we can't get the risk to zero. this additional layer should add a measure of security and assurance to the american public. >> this is the next line of defense against the spread of ebola in the united states. customs agents at jfk screening passengers from west africa starting today. welcome back, everybody. >> thank you for joining us. today jfk's airport in new york became the very first in the united states to screen passengers coming from nations that are affected by the ebola outbreak. next thursday, screening will

start at four other international airports. now at one of new york's busiest airports, we see how workers are preparing for the changes. >> reporter: training for new stepped up screening. 43% of travellers from guinea, sierra leone, and liberia enter the united states through this airport. >> i have children. >> reporter: so starting today representatives from the centers of disease control are on hand. passengers will be questioned about whether they've been to the affected countries, had contact with an infected person, and have their temperatures taken. >> for air passengers --

>> reporter: fears of ebola have been growing since traveller thomas eric duncan died this week in a dallas hospital. health officials investigated and found no evidence of infection on the las vegas flight. stepped up screening will start at other major international hundreds. washington, dallas, o'hare, and newark next week. measures getting mixed reviews from travellers. >> screening is not a bad idea, but if someone is carrying the disease, it's not going to pick them up. >> even the head of the cdc says the only way to get zero risk in this country is to control ebola in africa. well, the deadly ebola

outbreak is spurring innovation. a group of scientists have created a unique way to use technology in the story you'll see only on nbc bay area, we see the high-tech fight. >> reporter: from the beaches of silicon valley -- >> each one of the mutations is respected by a little tick here. >> reporter: -- comes a new collaborative browsers. santa cruz is giving scientists all over the globe a way to flight ebola together. dr. jim kent is the director of the genome browser project. he walks us through ways experts can compare everything from biological statistics to outbreaks instantly. >> it is a way to collect all the scientific data in a place that's very easy and quick for other scientists to find it so

they can find out about each other's work. >> reporter: the site breaks down the ebola's dna virus sequence. it's kind of a scientific social network. >> it's amazing how much the scientists are working together, even labs that are normally competitive with each other are sharing data. it's good to see. >> reporter: the current ebola outbreak is being called the largest in history, but this time it's being fought with silicon valley technology online. scott budman, nbc bay area news. and there are concerns tonight that there may be a shortage of some flu vaccines. doctors offices are reporting they haven't received all of their injectable vaccine supplies. it is being blamed on a manufacturing delay. >> it makes us concerned as

doctors and pediatricians. we want to protect our patients. >> the cdc says supplies of the injectable vaccine should arrive by halloween. in the meantime, there are plenty of nasal flu mists available. doctors do say getting a flu vaccine is always better than not getting it at all. the battle continues to rage over kobani, a syrian town targeted by isis. the united states is also leading coordinated air strikes, but it's not enough. militants are closing in and the u.s. is faulting turkey for not involving its troops in that fight. secretary chuck hagel plans to ask turkey to increase its involvement. >> part of those discussions will include how far turkey is willing to go with commitments. certainly one of those questions will be would they be willing to provide training locations.

>> the united nations warned in kobani is captured, thousands may be massacred. boca haram militants have released more than two dozen hostages. they were flown back to the capital city where they were greeted at the airport. ten chinese workers and the wife of a government official were released. the president of cameroon played a prominent role in securing the hostage's release. >> i think we can say this is a resounding victory. >> but still the freed hostages do not include any of the 200 nigerian schoolgirls that were abducted back in april. there's been little word about where those girls are.

