abc seven mornings live. >> now at six. a search for answers. the black boxes from the american airlines plane in that deadly midair collision have been recovered. crews are preparing to return to the wreckage after stopping recovery efforts overnight. and this

morning we're learning about some of the victims who were on that flight. >> crucial cuts to confront a huge shortfall. muni is planning to slash service on some bus lines starting tomorrow to address a $50 million budget deficit. >> and here at six, we'll take you outside. the rain returns this morning after a dry spell across the bay area. drew is here tracking the storm's timeline when the next rain arrives and the risk of flooding for some of us this weekend. >> good morning to you. it is friday, january 31st, the last day of the month. can you believe it? >> yeah, tomorrow. >> for now, we're going to turn to drew. >> good reminder. the rain. yeah. you got to find all of your rain gear because we are tracking those showers in the north bay this morning. and this will all spread across the bay area over the next couple of hours. so live doppler seven right now is showing you that much of the moisture through lake mendocino county, sonoma county entering napa county. and you can see the movement of this front. it is going to bring rain everywhere over the next couple

of hours, as all of this rain moves to the south and east this morning. so it is a level one on the abc seven storm impact scale. light rain with a few isolated downpours. from time to time. your biggest impact is going to be those roads getting slick this morning. and we all know when it starts raining out there, travel gets a little more difficult on our freeways, so just be aware of that. here's future weather. that rain spreads across the region over the next couple of hours, and once that rain is in your neighborhood, it's on and off throughout the entire day. temperatures today were only going into the mid 50s, so it will feel chilly out there. this afternoon we have a flood watch posted for everybody through the weekend. the highest risk of flooding will come tomorrow morning as an atmospheric river moves onshore. we'll detail that coming up in eight minutes, but let's check in with frances, see how the commute is going. >> all right drew, we're going to start off with a live camera shot in the north bay in san rafael to see if the roads are getting slick there. right now. you can see traffic is flowing well. so it's been friday light this morning. no major problems on the roadways and so far it's looking good here for taillights

moving southbound through san rafael. but as the roads get slick we could see more accidents. lots of green on the bay area, drive time, traffic maps. and that earlier crash in hayward completely cleared, so no delays heading towards the san mateo bridge or coming off the san mateo bridge. the drive time even westbound 580 tracy to dublin, which is usually what we see. slowing down first thing in the morning, is green at 26 minutes. amanda. gloria. >> all right. thank you so much, francis. now to the developments in the deadly mid-air collision near reagan national airport. today. crews plan to begin removing the wreckage of both the american airlines plane and army helicopter that crashed into the potomac river on wednesday night. >> and as you can imagine, it's an incredibly delicate operation in freezing cold water. this is a live look now at the area. officials say they have called off diving efforts to recover the bodies of victims still trapped inside the fuselage of the plane because of those conditions, and they will wait until the wreckage is brought to the surface to complete the grim task. at least 14 people are still not accounted for this

morning, and as we told you yesterday, it is believed everyone on the plane and helicopter died a total of 67 people. we will have more on the victims in just a few minutes. >> and we could soon have more clues about what happened. ntsb investigators have retrieved black boxes from the plane. they are now analyzing them. the runway where the plane was supposed to land will now be closed until at least next friday. that's according to the faa. reporter kimberly richardson from our sister station, wabc, is at reagan international airport with more on the investigation. good morning. kimberly. >> good morning gloria. we will soon see movement out here on the potomac river, which is just beyond this runway where right now planes are still taking off and landing. we do expect a crane to be brought in to help with these recovery operations. but once again, conditions are not ideal. it's been raining on and off all morning, and the wind has picked up. this morning, divers will begin the

grim task of recovering the wreckage from american airlines flight 5342 and the army blackhawk helicopter that collided in the skies above the potomac river. >> crash, crash, crash. this is a layer three crash, crash, crash. this is layer three. >> overnight, the ntsb released pictures of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. the plane's so-called black boxes. >> we'll be able to put it in space and time. exactly what headings were they on? what airspeeds were they? fine. and a lot of other information that may help us understand the accident. >> early indications are the helicopter appeared to be flying at about 350ft, when it should have been cruising under 200ft. a source with direct knowledge tells abc news. the air traffic controller on duty was performing the job of two employees. this is usually done when there's less air traffic. but on wednesday night, that changed from two controllers to one was made 40 minutes earlier

than usual because of lighter traffic. and another thing this investigation, of course, has many layers. but one thing that authorities will be looking at, that american airlines flight was switched at the last minute to runway three three, just as that helicopter was traveling around and down a corridor that is designated here at reagan for military operations. of course, that was a training exercise. authorities will look into what what role that decision had played in all of this. for now, we're live in arlington, virginia. amanda, back to you in the studio. >> all right, kimberly, thank you so much. 67 lives lost, and we're just starting to learn their stories. among them a newly engaged pilot, a father to a one year old and more than a dozen people returning from a national figure skating camp. abc seven news reporter lena howland joins us live in studio with reaction from bay area olympians. lena. >> amanda. the loss is shaking the tight knit figure skating

