a man picks up a post from a line barrier and smashes a window, next at 5:00 the increasing anxiety over crime in the asian community and the push to encourage people to come forward. and the power of one, a teenager gives voice to the voiceless, how she's making sure racial injustices don't get lost among her generation. also ahead here the oakland school board says students could start heading back to classrooms within weeks. but the union tonight explains why that can't happen just yet. also here, police say it took 32 years to make an arrest but they say they are confident that smiling man you're looking at committed a brutal assault on the peninsula, the crucial evidence that led to a break in the case. building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is abc 7 news. and we begin tonight with a new push to report crime against

the asian-american community. abc 7 news is seeing video after video of assaults and ugliness. it's not always clear race is a factor, but what is known is that the hate crimes in recent weeks have rocked a community and are leaving them on edge. so we start by looking at race and social justice. one of our pillars of building a better bay area. good evening, i'm ama daetz. >> i'm dan ashley. thank you for joining us, abc 7 newsache anchor dion lim has been reporting on this months, there's an increasing frequency. >> full disclosure, reporting on these incidents is weighing so heavily on my heart in a 24-hour period i got about two dozen stories from viewers who say they or someone they know experienced an attack. many of them aren't being reported out of fear and for cultural reasons. this is just a small fraction of what's coming to light. a woman seen dragged through the streets in oakland in a strong armed robbery clinging to her

purse, less than five minutes away another woman is attacked for her bag and her car stolen. in san francisco a man is knocked to the ground in japan town for his cell phone. he google translated what happened. these are just some of the dozen incident reports of asian-americans i've received from you in recent days after so many high profile attacks many are speaking out for the first time, like niha tran, coo of the popular burma superstar restaurant group. >> we felt the need and the responsibility to use the voice given to us by a previous generation to speak out. >> reporter: this after multiple incidents at their oakland location, included this man who threw a bottle of sanitizer at an employee and the other bashing in the front window. not all of these crimes are racially motivated. many in law enforcement tell me asians just happen to be easy targets for these crimes of opportunity because we're

smaller in stature. asian seniors congregate in places like chinatowns, but it's also cultural. >> my parents were just robbed in broad daylight here as well. my dad sitting in his car, he feels helpless. >> reporter: now that culture is shifting. throngs of asian-americans are speaking out. celebrities like daniel wu and danielday kim offered a $25,000 reward to assist for the arrest of a suspect in this senior attack. raising tens of thousands of dollars before patrols. we saw a man pass out hundreds of air horns. the asian policy council is cofounder of the stop hate reporting center, tracked nearly 3,000 hate fueled incidents across the country. >> 2800 is just the tip of the iceberg. >> reporter: she believes 90% of those incidents don't rise to

the level of criminal activity but still need to be reported. >> we may not take action on every single one of those as a society but we need to know and understand what's happening. >> reporter: so these incidents don't keep happening. they are so hard to watch. niha tran told he he is dedicating $5,000 as a reward to help those victimized by crimes like this. dan and ama? >> it is just so sickening and tiring, dion, to see these week in and week out like this. it's so eye opening to hear you received dozens of tips in a matter of days. i know that's emotional for you, even as a veteran reporter, but how many do you think actually go unreported? >> reporter: that's a great question because there are no statistics on that. but in my experience alone the overwhelming majority of the cases i've looked into go unreported. i hear from many children, many grnd children of victims who try and encourage their elders to report but it is not easy. in turn many of them are taking to social media trying to get the word out however they can.

