a little anxious. i mean, whenever it gets windy like this this late in the summer or early fall. >> anxiety running high this afternoon as the public safety pourer shut off continues. power is still out right now for thousands of customers all across the bay area. good afternoon and thanks for joining us. i'm larry biel. >> i'm liz kreutz. pg&e initiated the latest power shut off last night. that total was 9,000 fewer than originally planned due to mitigation efforts and less powerful winds than forecasted in the sierra hills, however, residents there could still see their power shut off. the utilities website shows who is impacted by the shut offs now including 22,000 customers in seven bay area counties. we have team coverage today, spencer christian will take a look at the winds. abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman is live in the north bay. and we'll begin with abc 7 news

reporter matt boon in oakland, matt? >> reporter: liz, it's been warm and windy out here all day. those gusts causing issues overnight behind me they toppled over part of a tree into power lines causing additional power outages for people here in mt. claire. as crews clear the fallen branch, pg&e says it's working to restore power to the 800 or so customers that have been affected. but just down the road in mt. claire village, the stoplights are off and signs like this dot many of the businesses. we did find julia, owner of this store in the dark. her world upside down. the power is out but you're here working. what are you doing? >> i'm working on my taxes. >> reporter: the old faxed way. >> the old fashioned way. >> reporter: while the shut offs

may impact her business, she understands the importance thinking back to the oakland fire of 19 91. >> it best not having business for one or two days than not having business for almost a year. >> reporter: up in the hills, resident richard fills up the gas generator for the second time today. >> i can go about three hours on a tank. >> reporter: it's not just for his home. >> let's give it a little choke. >> reporter: he's let his neighbors plug in, as well. >> i can run two of our own refrigerators and each of our two neighbors. >> reporter: the makeshift extension cord grid necessary not just to keep food from going bad but help his wife working for home. >> the router needs power. >> reporter: as the wind gusts with the power off, he says it will be a long night. >> ah. i just think about it. it does make you a little anxious, you know, the next couple days will be a little on

edge until the temperature comes back down. >> reporter: now pg&e says this outage here with the tree affected about 140 ocho 0 customers. they resupplied power to 30 or 400. 800 affected by that. the psps will continue as long as the weather remains as it is. reporting live in mt. claire, matt boon. an abc 7 news reporter wayne freedm freedman. they have been through a lot these past few weeks. >> reporter: they have been through everything. over and over everybody we talked to wants to tell us what they've been through. they've been through fires and covid and evacuations. they've been through smoke and now some of them are here at a community resource center. this has been put up by pg&e. they have electrical power here. they have internet here and people with good listening skills here because people were affected by this psps want to talk a lot. here is some of what they went

through today. a fence in one sonoma county neighborhood divides those who have electricity with those who don't. >> strange is the word. >> reporter: this morning, neither side on different grids provided a perfect world. >> internet right about here. >> reporter: rhonda burger on victoria court with power she and her neighbors had no comcast internet. >> we're operate income a vac m vacuum. >> reporter: that meant their daughter couldn't go to school on zoom. you want to be in school and can't? >> well, it kind of depends what classes it is. >> reporter: as of midday today, pg&e says 1800 meters in sonoma county were impacted in neighborhoods very much like this. 1800 might not sound like a big number compared with other shutdowns but if you're impacted, a different story. >> it's to the point where you don't feel like you can run your own life. >> reporter: nancy lives on the

other side of the fence. her refrigerator still packed with ice from the last shutdown. >> do you see any wind? there is no wind. >> reporter: yes, a day without electricity can kp e exasbiration. >> he spent thousands on a beery system that failed to kick in. we asked his level of frustration on a one to 12. >> 12. $12,000 is what i paid to have this installed. >> reporter: here is plan b, ben spent much of today working at one of pg&e's community resource centers. first world problems, sure, but after many reputations this has begun to feel like a third world routine. that is just what one neighborhood has been going through. we only talked about sonoma county. down the road napa county 5,000 customers impacted. this will go on for at least another 24 hours. live in sonoma, wayne freedman,