community. we now know 14 of the 67 victims were heading home after a national figure skating development camp in kansas. among the victims, teenagers skating out of a historic club in boston. their parents and coaches, the bay area's own olympian, brian boitano, is now mourning the loss of two of his friends, the coaches on board this fateful american airlines flight wednesday night. he says they were the 1994 world champions, the gold medalist, remembering his friends fondly. >> i woke up to, you know, being told that my two friends, zhenya and vadim, were on the plane. we are a very tight knit community. we're all connected. so when something happens to one person, it reverberates through the whole community of skaters. >> other victims include this newly engaged pilot who was inspired to fly by his father, a flight attendant who loved his job and was a father and

stepfather, and also a 12 year old girl who beat cancer and went on to achieve one of her life goals by skating at the highest levels. her mother was also killed, leaving behind her husband and their six year old son. other athletes we've heard from say they are planning to honor the lives lost at the world figure skating championships in boston. that's coming up near the end of march. live in studio lena howland, abc seven news. >> just remarkably tragic. thank you. lena. as we learn more about the crash and the people involved, we'll post updates to our website, abc seven news.com and the abc seven bay area app. happening today, president trump is expected to wrap up his second week in office by signing more executive orders. those orders come as abc news learned overnight his administration is forcing multiple senior fbi officials to resign or be fired as he continues to purge federal employees. >> tonight, the president heads to florida, where he plans to spend the weekend at his mar a

lago estate. and he'll be there tomorrow when 25% tariffs are set to begin on many goods from canada and mexico. speaking from the oval office yesterday, trump said he had three reasons for those tariffs. >> so will be announcing the tariffs on canada and mexico for a number of reasons. number one is the people that have poured into our country so horribly and so much. number two are the drugs fentanyl and everything else that have come into the country. and number three are the massive subsidies that we're giving to canada and to mexico in the form of deficits. >> now there is a question about whether oil would face tariffs that would have driven up gas prices as much as $0.70 per gallon. trump says he does not want tariffs on oil, but we can all expect to pay more for many other items, ranging from food to cars. and u.s. officials are prepping for president trump to sign an order forcing the u.s. naval base at guantanamo bay to house undocumented migrants. trump has not set any plans and

has not shared details on how the base would house the expected 30,000 extra beds. on wednesday, the president announced the order, saying it's a necessary next step. >> because we don't want them coming back, so we're going to send them out to guantanamo. this will double our capacity immediately, right? and tough. that's a tough that's a tough place to get out of. today's signings bring us one step closer to eradicating the scourge of migrant crime in our communities, once and for all. >> a u.s. official shared that currently, guantanamo bay is not prepared to house that number of migrants. cuba's president criticized the order posting on social media, quote, in an act of brutality, the new u.s. government announces the imprisonment at the guantanamo naval base, located in illegally occupied territory cuba, of thousands of migrants that it forcibly expels and will place them next to the well known prisons of torture and illegal detention. >> google employees who aren't, quote, deeply committed are

reportedly being offered voluntary buyouts. the mountain view company confirmed the plans to the chronicle, though they didn't say how many people they expect to leave. employees who leave will receive a severance package. the offer is part of google's effort to streamline its hardware and software teams in the u.s. it does not impact its ai division or international employees. >> 610. live doppler seven. along with satellite, we are tracking rain arriving in northern california this morning. rain is spreading north to south across the region right now, so everybody will get in on the rain by about 8 a.m. this morning. this is a level one light storm. an even stronger system waiting in the wings has a lot more moisture to work with. it's tapping into some of that tropical moisture near hawaii, and that will bring us some heavier rain first thing tomorrow morning as we track that light rain moving in. it is chilly out there with temperatures. everybody is in the 40s at this hour, so it's a level one today, and you can see those rainfall chances ramp up

over the next couple of hours. and then it's on and off light showers throughout the entire day. so find the umbrella, your rain jacket. you'll need it all day today. but tomorrow we get that fresh injection of tropical moisture, and that will lead us to a moderate strength. atmospheric river becomes a level two here on saturday, where we'll see some downpours, some gusty winds and a risk of flooding. so today, rainfall amounts for most of us less than a half of an inch. but watch those numbers really increase here on saturday. and that is when we have the chance of nuisance flooding on our area roadways. that's the biggest concern we have tomorrow morning. a lot of standing water out there. some gusty winds could also bring some trees down. on saturday. we'll go hour by hour and future weather. plan out your entire weekend and show you more storms even into next week. amanda will have that in a few minutes. >> all right. what a change, drew. thank you. coming up, saving seawolves athletics. hundreds of sonoma state students and staff protesting the university's recent budget cuts and honoring rickey henderson. the big tribute event tomorrow to celebrate the life of the hall of famer and a

special shout out stevie nicks taking the stage at a benefit for la fire victims. her thanks dave's been very excited about saving big with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. five years? -five years. and he's not alone. -high five.

