next at 5, the justice department says google is breaking the law. a new lawsuit accuses the company of abusing its monopoly power to crush the competition. google makes it clear it will fight back. plus, what could be a critical ruling on coronavirus in san quentin. a legal ruling saying the outbreak there amounted to deliberate indifference. >> several new developments on reopening. san francisco becomes the first major california city to advance to the least restrictive tier. napa county is also moving and sports teams are given a clear path to playing in front of fans. plus, another psps weather event that will cut off power to thousands of in the bay area is headed our way. why pg&e says it won't be as bad as last week. >> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure

future, this is abc7 news. and we begin with the justice department going after google. the government says the milpitas company is breaking the law by using market power to block rivals. their antitrust lawsuit marks the most aggressive legal challenge in the tech sector in decades. good evening. thank you for joining us. the lawsuit is being filed by the department of justice and 11 republican attorneys general. the government says google has 80% of the search market and is doing so, in doing so is stifling the competition. this is the most high-profile case the u.s. has brought against a tech company since the 1990s and it hinges on an old law. the sherman antitrust act of 1890. more from chris win. >> today's filing of a landmark antitrust case against google could be the start of more action to come against some of the key players in silicon valley. >> this is whone of the first rl examples that we have of the government trying to actually do

something about the tech industry. >> reporter: google's dominance in online search and advertising has been under the microscope for years with critics calling for the company to be broken up. c senate editor at large ian sher says they control 90% of web searches across the world. >> the concern the government has is that google's power is so big that it is almost impossible for competitors to be able to really grow and compete. >> reporter: the federal case alleges that the tech giant used billions of dollars collected from its search advertising revenues to pay phone manufacturers and other companies such as apple to ensure that google is the default search engine on their browsers. google believes the lawsuit is deeply flawed, saying, quote, people use google because they choose to, not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives. this lawsuit would do nothing to help consumers. to the contrary, it would artificially prop up lower-quality search alternatives, raise phone prices and make it harder for people to

get the search services they want to use. the company has a website outlining its approach to competition with more information on how people can change the settings on their devices. >> the antitrust laws here in the united states are supposed to be to improve the welfare wee consumers. >> reporter: professor polleden at the santa clara university school of law says the government might have a hard time making its case. in fact, our antitrust laws were originally written in the 1890s and centered around alcohol, tobacco and other commodities at the time. >> they have to find ways to establish how the american public is being harmed by google's activities, and not just the competitors that have the ear of the government in complaining. >> reporter: the search engine is free for consumers who have the ultimate say in whether or not they want to use it. professor ahmed. >> you have to find that sweetspot where you can protect the data at the same time you

are not slowing down the innovation, which is the spirit of silicon valley. >> reporter: analysts say the lawsuit will be wrapped up in litigation for years to come. in the south bay, chris nguyen, a abc7 news. developing news. a california appeals court judge ruled san quentin prison must reduce its population by 50%. 1,000 inmates need to be released or transferred to provide measures to protect against covid-19. the ruling comes from a lawsuit by a prisoner who was one of the more than 2,000 inmates to contract the disease. the appeals court judge says the california department of corrections and rehabilitation must revise the expedited release programs to include inmates over age 60 who have served 25 years of their sentence and are eligible for parole. you may see more people eating inside restaurants in san francisco. the county became the only one to move into the least restricted yellow covid-19 safety tier. starting november 3rd they can

expand to 50% capacity. bars went be required to serve food. offices can reopen at capacity. state health officials explained the reason behind the looser rules. >> san francisco county, a large california county, very visible, lots of, you know, different types of communities and neighborhoods did today reach the yellow tier. they were benefitted by the health equity metric. >> that equity metric focuses on zip codes that have been disproportionately impacted by covid, including black latino and pacific islander communities. the goal is to ensure the positivity rate doesn't lag behind the overall county rate. napa county will move into the orange or moderate tier tomorrow as the number of new covid-19 cases decreased there. mostly this impacts indoor capacities. but as abc7 news reporter wayne freedman explains, there is a business that finally gets to

open its doors after months of being closed. >> reporter: at the napa bowl this is what moving from red to orange sounds like. >> i love to hear this sound again. >> reporter: dan cannot talk about his place without bringing up decades of family-owned history after seven months of an enforced covid closure tomorrow the place finally reopens. today a run-through. >> these are all my people and the crew. >> reporter: the custodian and guy friday. he was happy to be here. >> it's great. i am rusty. >> reporter: when napa goes from red to orange top the bowling alley may allow 25% capacity. >> 25% is better than no percent. >> reporter: it means the bar attracting customers again and same at the restaurant for alex soto. >> great use. >> reporter: in napa not only the bowling alley may open. now wineries may open their indoor tasting rooms.

