you tonight. >> we have coverage showing what a difference this man made. let's begin now with vick lee who is live at city hall. you spent a lot of years covering the mayor. >> reporter: people are dropping off flowers here at the steps of city hall as you can see. there's a bigger memorial of flowers on the second floor at the mayor's office. the reaction here today as you can imagine is a lot of crying and hugging. lots of people walking around simply shocked and saddened. >> mayor ed lee passed away early this morning. >> reporter: the board of supervisors president now acting mayor made the announcement this morning. this after meetings with the mayor's staff and department heads before her news conference. they're tributes had a common thread, common words to describe what most called a kind, gentle

man. >> i'm drawn to the kind of leader that's nice and ed lee was nice. >> he was a mayor who led with compassion, who was an incredibly kind person. >> ed lee always had an open door for any of us. we could call him at any time. >> reporter: the mayor came from humble beginnings. he grew up in public housing. his father a veteran, mother a se se seamstress. >> he never forgot who he was and where he came from. >> he was quiet and low key. >> reporter: his priorities were housing, homelessness, jobs and minimum wage. he had many political battles in his three decades of public service. >> opponents may have disagreed with him on policy, but everyone agrees that our mayor was a good

man with a good heart. >> reporter: the flags here at city hall are at half staff. that's where they will be for the next 30 days. i go back on a personal note with mayor ed leew way back during the days he was an activist with the asian law caucus. he campaigned for a lot of things that he believed were good. he then spent three decades here at city hall ultimately as mayor. i believe that he thought he could change things from inside from within the system and that's what a lot of people said to us today, people we interviewed here that he did just that. abc 7 news. >> thank you very much. look at the flowers coverig ed lee's deck inside his office at city hall. tiffany wilson tweeted this video a short time ago. she's on the story for us as

well. the largest arrangement is from american medical response san francisco. >> ed lee's sudden death was a shock to his fellow mayors in the bay area. many of them remembered his kindness which extended beyond professional courtesy. >> in this world of politics, he truly was just a beacon of generosity and decency, of compassion. it is a loss for each one of us personally who held ed in our hearts as a true friend. >> his first questions to me were how can i help you? how can we help you be successful? i know that san francisco will miss ed lee, but i think we'll all miss ed lee. >> those feelings extend beyond the bay area all the way to washington. house minority leader choked up as she recalled getting the news this morning. >> practically in the middle of the night, a call came that our dear mayor was shopping in the

safeway 10:30 at night had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital and died a couple of hours later. a terrible loss to our city is a man who has never had an unkind word to say about anyone and nobody had an unkind word ever to say about him. >> congresswoman tweeted ed lee was an uncommon mayor with an uncommon touch and another senator tweeted the passing of ed lee is a sad day. my heart and thoughts are with his family and friends and the city i love. ed lee was the city's first asian-american mayor and he maintained strong ties with that community. >> we continue our coverage live from chinatown. >> reporter: extremely strong ties all across the city today we've heard how mayor lee was a mayor for all the people, but that description is particularly profound here in chinatown.

anyone who traces mayor ed lee's pathway through chinatown would follow the path to the asian law caucus. >> when he left law school, he could have taken a job working for a major law firm and instead took minimal wages to represent poor people. >> reporter: a friend of the mayor's for 40 years and his former boss at the caucus, a man not surprised how ed lee remembered where he came from and he made a pledge. >> that i will do my best to represent all of the communities. >> reporter: when those words came from a chinese-american mayor raised by a cook and a a seamstress, those words were more amazing. >> his personality didn't come through in his suit and tie. >> reporter: martha is executive director of the asian law caucus today and she told stories of a

mayor who began his career as a clerk. >> he was a radical. >> reporter: a radical who fought the system from outside and worked from within it. >> he did give people hope that like him who came from modest beginnings and he could rise to be mayor. >> reporter: a mayor who never forgot his roots, so many roots that ran so deep. >> we'll miss having someone who had our back. he totally had our back. >> reporter: not just chinatown's back, but everyone's back. live on grant street in san francisco, abc 7 news. >> thank you. san francisco has been through this painful transition before as you know. in november of 1978 the senator became mayor after the assassination of the current mayor. she was president of the board of supervisors at the time. speaking of san francisco's acting mayor is london breed.

