prince's cause of death. this afternoon, officials announced it was not suspicious. the 57-year-old had been battling the flu recently. a case so severe his plane made an unexpected landing just last week. abc 7 news reporter eric thomas now joins us from oakland's paramount theater where many fans saw prince perform in what was one of his last concerts. eric? >> reporter: and that was in early march, larry. here at the paramount, they've changed the marquee. let's show you what it says outside right now. "our hearts are broken prince rest in peace." and around the bay area, fans are grieving. prince fan darin brown was one of the first customers inside berkeley's amoeba music this morning. he's been following his purpleness since his 1978 debut album. >> you didn't know if it was rock or soul or r&b. kind of like a combined all music into his music. >> we lost a living legend.

>> reporter: marty oaken leads a prince tribute band called the purple ones. he was amazed by the artist's ability to play numerous instruments. >> i mean, from 16, 17 years old, bass, drums, guitar, keyboard. what? like who does that? >> reporter: prince played oakland numerous times over the years, including just last month when he also took in a warriors game, sitting next to the owner. one called off meetings at work to stay home and mourn. >> my first emotion was i cried because i really am a true prince fan and have been for a very long time. >> i think like most people we were just shocked and devastated, especially after just seeing him in early march. >> reporter: the valley said he looked frail but the march concert had all the intensity you would expect. if you were wondering how to honor the man who stayed musically relevant for nearly four decades, here's some advice. >> get out and listen to prince. >> reporter: in oakland, eric

thomas, abc 7 news. >> we're seeing tributes throughout the bay area. in about three hours at 8:00 p.m., san francisco city hall will be bathed in purple lights in honor of prince. oakland native sheila e. is mourning of death of her friend and one-time fiance. the 58-year-old percussionist tweeted, my heart is broken. there are no words. i love you. sheila e.'s dad introduced his daughter to prince back in the '70s. the 80-year-old performed live with prince on several occasions over the decades. he also spent time with prince at paisley park in the studio and just hanging out. >> he was pretty quiet and a little shy in some parts, you know, but all in all he was fun to be around and great to watch him perform. >> he called prince an amazing guitarist and a very talented songwriter whose among will live on forever. >> also sharing tributes to

prince on social media, the bay area's own m.c. hammer who tweeted, i love this man. too soon. heaven is yours. rest in peace. singer justin timberlake wrote, numb, stunned. this can't be real. scandal, "grey's anatomy" and how to get away with murder producer shonda rhimes was also shocked by the news tweet, i can't, i just cannot. even nasa shared a tribute, a purple nebula in honor of prince. this is how google is paying tribute. their logo is purple on the home page surrounded by rain. you can also share your thoughts and pictures with us on social media using the hash tag abc 7 now. sfpd and the fbi unveiled a piece of plywood today that was used to cover a mother's body buried in mclaren park. investigators hope someone will be able to locate her missing daughter. abc 7 news reporter melanie woodrow is live outside the hall of justice where the sfpd and fbi held that news conference. melanie?

>> reporter: ama, this is the reason that investigators are sharing so much detailed evidence. they want to bring little ariana home. a plea for a little girl missing for weeks. >> please help us bring home that beautiful 2 1/2-year-old girl. >> reporter: sfpd and fbi making that plea today, investigators also revealing evidence. they say city workers at mclaren park discovered nicole fitz's body in the fetal position in a shallow grave just 2 1/2 by 3 feet. >> the piece of plywood shown here was used to conceal nicole's buried body. she was manipulated to fit into the hole. >> reporter: investigators are hopie ining someone will recogn the spray paint markings on the plywood, perhaps pointing them to who brought it into the park. >> i don't want to remember her like that. >> reporter: nicole's co-workers from best buy are devastated. this is a picture of nicole's bright blue best buy shirt detectives say she was wearing

