grass fire in fairfield which is sending off huge plumes of smoke. powerful winds pushing the smoke into contra-costa county with smokey conditions reported in walnut creek. that's about 30 miles away just to give you some perspective there. a like look from sky 7 near highway 12 and travis air force base. travis firefighters are helping to fight these flames. so far that fire has scorched 350 acres. >> good afternoon. thanks for joining us. indeed, winds are still the big concern for firefighters today. high winds causing problems all across the bay area. this is video from marin county where you can see the winds really whipping through the trees. and check out this damage in san leandro. there were downed branches and trees and up down east 14th street. officials estimate more than three dozen trees were damaged by the wind. >> now, photos show a downed tree limb in a half moon bay neighborhood with a caption

urging people to avoid standing underneath trees when winds are blowing like they did overnight and late today. check out this trampoline that toppled over a fence in fremont. police tweeting the picture to remind everybody, make sure that your items are secured, tied down during heavy winds. >> it's all part of the public safety power shutoffs. hundreds of thousands of californians are affected, authorities trying to prevent their equipment sparking wildfires in extreme winds. take a look from pg&e. you can see exactly where power is out right now across the bay area. all the dots there in purple. you can see thousands of people are still affected in the bay area. although the situation is getting better. we have team coverage today on the power outages and the winds. abc 7 news reporters laura anthony and wayne friedman are checking in on customers affected in the east bay and north bay. let's begin with abc 7 meteorologist drew tuma and the

forecast. the red flag warning still on. >> yeah, that's right, kristen. frequently gusting over 50 miles per hour. still some isolated gusts out there right now. you can see fairfield, tracking that fire, winds gusting to 30 miles per hour. 24 the current wind gust in santa rosa. elsewhere, the winds not as strong. in our hills right fierce as they were earlier this morning, but still of concern. you can see winds gusting 15 to 35 miles per hour. not only the wind, bone-dry air. look at relative humidity in the single digits across much of the bay area. so we have that red flag warning that will continue along the coast and the lower elevations until 5:00 p.m., for the next hour. however, it will be extended until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow for the north bay mountains and the east bay hills. kristen, we're going to hour by hour show you those winds over the next 24 hours in the accuweather forecast in a few minutes. >> all right. thank you, drew. now to the north bay and abc 7 news reporter wayne friedman

live in sebastopol with the latest. wayne? >> reporter: been an interesting day out here. combat poll in downtown one of the areas in sonoma county oddly enough they did not cut the power. all around us they did, 23,000 people-plus in sonoma county lost their power. only some are getting the all clear. in portions of dernville. it has. a challenging day. >> when you live in a two-stop light town and neither works because pg&e cuts the power, traffic jams become inevitable and we've only just gun. in guerneville, population 5,000. most of the people here out of power and running low on patience. >> we've had floods. we've had everything thrown at us. i don't know whatever the lord wants to throw at us, but he expects us to handle it. >> reporter: we're reaching the point we hear the letters psps

and no one flinches at this third-world problem in a first-world nation. >> what's that tell you? >> somebody's not doing their job, i suspect. >> reporter: down the road near forest hill there is a run on ice to -- >> i can't count on normal days week to week, at least since last august. like, what will happen next? >> reporter: those are the small stories. >> this is where the administration building was. >> at cardinal newman high school in santa rosa, they're still recovering from the tubbs fire of 2017 which burned half the place. if there are climate lessons all around us, consider those trying to teach in the midst of this. face to face on computers. >> because of those fires in 2017, cardinal newman is no stranger to online learning. to a degree, they had a head start. today, of 600 students only 24 were unreachable. is that a win? >> yeah.

