pounding the bay area.. we )re under a microclimate weather alert this morning.. powerful storm moving through the bay area. we are under that microclimate weather alert this morning. a live look across the bay from the peninsula to the east bay, everyone seeing some rain for the morning commute. >> and there's more where that came from. this is video that you are about to see right there from palo alto. we have a team there live this morning as well as we have teams throughout the bay area getting you ready before you head out the door. good morning, thanks for joining us, i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm laura garcia.

these two are busy over here as well. i want to check in with kari as well. >> yeah, that radar is pretty much covered all around the bay area but there will be some very few spots where we will have some breaks and as we get a look at some of the heavier rain now starting to move back in we are going to have some pockets of some rain getting a lot heavier from san francisco to the peninsula, down to the south bay. as we look at the hour by hour forecast, this rain will be staying with us for a long time throughout the day and that's the change this morning as you check in with us. we are going to have this timeline of the rain extended farther into the day. so we are seeing this streaming all over areas from san francisco over towards the east bay and down to the south bay through at least this evening. so that is going to add to those rainfall totals. it's really going to stack up today and that could mean flash flooding as well as a lot of problems here as we go into the afternoon. now, this is also caused

problems out on the roadways and mike has been tracking several spinouts including one now on highway 17. >> that's right. we were tracking this one from an earlier crash overnight. one of these vehicles was just driving along and spun out, probably lost traction, hit the center divide, now debris in the roadway and what's happening in many spots there, a second car gets involved in this crash, now it's a two-week crash. no major injuries but took a while to clear this from highway 17. northbound lanes are clear, as you see there are no problems four your speed sensors coming up through the area. green all over this map and all moof i maps that means wet roadways. puddling and ponding where it's blue like there just around highway 9 in los gatos hills. we are looking at the entire bay with slick conditions. i will give you an update on that spinout and closure for highway 4 coming up. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez continues our team coverage now. she is in campbell.

>> kris, last time we spoke to you there was a sprinkle happening. is that still going on? >> reporter: when we are standing out in it does feel like it is a little bit heavier even when it's finer. we moved over to the border of campbell an san jose and just had quite a bit of rain, it has let up just a little bit of course because we're live this this morning. you can see some of the rain drops as we use the light to illustrate where that rain is falling and the video that you're looking at now is not where we are, that's actually further into the city of san jose and there's some rain there. let's bring you back live here because we wanted to show you what mike and kari have been talk about this morning and that is that there is ponding on the roadway, we can see the rain coming down against the light. there is rain on the roadway. we are at the camden and highway 17 not too far from highway 85. as we were driving here from palo alto this morning we saw more rain on the roadways.

let's show you what that drive looked like on highway 101 south as we were headed from palo alto here to campbell. it was a bit sloppy. we did see folks, though, seeming to drive safely for the conditions and that is key. you don't want to drive faster than the speed limit. the speed limit is for ideal conditions, these are not ideal conditions. so we are going to continue to update what we see on social media so that if you have to walk out the door you can take us with you in my twitter feed i also put the link so you can watch live on your device if you have to leave home right now. if you have to leave home right now you are in luck because we're getting a tiny little break in the rain so leave now if you can, if not take your umbrella. in campbell, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." before that rain started to slam into the south bay it actually pummeled the north bay overnight. at one point there were concerns about flooding and mudslides in those burn zones. >> "today in the bay's" thom jensen live in santa rosa this

morning with what he's seeing there. good morning, tom. >> reporter: good morning. we did have those flash flood warnings that were listed about 3:00 a.m., the rain has died down a little bit, just sprinkling now but there were concerns especially interest some of these very burned out areas about mudslides from these homes up in the burned areas washing down into the homes below. underground storm drains here got so hot they melted and some areas are not functioning properly at all or sinkholes are forming around some of the areas, crews were out here wednesday digging channels and using plastic she get to try to get runoff water to flow away from the homes and into the areas where they want them away from other structures as well. people are keeping their eyes on the rain and hillsides knowing that one rush of water could send mud an debris right down into their houses. >> the three houses here burned to the ground and then across the hill of course is where it

really had the damage and if the mud comes what are we going to do to stop that? >> and now the rains are here and possible flooding and mudslides because of all the devastation. i hope that's not the case. >> reporter: workers were putting sandbags around storm drains and properties in the neighborhood where we are right now and this morning they are trying to control the water. we saw fire officials looking at things just a couple minutes ago. the county office of emergency services is asking people who see flooding starting to occur, anything backing up around storm drains, to call 911. they have crews out, they will respond when they can. we're live in santa rosa, thom jensen, "today in the bay." i want to bring back in meteorologist kari hall with the rain totals so far. >> it is starting to add up especially in the north bay