when someone summoned her out april 1st, the last time she was seen. search warrants and interviews have produced a huge amount of information. >> over 30,000 pieces of information, records, documents, and physical evidence which are being jointly analyzed by the sfpd and the fbi. >> reporter: but more information is needed to find ariana. >> we want to bring her home. >> reporter: and whoever is responsible for her mother's murder. in san francisco, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. contra costa county sheriff's deputies say a woman reported earlier this month was killed and buried in a shallow grave in the backyard of a home. sky 7 hd was over the home earlier today. detectives say 47-year-old kimberly hogland disappeared march 28th and was likely murdered shortly thereafter. she was reported missing on april 13th by family members. the sheriff's office says her remains were found buried in the backyard of the home. this man, 37-year-old dylan

reese, has been arrested in connection with the killing. detectives are also looking for another suspect, 43-year-old andre vil adrouin of richmond. sky 7 hd flew above san francisco's bay view district right after police -- the suspects broke into a shop on industrial street near 280. the manhunt forced police to stop traffic in yat for a while around 8:00 this morning. sky 7 hd was above san francisco as smoke rose from a burning apartment building in the mission district. that fire spread to another building near guerrero around 8:30 this morning. thankfully nobody was hurt. the red cross is helping people driven from their homes by the fire. arson investigators are looking to see what caused the fire. happening now in santa clara, the bomb squad has just detonated a pipe bomb. santa clara police found an explosive in a backpack taken from a drug suspect.

they placed it on the front lawn in front of police headquarters and called in the bomb squad to use a special robot to move it to a safer area for detonation. no homes were evacuated in the nearby caltrain station remained open. a santa clara man is suing the city, trying to remove a giant cross in a local park. andrew da fair ya oolg with the freedom from religion foundation says the 14-foot granite cross violates the first amendment and the strict separation of church and state. it stands at memorial cross park where an 18th century spanish catholic mission once stood. a local civic club donated the cross in 1953. we have a new batch of rain now moving in. meteorologist sandhya patel joins us with what to expect. she has live doppler 7 hd. >> you'll want to plan for zra time for your morning commute. you're just seeing clouds but the morning commute will include rain and breezes. live doppler 7 hd, as we close in in the north bay, a few sprinkles are not out of the

question. you see some of the moisture off the coastline. the real rain comes in late tonight into tomorrow. we've been using the storm impact scale to rate our storms from 1 to 5 all season long, 5 severe. we haven't seen any 5s. most of them have been 1s and 2s with a couple of 3s. the one for tomorrow is a light system, it's a 1. most areas will get between a quarter and three-quarters of an inch. it will be breezy and there's a slight chance that in the afternoon we could see thunder. here's your time line hour by hour. 8:00 p.m., we will see sprink hes. notice at 11:00 p.m. some showers develop between ukiah and santa rosa. we head into the wee hours of the morning light to moderate rain in the north bay at 2:00 a.m. as the system comes in. and at 5:00 a.m., you're pretty much looking at wet roadways. it doesn't end then. i'll have the rest of the hour-by-hour time line, plus a look at how much rain will be coming and if it's going to continue on into your weekend straight ahead. as the weather warms up, more and more people will be flocking to beaches to cool off.

today local rescue teams practiced their skills for saving people who are facing dangerous conditions in the ocean. >> rescue ready? >> marin county firefighters dashed into the water at stinson beach, this the latest legislation son in their four-day course on rescuing swimmers and surfers who find themselves in distress. >> well, anytime you can get out in the water and experience the environment and become more familiar, you're going to be more successful when the emergency calls happen. >> what we're trying to do is really get a basic understanding of our capabilities as swimmers and understanding the rips, the currents and what we can and can't do out there. >> today's drills included working with a helicopter to both spot people in trouble and to lift them from the surf. up next, a deal on the volkswagen emissions scandal. >> i think it's i an enormous step forward. >> a settlement is reached in san francisco. what owners can expect to do with their dirty diesels. also, a plan to have

tax-free savings account to buy a home. the new push in sacramento. plus, lgbt and the nba's all-star game. the commissioner just put the ball in enernorth carolina's co steph curry, his lon walk in houston. we've just learned whether he's going to play in tonight's game. we're live in houston when abc

