hearings. >> i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and i didn't have -- not have communications with the russians and i'm unable to comment on it. >> reporter: now the justice department confirms sessions did have contact with russian officials, not just once but twice during the campaign. as first reported in the "washington post". most recently a senator met with the russian ambassador last september but sessions denies any wrong doing. releasing a statement overnight saying, i never met with any russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. i have no idea what this allegation is about. it is false. the allegations against sessions are just the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the trump administration and their ties to russian authorities. already, national security adviser michael finney resigned after lying about his contact with the russians. as attorney general, sessions is in charge of the fbi investigation into the matter, but now even members of his own party say he may need to recuse himself.

senator lindsey graham telling cnn -- >> if there's something there that the fbi believes is criminal in nature, then for sure you need a special prosecutor. if that day ever comes, i'll be the first one to say it needs to be somebody other than jeff. >> reporter: some democrats taking it even further. house minority leader nancy pelosi, elijah cummings and senator elizabeth warren all calling for sessions to resign. the white house are calling these new reports just the latest in partisan attack. snapchat set to make its market debut this morning and few will be watching more carefully than the school in mountain view. >> it stands to make millions today. abc7 news reporter matt keller live for us at st. francis high school. >> reporter: good morning, reggie and natasha. here at st. francis you learn reading, writing, arithmetic and apparently stock picking. they have a really nice campus

here. they're going to make a lot of money on snop chat. st. francis endowment fun was in on one of the earliest investment rounds in snapchat parent company snap. the story goes like this. a former student told her dad at light speed venture partners that everyone at her school was obsessed with the messaging ach so they say it's unclear how much money was invested but it's likely going to bring in tens of millions of dollars of profits now that the company is going public. that fund goes to scholarships. costs $16,700 a year to send a student to st. francis. the school distributed $2.75 million in tuition assistance this year. shares of snapchat are priced at $17 each. reporting live in mountain view, matt keller abc7 news. >> all we had was funny money in high school, matt. one of the suspects in a violent shootout on the streents of san leandro is going to be in court today. he was arrested after three months on the run. back in november, these suspects

fired at each other from their cars along 580 in oakland. that shootout continued into san leandro where one of their vehicles slammed head on into a toyota prius. a couple in their 70s suffered serious injuries in that collision. that couple is still recovering from the crash. a s.w.a.t. team served a search warrant this week. officers found this. an ak-47, three semiautomatic pistols, drug making equipment, $250,000 in cash. jones is being held without bail. palo alto police hope this photo will lead them to a man a woman says exposed himself to her. this happened on park avenue. after it happened, the woman grabbed her phone and took a photo of the man as he was walking away. police say that man is hispanic, in his early 20s, about 5'7" with a pencil thin mustache. state senator jerry hill is urging pg&e is state regulators to ease the bill spikes that many of you may be seeing. hill released a study yesterday

that found pg&e bills could sigh rocket even higher this summer and next winter. the report blames a variety of things, including a new rate structure, higher energy rates and flaws in how customer usage is tracked. hill wants the utility to lower bills in winter and help customers better understand when their usage goes up so they can adapt before their next bill. pg&e says it is reviewing the study. this is a great story. $5 million. that's how much a billionaire flop although pis is giving to flood victims in san jose after devastating flooding chased them out of their homes. he immigrated to california as a refugee at the end of the vietnam war and made his fortune with two biotech firms. roughly 80% of flood victims in the rock springs neighborhood are vietnamese immigrants. abc7 news reporter katie marzullo has more on where that donation is going to go. >> reporter: meredith king stepped inside the north side theater company on east williams street for the first time since the flood water receded. >> it's everywhere.

it's all over everything. >> reporter: the flood forced the theater to close, eight shows have been canceled. >> i know that things could be worse but my gut reaction is how overwhelming the clean-up is going to be to get all of this taken care of. >> reporter: people forced from their homes are also overwhelmed but a massive new donation means more help is on the way. billionaire biotech philanthropist literally wrote a check for $5 million. >> when i came to this country, i had nothing. now i have a little bit of money. i just want to help the people. >> reporter: his $5 million brings the total flood relief to $6 million. city officials say flood victims need to register at the local assistance center at the shirakawa community center to be eligible for money. the north side theater has lost thousands of dollars in revenue because of the canceled shows but it's getting help in the form of a temporary venue. at the san jose stage company. >> whatever we can do in theater arts to support each other in