abc 7 news. >> wow. we feel for them. thank you. if you want to see if you're on the list of possible power shut offs, we have a helpful tool to plug in your address to find out and tips how you can prepare all there on abc7news.com. soaring temperatures have prompted a statewide flex alert until 10:00 p.m. you're asked to help conserve energy by setting air conditioners to 78 degrees, turn off lights, avoid the use of major appliances. if there is too much strain on the power grid, the dcalifornia grid, they could order rolling blockouts. let's get to spencer christian for the latest on conditions. one woman said there is no wind at all in the north bay where she is. what's going on? >> that was surprising to me, larry, because we're showing gusty wind in many locations above 1,000 feet. maybe she was down at the surface where the winds are a little lighter. here is a look at current gusts across the region. the north bay gusts at 37, 21

hawk eye and only 19 at mt. hood. on we go to the heat. we have lots of heat, of course the bay area today is 101, 100 napa and 9 oakland and 90 san francisco and 86 on the coast at half moon bay and we have a red flag warning in effect until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow for virtually all of the bay area hills and mountains and valleys with the north bay and east bay and santa cruz mountains until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. strong gusty wind, dry fuels elevating the fire danger and heat advisory until 9:00 tomorrow night with the risk of illness from exposure to this intense heat. i'll show you when things will get cooler a little bit later. liz? >> we're looking forward to that, spencer, thank you. a texas billionaire appeared in federal court in san francisco today charged in what's been called the largest federal tax fraud case ever

against one person. the u.s. attorneys office announced that a grand jury indicted software tycoon robert brockman on money laundering, conspiracy, wire fraud and tax evasion. prosecutors say the 79-year-old ran two complex schemes, one involving investor fraud. the other tax fraud. >> until the tax fraud scream, brockman is charged with hiding approximately $2 billion in income from the irs over a period of 20 years. in the investor fraud scream, brockman is charged with manipulating debt securities by his company to defraud investors. >> brockman is the ceo of reynolds one of the largest software to manage dealerships worldwide. today is the final full day to fill out the census. the deadline is technically 2:59 a.m., that would be tomorrow. you can do it by phone or

online. many cities across the bay area scrambling to get as many people counted as possible. san francisco and san jose census volunteers will be working and pushing until the last hour. we have the story. >> reporter: the clock is ticking and regardless of language, you've probably heard. [speaking foreign language]. >> it's dire. every bit counts. every person that does the census is about $2,000 of resources that they hold. >> reporter: across the bay area, advocates are highly concerned about minorities. what are those challenges you're facing specifically here in the mission district? >> right now, you know, a lot of misconception is that people if they're not citizens they can't participate in the u.s. census and that's absolutely not true. >> what we're of course super disappointed but not surprised that the supreme court allowed trump administration to send the

sen su census early. >> reporter: the city projects around 150,000 households have not been counted yet. that translates to approximately $8 billion lost in funding in the next ten years. >> there's a lot of reasons for that. of course, the big one being covid-19, a lot of people moved out of the city. >> reporter: san jose is feeling pretty confident. >> at 77% of response, which is -- which put us at the highest number one is all cities with 300,000 residents and above. >> reporter: their main push is with the homeless population. >> today alone we counted about 30. >> reporter: if you haven't filled out the census yet, you have three weeks. online by phone or by mail but keep in mind you need today's stamp. the process is about five minutes and we all have five minutes. >> have you done your census? >> reporter: in san francisco,

luz pena. a major twitter issue appears to have just been resolved. new tweets have started showing up as users had previously been getting error messages. san francisco based twitter says there is no evidence that this outage was caused by a security breach or a hack. survival story, a mom struggling with her son that were living in a car. we'll tell you how abc 7 viewers stepped in to help. turning point, why the youth vote could decide the upcoming election and tourist

it's rising. the pain is coming. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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the california supreme court ordered a reexamininge of scotto peterson. a trial judge says a juror potentially committed misconduct by failing to disclose that she was previously involved in other legal proceedings after being the victim of a crime. san mateo county's superior court will decide whether to grant peterson a new trial. joining me live from the abc 7 newsroom to discuss this case is jim hammer. thanks for coming in today. how likely is it peterson will get a new trial? >> i can just tell you this to start with for the prosecution, this is the worst, worst nightmare. once you won a case a tough case, you put it to bed, the

