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dana being a very large black man. how a landmark state law led to a rape conviction against ex 40 niners star dana stubblefield being overturned. the rain makes its return to the bay area and it has been dumping in some places. how much you can expect in your neighborhood, and it is a lot more than just debris. why? some pieces of the santa cruz wharf have special meaning, and families are asking for people to save what they find. >> always live abc seven news starts right now.

>> good evening. thanks for joining us i'm dan ashley. we want to talk about the rain. a live look outside tonight. heavy rain has been moving through the bay area this evening. let's go over to meteorologist frances dinglasan, who is tracking the storm for us. frances? >> yeah, dan. in fact, i'm going to show you live doppler seven, which shows the rain looping over the last three hours in parts of the north bay. like santa rosa. they already got half an inch of rain, but many areas like san francisco and parts of the east bay and even some south bay areas already got a quarter of an inch in the last few hours. and here's what it looks like right now. so notice the brunt of this rain still focused in on the north bay. and as we zoom in to show you what some of those higher precipitation rates are in the areas of yellow and orange there, it's a little over a quarter of an inch an hour. so we are in a storm level one through tomorrow morning. widespread rainfall. we still could get an additional half an inch to up to an inch. and there's still high surf along the coast. so the heaviest rain will be moving through the bay area right now over the next few hours. and then you notice by

4:00 in the morning it tapers off into showers. and then we get a little bit of a break. but with all the rainfall we are seeing now a flood advisory for parts of the north bay, east bay and the peninsula until 415 in the morning, you could see some minor flooding in low lying areas and also some of the roadways or poor drainage areas. in addition, there's also still a flood warning for the russian river near hopland. i'll have more details coming up. dan. >> okay, francis, thanks very much. we'll touch base shortly. here's a live look at sfo right now. nearly 400 flights have been delayed, 11 canceled altogether in the post-christmas rush today, the weather is putting a damper on things not just locally, but in many places across the country, with snow and severe storms affecting travel, people on the road are taking care to those returning from the holidays in the snowy sierra are dealing with some slow moving traffic. chains are required on highway 50 from twin bridges to meyers and on interstate 80 from truckee to

kingvale. both are open and moving tonight, as you can see, but it's just careful driving. you can follow along as the forecast evolves over the next few days. with the abc seven bay area app, it gives you access to the same live doppler seven that francis and our entire weather team use every day will also send you alerts with important updates to keep you up to speed. tomorrow morning, we expect new information about the santa cruz wharf collapse. a huge section fell into the water during the storm on monday, and it will be closed indefinitely as a result. meanwhile, pieces are washing up and some of them have special meaning. a family's there have memorial benches on that portion that collapsed, so there is some sentimental value here. abc seven news reporter juan martinez spoke with one family, who is asking people to save what they find. >> whenever roberta rodriguez misses her son, she comes to santa cruz, where he loved the water. in 2005, her son david passed away when he was 22 years old. a bench memorializing david

sat at the end of the santa cruz wharf, but on monday it was swept away and destroyed when high swells caused the end of the wharf to collapse. that bench was a sacred space. >> it was a great place to just go sit and watch the ocean and think about him and think about our our life here and how short that was. you know, that we he went home so soon and we just miss him every day. >> the bench was installed nearly 20 years ago. >> for us, it means everything. my son grew up in this area, so he was always crabbing off the pier with the help of friends. >> posts were made on social media to be on the lookout for any pieces that might wash up. >> these guys found the birth date kind. >> strangers found two boards of the bench in separate areas on christmas. one board is inscribed with david's birth date. the other board is inscribed with gone fishing.

