kristen: you are watching "getting answers" on abc 7. today we have bay area congressmen joining us days after sending a letter to the federal aviation administration demanding an explanation after the recent near disaster or several, if you will, involving commercial planes. also u.s. cities banning the rainbow flag with an orange county city becoming the latest to remove the classic symbol of lgbtq pride. we will talk our media partner "the san francisco standard"

reporter -- we will talk with a reporter from ogre media partner, "the san francisco standard -- from our media partner. first, it is so seeing snow piling up in the bay area. we are not just talking about the highest peaks like mount diablo, hamilton, for tim, some snow has fallen in lower elevations or hills and we are about to get a whole lot more. let's get the latest on this wintry blast. sandhya: snow low as 500 feet. those are reports coming to the national weather service. notice we do have showers showing up. they are very scattered in nature, and it is a combination, not just rain showers, we are talking snow showers as well. from mount hamilton to the santa cruz mountains, let's get you in

really tight here, bear with me. around this summit, you will notice there is some precipitation as we head towards mount hamilton. we are seeing the snow mixing in . showers around the east bay and as we look at the north bay, we are going to go in really tight here around cobb mountain. you will notice there are some snow showers around. if you are stepping out, definitely be prepared for some showers here in the east bay. you will notice right around skyline boulevard, definitely is wet. a chill is in the air, 40's and is not terribly windy. it is a little breezy and it's going to get even windier later on today from parts of solano county to the east bay to the san francisco peninsula coast where a wind advisory startup or :00 p.m. today and runs until 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. there could be some issues with downed tree limbs, power

outages, certainly things will get blown around, so you will want to secure loose objects. this afternoon, 25 to 30 mile-per-hour wind. notice the wind does ramp up a little bit towards 11:00 p.m. tonight and starts to subside as we head towards tomorrow afternoon. on live doppler 7, you can see the low pressure system just off the pacific northwest coast. that is coming in our direction. lightning strikes have shown up off our coast, and here is our view. skies are looking a bit dark here. snow and rain increasing in coverage tonight. another frigid night ahead with wintry mix continuing, so the current system is the one for this afternoon. scattered showers, breezy, snow over the hills, hail and thunder chance. widespread rain, gusty wind, the snow increasing in intensity and coverage and still hail and thunder possibility. winter weather 7:00 p.m. tonight for the hills, up to two inches of snow between 1000 to 2000 feet.

it becomes a winter storm warning later on tonight going into tomorrow morning. we are talking three to 12 . snow down to the valley floor not out of the question. it will be windy as well. hourly forec:0 4t,0 isth afternoon. you see the showers. co some ponding on the roadways. 3:00 a.m., notice the snow mixing in with the showers. even at lower elevations, some areas will see snowflakes. scattered showers and then those showers linger into the first part of your saturday before this system winds down. rainfall estimates with this system anywhere from about 1/3 of an inch to an inch. if you are traveling to the cr, hold. we are talking one to six feet of snow depending on elevations. freeze warnings will be going up tonight. kristen: i'm just going to hunker down and not come out until saturday morning. sandhya:

just hibernate. kristen: thank you so much. we will see you again on the news at 5:00. wind chills will make it feel like it's below zero at times. joining us live now to talk about this latest round and its impact on our drought is the lead scientist of the central sierra snow lab, andrew schwartz. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. kristen: by the way, have you gone outside today? how does it feel? >> it is quite cold. right now the temperature is about 17 degrees fahrenheit, so quite cold and lots of fluffy, white snow. kristen: i want to ask you about the kind of snow we are getting right now. is this the kind of stuff that you like to see, that is helpful when it comes to building the snowpack in a drought area? >> realistically, this is a lot lighter and has less moisture content than we would like to see to help us come out of a drought, but with that being

said, one thing that really helps us here is that we are not talking about six inches of fluffy snow. we are talking about three to five feet here on the summit and potentially even eight to 10 feet by this time next week. even though there is less moisture content, the sheer volume of snow we are expected to get should help us out with the drought. >> can we talk about your prediction that we would need to get 30 feet of snow this season to undo the drought of the past few years and how that is looking right now? >> yeah, so, on average, we really do -- we get about 30 feet of snow per year, so we would have needed an extra 30 feet on top of that in order to really get us completely out of the drought, and right now, we are sitting at 34 feet with, like i mentioned, another five to seven, maybe another 10 feet in the forecast. he can start looking at short-term drought conditions because those are already improving dramatically, and with each successive storm, we can

look at how this additional snowfall is going to impact their long-term drought. i don't think we are out of it completely yet, but it is helping. kristen: this is the live webcam from mount rose ski resort. we are going to look at several of the cameras because it is a wide-out out there, and this is the lake itself. you can see the snow is not coming down this hard here, but you can tell it is windy. i'm just wondering, this combination of this much snow as well as win this fast and temperatures this low, i know you spend a lot of time up there. is this very unusual? >> it is a little bit unusual. nothing that we have not seen before, but it does pose a unique set of challenges. a lot of our storms are warm, and even though they might have a lot of snow, that helps us out with lowering the danger to people that are outside. with this type of wind, this heavy snowfall and the very low temperatures, that's when things get really dangerous for being