>> reporter: and that's graham rutherford, dean of student life at cardinal newman high school. we asked him straight up, so how difficult is this for you? it's about like a rainy day. they've had so much experience, everybody has dealt with this, even the students who wouldn't have connections today knew automatically to call in advance to get their home work or go to the house of another student who did have the internet and they worked together. live in sebastopol, wayne freedman, abc 7 news. >> wayne, thank you. now to the east bay. more than 32,000 people are without power there. abc 7 us in reporter laura anthony is live with the latest on conditions. laura? >> reporter: hi, larry. i'm in contra-costa county here. about 15,000 of those customers without power are in contra-costa county. this is one of two customer resource centers they've set up here in the la marinda community. the vast majority of 14,000 customers without power reside

right here in this community. >> a strong magnet on the bottom and a clip. so you can go like this. >> reporter: for those who live and work in the three communities, it's all about making the best of a difficult and increasingly familiar situation. at this hardware store, that means being even better prepared to serve their customers this time. >> after last year's one, we restocked and held stock on things like generators and cords for generators, oil for generators, gas cans and had -- held much more stock than we would have normally in years past. >> reporter: from downtown, it seems the vast majority of businesses and people are without pg&e's power, but not necessarily powerless. >> well, i turn on the generator. >> reporter: dry cleaner chong kim managed to keep his business open. rather than closing up shop like so many of his neighbors.

>> turn on the conveyer and the sign and the computer and the inside light. >> we have wi-fi no for those without generators, pg&e has set up two community resource centers with electricity and beefed up cell service to help residents get at least something done as they pass the time. indeed here it's one giant waiting game. first for the dangerous winds to die down and then for pg&e's widely scattered crews to restore people. >> i think lots of people are digging in and finding out how strong they can be in their core when they need to be and they're helping everybody else out, which is the best part. >> reporter: now, you just heard that resident talk about getting stronger, resiliency, flexibility during all of this. i had one person tell me today in that vein that this is not a power outage, it's just setting the mood for halloween. back to you guys. >> laura, thank you. people living in berkeley

received alert messages asking them to voluntarily evacuate overnight during the dangerous wind event. the mayor says it was an unprecedented step. he says berkeley may issue more pre-emptive voluntary evacuations in the future. >> i think a lot of us didn't get much sleep last night. but we're fortunate and relieved that something bad did not happen. but we need to be prepared. we need to be vigilant. >> winds knocked down trees and limbs, but no fires were reported in berkeley. he says 750 homes in the berkeley hills lost power overnight as part of pg&e's preventive power outages. all power has been restored there. the 11 parks in the east bay hills will now remain closed until wednesday morning because of the extended red flag warning. those parks include claremont canyon, wildcat canyon, tilden and lake shabeau. the park district also says it responded to a few fires.

for updates on the power juttoffs and potential fire conditions, head to abc7news.com. we are constantly updating our website with the latest outage maps, forecasts and info about how you can stay safe. a fire is burning out of control in the irvine area of orange county. 70,000 people have been evacuated. two firefighters have been critically injured. suffering second and third-degree burns. the fires has burned at least 4,000 acres since it started around 6:45 this morning. officials say they're dealing with erratic winds and have had to ground air support. now to the coronavirus. deaths on the rise, according to data from john hopkins. average deaths per day across the country rose 10% over just the past two weeks. dr. deborah birx said today that covid-19 hot spot bismarck, north dakota has the worst protocols that she has seen and she's toured nearly 40 states. the dow dropped 650 points today as virus cases surge, and nat is

the steept one-day point and percentage drop in nearly two months. san francisco mayor london breed announced today $2.5 million in support for entertainment and night life venues, most of which have been shut down, unable to operate during the crisis. about 300 venues will have their regulatory license fees and business administration fees waved for two years. payroll expense taxes for 2020 will also be waved. street sweepers will soon be back in action on the streets of oakland. city officials announced today that the big machines will resume making their rounds on november 9th. residents who forget to move their vehicles on the designating cleaning day for their street will receive warning tickets for a short time. like many areas, oakland stopped street sweeping at the start of the pandemic. early voting, it's under way and actually breaking records. what does that mean for election day? holiday health from halloween to christmas. how to stay healthy and happy through the holidays. plus, mooning over water. the discovery that could make a

huge need to find the closest official ballot drop box near you? just visit vote.ca.gov to find your nearest location. then drop off your ballot. your vote will be secure and counted. there are other ways to vote too. just return your vote-by-mail ballot at your voting location or mail it back. or you can vote safely in-person during early voting or on election day. vote the way you're most comfortable - but vote by 8pm on november 3rd. 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.