>> good news, obviously, dion, as we are seeing what's really happening out there and that's a positive, we can address it. >> indeed the. >> thanks so much, dion. a 13-year-old girl says she's had enough of the devastating attacks on asian-americans locally and across the country but instead of getting angry about it she's hoping to spread a message of hope and healing. abc 7 news reporter chris nguyen has more from san mateo county. >> reporter: by day ash lynn is on the -- as an emerging fashion designer. the 13-year-old has been featured at new york fashion week, you might also remember her from earlier in the pandemic when she channeled her passion for fashion into making stylish masks for health care workers on the front lines but lately something else has been on her mind. >> this is unfair, this is unjust. >> reporter: she's been paying close attention to the anti-asian rhetoric and violence plaguing our community. >> shocking, you know, it's not okay and we are not going to be standing for it. >> reporter: instead of sitting

on the sidelines she's stepping up by organizing a stand for asians rally this saturday afternoon at san mateo central park. bringing attention to what many say is a much needed movement in these challenging times. >> many people reached out to me to support this cause and to help out the rally, help organize it, and that lets me know that our community is -- is good. >> reporter: her family is also providing guidance however they can. >> open to whatever ideas that she has, and she's serious about it, then okay, we're going to go for it, right, we're going to do this together, we're going to figure out this together. >> reporter: she's part of an up and coming generation more than likely to speak out against the wrongs they see in the world. >> it's the creativity of how the next generation makes an impact. >> reporter: community philanthropist jason ting is hoping others take notice. >> highlighting the positive things we can do to make a difference and to make things better. >> reporter: a teenager is using

her platform for good. >> we have to speak out. >> reporter: in san mateo county, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. abc 7 is committed to racial and social justice as part o our effort to build a better bay area, so join the fight with us and find your ally, go to abc7news.com/take action. developing news, livermore valley joint unified school district just announced its planning to send students back to school, march 22nd students from kindergarten through 12th grade there return for in person classes. elementary students attend class four days a week, middle and high school students two days a week, online classes will continue on the other cays. livermore students have been been in the classroom since march 13th of last year. stanford university is moving forward with plans to bring juniors and seniors back to campus for the spring quarter. the university will require face coverings, social distancing and twice weekly covid tests. most classes will still be remote and only small gatherings will be allowed. the university was careful to say that the plan could change.

last fall stanford announced a return to campus and scrapped it three days before the start of the quarter, at this point strukt is expected to begin march 29th. okayland school board has proposed a date when they would like to see some schools reopen for in person learning, this even though the school district is still negotiating with its labor leaders. abc 7 news reporter lyanne melendez tells us how practical this really is. >> reporter: this was the superintendent last friday when i asked her to give an approximate date of when oakland schools might reopen now that teachers were being vaccinated. >> well, you're asking some great crystal ball questions. that i can not give you a detin five answer. >> reporter: that's night the oakland school board gave more specifics in a letter. the oakland unified school district board of education now believes it is critical for the social, emotional and academic well being of our students that oakland unified safely open our school sites for in person

learning by mid to late march. this would only be pre-k to fifth grade and high needs students. middle and high school students would not return this academic year. >> we've put a lot of preparation into the return and our case rates are trending positive. we believe we'll be in red tier next week, we'll see, fingers crossed. so the last thing is making sure that we have an agreement that everybody can live with. >> reporter: the school board's recommendation has been validated by the cdc which has said that with proper masks and social distancing schools can reopen stafly. the superintendent who has now received the first vaccine doesn't disagree with the school board but at the same time she's still negotiating with the labor unions. the teachers' union called the proposed start date premature insisting that not all safety measures are in place to go back. >> we are not looking at this as being something that is solely about us. we're thinking about impact to

community. so while we may be vaccinated, if all these other measures aren't taken, then we could potentially be putting others at risk. >> reporter: meanwhile parents, students and some community members hope to have their voices heard at a rally this sunday here at astro park in oakland's embarcadero. the event starts at noon. in oakland, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. sam liccardo is strongly urging school districts in his city to reopen to in person learning. in a news conference the mayor called on the districts to work with the county health department to get teachers and staff vaccinated. vaccinations could begin as soon as sunday and would benefit tens of thousands of students struggling financially. >> the science has not guided our decision here in the state of california around reopening of schools. our schools remain closed. and in many cases too many

students have been abandoned. >> state and county health departments say it's safe for elementary schools to reopen even without teacher and staff vaccinations. meanwhile, the california department of public health unveiled information about vaccines for teachers. the state says this, that education workers will receive up to 75,000 appointments every week, the appointments will be prioritized for hard hit communities and in person workers. and the state will host education worker days at both the oakland coliseum and cal state l.a. as well. still ahead, fighting fires faster, what one bay area company is doing to get realtime updates for first responders. plus, oakland's new police chief goes on a meet and greet and finds himself answering some very tough questions. move ing on, a career

