a breakthrough eczema treatment. next at 5:00, bill cosby is a freeman. a bay area woman says she cannot believe the court overturned his conviction for sexual assault. willie brown is applauding the court's decision. president biden summit on the wildfire threat facing california and the west and his new promise to help. local firefighters say just in time. the fear over fireworks. san jose says the danger is real people who have to pay for any damage. a family that got covid from the delta variant, even though they were vaccinated. we begin with video showing bill cosby getting out of a car

and flashing the peace sign as people helped him walk into his home outside philadelphia. cosby was released from prison after pennsylvania supreme court overturned his sexual assault conviction in a surprise decision. good evening and thank you for joining us. i am ama daetz. >> you are watching live on abc 7 news. cosby was serving a 10 year sentence over a 2004 encounter. he was charged in 2015 days before the statute of limitation ran out. pennsylvania's high court ordered cosby's release after finding that he was denied protection against self- incrimination. they say a previous agreement with a prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case. prosecutors say it also shuts down the possibility of a third trial. late today cosby made his first media appearance. abc 7 news reporter leon

melendez has react on that and from a bay area accuser. >> reporter: one of cosby's accusers told us that she was on the phone this morning with a friend who asked if she would be willing to talk to some of the women who have come forward in the case against windsor. remember, dominic has been accused of sexual assault by nine women. a few minutes after she hung up, she received wo&d of cosby's release. she told me at that moment she felt deflated. a few hours after his conviction was overturned, actor bill cosby returned to his home in pennsylvania a freeman having served a little more than two years of a three to 10 year sentence. out side surrounded by his attorneys, cosby was asked how he felt to be home. >> extremely happy to be home and he looks forward to being reunited with his wife and children. obviously it's been a hard three years for the entire family. >> reporter: janice baker kenny is one of his accusers.

this morning she was in contact with some of the other women. >> most of us are just shocked, stunned. my stomach hurts. this is sickening. how could this happen kind of thing? >> reporter: she was b,24 working as a bartender in 1982 in reno when cosby invited her to a party. she says cosby sexually assaulted her after he offered her a quaaludes. >> i was an idiot and nacve to accept drugs from him. who would have thought an ulterior motive? >> reporter: some of the other women testified they were unknowingly drugged by cosby. years later they and baker kenny accuse cosby, but because the statute of limitations had expired, only one of them, temple university employee andrea constant, was able to bring charges against him. cosby has always maintained that sex with his accusers was consensual.

recently he was denied parole after refusing to take part in a prison sex offender program.'s longtime friend the former mayor of san francisco willie brown maintains cosby's life has been ruined by what he calls unsubstantiated allegations. spit >> if they were absolutely telling the truth, why would you wait from 1969 until 2018 to tell the story? >> reporter: baker kenny doesn't think the reversal will deter other women from coming forward in and sexual assault cases. >> i will continue to speak my truth and believe and support the women or men who come forward with their truth. >> reporter: she reminded me that california eliminated the statute of limitations on cases. that bill was signed into law by then governor jerry brown in 2016 and was inspired by the bill cosby case. in the meantime, cosby went on twitter to post this. i have never changed my stance nor my story. i have always maintained my innocence. it was quite a day.

leanne melendez, abc 7 thank you. a former san leandro police officer has been ordered to stand trial on manslaughter charges in a shooting inside a walmart last year. jason fletcher was charged under a change in state law that says police shootings must be necessary. prosecutors argue fletcher didn't intend to de-escalate before shooting taylor who was shown on body camera footage approaching officers with a baseball bat according to our media partners the judge ordered a trial even though he expressed doubt. a 12 person jury will return a guilty verdict or agree to acquit based on similar evidence he saw in a two day hearing. as president biden met with governor newsome and other leaders about the wildfire threat, he says he's raising the pay of federal firefighters expanding the use of the national guard to help fight fires and using more federal satellites to detect fires sooner so crews can more quickly limit their spread.

