alameda county gives the green light for students to return to class. what needs to happen first. new video shows cars stuck on high water in a parking garage in mississippi. zeta is wreaking havoc on millions. >> and shattering records. what we're seeing with just five days until the end of voting. plus the sports venue that will transfer into a voting site starting saturday. >> have you been washing your hands with soap and water a lot? >> a new way to holiday even for santa. we'll show you how st. nick is changing his workplace to make sure he can still visit all the kids this year. honestly, santa is the og essential worker. good morning. >> i mean, you tell no lies, jobina. >> i'm saying, rain, sleet, snow, hurricanes, he's there. good morning. it's october 29th. >> let's check in and see what the forecast has in store.

hey, mike. >> hey, reggie. good morning to you. jobina, and also frances joining us this morning. we'll get back to them in a second. let's show you what's going on. a calm and cool night out there. there are a few clouds developing near the coast. we'll keep an eye on those. for the most part as you can see from our exploratorium camera, it's a clear and quiet morning. that will lead to a tranquil afternoon with warmer than average temperatures from 67 in half moon bay with low to mid 70s around the bay. even a 77 in fremont. some 80s showing up around morgan hill, livermore, concord, fairfield, santa rosa, lake port and ukiah. we'll look at your weekend forecast, nothing too scary there coming up and the latest on zeta as well. we know one of the biggest questions for parents right now is when can your kids go back to class? alameda county says middle and high schools can reopen as soon as november 9th if they have a plan. education is one key area we're

focusing on in our effort to building a better bay area. amy hollyfield is live in dublin this morning with what's happening soon or maybe not so soon, amy. >> hi, jobina. yeah, just because you are allowed to reopen doesn't mean that you will. some parents have some questios including the crowded hallways at high schools. they wonder how that would allow for social distancing. that's one of many questions being raised. yes. alameda county has just announced that middle schools and high schools can reopen in a week, november 9th. that's not this monday but the next if they have a safety plan. oakland and dublin schools, they've already kicked that can down the road saying they won't open until january and it will be the elementary schools that open first. one parent in fremont is on board with that idea. she has doubts about high schoolers staying six feet apart. >> i definitely would want to know what type of safety matters they'll take before kids touch

the campus. the hallways are so jam packed, i don't see how yet even if it's a modified amount of students, how they can keep them six feet apart, not crowded, you know, not clustered and stuff. >> alameda county says one public school, one charter and 56 private schools have either reopened or announced they plan to reopen. it is up to each school district. it's not up to the county or the health department. so parents should contact their district to find out if their school plans to reopen. live in dublin, amy hollyfield, abc7 news. >> thank you. san francisco unified is also preparng for a return to in-person learning but it won't happen until at least january. in fact it could be longer before the doors are actually ready to reopen. according to the examiner, the district has completed assessments of about 36 schools so far for the first phase of hybrid learning. the hope is to have all 72 elementary schools and 12 early

education sites assessed by early decembero improvements can be made for the spring semester. tony thurmond is holding a virtual news conference today in support of proposition 15, that would change commercial and industrial property tax to be based on market value rather than purchase price. the proposition would provide new funding for schools. it does not affect private property tax. we head to the south bay, there's new fallout from a blatantly racist attack ad by a prominent silicon business valley business group. the silicon valley organization posted this photo on their website. it shows a group of black men rioting in a street and then it has the question, do you really want to sign on to this? the ad has since been removed. it was seemingly meant to sway voters away from san jose district council candidate, jake tonkil. he's running against deb davis who since renounced that

organization's endorsement. >> it was an attack on me in this race, but at the end of the day it was an attack on people of color and our political discourse. >> neither candidate in this race is racist or will tolerate any kind of racist behavior. >> in a release, the svo announced its president and ceo has been placed on administrative leave. it's hired a third party investigator to look into the incident. speaking of the election, we're five days away from the end of voting, so many ballots are flooding election offices nationwide. a record number of people are voting early. more than 75 million americans have already voted either in person or through the mail. to help voters get to the polls in the midst of a pandemic, the oakland a's are opening the coliseum as a voting site. that will happen from saturday through election day tuesday. >> it's a critical thing for our community to enable people to safely vote in a pandemic and to

