weathe and good friday morning to you. we have issued a microclimate weather alert for you. a live look outside in san francisco right now, a beautiful sight there. take a look at this radar. we're getting prepared for the next round of rain that's going to hit later this morning. thank you so much for joining us here on "today in the bay." i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm laura garcia. let's talk about that weather right now, kind of light drizzle out there right now. >> starts out light, it will get heavier as we go throughout the day and in time for the morning commute around 9:00 to 10:00, it's going to really start to fill in here on storm ranger. we can see the storm as it approaches. you can see the swirl of the clouds that will be moving closer to the coast and bringing us more rounds of rain.

here we are at 10:00, 11:00 and we see heavier rain moving into the coast and areas from san rafael on southward, and then moving all across the bay area by this afternoon. so we'll continue to track this storm, and what you can expect as you head into the weekend, coming up, and mike, we're back to normal in the richmond bridge. >> the richmond bridge, exactly. the camera is still turned from where we covered it last night. i was here for the 5:00 and 6:00 reports as well in the evening because we had that bridge closure. it's reopened, westbound lanes, the upper deck are moving smoothly and eastbound the lower deck also, that's a smooth drive there. so we'll show you on our maps talking about here, no more problems. we expect typical friday traffic for highway 37. yesterday it was a major alternate and a major pain. the bay bridge no problem and anywhere south of there looking at a good flow of traffic. kari is talking about the colder temperatures and the weather changes we're looking at snow and a little bit of ice in the hills of course. we'll send it back to you. >> thanks so much, mike. as you were just talking about, the richmond-san rafael

bridge back open, the bridge shut down for hours because of falling chunk of concrete. for thousands of drivers who really depend on it, the question is, is it safe? >> cal trans says there's still some work to do but the short term fix as mike just mentioned is done. "today in the bay's" bob redell live from the richmond side of the bridge with more on some of those repairs happening out there. bob? >> reporter: cal trans installed large metal plates on the upper deck of the richmond-san rafael bridge behind me where the concrete deteriorated and the transportation issued an emergency order to get a crew in there this weekend so they can do a permanent fix. chp showed us the area in question where you can see the concrete detached from the upper deck, which is the westbound direction and landed below onto the lower deck, which is the eastbound direction. the first chunks fell yesterday morning around 10:30, hit a mercedes, a car. that driver didn't stop. that person's okay. but they did call 911 to report

major damage to their vehicle. about 45 minutes later, around 11:15 yesterday morning, concrete chunks the size of a football and golf ball dropped from the upper deck. chp eventually shut down the entire bridge in both directions, had to escort vehicles off the structure. then one lane in each direction was reopened in the afternoon, but then shut down again the entire bridge, as more concrete fell. cal trans temporarily fixed the problem as i mentioned and they reopened the entire bridge last night around 7:30. nbc bay area's investigative unit first reported the bridge was problematic, back in 2015, when we found it on a list of bridges engineers had issues with, but though it was not formally listed as a bridge with structural deficiencies but the ratings system showed it was close. since then, cal trans has been working to rehabilitate the bridge by working on the steel structure for the last two years or so. reporting live in richmond at the richmond-san rafael bridge toll plaza, bob redell, "today

in the bay." >> thanks so much for that update there, bob. >> a lot of concerns. we've got continuing coverage this morning of the massive gas line explosion in san francisco. it happened on wednesday, but the problems are still lingering. take a look who is on the scene now, federal investigators, and for good reason. they've got some big questions as to why it happened. pg&e will be there to answer some questions. back to people living in the explosion zone are facing at the this hour. >> dozens are without power but as jean lle reports pg&e has gas service workers stationed in that neighborhood around the clock. >> reporter: federal investigators get their first look at the damage caused by the gas pipeline explosion on geary in san francisco. the national transportation safety board team will spend several days looking into the explosion and fire that left several homes and businesses damage

damag damaged or destroyed. >> what was going on in the pipeline control centers, we'll be looking at everything from work hours to training of personnel, to what happened at the time of the explosion, where the valves are. >> reporter: there are several companies involved, their primary contractor mastek sis subcontractor kilford engineering struck the line. we couldn't find a website for the company, just this san francisco house where the business is listed. cal osha says it has no violations on its record. pg&e says it got a request to mark underground lines at geary and parker and a crew completed the job on january 28th. >> it's kind of sayry, we were worried we were going to lose our houses. >> reporter: phil says he won't forget the explosion and long wait for the gas to be shut off. pg&e says distribution lines don't have automatic shutoff valves like larger transmission lines, and it took more than two hours to stop the flow of gas