she was president of the board of supervisors until early this morning. the 43-year-old was born in san francisco and has a bachelor's degree from uc davis. she has served on the board since 2012. london breed is acting mayor, but for how long and what exactly is the process for selecting the next mayor of san francisco? >> great questions. we have details now on the succession timeline. >> london breed is the first african-american chief executive. >> mayor breed will be both the acting mayor and the president of the board of supervisors. mayor breed has all the powers and responsibilities and duties of acting mayor by virtue of her position as board president. >> so what's next? city charter says breed will remain at the helm until one of two things happen.

no matter what, an election will take place june 5th next year. that winner will finish out lee's term which ends in january 2020. before that the board of supervisors can meet at any time to vote on someone else to serve as acting mayor until the june election, but the person would need 6 of the 11 votes and finding that agreement is not easy in part because you can't vote for yourself. the board's inability to reach an agreement eventually led to the selection of ed lee in 2011. someone who was acceptable to many because he had been an unassuming civil servant with few political enemies. we did alert everyone out there to this breaking news just after 2:30 this morning and we've been sending updates all day long. you can download the news app and enable push alerts. today the man convicted of

killing a woman was as soon seno life in prison without the possibility of parole. the teenager went missing on her way to school five years ago. abc 7 news was in the courtroom as this case came to a close. >> reporter: a family tries to move forward. >> you never have closure and the pain never goes away unfortunately. >> reporter: outside the county hall of justice, the family reflects on five years of heartbreak. >> it's hard to believe this happened. i still wake up every day thinking it's a dream, but it's reality and i'm dealing with it every day. >> reporter: in the spring of 2012, the 15-year-old student went missing while heading to school. the disappearance triggered a search to find her and the person responsible for the kidnapping. late this afternoon the 26-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for

killing the student. he'll also have to register as a sex offender. >> i think about her all the time and what's been taken from me as a mother. >> reporter: earlier this among an effort from the defense to request a new trial. the attorney questioned the credibility of the lead investigator due to allegations of evidence mishandling in another case. the judge denied the motion which was followed by victim impact statements to the court. the parents opted to address garcia from the witness stand. >> our sentence is never having our daughter and never being able to see her again and have her with us during the holidays. >> reporter: despite the ruling the body has never been found, something that continues to haunt those involved with the case. >> i hope and pray that one day we will find her and we will be able to lay her to rest. >> reporter: the attorneys says garcia plans to appeal the sentence. in san jose, abc 7 news.

coming up, see what's left of homes in the oakland hills after this raging fire sparked overnight. we have the latest in the race of moore and how's it going down there? that's good. lica misses you. i'm over it though. (laughter) that's fine. i miss her more than you anyway. ♪ ♪ hey, my window is closing. yeah that's okay. alright miles. i love you. (phone hangs up) ♪ ♪ yeah i love you too. ♪ ♪

a fire in oakland hills destroyed more than half a dozen houses forcing people to evacuate overnight. >> reporter: flames erupted around 11:00 last night on this steep construction site in

oakland hills where two homes were nearing completion along snake road. >> i went outside and saw a bunch of embers and yelled for my wife to grab the baby. >> reporter: this family managed to escape from they described as a 40-foot wall of flames approaching their home and embers coming down. the family came back to look at their home today. trash cans melted everywhere and flames still visible. firefighters described the air as filled with flying embers. they evacuated 50 homes as the flames advanced up a hillside fueled by winds and low humidity. >> we were able to save a lot of homes here in oakland hills. >> reporter: it could have been a lot worse? >> it could have been a lot worse. >> i looked through my back window and i saw a wall of fire and i thought it was in the back

of my house. it was very scarey. >> reporter: in the end, two families were displaced, five homes were badly damaged. structu instru structural engineers evaluating the road now. the family was paranoid and they had packed a bag in the wake of the north bay fires. they got out the door in 90 seconds and they credit that with saving their lives. abc 7 news. back to our top story. today the unexpected death of san francisco ed lee. >> he will be remembered for being the city's first chinese-american mayor, but he also stepped up to lead a city emerging from a national economic crisis as well. >> more on his legacy. >> reporter: the mayor was proud of his rise to power in san francisco and the role he played in the community. he was dedicated to making the