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developed using cells from aborted fetuses, which scientists say is not true. they lost their original case, but an appeals court judge agreed with them, saying the vaccine mandate imposed a, quote, crisis of conscience for people of faith. more service cuts are on the way for muni. the agency is facing growing budget woes and a deficit of around $50 million. muni says the cuts would reduce service on four bus lines starting this weekend. but that's not enough. it plans to slash service by an additional 4% this summer. one solution would be to suspend some routes. another would be to keep all lines but reduce how often busses run. or there's a combination of suspended routes and reducing service frequency. the issue will go before the board of supervisors on tuesday. this is a story we've been following since last week. deep budget cuts proposed at sonoma state university. and yesterday, hundreds of students and faculty

members came together to protest those cuts. the group packed seawolf plaza for a rally ahead of the interim president's town hall meeting. addressing the situation. last week, officials announced they were cutting the entire athletics program and several academic departments and majors, and will be laying off dozens of faculty members. >> we're losing four full tenured professors who have between us almost 100 years of experience. >> this is an extraordinarily difficult and painful moment for sonoma state. and we share your pain. but as painful as these actions are, they are indeed necessary. >> the interim president says sonoma state is facing decreased enrollment, and governor newsom has ordered all csu campuses to reduce their budgets. sonoma state is facing a nearly $24 million budget deficit. california insurance companies have paid more than $4 billion in claims to the survivors of the l.a. wildfires, and that's according to new data from the

california department of insurance. the money includes the cost of evacuation expenses and advance payments for lost personal belongings. it does not include the additional billions insurers are expected to pay once debris removal and rebuilding begin. so far, wildfire survivors have submitted more than 31,000 insurance claims. a message of hope raising funds to rebuild the fire aid benefit concert at the kia forum in inglewood has already raised $60 million. bay area based green day opened the show with their song last night on earth. >> sending all my love to you. >> both the intuit dome and the kia forum hosted the performances. it was a fully packed night of stars including pink, billie eilish, lady gaga, red hot chili peppers, no doubt and stevie wonder. performers thanked the efforts of the more than 7000 firefighters who were

working on the fires. bay area native stevie nicks had a special shout out to a bay area team that saved her house. >> the reason it got saved is because it was a team from santa rosa. the santa rosa firefighters that saved her and they never gave up. i have to tell you. not just on my house, but on the whole side of the whole mountain canyon that was coming up towards us. and so i'd like to dedicate this next song to all of those firefighters, because until you really see it happen, you can't believe it. you just simply cannot believe the bravery of these men. captain dean especially. so i'd like to dedicate this song to them. it's called landslide. >> captain dean especially. that's awesome. the concert, as we mentioned, raised more than $60 million in ticket sales and sponsorships. >> i love that story. well, we

are just two days away from this year's grammy awards. the madame tussauds london just unveiled a new red carpet inspired figure of lady gaga. so check out what it looks like. the wax figure is inspired by one of gaga's grammy looks. it's wearing a replica of the glam black and white gown that she wore to the 2022 ceremony. we all remember that dress, right. visitors could see it starting on monday as part of their awards party zone, and the area also features figures of timothée chalamet, harry styles, just so many great, great wax figures there. what do you guys think about this one? yeah, that looks great. yeah. >> there are some of them that. >> they can go sideways sometimes. yes. sideways, yes. but they did a good job. that's pretty good. >> i know some of them are quite controversial when they don't look anything like this celebrity. >> they did. well. yeah. good for them. this morning it's all about the rain arriving. and we're starting to see some drops on our bay bridge toll plaza camera lens. so the rain is now arriving across parts of san francisco, moving through the bay bridge right now. so just

anticipate it's going to get wetter over the next couple of hours. it's a light level one storm today. your biggest impact? slick roadways, slower travel times. it's tomorrow morning. we have heavy rain to deal with, gusty winds as well. and then the extended outlook. you probably looked at your weather app and have seen the next 7 to 10 days. we have more storms on the horizon. so here's live doppler seven. you can see the rain has pretty much overtaken most of the north bay. those showers are imminent. across the city. we have some light drizzle across the bay bridge at this hour, where we have some of those downpours falling around hidden valley lake, cloverdale, ukiah. now we have rain falling in santa rosa, and all of this is spreading to the south over the next couple of hours. so take a look at future weather. by 11 a.m. we have that light rain falling and it's on and off the entire day. so find the umbrella, the rain jacket. you will need it. even tonight. we'll have rain falling on our friday now tomorrow morning, here comes that moderate strength atmospheric river. and tomorrow morning is when we have the concern for some flooding, because our ground will be saturated from today's rain. and with more rain falling tomorrow, we could

