benefits that are about to expire. and the bay area porch pirate who gets what he

. be no deal in sight, benefits could expire tomorrow. what it means for 3 million californians who are out of a job. >> doctors a job. we will exchange the challenges and risks firefighters are facing. >> i'm tracking more rain coming our way over the weekend. we will have all of the details in the accuweather forecast. "abc 7 news" at 11:00 starts now. building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. this is "abc 7 news". good evening and merry christmas. i'm dan ashley. thank you for joining us. uncertainty tonight in our nation's capital and for 14 million americans. their covid relief funds hanging in the balance. developing news tonight about the stimulus bill. if the president doesn't approve

this deal, federal unemployment benefits could expire tomorrow. "abc 7 news" reporter matt boone spoke with a bartender who says a lapse in payments could not come at a worse time. >> as soon as it shut down, i was out of a job. >> reporter: san francisco bartender danny baker says he filed for unemployment benefits right after he lost his job in march. even with the monthly payments, it has been tough. >> everything that i saved over, you know, mikushon, you know, per se, it is gone. he is now worried that gridlock in washington could disrupt what little income he has. >> i don't even know what to expect because there's been so much political warfare, battle, you know, within all of this, that i almost don't even expect it to even go through. >> reporter: congress did pass the bill by a bipartisan majority last weekend. it would extend federal unemployment benefits through march, including the additional $300 stipend. but president trump says he won't sign it due to a

disagreement over the one-time stimulus check, tweeting, "why would politicians not want to give people $2,000 rather than only $600? it isn't their fault. it was china. give our people the money." in a rare christmas eve session, republican lawmakers rejected that increase. baker says without being able to work, he's had to make hard financial choices already like cancelling his health insurance. a delay in unemployment benefits would add even more stress, he says. >> it is still a struggle. it is kind of a, you know, pain going day in and day out, you know, just wondering how you will be able to pay that next bill. >> reporter: matt boone, "abc 7 news." we are helping build a better bay area with a focus now on health. the stay-at-home orders in effect in the bay area likely will remain in place past the minimum three-week duration. that's what state officials are saying tonight. the state now reports more than 2,040,000 cases, up 2% from the

previous day, an increase of more than 39,000 cases. globally, five cases of the new coronavirus variant in the uk are now reported in japan and one case in france. in addition to doctors and nurses, there is another group putting their lives on the line by helping covid-19 patients. "abc 7 news" reporter anser haasan gives you a perspective on how the pandemic is affecting firefighters. >> reporter: before most covid-19 patients are treated at the hospital one group comes to help first. >> if somebody calls for a covid emergency, we will be first there. >> reporter: and there's been a lot of those calls, especially since the recent surge in the bay area says zack unger, president of the oakland firefighters union. once on scene, the first responders are in direct contact with potential covid-19 positive patients. >> we end up having to go into a person's house, which is an enclosed place, and then often having to carry people out physically. >> reporter: armed with ppe, he says they're sometimes forced to wear more elaborate respirators

or special gowns. there are other risks such as coming into contact with other family members. unger says those risks place a huge burden on their own families. >> and i bring this home to my kids. what level of comfort do they have with us. it is really tough. sometimes your kids don't want to give you a hug when you get home from work. >> reporter: all of oakland's 435 firefighters were able to get vaccinated in the first tier of vaccination. in contra costa county firefighters will be vaccinated beginning on monday. >> to be operational, we can't do it with covid-infected employees. so we're hoping that the vaccine is going to help us to reduce that risk substantially. >> reporter: despite the personal toll, unger says it is an honor to serve the community, but ends by saying they need the community's help. >> i feel like if we can all really buckle down, stay home, wear your masks, we can get through this? >> reporter: in okay land, anser haasan, "abc 7 news". let's move on and talk about the weather on this rainy christmas night.

