right now on today in the bay -- president obama kicks dozens of russian diplomats out of our country...includi ng some right here in san . anci right now on "today in the bay," president obama kicks dozens of russian diplomats out of our country, including some in san francisco. now the russian government is threatening a hit for tat respots. pet owners reeling after their dog dies just days after going in for a haircut. the groomer says they have proof they're not to blame. tomorrow, of course, is new year's eve. if you're going to be drinking to celebrate, we'll tell you all the free rides you can take to safely ring in 2017. "today in the bay" starts right now. good morning to you at 4 doo 30 on this friday morning. thanks so much for joining us.

i'm kira klapper in for laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. man, that year just flew by, 2016. >> it really did. now we're at the last friday of the year, vianey is here for kari and mike. >> round two. >> it looks like we are tracking two storm systems, but have no fear, it looks like it may just miss the bay area. current temperatures right now, already warming up. we said yesterday we were expecting at least one more day of slightly warmer temperatures. south bay 46 degrees. peninsula 48 degrees. tri-valley a nice 38 degrees. in the east bay 43 and san francisco lately has been the warmest to start off your friday at 46 degrees. north bay as always in the 30s where 32 degrees. now, us compared to the rest of the nation, while we're not looking too far off in terms of the temperatures, 43 degrees.

today we are warmer than we were yesterday compared to new york. a quick check of the traffic. north bay drive times, southbound 101 to 280, looking good. 4:32 on your friday. all new overnight, russia's foreign minister says that country is now eyeing a move to kick out 35 american diplomats from russia. nah in response to president obama announcing on thursday he's announcing the same number of russian diplomats packing. the president says this is part of a forceful response to russia's cyber attack on the u.s., a hack that the u.s. attorney claims was engineered to influence the election. now president obama wants 35 russian diplomats including from san francisco and washington, d.c. out of the country by the weekend. employees at the russian consulate at san francisco wouldn't comment on plans to leave, only calling the order, quote, unfriendly.

russians with business at the consulate say they're worried about et ceteraing lating tensions. >> it's a small town. we have to find ways of being in peace. >> many people say they believe president-elect trump's relationship will help deescalate the story. >> a 2-year-old dog goes for a haircut and dies five days later. the groomer says it's not their fault. "today in the bay's" joining us live in san jose with what the dog's owner is telling us about the circumstances bringing him there. good morning, tom. >> reporter: good morning, sam and kira. as you might imagine, the dogs owners are up pet with this pet groomer. they say their dog, honey, was fine when they brought her here for grooming.

they say when they picked her up and brought her home, their 2-year-old dog was not good. they say her legs were obviously injured. she couldn't move her back legs. the next day the dog died from what a veterinarian told them was a broken spine. >> she was traumatized, mishandled. something happened. something happened. >> reporter: show time pet groomers say honey had injuries when they arrived. they say this surveillance video shows the dog was not mistreated. the pet's owners want the california state senate to pass a bill that would put better regulations on pet groomers. for now we're live in san jose, thom jensen, "today in the bay." now to the christmas eve stabbing in an east bay target store. yesterday cameras were allowed in the courtroom but the defendants never appeared. attorneys for the co-defendants,

jesse archuleta and his brother franky waived their right to appear in court yesterday. the two brothers are accused of stabbing tyrone griffin while he was shopping with his 4-year-old son. witnesses say it happened after griffin asked the archuletas to turn down what he considered inappropriate music for the toy section of target. one defense attorney said it would have been inappropriate to have his client appear in front of the media. >> when this case does end up going forward, i expect he will be fully exonerated and he was acting in self-defense. >> according to the police report, griffin grabbed a wine bottle off the shelf and hit franky with it. his widow says she doesn't believe it and hopes the investigation will be thorough. for the first time we're hearing directly from the family of a 14-year-old san jose boy who was killed by a suspected drunk driver.

andrew nguyen died christmas morning when the car he was riding in with his parents was hit. the family of the evergreen valley high school statement released a statement. they say they will celebrate but they will celebrate an drou's wife. they also wanted to thank the first responders at the scene of the deadly crash and are asking forl privacy. to keep drunk drivers off the roads this new year's eve, many bay area transit agencies are offing special schedules tomorrow. samtrance and ac transit are running free lines from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. on sunday morning. caltrans will also be free after 8:00 p.m. those rides will end around 2:00 a.m. sunday. b.a.r.t. rides won't be free new year's eve night, but there will be trains running on a special schedule from 8:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. b.a.r.t. will have trains standing by in san francisco to run after the fireworks show on the embarcadero.