this regard, it's where i come from. >> reporter: the show must go on and it will this weekend. in san jose, katie marzullo, abc7 news. recovering from the flooding is going to be expensive and victims need your help. you can donate $10 to the red cross by texting the words red cross to 90999. and that charge will automatically show up on your phone bill. now, they're also looking for volunteers to help with flood recovery efforts. the city would like people to register at helpindisaster.com/sanjose. information on our website, abc7news.com. crow canyon road is back open this morning following a mudslide that closed it for hours. crews closed the road between norris canyon in castro valley and bollinger canyon. crews removed the last of the debris last night. even whether when it's not raining, we can feel tim tebow of our wet weather.

. public works officialeds in oakland say it will take until may to repair this giant sinkhole. it nearly swallowed a bmw last month. winter storms are blamed for crumbling pavement, which led to a broken pipe beneath the surface. it disrupted gas, sewer, and storm drain lines. east 27th between east 26th and berry place will be closed until the work is done. all right, let's talk about what's going on in san francisco. we've got temperatures a little bit milder but still you're going to need that coat. 44 in lake merced and west portal 48, castro, the mission at 46, park pri sid yo 47, ferry building, it's 48, heading to downtown, it's about 47, little bit cooler on the peninsula, especially palo alto at 38, santa clara 36, just for 35 in pleasanton and petaluma and american canyon at about 36. high temperatures today. look at this. all of us in the 60s from 63 to

about 67 degrees today. temperatures a little bit above average. of course you'll have to contend with sunshine and pollen. oh, well, it's too much of a good thing, of course, can be bad. it's going to be milder if you're taking mass transit. dry if you're commuting out and about, watch that pollen. it's going to be moderate today with ash, cedar, juniper and pine. tonight's temperatures, upper 30s to mid 40s. we'll look at rain this weekend coming up next. that sunshine yesterday afternoon was worth a few sneezes to me. i don't care. i definitely will sacrifice that. taking a look at the south bay we do have some overnight road work here on highway 17 as you probably know if this is your route from santa cruz. northbound lanes are closed between sugar loaf and glenwood and this will go on through tomorrow as well so traffic sharing the southbound lane so that means one lane getting by northbound and southbound. they will have this totally wrapped up by 5:00 a.m. and we're not seeing any delays right now. i know i promised a look at the

central valley. looking good. we'll head there coming up next. more cities in the bay area getting too expensive for businesses to make money. how concord is saying, try us. the pr campaign it's usesing to sell itself. san francisco's police chief is launching a new push to put stun guns or tasers in the hands of officers. who he'll have to convince to make it happen. it's 4:39. we're heading to break right now we're heading to break right now but you can see

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new this morning, north korea says they know how kim jong-nam died. they say he died of a heart attack and not poisoning. that's without having any access to his body, though. in fact, the half brother of the north korean leader is still at a morgue in malaysia. north korea says he has a history of heart problems and they're now asking malaysian officials to send them samples of the substance used to kill kim. several arrests have been made in his death. meanwhile, malaysia announced less than 24 hours ago, they'll now require visas from north koreans due to security reasons. oakland's new police chief says one of her top goals is to make the city the safest in the nation. abc7 news reporter laura anthony sat down with anne kirkpatrick.

she said oakland could be safer. chief kirkpatrick acknowledges the police force's history of controversy from the recent sex scandal to racial profiling. she told us it's important to take ownership of the good and the bad. >> we own it. we are going to address the fact that -- where mistakes occurred. we're going to acknowledge it. we're going to talk about how we correct it for the future and we're going to meet people face to face. >> the new chief says her approach is to speak with and listen to all of the stakeholders in the city. san francisco police chief william scott is launching a new effort to bring tasers or stun guns to the department. he wants to use the weapons despite public opposition. scott says officers need those weapons now more than ever, especially since the commission banned the restraint. the commission is against tasers. members say officers have other nonlethal options like batons and pepper spray and training

deescalati deescalation tactics. if you're priced out of san francisco and silicon valley, you are not alone and now an east bay city is trying to cash in on those looking for a place to live and work. it is paying off for the city of concord. >> reporter: downtown concord sparkles but that's not how economic leaders are selling it. turn on your radio and you'll hear this. >> silicon valley and san francisco made the bay area overpriced with no place to grow. fortunately, the city of concord opens a refreshing amount of space. >> reporter: they've launched a $160,000 pr and advertising campaign aimed at rebranding the city. >> concord, a better fit for business. >> we're seeing a lot of interests through our website, a lot more hits to our website, a lot more interest from the brokerage community calling, asking us questions about the opportunities that we have in concord. >> reporter: commercial space, retail and restaurants like peruvian hot spot lima.

