>> all right. let's talk about what's going on with your weather. happy thanksgiving to you. thanks for joining us. grateful for you to be with us today and every day you can be. let's look at what's going on outside. we talked about those breezes, they are sure enough showing up in the east bay hills. it is rocking and rolling this morning with gusts up to 25 to 35 miles per hour. and that's going to be the case in our hills as we head throughout the day today. that will put a little bit of a crimp in your outdoor dining as those breezes will make their way down to some lower elevations as we head deeper in the forecast. in fact, the winds up to around 40 miles per hour in some of the north bay, even 50 miles per hour up around st. helena, 35 to 50 in the east bay hills and the diablo range. at the surface, winds up in the north bay, 15 to 20 miles per hour. that's keeping temperatures there up to 15 degrees warmer than 24 hours ago. while the rest of us are significantly cooler. when you look at the thermometer

or your phone, our app on the phone to see the temperature, subtract about 3 to 6 degrees from that. that's what the windchill will feel like. this afternoon, how about low to mid 60s from the coast to our inland neighborhoods. let's get the news on this thanksgiving. here's kumasi. good morning, by day for staff and volunteers here at glide. volunteers are busy setting up tables and putting up signs. the tables are set up to allow for social distancing, aside from those few changes it will be the same glide thanksgiving meal that thousands demand on each year. glide has continued to serve food three meals a day since the start of the pandemic. that has not stopped. organizers say there was never a doubt they would do

thanksgiving, the issue was how. so moving the event outdoors solved that problem. thankfully no rain. they plan to serve 2,300 meals. one of the organizers says because of covid-19 this year's thanksgiving brunch is even more necessary. >> covid is affecting all of us, but it's affecting our community even more. most in need are the most that are suffering this year. so this year is more important than ever. >> now, normally they have about 300 to 500 volunteers, but this year because of covid-19 and social distancing, there's only 100. we'll talk more about that coming up at

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are helping their communities this thanksgiving. christ episcopal church will deliver meals to families in need starting at 7:30 this morning. memb a celebration will be held at noon with live music at laurel and front streets. the sonoma storm community center made their help this holiday season safe with drive-through meals. you can give where you live and make a difference this season. go to abc7news.com to find a donation link right on the home page. developing this morning, the supreme court has blocked new york's covid restrictions ruling against attendance limits in houses of worship and in favor of religious groups. this is the first show of conservative strength on the bench. weeks after being confirmed, justice amy coney barrett casted

a pivotal vote. she sided with the court's conservative majority insisting those limits on religious gatherings are a threat to the first amendment. the u.s. is seeing a big jump in covid-19 deaths. abc news received an internal memo from the health and human services department. it says more than 11,000 deaths recorded in the past week marked a 36% increase compared to the week before. despite all of this millions of americans are ignoring cdc guidelines and traveling for the holiday. abc news reporter elizabeth schulze shows us the point impact. >> reporter: good morning. while many americans are forgoing traditional thanksgiving plans today, more than 50 million people are expected to travel by plane or car this holiday. the results could be another spike in covid cases just in time for christmas. as the daily death toll from the virus climbs towards an all-time high, millions of americans are ignoring a cdc plea not to

travel this thanksgiving. >> we just try to be as safe as we can and get home and see family. >> reporter: health officials are fearing large crowds will exacerbate the pandemic. >> we are in a humanitarian crisis right now. >> reporter: the covid tracking project says 90,000 americans are hospitalized with covid-19, an all-time high. on wednesday there were more than deaths. >> i don't understand what 230,000, 240,000 deaths sounds like. >> reporter: while many cities and states face growing resistance to new restrictions, officials are reminding americans masks and testing remain the best line of defense. >> you obviously have to take a mask off if you're eating or drinking. try to avoid that as much as possible. >> reporter: the cdc is out with a grim new forecast this morning predicting up to 321,000 deaths from the virus by december 19th. elizabeth schulze, abc news,

washington. in the south bay, santa clara county is stepping up enforcement of safety regulations at businesses today. violators won't have a grace period anymore. this is the message from county health officials to everyone. >> do not have gatherings and do not travel, period. >> santa clara county says it hit a new high for daily cases with more than 500 on tuesday. grocery stores now have to limit capacity to 50%. retail stores are capped at 25%. and the use of face coverings inside businesses will also be enforced. new details in the race to create a covid-19 vaccine. a leader in that effort is admitting to a testing mistake. astrazeneca and oxford university acknowledged a manufacturing era. some vials did not have the right concentration of the vaccine. the group of volunteers unexpectedly got a better dose and seemed to be better protected than volunteers who got the two full doses.

