california cities. they have money problems. their costs and their taxes are not keeping track. now add the element of a major disaster. a fire storm that takes on a whole new element. on a seemingly perfect day in santa rosa, not a care in the world for visitors nor a storm cloud on the horizon. and yet -- >> has santa rosa ever faced anything like this before? >> never, no, no city has. >> reporter: that is the mayor in a meeting of city department heads today where stress from last year's fire storm has home to roost on the city budget. they need to cut $14.5 million. almost 10%. the reserve fund is severely depleted. >> i don't think we should be hurting the economy in order to build atoday. >> reporter: santa rosa spent $5 million on the fire in just its first month and now it has more issues, replacing benzene

contaminated pipes and fountain0 million. and then the $4.1 million fire station that burned. fema has offered only $1 million to replace it. and santa rosa faces other issues, including a growing homeless population that congeals in groups. will the city make cuts there? there's a cascade of issues, if so. >> the city supports over 188 shelter beds. so if there was a reduction there, then those folks weren't able to exit into housing, i would be concerned that they would exit into an encampment. >> reporter: any budget changes take effect next year. it's a discussion phase, and not a pleasant one. worth noting in santa rosa, they say it's not hope less, they're already coming up with remedies, among them a possible housing bond and possible tax increases for hotel rooms and also in sales taxes. ultimately, the voters will decide. live in santa rosa, wayne

freedman, abc 7 news. >> wayne, thank you. disturbing new details coming to light about the man suspected of being the ride share rapist. orlando lazo picked up drunken women, drove them to remote areas and attacked them. >> reporter: prosecutors say the defendant picked up the victims from a number of nightclubs and bars in san francisco, and allegedly held them against their will. the suspect is claiming his innocence, but these documents outline a pattern of intimidation and a warning tonight some of the details are graphic. four victims, over five years, orlando vilchez lazo of san mateo posed as a ride share driver who lured intoxicated women into his vehicle and drove them to remote areas to carry out his attacks. >> rape is one of the most violent crimes, we have four

victims in this case. >> reporter: with family in the gallery, he appeared in court. >> he has pled not. he's maintained his innocence. and the constitution entitles him to the presumption of innocence and to his day in court. >> reporter: the first alleged attack dates back to november of 2013. a woman was leaving virgil sea room in the mission district and called to lyft. the driver claimed to be her ride, he got in, fell asleep, she was raped and eventually taken home. then in february this year, a similar setup outside of the temple bar in soma. he allegedly picked up two women and drove for a short distance. the driver pulled over and directed the friend to get a bottle of water for her. once she was out of the car, the defendant drove off with the helpless victim. he was raped and then taken home. the third victim was picked up for a bar in may. last month, prosecutors say he

returned to temple and picked up the fourth victim who drifted in and out of sleep during the drive. she remembered waking up and realizing her hands were wet, then realizing it was her own blood and that she had been trying to fend off the knife with her hands. hands. vilchez lazo. >> he worked for lyft in the past, but was not on duty when the alleged attacks occurred. i'm chris nguyen, abc 7 news. late today, the contra cost at a county sheriff sheriff announced the arrest of a man accused of a shooting. he was found lying in a driveway last night near creekside court. the two people arrested are a 22-year-old man from richmond and a 57-year-old woman from el sabronte being held in lieu of $2 million bail. from the outside, two

legitimate stores looked like businesses, but on the inside they found highly profitable yet illegal gambling halls. police shared these pictures of casino style slot machines inside one of the businesses, and this might appear to be a row of computer monitors. it's not. investigators tell us they functioned as slot machines as well. gamblers entered through ordinary looking store fronts before placing their bets. >> one was a pc repair business the other was a hair and nail salon, once you get past the partition in the front of these businesses it was a full blown casino. >> police see $75,000 in cash during raids conducted in march and they confiscated another $300,000 last week. a silicon valley company that sells data security says the number of online retailers getting hacked is skyrocketing. an alarming finding to anyone nervous about their credit card and other personal data. abc 7 news reporter david louie

is live in san jose with the story and what we all need to do to protect ourselves. david? >> reporter: well, kristen, traditional retailers have always been targeted bishop lifters. so much has shifted to online and the hackers have really moved in. this surge in breaches is really a major concern, not only to retailers, but also to consumers. it's estimated eight out of ten americans have shopped online, entering sensitive personal data, credit card numbers, passwords and addresses, for example. and that's a gold mine for cybercriminals that have hacked into online sites. the latest research from the san jose's east security says half, 50% of all medium and large online retailers acknowledge they've been hacked, two and a half times more than a year ago. >> now we have mobile devices, digital payments, mobile payments, person to person payments. because of the way those exchanges have occurred, there really isn't a perimeter. no four walls to protect.