pro-democracy protesters in hong kong, 100,000 strong today and that number grew substantially after talks were called off. this time protesters are in it for the long hall. you can see them pitching tents, digging in for demonstrations. government leaders decided they would have the final say on which candidates would be on the ballot during hong kong's first democratic election. first, continued fire danger. you can see dry, dry, dry. there's a red flag warning this weekend as well because of the dry conditions and the wind. taking you out to the beach, though, big waves there have triggered also an advisory. if you're going to be going into the water, be alert. it might not be a good idea to turn your back on the ocean. we are more on this. i have some beach plans in my future and i'll be staying away

from those waves. >> just looking at that video you can see some of those waves double overing. that's about five to ten feet in that video you saw. tomorrow, tack on another five to that. some of those will be double overhead. even tomorrow, we could see some that actually get up to 25 feet. that's in the forecast. do keep in mind if you do go out to the beach, stay far enough away so when high tide comes in you're not swept away by some of these large waves. it's perfect beach weather. just make sure you're taking it easy out there. the other thing to show you, we have this area of high pressure that's keeping us so dry it's sitti inting right off the coas. those offshore winds, that's what's driving this red flag fire warning. above 1,000 feet expecting to

see the worse, the highest threat for that fire danger. if you're doing any camping or hiking tomorrow, burning outdoors is highly discouraging. we're going to talk more about this in the next report. the apple gate fire is 55% contained tonight after four days of intense fighting. firefighters gained the upper hand on the 459 acre blaze overnight. evacuations have been lifted in all areas. six homes and several buildings have been destroyed with thousands more still in danger. a former officer in the east bay now on the wrong side of the law. a judge sentenced gregory thompson to a year in jail for attacking a woman with a baseball bat back in august. the attack happened near a richmond home that used to be

owned by his relatives. her car ran out of gas and a man wearing a mask started hitting her. he thought the woman was going to vandalize the house. and an early morning quake rattled southern santa clara county. it shook an uncorporated area of san martin. it runs along western california. there were no reports of injuries or damage. coming up, this is the season for picking out pumpkins as you know, but still to come what may be behind a pumpkin shortage in one part of the country. it's like a ghost town in the middle of san francisco. we'll tell you what has to happen to save it. insurance companies are spending millions of dollars

trying to mislead you about the effects of proposition 46. well here's the truth: 46 will save lives. it will save money too. i'm bob pack, and i'm fighting for prop 46 because i lost my two children to preventable medical errors and i don't want anyone else to lose theirs. the three provisions in 46 will reduce medical errors and protect patients.

save money and save lives. yes on 46.

a san francisco neighborhood very rich in history needs a lot of support if it's going to have any kind of future at all. we go to pier 70, which remain trapped in time unless voters come to the rescue. ♪ >> it's got a real grittiness and a rawness to it. all built for shipbuilding, ship repair. >> reporter: the lonely rusting buildings of san francisco's southeastern waterfront, vestiges of the city's maritime past. >> during the war effort, there were over 18,000 people a day working. >> reporter: at pier 70, 90 acres of industrial purgatory. buildings built as early as the

1880s sit like a giant iron wall. >> today, it sits empty and there is no public access. >> reporter: the change has now set its sights on this forgotten neighborhood after decades of little use. several projects are ticking off to bring these buildings back to the living. on one 28 parcel, there's plans to restore buildings for housing, a new studio for art t artis artists, space for local manufacturing, and converting a parking lot into a water park. >> i think this area will become a gem along san francisco's waterfront. >> reporter: a gem, but with some rough edges. >> some of the rustiness and the metals that are used, the idea is to keep that feel and incorporate that. >> reporter: residents support the plan. >> i'm raising children in this

neighborhood and i would love nothing more for them to get in touch with the history in the area they're growing up. >> reporter: last november, following a backlash, voters passed by prop b. now all waterfront projects rising above 40 feet require voter approval. as a result the pier 70 project will appear on the november ballot. >> this is the first test of proposition b. >> reporter: his view of the pier 70 project -- >> there's no opposition. >> reporter: after fighting waterfront development, agnes is fighting for support. >> this is going to be the site for new dramatic waterfront parks in san francisco. >> reporter: if the plan passes, it will still require city

approval over the next couple years. nbc bay area news. and coming up next, the pledge thousands of californians are making in the face of the drought that could get them dirty looks on the road.