certainly have some issues on our roadways, especially in poor drainage areas and certainly on our smaller streams and our smaller creeks. so looking at rainfall today, anywhere from about a quarter to a half of an inch, which is okay, we can handle that. it just gets kind of dicey on the roads. you know, when rain falls, travel gets kind of tricky out there. but tomorrow with that atmospheric river, those numbers really ramp up and most of us will see more than an inch of rain falling just on saturday alone. winds will be an issue tomorrow as well, so we could have some isolated trees come down first thing tomorrow morning. just be aware of that. a winter weather advisory is now in effect for the sierra. most of the snow is falling late tonight through the day tomorrow, where our highest peaks could pick up two feet of snow. even heavier snow coming next week. so here's the accuweather seven day forecast. rain is here today. tomorrow morning. just be aware we will likely see some areas of flooding. and then we're tracking another atmospheric river arriving here on tuesday of next week guys. >> all right. and we're picking up some brake lights heading towards the metering lights at the bay bridge toll plaza. although you can't see it here

from this live camera shot because it still shows you traffic is flowing well. so brake lights from the tolls to the metering lights, and then as you make your way across the upper deck of the bay bridge, it is a bit crowded into san francisco. also on the lower deck of the bay bridge, someone was reported to be flashing a laser green light into some drivers, causing them to swerve. luckily, no accidents reported on the lower deck and so far accident free on bay area freeways. amanda. gloria. >> all right. >> francis. thank you. now let's turn to ginger zee. she is live with a look at what's coming up on gma. >> good morning ginger. >> here we go guys. >> hey, amanda. >> gloria. great to be with you. so we are all over the shift in your pattern. you've got that. you know, atmospheric river and the several storms that will be coming through. so i'll cover that. but also gma is going to start with the investigation into the deadly mid-air plane crash. the ntsb is now examining the black boxes from the american airlines plane. and we're learning more about the victims, including the members of the figure skating community that were lost in the tragedy. we're going to talk to a member of the ntsb as well. and then

basketball great dwyane wade has revealed he's lost much of his kidney to cancer. so what pushed him to finally get checked out? and with egg prices on the rise, we are on the hunt for the biggest savings where you can find the best deals. becky worley is going to bring you that. also, we're counting down to the super bowl at the chef. behind the menu that is served at the superdome is going to break the news to us and tell us how you can make the same dishes for your big party. and then we'll meet some philadelphia second graders whose math lessons are based on the eagles. i love when the teachers get all creative like this. so you'll see all of it coming up on gma. >> that's totally reminding me of the abbott elementary episode where the philadelphia eagles popped in for career day. so what a dream come true for them because we're niners fans. >> over here. thank you so much for them. years of hard work. decades of dedication. committed to giving back.

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i tried to quit smoking cigarettes probably hundreds of times over the years. two or three days into quitting again. i go get into a vehicle and guess what? there's a pack of cigarettes in there. i mean, i've got the unlit cigarette in my hand

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transgender youth. the event today at san francisco city hall

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now at 630, mourning the victims of the mid-air collision. dozens of people are dead after that

crash. celebrated figure skaters among those killed. we're hearing from the skating community as investigators are resuming the process of recovering the victims from the frigid waters of the potomac. the clues being uncovered about final moments before that crash and control tower operators at the san carlos airport. what we're learning about that position and the rain is back across the bay area today. a flood watch has been issued as an atmospheric river is on its way tomorrow. drew is tracking everything you need to know. good morning everyone. it is friday, january 31st. let's get started with that forecast because we're talking about that rain now. atmospheric river. >> yeah. tomorrow. that's when it gets really heavy. you can see in the corner of your screen live doppler seven is tracking that rain. here's the bigger view of it. there you can see the north bay has seen steady rain over the last hour or two. rain is now going to spread across the city over the next ten minutes. we're starting to get wet in san francisco, and this entire line, this front, is

moving to the south and east. so over the next 1 to 2 hours, this rain becomes area wide. and once it's in your neighborhood, it's on and off all day today. so we're at a level one today for light rain returning. a few isolated downpours. your biggest impact travel gets a little trickier when it rains. so we have some slick roadways out there and some slower travel times. here's future weather. that rain becomes area wide over the next couple of hours, and then it's just light rain through all of your friday. so find the umbrella, the rain jacket. it is certainly going to be very useful today. so highs were limited to about the mid 50s. that's about it. as this rain moves onshore. tomorrow though, even heavier showers will arrive. so a flood watch is in effect for everybody, with the highest risk of flooding coming tomorrow morning. we'll take a closer look at that risk coming up in eight minutes. let's check in with frances and see those drive times. >> all right. we have a couple accidents out there to just reported one in the south bay. this is on northbound 101 on the old bayshore off ramp. and here's a live shot near the scene of the intersection. there

