a fire so ferocious crews on the front lines say they have never seen anything like it before. the blue cut fire is still tearing through san bernardino county as the situation grows more urgent by the minute. in rio, brazilian authorities pull two u.s. swimmers off of a plane heading back to the states as they try and verify their stories about an attack. a san mateo fitness store smashed by a car. equipment goes flying. the driver is now under arrest. "today in the bay" starts right now. good thursday morning. thank you for joining us. i'm sam brock. laura garcia-cannon is off this morning. so instead, it is just the fellas here.

>> party. >> dress alike, too. >> a lot of things going on right now. how to dress this morning when you get out the door here, anthony . >> similar to yesterday. morning clouds at the coastline and inland looking at clear skies. here's the thing to note as we go through the day. the smoke all around us from the fires burning will continue to impact the bay area. looking at the clouds right now in san francisco. 59 degrees. 61 in san jose. 60 in livermore and concord. as we get into the afternoon hours we will still see the typical heat for the inland valleys like fairfield, concord, back in the 90s. san jose today back up to 85 degrees. cool at the coastline and comfortable, 55 in san francisco. let's toss things over to mike, tracking the crash in the tri-valley already. >> very light traffic but, yes, already an incident in the tri-valley. light commute though. right around andrada road. reports of a crash. no major injuries. doesn't sound like lanes are blocked. chp should arrive shortly.

north of there, 880 coming in toward the dublin area. predictably smooth as well with company out of the altamont pass. now to a definite hazard on the road, new this morning, one person is locked up in jail after a car smashed into a building in san mateo. you see it just took out the glass there. this is the scene just after 3:00 at a precor home fitness store in el camino. that car smashed into a window sending ellipticals flying into the air. that's what the car looked like afterwards. police say the driver of that car suffered minor injuries and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. right now a developing story raging out of control. the size of the blue cut fire still burping in southern california, about 26,000 acres. unknown number of homes have burned. thousands more are in danger. we sent nbc bay area sheryl herd

to the front line of the fire. >> reporter: it is day three of the so-called blue cut fire. it has burned more than 25,000 acres. fire is ripping through steep, hilly terrain around flames are racing through the valley. the fire started on tuesday. officials closed dozens of miles of two major roadways. 82,000 people evacuated. no word on how many homes have been destroyed. 1500 firefighters are battling the fire from the ground. thousands of people are without power. hundreds of people are thankful their homes are still standing. we'll have an up date on this fire later on in the newscast. in san bernardino county i'm cheryl hurd, "today in the bay." >> she will continue to monitor the situation from southern california overnight. cheryl will bring us reports throughout the course of the morning. to northern california where the clayton fire in lower lake is 50% contained. as for the man accuse of setting

it day min pashilk was in court yesterday to be officially charged with arson. investigators say they have surveillance footage that puts pashilk near the clayton fire and several other fires. meantime, firefighters are helping clean up downtown lower lake and that brought the town's fire chief what happened to tears. >> sweeping, shovels, washing things down, and i couldn't believe it. i was so impressed. so impressed and thankful. >> what an effort to get folks back up on their feet there. emotional time for the community. that fire has destroyed 175 homes and businesses. at 4:34, an infant we've learned is in critical condition this morning born after the mother was involved in a crash on highway 101 in san jose. police say the driver of a honda civic with the pregnant woman as a passenger veered off the road and struck a parked bmw early

wednesday morning. the driver of that bmw and both people in the civic were taken to hospitals. the pregnant 18-year-old woman gave birth and then died. the driver of the honda civic in the meantime is recovering. the bmw driver was arrested for a dui even though the car was parked on the side of the highway. new this morning, as school starts to get back under way across the bay area one teacher in millbrae finds herself locked behind bars. "today in the bay's" pete suratos is live in millbrae to tell us about the police investigation involving, pete, a middle schoolteacher and an underaged girl. >> reporter: good morning, sam. this involves heather amanda, the teacher here at taylor middle in millbrae. she was arrested for having an inappropriate relationship with a minor. we have the most recent mug shot picture op butts and san bruno police say this dates back to monday when they got a call about the middle schoolteacher having an inappropriate relationship with this victim inside a parked car in san