in downtown napa adam housley has been serving customers outside. beginning tomorrow they may come in. but -- >> i think the rules don't make sense. they are not consistent. why can't i reopen but maybe some other business cannot? >> reporter: as napa goes orange, restaurants may expand indoor service to 50%, but in practical terms sean o'toole at torque questions how much of a difference it will make. 50%, he says, is still not sustainable. >> at this point in time 2020 i don't know what is right. >> reporter: now in an orange county they will have to settle for better. in napa, wayne freedman, abc7 news. the state of california opened the door today to allow the 49ers to welcome fans back into levi stadium and reopen theme parks. but that door was quickly slammed by santa clara county officials. >> no question this is dangerous. this is the worst thing in the world to be doing at a time period when california is beginning to see some light.

this amounts to another step backwards. >> the county's decision came after the 49ers issued a statement praising the guidance by the state adding that they were ready to work with health officials to create a plan towards bringing fans back. well, that will not happen now. pg&e is warning of another possible round of fire prevention power shut office this week. 50,000 customers in 19 counties, seven in the bay area, could lose electricity tomorrow night. alameda, contra costa, napa, santa clara, sonoma and salerno could see outages. leslie brinkley is live in contra costa county with the impact of the shutoffs. >> reporter: yeah, it's like always. when we go theinto these pspss, it's a maybe when it would happen. pg&e says the little good twist on this is that last week they had to shut off 21,000 customers. this week it would only be, they

think, around 7,000. 3,000 napa pg&e customers could face having their power cut off starting wednesday evening. 470 alameda county customers are on the list. nearly all of them in the livermore area near the altamont pass, including this business and manufacturing park. >> here we have the mightiest state in the union and we can't seem to keep the power on. >> reporter: perhaps there is some irony in that the cutoff could include a company that manufacturers sprinkler systems. no way for them to work from home. >> they are going to miss a day of employment. so that's money taken out of the economy. when you are talking about this whole area, this is all of the business complex. >> reporter: north of here in the morgan territory area up through the mount diablo foothills another 563 customers will likely lose power. contra costa fire officials are on high alert. >> the national weather service is telling us starting tomorrow

night aren't 10:00 p.m. we are going to go into red flag, true red flag weather here, and the fire danger will be extremely high then. it puts us into planning mode to make sure we have all the right resources available. we may bring on kra crews, extra fire engines. we may staff up our crew 12 fire control workers. >> reporter: pg&e is also staffing up. >> we have opened up our emergency operations center should we need to call a pspss and we have started insidefying customers of that potential. >> reporter: again, people are getting notified they may have their power turned off. if it were to be turned off, it would be pg&e says between midnight wednesday night and maybe 4:00 in the morning on thursday. they may have to be without power all day thursday. i'm leslie brinkley, abc7 news. >> thank you. the fire that engulfed a diving boat killing 34 people

last year, the results of a year-long investigation are next. plus, making sure your vote counts. the tension and the turnout this year is reaching record i'm voting 'yes' on prop 19. nineteen limits taxes on seniors. it limits property tax on people like me. nineteen limits taxes on wildfire victims. it says so right here. if 19 passes, seniors can move closer to family or medical care. i looked at moving but i can't afford the taxes.

will you help california's most vulnerable? vote 'yes' on prop 19.

