why - thanks to you - we're rated number one in customer satisfaction by j.d. power. two presidential candidates in the bay area courting voters, both billionaires and both trying to unseat the billionaire currently in the white house. oakland floats a plan to house its homeless on a cruise ship. new details on how 1,000 people could get off the street. new insight into bay area rents and how it's quickly turning into a game of leapfrog. and the health care deadline a few days from now, but don't worry, michael finny has you covered in a holt line happening now. and $100,000 in seed money, the challenge now underway. news to build a better bay area, from abc 7. >> 15 men and women are running for president. two of those candidates are in the bay area right now. former new york mayor michael

bloomberg, and billionaire philanthropist tom stoeyer. both say they need this state to win. >> thank you for joining us, the election count down is on, there are 83 days until we cast our vote in the california primary, and 54 days until we see the first national votes in iowa. >> tom steyer was in walnut creek today, and bloomberg was in san francisco to talk about climate change and in stockton to talk about two issues important to him. >> lyanne melendez is in san francisco with more. >> >> reporter: clearly michael bloomberg thinks you can't go wrong by starting your campaign here in california. today he received the very important endorsement coming from an african-american mayor, and today he wanted to be seen her in san francisco with former governor jersey shory brown whos very popular. this is as far as former

governor jerry brown came to endorsing presidential hopeful michael bloomberg. >> who is going to lead us for the next four years? hopefully somebody who appreciates the importance of climate change. mike bloomberg. >> reporter: both have been staunch supporters of the environment, bloomberg came to san francisco with a warning about climate change. >> the public is going in the right direction. before corporate is going in the right direction, but no is as jerry points out as fast as we have to go. >> reporter: this morning, bloomberg picked an unlikely city to launch his campaign, stockton in the central valley, but seeking the endorsement of mayor michael tubs may end up working in his favor as reporters honed in on the issueovissue of bloomberg's controversial stop and frisk policy while mayor of new york. >> we tried a lot of things. my whole focus was on reducing

the murder rate. in looking back, and certainly in the third term, i think it got out of hand, which maybe i should have paid more attention. >> this man went to a black chur church in brooklyn, with parishioners that were stopped and frisked and had to look them in the eye and say i apologize. >> reporter: californians know little about bloomberg which is why he came to the heart of the central valley. >> i'm hard working, honest, whatever, i believe what i believe and if i want to know what i would do, i would urge you to look at what we did in 12 years. >> reporter: and bloomberg realizes that he is joining this campaign very late, but he says that, you know, after seeing the trend and after hearing what has been going on in this country, he says he truly believes that he is the only candidate that can beat president trump. i'm live in san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news.

>> thank you so much. today democratic presidential candidate tom steyer was also in the bay area. the billionaire and san francisco resident was in walnut creek. he spoke an answer to questions and town hall spoken by the democrats group. he made most of his wealth by creating and running a hedge fund. his business accuman will help him win against president trump. >> he played a businessman on a reality tv show. if you look at his business, he's doing exactly as president what he did in his business, which is leverage up as much, get as much debt as you can, promise whatever you have to promise, there really is no truth in this world about promising. never think about paying it back, never intend to pay it back, and after everything falls apart, walk away. >> tomorrow steyer will be talking part in a town hall in napa.

a cnn poll shows they are not polling above 5% against voters in california. poll voters are evenly split among joe biden, bernie sanders and lielizabeth warren. no other candidate reaches the double digits. california is one of the most delegate rich states among the 15 that hold primaries on march 3rd. in the east bay, oakland has tough sheds to house homeless people and now the city may use a cruise ship to house homeless. it is a controversial idea and port of oakland has something to say about this. eric thomas is live with more. >> reporter: city council president remember kaplan's idea, places to park rvs for homeless people, this one, well, came off for some people as an off the cuff remark