chef and owner john marquez worked at the french laundry. he saw potential here and opened in november. >> i've seen a lot more traffic, a lot more people saying thank you for coming to concord. this is something we needed and i've heard a lot of that lately. >> reporter: these poster ads at the embarcadero b.a.r.t. station also try to lure entrepreneurs to concord. >> we thought we'd do something a little bit different, be a little bit more aggressive. >> reporter: an aggressive sell of concord's abundant square footage. in concord, katie utehs, abc7 news. major excavation work underway on san francisco's first bus rapid transit system. abc7 news was on van ness avenue where heavy digging fwan to move the median and upgrade underground pipes yesterday. prep work began in november and van ness was narrowed down from to two in each direction. the project is going to convert one of the lanes into bus only lanes in both directions for mission to lombard street.

it's expected to cut muni time by 32% and construction is going to take about three years. a historic dry dock in san francisco is on the verge of closing. we now know it will stay open for at least another 90 days. at stake are 240 jobs and a vital ship repair yard at pier 70. pulya engineering took over the dock operation in january but then threatened to close it after discovering what it says are millions of dollars in needed repairs. it has agreed to keep the shipyard open while it develops a plan to pay for dock repairs and dredging that is needed at that site. all the snow that's fallen in the sierra is good for more than just the ski resorts. it measured 43.3 inches of snow yesterday and that is a near record amount of snow and it's 15 inches more than what we saw last month. that means when the snow melts over the spring and summer, our reservoirs should remain full. all right. let's get a check of weather with mike nicco.

>> hey, guys, we've got a winter storm watch for the sierra too this weekend. i'll tell you that coming up in 20 minutes. let's focus in on clear lake, especially lake port. unfortunately, flood stage is at 9, we're at 9.8 so slower than yesterday but the outlet of water is so slow. that's why the flooding continues. look how calm it is on the embarcadero and how dry it is. you can see the stars in the distance and that ll sunshine and calm conditions today. our warmest day this week. weekend rain is going to be heaviest saturday during the evening and overnight hours and dry and warmer air returns next week. let's talk about our storm impact scale. we're going to have some light rain for saturday and then some showers for sunday. yeah, don't change your plans. especially during the day, as the bulk of the rain is going to fall once the sunsets. now, the north bay, you're a little bit of an exception. the rain starts to move in during the morning hours and pretty much stays in your neighborhoods all during the

afternoon saturday and then you can see by 6:00, maybe a little bit of a moderate shower up there, but the rain starts to move out of the north bay and into the rest of our neighborhoods and you can see through about 2:00 in the morning, that's when the steadiest rain and then some showers behind it. the snow level is going to drop down to about 25, 3,000 feet so we could wake up with a dusting of snow on hamilton and diablo again sunday morning. look at the rainfall amount. here's my accuweather 7 day forecast. it will also be coolest this weekend with temperatures back in the 50s and then we'll have 60s for next week. alexis? taking a look at the central valley commute, we have just a minor issue right around mountain house parkway. just part of that off ramp is blocked right now and i think we're seeing the typical delay starting to fill in as you head towards altamont pass. westbound 580, tracy to castro valley, act 46 minutes. looking good on 101 and northbound 280 between highway 1 into san francisco is in the

yellow at about 15 minutes. we'll check on mass transit coming up. heads up if you get an e-mail telling you you've been caught on camera running a red light, it is probably a scam. pupping season is understood way, talking about seal pups here. you're going to see these guys on bay area beaches. why wildlife workers are warning you to stay away. but first this morning's "tech bytes." >> in today's "tech bytes," twitter is making good on its promise to tackling abuse on its network. >> twitter adding more tools. the company will better filter content, make reporting abuse more transparent and take a more proactive role in identifying offenders. >> it's a big day for another social media platform. public trading of snapchat begins this morning at $17 a share. that gives the company a value of $24 billion. >> billion with a b. snapchat's two founders both under 30 years old will be instant billionaires. >> beyonce among them.

