tv ABC7 News 500PM ABC August 11, 2023 5:00pm-5:30pm PDT
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have never seen anything like this in my entire life. >> this is our first time coming back and actually knowing that are hearst bound down, we have not known anything for the last couple days because there is no information coming through. >> people lost everything. homes, jobs, their cars, some their pets. there are still people missing. i thought wildfires -- i have fought wildfires in california and i was here yesterday when it flared up and i have never seen something ravaged so fast. >> the images of devastation becoming more personal today as officials begin allowing west maui residents to survey the damage for the first time since the deadly wildfires forced them to run for their lives. ama: here is the latest information. the death toll has risen officially to 67 people but that is expected to climb
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significantly. it is unclear how many are still missing with local officials blaming the challenging coming occasions. dan: today at noon local time, families were allowed to return to west maui to see if their homes were still standing. the mayor of maui ordered a new curfew to be imposed from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. every day as a precaution to protect homes and family. he said the town he grew up knowing is unrecognizable. >> it was cars in the street, doors open, melted to the ground. most structures no longer exist. her blocks and blocks of this. i'm familiar with what it looked like growing up here on maui, especially with my mom working at one of the restaurants there for 17 years. it does not resemble anything that looked like when i was going up. ama: the mayor toured the damage
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with the governor yesterday. the governor plans to return to maui tomorrow. dan: we will start with an abc reporter who has the latest including new teams arriving from the mainland to help with the search-and-rescue prospect. >> formula, diapers, ice, waterm -- water, just food. reporter: from a desperate mother to an artist losing a 50 year collection -- >> it hurts. a lifetime of work going. -- of work gone. reporter: the people and landscape of western maui are forever changed. >> there is not 100% containment. reporter: local nonprofits and other groups are working to get supplies into the fire ravaged areas any way they can. >> churches, nonprofits are sending materials via boat and via air. the two ways to access the west side of maui are closed off to everyone including emergency personnel right now.
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reporter: cadaver dog search teams are arriving from stateside. their message -- their mission will be grim. >> they have to go house by house to see who is there. reporter: many fire survivors are questioning the public mourning system in place. -- warning system in place. >> i only got one ping, warning was completely useless. reporter: they say the island's tsunami system has been -- system should have been utilized. >> the maui police chief referred to the entire town as a sacred burial ground. ama: a convoy loaded with relief supplies has arrived in west maui. trucks carrying everything from food to live paper handed out to dozens of needy residents. many of those citizens came out running with bags in hand, grateful for the assistance. about 1000 becky we are being
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housed across -- 1000 evacuees are being housed across maui. dan: the have put many travelers in limbo as they struggle to leave maui. officials are using buses to transport thousands of tourists to the island's airport, where they can catch departing flights. nearly 15,000 visitors left maui thursday. a non-essential inbound travel to maui is strongly discouraged. officials are asking visitors who are in maui on non-essential travel to please leave the island. ama: two newlyweds from santa rosa are telling abc7 news a scary moment about their time in paradise. the maui wildfires forced them to evacuate. cornell bernard says lessons learned from the north bay firestorm helped keep them calm. >> we are looking forward to maui must swimming.
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cornell: days after these newlyweds tied the knot, the couple was off to maui for their dream honeymoon, which was anything but. >> we went from planning the perfect honeymoon to planning how to actually escape from the fires. cornell: once this couple from center bona -- from santa rosa arrived at their hotel monday, the weather quickly changed. >> the winds were crazy. i remember seeing at the pool some of the chairs were starting to blow over. cornell: courtney says tuesday evening the wildfires began. smoke and flame could be seen from the couple's patio. the power failed and cell phones did not work. >> there was not really any food at the hotel because of no power. cornell: they stood in line for hours at this grocery store, getting food and ice. the couple says living through the 2017 north bay wildfires taught them to be calm and vigilant. >> honestly, from being in the
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santa rosa fires and with the strong winds, we slept in the hotel lobby taking shifts,'cornell: then they made -- taking shifts. cornell: then they made a trip out, but the main road was closed. >> we followed it the other way. >> we took a back road that basically every local told us not to take. it probably took us around three hours driving. it was a very scary road. cornell: they made and got a flight to honolulu, where they spoke with us from the airport. but with no return flights available to the bay area, they flew back to maui, where the tsa line was long. courtney says a small price to pay after maui families suffered unimaginable loss and tragedy. >> our hearts go out to the families that lost their homes, the families of the people that lost their lives. cornell: in the north bay,
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cornell barnard, abc7ew a hawaie volunteers at sf zion are finding ways to raise awareness about the impact of wildfires on maui. michael is selling a hawaiian dish made with love to raise money for the victims. >> growing up there, it makes me feel a sense of camaraderie that i really want to be helpful to the state i grew up in, even though i am far away. there is a lot of sadness along with the things that are going. 80% of some of the cities were hurt and destroyed. just by fire. dan: he is selling each one for about two dollars and will be able to deliver them to your home. to order he says search for him on facebook and send him a message. he is encouraging everyone to find a way to make a positive impact in this crisis. ama: support for maui will be top of mind tomorrow in the bay area aloha festival.