but apparently meant more than that. >> maybe we can have a way to create a thousand housing units overnight with a cruise ship. >> oakland city council president rebecca kaplan made an almost offhand remark about a cruise ship. word got back to someone in the industry and an idea was born. >> some folks with cruise ships have reached out as a result of the discussion, and we're looking at figuring out what it would take to make this a reality. >> kaplan says cruise ships have been used to house people who were left homeless by natural disaster like hurricanes and he believe -- she believes the homeless people qualify as a disaster. >> if it can be used by tourists cruising and other cities, as emergency housing, surely our housing emergency is no less. >> advocates say kaplan's heart is in the right place but the council passed a measure to use city owned land for housing not

temporarily but permanently. >> before they start talking about putting homeless folks on pa boat in the bay, they should enforce what has been passed. >> reporter: the port of oakland isn't crazy about the idea either. they released a statement today that raeeads in part, there isn the infrastructure to birth a cruise ship. safety and security issues would make residential issues untenable. the port also says they are set up to take in cargo ships, not passenger ships but kaplan says there are a couple of places at the port of oakland that could be used for it and to tell the truth, they don't have to use the port of oakland, there are other places along the bay where a ship could docked. how much it would cost the city, well, that's a question mark as well. but this is probably a couple of years off, if it ever takes place. live outside oakland city hall. eric thomas, abc 7 news. oakland has leapfrogged san

jose to become the second place to rent a apartment in the bay area. rents rose in oakland by a little more than 5% last month. our media partner says rentals are driven by a surge in high-rise luxury apartments being leased in oakland. san francisco remains the most expensive in the u.s., with one bedroom apartments leasing for $3,500 a month. oakland comes in second at 24/70, followed by san jose at 24/50. and in san jose, the bay area's largest city is calling on the community to help solve some of its biggest civic challenges through an annual competition with a great name. it's called unleash your geek. >> abc 7 news reporter, chris nguyen has the story from san jose. >> are you ready to unleash your geek. san jose wants to connect with start ups to create technology that will provide solutions to some of the urgent challenges the city faces. >> we have five key challenges, and we hope to see the results

in six months. >> as part of the competition, city officials are calling for special drones that can help firefighters enhance emergency response. another request involves the city's office of immigrant affairs, which is asking for someone to create realtime interpretation tools to help make community meetings for inclusive for limited and nonenglish speaking resident. >> because we have spanish and vietnamese interpreters, it leaves out other languages, so community members feel like they don't belong. >> the city is providing $100,000 to help accelerate the development of ideas. >> do you remember the massive coyote creek flood, one of the solutions that came from last year's challenge was flood detection centers like these. >> raul gonzalez was on students from sju that helped create the technology. >> i feel great that i was a part of something that is making a difference in helping our community members and a community that i am now part of

as well. >> san francisco is working with a bay area, founded around the belief that government can be a force for good. >> they have to prove themselves, like a bake off, and they drop their tools, get evaluated and at the end of the day, if everything works out, they get a contract and they can take that solution and help cities across the u.s. >> applications for this year's challenge are due in late january. in san jose, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. much more ahead this wednesday evening, new moves for derek al mena, why he wants to talk to jurors in the case of the ghost ship warehouse fire. moist flow will keep us in an unsettled pattern. and the plan that could affect 200,000 californians, the food stamp squeeze and how it could put so many people at risk. michael finney has his covered california hot line. we can't hear you, call

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whatever you choose to do, go safely, california. a defense attorney in the ghost ship fire trial is asking for information of former jurors. derek amen a's juror is asking to unseal information about past jurors. in a court filing the defense claims the info could assist attorneys in preparing almen a's defense at a retrial next year. a jury deadlocked on involuntary manslaughter charges earlier this year. 36 people died in the fire. harris's codefendant, max harris was acquitted. the cut in the food assistance program could be the tip of the iceberg. two other proposals being considered by the trump administration could cut assistance to about 3 million americans. this is in addition to the

700,000 who lost their benefits last week. abc 7 news reporter, chris reyes explains who will be affected by the new rules. >> as of 2019, snap, the supplemental nutrition assistance program. that's the number the trump administration wants to change and it's doing so with the new rule announced with this headline, a second chance, not a way of life. here's who it will affect immediately in government lingo, abled bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 49 without dependents. if you're the not working you likely can't get on the program. it used to be that states like california could waive the requirements. the trump rule will make it hard to do that. that's what advocates are worried about. >> these rules are kind of cruel, we are trying to get people fed, especially here in the holiday, season, and make sure that people are ready to thrive and to find the jobs they need to support their families.

