without objection. >> reporter: under the bill, millions of americans would receive a total $2,000 in aid, more than triple what they'll receive in the $2.3 trillion package president trump finally signed into law, which gives $600 in relief for americans as well as rental assistance. it restarts unemployment programs that expired over the weekend and keeps the government funded. the higher individual payments leaving the president oddly aligned with democrats and opposing his own aides, who negotiated the deal, and many republicans who have come out against the payments. >> today i am telling donald trump don't just talk about it. act. these senate republicans have followed you through thick and thin. get them now to act and support the $2,000 checks. >> i worry that this whopping $463 billion won't do what's needed -- stimulate the economy or get the jobless back to work. >> reporter: despite some gop

support, a new bill with higher payments facing an uphill battle in the senate. president-elect joe biden saying today he's in favor. >> do you support the $2,000 payments? >> yes. >> reporter: the house also voting today to override a presidential veto of a bill funding the u.s. military. the president objecting to items in it, including protections for social media companies. now, the senate considers the covid relief bill tomorrow, and the president's support for the higher payments could put some senate republicans in a very tough spot, having to agree to payments that they actually oppose or take a stand against the president. raj and kira. >> susan, thank you. that's the financial and political part of it. as we approach the new year, kira, most health experts project more people will continue to get infected. so bottom line, it's going to get worse before it gets better. >> yeah, raj. california is reporting 33,000 new cases as of today. the positivity rate is climbing to 12.5%. that's the highest it's been

since april. and there's a new warning from governor newsom. the stay-at-home order could be extended. that's because icu bed availability continues to plummet for most of our state. >> here's the upside. more vaccines are on the way. by the end of this week, california will have received 904,000 doses of the moderna vaccine and more doses from pfizer, an additional 297,000 doses this week. that means in all now, california will have 1.7 million doses of the vaccines in the month of december. so now the big question, who gets these vaccines? the top of the list was frontline health care workers and elderly care nurses. so who's next in line for the vaccinations? >> today governor newsom actually answered that question. nbc bay area's sharon katsuda is in san francisco to show us what will be phase 1b. >> what do you have in your hand there? >> a margarita.

this is the kind of glue that has kept this s-show together in 2020. >> reporter: the goldsteins have lived here in san francisco for 19 years, and they're trying to stay safe from covid. >> it was the worst christmas of both of our lives. >> reporter: and the couple just found out they barely missed the cutoff for the next phase of those who will get the covid vaccine, those who are 75-plus will receive the next round. >> i'm 74. she's 70. >> reporter: but they're taking it in stride, knowing that along with people 75 and older, teachers, child care workers, grocery store workers, and farmworkers are also included in phase 1b. >> good. every one of those people, we live right next to safeway, and from the very beginning, there was a staff that was there every day, and you just felt bad for them that they were being exposed to every one of the people coming in there. >> reporter: the news also gives children and parents hope that vaccinating teachers will get everyone back to a classroom.

governor newsom says there has been a lot of lobbying and debate over who is next in line. >> we're going to have to work not just as a state but with our county partners to monitor that behavior at the local level and even at the clinical level and to make sure someone's not passing a few vials over to their cousin or aunt or uncle or god forbid making a buck or two. >> reporter: governor newsom says phase 1b will be confirmed this wednesday. then they'll move on to phase 1c, which include people of ages 16 to 64 with medical conditions. in san francisco, sharon katsuda, nbc bay area news. >> so follow those rules or face the consequences. in today's press conference, governor newsom also had a warning for medical providers who allow some people to jump to the front of the vaccination line. >> i just want to make this crystal clear. if you skip the line or you intend to skip the line, you will be sanctioned. you will lose your license.

you'll not only lose your license, we'll be very aggressive in terms of highlighting the reputational impacts. >> governor newsom says he does expect a few hiccups when it comes to vaccine distribution. the state is working with partners on a detailed plan of how exactly to enforce the rules against line skipping. the governor also announced a partnership with cvs and walgreens to provide pfizer vaccines to residents and staff in long-term care facilities. the federal covid-19 pharmacy partnership, as it's called, comes at no cost to the state. the two pharmacies will start vaccinating staff and residents in nursing homes before moving on to assisted living, residential care, and other long-term care facilities. cvs and walgreens will provide vaccines to more than 850 facilities in the state. if you're twowondering where yo are in the vaccine line, check out our interactive tool. it will ask you a few questions, including where you live and if you're an essential worker.

