getting students and teachesers back to in-person learning. right now at 6:00 -- >> working families need help now. not next year but right now. >> far from over. our washington insider breaks down the debate on capitol hill still looming over more relief checks for struggling americans. the money you can expect to roll out into your account as early as this morning for some. plus a one-two punch. covid cases surge across the country just as a new strand makes its way into the u.s. a live report on the growing concerns and what's now being done at airports to try to stop the spread. and you might want to just leave that umbrella in your car for a while. the days of potential rain. vianey is tracking it all for us. your third hour of "today in the bay" continues right now. >> i keep wanting to wash my car. good wednesday morning to you. thank you for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington.

we'll just let mother nature do that. mike has a look at the commute. first, mother nature giving us a little car washing, shall we say, vianey. definitely, don't wash your car. we have several storms on the way but we need the rain. such a welcome sight on our extended radar. we have temperatures cold to start. we managed to dip down into the 20s. below freezing which means you probably woke up to frosty conditions if you're in one of those areas. here is what we're monitoring next. the storm that will moven i later tonight not a huge rainmaker, not a big storm. this isn't the one we're excid -- well, i'm excited about any storm but we have several storms on the way heading into the weekend and also the first week of 2021 is looking pretty active when it comes to the rain. take out that umbrella and all of those rain boots. i have some that i can't used in

months because i've been in this little den broadcasting live from home. mike, hoeffer to you. >> all right, vianey, yes, as we all have. a lot of folks are not on the roadways and that tends to happen the final week of any year, especially now. we see green sensors. i will take you to the traffic alert we follow for the north bay this is westbound 80. reports of a deadly crash around highway 37 has you jammed up from american canyon road and building now from that point. so allow yourself -- i would allow yourself another half hour if you have to travel and take fair grounds drive. you should be okay. we'll show you the rest of your commute coming up. back to you, laura. >> sounds good. thank you, mike. on capitol hill efforts to raise relief payments appear to be

going nowhere. however, those $600 stimulus payments are going out hitting bank accounts as early as today and mailboxes later this week. but how much will people end up getting? believe it or not, it is still to be determined. "today in the bay's" chris poe lean is live for us on capitol hill with the latest here. chris? >> reporter: marcus, laura, yes, that's right. $600 to start for most people. senate democrats would love to vote on a bill that would raise that from $600 to $2,000, but they might not get that chance. >> i'm ready. >> reporter: on a day when vice president-elect kamala harris got the coronavirus vaccine and urged americans to do the same, president-elect joe biden slammed president trump's efforts to get people vaccinated quickly and detailed his plan to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days. >> i'm going to use my power under the defense production act when i'm sworn in and order private industry to accelerate the making of the materials needed for the vaccine as well

as protective gear. >> reporter: on capitol hill despite support from president trump senate democrats and a handful of senate republicans, efforts to raise coronavirus relief payments appear to be going nowhere. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell blocked the democrats' first attempt to pass a house-backed bill. >> is there objection to the modification? >> i object. >> objection. >> reporter: then mcconnell introduced a bill to raise payments but included two other provisions, pet causes championed by president trump unrelated to covid relief which democrats will likely not agree to. minority leader chuck schumer calling it a blatant attempt to deprive americans of a $2,000 survival check. it sets up a senate showdown on a vote to override the president's veto on a key spending bill. >> i would urge my colleagues to support this legislation one more time. >> reporter: vermont independent bernie sanders vowing to block the military bill until senators get to vote on increasing the stimulus check. time is running out. this session of congress ends on

sunday. and if congress is able to raise that from $600 to $2,000, the treasury confirms people will get another payment to make up the difference. i'm chris pollone, "today in the bay." a u.s. congressman elect from louisiana has died from covid complications. luke letlow announced on december 18th he tested positive. days later he was checked into a shreveport hospital where he died. he leaves behind a wife and two young children. he was just 41. kevin mccarthy sent his condolences on twitter. letlow had just won a run-off election and was set to be sworn into office on saturday. now to our race for a vaccine. new for you this morning the uk is approving the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. they're hoping to begin administration within weeks.