>> secretary of agriculture, sonny purdue had this to say in a press release. we need to encourage people by giving them a helping hand but not allow them to become an indefinite giving hand. the language is this, able bodies without dependents, here's why. >> they say you're able bodies and therefore you're undeserving of support. we have a structure that's creating these jobs that pay not a living wage and it forces them to need things like food stamps. >> the new rules has a number of ifs that could keep you on the program, for example, if you attend college and work 20 hours a week, if you take care of a dependent. if you're a single parent enrolled in colleg full-time with a child under 12, but getting a waiver is complicated enough to make people anxious. >> we urge anyone who's on cal fresh who is concerned they might be affected by this rule to call your local social services agency.

very often there are other exemptions that apply to you that would allow you to continue to get cal fresh. >> the new rules take effect april 2020. abc 7 news. we have a looming deadline for millions of californians who want health care for insurance coverage to begin january 1st, consumers must enroll by december 15th. that's this sunday. >> time is nice. 7 on your side's michael finney is holding a hot line to answer questions about this. >> we have been giving you the telephone number all afternoon, you can also reach us through the internet, any of the social media sites, use #ask finney. that's an easier way to get through. so #ask finney. we have peter lee from covered california is here. the thing that's amazing is how well we're doing in california and that's because we're trying to do well. >> california from day one,

remember, covered california started with governor schwarzenegger saying let's set up an exchange and make it work for californians. ever since then, when i am around the state, republicans, democrats saying like let's make this work. we have reduced the uninsured more than any state in the nation. it's huge. we're not done. i appreciate channel 7 getting out here to get the word out. open enrollment, we have a deadline on the 15th of december. if you miss that deadline. you won't have coverage starting january 1st. go on a day without insurance is not the right gamble. >> three major changes this year, let's go over them real quick. i only have about 30 seconds, let's tick them off. >> number one, penalty. you don't have insurance, you'll pay a penalty. the state franchise tax. two, new money on the table. state subsidies to lower health care costs including middle class californians f you think you're not eligible, check in at coveredca.com.

because of those things premiums went up lower this year than ever in history, less than 1%. it's a win-win for consumers. >> peter lee, thank you very much for joining us. we're going to be here until 8:00 give us a call 415-954-7621 or contact these guys right here #ask finney. reporting live from the 7 on your side offices. >> good resources. >> a lot of people have a lot of questions about this because it is confusing: let's update the weather forecast. rain on the way. when are we going to dry off. sandhya patel. i want to show you live doppler 7 because it is still very moist out there, showers in the north bay as we get you down to street level. santa rosa, south santa rosa, adobe road, petaluma, seeing wet roadways, napa, dry creek road, across 29. sfo is reporting almost an hour delay on arriving flights because of the low ceilings,

visibility is not so great. right now, 4 miles at sfo. 2 1/2 miles in santa rosa. take it easy on the roadways. we have fog out there, and also have some drizzle and showers. temperatures right now in the 50s, 60s, here is a very murky or soupy view from our golden gate bridge camera. you'll notice not only the fog but the slick golden gate bridge. showers overnight, wet morning commute, we're looking at an unsettled pattern into saturday and dryer sets up for sunday and monday. a level one system, tonight, tomorrow, periods of showers, mainly light in intensity, highest totals will be in the north bay, and so far the rainfall totals for the last 24 hours, about 3/4 of an inch in places like santa rosa to 5/100s in san jose. 6:00, a few showers in the north bay, you will notice by 9:00 p.m., the focus is in the north bay, by midnight, 11:00 p.m. to midnight, widespread showers across the entire bay area, and there will be some spotty showers for the

