petition for bankruptcy at u.s. district dmoucourt in san franc listing $51.4 billion in debts with $71.2 billion in assets. the interim ceo john simon said safety remains their focus throughout this process, we're fully committed to enhancing our wildfire safety efforts a as well as rebuilding efforts across the communities impacted by the devastating northern california wildfires. but attorneys for wildfire victims, major shareholder, and consumer advocates are highly critical of today's developments. >> the pg&e bankruptcy filing is a scam. >> mark tony tells me pg&e is trying to protect itself from accountability for recent wildfires many of which were caused by pg&e equipment according to cal fire. >> if we don't stop these utility-caused wildfires, nothing is going to fix the problem.

bankruptcy will not stop future fires. >> reporter: governor gavin newsom reacted to the filing. that was pg&e's choice but that does not change my focus to ensure we have access to safe, reliable, and affordable service. other lawmakers tell me that pg&e bankruptcy revictimizes those who lost homes or loved ones in the wildfires, their claims against the utility now uncertain. there are new calls today for pg&e's board of directors to be replaced. i'll have that part of the story at 6:00. >> is that likely? >> possible. we'll see. >> all right. see you at 6:00. this is actually the second time pg&e has filed for bankruptcy. they filed for chapter 11 protection in 2001 citing $9 billion in debt. at the time, the chronicle reported it was the third largest bankruptcy filing in u.s. history. this latest bout of financial trouble resulted from wildfires in the last two years starting with the north bay fires in

october of 2017. pg&e is facing hundreds of lawsuits related to those fire, some of them blamed on the utility's equipment. others like the tubs fire were not. yesterday the california public utilities exhibition voted to allow pg&e to borrow up to $6 billion to pay for operations during bankruptcy. and earlier this morning, the utility filed for chapter 11 protection in the face of potentially billions of dollars in wildfire damages. so why does this matter to you? two main reasons. your pg&e bill is probably going to be higher as we go forward, and your power might get turned off more often in the future, especially if you live in a high-risk area. let's start with the bills and why you'd be paying more. we are still paying for pg&e's last bankruptcy. that was back in 2001. if you look at your bill and look closely at the dwr bond charge, that's from that previous bankruptcy. most experts expect that we're going to be paying for this bankruptcy as well and it could

get even worse. it could take over a year for the bankruptcy to get all sorted out. that would take us into the next wildfire season, and if pg&e equipment is found to be the cause of more destructive wildfires, that would mean for lawsuits, more wildfire payouts, even higher bills for you. we just keep going down the rabbit hole. speaking of wildfires, they could be the reason your power gets turned off more often. a north bay wildfires, the utility said it would shut off the power to wildfire-prone areas during bad fire conditions. then the campfire happened and they didn't turn the power off. the company doesn't want to be liable for any more fires so that means the utility may shut off more people's power more often as a precaution. remember, the one time they did that in calistoga, it took days to restore power in that area, so then you had businesses losing tons of money and the homeowners were not happy with it. pg&e says it is going to get faster at restoring power but

its equipment isn't designed to be turned off and on like a switch. you have to go grid by grid so that means you could be in the dark maybe for a few days while that gets resolved. that is why the bankruptcy matters to you. >> pg&e stock closed up today, shares tanked on monday, january 14th, when pg&e announced it would be declaring bankruptcy, losing more than half its value. you see a spike last thursday when pg&e was cleared of liability in the tubs fire. and shares gained nearly $2 today, closing at $13.99. the pg&e bankruptcy could potentially leave projects in limbo including a tree removal agreement between the utility and the city of lafayette. leslie joins us live with the latest. >> reporter: there's a citizens group called save lafayette trees. they're primarily worried that safety in their mind could take