ensure democracy has its day. >> in california early voting is at historic levels. 36% of registered voters in the state have already turned in their ballots. that's almost 8 million people. so what are you waiting for? we have voting resources on our website. this interactive map shows the early voting and ballot dropoff locations in the area as well as your guide to the 12 state propositions, go to abc7news.com/election. hurricane zeta weakened into a tropical storm but still causing havoc for millions of people across louisiana and mississippi. the new orleans area took a direct hit from zeta when it made landfall. two deaths are being blamed on the storm. powerful winds shredded trees and damaged buildings. >> it was a window of about 10 minutes, 15 minutes where it was intense and the tree just cracked. went over. it clipped the corner of my house and went into my

daughter's bedroom. >> i don't remember the last time we had a storm of this magnitude in october. >> right now you're looking at storm surge inside a casino's garage in biloxi, mississippi. zeta is the strongest hurricane to hit the continental u.s. this late in the season in more than a century. let's check in with mike nicco. mike, i know you've been following this as well. >> yeah. it's moving rapidly. it's in the beautiful southwest corner of north carolina where it's supposed to be leaf season. it's the most beautiful time of the year in this part of the country because of the yellows, the oranges, the reds. it's just phenomenal. people flock there from hours away every weekend. unfortunately all those tries are getting stripped. there's also the potential for flooding in valley town, cashiers, franklin and highlands where someone dear to me family's from. it's still packing 70 miles per hour winds. the fact it's moving so quickly

means it could have additional winds within the thunderstorms. look how wide the swath of radar returns are. all the way back to wichita, down towards oklahoma city and up towards boston. as it moves the next 4 hours at a 50 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour clip, flooding rain and wind will be an issue all the way through the mid la-atlanticd up towards boston. back at home, it's clear, calm, it couldn't be more tranquil. temperatures in the 30s and 40s in the north bay, 40s and 50s elsewhere. in emeryville, it's quiet, 51 degrees. everyone should have power back now. if you're working or learning from home, a great day, tranquil weather. if you're out swimming this afternoon, there are still some pools open doing lap swimming. that's a look at our weather. let's turn it over to frances and see what's going on with our traffic. >> hi, mike. good morning. it's looking good right now on the freeways. we're starting off with a live shot of the san mateo bridge.

traffic is flowing well in both directions. looking good as you make your way out of hayward into san mateo. foster city. we'll show you a live shot in the south bay, san jose, headlights are northbound 280, that's highway 17 coming out of the right-hand side of your screen through the santa cruz mountains. an earlier problem has been cleared on highway 17. we'll take you over to fremont, southbound 680 at mission boulevard, a car hit a deer. that's off to the right-hand side. not much trouble. just good news for computmuters northbound 680, an additional a express lane opens today. you may want to check that out. slowing for folks coming out of tracy on westbound 285 into the altamont pass. the drive time from castro valley to the maze is 13 minutes. it's looking pretty good. green also in the north bay. santa rosa to pet

on southbound 101. one route i pre-pandemic levels talking abo 880 and the bay bridge. that was the backup out of san francisco last night. the metropolitan transportation commission says traffic on the bridge has returned to about 90% of pre-pandemic levels. and it's all because the economy is opening up more. transportation officials say the solution is for more people to take public transportation. >> until that happens we'll see more and more and a building of traffic. the metering lights came on a while ago. they have stayed on. the experience people are having is real. >> the mtc says public transportation ridership is still down 90% across the bay area. coming up, some modifications in the plan to transform market street in san francisco. and an urgent alert about

health care data. cyber criminals are going after hospitals. plus a puppy shortage during the pandemic. no. what you can do if you're looking for a companion to join your family for the holidays. first, a look outsid

