right now at 4:30, a brewing legal battle now heating up over california's vote by mail order amid the coronavirus pandemic. a live report and the lawsuit just filed by the republican party and how governor gavin newsom is responding. plus, now hiring. the bay area county looking to start employing more contact tracers. and a live look in san jose this memorial day as many prepare to head outside. temperatures are set to heat up approaching the triple digits in some spots. we're issuing a microclimate weather alert.

kari hall is timing it all out for us. well, good morning to everyone. thanks for joining us on this memorial day. i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm laura garcia. i hope you had a great weekend. all right, here we are, an extended day for a lot of folks. meteorologist kari hall, you're telling us about the microclimate weather alert. yes. it's going to be a really hot day today and i know this would usually be a time people are gathering and heading out to some of those memorial day ceremonies and parades. we are not seeing that today but we're also still looking at some really hot temperatures for anyone outside as we are going to see our highs today starting to build into the upper 90s. so i'll have a look at that in the forecast. that's coming up in a few minutes and i'll let you know how long that lasts. mike, you've been up this morning watching the roads. what's going on? well, kari, a lot of folks have been up overnight fixing the roads. we will a full closure of the nimitz. green sensors including the

stretch that was slowed down until about 15, 20 minutes ago. north 880 just reopened approaching the market street area. a reminder they'll have overnight closures between market and union as they continue to progress along the nimitz project. keep that in mind over the next few weeks and i'll give you a shoutout if there's anything big of note, guys. back to you. >> all right, thank you very much. moving forward and looking ahead, today governor gavin newsom is facing two major issues -- when to start entering phase three in our state and, also, what to do about an all-mail-in election ballot in november. it's the reason for a big lawsuit. i want to check in with "today in the bay's" kris sanchez covering both stories this morning. kris? >> reporter: good morning to you, laura. definitely not all male. women allowed to vote, of course. a lot of us vote by mail.

you might be wondering what is the big deal. both parties, national and state, say this will cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election. in case you missed it, the republican national committee announced they would sue the state of california for the all-mail election. back story governor gavin newsom used an executive order to say every eligible registered voter in the state should get a mail-in ballot. the rnc says that arbitrarily changed the voter registration which will call into question the integrity and the accuracy of the voter rolls. the governor's office released a statement reading california will continue to defend californians' right to vote including their right to vote by mail and the right to hold an election that is safe, secure, and accessible. votershoose between their health and their right to vote. governor newsom is expected to address the issue today at his press conference along with entering phase three. and now most of the bay area

just entered phase two. a lot of folks are eager to reopen churches, salons and gyms and not just the folks who attend or need some services but also the small business owners who don't know how much longer they can last. governor newsom said that phase three might begin in june which, of course, is already next week. time is flying by. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> that it is, kris. thank you. we have a new number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus here in the bay area. there are now 15 new cases reported in marin county. santa clara county is announcing 47 new cases. its largest one-day rise in more than a month. that brings the total cases in the bay area to more than 12,000. 4,027 people have died. nearly 4,000 people have died. many popular memorial day tributes are canceled because of the pandemic, but you can still

honor those killed, those men and women, while in service to our country. "today in the bay's" bob redell joins us live. bob, i know online for a lot of people. >> reporter: correct, marcus. unfortunately, major events have been canceled like onboard the "uss hornet." what i'm about to show you is a list of things you can still participate virtually online. this is by no means a complete list. marin county will honor the military men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice with a wreath laying ceremony. this will start with a live feed on the marin county veteran council's facebook page. you can see the link to that live stream on your tv screen. that event will include a 21-gun salute, "taps." arlington national cemetery will remain closed to the general public. the cemetery will only be open

to people who are visiting their loved ones' graves and those participating in the 152nd national memorial day observance ceremony. there will be social distancing protocols in place. the wreath laying ceremony. the president will depart to baltimore for another ceremony to honor those who died on the front lines of war. coming up at 5:00, a memorial event that has not been canceled, that are still taking place in person, again, with social distancing protocols bob redell, "today in the bay." happening today bay area activists will hold a memorial day peace caravan to protest u.s. foreign policy in the military stationed around the world. organizers of san francisco bay area says the caravan starts at 1:00 p.m. through the streets of sausalito and into san francisco. the procession will end at the

home of dianne feinstein. after this a rally to demand military spending be instead spent to help environmental causes. happening today a pop-up testing site will open in mountain view. this is at the park aquatic center from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. testing is free and open to everyone. people over the age of 60, those with pre-existing conditions, and essential workers are encouraged to get tested monthly. new this morning, over the next three weeks, sonoma county plans to hire 150 people as part of its first big wave of contract tracers. "the press democrat" reports about half of the positions already have been filled. contact tracers interview people who have been infected or exposed. the job pays up to $22 an hour. trainees must complete a 20-hour online course. well, help could soon be on the