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developing news in san francisco the left lane of the 6th street off ramp of 280 is closed because of this sinkhole. sky 7 was overhead about an hour ago, a car got struck in the hole around 2:30 this afternoon. the lane is closed in indefinitely. the other two lanes at the bottom of the off ramp at brandon street remain open. a suspect is now in custody in a violent attack on a woman in san mateo, 32 years ago next week. police announced the arrest today saying advances in dna evidence led hem to 55-year-old john harris jr. who hay arrested at his home yesterday in manateeia. they submitted crime scene evidence of the attack many times over the years without getting a match until recently. they described the attack today. >> a suspect entered her home, forcibly raped her, strangled her, held a knife to her throat and subs can she notally stabbed her several times before slashing her throat. >> reporter: amazingly the woman

survived and called police. investigators say she was overwhelmed we motion on the news of the arrest. take a look at a photo of harris jr. now and then. police say he lived in the area where the attack happened in 1989 but was never previously identified as a suspect and was unknown to the victim. he's being held on $500,000 bail on multiple felony charges, including attempted murder. meantime oakland police are confirming the arrest of a suspect in last night's shooting at an east bay park, police say a man was shot to death about 5:30 in of on cordia park in oakland. there were dozens of children there participating in a youth football practice. oakland police chief armstrong called it a brazen act that put dozens of people in jeopardy. >> a father is watching his sons in football practice and an assailant walked into the practice area and fired rounds, fatally injuring the father.

>> community members and residents provided police with krurl information that helped officers identify the suspect. the person has not yet been identified publicly. now to a look at how technology is helping keep firefighters safe and lead to faster decisions with unpredictable wildfires. abc 7 news reporter david louie explains. >> reporter: major wildland fires require mutual aid from units across the state. that draws in crews unfamiliar with the terrain and other important logistics. >> you're trying to figure out where those streets are, what homes are threatened, where your units are and you're looking at these five different disparate solutions. >> reporter: will pigeon helped to develop a technology solution called tablet command being used by 170 agencies, including 64 in california. it consolidates the location of individual fire units, maps and other critical information. using tools from san francisco's pub nub that are familiar to

consumers. >> consumer applications like doordash or instacart to get our food, those are things that can frankly save lives in emergency situations by giving firefighters realtime access to information. >> reporter: we've all seen the risks and life threatening conditions firefighters safe. incident commanders can see who's in danger. battalion chief mat barnes says he knows firsthand how tablet command can save lives. >> our engine was cut off and needed to rapidly escape. if he wasn't utilizing that technology it very likely could have been a dramatic tragedy. >> reporter: with the next fire season ahead tablet command has upgrades that will help agencies share location data even if on different platforms or when wireless technologies drop. it's relied for years on wall maps, map books, white boards and manual logging. >> they get this ah-ha moment of

tablet command. they realize the benefits of being able to see and manage everything. >> reporter: david louie, abc 7 news. this sunday will be the last day on the job for u.s. attorney david anderson. i spoke with him this afternoon about his tenure as the top federal prosecutor in the bay area. dave has spent the past two years leading major investigations into drug trafficking, pandemic related fraud and corruption at san francisco city hall. when i asked him about criticism that san francisco district attorney chase -- is soft on crime he would not pile on. >> street crime that really concerns a lot of people. can you talk philosophically how you think we deal with that. >> i understand those people who -- whose work is mostly motivated by compassion for offenders. but my compassion flows in greater amounts towards the community. towards those people who are trying to live law abiding lives. >> dave anderson is leaving office as part of the change in

administrations. he was appointed by president trump in 2019, he says he intends to return to private practice. well still ahead here, the spectacular light show at

new pictures show the glory of the fire fall at yosemite. check this out. it's a phenomenon that happens for a couple of days every february. the light of the sunset hits horse tail fall at just the right angle to give the water fall a look of molten lava. there has to be enough snow of course to make sure it really lights up. the park has extended reservations to see it until sunday. a few hundred will be available tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. certainly a spectacular site. looks good, dan. >> it sure does. it's breathtaking, really. and just has such a neat history to it as well. meteorologist sandhya patel is here with the forecast, talk about the weekend now, sandhya.

