thanks for joining us. the shutoffs began at 2:00 today in the sierra foothills. they were supposed to begin at throw:00 p.m. in napa, sonoma, lake and mendocino counties. but some people said it went out an hour before that. >> as for san mateo and kern counties, the shutoffs should begin overnight at 1:00 a.m. sonoma county is facing themoun a pet resort in sonoma says these shutdowns really hurt. >> there's no city water out here, so when the power goes out, we have to have something to give water to the animals. so i have five gallon jugs and put fresh water in. i missed a lot of calls. i was basically out of business when they shut down last time. >> in napa county, pg&e says

7400 people will see their power turned off in calistoga, deer park, lakeberryessa, oakville, pope valley, rutherford, and st. helena. >> laura anthony is live in calistoga tonight with the impact of the shutoff there. laura. >> reporter: hi, dan. it's really a tale of two cities here in calistoga. i'm standing on lincoln avenue. this is the bridge that goes over the creek. what's happened here is thanks to pg&e generators, the power has been turned off on the west side but not on the east side. the east side went off for about an hour and a half and then it went back on just before 4:30 because just outside of town, pg&e has some generators that are keeping the lights and the businesses running here in calistoga. right on cue, the power in downtown calistoga went out at 3:00 p.m., leaving the tourist town and many of its visitors at

a loss. the businesses on the east side of lincoln avenue are supposed to be powered by a bank of generators located at a pg&e substation just outside of town. but there was a delay in getting them started. pg&e says the high winds and low humidity forced the second public safety power shutdown to this community in two weeks. >> you been busy? >> yes. >> reporter: electrician javier gutierrez is trying to help those on the west side of calistoga not powered by those pg&e generators. >> how has this been for you? >> really busy. two weeks ago was really a nightmare for me. i've been getting phone calls since 4:00 in the morning trying to get generators hooked up. >> it's delicious. >> reporter: across the street there are no portable generators so the restaurant will have to close possibly for days. >> you're having to close right ahead of the dinner hour? >> that's right. and tonight we had a reservation. we have to call them and tell them we're going to be closed.

tomorrow we have another one, about 40 people, and we cancelled that one as well. >> welcome to california. >> thank you. >> reporter: joe and sally are on vacation from new jersey. we found them trying to finish their lunch before the power went out. >> what does this do to your vacation? >> i don't know what's going to happen when we get back to the hotel. i don't know. do they have power? where are we going to have our dinner? have a hot shower in the morning? >>. >> reporter: just to show you that life goes on, the tourist industry, we are here at august briggs tasting room. these guys lost power maybe an hour shall hour and a half, but that's when those generators kicked on. we're just on the east side of the bridge here in calistoga, so here at least it's business as usual, although as you saw some of those other restaurants had to close at 3:00 this afternoon. live in calistoga, laura anthony, abc 7 news. >> laura, thanks. on the peninsula in san mateo county pg&e says 372 customers are affected in la

honda, san gregorio, woodside and unincorporated parts of the county. we are seeing its impact on seniors. gerard powell lives in the la honda community at risk of losing power. he said the anxiety and the stress of last round's blackouts put one of his neighbors in the hospital. >> he suddenly found himself in a medical emergency due to the stress of the uncertainty of what was going to happen, whether he could get his medications. >> while a majority of seniors in the area won't lose power, there are still fears like not having a working elevator. that's a big problem for seniors. neighbors we spoke with in the area say they're sticking together and lenng spare generators to those who need them. as you know, pg&e is turning off the power to mitigate the wildfire risk amid hot and windy conditions. this is a live picture from our camera on top of mt. tam. you really can't tell the windiness here, but let's get to abc 7 meteorologist sandhya

patel for the details. >> let's take a look at the red flag warnings in effect right now for the area shaded in red. this goes until tomorrow afternoon as the winds will continue to increase, gusting out of the north-northeast 30 to 60 miles an hour with humidity continuing to drop. right now it's not terribly windy, but it is gusty in knoxville creek, 32 miles an hour. hawkeye 30 miles an hour. at the lower elevations the winds have not materialized yet, but that will be changing. 7:00 tonight it is gusty around fairfield, 30 miles an hour. watch what happens to those winds, picking up over 30 miles an hour in calistoga by 11:00 p.m. tonight and those gusty winds will continue during the morning commute. 48 miles an hour at cloverdale coming down to about 43 by 9:00 a.m. so the high fire danger will remain in effect as we go into tomorrow as well. dan. >> okay, sandhya, thanks very much. as was the case with the last round of planned power shutoffs, a lot of people are questioning why their

