>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. kristen: you're watching "getting answers" live on abc 7. today -- what's in and name? 1.7 billion dollars perhaps. that's how much the family of sarah hastings wants if the name of the prestigious hastings law school is changed. also a bay area singer-songwriter with millions of followers is going viral, not just for her soulful sound but

also for her wordplay abilities. she brings her crossword puzzle and punning skills to her songs, and a member of the abc 7 news team has volunteered to go head-to-head in competition with her, but first, with covid numbers down, many are hoping to enjoy the relative lull and reengage in social activities, but unfortunately, flu numbers are soaring. >> happy friday. i always feel like the fun police when i have to show up and talk about the dreadful cold and flu season. kristen: i know, but we need you. here we go. how bad is the local flu situation? dr. patel: it is not great. on any given year, influenza is going to hospitalized hundreds of thousands of people and somewhere between 20,000 to

70,000 die on any flu season, and right now, our numbers are actually higher than a typical season, so the weekly flu view has begun. right now, about 23% of health care visits are for respiratory illnesses. three children have died. numbers suggest we may have a bad flu season. you know what to do -- get your flu shot, stay home if you are sick, wash your hands. do all the things. kristen: when you say they are higher than past octobers, you are not just compare numbers to the last two when people did not go out, you're talking historically? if it is higher than historical figures, why do you think that is? dr. patel: i'm glad you brought that up. we had very dull flu seasons the last couple of ears for obvious reasons, but compared to 2019, this might be a pretty bad these in and we want to do our best to mitigate that.

we often use australia and the southern hemisphere as a potential forecast. they had higher numbers than we've seen since before 2017. perhaps we have decreased immunity to flu variants in the last two years, and also we are ready to be back in person and around each other. the one thing i want to stress -- it is not just influenza out there. we are seeing full hospitals, especially in pediatric hospitals. there's a lot of different causes, including rsv, which could be devastating for young children. kristen: the biden administration yesterday extended the covid public health emergency through january. i think that surprised some people because we are looking around going, hey, isn't it in the rearview mirror? dr. patel: it signals it is not necessarily as much in the rearview mirror as we would like it to be. there is still an element of unpredictability.

the biden administration just want to be prepared in the event of a surge, and we have been experiencing some elements of universal health care, meaning we had free vaccines, free testing. we have and able to get telemedicine visits with your physician. these are some of the measures that will be protected as long as there is that additional hunting, which comes from the declaration of a state of emergency. we should get a 60-day notice about when they are going to cancel that emergency and say we are back to somewhat normal. kristen: got it. the cdc recommended the new bivalent food -- bivalent booster for children as young as five. are you seeing parents bring children in for the shot? dr. patel i have had just a few parents expressed they are ready for their children to do this. also in the age of five to 11, a little bit over 30% of those

kids are fully vaccinated, meaning they are eligible to get this booster. you can only get this booster two months after your last shot or after your last covid-19 infection. 60%, 70% of kids now getting vaccinated. kristen: if it's the 60% to 70% that had not completed their original shots over the 30% ready for their sir, when is the right time to do it? dr. patel: the right time to do it is when you are eligible. when we talk about the flu shot, we want to encourage people to get that before halloween, before there is a potential surge, before we historically see the uptick. we want people to get that booster, especially as we have an unpredictable sense of what will happen this winter and for anyone who has not gotten their primary series, do that because all the data sincerely supports the fact that the primary shot,

the good old trucks that came out in 2020, are still very effective at preventing severe illness and death. kristen: thank you so much. great info as always. have a great weekend. we will be right back with the legal battle life is busy. so, come to shell and get three things done at once. first, fill up with shell v-power nitro+ to help keep your engine running like new. nice! then save up with the fuel rewards program and never pay full price for gas again.

