-welcome -wednesday, january 3rd -live look at san francisco good wednesday morning to you, january 3rd, as we take a live look outside san francisco. nice and clear, but things could change later today. meteorologist, kari hall has a look at that in a few seconds. good morning, thanks for joining us, i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez. laura garcia is off. we are feeling the wednesday blues. kari, you brought us a pop of color. >> red wednesday, i guess? do whatever feels right. grab the umbrella before you head out especially if you are going out this morning. we are tracking our next weather system that will bring us rain and finally moving in this afternoon. as we get a look at the radar satellite right now, shows the

rain well offshore. we have several hours until the rain moves in. as we look at the time line, there is a possibility we'll have light rain in the santa cruz mountains. the push of heavier rain, potentially thunderstorms moving in this afternoon. look at the time line there, at about 2:00 this afternoon. i'll be talking more about when this becomes more widespread in a few minutes. we are out there on the roads with an early look at traffic. >> we have off to a good start this wednesday morning. it is all green. no major slowing or accidents to report at this time. chp hasn't reported anything major. if we look at the bay bridge, we can see it is looking beautiful, but, if you notice the cars out there, well, we are starting to see slowing. i haven't seen them turn on metering lights, it's early for that. i'm going investigate what that is all about. they might have one of the metering lights on to slow down

traffic a bit. i'll give you an update on that in a bit. back to you. >> thank you. now, a developing story we are watching today. police believe the man on your screen sexually assaulted and robbed a teacher inside her own classroom. this happened tuesday morning at a prominent private school in san jose. >> school officials say they are stepping up security. thom jensen has a look from harper middle school. >> yeah, look out for this guy, you know. we need to catch him. >> reporter: right across the street from harper middle school. this couple lives down the block. >> most of the times i'm working. myself, sometimes in the morning or evening. r >> reporter: the video and what happened here sends chills down their spine. are you going to feel safe until he is caught? >> no, i won't. it's scary. we have winter break going on

for our kids. it's not -- i don't feel safe until he is gone. >> reporter: the suspect walked on to campus where he robbed and sexually assaulted a teacher, who was alone in her classroom. >> we will have a police presence at the campus before school, during school and after school. >> reporter: that promise from san jose pd and another from the school, which says it is adding additional security until the man is locked up. the video, the most important thing we can show you, the man leaving less than an hour before students arrive. leaving on foot, back into the neighborhood. thom jensen, nbc bay area news. >> you can see that video on our website if you want to share that. the head of homeland security is set to be here in the bay area. he is going to visit the neighborhoods damaged by the north bay wildfires.

secretary kirsten kneelson is set to get an update with officials. we plan to talk to her in santa rosa. president trump declared a national declaration for the wildfires. more than 5,000 homes were wiped out. bay area district leaders are investigating the flairing incident at the chevron refinery in richmond. flairing briefly exceeded state limits. this happened 8:30 sunday night and the air district received at least one resident complaint. they say they did not exceed their own or federal limits, only those set by the state. happening today, the first of five scheduled snow surveys at phillip station. this is a live camera at that location. the department of water resources says it will measure hundreds of sites during the winter and spring and use the

data to predict run off from the mountains. one of the driest bay area decembers on record could add to the critical water rainfall totals. compared to this time last year, water levels at most bay area dams were way down, that means anderson dam in morgan hill that opened their spillway in january. they are at 20% capacity. the next three months are critical to maintaining healthy water reserve. >> we guest much of our rainfall in january through march. we are off to a slow start, that's for sure. >> water agencies say they are keeping a watchful eye on the winter rainfall numbers. but, no one is really throwing around that dreaded "d" word yet. new details for raiders fans. seems all that talk about john

gruden coming back to the team is not just smoke in mirrors. he talked to the mercury news and yes, he is being considered for the raiders head coaching job. it would be kind of a full circle thing for gruden who last coached the raiders back in 2001. but, he was then traded for a draft pick. gruden is expected to call the espn wild card game. after that, they will announce their new head coach. niners have to keep their fingers crossed the team can work something out with jimmy garoppolo's work. the man, john lynch made clear holding on to him will be the top off season priority. >> you have assurances and the fans do, that we would like nothing more than to make him a

niner for a long, long time. >> right now, he is a pending free agent. the niners can give him the franchise tag if they can't work on the long-term deal. they have until march 6th to make that decision. that is a short time. coming up on "today in the bay," the new tax law putting extra money in the pockets of southwest airline employees. they are not alone. a look at how much money we are talking about. plus, lyft is ready to offer the self-driving car service to certain customers. where the driver free service is lifting customers from one location to another. good morning, i )m landon dowdy

