moderna may also soon be on the way. what south bay hospitals are preparing to do as the number of icu beds disappear. as cases surge across the bay area, we'll break down the tough decision more school districts are facing when it comes to the reopening plans. "today in the bay" continues right now. a very good thursday morning to you. thank you for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. vianey, how is it looking out there? >> things will get windy, marcus. we're looking at the chance of some rain, not for today, but just in time for the weekend. 51 degrees right now. may be clear and no clouds in sight, but i want to show you a closer look at satellite radar because it paints the picture for what we are forecasting and monitoring into the weekend. there it is just off the pacific. you can see that surge in moisture. but, first, we'll see the arrival of a dry cold front that is going to bring breezy to gusty conditions for the north

bay coastal mountains and a full forecast coming up in a few minutes. first, let's check in with mike. >> well, it looks like folks are carrying on with the morning commute without a problem. way over on the right side of our map the altamont pass just a trickle of traffic coming through and little more slowing and that is about it. zooming over towards the golden gate bridge southbound is where the crew is registered and that cleared up and northbound a little slowing might be distracted and no problems reported for this whole map including contra costa county. >> thank you so much, mike. the eyes of the nation are fixed on the fda this morning. just about an hour from now, a meeting will begin to consider approving pfizer's covid vaccine. if it gets the green light, this is the first vaccine available in the united states. then the next push begins to distribute it. "today in the bay" tracie potts joins us live from washington. big day for not just the medical community here, but really for

everyone. >> exactly, laura. because these 15 health experts are going to take the first step in getting that vaccine to a hospital or a health facility near you. it starts in just under an hour when they sit down and start looking through the data, efficiency, how effective is this vaccine, safety. how will it be used and it takes two doses and it requires cold storage. is all of this going to work? that's what they'll be looking. it's expected to be an all-day meeting and meantime pfizer's michigan plant says they're ready to ship this out under police escort as soon as they get the go ahead from the fda. and they've got security to make sure that vaccine lands where it is supposed to. >> this very small but very powerful chip is on every vaccine package and it tells us gps exact location. >> we will have enough doses for any american who wants a vaccine

by the end of the second quarter of 2021. >> fda commissioner stephen hahn was on "today" show saying the officials at the fda are anxiously awaiting this advisory committee's decision. they usually take their advice. based on what they've seen, they are prone to approve the vaccine, but they will wait to see what this advisory panel decides today. >> and, tracie, ahead of today's meeting we know that the uk approved pfizer's vaccine candidate and now canada has done so, as well. >> yeah. >> exactly. so in canada they have a contract for 247,000 doses of the pfizer vaccine and appare apparently they're not changing their recommendation based on some of the bad allergic reactions we saw in the uk but

goegto te going to tell people who have allergies to be careful and not take the vaccine. >> so interesting. could be the first day of big change in especially this country. thanks so much, tracie. meanwhile, santa clara county is already gearing up for its first delivery of moderna vaccine even before it received final approval. the fda moderna hearing is scheduled for one week from today. combined with the expected 17,000 doses of pfizer's vaccine, santa clara county will receive about 57,000 doses by the end of this month. it's all going to health care workers and long-term care facilities. well as hundreds of thousands of children here in the bay area wake up to another day of distance learning, a lot of those families are still wondering when will the classrooms ever reopen? today sharon katsuda and this really depends on where you live, the location. >> that's exactly right, marcus. you know, very interesting how different these plans are here

at the high school district. fall sports have been postenppo and the school district will not reopen until back in the red tier. the oakland unified teachers protested demanding the classrooms remain closed. the district plans to reopen next month. the district says it will reopen when the covid numbers come down and will ensure safety measures are in place for staff and students. sent a letter to parents saying the district will wait to reopen for in-person learning until county numbers there are in the orange or yellow tier. the san francisco unified school tistricate said it helped approve the plan to reopen for in-person learning including 72 elementary schools and a group of berkeley parents say they're fed up with their kids remote learning. they're calling on health officials to reopen the city's schools. the parents gathered at mlk park in berkeley for a socially

distanced protest. remote learning does not work for all families and all that screen time takes a toll on the child's development. goes beyond the currently proposed four hours a week for elementary schools. that state level, a push for a bill that would require all public school students to be back in-person learning by spring. that depends on how the ccovid numbers are looking next year. >> i'm sharon katsuda, "today in the bay." new details on a big fuel leak causing a lot of concern in walnut creek. the energy company confirms that its crews are cleaning thousands of gallons of gasoline that migrated down a canal down iron horse trail near ignacio boulevard.

