the news starts right now, and i can see google unfortunately was evil and they used their leverage to take advantage of vulnerable employees to say, we want people who will give us 24 over seven, seven days a week and that aren't burdened or distracted by a family. >> tech giant google being

accused of discriminating against employees who took parental leave. and now there's legal action. good evening. thank you for joining us. >> i'm dan ashley and i'm ama daetz. the lawsuit was filed today in santa clara county against google and its parent company, alphabet. >> abc seven news anchor dion lem spoke with a former google employee behind the claim and has her story. >> it's supposed to be the most joyous time of your life, and it's just turned into this nightmare. >> paula byrne was on leave after giving birth to her daughter isabella in june of 2023 when she was alerted not by her former employer, google, but by her peers that she was being laid off. >> i was really shocked to hear who else was being laid off as well. >> byrne, who worked for google since 2010, alleges in a lawsuit filed in santa clara county wednesday that five out of seven employees selected for termination from byrne's team and two from an adjacent team were also on, had recently taken or were about to take parental leave. >> and of the six that stage, none had young children. it just

seemed very, very unfair. >> byrne's lead attorney, tracy lemon, said her client wanted to stay at google. >> that was never on the cards for them. >> she then sent this letter to the tech giant in april in hopes of a better severance package for byrne, after she was replaced by someone allegedly younger and without children. lemon says after very little response from google, her client decided to file a complaint. >> google definitely has a youth culture where they they hire young, keep young, promote young. >> liz morris of the center for workplace law for uc law says there are protections in place for men and women under the california family rights act and family medical leave act. >> in the case of a large layoff, it may be that some people who are on maternity leave are let go. but when you start to see disparate numbers where everybody who was let go was on maternity leave and everyone who stayed was not, you know, that that starts to seem like there may be something illegal going on.

>> a google spokesperson sent me a statement saying in part, we completely disagree with these claims. we have zero tolerance for discrimination and take all concerns very seriously. they went on to say reorganization and eliminations were part of doing business and based solely on business needs, without health insurance or luck in landing a similar role. byrne has since moved to the uk for more affordable health care, and hopes the stress of this lawsuit is worth it. >> i'd love to see them change their processes so there's not so many parents and women put in this situation. >> in san francisco, dion lim, abc seven news. >> in palo alto, serious claims are being made against the school district and its after school program. a bay area family says their ten year old child was the victim of systemic abuse. abc seven news south bay reporter zach fuentes has more on their claims and the response from officials. >> the palo alto unified school district is facing claims of systemic racist abuse after a

series of incidents involving a now ten year old black student. his identity is being protected, but advocates spoke wednesday on behalf of the boy and his parents. >> we are speaking out today to address the harsh bias, abuse and discriminatory treatment our child has endured at the hands of the palo alto union school district. >> many of the allegations stem from an after school program the boy attended called right at school, which works with the district. the first incident allegedly happened in january, and the after hours program at escondido elementary. >> an individual, a staff member, allowed other children or directed other children to kick our claimant in the genitals and also locked him up, as was stated earlier, for 15 minutes in a closet as a joke. >> the school district and right at school say the employee involved was immediately fired and he now faces charges. but attorneys say the young boy has since experienced retaliatory harassment. the boy recently reported thoughts of suicide to a school psychologist, and the

school dismissed it as a joke, did not report it to the parents. sean allen, president elect of the san jose naacp, claims the district has a history of discrimination. >> we have several instances within this school district where people of color, children of color have been referred to in derogatory terms of referencing their color, and there's actually no discipline. >> in a statement, the school district said in part, pay usd and right at school are united in our commitment to diversity and inclusion, do not tolerate discrimination or retaliation, and remain committed to supporting the student and family involved in this incident. a separate statement from right at school points out the boy's parents continued his enrollment after the january incident and then re enrolled him this school year. but attorneys say the parents recently pulled the boy from escondido elementary and are focused on filing claims against the district. a necessary step before a lawsuit. >> not only that, the claimant, be that his damages be handled, but also that change be effected for other children. >> the district has 45 days to respond to these claims in palo

alto. zach fuentes, abc seven news. >> happening right now, the oakland unified school district is meeting to discuss possibly consolidating ten schools down to five. it's an effort, obviously, to save money, but it's not related to the school district's budget cut efforts. abc seven news reporter anser hassan has the story. >> as of now, these students go to manzanita community school. but if a school consolidation plan is approved, they could merge with the students at the adjacent campus. >> i'll be voting no on this, and i seriously doubt that it's going to pass. >> mike hutchinson is vice president of the oakland school board. he says the reason the merger proposal likely won't pass is because there hasn't been enough time for community discussion. school board member valerie batchelor says even school board members weren't given enough time to review the proposal. >> we need to engage students, parents and our labor partners so we can have a holistic conversation as to what education looks like here in oakland. >> parents were collecting signatures at manzanita