outside. as was mentioned earlier, any travel plans, we should really try to hold off on those and limit exposure outside as much as we can in these areas that are experiencing these conditions. kristen: what kind of weather do you hope to see in what remains of our winter? >> realistically, more of this. we want temperatures to remain cold keep the snow around as long as possible and we want more snow to come in and really help bulk up your snowpack so that can run off -- bulk up our snowpack so that can run off into our reservoirs. i fully acknowledge some people might not like it, but we would be singing its praises, for sure. if we could keep this up, it would be wonderful. kristen: the skiers would only be ok with it if it came down during the week allowing them to drive up and enjoy it over the weekend.

do see on occasion really snowpack milk. we can aoclso not gouray, but thatfifar outwe. kristen: thank you so much for your time today. coming up, a bay area congressman will join us to talk about the letter he sent to the faa following a recent series of near disasters here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, tanough the colonial penn program. on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what? the three ps? what are the three ps?

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kristen: for bay area congressman has sent a letter to solutions after a series ofnd commeral p e past couple ofth months. a united flight took a nosedive shortly after takeoff in janua plane nearly collided on the runway at jfk airport, and the notice to air mission systems an outage and all flights had to be grouted. this month -- grounded. this month, a fedex flight nearly had a southwest plane that was taking off in austin. joining me now, congressman mark desaulnier. good to see you. >> always a pleasure. thanks for inviting me. kristen: why do you think these problems are suddenly becoming

so numerous? >> dyr is that the faa is not paying attention. th there were just at a senate hearing. it was bipartisan, our concerns about them not paying attention to these warning signs. i became familiar with this, as you remember, eight years ago when we came within 59 feet of an air canada flight planes at . paying attention. appropriate $3 million in an omnibus bill last year that was requested by the faa to update their technology, but i we cowe keep asking and askingr , but they don't seem to be taking our concerns seriously. then what can you do? don't they need to be authorized as an agency?

after this incident where looking at, the one you referred to at sfo five years ago where an air canada flight all -- almost landed on top of a crowded runway, you did get some amendments presumably to address some of these issues. >> yeah, we were successful, very proud of what we were able to do working with pilots, traffic controllers, and sfo internationally. those are all good things, but if they are not implemented and enforced by the management of the faa, and they don't do it to the maximum of safety, and as i said, funding. we want to work with them. we've had a long history of great safety in commercial aviation in this country, and we want to continue that, but saw this in the rail incident in our transportation infrastructure. the private sector community continues to put pressure on higher and higher return on investment, and i'm afraid

that's showing warning signs throughout our transportation system, so i think that is the underlying concern, but we need to make sure we get the full this ison of the f. or obillur. kristen: when you talk about investors, are you referring to the investors -- the islands perhaps keeping some of the prophets and not making necessary investments, for example to update technology, communication? is that a problem? >> no, actually,argin of profit in the aviation field is not as good, say, asvestors can movehe tir i we have with inequality in our country right now and the world. we are working on that. the biden administration has been great, but there is a lot of resistance. have a lot of money, and they are unreasonable and

socially irresponsible. ac pressure in the aviation community is tryingo respond to kristen: these problems seem so numerous. it is not just one thing. there were things such as pilot training issues with that united maui flight. there's crew scheduling like southwest had. and then the runway near collisions, that seems to me like air traffic control towers communication. how do you begin to fix all those different areas? >> well, that's our job, to investigate that, provide the resources that the federal government needs to do, and to work in partnership with them, but also tongafraid it is a reae challenge to our entire transportation system. we are investing heavily in it. the infrastructure bill is a huge bill. we want to make sure that protects the public and helps the quality of life of all americans.

kristen: is secretary buttigieg acting with enough urgency? some will say during the pandemic a lot of money was given to the airlines, and they did not do anything, and they kindfap on, s to lto speak. do you agree with that? >> i thing secretary buttigieg has been terrific. hesea rll thrillejo bf essu.itd, part of the problem, as i alluded to, is it is not just transportation. it is our financial markets. they have been greedy for too long. all these things are related when money is liquidated kristen: is it an issue that the president's nominee to be faa administrator continues to be stalled and unconfirmed? is that contributing to the delays in fixing some of these

issues? >> yes, all of these things are part of the problem. that's why i and my colleagues have been working hard to get their attention and make sure we are doinryve wn inca year't payw when they have the most amount of leverage, i'm fearful we will have something tragic happened that will not only lose life will really hurt the economy. kristen: if you don't get action possibility to not reauthorize? and if you don't reauthorize, what does that mean? what happens? >> i don't want us to throw the baby out with the bathwater proverbially, but this is our job in congress, and this is our job on the transportation committee and the aviation subcommittee, on which i'm a senior member. it is our job to provide the oversight and hold them accountable and ultimately make traveling safe. kristen: do you have any