because crews had to dig into the street by hand. crews began restoring gas service for hundreds of customers who spent the night without gas heat. >> thank you very much. >> it would be nice to have heat, yeah. i got a little grandson. >> reporter: as life begins to return to normal for some neighbors, the ntsb is hoping its investigation will help prevent another explosion. jean elle, "today in the bay." new details of an infamous san francisco dog mauling case. the judge denied parole for marjorie noler she and her husband made national headlines when their dog escaped their pacific heights apartment and killed their 33-year-old neighbor, diane whipple. knoller's husband was not home at the time but served two years in prison for improper care of an attack dog. knoller received a harsher sentence because she did nothing to stop at tack. california commissioners yesterday denied her first shot at parole. 4:36 and new details

involving last year's deadly butte county firestorm. the number of people unaccounted for has now dropped from three to two. this is after sacramento authorities located a man on the list who they say actually had an active warrant out for his arrest. also it now turns out that the remains of what authorities always believed was two separate people are actually from the same person. that puts the revised death toll at 85. san jose being honored by the department for taking guns off the streets. >> 30 officers were given a special pin to wear on their uniforms, credited with seizing 166 guns in 2018. it's part of a larger crackdown on gun crimes in san jose. >> the city impact that gun violence has on communities and i think it's just important, drives home the point that, as officers, we just need to say proactive. >> chief eddie garcia says most

of those gun cases came from simple traffic stops or situations where a person was committing a lower level crime. coming up here on "today in the bay," a new decision by johnson & johnson, the new piece of information the company will now tell you in its commercials. plus, sears not going away. we're going to explain the decision that is keeping that retailer open. and a live look at that radar, rain is sprinkling in the area right now. when will all of that come our way? meteorologist kari hall is tracking that for us right now. she'll have more for you right after the break. 4:38. you're watching "today in the bay." sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty.

because you're better off healthy.

good morning. i'm frank holland at cnbc global headquarters. here are today's top business headlines. wall street is set to open up lower this morning, dow futures down about 130 points, possibly adding to yesterday's losses. the dow dropping nearly 400 points yesterday at the lows of the day, but eventually closed down only about 220 points. investors are focusing on the ongoing trade tensions between the u.s. and china. after president trump said a meeting with china's president is not likely, before march 1st deadline when the u.s. may raise tariffs on chinese imports from 10. to 20%. weak economic data from europe is heightening concerns slowing growth in china is impacting the rest of the world. john sson & johnson will stt

listing prices of its prescription drugs in ads. j&j will start with xarelto. next month ads will show the list price plus out-of-pocket costs. it will appear at the end of the ad and link to a site where people can enter their insurance data to get more information. the move follows a proposal by the trump administration to require drug prices in ads. and sears gets a second chance. a bankruptcy judge approved a last-minute deal to save the owner of sears and kmart stores. under that proposal the major remaining assets of sears will be sold to its chairman and largest shareholder eddie lampert. without that approval, sears would have almost been liqu liquidat liquidated. instead 425 stores and 45,000 jobs will be saved. marcus and laura, back over to you. >> a lot of workers are happy. >> always nice to see the softer side of sears. >> absolutely. >> thanks a lot, frank. coming up here on "today in the bay," we are under a microclimate weather alert, as another round of rain moves in.

kari is monitoring it all for us. >> we do start out with some dry weather. right now as we take a live look in fremont, and it is a good time to hit the roads, head to work and get things done early. we are going to see some very chilly temperatures. only making it into the low 50s as the rain arrives. we'll look at storm ranger coming up next. while we're tracking that time line, along with kari, we look over here at your commute along with 580, moves smoothly through dublin. talking about the richmond to san rafael bridge also reopened. i'll show you what it looks like.

and good friday morning to you. taking a live look out at this picture of oakland. rain on its way. meteorologist kari hall is monitoring that for us. she's going to give us an update coming up in just a sec. in yf you haven't eaten breakfast yet what about this idea, a meat loaf doughnut. a maker in germany has this idea. it's taken off an social media, ingredients, a doughnut, sweet mustard and a big old slab of meatloaf which you're bound to have in the back of the fridge. by the way the meatloaf is said to be more like bologna and less like something grandmother would make. looks like a slab of ham. >> i was like is that ham? >> i don't know about that meatloaf but it sounds like i would -- >> sensible for breakfast?

