announcer: building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc7 news. with experts about issues important to the bay about issues important to the bay area and get answers for you in real time. today, we dig into a new report by a research organization called climate central. it found that california is seeing a spike in the number of fire weather days despite our record-breaking wet winter. what does that mean? will it lead to more wildfires? a climate researcher joins us with answers. our media partner brings us the first installment of their new series, ask the standard. he received more than 100

questions about homelessness in san francisco. people asked,but first, debt cen washington are being pushed to the brink. the u.s. is tipping closer to an unprecedented default and the clock is ticking as lawmakers get ready for the memorial day recess. many are warning a default could have catastrophic defense, in not just economically. the top u.s. general today said it could affect national security. >> paying troops, paying for weapons, weapons contracts, readiness would be impacted. the exercises we do at training centers will come to a halt. i think there is no doubt whatsoever that there will be a significant negative impact on aceil political anast

jackie spears. we are seven days away from default. as of today, there is no deal between democrats and republicans. let's stay with the sticking points and what each party wants. we will start with mccarthy and the republicans. >> the speaker wants to be able to go back to the base and say, we have cut all of this spending. on the one hand, you can say that, but what are you going to cut? they want to protect military spending, they want to protect medical care for veterans, they wanted to protect social security and medicare. but then you are shifting all of the cuts to other federal agencies. you are talking about 50% cuts to some of these agencies. getting to yes is tough. the big problem is that there

shouldn't be a dispute about this. we owe x we need to pay it. the fact that we are playing games with it is placing our military at risk and our national security at risk, and global markets as well. karina: you were talking to me before the show about the money, breaking it down for us. republicans versus democrats. could you break it down for our viewers? >> who is responsible for a $31 trillion debt? as it turns out, 16% result of george w. bush, 30% is the result of the obama administration, 12% is the result of the biden administration and 25% is the result of donald trump. so, there is both sides of the aisle.

the fact that we had these massive tax cuts, $7 trillion during the trump administration, has led to an increase in the debt. when you think about card bill, you can't go back and say after you have purchased these items, i would like to get a discount of 25%. the republicans are using the debt limit to get leverage on budget issues. they want to roll back some l they passed last year, whether it was infrastructure or the reduction in inflation act. all of those have been put in place and they want to undo them. karina: president biden says he will not agree to a debt ceiling deal that will impact programs for middle-class americans. what are some of those programs that biden is talking about? >> the sticking points for the democrats are 90.

mostly, they don't want to see persons who are eligible for medicaid today, health care, that somehow they will be refused health care unless they are looking for a job. some people are not in a position to do so. there's about 55 million people who are on medicaid, health care for the poor. about 15 million would be subject to this new provision where if you are able-bodied, single with no dependents, you would either have to find a job to continue to get medicaid or be looking for a job. that is a sticking point for a lot of progressives in the democratic party. you've got to put together a combination of moderate emma kratz, moderate republicans, and get to 218. karina: i want to talk about the process. today, mike lee tweeted saying he would use every procedural tool to impede a debt ceiling

deal if it does not contain substantial budgetary reforms. can you explain what he is talking about and if he really can get in the way of a deal? >> if he is serious about a hold, that would prevent the senate from taking it up for at least seven days. i think what is going to happen, because we are so close to the deadline, is that they will pass a modest lifting of the debt ceiling for one month so that they can continue to negotiate. they could do that by unanimous consent. the house will be out of session next weekend the senate will be back in, so they are not on the save -- same wavelength. karina: does it feel like this is way off course from other negotiations? >> it is. if you look to the trump administration, we had to raise the debt ceiling three times. and it was done. there was no question.