of headlights moving northbound on 101. that's 880 right across your screen. so it's not causing delays on 101 at this point. and as we show you the drive time, traffic maps, we'll zoom in to a new hit and run reported in oakland, southbound 880 at high street. you can see there are brake lights there. traffic is slow from 23rd approaching the scene. it could be blocking the right lane. amanda. gloria. >> all right. frances, thank you. and this morning, officials say they are preparing to resume recovery efforts in the potomac river after that deadly collision that caused a nearly full american airlines plane and army helicopter to plummet into the water wednesday night. >> and we have a live look at the river where both aircraft are still submerged in frigid waters between reagan national airport and washington, d.c, the runway where the plane was supposed to land will stay closed until at least next friday. the ntsb says the preliminary investigation will take about 30 days, and a final report will take at least a year. the agency has recovered the cockpit voice recorder, also

flight data recorder from the american airlines jet. the ntsb has started the process of extracting the data. overnight dive teams suspended operations on the potomac river. in the last 15 minutes, officials announced they have recovered more than 40 bodies, but that leaves nearly two dozen unaccounted for in that wreckage. and it will be a long road to finding answers. crews will be working in the rain today at the site of the collision. >> abc news reporter nicole d'antonio has the latest from reagan national airport. >> this morning, the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, known as the black boxes, have been recovered from the american airlines plane that collided with a black hawk helicopter over the potomac river. >> we'll be able to put it in space and time. exactly what headings were they on? what airspeeds were they find? what was their attitude, and a lot of other information that may help us understand the accident. >> the army helicopter on a training flight crashed into the passenger jet as the plane was landing at reagan airport. all 64 people on board the plane and

three soldiers on the chopper are presumed dead. dive teams have stopped operations after saying they've recovered all the bodies they're able to without moving the plane's fuselage. today, they begin the work of trying to salvage aircraft components. >> we look at facts on our investigation, and that will take some time. >> in the final moments of the flight. air traffic control asked the pilots of the plane to land on a different runway. radio traffic does not reveal whether the plane's pilot saw the helicopter, but a helicopter pilot can be heard acknowledging the plane, and the flight path shows the chopper flying at about 350ft, when it should have been flying at under 200ft. one expert says early indications show a tragic sequence of events, suggesting the helicopter pilots were looking at the wrong plane. it's unclear how many air traffic controllers were working at the time of the crash, but an faa report says staffing in the tower was not normal. sources say the controller handling helicopters in the area during the collision was also handling airline

traffic. those jobs are typically assigned to two separate controllers, but supervisors routinely combine them when aircraft volume goes down. on the night of the crash, the decision to combine those jobs was made 40 minutes earlier than usual because of lighter traffic. safety concerns have been increasing in the airspace around reagan airport. the airport was designed to accommodate 15 million passengers each year, but now sees more than 25 million a year. nicole d'antonio, abc news in arlington, virginia. >> and we are learning more about the people killed in the crash. abc seven news reporter lena howland is live in studio. and lena, has this been heartbreaking to hear their stories? >> yeah, it absolutely has. gloria, we have learned among the victims a newly engaged pilot, a father to a one year old, an ohio college student coming from her grandfather's funeral, and more than a dozen people heading home from a national figure skating camp. images of these young figure skaters doing what they love are now heartbreaking to look at.

after officials confirmed that there were no survivors in the midair crash in dc wednesday night. polina edmunds is a retired figure skater who represented the u.s. in the 2014 winter olympics, getting her start in san jose. she was just in wichita for the u.s. championships last week, crossing paths with skaters who were on that plane. right now, she and so many others are still just trying to process what happened. >> i think everyone in the community is just so shocked right now and devastated. and so many people know either the people on the plane or know of the people on the plane. >> outside of the figure skating community, other victims include three army veterans that were on the blackhawk helicopter involved in the crash. the soldiers, none of whom were senior leaders, were conducting a training mission, officials said yesterday. all three were very experienced and not only had thousands of hours of flight time between them, but were very

familiar with the flight patterns above the potomac river. live in studio lena howland, abc seven news. >> lena, thank you. and we continue to monitor every development about this deadly midair collision in washington, dc. find the latest on abc seven news.com and our abc seven bay area app. >> negotiations are underway to make sure a small airport on the peninsula does not lose its air traffic controllers. this weekend, workers at the san carlos airport were set to walk off the job tomorrow after a contract dispute over pay with the private company that employs them. not having air traffic controllers at the airport alarmed many, especially after this week's collision near washington, d.c. the airport is close to sfo, and san mateo county leaders worry about having a dark tower so close to a busy airport. officials say they are now very close to a new deal, and people do not need to worry. >> we're confident that come saturday, either the present controllers will still be