then it will give you a rough estimate of your place it line. we put the link at nbcbayarea.com. you click on "where you stand in the vaccine line." that's right at the top on our trending bar. the key data point driving our current shutdown is icu availability. both southern california and san joaquin valley, the valley, have zero percent icu beds available. look at southern california. look at san joaquin county. overnight, the bay area went down. we dropped to 9%. we're a look county by county. two counties are in orange with less than 30% of icu beds availability. that's solano county, also sonoma county. yellow relatively okay. alameda county and san francisco county. but look at the red. five counties in the red. that's not good. contra costa, napa, marin county, and then on the peninsula, san mateo county. and look at santa clara county, 5% availability for icu beds. now, we mentioned santa clara county. where are the hot spots

specifically? this is the bay area's biggest county. gilroy and morgan hill are your hot spots. health leaders say the high rate is linked to housing density. also the county has more essential workers who face a higher risk of getting infected. there are so many new covid patients that all the icu beds at saint louise hospital in gilroy are now full. on average, one or two patients each day are being rerouted to other hospitals up north in san jose. >> we do transfer them out to other county hospitals, and if they do not have any beds available, then we transfer them out of our system. >> community leaders urging people in gilroy and morgan hill to wear those masks and stick to within their own household during the new year's holiday. also they continue to urge everyone to get tested if you show any symptoms. for weeks now, a new and more contagious strain of covid-19 has been racing around

the uk. to stop it from spreading, at least 40 countries have now banned flights to and from the united kingdom, but the u.s. isn't one of them. instead, starting today uk travelers will have to show proof of a recent negative covid test. but is that enough? nbc bay area's robert handa went to sfo to find out what travelers and a prominent doctor think of this new uk travel policy. >> reporter: sfo and other u.s. airports are not taking as hard a stance on uk travelers as many other countries and we heard mixed reactions on whether that's a good idea or not. colby has heard about the new strain in the uk but her partner lives in london, so she's getting on a plane. the uncertain caused by the uk travel ban issued by 40 countries adds to the stress. >> you never know what's going to happen and if the ban's going to happen here. so it's a lot of anxiety that leads up to flying and then just know the actual risk then when you think about flying. >> reporter: but some travelers

say they'd rather not see uk flights right now. >> travel should be banned here, yeah, given the circumstances. >> because of how bad it is right now in california? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. even though i'm traveling. >> reporter: scientific opinions are also mixed, some saying publicly the u.s. policy to use testing to keep out the mutant strain is like using a chain-link fence to keep out mosquitos. but renowned ucsf infectious disease specialist dr. peter chin-hong points out the vaccines will be effective against the new strain, which is probably already in the u.s. >> screening people at the borders with virus testing is something that is completely reasonable, something that other countries have done before. even hawaii does that to some level, so i think that is something that i support. but a blanket ban, complete overreaction. >> reporter: colby is watching what the u.s. does. >> i never know and feel comfortable i'm going to make it there until i'm actually boarding the plane. >> reporter: dr. chin-hong says the best way to respect the

virus regardless of the strain is to keep doing the recommended precautions -- washing your hands, wearing a mask, and social distancing. at sfo, robert handa, nbc bay area news. what was his motive, and what was his message? tonight investigators are piecing together that explosion that ripped through downtown nashville on christmas. those investigators spent the day interviewing people who knew the bomber. you see his photo there, anthony warner. neighbors describe him as a quiet man who worked as an i.t. serviceman and kept an rv. warner was driving that rv right there on the streets of downtown nashville while blasting the 1964 hit song "downtown." this happened early christmas morning. and a warning about an imminent explosion. >> the fireball went -- when it exploded, it went all the way up over the at&t building. i mean beyond that. it was really a powerful blast. >> he parked that rv right there in front of the at&t building.

more than 40 other businesses were damaged and 3 people hurt. warner is believed to be the only fatality. still to come, lori loughlin released from prison. how she was able to sneak out of the east bay facility with almost nobody seeing her. also a statue of breonna taylor vandalized here in the bay area over the weekend. how the community is coming together to make sure the same thing doesn't have to its replacement. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri tracking the cold temperatures for tomorrow morning. a few more rain chances this week and when we could get the biggest rainstorm of the season. i'll have details on that in about eight minutes.

welcome back.

