walnut creek. we're live there at the scene with all the new details on what led up to the tragedy and that lengthy cleanup that may impact your morning commute. pushing back against

encampment suites in san francisco are cameras capturing the latest one as it happened. the new call this morning to end the practice and the greatest swimming machine we've ever seen. rolls on to another goal here in paris. swimming to gold. team usa star katie ledecky delivering a master stroke of performance. and we're going to take you live to paris to relive the triumphant moment. this is today in the bay. gold looks so nice on the usa flag right. good morning to you all on this thursday i'm marcus washington and i'm laura garcia. welcome to this first day of august. hard to believe summer is kind of coming to a close school next week for a lot of kids. but let's enjoy the golden morning at least checking the forecast with meteorologist kari hall. yeah, before we get to that, let's go to mike inouye. right now. he is following that crash.

it's really going to possibly impact a lot of people's commute this morning. mike. yeah, it is already it's the east shore freeway through berkeley. also impacting is what kari hall is going to talk about in just a second. we're looking at westbound 80. it looks like this camera shot may have frozen but westbound 80 there's still one lane blocked just past university. and just shy of ashby avenue. that's highway 13 or state route 13. so this is jammed up down the east shore freeway. i may have frozen my computer. so we'll talk about the jam from this crash blocking your right lane. there we go. it's still moving very slowly from el cerrito all the way down in toward the area just shy of ashby avenue. they need another tow truck, a large tow truck to remove a big rig involved in this overnight deadly crash for westbound 80. that is the slowest spot, though, as we widen out the shot. you see, that's the section of the east shore freeway that is jammed up. but the rest of the typical slow freeways carry through the area are moving well, despite those low clouds that at least we saw in that one shot. yeah, we do have the low visibility in san francisco and along the coast, and that's going to also keep those temperatures cooler in those spots as we start out with

some mid 50s in san francisco, upper 50s for oakland. and we're at 59 in dublin as well. but then as we take a look at martinez and how the day shapes up for you, we'll start out with upper 50s and then see a few peeks of sunshine before noon. as we go throughout the day, it will be partly cloudy and temperatures in the mid 80s and up to about 87 will reach the highest temperatures around 4 to 5:00 this afternoon, and into the evening. a nice little cool down as that wind picks up, but overall across the bay area temperatures range across the bay area from 60s near the coast to mid to upper 90s for the inland valleys. we'll be tracking those changes into the weekend. coming up in the full microclimate forecast. all right. thank you. kari. well, we are following breaking news this morning and word of an imminent prisoner swap involving the united states and russia. you're looking at video of wall street journalist evan gershkovich, who was reportedly convicted of spying charges. now, at this point, we do not know the

identity of those prisoners being swapped, but he is currently one of the most high profile americans now in russian custody. another possible bargaining chip. paul whelan. this is a former marine, first detained in 2018. now at this point, sources are only telling us the prisoners being swapped will soon be in u.s. custody. more breaking news. we're following this morning. this closer to home in walnut creek, where one person has died, another in the hospital following an overnight crash. police are saying alcohol was involved. this is a live look at the scene where police have been overnight on a busy ignacio valley road near civic. at this point, both directions are still closed and will likely remain closed for some time. police say a speeding car struck a utility pole and the driver was not wearing a seatbelt. she died at the scene. a man in the car walked away from the crash but was still transported to the hospital. they're also said to be downed power lines in the

area, but no word on possible outages are bob redell is there. he'll join us with a live report in our next half hour, continuing our coverage now of san francisco's new push to clear encampments. this, as homeless advocates insist that the city is getting it all wrong today in the bay's ginger conejero saab live for us in san francisco and ginger opponents. i know they want to have their voice heard. what are they talking about doing today? well, they definitely want to have their voices heard and they'll do so where city leaders can see and hear them. marcus later today, supporters of the labor party are set to hold a press conference outside san francisco city hall to demand for what they call are arrests of the unhoused. now, we were at a clearing operation yesterday morning. we did not see any arrests or citations from police there. and i want to show you some video of that two block stretch of willow and polk street or willow street along polk street. that is where the clearing operation took place