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. 5:13 on this thursday. let's open up the weather window and see what's going on from the exploratorium and pier 15 back across san francisco where it's clear and about 53 degrees. yep, going to need that heavier coat this morning. 40s and 50s through 7:00. 63 to 69 to 71 at the coast, the bay and inland by noon. 75 to 78 for the bay and inland neighborhoods. 50s and 60s at 7:00. it's quiet across the entire state with 60s and0s until you get down to los angeles and palm springs. don't forget, along with everything else going on this weekend, before you go to bed

after those halloween activities set your clock back one hour. enjoy that extra hour of sleep. let's get over to reggie with more news. >> thanks. the fbi is warning hospitals and health care systems about an imminent cyberattack that could lead to data theft and disruption of health care services. federal agencies say criminals are using ransomeware to scramble up health care data. they threaten it can only be unclocked once the target pays up. the group hit five hospitals with this malware this week. the chief executives of three major tech companies are in a showdown with lawmakers over how they moderate content. facebook, twitter before congress yesterday. it didn't take long for the hearing to turn contention. >> mr. dorsey, who the hell

elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report and what the american people are allowal to hear? >> we're not doing that. this is why i opened this hearing with calls for more transparency. >> the ceos all argued against repealing a key internet law called section 230 which protects online businesses for being held accountable for content their users create. a holiday surprise for staffers at facebook. all u.s. employees are getting the week of thanksgiving off according to an internal memo. it's meant as a reward for their work during the unprecedented challenges during the covid-19 pandemic. mark zuckerberg says the idea is to give as many people as possible a >> wow. how nice. this week on abc7 news we're looking at a new way to holiday. today we're looking at how santa's workplace has changed for 2020.

here's drew touma. >> have you been washing your hands with soap and water a lot? >> sometimes i do it more than 20 seconds. >> oh, excellent. >> reporter: this santa is coming to children online through a company called hire santa. which was featured a couple years ago on the show "shark tank." >> hire santa uses some of santa's friends to spread christmas cheer. >> reporter: a lot of these santa friends are older and at high risk for covid-19. to keep them and visiting children safe, the elves are making modifications for in-person visits. >> we're using what we call a santa shield, you still get that traditional santa picture but you're not coming into direct contact with him. >> okay. let's look at this boy here. he seems to be questioning the whole situation. i don't know if it's about the

shield, if it's about santa. if it's about the camera, whatever it is, he's in an entire mood. drew's complete report on santa's changing workplace airs at 4:00 this afternoon on abc7. we've all seen shortages of hand sanitizer and then there's the great toilet paper scare of 2020. now as 7 on your side discovered, dog lovers are facing a shortage of puppies, especially with the holidays coming. some people paid breeders up four figures and they have waited more than a year to receive their puppies. that wait is two years for certain breeds. >> i think we've maybe had maybe 15 puppies since the beginning of the year that have come through our shelter. >> shelters and rescue groups suggest adopting an adult dog or cat if you're looking for a companion to join your family in time for the holidays. the biggest pet rescue

flight in history took off from hawaii. more than 600 dogs and cats from shelters on the island boarded the freedom flight. they were taken to shelters in washington, oregon, idaho and montana to be adopted as part of the wings of aloha program which helps to ease overcrowding shelters in hawaii. many of the pets have been pre-adopted. if not, you heard that puppy short stage story, adopt, please. >> you know this is something you can do if you go to hawaii, in certain places. you can go to the shelter and you can go play with the dogs. you can even take them out for the day on a hike. you can't go to the beach. >> what? >> you can take them for a hike and bring them back. of course they would love it if you adopted them and got them back on a plane to the west coast. even if you don't, they get the opportunity to go out and enjoy nature with people and spend the goodness.ou.

>> a play date. >> a play date. on vacation. why not. >> yeah. i love it. that's awesome. adult dogs have their advantages also. don't forget about that. they're already trained, a lot of times you don't have to go through some of the hassle you do with a younger more energetic puppy. don't discount adults or older dogs also when you think about bringing one into your family. let's look at what's going on from the exploratorium. it's pretty clear across san francisco as we look back to the west from pier 15. total sunshine today with above average afternoon temperatures. it will be clear and cool tonight. look for more low clouds along the coast. a few of those may spill across the bay. a new month this weekend, even warmer afternoons. yeah. how about that? here's a look at the fog forecast. you can see it trying to get close to the coast this morning. we still have a light offshore breeze. that will bring us plenty of sunshine. as we head into the evening, the

