announcer: building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7news. >> every senseless client -- crime that should not have happened, we apprehended the suspect and that suspect is in custody now. tonight, two people dead and a third injured after the oakland police chief said officers tried to stop a felony warrant suspect who instead sped off. i'm karina nova. dan: i'm dan ashley. the local police chief detailed this deadly crash just after 8:45 last night when officers tried to stop a felony warrant suspect. instead of pulling over, the driver sped off.

oakland police did not chase him, but he crashed into another car at the end of the block. two men and a woman were in the car the suspect hit. both men and the driver and front passenger seats were pronounced dead at the scene and the woman in the backseat was taken to the hospital and is listed in stable condition. . the identity of the wanted driver has not yet been released but police say he's a 37-year-old oakland resident and now in custody. karina: the police chief also announced charges against three men accused in the shooting of a security guard and former police officer. we explain how tips from the community and help from neighboring cities helped lead to one of the arrests. >> today, i want to announce the two arrests in the homicide. reporter: oakland police announcing a break in the murder of the security guard, kevin issue to.

a 24-year-old was already in sfpd custody on unrelated charges and a 27-year-old, the suspected getaway driver, remains at large, all three facing serious charges. >> all three defendants have been charged with murder, attempted second degree robbery and assault with a semi automatic firearm. reporter: kevin nishita was providing security for a team when he was shot and killed. tips from the public in oakland and san francisco helped make the arrests. >> when i asked for help to help us solve this case, you did and led to the arrest of these individuals. reporter: armstrong confirmed one of the suspects arrested was the owner of the 2005 white acura used in the crime. kevin nishita was a former officer for the san jose police

department. a memorial drew thousands of people. at the time, his family made this appeal for the suspects to come forward. >> we are seeking to find the reasoning behind all of this so that we can have some closure. >> the family, i have spoken to his wife and committed we would do everything we could to identify the people responsible so it is rewarding today to come before her and the family and friends of mr. nishita to say we identify those individuals. likely a crime of opportunity. they don't know if the suspects are responsible for robberies of other local media groups. the suspected shooter is scheduled to be arraigned friday. in oakland, cornell barnard, abc 7 news. dan: a man charged in a pair of ambush killings on skyline boulevard has been convicted of

murder. the verdict comes after a seven-day trial. authorities say the suspect lured a cab driver and tow truck driver with calls for help and stabbed both to death in june 2019. the case that was on hold for over a year after he was declared mentally unfit to stand trial, he was initially sent to state hospital and then reclassified last year. he is scheduled to be sentenced april 15. karina:karina: and italy court reduced the sentences of bay area men convicted of killing an italian police officer in rome. the court reduced finnegan elders sentence from life to 24 years. elder stabbed the officer in an alleged drug deal. we will elders mother coming up at 6:00. dan: for the moment, the latest on the war in ukraine now

entering its fourth week. today, the state department confirmed an american citizen was killed ring and attack in ukraine. according to reports, he is 68-year-old jim hill of idaho. as airstrikes continue to hit targets today, ukrainian president zelenskyy visited hospitals in key. -- kyiv so far more than 3.1 million refugees have fled the country including two thirds who have arrived in poland. here in the u.s., the house voted to suspend normal trade relations with russia, paving the way for higher tariffs in an effort to punish putin. karina: spatial of support in the city of sonoma for citizens of ukraine. the sonoma mayor welcomed the ukraine counsel general, and his consular delegation to sonoma city hall. they are hosting the delegation

in support of the people of ukraine including those in sonoma's sister city. >> russia has attacked not just us, not just our land and our city. it went on a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values, our freedom and our right to be free, choosing our own future. karina: sonoma established the sister city in 1967 to support cultural, religious and technical exchanges.in a show of solidarity, the ukrainian flag is shown alongside the american flag on the front of city hall, and the colors of the ukrainian flag will light up the city hall through march 20. dan: if you want to help the people in ukraine, we put together a full list of verified groups and nonprofits sending donations and supplies to refugees. it's on our website. go to abc7news.com/takeaction. karina: a group of state lawmakers wants to help offset