the pain is always around the corner.o

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barrett's nomination through. moving the high court even further to the right. president trump expected to swear in barrett at the white house in an outdoor ceremony later tonight. and this is all happening with the election day being just a week from tomorrow. but already millions have voted across the country. abc 7 news anchor liz kreutz joins us now with a look at just who's voting. liz? >> hi, kristen. we are seeing record early turnout voting across the state and the country. unlike previous elections thesh is a definitely party divide. the big unknown right now is will it make a difference on the outcome of this race. election day is just over a week away and already at least 61.5 million votes have been cast across the country. the record turnout happening here in california, too. more than 7 million votes making up a third of all ballots will have been cast in the state by the end of the day. that's more than all of the early votes cast in 2016. so who is it exactly that's already voted? according to paul mitchell, the

vice president of political data inc., which tracks ballots and voter trends, the script has slightly flipped from last elections where republicans have historically been the ones to get their ballots in early. this time it's democrats. >> democrats have essentially been virtue signaling that look at me, i'm voting early, here is my picture on instagram of me at the ballot box, and republicans have been doing the opposite. >> reporter: nationwide of the ballots returned so far, roughly 49% are democrats. 41% are republicans and 10% are unaffiliated. the lower turnout among republicans isn't a sign republicans won't vote. rather, they're likely holding off to vote in-person on election day or closer to the election, something the president has been encouraging as he raises concerns about vote by mail and a rigged election. >> it was a very secure vote. much more secure than when you send in a ballot. >> this messaging has moved voters into these two partisan camps. it's almost like in our culture we have this thing where, like, you can't go buy a chicken

sandwich without it being a political statement. >> reporter: so what does this mean? does more early turnout among democrats say anything about who will win? the simple answer is no. an early vote doesn't count any more than a vote cast on election day, and according to mitchell, many of the people who voted so far are considered likely voters, but it could ultimately put republicans at a disadvantage for this reason. >> republicans have put themselves in a situation of having a lot more of their own voters kind of still yet to engage and to go out and make sure that they return their ballots. it's going to be a big job for them. >> so get out the vote efforts for republicans are going to be huge in this coming week and on election day. now, some trends have remained the same. so far in california, we have seen the most turnout from suburban areas with affluent homeowners, including the suburbs of marin county and orange county. we've seen lower turnout in urban areas with younger voters such as the middle of and east los angeles. >> thank you very much. santa clara county officials

say so far so good with one week before the election. they haven't received any reports of fake ballot boxes are efforts our voter intimidation or suppression. while they don't expect any problems, voters need to be aware of their rights. >> no one is always to intimidate you while you're voting. either at a vote drop-off box or at a voter center. no one is allowed to assemble uniformed or armed people in the vicinity of a vote center. in california it's a crime to do these things. and they will not be tolerated. >> they say intimidation efforts should be reported immediately to a poll worker or you can call 911. still plenty of time to vote. go to abc 7 news.com. we posted an interactive map showing you all the early voting and ballot drop-off locations across the bay area. an iconic san francisco sign is in the process of being taken down and destroyed. it's the neon coca-cola billboard at fifth and bryant

streets. the sign was put up in 1957. no official word why it's being removed. t reports coca-cola is paying $100,000 to do so. all right. time to check in with drew again on the weather. still in the red flag warning but the winds are getting spottier. >> yeah, they are. we'll see those winds kind of turn briefly stronger in our hills overnight as that red flag warning continues for the north bay mountains and the east bay hills through 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. live look from sutro tower showing you nothing but sunshine. look at these peak wind gusts we had over the past 12 hours and early this morning. mount saint helena gusting to 89 miles per hour. mount diablo gusting to 74. even the oakland airport late last night had a wind gust of 58. the oakland hills had wind gusts of 51 miles per hour. napa, 53. concord, 40 miles per hour. so it was a very windy night, hence the red flag warning

