[narrator] covered california is a free service from the state that's already helped millions of people like you get and pay for health insurance. with financial health to lower the cost of health coverage, you could get a quality health plan for less than $10 a month. every plan covers preventive care, doctor visits, emergency care, and more. if you have questions, we're here to help every step of the way. covered california. this way to health insurance. enroll by december 31 at coveredca.com. is. the bay area is waterlogged after a rainy start to the week, but does that mean we're in store for another wet winter? we're going right to the

national weather service to find out. also helpful holiday etiquette. from gifting to travel to family and expert shares his top tips to help us all survive the stress. but first, former president donald trump's bid to win back the house with the white house is now in danger. the colorado supreme court has disqualified him from the ballot in that state, and now california is trying to do the same. you're watching, getting answers. good afternoon. i'm karina nova. california lieutenant governor eleni kounalakis is calling for secretary of state doctor shirley weber to explore legal options to remove trump from california's 2024 presidential. presidential primary ballot. so can that be done? and what would it take? joining us live now to answer those questions is jessica levinson, a institutional law expert and professor at loyola law school. thank you so much for being here today. >> absolutely. >> let's start with what

happened yesterday. what exactly did colorado's supreme courtrillionuling spell out? >> that the colorado supreme court, by a ruling of 4 to 3, said that under the federal constitution, former president trump is barred from being a presidential candidate once again, that his name cannot appear on the next ballot. and they did that because they're looking at section three of the 14th amendment. it's a civil war era amendment, and it's meant to bar members of the confederacy from seeking to serve in government and what the colorado supreme court found is that it applies in this situation. they found that there was an insurrection that the former president gave aid or comfort to those who engaged in that insurrection in, and that this particular provision applies to the office of the presidency. >> and real quick on that. they don't need to prove prove that he was part of the insurrection. it was the way that they spelled

it out was just fine enough. he doesn't have to be convicted or anything like that. >> yes and no. there was an evidentiary hearing there were factual findings in this case. there was a trial, but there was not a criminal conviction. so it is the case that colorado absolutely heard evidence as to whether or not, excuse me, the events of january six amounted to an insurrection on. but it is absolutely also the case that if you look at the plain language of the constitution, then i don't think and many others don't think, it requires a criminal conviction. >> okay, that makes sense. trump's campaign is vowing to appeal what has his response been? >> well, his response out of court has been that this is a terrible miscarriage of justice, that he's a victim of a terrible witch hunt. it's his typical response, i think in court, we'll see a slightly different response. we'll see arguments, for instance, that maybe the case wasn't ripe, that the court

should have waited longer before they heard the case, and or they'll hear argument on the merits of this case, meaning they'll argue that there wasn't an insurrection and or that the former president didn't give aid or comfort to those who engaged in it and or that by the plain language of this clause in the constitution, it doesn't apply to the president. >> and we know it's not a done deal yet. this could end up going all the way to the supreme court. what happens. next? >> what happens next? i think you're exactly right. it does go to the supreme court. it's been at the colorado state supreme court. there is nowhere left to go that's higher other than the us supreme court. and because there's a question of federal constitutional law, that's the appropriate place for this to go. i suspect that the us constitution excuse me, that the supreme court will strike this down, that they will reverse the decision. i think the big question is based on what will it be a procedure issue like, again, that the case wasn't ripe

for review, or will it be on the merits, for instance, that this particular clause doesn't apply to the office of president and we've heard from republican presidential candidates defending trump. >> they include nikki haley and chris christie, who pretty much say these decisions shouldn't be decided in courts and that this is an over overreach by democrats. is it an overreach? i mean, have we seen anything like this before that, you know, of? >> so i would say the question of, have we ever seen this before where the answer is no, but that doesn't mean that this provision is problematic or that it wasn't applied in the right way. it means that we've never had a former president who's engaged in this type of behavior before. and that's why in this case, and in so many other cases , we really have never been here before. i understand the criticism that it um, this feels like it is democracy limiting. and the answer is it is. and

it's intended to be the purpose behind section three of the 14th amendment is to act as a guardrail when all the other guardrails have failed. the idea that you don't want somebody who is attempted to destroy our government from within to then seek to represent it, and so is it. democracy, restrict? yes. is it intended to be? yes. but in a way that i would say more globally, actually supports democracy. okay that makes sense. >> and let's talk about california's effort that call today from lieutenant governor elaini kounalakis for secretary of state, doctor shirley weber, to explore legal options to remove trump from the primary ballot here. what does that process look like? i think that process looks like it's probably on hold until we hear from the us supreme court. >> now we are talking about the lieutenant governor is an elected official. the secretary of state is an elected official. and so they are, of course, both