>> announcer: this is abc 7 news. now there's a deal in place between the u.s. government and volkswagen over those diesel cars that vw admitted were rigged to beat emissions tests. a deal will include a buy-back but not all of the details were hammered out today in federal court here in san francisco. abc 7 news reporter leslie brinkley was there. >> reporter: vw dealers say they've been inundated with calls from owners of diesel cars over how much they stand to get

paid for their faulty vehicles. while there are no hard numbers yet, a big step forward in san francisco federal court thursday as u.s. district judge charles breyer announced an aggressive plan had finally been agreed upon for those who own supposedly clean diesel cars. did it with software that cheated emission tests. breyer says volkswagen will buy back the cars or fix the cars to meet emission standards. those who leased their car will be able to walk away. >> an agreement in principle has been reached that is satisfactory both to volkswagen and the department of justice and the federal trade commission. >> we're working really hard to try to get this resolved and to try to put this behind the company. >> reporter: the agreement covers 480,000 u.s. vehicles including diesel jettas, passats, beetles and gulfs. >> we paid for the thing in full and we feel like it's not of any value anymore. and we want volkswagen to buy our car back.

>> reporter: the bluebook value on this gulf is now around $17,000, and as uc berkeley litigation expert thinks it's unlikely owners will even get that much on a buyback when all is said and done. >> the devil will be in the details. the agreement is not final. we won't know the exact dollar figures. we won't know the real scope of the agreement until later this summer. >> reporter: a final compensation plan will be made public on june 21st. volkswagen must also establish an environmental remediation fund after the cars spewed out pollutants for years. the company will likely face billions in fines for deceptive adverti advertising. leslie brinkley, abc 7 news. >> first-time buyers might find it easier to afford their dream home in california thanks to a new proposal moving through the state capitol. a southern california assemblyman wants californians to save up to $10,000 a year in a tax-free savings account. if fased, that would help

californians buy homes in some of america's bryciest markets. >> we do know that we have a lack of supply so the amount of property value increase is near guaranteed in california. we just want to be able to really incentivize people to be able to make their first-time purchase. >> there is one catch. you'll have to pay taxes if you withdraw the money and don't use it to buy a home. nba commissioner adam silver said today north carolina must change its new bathroom law in order to keep the league's all-star game in charlotte next season. that law requires people to use restrooms that match the gender listed on their birth certificate rather than the one corresponding to their gender identity. silver emphasized the nba is not setting a time line, but he wants to work toward changing the law with elected leaders in north carolina. now to the golden state warriors. the team tweeted out these pictures of the players at work today. the team had a full day. >> and rest of their day is just getting started as we bring in

mike shumann live in houston tonight. hs shu, we just got the word on steph curry. >> reporter: no question, larry. steve kerr just announced that steph curry will not play tonight against the rockets in game three. they felt like there wasn't enough improvement so they're going to sit him one more game. let's go back to the shootaround this morning, though. we've been following this story all day. steph came out, and he told me that he feels pretty good. he's getting better every day. took some shots. he looked fie ed fine but it do simulate the game situation of starting and stopping and how much stress you put on an ankle. the trainers are working on a lot of different tape jobs. every time they taped him, he'd try to shoot. they'd try another one. it did not work. steve kerr and his staff decided he's not ready. they want to see him play some three on three at practice tomorrow. here's why they decided not to play curry. >> we talked to him after