that could put the test results in question. astrazeneca says the contractor was responsible for that dosage error. abc7 is committed to keeping you fully informed about every development with the covid-19 vaccine. so we assembled this abc7 vaccine team to bring you the most complete coverage as updates come in. thousands of people in southern california may have to eat their thanksgiving dinner in the dark. so cal edison is considering a public safety power shutoff to more than 85,000 customers because of increased fire danger. the utility wants to lower the risk of fires caused by damage to electrical equipment during wind events. strong winds are expected today with possible gusts of up to 45 miles per hour. you're also being asked to hold off on burning wood today. this is an effort to keep air pollution from getting to unhealthy levels. there's no spare the air alert in effect but the air district says the smoke from burning wood is a major source of air

pollution. it could be harmful to kids, the elderly and people with respiratory conditions. >> hi, kumasi. other than this morning, maybe this evening, there's no reason to be burning wood during the day for sure as temperatures will be very mild. hi, everybody. thanks for joining us on this thanksgiving. winds are a big issue in the overnight hours. there's your difference, a tale of two current conditions, if you will, as the north bay is exceptionally warmer while the rest of us are exceptionally cooler where we don't have the breezes. you can see it on the micro scale. danville in the middle of san ramon valley, because you get the breezes coming off mount diablo, you're at 47. blackhawk, 50. the rest of the tri valley in the mid to upper 30s. that's definitely a difference there. as you look around, we have 30s to 50s. watch out, the windchills will

make it feel like 6 degrees cooler. the breezes will be an issue if your outdoors today, especially up in the north bay and higher elevations. look at those temperatures in the mid 60s during the afternoon hours. for outdoor activities, breezy at times if you're exercising. a small craft advisory for the bay and a high surf advisory. the small craft advisory is through 3:00 this afternoon. north winds gusting up to 30 knots, up until noon today we have a high surf advisory for swells up to 24 feet. so, watch the waves from a distance if you can. kumasi? >> thank you. covid concerns are forcing parking lots to close near the south end of the golden gate bridge. this is a live look at the bridge right now. officials say the lots will be closed today through sunday. the pedestrian walkways on the bridge will be open. in the east bay, there is a new way that you can support artists and get some holiday shopping done. oakland's non-profit industrial art school the crucible is

holding its gifty craft show online. this is a first in the show's 17-year history. the virtual gifty features 80 local vendors. >> this is a really important opportunity for folks in the bay area to choose to shop local and choose to support artists when our community really needs that support right now. >> you can check out the virtual gifty at the crucible.org/gifty. they are also offering glass bloeri ing blowing and ceramic classes. a major change on a local high school campus. what is set to go away after more than three decades. happy thanksgiving. >> thank you. >> bye. >> bye. >> that was a shock. a south bay teen gets the surprise of a

welcome back. new details about the suspect in the deadly stabbing at a san jose church. police say fernando lopez stabbed five people at grace baptist church on sunday night. two of those people died. investigators say that lopez was homeless and a frequent guest at the church which often served as a shelter. in a joint news conference yesterday the police chief and the mayor expressed disappointment that he was even on the streets. they say he was deported three times before and had a criminal record. >> i cannot understand why a defendant with multiple prior convictions for domestic violence was released without bail on a new domestic violence arrest this june. >> lopez remains in police custody. the los altos city council voted to end a 35-year-old program that puts police officers on its high school campuses. the vote comes after complaints surfaced about the mistreatment of minority students at los

altos high school. the daily post quotes one former student who said police followed him to his car and randomly questioned him. a teacher told the council a mental health program should be created in its place. in the north bay, students in san rafael's miller creek school district will not be going back to school in 2020. in-person classes are suspended through the end of the year. marin county health officials are not recommending school closures, but the district is saying that it's being proactive because of the spike we're seeing in the county's covid cases. for now students in the district's four schools will return to remote learning. kamala harris is taking notice of a young artist in the south bay. tyler gordon painted a portrait of harris and launched a campaign to try to get her to see it. as dan ashley tells us, the teenager just received the phone call of his life. >> oh, my god. i'm overwhelmed with your -- the magnificence of your artistry.