the president also announced a $37 million grant for sonoma county that will help trim undergrowth, create fuel rakes and establish green belts. more from abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman. >> reporter: take a walk through a uniquely golden state beauty and danger. in this case the callahan open space. this wildland urban interface is the stuff of nightmare scenarios for fire chief jason and his fire marshal >> when fire gets in the drainage, it will rip up there. >> i envision fire coming down these hills into the backs of these homes. >> reporter: now an element of o. president joe biden's security for federal firefighters today. >> last week i learned that some of our federal firefighters are being paid less than $13 an hour. come on, man! that's on except the bull to me. >> reporter: president biden tossed in a not so small surprise for sonoma county. $37 million and a federal grant through female. it will help to minimize

risks in this county. sonoma county has thousands upon thousands of acres like this dried brush made all the more dangerous because of this year's drought. the theory that if they knock it down early they won't have to pay for it later. >> this is about disaster negation which means we want to spend our money on reducing fire risk as opposed to spending hundreds of millions of dollars cleaning up from one of the catastrophic wildfires we get in sonoma county. >> reporter: this was late may. the same part of healdsburg controlled burn to reduce risk. sonoma county and others across the state have worked on mitigation since its disaster of 2017 and before. sonoma county can spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars more if it had the

funds. even now, more work lies ahead then work they have done. >> the truth is we are playing catch-up. this is an area that has been under resourced, but that will change if we have anything to do with it. >> reporter: catch-up and hopefully before the next blowup. >> how dry is it? >> it's zero moisture. >> reporter: in healdsburg, wayne freedman, abc 7 news. fire danger and drought have fire officials pleading with the public not to use illegal fireworks over the fourth of july weekend. as abc 7 news reporter chris win explains from san jose some residents can be held financially liable and also for the cost associated with the emergency response. >> reporter: everywhere you turn signs of california's severe drought are on full display for all to see. >> because of the drought, fuel conditions across the state are now what we would normally see in mid to late august when we get the large fires. >> reporter: an urgently from south officials days away from the holiday weekend. a call to action for residents not to discharge illegal fireworks and to report those

who do. >> we have an our best to protect ourselves, our families and our loved one's. we behave and more responsible and different ways and it may mean for a lot of families having new traditions. >> reporter: a dramatic rise in fire activity last july resulting in more than 30 preventable fireworks related fires in san jose alone. as the bay area comes out of the pandemic after a challenging year, many worry that this holiday will be even worse. santa clara county sheriff says violators will be held accountable. >> don't be the cause of a tragedy. don't be the cause of a fire. we will be out there in full force. >> reporter: this year both the county and city of san jose have each adopted a social host fireworks ordinance which holds property owners financially liable for the illegal use of fireworks on their property. meaning violators could be on the hook for thousands of dollars to cover the cost of damage to neighboring

properties as well as the emergency response. >> we are dry vegetation and fireworks starting a fire. that would make it a challenge to control. >> reporter: fire agencies nervous for what the next few days will bring and essentially relying on the community to all do its part to prevent catastrophe. in the south a, chris win, abc 7 news. right now the lava fire is the biggest fire in california earning at about an hour north of reading. firefighters are holding the line but the fire grew overnight to 17,000 acres. that's about 27 square miles. baker and the city of alameda.

it's one of a dozen active fires burning right now across the state. as you can see most burning outside the bay area. california passed a milestone today in the fight against covid-19. more than 20 million people are fully vaccinated. that's 51% of our total population including kids under 12 who aren't eligible for a shot. our test positivity rate is slowly rising. it's at 1.3%. hospitalizations are back above 1000. officials continue to urge people to get vaccinated so they are protected from the covid variants. a woman says several family members got sick with the delta plus variant of coronavirus. denise dude are from her sister station in los angeles reports that some of those who became ill were vaccinated. >> reporter: when 19-year-old wyatt decided not to get vaccinated his mom was livid. >> you have no idea. he wasn't allowed to come back to my house. >> reporter: she kept her distance until late may when her son competed in a large mma tournament in reno. wyatt's dad joined them. within days, both my son and his father who were not vaccinated started having symptoms. >> reporter: wyatt had severe flulike symptoms for more than a week. wyatt's dad ended up in the hospital. >> his lungs and