sea breeze starts to return and the clouds will do the same. if you live inland, it will be clear and cold tonight. 75 to 80 through most of the south bay. that 75 sunnyvale, 80, los gatos. on the peninsula, 73 to 76. and around 66 to 68 on the peninsula coast. how about low to mid 70s in downtown and south san francisco and sausalito with 78 to 81 through most of the north bay valleys. about 73 to 77 along the east bay shore with oakland and castro valley at 76. we have 79 to 81 in the east bay valleys. here's tonight's temperatures, a lot of 40s out there once again. my accuweather 7-day forecast, not a drop of rain in sight. that is good for halloween and good for the election tuesday. reggie? >> thanks. some cyclists are disappointed by san francisco's new plan to modify a portion of market street. there's a budget gap and so they're not going to get their own separate lane.

designers shared this vision for market street between 5th andth streets. bicyclists will share the curb lane with paratransit vehicles, delivery trucks and taxis. muni buses will use the center lanes. originally the plans called for reshaping market street's sidewalks to allow room for a a. that idea is now too expensive. coming up, the 7 things you need to know this morning. and expanding travel testing. united taking off with a plan to

here's the 7 things to know this morning. number one, alameda county says schools can reopen for in-person learning next month if they have a plan. most say they're not ready in the midst of a pandemic. just five days until the end of voting and we're seeing record early voting across the country. in california, 36% of registered voters have turned in ballots. that's almost 8 million people. the fbi is warning of a major hacking attack targeting hospitals.

at least five hospitals have been hit this week and hundreds are at risk. number four, crews are working to restore power after tropical storm zeta ripped through louisiana, mississippi and georgia. outages affect 1.8 million homes and businesses. not your average afternoon coming up today with temperatures 4 to 8 degrees warmer than average. low to upper 70s. number six, you may have been noticing traffic getting more crowded, but right now at the bay bridge toll plaza, it's nice and quiet. number seven, bay bridge traffic is getting busier as the bay area starts to reopen. new data shows bridge traffic returned to about 90% of pre-pandemic levels. in today's "gma" first look, a major announcement for united airlines overnight. >> reporter: in this morning's "gma" first look, united airlines announcing its plans to begin testing all passengers on

select flights from newark to london. >> we can operationalize this type of testing to better support the need for travel and opening up markets again. >> reporter: the airline will offer a free rapid covid test inside its united club. the test is the abbott i.d. now, a molecular test widely used but not as sensitive as the lab-run pcr tests, and may not pick up pains with a low amount of virus in their system. this will launch as cases in europe are on the rise. >> this type of travel program helps reassure people that we're not importing the virus or contributing to its spread. >> reporter: coming up at 7:00 a.m., we'll tell you more about that test and its effectiveness. i'm geo benitez, abc news new york. the walt disney family museum is reopening next week. the museum is located in san francisco's presidio. it will open to guests starting next thursday, november 5th.

it closed back in march because of the pandemic. there will be new safety protocols including reserving tickets in advance, wearing a face covering and maintaining social distance. disney is the parent company of abc7. all right. so here's a fun and safe way to celebrate halloween and get your car washed at the same time. extreme wash in san jose opened the tunnel of terror. dustin dorsey checked it out in person. he will have an in-person tour, full tour of all of that later on in our newscast today on abc7. i'm continuing to watch this video because i always feel this way during a car wash. >> i know. this is -- this is creative. i'm down for this. >> yes. all right. >> that looks pretty scary. >> it does. >> and it washes your car?

>> double trouble. we're coming back with another full 90 minutes of news including the new school named after michelle obama celebrating its grand opening virtually of course. we'll show you inside the building. and check out the work that goes into making sure the correct person signed the ballot. and demand for grocery staples surging again as covid cases increase across the u.s. "gma" is looking into w

we've got a group of volunteers all klelined up. they're also excited. the race for a coronavirus vaccine gets back under way in san francisco today. a doctor explains why she's still confident about the trial that was put on pause last month. five days to go until

election day. president trump and former vice president biden holding dueling rallies in florida today. the latest on the campaign coming up. and a brand-new bay area school named after former first lady michelle obama. we'll take you inside today'stos virtual grand opening. >> let's check in on the forecast with mike nicco. it was nice in san francisco this morning. >> i bet it was. you have some of the milder temperatures there, while the deeper you go inland we're starting to see the 40s and 30s develop once again under a clear sky. want to show you live doppler 7. we've been talking about the marine layer and when it will return. you can see low clouds off the coast. that's where they'll remain. expect sunshine today. we'll jump from the 30s, 40s, 50s, into the 60s, 70s, 80s. there's a bit of a summer spread. 67 in half moon bay, 81 in livermore and concord.