live at cnbc global dq good morning, i'm landon dowdy, live at cnbc world headquarters. wall street is set to add to yesterday's gains in stocks rallied on 2018 led by the tech sector. nasdaq closing at a record high with the best gain in six weeks. manufacturing and auto sales. the dow rising 104 points yesterday, to 24,824 and nasdaq up 103 to 7006. american and southwest airlines are giving employees $1,000 bonus in the wake of the new u.s. tax law. they will make the payout in the first quarter. southwest will be this month. they join a host of companies, such as at&t, bowing and nbc

parent company, comcast, who promised to pay bonuses or invest in trading to cut the corporate rate. self-driving cars for people who are attending the consumer electronic show in las vegas next week. you will be able to grab a car anywhere. they can be reflected from the convention center. passengers will get an inform dif exhibit showing off the potential. marcus and kris, back to you. >> welcome back. >> happy new year to you, landon. well, we have been talking about it, bringing in the forecast. it's the only rain we have gotten this year. meteorologist, kari hall looking at whether we will need that umbrella. >> we will need that umbrella later on this afternoon. we started out with dry weather. we'll have a few more hours with mostly cloudy skies and warming temperatures going from the

upper 40s to 63 degrees this afternoon. we'll talk about exactly when that rain arrives and how much you can expect, coming up next. we are off to a slow start, but seeing traffic building up in san jose. you can see plenty of headlights there on this wednesday morning. i'll have a look at the bay bridge and the san mateo bridge. a live look, as you can see we are not seeing too much traffic. an update in just a bit. a proactive tweet from president trump. the president comparing nuclear buttons. the story and what else is on the president's agenda. -figure skating championships

it is 4:44 right now. why are we looking at s.a.p. center? because the figure skating championships are happening today. we are super excited about that. of course you know you can watch all the olympic action here on nbc. as people head out there and head down, there's a chance of rain. >> rain later this afternoon. make sure you bring the umbrella. a lot of people like to walk downtown san jose. you want to make sure you are prepared for it all. we start out this morning with cool temperatures, mostly cloudy skies and dry conditions. the seven day forecast is coming up. temperatures now, mostly upper 40s, heading into the mid-60s today. 65 degrees in san jose and 63 degrees in palo alto. we are going to have low 60s for the north bay and 59 degrees today in san francisco.

livermore, 63 degrees. as we get a look at what to wear this morning and for the day, it will be a good day for wearing a nice, warm coat to start. also, we talked about that, don't forget the umbrella. as we go through the rest of the day, you'll be comfortable wearing long sleeves and a good day to wear boots, especially if you are thinking you might be outside for a while and have to step over those puddles. here is a look at the storm system that will be approaching today. starting to see those clouds moving in. the rain well offshore. nothing going on inland. as we look at the time line, we could see rain moving in as early as 9:30 for the santa cruz mountains. i don't think we'll see the rain until later today. a lot of times we get in the rain shadow in the valley and see the heavier downpours moving in early afternoon by 2:00. we see more widespread rain. where we see the yellow

indicates heavier pockets of rain. that's where we will have the chance of getting isolated thunderstorms. so, don't be surprised if you hear rumbles of thunder today. it will be time to move inside. we'll have a higher chance of some of those thunderstorms moving in as we go into this evening and continuing into early tomorrow morning. this first round of rain, we have the potential of getting up to an inch of rain in santa rosa. mostly a quarter inch of rain and tenth inch for areas farther to the south. after that, we are looking at a couple more rounds of showers in the forecast on sunday, a slight chance of rain late. our temperatures will be cooling off as well over the next few days. vianey, how is it looking for the commuters? >> so far, so good. look at the bay area. you can see, we are not seeing red and yellow. as i zoom in over toward westbound 580, we are seeing slight delays. this is due to an earlier crash.

on top of that crash, there was a stalled vehicle that was blocking one of the lanes. chp is reporting that traffic collision is to the side. it should recover nicely for a couple hours. taking a live look at the bay bridge, remember, i told you i wasn't sure if the metering lights were on, chp isn't reporting that. there's something going on in the fast track lane. i'm not sure what is going on. it's causing slowing. as we look at the san mateo bridge, we don't have major delays there, a bunch of taillights and headlights. looks like we are seeing a smooth commute for a wednesday morning. back to you. >> thanks, vianey. happening today, congress gets back to work with two new democrats and no budget. tracie potts is reporting what they are hoping to accomplish. >> reporter: the senate swears in two new democrats today, doug

jones of alabama and tina smith of minnesota. they are meeting with congressional leaders about spending limits. the latest budget shutdown is january 19th. >> the president wants a two-year budget deal that provides realistic budget caps and certainty for our national security. >> reporter: congress needs to take quick action on children's health insurance, disaster relief and stabilizing obamacare marketplaces. the white house says there will be no talks about what democrats want. daca, protecting young immigrants brought here illegally. >> there's chain migration issues. they are things you can find solutions to. all people, all sides have to be ready. >> compromise with one key republican on the way out the door. >> for me, that time is soon