yesterday morning. it took about three hours to clear the 27 tents that were there in the morning. that is less than the number of tents that were there on sunday, when people were first given notice of the clearing. now, before an operation like this takes place, the unhoused are given notice about three days out, and then the morning of the clearing teams once again give notice and offer options of voluntarily leaving or accepting shelter. most, according to the manager of the healthy streets operations center, volunteer to leave instead of accept city services. i think this is a process. it's not something that you can do overnight. it's people that are heavily, engaged with multiple issues. it takes time to engage them to get a behavior change. and since the grants pass, supreme court ruling, law enforcement here in the city has clear parameters on what they can and cannot do. san

francisco police chief bill scott has issued a new directive. officers can now resume enforcement of the city's public nuisance. street obstruction and sit lie laws, even if other departments are not part of the operation. officers were barred from enforcing these ordinances before that supreme court decision. now, the five page directive from chief scott reads in part, quote, this means members may enforce the below laws without first assuring that the city has made offers of available shelter. and, according to the city's healthy streets operations center, just in that two block stretch of willow street, they have had 550 engagements so far this year, 129 have been placed in shelter 393 have refused shelter. now, the mayor's office says the city is, helping unhoused people get into shelter. over 750 unhoused people. so far this year have

found shelter. that's about half way or the half the number, i should say, from last year's 1500. at year's end in san francisco, ginger conejero saab. today in the bay. all right, ginger, certainly a lot to follow with that. all right. thank you. a new warning for people pumping gas ahead of the morning commute in the south bay. there's growing complaints after drivers say they got gas and then shortly after their cars broke down, the problems are surrounding this alliance gas station in cupertino. 23 people have now filed complaints with santa clara county weights and measures. the owner of the gas station says it's cooperating with authorities. one customer, alex lowe, says his mom's car died shortly after getting gas there june 28th. we called the tow truck, towed it into the dealership. they told us that there was a diesel in the car. the county tested the regular gas twice. after the initial complaint, they didn't find traces of diesel but admit

the test came days after the alleged problems. the county has asked the state to help with the investigation. the county recommends saving your receipt when you pump gas and reporting any problems right away. well, we are inching to the halfway point for the 2024 paris olympics and the athletes are competing in several big events today. now, at this hour, an athlete for team usa is trying to add another gold medal to her collection today in the bay's jessica aguirre joins us live from paris. jessica all for one. in this case. yes, that is true. so on guard there. laura i am crazy about kiefer. i'm talking about lee kiefer. she's an american female fencer. and if you didn't know this, she is married to garrick meinhardt from san francisco, who is also a fencer who is also here representing team usa. so they are doing this together as a couple, and they are back on today. kiefer already racked up a gold medal in the women's

individual foil fencing event on sunday, which is something she also did in tokyo. she is the first american woman to win back to back golds in fencing, and now she's looking to add some more hardware to her collection. she's right now competing in the team semifinals, which just got underway a few minutes ago. i rely on him sometimes when my energy is low, he'll be the one just being like kiley like focus, like energy up. so i'm like, oh yes, yes, yes, i hear you. i got it. so i really rely on him to help pull me into it. lee, you have got this. don't worry. don't worry about it. we're behind you. garrick's behind you. all right, let's talk about the pool. regan smith back in the pool today. she is just killing it here at the olympics. she's doing a phenomenal job, and she's hoping to cinch gold in the women's 200 meter butterfly final. now, she already won silver in the 100 meter backstroke. and like kiefer, also looking to add another medal to her collection.

also competing in the women's 200 meter butterfly, alex shackell. if her name sounds familiar, you might be thinking of her brother, aaron shackell, who is a freshman at uc berkeley. unfortunately, aaron didn't receive a medal in paris, but alex, who was a future cal bear herself, is looking for olympic glory of her own. now. forget olympic glory. for me, i was in all my glory today when i got to go down to the today show set. it is right beneath me here at the trocadero, and it was great because i got to hang out with craig and al and all that, all those big time network studio people. i was hanging with the crew, chilling with craig and al, swapping stories about the athletes we like to cover and then in a they're just like us type of moment, savannah and hoda and i were vibing about our favorite celebrity crush here at the games. if there were an olympic medal for getting the shot and the celebrity of the

olympics, hoda copy, would receive it. she has a picture with tom cruise dripping wet from the rain in the opening ceremony. in a poncho. he was he. he looked fantastic. i was wearing a poncho, but i'll take that picture like any day. oh, that sounds fantastic. like any day. of course. that's me. yes, on the sofa, hanging with my posse, just swapping stories. very, very fun. marcus and laur, i love it. your posse. don't forget about us, though. i won't, how could i? you are my celebrity crush, marcus. see? and now i'm now forever jessica aguirre. but what am i, chopped liver? i'm gonna say, but still it's love connection. we're not leaving you out, laura. we're not leaving you out. guys, i got a girl crush on you. it's okay. all right. thanks, jess. well, don't forget, tonight, the men and women take to the water for butterfly and backstroke. final events. and then catch that