democrats didn't use it as leverage, republicans supported it. the last time it became a leverage point was during the obama administration. we came very close. the markets are not going to just be impacted here in the united states, it is impacted globally because everything is linked to the u.s. dollar. and the good faith that represents to the world. karina: huge impact. let's move on to ron desantis. his announcement on twitter that he is running for president yesterday had technical difficulties. we now know he is officially in the presidential race. what do you think about that unusual way to announce a candidacy? >> he has marketed way that wants to be different. he didn't want to be in front of thousands of people, he wanted

to sit with elon musk. they had all of those snafus and he didn't get to speak for 20 minutes. he is not grade on the stump. so, doing a one-on-one with another person of musk's stature would make sense. he has done a book tour some foreign travel. he is prepared to start his campaign, but it is sputtering. that is really a problem for him. there are other republicans getting into the race because they see him as someone who is not able to stay in. karina: not as strong a candidate. he was able to raise millions of dollars within the first hour of announcing but he still trails trump in the polls. considering the other candidates, do you think desantis can pull off winning the nomination over trump? who, for the democrats, would the best opponent? we are talking about who wins icomee is toebiden in an effortn

to be reelected. if you get chris sununu or chris christie, a younger, vibrant don't carry the same baggage that trump does, not as pugnacious as he is to everyone, then i think you could see something else. but in the end, 40% democrat, 40% republican, it is the 20% swing voter in the middle that is going to decide this race. karina: we want to see if you have heard from diane feinstein on her health. i know you check in every once in a while. is she improving? >> certainly she is improving. i am certain she is staying in washington this week, doing the

best she can in terms of recovering. it was a serious case of shingles that had the complications of encephalitis. karina: i am sure you saw the news from governor newsom, reports are saying he might put oprah winfrey in feinstein's seat if she decides to leave early. your thoughts on that? >> i don't think i am going to comment on that. if she were to decide to leave early, you're going to have to have a caretaker, and that is what he is suggesting with oprah, but you need someone who knows the process. it takes years to understand hoe hit the ound she would be fun to watch, no doubt. karina: but wouldn't necessarily understand the process. >> it takes a wild. karina: thank you for your time. coming up, looking ahead to wildfire season. one group says there is concern,

even though we had record amounts of rain and snow this winter. a

karina:karina: we are no stranger to wildfires. this year, despite our historically wet winter, we are still facing fire danger. a new report by the research organization climate central is highlighting a nationwide rise in fire weather days. the western u.s. has seen the biggest increase. joining us live to break down the data is caitlin trudeau, a senior research associate at climate central. >> thanks for having me. karina: can you tell us what is

a fire weather day? what conditions make that happen? >> when we talk about fire weather days, we really mean those hot, dry, windy days that set the stage for extreme fire behavior. you're seeing these more and more and you can think of them as a red flag days. karina: your research found fir weather days have increased in the u.s. over the last 50 years. what areas have seen the biggest increase? >> the largest increases have been in the southwest, and southeastern california. they are seeing two more additional months of fire weather conditions each year. which is alarming because on average they already see one to two months already of five the -- fire weather conditions. karina: some places are seeing longer time periods of fire weather days? >> it is widespread across the west. karina: can you explain, wh

does that mean exactly? >> like i was saying, the southwest, there is an increase of two additional months of fire weather days. about 63 additional days of the year in some parts of the southwest, compared to 1973. karina: is this happening because of climate change? >> one of the things driving the increase is the increase in the number of dry days. that is being driven in part by climate change. as temperatures increase, warmer air can hold more moisture, so it increases the thirst of the atmosphere as it gets warmer. then the atmosphere will draw more moisture out of the atmosphere and plants, creating a more dry environment inues on the cycle g warmer and drier. karina: what impact does fire weather have if a fire happens

to breakout? >> if a fire breaks out, what fire weather conditions do is they increase severe fire behavior. they make these fires a lot more ferocious. they can burn faster and longer and hotter. they make it a lot more dangerous for the people fighting the fires and trying to keep them under control. karina: let's focus on california. i know you talked about certain areas being more affected than others. but what about the bay area did you have any research that you can share with us that impacts us here? >> since we are doing this analysis for nearly 250 cities across 48 states, we had to use more general thresholds. you see lower increases along the california coast and that has more to do with the fact that it is harder to get really dry days when you live along coastal areas.

still, we are seeing increases along those areas. we are seeing increases of up to six days. what that really means is even the days that are really dry, even though the bay area may be hitting them less frequently, they are still hitting those days. it is getting that dry and those dry days really are increasing. it may be more subtle because there is more moisture in the area, but that is still troubling. karina: i found this interesting, your research found more californians live in places where weather conditions are increasing. can you elaborate on that trend? >> we looked at the number of homes that exist in the wildland urban interface. these are areas where people live on the boundary of wild areas and development where more people live.