>> water out of the tap could be tasting musty again for people in palo alto. this happened earlier this month from a blending of water supplies. at the time folks were caught off guard by the smell and the taste. now the blending is happening again. city officials are warning neighbors ahead of time they should be prepared. city officials say the water is absolutely safe to drink and will be back to normal in just a few days. at 4:37 on the last friday of 2016, we take a look at your weather and traffic. >> we're enjoying slightly warmer temperatures on this early morning. 43 degrees right now in san jose. yes, we will be climbing to the 60s yet again. we're tracking two storm systems making their way in. i'll have a look ahead at your new year's day and new year's eve plans. an incredible followup to a story we brought you yesterday morning. the brazilian family robbed on their first trip to the bay area is getting their money back and

then some, thanks to the extreme generosity of one of our viewers.

good morning. we are waking up to 45 degrees right now in san francisco. those clear skies should be increasing in cloud cover by tonight and we're tracking two storm systems that will be making their way into the bay area. let's get a quick check right now at your bridge drive times. westbound 80, bay bridge about

eight minutes. westbound 9 the, san mateo, about 12 minutes. it's just shy of 4:41. a heartbreaking situation for a brazilian family visiting the bay area took an unbelievable turn thanks to the generosity of one of our viewers. the family had just landed in san jose on tuesday night for their very first trip to the u.s. and stopped at applebee's to eat. that's where thieves broke into their rental car, stole passports, a laptop and $6,000 in cash. a viewer saw our sorry on air and offered to help. >> i'd like to offer $10,000. >> this is great. this is so great to hear. i'm really grateful. >> it's my pleasure, victor. >> take message from this good news and don't lose faith human. >> is this our greatest story followup. the donor asked to remain anonymo anonymous. it's the family's first trip to

america. more great news, the family's passports were discovered by a homeless man in oakland and returned to them. >> not how they scripted it. goodness, look at their expressions on their face when they found out about it. after all 15 pasta pomodoro restaurants were abruptly shut down, a fast food chain is stepping in trying to help hundreds of employees to find a job. wendy's is offering every employee who lost their job is to come to work for them. the stunned employees learned they were out of a job right before christmas through a text message. this news block, as it's called, might be the best news block we've ever had for strong news. >> let's keep the good vibes going. >> many consider new year's eve to be one of the most romantic holidays. now there's proof of it here in the bay area. we'll tell you why the rush is on to tie the knot.

4:45 right now on your friday morning. getting ready to ring in the new year as you mentioned. >> it's the last friday of 2016. >> or you bought a tuxedo onesie. >> a little splash of formality here. what have you got? >> we have an expected increase in cloud cover. i told you to hang out outside

because we were going the see some changes heading into tonight. that's because we are tracking two storm systems that may impact how your new year's eve plans go. right now in the south bay, 43 degrees. it's been a chilly night. waking um to slightly warmer conditions. the tri-valley at 38 degrees. the san francisco area seeing about 46 degrees. over the next couple hours, we are expecting to increase in terms of the temperatures, but here is a quick perspective right now on how we're faring compared to the rest of the nation. if you have any travel plans, especially for new year's, right now new york is at a nice 36 degrees. it is chilly out there, al b kerr i can, 24 degrees. it's definitely very warm compared to the rest of the nation on this early friday morning. today's highs will be climbing once again into if 50s and 60s for some parts of the bay area including san jose at a noise 63 degrees. half moon bay 60. santa rosa 61 degrees. let's talk about the weekend