matchup between simone biles and suni lee in the women's gymnastics all around final. and all of that action kicking off tonight at 8:00. right here on nbc. bay area competition already underway in paris. here's scott with what he's working on for our business in tech. well, up next on today in the bay, marcus will tell you the tale of two companies, one flying high, the other having a dickens of a time out to the futures this morning. see what's going to happen on wall street looks like.

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going on. the fed did, as expected, held interest rates steady, but hinted at a rate cut. next month we get the big jobs number tomorrow. a tale of two. santa clara city chip companies right here. the best of times. the worst of times. we'll see shortly. intel reporting its profits this afternoon. and if it were to lay off employees, it would likely announce that after the closing bell, this afternoon, bloomberg. among the organizations talking about the possibility intel will lay off thousands. intel makes the primary processor in computers. its stock is down nearly 40% this year. meantime, shares in nvidia, a company just down the block from intel, rose 12% just yesterday. a variety of factors from microsoft saying it

will invest more in ai to rumors. washington may ease chip sales restrictions to china in. nvidia jumped our scott budman, pointing out the $330 billion jump in value in just a day was the biggest in history. many, if not of if not all of the employees at nvidia who have been there more than five years are millionaires. the ai boom is rocket fuel for nvidia. meta, the company we used to call facebook, says it spent eight and a half dollars billion just in the last three months on ai and plans to spend $40 billion in the coming year. meta is all in on ai now a couple of months ago it was all in on virtual reality. they even changed the name to meta for metaverse. whatever you call it, facebook makes so much money it can easily afford both projects. fascinating story in military.com, it says the army's advertising deal with dwayne the rock johnson to encourage kids to sign up for the army didn't

work at all. the army has concluded paying the rock $1 million. a tweet did not lead to a single person signing up for the army. not only that, but he was supposed to write five positive social media posts only wrote two. also says a deal with the ufl. that's a football league led to fewer recruits, like a negative number. somehow, it doesn't explain how neither the rock nor the football team have explained to any of this. now, if i were to pay you $1 million, a tweet to write right to right five, you'd write all five. yeah, yeah. oh, unless you're the rock and you're like, well, i've got these movies. can you imagine being so rich? you're like, i could get another $3 million, but oh, so much work. that's too much. i'll do it later. yeah you could get your assistant to do it at a fraction of the cost. all right. thanks, scott. you bet. happening today. the bay area's first driverless shuttle service is expanding. beep! a fleet of ai powered shuttles will now include a part of walnut creek, the senior community of rossmoor. the shuttles launched last year in san ramon's bishop

ranch. the new shuttle will start running later this morning live at 8:00 in our streaming newscast. we're going to talk with company leaders about that expansion. well, 20 for you this morning, joshua tree is gearing up for an influx of visitors. this is ahead of the annual perseid meteor shower. it is expected to peak between august 10th and the 12th, which is next weekend. thousands of stargazers could actually see hundreds of streaks of light. this is all going to hurtle across the dark sky each night, so officials are really warning residents and businesses there to be prepared for that boom in tourism. if you are planning to go, expect to see traffic on your way to the park. and this all the comets orbits the sun approximately every 134 years, producing that phenomenon. so certainly something to go out and enjoy, laura. all right. well, turning back to our parish coverage still trending this morning, stanford grad katie ledecky

making more history, winning her 12th olympic medal. it's going to back it up again here in paris. ledecky slayed her signature event, the 1500 free, her closest competition. not even close. it was a really special moment, all caught on camera. just minutes later. take a look at this. look at this. she's so excited. this young girl in the stands having a fangirl moment after ledecky waved at her. she was jumping up and down, saying, she waved at me. yes, isn't that cool? though? she made her day to a gold medal moment. are tied herself out. that's a great moment, you know, in that time. katie ledecky was able to go up to the stands, shake her hands, give her a hug and then get back down to the pool before the next person. right. katie, the gap was just like, oh my goodness, no one's even close. wow. gold in the water. yes all right, well, let's get a look at our