a year ago 34 people including several from the bay area were killed by a fire on a dive both airngered off the southern california coast. today the national transportation safety board said it was unable to determine the cause, but that a lack of oversight by the boat owner led to the deadly blaze. >> there were clear and, frankly, heartbreaking opportunities to break the chain of circumstances which culminated in this catastrophe. >> 33 passengers and one crew member were sleeping in the bunk room of the conception when a fire broke out in the early morning hours. a crew member sleeping in the upper deck saw the fire but couldn't get below deck because of the flames. he and four other crew members

jumped into the water after trying to save the people who were trapped. the ntsb says the crew could have saved lives if there had been a roving patrol as required. >> staff believes that the absence of the required roving patrol on the conception delayed detection and allowed for the growth of the fire, precluded firefighting and evacuation efforts and directly led to the high number of fatalities. >> reporter: the ntsb said the boat was too damaged to determine what caused the fire but they found the back of the salon area where passengers plugged in phones and other devices with lithium-ion batteries. >> no one anticipated that this tragedy could happen in the way that it did, and, sadly, we have learned otherwise. >> now, according to recent court documents criminal charges against the ship's captain are imminent. families of 32 victims have filed claims against the boat opener, truth aquatics. the company filed a claim to

shield them from damages under a maritime law that limits liability for owners. we are, believe it or not, two weeks away from election day. here in california we are seeing record early voting. so far more than 4 million people in the state have returned their ballots. bay area counties are seeing record numbers as well. elizabeth kreutz is in santa clara county with why voters are getting their ballots in so early. >> reporter: boxes and boxes and boxes of ballots. >> we have over 218,000 that have already voted. >> reporter: that number is huge. it's three times the number of ballots they had received at this point in 2016. across the state there is also record turnout with more than 4 million ballots already returned. >> people are excited. they want to turn out. they want to vote. >> reporter: talk about excited. outside of office we met robin, a voter from campbell. >> i voted! yes! everybody needs to get out here

and do this. >> reporter: she says her enthusiasm is one reason she voted early, but it's not the only one. >> what's happening with the voting polls, with the post office, i didn't want to take any chance. >> reporter: like robin, voter after voter today had the same concern. >> i wanted to make certain there was no issues with regard to it possibly getting lost in the mail. >> make sure it was at the central location so it would be counted. >> reporter: once you drop off your ballot you can track it to make sure it ends up here. you can to that at where's my ballot.com. once in the hands of the county it gets sorted and counted. so how do you keep these ballots secure? >> at the end of the night this gate locks and they connect and it's secured and cameras are on this area. this is where the ballots are. >> reporter: despite some voting anxieties, the numbers are clear. people are turning out. for 21-year-old leilani, it's her first time doing so for a presidential election.

>> it feels good. it's kinda scary because there is a lot on the lane rigine rig >> reporter: liz kreutz, abc7 news. >> you can track your vote by going to california dot ballot .net/voter to see where your ballot is and if your vote has been counted. on the subject of being nervous -- >> this black bear was captured on video expressing himself from a tree in yosemite national park. partial officials say aren't sure what prompted this unscheduled a cappella concert. the bear seems healthy. one said it sounded like an anxiety call. she said bears do climb trees when they sense any kind of danger. >> but we hope and think it's okay. well, red flag warnings are being expanded. abc7 news meteorologist sandy

batelle wi 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.

san francisco is addressing one of the leading causes of vehicle crashes in the city. the municipal transportation agency has installed traffic calming measures at seven intersection. this includes guide bumps, painted safety zones and delineators. last year almost 40% of crashes in san francisco involved a left turning vehicle. some relief this evening for many in the northbound. cal fire says the glass wildfire is now 100% contained. it started 24 days ago and erupted into more than 67,000 acres very quickly. in napa, sonoma and lake counties. those counties remain threatened with a fire weather watch in effect through wednesday morning. specific details and specific areas about this. >> yeah, we have multiple

warnings to pass along to you. let's start with the winds right now. mt. hood gusting to 18 miles an hour. not that strong. now, overnight we did see mount saint helena see gusty winds up to 44 miles an hour. north bay hills under a red flag warning to 8:00 p.m. tomorrow, gusts up to 40 possible, a combination of low humidity and dry fuels means any fires that develop are going to quickly spread. that red flag warning expands to the east bay hills, the east bay valleys. the santa cruz mountains and the san francisco peninsula coast, too. that goes into effect 10:00 p.m. tomorrow runs to 8:00 a.m. friday except for the santa cruz mountains and peninsula coast begins thursday. the fire danger will be elevated with that event. winds are expected to be stronger than that. fire weather watch, 10:00 p.m. wednesday until 8:00 a.m. friday for lake and solano counties. the fire danger is running high. temperatures right now anywhere from the mid-50s to the low 90s.