permanently damage. his eyesight is permanently damage. >> reporter: neither wyatt nor his dad were vaccinated but kerry says they infected a group of people who were vaccinated including wyatt's girlfriend, his grandfather. his best friend and some of his best friends family. they all tested positive and all had mild disease. what variant can cause all these breakthrough infections? >> doctors told my next that he had delta plus. >> all of these variants are worrisome. this is particularly bad for people who are not vaccinated. there are some breakthroughs in the last couple weeks. this has coincided with the arrival of the delta variant in los angeles. >> reporter: explains while the vaccines work and can prevent severe illness, they may not protect vaccinated people from getting infected and transmitting the virus. >> wear a mask in quarantine if you are around somebody. as long as we care about each other we can handle this. >> reporter: kerry who got the johnson & johnson vaccine tested negative. after what happened to her family she hopes everyone

understands why we all need to get vaccinated. >> if you don't do it for yourself, be willing to do it for someone else. that's how contagious this is. still ahead, a bay area lawmaker recalls the terror of rioters pounding on the doors of the house chamber. she says she thought i'm greg, i'm 68 years old. i do motivational speaking in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously.

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san mateo congresswoman jackie speier compared the january 6 capitol riot to the day she was shot at the jonestown massacre . spear the emotional speech on the house floor today as two republicans and all democrats voted to create a committee to investigate the attack. last month the senate blocked the creation of a panel that had been approved by congress. the committee approved today does not need senate approval. spear recall the events of january sixth thing she feared

for her life. >> it took me back over 40 years ago live on an airstrip in guyana about to lose my life. i thought at that moment, my god, i survived guyana, but i'm not going to survive this in the house of democracy in the country in which i was born. >> the committee will be led by democrats. it's not clear if republicans will participate. gop leaders have complained that the investigation would be partisan. the santa clara valley transportation authority has something to celebrate today. more than a month after the deadly massacre that left 10 people dead. they graduated their third class of bus drivers for 2021 and the first since that tragedy. in all 22 people completed the intensive eight week training program and received their diplomas during a ceremony today. >> it's been a very challenging time for operators. on behalf of myself and the rest of the board,

want to say thank you for embarking on this career that you want to have. >> i start a job on monday. it's a long journey, but i'm here and i made it people told me about the benefits and the retirement. it's a good package. it's a golden deal. >> bta officials say they have been aggressively recruiting operators to fill shortages and boost service which dropped 80% during the pandemic. a rapid economic comeback is happening in silicon valley but that does pose some risks as well. here is abc 7 news david the way to explain. >> reporter: the turmoil that sent silicon valley into a recession is quickly being replaced by a recovery taking off like a rocketship. so says a new analysis by beacon economics and an online summit hosted by san jose

state. nearly 54,000 jobs have been restored. however the regions tech workers fared well because they can work from home while service workers at restaurants, nail and hair salons and hotel saw 45% spike in unemployment. a rapid economic comeback does pose some risks. spent the issue with being overheated carries lots of wrists whether it's inflation or higher interest rates, overheated assets and let's not forget debt. >> reporter: government debt is the result of stimulus programs and checks to consumers. economist thornburg pointed out workers lost $525 billion in earnings but received $1.7 trillion in stimulus checks. where did that money go? households put $2.2 trillion in savings. that savings which consumers couldn't spend with many businesses closed is expected to fuel the economic recover. the pandemic also widened the wealth gap between white and blue collar workers. the short supply of housing is making it more difficult to survive in the valley. a situation on the radar screen for congressman. >> we need to make sure our workers are treated with dignity and they have a livable wage, they have affordable housing and that they are able to participate in the

extraordinary wealth generation of the digital economy. >> reporter: wages are rising for service jobs, but that could be temporary as more people return to work and that i'm 53, but in my mind i'm still 35. that's why i take oste bi-flex to keep me moving the way i was made to, it nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. osteo bi-flex, plus vitamin d for immune support.