forecast here at home. we have some pretty amazing looking views as we get this thursday started. here's a look at walnut creek where we can see the low clouds in the distance there over the hills. but at least over walnut creek, it is all clear with a nice pink sunrise. those high clouds will be moving in for today. slightly warmer in the inland valleys, and then tomorrow we add in humidity with the possibility of dry lightning, mainly over the sierra. those are the thunderstorms where the rain evaporates before hitting the ground. but there's still that possibility that lightning could strike the ground. and that's of a big concern because that could spark spark some new fires. and the heat continues for the inland areas. this weekend. take a look at this view. san francisco i'm just going to step out of the way. this is above the marine layer. we see the higher clouds up above. and then once the low clouds clear out, those high clouds that you see right now will be what's left as we go throughout the day. but just a beautiful start to our morning. as you're heading out,

let's get a look at our temperatures, where we're going to see highs in the upper 80s in east san jose, 85 in cupertino. and we'll feel that heat in morgan hill and gilroy today with some 90s also a lot more 90s for the tri-valley and interior east bay, walnut creek 91 while hayward will hit a high of 78 degrees. still nice and comfortable there, and you can see the spread and temperatures even from the coast to palo alto. it will be 83. in palo alto, while in half moon bay, 66 degrees, mainly 60s and low 70s in san francisco and for the north bay sonoma, napa 89 degrees. but 97 in clear lake, while the coast will be in the upper 60s. so we were talking about that monsoonal moisture, that high humidity coming in. that's the green surge that you see there that will mainly be over the sierra with that possibility of thunderstorms moving in. and those lightning strikes may not have a lot of rain with them. so unfortunately, any thunderstorms that do develop won't have

enough rain with it to put out any spot fires. so we'll be watching that. as we look at our bay area weather, it's going to be a little bit more humid, a few more clouds, highs reaching into the low 90s and really not too many changes temperature wise into next week. while san francisco will be in the upper 60s, low clouds and fog linger throughout much of the morning into the early afternoon. mike, we have a welcomed update now for berkeley. yes, i'll try the delivery that you gave here. look at this view. oh well, because i look at traffic right. you know what my maps are doing this weird sluggish thing again. but i can show you here. westbound 80. we do have a smooth flow of traffic all lanes are open now as you pass by that overcrossing which is at university avenue. so that's the great news there. i'm going to try to do a quick shuffle with the computers while we talk about the east shore freeway and how things are moving very nicely here. give me a second, folks, and there may be just a couple of seconds of interruption here while we talk about westbound 80 and the east shore freeway moving well out here past the scene, a smooth flow of traffic there. now things are loosening up toward

el cerrito, so there may be a backup forming at the bay bridge toll plaza. even as we speak, there's the east bay typical pattern for contra costa county. the rest of the bay moves well, except for here y vianey ignacio valley road at civic drive. that deadly crash investigation continues back to you. thank you. mike 623 right now, keeping our communities clean, coming up next on today in the bay, the local events. you can take part in to help tackle our climate in crisis. 623e'll be right w

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making weekend plans, there are several events happening focused on climate change and cleaning up our communities. if you're in san francisco on friday, there's a community cleanup in the inner richmond where volunteers will meet up at the taste buds coffee shop at 8:00 and head out from there. the silicon valley youth climate action group, the leadership summit, will be happening this saturday in cupertino high school. students, young professionals and industry leaders are gathering to talk about climate solutions and strategies, and you can register online. and if you need to shake off the sunday scaries on sunday at 10 a.m, manny's restaurant is hosting a trash cleanup around the mission district in san francisco. so for more ideas and stories on how climate change is impacting the bay area and what you can do about it, go to our website, nbcbayarea.com and

click on the climate in crisis tab. all right kerry thank you. well, we've got a lot more ahead for you at 630, including breaking news on a prisoner swap out of russia. our kris sanchez is in our newsroom. she is tracking the brand new details. she'll have more of that after the break from overseas. plus, breaking news here in walnut creek, where a young woman has been killed in a traffic accident behind me. the reason why police believe alcohol was involved. stay with us. you're watching today in the bay