82 in morgan hill. oakland, 76. 78 in san jose and napa. reggie? >> thanks. as covid-19 improves in some counties in the bay area, there's talk about when kids might return back to the classroom. education is one of the areas we're focused on as we try to build a better bay area. alameda county is saying middle schools and high schools can reopen as soon as next month if there's a plan in place. amy hollyfield is live in dublin where a lot of people have a lot of questions. hi, amy. >> hi. just because the county says they can reopen does not mean that doors to schools like this one will be swinging open in a week. alameda county just announced that middle schools and high schools can reopen in about a week. it's november 9th. not this monday but the next. if they have a safety plan.

parents and teachers are asking questions about social distancing. questions about crowded high school hallways. but also how you will keep the younger children spaced apart. >> we have 12 schools. some of our elementary schools have 1,000 students. so when you think of even if you do 50%, you're having a large number of students moving around. >> oakland and dublin school districts will not be opening when the county says it is okay. instead they have announced they will not reopen until january and even then it won't be the older kids, it will be the elementary schools that open first. alameda has been in the orange tier of the reopening plan for two weeks. that tier allows for school reopenings. the county had not given the go-ahead until now. ultimately it is up to the school districts not the county. alameda county says so far that one public school, one charter and 56 private schools have either reopened or announced

that they plan to reopen. still waiting to hear on the others. reporting live in dublin, amy hollyfield, abc7 news. happening today, a grand opening celebration in the east bail for the official mush shell obama school in richmond. they will host a ribbon cutting ceremony. the school was formerly called woodrow wilson elementary. the school board approved the name change in february. the pta starting advocating naming it after mrs. obama calling her a role model for children. the virtual celebration starts at 111:00 a.m. this morning. a race for the coronavirus vaccine gets back into week. volunteers in san francisco will begin getting vaccinated in phase three trials of astrazeneca's covid-19 vaccine. the entire stud by was put on

hold worldwide in september after a participant in the uk got sick. dr. susan bookbinder says it wasn't a bad setback. >> we're also really pleased that the usual checks and balances built into a particular study were actually being effectively used. >> reporter: after a thorough review by the fda, the company now says it is safe for the trial to resume. in the area, they expect about 500 participants. and despite the delay, she says she has not lost confidence. >> it's to be expected. that's going to happen in any trial. that doesn't mean it was the vaccine that caused the illness. >> the doctor says astrazeneca's vaccine may be available for a limited distribution early next year. five days remain until election day. both president trump and his democratic challenger, joe biden, are in the final sprint trying to sway any undecide

voters and the pandemic is playing a central role for both campaigns. here's elizabeth schulze. >> reporter: good morning. the united states elections project says more than 75 million americans have already voted in this election, that's more than half of the total vote count in 2016. and the early voting numbers are especially high in some swing states where the candidates are devoting the final days of the campaign. five days to go and a record number of votes cast. the final sprint of the race to the white house dominated by the coronavirus. as covid cases surge in 45 states and the death toll exceeds 227,000, both candidates are holding fast in their starkly differing views of the pandemic. >> hello, phoenix. >> reporter: in states like arizona where infections and hospitalizations are spiking, trump is flouting public health guidelines during packed rallies and downplaying the virus. >> a safe vaccine is coming quickly. you will have it momentarily, it

eradicates the virus. >> reporter: former vice president joe biden kept a lower profile on wednesday emphasizing the toll of the virus and the importance of science. >> i'm not running on the false promise of being able to end this pandemic by flipping a switch. what i can promise you is this, we will start on day one doing the right things. we'll let science drive our decisions. >> both president trump and former vice president biden will be in battleground florida today where they will court a shrinking number of voters who have yet to cast their ballots. almost 7 million people in the state have already voted. this is so interesting when you look at older voters. they play such a key role gets elected every four years for president. seniors favored president trump by 9 points in 2016. that helped propel him to victory. but now a recent "wall street journal" poll gives democrat joe

