or worsen, or y serious allergic reactions may occur. watch me! next at 5:00, a terrifying ordeal leaves one woman feeling like her home is no longer a safe haven. plus, can your employer require to you get vaccinated? some people say they should. and the masks are going back on for some in san mateo county why it may be a first step. >> new video showing the intensity of the fire near lake tahoe. the dixie fire reaches megafire status. plus, it will cost more for students at uc. how much they'll have to pay. and a new policy that could help honest of thousands of people.

whoever did this to me, please don't. >> a heartbreaking plea from a woman. her life changed in an instant when she was attacked. good evening, and thank you for joining us. >> you're watching abc seven news at 5:00 live here on abc seven, hulu live and wherever you stream. a senior citizen may leave strn after she was placed in a choke hold and carried by the neck in an attempted robbery. it all happened while the 71-year-old was unloading groceries from her car. something we all do every day. dion len brings us her story and how she was able to escape. >> reporter: 71-year-old ramea reyes's mind.

>> one of two suspects lifted the barely five-foot tall ms. reyes off the ground and carried her in a headlock through the garage. >> don't hurt me. i have some money. not much enough money. >> reporter: it's what the senior said next that may have helped save her life. >> my brother has a gun. i don't want my brother to be a killer. >> reporter: coupled with her calling out to her domestic partner who was upstairs. >> he thought it was danny, >> reporter: the first suspect then -- >> he kicked me. >> reporter: while the other ran off. >> are you afraid they're going to come back? >> of course. >> reporter: but the pair took something else much more precious.

her message to others about garage doors. >> when you get out from your car, look around to be safe. >> reporter: and to her perpetrators. >> to whoever did this to me, please don't anymore. my god. >> reporter: sfpd's investigation is ongoing. three bay area counties today are giving a strong recommendation to employers suggesting they require that their employees be vaccinated. the counties are santa clara, san francisco, and contra costa. >> reporter: they are trying to

figure out how to get more people to get the covid-19 vaccine. >> it's either to get the vaccine or to get covid. >> reporter: with covid cases and hospitalizations rising among the unvaccinated, health officers from three bay area counties say it's just the next logical step. a strong recommendation that employees require their employees to get vaccinated. unvaccinated workers pose a risk to themselves, their coworkers and the members of the public they interact with. >> reporter: in contra costa county, an unvaccinated person is 20 times more likely to get covid than someone fully vaccinated. >> what we really want to do is empower people with this recommendation and say that public health is fully supportive of these requirements. >> i think if people are fully vaccinated and it's a safe environment, i think it makes sense. >> reporter: but can businesses legally require their employees to get a vaccine that's not yet fully approved by the fda?

>> there isn't any law that prevents a private employer from imposing any employment conditions that it wants to impose so long as the skn not unlawful. >> reporter: several large employers like the university of california have already announced they'll require students and employees to be fully vaccinated. >> there are many employers in the state and around the country who have begun to require vaccination for their workforce. and these requirements have been upheld in the courts. >> reporter: it is legal to require vaccinations. but employers do need to provide at least a limited exemption for those with health issues or strong religious beliefs. now the public health officers at this point emphasize this is a strong recommendation. they would not rule out, however, that are at some point, depending on how things develop, this could become a public health order.

health officials in santa cruz are asking railriders to think beyond themselves and get vaccinated. only 60% of eligible railriders are fully vaccinated there. there are currently 11 documented cases of the covid-19 delta variant in the county. and those with the most severe symptoms requiring hospitalization are unvaccinated. >> please think beyond yourself. beyond your immediate group of friends. and think about elderly family members, the greater community. starting on monday, san mateo county will require masks in all county buildings regardless of vaccination status. this as the delta

variant continues to spread. officials could impose a county-wide mandate if the numbers don't improve. >> the past two, we we've almost doubled in our cases. hospitalizations are slightly up. if those numbers continue to increase, we're gonna have to revisit that solution. >> 88% of people over the age of 12 are fully vaccinated. take a look at this incredible video firefighters from uc davis, they are inside their rig in this video we're seeing here as they work to protect a housing development threatened by the tamarack fire burning near lake tahoe. embers just falling everywhere. the fire popped over into nevada last night. it's burned nearly 44,000 acres and 0% contained. the dixie fire burning in butte and pumas county is showing no sign of slowing down. it is

nearly the size of san jose and the second fire in the state this year to surpass the megafire milestone. mandatory evacuations are in effect. one man got the word and quickly packed two cars. >> we got the call saying it was a mandatory evacuation. we had about an hour to get out. we had to be out of the house by noon. thank you to all the firefighters. >> the fire is only 17% contained. let's move on for a moment. a major announcement from the employment development department. it affects hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers waiting a very long time for their benefits. maybe you or someone you know. michael fin sehere with word on the change regarding the edd.