approaching. >> reporter: utah's orrin hatch, announced he is retiring. president trump is watching that and north korea. he tweeted america's nuclear button is bigger and more powerful and it works. early this morning, south korea announced north korea is opening a line of communication. it's a hopeful sign that tensions between the two might be easing. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> thank you. 4:50 now. new this morning, a stunning, new accusation against a former taliban hostage. joshua boyle, the canadian man recently freed with his family is charged with several crimes, including sexual assault. that is according to several media reports. the crimes allegedly happened after boyle was freed. he made his first court appearance on new year's day and scheduled to appear in court this morning. boyle and his wife were kidnapped by militants while

hiking in afghanistan in 2012. she is american. his wife was pregnant at the time of their kidnapping. continuing coverage on the ongoing hepatitis a crisis in southern california. san diego county leaders are extending the public health emergency for the 12th time. they say the number of cases are declining. the last two weeks, only six new cases were reported in the county. that brings the total to 577 cases. 20 people have died. since the outbreak began, they are giving free vaccinations to the homeless community. combatting a growing problem. a fire prevention task force could come to los angeles to tackle issues of homeless encampment fires. this comes after the recent skirball fire. they are looking at a task force to keep it from happening again.

a plan is evaluating the homeless when ever there is a high fire danger. hundreds of students are heading back to school after the lilac fire in san diego county. it's less than a month after the wildfire burned more than 4,000 acres. the fire prompted school closures and forced thousands to evacuate. four schools reopened in the area yesterday. coming up on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. the threat of collections for a bill he says he didn't owe in the first place. i'm consumer investigator, chris chmura. nbc bay area responds, next. ethiopia is dropping charges against political first, happening now, breaking news out of africa. ethiopia is dropping charges against prisoners and closing prison camps. it's not clear how many political prisoners are in custody. the people in the country are quick to support that move. here in the u.s., mortgage

applications were lower at the end of 2017. that's because interest rates were rising. application volume is down 3% for the last two weeks of 2017. we have more news coming up for you afterthe break. sfx: tinny headphone music

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to a san jose man who says he was being threatened with looking live at fremont, traffic is moving smoothly. no rain consideration at this point. as you head out for work this morning, make sure you bring the umbrella. you won't need it early, but may need it on the way home. nbc bay air y responds to a san jose man who says he is being threatened for collections for a bill he didn't owe. >> that has to be nerve-racking.

>> dan jacobson had internet service. he canceled it in january of 2016. he says he sent all of the equipment back to exede. however, it continued to bill him. he called the company, but no one would help. in the meantime, his bill escalated to more than $500. exede was threatening to turn it over to a collection agency. dan turned to us for help. we contacted exede and they dropped the bill. they said dan never canceled the service. they said we understand miscommunication can occur. in the interest of giving him the benefit of the doubt, we have erased the balance due. this is another reminder, when you cancel a service, any service, ask for confirmation in writing and an invoice that shows a zero balance. if you have a consumer complaint

call 888-996-tips or online at www.nbcbayarea.com/responds. coming up on "today in the bay," kari is tracking the rain chances today. >> we will see rain moving in by this afternoon. we are tracking the storm system as it moves closer to the coast. we will talk about the time line and how much rain you can expect, coming up. remember that slowing that i was tracking along the bay bridge. i think it's safe to say that the metering lights seem to be officially on. look at the drive times coming up in a bit. plus, mavericks is on after title wave of controversy. what we are learning about the surf competition that has so many people hoping to hang ten. city

-tracking rain chances good wednesday morning and welcome back. a live look outside at foster city right now. traffic is moving there. yes, we are going to get rain today. kari is tracking the chances throughout the bay area. it's a beautiful day. good morning, thanks for joining us, i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez. laura garcia is off. we will talk about that traffic picture in a minute. kari, the timing of that rain is good news for morning commuters. >> today is the day you have to make sure the windshield wipers are working. it's been a while. they may i approahave cracked a

up. also, make sure your tires are good before that rain arrives. as we look outside in downtown san jose, nice and quiet. mostly cloudy skies. here is what to expect for the temperature. the high reaching mid-60s and mostly cloudy. the scattered rain moves in, shortly after noon with storms possible, especially this evening. tomorrow, the times of rain will continue and we will have cooler temperatures. as we check out those temperatures and how they trend throughout noon, up to 61 degrees. it will be a very nice day. let's head over to vianey to see how the roads are moving this morning. >> they continue to move along quite nicely. now that we are at that 5:00 hour, you can expect to see build up. overall look at the bay area, not too bad. some slowing at westbound 580. that has cleared to the side. all you see, really, is a lot of green on the map. but, i do want to give you