where we had the rain for a long period of time and it's still coming down in waves in spots like guerneville we have had over 2 1/2 inches of rain, you can see it has become a little bit more scattered for the north bay. even as we get a closer look it's starting to ramp back up in marin county but where thom jensen is now it is starting to take a little bit of a break. we move to the south bay where the leading edge of that rain moved in a little over an hour ago and there is a bit of a break as of now but we will start to see this filling in. several more waves of rain as we go through the day and we still have the potential of getting an additional inch to two inches of rain across much of the bay  area, san jose looking at a little bit less than an inch in total for today. i will talk more about this, we will take a look back at those rainfall totals coming up a little bit later. as she continues to monitor the storm we want you to keep on top of what's going on with the weather by downloading our free nbc bay area app. you can use the live radar to see when rain is moving into your neighborhood. breaking news that we're

following this morning and some surprising new allegations against actor kevin spacey. this time it involves a legal probe conducted at the request of london's theater. that investigation uncovered 20 claims of inappropriate behavior during spacey's time as artistic director there starting in 2003. the claims were made during dozens of personal testimonies provided to attorneys. the theater says no legal action was ever taken against spacey and that only one complaint was ever filed with management. the theater also says the allegations have not been verified. also new this morning the chp looking for a car tied to a missing elderly person. they call that a silver alert. the car is a 2015 toyota corolla with a license plate of 7hdb260. the alert covering santa clara, alameda and san mateo counties. authorities, however, not providing information to us so far on the missing person. this is interesting, how did he get so far?

the question investigators are asking after a killer who escaped from hawaii and was arrested in the central valley yesterday. >> that cab driver who helped authorities catch the suspect spoke to nbc bay area. >> i was laying in bed and i see it on the news, this guy escaped from hawaii and to san jose and everything he told me and i looked up and i recognized his face and i was like, that's the guy that was in my cab yesterday. >> can you imagine how she feels. now, that driver who asked to not be identified met sandal saito on the way from san jose to stockton tuesday. the cab company called the sheriff's department yesterday. saito was promptly arrested at a gas station in stockton. he escaped from a mental hospital in hawaii on sunday using an alias to get on the flight. saito actually had been in a hospital since being acquitted for reasons of insanity for a brutal murder back in 1979. here is hawaii's attorney general. >> and this is something that was not done by somebody who was

a -- was suffering from any sort of mental defect or disability and we intend to press that argument with the court when he is brought back. >> hawaii's health department says the escape was the result of a major breakdown of procedure. 5:10. back to our microclimate weather alert on this thursday morning. taking a live look outside. san francisco this morning, rain drops on our camera as the storm is moving through the bay area. >> right now we want to turn to meteorologist kari hall for a look at where that system is actually moving right now, kari. >> it's all over the bay area, only a few minute breaks here or there as this rain continues to steadily move all over the bay area. i want to show you some of those rainfall totals we've measured so far just northwest of guerneville, we have had over 2 1/2 inches of rain or close to 2 1/2 inches of rain, two and two quarters in petaluma, santa rosa over an inch of rain, pacifica measuring over an inch of rain, lafayette an inch and

three-quarters, for napa an inch and three-quarters there. kentps"q field more than an inc rain. antioch about a quarter of an inch of rain there. hayward approaching a half of an inch. now, i have updated radar and also those rainfall totals on twitter. follow me at kari hall weather. mike is saying there's something in the south bay on the highway that's blocked. >> it's blocking a highway, that's right. we are looking all over. in fact, wet roads all over the bay so everywhere you go there will be slicker conditions. hearing about a lot of spinouts and the latest crash we heard about here, this involves an overturned vehicle, it's northbound 85 right around winchester boulevard so that's just after folks traveling north passed by highway 17 there. now, strangely enough we don't see slowing on our sent torse but it just happened a short time ago, moving quickly in the traffic center, slick conditions and we hope they can clear this quickly. no major injuries north 85 at winchester. the other closure highway 4 that

has cleared and so now all this traffic heads over through antioch in towards pittsburg. coming up next on "today in the bay," the new storm with some bay area communities still covering from the last winter storm. the progress on a sinkhole in moraga. twitter followers saying check, please. we will tell you about it when "today in the bay" continues.

