. i it's not clear how long it will take for bart to finish installing the replacement lights in san francisco. back in 2018, bart predicted it would take a dedicated contractor two years because crews can only work during a four hour window while the system is down overnight. jaxon van derbeken and nbc bay area news. if you have a story tip for jackson or anyone else in our investigative unit, we urge you to give us a call 888996 tips, or you can visit our website, nbc bay area.com/investigations. good news for the town looking to cut down on crime and catch up to criminals. more officers will soon be protecting the streets of oakland after opd welcomed a dozen new officers. nbc bay area's velena jones joins us live with more on what this means for a department that has struggled with chronic

understaffing, velena. yeah, well, that's right. you know, this day was filled with a lot of emotion from excited new officers looking to make an impact. and their addition helps keep oakland fully staffed for all of their current open positions. ladies and gentlemen, i proudly present to you the graduates of the 183rd basic. now, three women and nine men are now joining the department. the new officers say they are excited and ready to make a difference. today's graduation comes on the heels of the city announcing a 33% overall reduction in crime compared to the same time last year. today, the new rookies say in addition to fighting crime, they hope they can make an impact as an example for the city's youth, hope ridge relationship with what's become a very frustrated community and show representation of different cultures in the department. it's

exciting, that's one of the differences i wanted to make to kind of open up that deal, to, females from my community, from my culture as well. well, i want to make a change, you know? i know there's people out there young kids who see police officers and they think, oh, you know, those are the bad guys. but in reality, no, i want to be the one that makes a difference and makes them realize, like, we're the good guys. incoming police chief floyd mitchell, who formally starts next week, watched as his newest officers took their oath. now, today's graduation brings staffing numbers to 716 sworn officers, which is the full budgeted amount for open positions within the department. reporting live in the east bay. velena jones, nbc, bay area news. thank you. velena. new officers and a new police chief. thank you. witness testimony continued today at former president trump's trial in manhattan. madeleine westerhout, who served as a white house aide in the trump administration, was back on the

stand for cross-examination by trump's attorneys. she has testified about checks trump signed in the oval office and a meeting scheduled with trump and michael cohen, who at the time was trump's attorney. cohen is expected to be a key witness in the case, and he's expected to testify next week. mr. trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to adult film actress stormy daniels. a federal appeals court upheld the contempt of congress conviction of steve bannon. he is the ex-advisor of former president trump. bannon defied a subpoena from the congressional committee that investigated the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. the court's decision means bannon may soon have to start serving a four month prison sentence. his lawyers could ask for the full circuit court to hear his case, or he could appeal to the u.s. supreme court. trouble for a music legend. a judge ruled today that beach boys founder brian wilson needs conservatorship because of mental decline. the judge

approved the petition filed by wilson's family. the judge said that conservators are necessary because the 81 year old musician lacks the capacity to make health care decisions on his own. wilson's longtime publicist and his manager were both appointed as his conservator. the decision comes five months after wilson's wife died. a member of the san jose earthquakes is going to the olympics. alex carvalho will be helping to coach players, hopefully to gold, this summer. cabello is the current director of methodology, methodology and served as the team's interim head coach back in 2022. he will be a part of the coaching staff for the under 23 men's olympic soccer team, and he's been with the earthquakes since 2017. today, cabello spoke with us about what it will mean to be part of the olympic team. no i never imagined has been always a dream. yes, because when you are a kid and you are playing, you imagine yourself playing in an olympics or world cup. but i didn't. i didn't imagine until

that happened and that could happen. so no, let's let's living second by second. just a reminder, the opening ceremony for the olympics in paris is ly 26th, and you can watch all the action right here on nbc bay area spring has sprung a bunch of travel problems on our desk. it's okay. we're here to fix them. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. next, we'll heal two airline headaches for some folks and extend an invitation to you. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri, headed out tonight . we are hanging on to that warm weather. 77 in napa, 88 in livermore, 85 in san jose. what's ahead for t

consumer investigator chris kamara joins us now with some

examples of how we've helped our viewers chris. happy friday to our consumer team on a daily basis. here's some viewers with customer service baggage to unpack in both english and in spanish. well, erika in solano county wrote in to nbc. bay area response. after she flew with her daughter. but an airline left behind her kids $183 car seat now, the carrier said it would send it back, but erika says that never happened. so she reached out to us. we contacted the airline, no word on the car seat, but the airline did send erika a $183 check. alicia in watsonville is next. she contacted telemundo 48 respond, and our teammates there, well, she bought her mom a $460 flight, but before the trip, alicia's mom passed away. alicia says she asked the airline for a refund, even shared her mom's death certificate. the airline declined, so alicia tapped consumer investigator arlen