this price of gas by giving every california taxpayer $400 even if they don't have a car. the funding for the rebate will pull $9 billion from the state budget surplus. lawmakers say it's a better approach than suspending the gas tax, claiming there's no guarantee oil companies will pass on the savings to customers. this comes days after government newsom talked about a direct rebate to taxpayers to address the high prices. dan: toddan: tod introduced a proposal to make california a place of refuge for transgender children in other states and their parents. a state senator of san francisco announced he co-authored the legislation in an effort to combat what he calls a wave of criminalization that is sweeping through texas and several other states. if approved, california law enforcement will ignore out-of-state court judgments that seek to remove transgender children from their parents custody for seeking gender affirming health care. >> it is a direct response to truly vicious, hateful,

disgraceful, dangerous laws and executive actions in other states that target transgender children and their parents. dan: if the proposal passes, california would also de-prioritize out-of-state arrest warrants and subpoenas for parents who allow their transgender children to receive care here in california. karina: after the break, marking two years since bay area public health officials announced the covid shelter-in-place orders. a look at where cases stand now and optimism for the future ahead. dan: after camping out for several nights at district headquarters, unpaid teachers and san francisco say there was a major development. in new york city, ♪ ♪ there's always something new to discover. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ come be a part of it. plan your next vacation at iloveny.com oh, wow, barbara corcoran! good morning. sorry, we don't need any business help now. we're gigillionaires. what? we're gigillionaires now. i don't get it we have at&t business fiber with hyper-gig speeds. but i just... so thanks, but, we're doing great. i'm so happy for you! but i'm just here for my order. oh. entre-pin-eurs? yeah, my bowling team. i like it there's money in puns. do business like a gigillionaire at&t business fiber, now with speeds up to 5-gigs. limited availability centuries ago, native californians at&t business fiber, now with speeds up to 5-gigs. thrived on this land. now, we share a destiny with all californians. when voters granted our sovereign nations exclusive gaming rights, it advanced self-sufficiency and created thousands of good jobs. but now, out of state corporations are coming to california.

their online sports betting initiative would break the promise between us. it's bad for tribes and all californians. join us. protect the promise. what are you recommending for muscle pain? based on clinical data, i recommend salonpas. agreed... my patients like these patches because they work for up to 12 hours, even on moderate pain. salonpas. it's good medicine dan: years ago today, the bay area began sheltering in place and what was originally set to be three weeks at the time.

karina: now the u.s. is approaching 80 million covid-19 cases in the last two years and nearly 970,000 deaths. dan: as we continue to reopen, experts fear cases will only rise again in the next few weeks because of the new ba.2 variant, the subvariant of omicron. it has been tripling in prevalence every two weeks. karina: while health officials are closely monitoring, santa clara's public health officer is also cautiously optimistic about the future. as reporter dustin dorsey tells us, today dr. sara cody thanked members of the community for their hard work over the last two years dealing with the virus and getting to this point of optimism. reporter: march 17, 2020, a reminder of how things look to santa clara county due to the shelter-in-place for the coronavirus pandemic. closed businesses and empty streets. two years later, a busy scene. public health officer dr. sara

cody attributes to the hard work of the county. >> i just want to really thank everyone. reporter: she says our efforts saved thousands of lives. the state death rate average was two times more than santa clara counties and the nations was more than 2.5 times more. this is attribute it to high vaccination rates and regulations the county deployed no matter how much they were criticized. >> we have lost 2180 people in our community to covid to date, but without the collective efforts that we all have made, we would have lost many more. reporter: but the pandemic isn't over. the new highly transmissible ba.2 variant is spreading and showing up more in the north county wastewater surveillance system than other parts of santa clara. cases are still stable or declining, and dr. cody says she is not anticipating new mandates at this time. >> how we collectively in our community in the bay area behave will have a lot to do with whether another variant takes off or not.