good thursday morning. a soggy one right now at 5:14

and we are in a microclimate weather alert as we track some heavy rain all around the bay area. starting to move into the south bay with a little bit of a break now, but it's about to close back in. so as we take a live look outside in downtown san jose we go to los gatos for the temperature trend where it stays in the upper 50s to low 60s and rain each into this afternoon. we will talk about when this finally moves out with this slow moving system that's coming up in about five minutes. we are looking over here, we do see the slowing now north 85 all lanes blocked at winchester by an overturned vehicle. we're tracking that. taking look at this tweet out from our own bob redell this morning, rain pouring down in dublin overnight. we will check in with bob, he has a live report coming up in just about 15 minutes at 5:30. you can also follow him on twitter@bob nbc. happening today a disaster from last winter storm finally

gets patched up. the moraga sinkhole is done and fixed. the 15 foot deep hole opened up in march of last year. it swallowed the roadway and traffic signal and sidewalks at rahim boulevard and center street. it cost nearly $3 million to patch up that hole. twitter taking away some people's blue check. >> that blue check verifies you, it says who you are on line but, scott mcgrew, it says so much more. >> it says you're credible, it says you are the person of note, but many people were also interpreting that twitter blue check as some kind of endorsement from twitter itself. let's take a look at mike inouye's twitter. he is really mike inouye, he is a person of note and twitter gave him that blue check right under the word blue check. how about that. mike is a nice guy but some not nice people on twitter specifically white supremacists are waking up to find out they no longer have blue checks.

they can still tweet, just no blue check. elon musk tweeted out this picture of the tesla semi-truck he will show off tonight. the announcement had been played so tesla could cans trait on making the model 3 sedan. we're way more interested in what tesla will say about the model 3 than this truck concept. elon musk calls people who short tesla, quote, jerks who want us to die. dow spell 131 points, nasdaq down 31. the senate has killed off a plan to tax people's stock awards before they can cash them out. companies in the bay area hand out a lot of stock. bottom line this morning, good news for our bay area workers this morning. we will talk more about tax as we talk politics in about a half an hour. marcus and laura, tech shop has sent letters to all its members saying the company is going to shut don. tech shop was like a gym for tools, you pay a month ly fee ad

you have access to sewing machines -- >> i was going to make your christmas present there. >> my son and i made a go-kart there. they are all shutting down. they just simply run out of money. every maker in silicon valley is just -- >> i'm bummed, too. i was twitter verified and now i'm not. >> same here. >> i'm not a white supremacist. >> you certainly are not. are you? >> it took me away, i'm verified on sam brock but not on twitter. >> i changed my name recently. >> that could be part of it. i want to go now back to our microclimate weather alert. a live look outside at the golden gate bridge and san rafael this morning. those wet roads continue to make a slick commute for a lot of people out there. >> we can verify the rain is coming down. kari hall tracking it for us. we have new changes this morning to the forecast because we are seeing a slow down in the storm system and that means that the rain will last longer into your

thursday and then take a look at the deep packets of tropical moisture extending offshore. look at all those clouds well to the west of us and with this we have to wait for all of that to move into the bay area before it clears. it's going to take several hours. as we continue to see the rain moving in. at times pockets of heavy rain and starting to get a break into sonoma county. a downpour in marin county. we can tell by the bright yellow indicating a more intense downpour. it will be moving off towards the east. lighter in palo alto but still coming down and san jose had a bit of a break, but it's starting to close back in on downtown san jose moving from santa clara off towards the east. we are also seeing that rain as well in parts of the south bay and then for the east bay,

fremont, rain is fairly light but it's about to get a little bit heavier for the east bay in spots like oakland and emeryville, piedmont and over toward moraga and orinda. it is really coming down at this point. if you are about to head out the door make sure you allow extra time to get to work or school and just slow down, take your time today. we will be doing that because this cold front will be taking its time moving out of here so it's going to be raining off and on, only a few short breaks here and there and because of the slow moving nature of this storm it is going to add up with our rainfall totals and cause problems like more water on the roadways and then finally later on tonight we are going to start to see this tapering off by tomorrow it's out of here. as we look at our seven-day forecast it stays cool, breezy, off and on showers, san francisco in the upper 50s today, also upper 50s tomorrow but there will be some sunshine. perfect weather on saturday for the nbc bay area food drive at