concerns playing right now? >> i do, to be perfectly frank, but having said stay at it. we are going to and i think we will be successful, but it has been frustrating. kristen: always appreciate the frank conversation. >> my pleasure, thank you. thn california city becomes the latest u.s. city to ban the rainbow flag on public property. more paper being crumpled music: “i wish” by skee-lo boom! sound of paper balls landing in bins office workers cheering music stops why do we shoot baskets with paper balls? for the same reason we play scratchers from the california lottery. because a little play can make your day. logo scratches on

kristen: blue shield of california pulled its summer retreat from huntington beach in southern california today after the city voted to ban the rainbow flag, the sibyl of lgbtq rights, from city-owned property. as it turns out, the orange county city is just one of a dozen communities across the country that have recently done the same. it is a trend that our media

partner, "the san francisco standard" is taking a closer look at. joining us now, the reporter who covered the story. what exactly does huntington beach's new ordinance say? >> it is prohibiting the display of the rainbow flag, and sometimes, the bad faith argument is used here saying that if we display one flag, we have to display all flags, so we also have to display confederate flags and other flags, and this is really a bad faith argument that is inaccurate and being used across the country as a reason not to show the rainbow flag. kristen: have they gotten sing o toup fly a confederate flag or other ones that they found questionable? >> it depends on the location. in more conservative cities like school districts in west virginia, they are outright banning the flag because they see it as a political statement,

and they are using those grounds, but to be clear, this is also happening in very liberal communities like in cold spring, new york. in the town council, people are really caving to outside pressure that if we have this one flag, we have to have them all, and it is not an accurate statement, and that is why the aclu have st address these claims. kristen: you mentioned a few communities that have recently passed such bands -- such bank -- such bans. i want to pull up a map from the gilbert baker foundation so people can get a sense coast to coast. by the way, the gilbert baker foundation created the flat in the 1970's. the cities have different reasons. are they surprising to you?

>> ir. when you look at the map, it is also surprising to see the spread. -- they are. this is not concentrated in one area, not primarily in the south, not only in the center of the country, places we would think of as may be leaning more -- kristen: portland? am i seeing portland? >> exactly my point, right? we are seeing this throughout the country, which is really terrifying. it is part of a raft of gop pressure to really censor gay symbols, even using the word "gay" has been banned in certain school districts in florida where these are being passed and other states are trying to follow suit. it is not just the rainbow flag. it is also lgbtq language. it is drag queen story times. it is books about gender

identity that are being pulled from libraries. we see this as part of a larger effort that is happening to really suppress gay symbols and gay rights. kristen: in terms of huntington beach, did they also -- did they not also raise the upcoming summer olympics in 2028 in los angeles as an issue or factor? >> that i'm not sure about. my sources did not mention that. kristen: there were some who talked about can we fly the olympic flag? as you said, lots of reasons were mentioned. you talked to gilbert baker about the story. what does he say about it? >> i spoke with the president of the gilbert baker foundation goodwood baker is no longer with us. but charlie beale who represents the organization, he again sees this as part of a larger and

troubling trend that is really happening across the country, and as the president of an organization whose founder created the rainbow flag and created this symbol that is now ubiquitous across the country, a symbol that is one of hope and joy and excess funds and love, he knew immediately he needed to do something and his organization had to do something, and that's why they created this toolkit along with the aclu where you can go and self-report bans your hearing of in your community. you can also download documents and talking notes for addressing local politicians, for speaking to the media, for addressing this problem so that people can really get out there and fight for their rights. kristen: is that the same website? i think we showed that, i think that is the gilbert foundation website, and once people

self-report, are there things that they can do to, i guess, then create advocacy? >> for sure, definitely. a lot of it is about addressing your local politicians and there are form letters and templates you can use so that you can reach out and, you know, address some of the misinformation out there because some people don't understand why this is even happening and are caving to pressure that they don't realize is not accurate. so just having the knowledge and knowing that this is something you can address is really important. kristen: thank you so much. you can check out julie's

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for watching "getting answers" today. tonight, the dramatic moments in the case making national headlines. the once prominent attorney accused of murdering his own wife and son taking the stand in his own defense and you'll see it. also, the massive winter storm moving across the country. more than 1,000 flights canceled. and now another storm right behind it. first tonight, the disgraced former attorney testifying he did not kill his wife and son. but he then went on to admit to lying about the timeline that day when he last saw his wife and son. and admitting on the stand he stole money from his own law firm. tonight, our legal expert on the highly risky move to take the stand in his own defense. eva pilgrim in the courtroom. dangerous travel across multiple stays tonight. more than 1,000 flights can