city a better place to live during his tenure as mayor. ed lee's career began long before he was appointed mayor. >> he was literally the cornerstone. he was a leader in every aspect of the relationship with the far east. >> reporter: he became the public works director and city administrator. that's the job he was doing in 2011 before he was appointed mayor. >> he came to the office ready to get the job done. >> reporter: as mayor, lee never lost touch with his immigrant roots. just last year he helped open a hospital that catered to the chinese-speaking community in san francisco. >> it's become a bay area institution joining up with

hospitals like cpmc. >> reporter: shortly after taking office his set his sights on gritty market street. before his career in san francisco politics, ed lee was a housing rights activist raised in public housing himself, he tackled the rebuilding of the city's aging public housing infrastructure and created a department of homelessness to get people off the streets. >> he was admired not only personally by those who knew him, officially by how he served our city and nationally by other mayors who recognized his excellence. he will be missed. >> reporter: when i spoke with the congresswoman she told me she was devastated, but she says it was hard not to smile when talking about ed lee. he had that really update personality, a sense of humor and big, big love for the city. >> he sure did.

he loved to laugh. i always loved being around him. had some great conversations with him over the years. you knew him quite well. what are your impressions of this man? >> reporter: as i said, he was a gentleman who was dedicated to the city and his family. he really wanted to do a lot of good. he had come here as a housing rights activist, a civil rights activist. he helped to integrate the fire department for minorities and women by suing the city. he went to bat for the immigrant community trying to get better housing conditions and so that sort of thing is what i will remember. he was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and people will judge that stuff later, but today it's a day for remembering him and mourning him for the good that he did. >> he was a big city mayor, but at his heart he wasn't a politician. he was a public servant and a nice man. >> definitely. shifting gears now a little

bit to the weather situation, that patterns continues for us. >> it does indeed. warm during the day and chilly at night. >> the pattern goes on for maybe seven more days. here's a look at the skies. they are mainly clear with thin high clouds. a little bit of haze is in the sky as well because of smoke continuing to move into our region from the fires in northern california. the winds are carrying the smoke out to sea and sweeping it northward into our region and thus the haze and the decline in air quality in the bay area. right now we're looking live from our rooftop camera on to clear skies. it is 57 degrees in san francisco. down to 49 in oakland. we have 50s in san jose and half here is the view from east

bay. it's 50 degrees in santa rosa right now. 42 in fairfield. these are our forecast features. it will be cold in the inland regions tonight and a chance of rain late next week. that will change the air quality we hope. for tonight, much of the same we've seen the last few nights. clear skies and low temperatures overnight dropping into the upper 20s and low 30s. it's going to be cold. right around the bay we'll see 40s and closer to the coast it will be milder. tomorrow it will be much like today. it will be milder than average for this time of year. we'll see a high of 67 in half moon bay and mid to upper 60s in the inland locations. we have two more spare the air days coming our way tomorrow and thursday that will make seven

consecutive spare the air days. we get an improvement in air quality on friday and by saturday many locations around the bay area will have good air quality. it's been a dry december so far. the dry pattern will continue through next wednesday. there's a hint of rain coming in on thursday and friday of next week. let's look ahead with our forecast animation to next wednesday, the 20th. we'll see rain and snow to our north, but by thursday we'll see rain pushing down into the bay area and snow in the mountains and more to follow on friday next week if this forecast model holding up. we have some precipitation to look forward to. here is the seven-day forecast. before that rain next week, it looks like almost no change from day-to-day except an increase in clouds bringing us some better air quality, but the weather is about the same. sunny days and mild conditions with highs in the upper 60s and cold overnight for the next few

oernights. >> thanks, spencer. jimmy kimmel brought a guest to his late show last night, his own son. >> i'll hear the message that (hard exhalation) honey?

