there was an accident out on the yard and that the student died. a retired firefighter was at the school, he was at an event when this happened. >> it is tragic. being a first responder and in the fire department for 30 years, that was our toughest call. it flashes back to times that were real difficult calls. tough for the parents and everybody involved. and our first responders. i feel for them too. >> reporter: the school put out a statement saying members of our staff witnessed the accident immediately called 911 and did their best to provide care for the student. san rafael has not released any more details. we do know that counselors will be here on campus to help

students today. amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. >> what a terrible loss and our heartfelt condolences to them. and if you are just waking up to us, let's get you a quick update on your weather and traffic. we start with mike. >> let's talk more about that fog. and you can see it is really thick around petaluma and out toward discovery bay. so as we head down to places like san rafael, you will be just south of that fog. but it could roll your way. you can see as we go up 101, a lot of those areas dealing with fog this morning. some of the major arteries there. and if you are coming in highway 4, you can see the thick fog from brentwood out to discovery bay. and this is what it looks from the exploratorium camera, you can see the fog trying to envelope san francisco. and as we head deeper into the forecast, you can see that we'll have pretty dry conditions today after fog this morning, high

clouds and sunshine. 57 to 61. so pretty mild this afternoon. how about that friday morning commute? and so there is also a fog advisory for 80 right now, so i'm showing you our emeryville camera. it does not look too bad out there which is good, but chp is sending that advisory done to us. a lot of headlights moving in toward the maze and bay bridge this morning. metering lights are not on yet. you can see san rafael 101 here, definitely foggy. so take your time this morning. visibility is not so great in that area. highway 101 to cupertino, a vehicle 10 minute ride. and new developments finals week will resume at san francisco state after a bomb threat. several buildings had to be evacuated yesterday as police did a thorough search. the bomb threat interrupted final exams and the school of nursing graduation ceremony.

thele school sa lschool says mal be open today. for the second time this month, an east bay school is. >> reporter:ing a disturbing incident of racism. >> it happened in danville. the principal sent home the first of two troubling letters letting parents know that they were getting reports of racial harassme harassment. and a student called an african-american male the "n" word in online chat word. >> i think that we've all seen it everywhere. >> month visadvic they are not students involved. and they say they have programs to increase understanding among the students and vow to keep working on the issue and that there will be consequences. new details, city council has voted to extend a ban on airbnb rentals, it applies it nonhosted

orin orinda's ban will be for 45 days. are your voice, your vote. seven democratic hopefuls focused on the impeachment of president trump. >> and they also touched on several key issues hoping to sway voters with just six weeks to go before the iowa caucuses. alina gomez has more from los angeles. >> reporter: the last democratic primary debate of the year began as predicted. >> we need to restore the integrity of the office of the presidency. >> reporter: reacting to president trump's impeachment coming just one day before. >> if the president claims that he is so innocent then why doesn't he have all the presidents' men testify. >> reporter: but candidates quickly returning to the hot but t button issues like the economy. >> where i live, folks aren't measuring the economy by how the dow jones is looking. they are measuring the economy by how they are doing. >> we have a government that

works great for those with money and doesn't work for much of anyone else. >> reporter: climate change --- >> the issue thousand is whether we save the planet for our children and our grandchildren. >> reporter: and america's role on the world stage. >> we see more than our allies and among our adversaries case after case where the world is making plans on what do, ignoring the united states because we're no longer considered reliable. >> reporter: and for democrats, thursday night was also about diversity, seven candidates representing two women. >> senator warner, you'd be the oldest ever inaugurated. >> and i'd also be the youngest woman. >> reporter: and only one candidate of color. >> why am i the lone candidate of color on this stage? >> reporter: and yet all in agreement their primary target remains the man currently occupying the oval office.

only seven of the 15 democratic candidates qualified for the debate and now several candidates are pushing the dnc to modify the restrictions for future debates. elanagomez, abc news, los angeles. >> and fact checkers were hard at work. go to abc7news.com to find out which claims hold up. today president trump will sign a bill creating the u.s. space force. >> space force has been a priority for the president as part of his vision for reinvigorating the country's role in space. it will start out small with only about 200 people and a budget of $40 million. included in the defense bill are funding for a southern border fence, new social programs and raising tobacco purchase age to 21. new accusations pointed at b.a.r.t. as they try to cut down on fare evaders. could it racially profiling. and plus prices likely going

up on your pg&e bill, what you may have to be paying as soon as next year. and which airline is handing ultimate a big bonus for wearing your ugly christmas sweater to the airport? >> let me pull mine out. >> mine is ready. i didn't bring it with me today though. and a sweater is a good thing to wear today. and you won't have to worry about the rain. you can see the temperatures are cooler this morning. up to 4 degrees cooler in most neighborhoods. in the east bay, low to mid-40s in just about all neighborhoods. 46 the warm spot in concord. 50s around hayward and oakland and san francisco. look at all that thick fog as you come down the embarcaderemb. and almost the entire bay bridge. so we'll talk about caution if