april 21st, 2005. it was found by a father and daughter. >> of course we love our miss our loved ones during the holiday, so i really see this as a christmas miracle. >> the santa cruz wharf has different benches commemorating lost loved ones. one woman is crediting the reddit community for helping her find the nameplate to her mother's bench that was swept away, as well as one stranger was putting up fliers. another found the board for rodriguez. a board to her son's bench is still lost at sea. >> we are missing one more piece and it's the top piece that has his name on it, david ramon de anda, aka dave rodriguez, hopes people will keep an eye out for it. >> she's grateful for all the help and compassion she's received this week in santa cruz. lauren martinez, abc seven news. >> new developments tonight with an explosion that gutted a capitola apartment on christmas morning. investigators are looking into the blast, but say it does not appear that anything

suspicious was behind it. miraculously, no one was hurt or killed. thank goodness neighbors reported feeling the heat from the flames. three residents from the apartment complex have had to find new homes in the south bay. a landmark ruling involving former forty-niner great dana stubblefield. a court today overturned his rape conviction, ruling it violated the state's racial justice act. it was all based on what prosecutors said in court and how stubblefield's star status played a role. abc seven news reporter tara campbell spoke with his lawyer about the decision. >> thursday, a federal court of appeals overturning the 2020 rape conviction of former san francisco 40 niners dana stubblefield. >> you can't hold a trial that has the fundamentals of due process, the fundamentals of fairness, the fundamentals of the constitution, and keep referring to somebody as a big black man. >> stubblefield was convicted of raping a woman under threat of a gun, who had come to his home to interview for a babysitting job

in 2015. the appellate court ruling thursday the prosecution violated the racial justice act by saying in its closing argument that police didn't search stubblefield's home for a gun over concerns it would open up a, quote, storm of controversy. the appellate court judges calling this an implicit reference to the civil unrest at the time over the police killing of george floyd. >> court spoke very clearly on this issue to say that bringing mr. stubblefield's race into your closing argument for no legitimate reason violated the racial justice act, and mr. stubblefield's conviction was overturned. >> the racial justice act went into effect in 2021, making it illegal to convict someone on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin. thursday's ruling, marking the first major reversal in santa clara county, citing the law. and it's one that's expected to set a precedent across the state. >> because mr. stubblefield was such a high profile individual,

this decision is going to bring about change throughout california in how prosecutors try cases. >> it's now up to santa clara county's da to decide whether to retry the former forty-niner. >> what they would have to do then is bring him back and start from scratch. and the question would be, will he get bail again? since he's now had his conviction overturned? >> we reached out to the santa clara county da's office and were told, quote, we are studying the opinion. in the meantime, stubblefield's attorneys expect to be in court next week motioning to have their client released. >> he should be restored to where he was home with his family, where he should have been for the last few years. >> tara campbell, abc seven news. >> we've posted the entire ruling from the court on our website because it is quite long. you can find it on abc seven news.com. by clicking on the story. you'll get a lot more information from that ruling. police dog helped officers catch a man running from police in oakland this afternoon. the

pursuit started with police chasing a man who had been recklessly driving this black suv. you're looking at through the streets of oakland's fruitvale area. the driver hit at least one other car during the chase, before crashing the suv against the side of a building on international boulevard and fruitvale avenue. that's when he got out and started running. the police dog took off after him and corralled the man before he was detained by officers, as you can see. two other people jumped out of the suv a couple of minutes before the driver hopped out. the california highway patrol says the suv was stolen. a gofundme is helping raise money for the family of an oakland man who died on christmas day. 37 year old steve weatherford junior died rescuing family members from their home while it burned. he kept going back in to help people. fire officials say weatherford helped several people out, but was overcome by the smoke after going inside one last time. one more thing to know about this man. he was set to get engaged just next week. the fundraiser is being

organized by neighbors to pay for the memorial service and family's financial needs during this time. so far, it's raised over $14,000. if you'd like to help, we have a link on abc seven news.com. members of a mosque in san francisco are raising concerns about anti-muslim incidents. a surveillance camera caught a man tearing pages out of the koran earlier this week. and apparently, authorities say he has a history of harassing mosque members at the islamic center of san francisco. it's not the first time a mosque in the city has been targeted this year in april. another man smashed six windows on a mosque on sutter street with a skateboard. >> we are experiencing a 30 year high in anti-muslim and anti-palestinian racism, and our call is specifically to elected officials and to law enforcement to send a very clear message that hate will not be tolerated in san francisco against any community.