it warmed up today. the hottest spots in the low 90s except fairfield upper 90s. on the coast low 60s. here is why the coast didn't heat up. a nice view of the fog coming through the golden gate. doesn't that look amazing here is another vantage point from the emeryville camera. the fire danger remains high all week. periods of dry gusty winds some lower elevations as well a cooler pattern thursday through sunday. a little bit of fog on the coastline tomorrow morning. that's where you will find it. temperatures in the low 50s to the low 60s and then in the afternoon we are expecting a warm day inland, 87 in concord, 89 degrees in livermore, 85 in napa, 84 san jose, 78 oakland, 73 san francisco, 81 san rafael, 81 santa rosa, 67 in half moon bay. a look at the accuweather seven-day forecast. this is critical because we are

facing that critical fire weather conditions. there will be two more rounds of gusty winds. the next round comes in tomorrow night going into friday, and then another round of gusty winds sunday going into monday. now, each one of these looks stronger, so just keep that in mind and it's definitely going to be expanding. so tomorrow is your hottest day. low 90s inland for the inland spots. upper 60s coast side, and then you will notice the cooling trend thursday, friday, low 80s inland. 70s by saturday and sunday, and then pretty much near average monday and tuesday. coastal areas will be in the 50s and 60s. the biggest concern here is the winds will be coming up, the diablo wind, and with the critically dry fuels, it's just going to dry out the atmosphere even more. so definitely stay vigilant. this is the time of year when we have to be aware of our surroundings, especially since any fires that develop will quickly spread. >> can't let our guard down.

thank you. a san jose firefighter surprises his daughter. the moment captured on v

michael finney mere. i know many of you are waiting for your unemployment or

covid-19 payments. so i asked the edd what's going on. why can't our viewers get their money? >> there is a number of different things that could impact someone's eligibility. >> 7 on your side got your emails, hundreds of emails about the edd and you deserve better. that's why i promise to keep asking the tough questions and getting answers. so stay with us and we'll stay on it. as we fight the coronavirus pandemic california is mandating facemasks to stop the spread. abc7 wants to remind you to wear a mask for you, your loved ones, and your community. please, wear because you care. coming up on abc7 news at 6:00, a story of heartbreak and horror. the heartbreak comes from man who lost both his wife and 8-year-old daughter to a wildfire last month. the horror, it looks like pg&e equipment is to blame again. that's new at 6. and remember the story of shelby, that single mom who lost

her job, home, and unemployment benefits? she has gone from hardship to hope. it is thanks to you. that's coming up in a half hour on abc7 news at 6. finally, a sweet surprise for the daughter of a san jose firefighter. >> oh, my gosh! >> oh, the emotion. josh ped rone posted this on instagram showing his daughter eliana's stunned reaction after he walked through the door of their home last week, which was one day earlier, dan, than she expected. >> totally caught her by surprise. he had been deployed on the front lines of two major fires this year away from his family for 27 out of 29 days. the longest he had ever been away. and just a reminder of the sacrifices these firefighters make. >> absolutely. and their families. >> yeah, exactly right. >> all right. "world news tonight" with david muir is next. for now, thanks for being with

us. for all of us here, we appreciate your time and hope to but that's tough to do on a fixed income. i'd be hit with a tax penalty for moving to another county, so i'm voting 'yes' on prop 19. it limits property taxes and lets seniors transfer their home's current tax base to another home that's closer to family or medical care. being closer to family is important to me. how about you? voting 'yes' on prop 19. uber and lyft are like every big guy i've ever brought down. prop 22 doesn't "help" their drivers-- it denies them benefits. 22 doesn't help women.

it actually weakens sexual harassment laws, which are meant to protect them. uber and lyft aren't even required to investigate sexual harassment claims. i agree with the la times: no on 22. uber and lyft want all the power. so, show them the real power is you. vote no on prop 22.

tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. election day two weeks from today, and tonight, president trump in the battleground of pennsylvania. why first lady melania trump canceled plans to go with him. and in a new interview, fox news asking the president for his plan handling the virus as we now move forward, as we see a spike in cases and hospitalizations across the country. and tonight here, the new rule for the final debate between the president and joe biden. what is the change and will it work? the coronavirus here in the u.s. the alarming number. hospitalizations now on the rise in 42 states. nearly 1 million new cases in the u.s. just since the start of this month. tonight, the images from texas to oklahoma, from montana to utah, and the hospital workers who say this new wave should be arken seriously, that patients