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try one today. crash near downtown walnut creek. power lines are down and some commuters are scrambling. we're going to take you live to the scene with the latest on those closures. plus a prisoner swap between the u.s. and russia. new details were just getting into our newsroom. a live look at the eiffel tower. we're in paris covering all things olympics. and this morning we have your front row ticket to the today show set. this is today in the bay. good thursday morning to you. thanks so much for starting your day with us. i'm laura garcia and i'm marcus washington. we'll get to that breaking news in just a moment. but first let's talk about it a look at what we can expect from that forecast. and i

mean that beautiful shot behind you, kari. i mean, just a great way to start out our thursday. it is. and it's so picturesque. we have the high clouds up abov. we have the marine layer in the low clouds underneath. and i know we can't see that because this is looking above the clouds from our sutro tower camera. as you're heading out on this thursday morning. so here's what to expect. it will be a touch warmer for those inland valleys, and partly cloudy and muggy going into the day tomorrow. moving ahead, there's not going to be much of a change here, as our temperatures will reach into the mid 60s for the coast. low 70s for the peninsula into the east bay. we're in the upper 70s for hayward and fremont, but the farther you go inland in the tri-valley and the delta, those highs today will reach into the low 90s. and this is the weather we'll see leading into the weekend. we'll talk about that as well as some events going on around the bay area coming up in a few minutes. all right. thank you gary. well, breaking news

out of the east bay this morning. a young woman is dead. this is after police say that she got behind the wheel drunk today in the bay's. bob redell joining us live from the scene there in walnut creek. so, bob, are police talking about what happened here? they've got a pretty good sense of what happened. based on what the passenger who was in this vehicle behind me told them overnight. you can see the wrecker is just arrived. coroner's already been here. removed the body of this young woman, ron ignacio valley road. between civic and broadway here in walnut creek, which is going to be shut down for quite some time. again, this is a horrific reminder why you should not drink and drive. the woman who died, she was 18 years old, according to police. walnut creek police tell me that around one this morning, the young woman was driving. a man also 18 years old, from pittsburgh, where they had been drinking. they were headed to the man's home in danville. she was going

around 90 miles an hour, according to officer on the scene when she lost control, crossed the center divide and hit a power pole in the opposite direction of ignacio valley road. police say she was not wearing a seatbelt, ejected and died on the scene on the sidewalk. her passenger was wearing a seat belt, got out on his own, was taken to the hospital. he's expected to survive. he has since told police that he and the driver had been drinking before they got into the car again, the coroner has arrived already, took the body away waiting for this record to remove the wreckage of this vehicle. it looks like it was a it was a sedan, possibly a coupe, but definitely a car. and then you can see that the power poles in the background, it is split in half. it is in the middle of the road. walnut creek police say it's going to possibly be all day to this section of ignacio valley road is shut down between broadway and civic, while pg&e makes a repair and replaces that pole, reporting live here in walnut creek, bob redell. today

in the bay. it's so sad there. i'm sure her family are. just a reminder there where the seat belt and do not drink and drive. bob, thank you. well, also breaking this morning we're learning of a prisoner swap which could free several americans who have been detained in russia today in the bay's kris sanchez joins us with more on where these really delicate negotiations are standing. right now. kris. you know, delicate is not an overstatement at this point. we cannot say which americans will be freed in this prisoner swap that involves not only russia, but apparently other countries as well. but we do know who has been held in russia against their will. now, wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich is one of the most high profile prisoners, along with u.s. marine paul whelan, who's been in custody since 2018. that's him right there. we cannot confirm if they are among the american prisoners to be released. only that there's been a lot of work toward that effort up to this

point. a senior biden administration official confirmed to nbc news that the parties the russia, us and the other countries agreed to that prisoner transfer and expected to release those prisoners to u.s. custody soon. the trade is a rare example of cooperation amid the heightened tensions between the u.s. and russia following russia's 2022 invasion of ukraine and the ensuing u.s. sanctions. the 2016 annexation of crimea and the 2016 interference in the election here in the u.s, a wnba star and olympic basketball star, brittney griner was released from russian captivity in 2022 after ten months there, she has been very vocal about her disappointment that whelan was not released. at the same time, her freedom was in exchange for the release of a russian, viktor bout, an arms dealer known as the merchant of death. to reiterate, we don't yet know which americans will be

released, nor who will be released in exchange for their freedom, and we expect those americans to come home very soon. laura. well, a lot of developments to follow overnight. thank you, chris, for the latest. it is 636 right now also developing this morning. state leaders are now saying this fire season right now is about 30 times worse acre wise than this time last year. and a lot of that is due to the park fire that's burning in four northern california counties. since it started last week on the outskirts of chico. it is now approaching 400,000 acres. this morning, it's still less than 20% contained, 427 structures are confirmed to have been destroyed. this fire is the state's fifth largest on record. and it's not just humans that are evacuating. look at these little ones. animals as well. one east bay shelter is trying to help in those efforts. berkeley humane, actually stepping in to assist a shelter in chico which requested help