neighborhoods are included in the outage zones when there's relatively little or no outside. we asked pg&e that exact question earlier today. here's the answer they gave us. >> depending on where you live, you may live within an area that is served by a line that has been included in the public safety power shutoff zone. if that's the case, you may lose power. there's also instances where wind-related damage to our lines may cause temporary power outages. in that event we will have crews out in the area surveying the lines once the all clear is given. >> now, once again, pg&e will be holding a briefing about these outages at 5:30. that's about 22 minutes from now. >> we'll be carrying that live here on abc 7 news in another expanded 5:00 newscast. in the meantime, we'll let you know about pg&e's plans through our abc 7 news app. you can always stay connected there. >> be sure to enable push alerts to get updates. you can also find out how to

prepare for a shutoff on our website, abc7news.com. in the meantime, san jose is not affected by the blackouts this time but the mayor has a buyout proposal that could turn pg&e into the country's largest customer-owned utility. >> chris nguyen joins us live from san jose city hall with more on the story. chris? >> reporter: yeah, the proposal is still in the early stages and it certainly will require a buy-in from other cities. but the mayor says that public ownership would make the company more accountable to its customers. with more than a million people, the city of san jose is pg&e's largest customer, but its mayor says it's now time to explore other options. >> we need to align the financial interests of pg&e with the public interests. >> reporter: the mayor's buyout propos proposal, which will be presented to the california public utilities commission would strip pg&e of its status as an investor-owned company and turn it into a nonprofit

customer-owned cooperative. his proposal also looks at creating a city-owned utility to develop independent power systems such as microgrids to protect the city from future shutdowns. pg&e told abc 7 news that its energy facilities aren't for sale nor have they seen the mayor's proposal, saying we remain focused on the safety of our customers and communities and will continue working together with our state and local government partners and across all sectors and disciplines to develop comprehensive, long-term safety and energy solutios for the future. >> i can't imagine how many billions of dollars it would take to buy an outdated system. >> reporter: councilmember johnny camis is open to exploring the mayor's ideas but has some concerns about the potential costs. >> if we're going to make a proposal to pg&e, what are we going to get for it? and will it really stop the power outages? >> reporter: mayor licardo knows it could be a while before customers see any changes.

>> customer-owned utilities don't have to pay federal taxes, they don't have to pay shareholder dividends, they can access capital at much lower costs. and that is going to be critical for us in the years ahead, given the extraordinary investment we'll need in the system. >> reporter: the city council will take up the mayor's full proposal in mid-november. we're live at san jose city hall. i'm chris nguyen, abc 7 news. a high-profile murder case reaches a milestone. it's the trial of a real estate heiress in hillsborough. she's accused of killing her children's father. what happens when you multiply time by age and devices? the answer is something most parents may want to hear. plus, the money problems split among the ages. it comes down to millenials versus everyone else. and the bay area is baking in mid-october. sandhya will be back come try my really big chicken sandwich combo with two patties for $4.99, or three for $5.99, or four for $6.99.

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on the peninsula, closing arguments started today in a sensational hillsborough murder case. the suspects are the daughter of a rich family from china and her boyfriend. the victim was the father of her two children. abc 7 news reporter vic lee has the story from redwood city. >> reporter: the prosecution said there was no other reasonable explanation for any of that except that the murder was committed by tiffany li and kaver bayat. >> there's no smoking gun in this case. this is a case that involves a lot of pieces of evidence, circu circumstantial that add up to guilt. >> reporter: tiffany li, heir to a wealthy chinese family, and her boyfriend, bayat, accused of murdering the father of her two young children, keith groeen, wo disappeared in april of 2016 after meeting li at the millbrae pancake house. the next month green's body was found dead from a single gunshot

wound to the mouth. authorities believe green was killed in li's hils mansion. it took the prosecutor just two hours to get through closing arguments. he led jurors meticulously through a timeline that started when li and green broke up in october of 2015 to when li, bayat and a third suspect, olivier adella were arrested. adella was charged with the dumping of green's body. he entered a plea deal but was rearrested after contacting a former girlfriend and a witness in the case. the timeline included text messages which the prosecution said was meant to distance the couple from green's whereabouts when he was shot. the prosecution told jurors li's motive for the murder, a messy child custody lawsuit and that li's clear frustration led to anger about green's constant requests for money. bayat's motive was his fear that green would get back with li.