working, or some new controllers will be standing by to take over and run the control tower. >> an aviation consultant says it is still considered safe to fly in an uncontrolled airfield. but having the extra layer of protection, of course, is better for everyone. >> and now it's time for our abc seven mornings advance. it's our way of highlighting some things happening in the day ahead, right here in the bay area. >> first, state senator scott wiener is speaking out against president trump's executive actions involving lgbtq rights. the lawmaker will be joined by transgender youth and their parents for a rally at san francisco city hall. they are protesting an order that seeks to ban gender affirming care for transgender youth. california is a sanctuary state for kids who come here to receive such care. protecting patients, parents and doctors from related prosecution. but trump's order could put that to the test. >> today, people experiencing homelessness will have access to important medical services in san jose. the 14th annual health fair for the unhoused is happening at city hall. people

can receive free medical, dental, vision and hiv screenings, substance abuse treatment as well. haircuts. mobile showers will be available. it runs from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. >> the second snow survey of the season is happening today in the sierra. it's a measure of how much water is in the sierra snowpack, so we can predict how much will melt and run off to state reservoirs in the summer. the first snow survey, done a few weeks ago, found the snowpack was around average for this time of year. >> still ahead making streets safer san francisco leaders and residents outlining a plan for upgrades in a busy part of the city. >> and you are looking live at the big board at the new york stock exchange. you can see we're up about 117 points. another update on how the markets are doing next. >> an increase in pay, how much costco is offering many of its employees. but first let's go to drew. we're talking about the rain today. >> yeah it's going to get busy later on this morning. live doppler seven along with satellite. we are tracking rain back in the forecast for the first time in nearly four weeks. so the showers are falling in

the north bay right now. and they're spreading to the south and east over the next 90 minutes. the storm number one, storm number two is waiting in the wings. has a lot more moisture to work with coming our way tomorrow morning. in fact, look at the moisture in the atmosphere. and saturday morning, that moisture is tapping into the tropics all the way back to hawaii. so this atmospheric river tomorrow has a lot more moisture to work with. and that's why we have a flood watch in effect through the weekend. temperatures right now as the rain begins to fall. we're in the 40s, so it is chilly out there, but once the rain arrives in your neighborhood over the next 1 to 2 hours, it's with us all day today. so you need the umbrella. it's going to be necessary if you're out and about today. even the rain jacket. all day tomorrow, though, this system becomes a level two, a moderate storm as we track that atmospheric river. and tomorrow morning is when we have the highest risk of seeing flooding. so rainfall today for a lot of us, less than half of an inch. but those numbers really increase here on saturday. and many of us could see more than an inch of rain just tomorrow morning alone. so the storm

concerns for tomorrow morning roadway flooding is high. we could likely see a lot of standing water, and some gusty winds could bring some trees down. we're going to go hour by hour on future weather. plan out your entire weekend and show you a pretty wet week next week on the seven-d

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and in trump's nominees for key cabinet positions. kash patel, who is up for fbi director, disagreed with the president over pardoning some of the january 6th defendants. >> and i do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement. >> on day one. >> otherwise, patel has been a strong trump ally, saying that it's his mission to get rid of the so-called deep state. tulsi gabbard, who is nominated for director of national intelligence, had a fiery hearing. she was questioned over supporting edward snowden. >> do you believe he is brave or not? yeah. back those those words. >> once again, senator. edward snowden broke the law. he also released. >> information that edward snowden that exposed. >> the united states government's illegal program. >> and your words are still your beliefs. yes or no, please. >> trump's pick for head of

health and human services director, rfk jr. went through his second day of hearings. he again faced questioning over his stance against vaccines. >> as president trump focuses on his plans to deport undocumented migrants. abc seven news reached out to an east bay leader who found herself in the spotlight during the last trump administration seven years ago. former oakland mayor libby schaaf warned of incoming federal immigration raids shortly after president trump accused schaaf of thwarting federal immigration laws and demanded she be prosecuted. while she never faced charges, the federal government punished oakland. schaaf was even sent death threats. >> i hope the fact that i stood up and survived shows that others can do that too. as long as we stick with the rule of law, the truth, and our values, we should get through this together. >> schaaf says she does not believe other mayors will have similar experiences. you can see