for the recent flood of animals that they've seen in their shelters. workers say they just welcomed 25 cats and ten dogs to berkeley humane. despite that own shelter facing its own challenges in addition to the park fire animals, we have 90 cats and kittens, so we were already at capacity, but we knew we had to respond to help them. by wednesday afternoon, about half of the animals had been fostered out. but those animals are still in need of forever homes. if you're interested, check the shelter website where over the coming days, the recent additions will be listed. okay, so today is a day that if you like funnel cakes and rides, this is the place for you. sonoma county fair kicking off today, 11 days of fun over at the fairgrounds in santa rosa. getting underway at noon. and yep, that will be the fair food. and of course, get ready for the corn dogs, the corn on the cob, and of course, and the festival rides. kari mentioned that earlier. now let's check in with

kari because, you know, look, it's going to be hot out there, but it should be a lot of fun for folks. yeah, it will be a lot of fun. and we're thinking about, oh my goodness, it's august and the kids head back to school soon. so we better get in some fun, right? we're going to the sonoma county fair. it's going to be in the mid 80s in the middle of the afternoon. just stay hydrated. and then temperatures warm up and cool down quickly. so we're down to the mid 50s. and then tomorrow it is slightly hotter with a high of 90. but there will be a few more clouds. and then we'll also add in some high humidity as well. in san jose, you might want to check this out. the italian family festival festa at history park, a grape stomping. there will be celebrities there food, beer, wine, all that stuff. highs in the upper 80s on saturday, so a little bit hot during the middle of the day, but you can cool off at the world dog surfing championship happening this weekend. it's going to be foggy, cool temperatures for the most part throughout the morning in the upper 50s. mike, you are anticipating a build up at the bay bridge. yeah, because that crash had cleared. all lanes are cleared on the east shore

freeway a short time ago. so now we have more traffic coming into the area and this is what we see. it is building up to the end of the parking lot. and now a little slowing off the overcrossing for 880. overall, the volume today not so bad, but this was a tough stretch. still recovering through el cerrito and past golden gate fields for west 80. but again, all lanes are clear through berkeley. we have a build up now bridge from richmond over to san rafael, highway 37. highway four standards slowing here a little more, maybe on 680 and 242 southbound, because some folks may be avoiding, as they should ignacio valley road at civic drive. bob redell was there. the scene of the overnight deadly crash saw the power poles down there, and so that will be an issue throughout the majority of the day. this is a critical section through downtown, so expect some reroutes and watch for some slowing back to you. thank you very much, mike. well stepping up recruitment of women. coming up next on today in the bay, a first look at a new statewide push from san jose police. donald trump shocking

more than just an auditorium with what he said about kamala harris, the vice president. plu. we're going to take you back to paris for a look at the sights and sounds just outside of the olympic village. and we'll hear from one musician there who wants all those tours to take it easy. keep it right here. you're watching today in the bay

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spoke at the group of black journalists wednesday, and it's a question of whether the vice president was black. i have a lot of friends who attended that conference. they say they did not go over well at all. it did not. well, you know, kind of went about as well as i think you'd expect. though trump was likely not thinking of the audience in the auditorium when he made this allegation. here's trump. i've known her a long time. indirectly. not directly, very much. and she was always of indian heritage, and she was only promoting indian heritage. i didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black. and now she wants to be known as black. so i don't know, is she indian or is she black? well, the vice president is of course,

both born to an indian mother and a black father like obama was born to a white mother and a black father, or j.d. vance's children were born to an indian-american mother and a white father. harris's father, a professor emeritus at stanford, is from jamaica. vice president harris has written many times about her black heritage, though as the white house press secretary points out, nobody needs me or anyone else to explain or defend their own rac. your heritage is for you to describe and celebrate. no one has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. that is no one's right. it is someone's own decisions. it is. i'll add this. only she can speak to her experience. only she can speak to what it's like. now, of course, this is not trump's first time questioning someone's background. he constantly claimed obama, born

