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lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. those drops will probably pass right by me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what is that? xiidra? no! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda-approved non-steroid eye drop specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait fifteen minutes before reinserting contacts. got any room in your eye? be proactive about managing your symptoms by talking to your doctor about twice-daily xiidra. like i did. i prefer you didn't! xiidra. not today, dry eye. >> building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc7 news. larry: mass confusion with

americans caught in the middle. the biden administration signals it plans to appeal that federal judge's ruling that voided the national mask mandate. however the administration plans to wait for the cdc to decide whether it wants to extend the mandate. thank you for joining us. ama: the back-and-forth is catching transit agencies and passengers in the middle. what does it mean in the bay area? dan: abc7 news reporter dustin dorsey tracked down the varying requirements. dustin: with many on spring break in the south bay, there were plenty coming and going at the san jose national airport. after a federal judge ruled against the mass transportation mandate, you could see many of their faces. it was an even split of people wearing face coverings and not. >> i'm ready to not wear my mask anymore on my long flights and remembering a mask. i feel safe. >> i do a lot in my school and

outside of school so i want to give myself as well as others safe, so i still wear it. dustin: sjc joins other airports in making masks optional but strongly recommended. the choice ultimately comes down to the guests. >> the masks can be a personal choice. safety isn't something we want everyone to take seriously. -- is something we want everyone to take seriously. now that they are optional, it is something we recommend for safety, however we understand it is a personal decision. dustin: from the skies to the roads, local public transit is also adjusting to the new mask ruling. bart and other agencies say they made the decision to try and stay consistent in their individual rulings to the many confusion for r-- to eliminate confusion for riders. >> bart has connections to caltrain and other agencies. we want to make sure we are giving passengers the most

updated information and staying on the same page to make things as easy for passengers as possible. dustin: everyone we saw on the light rail or bus remained masked up. at least one san jose student wanted to keep that white. >> i feel like even though cases increased over the past months, there is still a threat. dustin: all agencies we spoke with said to be on the lookout for future changes as they look to state and local leaders for guidance. dustin dorsey, abc7 news. ama: uber and lyft say they will no longer require riders or drivers to requirements. both companies removed the mask requirement today. the reaction from drivers today seems to be mixed. >> it's a serious safety issue. like i said, i don't care to wear that mask, but i will if it will keep me somewhat safe. >> i am super happy. i feel very happy inside because

this means everything is getting back to normal. ama: uber and lyft say their drivers can decline rides for those who opt not to wear masks without it impacting their driver rating. for a complete list of the rules and guidelines at various transportation agencies in the bay area, go to abc7news.com. >> new details out of the south bay regarding a fire that destroyed a home depot support earlier this month. -- store earlier this month. abc7 news reporter zach fuentes is live from the courthouse, where that went before a judge today. zach: his time in court lasted about five minutes, where he was assigned a public defender. he will be in court on the first of june. he faces several charges, including activated arson. the santa clara county da says the damage he caused amounts to millions of dollars and he also could have taken lives.

the suspect now faces seven counts of grand theft and three counts of petty theft on top of that aggravated arson charge. the santa clara county district attorney's office says he stole from a bass pro shop that saturday, april 9, then made his way to the home depot on blossom help. the district attorney said he also tried to steal from the home depot store. >> lit the fire in the home depot and tried to leave the store with a cart containing stolen tools. he was stopped by a home depot employee and fled in another persons car. >> as the home depot was burning to the ground, the da says the man went to the east bay to continue his theft spree. no lives were lost or injuries in the home depot fire, but the store itself is a total loss. the store is reporting $17 million in inventory damage alone. the cost of the building the da says is also in the millions. san jose police investigated along with officers at the atf.