>> it is hopeful. thousands of jobless workers report they received one payment then edd suddenly cut them off with no explanation. and notice way to find out why edd has a backlog of plans or any payment for at least three weeks. it has frozen thousands of claims while it tries to clear up questions about their eligibility for benefits. the long delays have caused thousands of workers to run out of savings. sometimes losing their housing and going deep into debt under pressure from consumer groups and lawmakers. edd announced it will stop freezing those claims. and adopt a pay now policy. that means workers an existing claim will receive their benefits, including all backpay.

the edd said hundreds of thousands of workers will start getting benefits under the pay now policy. but it will take time, possibly weeks to roll out payments to roll. to all. and if this follows the pattern of the edd, there will be issues here. >> thank you, michael. the university of california regents approved a multi-year plan that includes raising tuition and fees at its ten campuses. the first increase since 2017. it calls for a 2% plus inflation increase for new undergraduates starting in the 2022/23 academic year. that would put tuition and fees for instate students at more than $13,000 a year. the increase comes with a promise that tuition wouldn't be raised further during a student's time at a university. >> kind of scary that i could be admitted to a school with one price and be priced out by the

time i leave. >> i don't understand how they can increase prices without being very transparent about where our money is going. >> officials say the increasing is needed to maintain the quality of the system. critics say lawmakers just gave an extra billion dollars to the system. coming up, the urban farm that is also home for hundreds of miles. today's milestone on a project that has been in the works for what if you could push a button and less carbon would be put into the air. if there were a button that would help you use less energy, breathe cleaner air, and even take on climate change... would you press it?

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a new housing development made possible by an affordable housing bond in santa clara county is closer to becoming a reality. dustin dorsey shows us the new project near san santa ana. >> reporter: in the heart

silicon valley and just not far from housing row, a new project. it takes you back to the roots of santa clara. helping solving the housing crisis in santa clara county. >> the project is about bringing people together. >> reporter: welcome to the new community construction. the community will be centered around a working farm that will provide railriders with fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as farm to table events and cloud kitchens. a taste of the way santa clara used to be. >> that's where we started, with agriculture. it's gonna give people a constant reminder of where we started, what made us successful. and bring us a little bit of history back home. >> reporter: while the project looks to the past, it also moves toward the future. a future where everyone in the county has a place to live before the affordable housing bond was adopted in01 only 200 low-come units existed. units. 150 will be built here. >> our glgz and goal is to make

sure we can house as many people in our community who are homeless as possible. but the other is to make sure we don't have more homeless. as the county is aging rapidly, we want to make sure there's a place for seniors as well. >> reporter: it will include 165 units for families in need. one third of them dedicated to railriders 55 and older. steps to end the housing crisis in the south bay. >> the poor continue to get poorer. and we really need to come up with a solution to make sure that we have an equitable community that provides housing for a variety of income levels in our community. >> and this goes to that. >> i think this exemplify what is we can do together. >> reporter: the project is on pace for a summer 2023 completion. created in san francisco, the rainbow flag is well known all around the world. but more than 40 years later, some of the lgbtq community think it's time for a new flag. one that is actually more inclusive to

replace the existing one. >> reporter: people still stop to look and appreciate the significance of the giant iconic rainbow flag in the castro district. created in 1978 by hilda baker, the flag was meant to represent all in the lgbt community. sheer baker in 2017. >> red for life, and orange for healing, yellow for sun, green for nature. turquoise for magic. blue for serenity. and purple for the spirit. i like to think of those elements as in every person. >> reporter: except that today many transgender people don't identify with the flag. >> the people that worked here in the gay liberation was meant at the very beginning of the late '60s and early '70s were black and brown, trans and queer people. in the span of a few years, they were kicked out of the gay liberation movement and it turned into a movement that was very gay white people.

>> reporter: the flag many say represents everyone in the lgbt community. called the progress pride flag. the rainbow colors remain. black and brown and transgender people are represented. >> we want to feel accepted when we look at the flag as wel >> reporter: some in the castro lgbt cultural district say it may be time to for the progress pride flag. where it has been memorialized. >> the flag itself is a symbol of pride. the right to love. >> reporter: this coming monday, july 26 pth.

in san francisco, leanne melendez, abc 7 news. ♪ ♪ dry eye symptoms keep driving you crazy? inflammation in your eye might be to blame. [inflammation] let's kick ken's ache