in hawaii, was not an american. we've seen some of his supporters claim that harris was not born in america. she was born in oakland. thousands of democratic delegates will vote today virtually to nominate harris for the presidency. voting starts as already underway, actually, about 45 minutes underway. it ends at three because it's an internal party vote. we won't have much insight into the process, but it's pretty safe to say harris will win, as she is the only candidate and by this afternoon will be nominated as the first black woman and the first indian american woman to represent a major party in the race for president. laura, thank you very much, scott. it is 5:45 right now. san jose police are making a new statewide push to recruit more female officers. and it all starts today. i know this job is different. it demands something different. today, the department is launching a new ad campaign. it is part of an ambitious goal to boost female staff to at

least 30% of the force by the end of the decade. that would mean doubling the current numbers. the department is also hosting training sessions focused on overcoming issues that previously may have discouraged female recruits, including balancing work and family life. day six of competition is right now in full swing over at the paris olympics. want to give you a live look this morning at the eiffel tower? and you know what the streets of the city of light. they are packed with tourists. however there is one man who wants all those people just take it easy. just makes you feel like you're there in bailey. well, look, this musician right here. english. not his first language, not even his second language, but music. of course, a universal language i play hurt, play hurt me, me. i play emotion very, very emotion. yes. he says that he really

hopes that the accordion accordion will help tourists slow it down and take in the city of paris are also lomita is what he was playing anyway, i love that little something for everyone there i know should take a trip to paris. hey, we've got a little something for everyone if you're lucky. if you want a chance to win some olympic merchandise and the chance, more importantly, to meet mike in no way. there we go. he's hosting some olympic trivia at the 40th annual fremont festival of the arts this saturday. mike's going to be there saturday from 12 to 3, and this is cool. he's going to be choosing a contestant per round if they answer three out of five olympic questions correctly, you get a really cool olympic swag package. so that's nice. do you know the questions just yet? mike? are you keeping those under wraps? i do not know the questions just yet. i suggested some to our question maker to see what happens out there. there you go. i don't have the swag on me yet either.

sorry, guys. oh, yeah? so you're supposed to bring that in and try it on? it's very valuable. precious commodity. yeah so are you, mike. oh thank you. we'll have security out there for you. you're just trying to get some swag. yeah yeah, it's fremont festival of the arts. yeah. big event this weekend. so we're going to make sure that the weather cooperates as well for you to also not have to focus on how hot it is while you're answering those questions. this is a live look out there in walnut creek as we get this thursday morning started our air quality is of big concern as we go into the next few days. an air quality advisory in effect, and with the weather setup that we have with the high pressure, it basically acts as a cap or a lid over the bay area keeping the smoke from mixing out. so we get the air that's sinking with high pressure, exerting a high amount of pressure on the surface. and it also will trap any smoke and pollutants that we

have as it sinks down in that cold air also keeps it right over the bay area, and especially in some of the valleys and near the surface. we'll have to deal with that smoke as we go into the next couple of days in fact, as we take a look at our current air quality, we are going to continue to see the moderate air quality over the next couple of days, most likely with this setup and the hotter temperatures coming in. so if you are sensitive to smoke, all the pollutants, you do want to limit your time outside. and when you do go out, wear a mask. and we are looking at our temperatures across the bay area ranging from mid 60s along the coast to low 70s in san francisco and for the peninsula, san mateo 71. this is our high temperature today. so really nice and comfortable there. but the farther you go inland to the east bay, in the south bay, temperatures will get hotter. headed for the low 90s for this afternoon. so the air quality advisory in effect and a hazy sky tomorrow. slightly warmer and it will be more humid as our

high tops out at 93. in concord as well as 93 in morgan hill and san martin. we're up to 101 in clear lake for friday, and then on saturday it's about the same. so we're still seeing hot valley temperatures and cool air near the coast and also into san francisco. so i think that's where a lot of people will go. if you're going to the sierra heads up that there will be a surge of mid level moisture. that's the green there that will make it feel more humid, but will also bring more clouds for those higher elevations for the sierra, we're watching out for the possibility of thunderstorms that could develop during the heat of the day. both saturday as well as sunday. as the very humid air possibly sparks off some thunderstorms. and we'll have to watch out for lightning as well. as far as our temperatures are hotter spots inland will reach into the low to mid 90s overnight temperatures in the 60s, but in san francisco, 60s will be our highs, so we'll see that continue into much of next week.