community school, hoping to block the proposal to merge five pairs of schools that share a campus. the teachers union also opposes the mergers. it points out that even the district knows this can impact students, especially at dual immersion schools. >> they do project a 20% loss in students. it's very difficult to put these programs together. >> the mergers are not being proposed to help balance the district's budget deficit. as hutchinson explains, the school closures and mergers are part of a larger restructuring effort by the district. therefore, a no vote means mergers may not be imminent but are likely inevitable over the next 18 months. >> is a series of community conversations to start making some of these decisions. our district has to look different in two years. >> also at the meeting, the school board will look at 30 budget categories that could be cut or reduced to help balance next year's projected 75 to $95 million budget deficit. whichever categories are

approved, the district will further analyze and have further options with related dollar amounts by next february. the teachers union hopes the district keeps cuts away from students, a top heavy. >> central office. we have outside contracting that is, that far exceeds spending that happens in other districts in oakland, anser hassan. >> abc seven news. >> former alameda county district attorney pamela price will soon be subpoenaed for her personal phone records. our media partner, the mercury news, reports. the county's public defender's office told a judge on friday that they plan to file the subpoena. the assistant public defender accuses price of imposing sentencing enhancements against a client whose attorney refused to work against price's recall. the judge says he would grant the subpoena and expects it to be complied with by december 30th. price's final day on the job was last thursday. >> all right, let's switch to

the weather now as we get ready for the rain to arrive. here's a live look out at the conditions. so for the very latest, let's go to abc seven news meteorologist sandhya patel. sandhya. >> yeah. dan, you know, these days of hazy skies and beautiful sunsets will be numbered because we have wet weather heading our way. don't get me wrong. it's not going to be stormy every single day. but let me show you this live picture from our san jose camera. it's a beautiful view right now. clouds are gathering. rain is starting to move in to our north on live doppler seven, and in a matter of hours it will be arriving here. it's a level one storm on our exclusive abc seven news storm impact scale, and we time it out for you. by 9:10 p.m. it's moving into the north bay. heavier rain starts to approach and it becomes widespread at 2 a.m, but it's a fast mover. 4 a.m. it's in the southern and eastern part of our viewing area. if you're commuting, give yourself extra time. there will be scattered showers that continue. so it's a level one tonight through tomorrow. first the rain and then the showers. breezy in spots. if you're going to the niners game tomorrow,

kick off at 515. take your poncho because. and take a jacket as well because it's going to be cool breezy with the showers. fourth quarter. we're talking about isolated showers there. there is definitely some haze in the atmosphere from our sutro tower camera. you can see it. air quality has been suffering moderate for many areas right now. the winds are pretty much light and that's part of the problem. we will get stronger winds coming through here and that will clean out our air, but not immediately. we have moderate air quality the next two days. i'll be back with that weekend storm. that's stronger coming up. all right. >> we'll check back with you. thank you. sandhya. new details in the murder case of the united health care ceo. manhattan's district attorney says he is confident that suspect luigi mangione will be quickly extradited from pennsylvania to new york. mangione's attorney says his client intends to plead not guilty to charges including second degree murder, claiming there is no evidence linking the 26 year old to the crime. the nypd commissioner says the 3d printed gun that mangione had

when he was arrested matches three shell casings found at the crime scene in midtown manhattan. the police commissioner says mangione's fingerprints also match items found near the scene of the december 4th assassination. >> david misch, a man on trial for multiple east bay murders, took the stand in dublin yesterday. michelle xavier and jennifer dewey were 18 and 20 when they were stabbed and shot in fremont. this was back in 1986. according to the mercury news, misch told the court that he sold the young women cocaine the night that they were killed. he said his dna was found under dewey's fingernails because they shared a cigarette that night. he denied that the letters and numbers xavier wrote on her hand were his partial license plate. amish was previously convicted of the 1989 killing of margaret bell in hayward. he is also accused of kidnaping and killing nine year old michaela garecht. >> a brentwood man has been arrested and charged with violating national defense airspace. according to the u.s.

justice department, 39 year old yin zhao is accused of flying a drone over vandenberg space air force base and taking photos of the layout. zhao was arrested at san francisco international airport before boarding a flight to china, where he is a citizen. if convicted, he could face a maximum of four years in federal prison. >> all right. still ahead. here it is. the world's largest psychedelic church, drawing visitors from all around the globe. but now it says it's closing because of harassment from city officials. you're going to hear from a pastor of that church when abc seven news at they will grow up. (♪) discover who they are (♪) what they want from this world.