shootaround today and he felt pretty good. he moved well. he wanted to play. but ultimately we didn't feel comfortable after four straight days of inactivity throwing him into the middle of a playoff game not knowing how the ankle would respond. his thought was that he would be okay. we just felt a lot more comfortable putting him through a three on three tomorrow, probably a five on five on saturday and really seeing if he's okay or not. it wasn't worth the risk to put him out there tonight and he reinjured it. that's too big of a risk. we'll see what happens the next couple of days and hopefully he'll be ready to go for game four. >> reporter: i think it's a good move on everybody's part, though steph wanted to play bad. steve kerr said he was lobbying, fighting to get back on the floor. best move for him to rest tonight. maybe be back for game four on sunday. reporting in houston, mike

shumann, abc 7 news. >> shu, thank you. kerr went on to say he felt it would have been irresponsible to play steph tonight given the condition of his ankle. >> and the warriors' steph curry has just been named one of "time" magazine's 100 most influential people. he's listed under the titan category. >> he's influential but not influential enough to get into the lineup tonight. the game starts at 6:30 p.m. game four we want to highlight on sunday at houston, 12:30 only here on abc 7. if necessary, game five will be back at oracle next wednesday the 27th. abc 7 news was in downtown campbell where one bakery is going all out for the dubs. at frost cupcake factory, you can buy warriors cub cams with vanilla cake with yellow and blue sprinkles with the warriors logo on top. they'll be on sale throughout the playoffs. they're also making special cupcakes for the san jose sharks.

>> i think we should probably sample those cupcakes. >> we should make sure they're authentic and give the warriors and sharks vibe. >> a public service. wouldn't you agree on that? >> i absolutely agree. i think we should try them out beforehand. larry and ama, tomorrow morning it is going to be a slow commute. the sunshine that you see behind me mixing in with the clouds will be replaced by dark clouds and raindrops. let me show you live doppler 7 hd. let's talk about when that rain will start and how long it's going to stick around. right now moisture is gathering ahead of the storm system so we're seeing a few sprinkles developing in the north bay between sea ranch and jenner area. don't be surprised if you have a sprinkle or two this evening. we have to wait until later tonight before things start to get going. gorgeous picture from emeryville. the camera is shaking. it's breezy as we look back toward san francisco. mid-60s in san francisco, 69 oakland, san jose 73. highs today are down by a few more degrees. from our lake tahoe camera, they

need the snow. they're getting some. a winter weather advisory will be going up tomorrow morning. mid-60s from santa rosa to napa, currently 69 in livermore. here is a view of those clouds in the south bay and san jose. wet and breezy for your morning commute. we're expecting showers tomorrow afternoon with a chance of thunder. weekend sunshine, but windy on sunday. if you're making plans for outdoor activities, sunday is the better day. beach hazard up through 11:00 p.m., large rip currents with large breakers. be careful if you'll be at the coast. we bring in the storm impact scale as we've been using all winter and spring to rat rate the storms. 1 is light, 5 severe. the one for tomorrow is a 1. most areas will get between a quarter and three-quarters of an inch, a slight chance of thunder in of the afternoon. it will be breezy out there. here is your hour-by-hour time line. midnight tonight a few showers developing before the main system. 3:00 a.m. the main storm is coming into the north bay with light to moderate rain.

you'll notice scatter showers elsewhere. 4:00 a.m. your commute will be wet. >> especially if you get going early. and it could be slow going at 5:00 a.m. as the rain is still moving through the bay area. 6:00 a.m. not just the rain but also breezy as we head into 7:00 a.m. we'll keep the rain going. the yellows oranges indicating some more moderate rain. as we head towards the noontime hour, some more showers developing behind the 178, scattered in nature, 2:00 p.m. you'll notice they're continuing and for the evening rush, just a few showers will linger. as far as rainfall totals are concerned, most areas are going to get between of a quarter to three-quarters of an inch but can't rule out a few locations that will pick up a little bit more than that by friday evening. in the sierra, there will be chain controls and possible delays so winter weather advisory friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. snow level will be around 6,000 feet, could briefly lower to 5,000. expect several inches at pass levels, 7 to 11 inches at the highest peaks. with the winds, it could be