flying cars are definitely real. look at this thing. this prototype completed a 35 minute test flight cities in slovakia. as the first inner-city flight for the plane, a major milestone for client vision which makes the air car powered by a bmw engine and has a fix propeller and flies at about 118 miles per hour. that's not bad. it can't be flown out of your driveway just yet. that's because the air car cannot take off or land

vertically so it still needs a runway. unless you have a runway as a driveway. equal to fly and then drive the same hybrid on the freeway. it takes just over two minutes to transform from plane to car. that would be cool. go over all the traffic. >> i am so in that thing over the bay bridge. cool. i like it. james bond film. >> definitely. with construction going on on the roadways and traffic, could take that. let's go right over it. it's not great flying rather right now. let me show you live picture from tahoe. this is absolutely gorgeous. you can see the rain coming down with the mountains. i want to show them on live doppler 7. heavy rain being reported with some storms along with hail, which dry lightning is a concern with the drought we will take any rain we can get. half moon bay

to a mile. we have thick fog out there. the june bloom with us along the coastline. we will continue to deal with that fog. i know a lot of you who live in san francisco really enjoy the fog. we will keep it around. gusting to 30 onshore at sfo. 29 at concord this onshore breeze definitely helping to take our temperatures down today. up to 16 degrees cooler in concord. 3 degrees cooler in san francisco. from our mount tam camp it looks like whipped cream right now just moving in. 60 in san francisco. 66 in oakland. 57 in half moon bay. speaking of san jose, the sun is shining right now. is in the upper 70s from novato to santa rosa. only the low 80s. 74 degrees in livermore. watch out if you are driving. look at the golden gate bridge. you can't make it out because it socked in. low clouds, fog and patchy drivel overnight. cool on the coast and mild inland in the afternoon.

seasonal temperatures through the fourth of july weekend. tonight we have missed around half moon bay. it will be drizzly going into tomorrow morning. you will need wipers at times. the fog is going to pull back rum the bayside communities and hang around near the coast all day long just like today. away from the coast you will have sun shining. temperatures in the morning from the 50s to the 60s. watch out for some slick roadways because of the drizzle. tomorrow afternoon 61 in half moon bay. it will be breezy here near the coast. mid-70s around san rafael. also right around fremont, 80 in santa rosa. 82 in livermore. 78 in san jose. here's a look at the accuweather seven-day forecast. morning fog and drizzle for thursday. it's warmer, but not much for friday. upper 80s to low 90s. low 60s coast side. that's our summer spread and it will be a fabulous fourth. no extreme heat here. 60s to 80s during the day. fireworks, let's just say, fog is a part of the bay area. it will be around right along the coastline.

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abc 7 app on apple tv, android, fire and roku. search abc 7 bay area and download it now. is a new park in downtown san jose. we were at the grand opening at sofa pocket park street. that is near east to read. it's a combination dog park and demonstration garden for community farm nonprofit. there are also murals painted by local artists. it looks like a special place to enjoy your time. >> absolutely. a shout out to a special pair of animals. the san francisco zoo is celebrated the birthday of maggie and many who turned 53 today. they been together at the zoo for 50 years. the zoo says they have an incredible bond. >> look at the personality in the faces. they are among several chimps

at the zoo. the caretaker say they have touched a lot of hearts. amid the frequent visitors of all ages they share stories amid the frequent visitors of all ages they share stories about be featuring fresh artisan bread, layered with tender seasoned steak, sautéed mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and smothered with melty american cheese. the new cheese steak melt, now at togo's. how far would you go for a togo? all denny's pancakes are made to order with fresh buttermilk. but this month's spotlight stack is a patriot. fresh, sweet and full of freedom. new red, white & blue pancakes. this month's spotlight stack. see you at denny's. ♪ reynolds wrap makes it easy to cook and clean up meals in no time. ♪ so i don't miss all the fun stuff. easy prep, cook and clean with reynolds wrap.

i felt awful because of my psoriasis. i was covered from head to toe with it. it really hurt. then i started cosentyx. okay, thanks... that was four years ago. how are you? see me. cosentyx works fast to give you clear skin that can last. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. i look and feel better.

ask your dermatologist if cosentyx could help you move past the pain of psoriasis. breaking news as we come on the air tonight. comedian bill cosby released from prison. bill cosby in front of the cameras outside of his home late today and on the phone with us just a short time ago. >> nobody had the sense to say, wait one second. this doesn't match up with the truth. >> at 83 years old, cosby walking free, hours after pennsylvania's supreme court overturned his conviction for sexual assault. the court ruling his fifth amendment rights were violated. a deal with a previous prosecutor should have prevented cosby from being charged and tried in the first place. his accusers stunned and angered by the decision. deadly heat across the u.s. oregon reporting dozens of deaths due to extreme temperatures. neyo