you really have a gift! >> 14-year-old tyler gordon had been waiting for that call, but he didn't know if it would ever come. the teenager from san jose painted a portrait of vice president-elect kamala harris and wanted her to see it. >> she came from the bay area and i just felt really connected because she's working hard and her hard work did pay off. >> tyler's hard work paid off. she tweeted a time lapse video of himself painting. the video was viewed over 1 million times. one retweet came from chelsea clinton and in a retweet today tyler thanked her. >> one day when i'm in oakland i hope to meet you in person. >> me too. >> i just wanted to call to say thank you. >> in a later tweet, chelsea clinton suggested the painting go up at the vice president's residence. tyler has similar dreams. >> my dream is to paint the white house official portrait. >> maybe it's not out of the question. one dream today already came true. >> thank you.

>> happy thanksgiving. thank you. >> bye. >> bye. that was a shock! >> oh, my gosh. that was dan ashley reporting. and you probably remember that we did the story with tyler last year. the young artist painted j. lo and alex rodriguez and his dream at the time was to meet the couple. abc7 teamed up with j. lo's team to make it happen when she was performing there in 2019. >> you know what? he -- he's so talented. >> mm-hmm. not afraid. >> right? >> i love that. >> i like he's getting a good response from people. i need to learn how to paint michelle obama. i want to meet her. i need a lot of practice. >> but you got to meet oprah without having to paint.

maybe there's -- >> let me claim it. you're right, mike. >> paint michelle obama by numbers. that would not work. >> no. >> all right. let us know how that goes. we'd love to see it. let's look at what's going on. hi, everybody. thankfully you're with us on this thanksgiving. it's about 50 degrees from sutro tower. it's bouncing a bit. it's one of our sturdier cameras. it's definitely breezy out there. there's people on the roads this morning. essential workers, i appreciate you. sunny sky today, breezy, dry air and mild temperatures. clear, calmer and cooler. frost possible in our deepest valleys. that will continue through the weekend followed by mild afternoons. the storm track is back well to our north. not a cloud in site as the great basin high pressure is bringing the santa anas to southern california. an offshore breeze for us, but not quite as intense. we don't have to worry about

eating thanksgiving in the dark like they may have to. half moon bay at 61. san jose, antioch, vallejo, san rafael at 64. concord and santa rosa at 66. oakland today about 65. in fact, if you're going to be outside other than those breezes, it ought to feel comfortable until that sun sets at about 4:52. you can see we drop from the 60s into the 50s quickly. best time to be outside, 2:00 to 3:00. tonight the 30s, even around the bay. so we'll have low 30s to mid 40s. thankfully we continue have the winds. so we don't have to worry about a windchill tomorrow morning. it's going to be cold tomorrow morning, saturday morning, sunday morning. temperatures a bit above average from 56 to 60 at the coast, 62 to 66 inland. there's a slight chance of drizzle monday morning, otherwise it remains rather dry. kumasi? >> all right. thank you. "good morning america" is coming up at 7:00 on abc7. rob marciano is in connecticut with a look at what's ahead. >> good morning, kumasi.

great to be with you on this thanksgiving morning. the rain let up for now. it's been raining heavily here in connecticut as it has been across much of the east coast. you may have to deal with that if you're traveling here or have friends coming this way. we have travel trouble for millions not just because of the weather but because of the pandemic. millions are taking to the roads and skies despite urgent warnings about celebrating with others during this crisis. what you need to know before you start your journey and the best ways to stay safe. also ahead, thanksgiving 911. all the last-minute tricks, tips and hacks you need to know for the picture perfect dinner tonight. our chefs are standing by with the secrets you need for the ultimate thanksgiving meal. and they're answering your last-minute questions. love that. plus black friday boom. before you gobble up the turkey, get ready to gobble up the savings. becky worley and tory johnson are both here with huge deals on everything from apple watches to tvs and amazing bargains from

america's small businesses which we love to support. kumasi, i'm always great. for you, i see your partner reginald is taking the holiday off. thanks for holding down the fort, have a great holiday. >> love to see that. the holiday spirit is moving into the bay area. the installation opening in the south bay tonight. and some local families forced to figure out alternative thanksgiving dinner plans. why management decided to there's no bad time to start at amazon... ♪