a back seat to financial priorities given the bankruptcy. >> unfortunately, the city has hitched its wagon to a horse that's jumped over a cliff. >> reporter: michael dawson's lafayette home backs up to the trail and a 12-inch gas pipeline. >> we have 80-year-old pipelines behind our house and pg&e says they want to cut down these trees. >> reporter: in 2017, pg&e and the city of lafayette came to an agreement to remove 272 trees to allow better emergency access to the gas line for first responders. the dawsons weren't convinced removing trees would best address safety concerns and their group, save lafayette trees, filed a lawsuit. no trees have been cut down yet. they're waiting for an appeals court ruling in the next few weeks. the bankruptcy could change things. last night's city council meeting, the city attorney issued a report saying under bankruptcy law pg&e may have the option to assume or reject the agreement within 120 days of filing bankruptcy, meaning the

city can't invoice legal fees now, because of ongoing litigation, the city declining to comment on camera today. >> pg&e has given lafayette prepayment of $531,000. that was for tree mitigation, and what the city told us last night is that they're going to start applying that money towards their legal fees. and we think that's a big mistake. they could use that money for tree mitigation or they could use it for safety improvement projects here in lafayette. >> any reorganization or if the utility gas side gets sold or is considered to be sold, if it goes under state care, there's a lot of things to be worked out, but the eye can't be taken off the ball of public safety. >> reporter: it's all complicated but the california public utilities commission, save lafayette trees, the city of lafayette and pg&e are scheduled to sit down together and discuss what's next on february 11th.

reporting live if lafayette, i'm leslie brinkley, abc7 news. so will your gas and electricity stay on? find out more about how pg&e's bankruptcy could affect you on abc7news.com. we all know housing is a huge issue in the bay area, and today the efforts to build more development in santa clara county while facing opposition from those who want to preserve farm land. this is a big issue, part of our commitment to building a better bay area, and we're taking a deeper look here. right now a homeless count is under way as part of the santa clara county census. about 400 volunteers are scouring the county to collect information on people living in shelters, cars, or on the streets. as of last year, there were 7,394 people experiencing homelessness in santa clara county. more development could help with the housing crunch, but that could put thousands of acres of fertile farm land at risk. a new plan would prevent development on at least 12,000 acres of farm land in santa clara county if it is approved.

abc7 news reporters have the details on this proposal. carlos saucedo joins us. carlos? >> reporter: the county board of supervisors have spoken voting 5-0 to move tard with this plan that would preserve farm land. santa clara county has drastically changed as seen in this 1935 picture taken of southern morgan hill. fast forward to present day, and you notice the urban sprawl. >> many people don't realize that santa clara county was once the leading agriculture economy in the country and over the last 40, 50 years, we've lost 45% of our most productive soils, our most productive farm land to dwmt. >> reporter: in the last three years the county has lost 21,000 acres of fertile land. the region is primarily known as a tech hub, but the santa clara valley open space authority is working to preserve agricultural land. >> there's still people on the

urban edge of our cities who are producing food. >> reporter: farmers like chris, who manages 120 acres of cherries in coyote valley. >>preservation is a great idea if done correctly. >> reporter: he says even though his trees didn't yield a single cherry last year, his costs haven't gone down. he would like an area preserved but realizes other needs are at play such as housing. >> at the end of the day, we're farmers and enjoy what we do, but it's still a business and there's value in the land. we just want to protect that value. >> reporter: the preservation task force hopes to save 12,000 acres by purchasing development rights on certain parcels to keep farmers farming. this program costs between $250 million and $500 million. officials are looking at funding sources potentially coming from unspent money in the county general fund.

that's the money that comes at the end of each fiscal year. live in san jose, carlos saucedo, abc7 news. >> carlos, thank you. drone view 7 flew over the disputed block where developers are fighting to build an apartment complex. developers say they're prepared to take the fight to the voters to give them final say on whether to build the complex at 16th and mission street at the b.a.r.t. station. they're offering to build affordable housing on two separate sites in the mission district as part of a pact with opponents to the plan. detractors have called the project the monster in the mission. they're planning a february 7th meeting to discuss that proposal. abc7 news is committed to building a better bay area. you can join the conversation about things going on in your community. just use the #betterbayarea on facebook, twitter, and instagram. we have a series of storms