worst thing that could happen is to have a trial court go inside that jury, get into the deliberations and see what happened. it going to turn on the facts. what the supreme court has done is said go back to the trial court, it will be a different judge and walk through all the facts affecting this juror, the fact she was a victim in another crime. did that impact the deliberations. there is a big impact in the case, she was a holdout. she was holding out from convicting scott peterson and only gave in at the end. from a defense perspective, if she was a victim of a similar crime they would argue, that would predispose her to vote for the prosecution. bad day for the prosecution. there's a real risk it could be overturned. >> all right. so how much responsibility, if any, do the attorneys in this case have when they're going through the jury selection process to research the backgrounds of every potential juror? >> that's a great question. you know, i was there during this trial every single day. a lot of the identities of the

jurors were kept secret to protect their privacy but almost all of them went public later. there is only so much you can get from your research. you depend upon people under oath answering truthfully and so what this juror did according to the supreme court is hid, gave false information to the court and in the process put at risk this entire trial. so again, if it were to be overturned, think about it, lacey peterson's family would have this live this whole thing over again. it's really, really a potentially super bad day for the victim's family and prosecution. >> so walk me through this. if the san mateo county superior court rules in favor of peters peterson, what are the next legal steps for the prosecution? do they have the right to appeal or decide about going straight to another trial? >> there could be another appeal but what the supreme court has done is they will have a chieltd judge that will hold a hearing. he or she will put on witnesses and ask questions. if that judge determines that it

was prejudice and denied him a fair trial, my prediction would be that would stand. nobody will return that. it a fact based decision. if that were to happen, think about this, all over again a brand-new jury would have to be selected, hundreds of people. we would have to go through the process again trying to find 12 unbias people who had an open mind about the case. so you can imagine the nightmare that would be, and again, think about it for a second. the victim's family and i watched them through the entire trial, would have to sit through the same darn thing all over again because this juror hit super important information and wasn't truthful. it outrageous what she did. >> yeah, so what would happen to the juror in the case with her committing this conduct apparently? would she face charges now? >> she can certainly be held in contempt of the court. if i were the judge and someone paroled this, i would want to haul her in and punish her in

someway. that's on the table for sure. she's going to be asked very tough questions under oath. she better get her own lawyer before she goes into that courtroom. it's going to be high, high stakes when that hearing starts. >> for sure. and for everybody involved. jim hammer, really appreciate your insight. thanks so much. former prosecutor jim hammer with us. all right. thank you, jim. all right. the san francisco zoo is now offering a $2100 reward for information leading to the safe recovery of it missing lemur named maki. maki is still missing. that's $100 for each year of maki's life. the ring tailed lemur was discovered missing yesterday. police are investigating it as a burglary after finding evidence of a forced break in. the zoo says maki is an older animal that requires special care. not only is it hot today, you may have notice there had is almost no breeze coming off san francisco bay. you're seeing how the bay looked

from the port of oakland here, gorgeous towards san francisco a few hours ago. the water appeared to be very calm. pelicans there drifted with the tide. and no wind spencer, seems to be a good thing. maybe. >> that is a good thing. that's the condition at the surface right now, the surface, the bay level and sea level areas have light winds at the moment but the wind is gusty in the higher elevations which is why we have a red flag warning for high fire danger. here is a look at gusts. 35 miles per hour. 52 over the east bay and mount diablo 21 miles per hour. we're lucky at the surface not to get the gusts. it hot across the bay area looking over san francisco, 90 in the city and mid-90s mountain view and 89 gilroy and 73 at half moon bay looking toward mt. diablo and 98 santa rosa and 100

at napa. pretty warm. 95 at fairfield. 92 concord. 89 livermore and looking toward the golden gate from emeryville, this is a look at the forecast features fire danger and excessive heat will be with us again tomorrow. coastal cooling starts on saturday but there will be much more area wide beginning. here is another look at the red flag warning important to keep in mind in effect until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow including not only higher elevations but the north bay and east bay and santa cruz mountains strong, gusty wind, gust may hit 50 or higher during the late night hours. very low relative humidity and dry fuels. fires can start and spread rapidly. heat advisory in effect. heat illness is a possibility if you expose yourselves too long to this kind of heat and there are things we can do ourselves.