fernandez for help. she got alicia a $460 credit instead, but arlen says alicia is so thankful for that. now, an invitation. please join us tomorrow night at 630 for our nbc bay area response special. it's a full half hour of consumer battles, plus lessons to save you time, money, or both. see you tomorrow night and have a great weekend! thank you chris. we will because it's going to be a beautiful weekend. it's the second weekend in a row where we're having some sense. it's the third weekend or second. well, we did get sun last sunday, but then last saturday we had the rainstorm. we had that crazy rainstorm. let's just focus on our on our sunshine. i know i had to bring that up, right? oh man, i forgot about that. everybody's ready to move on from that. and yes, sunshine on saturday and also sunday coming our way. let's take it into that microclimate forecast and look at this reds and the giants going at it right here at 7:00 on nbc bay area this very channel. so no tickets

, no problem. we got your vip pass right now. beautiful weather at the ballpark. 73 degrees, a little bit breezy. winds coming out of the west northwest at 20. although that direction of wind usually helps to carry the ball farther out into the field. so probably good for some home runs. fingers crossed here tonight for the giants. temperatures will be dropping down to the 60s there through that first pitch, but overall some sunny skies expected again 7:00 right here on nbc bay area out towards walnut creek. it is warm headed to downtown. we got sunny skies. nice night for dinner outside. we'll be dipping it down to some 70s here at eight, nine and 10:00. so a mild night and then eventually some 60s later on. maybe it's up towards napa, a little staycation. you're going there tonight. you're staying through this weekend. this is picture perfect weather up towards marin and napa, sonoma counties and specifically here in napa, 77 under sunny skies, relatively light winds right now. and then we'll dip it down

to some 60s, nine and 10:00. so as we head through your saturday, we are locked in, no doubt with warm weather coming, our way from this area. high pressure keeping that storm track to the north. i do see a little bit of patchy fog for tomorrow morning, but it looks like the fog would be coming back thicker once we hit mother's day. we're going to see the area of high pressure here on sunday. move more to the east now. we'll still get in on some warm weather, but it's this system off the coastline that's going to help to get the fall going a little bit more once we hit sunday's forecast. look, i still think we've got some great weather on sunday. it's just going to be a touch cooler for us with some clouds near the coastline. so let's take it right into your saturday forecast. here's that fog to start and then that clears back quickly. and we have all of that sunshine coming our way for tomorrow. we're going to begin with temperatures down to 55 here in the peninsula south bay at 57. and those 50s continue throughout all of the bay area to start for tomorrow morning under mostly sunny skies. look at these daytime highs again for tomorrow up to 88. in los gatos

also 88 san jose and down to morgan hill, up to milpitas 89 light winds and relatively dry air here. humidity at 30% over to oakland 78. beautiful weather. martinez 86 and pleasanton 88. the peninsula man, you're coming in strong here in redwood city with gorgeous weather. 84 and you go near the coastline or the northern peninsula will be back in the 60s for a lot of the northern peninsula, except in downtown in the mission will be in the 70s and for sonoma, 87, mill valley 79. now, one thing just to be aware of this weekend, we are going to have the pollen high here oak, cedar and grasses. so know that now so you can do what you got to do with those allergies so you can enjoy the weekend forecast coming our way right here in san francisco. dry next seven days and we dip into the 60s on sunday but still beautiful. and for the inland valleys, we're at 90 tomorrow and we're down to 84 on sunday. we deserve this. that's a 90 tomorrow. it does. wow. that's a hot one. hot.

enjoy it. thanks, jeff. thanks jeff. the 49 ers. they're getting an up close look at the man who will be running the defense this season. what he wants to do to get the niners over the hump win a

look at the new batch of 40 niner. is there a future superstar in this group? and

who's the new coach? here's nbc's anthony flores. ricky pearsall is putting in work at 49ers rookie minicamp. this was our first chance to witness the 31st overall draft pick on the field in a niners uniform, it's also the first time we've been able to see nick sorensen in action since he was promoted to defensive coordinator here. we all know the standard here. and you know, we all want to win. we all want to play great defense. and that's the expectation, sorensen replaces steve wilks who was let go after one season with the niners. he has more than two decades of nfl experience, first as a player, then as a coach. he joined the 49ers as a defensive assistant in 2022. he's a first time coordinator, but he knows exactly how he wants the defense to play. speed violence and finish is what i want it to look like. most of the defensive coaches are returning from last year. the big addition this season is assistant head coach brandon staley. he's a defensive minded coach and former head