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mother nature providing quite a scare for some people in the southeast getting ready for halloween. a pumpkin shortage in tennessee. farmers say production is off 40% right now compared to the last couple of years. fewer pumpkins to choose from and more expensive. get your pumpkins early or deal

with slim pickings. drivers by the thousands are joining a growing movement doing their part to save water by driving dirty cars. i've been doing it for years. we're proud of this. >> reporter: in california, if a car is like a second home -- >> it's really bad. >> reporter: -- then she's living in squalor and doesn't mind. she's not alone. plenty of cars are caked in layers of crud. >> the car doesn't look fantastic, but i'm perfectly happy to have it dirty if it means saving water. >> reporter: drivers are now taking a pledge to not wash their cars for at least 60 days. since last week, more than 3,000 have signed up with many posting their pics on social media u.

but commercial car wash owners say they are drought conscious. >> the water is recycled. it is purified and reused again. >> reporter: we're looking to cut back water to a whopping 20%. the vibe is making water conservation a priority. >> we want to thank you for not washing your car. >> reporter: they're searching neighborhoods for the grimiest cars and rewarding the owners. >> when it gets dirty enough, i will write it is a drought, folks. >> reporter: call it california's newest trend. for heidi, a dirty car comes with a clean conscious. >> terry, you're above the

trend. you're ahead of the trend. you're going to get a free car wash quite possibly the next two days. >> how about this? two free car washes. i'm throwing in the big bucks. we're not looking at any rain, but we are talking about two chances of rain in that upcoming forecast for wednesday and friday. in fact, that orange october, what are those folks talking about? this is what it's all about right here. very indicative of what's happening right now. the giants are actually up. let's talk about your forecast for sunday. high pressure sitting off the coast and we have winds that have shifted around this today, and that's why we saw such a warm day. tomorrow eecven warmer. san francisco, the embarcadero,

79. selma up to 82. santa rosa 92. napa 93 degrees. east bay, temperatures all over the place. oakland at 85. fremont at 90. walnut creek at 94. the tri-valley is going to be one of our warmest. low 90s. it'll be very warm tomorrow, even for monday, but by tuesday, this system sitting off the coast, that's going to inundate this area of high pressure and squeeze out a little bit of moisture. tuesday night and wednesday morning, a few showers. here comes our next system. this one arrives friday night and sits around through most of saturday morning. hot and balmy for the next two days. monday and then by tuesday temperatures really start to come down. mid 70s and low 70s expected from the north bay. i want to show you in closing some of our computer models from

yesterday to today. you can see how we were only talking about a few hundredths of an inch. now we're talking up to an inch and maybe even more in the north bay. this is something we're going to be watching day by day. so tuesday night into wednesday, we'll get a little bit of an appetizer. by the end of this week friday, some impressive rainfall amounts lining up. good news all in all if we can make it through the next couple of days avoiding any fires. thank you so much. >> we'll be right back. no! i love you and your show. it's cable. customers are more satisfied with u-verse. switch and we can stay together forever. forever? ow. i'm not gonna lie to you. it's also the biting. break up with cable. choose u-verse tv from $19 a month for 2 years.

you talk about a high wire act. a daredevil will add an extra wrinkle. >> he's now been practicing that walk between two chicago skyscrapers more than 50 stories high. is there anything this guy hasn't done? >> it is done without a net.

you make it and it's great and if not, ooh. for part of it, he is going to skip the visual cues. >> there's something about adding that blind fold that takes it to another level. >> yes. i remember in june of last year he became the first person to every walk a tight rope over a part of the grand canyon. this one should be a breeze compared to that. >> not to strong a breeze. >> good point. coming up next, we're going to take a look at the weather one more time. we have some rain coming up. >> we do. two chances of rain this upcoming week. hot tomorrow. tuesday and friday, two chances of rain. really good news across the bay area. we can definitely use some of that rain. >> really our first dip in temperatures. >> big time. coming up next, more local news on nbc bay area. >> following the disturbing case

of burglars in the south bay. you won't believe what they did. attacked a family dog while they were inside the house. we'll have that coming up.

welcome back, everybody. >> two fundraisers in under 24 hours and the president was on his way. take a look at president obama boarding air force 1 at san francisco international just a little bit before noon today. this morning's fundraiser was a pricey one. we have this report.