since 1990, california under 3.7 million homes within this area. as of 20/20, there is now over 5 million homes existing in this transition zone where these risks are increasing. karina: many more people impacted. can we be impacted by fire weather days even when there's not an active fire will weather? >> yes. many californians know that when we see these hot, dry conditions committees could be conditions utility companies use when deciding whether to shut off power. public safety power shutoffs. as the number of fire weather days increase, the chances grow of having one of those power outages. additionally, these fire weather days not only make these fires more dangerous, but also reduce

our ability to do important things like prescribed burns. these are the conditions you really don't want when doing a controlled burn because they encourage out-of-control fire behavior. also making fires more risky and more dangerous, but also making it harder to address them by doing prescribed burns. karina: thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your research. we appreciate your time. up next, you asked and the sf standard is getting answers. their new series is addressing reader questions and answering how many of san francisco's (bell dinging) how's john? oh, much better. that was quite a scare. got us thinking about a lot of things. like life insurance. if something happened to either one of us,

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they are inviting people to submit questions on important topics. they will collect them all and the reporting team will answer the most interesting ones. today, they are tackling homelessness in san francisco. more than one hundred readers submitted questions with the majority wanting to know how many of the un-housed are actually from the city. joining us live to answer that question and more is reporter david show stead. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. karina: this seems like it was a popular question, why do you think people are so curious about this? >> it is actually a popular question not just in san francisco, but across the country. i think there is this general desire to understand where people are from, who are on the street, because it would impact how the city may provide services for those people and

poses questions about if people are coming from out of town without a home, why? we will -- karina: first, i want to know where did you go to find the data to answer the question of how many unhoused people are actually from the city and how that has tracked. >> every two years, the city collect data bas o that they do of around 700 unhoused people in the city. there's responses from people on the street about where they are from. the city collects that every year. they publish that. but, it does not seem to actually make its to residents. karina: what did you find out? >> the majority of people said

they did have a prior residence in san francisco. there was only around 4% who said their prior residence was outside california. most of the people were from the bay area. a strong maggiore francisco prior to becoming homeless. karina: this data helps with allocating resources like housing. talk about some of the debate that happens around services provided to the unhoused. >> part of the reason this is an interesting question and i think a reason that some people want to see more data collected on this is because it plays into a debate that is already going on in the city about whether the city should be providing permanent housing for every single homeless resident. the question remains, if ces here because the city is providing housing for everybody, is the city becoming

a refuge for it is a national problem, and if other cities are not carrying their weight, there is concern that people might be coming here for those resources. it plays into that debate a little bit, but these numbers seem to point against that argument, that the city shouldn't be investing in housing. >> what does the city to for people who are not from here? >> it depends. if there are people who are not from here, it does play into where they land on a list for housing. t forced tdonything differently because they are not from here but the city has a program called homewarbo for people who are not from here and want to return to of origin.

the city will connect them with family and buy them a p or train ticket back to where they are from. we are sending about 500 to 1000 people back home prior to the pandemic when travel restrictions put that program a standstill. >> interesting. what other questions did you get from other readers? were there other popular ones you might look into for the future? >> people really want to know who are living on the street. why did they end up there. there are more political questions like, why doesn't the city build more shelters? how much funding is actually spent? where does the money go? so many questions that keep coming in by the day. i will have my hands full. karina: we will check back in with you to see what other

questions you picked to answer for your readers. thank you for your time. you can check out more of the san francisco standard's original reporting on their website. we will continue to bring you more segments featuring city focused journalism. you can get our live newscasts, breaking news, weather and more with our streaming tv app. just search abc7 bay area and downlo

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we look forward to the holiday and this weekend. the world news tonight is next ♪ ♪ >> david: tonight several developing stories as we come in the air, the founder of the oath keeper sentenced 18 years in prison for january 6th, what the judge said to him. and late reporting on raising the debt ceiling in the shark attacks an american woman losing part of her leg. first tonight the founder of the oath keepers stewart rhodes, authorities say one in the main architects behind the assault getting 18 years in prison. the judge calling him "an ongoing threat and peril to this country." pierre thomas reporting period and the debt ceiling pushing the u.s. closer to the brink of default. one week left, now breaking for the memorial day weekend with no deal. rachel scott asking the house speaker tonight whether americans who count on benefits including veterans should b