across all of the bay area. now, winds currently, you can see they're just gusty in isolated area. fairfield is currently gusting to 25 miles per hour. 24 the current wind gust in santa rosa. most spots from san francisco, oakland, points to the south, winds are relatively light. less than about 10 miles per hour. so temperatures when you get the strong winds, it tends to create pretty uniform temperatures. we're in the 70s if not close to 80 degrees right now. currently 80 in oakland. 72 in the city. 76 in san jose and 79 in santa rosa. tracking very dry air. look at the dew point numbers. it does not get much dryer than what you're seeing on the board. and dew points, the way i like to explain it. take santa rosa, for example. you see a dew point of minus-11. we would have to cool the air temperature to 11 degrees below zero in santa rosa right now for

any sort of fog to form. so that is some dry air. extremely desert-like. and it's going to sit over much of the bay area for the next 24 hours. so we'll track those winds for you. early tomorrow morning. this is 1:00 a.m. on tuesday. you do notice they turn gusty in spots. not nearly as wide spread or strong as they were last night. right before sunrise, expect strong winds in the north bay mountains and then the winds will begin to subside throughout the morning hours and as we head into the early afternoon, that red flag warning will be allowed to expire. one more night of gusty winds. overnight tonight, some chilly spots, especially in the north bay. 30s to low 40s in the north bay. we'll see mid-50s in a couple of spots. otherwise, on the other side of 50 degrees for most of us. now, tomorrow, pretty similar temperature wise. it's breezy with sunshine. temperatures mainly in the 70s to low 80s. accuweather seven-day forecast. it is windy in our hills tomorrow. that red flag warning expires at

5:00 p.m. on tuesday. we'll welcome those light winds midweek. and temperatures stay pretty uniform for halloween. it's looking nice. we'll put the clocks back one hour early sunday morning. but the next seven days, still, not tracking any rain. the pattern does remain dry through next monday, guys. >> all right. thank you, drew. coming up, nasa finds water on the moon. what that discovery means for the future of space travel. and obviously halloween's going to look a lot different this year. we'll

a team of nasa scientists say they have made a really significant discovery on the moon. they found water. based at nasa ames in silicon valley. david louie explains how water on the moon will be a major boost for future space missions. >> we were over the moon, no pun intended. >> reporter: this doctor is part of a team of nasa scientists who have discovered tiny molecules of water on the surface of the moon. the breakthrough discovery could some day replace the need to send water from earth to future missions to mars. >> it was a realization for all of us that we can -- sophia was able to contribute to such a major discovery. >> reporter: she is the project scientist -- a telescope aboard an aircraft at 45,000 feet was

able to detect the water inside what they described as tiny glass beads in a crater. near the moon's sun-lit southern region. the amount of water is small, about a 12 ounce bottle's worth. however, that discovery will lead to efforts whether more water lies below the surface and the other areas of the lunar landscape. it's believed the glass beads protect the water from the moon's harsh conditions. this discovery is expected to expand the search for water in space. >> they can use this capability to study water not just on the moon but many other ubt objectives in the solar system, such as bright asteroids. we have opened a new field to apply the same technique to other targets in our solar system. >> if water can be tapped and perhaps recycled it would free up space for more experiments on spacecraft. david louie, abc 7 news. the new way to holiday. tips to make sure you and your

family stay mentally healthy this holiday season. plus, firefighters getting a little r & r and a little love from man's best friend.