>> reporter: this year alone hackers broke into the retail sites of adidas, saks fifth avenue and under armour. the servers of those and all other retailers store sensitive data, that's leading to increased spending to encrypt the data. a retailer will send a text message with a code to verify it's you. a single breach can cost retailers hundreds of millions of dollars. experts point out some breaches can be minor so the hacking data should be taken with a grain of salt. consumers are sensitive about their personal data. this professor has his own credit card information stolen when target was hit by hackers. >> it makes people a lot more cautious about going back to the retailer and using their credit card because if it happens again, then they have to go through that inconvenience again. >> reporter: that begs the question, should retailers be more transparent about how they

safeguard your data? that would be useful to consumers, but also might provide information that hackers could exploit. we're live in san jose, david louie, abc 7 news. david, thanks. california senator camilla harris is proposing legislation to help renters. harris wants to give federal tax credits to millions of low and moderate income households nationwide who pay more than 30% of their incomes on rent and utilities achlt similar bill is making its way through the state legislature. reports say nearly a third of california renters spend more than half of their income on rent. >> wow. the newest warrior comes clean. >> my favorite, by far, is klay. >> demarcus cousins meets the media and has a lot to say about all of his new teammates, ahead. clinging to an icy cliff, a missing climber beat the odds. fire near yosemite, firefighters are gaining ground,

but practically inches at a time. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel, doppler 7 tracking active weather in the sierra. possibility of thunderstorms here coming up.

a brush fire is burning in the hills near corona and riverside county tonight, forcing residents from their homes. the flames broke out around 3:45 off skyline drive. ten streets in the area are under a mandatory evacuation order. the fire is between 50 and 75 acres. cal fire has not said how many structures are currently threatened. from this view, you can see how many homes are just down the hill from where this fire is burning.

and new mandatory evacuation orders have been issued near the ferguson fire, that's the one burning close to yosemite national park. but weather conditions today helped slow the flames. reporter san tieia rose from our sister station in fresno has the latest. >> reporter: close to 1,600 firefighters are spraying, shoveling, and chopping down frees. the terrain is full of fuel. hot and busy crews keep conversations to fire talk. >> strategy a little bit, maybe some dangers or hazards in the area, like you've got a tree right over here that is burning on a couple spots. on its trunk. >> reporter: the non-stop hot and physical work is necessary to halt the spread of flames. structure protection crews are standing by in case the fire becomes erratic. >> you have to be very diligent and thorough. >> reporter: hand in hand, strike teams work together on the fire lines for 16 hours at a time. cleaning up areas, where containment lines were

reenforced. >> we did some burnout operations basically putting fire down of our own in front of the main fire coming down the hill to secure the community behind us. >> reporter: the inversion layer and cooler weather also helped firefighters gain ground thursday. direct sunlight held off for much of the day. >> fire is still moving fairly slowly based on the lack of air movement and we don't have wind pushing it and we don't have unstable air allowing it to get lift and get air underneath it which feeds the fire. >> reporter: with 21,000 acres burned and the potential of thunderstorms looming, crews are still too concerned to say whether the fire could be put out anyti soo while the fire is burning near yosemite, the park is still open. but air quality is fairly poor. these images from yosemite webcams today show the reduced visibility. however, conditions are expected to improve through the weekend. part of highway 140 which leads

to yosemite's south entrance is closed. a camp -- the camp run by san francisco's recreation and park department is open there, about 20 miles outside the park. officials say one family has left as a precaution just to be safe. we're learning tonight mark zuckerberg called president elect trump in the days after the election. buzz feed news reports the secret call was to congratulate mr. trump on his victory. facebook acknowledged in internal memos how successful the trump campaign was at leveraging the social network to reach voters. the campaign spent $44 million on facebook, compared to $28 million by the clinton campaign. a judge picked by president trump will not serve on the ninth circuit court of appeals after his nomination was withdrawn today. republican leaders in the senate cancelled a confirmation vote for judge ryan bounds. the gop holds a slim 51-49 seat majority in the senate and the

only african-american republican senator told other lawmakers he would not vote to confirm bounds. bounds wrote inflammatory opinion pieces about race when he was a stanford student in the 1990s. he was demeaning multiculturalism and questioning the need for student ethnic groups. here is something you don't see very often on the floor of congress. as you can see in this video from c-span house democrats broke into chants. steny hoyer gave an impassioned speech asking colleagues to bolster election security against russian interference. >> slam the door in the face of the russian bear, or any other adversary who seeks to steal the integrity of our elections. surely we can rise above pandering to party and putin to act on behalf of our freedom, and our security. >> an amendment would allocate