motivated by politics and by the law. as well. so it is not, um, surprising that they would push for this because there is now this ruling from the colorado supreme court. but i would say, legally speaking, we really need guidance from the us supreme court. we really need them to tell us what this clause in the constitution means, and that will provide a roadmap for california. if the colorado supreme court decision is upheld, then i think california will move forward. there is another lawsuit pending. in addition to the letter that you talked about, and other states will move forward as well and say that the former president is not eligible. >> how long could all this take and when can we see this in the supreme court? and when could they decide? >> and i don't think it's going to take very long. i think the supreme court has to rule quickly because we're printing primary election ballots. so i mean, there is a situation where the supreme court agrees to take the appeal and then they sit on

it. but that would really, i think, harm not just the candidates, not just election administration officials, but also the public. we need clarity on who our candidates can be. the supreme court wasn't supposed to come back from holiday break until january 5th. i suspect that they might have busier than usual holidays. >> i gotcha, uh, this morning i want to bring this up real quick. state senator dave men of irvine announced in a social media video that he plans to introduce legislation next year that would mandate the california secretary of state can determine whether presidential candidates are eligible to appear on the ballot. do you think that legislation is likely to move forward? >> i don't know if that's likely to move forward. i think what we're looking at now is people seeing that colorado supreme court ruling and trying to find ways to move the ball forward. i also know that the former

president has incentivized a lot of lawmakers to try and change the law. for instance, in california, we tried to say that in order to appear on the presidential election ballot, you had to make your tax returns public. the california supreme court correctly found that that was not legally viable. so i know this is not a particularly popular answer, but i think we really are kind of in a holding pattern until we see guidance from the supreme court. >> and is that just a slippery slope, having a secretary of state be able to determine eligibility? >> well, i mean, yes and no in the sense that i think we obviously can't create new qualification for office, but we also need gatekeepers to ensure that people who are eligible are on the ballot and people who are not eligible are not. and so would it potentially leave the secretary of state open to additional lawsuits? that's, uh, that's possible. possible. i think, again, we need to see the

details of the proposal and how it would play out. >> all right. uh, jessica levinson, thank you so much for weighing in on this. and thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> up next, steady showers, slick roads and another stormy day as we look ahead to the first official day of winter tomorrow, we're asking is this wet weather a sign of what's to come? we'll get the answer right

storm drains and gutters working overtime, but it's great news for our rain totals to talk more about that, joining us live now is nws, sf bay area

meteorologist sean miller. sean, thank you for being here. first, where do we stand when it comes to the rain totals from over the last few days? >> so they've been very beneficial for us in general, anywhere from about 1 to 6in of rain across the area, about 3 to 4 in downtown. so it was certainly a widespread and beneficial rain for the bay area . so that's great. >> i mean, talk about those numbers. put them in perspective for us. you know, is it more than we usually see at this time of the year or, you know, give us some perspective on those numbers? you >> yeah. so this is typically a rainier time of the year. i think the one thing that really helps to put it in perspective is taking a look at the water year, which begins in october. uh- back on saturday, we were about about 41% of normal with rain for the water. year after today's rainfall going back to this past midnight, we were up to 66. so this rain is certainly helping us out in the time of year when we want to receive it.

>> and should we be concerned with mudslides over the next few weeks? i mean, we saw that happen last year because of the record rainfall all. >> yeah, that's a good question. so any time you do saturate the soils, get that rain going, there always is some potential for movement. i will say, in contrast to last year, the one thing we have going for us this time around is we didn't get nearly as much rain over a short period of time, so, well, it's something that can occur on the small scale, not something we're looking at all over the place. still something to watch out for, but it's not going to be like last year. >> okay, that is really good to know. it's good when that rain is spread out over multiple days or weeks. not like we saw last year. uh- southern california. they're also impacted some places i heard could see up to six inches over the next few days. is that right? in deed, the same system that brought our rain is now working its way down to towards southern california. >> portions of that area could see up to 4 to 5, and even in