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close its doors by the end of the year. the church's leader says harassment by the planning department, as well as issues on san francisco's streets, are the cause. abc seven news reporter tim johns went to the church

today and has the story. >> walk into door church in san francisco's soma neighborhood, and it's clear this church is unlike many others. side door is a part of the so-called church of ambrosia, the largest psychedelic church in the country. their leader, pastor dave hodges, says they sell an array of different mushrooms and other products to their 120,000 members. >> to us, these tools are access to your soul. so the one who has the real answers is actually you. it's just a matter of getting you to that place in the safest way possible. >> but hodges says the last few weeks of 2024 are set to be zaida's last in san francisco, thanks to two main problems. the first is the persistent crime and drug use outside the church's doors. the second, hodges says, is what he calls the harassment of his organization by the city's planning department. >> i really feel like it's because of what we're doing here again. the building didn't have any problems until we moved in this sliding glass door. on the second story of the building, we have google images showing it

was there in 97, and multiple businesses have been in this building. they even permitted a delivery service. >> hodges tells us over the past few months, his church has had repeated issues with city building and planning officials, who have told him he needs to make numerous changes to the organization's physical building. but hodges believes it's what his religion entails. that's the real reason he's being forced to make changes. snyder says their closure will impact more people than just their members, though hodges tells me that the organization also helps many people who live right here in their community. >> we've had members drop off clothing and provided it to the people right outside the door. we've had there's been multiple times that we've had to call an ambulance or even administer narcan somebody. >> hodges says while the church of san francisco location will close by the end of the year, they'll still be able to serve their members through the group's oakland location. and he hopes one day they'll be able to once again operate in the city. >> we would love to come back to this building. we put a lot into it and it feels like an

appropriate home for us. >> we did reach out to the san francisco planning department for comment, but they did not get back to us by our deadline in san francisco. tim johns, abc seven news. >> there are now reports that kaiser's headquarters in oakland could shrink by more than half. just last month, we reported that the company is planning to downsize its footprint at the audie building in downtown oakland, where it is the primary tenant. but now, the san francisco business times reports that filings with the sec show the downsizing could be by more than half. kaiser is one of oakland's largest employers, but has raised concerns about employee safety this year, going so far as to recommend workers stay in the building for lunch and hire private security to ensure worker safety. last year, the health care giant announced it was going to move about 1200 employees from oakland to pleasanton. >> coming up as homeowners across the state struggle to find and keep insurance. now, one company is accepting more

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home insurer is increasing the number of new customers it accepts next year. farmers insurance now says it will begin writing home insurance policies in anticipation of new reforms. as part of that new policy, farmers will raise its monthly cap from 7000 to 9500 and reopened several policy options. it had paused for more than a year. it is the first time since april of 2023 that farmers is accepting new applications. >> southern california's infamous santa ana winds are continuing to fuel a fast moving wildfire which has exploded in size. the franklin fire grew 39% overnight. that's what cal fire is telling us. it has burned more than 4000 acres and destroyed at least seven homes. crews have been in an all out firefight from the ground and the air. some malibu canyon homeowners who chose not to evacuate talked about the intense conditions. >> the winds coming straight

down malibu canyon like a blowtorch. >> the smoke was so thick you couldn't really see, like someone was standing over there. you couldn't see him. it was crazy. it's insane. >> at least 12,000 people are under evacuation orders. the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. >> just not worth the risk to stay. obviously. just too intense. and we're tracking the conditions down south, too. >> let's get to meteorologist sandhya patel for the latest. sandhya. >> yeah, so the red flag warnings have expired for that area, but they are still dealing with some gusty winds. not as strong as before. they will be getting some rain this weekend, which will help. this first storm on live doppler seven is not going to make it to southern california and malibu. it's going to make it here in the bay area, and you can already see some radar returns on live doppler seven just off the mendocino county coast. so in just a matter of a couple of hours, we'll start to see the first raindrops and they will pretty much spread while you are sleeping. 40s and 50s on those current temperatures. a