>> using a warrant, san jose pd arrested the suspect april 15, less than two weeks after his horribly reckless and criminal behavior. >> right now the district attorney's office and san jose fire department are not going into specifics into how the suspect darted the fire and -- started the fire and if he used some kind of accelerant. police say the fire he sent the area in did have combustible items. another question gone unanswered is the status of the sprinkler and alarm systems in the building. on that, had this to say. -- the san jose fire chief had this to say. >> we are working to establish what the status of the fire protection systems were in the building. >> based on the charges, the da says the suspect could face 14 years to life in prison if convicted. zach fuentes, abc7 news. ama: today, san mateo police announced the arrest of two men

in connection with a 2020 homicide they are calling a revenge killing. one of the men was arrested in hawaii, the other in north carolina. police say they were responsible for the execution style killing of a man killed in front of his home in san mateo in october in 2020. during the shooting, his two-year-old son was also shot in the face. >> not only were the suspects lying in wait to commit this murder, they appeared to carry it out without any concern for public safety, our city or any children present. ama: investigators say the killing was retaliation for a deadly house fire that claimed the life of an 85-year-old san mateo woman a year earlier. that woman was reportedly the grandmother of one of the men now in custody. dan: a bill that would allow californians to sue gun makers and dealers made it out of the assembly's judiciary committee today. >> aye. >> aye.

>> that bill is out. dan: that bill is out means the committee approved. one assembly member of san francisco approved the legislation in january, and if approved, people could file lawsuits starting in january 2023. a different committee approved a similar bill that targets ghost guns. the legislation picked up momentum following the mass shooting in sacramento that left six dead and 12 injured. ama: two san francisco police officers and one retired officer are under arrest, accused of tampering with evidence. one officer is charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun after he was allegedly found with a firearm missing from evidence. in a separate incident, two officers are accused of concealing or destroying evidence, including flushing drugs down the toilet. the department says all three voluntarily surrendered today. dan: the family of a black man killed by san leandro police filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

steven taylor was shot and killed inside a walmart in april of 2020. the lawsuit his family and umstead date seeks $10 million in damages from the city of san leandro and the two officers involved. the attorney representing taylor's family wants to see policy changes in the police department. >> their failure to create an appropriate mechanism to respond to people with mental health crisis despite knowing that not only stephen taylor specifically was in crisis, regularly and crisis in the community, but knowing that the state of california in this region is dealing with a mental health crisis that has national applications. dan: the city of san leandro issued a statement in response to the lawsuit, saying it plans to defend itself. this is taylor's death led to significant changes in the police department's use of force policies and training. ama: coming up, a single dad from the east bay takes on tech titan facebook. 7 on your side will be here with

more on the small claims court case over a defective virtual-reality headset. dan: plus cummaquid the federal government be ready to wipe out debt for thousands of student loan borrowers? the announcement from the biden administration. abc7 news - ama: the department of education says it is making corrections to historic failures in the admitted station of federal loan programs. at least 40,000 borrowers in the public service loan forgiveness

program and income driven repayment plans will have their debt canceled immediately. more than 3.5 million borrowers will be closer to loan forgiveness. dan: time for consumer news. we have an update to a story we brought you in january. remember this about an east bay father who took facebook to small claims court over a defective virtual-reality headset? both sides were back in court yesterday. now they are waiting for a judge's ruling. 7 on your side's michael finney is here for a david and goliath battle. michael: it began when his son's oculus vr device broke down while still under warranty. oculus would not replace it. when this dad saw hundreds of similar complaints online, he got upset. the large company was simply ignoring legions of customers. michael: bobby's oculus vr headset stopped working last summer. >> it went completely blank. michael: his father mark kept

asking for a replacement under his warranty. he only got delays, then a denial. >> they told us they were out of stock. after three months went by i said i want my money back. they said we will not do that, we will give you extra credits. michael: he complained to the better business bureau. oculus never responded and mark saw hundreds of similar complaints also ignored. the bbb gave an f rating to oculus and its owner facebook. >> this is not about the money, it's the principle of the fact. it is with nicholas how these large companies treat the consumer -- it is ridiculous how these large-company street the consumer. michael: he spent hundreds of dollars trying to find where to serve court papers. facebook sent attorneys to try to stop the lawsuit. finally on monday, mark and bobby got their day in court. mark showed the judge this 377 page book full of documents, showing all his efforts to get oculus to honor a warranty.