driving in the bay because of the fog on. and then just cooler if you are taking mass transit. so here is a look at what will happen throughout the day. 12 hour planner on the peninsula, starting 7:00 to 9:00, we're in the 40s. and then mid-50s 1:1:00. we'll have pockets of sunshine. we'll get to 60 on the peninsula at 3:00. for the east bay, we're 47. low 60s this afternoon. 54 at 7:00. and san francisco, 49 at 7:00, and we'll warm into the mid and upper 50s this afternoon under a partly sunny sky. we'll talk about the weekend rain coming up. and we have a look at our green board here across the bay area. read roads are looking good for the most part, but i'll say it again, please drive with caution because we do have lots of fog in the area. foggy conditions right now at the richmond s/san rafael bridg.

a lot of people are headed out on their holiday vacations. headlights moving south on 880. and let's check in on the drive times, santa rosa to petaluma, 13 minutes. and 13 minutes 286 to hifrp

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rain up in ieureka right n t but until tomorrow, most of the state will be pretty dry. you can see increasing sunshine and warmth. low to mid-70s in southern california. 56 in grow acceyosemite. this sunday there will be sun in the is he ssierra above 4,000. and it will be a reduction of visibility and icy conditions if you are trying to head back home if you are going up for a weekend stint on the slopes. more snow for wednesday, thursday, but just mainly snow showers. part of building a better bay area relies on feeling face. and in the south bay, a nonprofit is helping to get home lgs back on their get back on their feet. >> reporter: and hard to miss the message on these bright yellow flyers.

and even more alarming to learn about the growing number of people answering yes to the question are you currently living in your vehicle. two-to-really help the homeless, the executive director says that it is about taking real action. >> i personally got in my vehicle and went around to every single faith community in this neighborhood and others up yourr >> reporter: and now they are currently helping 80 people. a housing case manager works directly with those who rely on the resource. >> it contributes to their sleep and overall happiness. >> reporter: and rueben is proof. he became homeless for the first time a year ago but with safe park, he says police are the no

wo not knocking on hit windows. >> reporter: and this is when recognizing the different levels of support for anyone struggling. sometimes that means a safe space to he sleep. >> i don't have to worry about being harassed by anybody. >> reporter: and they offer a number of other services. for safe park, there is a screening process. the vehicle has to be registered, guests must have an active driver's license and insurance 37 and t. and the car must move in the morning. and newly released records show nearly half of b.a.r.t. fare citations are given to african-american riders. 46% of those cited were black. b.a.r.t. surveys show african-americans only account for 12% of riders though. by comparison on, white passengers received 18% of citations but complies 44% of riders. b.a.r.t. officials say the figures are not evidence of bias, they say there are

built-in guards to ensure enforcement is fair. abc 7 news goatdevoted a weo covering b.a.r.t. and you can find all of those stories on abc7news.com. keep a close eye on your pg&e bill. prices are expected to go up. yesterday state regulators a approved a request from several different utilities asking for rate hikes. pg&e estimates that monthly bills will rise 31 cents for people who receive both gas and electric services. it would bring the average monthly electric bill to almost $114. and the average monthly gas bill to about 55 bucks. and it is the ugly christmas sweater season. and happening today if you are flying with alaska airlines and you are wearing one, you could get an extra bonus. >> both alaska and horizon are gifting a priority boarding upgrade if you wear one while you are traveling today.

in today's world where it seems like it is national day of something, today is actually the official national ugly sweater day. >> ours are ready. what if you are just wearing a regular sweater and the gate agent is like here you go. and you're like -- >> you'll be like thank you. >> i will board but also this is just a friday sweater. >> like the commercial gonzo and kermit. he says what great ugly sweater. all right. let's take a look. richmond, here is a look at the fog. walnut creek looks pretty quiet, but you may run into some fog. dry today and tomorrow with limited sunshine. we'll have high clouds keeping us not as bright as we could be. but those high clouds won't drop any rain. we'll have unsettled pattern

sunday through thursday, heaviest will fall sunday morning. so a look at our high temperatures today, from 57 in napa, lows tonight mid to upper 40s, a few 50s. best chance of rain right now, you can see eureka and dress cent city and this is moving to the north. here we are at noon, an increase in the high cloud as we head through the afternoon and evening. overnight through tomorrow morning, and as we head to 8:00 finally saturday evening, some rain starting to move into the north bay, but most of us get it while we're sleeping saturday and then we get another chance of just some scattered showers sunday. so i moved the moderate storm to sunday and with a chance of wet weather monday, wegs adnesday a thursday. and check out the bay bridge. there is a fog advisory. but traffic is light, but visibility is low. you can hardly make out the