update emergency kits and prepare evacuation routes in case that's needed and review insurance policies. during the overnight conditions, during the overnight hours i should say, conditions will be these. clear skies, windy in the hills and it will be warm with low temperatures in the low to mid 60s across most of the bay area. highs tomorrow upper 80s near the coast, mid-90s around the bay shoreline and upper 90s. here is the accrue weather seven-day forecast. a couple locations top out at 100 tomorrow with basically we can expect upper 90s inland and coastal cooling on saturday and areas will be cooler on sunday going into next week, it will be relatively warm for this time of the year but much more comfortable than what we're experiencing now. larry and liz? >> all right. thankfully. all right, spencer, appreciate it. getting san francisco's hospitality and tourism back on track. what is being done to bring tourists back to the city. plus, closing in on a

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the united states is approaching 8 million cases of known covid-19 infections, that's according to data from johns hopkins. the world health organization found the treatment has no known help and it study

found when masks are worn, there is only 3,000ths of 1% chance of exposure. starting today people traveling to hawaii can bypass the state's 14-day kwouquaranti restriction by using a rapid test. inside the terminal at sfo and a drive-through test 48 to 72 hours before departure at united's maintenance center. those tests are administration stirred by go health urgent care and dignity health with results taking as fast as 15 minutes. an appointment is required. oakland international covid testing facility opens on saturday. that facility operated in congestion with city health urgent care is in front of the main terminal. the airport's office test nag silty opened last week and an appointment is required there, as well. jump starting san francisco's hospitality and tourism industry during the pandemic remains a hot topic

with travel experts. there is a big push to welcome tourists back to the city by the bay. abc 7 news reporter cornell bernard has the story. >> we welcome you back to san francisco. >> to enjoy the ma jy majestic >> our gate is open. >> reporter: a silcity that nev needed markets needs it now. the latest move by the san francisco travel association to bring visitors back. >> you have to be positive. >> reporter: cc and her cousin are visiting from long beach. >> life has to continue, you know. the pandemic, the virus, as long as you take precautions, you will be okay. >> reporter: but not everyone feels that way. a webinar discuss the the future of hospitality in the city and state. a drop off in hotel bookings that began at the start of the pandemic is likely to continue. >> we're not anticipating to get back to the levels of 2019 until

2024. >> reporter: visit california is trying to beat those odds with new tv ads targeting californians. >> there is a lot of talk about getting back to normal, but in california, normal is never really been our thing anyway. >> reporter: locally there is a focus on recovery by trying to attract smaller meetings and conventions back to the center with safety protocols. the plywood has come off most hotels in the city but restarting is slow. at the fairmont, the lobby was quiet. temperature checks were happening at the door. the general manager says weekend bookings are on the uptick. >> people need to feel the comfort to travel and have the confidence to travel. that was important for us and our guests but our employees that they feel comfortable to come back to work. >> reporter: the city's once bustling hospitality industry trying to make a comeback. in san francisco, cornell bernard, abc 7 news. up next, the avalanche of support for a mom and her 4-year-old son left homeless

after the edd mishandled her case. michael finney will have an update. >> you've probably seen it. if you've gone shopping, the

there's been an outpouring of offers to help a mother and her 4-year-old son. they was left homeless living in their car after the edd mishandled her case. michael finney received hundreds of calls, emails and messages some from as far away as the east coast with people wanting to help this family out of their car. michael has the latest.

>> i told you about shelby hues and her little boy kalan living the good life in berkeley until the pandemic hit. edd kept denying her benefits. so mother and son wound up living in their station wagon. >> made a life for myself and now it's gone just like that. i just started losing everything one by one. >> they've been camping outside, mother and son facing dangers being alone in the dark. edd never did help. but today 7 on your side viewers did. >> just broke my heart to see her and her son in their car at night having chicken mcnuggets left over from the day before and all her trouble with edd. >> among them, bonnie hall land of half moon bay. >> my husband and i just looked at our budget and we could afford to give her about $1,000

to tie her over for food and shelter. >> she wasn't the only one. emails and messages came flooding in, folks offering everything from a room in their home to a hotel room, even job offers. and then, there's janelle hendrickson. >> i have a 4-year-old son. with everything going on with, you know, not getting stimulus packages, it could be any one of us. it could be my sister or my best friend or mom. and i put myself in her situation and it was one of those things that you just have to do what you have to do to help another mom. >> when janelle saw my story, she stayed up all night creating a go fund me account to raise money for shelby and kalan. >> when i started it, i didn't think it would make a difference. if it makes a difference, if she gets it, that's great. you just want babies to be safe. >> for shelby, the response is overwhelming. >> i lost it. i've been crying all night so thankful.

