getting answers live on abc seven. we talk about issues important to the bay area and give answers in real-time. who does not love the rocket man? everyone loves elton john concet levi's stadium will make the two concerts of the year at the home of the 49ers. we talk with the general manager of the stadium about how they art transforming the field into a concert when you. dozens of failed their psychological exams and were

relieved of duty. the state is taking a closer look at the site exams of san francisco sheriff's deputies and contra costa as well. our media partner will fill us in. first, fentanyl death is on the rise are among american teens, tripling in the last three years. last year more than 770 californians under age 24 died of for dental overdose. this year bay area victims included 18-year-old kayden ross of vacaville. our our kids being educated about the danger in school? joining us live to talk about what is being taught and not taught in california schools is carolyn jones, senior reporter for an education focused news outlet. you wrote an in-depth article about this. the cdc recently issued a strong warning about rainbow fentanyl. the fear is the colorful

synthetic opioids that are so dangerous can look like candy. you can see that they do look possibly very appealing for kids. is this morning being echoed by schools to students? are they sending warnings to kids? >> yes. the state asked schools to warn parents and students about this, especially with halloween coming up. that is of particular concern. also, the recent spike in sentinel overdoses. --fentanyl overdoses, it is of great concern. kristen: are these dangers being taught at school? >> well, it depends which school . california has a thorough, comprehensive, detailed health curriculum from kindergartners through 12th grade but only about two thirds of middle schools and high schools offer

that as a dedicated class. it's not required for graduation by the state. some schools require it, but most do not and one third of schools do not offer it at all. there are a lot of kids out there not getting this information. kristen: you said one third of schools don't offer it at all, two thirds do, but it is not mandatory. so, it is voluntary? most kids don't take voluntary classes. >> yes, it would be an elective. a handful of schools do require it. most do not. the vast majority do not require it and part of the reason is especially in high school, there are a lot of classes that students have to cram in to qualify for uc port csu. it comes down to, do i take an extra year of spanish or a health class? kristen: is it offered through

special substance abuse classes, or is it part of health or biology? >> well, some schools have a dedicated health teacher that would teach this class covering a variety of health topics like nutrition, mental health, how to develop positive relationships. all manner of life skills students would need. then sometimes, drug education is taught as a unit in a biology class, or, a pe teacher might take it on as a unit. sometimes school district's contract with outside agencies. they will bring in a professional drug educator to teach the class. but it really varies. it is very inconsistent. the quality is very inconsistent. some kids walk away from school with a fantastic foundation in education about substance abuse prevention. some do not get that information at all. kristen: yeah, because you can get a simple, hey, do not take

it, it is bad. or you can learn about a synthetic opioid and how it works in your body and is 50 times more powerful than heroin. i wonder about the inconsistency. it shows up in both curriculum and depth. >> exactly. schools that do it well start in kindergarten. i mean, they don't talk to five euros about here one, but they will talk to five-year-olds about the importance of putting healthy things in your body and critical thinking skills. knowing, do not take candy from strangers, literally. how to resist peer pressure. they build from there. then by the time kids are in middle school, or may late elementary school, fifth grade or so, they start talking about tobacco. i think we can all remember being in middle school and seeing the photograph of the healthy lung and the lung

damaged by tobacco use. that will be included and then they move on to alcohol. by later middle school or high school, they talk about more serious drugs and how it affects adolescent brain development and mental health and long-term health issues caused by that. kristen: do you have a sample of how bay area schools are approaching it? >> i looked all over the state. i don't have a ton about the bay area. i do know that some parts of the bay area have way higher rates of youth drug use than others. for affluent areas have significantly higher rates. some of those school districts offer more counseling and referrals and drug education that others. i mean, i think, piedmont, for example, marin county, have rates of youth drug use that are

triple the state average according to the california health agents surveyed. kristen: there is a link between affluence and the rate of use, higher in more affluent areas. that's interesting. they are offered counseling and help. counseling, is that also inconsistent? we talked about the education part. what about kids having access to people that can help them at school? >> absolutely. i interviewed a bunch of students for this article, and that is one thing they mentioned over and over. they wanted counseling. they wanted help if they or their friends were having trouble with drug use. they wanted someplace they could go where they would not get suspended, they would not be judged, they would not get in trouble. but, they would get support. schools that do this right have a very open door policy to the counseling office. any student can walk in at any time and say, i do not want to smoke so much anymore.

how can i get help? the school should be able to help them. or if it is a serious problem, refer them to an outside agency for free where they can get support and help. counseling is a big part of this. the state has funded, since covid, the state has poured tons and tons of money into youth mental health programs, including counseling. school districts have tons of money to hire counselors now. that's a good thing. >kristen: with the government, cdc, and doctors everywhere highlighting the fentanyl crisis now our parents, educators, and other groups saying, we have to do something to make sure that the curriculum in our schools is everywhere, that it is uniform, and it covers things to the same level of detail? >> health educators have been saying this for decades. they have been saying, students, this is basic life information students need to know.