here in the uz t.s. it could be submitted end of january. speaking of the uk days ago we told you about the mutant strain of covid-19 and now it's being reported it made its way to the united states with some health officials believing it's already here in the bay area. "today in the bay's" cierra johnson to break down where the virus was found and how local officials are responding. >> reporter: yes, good morning, marcus. the mutant strain has made its way to the united states with health officials saying they are treating a patient with the mutant strain. we're told it is a male in his 20s with no travel history and we're told he's recovering in isolation south of denver. what do health researchers know about this particular strain? an infectious disease specialist says this specific mutation

allows covid to stick to your cells faster allowing it to replicate quicker. it can spread faster, infect more people, increasing the number of people hospitalized which of course is a concern with so many bay area hospitals already experiencing a low icu availability. >> it will spread from person to person faster and is likely to take over the u.s. strain. it will take over because it's so fast. >> reporter: it is important to nose researchers believe this current vaccine will be effective against the mutant strain and steps to slow the infiltration of this strain into the united states. if you're traveling from the united kingdom you will need to provide documentation that you are, in fact, negative. that needs to be taken within 72 hours of that u.s.-bound flight. if you are not able to provide

that documentation you cannot board the flight. this mutant strain comes across the pond. >> thanks, cierra. the u.s. is approaching a grim milestone. right now 19.5 million confirmed infections which is really on track to reach 20 million in the coming days. nearly 339,000 people that started out 2020 alive, sadly, have now died. statewide the surge is getting worse as icu beds continue to dwindle. more than 31,000 new cases with california's overall total now approaching 2.2 million. more than 24,000 people have died. happening today governor gavin newsom is expected to update california's response to the pandemic. all happening at 10:00 this morning.

we'll stream it live. then later today the governor will join dr. anthony fauci for a virtual talk around the united states. some shaking may have had people shaking in their beds. this is near the pinnacle. this struck around 12:30 a.m. no reports of damage. it's 6:09. a live look outside. if you're anywhere near the coastline don't turn your back on the water. dangerous conditions. the big waves can be up to 30 minutes apart. stronger rip currents are also possible be and this could make for stormy seas when the largest crane ship is expected to pass under the bridge at about 8:00 this morning. it's carrying new container cranes to oakland, so they have

to be big ones. crane booms were lifted down yesterday to make sure the ship has enough room to pass. they always have to do so many calculations checking the tides, when to bring it in. always a sight to see. sometimes people want to head to the coastline and get fresh air. don't turn your back to it. definitely don't. keep a safe distance yourself and your pets. i love seeing the dogs running around enjoying the beach. there's a common misconception where the water is calmer, that could be the rip current itself. it doesn't have to be a huge, crashing wave. a lot of people don't know that. the beach hazard statement, that is going to be in effect until 10:00 p.m. today. in addition, what does that mean? we could see the coastal trails.

keep that in mind. keep a safe distance from the beach in general. you don't want to head out there. coming up i will go over the rain chances and when to expect some of that rain later into this evening. first let's check in with mike. >> we still have the traffic alert in vallejo. we're looking at westbound 80. starting from back before american canyon road all the way until just shy of highway 37. allow that to get through the area. everything is an easy drive including the carquinez bridge. no backup at the bay bridge. there's some fog rolling around. it's moving.

incentive, one big hotel chain is offering if you're willing to cash in your time away from the office with them. an nfl player says he's being paid with bit coin. a look at the futures this morning despite all of the bad news we're getting, it is so bad out there with covid, the markets just continue to head towards new records. plus, an early morning wake-up call turned bonding experience. why this video is touching the hearts of millions on tiktok this morning.