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tonight is the first night of san jose's light the holiday nights in the heart of downtown. the city is creating an illuminated wonderland at placer de cesar chavez. you can drive around, you can take a walk if you want to check out the lights. the installation will be there through january 3rd. the old oaktree in downtown danville is lit up for the holiday season. the down held its popular event

virtually last night. organizers posted the video online with christmas carols and highlights from previous tree lightings. last night's event was done online to avoid people getting together and having a large gathering. people who do live in danville are encouraged to look at the tree next time they're downtown. >> thousands of people attend that event, you stroll through downtown, a lot of the local shots have coffee, hot hot chocolate. it's a good event. i'm glad they were able do it virtually this year. want to show you the windchills out there. concord where it feels 33 degrees. 37 in los gatos. 38 in oakland. so those winds are definitely having an effect on how it feels outside. they're also ushering in drier air. you can see around novato and napa, up in the north bay and also in san francisco, that will continue to get drier as we head through the day. my biggest concern for winds

will be in solano county, places like vallejo, benicia, fairfield, rio vista, vacaville, davis from 10:00 this morning to 5:00 this evening, prime hours to be outside, north winds at 20 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour, gusts up to 35 miles per hour. that could affect the outside dining and also if you're thinking about putting the holiday decorations up today, maybe wait until tomorrow when the winds won't be so gusty. kumasi? >> thank you. some bay area families are figuring out an alternative thanksgiving meal this morning. an employee at a restaurant tested positive for covid-19. so management decided to temporarily close the restaurant to have all the staff tested. marin county health officials started contact tracing. they don't believe any recent outdoor diners were at risk. dozens of customers who pre-ordered thanksgiving dinner now having to make other arrangements. >> i made a reservation for outdoor dining, i thought this place would be okay. it's closed.

>> we're visiting them. we were going to have an early thanksgiving today with them. now they're getting some chinese food and other things as a backup. >> the restaurant says all customers who pre-ordered meals will be getting a refund. still ahead on abc7 mornings, prison inmates ripping off the edd at a time when thousands are out of work. they need the benefits the most. the i-team is digging into the latest developments. and the president's decision to pardon former national security adviser michael flynn and how health insurance shouldn't be one of them. covered california is making health insurance more affordable for millions of us. even if you've looked before, you should look again.

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now at 6:30, preparing the thanksgiving turkey and tent. glide getting ready to take its annual holiday meal outside. the work under way now to make sure they can feed thousands this morning. millions of americans are on the move despite a warning from the cdc. the signs travelers will be seeing at one local airport. and let's take a live look outside this morning. if you are planning to get together for the holiday, mike is pinpointing the best pim for us time for us to be outside. it's thursday, november 26th. mike, i didn't get to tell you at the beginning of the show, happy thanksgiving. >> happy thanksgiving to you. i'm glad we could -- i'm thankful we could share this morning together. >> me, too. >> yeah. we hope reggie and jobina are having a nice time whatever they're doing. but we're in this together. so let's talk about what's going on weather-wise. i wanted to show you the east bay hills camera. it's clear.

it's also bouncing a bit as winds are gusting up around 20 miles per hour up there around grizzly peak. the winds are 28 in fairfield to nearly calm in other areas. that's creating quite a bit of discrepancy in our temperatures out there. look how fast these winds are, 24 to nearly 50 miles per hour in our hills. so once the sun comes up and we overturn the atmosphere, expect those breezy conditions to work into our neighborhoods. that's the only issue being outside today. total sunshine, dry air, temperatures from 61 to 66 degrees. i'll get more specific on outside dining coming up. here is kumasi with more news. abc7 news is focused on building a better bay area, and that includes finding a new way and safe way to holiday during the pandemic. glide memorial church is not preventing them from serving thousands of meals to people in need. anser hassan is live at the church in san francisco with what's changed this thanksgiving.

good morning. >> good morning. thanksgiving starts at 9:00 a.m. here. so volunteers and organizers are busy with the final round of preparations. behind me you can see three large tents set up outside because of covid-19. glide has been serving three meals a day throughout the pandemic. that has not stopped. organizers say there was never a doubt they wouldn't host thanksgiving, the issue was how. so moving the event outdoor s solved that problem and thankfully there's no rain. this is the 51st year they've been serving thanksgiving meals and it requires a lot of coordination. they usually have 300 to 500 volunteers, because of covid-19 and social distancing, this year they only have about 100. that presents some challenges but glide's george gundry says they're making it work. >> we're going to be more strategic with them. we'll have servers. we'll have bussers. we'll have hosts and everybody will be pitching in and, you know, we'll make it happen.