$380 million in grants to states to protect their election systems. house republicans want to exclude the amendment from a spending bill saying current programs are fully funded. a drone played a huge role in rescuing a missing mountain climber who was feared to be dead on one of the world's tallest peaks. you're looking at footage from a drone piloted by another climber on broad peak in the himalayas. 65-year-old scottish climber fell while scaling the mountain. other climbers thought he was dead. but the drone captured video of him moving around. climbers helped him to a base camp where he's recovering from some cuts and bruises. >> just incredible. the golden state warriors introduced the team's latest addition to the bay area media today, when he plays demarcus cousins will be the fifth all-star in the starting line-up. the big question, though, is when will he be able to get on the court?

abc 7 news anchor eric thomas has the story. >> and the newest golden state warrior, that's demarcus cousins. >> reporter: the 6'11" center made his first appearance in front of local reporters and explained why he was happy to join the blue and gold. >> just a chance to play for a winning culture. i also have a chance to play with some of the -- you know, the most talented players of this era. >> reporter: warriors general manager bob myers engineered the deal and talked about the phone call that brought cousins to the bay area. >> what i said was whether you come to us or not you deserve to be in the playoffs. you deserve to play playoff basketball. >> reporter: cousins averaged 5 points and nearly 13 rebounds a game before the new orleans pelicans before a ruptured achilles tendon brought his season to a halt. today he is still hobbled by it. that's why the warriors were able to sign him for one season at $5.3 million. >> it's an injury that can be

overcome. i'll make sure that i prove that. >> reporter: cousins has a fiery temper and occasionally loses his cool on the court. myers doesn't think that will be a problem. ironically cousins' favorite gon golden state teammate is one that doesn't lose his cool. >> my favorite by far is klay, never a dull moment. >> reporter: cousins is still rehabbing. this fan believes he can contribute. >> he'll be fantastic inside grabbing rebounds for a team that got a lot smaller. i'm excited for that. >> nobody expects cousins to start the season ready to play. when the team does need him, they expect him to help them continue the dynasty. in oakland, eric thomas, abc 7 news. >> announcer: now your accuweather forecast with sandhya patel. check out live doppler 7 right now, the fog is hugging the coastline this afternoon as we would expect. we're also watching thunderstorms firing up in the

sierra nevada from south of tahoe to the bishop area as we take this back in time. you will notice how active the weather has been in association with the monsoon flow. we are seeing a little bit of the monsoon moisture in the form of high clouds, and that's why it's muggy to humid out there. look at the do you wants. measure of the moisture in the air, 61 degrees right now in mountain view, san jose, 60 degrees, and that is definitely in the humid range. if you're in concord, you're not feeling it, 43 degree do you want dew point you're seeing a combination of the fog down below. temperature is 63 in san francisco, oakland you're at 67. mountain view, 72 degrees. and in san jose, it is 82 degrees right now. our high temperatures inland have managed to get up into the mid to upper 90s. along the coast, though, this is what's keeping your temperatures in the 60s. from my south beach camera, the fog. 74 in santa rosa. 94 in concord and livermore.

nice sea breeze going, blue skies over the bay right now. fog and high clouds overnight tonight, mild again tomorrow with a slight possibility of thunder. seasonal pattern is expected this weekend with the drier air. hour by hour, tomorrow morning fog will be sitting right around the coastal and bayside communities like it has been the last couple of mornings between 5:00 and 8:00 a.m. at noon you will see some of that fog peeling away from the coastline. i have to mention this, that monsoon flow will continue, bringing the best possibility of thunderstorms in the sierra again tomorrow. there is a slight chance in the bay area. let me explain this to you, one computer model is completely dry. the other computer model, this one, is showing the potential. so friday, 1:00 in the afternoon, possibility of a few sprinkles or an isolated thunderstorm going into friday night. at this point it's just a slight chance, and it looks like the south bay may have the best possibility. fog in the morning, that's pretty much a given, temperatures in the mid-50s to the mid-60s. clear skies inland except for