bruno. after further investigation they found out that this was an ongoing relationship and an arrest warrant was issued and later arrested in her millbrae home yesterday on multiple charges including lewd acts with a you've juvenile. school starts a week from today. it is an on going investigation. if you have any investigation on this case, contact san bruno police. lanes are back over in sunnyvale after a pothole is causing major issues for drivers. the exposed area there that you see flattened some tires and shut down several lanes. national research group trip said road repairs are costing drivers thousands of dollars each year. there's proof. county leaders are pushing for a sales tax increase to fix these kinds of issues. we move now to rio where a possible scandal is emerging

with the u.s. swim team. jay gray is there with more on a developing story. >> reporter: after being pulled from their flight home by brazilian police they are expected to answer more questions from detectives later today. teammate jimmy feegen is cooperating with investigators who say their inconsistencies in the swimmers' stories about being robbed at gun point by men posing as police sunday morning in rio. police also hoped to talk to rhine lochte who said he was involved in the incident but he's already returned to the u.s. >> the first sweep in this event in olympic history. not games and no controversy when it comes to the women's 100 meter hurdle. team usa with its first ever sweep in the race taking gold, silver, and bronze. >> we came into it together as girls, as well/girl power. >> reporter: a powerful performance also helped the americans finish one/two in the long jump. track and field continues today along with semifinal games for

the heavily favored u.s. women in basketball and volleyball. jay gray, nbc news, rio. still to come, should felons serving time in california jails be allowed to vote in is that is the question governor brown is facing right now. plus, one of the most anticipated murder trials in the south bay may not happen in the south bay after all. how the defense for the man accuse of killing morgan hill teenager sierra lamar is fighting to have the case moved. this morning we've got clouds at the coastline. clear skies for inland valleys. another hot day coming our way. plus, a "spare the air" alert to talk about. we're back with that full forecast after this. and while anthony is tracking that i'm tracking fremont or your drive in from sunol i should say at 680. 880 looks fine past the truck scales. an investigative unit exclusive

- ==rail== nbc bay area has learned of a new crisis now hitting immigration c unit excruisive nbc bay area has learned of a new crisis now hitting immigration courts. a crisis set off in part by a new surge of undocumented immigrants crossing the border. u.s. immigration courts in san francisco and around the country are now facing the largest number of backlogged cases in their history. our investigative unit discovered some of the cases are being given priority by the u.s. justice department while others

for unknown reasons are being kicked to the back of the line. that means some undocumented immigrants won't get a court hearing until 2019. >> i have not heard a coherent explanation as to why some cases are considered to be priorities as why others are not. >> tonight our investigative unit goes behind the scenes and talks to the people directly effected by this backlog. we also break down the numbers and see how this problem is delaying justice for tens of thousands of people and families. that's tonight after the olympics on nbc bay area. if you have a tip for our unit give us a call at 888-996-tips. or you can always send us a e-mail to theunit@nbcbayarea.com. continuing coverage right now on the pretrial motion surrounding the sierra lamar murder case. a fight continuing over where her accused killer is going to be tried. defense attorneys for garcia torres argue that media coverage

makes it impossible to find an impartial jury in santa clara county and that the trial must be moved. yesterday a judge allowed a new defense expert expected to support that argument. the judge must still decide whether to throw out statements that garcia torres made to deputies when he was first questioned. both will be back in court later today. coming up next, heading south to louisiana. that state devastated by historic flooding that's getting a visit from a top federal official. plus, there's hillary clinton on the campaign trail. she zeros in on the recent shake-up in the trump campaign. can she take advantage in that's ahead. you're watching "today in the bay." ==topvo==

fresh off another campaign shakeup - donald trump will be in nor decision 2016 fresh off another campaign shake-up, donald trump is going to be in north carolina today. trump is bringing on steve bannon as the campaign's chief executive. bannon is going to temporarily step down as head of the conservative breitbart news. meantime, hillary clinton is using trump's slatest shake-up as ammunition in her own presidential campaign. yesterday clinton hit hard on trump's recent missteps. clinton is holding a sizable lead over trump in some of the most recent election polls and specifically in the all important battleground states. it is possible that some california felons will be able to vote by the time 2018 election season rolls around. that is because on tuesday state lawmakers approved a measure allowing certain nonviolent