from a source of a deadly pipeline explosion in 2004. five workers died. kinder morgan had not clearly labeled the line and the company was convicted on six felony charges. they say tree roots breached part of the same line that has now been repaired. the spill, however, the cleanup of it, could take weeks. follow up for you. the latest statewide covid restrictions are adding fuel to the fire at least when it goes to an ongoing effort. that effort launched back in june and certainly not the first time opponents have decided but recent frustrations with closures and questionable decisions by the governor have drawn more from the conservative its. now, if the current recall ever gets some real financial backing, it may turn into a threat next year. san francisco leaders are considering more help for those struggling most to make it in the bay because right now the clock is ticking on the program

that houses them in temporary hotels. more than 2,000 homeless people are being housed in 29 hotels during the pandemic to limit health risk and spread. the current goal is to move them all to other shelters by next summer. advocates say there is only slots available for about 300. yesterday supervisors committee approved extending the program to come up with more solutions. it will now go to the full board. well, we're on thursday morning and we like to call it friday eve around here because we get a little peek of the weekend which is always kind of nice. vianey is in for kari this morning and some change this weekend i understand. >> yes, positive change. i know if you don't like the rain, it may not sound like it's positive change but we have been so dry. currently in a drought. and we definitely need the rain to ease any of our elevated concerns we have seen in december. last week that is what we were deal with.

microclimate highs one thing you'll notice is we'll be cooler compared to yesterday. 52 degrees in san jose and 58 for san francisco and we're heading into a cooling trend but also going to get a little bit cloudier and windier, especially for those of you who live in the north bay coastal mountain areas. sonoma and marin counties and wi wind advisory in effect and rain ch chances coming up in a few minutes. mike? >> looking at the big map of the bay and let me show you the green that we have. that is not the rain green that vianey talks about but the green that is great stuff for drivers and zoom down to the south bay where we have no update. still have that report of one lane blocked south 17 and around highway 9. the change is the sensors are no longer yellow there. the speed is not even a little bit slow. i'll still wait for the all clear from chp. meanwhile, clear for these roadways approaching the bay bridge. the top numbers the shore

freeway with no delays to the toll plaza. back to you. >> thanks, mike. surprising revelation about john hopkins. still ahead for you at 5:25. controversial details coming to light about the legacy of one of the biggest names and what the university is saying about it. wall street ask sind silico valley. astonishing amounts of money being made in the bay area. and you're apparently doing it all wrong and so is "today in the bay" kris sanchez in this video. the big tip lighting up your christmas tree this morning on social mead i a. ♪

we have the power to harness california's abundant solar and wind energy, but it's not available all day long. use less energy from 4 to 9 pm for a cleaner california.

good morning. it is 5:13. and we may be dry today but as we head in towards the weekend, we're monitoring the arrival of some rain to the bay area. we'll talk more about what you can expect and the increase in winds coming up in just a few minutes. mike. all right. vianey no major problems arrived in the last couple of minutes. live look out there headlights westbound and your commute direction with a slight build. we'll show you the net effect for the trivalley. your usual suspects are starting to be in play. well, good morning. very happy wednesday to you, as well. there is a lot happening on this wednesday.

and we'll start with a very serious threat against facebook this morning. the state's attorney general of 48 states has filed an antitrust lawsuit and the federal government in the form of the ftc filed a separate lawsuit accusing facebook of anti-competitive practices when it bought instagram and what's app. one solution is to break facebook apart into separate companies. one of the more serious allegations against facebook which seems to have more than its fair share of allegations. >> for nearly a decade, facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition all at the expense of every day users. >> my producer points out it's thursday. very good thursday to you. you know how it gets during covid. they could have raised the alarm, but did not.