actress lori loughlin was released from a bay area prison early today. she left the federal correctional institute in dublin through a side door to avoid cameras and then flew home to southern california in a private jet. this according to tmz. loughlin served two months for her role in the 2019 college admissions cheating scandal in which she paid six figures to get her two daughters into usc. her husband, mossimo giannulli, is serving five months at lompoc prison near santa barbara. the couple paid fines totaling more than $300,000. loughlin must still perform 100 hours of community service. following a disheartening act of vandalism, an artist and an attorney are coming together to rebuild a breonna taylor statue. it appears someone smashed part of the bust in oakland over christmas weekend. you see it there. taylor was killed by police in louisville, kentucky, earlier this year. the statue was installed in

latham square a couple weeks ago. the sculptor, leo carson, tells us he plans on rebuilding it stronger than before. a prominent bay area attorney is giving $5,000 to have it cased in bronze. >> along comes someone with some evil mind and destroys that statue. that, to me, is outrageous. you see, it's not just the statue. why we're concerned and why our firm is going to help rebuild that statue is it's what the statue stood for. >> oakland police say no one filed a police report and they were not aware of the damage until just recently. dozens of homeless families and seniors in oakland will not be ringing in the new year on the streets. instead, they'll be celebrating inside, in dorm-style apartments. it's all thanks to money from the state's project homekey initiative, which gives cities and counties much needed cash to buy up hotels, motels or other buildings to house the homeless. nbc bay area's melissa colorado shows us the new homes in oakland.

>> reporter: at the base of oakland's upscale rock ridge neighborhood sits this four-story building, clifton hall. it used to be a dorm for students attending the california college of arts, but after cca moved all its students to its san francisco campus earlier this year, the building sat empty for months. the city of oakland jumped at the chance to buy clifton hall using $20 million from the state's homekey program, which gives cash-strapped cities money to house the homeless during the pandemic. the dorm building that used to be filled with art students will now be a shelter for families and a permanent home for seniors. >> two families will share a bathroom, but each family will have their own living dwelling. >> reporter: terrence thompson is the director of transitional housing for the east oakland community project. today is move-in day for some of the new residents. first step, moving in furniture, including dozens of mattresses. >> this does a great deal in

helping families stabilize their lives and be in a position to move forward. >> reporter: most of the rooms will go to seniors who are most at risk from catching covid-19. there will also be supportive services on site to help struggling parents find work, get their finances in order, and find permanent housing. not lost on thompson, clifton hall's zip code, where according to redfin, the average home is sold for more than $1.5 million. >> for many years, this is going to serve as a bedrock to help people move forward in life and help them provide better opportunities. >> reporter: in oakland, melissa colorado, nbc bay area news. the plane that made an emergency landing at point reyes is still there. the single-engine plane landed at limbenture beach. it happened saturday after the pilot noticed an engine warning light. the pilot was able to land on the beach safely. just the pilot and one passenger were onboard. both are safe.

the landing is still under investigation. no word of when that plane will be removed. >> wow. and take a look at this. a light dusting of snow up on mount hamilton. it was hard to see this morning because of all the fog, but the overnight rain brought a little bit of snow to bay area peaks. this photo comes from the camera at lick observatory. this happened around 10:30 this morning. the snow didn't last very long. the same camera showed it all gone by early afternoon. >> gone in 60 seconds, right, kira? >> exactly. and look at this sight for sore eyes. i don't think i've seen jeff ranieri in one year to the day, when we last worked together and talked about black-eyed peas, noodl noodles. we were talking about our new year's eve menus. hope you had a nice holiday. what do we have in store here? >> hey, kira. hey, raj. i know a lot of folks probably went into the store to get those

black-eyed peas, so hopefully bring in more luck for 2021 than we had for this year. i know i've already got my stock of black-eyed peas. check it out online. it's definitely a thing to ring in the new year. we're going to have an active weather pattern over the next seven to ten days, so a lot happening. we'll bring you into our microclimate forecast and start you off on this monday. on stormranger, our mobile doppler radar, we have cleared out from early morning rainfall. really just a quick-moving, light storm system. rain season, we're down 3 1/2 to 8 1/2 inches so we've got a lot to make up for. i think we'll be able to put a decent dent in this coming up. so as we move into the current picture right now, we're starting to see those clouding clear out in san jose. overall a beautiful night but you need the jacket if you're headed out to the grocery store. right now it's 53. cold 40s on the way for tonight and mostly clear skies. i think overall tomorrow morning we're starting off chilly.