>> glide will serve 2,300 meals this morning plus volunteers will go out and serve 200 boxes. it all starts at 9:00 a.m. reporting live, anser hassan, abc7 news. >> thank you. and let's take a live look right now at the salvation army in san francisco. hundreds of volunteers are picking up these pre-packaged meals to deliver to people who live in communities nearby. the meals include turkey, stuffing, vegetables, fruit, cookies and juice for families. the salvation army is providing a record 4,800 meals this thanksgiving. other groups in the bay area are getting into the giving spirit. san francisco city impact will serve people in need in the tenderloin starting at 9:00. the san francisco county sheriff and the fire chief will be leading an effort to deliver thanksgiving meals to seniors. that starts at 10:30. in the east bay, volunteers with the oakland mutual aid collection will distribute 1,000 thanksgiving meals and reusable

masks. that starts at 11:00 outside of the planet fitness on macarthur boulevard. more americans need help this season because of the economic downturn. lines stretched for miles at some food banks and charities. close to 780,000 people filed for unemployment last week. restaurants in l.a. county have been ordered to close outdoor dining so now they can only do takeout and delivery. >> we have to look at our roster and say, like, okay, who will we call to tell them they don't have a job right now. i get it. this is what we need do, but to ask business and even individuals to stay home and to lockdown and to not go to work without providing any real tangible aid is irresponsible and it's bad business. it's poor leadership. >> feeding america estimates 50 million americans will have faced hunger at some point this year. and that is up from 35 million

before the pandemic. there are a lot of people who need help right now in the holiday season. some for the very first time because of the impact of this pandemic. you can give where you live and make a difference this season. go to abc7news.com to find a donation link on our home page. a record number of travelers are hitting the roads and the skies this thanksgiving. the tsa says more than 5 million people have flown since last friday. some airports are packed despite cdc warnings to stay home. where are people heading? big cities are not a destination for many travelers. >> instead of people traveling to more major tourist destinations, we're seeing a lot of hometown cities start to rise in popularity. so places like dallas, philadelphia, nashville are all topping the list this year compared to last year. >> officials say since the pandemic started the busiest travel day at most airports is expected to be this sunday. travelers at mineta san jose

international airport will see these signs. they're reminding everyone about california and santa clara county's recommendation to quarantine for two weeks after a trip and to get tested. abc7 news reached out to sfo and oakland international airport neither has those signs because there are no county requirements. the majority of bay area counties are in the purple tier as you can see in our exclusive interacting tracking tool. you can go to abc7news.com to check the status of your county any time. president trump will be taking part in a thanksgiving video call with members of the military today. this comes after his decision to pardon former national security adviser michael flynn. abc news reporter elizabeth schulze tells us why sources say we can expect more pardons in the coming weeks. >> reporter: this morning, democrats speaking out against president trump's decision to pardon former national security adviser michael flynn. >> it makes a mockery of our democracy to those watching from around the world. >> reporter: trump tweeting, it

is my great honor to announce that general michael t. flynn has been granted a full pardon. fling pleaded guilty back in 2017 to lying to the fbi about his contacts with russia. but he's tried to take back the confession ever since. house speaker nancy pelosi slammed trump's decision calling it an act of grave corruption and a brazen abuse of power. but the justice department says the flynn pardon is obviously an appropriate use of the president's power. >> he should pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials to joe exotic if he has to. >> reporter: sources say trump is planning more pardons. >> this holiday season will be pardon palooza. >> reporter: but for now he remains focused on the election he lost. >> we have to turn the election over. >> reporter: trump calling into a meeting of pennsylvania republicans one day after the state certified biden as the winner. the state's former governor also a republican called wednesday's event bogus and slammed trump for his, quote, brazen attempt to undermine the republic. president-elect joe biden