coming our way, but our immediate concern is fog developing overnight. live doppler 7, partly cloudy skies and good visibility but going into the late night and overnight hours, a look at what we can expect, widespread fog developing near the coast and around the bay and expanding during the late night and overnight hours. it will be rather dense in some locations, so the morning commute will likely be affected by the fog with reduced visibility. bear in mind if you are a morning commuter. by midday, the fog will have lifted. it will give way to cloudy skies and the approaching storm, ranking 1 on the storm impact scale. showers and brief downpours beginning late tomorrow continuing into thursday morning and a possibility of an isolated thunderstorm or two. i'll give you a closer look at this storm and the next one in just a few minutes. >> spencer, thank you. coming up, a creepy glitch on iphones. >> hi.

>> there's a glitch that lets you hear someone that you facetimed even if they never answer your call. >> this comes as apple is facing a decline in sales and profit. what it means for the south bay company. and people were outraged after they were fined for poor recycling skills. that fine is being put to

>> hello? >> okay. so did you hear that? it's a bug that was discovered with apple's facetime.

it lets someone who's calling you listen in even if you never pick up the phone. abc7 news reporter wood-burning ban h-- melanie woodrow has the details. >> reporter: security experts recommend that you disable facetime until apple releases a security patch to fix the bug. apple has disabled its group facetime feature after the discovery of a security bug that allowed users access to the microphone and possibly front-facing camera. the person they were facetiming, even if that person rejected the call. nicole nguyen, a technology reporter, showed us how. >> in this view, you swipe up from the bottom to start a group facetime chat. you can add a person, and the person you add is yourself. >> reporter: it was that particular set of actions, adding yourself to a group facetime chat you had already initiated, that triggered the bug. nguyen and her colleagues discovered if the person on the receiving end rejected the

facetime call using the volume down feature, the initiator of the call would not only have access to the receiver's microphone but to that person's front-facing camera as well. >> maybe the worst privacy bug that i've seen from apple on an apple product. >> reporter: mike is the chief security officer at lookout, a cybersecurity company. >> whoever found this managed to find this one weird thing that gave them odd behavior. this is how all hacking works. >> reporter: it's a wake-up call for all of us. >> the importance of this story is to remind everyone that these devices are powerful computers that have access to everything. >> reporter: apple says it has identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week. once the apple security patch comes out, security experts recommend upgrading your system, then they say you can go back to using facetime. in san francisco, melanie woodrow, abc7 news. > ian schurr is here to auk

about this. a whole new meaning to can you hear me now? apple's ceo, tim cook, has been very outspoken about privacy, so this is pretty embarrassing. >> yes. it's very embarrassing. and, in fact, they had an ad during the consumer electronics show earlier this month that was plastered all over vegas that said what happens on an iphone stays on an iphone. not true right now. it's a really problematic thing. there are bugs that happen in all of this stuff. it's very complex software. but there's no excusing apple having this massive bug that potentially could affect millions of people. we're talk about the president of the united states has an iphone. these are really important things to get right and it's bad that apple didn't. >> is it more embarrassing that this was discovered by a 14-year-old kid? >> look, people find stuff all over the place, and in fact a lot of companies nowadays will pay what's called bug bounties. they'll encourage security are researchers to help them find bugs and pay them when they do. usually, though, we don't find

out about the bug until after it's been fixed. this time apple is caught without it being fixed. hopefully by the end of the week, but it's a bad problem. >> melanie alluded to it, the end of the week is the target. right now you can't group facetime. that's the only thing cut off? >> it appears apple has disabled that. and we haven't seen instructions how to turn off facetime, but it seems like apple is trying to mitigate it as best they can. >> some other apple news because they barely beat earnings after lowering their projections right around $84 billion in revenue for the quarter, which is pretty astounding, actually. that's a huge amount of money to me. not like they're struggling. but iphone sales revenues are down about 15% for the year. what's happening with iphones? >> it appears as though there are a couple of things coming together. china is not selling as much, not selling as many iphones and that's due to a lot of things, the trade war, slowing down economics in china, but the other thing is apple is struggling to convince us all to