>> people are calling ham meatloaf. >> in bavaria. >> i was like, what? okay, yeah. >> tastes more like blowing in a. >> so ham is meat, so it's a loaf of it, i guess. i don't know. it's a little early. >> they should have said loaf of meat. sounds more appetizing. >> a little early. it's early for all of that. >> paeizza. >> i want to make sure you're prepared for the next round of rain moving into the bay area. we are in a microclimate weather alert because everyone headed out the door early will kind of miss out on the showers, but it will be here, going into late morning and early afternoon. right now, just a few spotty sprinkles for parts of the peninsula and moving into san francisco right now. the bigger storm still well offshore and we're going to see it work its way into the bay area, but we can see it is targeting right across the bay area, parts of the north bay and will continue to move in. so as you're getting dressed, you do still need a coat. it is still cold outside, and then maybe instead of just the

leather boots, how about the rain boots because you'll need those today. let's talk about the timing, by 11:00 to 12:00, we're seeing a pretty good coverage of some rain, and where we see the yellows and the reds that indicate some heavier rain, we are going to see that going into early afternoon as well, and then it will be off and on going into the evening. we should start to see things taper off tonight, and there will be a little bit of a break for tomorrow morning, if you have some early morning plans that may be your opportunity to get some things done. by 1:00, the next round of rain is moving in and it will continue into the evening. also seeing some of those snow levels dropping by late saturday into sunday morning, and then we'll see a break on monday, but then by monday night into tuesday, the next storm will be moving in. it's going to be busy, and you can probably already see that in the seven-day forecast, but we're looking at between now and monday another inch, possibly an inch and a half of rain all across the bay area. if you're making plans to go to

the sierra, some of the heavier snow really starts to come in later on tonight, and you may have a few more hours to get there before that snow continues all throughout the weekend. we are looking at another round of significant snowfall totals, the potential getting another two to three feet of snow over the next couple of days. so we are also tracking some cooler temperatures for us, and a bit of a break on monday. by tuesday once again, it gets soggy once again. heading over to mike, you have more info on the richmond-san rafael bridge. >> kari, first of all, it's still open, since about 7:30 last night. we were talking about that. these lanes just on the edge of the screen i had noticed some cones and flashing lights. there was a road crew there, but they were working on what looked like the approach to the richmond bridge toll plaza. that has just cleared in the last few minutes so i just wanted to note that, if you saw the flashing lights t appears to be what was going on. the span itself remained open, as we said, since last night, that's 580. that should mean a smoother, pretty normal drive across that

bay bridge and highway 37. we'll watch to see a different traffic flow in case people hadn't heard, i know folks were on alert for that. morgan hill moves smoothly for 101. colder conditions and snow in the hills of course. kari talks about more rain coming in later on this morning, and over here, highway 17 we have one report by the katz restaurant of standing water, a flooding report already, so we're tracking that. it sounds like maybe just a larger puddle. i'll let you know if it's any worse than that. no delays for the transit systems. monday, b.a.r.t. starts at 5:00 instead of at 4:00. earlier trains have shifted so we'll be covering that as well. back to you. >> thanks, mike. only on nbc bay area, there's a new high-tech way to report crime in the east bay. pinole police launched a first of its kind video program to face to face on your smartphone. callers can now report minor crimes and suspicious activity using skype, facetime life or facebook messenger.