some of the mountains we could see local amounts up to eight inches, or even a little bit more than that. so certainly the kind of thing that's going to bring them uh- flooding impacts just like us. some of the nuisance flooding, they're going to have to keep an eye on some of those burn scars for flash flooding as well. so southern california is going to be dealing with the same rain that we just did, and maybe even a little bit more than that through about friday or so. >> okay. that's not good for anyone. that's traveling to southern california to see family for the holidays. we'll talk about christmas in a moment. what about tahoe? how are they looking so far for snow totals? >> yeah. so this system didn't bring them a whole lot being as it was a warmer system in general. they saw about two to maybe seven inches or so, a little bit more in the higher peaks. um, but they are about half as for 53% or so for snowpack across the sierra right now, about two feet or so. so they've got some good snow down. the system just didn't bring a whole lot of it, uh, to, to build it up a little bit more, just a little too warm. mm. >> okay. and we of course have christmas coming up. you mentioned southern california and the impact on that. but what

will the weather impact be for people traveling from the bay area. yeah >> so yeah starting for us here in the bay area. the good news is we will after today have some time to dry out. almost a week of dry weather as we head towards christmas. it looks like rain is going to be largely to our north. it is going to be messy and wet across the pacific northwest. so folks traveling to the north are going to want to be aware of that. then for us, the day after christmas looks like we're going to see rain come back into our area, uh, across much of california, uh, in the days after christmas. so on the 26th to 28th, somewhere in that time frame, if you have travel plans after, you're going to pay attention to the weather, uh, watch out for that rain. and it looks like there will be more snow in the sierra during that time. as well. >> all right. i love that you timed it all out for us like that. uh, real quick before you go. how could el nino impact us here? so yeah, el nino tends to bring wetter than normal conditions to southern california. >> here in the bay area, it's kind of a mix. it depends on the

year. it sometimes can bring us a little bit more rain, but we've had some el nino years that were drier as well. so it's not always a clear signal for us. but in general, having an el nino pattern is certainly not a detriment to rainfall for us in much in most cases. and we will have el nino with us for the remainder of the winter. >> okay. good to know. all right. sean miller, thank you so much for making time for us today. we appreciate it anytime. and up next, if you're feeling a little stressed about the holidays, we are here to help an etiquette expert joins us next with tips on managing, gifting, travel and much more. when getting answers returns

you're watching abc seven news live anytime, anywhere. >> we are, we are, we are, we

are, we are, we are where you are. >> never miss a moment of the news that matters to you. download our abc seven bay area streaming app. join us and start watching. welcome back. the countdown is on just five days to go until christmas, and while the holidays are meant to be joyful for many, they can also be stressful from shopping and gifting to travel and family, there's so much to do. so we are getting some help today for all of us joining us live now is nick layton, etiquette expert and host of the hit podcast were you raised by wolves? thank you so much, nick, for being here today. >> thanks for having me. this is the real treat. >> yes, it's a treat for us too, because we need to de-stress right now and you're going to help us out. um, first, we know it's supposed to be a festive time of the year, but for many people, it does end up being stressful. is there any way of preventing that overwhelm

feeling as we get closer and closer to the holiday? >> i think the key things to remember. what is the point of all of this and kind of take the forest for the trees and remember like, oh, this is a season of gratitude and appreciation. so i think if we can all just take a step back, that might help us feel better about it, that is easier said than done though. i know, but i think that that would be the first, uh, hope, i guess. >> right. if you don't get that perfect gift, it's going to be okay. the family life will go on. life will go on. the family will still love you. hopefully >> what depends on the gift. >> yeah. what is the biggest complaint that you hear from people about the holidays? >> i think the biggest thing is this stressful thing. the anxiety, the pressure that we put on ourselves and that society puts on us. um, there's a fear of fomo. we see everybody's holiday parties that look more fun than ours. um, it's the money thing. i mean, all of these gifts, um, i live in an apartment building, and i

have to tip, uh, all the people that work here happy to do so, but it really does add up. um, and so, yeah, it's just everything gets piled on. i on some level, i wish we could kind of save the holidays for, like, it spread it out throughout the year, like we'll do presents in july and then we'll do tips in september. like, would be nice if we could just kind of do this quarterly rather than all at once in one week. >> that's actually a pretty good idea. you could always just say, hey, this is christmas in july, but just don't expect anything on actual christmas. if i would absolutely take holiday cookies in july, absolutely. okay, let's look let's look ahead to christmas. uh, we are down to the wire when it comes to getting gifts. you have some tips to help us out. let's take a look. we have some of your do's and don'ts, uh, tips as gifts. so give us some of the rundown on this. >> so holiday tipping. this is probably the number one email i get between thanksgiving and new year's. how much to tip? who to