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kristen: now to the latest in the lawsuit over the name of one of the nation's most respected lawsuit. and effort is underway to rename uc hastings college of law because its namesake is alleged to have been involved in atrocities against native americans. hastings has filed a $1.7 billion lawsuit to fight the

change. fellow of the law institute at the uc berkeley school of law joins us now. you are a professor, so please do educate us. who was sonos hastings, and how did he come to have his name on the university of california's flagship law school? >> the true historians are other people like brendan lindsay of sacramento state, but hastings was a fellow who came out in the years after the gold rush in california -- actually, during the gold rush. he became the first chief justice of the state of

california, the third attorney general. he apparently did not hold a job very long. he was chief justice of california for all of 16, 18 months, something like that. kristen: so he had these high up positions, but what was his role in terms of what he did in northern california, mendocino county, i think, and the impact on native americans? >> well, he financed killing expeditions. you can talk to the descendants of those people. they have come out and been very vocal. he had people that he hired to do this. i don't think he ever pulled a trigger himself. kristen: what was the motive? why the killing expeditions? >> that's a very good question

that i rarely get asked, but, you see, he was very learned in the world. if you were to ask him, he would tell you, and he knew that there was even in 1850 if principle of international law recognized several times by the united states supreme court that the aboriginal peoples, indigenous peoples, the indians, so-called, of the united states have a prior, a superior title to the lands they have historically occupied. that is kind of inconvenient if you want to acquire vast tracts of land. hastings was hardly alone in this endeavor, so we see examples of genocide -- i don't use that word lightly, and "american genocide" is the award-winning book, and that's

the title for what happened in california. [crosstalk] >> it was many things. it was land and also simply a loathing for people thought to be lesser, more like animals. kristen: you mentioned he was not alone. i read something about leland stanford, who named stanford after his son. did he play a role in the same history hastings was part of? >> yes, and it is all in "american genocide," which was published by yale university press four or five years ago, something like that -- six years ago, 2016. it is all thoroughly documented. nobody has disproved anything, and when an op-ed piece that i wrote in 2017 was published, i

understand the dean of hastings commissioned a study, and he hired yet another historian, brendan lindsay, whom i don't know, never met, who corroborated this. kristen: has there ever been an effort -- i mean, stanford is a private institution, of course -- to change the name of stanford university? >> not that i know of, and you might as well ask that about yale university, which changed the name of calhoun hall six years ago because calhoun owned slaves and was an advocate of slavery. the students were outraged at the name calhoun, but they had no problem with the name yale. yale owned slaves, was a dear bigot for the institution of slavery. kristen: this is where we are at. uc berkeley's law school has

also had its name changed. so many of our higher education institutions and things are named after people who 150 years later i judged quite differently. is this cancel culture, as the hastings family and people would say, or province? >> first of all, you're putting words in my mouth. a hastings family descendant since on the board -- sits on the board and voted for the name change, so i'm not sure all the hastings family agrees that this is cancel culture, which is a very simply stick way of looking at it. i sit on the board of a couple historical societies, and we have very intense debates about you referred to as cancel culture. as some people say, we are not going to have a uc joseph magdala school of medicine.

that's outrageous. so where's the line? a study was done at sandberg -- stanford some years ago about just how to draw that line. it is very thoughtful. they brought together a great bunch of scholars. it is a wonderful read, and to their credit, not one lawyer. they've taught philosophers, sociologists, and it is a very difficult question. i have never said written or otherwise that hastings should change its name, notwithstanding what people say. kristen: just so you know, i did not say you said that or attribute any of that to you. i was just bringing forth arguments that are kind of in the public realm, and very fascinating to explore these issues. we could probably go on and talk more about the legal

ramifications, but quickly, we have to go. what is next in this battle? >> i suppose the law school would play out. if the school ever goes out of business, if the board is not paid what is agreed to, $7,000 a year or something like that, then the family is entitled to the money back, but i never read anything about the legislature being powerless to change the name, so it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out. kristen: it certainly will be, and we hope to talk to you again. thank you for your time and insight today. >> thank you. it has been a pleasure. kristen: coming up, we go on for pun

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kristen: we are going to need you to weigh in for this segment, so be ready to vote when we ask you to by going to abc7news.com/about. the story is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter from the bay area making huge waves in the music world. burst on the scene with soulful lyrics and a distinctive voice. i harvard graduate who is a self-described nerd for her love of wordplay and crossword puzzles. her just released single, "sunday crossword," has racked up 2 million streams. >> what if there was a song that was also a crossword? ♪