way for those just trying to make it in the bay. tomorrow marin and santa clara county's board of supervisors will consider extending their moratoriums on residential evictions past 30 days. the moratorium was put in place when tenants were facing difficulties paying because of the pandemic. it's set to expire next week. renters have up to 90 days after the expiration of the resolution to repay back rent. the city of berkeley is holding a food drive to give back to the community today. berkeley mayor and the school of islamic are partnering to give the food away to commemorate memorial day and the end of ramadan at the bear pantry at the university village community center. new this morning stanford students helping parents across the bay area to find a grab and go meal site for kids. students created a tech service

where parents can text their zip code and get a list of the nearest sites. they create this hd this site. it tells if a child needs to be enrolled in a specific school district. the number will be posted on nbcbayarea.com very shortly this morning. and in just a few hours the california air national guard will perform flyovers to thank frontline workers. the planes are scheduled to take off and land at moffett air national base and head all over the bay, right, marcus? >> that's true. the pilots will fly over medical facilities in redwood city, san francisco, petaluma and napa and then down in the east bay before wrapping up. the california national guard, they want you to maintain social distancing measures, of course, if you decide to check out those flyovers. should be a fun time indeed, laura. and in southern california more than a dozen vintage planes will

fly over to celebrate memorial day as well. the war birds similar to these flown in dallas will fly in an 18 plane format. this is over the orange and los angeles counties saluting health care workers and veterans. the convoy of vintage planes will pass over several airports, hospitals and memorials. historic world war ii ship saved from flames. next on "today in the bay," the damage done to pier 45 and the help that's now needed. plus, hitting the gas. when more dmv offices across the state are set to start reopening. it is 4:40 for you right now. you're watching "today in the bay."

right now at 4:42 as we get ready for this memorial day, the heat will be ramping up this afternoon. we start out with temperatures this morning in san jose at 62 degrees, but we see it leading up to the mid-80s and eventually some upper 90s. more on this and what's ahead in the microclimate forecast coming up in a few minute. >> all right, kari, thank you. san francisco's fishing industry not the only thing hit hard by that fire that ravaged fisherman's wharf this weekend. the historic "jeremiah o'brien" sustained minor damage this weekend because of the fire. it's one of the only two world war-era boats of its kind still

functional anywhere in the world. the captain says the fire heavily damaged the pier where the ship was moored and destroyed spare parts stored in the warehouse when the flames went up. >> we mostly had engineering parts and spare parts. we had some new tubes for our boilers that were going to be installed. we stored our two fork lifts in the shed. they were, of course, destroyed. >> the good news here everything that was damaged can be replaced. but restoring the pier will take time and money. the ship will have to be docked somewhere else for now and the organization now seeking donations. a motorcyclist is dead after a crash in the east bay. it happened about 7:30 last night at the intersection of foothill boulevard and havenscourt boulevard in oakland near the eastmontn center. the other driver is said to be cooperating with officers. also in oakland, new video

this morning of the aftermath of an encampment fire. the fire broke out last night near east 12th street and 17th avenue near international boulevard. firefighters say that no one was hurt and the cause of the fire is still being investigated. this morning kari is tracking a memorial day warm-up. yeah, we're starting out at least this morning with some cool temperatures as we get a look at where we are this morning, mostly some 50s and 60s. we will have some warm weather especially as we head towards the middle of the week. more on that coming up next. warm, okay, yeah. we're looking at a look at activity on the roadways though some folks have the day off. who has been working off and what that may mean for the drive through contra costa county.

and a good morning for you. a live look in san jose dark and early for you on this memorial day. a day of celebrating those who have given so much for our country. we thank you. and we thank you for joining us this morning here on "today in the bay." how was the weekend for everyone? >> warm. >> it was nice. it was warm. >> it was warm. you know what, kari, i know we've been talking about it, and i said when the weather is nice, you'll get me to go out and work out. i went on a 10 1/2-mile bike ride. >> nice. >> i'm working. >> wow. how are your legs feeling this

morning? >> my legs are feeling just fine. it's tomorrow i'm worried about. >> we'll check in there. another hot one today, kari? if you're going to go out for a bike ride, a run or anything today make sure you're out there early this morning before we reach this. this is a look at our high temperatures for today reaching up to 99 degrees in antioch for this afternoon. we're up to 85 in oakland. in san francisco we'll reach 82 degrees. we're also looking at mid-90s for parts of the north bay with napa today reaching 95 degrees. some of these temperatures will be close to a record. i think we can set a new record in concord because the old record is 91 degrees that was set back in 2014. and then as we look at palo alto now we're not going to set a new record today, but we will be nearing that territory as we go into the next several days, may set a record later on this