good morning. 37 degrees right now in walnut creek. a cold start not just here but throughout the bay area. we are tracking rain heading into this evening. i'll talk about the timing for that and what to expect this weekend of 2021 coming up in a few mince. mike? looking at westbound 80 clear and just fine on the oakland side. bring you more details on that and a major crash coming up. well, good morning, and a very happy wednesday to you as well. chris pollone was just telling us about how many americans

could start seeing $600 stimulus checks quite soon, maybe even today. more good news for your bank account. the department of labor telling us jobless benefits will not be delayed after all. we thought because the president hesitated for several days to sign the stimulus bill there would be a pause. the dol said they were able to fix the problem in time. the nfl is clarifying something one of its players said about getting paid. the panthers' russell okung said the nfl was paying him half his salary in bitcoin. last spring he tweeted out a demand to be paid in cryptocurrency and said pay me in bitcoin. and then it updated to read paid in bitcoin. the nfl says, well, not really. okung is paid half in cash and then he, himself, concerts verto bitcoin. bitcoin is hitting an all-time

high. it could just as easily go the other way. here is a list of ceos paid in good old dollars and lots of dollars. bloomberg did an analysis. you'll recognize the ceo of tesla and apple there on the top. rutledge and the ceo, at number five it's the ceo of dog food delivery company chewy. he makes more than the ceos of google and microsoft. no women on the top five list. women ceo pay would not make the top ten. former lockheed ceo marillyn hewson made $32.8 million. here is the president not even getting her name right. >> i may ask marillyn lockheed, the leading woman's business

executive in this country according to many. >> she took it politely. hewson the highest paid woman, lisa su, safra catz, hewson and chersheryl sandberg is fourth. as i was cautioning it's very complicated figuring out people's pay. some people are paid $1 and get stock options. >> that window is still too big. it's ridiculous. >> wide open. >> right, boys? right? >> agreed. 6:18. for a lot of people out there the pandemic i'm sure ruined your 2020 travel plans.

the four seasons resort in florida wants to help you out offering a full package saving guests 20% on booking costs. the package includes several connected suites so families can safely social distance together. >> and that plan is available in 2028. it feels like that at this point. this is cute. a display of brotherly love warming hearts. >> a mother of six in ohio posted this video that shows her 10-year-old son, mason, comforting her 18-month-old child in the middle of the night. big brother helping out little brother. even getting into the crib. she watched the whole scene unfold on the baby monitor and asked mason why he didn't get her instead. mason replied he knew she had a long day. >> oh, my gosh.

what a great kid. i love that. he'll be a great dad one day, too. >> i love that, yeah. >> save that video. they may not get along that well all the time. >> i feel like he will always be a protector. we have to do a little birthday shoutout. isn't mason's birthday today, mike, your son? >> my mason, yes. he's 15 today. he's 15 today. >> i can't believe it. >> i've been with you on the air for 15 years now. >> he's not going to hear this. >> all right. a birthday forecast then, right, vianey? >> 15. i just think of being 15.

let's talk about san francisco's clear skies. 42 degrees right now and we've got rain moving in later this evening but not a lot of rain. it's still really cold in the north bay, down to san jose. 30s as you wake up this morning. bundle up as you head out the door. that 24-hour temperature change in napa is 5 degrees. morgan hill, nine degrees colder compared to yesterday morning and doppler radar right now you can actually see the storm system approaching off the pacific. if you look out far enough you can see another storm on the way. storm ranger, mobile dom letter radar, we're the only ones in the bay area that have it. i would recommend dialing in the nbc bay area app. it's free and you can track the rain right in your neighborhood. it gives you an alert when it moves in. it will be all over the place. microclimate highs will be in the upper 50s. nice, cool evening shower chance. let's look at some of the timing for this. early on we're going to see that rain probably in the north bay

before it finally begins to trickle in really late this evening. pockets of rain, not really widespread. overnight into the early morning hours it does clear out but, lucky for us we have another storm on the way expected into late friday night. clearing out by midday saturday and moving in is another storm. that one looks like more of a rainmaker. we're talking potentially upwards of 2 inches especially for the north bay mountains. of course we're still far out. it is actually probably less than 24 hours out just to give you a closer number to the exact model. mike, how are the roads? the roads are just fine right now as far as speed sensors go except for one key spot. to the maps and we're talking

about green sensors dominating this part. as we move up to the north bay, it's westbound 80. still, the traffic alert approaching the carquinez bridge near american canyon road where it's really bogged down. down to one lane south of highway 37. major injuries reported but it sounds like most of the focus is on the dog involved in the crash. i'm trying to sort everything out. chp says there may be fog. back to you. >> thanks so much, mike. up next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> reporter: his flight is canceled so we called his bank to rebook. yes, his bank. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. i'll explain why next.