that derailed the money train for mr. bayat as long as he was alive. defense attorney jeff carr told jurors in his closing that the case against li was solely based on circumstantial evidence and that the prosecution was neglecting factual evidence. carr contends that it was adella who killed green. >> there seems to be more evidence consistent with it being a failed kidnap than it being a murder and that something went wrong. >> reporter: trial is recessed until tomorrow. tiffany li's lawyer will continue his closing arguments. then kaveh bayat's lawyer will take his turn. then a rebuttal by the prosecution. then the case goes to the jury. vic lee, abc 7 news. a pedestrian suffered critical injuries when a uter bus hit him near lake merritt in oakland this morning. sky 7 was over the scene at the intersection of 14th and madison streets at the main library. the crash was reported just before 8:00. the driver of the bus stayed at the scene and is cooperating

with the oakland police department. it is being operated as a shuttle for alameda county workers. in the north bay, a fire engulfed a detached garage in san enseanselmo this afternoon. at one point flames spread to the dry grass beside thegage which is l scary this time of year. but thanks to quick response fire crews doused the flames to prevent them from spreading any farther. the amount of time teenagers spend in front of tv, computer and phone screens -- >> michael finney is here with that story. >> not really surprising when you hear it, is it? it's interesting. researchers at mcmaster university in canada studied the responses of 32,000 student between eighth and tenth grade. caffeine and sugar intake was more likely to be increased based on the amount of screen time the teens were exposed to.

almost 30% of the students were found to consume too much sugar due to prolonged screen time, while 20% consumed too much caffeine. researchers say tv time was found to be the biggest culprit. a new report by the federal trade commission finds consumers aged 60 or older are less likely to report losing money to fraud than younger adults. younger adults report losing money more often, but older consumers report much higher dollar losses. consumers 80 years or older have the highest median dollar amount lost at $1700. now, that's 55% increase over the previous year. the ft says elderly victims lose money most often to phone scams. there's a disconnect between what consumers want and what retailers think consumers want. that's according to a new study. oracle retail says 56% of the 15,000 customers it surveyed ranked convenience as their top

priority. but only 34% of retailers rank convenience that high. 22% of consumers said advice from knowledgeable employees was important. 6% of retailers thought the same. we have seen this over and over again. you find what you want to find. >> you see what you want to see. >> boy, that explains a lot, though, michael. >> it explains why people don't gorick and mortar as much as they used to. >> thanks, michael, very much. all right. well, we have that red flag warning. >> yeah, we're concerned about the wind and the heat and the pg&e power shutoffs. meteorologist sandhya patel is here with the forecast. >> yeah, the fire danger is elevated right now, dan and kristen, and it will continue to increase as those winds ramp up some more. let me show you a live picture from our sutro tower camera looking at a beautiful view of downtown san francisco. it is nice and sunny, definitely has been warm. san francisco got up into the low 80s. here's a look at the numbers right now. 76 in the city, 80 in oakland,

san jose is at 85 and half moon bay 73 degrees. from our kgo roof camera, we do have a little bit of a breeze but nothing out of the ordinary at the lower elevations. upper 80s santa rosa, fairfield, concord, livermore right now you're at 83 degrees. so i know this heat isn't for ever. temperatures have soared well above average once again. here's a look at where those numbers are going. so walnut creek tomorrow afternoon it's going to be another warm one at 90 degrees. friday 89. but notice the temperatures start to trend lower, especially for the second half of your weekend, going into next week when those numbers will primarily be in the 70s for inland locations. warmest spots like walnut creek. here's live doppler 7 right now and the skies are clear from coast all the way to the inland areas. live look from our emeryville camera. you're seeing hazy sunshine. strong winds later tonight. fire danger high through tomorrow and looking at sunny and warm weather the next two days. let's take a look at the relative humidity forecast.

15% around lake berryessa and fairfield. that will drop. 10% in napa as we head into the early morning hours. it's still going to be very dry at 5:00 a.m. that's why the fire danger is a concern along with the winds. so the fire danger index showing you moderate areas of fire risk tonight. as we head into the late night hours, notice we start to notice the oranges and the reds here in the north bay. that is very high to extreme fire danger, so that's something we'll be concerned about going into tomorrow morning, expanding to parts of the san mateo coast and even parts of the east bay definitely remain aware of your surroundings. it is going to be windy later on tonight and into tomorrow. it's already gusty in the hills. that wind will keep those temperatures up, so it's going to be really a mild start for most of you. upper 50s to the low 60s. morgan hill a little sheltered from the wind may drop down to 53 degrees. south bay numbers look like this. it's going to be a warm one