afternoon. so with this hot weather we have a spare the air alert. that means unhealthy air quality. so we're going to have to deal with that for the next couple of days with some breezy winds and also some very dry hills. now we know when we start to see our temperatures going up in dry conditions we also have the concern of some brushfires. we'll have to watch out for that throughout the week. as we go in towards the end of the week we are looking at some cooling. it doesn't come until this weekend. with this area of low pressure approaching we'll see if there's the potential of dry lightning which is a concern for wildfires because there won't be a lot of rain associated with that storm system. i'll be watching that. we'll be watching out for these hot temperatures over the next few days. a lot of concerns here. the reason we do have this microclimate weather alert in effect, and we'll talk more about the hot temperatures in the forecast. make sure you keep checking in for more updates. mike, you're giving us a look at this memorial day commute. how is it looking for the people

who do have to work this morning? >> kari, the construction that has closed the nimitz has reopened. there were a lot of folks who don't live there were driving out. watch out there. we just have to mind the local and state regulations as we look at green all over the map. a smooth flow of traffic. the approach to the bay bridge which is moving nicely by coming out of contra costa county through highway 24 and the orinda station. b.a.r.t. has the week road work going on on the track with the bus bridge between lafayette and rock ridge and they have two lanes of highway 24 closed through 6:00 a.m. two more inmates are infected with the coronavirus at dublin's santa rita jail making it 50 inmates since the start of the outbreak. all the others once infected have since recovered.

they released several hundred inmates to allow for distancing. they're encouraged by the latest overall numbers despite the fact that there were more cases reported saturday. the county had 41 deaths saturday, but over the past week there's been a 13% decrease in daily death rates. also the average number of people hospitalized is down 16%. and positive tests are now at an all-time low for the county, about 8% of those being tested. new for you this morning as universities across the country work to figure out what the fall will look like. uc san diego is taking a proactive approach. "the chronicle" reporting the school launched a return to learn program. this is a mass test students and faculty for covid-19. school leaders say that at the beginning of may they tested 100

people a day. now they've ramped up the number to 400. the goal is to conduct the campus to reopen in the fall. workers are slowly getting back out in the neighborhoods to drop off those packets. they'll be back out today in the bay area to start delivering the questionnaires. operations were suspended back in march because of the pandemic. the census is important because federal funding is tied to population. more dmv offices are opening up across the state. starting thursday the dmv will reopen 46 additional offices. the agency is under pressure to reopen more locations to help californians who need to renew licenses and obtain other documents. among the offices opening in the bay area santa clara, oakland, san mateo, pleasanton, daly city, and fremont. who knew it would be so fun to actually get to go to the dmv? coming up next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds.

>> reporter: businesses are going belly up and more are expected to follow. what about that gift card you have? i'm consumer investigator chris chmura, nbc bay area responds next. happening now new video of police in hong kong dousing protesters with tear gas. thousands took to the streets sunday to protest a possible new security crackdown. 200 people were arrested. now if passed the proposed law would ban anti-government activity. the trump administration opposes the proposal and is raising the prospect of sanctions against china. 4:54 for you that morning. more news for you right after the break.

>> reporter: good morning.

the sudden closure of all specialty's bakery this past week prompted us to bring the topic up today. specialty's sold gift cards. what do you get if you had a gift card and didn't use it in time? e says nothing. nothing about gift cards and contact information. we've heard from dozens of viewers. a few lucky times we've been able to help like susan in san ramone, but most of the time people are pretty much stuck. the department of consumer affairs offers a glimmer of hope if the company files for bankruptcy. holders of gift cards are creditors. so you might want to go over the percentage if, and this is a big if, has enough assets to pay claims. bankruptcy can drag on a long time. that's why we recommend you use your gift cards as soon as you can while a business is still open. use them so you don't lose them. back to you.

>> thanks, chris. next here on "today in the bay," everything you need to know ahead of what's sure to be a one of a kind memorial day. will beaches be open? what are safe things to do with your family? we have you covered. plus, another fight is brewing involving the governor. the south bay pastor now vowing to fully reopen his church despite local and state orders to mandate him staying closed. more after the break.

we've made it clear that

there's a symptomatic spread and that means people are spreading the virus unknowingly. the weekend drawing big crowds to beaches and pools from coast to coast despite the coronavirus. a live report on the sights and sounds that have some health officials very concerned. some cities should see temperatures approaching triple digits. the bay is issuing a microclimate weather alert. kari hall is timing it all out for us this morning. i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm laura garcia. it feels warmer, kari. today begins our heat advisory we'll have for much of the bay area. all of the bay area included in this orange shading is under a

heat