tough traveling so plan accordingly. tomorrow morning, breezy and wet. we're looking at temperatures in the 50s, tomorrow afternoon it will continue to cool down. we'll see temperatures primarily in the low to upper 60s. accuweather seven-day forecast, a 1 on our storm impact scale friday. you will need your rain gear. weekend is dry, little milder and definitely gusty sunday with the breezes holding on monday. we have another chance of rain coming in on wednesday so even though we're getting towards the end of april by wednesday of next week, we're still bringing in those rain chances. plan on an extra long commute tomorrow morning. that's all i have to say. >> thank you. up next, the plane that looks like a giant high-tech dragonfly now headed to the bay area. and at 5:30 on "world news" -- we'll start with breaking news. more on prince and the mystery surrounding his death. plus a new case of zika in the ufs. a pregnant woman now infected

and the culture war ripping into the gop race for president. trump's surprise stance after abc 7 news at 5. new at 6, the groundbreaking surgery, it was the patient's

. >>. >> big boost for some water customers in northern california cities around redding and red bluff. today the department of water resources officials announced they're increasing allocations to state water project customers from 10% to 60%. much of that water will come from lake or avil now almost full. you'll be banned from smoking and using drones at east bay park. the district voted this week to approve the ban, coming at the request of the environmental group of save the bay. smoking will still be be allowed at overnight campsites. the drone ban is an update of a longstanding ban on motorized airplanes district officials say they can be dangerous as well as

disruptive to wildlife and just simply annoy other park users. alphabet has lost its -- shares of google's parent company split about 5% in extended trading after the company posted lower than expected earnings in the first quarter. the company blamed growing losses from the company's investments and new businesses such as self-driving cars and google's fiber program. apple retakes the top spot as the world's most valuable company. mean while, google announce as a rollout of a search function including real-time tv listings. users can now google a tv show or movie and see live airtimes. the announcement was made at the national association of broadcasters conference today. at a transportation conference in norway, elon musk hinted he's looking into a fleet of seflt-driving buses that could ease congestion in big cities. musk says an autonomous bus could help solve high-density urban transportation problems. he says self-driving technology

being tested in his fleet of tesla cars could be used in transit buses as well. still ahead, with a flick of a spark, a massive sled leaves a cloud of dust and blasts right into the record books. what is that th

coming up on abc 7 news at 6, memories of prince. tonight the lasting impressions the singer made on workers at a san francisco club during a recent show, especially his shoes. also, the changing sentiments about california's high-speed rail line and a first look at the plans that will transform downtown san jose. and get the final word on steph curry and the warriors from mike shumann live in houston. >> all coming up in a half hour on abc 7 news at 6. >> now to the moment the air force smashes the world's speed

record using magnets. >> two, one, zero, fire. >> there it goes. the vehicle left behind a cloud of dust as it accelerated at holliman air force base in new mexico. the air force used magnets and liquid helium to move this sled without it touching the ground. it reached a top speed of 633 miles an hour. the system gives the air force the ability to test systems without much vibration. and around the world journey on a revolutionary plane powered solely by the sun's rays is back on track and making a beeline for the bay area. >> the solar impulse 2 set off from hawaii this morning. that plane has been grounded on oahu for repairs to overheated batteries. two pilots are on board the plane as it embarks on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey. it is due to land at moffett field on saturday. "world news" is next.

thanks for joining us. >> for all of us here at abc 7 news, thanks for the time. see breaking news. prince, the death of a legend. the music superstar, today found dead at his estate. ♪ tonight i'm going to party like it's 1999 ♪ >> one of the best selling artists ever. the new tour had just begun. tonight, the mystery over his death. the images coming in right now. fans and celebrities in shock. we're live. culture war. the battle over transgender rights rips into the gop race for president. trump and cruz, on opposite sides. also breaking, zika emergency. tonight, a new case. a pregnant woman in america, infected. and the new controversial weapon to fight zika -- the release of genetically modified mosquitoes. now, a community in revolt. and, airborne.