bridge. live look in an jose, 87. nice and clear this morning for your friday morning commute. and we'll get to mass transit, ferries running on the winter schedule with no delays. b.a.r.t. begins at 5:00 a.m. so everything on time for the moment. and ace 1 is running on time with no equipment problems. the information of millions of facebook users has now been exposed. >> and there a new study about shal and gender by as. racial bias. researchers say the most popular algorithms misidentify minorities far more often than whites. and they think it may be represented to the images used to train the software. and millions of facebook data was exposed. >> names, i.d.s and phone numbers and other sensitive

information was available without a password. more than 257 million people may have been impacted. facebook says that it is looking into the issue. and the senate has given final approval to a bill designed to curb is the annoying robocalls. >> it requires phone companies to authenticate calls to determine if a number calling is actually real. it also clears the way for regulators to penalize scammers more aggressively. >> amen. those are your "techbytes." one of the busiest travel days of the year is bringing an urgent warning. >> why the united states is telling americans to say away from large parts of a popular destination. and a police dog finally tracked down for being more

welcome back. here is a look at the rain potential. this is saturday in the evening, only the north bay and coast with really any wet weather. and overnight and into sunday, you see during about an 8 hour time frame, most of the rain will fall. light to moderate with brief heavy amounts. and you can see up to a quarter to even three quarters of an inch possible. and so take a look at this, dash cam video shows a semi truck jack knife across a snow covered highway in central kansas. and then it toppled over on its

side. this happened monday in chase county. amazingly nobody got hurt. troopers remind drivers that conditions can change quickly and sometimes driving the speed limit can be too fast. recent rains may be to blame for a massive tree that fell on to a house in redwood city. crews worked to remove the oak piece by piece from the home's roof. right now that home is red tagged. nobody can go inside until all the tree is removed and the hole in the roof is covered. >> it was obviously very muddy because of all the rain that we've had. so that tree obviously fell over because of its own weight. >> and after the rains characterization i felt no fire risk, but now i see other risks. >> tree experts say years of drought can damage a tree's the root system so that it is more likely to fall when the rain is back. we're one step closer by

sending people like you and me to space. boeing's new spacecraft was launched from cape canaveral about an hour ago. this is a test flight. no one is on board. the star liner will attempt to dock at the iss tomorrow and it will spend about a week there. and if all goes well, boeing could send people to space as soon as next year. and the u.s. state department is warning americans not to travel to certain parts of mexico because of the risk of violent crime. and this includes murders, kidnappings, carjackings and robberies. >> a travel advisory is issued for five states including popular tourist destinations. you can see the states on the screen. it includes acapulco.

state department says that americans should reconsider travel to several other areas, including puerto vallata. and new data is showing us that tech and entertainment hubs in the u.s. are where the money is. figures from the census bureau show household income from 2013 to 2 20 018 grew the most in th areas like austin, nashville and the west the anim analysis says it grew more in democratic leaning districts rather than republican ones. and monday is trending drier. you can see that 8:00 in the evening, nothing showing up on future radar. tuesday morning to the evening hours, pretty dry here also. but as we head into wednesday morning, christmas morning, a chance of some scattered showers but that is about it.

we'll have a better chance as we head toward thursday evening as another storm system is coming down. in fact monday through thursday, you can see a 10th of an inch to possibly half an inch is all we'll get out of the system. just an unsettled pattern with cool weather. and we'll check in on our commute this friday morning. we have fog in the north bay, especially san rafael. 101 is a big foggy. good morning to walnut creek, a live look at 680. several brake lights, but not slow. so that is good. san mateo bridge also clear this morning. no major issues. and antioch to hercules, 26

minutes. highway 85 to the san jose airport, 7 minutes. police in massachusetts have figured out who has been taking the toys that they have been collecting for charity. >> and the culprit is their therapy dog named ben franklin. can you >> you really can't. >> look how cute. he's like don't you tell me anything. so on wednesday the department posted this video of ben franklin taking off with a baby doll. he brought to his hiding spot which was under a desk. so officers said apparently he has slowly been hoarding the toys under the desk. he has a collection. >> ben franklin is such a sweetie. but also give back the toys. just ahead, we'll give you our best tips for taking on the

holiday travel rush. plus we told you plenty about the problems with pg and e's power shutdown offs, and this morning we have new information about the blackouts that will make you likely even more upset. and here is a live look outside at you get your dayle rolling.

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tsa security lines, delays, lost luggage, freeway traffic, the stress and frustration must be bubbling up inside. we have the top things you need to nknow. >> that is a lot whenou