keep upgrading all the time. there are a couple things that play into that, but apple needs to start figuring out what comes after the iphone. that's what we're all learning. selling more iphones, we may have hit the wall how many you can sell. that's a huge wall. they are make a lot of money still. but the question everyone has is is this a blip or the beginning of a downward trend and that's the concern. >> so let me ask you this, did apple misjudge the market on the phone thinking that, you know what, larry, you guys are paying 600 bucks for a new iphone, we'll push you to a thousand, and larry and ian says, no, you're not. >> it's problematic. look, so far the data shows from apple that being within the $750 to $1,000 range is not bad for them. the iphone 10 last year was the best-selling phone they had. this year, the iphone 10-r, about $750, that's doing well. it's not like apple screwed up here. the question is how many more of these phones can they sell?

the people who are going to buy an iphone largely have them. how often do they upgrade? >> they last a long time. >> and they have the battery replacement program last year, which was very cheap and actually made the phones feel even more powerful. so they have a lot of things going up against them. it doesn't mean the company will disappear tomorrow. it's what is the future of apple going to look like and they're trying to chart that course themselves. >> figure out the next big product we all have to have. great to see you again. >> thanks for having me. speaking of screens, new research is out today about the negative effects of too much screen time for toddlers. a study in the "journal of pediatrics" found that staring at screens could lead to poor development as early as ages 3 to 5. the study warns that kids could run into problems with communication, motor skills, problem solving, as well as social skills. i think we're going to weather

now. i don't know. >> they just wanted a single of ama. that's all they wanted. the rest is not relevant. >> i was sitting next to her. >> you wanted to be a part of it. >> here now we have the friendly solo shot. live doppler 7, we have lots of moisture offshore. there will be a lot more developing over the next day or so. check out this view of the low clouds developing along the coastline. current temperature readings, 55 in san francisco and half moon bay. low 60s at san jose and morgan hill. here's the view of the golden gate. you can see the low clouds pushing out over the bay. off in the distance, we have some bright areas. it's currently 58 degrees in santa rosa, 61 at napa, and we have mid-60s at fairfield, concord, and livermore. and, well, this was a view, still a view from the east bay hills camera before we went on the air. you could see a few high clouds, midlevel clouds and lots of low clouds which we are seeing as

those low clouds expand. so our forecast features are these. light to moderate rain the next two days. a stronger storm comes in on friday, continues into saturday morning, then a drier pattern developing earlier next week. overnight conditions, fog will be widespread, dense at times, overnight lows in the mid to upper 40s for the most part, a low of only 53 in san francisco, and that fog will reduce visibility for commuters. give yourself some extra time. a storm system well offshore at the moment. that's the center. computer modelers are showing two likely tracks for this storm. the one in blue is track one. if it takes that track, it will produce more rainfall, more widespread rain and higher rainfall totals, about an 80% of that over the bay area. traffic number two, orange arrows, we'll get less rainfall here, some rain but lower totals, about a 20% chance of that.

our storm impact scale, it ranks 1 on the impact scale, expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon or evening, continuing into thursday morning. we'll see showers, maybe brief downpours, possibly a thunderstorm or two. rainfall totals quarter of an inch to three-quarters generally. 6:00 tomorrow evening, rather widespread moderate to heavy rain in the north bay, later in the evening spreading to all parts of the bay area. once again it will be a wet storm, producing some downpours, possibly some thunderstorms, but its duration will be brief. it will pass through overnight and thursday morning just trailing showers but not very widespread rainfall. and that storm pocket producing lightning and strong hail is confined for a small area in north bay but a much wider area is under that thunderstorm threat in the remind over the buy area. highs tomorrow in the low to mid-60s, then the next storm coming in on friday, a storm of moderate intensity, 2 on the storm impact scale. moderate to heavy rain, half

inch to an inch hand a half of rain likely. the accuweather forecast, we still have scattered showers or light rain coming in sunday and monday, so this is an extended period of wet, unsettled weather before we get some drying out next tuesday. >> a week on, week on, week to off. >> that's how it's been going. >> she wants her next close-up. >> there it is. >> thank you. because that's clearly what i wanted. >> i'm still here. >> stay here. >> she doesn't get what she wants for long. >> yeah. that's true. coming up, more serious news, an attack on a santa rosa-born actor and why it's being investigated as a possible hate crime. and one-on-one with former new jersey governor and white house insider