>> yeah, and not only does that look really stunning but the weekend looks beautiful, dan and ama. show you a live picture right now from our santa cruz camera, take a look, lots of sunshine out there, in santa cruz, we're seeing more of this as we head into the weekend. we need the rain but it doesn't look like anything is materializing anytime soon. here's a look at those temperatures mid-60s from novato to napa, 68 currently in concord and it is 66 in livermore. highs so far in the low 60s to the low 70s. here's another lovely view from our east bay hills camera, the sun is going down shortly before 6:00 these days, clear skies, chilly overnight and a sunny and mild day tomorrow. gusty winds will return on saturday. we have the winds over the higher elevations, 65 to 80 miles an hour for most areas, the winds have really dropped off, clear skies across the bay area right now. the winds, as you will see here, 25 miles an hour mt. diablo, nothing like we experienced but

the dew points really low, it's so dry, 17 degrees in livermore. 18 degrees in san carlos. you may have been noticing it if you were out and about today. here's a live picture from our golden gate bridge camera and you will see a gentle breeze. 58 in san francisco. oakland, mountain view, san jose, 54 degrees in half moon bay. temperatures first thing in the morning will be in the 30s and the 40s. it is going to be chillier than we saw just yesterday. or this morning. so just be prepared for that with the lack of winds, numbers will plunge. tomorrow afternoon 58 degrees in half moon bay all the way to 70 in fairfield, the sun will be shining in san jose, 67 degrees, 66 in oakland, 62 san francisco, 65 in san rafael. and close to 70 there in napa and santa rosa. so temperatures still above average for this time of year. i want to show you the winds, just in a moment here but first the temperatures. saturday, still pretty mild, a little cooler than friday and then sunday those numbers come back up. we'll be seeing 70s out there.

here's the wind, offshore wind once again on saturday gusting over 30 miles an hour in the morning, picking up as we head into the afternoon, over 40 miles an hour along the coastline. so be prepared, could see another wind advisory going up, even saturday night it is still going to be windy, here's a look at the accuweather seven-day forecast, chilly morning, sunny day, gusty winds for your saturday, and cooler. and then we'll warm it back up for the second half of your weekend. now, not a whole lot of change next week, one computer model still wants to bring in the possibility of some showers wednesday. the other one is dry. so for now we're going to leave it off. dan and ama. >> all right, thank you, sandhya. well, coming up here

. >> straight answers to your vaccine questions about access, risk. >> everybody has continued -- >> and what's happening in your community. >> expect to know there is truly equity. >> to ensure that those who are at highest risk are able to get access. >> the way we get through it is for all of us to prioritize the highest risk. >> and we will get there. >> vaccine watch, a bay area conversation. watch it now wherever you

stream. all right, listen to this, finally tonight highway patrol officers have found what they say is one of the best fake carpool passengers, ama, they've ever seen. >> yeah, check this out. a chp office in los angeles county posted this photo on facebook, man that is real. mask and everything, right? an officer told the local patch news site that an officer driving next to a truck grew suspicious. he pulled the pickup truck over because it had a legal window tinting, and discovered the highly detailed dummy. >> the driver was fined $400, he confessed to officers he's been using it for a year and a half without being caught which i can understand because that is pretty realistic looking. >> it really is. spared no expense. >> world news tonight with david muir is next. we appreciate your time. i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm ama daetz, for sandhya patel, all of us here, thank you for watching, our next newscast is at 6:00.

we hope to see you then.

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