tip. so generally speaking, we want to tip the people that have made our lives better throughout the year. um, and so this is often the people that work in our homes, our gardeners, our cleaning people, people who help with our children, our caretakers, um, people who help with our pets. so these are people we want to acknowledge at the end of the year. and for all of these people, cash is king. um, a nice crisp bill of some denomination. um, this is very nice. it is also nice to include a card where you actually say something about what this is all about, like, i really appreciate you walking my dog this year. um, it's been a huge help and i really enjoy having you part of my community. something like that. um, so i think that's nice . dollar amount is entirely up to you within your budget. if you do not have the budget to do tips, no problem. just send a card. um, the key here is to express gratitude in the way you can. and so i think that's really the most important takeaway for our letter carriers . um, these are people who are in our communities. um, there are rules, though, from the

postal service. so you do need to keep those gifts to a value of under $20. and it cannot be cash and it cannot be a cash equivalent like a check card. but if the gifts value is under $20, no problem. and i'm sure they'll appreciate it. okay, all great advice. >> i love the fact that you said, you know, write a nice message in a card that is really just telling someone, hey, i really appreciate you made my life easier because of this, or you helped me with this. they like to hear that. everyone likes to hear that. yeah um, yeah, i do write. right. so you're helping us right now. so thank you. i don't have a card for you, but i'll try to send one. >> i'll send you my address. >> okay. there we go. perfect so let's talk about something that maybe a bit controversial. regifting and regifting are okay. some people do it. um, yeah. some people frown upon it. what's your advice? >> so i'm going to say something controversial yet brave. okay i think you can do it if you can get away with it. so so the gift has to be a good gift. so you

can't just regift something that's not good for the new person. it has to be something you would get them anyway, and it has to be gifting outside of your circle. so make sure you're not gifting and regifting to like a colleague in the same office. like that's they're going to find out you have not gone away with it. also, look for personalization. i can't tell you how many books i've received as a gift that had an inscription on the second page. that was not for me. so great book though, but like, oh, still not for me. so monograms, inscriptions like that. that does disqualify regifting. but if it's a good gift and you get away with it, absolutely. have at it. >> okay. i mean, a bottle of wine, i mean, who's going to know unless again, it has something personal on it. that's something you can read unless they gave it to you last year. >> oh yeah. in which case you have to. >> okay. that's a lot to keep track of. is there any one person or people that we tend to forget about when it comes to buying gifts over the holidays?

>> um, i think that we often don't think about our neighbors as often as we should. i think a lot of us live in a communities where our neighbors are like family. um, and they help us out. they watch our homes when we're away. maybe they pick up our newspapers, our, um, or maybe our. or maybe you just have a friendly. hello. um, but these are people that we still value, and i think it's nice to sort of acknowledge that relationship at the end of the year. so i think, um, yeah, just people, people in your community that may not do anything for you specifically. they don't, you know, clean your pool. um, but they still sort of make your lives better, maybe make you smile, say a friendly hello. um, i think it's nice to acknowledge those people at the end of the year. >> i agree, let's talk about travel because you also are an expert in travel etiquette and nobody wants to be rude at the airport. but yet it happens all the time. and the airport, especially if the airport or the airline, their experience saying, um, you know, not even especially don't make apologies for people. >> no, it could be perfectly blue skies. everything on time.

people are still going bonkers up there. yeah, right. >> it happens. so what's your advice? i mean, for staying calm for ourselves or dealing with other angry people at the airport? >> i think you just have to realize that no one is trying to be rude intentionally or rare. rare is the person that's deliberately going out of their way to be horrible. um, we're all stressed out. we're all sleep deprived. we're all in unfamiliar environments. um, and i think we just lose a sense of mindfulness of others. that's where these etiquette crimes come from. so i think if you can just realize that, oh, this person who leaned their seat into mine and reclined and i'm very tall, um, they didn't do this maliciously. and so i think if we come at it with that spirit of sort of patience and understand that will make us feel better about etiquette crimes when they happen. and then i think, help us fix the problem, which is like a polite yet direct hey, i'm very tall. would it be possible to maybe not recline your seat at this moment? um, and your tone will reflect, uh, that vibe. >> i love that, and i love that you called it etiquette crimes.

this is great, nick. thank you so much. and have a wonderful, stress free holiday, as i'm sure you will. >> thank. >> and a reminder you can get our live newscast, breaking news and weather on abc seven, bay area streaming tv app

tonight, several breaking stories. the storm systems, holiday travel, and the rescues. families trapped in their homes amid rising waters in the northeast. in new york city tonight, the massive five-alarm fire. and in philadelphia, the tragic crash. a news helicopter going down. first tonight, the states of