like it's given me hope, you know, like it given me so much more than i've ever had in my entire life. >> i'm michael finney, 7 on your side. >> now, if you want to help, you can donate to the go fund me and so far about $8600 has been raised for shelby and her son. we set up a link to the correct account. make sure you give to the correct account with the go fund me page and that is at abc7news.com. you can also read the series of stories produced by the 7 on your side team about continuing problems at the edd at abc7news.com/7 on your side. the economy is an important part of building a better bay area. in silicon valley, a gap between rich and poor has long existed and the pandemic is just widening that gap. abc 7 news reporter david louie looks at the problem and the challenges ahead. >> there already was a gap in income and food needs before the pandemic. a new analysis finds the gap is

worse because of covid-19 and service workers losing their jobs. >> their unemployment rate as high as 20 or 30%. we're seeing a disproportionate impact on women and people of color, on families and definitely those that were already struggling. >> rachel worked with second harvest that supports a network of 300 partners who distribute fresh produce. call volume for food spiked six fold during the pandemic as the price of meat, poultry and fish and eggs increased 19%. >> our cost have doubled during this crisis not just because of food costs but because we're distributing so much more food. >> the new study indicates 11% of adults and 9% offff often have too little to eat. children doing distance learning lost access to breakfast and lunch programs. one bright spot is home delivered meals for seniors.

their need for good health and food is essential to their health. 1 million meals have been delivered by the pandemic to meals on wheels, an increase of 350%. many senior service groups are stepping up. as food insufficiency grows, so is the need for cash, volunteers and food to meet demand. david louie, a brbc 7 news. the big change this holiday season for iconic red kettles, there will be some out on the streets this year but for the first time, in it's 130-year history. the campaign is going virtual. the salvation army expects an increase in need and decrease in donations due to the pandemic. go to virtual red kettle.org to donate. a survey suggests america's young adults could be the ones that decide the upcoming election. a study by full screen says 90%

of again z and millennials are planning to vote. those groups made up of people under age 37. make up nearly 40% of the population. 72% of them see this election as a turning point in american history and 70% say the government's handling of the pandemic and black lives matter movement will influence how they vote. coming up today, abc news hosting a town hall with democratic presidential nominee joe biden, you can watch it live right here starts at 5:00 p.m. on abc 7. it will be available on our connected tv app, you can download them for free, roku, amazon fire, android tv and apple tv. it's education week here on abc 7 so coming up, why it more than just difficult to use distance learning. it's about mental and emotional strength, as well. plus, you probably already know how to duck and cover but there is so much more to

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millions of people prepared for an earthquake today by participating in the great shakeout. >> cover and hold on. >> look different this year obviously because of covid-19. businesses and schools were given options for how to encourage and practice drop, cover and hold on from wherever employees or students happen to be. >> we don't know where we're going to be in an earthquake. we could be in a building. we could be at a grocery store. we could be at home. it is important to practice

drop, cover and hold on more so than ever this year as we think about earthquake safety and our facing a lot of other challenges with the disasters and emergencies. >> bart also took part in the shakeout drill. trains slowed down to 27 miles per hour and then they came to a brief stop. bart uses the shake alert early warning system which automatically triggers all trains to slow down. are you ready for the next big earthquake? joining us is janeel with the california earthquake authority. thank you for joining us to talk about this. what's the most important thing families need to know preparing for an earthquake? >> the most important thing is to make a plan. we've heard that a lot this year talking a lot about resiliency with natural disasters and a plan includes knowing what to do immediately in an earthquake and that is the drop, cover and hold on. the idea is to get below a stird ever ste