storms we've been mentioning all week. they have been conflicting in terms of rain totals and arrival times. right now it's looking like the storm sis spekt expecting to come in today is going to affect the further south rp counties. areas like monterey might get the chance of partly cloudy skies heading into the afternoon. southern california is expected to be impacted by this storm which means they are expecting rain tonight. as we make our way into the new year's eve weekend, here is an hour by hour outlook. by 11:30 a.m., not expecting to see much in the bay area for your friday. wet are tracking a second storm system that's also expected to bring a cold air mass with it which means those temperatures will once again drop back down to below freezing, especially in areas like protected valleys and the north bay as well. by saturday, around 11:30 a.m., you start seeing the cloud cover, early morning patchy fog

sunday into monday. that's when we're expecting to see the greatest chance for rain. a quick check of your photographic. all the roads are clear right now. you may want to leave early today. i have a feeling anybody traveling for new year's might be start turning these roads red and yoellow. north bay drive times southbound 101 to the 580, nine minutes. your bridge drive times also looking pretty good out there. westbound 80 to the bay bridge eight minutes, westbound 92 toward the san mateo bridge, nine minutes. now we take you to noshlg city. a live look outside in times square. home, of course, to one of the most iconic new year's eve celebrations in the world. people across the country and around the world will watch our ball drop in times square as we count down to 2017 tomorrow night. happening today, preparations for that new year's eve

celebration will continue in the city. organizers are testing the ball drop. they did the confetti practice yesterday or the day before. about a million people are expected to pack into times square tomorrow night. as it turpts out, unlike other holidays, americans are not planning to spend a lot of money. >> what do you need? friends, family, champagne and a little love and you're good to go. for that and the rest of the news before the bell we turn to landon dowdy at cnbc world headquarters getting us ready to ring in the new year. sam and kira, good morning. wall street could start the final trading day in the green. futures are higher. the dow will need a nice rally to get to the 20,000 mark before we close out 2016. stocks falling again yesterday although it's a positive year for the markets with the dow 15%. nasdaq 10% and s&p 500 up 8%. the top sector of 2016, energy on pace for its best year since 2007, thanks to a 45% surge in

oil prices. twitter may be considering adding an edit button so you can reconsider your post before you hit send. jack dorsey taking to his twitter account asking users hat the company can improve or create in 2017. the top request was an edit button. others included a bookmark button and better safety options for online bullies. unlike other holidays, americans may not spend quite as 34u67 on new year's eve. 80% will spend less than $200. while 100 million americans will travel, the vast majority will drive to their celebrations. a third of people want to pay down debt and save more money. sam and kira, back over to you. >> sounds like a good plan. >> less romantic and more practical. landon dowdy, thank you very much. happening right now, volunteers are putting the finishing touches on the floats for the tournament of roses parade. hundreds are working near the

rose bowl stadium to perfect every last detail on the dozens of floats on display. you can see people painting flowers, sprinkling glitter. bringing characters like dorie and friends to life. the 128th tournament of roses parade will be monday, january 2nd, right here on nbc bay area. we'll have coverage starting at 4:30 a.m. as people are rushing to ring in the new year, we found out the rush of a different kind going on right now. people are making last-minute plans to tie the knot. >> appointments to stand before the zwrus tis of the peace are filling up fast in contra costa county because december 31st is on a saturday. martinez is gearing up for a slew of marriage ceremonies today. >> for these particular high volume days, december 30th, february 14th, we have a process in place that stream lines getting couples in and out so they can get those nuptials taken care of. >> many people like to schedule

their weddings on new year's eve because it's already a holiday and there's already champagne being served. >> one-stop shop. >> super easy. so an option for you if you so choose. 4:52 coming up. an eagle-eyed uber driver possibly saves a girl's life. the reason he called police after a young girl got into his car. happening right now, a 6-year-old girl kidnapped in a stolen car has been reunited with her mother after a scare in southern california. we'll show you the emotional rhee re union. hatch watch. the nation is still transfixed by two bald eagle eggs on live cameras. we're not talking hatchimals. we've posted a link to the live feed on our facebook page. back in two minutes.