the ftc and states stood by for years while facebook invested billions of dollars and millions of hours whautsapp into the app the users enjoy today. there is nothing in the law that puts a time limit on the approval or disapproval of mergers and acquisitions and some e-mails out there that we've reported on before that a jury might certainly see as evidence facebook knew that instagram and whatsapp were competitors and moved to buy them before they became a threat. the ipo palooza continues and a price that will start at $66$68 share. doordash celebrate first trade on the stock market. doordash up 86% by the close. $102 to $189 a share. now, this is, i've included the high there, $195 just to point

out not everybody makes money on a rocketship stock. somebody out there bought at 195 and became one of the few people in america or the world to lose money on doordash. i mentioned there were three stock market debuts. doordash up 86 and pubmatic rises by almost half and c3ai. i briefed you on that company yesterday. up 120%. a look at the three kids from stanford who thought up doordash. all worth about $1.5 billion this morning. marcus and laura, tony there in the middle is the ceo and came to america when his dad started graduate school at the university of illinois and adopted the american first name tony naming himself after tony danza of "who's the boss." you know who the boss is now? tony. >> congratulations to them.

always cool to see that. >> what a success story. >> there you go. thanks, scott. all right. really, can you ever get enough starbucks? starbucks believes you can't. the company is telling investors it plans to add tens of thousands of additional locations over the coming decade. that is up to 59,000. there are 33,000 right now. and that is even though it seems like there is a starbucks every quarter of a mile or so. the company is promising to roll out oat milk at all of its stores by this spring. trending this morning, 15 days until christmas and if you haven't put up your tree yet, you may want to watch this. supposedly there's a right or wrong way to put up christmas lights. >> if you cross your christmas lights, you're doing it wrong. we used the zigzag method.

>> so, i'm looking at that now. that is how i do it. according to this video with the zigzag method you put the lights up and down the tree. i go all over. but that is so you won't have lights in the back of the tree. and if it breaks, it's easier to replace. that's a good thing there. so, here's a time lapse i want to show you. kris sanchez and her family. there we go. putting up the lights on her tree and as you can see she doesn't necessarily use that method. her and her husband and actually the zigzag method. we want to bring in kris to this conversation. kris, i'm okay with how you and your family put this tree up. what do you think about what this lady is saying about this zigzag method? >> i wish i had known about that method before because that tree is so darn big that it fell down three times and we had to take the lights off the tree. so if we had done the zigzag method, it might have been a little easier for us and we did

the coil method and it was a monster of a tree. we had to take it off and take everything down all the ornaments and the lights and we did it three times. we had three christmases already. >> it's interesting because i'm looking at the way your husband is putting them up now. that's how i do it. and she wasn't doing it that much different. i don't know. look, i think your tree looks great. >> i don't know. i think that with the round about method you can tuck them in and get the depth of light and glows from within. worth the trouble. but if you have to take them off, the zigzag way is probably much easier. it's okay now, we got a new base and it's not coming down. >> laura, you have a tree at your house. what method do you use? >> you plug it in the wall and it lights up. >> awesome. >> and that is how you do it, folks. >> that's how you do it. you get your fiance to drag it in. >> i love it.

>> just saying. >> learn all you need to know right here on "today in the bay." >> he has allergies and we can't get a real tree and this makes it super easy. >> thanks, kris. great job with the tree. let's check in. maybe people haven't gotten their tree just yet and they want to go out and about this weekend to go look for one. i guess are there going to be some spotty showers they should avoid? >> yeah, we're definitely monitoring some rain. i haven't gotten a christmas tree yet but i have plenty of plants that i could probably decorate as mini christmas trees throughout my house. that might be a thing that i start this year. all right. so, let's take a look at how the weather is looking. 52 degrees right now in san francisco. we've got clear conditions, but that cloudiness is expected to make its move in as we head in towards the afternoon along with some winds. 43 degrees in san jose and those temperatures will start to dip down into the 30s as we inch closer to the 7:00, 8:00 a.m.