felons to cast their ballots while in custody. that bill now needs approval from governor brown. some people serving misdemeanors can already vote while in custody. this latest proposal is a broader effort to reintroduce felons into society. developments out of louisiana where homeland security secretary jeh johnson is going to get a firsthand look at the damage inflicted from rains and historic flooding. some 40,000 homes sustained flood damage in the area in and around baton rouge. at least 13 deaths now are being tied directly to those floods. johnson is scheduled to meet with leaders offen the state and local level to figure out a recovery plan as clearly that community is devastated. 4:47. a check of weather and traffic back home. >> it's dry over here and my son's watching. fifth grader. just starting fifth grade. he looked, why can't we take some of that water and come over here. it seems to have. >> distribute it all over the

country. that's not how it works. >> the rain in louisiana, if you look at the radar loop you can see it on twit, it just rained for hours. like a tropical storm would. i mean, sat there. true meaning of an atmospheric river. something we would love to get. >> it wasn't actually a tropical storm. >> no. it just continues to rain. the ina car never seen anything in my 31 years of living. not going to tell you how long i've been tracking weather but you can keep that in mind. it was pretty significant. here's what we're looking at right now. in san jose, clear skies. not much to talk about. look at our high temperatures later on this afternoon. 88 degrees is where we're headed in the south bay. 77 for the peninsula. so comfortable weather. 93 degrees later on there. 65 today for san francisco. let's talk about the fog because it is rolling into the bay as we speak. by about 6:00 this morning it will fill into the south bay and the tri-valley. it will peel back to the coastline later on this

afternoon. and then tonight the fog will roll back in and actually be thicker for tomorrow as high pressure moves a little bit farther away from us. here's the other thing thing. our winds today out of the south. completely different from where they were yesterday. so the soberanes fire, going to continue to bring the smoke in the bay area today. we do have a "spare the air" alert today. the most unhealthy air will be across the east bay and south bay. keep in mind it's going to be moderate to unhealthy across the entire bay area through the next 24 hours. here's your day planner. for san jose, highs today will climb back in the mid 80s. again, hazy skies there. oakland, comfortable today. 73 is where we're expected to top out for our high later on this afternoon. and in san francisco, we'll see a good mix of sun and clouds until about 11:00 and then we'll clear out up to 65 degrees in san francisco. we've got a trough that's kind of dug in underneath this area of high pressure. that's going the continue to slide down the coastline and as it does, look at our winds.

offshore. that's going to bring in a lot of smoke over the next couple of days from the fires burning. keep in mind unhealthy air quality headed our way. temperatures do cool off as we get into the weekend. even at the coastline, fog and cooler temperatures with 60s in the forecast for san francisco. let's talk to mike now and track that morning commute. >> that's right. we had a crash in sunol. that was 680 southbound. that not only cleared from the lane it cleared from the chp reports. no more reports reported for the tri-valley. zoom in to the other incident. only two on the map. this is southbound highway 13 at tunnel road. earlier crash, cars off of the roadway. there may be activity later on in the commute but so far it's just might affect the tunnel on-ramp just off of 24. look at the bay bridge op the map. smooth sailing on the sensors. live shot, show you we're having trouble seeing from emory vim past the toll plaza which is clear but the view, low clouds there. we'll track that, sam. back to you. >> we appreciate that. at 4:50 in business news. scott mcgrew warned us the cuts

could be coming. now we're getting a better idea of how many jobs silicon valley cisco is eliminating. plus, san mateo bay solar city also cutting costs. for that and the rest of your news before the bell, we turn to landon dowdy live from cnbc's world headquarters. landon, good morning. >> reporter: sam, good morning. the markets will try to make it two days of gains in the row with quarterly results reported today. walmart will be the stock to watch. the retailer delivered a solid earnings beat and raised its forecast. on the economic front, the government released weekly jobless claims and leading ipd caters which is used to help predict changes in the economy. and taking a look at how the markets faired yesterday. dow up 22 points, 18573. the nasdaq climbing 1 1/2 points, 5228. meanwhile, cisco planning to cut 5500 jobs or about 7% of its global workforce. that announcement coming yesterday after cisco reported an earnings beat the tech giant headquartered in san jose. also announcing a shift away