local safe ways, by sunday night the next storm systems starts to move in. monday may get off to a wet start but drying out in time for the big holiday travel drive. mike is saying you still have spinouts out on the roads. >> the good news is that overturned vehicle no major injuries reported down in los gatos. they anticipated being able to clear at least half of those lanes very quickly. you see the jam up from approaching 17 northbound 85 skrams up out of winchester. that just reopened minutes ago. your left lanes are still blocked, your two left lanes but the rest of the freeway is open northbound 85 will start to recover but this crash will be a distraction just north of winchester. over here we have this crash as well in the lanes northbound 880 at a street this has been a continued problem from the morning, this resulted from an

earlier spinout and debris in the area as well. you see two crash screens reported, there may be a second in the area. the traffic volume is very light, still it's 5:22 in the morning, we're seeing the build over towards the bay bridge where we should see the metering lights on at any time. this traffic is coming out of the north bay and through the north bay over here. the green on all the maps means wet, slick roadways. the blue spots over here maybe puddling and ponding. we had some flooding reported earlier at lucky drive and some other usual suspects overnight. an easy drive with travel times, close to your minimum coming down the east shore freeway and approaching the bay bridge and the maze. 5:22 right now, coming up, we hunt for a serial killer, the new chilling surveillance video showing who police believe is terrorizing a florida neighborhood. if you're wondering where laura and i are both wearing purple today, go to my twitter account so you can see the answer to that. it's because we are both

supporting a great cause, follow me @mark us nbc. weather alert this morning..

ad lib live picture-- san francisco we are under a microclimate weather alert on this thursday morning. taking a live look outside, you can see how the rain created some like starlite, some diamond shapes on our lens this morning. kind of a pretty look at the city by the bay this morning. the city of san francisco is trying to be proactive ahead of

the latest storm and really the entire rainy season. crews are putting up temporary blood barriers where in areas where flooding is most common. that includes 17th street and folsom in the mission district. it is part of a coordinated effort to prepare for winter storms. we're tracking this morning's storms and will have more live team coverage including accidents popping up in the south bay coming up in a few moments. in florida authorities are hoping a new clue helps catch a serial killer. police have released new video of the man previously called a person of interest this is in the shooting death of four people. the new video was taken near the scene of the latest shooting early tuesday. investigators now have more -- are more certain that this is actually the man behind the shootings. they are calling him the suspect, even though he has not yet been identified. >> that's frightening. it's 5:26. coming up our team coverage continues as heavy rain comes into the bay area. >> heavy rain here and the snow

levels are starting to drop in the sierra. our snowfall totals still looking at the potential of 1 to 2 feet of snow especially for spots above 6,000 feet. we will talk about what's ahead as more rain continues to fall in the bay area. that's coming up next. the rain is certainly coming down here in the tri-valley. i'm bob redell. i will take you live coming up with the impact on your morning commute. we )re under a microclimate

weather alert this morning..

you can see it on our satellite radar-- a storm is whipping we are under a microclimate weather alert this morning and you can see right here from our satellite radar that storm whipping through the bay area will actually hover over the area for some time. >> new video into our newsroom shows what you can expect as you head out the door this morning. grab that umbrella. this is from the santa cruz mountains overnight. this is just the start of what is expected to be a very soggy day. we've got team coverage for you straight ahead. good morning and thanks for joining us, i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. we want to go to meteorologist kari hall. she's been tracking this storm for days now with what we can expect this morning as it progresses. >> it's been such a slow moving storm, it took so long to make it to the north bay to the south pay and finally we're starting to see the rain moving into san jose. we are going to have more rounds of rain and as we get a closer look at some of the heavier downpours in the city right now it's fairly study but about to get a little heavier as rain

moves on shore. the peninsula seeing the yellows and oranges showing intense downpours moving from wood side and that will be approaching palo alto within the next few minutes, saj has had a bit of a break, santa clara light sprinkles but that will be coming to an end soon. if you are about to head out the door you may be able to catch that break for a little while longer. as we get a look at the heavy rain from the east bay to berkeley, it is going to season for a little while longer and then as we head through this forecast as we get closer to the weekend this rain will be clearing out. our nbc bay area food drive happening this saturday and we will have some perfect weather. we are going to focus on just the weekend coming up in just a few minutes in about seven minutes but mike is saying that's really rough conditions for many commuters. >> fortunately we have fewer commuters this morning than we have on a typical thursday as we approach thanksgiving a lot of folks ease into their vacation a little early. look at that rain falling right