a live look outside after rain rolled across the bay area. visibility wasn't great on some san francisco streets. there were reports of isolated street flooding, nothing too serious. the showers did not stop people from getting outside however, as you can see here, just with their umbrellas. "abc 7 news" meteorologist drew tuma is here to tell you how long the wet weather will last. drew, merry christmas. >> merry christmas, dan. we are still seeing scattered showers out there on live doppler 7, specifically in the north bay right now. we will keep the threat of some showers at least through the next 12 hours. so the storm the big tick along with satellite. here is storm number one we are tracking for the weekend. number two is waiting in the wings. we have a wet 48-hour period ahead. we will go hour-by-hour in the rest of the weekend in a few

minutes. >> thank you very much. remember, you can track the rain and check weather conditions where you live any time on abc7news.com and our free abc 7 bay area news app. a woman survived after her car went off a cliff at san francisco's fort funston. the car crashed on to its roof on the beach below. the woman is in serious condition tonight, as you can imagine, but she did survive. firefighters say she was thrown out of the car before it landed like this, which is why perhaps she survived. it is not clear still what caused her car to go over that cliff. at least two families in the south bay are spending christmas somewhere else after a pair of house fires today. "abc 7 news" was in san jose where this morning firefighters quickly put out flames at a home on hyacinth avenue. investigators say the residents reported the fire went out and smelling smoke before the flames. five people were displaced. no one was hurt. a hazardous chemical and materials team from the sclar

county fire department responded to a house fire in saratoga. they discovered a broken gas line next to the home. they turned it off. the fire on charters avenue forced four people to stay somewhere else tonight on this christmas night. no word yet on what caused that gas line to rupture. san francisco's lgbtq center is finding homeless youth across the city a home for the holidays. "abc 7 news" reporter stephanie sierra shares how the program works despite the challenges of covid. >> reporter: on this christmas day, san francisco residents adam and desima are opening up their home as a way to give back. >> growing up as a young adult, we always knew we had that safe place to land if our ventures didn't work out. now as an adult, looking back on it we didn't realize what a gift it was. >> a gift the two are passing forward. they joined the national host homes program run by san francisco's lgbtq center. the program aims to find

volunteers to house homeless teens and young adults, ages 18-24, for a period of three months to one year. >> just knowing that we have the space and being able to utilize it in a way that could help somebody on their journey. >> reporter: that journey led them to jay young, one of three people housed through the program who has struggled to find a home. >> definitely with christmas i'm really happy to just have this place and such a family dynamic. >> reporter: according to san francisco's 2019 youth homeless count and survey, 46% of youth experiencing homelessness in san francisco identify as lgbtq. >> when covid happened, it itself to having a bigger conversation with wellness. >> reporter: no youth or host families affiliated with the host home program have contracted covid-19. the san francisco lgbtq center has partnered with legal firms to ensure hosts who volunteer to help also have liability protections. stephanie sierra, "abc 7 news". i hope you had a nice day

with your family. a lot of people trying to deal with their traditions and enjoy their traditions as best they can despite this challenging time, and certainly eating in san francisco's chinatown is a christmas tradition for many. but as "abc 7 news" reporter melanie woodrow explains, the pandemic has changed that this year. >> reporter: san francisco's once bustling chinatown is eeryly quiet. >> it is a change to see chinatown go from people everywhere to having no one here. >> reporter: while chinatown's markets remain open, most shops and restaurants are closed. edward su is chairman of the chinatown merchants united association of san francisco. >> before and after the pandemic the business in chinatown at the restaurant is really good business. they have a lot of restaurants open on holidays, especially holidays because a lot of visitors coming in. >> reporter: visitors like david lawler and his family. lawler's wife passed away from covid-19 in november.