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i'm worried. i have this medical bill...oll, huh? dave, you have anthem and they have people to talk to who are empowered to help any question you... is, is he okay? real people? living and breathing. hopefully not breathing like that. for all the things that keep you up at night, anthem blue cross has a solution. the beginning of hanukkah, the festival of lights began at sundown. the menorah was lit at a special

ceremony this evening. hanukkah celebrates the holy temple. the celebration lasts for eight days and nights. jimmy kimmel made an emotional return last night to his show. >> jimmy walked out with his son billy who underwent his second heart surgery last week. jimmy choked up and talked about the children's health insurance program which has run out of federal funding. >> daddy cries on tv, but billy doesn't. imagine getting a letter not knowing how you'll be able to afford to save your child's life. this is not a hypothetical. about 2 million c.h.i.p. kids have serious chronic conditions. >> it's an important message. the host told his audience that

he and billy want them to call congress and tell representatives to fund c.h.i.p. now. kimmel revealed in may that his son needed heart surgery a few days after he was born. >> he can watch "jimmy kimmelmel live" every week night right here. coming up next on abc 7 news at 6:00, we'll look at the long-term impact mayor ed lee has on education in the bay area. details on a shooting not far from

live where you live. this is abc news. recapping our top story now, it is a sad night in san francisco. mayor ed lee died this morning of a heart attack. >> the acting mayor is london breed. she is the first african-american chief executive. >> lee was the first mayor of asian decent. >> ed lee was different from any of the rest of us holding public office.

here's a look at the front page of tomorrow's san francisco paper focusing on changes the city has undergone as lee's tenure as mayor. >> one of the greatest legacies lee left was education. >> today it was tweeted that mayor ed lee was one of the nicest and kindest leaders i have ever known. abc 7 has that story. >> reporter: these printers were purchased with funds provided by the mayor's middle grades leadership initiative. they keep students at the middle school more engaged in technology. >> all they need is a fake id and they'll be able to get a job. >> reporter: that confident, huh? >> yeah. >> nothing is more important than education. >> reporter: mayor lee asked the company to donate ipads and

money to all 12 middle schools in san francisco. the mayor's deputy chief of staff for education remembers how lee instantly connected with others. >> when he talked about education, he was like that's it. let's focus on that. tell me what it is that you want to do. >> reporter: sales force has funded the initiative every year since 2013 donating $7 million in 2017. today the mayor's initiative has received more than $26 million in funding from sales force over the past five years. middle schools in san francisco now offer a solid stem education. s. >> our eighth graders are performing the best. our urban school district is the best in all urban schools. >> reporter: he always believed the money was never a donation,

but an investment in our children. in san francisco, abc 7 news. ♪ you're watching students at the school of the arts performing a brazilian drum rhythm in memory of mayor ed lee. lee asked the students to perform numerous times at city hall and today they saluted him with this honor. >> we ask for a moment of silence. >> transit agencies across the bay area briefly stopped service at noon today and held a moment of silence in remembrance of the late mayor. flags across the city, including this one outside city hall, were lowered to half staff. this is video shortly after sunrise today. all flags will fly at half staff across the city for the next 30

days. up until this death, mayor ed lee showed no signs of any obvious health problems. yesterday abc 7 news was at the market where the mayor announced plans to improve recycling programs. >> the city is wonderful because we are still the only city in the country that's got an 85% recycling done already with our garbage. why not do even better than that? >> that event was just about 12 hours before lee's death. certainly reaction has poured in from around the country on lee's passing. california senator tweeted this photo adding the caption i am deeply saddened by the passing of my friend. he was a fierce advocate for civil rights and worked for workers' rights and his leadership will be missed.

keeping the mayor's family in my prayers during this difficult time. moving on, happening now, the votes are being added up in a contested special election for the u.s. senate in alabama tonight. the republican leads the democrat, but only some of the votes have been counted with 48% of precincts voting. jones hoped traditional right leaning alabama would support him. moore has denied accusations of sexual assault. president trump urged everyone to vote for moore. one political analyst believes there is a theory by moore's support from the white house. >> president trump is campaigning for this particular individual is as much or more about saving his own political bacon in an impeachment proceeding as it is about getting votes on legislation. >> you can see a breakdown

tomorrow on "good morning america". let's look at the headquarters for jones on the left and moore on the right. supporters on both sides are waiting for the final results. 48% of the precincts are reporting with moore receiving 3% more votes at this moment. do download the app to get the final results of this election as soon as they come in. we are following breaking news coming into the newsroom right now. look at your screen. sky 7 is live overhead at 1st. you're seeing a vta train that hid a pedestrian. as of right now we don't know the condition of that person. keep in mind a bus bridge is being set up through that area. san jose police are can lookila looking for a person that shot a man in the head on a service road next to the mall.