hour. it will be colder. eventually by the afternoon we're talking about a cool front that will sweep in and daytime highs will be running a few degrees cooler. 62 degrees in san jose and 61 in oakland and 58 degrees in san francisco and 65 in santa rosa and finally starting to feel a little more seasonable around here. let's talk about doppler radar and the satellite because this shows what we are monitoring and what's ahead. look what's hanging out in the pacific. that is a surge of moisture. a low pressure system that we're extremely excited about because right now it is looking more and more like it will bring a good amount of rain to a very much dry bay area. i do have my very own storm ranger right here. my toy model one. it does a fantastic job of tracking at a lower level right down to the ground street level once that storm makes its arrival. speaking of arrivals, we do have a dry cold front that is going to pass through kicking up some winds from the north, northwest

and especially for the north bay coastal mountains. sonoma and marin counties and a wind advisory that will remain in place until 4:00 p.m. gusts upwards of 45 plus miles per hour. a closer look at what you can expect for the rest of the week coming up. mike? >> all right, vianey. behind me is the pattern that i used to decorate my tree with the lights as far as you know. lights in motion. we're looking at green lights though only on the map and a smooth flow of traffic means folks you can look around the bay and we'll zoom over towards the trivalley where there's just a little bit of slowing coming out of the altamont. usual suspects there and 84 not as heavily traveled tuduring th month especially. at speed little slow and dublin interchange and turned out to be on dublin boulevard and not on 580. no major injuries and look towards and at the bay bridge toll plaza no backup and no problem. nice smooth flow although i see a few more cars. back to you. >> all right, thanks so much,

mike. when the covid-19 vaccine becomes available how will you pay for it? >> our nbc bay area team breaks down how you could possibly get one for free. hey! -hey! -hi! it's time to crack an egg over easy, any style egg works... or a smile well done! this looks great (chef's kiss) time to share a story i have a great way to start our discussion... with old friends, or new ones when you're a caregiver... time to breathe in inhale up, good job... then let it all out roar! it's never been easier to connect, learn, and have fun. -laughs -cheers! so, let's do it together. come find us at aarp.org/nearyou

the covid-19 vaccine is a priceless advance in ending the pandemic. surely there's a cost. how much? some drugmakers have pegged the

price around $40. perhaps broken up between two $20 shots. but if you have health insurance, it's possible a covid-19 vaccine is free. the group that represents health insurance companies says this. health insurance providers cover vaccines recommended by the cdc's acip under most plans. when acip recommends a covid-19 vaccine it will be covered or free. acip is the federal committee that green lights vaccine. if you don't have health insurance, don't worry too much. contact your local health department. see if they have a low or no-cost plan available for you. if you work, contact your boss. the same way some companies offer free flu vaccines, it's possible some workers will get free covid-19 vaccines at work. back to health departments for a second. they play a key role administering vaccines and communicating important information about rollout. so follow them on social media for updates and see if you can

get alerts by text or e-mail. you can find more covid-19 vaccine information at nbcbayarea.com/vaccine. 5:26 for you this morning. developing for you, a shocking revelation shaking the john hopkins. the university cites recently uncovered census records showing hopkins enslaved up to four people in 1850. when he died hopkins left millions of dollars to open the now prestigious hospital, and university. the university says displacing myth with historical fact is difficult but necessary. well coming up next for you, the top stories we're following this morning. while the fda today weighs pfizer's vaccine, a new tool rolls out to help california deal with its record infection numbers. plus, the warriors seem to

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get started with this great offer, or ask about our fastest speed, 2 gig up and down. switch today. >> based on schedules, we expect to have enough doses to vaccinate 20 million americans by the end of this year. right now at 5:30, putting the pandemic behind us. the key vaccine decision being

made this morning offering hope across the u.s. and as california infections set a new record, the brand-new tracking tool you could use to slow the spread. plus more on the way. we break down the other major players in the vaccine race where each stands as today's fda decision looms so large. overhaul in order for san francisco schools. the new policy that may impact where your child enters kindergarten. "today in the bay" starts right now. a very good thursday morning to you. thanks so am up for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. mike keeping his eye on the roads. we'll get to that in just a bit. first, let's start out with vianey with a look at the forecast today. how is it looking out there, v? >> it's looking good. going to get really cold around the 7:00 a.m. hour. temperatures will drop down into the 30s especially for the north bay interior valleys and the rain heading into the weekend. here's a closer look at your headlines. today partly cloudy. we'll get an increase in mountain wind gusts and especially for the north bay