>> she married in. she has a lot of money herself too. is that and a new app designed to show how to display japanese dolls is getting a lot of attention. >> she claims a young person >> she claims a young person taught her how to use

hmm. [cell phone beeps] hey! [police whistle blows] [horns honking] woman: hey! [bicycle bell rings] turn here. there. excuse me. uh. uh. [indistinct announcement on p.a. system]

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scam. e-mails are going out on the east coast right now telling drivers they've been caught on camera running a red light. the e-mail links to what it claims is the red light photo, but when you click it, you get hit with malware. there's no evidence the scam has made it here yet. michael's take away from all this, police don't send tickets by e-mail, so don't believe it. if you're a fan of coachella, you might want to change your passwords this morning. hackers stole the personal information of thousands who logged on to the coachella site so activate wristbands or customize performer line-ups. the hackers got names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and birth dates. fortunately, they didn't get any credit card or ticket information but fans are being warned to watch out for scam e-mails pretending to be from the festival website. we know they are cute. marine bielgss are saying please don't touch the seals on our local

well, i don't know. see, that would keep me away, but apparently people are attracted to that sound. abc7 news was in sausalito where vets are caring for several seal pups. birthing season for many seals runs now through march, meaning people are going to see more babies on the beaches. many at times they're alone and people mistake that for thinking that they've been abandoned by their mother but experts say no, you should stay away. >> they'll leave the pup to forage and then they'll see the people on the beach with their pup and they won't want to come back so if you see a pup by itself, give that animal some space, at least 50 feet if not 100 feet. >> did you know baby seals made that kind of noise? >> i did not anticipate that. >> another reason not to pick up baby seals? it's actually a crime. benicia police were called in to do some traffic control. are we looking at goats in this made my morning. that's an officer stopping cars to let this herd get to the other side. look how cute they are. pretty large group.

goats just keep streaming down the small hillside there. benicia police posted this video. we sped this up because it's so long. >> look at her directing them like they're following her signal. >> they're doing -- i just think they're great. you know goats are my favorite animal. i think this is wonderful >> it's a great mystery. that was fun. good morning, everybody. that was your daily dose of make natasha happy. all right. so here's a look at sutro tower and what we're going to deal with are temperatures about 1 to 3 degrees warmer than average from 63 in san francisco to look at san jose at about 67 degrees. i saw this yesterday. the rain over the past 12 hours was the second highest as far as precipitation falling on california in our 122 years of records. gives you an idea of how wet it's been. so, here's -- this is actually san jose but we'll get back to that one. i need to update that one a little bit more so let's go back and talk more about what to

expect when you step outside. temperatures in the mid 30s to upper 40s so enjoy the milder temperatures this morning. and this afternoon and how about the commute? will we enjoy that? i think so if you're just about to head out the door, you should. here's a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza. so just a little bit of a line-up here and those cash lanes and we should have the metering lights on about 5:30 this morning. usually just a few minutes before or after that each weekday morning. quick check of mass transit. looking good here too. ace normal service today, b.a.r.t., no delays, 29 trains in service and no issues for safs bay ferry and they sent us the note yesterday that mira island service will begin monday. here's a question for you. how does president winfrey sound? as in president oprah she told bloomberg before trump's election, she thought she didn't have the necessary experience to run the country. but not anymore.

now no word on if this is just a subtle read on her part or if she has plans to run for office. you never know. >> bottom line, we don't know if oprah is running for president or not. just like before. next at 5:00, forget snakes on a plane, we're now hearing from passengers delayed for hours before landing in san francisco because there was a mouse on a plane. also, buses in marin could soon be taking extreme measures to get by traffic on the highway. and here at the live desk, i continue tracking updates on the search underway in the bay area for whoever shot at an off duty officer this morning. we'll have much more next. and remember this photo? a photographer wanted to find this engaged couple that she never got the names of. well, wish granted. taking a live look outside with abc7 news now, we're keeping

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and good morning on this thursday, march 1. it should be a good day if you like sunshine. >> is it march 1 or march 2? >> i just read whatever's on there. >> we are almost at the weekend. >> my name is alexis smith. >> that's so weird because that's my name too. this is just -- this is weird, reggie. >> mike, take it, please. >> i'm ron burgundy. all right, sunshine. maybe you just weren't used to that and you got too much vitamin d yesterday. that's okay. we'll try to get some more today. let's take a live look at live doppler 7. it is bone dry. beautiful picture exploratorium camera at