all right. now back to that breaking news out of fairfield where a grass fire is still burning. we brought you pictures at the top of this newscast and you could see the flames erupting from all of that smoke right now. this is near highway 12 and travis air force base. travis firefighters are helping to fight the flames. so far this fire has burned more than 350 acres. you can see a helicopter moving in for a water drop. we'll continue to follow the fire and bring you updates

throughout the evening. this week on abc 7 we're showing you the new way to holiday. looking at how the holiday season and so many of the traditions we take for granted are being affected by the coronavirus. today we're looking at health, specifically your mental health. abc 7 news reporter chris reyes has a tool kit to help get you through the holidays. >> how would you describe this year? >> a few months ago i would have said 2020 is the new four-letter word in my dictionary. >> a lot of people would agree with you. >> it's been very discouraging. it's been exhausting. it's been the most stressful time of my life. >> reporter: rasheem moga is a silicon business leader and shannon owns this studio in san jose. they reached out to share their struggles with mental health. their hope in sharing their vulnerability that others will do the same. >> sleeplessness is definitely a symptom for me. my hair starts falling, as you

mentioned. i get breakouts. you can see all these breakouts on my face. >> i lost almost 20 pounds just trying to figure out how the heck i'm going to keep my business alive during the pandemic. >> reporter: the latest report from the american psychological association sounding this laernl. we are facing a national mental health crisis. 8 in 10 surveyed say the pandemic is a significant source of stress in their life. >> so if we could have a mental health tool kit, what would be on that list to help us get through those days where we're burned out or tapped out? we reached out to one psychologist for advice. >> how do we begin to build these new strategies to help carry us through the rest of the year? >> so i think the number one thing i would focus on would be connection and making connection a priority. >> reporter: let's go through dr. carl fleisher's checklist. start by checking in with yourself. >> am i okay from the outside? am i going to work? am i going to school? am i present, engaged in my relationships? how am i feeling? how bad am i feeling?

how worried am i? how angry am i? and just stop and take a measure of that and see what you come up with. >> reporter: next, check in on others. >> what kind of guidance can you give us to pay closer attention to our more vulnerable friends and family? >> the warning signs that i always advise people to look out for, number one, is folks that you haven't heard from in a while or longer than you would usually hear from them. pdoing well, they isolate.not unfortunately. and so for us to reach out to them can make a big difference. >> reporter: don't forget to do small things every day. >> little stuff does add up. whether it's, you know, i'm going to take a 15-minute nap today. or i'm going to just stretch for a minute. or, you know what, today i'm going to take an hour and, you know, play guitar. just do something fun. >> reporter: also simple but powerful, sleep. >> there again, just a little bit extra does make a

difference. >> reporter: her best advice is what she practices with her clients daily. >> move every day. get outside if you can. adopt a meditation practice, even if it's guided meditation, even if it's 30 seconds a day, do it, and make sure you're breathing. >> reporter: for moga, if 2020 started out feeling like a four-letter word, she's found a much better one just as long, hope. >> i see a dozen opportunities. it's a year that has provided us time to reflect. time to look at how we want to shape up our lives. how we want to shape up our businesses. >> reporter: chris reyes for abc 7 news. >> all right. so what are some of the other ways you can try to stay healthy during the holidays? david bond is the director of behavorial health with blue shield of california. joining us live now. david, thank you so much for your time. everyone knows the holidays are stressful even when you don't have to deal with k-9. so how do people stay mentally healthy, especially this year?

>> you are absolutely right. and the number one thing that i would need to remind people is we cannot force ourselves to be happy just because it's the holidays. and we can't force ourselves to be happy -- or other people to be happy just because it's the holidays. so many of the recommendations that were brought in in the earlier part of the broadcast i would absolutely agree with them. people talk about making sure, like, examining how we are at work, school, scheduling, rest. a piece that was missing, a piece that i would really, really focus on is play. and no matter how old you are, play is essential to well-being and wellness. so whether it's children doing a natural engagement of play. as adults, too, we have to schedule time for work, schedule time for rest, but we also have to have scheduled time to just enjoy ourselves in a free-flowing kind of way. >> so what are the signs of danger that you would advise people to look for?