says his family is scaling back their usually large thanksgiving gathering. he'll be spending the holiday with three family members, those who are tending were tested yesterday and also yesterday biden gave a message. >> i know the country is growing weary of the fight. we have to remember we're at war with the virus not with one another. not with each other. >> on monday the president-elect and vice president-elect are expected to receive their first high-level intelligence briefing. coming up, a spike in covid cases is making it tricky for contact tracers to keep up. the range of reactions they're getting over the phone. >> and we might not be able to see our loved ones for thanksgiving but one family found a funny way to still include grandma and grandpa in the gatherings. first we check in with mike nicco for our thanksgiving forecast. hi, mike. >> it's great to see them able to work it out. i miss my family today. they were supposed to be here as

i imagine you miss yours also. hopefully a little zoom, a little facetime later on today will make it better. let's look at what's going on from sutro tower. about 50 degrees. you can see it bouncing around a bit. winds around 20 miles per hour, 25 miles per hour on top of the tower. i see people on the road, if they're commuting, i want to tell you how it is to get around this morning and this afternoon. breezy in the hills all day today. it will chilly for any mass transit this morning. breezy and choppy on the water. let's look at temperature the down in the south bay. we're in the upper 30s to low 40s most areas. we do have 43 in san jose, one of the milder spots. you can see a lot of mid 30s in the east bay val lii ha val still a gorgeous afternoon today

with sunshine and breezy. those breezes may make it difficult for some of us have to have a quiet and calm thanksgiving dinner. look at the beaches. winds behind the swells are pushing those swells up to 24 feet. large erratic waves, long run up on the beaches and the risk of

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we have the power to harness abundant wind and solar energy, but it's not available all day long. use less from 4 to 9 pm and we can protect california for generations to come. check out this video from the slopes of heavenly in tahoe. doesn't that look enticing. looks like everybody is social distancing. it's open for the season along with several other resorts including squaw and northstar. ski resorts have limited day tickets and lowered the capacity inside shops. winter's here even though it won't feel like it here. let's look at the seven-day forecast for tahoe. they're making snow at night, that's all they can do with

temperatures in the teens and 20s. it will be cold today, 35, 45 tomorrow. closer to average in the upper 40s to upper 50s saturday through next wednesday. here's a look at around the state. winds will be an issue everywhere. windy up in tahoe. the santa anas kicking in. the possibility of power being shutoff in southern california for thanksgiving. that's just cruel. this is the wind we're getting, mainly solano county. gusts up to 35 miles per hour are possible. that will affect your outdoor dining. if you're thinking about decorating today, maybe do it tomorrow when the winds are less. our winds will pick up. we'll have gusts up around 25 to 30, which means they'll be below wind advisory levels. the higher in elevation you are, the closer you are to the north bay, the breezier it will be today. kumasi? >> thank you. new details about widespread edd fraud. prosecutors say tens of thousands of california inmates are involved in a scheme stealing upwards of a billion

dollars in unemployment benefits but how exactly did the name of convicted murderer scott peterson get included? i-team reporter stephanie sierra is digging into it. >> the short answer is there are a number of ways scott peterson's name could have gotten on this list. prosecutors say inmates are working with people both inside and outside the prisons to pull this off. but most importantly, for nine months now, the money is not getting to those who need it most. >> i'm down to my last package of ramen. >> matthew wilson barely has enough money to survive. >> it's getting desperate now. >> reporter: he's one of tens of thousands of californians struggling to get unemployment. meanwhile claims were successfully paid out under the names of tens of thousands of prison inmates across the state since march. how exactly? >> the information is being shared to people on the outside. so it's not just the inmates that are involved, it's people

on up outside because people have to receive the money. >> reporter: san francisco district attorney ann marie shuber is one of the lead investigators. she explains most inmates are asking partners outside the prison to file an unemployment claim with their social security number. >> make a phone call to, say, their friends or family and say can you file a claim on my behalf? we know that's happening because of jail communications. they oftentimes can use the jail phones to make the claims. they can use contraband phones, meaning illegal phones. >> reporter: from there the edd debit cards are sent to an address criminals stake out to access the money. in a few rare cases, the money is sent directly to the prisons. from march to august, 35,000 claims have been filed in the names of california state prison inmates including the names of 133 inmates on death row like scott peterson. >> is there any evidence to suggest scott peterson is involved in this? >> clearly, the claims were filed under individual's names. >> reporter: but as she pointed out, just because peterson's name is listed, doesn't prove he's directly involved. >> because john doe's name is on