coach of the la chargers. he has experience as a coordinator. he has experience as a head coach, so he sees things holistically. he knows how to build plans. he's very bright and it's really a humble guy who's who's smart and knows football, and that's been really awesome and helpful for me. sorensen will begin working with the entire defensive unit in a couple of weeks, when the veterans report for offseason workouts. as for the rookies, their focus this weekend and moving forward is trying to impress the coaches and trying to learn as much as i can as quick as i can at levi's stadium. anthony flores, nbc bay area well, the giants, they're finally back home after the longest road trip of the year. and take a look at the field right there from our exclusive ballpark camera. the giants hosting a three game series against the reds. game one tonight at oracle park. the two teams wrapping up writing. practice this video just from a couple of minutes ago. giants need a win. the giants

desperately need. they need a win last night. way. okay, the weather is perfect for a ball tonight and you can watch it right here. you don't have to go to the ballpark. don't change the dial because the game will air right here on nbc. bay area coverage begins at seven. first pitch is at 715. should be a good one. up next frightening scene in russia as a bus crashes into cars before flying off that bridge right there. the reason the driver's wife believes that he drove erratically. we're back in a moment. norman, bad news... i never graduated from med school. what? but the good news is... xfinity mobile just got even better! now, you can automatically connect to wifi speeds up to a gig on the go. plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. i gotta get this deal... that's like $20 a month per unlimited line...

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russian city of saint petersburg. witnesses say the bus was driving fast, made a sharp u-turn on a bridge and you could see it collides with a car and then barrels off the bridge into the water. 15 people on board the bus, six were able to climb out of the water, but at least three people died. police detained the driver, according to the associated press. his wife told russian media his managers forced him to work a morning shift after working 20 hours the previous day. authorities in saint petersburg says the owner of the bus has been fined 23 times for various violations. a criminal investigation into this crash is now underway. a major storm is hitting northern florida and it's stirring up some trouble. take a look at some lightning bolts there in jacksonville,

winds reach more than 70mph. the wind gusts knocked down trees and power lines throughout the region, crushing homes and leaving thousands of people without electricity. better weather. here's the good news better weather is expected this weekend. back to where it all started. some schools on the east coast will now go by their original names. back in 2020, a virginia school district voted to change the names of two schools they were originally named after confederate leaders robert e lee turner ashby and stonewall jackson. this year, a conservative group pushed to reverse that decision and restore those original names. the community was not all in agreement. of the 80 people who showed up before the vote, more than 50 were actually against this reversal. but today, the board voted 5 to 1. now, those two schools are once again ashby lee elementary and stonewall jackson high school. the olympic flame is making its way to paris right now. the flame is in the french riviera. it's a nice place to be. we should be there. a lot of people lining the

streets to cheer on the torch bearers. among the torch bearers, a former alpine skier and olympian. marielle goitschel, the torch relay ends in 77 days. that's on july 26th, i believe. the night of the opening ceremony, which is right here on nbc. who's going to be at that? who it might be. i know jessica will be eating lots of fromage cheese and baguettes, and we can't wait to watch your coverage. i can't wait to be there, too. what's coming up next? coming up at six, one of san francisco's most popular malls is set for a major revamp. thousands of new homes set to be built near the stonestown galleria. the new steps this takes this week that puts that project closer to reality also, president biden just left the bay area wheels up for seattle, washington, after two events on the peninsula. we're getting an exclusive look inside one of those events and how the protesters outside kept up with his visit. but first, a lot of confusion for east bay students and their families. after

finding out that their school is closing for good. the news at six starts right now. good evening and thanks for being with us on this friday. i'm raj mathai and i'm jessica aguirre. high and dry. teachers and parents say they feel abandoned by their east bay school. the principal of new horizons private school in newark abruptly shut down the school amid financial troubles. families say they were given just days notice. this is a story that we broke last night. tonight, nbc's damian trujillo has more details. the teacher showed up to work even though they haven't gotten paid in the last three months. some tell me the news felt like a bucket of cold water. this is a bittersweet moment at new horizons school in newark. there's joy for today's middle school promotion exercises, but there's also pain and confusion. because this is the final day the school will be open. it's a

shock the way it happened. it's a shock the way it's unfolded. the vice principal hastily arranged today's promotion ceremony, which was originally scheduled for the end of the month. that's because a staff got this email from the principal, victor dawson, on wednesday night. it says the school has filed for chapter seven bankruptcy and would close at the end of day. today. there are parents who paid advance tuition and registered for the next school term, and i don't know how you know if they will get their money returned. the vice principal says. the principal is also a majority owner of the school. on the phone, dawson told me he is devastated, but that the financial times and loss of enrollment hit them hard. dawson is asking for 90 days to issue back pay for the teachers and to reimburse parents who already paid tuition. pretty shocking and kind of devastated. teachers say they knew something was very bad when paychecks stopped arriving in february