abc 7 news has the latest. >> reporter: we are here close to the mall and police are here investigating after a man was shot in the head while driving. the man was inside that silver car that you see. a relative just came and is about to drive away in it. that is his car. their investigation. they still have their crime tape up here. let's go to some video taken earlier from sky 7 where you can see the officers on the ground. they were collecting evidence and doing their investigation. you can see how close it was to the mall parking lot. officers say before 1:00 this afternoon a shot was fired from a car. the gunshot hit a man who was driving and he had his window open. he realized what happened and police tell us he got out of his car and switched with one of the passengers and had the passenger drive and then the car came to a rest here on east loop. this is near te bus depot.

the victim was taken to the hospital. we are told that he has nonlife-threatening injuries. police do not have any suspects in custody and right now they don't have a description of the suspect vehicle. reporting from san jose, abc 7 news. coming up next, the latest on the wildfire that threatens thousands of homes in california. plus, they don't exist yet, which is why one local lawmaker wants to outlaw autonomous ♪ ♪ it feels good to be back. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

one of the five active fires in california is still a major concern tonight. that's the thomas fire in its ninth day. the fire has burned 360 square miles. 6,200 firefighters are attacking the fire from the ground and sky trying to make forward progress with 20% containment right now. >> our number one concern is to

keep the fire out of the nearby neighborhoods and we're doing that so far. >> look at this time lapse video showing an enormous plume of smoke lingering above the counties and ash continues to fall. edison which provides electricity to the county confirmed that state investigators are looking at whether their equipment helped start that fire. the district attorney's office in sonoma has filed three price gauging complaints. the d.a. is investigating 40 out of 120 complaints. it is illegal in california to raise the price of items and services more than 10% for 30 days after an emergency has been declared. the governor extended that prohibition to april 18th. >> that's been one increase

pre-fire of $3,500 for a rental of a residence to a price of $10,000. no one should be allowed to profit from this tragedy in our community. >> the penalty for price gauging during a declared emergency is up to a year in jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000. coming up, two more spare the air alerts have

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let's update the breaking news in san jose. the pedestrian hit by a vta train has died we understand. sky 7 is live over the scene by north 1st this is a fatal mishap. tonight we are remembering san francisco mayor ed lee who passed away unexpectedly overnight. the lieutenant governor tweeted this photo with the caption absolutely heart broken by mayor lee's passing. san francisco has lost a leader and dedicated public servant

whose integrity and love elevated our city. lee died of apparent cardiac arrest. his body was taken to dally city. >> opponents may have disagreed with him on policy, but everyone agrees that our mayor was a good man with a good heart. >> speaking of twitter, ed lee's final tweet was posted about 24 hours ago and could be seen as somewhat of a final message. his last line there, we need to continue to build safe housing at all income levels. today leaders discussed proposing a nationwide ban on something that doesn't exist, at least not yet. >> it sounds confusing, but we explain why scientists say a future worse than nuclear war and want governments to take action.

>> your kids probably have one of these, right? not quite. >> reporter: what you're watching is not real, but the makers of this film worry it could be. >> it does facial recognition. inside here is three grams of shaped explosives. >> reporter: the video was shown to county supervisors. >> it's pretty realistic for what we're looking at in the not too distant future. >> reporter: the lecturer asked congress to ban autonomous weapons. >> no robot should have the ability to decide whether any of us should live or die. >> reporter: he authored a paper on the future. >> the attack killed 11 u.s. senators at the building. >> reporter: a future especially disturbing to a holocaust survivor, but before taking on the weapons themselves the supervisors will have to answer a basic question.