as well. and mike, now you're starting to see that commute kicking in. yeah. over here richmond side of the bridge heading to san rafael. we see more congestion. and on the approach we see those sensors slow as well. pretty typical good recovery through el cerrito. but now it's just slow past central for west for eastbound 580 as you head down the east shore freeway standard here for 680. a little more slowing because of that issue on ignacio valley road at civic and a crash south 880 blocks, one lane through san jose for the time being. back to you. all right. thank you very much, mike. well happening now. new federal protections for transgender students take effect today. but judges have temporarily blocked their enforcement in 21 states, along with hundreds of colleges and schools nationwide. the new regulations also add protections for students who are pregnant or who are parents already. it also lays out how schools must respond to complaints of sexual misconduct. so we're back in minutes with an update on those breaking news stories that we've been following all morning. police at the scene of that

deadly crash near downtown walnut creek. an update on road closures impacting your possible commute and a prisoner swap between the us and russia. the new details were just getting to our newsroom. plus, turns out i made myself some new friends. i'm going to take you behind the scenes of the today show. i'm jessica aguirre, you're watching today in the b forward with

breaking news out of walnut creek. one person is dead, another in the hospital following an overnight crash. we have a live look at ignacio valley road near civic. both directions remain closed. police say a speeding car struck a utility pole and the driver was

not wearing a seatbelt. she died at the scene. a man in the car walked away from the crash, but was taken to the hospital. police say alcohol was involved. also breaking a prisoner swap involving united states and russia is now you're looking at video of wall street journalist evan gershkovich, who was recently convicted on spying charges. at this point, we do not know the identities of those prisoners, but he is one of the most high profile americans in russian custody. another possible bargaining chip. paul whelan, a former marine first detained in 2018. those prisoners are expected to be in u.s. custody soon. 656 turning now to the 2024 paris olympics. we have a look at the eiffel tower. and today, in the bay's jessica aguirre getting a little chummy with our colleagues on today, let's just say that she's definitely making some new friends. all right, check it out. barry, look at me. i have gone big time. i am sitting on the today show, set on the

coveted sofa, and look at. i'm with my new bffs. i've got crai, savannah, hoda, and of course, al here. they love me. they're so excited to be with me. i know we want to say something by sorry. okay we are so excited to be here. it's so fun here. i got to ask you guys because everyone's watching all the stuff you're doing. you're doing these primo interviews. i need to know first. do you? how do you decide who gets each particular interview? i mean, are you trading pins? are you locking each other in bathrooms? honestly, it's like olympic spirit of harmony. i mean, i think we all have our lanes. look, hoda is essentially a member of the gymnastics team. i noticed that, yes. so she does the interviews. the girls love her so much, but i went with her to gymnastics. we have fun. we've been together in a couple of olympics together, and you do get emotionally invested with these athletes when you've seen them time after time. i mean, you know what it feels like. it's like you watch these little girls, which they were before, grow up. and, you know, and as

you watch them, they get more confident. they just they they just become better every single year. every olympics has its particular storyline. what's the storyline so far for you, craig? i for one, always enjoy a story that we don't see coming. like, we know simone's going to be great. we know katie ledecky is going to be great, but every now and then you get like the bmx rider out. this has been a gold medal event for you with all the weather that we've had here, i feel like we've had a little bit of everything. what is going on and not to get to calamity, but you know, but but yeah, climate. but 100 years ago, from 100 years ago to today, paris is average temperature is five degrees warmer and so they're seeing more extreme weather just like everybody else. well, thank you so much for having us. you guys are so much fun. i am available if you'd like me to come back. we do. we don't want you to leave. you know, this is my open time during the day. all right, all right. we'll see if i go back to you guys. i kind of like it on the sofa here with us now. bye bye. you better come back. all right. don't forget,

tonight, the men and women take to the water for the butterfly and backstroke final events. and then catch that matchup between simone biles, suni lee and the women's gymnastics all around finals. all of that action kicking off at 8:00 tonight right here on nbc. bay area all right, we'll see if jess stays on that couch today. show starts in just moments. however, for more local news, you can always stay with today in the bay, we stream on roku, pluto, and other platforms live at 8:00. congressman ro khanna joins us in studio to discuss the upcoming dnc and his own political future. oh well, that has it there. you have it. today in the bay, in the bag. in the bag for you. i'm like ma. but anyway, thanks for making us a part of your morning. as we take a live look over at the eiffel tower in paris. jess! come back! come on. hi, there! good thursday morning from one of the most iconic museums in the world, the l'ouvre. >> of course we're visiting, but