reporepo private health care providers to do their part by continuing to offer vaccination and testing during future surges and called on the federal government to bring back covid funding that she says has fallen apart. >> we all really need to hope that some funding gets back on track. we need it for vaccines. we need it for tests. we need it for treatment and for basic infrastructure in local public health. reporter: the county has learned a lot over the last two years and thinks those lessons could still help going forward. cody encourages all of us to have tests and masks available in case we needed, but for now she's optimistic about where we are. >> hold that good thought. reporter: in santa clara county, dustin dorsey, abc 7 news. dan: small businesses are still recovering from the pandemic and will for some time, but no more help may be on the way. zach fuentes explains, those people awarding new grants in the south bay are hoping to be able to help. reporter: ds menswear has no employees. it is run only by alfredo diaz

velasquez and his wife. it has been in downtown for 37 euros per the last two years have been some of the most difficult. >> we couldn't get customers. we could not get merchandise. we were just protecting ourselves. reporter: it is small businesses like this one in santa clara county and partners have been working on during the pandemic. the latest effort is to help what they call the smallest of small businesses or micro businesses. >> this program is very different than the others. it's a focus on those overlooked in the past. reporter: it awards up to 25 hundred dollars to micro businesses, businesses that were open in 2019 made less than $50,000 that year and had five employees or fewer. applications can be found at this website. in total, their goal is to 875 micro businesses. they hope by may they would be

able to reach 500, but in the first day alone they already met and exceeded that goal. >> put it this way. as of 11:00 this morning, two hours after it hit, we already have 528 people applying or in the process. reporter: dennis king with the foundation says the huge response speaks to a need for his nurses -- business is. >> while we are hopeful we see light at the end of the tunnel, the reality is we are still in that tunnel. reporter: meanwhile, alfredo reminds everyone of the importance of supporting small dose -- his nurses -- businesses.

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see a path forward with actions and treatments from a retina specialist that may help protect against vision loss. visit noweyesee.com and take charge of your sight. dan: area continue to show support for ukraine, donations continue to pour in. we told you about the rallies and fundraisers over the last few weeks. now reporter tara campbell takes

a look at how people are helping in this war-torn country by getting involved. reporter: the sights and sounds of war in ukraine. a bay area nonprofit raising millions to help its homeland. >> we are seeing a surge of support. reporter: igor is helping lead the way with novell. . ukraine the nonprofit has raised more than $8 million in a few weeks. >> we are getting a donation every three to four minutes. reporter: on facebook thursday suppressing the $2 million mark. >> it's been a different world. it is much larger. reporter: the outpouring of support is thrusting the nonprofit into overdrive. >> we are essentially growing leg a start up except no one gets paid. reporter: volunteer numbers jumped from more than 30 people to more than a hundred. >> we have cfa's, people who examine proposals, procedures for on board and volunteers. it is a matter of scale.

reporter: firm volunteers in the bay area to its partnering organizations in ukraine, the primary focus is making sure money gets to those in need. working with trusted partners like patients in ukraine helping get medical supplies into hospitals, treating those wounded in war. eva is the executive director. >> the hospitals give us a lot of lists of different items ites order to treat this trauma. reporter: she is now working out of warsaw. she says it's getting more difficult and dangerous. >> there are bombs and rockets. they can move. they just stop and wait until it will be more or less safe to move further. reporter: volunteers making deliveries while maneuvering through the hardest hit regions. >> it is really difficult to organize this logistics and to

come to the regions. you never know where the bomb will be. reporter: braving the dangers of war to help make millions of dollars raised make a difference. tara campbell, abc 7 news. karina: thank you. new developments. san francisco teachers just announced progress in a dispute over paycheck issues after staging a sit in. teachers say they will have covid sick pay that can be used retroactively, interest payments and repayments of fees like overdraft or credit card late payment fees. the new payroll led to hundreds of employees either not receiving their paychecks or only getting partial pay. dan: happy st. patrick's day, everyone. what a gorgeous day. karina: it is. a lot of people wearing green and enjoying festivities. sandhya patel is here. we know you can't wear green because you stand in front of a green screen. sandhya: that's right.

