(vo) into household heat. (grandma) [in navajo] are you kids hungry? (vo) doing gets it done. wells fargo, the bank of doing. >> building a better bay area. this is abc7 news. and my family. >> i feel so joyful because our sister is finally free. >> this is the moment we have all been praying for. >> we are so happy you are coming out. ama: nearly 10 months after first detained in russia, wnba superstar brittney griner is on her way back him to the u.s. as part of an international prisoner swap. dan: thank you for joining us. we are expecting kreiner to arrive -- griner to arrive in

san antonio, texas. ama: to explain how her release from a russian prison was possible, abc7 news reporter tara campbell has the details. tara: wnba star brittney griner is on her way back to the u.s. after nearly 10 months detained in russia. pres. biden: she's safe. she's on her way home. tara: in february the two time olympian was arrested out of moscow airport for having vape cartridges containing ash oil, sentenced to nine years in prison, setting off a swelling of support from the sports world. stanford's head coach seen wearing a griner to shunt -- a griner t-shirt last month. >> my phone was blowing up i was so excited to hear the news. tara: the u.s. and russia agreeing to swap her for a convicted russian arms dealer who was serving a 25 year sentence.

both pardoned before being exchanged in abu dhabi overnight. this is video of griner right before being released into u.s. custody, taken by russian state media. now on her way to an army medical center in san antonio, texas. her wife speaking at the white house thursday. >> the most important i have right now is sincere gratitude for president biden and his entire administration. tara: griner's agent, an east bay native, sending abc7 news a statement. we are overwhelmed with gratitude to president biden, vice president harris, and the entire administration. in equal measure, we are so thankful to the incredible community of advisors, athletes and advocates. >> keeping her name and situation first and foremost for everyone to say this is not right and we need something to be done about it, to stay with it, be persistent. >> i want to tell you on behalf

of the entire warriors organization we are so thrilled for you and your family. tara: warriors head coach steve kerr releasing this video message thursday afternoon. >> unbelievable perseverance that you have shown just to make it through your time in russia. we are so happy you are coming home. tara: tara campbell, abc7 news. ama: the deal to win griner's release did not include fellow american paul whelan, serving a 16 year sentence on spying charges. whelan spoke with cnn today from a russian prison. >> i am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release. i was arrested for a crime that never occurred. i am happy that brittney griner is going home today, but i don't understand why i'm still sitting here. ama: whelan admits the russians consider him to be at a higher level than other westerners held on similar charges. u.s. officials say the russians

refused to negotiate whelan's release. president biden expressed regret he was unable to get him out. whelan's twin brother praised the deal to bring griner home but call the deal a catastrophe for paul. we alerted you to brittney griner's release after 5:15 this morning with a push alert from our abc7 news app. to stay updated download the app and turn on push alerts. dan: storm watch as the rain returns. for the latest on the conditions and what we can expect, let's go to abc7 weather anchor spencer christian. spencer: we have quite a bit to watch. a look at live doppler 7. quite wet across the bay area. the steadiest downpours right now over in the east bay, moving through the hills from piedmont across into places like lafayette. pretty wet across the thoroughfares right now. the freeways as well. the storm ranks 1 on the

exclusive abc7 storm impact scale. for the remainder of this evening we expect light to moderate showers, a slippery evening commute. up to a third additional inch of rainfall. onw -- on we go with the forecast. by 10:00 tonight we get a little dry spell. that will be followed quickly bar next storm which will be stronger on saturday. this will rank 2, if not higher on the exclusive abc7 storm impact scale and will bring us periods of heavy rain, gusts up to 60 miles per hour. i will give you more on that and snow in the sierra a little bit later. ama: across the region, many are getting ready for a real soaking and hoping storms don't bring flooding or mudslides. abc7 reporter burnell bernard -- cornell barnard is live with the latest. you are still dry. cornell: for not long.