now, this is the bay bridge toll plaza and the metering lights are on. the backup fills in a little slower today but look at some slippery those conditions are at the toll plaza. the map will show you look at that green all over the bay that's where we have slick conditions, the blue you will see patches of ponding and puddling, all the way from top to bottom shows a slower drive because of those conditions but the volume holding off pretty steady except for here, north 85 we had all lanes closed at winchester boulevard that was our breaking news, kris sanchez got out there quickly now we have a number of lanes open and kris is out there. kris, what do you have? >> reporter: i can tell you these are two separate accidents and it's shocking to hear that only one person was transported with minor injuries. you can see the two vehicles that did not slide, two separate accidents, one flipped over on to its side on the shoulder here, the other flipped over on to its roof and we could see inside that all of the air bags in that vehicle were deployed. the officer that i talked with

said that speed was absolutely a factori> in this one, that the first driver who crashed hit a puddle was going too fast, spun out of control, hit the side of the roadway and flipped on to its side then just a few moments later unrelated another driver hit a puddle going too fast flipped over on to the rooftop this morning. now, luckily for those folks those injuries are very minor but the damage is done for the rest of the folks who are trying to compute through this area. we can see some backup and we missed the bulk of it, but we do know as you were saying a lot of folks backed up because though those two lanes are open again, these are still closed and we are waiting for a wrecker for a tow truck to come and get those before the lanes can reopen and in this kind of weather those are in high demand. so we are waiting for those two vehicles to be removed but again the good news here the injuries were minor, could have been a

different story. make sure you drive safely for the conditions. chp says these two vehicles that overturned speed was absolutely a factor. date of birth careful out there, i don't want to come out to your location next. in los gatos, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." it is 5:34. let's turn to "today in the bay's" bob redell. he is live in dublin this morning to continue our team coverage of the rain out there. what are you seeing out there in the tri-valley? >> well, good morning. within the last 90 minutes we are definitely seeing rain pick up a little bit here. routes along westbound 580 along auto mall not too far from the interchange with 680. this is what it looked like a couple of hours ago when we were coming into work this morning. you definitely had the rain earlier and you also had some wind. you can see the flags almost in a 90 degree right angle blowing in the wind this morning. it was a little bit gustier, definitely had the rain, then a lull, now we do have the rain picking up again.

unfortunately the timing isn't great because of the morning commute which you can see is well under way behind me. you are looking at the headlines they're heading westbound on 580 just past the dublin bart station, the station right there where those fluorescent lights are at. as you heard kris mention these road conditions are not safe. you heard about those two accidents at kris' location. things we hear from chp, when you have the first big rain of the season, remember, that water on the road can lift up a lot of the oils and fluids that have been sitting on the asphalt on the surface for all those months so the roads could be slicker than you might expect. this is something else, watch the distance between you and the person in front of you, you do not want to tailgate in these type of conditions. even though the speed limit might, let's say, be posted at 65 miles an hour, remember, 65 miles an hour is the maximum safe speed, that's the speed that you are allowed to go as conditions warrant. so even though it might say 65

miles an hour you look at the conditions behind me, maybe 55, maybe 45 is a wiser choice. reporting live here in dublin, bob redell, "today in the bay." remember to download our free nbc bay area app. it gives us access to our live radar so you can see when the rain is moving into your neighborhood. people in tehama county are still beginning to feel the hilg process following the shooting rampage on monday that left five people dead. [ inaudible ]. >> the hundreds of mourners attended a vigil lopez-sanchez night in rancho tehama. the shooter also injured 14 people before authorities shot and killed him. among those that gathers the aunt of a six-year-old shooting victim injured in rancho tehama elementary school. she says the whole town is hurting. >> and it's really painful that

it hits home, you know, and it does hurt. it does. >> during the vigil people were allowed to speak at the microphone, some asking for prayers, other to unity, others spoke about pride for people of rancho tehama. one of america's most notorious killers is in the hospital this morning, charles manson reportedly treated in bakersfield for a medical issue. the severity sun clear. department of corrections not confirming it because of privacy laws. this is a recent mugshot of manson, he is at corporate state prison. this is the second time this year manson has been rushed to the hospital. the 83-year-old is serving a life without parole sentence after his infamous killing spree in 1969. more new details for you this morning on the word of a legal victory for the billionaire still fighting public access to martin's beach on the peninsula. the latest ruling is not connected to the recent appeals court order requiring the owner to open the gates of the beach.