-- sturdy piece of furniture and drop as low as you can and cover your head and neck. once you do that, you're developing muscle memory to do that automatically in the event of an earthquake. prepare use house to make sure contents are secure and don't topple and if you have an older home, pre1980, maybe prprprpr house with a cruawl space. >> i remember growing up, i was always told to make sure that my head where i slept was not up against a window. what are some of the advice that you have in terms of making sure your bedroom and living room are safe for an earthquake? >> that's exactly right. places you spend a lot of time when you sleep, the idea leary is to think about things that can break and fall on you or topple and fall on you. if you practice that drop, cover and hold on you're prospecting yourself from thinks but look at your surroundings if you have

pictures above the bed, mirrors, heavy bookcases, things can be anchored at the wall. take thiheavy things off the to shelves and put them on the bottom shelf. >> smart. how has covid affected the great california shakeout? >> first and foremost, it is virtual. the great thing about virtual, you can do it on your own time. they did hold a big drill today at 10:15 but that doesn't mean you can't do it now, do it tonight, do it tomorrow morning. do it in a couple of the rooms, make sure you do it at the dining room table, maybe one of the grownups says earthquake and everybody pops under the table. maybe when the kids are studying now at their desks, you're studying at your desk or couch, the idea here is to look around where you spend time and think where will i be safe in the vent of an earthquake? >> and how important is it, i think, a lot of us adults say we did it as a kid, we don't need to do it anymore. how important are these drills?

>> oh my goodness. so every time there is an earthquake somewhere, we're all looking at videos of people, you know, running out so we think about standing next to something and you dropped covered and held on, maybe there is one thing next to you that could fall, if you're running out the door, there is hundreds of things that could fall on you and particularly when you get outside, all of the things that are on the outside of the building. so the idea is for adults who forget what they learned in school is to practice it along with their children. once again, it's that muscle memory. in the event of an earthquake, i'll drop cover and hold on. >> absolutely. such great advice. thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. abc 7 news can help you prepare for an earthquake or any natural disaster. chick click on the link at abc7news.com to get tips preparing for the next quake. scientists and emergency teams are working to prepare the bay area for next big one

from hospital improvements to predicting future quakes to the impact of covid and the crisis there. we'll show you what is being done in the bay area and how you can help protect your family. join us for the earthquake effect staying safe, sunday at

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all week long here on abc 7 news, we're focussing on education as part of our efforts to build a better bay area.

we told you about difficulties with distance learning. it's not just hard an elementary students. j.r. stone has been speaking with older students who say that workloads, they're at an all time high right now and mentally, this is really tough. >> i mean, we're all trying to do the best we can with what we have at the moment. >> reporter: right now, carolyn a junior at american high school in fremont says what she has is a lot of work. more so than ever before. something echoed by her close mates. >> it loads of work. i'm in high school so i have switch cla seven crolasses, it a lot. >> reporter: we wanted to check in to see how the distanced year on zoom is coming along. >> it hard because you don't get all the help you need. >> reporter: if you think that opinion is limited to eric, then you're way off. three out of four students we talked with for this story alone tells the getting questions answered in a private and timely manner has become a major

problem. >> it's difficult to contact the teacher when i need help. >> i think the toughest day is when i have tests or quizzes because normally when we're in person we can go and ask the teacher a question but now on zoom, you're all together in one room. >> reporter: while those we spoke with have strong home wi-fi or a hot spot, they say it's not always perfect and they weren't guaranteed that hot spot. those with the fremont unified school district confirm that they have already distributed 800 hot spots and anticipate giving out more as they learn of students using unreliable internet. >> so like the other day i was going through class and for some reason my zoom wouldn't let me in and so after i kept trying and trying, finally i got in but i was ten minutes late and i had missed like half of the lecture already. >> reporter: not everyone is ready to head back. >> personally, i prefer distance learning more but i misinteracting with family, friends and people i know. >> reporter: it that interaction

that everyone we spoke with talked about in some form or another. the hope that the day will eventually come when they get to see classmates and make new friends. >> i hope when we go back aleast by next year because like i can't see anybody and it's kind of boring when you can't have any interactions. >> i have one friend in my bubble that i hang out with and we just kind of talk about what's going on and we just wish that we can all go back because it's been a big toll on all of us. >> j.r. stone, abc 7 news. all this week, our building a better bay area education team is looking at virtual learning and for those who have returned to class, what in person classes look like in the covid world. you can watch these stories again at abc7news.com as well as the abc 7 news app. the state superintendent of public instruction announced a statewide funding drive today to support schools impacted by wildfires. the emergency response fund will be used to buy essentials like

food, water, computers, hot spots and personal protective equipment. the napa county superintendent talked about unexpected when calastoga was i'm packed. >> they had to buy hot spots. we were very well supplied with our chrome books and hot spots but when kids evacuated, they were going to places where they may not have had wi-fi. >> at least three schools in four county haves been destroyed by fires this year. we're not out of the woods yet. we have red flag warnings, spencer? >> we do indeed, liz. the warning in effect until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow and a heat advisory in effect until 9:00 tomorrow night as excessive heat will be with us again tomorrow inland around the bay and warm on the coast. overnight we warm under clear skies, low temperatures meanly in the low to mid 60s.