but i'm glad you are both in green. i hope you all had a nice st. patrick's day. if you are stepping out tonight, grabbed a jacket. 25 mile an hour gusts at 32 sustained in san francisco. nice onshore breezes. along the embarcadero, the flags are moving in the wind. oakland at 58. 65 in mountain view and 64 in san jose. a shaky view, looking at the clouds gathering. 62 in napa. earlier today, you probably remember with all the cloud cover this morning, the system passed to the north. some of you may have seen some sprinkles. we certainly saw the change in the air mass from our camera. i will step aside so you can see these people coming to visit and

enjoying san francisco. patchy morning fog. wet and windy weather saturday. spring begins saturday and we have the potential for record warmth next week. in the lake and mendocino counties, freeze warnings and frost advisories, temperatures in the low to mid 30's. protect any sensitive plants you may have. there will be some fog but it will be patchy to start off friday. afternoon highs will come up for some areas. inland areas in the low 70's along the coastline. upper 50's to the bayside communities, mid to upper 60's and increasing clouds. the light system coming your way for saturday. rain will be briefly heavy. isolated thunder chance. let's start off with the winds first. 1:00 in the afternoon, 35 to 36 mile an hour winds at the coast. 7:00, over 40 mile-per-hour winds. it will feel blustery especially with cooler weather arriving.

saturday night, still 40 miles per hour or higher. saturday morning, the rain already knocking at our door. moving onshore, light to moderate, widespread rain. watching this section here, we could see heavy downpours or an isolated thunder storm. the evening, the wet weather will wind down. in terms of rainfall estimates, they are generally one quarter to 6/10 of an inch. if you get caught under one of these downpours, could see heavier totals. 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. saturday. up to seven inches above 7000. carry the chains if you are going because you may need them. accuweather 7 a forecast, increasing clouds tomorrow. rain and wind saturday. spring brings us the chill in the morning sunday and monday. milder to warmer weather potential for records tuesday and wednesday. mid 80's is what we are talking about. can you believe it?

it's almost like summer. karina: that will be great. dan: it is st. patrick's day of course. after two years of distanced and virtual celebrations, we were

dan: san mateo county officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking today for a new affordable housing complex. the new transit oriented community is going up in what used to be a parking lot in downtown san mateo. the 225 unit complex will be open to low-wage working families from the surrounding area. there will also be a new five story parking garage and pedestrian bridge. >> the city donated this land in exchange for us agreeing to build the housing and the parking. it's a real testament to the values of this community that they recognize that we need low-wage workers to live near their jobs. dan: the project includes units for homeless families, individuals with intellectual or develop mental disabilities as well as public employees. it is set to open in the spring of 2024. karina: on this st. patrick's day, a san francisco bay company is helping celebrate the luck of the irish.

this bakery is known for their sausage rules, scones, and pastries, but today it's all about the irish soda bread. there baker uses a 100-year-old recipe and one customer calls it the best in town. >> he's just an excellent baker and he knows how to bake all of the irish traditional treats and irish bread. it is very healthy. karina: the owner says the bakery cells two to three dozen loaves, but from the weekend to today they've sold 18,000. dan: st. patrick's day celebration returning to downtown hills this morning. these are from kent porter. the annual st. patrick's day started at 7:00 a.m. there were bad pipers and many dressed up for the occasion. this has been dubbed the biggest, shortest parade in the world.

karina: world news tonight is next. i'm karina nova. dan: i'm dan ashley. we appreciate your time and centuries ago, native californians thrived on this land. now, we share a destiny with all californians. when voters granted our sovereign nations exclusive gaming rights, it advanced self-sufficiency and created thousands of good jobs. but now, out of state corporations are coming to california. their online sports betting initiative would break the promise between us. it's bad for tribes and all californians.

join us. protect the promise. entresto is the number one heart failure brand prescribed by cardiologists and has helped over one million people. it was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto.

tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. survivors pulled from that shelter bombed by the russians in ukraine. men, women, and children inside. the new images coming in tonight. video on social media showing the should potentially hundreds of civilians feared trapped in the basement of that bombed theater in mariupol. ukraine's resistance fighting back against russian forces. video provided by the ukrainian national guard showing a russian tank coming under fire. and a russian soldier running from the tank. tonight, an american citizen is among those killed amid heavy shelling in chernihiv. what we've learned tonight. and an emotional scene at a hospital in kyiv today. president zelenskyy meeting wounded patients, injured women and children. tonight, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken saying he personally agrees with psi