the mercury news reports this decision instead strikes down a lawsuit arguing the previous owners granted irreversible public access. this is not allowing the access to the beach ever since the coastal commission in september threatened big fines. his attorney mean while they have actually asked the state supreme court to review this summer's appeal court order. make to our microclimate weather alert on this thursday morning, let's take a peek outside. this is a look at fremont. look at that. the traffic picking up, slick roadways out there, not just rain but some wind this morning as well. >> we want to turn right now to meteorologist kari hall for a look at where that system is actually moving. >> it's all over the bay area and that is what we will see as we go even into this afternoon to evening hours, it has really slowed down as the timing of the rain will stay right over the areas that are seeing the rain now. so palo alto really heavy downpour coming down as of now and even into san jose. we've had some times of heavy

rain, but it has lightened up a bit. if you're getting ready to head out the door in willow glen or south san jose over towards evergreen it is not raining now but it will be soon so you want to make sure that you are ready for that as you head out for your drive. really pouring down right now in oakland. so we will see that and then as we head into the weekend all of this clears out and we will have some much improved weather with highs in the 60s and then for sunday clouds start to move in ahead of our next round of rain. i will talk more about that, we will take a look at today's temperature trend and another view of the radar coming up. the conditions are such that you have to be very careful. we're starting with the big green map. the big green highlighting means wet slick roadways. that's what we see to the south bay, there is the big stretch of slowing northbound 85 approaches inn chester boulevard. kris sanchez just did a live report and you saw the two overturned vehicles, i will post another picture of those two vehicles on the side, no major injuries but this is a big

distraction, folks traveling north are slowing from bass come up to the scene. the lighter volume and because traffic is flowing of in three of those lanes is keeping traffic flowing. mild slowing through hayward. we do have an issue on auto mall parkway in fremont right in this area near the end of auto mall where the dealerships are we hear about a truck that took out power lines so there is a power outage that will likely affect the signals at auto mall and maybe some of the businesses and dealerships and also restaurants. we will update you when i find out. coming up next on "today in the bay," we're paying more at the pump but where is the new gas tax money going? the progress now being made on california roads. plus it's tax day, the house could vote on that tax bill as soon as today. we will tell you all about it when "today in the bay" continues.

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we're working on that. some people know how far they want to go. a personalized financial strategy can help you get them there. see how access to j.p. morgan investment expertise can help you. chase. make more of what's yours. rancho tehama. good thursday morning. right now at 5:43 we take a look at a lot of heavy rain rolling right over the middle of the bay area. it's just how approaching the south bay. this is within the past couple of hours. as we get a closer look we still have rain moving in downtown san jose and willow glen but right now evergreen is all dry. as we take a look downtown we can see the rain drops and evergreen is going to start to see the rain moving in quickly, our high temperatures today only in the low 60s and rain for at least the next 12 hours in the south bay.

i will talk more about this and more of the timeline coming up in five minutes. which are looking at sloppy conditions, this is san jose northbound 101, you can make out the roadway behind the wet drops on the lens forming here. we have a new crash in mountain view. chp has called a sig alert, we will tell you what's going on for highway 101. mike tracking the roadways. meteorologist kari hall tracking the storm behind the scenes as well all morning long. you can follow her @kari hall weather on twitter for instant coverage. happening today san francisco's rec and park commission are expected to hold a new vote on whether to rename justin herman plaza embarcadero plaza. last month the commission approved the name change but the action was eventually halted on a technicality because of one of the commissioners cast their vote in absentee. new this morning president trump responding to the three ucla basketball players accused of shoplifting in china.

the president helped arrange their release and took to twitter earlier this week asking whether the players would thank him for helping. during a news conference yesterday liangelo ball, jalen hill and cody riley apologized to their fans and thanked the president. this morning the president tweeted, quote, you're welcome. go out and give a big thank you to president xi jinping of china who made your release possible and have a great life. be careful. there are many pit bulls on the long and winding road of life. the three were accused of shoplifting in shanghai ahead of the team's opening game. they are suspended from the team indefinitely. 5:45 now and the president plans to go to slil today to rally the house behind tax cuts. >> scott mcgrew, his administration had a couple of public gaffs. >> they have. we will get to those in a minute but when it comes to the tax cuts the house may vote as early as today. here is paul ryan updating our colleagues on cnbc. now, the plan the house has put together will not work in the