coastal mountains. sonoma and marin counties will have a wind advisory that will stay in effect through 4:00 p.m. and rain forecast coming up in a few minutes. let's check in with mike. >> all right. vianey, looks like traffic is flowing very nicely right now. just about enough traffic to look like a respectable amount and travel past the taillights to the caoliseum. on our maps, no problem, no metering lights and the arrow shows you what will be the focus for the next let's say half hour over there as we may see changes and critical timing over there. everything else looks pretty green and another spot in the east bay coming up. >> all right, thank you very much, mike. 5:32 right now. a critical day in ending the pandemic. the fda plans to vote on granting emergency use authorization for pfizer's covid vaccine. today is also the first day for a new app that may allow users to learn if they have been

exposed. "today in the bay" cierra johnson joins us with a look at how each may slow the spread. good morning, scierra. >> today is a monumental fight in that fight against co vi orc slowing down the spread. the emergency authorization of pfizer's vaccine by the fda. so, what the advisory panel is deciding. the panel votes to move forward. the fda will have to approve it. if they do, federal officials say they plan to start vaccinating the first americans within a number of days. right now 60% of americans say they'll get vaccinated. that's up from 51% of americans in september. and the other major story this morning that is a collaboration between apple, google and california goes live today. if you have an iphone, there isn't anything to download. i checked my phone this morning and saw that new feature in my settings called exposure notification. simply open that app asand set

to california and turn it on. that app records your location using blue tooth technology and if someone tests positive it will notify others. the makers say there's no need to worry about privacy concerns. the location data is sent directly to california department of health where it is there federally protected. this technology was tested on several college campuses and showed promising results. >> over the last two and a half months, we've had over 50 students and employees test positive and enter the validation key into the system to launch anonymous exposure notifications. that's been very helpful. >> so the developers of this technology say the key to this technology really being accurate is that more people use it. the more people that are able to turn on that notification on their phone, the more accurate that data will be. we're live in marin county, cierra johnson for "today in the

bay." >> thanks for the latest there, cierra. pfizer's vaccine at least three other major players have their own candidates nearing the finish line. moderna's candidate is now awaiting fda approval with a hearing set for one week from today. johnson & johnson also developing a vaccine. it's expected to file for fda approval in january. and the oxford astrazeneca vaccine is currently in phase three clinical trials. among people who received an initial low dose followed by a standard dose, that vaccine was 90% effective. some believe this vaccine will take longer to be approved here in the u.s. the potential new hope the vaccines are providing cannot come soon enough for a lot of people. the u.s. confirming nearly 223,000 new cases just yesterday. another new record for us. and more than 3,100 new deaths. that's also a record and the first time we ever surpassed the 3,000 mark. now, statewide the numbers also setting their new record worth nearly 31,000 new infections.

the total nearing 1.5 million. nearly 200 more people have died. a fall ollow up for you. san francisco schools radically overhauled their elementary school assignments process. this is a system parents use to apply for elementary schools. as board members posted on social media, the new system will have much more order to it. for one, it will be zone based and families will be limited in the schools that they can actually apply to. also students living in public housing will have priority for schools within their zone. critics have long complained the old process was a free for all and lacked diversity. new this morning, one area where the warriors just can't seem to win, the legal arena. at least when it comes to their long battle over debt owed to alameda county. mercury news reports the state's supreme court has rejected the team's appeal to pay oakland and the county $47 million tied to renovations at the old arena. the team will not appeal to the

u.s. supreme court. in a statement they say they will be at long last paid up. all right. it is 5:36 for you on this thursday morning. and vianey has a look at what we can expect for that forecast today. you were talking earlier about the winds. we'll experience more winds throughout the bay area. >> yeah, that's right. especially mainly for the north bay coastal mountains and sonoma and marin county. depending on where you live, you may notice the winds are gustier in the higher elevations and mic microclimates cooler compared to yesterday. the first system to make its arrival is a cold dry front and no rain for today that is. however looking at our doppler radar you can see that surge of moisture and that low pressure system off the coast and expected to make its arrival into the weekend with widespread rain expected saturday night into sunday. we do have our very own storm ranger that is up and scanning once that system arrives.