the list does not mean john doe did it himself. it could be he was involved or it could be that someone else took his identity and did it on his behalf. >> reporter: governor newsom announced the office of emergency services will launch a task force to support investigations by local district attorneys. >> the governor's response is i'm going to set up a task force. just now? another task force? another strike team? i mean, mr. governor, get your head out of the french laundry and do your job. >> reporter: state assemblyman jim patterson sits on the budget subcommittee overseeing edd. he believes the agency could help facilitate the fraud. >> i think edd is a sort of dim witted accomplice in this. they were warned about it years ago and a continuing review by the california state auditor and absolutely did nothing. >> reporter: now people like

wilson are paying the price. >> christmas is a month away. there's people being evicted. >> reporter: prosecutors have said it is virtually impossible to retrieve the money that has been sent out as a part of this operation. now, we have tried to reach the edd again today but have yet to hear back. for the i-team, stephanie sierra, abc 7 news. >> that was a lot. many people have had problems with filing unemployment claims. michael finney and the 7 on your side team have been tracking issues. you can reach them and the i-team by going to our website, abc7news.com. salesforce is reportedly in talks to by workplace messaging app slack. the companies could reach a deal as soon as next week. slack's stock price jumped 37% to more than $40 a share once word got out. if this deal happens it would be salesforce's largest acquisit n acquisition.

zoom offering up a deal for you this thanksgiving holiday. since so many of us can't be with our families, the company is lifting its 40-minute limit on free video chats. it is already in effect. it's going to end tomorrow at 3:00 a.m. zoom wants to make it easier for you to spend time with your loved ones and it doesn't want the virtual gatherings to get cut short. okay. look at this story. a texas couple found a new way to share the holidays with their family including their grandson who is in marin county. this is what they came up with. since an in-person visit wasn't possible, missy and barry did the next best thing. the buchanans ordered two six-foot cardboard cutouts and mailed them to their daughter mindy. they warned their adult kids that a big package was coming in the mail. >> my mom said the other day it's been a year since noah give her a hug. that chokes me up.

but then, you know, i think also you get these giant six-foot cutouts. it's impossible not to laugh. it's just -- it breaks the tension. it just, you know, it's just such a goofy but serious reminder that, you know, this is but a blip in time. >> missy says the cutouts have already relieved some stress for her and her loved ones. she says the cutouts will be celebrating christmas with the grandkids this year. >> that's good. >> i'm here for it. it makes you laugh. it's almost like something you could kind of hug a bit even though it's weird, you could still hug the cardboard. >> nsnuggle up next to it. are you going to say grace this year? okay. that is fun.

who are you spending it with today? >> you know what? >> don't tell me you're going to be alone. >> i feel like i made myself a meal and i might enjoy my meal. i feel like -- with everything going on, what are the safe alternatives? >> right. i'm sorry. >> i'm fine, honey. i made some mac roroaroni and c, greens, peach cobbler, i'll be just fine. >> we're off at 11:30. too bad we can't spend it together. that would be nice. let's look at what's going on. from our east bay hills camera, we have 50 degrees right now. you can see it bouncing around as the winds are up around 20 miles per hour. look how clean that air is. we have cool, dry, clean canadian air taking over now. it will be sunny this afternoon. but it's also going to lead to cooler nights. frost is possible. if you were able to keep that tender vej tgetation alive thro

the last few frosts, do that again. we have a very dry pattern. look at the two areas of. pushing the storm track well to the north once again. with that clockwise flow, it's bringing us that drier air and warmer afternoons as the windy sends from high elevation to low elevation and compresses and heats and dries out. that's why we're left with 61 at half moon bay to 66 degrees today in fairfield and santa rosa is our spread. if you're going to be outside. let me warn you about the breezes. %-p bay and the north bay, more so than elsewhere. temperatures low to upper 60s for a couple hours this afternoon. that's fantastic. tonight you can see the 30s taking over. even a 32 in santa rosa. mid 40s as mild as it gets tonight. same type of temperatures for saturday morning and saturday afternoon we'll warm up a couple degrees. a few high clouds holding steady

sunday. with that cold front monday, cooler after that drizzle. we warm back up tuesday and wednesday with more sunshine. >> thank you. just a heads up, you can expect to see extra officers on the roads today. the chp maximum enforcement period started at 6:00 last night and ends sunday at midnight. officers will be out looking for people who are driving drunk or high over the holiday weekend. the explosion in covid cases made it pretty much impossible for contact tracers to keep up. kate larsen spoke with a bay area contact tracing team about this unprecedented challenge and they're facing it on a daily basis. >> in the last two weeks we've been slammed. >> reporter: pre-pandemic she was a librarian.