>> reporter: good morning. oscar was set to fly to australia to see his son. a few weeks out he discovered his airline canceled his flight, but oscar's booking agent didn't reschedule or refund him. he was going nowhere. that's when he contacted us and we contacted his travel agent, a company you might not expect, wells fargo. yeah, the bank. he used some bank rewards points to book his trip. wells fargo took care of his flight the very next day. a rep told us while we do not discuss information about our customers or accounts due to customer privacy and confidentiality i can confirm that we were able to advocate on behalf of the customer for a more favorable outcome.

$2,152 in oscar's favor. wells fargo added one nugget. flights bought using rewards redemptions are subject to the same airfare restrictions as purchased travel. free tickets do carry rules and fees, but by the same token it also deserves the say treatment when the airline changes its schedule or cancels a flight. you are due reaccommodation or a full refund. having a free ticket is not a license for them to strand you. should that happen let us know. go to nbcbayarea.com/responds or call us 888-996-tips. covid holiday surge concerns loom. the urgent message health officials want everyone to hear ahead of new year's eve. plus, out of room. ways many hospitals are impacted during the pandemic in southern california and what one woman says she was forced to do to deal with overcrowding in the

e.r.

it's going to be really scary for small business. especially since we can't eat outdoors anymore. right now at 6:30, the dire setback restaurants and businesses say they're face as the governor warns our stay-at-home order could be extended. plus, the steps the state is take for those falling financially behind.

the breakdown of who is set to get the next round of covid vaccines and what's being done to speed up the process. "today in the bay" continues right now. the last wednesday of 2020. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. mike will keep us updated with the roads. but first the forecast, vianey in for kari and a look at what we can expect. it's going to be a good one, too. it will, a great start. it looks like a crane moving. let's take a look at the headlines. for the first half of our day it will be lovely. we get a chance of showers that moves in later this evening. not a complete washout. periods of rain, a couple pockets here and there pushing through rather quickly overnight into the early morning hours tomorrow. and then we dry out tomorrow evening but the rain chances

will continue into the weekend. i'll detail that. let's check in with mike. you see nothing but green. we have this deadly crash causing an alert. the backup past american canyon road. go ahead and allow an extra half hour or highway 12. that has been clear all morning. laura? in just a few hours small business owners in california can apply for covid relief grants from the state. bob redell joins us live to tell us more about it. is it going to be really hard to qualify? >> reporter: well, to answer

your first question, laura, we expect to receive this within a few weeks. january 13th will notify if you've received the grant and then the money would arrive some time after that. the california small business development center program will start taking applications for these grants. they were supposed to start at 6:00 this morning. bottom line is starting this morning you can start applying for these grants. part of a $500 million relief plan governor newsom announced. grants range in size from $5,000 for businesses under $100,000 in revenue and then goes up to $15,000 and then $25,000. again, depending on your gross annual revenue. we spoke to some small business owners in san francisco. some have had to rely on fund-raisers. they plan to apply for these grants but one business we spoke to said he's skeptical whether he'll receive any of the money

being handed out by the state. >> it's a $25,000 grant. it's not first come first serve. i think the money will run out. >> with the vaccine there is hope that we can hold on until spring. >> reporter: so, again, according to the website, the applications open at 6:00. the phone number you must call doesn't open until 8:00. you can go on the website and check it out. the deadline is january 8th. laura? >> what kind of information do business owners need to be able to apply? >> reporter: they have to have their latest tax returns whether that's in 2018, 2019, their official business filing with the secretary of state, whatever they did to incorporate and what their status is. they must have been in business since june 1 of 2019.