here's that wind advisory. north bay coastal mountains and sonoma and marin counties until 4:00 p.m. we are talking about gusts upwards of 45 miles plus per hour and that could mean possible power outages. an update on the seven-day forecast in a few minutes. let's check in with mike. >> starting in the trivalley. in the east bay we may have picked up that traffic break. let's look at the map for southbound 680 going down through dublin and reports of a disabled big rig blocking one lane as you're passing the 580, 680 interchange. a lot more red sensor read a couple minutes ago. things may have cleared up in the last few and a smooth, easy drive continues into the area and also mild slowing out of the altamont, no big deal. the bay bridge toll plaza also green, no backup, no metering lights yet. we'll watch this as it develops. kris. >> it is a very exciting day.

we know that the fda is going to consider all of that data and determine whether we can use that covid-19 vaccine from pfizer for emergency use. we'll tell you all the preparations that are going on behind the scenes at the county level to make sure that they're ready to vaccinate as soon as they can. more than 30 days after the election, youtube becomes the latest to say it will crack down on lies about that election. okay. only 15 days until christmas and you know what that means, new year's eve is just around the corner. have you ever thought about your resolutions? have you thought about it this year? maybe give up smoking and lose some of that quarantine 15. what a new study says you ought to do so you can follow through with success on those resolut n resolutions. we'll talk about that when we return. by harnessing california's

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good morning. it is 5:42. here's a look at your current temperatures. right now we have 30s in the north bay. it's very cold in napa. 35, 40s down in the south bay and we are heading into a cooling trend with much anticipated rain and an increase in cloud cover. i'll have all the details in just a few minutes. mike? vianey, i'm still tracking the disabled big rig in oakland and it does look like 680 starting to clear right now. we'll track that as we look at fremont 880 the volume of

traffic builds a little bit. no major problems and we'll see how things shape up. back to you. we've got an update on a wildfire burning since last week in southern california. firefighters now nearly fully contain the bond fire. this one near irvine. it burned 6,600 acres and destroyed 31 homes and buildings. well, today could be the beginning of the end of the covid-19 pandemic. at 6:00 a.m. our time the fda will decide whether to green li light the pfizer vaccine for emergency use and the work in our bay area counties to receive that vaccine and administer that vaccine is under way. "today in the bay" kris sanchez is live in santa clara county at the public health department. kris, a lot that goes into that process. >> yeah, we asked each of our nine bay area county public health departments to give us somebody to look at the data that the fda released yesterday and they're just elbows deep in work trying to make sure that

they're ready to administer those vaccines as soon as the fda gives that green light. i want to show you an early light at what the data is they're going to consider today. there were 38,000 people in the clinical trial, 168 who got the placebo. that is they did not good et the vaccine later contracted covid. only eight people who got the vaccine later got sick. that is a 95% efficacy rate and there are no serious adverse reactions. we asked stanford infectious disease specialist to weigh in and he says he likes what he sees. >> based on my experience working with the fda and having been involved with regulatory approval of many products, i think this is going to be a slam dunk. >> now, california is promised 327,000 doses of pfizer's covid vaccine and here's how they're going to be distributed statewide. the region two they're in purple

along with seven other counties. we expect about 80,000 doses. to secure those doses, counties had to submit plans addressing 15 questions including how they handled the h1n1 flu. why? because that is the last pandemic they had to deal with. also how they distribute flu vaccine so they can use existing infrastructure. the vaccine has to be kept 100 degrees below zero fahrenheit and how they'll reach populations equitably. the first round of vaccines will go to health care workers and care facility residents and staff. as of monday of this week, nearly 57,000 health care workers tested positive for covid-19. 221 of them did not survive. but nearly 7,000 people died of covid in nursing homes accounting for 34% of all deaths here in california. now, we will be monitoring the fda meeting which starts at 6:00 our time. so, in just about 15 minutes.