especially, if you consider the rise in eating disorders and mental health issues and all manner of challenges young people are facing now. so, health educators have been doing this for years and i think parents are starting to now as well. if there is a lot of genuine concern. i think the drug and alcohol situation now is not what it was 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago. even cannabis is a lot stronger than it used to be. i think sometimes young people find themselves in situations they were not expecting. you know, getting themselves into trouble they were not expecting to get into. kristen: making good choices begins with education and having information. carolyn jones, thank you for joining us today. >> sure, thank you for having me. kristen: next, get ready for the rocket man. elton john is headed to the bay area and it is a big undertaking

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kristen: levi's stadium in santa clara will mark a big post-pandemic milestone this weekend, capping off the first full year back for concerts since 2019. it will hit the mark in style welcoming superstars are elton john on back-to-back nights this weekend for his farewell tour. work is underway now to transform the stadium into a concert venue. joining us live to talk more about that is jim mercurio, executive vice president and levi's stadium general manager. thank you for joining us. jim: my pleasure. how are you this afternoon? kristen: i am doing well but you are doing better because you will see elton john.

what a great way to round out 2022. jim: it sure is. we are coming off of a great win monday night and now, we will transform the stadium to a concert venue for saturday and sunday. it's exciting. the teams are working their tails off to transform the stadium into a concert venue. one of five, plus a soccer game in 2022. we are excited to welcome the fans and elton john. kristen: how many people can attend as concertgoers? jim: depending on the set up, it could be anywhere from 45,000 to 55 thousand depending on the set up. the grateful dead was a little different. they were able to sell that out at over 70,000 because, we sold seats behind the stage. for this show, anywhere between 45,000 and 50,000 people saturday and sunday. kristen: how many concerts did you guys host this year, the

first full year since the pandemic? jim: this is reminiscent in 2014 when we opened levi stadium. we had nine non-nfl events at levi's stadium in a nine month timeframe. we are about six non-nfl events this 2010 into -- 2022 seasons, six concerts and a soccer match this year. so, saturday and sunday marks six concerts for us. kristen: can you gauge the audience and crowd size? are people ready to come back? jim: listen, i think people are stoked, to use in 1980's term. i think people are excited to get out of being cooped up, so to speak. thinking the pandemic is behind us, we are still being cautious and doing things necessary. i think that people want to get out and to get out and be around folks. they want an opportunity to be

entertained. the three or four hours we get to keep them in our custody and care we will make sure folks have a great time visiting us. kristen: i did not realize cooped up was an 80's word. thank you for letting me know. do these events benefit the local community? jim: that's what's great. we are not just a football stadium. we are an entertainment venue. to have the ability to have customers come and visit our stadium for different genres, for different types of events, it does benefit the community with the amount of ticket costs and benefits that the santa clara stadium authority gets from hosting these types of events. it is certainly a benefit to the community and customers involved. it invites people from all different walks of life to come visit and enjoy something a little different for every walk

of life. kristen: that's nice to know. now let's talk about the work. we just saw the 49ers with an exciting win, monday night football, three days ago. you don't have a lot of time. elton john concerts are saturday and sunday. what does it take to transform the stadium? what do you have to do? jim: it takes a dedicated set of professionals. i tip my hat to all the folks that work for me and with me. there are over 30 200 people we employ it for a given event -- 3200 people we employ for a given event. it really takes a dedicated group to put this on. my stadium operations team has been tirelessly working day in and day out. imagine putting on a football game, cleaning up, turning it around and start loading in 16 semi trucks full of staging equipment, that is going 24/seven for the most part.

hats off to them. they are ready, a little tired. they are excited as much as anyone else is trying to welcome people. the ground crew has been absolutely tremendous this year. matt and his crew have been fantastic. hats off to my logistics and stadium operations team, the janitorial team fertility -- four turning to build him -- for turning the building around as fast as they have. kristen: not only do they have to turn it into a concert venue, they have to turn it back into a football stadium. jim: the very next day. that starts right after the show. thank you for giving me the opportunity to recognize those folks come up because they are important. kristen: the elton john show, saturday and sunday, are tickets available? jim: tickets are available especially for the sunday show. if you arrive earlier, the great america is open. the lot is shared between those folks. carpal if you can -- carpool if

you can. try to put parking passes and tickets into your mobile wallet. the quicker you can have that uploaded already, the quicker we can process you in. and then you don't find yourself standing in line. take public transport if you can. review the public bag policy. there are no bags for this event. keep that stuff in your car or with you at home. come early and enjoy yourself. follow the rules. do not overindulge, but have a great time and we will welcome you with open arms. kristen: two quick questions. did you say no bags? are clear plastic bags ok? jim: with the exception of a clear plastic bag, thank you for clarifying. kristen: i did buy one on amazon for like nine dollars, so i wanted to be sure. then, no opening acts? jim: elton john does not really need an opening act.