>> muslim leaders say the rise of hate is not just about donald trump as the u.s. changes leadership, but also the u. s. backed genocide in palestine. a lot more coming here in the market for a new car or thinking about getting an ev. perhaps the deal. hertz is apparently offering people who rent a tesla. stay tuned for that. there's an even better deal being offered tomorrow. what you need to know about free furniture friday here in the bay area, where all the items are literally free, money won't be an issue if you can get lucky and hit the mega millions jackpot. how much is on the line tomorrow night? it is staggering. all of that's coming up. but first, here's a look at what's ahead tonight on jimmy kimmel live! right after abc seven news at 11. >> jimmy, watch tonight or i'll tell santa you're bad. >> i got a chance to meet a huge celebrity. before i met oprah, i was just like, whoa, whoa, pat sajak. oh, really?

i am, the nonprofit habitat for humanity will host free furniture friday in oakland. the hope is to clear out some of the warehouse to make room for new donations that are coming in. abc7 news reporter lena howland explains how this project can help build a better bay area. >> oh no way. >> the sauna is going no matter what you need. >> free couch? totally free. >> chances are. >> oh, look at that. i found a tub. >> you can probably find it at habitat for humanity's restore oakland shop. >> according to kane cabrera, if it has that little green

sticker, it is yours to take. >> on friday, thousands of items marked with free furniture. friday labels will be yours for the taking. they need the community's help to clear out their warehouse to make room for new donations. >> it's a bit of a win win for everyone involved, right? so for us, we get to create inventory space. we allow more donations to come in so we can help service the community. at the other time, we get to have people come into our store, see what we get to offer, see what they can to help provide what the community. >> all proceeds from items still marked for sale go right back to the community. >> it helps us build homes for our community. that's our biggest thing. home ownership needs to happen for everyone. everyone deserves a decent place to live. >> the free items include thousands of pieces of art donated by a san francisco museum. >> they just had them sitting in the back. they were like, we need space. we have archives and archives and archives. we need more space. these are sitting. take them and they're free. they're free. they're all free. you get to take them. >> what's perhaps the most important job of all? >> today i am marking all the furniture that i can down for

the free furniture. >> friday belongs to loxley wallace. >> there's a lot of things that i know have been here for a while, and that's kind of how we're choosing. furniture is so expensive now. it's crazy. so it's nice to be able to help people all the time, all while helping to reduce, reuse and recycle. >> one less thing for the landfill. one last thing to go into the trash, which is it's great all around free furniture. >> friday kicks off at 9:00 friday morning here at restore oakland and goes until four. in oakland. lena howland, abc seven news. >> well, the venerable poppenhausen hardware store in san francisco's west portal neighborhood is closing its doors for good. the retailer has been in business for 88 years, and it survived two fires and three rebuilds. it opened at its current location in 2019, but the business was crippled by covid. >> habits changed as soon as the pandemic began, and we saw a 30% reduction in customer count on

the street. and that is not a number that a small store like us can recover from. >> rent increases and lower revenue just didn't help. carl aguilar says. every dollar makes a difference, and he says the current climate doesn't look good for small businesses. he's worried about that. the hardware store has enough stock to remain open for another day or two, but as you can see, slim pickings at the moment because they are closing for good. hertz is apparently looking to pull the plug on its tesla fleet. people who rent the electric vehicles are posting on social media that they're receiving offers to buy them. the prices are definitely competitive, with one person sharing. hertz offered a deal of just under $18,000 for a 2023 tesla model s. the original price tag was around $39,000. hertz made a major investment three years ago in evs, purchasing 100,000 teslas. well, happening today after the sound of sleigh bells, the buzz of