morning commute, between five and 8:00 a.m., you will have to allow yourself that extra time because there will be some slow going spots. as we head to noontime, a few more showers, and then the second hatch of your thursday is actually going to be just fine. we'll get a little bit of a break before more rain comes in on friday afternoon. in terms of additional rainfall totals anywhere from about a few hundredths in the south bay to about a third of an inch in places like cloverdale, everyone else in between. not a major system. it's just going to be wet weather to where you'll need the umbrellas. temperatures first thing in the morning, 40s, 50s, isolated showers for the early part of the day. high surf advisory issued, 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, 3:00 a.m. saturday. wave heights will be coming up. breakers 16 to 22 feet means rip currents and beach erosion is possible, so watch out, level one for tomorrow, some light showers on the accuweather seven-day forecast, rain friday afternoon into saturday, also a

level one. break sunday monday, and another storm comes in tuesday. going into wednesday. tis the season for wet weather. >> sure is. >> soak it up. >> glad to get it. thanks. >> we're fully so he could aake saturated. deep sea

the ones that make a truebeen difference in people's lives. and mike's won them, which is important right this minute, because if he could beat america's biggest gun lobby, helping pass background check laws and defeat nra backed politicians across this country, beat big coal, helping shut down hundreds of polluting plants and beat big tobacco, helping pass laws to save the next generation from addiction. all against big odds you can beat him.

i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. this is wild, a team of scientists say garbage likely caused thousands of mysterious craters off the california coast. scientists with the monterey aquarium were investigates pockmarks, there are more than 5,000 of them, scientists first discovered them in 1999 but recently stepped up efforts to decipher them and understand them because companies were considering putting offshore wind farms. nearly all of the small craters

contained rocks and kelp, and many contained trash. it is unlikely these creators are unique to orphan bear cubs, a group of raccoons and a bald eagle enjoyed chowing down the evidence. it follows the bush to the fisherman in plumus county. he caught 54 trout, and the maximum is five. he's banned from fishing for two years. stil

...6, 7, 8 ♪ ♪ ♪ big dreams start with small steps...

...but dedication can get you there. so just start small... start saving. easily set, track and control your goals right from the chase mobile® app. ♪ ♪ chase. make more of what's yours®. coming up tonight on abc 7 news at six. >> you put a lot of trust into the brothers and the church. >> a bay area sexual abuse survivor breaks his silence thanks to a new law he hopes will inspire others like him to come forward.

how authorities made a connection between the deaths of a santa rosa man and his toddler son to alleged drug dealers living more than 50 miles away. and the first safe parking lot for san francisco's homeless is now open but not just anyone can stay there. we'll explain. it's all coming up on abc 7 news at 6:00. finally tonight, abc 7 called in the u.s. marines today, and the winners will be thousands of deserving kids this holiday season. >> that's right. members of the marine corps reserve training center in s br bruno rendezvoused at the disney store. >> abc 7's news anchors, reggie aqui were there to collect donations delivered to employees for the annual toys for tots toy drive, and they hosted the marines on a $5,000 tow shopping spree. >> i was trying to thing about things i wanted, being in the disney shore it brings the child out in you, i just thought if i was a kid that needed something,

what would i want and i just picked based off of that. >> disney is of course the parent company of abc 7. great effort. >> doing holidays right. >> thanks for joining us

it helps to have someone in your corner. that's why there's covered california. we're the only place where you can get financial help to pay for your health insurance. new this year, almost a million people could receive additional financial help from the state to help lower the cost of health insurance... more for those already getting it,

and new help for many who haven't gotten help before. so check to see how much you can save. it only takes 5 minutes. to be covered by january 1st, enroll by december 15th. tonight, several developing stories. the chilling new video. the targeted attack. new surveillance tonight of the deadly shootout outside new york city. the mayor now calling it a targeted hate crime. you can see the two gunmen, a man and a woman, and then panic in the streets as they head into a market, killing three inside and killing a police detective, too. and tonight, the anti-semitic and anti-police writings now discovered. the storm slamming the east. heavy snow and ice. a truck sliding right into lake michigan. and behind it all, temperatures now plummeting. rob timing it out. the battle on the hill tonight, after the inspector general's report determined no deep state, no spying on the trump campaign, contradicting president trump. tonight, the grilling on the hill.