senate, it adds too much to the deficit for the senate to canner it under reconciliation rules. this is the senate markup committee from yesterday. the two houses will have to hammer out the differences. as with healthcare this really all comes down to the senate. meanwhile some odd timing in all of this. the secretary of the treasury went to the bureau of printing and en fwrafg to show off the new dollar bills with his signature on them but the picture is notable because his wife louise lynton. you remember her comments caused him all kinds of trouble the last time she was photographed with him. this may not be the picture you want to show off the day before your party votes on big tax cuts for corporations. an odd moment with the president as well, he paused during a live broadcast to search for water. now, normally it would sound like people were picking on him, it's perfectly normal to have a sip of water during a speech and this is certainly no exception, however, you will remember donald trump bullied presidential candidate and

senator marco rubio about drinking water during a speech. next time marco rubio should drink water from a glass as opposed to a bottle, much less negative impact. how do you feel about marco rubio? drinks too much water. marco rubio couldn't even respond properly to obama's state of the union without chugging water. he choked. now, the white house's choice of water is interesting as well, it's fiji water, it is bottled in fiji, shipped by container ship to the united states. the president was talking about america's trade imbalance when he reached for his imported foreign made water. we certainly look at the president's tweets every day and sometimes what the president has to drink. you can always reach us on twitter i'm @scottmcgrew. >> he can send us some dasani that is bottled in fresno. california drivers have been paid a 12 cent gas tax for two weeks now. caltrans posted a video showing your hard earned money at work. the agency is in the process of

transitioning from a four inch wide stripe to six inch stripes on the roadways. caltrans says drivers can better see the road during rain, snow and fog. the gas tax expected to rent rate $5 billion a year so improve roads, i think that's welcome. >> those larger stripes at work. back to our microclimate weather alert, that rain here means snow in the sierra. there's going to be really tricky road conditions out there this morning heading up there. now, this is what it looked like overnight on interstate 80 near kings vale, it's super snowy in that area. caltrans said those chain requirements are in effect for all cars and trucks that do not have four-wheel drive. and you were saying earlier, kari, two inches in the higher elevations into one to two feet. >> feet i mean. >> maybe one to two inches at lake level but, yeah, it's going to be really coming down there. we are getting a lot of rain here, we are looking at at least 1 to 3 inches across the bay

area. looking at that seven-day forecast now coming up at the bottom of the screen and the radar right in the middle of the screen showing a lot more rain where that came from and this system the problem with it it's just moving so slow so it took a long time for it to make it out of the north bay. we are just now starting to see it move into san jose and it's going to be with us for most of the day. this timeline has slowed down as we are starting to see some of the rain around napa and novato and areas south of there really getting in with some steady downpours. san francisco it lightens unfor a minute then it gets heavier, not seeing a lot of breaks there. down the peninsula a steady color of green showing us a lot of moderate rain and then for the south bay we start to see the brighter colors that indicates heavier rain around sunnyvale. it's getting heavier there, it's going to continue to pick up. santa clara some light rain. san jose had a bit of a break but now as you move over towards east san jose and the alum rock area it is really pouring down.

the bigger picture shows that we are also seeing some of the rain starting to move into the south county and some rain also for the east bay into the tri-valley. fremont seeing the rain tapering off but it's moving into the tri-valley and really heavy rain for the east bay from oakland over to lafayette and over towards the delta as well. we are going to see a lot of this rain rolling through -- excuse me -- as we go through the noontime hour as well as later on this evening. still a lot of rain here and it will continue into month with pockets of heavy rain. so the timeline of the rain has slowed down, it does continue into tonight and slowly starts to taper off tomorrow. so looking at a live picture of san jose and you need all of the rain gear as you get ready to head out, the um blah, the rain jacket, something nice and warm to wear and also the rain boots as you prepare for this very soggy day. the seven-day forecast clears it out for the weekend, but another storm system late sunday into

monday. mike has a new traffic alert in the south bay. >> the rain you are talking about is showing having traveled throughout the north bay, hoefrd over there, then moved down the bay, across the bay. the green all over your map, this is what shows you where you will have slick roadways, obviously everywhere. the blue over here, the ponding and puddling hitting san francisco and coming over through the san mateo hills. this has been a problem, the south bay and southbound 101 which is jammed right now. chp issues a sig alert for your left lanes which are blocked south 101 at shoreline boulevard. it sounds like they're trying to get a tow truck there quickly but right now we have two lanes blocked, the two left lanes. that is a problem out of palo alto and heading down toward highway 85 a and in toward microsoft, linked in, that area with google. north 85 where kris reports there is a crash blocking your two right lanes, the tow truck at least one will arrive in five or ten minutes, they're looking for two. that is a tough drive. there is the south bay with

slowing for 87 and 101. minor there. the loi look be from our san jose camera, a lot of rain, slick roads and the commute kicking in at the same time that's why we're seeing a number of crashes. be careful, folks. coming up breaking news shocking new accusations against kevin spacey. what he's accused of while working at london's world famous theater. the santa clara county board of education has a new superintendent. dr. mary an dewan was just named to the post. john gunned ri left after claims of harassment. elephant trophies can soon be brought into the u.s. president trump reversing an obama era ban that banned.