biden a 27-point edge among seniors. large numbers of retirees live in battleground states like arizona and florida. we talked to two voters who are voicing what's influencing their decision. >> the republican party left me. once i saw what trump was doing, i could no longer support him. >> before the covid came in, everything was on target. i feel as though he'll bring us back after this. >> census records show more than 70% of seniors voted in the last election. that's the largest turnout of any age group. >> we have plenty of voting resources on our website. we also have a guide to the state propositions. abc7news.com/election. coming up, business is booming at the port of oakland. the trend expected to continue through the holidays.. and a haunted house that was

months in the making. the owners talk about the hours of work it took to build this haunted mansion replica that you can now visit. first we check in with frances and a look at traffic. >> those are fun to look at. at leasts it gives the chance for the kids to do something. we have a treat on the roads. interstate 80 through berkeley. it's still quiet right now. a fire has been reported westbound 80 off to the right-hand side as you make your way towards cordelia junction. not really causing any slowing. 680 in walnut creek, southbound traffic is looking good making your way towards 24. 24 is problem-free through the kald kacaldecott and the maze. golden gate bridge, traffic is nice and light. we have lots of green everywhere across the maps except of course

as you can see for folks heading to the altamont pass. northbound 680, a new express lane opens from fremont to sunol. southbound 680 in mission, an accident is off to the right-hand side. mike has a good looking forecast as well. nothing too scary. hi, mike. >> that is correct. good morning. thanks for being with us this morning. let's look at some temperatures. going back to the east bay where it's 43 degrees right now. we have that same temperature in brentwo brentwood. it's cooler in san ramon, dublin and pleasanton, 42 degrees there. looking around, we have 39 in santa rosa. the cool spot. we have 50 in oakland and san jose and san francisco, 55. everybody else in the 40s. here's what's going on with your commute planner. have you noticed the roads getting more crowded out there? you may have to leave a bit earlier. the weather won't be an issue. grab that jacket if you're taking mass transit. remember to bring it home later.

clear and calmen c econditions n the water. let's jump ahead to saturday evening. the sun will set at about 6:11. look at the temperatures, mid 60s to mid 70s. it will get cool by the time we get to 9:00. mid to upper 50s for the bay and inland neighborhoods. 55 to 59, and 62 inland. it will be nothing but treats outside of dealing with covid-19. set your clocks back an hour before you go to bed that night. daylight savings ends. i forgot. how could i forget about this? i look forward to it every morning. it's our daily tiktok. all right. so have you ever wanted to stop a sneeze? i know, it's right there. it's right there. you want to stop it. especially during the pandemic because people give you side eye when you sneeze. this video with some very creative life hacks is worth watching. check out your daily clip

sponsored by tiktok. >> these are life hacks that work. if you feel a sneeze coming on, put your finger on your upper lip and push in. if you have a long sleeve shirt, you want to roll the sleeves up, put a rubber band between the shirt and the cuff.

all right. welcome back. let's look at what's going to happen today. we'll break down the day depending on what time you're going to be outside. any time now through 7:00, we'll stay in the 40s to near 50. with the dry air and total sunshine, we'll warm into the mid 60s to 70s n localized sea breeze along the coast.

we will hit the mid to upper 70s elsewhere. back in the 50s and 60s if you're heading out for a walk around 7:00, which i did last night. it was really nice outside. friday's temperatures, 60s along the coast, san francisco, sausalito, 70s around the bay, 80s inland. saturday, a couple degrees warmer. sunday will be warmer than that. but there are a couple of chances of rain in next week's forecast. i'll have that coming up. jobina? >> thank you. breaking news. three people died after a terrorist attack at a church in southern france. moments ago france's prime minister just raised his nation's threa highest level. today's attack targeted a church in nice. police shot the attacker. he's now in custody. investigators believe the suspect attacked alone. this marks the third recent terrorist attack in france and comes just as the country prepares to go into another lockdown because of rising covid