>> it's more personable. it's a different kind of experience. you get to connect more with your community, and also instead of just talking on the phone, it's a better way to connect with the person and be more of an assistance for them. >> that service is offered just two days a week to start. if it takes off, they plan to add more days. happening today, oakland police will try to hammer home the message not to drink and drive on city roadways. police tonight will conduct a dui crackdown with checkpoints and added patrols. the increase enforcement period runs all night from 6:00 p.m. until 2:00 in the morning. happening this weekend, a chance to learn more about an important event in bay area black history. >> tomorrow, they'll mark the 75th anniversary of the trail surrounding the disaster at port chicago. in july of 1944, more than 300 people died in a massive explosion at the port near concord. many were young black sailors ordered to load and unload explosives with no training and inadequate equipment. that prompted 50 black sailors

to refuse to go back to work. they became known as port chicago 50. well, while they were eventually convicted of mutiny, they also paved the way for social justice movement that followed. >> they were the precursor to the desegregation of the u.s. armed forces, and so at the time, it did not seem that their work meant anything, but it was through their courage that we were able as a nation to finally see that the situation that happened at port chicago was a cause to begin to desegregate. >> port chicago story is another one of those threads of history that starts back in 1944, but continues into concerns of the future with black lives matter and colin kaepernick. >> the event starts at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow at the treasure island museum, and it's free. it will include a panel of speakers and clips from films

covering the topic. coming up here on "today in the bay," "nbc bay area responds." >> hackers are attacking home buyers and stealing their downpayments. we investigate what's being done about it. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. "nbc bay area responds," next. but first, happening now at 4:53, australia's leading security agency is investigating a breach of the country's federal computing network. this morning, there's speculation of hacking by a foreign nation. the senate president says there's no evidence that data had been accessed in that breach. however, lawmakers and staff in the capital changed their passwords on the system. more news right after this break. sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy.

>> welcome back and welcome to friday morning. still dark out there waiting for the sun's arrival. the rain will be moving in as well, taking a live look along the peninsula and pa low al owe this morning. imagine you're buying a house and now imagine that downpayment you saved for just vanishes. >> that's what's happening to someone just about every day. consumer investigator chris chmura and his team see a dangerous trend in home buying and they're having trouble getting the industry as a whole to take it seriously. >> good morning. we're tracking a scam that's clearly on the rise. thieves are spoofing agent's emails then tricking home buyers into sending millions of dollars in downpayments overseas, where they disappear. the bad guys keep getting away with it, and innocent families keep falling for it. we're asking the big names in real estate what they're doing to protect families, but we had to take a six-hour flight just to spark a discussion with insiders who are willing to speak out, people like nate baker, who is trying to stop the scam. should there be more discussions

like this, out in the open? >> yeah, there needs to be a lot more conversation about this. i think people have the view oh, it won't happen to me. >> it is happening to people, like this man, who lost 300 grand. you'll hear from him tonight at 11:00. we'll also lay out how the big power brokers in home buying could try to combat the scam, and we'll tell you about a surprising turn of events when we simply ask the most influential groups to brainstorm. if you know anyone who has fallen for this home buying scam, please tell us about it at nbcbayarea.com/responds, or call us, 888-996-tips. i'll see you again tonight at 11:00. 4:57 right now. you know, it may be in the middle of winter, but that's not stopping the san jose sharks from really heating up. >> sharkies just two points out of first place in their division. this, after they beat the team in front of them, calgary, last night in calgary. brent burns scored a short-handed goal to give the sharks a 2-1 lead in the first

period and eventually won the game 5-2, that is their fourth win in a row. keep it up, guys. coming up next on "today in the bay," kari with that microclimate weather alert. >> we do start out dry, but the rain moves in later on this morning. walnut creek starts out only at 41 degrees. we'll see more clouds and then rain by later this morning. we'll take a look at all of our microclimates and when you can expect the rain, coming up next. and ooh t looks a little dark in palo alto. i'll adjust the lighting on all of our cameras. this is 101, no problems. there's not enough headlights to completely light it up, that's great for those speeds. we'll show you the rest of your commute coming up. plus, we're staying on top of the fire and gas explosion in san francisco. the new agency now on scene investigating what went wrong. a

we )ve issued a microclimate weather alert! our storm ranger working hard giving you the c friday morning, a live look at the radar as we issued a microclimate weather alert. our storm ranger working hard to give you the clearest view of that storm. we're tracking showers as we expect a very rainy weekend ahead. good morning to you and thanks so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. mike will have a look at the commute for you in just a bit but first we want to start with meteorologist kari hall looking at that weather out there. rain is coming. >> rain is coming, only starts as sprinkles as you get ready to head out the door. this is storm ranger, we have it parked on san bruno mountain and the red scan you're