>> we wanted to kind of keep a tradition alive, honoring her. >> it is okay. and being here is getting out. >> reporter: for those restaurants still open like this one, su says there are other challenges. >> only two persons to work. usually they have more than ten people working. >> reporter: a totally different christmas in so many ways with chinatown struggling to see it through the pandemic and new year. in san francisco, melanie woodrow, "abc 7 news". a lot more to bring you here today. an rv explosion rocks downtown nashville. the widespread bracket it had beyond the debris. >> what they thought was in the bag didn't quite smell right. causing a stink. an east bay family that's tired of package thieves gets revenge and captures it on video. you will see it. check out the snowy conditions in the sierra. just how much snow will the ski resorts see? all of that is ahead. first a

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developing news. police say they have found possible human remains near the site of an rv explosion in nashville. >> if you can hear this message, evacuate now. >> police believe this morning's blast was deliberate but don't know a motive. it happened shortly after gunfire and a recorded voice coming from the rv warning of a bomb. the explosion took down police emergency systems and grounded flights at the city's airport. in the east bay we're going to show you video here of a porch pirate falling for a decoy package set up by a fed-up neighbor. abc 7 new's anchor dion lim has

more of the video and talked with the man behind the stinky surprise. >> it was wonderful. that probably brought me the most christmas cheer i had in weeks. >> reporter: this alamo homeowner doesn't want his identity shown and has asked we call him buddy. there's a reason he is excited about this package being removed from his mailbox. >> porch pirates and those people taking packages, it is just ridiculous. >> reporter: he says for three weeks he and his neighbors were targeted by package thieves, so he hatched a devious plan and made a decoy package with the help of his 98-pound doberman diesel. >> i tried to think of the woshs thing we could open in a package and we came up with dog pop. >> reporter: he put it in his mailbox every night for two weeks and one week before christmas day. >> you can see them opening up the bag and dumping it into their hand and wondering why what they thought was in the bag didn't quite smell right. >>. >> reporter: the man appears to sniff his fingers and turns on

the light to see what is inside, eventually tossing the bag out the window. porch pirates are not a new phenomenon. we covered them extensively across the bay area. some manufacturers like ring came out with special mailbox units to combat the theft. >> reporter: have you seen the guy sense? >> i doubt i will. >> reporter: do you have words for other package thieves out the there? >> bring it on. we have many dog gos, we have at of pop. >> reporter: dion lim, "abc 7 news". that ought to teach them a lesson. an east bay restaurant gave out hundreds of meals and gifts to those in need today. rebel kitchens in livermore cooked about 300 meals to hand out. they collected hundreds of gifts for both kids and adults from the community. the owner says this has been a challenging year and he wanted to do his part to help. >> obviously with covid and all of the difficulties people have

been having, we know there's a tremendous need. it is a cool feeling to watch the community come together and just want to help each other out. so many donations, it has been insane. >> such a nice thing to do. the owner said they had to turn away volunteers because of the overwhelming outpouring of support. there was a beautiful double christmas rainbow display over san francisco this morning. one of our viewers captured the sight at 11:19 a.m. gorgeous. the second rainbow is fainter and more pastel in tone than the primary rainbow. because more light ee escaped compared to one. just about every caltrans camera shows interstate 80 covered in snow and traffic crawling or at a standstill. forecasts call for a foot and a half of snow or more in some locations. chain restrictions on 50 and 80 as well. great news for the ski resorts, and we always need the

precipitation whether, drew, it is frozen or falling like rain around here. >> exactly. we want all of the rain and snow we can get. we'll find more wet weather coming our way, not only this weekend but next week as well. tonight though, live doppler 7 along with satellite where we have much of the action currently, is in the north bay. so we'll zoom in a little closer to street level on live doppler 7 and up 101 through cloverdale, light to moderate rain. we just had a downpour work through mark west springs on its way to calistoga. still tracking scattered showers with the level one light storm over the next 12 hours. total rainfall, it was certainly the haves versus the have notes. north bay was soaked. san francisco is closing in on a third of an inch of rain today, much lower in the east bay, but orinda closed in on a third of rirchl as well. as you go farther south less of the rain was able to hit the

ground but more wet weather coming our way on sunday. a winter storm warning again in effect until 1:00 p.m. tomorrow, above 4,500 feet where our highest peaks could see almost a foot and a half of fresh snow. back here at home we still have a mild south wind, awaiting the cold front to move through so temperatures well into the 50s. once the cold front swings through over the next couple of hours the numbers will fall behind it. tonight we'll drop into the mid 40s, if not low 50s, with those scattered showers and also some areas of fog. so future weather as we go through the next couple of hours, scattered showers in the early morning. even as the sun gets up here on saturday, we'll still find a chance of those scattered showers. but as we go into the early afternoon, the showers fall apart, the clouds start to depart, and we'll end the day with some peeks of sunshine here and there. so highs on saturday, upper 50s to lower 60s. again with that chance of a shower in the morning. much dryer in the afternoon.