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>> well, it's thursday all day today. >> all day? okay. >> we have some hot weather coming our way, coming down to the weekend. i want to show you a live picture of the way it looks up in the mountains. the high country, they are seeing some hazy skies along with some smoke right now due to all the fires that are burning. the bootleg, the tam rang fire, oregon also in the sierra. we are seeing air quality impacts. take a look right now. that very violet purp tlel is very unhealthy air around south lake tahoe, blue canyon. you'll notice some oranges and yellows. we're looking at some poor air quality in that region. here locally, fortunately, even though we're seeing some haze in

the upper parts of the atmosphere, we do have good to moderate air quality in the bay area. as we head into tonight, heaviest concentration of smoke is going to remain right around some of those larger fires burning in the northern california and sierra nevada area. sunday morning, notice those pinks. that's heavier smoke, starts to move in our direction as the wind changes direction. and on monday, it looks like in the upper layers of the atmosphere, we're gonna start to see some thicker smoke. the good thing is though, right now it looks like down near the surface. we're not expecting heavy smoke just yet. but that doesn't mean it's not going to happen. we'll keep you posted as we get closer. here's a look at the air quality forecast for the next four days. good to moderate here locally. once again, watching for potential smoke impacts from those fires that are burning here in the bay area as we head toward sunday, monday time period. live doppler seven showing you some fog lingering from san francisco toward the monterey bay.

a little bit of fog over downtown san francisco. 60 degrees right now. oakland. low to mid-70s for mountain view and san jose. 56, chill ein pacifica. some of our warmer spots like concord up to 90 degrees. downtown oakland certainly seeing some of that continuing coastal and bayside fog overnight. heating up inland over the next few days. the fog and the high clouds overnight tonight, going into tomorrow will hang onto some of the fog near the coast just like today. temperatures in the morning will be in the 50s, 60s as we head out the door tomorrow afternoon, we are going to notice warmer weather. 82 in san jose, 88 in gilroy on the peninsula. 88 redwood city. san francisco 66 degrees. north bay temperatures, 89 in santa rosa. 82 in vallejo.

in the east bay. 74 oakland, 84 castro valley. hot inland. 94 livermore. 96 in concord. as we look at the forecast for the weekend, some of the monsoon moisture starts to move in sunday, monday of the that's when the humidity will be increasing. so accuweather seven-day forecast showing you the heat inland. then we bring on the higher clouds, muggier conditions through earlier next week. potentially there for some sprinkles. stay tuned. that's gonna be a monday/tuesday time period coming up. >> thank you, sandhya. a ban on hosing down sidewalks and driveways as part of drought measures taken by the city of santa clara. it's helping to save some creative artwork that's popping up across the city. >> reporter: the city of santa clara is proud of its parks. it's encouraging railriders to express how parks make life better using chalk and sidewalks as their canvas. artwork is popping up across town. done by kids and adults who will be

competing in contests by age categories. >> they can just find a little piece of sidewalk anywhere and create something that is beautiful. and when others walk by it, it brings joy to them. >> reporter: 21 entries have come in so far for the second annual contest. these are photos of some of last year's photo entries. photos are posted online and railriders vote for their favorites. 1,600 ballots were cast last year. >> they have created three dimensional art in chalk. you'll see the rudimentary stick figures and messages. but we've seen some really cre masterpieces. >> reporter: while some may consider it child's play, chalk drawings have become a serious art form. sacramento is known for its annual chalk it up festival. now in its 31st year, known to draw tens of thousands of spectators. >> it fades with the sun.

the wind blows it away. the delivery people will walk across it. we'll see a few cat footprints across it every now and again. >> reporter: it does give a reason to look down while it lasts. >> the deadline for this contest is sunday night, by the way. coming

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in the north bay, some of drag racing's biggest and fastest stars will be in sonoma this weekend. >> among those taking the track at sonoma raceway, john force and his daughter, brittney. they know from experience this event is fun for the whole family. >> i grew up at these drag races with the kids. packed fans, being able to go meet drivers and autographs. there's nothing like it. fans make this sport. >> there's a lot going on here. this pandemic. and we need to take a few days off. come to sonoma. and come let us show what you we do. >> and that will run tomorrow through sunday. it will be the first time fans will be at full capacity. since the pandemic

began. tickets are available online. all right. world news tonight with david muir is next. >> we appreciate your time. we'll see you again in half an hour.

if there were a button that would help you use less energy, breathe cleaner air, and even take on climate change... would you press it?

tonight, the surge in new covid cases across at least 46 states. the cdc director warning today we are not out of the woods yet. and president biden late today we ask him whether the mask guidance will change in this country for millions of americans, for schoolchildren, as well. what the president just said. the country averaging more than 37,000 new cases a day. the cdc director, dr. rochelle walensky, calling this a, quote, pivotal moment. tonight los angeles reporting 20 times the number of new cases from just a month ago. the headlines in philadelphia and in houston on masks. and the cdc advisory panel tonight now studying possible booster shots and who might need them first.

whit johnson standing by. also tonight, major concerns