>> my emails to oculus, my emails to the attorney, the attorney's responses. the judge was not impressed at all with what they did to me. her eyes opened up wide when she saw my document asian. a large corporation making a parent have to fight this hard to get a refund. michael: and father and son emerged from the courtroom with this gift, a new oculus headset, which facebook gave them right there in the courtroom. >> they offered it to us as a gift for my son for everything he went through. that was nice, yeah. michael: now mark and facebook are awaiting the judge's ruling on possible damages. facebook, owned by meta platforms, did not respond to our request for comment. ama: still ahead, the drought is taking a toll on the health of trees across the bay area. we show you the inspections

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prevagen. healthier brain. better life. legislature for another three quarters of a billion dollars, likely more. we are moving aggressively. a remarkable team that led us out of the last drought, now we are entering into this third year, officially in the third year of this new drought. it will require all of us to be more creative, more flexible. dan: last week the governor announced the expansion of the campaign to encourage californians to reduce water use. some water experts say they like to see the governor do more, including issuing mandatory restrictions. ama: the ongoing drought has put unprecedented stress on bay area trees, killing them in record numbers. >> this is a common sign of sudden oak death. ama: tree by tree, these vegetation specialists walked along the oakland hills. >> a little instability, but

overall this tree is maintaining compliance. ama: some pass, some fail. >> looking at a redwood tree stressed out, in decline. ama: much of the disease and damage can be blamed on the drought. >> not only has it created an atmosphere for sudden oak death, and and sex to structurally compromise the tree, and to see more debt in trying -- more dead and dying trees, but increases the fire threat. that is why we are meticulously inspecting these trees several times a year to reduce these safety hazards. ama: the green dot marks an old inspection, the yellow dot this current tree mortality inspection. monterey pines and oak trees are suffering the most. how quickly can a tree go from being the healthy to dead/ -- to dead? >> with sudden oak death you have a matter of weeks to months if the tree has that pathogen.

we have deaths in these trees all the time. ama: the yellow dot means these trees are getting trimmed in the next month. an x means it is getting chopped down. pg&e says they will be back on these same streets inspecting again in the fall. in the east bay, abc7 news. dan: of course what we need is rain. a lot more than what we are going to get, but at least we are getting some. >> next storm is coming in tomorrow. we will get some rain off and on through friday morning. let me show you live doppler 7. there are some left over clouds from the system that came through earlier today. brought us the showers in the bay area, brought snow to the sierra nevada, and all is quiet right now. i want to show you the rainfall totals. generally speaking it was a quarter of an inch or less. ben loam and one third of an inch. 2/100th in san jose.

1/10th in santa rosa. as you look at temperatures, they are in the 50's and. 60's live views from our tower camera showing plenty of sun, a few clouds left over. but enjoy this because things are changing. from our tower camera you see mostly sunny skies. storm moves in by tomorrow afternoon. early settled through early friday. dry and warmer weather for the weekend. a light level 1 storm for tomorrow afternoon through friday morning. that is when most of you will see the wet weather. it's often on showers. breezy. on thursday there is the possibility of thunder and hail. watch out for rough and dangerous suf. beach hazard statement late tomorrow night. bringing risk of rip currents and sneaker waves. tomorrow around sonoma county in the morning you might see some showers, but it is the afternoon you have to wait for before the light to moderate showers moves in. 7:00, starting to spread to the east bay and san francisco

peninsula. thursday morning is when most of the activity will take place. we see another batch coming through by evening. you will see those showers tapering. a few more going friday morning. rainfall estimates with this system anywhere from about 1/10 to an half inch of rain. could see isolated totals higher than that. winter storm warning for 5:00 p.m. tomorrow until 11:00 a.m. friday. heavy snow in the sierra, one to two feet, up to three feet for the peaks. definitely white out conditions with the winds. 30's and 40's on temperatures first thing in the morning. it will be cloudy tomorrow afternoon. grab those umbrellas. the rain starts in the north bay first, then spreads by evening. highs range from the upper 50's to the low 70's. you check out the accuweather seven-day forecast, level 1 storm arrives tomorrow. showers gusty thursday. a light level 1 system for friday will bring us morning showers, then we are done.