if approved, the pfizer vaccines would start shipping almost immediately and could arrive here in the bay area on the 15th, which is on tuesday. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> could be the beginning of the end of this pandemic. >> now, you mentioned storage, how critical that is. how are counties managing to find freezers to keep that vaccine at the right temperature? >> so, some county departments have those storage facilities. they're also leaning on some of our educational facilities, our research facilities like our universities and then some businesses have stepped up and offered to lend or rent some of the deep, deep freezers because certainly not the kind of that we have in our kitchen. 100 degrees below zero is definitely specialized equipment. >> all right. >> so important, have to keep it just right. >> absolutely. >> all right, kris, thank you. well, a new story proving some victims of the pandemic never even became infected.

this morning we were talk about her sister, laurie. she was a healthy and active mother but in october when she arrived to a utah emergency room, the specialized hospital beds that laurie needed to survive had all been taken by covid patients. >> she had a medical emergency like anyone could and because she could not access medical care, she died. >> a tragic story there. to hear more of it and other struggles of noncovid patients, make sure to tune in this morning to "today" show. hunter biden is, once again, providing ammunition for his father's critics this morning. >> scott mcgrew, part of conversation during the campaign, but that largely failed. >> it did. mostly because those allegations were pretty thin, marcus. the accuser, rudy giuliani has a way of making things hard to believe sometimes. provided little evidence. giuliani himself, by the way, under investigation by the feds

for the way he investigated in ukraine involving hunter biden. really, hunter biden not a good subject for the white house overall. it was, after all, the president's obsession with his opponent's son that led donald trump to become the third president in american history to be impeached. but this time it's different because this time it's the professional prosecutors at the justice department doing the fingerpointi fingerpointing. the younger biden announcing he is under investigation over his taxes. the u.s. attorney in the state of delaware would not confirm that but hunter biden himself said, i take this matter very seriously. i'm confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that i handle my affairs legally and appropriately including with the benefit of professional past advisors. the president, meanwhile, continues to make completely false claims about the presidential election. he did not win. and youtube now says it will take down videos that claim

otherwise that call the election into question. when asked why it took 38 days to make that decision, youtube pointed to tuesday's deadline as the point of no return that biden had won the election. it's not going to stop the president's claims but he found fewer channels to make them. the damage, though, may be done already. some americans have threatened violence. countries overseas who opposed democracy are pointing to our own president saying, see, even america doesn't do it right. the chinese embassy in america even retweeted one of trump's claims americans cheat in their election. now, it later unretweeted it and the chinese claim their twitter account had been hacked. for just that one retweet. the hacker got in, made a single retweet and then returned control of the twitter account to the chinese government says the chinese. speaking of social media a democratic estate lawmaker has been stripped of her committee assignments after she posted a

facebook live making threatening statements. cynthia johnson who documented threats against herself on facebook said in the video you trumpers be careful, walk lightly and later made a more severe threat. texas is moving forward with its request the supreme court overturned the certified election results in wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania and georgia. five supreme court justices would have to vote to even hear the case. speaking of accusations, the texas attorney general who brought the suit is pictured here under indictment for securities fraud and has been accused by eight of his senior staff of malfesance in office. we're tracking all the things that are happening and they happen very quickly. we're on twitter talking about it, as well. you can find me there, @sco @scottmcgrew. trending this morning, marcus, new year's is getting close and you know what that means, new year's resolutions for you. >> new year, new me. sticking to your new year's resolution. okay. it may not be all what you do

but how you word it. a swedish researcher, they actually found that the way you phrase your resolution such as i will start to exercise or i will start to eat more healthy instead of i will avoid overeating or quit smoking. you were actually 12% more likely to succeed after one year. so, it is all about thinking positive. overall, less than half of the negative nelies, 47% to be exact followed through on their resolution over one year. the positive thinkers followed through at 59%. but this may have been pretty much a good group of people because we've seen somewhere around less than 20% of the people stay on course with their resolutions just for two months. but, oh, yes, weight loss. yes, that is the most popular resolution for a lot of people. so, whatever you decide to do, i will start to work out more. that could be one day a week. >> i will get healthy. mike, what are you going to do? >> i'll eat more pasta. more pasta. >> my man. my man.