down to 37 in the south bay. peninsula 38. the tri-valley at 34. we are going to be watching some fog over the central valley just to the east of the tri-valley. so we'll keep a close eye on that. right now i think for most of us, we'll have a mostly clear start and again the cold. 36 for the east bay. san francisco 41. the north bay at 34. temperatures tomorrow with that sunshine going to be pretty comfortable down here in the south bay. relatively light winds. humidity at 36% and a high of 60 in san jose. our temperatures through my microclimates here don't really change a whole lot as we head throughout the bay area. 60 in concord. 60 in oakland. the peninsula, 59 in redwood city and 57 in san mateo. more of these 50s through san francisco with even some sunshine through tomorrow. so it will be a nice change for us here. 57 in downtown. 58 for the mission. and across the north bay, 60 in napa. 61 in sonoma. 62 in ukiah. so dry tomorrow. looks fantastic. but we do have more showers

coming our way. not a big storm system but wednesday night into early thursday morning, you can see our next round of rainfall is going to be lining up here. it's primarily well off to the north but we're going to see a small piece of this bring about a tenth of an inch of rain. look at my extended forecast. i do think better bets of rainfall will certainly come once we head into this weekend and beyond. so here's the deal. new year's eve going to look a lot different for us. we'll have mostly clear skies. first day of 2021 on friday, partly cloudy conditions. new storm arrives on sunday, and two-day totals, a half to two inches possible. inland valley forecast, some cold 30s to 40s for morning lows. 50s to 60s for highs. so that storm system by sunday and monday could be really what we need here to put a big dent in that rain forecast. kira and raj, we may even have those totals get bumped up even more. so i think at this point, it could be the biggest storm system of the season. and i'd say right now, being the meteorologist i am, that's a

great way to start off 2021. what do you all think? >> it certainly is. >> heck yes. >> washing away 2020 with it, i do hope. >> jeff, big hugs to you. merry christmas a little belated. i'm giving you a hug, a virtual hug. >> you too, guys. >> all right. thanks, jeff. >> yep. up next, the monterey bay aquarium lending its ultra cold freezer to a local hospital to store vaccines. we'll tell you why the aquarium had such a deep freeze in the first place. ahead for us, a final attempt in congress to raise stimulus relief payments to $2,000. and a covid passport may soon be coming right to your phone. those stories and much more tonight on "nightly news."

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it took more than four months of fighting, but tonight the czu and scu fires are now completely controlled. cal fire making that declaration, which means the fires are fully extinguished and

there is no chance of reigniting. the czu fire, which started august 16th, burned more than 86,000 acres across san mateo and santa cruz counties. the scu fire also scorched parts of multiple counties including santa clara, contra costa, and alameda. that fire charred nearly 400,000 acres. this is not a fish story but it does involve the monterey bay aquarium. the world famous aquarium lent one of its ultra cold freezers to native dad hospital in salinas so that hospital can store the pfizer covid vaccine. that specific brand must be stored at minus 94 degrees fahrenheit. the aquarium owns two of those freezers to store biological and veterinarian samples but they helped out with the vaccine now. freezers that are capable of maintaining the ultra low temperature cost between 5,000 and $15,000. we want to take you now to the east bay where a landmark theater is offering to put your message in lights to keep theirs

from going out of business. the 79-year-old orinda theater can't open its doors of course because of the pandemic. but the rent, it's still due each month. so while the owner can't put movies on the screen, he realized he can put word on the theater's historic marquee. >> and i put up a friend's message one day, and then all of a sudden i got an email and somebody said, hey, can we put up a message? it's like, okay, let's try it. >> of course every message is also a photo op. perfect for your social channels. $75 gets your message showcased for 48 hours. >> that's nice. you can put "kira klapper" up there. >> i could. i don't know if anyone would want to see that except me, but that is an idea, raj. >> your parents would love it. we're back in a moment. stay with us. covered in red pai

the statue of perhaps the most popular former president - tonight at 6:00, covered in red paint. the statue of perhaps the most popular former president defaced in a bay area neighborhood. that story and more tonight in our 6:00 newscast. finally tonight at 5:00, home for the holidays. >> a young california sea lion is back in the open water with the help of the marine mammal

center in marin county. the volunteers there and the staff. the large scar on his shoulder is a bite mark from a great white shark. the veterinarians weren't sure they could save him when he arrived at the center in november. look at that scar. but he's okay, and he's back in the water. "nightly news" is next. tonight, hel finally on the way for millions of americans impacted by the pandemic the house voting to raise the $600 stimulus checks to $2,000 after president trump reversed course and signed the massive relief package but will it pass the senate and when will you see the money? also tonight, president-elect joe biden accusing the trump administration of obstructing the transition by withholding national security information and biden condemning the christmas bombing in nashville his message to the hero officers. the fbi searching for the bomber's motive, what we have learned and how a hat