it started raining lightly here about an hour ago. we need the rain for sure, but flooding not so much. that is a possibility this weekend. this he's collecting all these leaves in and around the storm drain in hopes of preventing a flood. >> they are talking about rain, it is coming slow and we have to finish before the rains start. cornell: homeowners showed us the plaque on her front steps, the high watermark for flooding in 2005. she never once history to repeat itself. >> i am confident doing what we can to store -- to clean cornell: the chp asking drivers to play it safe. >> we see an increase of spinouts during wet weather conditions.

people are still driving at the same speed, if not faster. we just ask people to slow down. cornell: the santa rosa fire department tweeting, a strong storm is forecasted for this weekend. residents in and around glass fire burn scars should be prepared. >> the concern becomes whether or not the rainfall rates get to the point to which it creates or could create land movement such as debris flows, mud flies -- mud slides. cornell: last year several center was a neighborhoods saw flooding, fronting evacuations. >> we are getting our truck and interior claimed. cornell: this carwash in novato was actually busy despite the approaching storm. they are open, rain or shine. >> if a customer comes in and the car gets rained on within a few days of getting it washed, we will wash it complementary when the storms are through. cornell: pg&e says it is prepared for the storms and staging cruise into equip it across the bay area, especially

in the north bay, in preparation for possible outages this weekend. live in novato, cornell barnard, abc7 news. ama: you can keep track of the storm, check the forecast anytime and access live doppler 7 on demand through our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. download now. dan: the former warden at the federal correction institution in dublin was found guilty of sexually abusing inmates. the 55-year-old was convicted on eight charges and faces up to 15 years in prison. the ex-warden stepped away from his role after fbi officials found nude photos of inmates in his government issued phone. he was one of five workers charged with sexual abuse and the first to go to trial. three of those five workers pleaded guilty. ama: a san francisco nail salon owner is dealing with the third break-in at her business in the last six months. the latest incident on presidio avenue happened early monday morning. surveillance but eo shows a

person breaking the glass of the front door and going inside, followed by a second person. the owner says 60 bottles of nail polish and many other things were stolen in this break-in. >> the first time they did not take anything. the second time they took my candy jar. the third time they took a lot, nail polish. credit card machine. my nail equipment. ama: police say no arrests have been made and they want to hear from anyone who may have information about the burglary. dan: happening now, a closed-door san francisco school board meeting underway. the board is discussing the payroll debacle, including why it has taken so long to fix the problem and the added costs involved. abc7 news senior education reporter leah melendez is on the story. leah: it has been nearly a year since san francisco unified switched its payroll system to one that was supposed to be more current. problems emerged early on, some of which are still present

today, like the correct overtime pay, benefit and savings contributions not being deducted, and so on. this woman is a paraprofessional. >> i have been describing it as wacko mole. as soon as one thing gets fixed another is popping up. leah: here is what the superintendent said last month when the school district declared a payroll state of emergency. >> the problems are bigger and , but the definition of software is a set of instructions that tell the computer what to do. so what could go wrong? we asked an expert in payroll systems. >> where the errors come in is in many cases in the data entry part, or some of it is quite human, human error oriented. an employee gets misclassified. leah: apparently that is what the outside management consulting firm hired by the district has found in some cases. >> it's looking at how they were set up and needing to make sure

they were set up correctly because some were not set up initially correctly. that created these problems. leah: according to our expert, creating these mistakes takes time for the management from to address. >> we are more than doubling the contract because we are extending it. leah: that means the contract will be extended through may 2023, not to exceed $8 million. the initial estimate was $2.8 million. the funds will come from the money they filled in -- they saved by not filling in certain staff positions. they say it will not come from their general fund. in san francco news. ama: still ahead, highlighting the glaring economic disparity between latinas and their white male counterparts, marking latina equal pay day with a call to action. dan: twitter slept with another lawsuit. why elon musk's twitter is being