cases. minutes ago the u.s. labor department released the latest weekly jobless reports. 751,000 people filed for unemployment last week. that's a slight decline from the week before. there are 7.76 million continuing claims. that's slightly higher than the previous week. also the bureau of economic analysts report shows the gdp rose by 33.1% in the third quarter. it follows last quarter record breaking decline in gdp due to the pandemic induced plunge. and stock futures are mixed this morning. dow futures are down about 50 points following yesterday's drop of 943 points. that was the biggest plunge we've seen since june. the nasdaq and s&p 500 are showing slight gains this morning. teb tech investors will be waiting for the closing bell when apple, amazon, took and alphabet will

report their july to september earnings report. i tried to do all of that without being distracted by that man holding whatever that was. the port of oakland said they had their busiest september in history with online shopping exploding during the pandemic. officials expect that trend to continue into the holidays. mike zampa says almost all of the ships that come to oakland have to stop in l.a. or long beach first and those ports are slammed now because there's a bottleneck of congestion. zampa says ships that get delayed in l.a. then show up to oakland. >> once or twice a month you will see a container ship at anchor in san francisco bay. they are waiting for a berth vacancy to tie up. >> he says he does not expect store shelves to be impacted during the holiday shopping season. most playgrounds and parks are back open in santa clara. city park staff have been power

washing and seasanitizing equipt and surfaces. most parks were closed since march due to coronavirus health regulations. an oakland couple has been working for months to give people a way to celebrate halloween safely. the couple transformed the outside of their home into a replica of disney's haunted mansion it features the characters, the sets, even the started working on in july. >> a lot of this was hand built, hand done, handpainted. about 500 manhours went into building this. we started putting this up second week of september. it took several weeks to install everything and the programming of the digital effects at night. >> the couple says anyone is welcome to swing by their home on the arrowhead drive nightly between 7:00 and 8:45.

it's a family friendly experience that runs about 20 minutes or so. masks and social distancing are required. road trip. mike, you have a car. >> yes. i definitely miss not being able to go to disneyland during this pandemic. that's always a tradition of ours to go in the fall preferably when it's decorated for christmas. but the haunted mansion at christmas or halloween, you can't beat that. that's so fun. i know what reggie is thinking. >> these men had the green coats they wear when it's colder outside that they wear at disneyland. did you notice the cast member name tags? >> i didn't see that. >> did they really? >> yes. the details. gentlemen -- >> i love the masks. that was great. >> so good. all right, mike. we have to go. >> all right. road trip. i'm probably the only one with a

we got rid of the miniva we can pile in there. >> styling. >> windows down, masks on. >> mm-hmm. >> right. everybody in the back seat all the way in the back and i'll be in the front. six feet apart. here's what's going on from the exploratorium. you can see it is a clear morning out there. one that will be full of sunshine for about ten hours and 42 minutes. that's all we get today. still we'll have above average afternoon temperatures. clear and cool tonight. look for a little more cloud cover along the coast spilling across san francisco tomorrow morning. a new month this weekend means even warmer temperatures. as we head deep into what is supposed to be winter we will get warmer. here's the two areas of high pressure. they are once again dominating our forecast. look at the jet stream. the storm track well to the north. nowhere near us. we'll try to get it closer to us next weekend. i'll show you that coming up. let's focus on today. 75 to 80 through most of the

south bay. 73 to 76 on the peninsula. 66 to 68 along the peninsula coast with sunshine today. low to mid 70s downtown, south san francisco, sausalito. upper 60s in the north bay coasts, but 10 to 15 degrees warmer inland with upper 70s to low 80s. east bay shore, 73 to 77. east bay valleys, 79 to about 81. tonight is another chilly one inland with 30s and 40s. few 50s around san mateo, oakland and san francisco and santa cruz. steady through saturday. more cloud cover saturday morning. nothing to be scared about. sunday will be warmer as is monday our warmest. increasing clouds tuesday and wednesday. still warmer than average. our chance of rain is possible next weekend. that's coming up next. >> thank you. no need to touch those freestyle soda machines. how coca-cola is updating its soda fountain for 2020. first a sign of winter. sky 7 capturing something pretty

cool over the water in pacifica. and it's changed. i used to have to sign a lot of checks. that's what it turned into. mismatched signatures, it's a common reason for a ballot being rejected. we'll show you how