they must be in operation or plan to be back in operation after the sheller in place list. >> so many of them. good info, bob. i will send out a link on twitter as well for the small businesses. thanks so much. 6:35. take a look at this map right here. the peak was december 15th. that high number came from the december surge. that impact on christmas hasn't been tallied just yet. medical experts have concern leading up to the new year's eve celebration after millions of

people did not follow guidelines. san francisco just one of the many cities deciding to cancel its new year's eve fireworks display. urgent message to just stay home. >> we know a number of people will be exposed over the weekend, that the urge of many californians to gather and do so in ways that really aren't covid safe are going to lead to some transmission. the u.s. is dealing with an increase in recent weeks. doctors blame travel. doctors worry people who got infected during the christmas celebration could spread to people during new year's eve parties. the governor making that call yesterday. both regions have zero percent

icu availability. the bay area only 10% available. our stay-at-home order here expires january 8th. that's a week from friday. in the meantime one los angeles hospital is taking extreme measures to try to deal with the surge of patients. riverside is converting a former cafeteria into an alternative care space just to handle those now waiting for a hospital bed. what's more, nine members of california's national guard are now stationed at that hospital to help its emergency department deal with the influx of people just coming in. one non-covid patient is sharing her overwhelming experience trying to get care at another hospital. >> i was being treated in the hall. i had to go in and have my catheter removed while in the restroom because there were no rooms available. >> riverside community hospital is currently treating more than 200 covid-19 patients.

in the meantime in san diego, hospital officials say they're running out of rooms to hold bodies. hospitals have had to rely on other mortuaries due to exceeding morgue capacity. now to our special series "race for a vaccine." seniors and staff at walnut creek facility will receive their first doses of the covid-19 vaccine today. sequoia living says it's among the first communities to do so in northern california. the vaccinations begin at 11:00 this morning. when is it your turn? check out our interactive tool that will ask you a few questions, give you all the information you need to know and give you an estimated time of where your place in line will be. there is a link at nbcbayarea.com. click on the where you stand in the vacne line at the top of our trending bar. kris? >> reporter: hi there, marcus. we're here at stanford that has come under fire for its vaccine

rollout. what the governor has to say about people who are trying to jump the line. and that vaccine rollout much slower than operation warp speed had hoped. we'll go over some of the numbers. let's take you out to the big boards. stocks continue to move higher even with all of this terrible news about the growing coronavirus threat. plus, do the robot. the classic song that is helping these pieces of technology bust a move. plus, you won't believe what we dug up from our archives. stick around. you do not want to miss it. i'm not just talking about these dance moves here. you're watching "today in the bay." it's not easy now with this pandemic. second harvest makes me really really happy. meatballs, mexican rice, chicken enchiladas, and mole. for almost twenty years. *speaking in spanish

good morning. the bay area starting out in the 30s and 40s but eventually will warm up into the 50s, and we're tracking rain for this evening. the full forecast in a few minimum. mike? a live look at the nimitz freeway through oakland. roadways at the limit but we still have that traffic alert for the north bay. the latest update i just got from chp. thanks so much, vianey and mike. covid vaccinations not going perfectly as planned. some people heading to the front of the line ahead of frontline health care workers who need the

protection the most. >> one of the problems has reportedly happened at stanford medicine where we find "today in the bay's" kris sanchez this morning. kris, what happened here? >> reporter: hi there, marcus and laura. this is the second time stanford has been under heavy criticism for how it has administered its vaccinations to its staff and the people who work with patients here at the hospital. stanford daily is roaring the hospital offered vaccines to some nonclinical employees over the weekend because there were more vaccines available than staff lining to get them. it has a shelf life once it's been defrosted. when people showed up there was little verification process. in a statement to the paper the stanford spokesperson said that going forward vaccines will be by invitation only rather than by walkup. this comes a week after the walkout by those protesting that they felt they were in the back of the line behind some of