should local government be getting involved with this international issue. >> it's too far outside our orbit. >> this technology is being developed in the heart of silicone valley. >> i'm concerned you may not have the votes. >> reporter: he withdrew the month and could bring it back in a few months. >> people who deal in the a.i. community, they know this is an issue and they know it's a problem. >> reporter: one to which sign sig signtiss say the only solution is not to create it in the first place. abc 7 news. >> that's unnerving. >> scarey. it's like a movie. we are in the midst of a seven-day stretch of save the air days. >> all the pollution in the air makes for some spectacular sunsets. check it out. this was the view we captured

about an hour ago or so. we sped it up so you can see the light changing there in the sky. we are ten days away from the shortest day of the year. spencer is back with an update on the forecast. >> here is a look at the radar. it's going to get chilly tonight. it will be cold in some of our inland valleys. look for lows of 28. fairfield will have a low of 28. around the bay, oakland and richmond will bottom out at 40 degrees. tomorrow will be a mild day with highs in the mid to upper 60s across the board from coast to bay to inland. here is the seven-day forecast. notice very little change in the temperatures for the seven days ahead. we expect better air quality on friday. tomorrow and thursday will be spare the air days. seven in a row. we expect improvement on friday and saturday. late next week we expect rain. that's what the models are showing us. >> it's so far out, though.

>> it seems very far away. >> we'll be watching it. thank you. >> sometimes the news world intersects with the sports world and that's the case tonight. >> we are joined with reaction from the sports world. >> so sad this morning to wake up and hear the news about ed lee. the sports world reflects on the passin for mild-to-moderate eczema? it can be used almost everywhere on almost everybody. the arm of an arm wrestler? the back of a quarterback? the face of a fairy?

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good evening. the sports world is mourning the loss of san francisco mayor ed lee. lee had a major impact on what the bay area sports scene will look like for decades to come. >> three and four years, i can't believe it. we're in a dream. >> often seen with a smile on his face, ed lee loved bay area sports. the teams were a fan of his too. >> he was a true personal friend of so many people here, but also a great friend of the warriors and in our history will go down as one of the most important people. >> lee's love of sports was real. he helped bring the u.s. open to

san francisco. >> it's wonderful. great experience. >> hosted the super bowl. >> welcome to san francisco, the host of super bowl l. >> and lured the golden state warriors from oakland back to the city. he knew the athletes by name. >> you give him an inch and he might take the golden state a mile. >> don't worry, don't worry, he made up for that one. >> number 30 on the court, but number one in the hearts of warri warrior's fans >> he celebrated two world championships. >> i think it's about team work. >> while the team left under his watch, it was the decision of predecessors that led to the move. >> it speaks volumes to the commitment of this group and it sets something up in our city. >> without his investigation to

return t to return the warriors to san francisco and his dedication to making it a reality, it wouldn't have happened. >> a crowned jewel arena for the warriors that will be a part of ed lee's lasting >> on a personal note, a few years ago i was hosting a luncheon and the mayor was kind enough after the luncheon to take a selfie with me and my daughter and my daughter said the mayor is so nice. yeah. abc 7 sports. life can change in an instant. >> he loved people and he was gracious and he loved being mayor of this city. he was very proud of that. >> something interesting in your video, i saw in every sports event he was part of he was

having a great time himself. >> join us tonight at 9:00. coming up, a single secret santa showed up at this toy store. an emotional night inside san francisco city hall as supervisors recommeminiscence a their colleague and friend ed lee. we'll be back with you for news at 11:00. at 11:35 it's live". that's this edition of abc 7 news. we appreciate your time. on behalf of everyone here, have a wonderful night.

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is, is he okay? real people? living and breathing. hopefully not breathing like that. for all the things that keep you up at night, anthem blue cross has a solution. ♪ ♪ it feels good to be back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

this is "jeopardy!" please welcome today's contestants -- a crafter from sturgis, kentucky... a professor from lewiston, maine... and our returning champion -- a physician from baton rouge, louisiana... whose one day cash winnings total... and now here is the host of "jeopardy!" -- alex trebek! thank you, johnny. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. hey, it's déjà vu all over again. last week began with a big win for a brand-new champion. this week began with a big win for a brand-new champion in lakedra.

let's see what happens now that ian and sarah have joined us. good luck. here we go. categories in this first round of play today are... how appropriate for the season. you'll deal with... "double" in quotation marks. and finally... the long-time host of npr's "all things considered" is stepping down this january. -lakedra. -good causes for $200. sarah. -what are elephants? -no. lakedra. -what are rhinos? -helping rhinos is the group. good causes for $400. answer -- daily double just like that.