[what's this?] oh, are we kicking karly out? we live with at&t. it was a lapse in judgment. at&t, we called this house meeting because you advertise gig-speed internet, but we can't sign up for that here. yeah, but i'm just like warming up to those speeds. you've lived here two years. the personal attacks aren't helping, karly. don't you have like a hot pilates

class to get to or something? [ muffled scream ] stop living with at&t. xfinity can deliver gig to the most homes. san mateo county using its event center as a super vote center. video shows the setup under way. there's going to be 20 voting booth set up six feet apart. the center will also have drive-through voting where the ballot will be brought to you. this will be open saturday through monday 9:00 to 5:00 and then tuesday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00

p.m. there's a risk our votes won't count if the way we sign our ballot doesn't match the way that is on file. a machine nicknamed betsy ross verifies the signatures on mail-in and absentee mroballots. if a signature cannot be matched pafter three passes through the machine, a human eye takes over. 99% get approved eventually. >> i just want to count the votes. i want to be sure the votes count. >> we continue to look for comparisons. so sometimes the ending is the same, or the beginning or the connecting of letters. there's lots of detail. >> so far marin county voters have submitted more than 100,000 ballots, that adds up to more than half of the county's registered voters. sky 7 spotted a sign that winter is coming. look at all the wales in pacifica yesterday afternoon. this is awesome.

the marine mammal center says they are humpback whales and there's been recent reports of them in the area. they're headed to the warmer water for the winter. i think that's just so beautiful. >> i know. wish i could see that in person at some point in time. hopefully. let's talk about what's going on and take you to something not so beautiful. our drought monitor shows we have not changed since last week. that's good. even though we haven't had any rain. we're moderate to extreme. on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the worst, we're still 2, 3, 4 across the bay area. on monday, that storm pattern is still to the north. even tuesday they're getting more rain in the pacific northwest. wednesday and thursday and friday. but look at that next system coming down. there's the chance of rain saturday. the demand for groceries is skyrocketing again. in the spring we saw a 6,000 percent increase in the demand for pantry items.

demand is spiking again but not quite as high as what we saw. food manufacturers say they're upping production to meet demand andshortages. >> whatever can be frozen for the holidays, we're seeing a lot of that. >> we noticed an uptick due to the panic buying that's occurred. seeing huge spikes in tuna fish, pizzas are a huge thing. pizza dough is big. all the comfort foods. >> all right. "good morning america" will have a full report on grocery demand skyrocketing coming up on "gma" at 7:00, right here after abcnews.com. and new at 6:00, speeding up traffic through the sunol grade. the new lane opening up today. and setting up black students for success. the plan one coalition has pitched to the school board in oakland. and backlash over what's being called a blatantly racist political attack ad

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i definitely would want to know what type of safety matters they will take before kids touch the campus. at 6:00, questions from parents about in-person learning. alameda will let middle and high schools open last month but just because they can reopen doesn't mean they will. the roadblocks still ahead. controversy over this political attack ad. why the prominent silicon valle it down. just five more days until the end of voting. the mail-in ballots are pouring in. there's a new poling place in the east bay for people who have not cast their ballots. >> good morning. it's thursday, october 29th. we will start withgist mike nicco with that accuweather forecast. hi, mike. >> good morning. hi, everybody. let's talk about what's going on outside. it's really quiet out there.

a silent night if you will with just a breath of wind at concord and also in san jose. 5 miles per hour. the rest of us calm and clear. you can see the marine layer clouds are well off the coast. that's where they'll stay for today. total sunshine. the coast will hit the mid to upper 60s. low to mid 70s around most of the bay. upper 70s and 80s in the inland neighborhoods. we'll look ata warm weekend coming up in the accuweather 7-day forecast. let's get back to jobina. >> thank you, mike. we know one of the biggest questions for parents right now is when can your kids go back to class? alameda county says middle and high schools can reopen as soon as november 9th if they have a plan. education is one key area we're focusing on in our effort to building a better bay area. abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield is live in dublin on what may or may not happen any time soon. good morning. >> good morning, jobina. they can open but will they? parents still have a lot of questions. one