we )re in a microclimate weather alert this morning-- as wtr welcome back to you on this thursday morning. we are in that microclimate weather alert this morning as we're tracking a strong storm moving through the bay area. on your left is a live look from our san rafael camera up at the s curve, you can see traffic crawling along. on your right are live radar showing exactly where the rain is right now. we have full team coverage coming up in just five minutes. we went on the air early this morning at 4:00 a.m. to bring

you the latest. >> bob redell is in dublin in morning. you may have seen his live report a few moments ago. take a look at this new video he posted on twitter. it shows roads on 580 as you can see right there, definitely going to be a slick one out there for a lot of people. you can follow him that's @bob nbc to see the updates from the field. when you buy booze you trust the proof that's printed on the label but what about the potency of pot. >> state regulators will require labs to test marijuana so consumers know what they're buying but as liz wagner explains some may be fudging the results. >> reporter: as part of our investigation we spoke with a seller who said he can get pot testing companies to boost numbers. patrick griffith makes marijuana oil for vaping cartridges, his products are rich in thc. the more thc marijuana has the more its worth. griffith admits every place he

has worked he has shopped around for labs that will give him the best results. >> where has it happened? >> everywhere. colorado, washington, oregon, here. >> california? >> yes, right here in california. we can definitely do some things can some numbers if we are not happy with the numbers we're getting from one lab, we will go to another, explaining our situation and get our numbers. >> isn't that lying? is it fraud? >> yes. yeah, that would be lying and fraud. >> he says some labs agree to boost numbers to boost their own business. now he's speaking out to warn regulators but our investigation found fraud isn't the only problem facing the state. coming up tonight at 11:00, see what happens when we send the same pot samples to different labs. we will show you why scientists say our experiment exposes weaknesses in weed testing. back to you. if you have a story for our investigative unit give us a call, that number is 888-996-tips or send an e-mailt

happening today a redwood city mcdonald's employee accused of trying to flush a newborn baby down the toilet is due in court. sara lochner delivered that baby in the bathroom on labor day while she was working at the fast food chain. she had been dlafrd about stomach pain, a coworker went on to check with her and told police she saw a newborn baby face down in that toilet with lochner's hand on the baby's back and heard the toilet flush. lochner says she didn't realize she was pregnant. she has fleeded not guilty. attorneys are expected to set a hearing date today. some victims of the north bay wildfires will be able to ride smart for free. the press democrat reports smart officials are going to issue 10,000 temporary passes that will allow certain people to ride for free. smart already offered free service for two weeks after the fires, now the new passes can be used for unlimited rides through

the end of the year. smart board members hope that this will help people get through the holidays. happening today it's your last chance to weigh in on traffic improvements. transportation leaders have been holding public meetings to talk about the 101/85 connector. they are hoping to cut some congestion out. transit officials are looking at creating more hov lanes or adding a light rail option and express bus service. tonight's meeting is at 6:00 at the mountain view senior center. that video obviously taken some days prior because now the rain is coming down in the bay area. we are tracking the storm, we have a live look at our radar showing the rain sweeping through the bay area, also tracking a number of accidents impacting your morning commute as drivers try to navigate the slick roads. new video into our newsroom showing the conditions outside. we have live team coverage so you're ready to head out of the

door. and flooding fears, fire victims in the north bay trying to prevent another catastrophe as crews work around the clo k to prevent flooding, landslides, even sinkholes from forming during the storm. "today in the bay" continues right now. let's start out at 6:00 with a live look at our radar this morning. all of that green and yellow showing you exactly where the rain is falling this morning. it's coming down. and get used to it, it will last for a lot of the day. good morning, i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. we have full team coverage this morning with crews stationed in every part of the bay this morning monitoring those conditions for you in your neighborhood. let's begin with meteorologist kari hall she has been tracking the timing of this form storm. >> and the timing has slowed down as we will see this linger longer as we go throughout the day especially for the south bay and this system has been dumping a steady amount of rain and moving very slowly. so if you're seeing the rain now

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