his team asked us to push to come to the stadium earlier and get in seats that 8:00 for a prompt start. kristen: fantastic. no doubt it will be two nights to remember. jim mercurio, the levi's stadium general manager, thank you so much. jim: i appreciate you, kristen: kristen: take care. state officials are heading to san francisco to review sheriff's deputies. we dig into what

naomi: every year the wildfires, the smoke seems to get worse. jessica: there is actual particles on every single surface. dr. cooke: california has the worst air pollution in the country. the top 2 causes are vehicles and wildfires. prop 30 helps clean our air. it will reduce the tailpipe emissions that poison our air kevin: and helps prevent the wildfires that create toxic smoke that's why calfire firefighters, the american lung association, and the coalition for clean air support prop 30. naomi: i'm voting yes on 30.

kristen: state officials plan to review the psychological examination results of center of -- san francisco and contract costa county sheriff's deputies after 50 alameda county deputies failing their psychological exams. yesterday protesters chanted outside the sheriffs office in oakland, not wanting some of those deputies returned to duty. 12 have been restored after they

retook and passed the exams. media partners at the san francisco standard wrote an article about the state expanding review efforts to catch sheriff's deputies that may not be fit to serve. joining us live now is a senior reporter for the standard jonah owen lam. thank you for coming on the show. jonah: good to be here. kristen: tell us about the state agency that wants to look into several date area sheriff's department -- bay area sheriff's departments. jonah: we have learned in addition to the story you just put on the screen that they are reviewing every agency in contra costa county, alameda county, and san francisco county for these problems with psychological evaluations. in 2016 -- back to 2016, they will see all police officers across the area i mentioned, whether they passed their exams as well. this is sfpd, oakland pd, and

all agencies across these three counties. it has expanded beyond what we first reported. kristen: we are talking about thousands of officers. jonah: thousands of officers. we get to see whether or not the evaluations used by the departments are up to snuff, by what the state regulator requires. in alameda they had been under the impression, that was wrong, that a certain benchmark was being used that could allow them to hire deputies. that was not correct. that is why the 47 deputies were relieved of duty and now we find out whether the same mistake was made by sfpd, opd, and other law enforcement agencies across the three counties. kristen: to understand why these psychological exams are important, tell us what they are designed to measure. jonah: they are meant to measure whether or not you are fit to be

a law enforcement officer. it includes psychological background, an oral interview, a test. they want to make sure that when you are out there being a cop and doing a really stressful and dangerous work, that you will not crack under pressure. at least, that's one way of looking at it. the other way is to make sure you are not biased. that you don't have mental or emotional issues that would make it hard for you to do the job, or harm a folks out there that you are supposed to protect. this is a really important aspect of the hiring process for all police officers. they are known as peace officers. if this is not done right, you can get folks in the ranks that really should not be there and do not belong there. that is why this is important. the crux of the matter is a psychological background, evaluation. all the folks let go in alameda were said to not be suited for law enforcement work.

if it is found there are hundreds of more officers and deputies across the three counties that are not suited to work in law enforcement because of a psychological evaluation, that will be a big problem. kristen: there have been a couple incidents recently where people linked it to the fitness of a deputy involved. when he 5% of the alameda deputies have been reinstated after retaking the test. if this is supposed to measure personality traits, these are not things you change suddenly. like you study for an algebra test and suddenly you can solve these problems. how does one get from not suitable to serve to being a different person, then saying, you are suited for serving? jonah: good question. the regulations allow for a retest. those folks are allowed to take a second test. these are fairly subjective processes because lots of factors go in. like i said, there is an oral

examination. there is a written test. taking different pieces and putting them together and saying, this person is suited or not suited. i have not seen the tests. i have read manuals that say what the test consists of and i have read regulations, but every test conduct -- agency conducts tests differently, so there assessment can be different. but a second test is allowed. kristen: you do want uniformity with this. how long will the state process take? you're talking about thousands of officers reviewed and may be a few hundred taken off the street when people in the bay area are concerned about crime and can't afford to lose officers. jonah: it's problematic because a lot of these agencies are understaffed. the post has not said to me when

this will be completed. it seems like they did a pretty quick job in alameda. i think we should figure out whether officers and deputies will be relieved of duty in these three counties fairly soon. i will follow it to make sure that if that happens it is reported. kristen: we will check back in with you jonah owen lamb with the standard. check out more ats

kristen: thank you for joining us for "getting answers" today. we will be here at 3:00

answering questions. next, the latest on the investigation into a kidnapped central valley family now found tonight, several breaking stories as we come on the air. the deadly stabbing spree on the las vegas strip. tourists and residents attacked at random. the images coming in at this hour. at least eight people stabbed. at least two people killed tonight. several victims in critical condition. the suspect armed with a large knife. also tonight, overseas, the horrific scene unfolding. at least 36 killed during a massacre at a day care center in thailand. more than 20 children among the victims. 2 to 5 years old. the gunman, a former police officer. the breaking news from the white house tonight. president biden pardoning thousands of americans convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law. mary bruce live at the white house. the developing headline from the pentagon tonight.