beautiful view from our santa cruz camera post-sunset sky tonight for a storm moves in tomorrow. we're looking at scattered showers and your weekend forecast. a stronger storm gets in here friday nights a chance, but saturday is going to be the day that you might want to take your plans indoors. level one for tonight through tomorrow. light to moderate rain and then showers for tomorrow. it will be breezy in spots. we're not expecting strong winds with this one. 9 p.m. tonight, you'll notice the wet weather is in the north bay by 2:00. widespread rain moving through pockets of downpours as we head into 4 a.m. notice the east bay and the south bay, still getting pretty soaked. switches over to scattered showers at 7 a.m. and then another band of showers comes through around 1130 in the morning. continuing through the afternoon and the evening hours, so i would keep your umbrellas handy for tomorrow pretty much through the night. rainfall totals will look like this over an inch in ukiah, the santa cruz mountains, a third of an inch in san jose, and everyone else in

between. but it's going to be a pretty good soaker, even though it's going to be a fast mover. high surf advisory starts at 1 p.m. tomorrow until 4 a.m. friday, as we are expecting large breakers 18 to 22ft. risk of rip currents, sneaker waves, dangerous swimming and surfing. we also have a coastal flood advisory tomorrow morning until monday afternoon, as those king tides are coming up tomorrow close to seven feet just after 8 a.m. watch out if you are taking a walk. winter weather advisory tonight in the sierra. it's going to be going until 4 p.m. tomorrow, 6 to 12in above 5000ft with those gusty winds. higher snow totals on the peaks. it could be tough getting up there. so carry chains, 40s, 50s on your temperatures. you'll need those umbrellas tomorrow as well. 40 to 60s for your highs tomorrow afternoon. and then here comes the stronger storm. so it's a chance of rain friday afternoon evening. but saturday just really looks like a drencher with the sierra getting some more snow. the winds are going to pick up monday. another system comes in with lighter rain, but it will be pretty much widespread. and then we get a

break leading up to the weekend going into the holidays. rainfall totals with that second storm, and the third system is going to range anywhere from about 6/10 of an inch in brentwood to over three inches in ukiah, which is why we are concerned about some flooding, minor flooding on the roadways. winds will be picking up as well, gusting over 40 miles an hour at 3 a.m. saturday. along the coastline. even stronger winds by saturday afternoon. 50 mile an hour winds. so do tie down any of your decorations that may be outside holiday decorations. if you do have things that can get blown around, just be aware of that. wind advisory is likely going to be issued. scattered showers on the accuweather seven day level one tomorrow. chance of rain friday in the afternoon evening. we have a two for saturday. that's going to be a soaker and then a one on monday. and then we'll dry things out around here on monday. >> and nice to get a little break between each storm. >> absolutely. and that is really critical to prevent any major issues obviously. thanks, andrea. >> all right. the wait is

finally over as a section of the lafayette-moraga regional trail finally reopened today. it had been closed since 2016 because of a landslide. since then, crews have been rebuilding the trail and stabilizing the hillside between canyon road and westchester street in moraga. the entire trail runs over seven miles along saint mary's road. >> still ahead. imagine going to the movie theater to see wicked, and then the stars of the movie show up. what? some people don't have to imagine that because it happened in the bay area last

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you can feel like the chef of your kitchen. make it easy. make it with reynolds. the movie wicked got a blockbuster surprise at a screening in san rafael last night. ariana grande and cynthia erivo, who costar in the movie, showed up at the theater. the duo did a question and answer session in front of the big screen. wicked is a smash hit and continues to break box office records. on monday, the movie passed $325 million in ticket sales across the country. wow. >> how fun for those folks. well, you can be among the first to get tickets to bottlerock in napa valley. the music festival is holding a special holiday

presale that starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. a limited number of three day passes will be available, as long as they last for $455. a pre-sale for american express card members started yesterday. the 2025 bottlerock festival takes place may 23rd through the 25th. the lineup, of course, has not been announced yet, but you know, people are going to buy up those tickets and there were some great lines. >> yeah they do. all right. well don't forget we have much more news ahead for you at 530 on abc seven, bay area streaming tv. all right. >> world news tonight with david muir is next. a cherished tradition set in 1915 san francisco. delight in a fun-filled holiday experience. ♪ tickets on sale now at sfballet.org

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tonight, breaking ne >> david: tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the new turn tonight. what the nypd has now discovered involving the suspect in the murder of that ceo. tonight, what we've learned involving evidence. what the nypd now says about the murder weapon, and about a notebook full of writings. also, the suspect's friends from high school. when the suspect's mother reached out to police. and what we've learned about the family tonight.