highs tomorrow from mid 80s at the costa mid-90s around the bay to upper 90ist inland and here is the switceven-day forecast. on sunday we get further cooling, more area wide and looking good. a couple degrees warmer than average but much more fall like than what we have now. larry and liz? and cau excuse me. >> thanks, spencer. you're choked up about this one last blast of summer thank you. >>. autonomous vehicles will roll on the streets of san francisco soon. crews received a permit allowing it to test five driverless vehicles. these vehicles will be limited to specified streets, speed limits not exceeding 30 miles per hour. they can be tested any time during the day but not during heavy fog or heavy rain. cruise is a division of general motors, the fifth company to receive a driverless testing permit from the dmv. they began testing with safety

drivers back in 2015. all right. screams, scares and thrills all from the safety of your car? up next, the haunted house experience that but i can't say i expected this. because it was easy. to fight these fires, we need funding - plain and simple.

for this crisis, and for the next one. prop 15 closes tax loopholes so rich corporations pay their fair share of taxes. so firefighters like me, have what we need to do the job, and to do it right. the big corporations want to keep their tax loopholes. it's what they do. well, i do what i do. if you'ld like to help, join me and vote yes on prop 15. so strong. so... not ripped. what're we talkin about...

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news starting at 10:30. halloween might be different this year due to the pandemic but plenty of fun and scary things to do. a haunted house drive-through in pleasanton is deliveing the ultimate halloween treats. >> how are you y'all doing? come down. we got rats on a stick. >> reporter: the pirates here at the alameda county fairgrounds. i don't think there is anything quite like this out there. >> we have trick-or-treat town, hill billies, pirates, >> i thought halloween would be cancelled but this brings the great spooky season back to us. >> there are scares and laughs. >> reporter: especially when people bust out real chainsaws. it's fun. >> this year really changed a lot. we have this piece of glass between us in the car and vehicle before you're able to get in people's faces and it was really an in your face kind of haunted house. we had to change in this covid

time. we want everybody to be safe. we had to pivot. we had to redesign. so we had a couple weeks to come down and put together in our head how to do a drive-through and make it successful. there is something on every corner for you to see. >> that's what it's all about, right, screams and laughs? >> yeah, about like that. >> pirates of emmerson started on emmerson street in the city of fremont. we started in my parents' backyard. we had 3,000 people through in two nights and the city shut us down and said you can't do it anymore. so we had to quit doing it or go commercial. so we got ourselves a tent and moved out and the rest is history. here we are 29 years later taking up the pirates of emmerson haunted drive. you're actually driving through the houses, driving through the pirates ships and driving through the hill billy's house. >> with the pandemic going on and stuff, it's a good gig. >> i'm used to the walk through ones and halloween is my

favorite time of the year so keep the tradition alive, i'm -- why not try a drive-through? >> we have over 45 people on staff this year. every one enthusiastic about being here. they were afraid halloween would be canceled and we didn't let that happen. make sure you come out and see what we're about. >> there are tunnels that are really scary. they follow your car and jump out. it fun. >> drive-through and enjoy it. >> i knew it would work in my head and heart i knew it would work. >> just watching these cars drive-through one after another and watch them enjoy themselves, it's a good feeling. i'm really happy and proud of the vent we put together this year. >> oh, and you can check out more great stories at localish.com facebook and instagram. larry, this brought back a lot of memories for me. i perform in a haunted house like that in high school. it was so bad. everyone laughed. not my calling. but i might go and drive-through

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good evening from the national constitution center in philadelphia. our town hall with joe biden starts right now. >> this is an abc news "20/20" event special. >> let's stand up and vote and take back this country now. >> with an ongoing pandemic, a supreme court vacancy, economic uncertainty and racial injustice dominating this election, final voting is just 19 days away. tonight, voters in a key battleground state put their questions directly to former vice president joe biden. can he seize the moment and secure their vote? live from the national constitution center in philadelphia, this special edition of "20/20," "the vice president and the