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chicago police are investigating a possible hate crime against a bay area-born tv actor jesse smolet. he was attacked by two two-seam around 2:00 this morning. the suspects yelled racial and homophobic slurs as they beat him. they poured an unknown chemical around him and put a rope around his neck before running off. he managed to get himself to the hospital and is in good condition. the music world is mourning the loss of james ing gram. the 66-year-old behind hits like "just once" and "i don't have the heart" died today. his death was announced by his longtime friend and creative partner debbie allen. the cause has not been revealed. a french climber is in police custody for scaling a high-rise building in the philippines. alain robaire, known as the french spider-man, scared a

building. police may charge him with trespassing or public disturbance. he's also seen walking around the building with his lawyer before the crime. he's been arrested around 120 times. he began his climbing activities 20 years ago. >> still to come, a troubling report on global threats to the u.s. >> this is the most significant counterintelligence threat we face.

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or, he could make it even easier - and set up recurring payments to his neighbor. for cat sitting. (meow) whoa. you've groomed her, too. (cell phone vibrating) and now she's ready for the catwalk. life, lived jason's way. chase. make more of what's yours. and here are the stories making headlines at 4:31. pg&e filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy today as the company faces billions of dollars in potential damages from the wildfires. this comes despite state investigators saying the utility's equipment was not to blame for the tubs fire that killed 22. a group says that means they

will go to a different judge. we'll have that story at 5:00. president trump's state of the union address is in one week and we now know that stacey abrams, the former democratic leader in the georgia house of representatives, will deliver the democratic response and javier bbecerra will deliver th spanish language response. here's abc news reporter. >> reporter: as the government inches closer to yet another possible government shutdown over security at the southern border, top intelligence officials spoke of a different threat, one that is increase lig leaving the country vulnerable. >> the scale and scope of the various threats facing the united states and our immediate interests worldwide is likely to further intensify this year. >> reporter: the assessment pointing to russia and china as the greatest cyber espionage

threats to the u.s. and claiming the two countries have never been more aligned. >> it's the most significant counterintelligence threat we face. >> reporter: national intelligence director dan coats also challenged the president's claim that isis has been defeated and concluded that north korea would unlike will ever give up its nuclear weapons completely. virginia senator mark warner, the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee, said he is most concerned about russia's social media use and the 202 election. the fbi director agreeing that that, too, is a top concern. >> we've seen indication that they're continuing to adapt their model and that other countries are taking a very interested eye in that approach. >> reporter: the president is set to meet with north korea leader kim jong-un next month to further talk about denuclearization. the white house maintains that that is still the goal. abc news, washington. president trump's longtime fiend roger stone pleaded not guilty today to charges in the

special counsel's russia investigation. >> lock him up! lock him up! >> chants of lock him up greeted stone as he arrived for his arraignment. he's charged with obstruction, lying to congress, and witness tampering. prosecutors say he lied about his content of discussions with the trump campaign involving wikileaks and the release of hacked material damaging to hillary clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. now to the latest on that shooting in houston. four police officers were shot, another injured while serving a warrant. right now, one of those officers is fighting for his life. here's the latest. >> reporter: tay kaye i don't say in houston. an ambush-style attack on police officers investigating a suspected drug case. the officers coming under fire just moments after they showed up. >> i heard a lot of gunshots. >> reporter: rosie capturing the exchange on her cell phone, the

video showing one officer rinning from the scene, shot in the arm. a second officer on the ground, other officers rushed to his aid. in all, four officers were shot with two officers taking bullets to the face. a fifth suffered a knee injury. all officers rushed to the hospital, one airlifted. >> he's in a fight, he's stable, but we need to pray for all these officers. >> reporter: dozens of officers surrounding the house with the suspect still inside. >> come out now. >> reporter: police identifying the suspects as 58-year-old regina nicholls who was shot and killed when she went to grab one of the wounded officer's shotgun. the other suspect, 59-year-old dennis tuttle, also killed in the shoot-out. inside the home, officers found guns, marijuana, and a substance believed to be cocaine or fentanyl. the officers shot are between 32 to 54 years old. abc news, los angeles.