more of our exclusive interview with schaaf right now on our website, abc7 news.com. >> the route from moscone center to union square is getting an upgrade, according to san francisco officials and residents. the yerba buena partnership has chosen the landscape architecture firm bionic to start working on concepts for the new route. the pedestrian path runs along fourth street from howard street to market street, then along stockton street to geary street. the goal of the upgrade is to make the path feel more inviting and more safe. >> a san francisco police officer is being honored for helping to identify the suspect in the shooting death of unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson. sergeant michael horan is the december's officer of the month. he's in the middle of the photo that you just saw. horan connected luigi mangione to the case after seeing surveillance photos released during the manhunt for the suspect. horan believed the man in the photos resembled mangione, who he was investigating as a missing person. the department informed

the fbi days before the 26 year old was arrested. >> and now for your morning money report. the doj is now suing to block a $14 billion deal to merge two silicon valley based companies. hewlett packard enterprise and juniper networks are the second and third largest players in the corporate wireless networking market. the doj suit claims a merger would reduce competition because the combined company would control 70% of the market. both companies claim the merger would increase market competitiveness. costco is increasing its hourly pay to $30 an hour for many of its u.s. store workers for the next three years. the retailer plans to increase the pay for its top of the scale employees by $1. the pay hike comes after contract negotiations with the costco teamsters union. bottom of scale employees will also receive increases, capping out at $20. and let's take a live look at the new york stock exchange as trading gets underway this morning. and you can see we are up 61 points.

nearly 30 years after romy and michele's high school reunion came out. a sequel is finally in the works. >> can look and you will find me time after time. >> mira sorvino, who played romy in the 1997 film, confirmed the sequel. lisa kudrow will be back as michelle. no other cast members have been announced, but two years ago, alan cummings said he would be totally game to reprise his role as sandy frank. according to the hollywood reporter, filming is expected to start in june, with the l.a. area locations being considered. >> how fun! i remember when this was just the big deal. it's such a fun. >> this is my husband's favorite movie. i sent him this news yesterday. he was so thrilled because it's always been kind of rumored. but now that she posted it on instagram mirror, it's like, oh, this is happening. >> oh my. >> goodness, i love this movie. >> iconic. absolutely. i was like, oh my goodness. maybe that is how you make post-it. note

adhesive. >> you got a thermoset your resin. no. >> ordinarily the way that you make glue. >> totally. no, it's a great movie. all right. this morning we are tracking rain. that will continue into the weekend. here's a live look outside from our exploratorium camera, now beginning to rain in the city. we're starting to see our first drops move across san francisco, and this rain continues to spread south over the next couple of hours. so rain is back. it's light today. your biggest impact is going to be slick roadways. so take it easy out there on our freeways. you know, just a little bit of rain can cause a lot of mess on saturday morning. we're tracking heavier rain, stronger winds as a moderate strength atmospheric river moves in here. and if you've looked at your weather app the next 7 to 10 days, you can see it is pretty rainy with more storms on the horizon. so here we go. live doppler seven is busy tracking all that rain. we have some scattered downpours in the north bay. we'll press on into the center of the bay where rain has now overtaken the city. it's about to move into oakland. over the next ten minutes. we have that rain now arriving across northern portions of the peninsula, and this is the

theme. it's just going to spread across the entire region over the next 1 to 2 hours. so future weather shows you that light rain is pretty much everywhere. later on this morning, and once it arrives in your neighborhood, it's with you on and off the entire day, even into tonight. so if you have friday night plans, anticipate it being wet out there, even wetter here saturday morning. this is the time frame between about 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. tomorrow, that we could have some issues when it comes to flooding, because our ground will be saturated from today's rain. and then tomorrow we have some heavier showers moving in here. the center of the low will be very close to us, and that is going to bring us some strong winds. first thing tomorrow morning. the showers continue even into the afternoon and even into sunday. we're still in and out of the showers, but again, the heaviest rain is going to fall first thing tomorrow morning. it's for that fact the entire region is underneath a flood watch, and the highest risk for flooding is tomorrow morning, where we could have some issues with a lot of standing water on our roadways and even some issues on our minor streams and creeks. winds become gusty. tomorrow afternoon. there's that corridor

of some stronger winds 30 to 40mph, so the saturated ground could make it just a little bit easier for some of our trees to come down. we have a winter weather advisory now in effect for the sierra. heaviest snow will fall later on this evening into tomorrow. so if you can get to tahoe probably before 2 or 3 today, you'll be good to go. conditions then go rapidly downhill tonight and into tomorrow. up to two feet, likely on our highest peaks. accuweather seven day rain is back here this morning. tomorro. that atmospheric river is going to soak us in the morning with some gusty winds as well. on and off. showers sunday and monday. and then another atmospheric river is set to arrive here on tuesday. gloria. >> all right, drew, thank you so much. new developments in the contest to design a new billboard for ann fong, the personal injury attorney and san jose native has increased the prize money for the designer, whose work would be featured on one of her billboards. now, earlier this week, she announced that the winner would get $500, but soon after it was posted on social media, several people commented saying that amount was