tomorrow. los gatos, morgan hill 81. 90 in san jose. on the peninsula if you like warm october weather, this is your time to enjoy. 87 san mateo, 84 pacifica. downtown san francisco 87 degrees, 85 in the sunset district. north bay many 80s from petaluma to santa rosa. 91 vallejo. in the east bay you're looking at 86 berkeley, 89 oakland, san leandro. head inland, 92 fairfield, 90 degrees in livermore. here's a look at the accuweather seven-day forecast. we're going to hang on to the high fire danger for tomorrow. low 90s thursday, friday inland. 80s tomorrow at the coast dropping to the 70s by friday and over the weekend, you will feel the difference as we see more of a sea breeze return. temperatures willrop the second half of your weekend. looking at the possibility of another roundi of gusty winds. this time around it would be a widespread event and perhaps stronger winds so something worth watching. >> thanks, sandhya, very much. an offer of

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a new twist in the battle over the oakland coliseum property. the a's are offering to buy or lease the city of oakland's share of the complex to ending a legal log jam. in exchange they would drop the lawsuit. the proposal iludes a clause that the city allow the team to build a new ballpark elsewhere in oakland. a's ownership is planning a new stadium at howard terminal but needs to develop the coliseum site to help finance it. a new jersey man credits his apple watch with saving his life after he and a friend fell down a cliff while out hiking. both of them took the dangerous tumble after getting lost in a wooded area of a new jersey park. james broke his fall by grabbing on to a branch. all of a sudden he heard a voice coming from his apple voice. that voice turned out to be a 911 operator. he had bought his apple watch just two days before. playing around with its settings, he turned on a feature

called fall detection that census when the wearer takes a tumble. and it worked. pretty amazing. >> and that's going to be great marketing for apple as well, right? >> true. >> all right. flying above the water. >> sky 7 catches some very

annoepidemic fueled by juul use with their kid-friendly flavors. san francisco voters stopped the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. but then juul, backed by big tobacco, wrote prop c to weaken e-cigarette protections. the san francisco chronicle reports prop c is an audacious overreach, threatening to overturn the ban on flavored products approved by voters. prop c means more kids vaping. that's a dangerous idea. vote no on juul. no on big tobacco. no on prop c.

there are e-scooters, e-bikes, e-mopeds roaming san francisco. have you ever seen the e-surfboard? >> not yet. not until now. sky 7 caught up with one surf herb who took his out for a spin on san francisco bay this morning. look at that. that's the e-foil electric surfboard. he's effortlessly gliding along without a wave in sight. >> a single charge gives riders an hour of hang time at speeds up to 25 miles an hour. you control it with a bluetooth-enabled hand-held device. it looks like he's holding it in his right hand there. >> yeah, it is not cheap, though. models start at $12,000. but just think of the cool

factor. >> that is pretty slick, i have to say. all right, that's all for now. but pg&e is about to hold a news conference turning off -- about turning off the power today to 34,000 people in the bay area. >> we're the

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to help you live better. so connect with unitedhealthcare today... about aarp medicare supplement plans. and welcome back. we are extending abc 7 news at 5:00 because of pg&e's public safety power shutoff. >> the deliberate blackouts have begun in napa county, sonoma county and 13 other northern california counties. >> about 370 customers in san mateo county will be impacted starting overnight and pg&e is holding a news conference. we are going to get to that in just a moment. we want to give you the meat of it as it comes. >> roughly 34,000 people are expected to lose power in the power shutoffs. again, this is all in response to weather conditions out there. the heat is up again. there's a wind event going on until tomorrow and so you can see pg&e crews are out and about as the power slowly is switched off to these different communities.

keep in mind once it comes back on after the wind event is over, sometime midday tomorrow, they don't just flip a switch and turn the power back on, they have to go out and physically inspect all of those lines to make sure >> if a limb has come down on one of those lines, they ve clear that, make sure everything is okay. they started turning off power in the sierra foothills around 2:00 this afternoon. places like the peninsula, they could be impacted. overnight stly. but as you said, it takes time to get it back up and running. they can't just turn it back on. we could have another wind event, possibly over the weekend. >> yeah. sunday looks a bit dicey at this point. so we'll have to see about that. and it's so interesting, isn't it, that they can flip the power off no problem but turning it back on is a little more challenging because they don't want to just turn it back on in the event that a line has been damaged in the wind. that defeats the purpose of the power shutoff. if you then risk some kind of fire danger. of course this