the defense has wrapped up its case of the mexican drug lord known as el chapo and it took 30 minutes. the attorney for joaquin guzman called only one witness and entered one document into evidence before resting his case. striking difference compared to the 56 witnesses called by the government to describe the cartel's inner workings. el chapo could face life in prison if convicted of drug and murder conspiracy charges and his lawyers say they're fabricated. closing arguments begin tomorrow. a 20-cent surcharge on gasoline. where does that money go? new questions coming up. and the battle of the quarterbacks. the bay area rivalry, the differences, and the dancing. and the battle of the clouds moving in from the coast. [music playing] (sashimi) psst. hey, you! the one with the designer dog collar. wondering how i upgraded to this sweet pad? a 1,200-square-foot bathroom, and my very own spa. all i had to do was give my human "the look".

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gronkowski, are keeping things loose. >> can't wait to hear from the dancing gronk. brady is loving it. >> reporter: the patriots making their third straight appearance in the super bowl and brady looking for his sixth ring. he came face-to-face with jared goff, who was in elementary school when brady won his first super bowl. >> what sort of advice would you give this guy as he gets ready to take on the big bad patriots? >> i'm not giving him any advice. you crazy. >> they were separated by the largest age gap of any starting quarterback matchup in super bowl history. >> for me growing up, he was winning super bowls when i was young, 7, 8 years old. so impressive and a guy that i have looked up to throughout my whole childhood. >> reporter: with all their differences, check out the similarities. both grew up in the bay area, both 49ers fans, both huge fans of joe montana. brady calls montana his idol.

goff wears his old number, 16. brady praised his young quarterback counterpart on what he's accomplished so far. >> first pick of the draft, lot of expectation, he's had an incredible year. >> amazing is we've been covering jared goff since his first year at cal. he got crushed at cal. >> and look at him now. >> first pick in the draft and could win his first super bowl. >> you making a call? >> a really in the week for that sort of thing. >> is it really? >> who bets against the patriots? the patriots are like a machine. >> they're making their third straight super bowl appearance and brady looking ing ting to s sixth ring. goff looking for his first. conditions are calm at the moment although we expect widespread fog overnight and a storm arriving tomorrow arriving late in the day, continuing

thursday morning, periods of heavy rain at times, about 0.3 inch to an inch for most areas and a slight chance of a thunderstorm. the day starts off with cloudy skies and morning fog and a little bit of sun early in the day, but clouds thicken and the to storm moves into the north bay and spread to all areas in the evening hours tomorrow. the commute will be problematic. friday into saturday, we have our second storm, a second one, ranki ining 2 on the storm impa scale, producing heavier and gustier winds. look for periods of rain just about every day for the next six days. next tuesday, finally, we start to see a bit more sunshine and drying out. as you pointed out, we've been getting weeks of sunshine and weeks of rain. looking forward to a week of rain right now. i don't know if we're looking forward to it -- >> but it's coming. take a look at an ef the partial government shutdown. so elephant seals have taken

over drake's beach and part of the parking lot. one's like i got to get over the hump. >> he'll make it. >> may take him a while. during the shutdown there were no park rangers and few visitors to the beach in the point reyes national seashore. elephant seals saw it as an opportunity to claim the beach. the road leading to the beach remains closed. scientists are working on a way for the public to view the colony from a safe distance. >> pretty big boys. mystery surcharge. new questions about how much you're paying for gas and why. i'm 7 on your side's michael finney. residents fined for recycling the wrong way and the recycling company told to knock it off, but it's not over yet. oh! oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it.