wood chippers begins. christmas tree collection in san francisco started today. now through january, folks can place their trees on the curb the night before their scheduled pickup. trees must be cut to five feet or less and a free of all lights and decorations. the trees are converted into mulch and used for landscaping projects, returning the trees back to the earth. obviously, last year, san francisco recycled 274 tons of trees. san francisco city hall is lit up tonight as we talk about the holidays to mark the beginning of kwanzaa. the colors are certainly important to the tradition. black represents the african american people, red for the struggle for freedom, and green is hope for the future. this seven day cultural celebration has activities related to its seven principles and lights a candle for each night until january 1st. happy kwanzaa! well, business is brisk in an alameda store ahead of tomorrow's mega millions drawing. hang on to those

stocking stuffer lottery tickets. the jackpot will be at least $1.1 billion. >> if i won, i would make all my family very happy and my friend. because. plus, i was wondering if you donate half of it to schools, will that work too? because schools need help. >> that's a nice thought from raymond. the odds of winning the mega millions jackpot are one in more than 302 million, according to lottery officials. kind of long odds. mega millions tickets are two bucks each, and half the proceeds from the sale of each ticket remains in the state where the ticket was sold. so if you have a ticket, good luck. the odds aren't great, but we can always hope. all right, let's go back and talk about the full forecast. meteorologist frances dinglasan is here. frances. >> yeah. the odds are we will get lots more rain. and those are good odds. yeah. in the next few hours. here's a look at live doppler seven and satellite radar image. lots of us under cloud cover. even some rain,

some heavy rain or more moderate rainfall in parts of the north bay. and because of all this additional rainfall, just within the past hour, the national weather service has issued a flood advisory for the areas highlighted there in the mint color until 415 in the morning. if you are driving, be extra careful. there will likely be some minor flooding in low lying areas, roadways that there's where there's poor drainage and then the area there for the flood warning in green. brighter green is the flood warning for the russian river in hopland, expected to have some minor flooding, especially tomorrow morning. you can see some of the ponding on the roadway on 880 right now in oakland by the coliseum in oakland and hayward, it's 57 degrees. san francisco 54, san jose 58, redwood city also 54 and half moon bay 55. so just be careful if you drive those spots regularly, you know where the usual ponding spots are. and here's a live shot in san rafael, where they've already gotten 3/10 of an inch, and in santa rosa, almost half

an inch of rain already. just since this evening, we're seeing some low to mid 50s in petaluma, napa, fairfield, also at 52, concord, 56, livermore 53 degrees. but then in san jose we had about 2/10 of an inch. and there is some rain falling there right now, although it is light. so overnight we'll continue to see light to moderate rain and then late morning and in the afternoon all through saturday we'll see spotty showers. so not much rainfall. you will need the umbrella, but you'll find that there will be nice breaks. our next system really arrives sunday during the early morning hours is when we'll see more moderate to heavy rain. so here's a look. you'll notice at midnight, we'll see some of the more moderate rainfall in the north bay, and possibly on the peninsula coast. san mateo county coastline notice by 12:00 tomorrow midday. just cloud cover. a few spotty showers throughout the day friday and saturday morning. these more

moderate showers will be in the north bay. and then here's our wave that comes in our final wave on sunday. but this one does look like it could be heavy in the areas to the north bay, like cloverdale. and then you'll notice once that clears out, we will have more sunshine. but during this time period there is a high surf advisory until 4:00 in the afternoon with waves up to 30ft. we could see up to a foot of snow in the sierra. so this winter weather advisory sticks around till noon. lows tomorrow morning will generally be in the low to mid 50s, and highs tomorrow will just range from 59 to 61 degrees, possibly 64 degrees in san jose where it has been milder. here's the accuweather seven day forecast. the level one storm will be wrapping up tomorrow, though. we'll see those scattered showers linger through saturday. last round of rain sunday and then sunny for the 40 niners game. the monday night football, which we are showing here. of course. looking sunny but cool in the mornings for new year's

eve and new year's day. >> you know we need the rain. love having the rain, but i love it when we get little breaks so we can enjoy some.