now she leads a team of contact tracers in the city who's work load has increased to nine or ten calls a day. some of which cause hours of counseling. >> talked to a mother of a newborn who was a positive case. she was having a hard time figuring out how to isolate and take care of her newborn baby. we got emotional on the call. >> it was halloween day and i was chatting with people. i was like oh my gosh, you feel a surge is going to happen. >> it's clear that christina was right. christina, another librarian turned contact tracer calls people who tested positive for covid and investigates who they may have infected. >> during that infectious period that people are maybe like, oh, i went to a party and there were like ten people and then i went to a bar. >> when you do talk to someone who's positive, are they always forthcoming about people they've been in contact with? >> i want to say yes, but not always. some people don't want to modify their behavior. >> san francisco's covid cases are now more evenly distributed across the city and are impacting a higher percentage of

white people than previous surges. christine says she has talked to people taking advantage of the openings. >> doing all the things like having lunch with friends or going to the nail salon or the gym. >> her advice? >> what i tell my 24-year-old daughter is just keep your contact list short. >> reporter: kate larsen, abc7 news. two bay area college students are partnering with a downtown san jose coffee shop to feed people in need. a few days ago libby and laura opened this community fridge outside of paper moon cafe on north 2nd street. this is the first community fridge in san jose. the idea is simple. anybody can drop off food to donate and anyone can get food when they need it. >> when we first started people were like are you sure it's free? what is it? what's going on? it takes a bit to kind of get the idea. now that we've been here for a few days, there's people who come and take regularly and people who come and give regularly. >> reporter: the organizers are

accepting cash donations as well as produce, canned food and other staples. you can find out how you can help on their instagram account, it's san jose community fridge. michael jordan is donating 2 $2 million to fight hunger. jordan says the money comes from the proceeds that he earned from the last dance documentary. that money will go to the non-profit feeding america. jordan said in these challenging times and in this year of unimaginable difficulty because of covid-19 it's more important to pause and give thanks. yes. coming up, adorable rescue dogs from northern california got a lot of attention for these halloween costumes. we'll show

welcome back. four rescue dogs are giving us a preview of what we could be looking like at the end of tonight. ♪

oh, no. so it appears -- my goodness. i cannot. they had an early thanksgiving feast. anna schwab shared this video on her facebook page, the rescue boys. the caption reads when you say you're stuffed and the pie comes out. these dogs are good sports about the holidays. last month schwab shared a video of them with their different holly hanuho halloween costumes on. do you think this outdid the halloween costumes? >> the halloween costumes were so cute. but this in a different way,ya. because this is more representative of the rest of us just not kids. this is all of us in about 12 hours. >> right? the little legs up in the air. so cute. >> my gosh. that's the best part. we eat early, like at 2:00,

3:00, we eat again at 8:00, you're so stuffed you try to put another piece of pie down there. you end up passing out on the couch or in the lay-z chairz chz that. thanks for being with us. let me tell you about some issues out there. high surf advisory until noon. don't turn your back on the water. admire it from a distance. also we have the fastest winds blowing through solano county at 10:00 this morning through 5:00. outside dining could make it a little more difficult. and you may want to put off putting up the holiday decorations until tomorrow when the winds are not nearly as gusty. here's a quick look at what will happen during our prime outside dining times. low to upper 60s with sunshine. have a great thanksgiving. >> that will be nice weather. we thank you for that. and i'm thankful for you this holiday, mike. happy thanksgiving. happy thanksgiving to everyone. >> you, too, kumasi.

>> have a good day. >> let's make it a good one. good morning, america. thanksgiving travel trouble. more than 50 million people expected to hit the road and the skies despite that cdc warning to stay home for the holiday. the busiest travel day still ahead as cases surge across the country and hospitalizations hit another all-time high. this, as the economic fallout grows. hundreds of thousands apply for unemployment this week. food banks across the country trying to feed the hungry. breaking overnight, supreme court shift. the court ruling on covid restrictions blocking new york attendance limits in houses of worship and ruling in favor of religious groups. this hours after president-elect biden urged americans to stay home for thanksgiving with a call for unity.