way too low for a multi-millionaire lawyer to pay out, and now she's offering $5,000 to the winner. submissions are due february 10th. $5,000 a little bit more of an incentive for a lot of people. >> i think. so now in the south bay, a new housing. >> project that could be both affordable and easily accessible to public transit is coming to san jose. the vta made the announcement yesterday morning. 45 homes will be built at the light rail station. about a quarter of them are designated for extremely low income residents, who earn 30% or less of the county's median income. and unlike other affordable housing projects, these homes are for sale, not to rent. >> i really see this branum station project as a game changer for so many families, and it's really what we need more of affordable transit, connected homeownership for working families. >> officials say this is the fifth housing project launched on vta property in the past year

and a half. the previous projects focused on rental units. >> music's biggest night is on sunday, and it's expected to be packed with powerhouse performances. this year's grammy performers include billie eilish, sabrina carpenter, shakira and teddy swims. taylor swift, who is up for six awards, will not perform but will be a presenter. beyonce leads the grammy nods with 11, bringing her career total to a record breaking 99 nominations. this year's grammy awards will also serve as a fundraiser to support wildfire relief efforts, and award season does not end there. the oscars are in about a month. that's on march 2nd. comedian and former late night tv host conan o'brien will lead the event. you can watch live right here on abc seven. and for the first time ever, it will be live streaming on hulu, so that'll be pretty cool. >> yeah. tickets go on sale today for katy perry's tour, her first in the last seven years. >> california. undeniable. fine. fresh. fierce. we got it

unlocked. >> we told you about this earlier this week. it's called the lifetimes tour. it kicks off in mexico city in april. then the following month, the tour will make an extensive run in the u.s, starting in houston. perry will make a stop here in san francisco at chase center on friday, july 18th. tickets go on sale at ten this morning. >> i'm sure a lot of excitement for that. >> yeah. and up next, the seven things you need to know. >> today and a reminder you can watch all our newscasts live and on demand through the abc seven bay area connected tv app. it is available for apple tv, google tv, amazon fire tv, and roku. so download the app now and start streaming. >> and as we head to break here at 655, we'll leave you with a live look outside. exactly! and unsweetened has 0 grams of sugar. and it's an excellent source of calcium. wow! planet oat really has it all! ♪

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need to know this morning. number one, live doppler seven is showing you rain spreading across the region this morning. this is a level one storm with some isolated downpours. the

biggest impact is going to be slick roadways and some slower travel. once the rain arrives in your neighborhood, you can see it is with us all day long, on and off. showers through tonight. you have friday night plans. you'll need the umbrella now. a flood watch is in effect for the entire area through the weekend, because tomorrow morning we will see a moderate strength atmospheric river move onshore and that is going to soak us. so on saturday, this becomes a level two moderate storm for downpours. gusty winds. tomorrow morning we have the risk of some flooding on our area, roadways and on our smaller streams and creeks. >> number two this morning, divers will begin recovering the wreckage from the american airlines jet and army helicopter that crashed in the skies near reagan national airport wednesday night. the black boxes have been recovered and now appears the helicopter may have been flying higher than it should have been before the crash. >> number three family and friends are mourning each of the 67 people killed in the crash, among them a mother of two. a woman who caught an early flight home for her birthday, and at

least 14 people returning from a figure skating event. if you want to know more about each of them, we have put together details at abc seven news.com. >> number four, the white house says president trump plans to move forward with 25% tariffs on goods from mexico and canada starting tomorrow. the two are america's biggest trading partners, and the move could cause prices on many things to go up. >> number five, sfmta is cutting service for four bus lines starting tomorrow as the agency faces a financial crisis. the agency says that more cuts could be coming this summer. >> and number six, we're seeing a lot of backup growing right now. northbound 87 approaching taylor. there's a four car crash in the middle lanes, and the backup starts at julian street. >> number seven, last night's fire aid concert raised more than $60 million for southern california wildfire victims. there was a special moment. we cannot stop talking about this morning. stevie nicks gave a shout out to a crew from santa rosa fire. they saved her home,

and she even dedicated a song to captain dean. >> it's incredible. i mean, we're very familiar with all of our fire departments. i mean, we've seen this firsthand the last ten years. what fires can do to a community. so you really need all the help you can get right after this. and it's so good to see that so many people came out for this. they raised so much money. >> amazing. >> really incredible. and shout out to santa rosa. >> i know captain dean, captain. >> dean. >> shout out to you. yes. >> that's incredible. yeah. rainy today set to get wet through the weekend guys. >> all right. we'll see you monday or join us for abc seven at seven. >> yeah. we'll be streaming. >> michael: good morning america for our viewers in the west. the search for answers in the deadly midair collision. an american hostage set to be released. and the concert for southern california. urgent investigation. the ntsb recovering the black boxes from the american airlin