smith runs the do gooder garage out of her home every holiday season, taking. year end donations and distributing them to local organizations and families in need. well, many of the brand new items come gift wrapped. this year, she teamed

up with a local realtor and began operating out of an empty storefront in lafayette. >> i invited the community in lamorinda to give, and i was blown away by the response. it's been the best thing i've ever done in my life. >> you can hear her enthusiasm. the storefront opened december 7th. even though the holiday season is coming to a close, the lamorinda care collection collective isn't. with all the support they've gotten, smith will keep it open as long as she can, welcoming in families across lafayette, moraga and orinda. very nice. all right. a familiar face, a donald foil, stopped by macy's union square. windows of adoptable dogs and cats. the appearance is part of the warriors season of giving campaign. o'donnell met some of the pets looking for forever homes, and learned more about the work the spca does for animals in san francisco. if you want to check out the display and meet the sweet cats and dogs available, the holiday window will be at macy's until new year's eve. and look at

o'donnell, who is the nicest man you ever want to meet. trying to help dogs and cats find forever homes. very nice. well, the forty-niners struggles this season. will they help them in the long run? well, the coach thinks so. sports director larry beil is here to explain why. larry. >> dan brock purdy turns 25 tomorrow. his body probably feels a lot older, given that he's been running for his life this year. but kyle shanahan this year. but kyle shanahan sees the upside in the s - i had health insurance before. (discouraged) so expensive. i mean, i'm helping my mom out, i don't have that kinda cash. - ugh, i know. but you can get financial help now through covered california. it's totally affordable. you'd be surprised. they've got this calculator thing that shows how much you'll pay. - for real? - yeah! what are you doing not having health insurance, man? - hey, i know, i know... - here, let me show you... - we all have questions. covered california has answers and can find a health plan that's right for you. covered california. this way to health insurance.

if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger. it sounds like 40 niners. coach kyle shanahan is a believer in that with respect to brock purdy. purdy, who turns 25 tomorrow, has seen his passing numbers drop from a season ago last year. 31 td passes only 11 picks this year, 17 touchdowns and ten interceptions. obviously, having so many teammates injured has played a big part in the diminishing production. with the niners hosting detroit on monday night football here on abc seven, shanahan believes the struggles will pay off down the road this season. >> a more challenging situation this year. he's got two more weeks of it. i think it's going to end up being really good for him in the long run. i mean, and he hasn't ever been in a losing situation yet. so i think that's very hard for him. but to watch how he responds each week, to watch how he practices, to watch how he is in the meetings, he's always the same guy and nothing's changed in that way. >> friendly reminder catch the 40 niners and lions monday night right here on abc seven. kickoff at 5 p.m, followed by after the

game thursday night football in chicago, soldier field, seahawks and bears. no shirt required. the bears fans are really emotional. they started four and two and have not won a game since, trying to avoid a ten game losing streak. not happy six three seattle about two minutes to go. fourth down. caleb williams somehow completes the pass to d.j. moore. bears closing in on field goal range but terrible clock management dooms them. another fourth down. williams just flings it up as he's crushed. seahawks intercept seattle wins six three in just the second game all season with no touchdowns. the first was niners. rams a couple of weeks ago, following in the footsteps of deion sanders and michael vick. desean jackson is reportedly finalizing a deal to become the head coach at delaware state. remember, jackson came out of cal speedy wide receiver, became the first player in nfl history to earn pro bowl honors at two positions kick returner and wide receiver. the l.a. chargers will play at new england on saturday. probably going to be around 40 degrees. coach jim harbaugh not

at all worried about his players in the cold. >> bottom line is, i mean, these guys are young. they're uh- healthy and their heart pumps warm blood. you know, pumps it from the arteries to the veins to the tributaries, to the capillaries, you know, throughout their whole body. i got that in the wrong order there. it's well documented. i'm not a doctor. >> clearly not. arteries and veins don't go like t

diabetes and high blood pressure runs in my family. i knew i had to do something, so i starved myself and i lost 100 pounds. but i ended up with an injury and i gained almost all of the weight back and fast.