from its traditional computer hardware business and now wants to focus on the cloud and internet security. and solar city slashing his yearly salary from 27 $5,000 to $1 a year. that decision coming as part of the sole lan panel installer's cost cutting plan and also weeks after solar city accepted a $2.6 billion buyout offer from electric automaker tesla. shares of solar city are down 54% so far this year. back over to you. >> slashing his salary more than a symbol lib gesture. a tree now growing in san jose will one day offer fruits of all kinds of shapes and sizes in one. find out how many fruits you may be able to find there some day. oops, she's doing it again. britney spears is getting ready to do something she actually hasn't done in almost a decade. but first, happening now, two days before the ringling brothers circus is in oakland.

animal rights activists is glad the sirius stopped using elephants sooner than planned. more on that story right now on nbcbayarea.com. plus, our olympic coverage in rio continues right now on our facebook page. get glimpse of life in the olympic city. the children's discovery museum

planted a one-of-a-kind tree week. children's discovery museum planted a one of a kind tree this week. it's a genetically modified tree that its creator believes may one day grow up to 40 different so-called stone fruits or fruits with seeds. look at all the bright colors. the museum is already showing off a picture of what it's expected to look like in the future. so it hasn't grown that quickly.

4:55. back to rio. hard to believe the closing ceremony is tomorrow. you're looking at live pictures right now. we have been highlighting so many games that are being played during the summer olympics but there is one game people of rio love. our jessica aguirre introduces us to foot volley. rr it's a perfect marriage of brazil sporting treasures. but if you're a good soccer or football player are you automatically good at footvolley? >> when you come to the court you must put the ball higher. >> head, shoulders, head. >> reporter: no hands. >> no hands. >> reporter: organically at copacabana sand more than 40 years ago. >> it was forbidden to play soccer on the beach but allowed to play volleyball. people who wanted to play soccer just came to the volleyball court and started playing footvolley. >> reporter: now it's everywhere in rio. coaches run clinics like a boot camp looking for the next rising

star. like brazilian world champion josie suza. front row seat to watch her practice. >> she play against the men and she put news trouble. she's the best female footvolley player. >> reporter: professional leagues are sprouting up around the world and many brazilians hope it will soon become an olympic event. >> maybe in 2020. that was jessica aguirre reporting. it looks like britney spears is going to do it again. mtv announced she's going to be performing at the video music awards on the 28th. brittney is no stranger to the music show but it's been nine years since she was last on a vma stage. britney spears is going to be performing "make me" off of her new album "glory" coming out in just a few days. a quick check with anthony in for kari hall this morning. >> it's dark. we have fog. you can see the bay bridge off in the distance but the fog is starting to drift on in. we'll talk about that full forecast and a cooler weekend headed our way coming up in just

a few minutes. you can't see the highest portion of the bay bridge towers but you can see the high rise of the san mateo bridge. we'll talk about what's going on in the tri-valley. another up date coming up. consuming a southern california

community... explosive flames consuming a southern california community. the recovery efforts happening this morning as firefighters race to try to save more homes in the fire's path. plus, a side story. stealing the show in rio. two american swimmers escorted

off a plane and detained after a robbery investigation and now the u.s. state department is telling brazilian officials not so fast. live details. i'm pete suratos in millbrae where a middle schoolteacher has been arrested for having an inappropriate relationship with a minor. we'll have those details coming up in a live report. "today in the bay" starts now. good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. we're going to get to mike with a look at traffic in a second. first, pretty similar pattern today that we've seen all week. pretty much cool on the coast. >> the one thing to keep in mind we have the "spare the air" alert so you can encouraged to carpool. bike to work or school. and of course keep in mind it's all due to the smoke to our south. soberanes fire burning. mostly hazy skies in the south bay. it is going to be moderate to unhealthy air quality. 50s and 60s as you wake up. fog at the coastline. it's going to creep into the inland valleys. we will see