stanford's senior doctors and medical workers who don't interact with patients. the ceo blamed an algorithm for that and apologized. the governor has said that his office is working to create a plan for enforcement addressing any doctor. >> i want to make this crystal clear if you skip the line or intend to skip the line you will be sanctioned and will lose your license. we will be very aggressive in terms of highlighting the reputational impacts as well. >> reporter: so other vaccination problem headlines, in orange county a hospital came under fire after a non-health care worker bragged about getting the vaccine saying the vaccines had to be used or discarded. and in wisconsin dozens of vials of the moderna vaccine, ten vaccines each, had to be thrown

out because they were taken out of a pharmacy refrigerator overnight and you know they only have a short shelf life. we have reached out to stanford for comment on this particular situation. we'll get back to you when we hear back. laura and marcus? >> going back to the governor making the threat of losing your medical license if you skip the line there, what about any other enforcements coming out of the governor's office? any others? >> reporter: yes. so up to this point all of these covid restrictions have been do the right thing because it's the right thing. now the governor says they are going to get more serious about those who defy orders policy. we've heard from sheriff's departments who say i will not enforce anything like that. if it becomes part of the policy the governor says the plan is to divert discretionary funding away from those communities and not reward them for the bad behavior. that's still in the works.

>> thanks. a lot to keep in mind. president-elect biden says america must speed up the distribution of the vaccines. >> so this is new analysis showing we're missing our goals, scott. we are missing it by quite a bit. operation warp speed. the plan was to vaccinate 20 million americans by the end of the year. if you look at your calendar the end of the year is tomorrow. the cdc says the actual number of americans vaccinated with the first dose is closer to 2 million so that's one-tenth the number operation warp speed was looking for. here's president-elect joe biden. >> i've directed my team to prepare much more aggressive effort with more federal involvement and leadership to get things back on track. we'll find ways to boost the pace of vaccinations.

today is the deadline for robert redfield and alex azar to turn over documents to a house investigation into the meddling at cdc. documents show administration officials tried to block or water down 13 of the morbidity and mortality results. president trump is in florida. there is talk he will attend a political rally for senators in georgia, but it's not on his press calendar as of right now. instead it says president trump will continue to work tirelessly for the american people. his schedule includes many meetings and calls. the senate may take up a vote on increasing the stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 today. something the president and democrats have been pushing for. the house has already approved that idea. senate leader mitch mcconnell may tie a vote on increased benefits to the passage of a law restricting section 230 of the communications decency act.

it's the rule that protects internet companies like facebook and twitter from liability based on what you post. if you tweet your neighbor is a drug dealer and he's not, he can sue you for sure but not twitter under current rules. the president has been pushing to take away those protections and asked for it to be tied into a defense bill. he believes it means twitter will censor less. if you make them more liable for what people post they will likely censor more. by tying this to the internet, mcconnell may be able to kill the idea of a $2,000 check. money started hitting people's direct deposit last night.

they go to americans making less than $75,000. if you've gotten your stimulus payment already, i would like to hear about it. >> thanks so much, scott. you may know the dance move the robot. now some robots are showing off their own new dance moves. ♪ tell me do you love me ♪ >> those droids there are part of boston's dynamics and they are dancing to the hit song, the video has gone viral because people really want to see these robots shake their moves. more than 3 million people have watched this. look what we dug up from our archives. who is that right there?

>> no! >> robot, robot. that is laura garcia. >> get it, girl. >> laura, you broke it down, boom, boom, boom. technique, 10, 10, 10. >> i can't believe you guys dug up that video. i was in the audience of "ellen." she stopped right by me and i think i panicked and i just did the robot. she followed through and did it with me. >> dared you at one point. >> she did. i didn't tell anyone i was going on the show. viewers said, hey, were you in the audience and our producers found out. thanks for digging it up. >> once it's online -- >> you were not the audience. you were the show. >> vianey, rescue me again.