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dan: today the house passed legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriage. the house voted 258 to 169, a majority in favor of the bill, supported by all house democrats . 39 republicans also voted yes. 169 house republicans voted against it. house speaker pelosi was emotional as she celebrated passage of the bill at the enrollment ceremony today. speaker policy: today we stand against an urgent threat, and we succeeded for the values that our nation holds dear. dan: the bill does not force states to legalize marriage, but it validates same-sex and interracial marriage despite the state people are living in. the senate passed the legislation last week. it will now go to president biden's desk, which he has boldly promised to sign. ama: equal pay for equal work.

that is the call to action in the south bay today, latina equal pay day. zach fuentes has more on the effort to close the wage gap. >> equal pay for equal work! zach: it is a call made with dozens of latinas. she says she applied for a job within a financial firm but was passed up and had to train the person who did get it. she found out there was a pay disparity during that process. >> it came out very organically. my training this young man, a caucasian young man. he was brand-new, even less experienced than i was. zach: she says she went to her boss and demanded to be paid more. he turned her down and she gave him a letter of resignation. >> i had a 24% increase in my pay by the next day. zach: the latina coalition of

silicon valley marking december8 at latina equal pay day. >> now months in comparison to their white male counterparts to make the same amount of money that a white male would make in a year. that is a huge pay disparity. zach: the loss is more than $46,000 per year according to a report by a nonprofit organization. hope for change may be on the way in california. starting next year, a bill will require wage transparency, requiring wages posted for positions. in santa clara county, a office has been established to make progress. look as it says the biggest weapon to flight to close the wage gap is being informed. >> being comfortable discussing pay with your younger sisters, your family, mom, just getting

the information, doing your research, share cleansing -- research, knowing what you are worth is what is in our hands at the very least. zach: zach fuentes, abc7 news. dan: two women who lost their jobs at twitter when elon musk took over are suing the company, claiming that last month's mass layoffs disproportionately affected female employees. the lawsuit filed alleges that 57% of female employees were laid off compared to half of men, despite twitter employee more men before the layoffs. >> elon musk has every day it seems like figured out a new way to trample on worker's rights. >> i have been through other acquisitions. i have never seen anything like this. we just want them to live up to the commitments they made to us. dan: twitter is now facing at least four class-action lawsuits. ama: as we had to break, let's take a live look outside -- head to break, let's take a live look

outside. you can totally see the rain has arrived, but you get the point. we will check back in with we will check back in with spencer for details on how you didn't live this strong, this long to get put on the shelf like a porcelain doll. but one out of two women over 50 will suffer a fracture from osteoporosis. you should know you can build new bone with evenity® for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at high risk for fracture. ask your doctor if you can do more than just slowing down bone loss with evenity®. want stronger bones? then build new bone; evenity® can help in just 12 months. evenity® is proven to reduce spine fracture risk by 73%. evenity® can increase risk of heart attack, stroke, or death from a cardiovascular problem. do not take evenity® if you have low blood calcium, or are allergic to it. serious allergic reactions and low blood calcium have occurred. tell your doctor about jaw bone problems, as they have been reported with evenity®.

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ama: the national weather service says travel to the sierra will be impossible this weekend. these caltrans camera's showed what it looked like this afternoon with no snow on the road. a winter storm watch has been issued for the weekend, calling for three to five feet of snow above 5000 feet. dan: which is just great. let's get details on the snow in the sierra and rain in the bay area. ama: abc7 news weather anchor spencer christian has the details. spencer: what is a snowstorm in the sierra will be a rain and wind storm in the bay area. take a look at live doppler 7. it is what outside in most -- wet outside in most places. the area of heaviest concentration is in the east bay from oakland and piedmont out

toward danville. pretty wet on all the highways and local roads. here is a view looking over san francisco, where conditions are relatively quiet. temperature readings are in a narrow two degree range. 55 degrees in san francisco. it is still wet at the golden gate. the pavement is still wet. low to mid 50's in santa rosa, novato, and livermore. the view from the bay bridge, these are forecast headlines. light to moderate rainfall continuing through the evening,. tapering off overnight stronger storm comes in saturday, bringing heavier wayne -- rain and gusty winds. right now we are looking at the remainder of this level 1 storm on the exclusive abc7 storm impact scale. slippery rain for totals up to one third of an inch in most areas.