those high-level clouds, and for the afternoon, a little bit humid again like it was today. temperatures inland coming down a few degrees. not as hot. 90 in fairfield, on the knock, 92 in livermore, 75 in oakland. 84 in santa rosa. 86 in san jose. 69 in san francisco. 63 in half moon bay. i think there's more sun tomorrow afternoon. it is going to be breezy. you can download the accuweather app and track live doppler 7 should anything develop or the temperatures anytime you want. accuweather seven-day forecast, a slight chance of an isolated shower or thunderstorm tomorrow. better possibility of seeing muggy conditions, and then we'll go drier air for the weekend, low 60s to low 90s. then we'll start to see the heat returning next week with some mid-90s inland wednesday and thursday. dan and kristen? >> thanks, sandhya. you know, grilling is messy business. but cleaning up afterwards doesn't have to be. we've put some tools to the test next. and then at 5:30 on world

news with david muir. >> coming up tonight, what the white house just revealed, vladimir putin coming to america, the stunning moment the director of national intelligence is told while live on stage. you'll see it. the massive explosion here in new york city. the manhunt, the bank robbery and shooting, three female employees shot. back to you. david, thank you. see you then. new at 6:00, remember those old bay bridge piers? caltrans blew most of them up, but saved a few for a very special purpose.

san francisco commuters facing a long ride to work are celebrating a key transfer change tonight. muni says it's a new ticket from 90 minutes to two hours. riders have long requested the change. it will take effect september 1st. if you are grilling food this summer, invite us over, we'll be there. >> yes. >> you're probably wondering how you should clean it up. >> no one wants to cook on a

grungy grill. michael fine knee puts grill brushes to the test. >> roasted sticky chicken breasts on cast iron grates. consumer reports says a hot grate cleans up the best. they were tested on cold, warm and hot. the surfaces were assessed for removal of this crusty crud. >> we were surprised in testing to find a lot of grill brushes have shorter handling that keep your hands over the grates. look for a long handle and angled head. >> some brushes didn't perform well. the char-broil has a head for cool to the touch. it did a poor job of cleaning on cool and warm. the char-griller is wooden panel that becomes notched as you

scrape it along hot grates. it didn't a good job. some did a better job on the grimy grates. the next grill grill brush did a very good job on hot grates, the long handle keeps your hand away from the feet. impressive performance by the earthstone grill stone, it did an impressive job of removing cooked on chicken on cold, warm and hot surfaces. but it leaves a lot of residue. both on the grates and inside the fire box that must be cleaned thoroughly before cooking. but if you're tackling a really gross grill, this is the tool to have. i'm michael finney, "7 on you si>>t loo le it really works. a dog, a skateboard, you're thinking -- that's next. but first, we want to thank rob for this picture from mount

tan. great shot. thanks, rob. share your pictures

you know when you're at ross and that cute dress gets even cuter? yes. or when you can say yes... to both? sure. or when you find that brand at that price? are you kidding me? yeah. that's yes for less. and that's what ross always has in store. whoa. (sighs) yes... oh, yeah. get your yes for less at the ross grand opening on saturday in south santa rosa.

superior accuracy in the palm of your hand, the new accuweather app from abc 7 news, minute by minute five-day forecasts plus realtime radar and alerts keeping you safe. search accuweather in your app store and download now. i'm ama daetz, coming up on abc 7 news at 6:00, it's designed to make pedestrians safer. but this fancy crosswalk system may be too complicated for drivers. tonight you'll see how it's supposed to work. the political fight brewing over research designed to identify and reduce racial profiling in one eed poce force. moving past the barbecue becky controversy, what's just gone occupy over oakland's lake merit. pep rally is under way right now to celebrate this weekend's

rugby world cup sevens at at&t park. >> abc 7 news was at embarcadero plaza when rookie the eagle tossed t-shirts into a crowd of rugby fans. the competitors include both men's and women's squads. >> promoters are calling it the biggest rugby party in the world, tickets are still available. tomorrow's first match kicks off at 10:00 in the morning. a skateboarding dog that will make you smile. >> the video shows the dog standing on the skateboard and using one of his feet to push him along the embarcadero just like a person. >> the woman who tweeted the video, said the dog chased down a schayes bodier until he stopped, he stole the skateboard and went for a ride. the dog skateboards better than i do. >> should we train it to do a 360 next or a 780? "world news tonight" with david muir is coming up next. >> see you again at 6:00.

tonight, we're following breaking news as we come on the air in the west. reports of a major tornado touching down. the images coming in right now, word of that tornado hitting iowa. reports of catastrophic damage, tops of buildings sheered off. injuries, people possibly trapped. several other twisters reported today, and the storms on the move right now. meteorologist rob marciano is standing by. also breaking tonight, what the white house has just revealed. coming to america? discussions now under way. vladimir putin's visit to washington. the white house tweet late today about the putin visit. it comes just days after the president on the world stage appeared to side with putin over his own intelligence team. and then the moment late today when the director of national intelligence is told about the new tweet from the white house