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as abc7 news reporter lena howland explains, many have deep ties to hawaii. lena: as relief efforts begin across hawaii, there is a different tone to kick off the bay area aloha festival on saturday. >> we feel for them back home. lena: cecilia is a vendor visiting from las vegas. selling authentic hawaiian clothing. she says it is more important now than in years past to come together. >> for this happening at this specific time going on back home, it really brings us together, to help each other, and to get to hear about that. a lot of people continue to donate, to give and help out family member's back,. >> -- family members back home. >> it breaks my heart. all of the islands are beautiful. it is unbelievable when we see
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it. they need all the help they can get. lena: shirley and her husband david are selling handmade rice bag clothing. they say people come year after year to get immersed in pacific islander culture. >> people come because they love the culture, the dancing, the food. we see lots of people over and over year after year. lena: the vice president of the pacific islanders cultural association says, for him, this is personal. >> i have family over there. lena: while they don't have a fundraiser set up to support victims yet, hawaiian airlines, their main sponsor, will be collecting donations of airline miles. he hopes to use this festival to push to -- push for more. >> the network can be vast once we find out where they are at. who is willing to donate their time. where the musicians are at. they may be able to initiate
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fundraising activities. lena: in san mateo, lena howland, abc7 news. dan: a lot of people want to know what they can do to help. you can go to abc7news.com, where you will find a list of fundraisers, charities, and verified nonprofits that are helping the people of hawaii recover from these terrible wildfires. ama: coming up, the racist texting scandal at the antioch police department appears to be widening, but some want to limit the public's access to information. details when abc7 back in the day, sneaker drops meant getting online to wait in line. now with xfinity mobile... ...we get the fastest mobile service and can get the freshest kicks asap. i got this.
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department's power will help reform. anser hassan has the latest. anser: the contra county -- the contra costa county district attorney rejected -- >> the judges ruling shows it is really critical that there be public this closure of this information, that officers who engaged in this racist text messaging and sent these racist memes that targeted black and brown individuals in our communities should have on full display their context. ans county chief assistant d.a. seen leaving the courthouse argued the motion in court. one attorney who represents one of the defendants named in the antioch police texting scandal is not surprised by the ruling. >> you have potentially
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thousands of defendants whose ability to bring these claims would be hampered and unduly burdened by the necessity of first going to the court to get an order before they can even obtain the evidence necessary to make their motions regarding their own cases. anser: meanwhile a civil rights attorney and his partners wrote to the u.s. department of justice, calling for federal oversight based on what they called a pattern of discriminatory policing. >> that is very clear here in antioch with use of the words like "water buffalo," "gorilla" to refer to black people and use of the n-word. anser: one says federal oversight is necessary because of the doj's power to enforce the law. >> you can write the best policies and practices, but they don't mean anything if they are not actually enforced. and the enforcement would be by a federal monitor. >> oakland has had federal oversight, had federal oversight for over 20 years.
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san francisco had federal oversight for over 22 years. we have yet to see any improvement in policing as a result. anser: the antioch vice mayor recognizes the need for police reform, but points to reform efforts at the department's dashcam and bodycam policies that the city can do the work without federal oversight. >> it is a cash grab. as a city we will be paying millions of dollars to have someone from the federal government sit in our office and literally create no change. anser: in the east bay, anser hassan, abc7 news. dan: a federal judge revoked bail for sam bankman-fried, citing probable cause that the accused crypto fraudster attempted to tamper with witnesses. prosecutors described a series of violations by him, including using a virtual private network to subvert monitoring and speaking with a reporter about former ftx executive caroline ellison. following the ruling, u.s.
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marshals escorted him out of court. bankman-fried's lawyers immediately filed a notice of appeal. a super thin, flexible patch with maximum otc strength lidocaine that contours to the body to relieve pain right where it hurts. and did we mention, it really, really sticks? salonpas, it's good medicine.