take it away. >> send it over again. i thought your go-to move was the robot, girl, i love it. san francisco 42 degrees right now. it's cold in the 30s. san jose is 37 degrees. clear skies. look at the rest of the bay area. doppler radar right now you can see the storm approaching. i do want to take you through the timing of this. we have a storm ranger up and scanning mobile doppler radar quiet right now. by the evening the rain will move in. 50s for your daytime highs. seasonable which is a good change. notice the first half of the day we'll stay dry. it isn't until 7:00, 8:00 we'll

start noticing the showers. it will spread southward later into the evening. notice how it's not a complete washout. periods of rain here and there. we're also looking at our next storm which moves in late friday night into the first weekend and first workweek of 2021. we have an additional storm setting up so sort of the interaction between alm of these storms will bring us a bit of an atmospheric river event which, as we know, means a good amount of rain heading into 2021. fantastic news there. mike, what's your go-to move? >> vianey, we'll stick with the robot for laura. unpleasant news that kins for the north bay. word they're trying to upright

vehicles involved, west 80. the backup is building. folks are bailing out of the backup. see the red stretch there getting over to fair grounds drive. past highway 37 everything is clear. we're hoping to see progress. lanes should reopen outside of that one portion of vallejo clear. back to you. >> thank you, mike. happening now if you've been dreaming of a jumbo jackpot to ring in the new year this might be your lucky day. nearly $800 million. that's what's up for grabs this week between the powerball and mega millions. this comes after no one won the mega millions drawing last night for $376 million. the next drawing is on friday. the estimated jackpot there for now is $400 million. the powerball jackpot drawing is tonight. wouldn't that be a nice way to turn this year around? coming up next a quick look at our top stories including the dangerous new mutant strain of

the virus that's been confirmed here in the united states. why some help officials believe it's already in the bay area. you're watching "today in the bay."

welcome back. here is a quick look at the top stories we're following for you wednesday morning. in just a few hours small business owners can apply for

those covid relief grants. >> bob redell joins us live. when would the businesses actually receive the money? >> reporter: we would expect within a few weeks. january 8th and january 13th whether or not they've been approved for the grants. part of a $500 million relief grant program you'll recall governor newsom announced november 30th. the california program which will start taking applications will start at 6:00 this morning. we've passed that. you have to call a phone number and that doesn't open until 8:00. you can go on their website to get the information. grants from $5,000 depending on your revenue up to $25,000. so, again, you want to go on the website right here behind me. we speak to small business owners yesterday in san francisco and this is something

they will be applying for and other business owners throughout the state. california confirming the first known case here in the u.s. of the more infectious covid mutation that has been spreading rapidly in parts of the uk, a man in his 20s and he's been said to have no travel history. officials aren't sure how he got it but is recovering. doctors say the new strain does not cause more serious symptoms than the vaccine going out now will protect it. under the golden gate bridge where there's just about an hour to go until the largest crane ship passes under the bridge carrying container cranes to oakland. crane booms were lifted down to make sure the sp has enough room to pass. it will be a close one. we'll make sure and capture it for you. in the meantime that picture

really captures a lovely start to bay area morning. it's a cold one, vianey. it is a lovely start. we have 30s right now and low 40s throughout the bay area. there is a beach hazard statement in place. a high surf advisory in place and a coastal flood warning in effect. keep that in mind, keep a safe distance from the coast. let's take a look at the next seven days. really late rain tonight. later into this evening there's a chance of some showers but more rain on the way expected for this weekend. mike, how are the roads? vianey, the big picture looks fine. i have to take you to the one incident and it's serious, a deadly crash reported here westbound 80. we should have lanes cleared the next half hour to 20 minutes as they're righting one of the vehicles involved in the crash.

american canyon road is causing congestion. the rest of the conditions are clear. >> thanks so much that will do it for us this morning. thank you for starting your morning with us. a look at the before sun rise. the "today" show is up next. good morning, it's here. the very first u.s. case of the highly contagious coronavirus strain from a colorado man who has not traveled outside of the country. and the coronavirus surge is getting worse by the day. >> it is getting worse and help is not coming. >> but overnight, new hope in the fight. the oxford vaccine with shots to start in just days, even as america struggles, even as the blame game intensifies.