kristin: wow, that's the real thing. joining us now is the wordsmithing songstress from san mateo. >> it is lovely to be here and be chatting with you guys. i'm from the bay area, so this has a special place in my heart. kristen: i know. you have a special place in our heart and you inspired me to try the alliteration thing. i think you have a monopoly on this, writing songs based on crossword puzzles? how did this come to be? >> of course. i love crossword puzzles, arguably a bit too much. i do them quite a bit. one day i was thinking about how the structure of a crossword puzzle reminds me of having a crush, in the sense there are clues you feel like you have to solve. you feel like you have to analyze everything. i feel like, you know, what if there was a song that uses the structure of a crossword puzzle

as this metaphor for trying to figure out what somebody thinks of you and the rest is history. i'm so grateful people have listened to it and liked it. kristen: super cute, and super nerdy. i mean, that's your word. >> exactly. kristen: your past hit "achilles heel" is based on greek mythology. that is sort of academic. >> the coolest response i think to the song is seeing english teachers use it to talk about greek mythology in their classes. it blows my mind every time because i love greek mythology. i love anything literary. i remember i grew up reading the percy jackson novels, so i think it was the perfect song to talk about who i am a little bit as my first single. kristen: oh, my gosh, i love that. the other form of wordplay you love is punning. that's a passion you share in a tiktok video that went viral.

>> i am the youngest international pun championships award winner in history. yes, puns. i guess you could call me a pundit. kristen: oh, ba-dum-bum. you went to this annual championship in texas, is that right? >> i did. when i was 17, i begged my parents to let me attend the international pun championships. it felt a little bit out of place, but also in a sense, i did feel like they were my people because i have been making puns for as long as i have been able to speak, and it was an incredible experience, and somehow i ended up being selected the m.v.p. of the competition, which made me the youngest international pun championships award winner in history.

kristen: m.v.p. is what? >> most valuable pun or -- most valuable punner. kristen called and we are in luck because we have a resident pundit who heard about you and wanted to go head to head, toe to toe, and pun to pun with you. let's bring in spencer. >> nice to meet you. >> i'm so excited to meet you, and i'm so honored. >> i'm just happy to share a little airspace with you. kristen: we brought in the big guns. how about a pun-off? i'm hosting and as host, i'm going to give you the theme. you each have five seconds to come up with a pun. then we will go three each. folks, again, abc7news.com/vote. you are going to vote on the champion here.

ok, so, here we go? you guys ready for the theme? kristin: animals. go. >> this is a topic i hold near and deer my heart. >> she's a beast. i can't believe it. kristen: your turn. >> she's a beast. >> that was incredible. i hope you weren't lion. you have been whale trained is all i have to say. spencer: that sounds kinds of -- kind of fishy to me. >> you are not kidding. he's the big guns and the big puns. kristen: you guys, i don't even

know -- look at this. 50/50. exactly the way it should be. >> it is an honor to tie with you. >> oh, no, i love it. let's do this again. kristen: can we do one more? i want to do a tiebreaker around. i think we have time. this is going to be harder. chemistry. let's just make it broader -- science. ready? >> you know, i just think it is kind of a basic topic. >> she's got vile and stings. >> i think you are in your element, you know? >> periodically. kristen: you guys can see, it is pretty much a tie.

we have co-champions this year. you are an incredible honor -- incredible punner. and then incredible singer. let's hear "sunday crossword" one more time. ♪ kristen: oh, 10 out of 10,

right? spencer: absolutely, you're amazing. >> you are amazing. kristen: so much love for you. what is coming up next? >> i am so grateful and excited to be releasing my first ever ep , which is a mini album, this fall. i'm going to start doing live shows around california, so i'm just so excited for this new chapter and excited to be able to share with you guys today. kristen: well, harvard law school is going to have to wait. i know that's where you are headed until music took off.

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joining us for "getting answers." we will be here every weekday at 3:00 answering your questions. world news tonigh tonight, as we come on the air, what we're now learning about that horrific and deadly shooting in raleigh. seven people shot, five dead. the crime scene stretching two miles. first in a neighborhood and then on to a nature trail. what we're learning about the victims tonight, including a navy veteran seen with two nieces she adored. she was set to be marry in the two weeks. an off-duty police officer on his way to work. a 16-year-old boy. a mother of three and a beloved wife. and what authorities have now revealed about the alleged shooter tonight, elwyn lopez in raleigh. former president trump responding to the subpoena from the january 6th committee. will he testify under oath? and the new video now emerging. tonight, house speaker nancy pelosi on the phone with