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all right. think you're paying too much for gas? more than a dozen state lawmakers have called on the attorney general to investigate our gas prices and turns out we may be paying more than we should. we're talking a lot more. >> we're live if emeryville with more. >> reporter: many californians feel a wave of stress when they

put down this nozzle and see how much they've spent at the pump. and we learned today that we are paying a mysterious surcharge and lawmakers don't know where it's coming from. we know our gas isn't cheap. >> welcome to california. >> reporter: the national average right now is $2.25, while california's is $3.24. according to aaa. but what if we told you a mystery surcharge of anywhere from 20 to 40 cents per gallon may be one reason behind the cost? >> i just want to know what's it for, where is it going. that's what i'd like to know. >> reporter: so does everyone else. somewhere between the refinery and the pump, the cost is added. uc, berkeley, hospital of business professor found the mystery while leading a committee found by the california energy commission in 2014.not exained by the taxes cap and trade program for green house gases or burning cleaner

gasoline. that's the problem. >> reporter: the report was released in 2017 but he noticed the initial spike in prices after a southern california refinery explosion in 2015. gas prices never rally went back down after that and since 2015 he says this mystery surcharge has cost californians between $3 billion to $5 billion a year. that caught lawmakers' attention. >> so we really want to see the attorney general's office investigate this surcharge, get to the bottom of what is causing it and hopefully find a solution. >> reporter: more than a dozen lawmakers sent a letter to the department of justice on monday. we did ask lawmakers today if we would see this surcharge on the receipt, if you look at this one, you can see it only shows the total, a little over 50 bucks. they told us first they need to know where it's coming from. we're live if emeryville. abc7 news. multiple california counties have reached a settlement with

go chocolate companies for misleading customers. ghirardelli and russell stover have agreed to pay $750,000. they were accused of using oversized containers making customers think they were getting more than they were. they agreed to change packaging but did not admit to wrongdoing. >> reporter: in less that two hours, the west contra costa garbage company will check on fines for recycling the wrong way. >> the company had no authority to issue citations. local officials demand that the company stop those fines. >> 7 on your side's michael finney joins us with how that might change. >> this is going to spread out across the bay area. what's happening tonight is very important to you. as i first reported, republic services was auditing its customers' recycling bins and charging $26 if the inspector saw something wrong in the cart. now, many customers were outraged saying they thought

they did everything right and couldn't get answers. the county, the contra costa county, and city of richmond, told republic to stop the penalties. but tonight, republic will try to persuade city officials to raise the fines higher. when we saw christian smith, he was showing us what he recycles. >> it has a recycle symbol on there. i'm going to say yes.yes.yes.ye. >> he says he's very care so he was shocked to see the citation on his cart. contamination found. bt it didn't say what. >> we were at a loss. we didn't know what we'd done wrong. >> he wasn't the only one. >> it makes me mad because i'm trying to do the right thing and all of a sudden i goet a fine. >> reporter: they didn't get any notice, just a bill in the mail. $26 for contaminated materials. >> i'm calling about a couple -- i guess they're fines that are on my bill. >> reporter: a call to republic

services didn't shed light on what they did wrong. >> nonrecyclable items. >> so what was it? >> reporter: the city of richmond and said they had no authority for fines but contamination levels are growing and china is no longer buying materials that are soiled or can't be recycled. republic says it's up to customers to do it right and charging a fee sends a message. >> i don't see anything wrong with it. when somebody does that, it costs money. >> reporter: still customers said there are too many variables. the cans aren't marked with an address, anyone can throw stuff in someone else's cart. citations didn't say what they did wrong. and most of all, with so many types of packaging, i would's unclear what is acceptable in the bin anymore. >> it has aluminum or something on the cap, and it's cardboard. i don't know. am i supposed to take it apart? >> reporter: republic services is proposing these new citations with detail on what was done