>> what about you, v? >> i can do it. >> i don't know. i feel like, give me a couple more weeks of december left. 2020 was a rough one. i feel like i have a lot of things i can anticipate in 2021, hopefully positive ones. same with all of you at home. okay. right. all right. so, let's take a look at some positivity when it comes to easing our fire danger concerns which, we're in december. we shouldn't even be having these fire elevated concerns from last week. let's go into some good news. 37 degrees in novato and 35 in napa. a bit of a cool start and microclimate highs for this afternoon cooler but comfortable. 60s or i should say low 60s and upper 50s in san francisco and 58 degrees. doppler radar right now. this is what truly tells the story. you could see just off of the pacific, that is a low pressure system expected to make its arrival this weekend in the form of some rain. so, we do have our storm in ranger up and scanning and ready to go. mobile doppler radar.

once that system does arrive, but, first, we'll see a dry cold front pass through. that is going to start picking up our winds especially for the north bay and coastal mountains. sonoma and marin counties wind advisory in place and gusts upwards of 45 plus miles per hour. you can see the rain move in late friday night and, yes, that is sierra snow. anywhere from 6 to 18 inches is expected. but the biggest, you know, wide spread impact saturday night into sunday. take a look at that. definitely a welcome sight headed into sunday morning and expect to wake up with rainy conditions. yay, i'm so excited we have rain and over the next seven days, a closer look at what we can expect. we stay in the uneasy pattern with instability and the next chance of showers for wednesday. mike, i'll send it over to you. >> all right. vianey. right now light traffic but usual suspects showing usual trend as we see the map on the bottom of the screen. little slowing for san jose just

before 6:00 as we typically expect. that should clear up pretty iicly shorter lived these days. and suspect for the trivalley and slowing for hayward, as well. the circled one is the disabled big rig southbound in dublin approaching the dublin interchange and looks like it's back at speed and at speed approaching the bay bridge toll plaza and at the toll plaza no backup and i see a little slowing and metering lights in the next few minutes. back to you. >> all right, thanks, mike. happening now for you, walmart making a big commitment to india. the giant retailer announcing it will buy $10 billion worth of indian made goods by the year 2027. that triples the amount of goods walmart is already buying. last week walmart announced workers are getting a fourth pandemic bonus. $300 for the full-time workers and $150 for part-time and temporary employees. it's 5:54 and much more ahead on "today in the bay."

including brand-new video of a home explosion. luckily no one was hurt but the video is pretty incredible. also coming up, these two besties. how in the world a bear cub and a husky became best pals. you'll want to see it. you're watching "today in the bay." today's ways of working may work differently tomorrow.

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look at that. what you just saw right there was a home explosion. this was caught on camera. the rock chester, new york, area ho home. flames spread to two homes next door. luckily no one was hurt and no comments from the homeowner so far. the cause, that is still under investigation. and back home for you, san francisco leaders they're considering more help for those struggling to make it in the bay because right now that clock is ticking on a program that houses them in temporary hotels. more than 2,000 homeless people are being housed in 29 hotels and this is during the pandemic to limit health risk and spread. the current goal is to move them all to other shelters by next summer, but advocates say only slots available for about 300. yesterday the supervisor's committee approved extending the

program to come up with more solutions and will now go to the full board. one vote can change everything, especially in santa clara county. that's because recounts are now going on for city council races in mountain view and los altos hills. one candidate is only ahead by 58 votes while los altos hills three seats are up for grabs. only one vote separates the third and fourth place finishers. so close. well, take a look at your tv screen right now. take a look at this. a hoove ehovercraft ferry. they're going to discuss bringing these to the bay. what do you think? great way for the area and great on water and they're shallow. some hope that one day the hovercraft can ferry passengers to places along the peninsula and even the south bay. they were considered for the bay a decade ago, but transportation leaders back then decided to pass on that idea. >> they're kind of fun to ride.

i rode on one in europe. an unusual friendship you have to see to believe. a dog helping a russian bear cub. the two have competitive friendship, you could say. they fight like siblings but romi is a 4-year-old alaskan and the cub was found in a weak condition earlier this year and a siberian zoo worker nursed her back to health. they're still hoping to release that bear back into the wild. all the play really helped. i would imagine. they might be best buds and might not want to separate them. one of those movies that you see. >> absolutely. right now at 6:00, fda leaders are meeting to give pfizer's covid vaccine the green light. up next, when a vote should happen and what is next if it is approved. approval can't come