the holidays don't officialy begin, until it's time to make: flaky, delicious, piping hot things. golden brown and sticky things. fresh out of the oven, why can't they cool things? new things, old things. and blink and they're gone, those went fast things. make the oven one of the things they're most excited to open. it's baking season. warm up the holidays with pillsbury.

gate bridge welcome back right now on this pre holiday friday morning. very light go right now on the roadway as we're taking a live look outside at the golden gate bridge. farry a car in sight but beautiful sunshine coming our way. we'll have more on that in a moment. we have a followup now. prosecutors are reportedly dropping a dui charge against a man who only tested positive for caffeine. according to the "san francisco chronicle" this comes one year after the crash. back in august of 2015 joseph shh want was driving home from work. officers believed he was under influence. after running self tests, the only thing that showed up was caffeine. authorities thought he might have been under the influence of a drug that didn't show up in his system. prosecutors have not dropped his

second charge of reckless driving. not illegal to drive with caffeine in your system. it is illegal to drive while high on marijuana. now a new bill wants to make sure one more thing is illegal. according to the "san jose mercury" news, right now nothing technically forbids smoking while driving. state senator jerry hill prop e proposed a bill yesterday that would make it considered the same as drinking while driving. keith avila has been an uber driver for a month. on monday he picked up a 16-year-old girl and two women near sacramento. avila noticed the teen girl was wearing skimpy clothes. as he drove along, he said it sounded like the women were coaching the girl on how to ask for money from the man she was about to meet. as soon as he dropped off the trio, he called police. >> i get enough distance where

they won't see me. i don't want to be a part of it. i'm not going to assist. i'm not going to stay silent. >> the two women and a man were arrested shortly after avila made the call. as we mentioned, changes under way. today, calm is the word. >> it is. we are going to start seeing more cloud cover. 42 in san jose. enjoy today because we do have changes coming in for your weekend. i'll have a look at that in just a bit. russia responds after president obama announces the' investigation of russian diplomats. we'll tell you what vladimir putin says he will do after the announced sanctions.

oooh. wowww. there it is. it's the red tag sales event and people are excited to bring in the new year with a new chevrolet. i'm a huge chevy fan. how would you feel about starting 2017 in a new chevy? it sounds wonderful. honestly, i would take any one. oh heck yeah! i want to get one tomorrow. fantastic! turn it on, let's go. during the red tag sales event get two deals in one. find your tag for an average total value over ninety-six hundred dollars on chevy silverado all stars. hurry, the red tag sales event ends january 3rd.

president obama ejects dozens of russian diplomats from the u-s ... the response from the russian government this morning ...coming up in a live report. =sam/vo= president obama ejects dozens of russian diplomats from the u.s. we have a live report coming up. dleening up after a reported crash. the local cvs store that's led to broken windows and boarded-up doors this morning. >> reporter: a dispute between a pet groomer and a dog owner after the dog died coming up. good friday morning to you. thank you very much for joining us at this very early 5:00 hour. i'm sam brock. >> i'm kira klapper in for laura garcia-cannon. kari hall is on a different shift once again. mike inouye is enjoying some

time off. vianey once again has weather and traffic on this last friday of the year. >> yeah. i think we are going to start seeing more cars on the road. i think it's because people are trying to get to their new year's eve destinations. if you're heading to southern california, you may want to pay attention. there could be some rain as you make your way down there. right now temperatures in the 40s. 42 for the south bay. peninsula 48 droes and the tri-valley had a chilly overnight, 37 degrees. but we are expecting these mostly clear skies to start seeing cloud cover increasing as we head into a later portion of the day. that's because we are tracking a storm system that is expected to bring the possibility of a few showers to the further southern counties like month ray. san francisco 46 degrees. right now here are today's highs. we will be climbing yet again into the 50s. enjoy the temperatures now because we have two cold snaps on the way for the first week of 2017. what that means is that we could have the possibility of seeing