again before the day is through. now, our next storm quickly arrives on sunday. in fact, we will jump ahead on future weather and by sunday night and especially into monday morning, here is our next storm that we will track. with this next round of rain, it looks like we could find the highest totals in the south bay. so it is something we will keep our eye on over the next day or so, and also more snow in the sierra. the accuweather forecast, sun tomorrow. we start out sunday dry and finish with rain and finding scattered showers on monday as well, and more rain coming our way as we say goodbye to 20

san francisco residents got a sweet christmas surprise today. a monolith similar to the ones

seen across the world appeared at corona heights park. instead of metal the mysterious model appears to be made of gingerbread. it has icing and gum drops. au through nice for christmas. stay with us. chris alvarez is next with sports. coming up in sports, it is an nba christmas. a big day of basketball you saw here on abc 7. another frustrating day for the warriors in a blow-out loss but a bright spo there's something... different about you. ♪ everyone's feeling the late night vibe with my $4 sauced & loaded tots- with cheddar bacon or jalapeño ranch.

babe, are those the tots we ordered? ♪ everyone's feeling the late night vibe with my $4 sauced & loaded tots- with cheddar bacon or jalapeño ranch. sports on abc 7 is sponsored by your local toyota dealers. the warriors have been a christmas day staple over the last decade. this marks the eighth straight year golden state played on christmas. the dubs though, mixed results

in those games going 4-3 in the games since two 12. here is curry and rookie james wisen, pick, roll and slam. the 19 year old taken to school right here. the two-time reigning m slrvp, hoop and foul. khris middleton from distance. golden state trailed by eight after one. in the second, the corner three moves him past the all-time scoring list. adding to the total, curry, steph going to steph. warriors down by ten at the break, but it is all milwaukee in the second half. giannis, 16 points, 13 rebounds. middleton, the man. game high 31, including six from deep. they win big. 138-99. >> we're a brand-new team, thrown together, a couple of weeks of practice. just played two of the best teams in the league, so it has looked bad and i have no doubt we're going to get a lot better as we go.

but we have a lot of work ahead of us. lakers hosting the mavericks from an empty staples center. here is lebron james, wide open three. of course he is going to hit that. lakers looking for their first win of the season. here is lebron. slams it home. 22 and 7 and 10 assists. lakers win, 138-115. mets at the sell sicks. kevin durant looks back with brooklyn. third quarter, up five. make it eight. k.d. hits the trip it. later, showing impressive blow-by speed for an easy two. in the air, he is so good. he scored 29 in 33 minutes. nets win. news and notes from the 49ers. san francisco activates james kittle for tomorrow's game while others are going on injured reserve. saints hosting the vikings. if you had alvin kamara on your team for fantasy, good for you. the saints running back tied an nfl record running for six dounds and a career-high 155

yards on the ground. with the win they clench the nfc south. chris wondo agreed with a deal. at age 37 he owns nearly every single mls scoring record. now he wants to run it back with the quakes for one more season. this abc 7

. abc7 launched new streaming apps so wherever you are you can get the live broadcasts with the bay area app, on apple tv, fire

tv and roku, search from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live!" tonight, taylor swift, christian serratos, and music from sabrina claudio. and now, jimmy kimmel! >> jimmy: hi, everyone, i'm jimmy. thanks for watching. thanks for joining us. we have a big show tonight with taylor swift. we have a special show tonight. tonight's show is not going to be about trump or the electoral college, the vaccine, not even about "men tell all." [ laughter ] tonight, i have an untraditional holiday story about my family i'd like to share. those of you who watch the show regularly may know my cousin micki. [ cheers and applause ] >> when i'm feeling down, i grab a squishy and i squeeze it and smell it. and squishies are probably the one of the best inventions in