it's all part of the same system the next three days before we start to dry out and warm up. we will bring you 80's inland this weekend. by sunday, 60's coast side. we need the rain. i think one last push is great. dan: thanks. i know with those allergies are like. thank you. in the sierra, driving conditions are getting back to normal for now. chain controls are no longer in effect on interstate 80 over donner summit. some drivers still have a little trouble with the snow and slick roads this afternoon. the chp is warning anyone planning to drive through that area to be ready for a new storm expected to arrive later this week. ama: nurses and other health care workers who walked off the job at sutter hospitals yesterday say they have been locked out from returning to work. they held a one-day strike at 15 facilities to protest staffing and safety concerns, but those workers were told by hospital officials they can't go back to work for five days until the placement workers are done.

sutter insists it is not i luck out. a spokesman told abc7, when a union threatens a strike, we must make plans. part of that is to make replacement contracts that provide the assurance of five days. still ahead, a south bay county supervisor trades his spring break vacation to partake in a humanitarian mission. after the break, we hear about his experience vol i'm dan o'dowd and i approved this message. you are watching actual videos of the

tesla full self driving technology as recorded by the drivers. from turning too tightly and hitting a pylon... [ expletive ] to swerving toward a pole. jesus. watch the bicyclist on the right almost get hit before the driver takes over. sometimes it seems the tesla doesn't want the driver to take over. i'm trying. this driver had to hit the brakes when the tesla didn't understand a detour sign. ok. here it almost hit a truck. obviously, i had to take over. and here it swerves into an oncoming lane. look at that! often, the tesla doesn't know what it wants to do. what is it doing? or just doesn't know how to turn. jesus, oh my god! tesla's full self driving software for drivers and pedestrians, it's unsafe at any speed. tell congress to shut it down. meet brett from apartment 2b. he's not letting an overdraft alert get him stressed. he knows he's covered with zero overdraft fees when

he overdraws his account by fifty bucks or less. overdraft assist from chase. make more of what's yours. ama: our reminder you can get our live newscasts, breaking news and whether with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app on apple tv, fire tv and roku. dan: finally tonight, while people are enjoying spring break, living ordinary life, it is important to remember that the war in ukraine rages on. ama: the human suffering it caused opted a bay area supervisor to end a european vacation early and tend to immigrants who escaped to poland. dan: we have the story you will only see on abc7mber approachin5 million, the exodus of ukrainians escaping to poland and other european countries was weighing on the mind of a santa

clara county supervisor as he vacationed in spain. a navy veteran with nearly three decades of service, he decided to forgo education -- to forgo vacation and went to warsaw. >> i was able to volunteer my time on the dayshift for several hours to give out bananas, apples, water, and those type of items. >> for four days and 319 took in the magnitude of the refugees' plight they were exhausted. . they were hungry. >> i remember giving a couple apples and water to this old lady and she started tearing up. these simple things that you see the human told that has taken place, very real. >> even as the world central kitchen volunteers provided meals, lee saw a need for supplies. he went to a local market to buy and donate canned bread and ham.

he is not one to brag or seek attention, however he says the exposure to the refugee situation provided insight into the needs of those who may eventually resettle in the bay area. he is especially concerned about the psychological trauma of war, ptsd. >> especially for the children who did not understand a lot of what is going on other than the fact that they have to leave behind and suffer these bombs. it is going to take many years for them to recover. >> he hopes continued diplomatic efforts will have an effect on the russian president. in san jose, david the, abc7 news. dan: we all can have a part to play. world news tonight with david muir's next. we appreciate your time. ama: for all of us, thank you for joining us tonight. our next newscast is coming up at 6:00. we hope to see you then.

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stories as we come on the air. tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the confusion over travel mask mandates. how this played out on planes across the country today. the scenes on board. also, the war in ukraine tonight. russia declaring this new offensive. what the pentagon is saying tonight, and the ukrainians refusing to surrender inside a massive steel plant. the pandemic. tonight, for the first time in two years, passengers across the u.s. are now allowed to fly without wearing masks. what played out on those flights. the joy from some. the concern from others. and what president biden said today about americans who are flying and whether they should still wear the masks. gio benitez on that tonight. also tonight, russia declaring that new offensive in