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dan: san francisco's musical festival outside is underway in golden gate park. ama: while there are some of the usual big event headaches, abc7 news reporter luz pena tells us there is a question many are asking, kenmore music help save sanford -- can more music help save san francisco? luz: this is day 15 of the event and thousands of people are here. this is exactly what san francisco needs, more tourists staying in hotels and spending money. the crowds are back at golden gate park and san franciscans have a message for everyone coming this weekend. >> welcome! luz: these sisters from sacramento are feeling the welcoming spirit. >> so excited. it is my fifth year. >> it is my first year.
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luz: over 200,000 tickets sold, with people coming from across the country. these friends made the trip from seattle. >> you literally came to us from outside land. >> he is from the philippines. luz: you came from the philippines. >> i don't speak english. [laughter] luz: i heard you speak english right now. >> that is the only english i know. >> kendrick lamar. luz: more tourists means more revenue for the city. >> they generate tax revenues that we don't have to pay otherwise. it creates jobs and employment, revenue for small businesses. luz: in the last 15 years, this festival has become a massive economic boost for the city. >> generated over $1 million in economic impact to the city of san francisco. luz: local restaurants them this year at the event. >> we are selling over 200,000 individual sandwiches.
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luz: is that enough? >> the way it is going, probably not. i guess we will figure it out. luz: owners like this want the city to do more events like this. that is the plan. >> we will do a second weekend of concerts. luz: it is a proposal which the board of supervisors which will consider in -- which the board of supervisors will consider in september. >> we are hopeful that this is a blueprint we can follow, just like what we saw with the concerts in the recent months in the city, when we had the deadheads in town, the hotels were full. . that is great for everyone that is great for our tax base. luz: while san francisco plans future festivals at outside lands, some are planning future outfits. what is tomorrow? >> it's bellbottoms, sparkling pants. things will get weird. sunday, cowboy. we are bringing some country. luz: love it! and going back to that proposal i mentioned, another part of it
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is to have three concerts in downtown san francisco to attract more people to that area. luz pena, abc7 news. ama: luz, thank you so much. dan, have you checked the weather? dan: we do need to know the weather. i will be on at noon early tomorrow. a little foggy. sandhya: it will be a company should of fog and son but it will be -- be a combination of fog and sun but it will be comfortable. 63 degrees. sunday almost identical to saturday. if you get a chance, check out dan, see all of the performances. we check out live doppler 7. we are seeing action in the sierra nevada with thunderstorms. these are remnants of what was once a tropical storm. you will notice still meandering that moisture across some parts of california.
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we did see some light spotty showers earlier this morning and some drizzle. did not amount to a lot but those showers were around the south bay. all quiet right now. we do have the typical fog. as we look at temperatures, 60's coast side, 80's inland. really comfortable whether. we look at our tower cameras. you can pretty much see we have a combination of fog and sun from all of our tower cameras. in case you want to check out the perseid meteor showers tomorrow night, they peak this weekend. you will want to look to the northeast. you want to go to higher elevations above the marine layer or well inland above the fog to get the best viewing away from city lights between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., 100 meteors per hour. people are injuring -- are enjoying pier 39. coastal fog spreads overnight. warming trend this weekend. the hottest days will be inland
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early next week. hour by hour tonight, still comfortable at 6:00. 8:00 p.m. the fog starts to push in across the bay. temperatures in the morning falling. toward 8:00 a.m. we start with fog. by the early afternoon you are coming up into the 90's inland, so it will be a warmer day. your morning number's will be in the 50's and 60's. watch out for that fog. tomorrow afternoon in the south bay, 90 degrees in morgan hill. 84 in san jose. nice weather for outdoor activities. 84 redwood city. 64 in pacifica. san francisco 68 degrees. some cloud cover lingering. north bay 84. 87 in santa rosa. 82 in vallejo. 74 oakland. 81 union city. these numbers not extreme at all. 92 degrees in concord and the inland east bay. 93 in livermore. the accuweather 7-day forecast,
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ama: a reminder you can get our live newscasts, breaking weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming app on apple tv, fire tv and roku. just search abc7 bay area. dan: we still have more news ahead. ama: let's go to karina nova for a look at the stories at 5:30. karina: we have seen the devastating damage in lahaina from the fire andonht we will hear from a bay area native who owns a business on that historic strip on front street where most of the businesses were leveled. he will join us live to share how his employees plan to recover. the fire in lahaina is one of several burning on maui. abc's becky worley was raised on maui and talked to people who
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battled the fire and those now digging through the ashes. join us for those stories and more on 5:30 on abc7 bay area streaming tv. ama: you can download the abc7 app or head to abc7news.com and join karina in two minutes. dan: if you're joining us on tv, world news tonight with david muir is next. ama: we will see you again at 6:00.
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