what should they be looking out for, let's say if they are getting together with family members for the holidays? >> sure. so i would say, in addition to what any medical professional would say about engaging in safety precautions relevant to covid and to flu season. when you're looking at signs for behavorial differences, you know, you really say, is someone drinking more than they usually do? are there weight changes or appetite changes or sleep changes with your immediate family that you're noticing? but also that engagement with people on, you know, really feeling a deep connectedness. you know, social media has really assisted us to feel like we're engaging socially and getting our social needs met in a certain kind of way, and particularly for millennials, for example, or other generations who are constantly in a feed of scroll whether it's tiktok or instagram or other social media. i'm getting some social needs met, but a lot of that is strangers, not a real deeper

connection with someone that cares about you and you care about. so really intentionally seek out people who you know and care about, but who you haven't seen in a while or who need some of that additional outreach. >> there is still a stigma for some people when you talk about the word "therapy." do you see that changing at all, especially in 2020 with so many people just really stressed out? >> it's enormously changed. i can tell you people -- people are really able to say to each other in a new way, man, i'm struggling. that people just weren't capable of saying much -- as much before. i think it's also, it's the new normal that knowing when to ask for help and being able to ask for help is very often the healthy thing to do. it's also accessing mental health services, it has completely changed since march when -- when california's shelter in place conditions started to take place.

i can tell you that blue shield of california, before covid we had a small percentage of people seeking message health services through telehealth and telebehavorial health. that access has exploded and access to mental health services in your own home has become an increasingly, increasingly more the way people seek these kinds of services. >> all right. well, obviously it's going to be a topic we'll be talking about as we get closer to thanksgiving and christmas. david, thank you so much for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> david? here at abc 7, we're going to have a lot more stories like this one all week long focused on the new way to holiday as we build a better bay area. and today obviously we're focussing on your mental health. the rest of the week, we'll look at how the holidays are reflecting all of our building a better bay area content areas, the economy, education, our changing workplace, along with race and social justice.

a controversy -- the secret pact some moms are making. who's supporting prop 15? joe biden. biden says, "every kid deserves a quality education and every family deserves to live in a safe, healthy community. that's why i support prop. 15." vote yes. schools and communities first is responsible for the contents of this ad.

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who's supkamala harris.5? harris says, "a corporate tax loophole has allowed billions to be drained from our public schools and local communities. no more. i'm proud to support prop 15." vote yes. schools and communities first is responsible for the content of this ad. all right. time now for the 4 at 4:00. drew and ama are joining us. ama, the customary wave. are we going to get that? there we go. right on the money. i missed that. >> i don't disappoint. >> health officials are sounding -- i would never -- in utah, they're sounding the alarm about a group of parents accused of secretly agreeing to not test

their children for covid-19. the so-called mom code group on facebook is reportedly trying to make infection numbers appear artificially low in an effort to keep schools open. messages like stay home, don't get tested are circulating online. health officials say while they don't know how any parents are actually taking part in this, they warn those who do could be contributing to the spread of covid-19. i just have to say off the top here, this whole don't get tested is so ridiculous to me. if i run out the street right now and tear my acl, i still have a torn acl, whether i go to the doctor to get tested or not. >> right. >> i still have the problem. >> nope nope nope. >> it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. >> if i close my eyes, then the three of you don't exist right now. poof. >> i know that's your -- that's your wish, but that is not reality. and so, ama, as the parent of a toddler here, what are your thoughts of -- i mean, if you had other moms and dads saying, you know, oh, let's just send

little johnny to school with ama's kid. so what if she doesn't know. your reaction would be? >> okay. so my -- my calm reaction would just be, look, if you have to have some sort of secret group, it's possible it's not a great thing that you're doing. if you really want me to go into it i would say, come on, what's wrong with people? like, seriously? this is a serious thing. it's not -- we're not helping each other by doing that and we really need to help each other. and, okay, so you don't get tested, you keep your kid home and think, oh, it was only a couple of days. it was probably just a little virus and we'll send him back. no, it was covid, you know, and then you're exposing everybody else. like, everybody else has a right to know, you know, if they've had an exposure. >> all right. mama ama has spoken. we're moving on. >> i have. >> all right. the department of health and human services has apparently scrapped a $250 million public service campaign that would have santa performers promote the