wrong. it also wants to raise the fee from $26 to $27.75. another option is to leave the contaminated cart behind and allow the resident time to clean it out. as is done elsewhere. republic wants to issue fines instead. >> i don't know what the answer is, but we'll figure it out. >> tonight the richmond city council is hearing republic service's pitch to allow fines against customers for recycling wrong. the meeting begins at 6:30 at the richmond community services building and we're told the public will indeed have a chance to weigh in on the issue. i'll be following up and we'll tell you what happens there. >> that's a disincentive to recycling. i'm not going to do it at all, okay? ing. >> yeah. >> people have mentioned that to us. we ran our original reports they were saying i just won't recycle. >> thank you, michael. former new jersey governor and president trump adviser chris christie shares stories about his time in the white

house and what he thinks about jared kushner. that's up next. and we have what's coming up at 5:00. >> new at 5:00, a $185 million windfall in stran francisco. what to spend it on? the group rallying outside city hall right now hoping some of that money goes to teachers. the changing face of the homeless. what officials are finding in santa clara county.

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plus, ask how you can get xfinity mobile included so all you pay for is data. switch today. today former new jersey governor chris christie is releasing his new book, "let fe me finish," a tell after all about his relationship with president trump and the kushners. >> your book getting a lot of bust. you say in your book, one of the president's biggest mistakes or problems is not surrounding himself with some good people. so who exactly are you referring to this in book? >> general michael flynn, who was maid national security adviser, i've been arguing to the president for six months to keep away from michael flynn. i thought he was a train wreck.

as it turned out, he only lasted 17 days in the white house while he was lying to the vice president and now has wound up being convicted of a crime. folks like steve bannon did not belong in the white house. omarosa manny gold did not belong there, for goodness' sakes. some decisions were made with the heart and not the head and the president is learning you have to make personnel decisions with people who are fully vetted and ready for the scrutiny you're going to get in washd, and in the federal government. i think that's the point i was trying to make, was he's not served well when these kind of things happen. >> you mentioned michael flynn. the trump administration you mentioned in the book saying they thought getting rid of flynn could actually end the russia investigation? did they really believe that? >> well, what they thought was -- they fired michael flynn because he lied to the vice president. but the president thought, and this was the day after flynn was fired, that, you know, now that flynn is gone and he was the only person who spoke to

russians as far as the president knew, this would end the russia thing. i laughed at that point and said, mr. president, i've run these investigations. i can tell you we're going to be sitting here on valentine's day of 2018 still talking about this. as it turns out, you know, at that time, he laughed at me and thought i was wrong, and jared kushner told me i was crazy, but meantime we're inching up on valentine's day 2019 and still talking about it. i think i had the right idea back then that this was going to be a lot longer than they thought it was. >> we look forward to having you here in the bay area. thank you so much, chris christie. >> thanks, jessica. that was jessica castro. you can buy the book and hear from christie himself when his book tour comes to san francisco february 6th. get the latest news anytime with the abc7 news app, more customization and personalized push alerts to get more of the news you want. that does it for us for abc7

news at 4:00. abc7 news at 5:00 starts right now. >> it's a serious problem, edging on crisis levels. >> attracting and retaining teachers. that's what some san francisco supervisors want to do with part of a $185 million surplus, but the mayor wants to spend the money on a different crisis. pg&e files for bankruptcy. how that impacts every customer. we have fog now, and rain is coming. i'm abc7 news meteorologist sandhya patel tracking the system with live doppler 7. hour by hour outlook coming up. what to do with a $185 million windfall? san francisco educators and parents are rallying right now to give a portion of that money to teachers. but the mayor wants it to go to another big issue facing the

city, homelessness. i'm kristen sze. >> i'm larry beil. thanks for joining us. this is part of our commitment to building a better bay area, focusing on the issues that matter to you. >> late last year, san francisco received a $415 million windfall that came from excess property tax revenue. some of that money is going to a number of city expenses leaving $185 million for the general fund. >> mayor london breed wants that money to go to homelessness and housing initiatives but a group of supervisors wants to fund teacher pay raises. >> we want to know what you think the money should be spent on,lessleness or teachers. >> go to abc7news.com/vote. you can see the results change in real time. >> teachers, parents, and others are rallying outside city hall in favor of the teacher proposal. that's where lyanne melendez joins us live. >> reporter: the teachers are asking for $60 million over

three years. they don't get to kee