starting at 6:00 p.m., between then and 9:00 it will remain wet, then the storm will break up. giving us a brief period partial clearing in the early morning before the next and stronger storm arrives. overnight lows in the north bay where it will be clearer will drop into the low 30's. where the cloud cover lingers it will be not quite so cool with overnight lows mainly in the low 40's. highs tomorrow under mainly cloudy skies. mid-50's across the board. the next storm building in the north bay will start pushing in tomorrow night. that storm ranks right now 2 on the exclusive abc7 storm impact scale. we may have to elevated to a 3 -- elevate it to a 3 depending on how it develops. moderate to heavy rainfall. localized flooding is possible. we start the forecast innovation 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. periods of heavy downpours.

snow will start to become heavy over the sierra. the storm will be accompanied by gusty wind. it won't wind down until late sunday into early monday. wind gust animation shows a range of 35 to 45 miles per hour saturday into sunday. some areas south of the golden gate will remain under windy conditions. conditional rainfall totals from this storm, the next storm, one to two inches of rain. over the sierra, two to four feet of snow from 4:00 a.m. saturday to 4:00 a.m. monday that winter storm warning is in effect. the accuweather 7 day forecast. we see the second storm winding down sunday, still ranks 1 on the storm impact scale. monday we may have a lingering shower. dry for the remainder of the week. we will need some dry. ama: certainly. dan: a historic railroad in santa cruz county is closing for good. according to the chronicle, calpoly decided to stop the

restoration project on the railroad. it was nearly wiped out in the 2020 lightning comp x wildfire. calpoly gets the final say because the railroad's tracks were gifted to the school by alum albert smith. the tracks were constructed in 1979 and carried steam trains dating back to 1915. ama: still ahead, making holiday wishes come true.

your heart is the beat of life. if you have heart failure, entrust your heart to entresto, a medicine specifically made for heart failure. entresto is the #1 heart failure brand prescribed by cardiologists. it was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. heart failure can change the structure of your heart, so it may not work as well. entresto helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. and just imagine where a healthier heart could take you. 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 id angioedea

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 for heart failure. entrust you heart to entresto. dan: a reminder you can get our live newscasts, breaking news and more with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app on google tv, fire tv and roku. just search abc7 bay area and download it. one of san francisco's oldest movie theaters is back in business. the theater in the richmond district reopened today for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020. the 109 year old movie house has new owners and will focus on classic or notable older films. tonight the theater is showing "always be my maybe" which

features the theater and a couple scenes. ama: hundreds of children got a real treat in the south bay today. each child was paired up with an officer and had $200 to spend. 27 law enforcement agencies took part. many of the children were from underserved communities or experienced a traumaticntve e. g joy to these children who otherwise would not have a holiday season if not for this program. it is about bringing officers to change the optics so our special guests see officers through a positive lens. ama: this was the first time shop with a cop silicon valley was able to hold this event since 2019. donations and sponsors paid for today's shopping spree. dan: world news tonight with david muir is next. ama: for all of us here, thank you so much for joining us. our next newscast is coming up at 6:00. dan: we will see you then.

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tonight, breaking news. the new images coming in at this hour. wnba star brittney griner released from russia, flying back to the u.s. at this hour. video showing brittney griner boarding a plane, smiling on her way back to the u.s. after being held in russia for nearly ten months. president biden making the announcement. griner's wife standing by his side. griner released in exchange for convicted russian arms dealer viktor bout, known as the merchant of death. the two passing each other on the tarmac. the administration pressed about former u.s. marine paul whelan. russia holding him prisoner for four years now. and tonight, the audio right here. what paul whelan said today after learning of griner's release. we have late reporting at this hour from mary bruce and pierre thomas. the brazen admission by

vladimir putin, saying russian