benefits of a covid-19 vaccine in exchange for early access. this is according to "the wall street journal." it reports that an hhs assistant secretary came up with a plan to include santa, mrs. claus and elf performers. the chairman of the fraternal order of real bearded santas testified at an hhs meeting, urging early vaccinations for the performers. well, drew, what do you think about that? early access. >> wait, i'm confused. explain this to me again. >> it sounds like they would have been part of this promotional campaign, ho ho ho, you know, and then -- >> uh-huh. >> then they would get early access to the vaccines. >> am i the only one that did not understand this? i'm having a hard time figuring out -- >> i'm still stuck on the fact that there is a fraternal order of real bearded santas. >> right. there is just so much in that

topic that i'm very confused as to what they were going to do. i'm so sorry. >> we can -- we can move on. when santa -- when santa has a doct doctorate in medicine, i'll pay attention to him. >> i totally lost it. >> thank you so much for preparing ahead of time. everything old is apparently new again, and that goes for entertainment. sales of the classic board game monopoly are soaring as families look for some good old fashioned fun in the wake of the pandemic. hasbro reported a 21% spike in sales. hasbro's overall revenue dropped 4% because of tv and film production delays. so we ask, what old game would you like to play again? kristen? >> me? we do play monopoly. not so frequently but we do enjoy it. i like life. don't you guys like that?

spin the wheel of life. >> yes. >> somehow you get penalized financially if you have a boy or a girl and kids, which is so true. so that's a fun one. what about you, ama? what do you like playing? >> you know, i was never huge on monopoly. i liked clue. chutes and ladders. candiland. you know, all those classic board games. those are fun. >> drew? >> drew? >> yeah, we play a lot of life in this household. we also play a lot of set hers of katan. have you played that one? >> it's too complicated for me, but i know a lot of people love it. >> it's not that complicated. it's a lot of fun if you want to burn several hours. it's a great way to do it. >> sounds good. >> excellent. >> all right. my turn again? okay. with so many things different this year, families are finding creative ways to celebrate halloween and one father came up with a costume that's right on trend. he created a zoom costume for his daughter, replicating the

zoom interface with nine spooky participants. look at that. they include photos of his daughter dressed as a classic halloween character like a witch or a dracula. there is the actual her in the middle box. if someone gets close enough to her, they will appear in the box thanks to an ipad with a front-facing camera taped to the board. that is so cool. >> wow. >> yeah. >> it's not what i was expecting, though. >> what? >> i expected to see the girl with the tv or screen-type box on her head or something. i don't know. that wasn't exactly what i was expecting. >> yeah. i need to see it on. you know, drew? >> yeah, i agree. does she walk around with that thing? like, i mean, because we doesn't see her -- >> i don't know. >> head to toe. that's what i was looking for as well. then she would be in the middle. but the fact that he came up with it and if you come close, then you're on the screen, i think that's really cool.

drew, what do you make of this? >> i think it's cool. people are getting very creative trying to find different ways and this is a cool way to do it. >> yeah. >> agreed. agreed.

has anyone tallied up how many hard more breaking news. another live picture from capitol hill where we are awaiting the final vote on the nomination of judge amy coney barrett to the supreme court. mitch mcconnell there. the vote expected to fall along party lines. the republican majority is going

to push the nomination through, despite pleas from democrats. we'll continue to follow the vote and bring you the results as soon as that vote happens. with health leaders discouraging traditional trick or treating on halloween night, the community is getting creative to help people enjoy the holiday in a healthy way. abc 7 news south bay community journalist dustin dorsey shows us scary ideas. >> halloween 2020 may seem like a fright nobody wanted to see, masks being used to safety, not scaring, cleaning supplies as a costume idea, and now state guidelines strongly discouraging everyone's favorite all hallow's eve activity. >> the whole act of coming to doors in groups, digging through buckets of delicious candy create a risk at spreading covid-19. >> reporter: budget with all of that said, that doesn't mean you can't find some safe

alternatives on october 31st. >> i have been waiting for you for a very long time. >> it's great to sit up here on the porch and just watch the kids and the adults. we get probably 50% of the people that come don't have kids and they're playing and laughing and everybody loves halloween. >> reporter: in september we introduced you the owners of the house on emory street who decorated their yard early to bring some smiles to the community and it's fairly safe. the eerie sounds and creepy sights spread joy not coronavirus. >> nobody touches anything except with your feet. i've got step pads set all the way down the sidewalk here. each step pad controls a different it's very much corona safe. >> reporter: just down the road in san jose, a yearly viral sensation has become one of the best ways to be socially distant and enjoy the halloween lights. ♪ >> for the last eight years or

so we've put up this -- the animated faces and we have them sing to music. they sing to you. >> reporter: nathan and amy lambert took their love for halloween and created a 30-minute-long light show. in 2020 it still awes crowds and allows them to stay safe without even leaving their car. >> we have it set up with a small range transmitter so that people can actually tune into the radio and listen in their car and still enjoy it. this covid thing kind of has everybody trapped. they want to get out and still celebrate. i think halloween is just the beginning of that celebrating. >> reporter: halloween is in no way cancelled this year, so grab your favorite festive mask and enjoy some scary, safe fun. in the south bay, dustin dorsey, abc 7 news. >> this is the rare year where everybody's in a mask. 24/7, 365, pretty much. drew, give us an update on the forecast and will these winds

die down at any time soon? >> yeah, the good news, larry, is that for much of the bay area, the red flag warning will expire in about ten minutes at 5:00 p.m. however, the north bay mountains and the east bay hills, it does remain windy with that red flag warning continuing until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. so here are those winds early tomorrow morning. it does turn breezy. and, again, it looks like close to sunrise tomorrow. we'll find some gusty winds in the north bay mountains before the winds really back off by lunchtime and the red flag warning expires in the afternoon. accuweather seven-day forecast. windy in the hills. winds subside wednesday. that will lead to cool mornings, the fog comes back friday. right now, halloween, guys, looking really nice. mild temperatures. partly cloudy skies. we turn our clocks back one hour early sunday time begins.

the sun is going to go down by 7:00 p.m. >> no, no. >> i know. >> i like it staying sunny. >> i don't. a woman on sonoma is going to be competing on "jeopardy" tonight. maintaining distance from host alex trebek. a tasting host at buena vista winery. watch her on "jeopardy" at 7:00 right here on abc 7. man's best friend going beyond the call of duty. up next how this pooch is helping overworked fir

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it's super important to me. i was noticing that i was just having some memory loss. it was really bothering me. so i tried prevagen and it started to work for me. i wish i had taken prevagen five or ten years ago. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa

coming up tonight at 8:00, it's dancing with the stars followed by emergency call at soc. then stay with us for abc 7 news at 11:00. through pet partners we've been certified as an animal assisted crisis response team which allows us to go to more stressful situations. this fire season we've been to the woodward fire, glass fire, creek fire down by fresno and the august complex fire. >> she was out there every single day at our base camp. it connects them.

no matter what's going on in their lives and the trauma they're seeing on a daily basis they're able to destress. we had crews from all over the country that had been gone from their families weeks, months. she's been up and down the state. >> when we're out together visiting people she's just 100% with the person so she's just super loving. the fact that i have this amazing dog who can bring so much joy to others, it's just priveless. she's been so helpful to so many people. >> and she is definitely made for what she does, and she does do a great job of being a good therapy job for the public safety sector. finally the voting now is underway on the supreme court nomination of amy coney barrett. right now only one republican is

set to vote no, so she's exec today be easily confirmed, and amy coney barrett could be on the bench as ♪ 100% beef and hearty chili. try my $5.99 chili cheeseburger combo. it's pretty delicious.

but i can't say i expected this. because it was easy. try my $5.99 chili cheeseburger combo. 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. 100% beef and hearty chili.

try my $5.99 chili cheeseburger combo. it's pretty delicious. there's a lot of that going on today. the ferocious winds overnight either took trees down or made them unsafe to stay. one tree trimmer says he has never been busier. also ahead fire in solano county. the smoke from this one has been a real problem. and the high winds and extreme fire danger are very real. tens of thousands of people are without power while some are starting to get the all-clear. we begin with those strong winds that battered the bay