a dangerous landslide overnight in santa cruz county washing away roads, sending a pg&e truck down an help increase our revenue so we can have more employees and pay all the bills. >> restaurants reopen in san francisco under the rainy skies but the boost businesses across the region are also hoping for starting this weekend after the wet weather kind of settles down. >> and the latest on robin hood a stock trading app that in some cases won't trade stocks. we'll hear an explanation from the ceo. "today in the bay" continues right now. welcome to friday morning. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm kris sanchez in for marcus washington. finally getting a break, kari.

>> some parts of the bay area while the rain lingers for the south bay and east bay we are going to see this rain moving out very slowly as we go through the morning but it will happen today as we get a look at the wider view of the storm and we are going to see the storm tapering off while it is still snowing in the sierra. we'll talk more about all of that coming up. mike, how are road conditions right now? >> well, kari, we'll take you to the maps right away. the blues were the puddling and ponding registered by the road weather index, translating it to the conditions. we see that around the bridge but a big issue is what else is on the ground or at least not in the air the wires for pg&e, the closure there for west 580. been there over an hour now. right around high street. do avoid that area. the rest of the bay area very wet. pg&e over in oakland, laura, more on those folks from you. they're working hard. >> that's right. breaking news we're covering

right now, because a pg&e truck caught in a landslide south of the bay area. new video from the scene. the truck fell about 150 feet down a hill. it happened overnight in aptos when the road was washed away. the road between valencia school road and valencia road itself is completely destroyed. we don't of any injuries a the this point. in the meantime weather related evacuations have been lifted in the santa cruz mountains. some homeowners in boulder creek say they've been dealing with minor flooding from the run-off. but they're breathing much easier amid so much concern about mud slides and wildfire burn scar areas. 5:02 right now. restaurants across san francisco finally weather would cooperate. rain in many cases proving to be an added challenge. >> but they have one side on their side. bay area covid cases are starting to really taper off. today in the bay's cierra

johnson is live in san francisco. how did it go the first night and what are we looking forward to? >> reporter: good morning. many of the business owners woke up this morning after having served their first outdoor dining customers in a matter of weeks. a lot of these build outs behind me were filled with diners throughout the bay area or rather san francisco and we have some video of them. we captured folks bundled up using the heat lamps cranked up in san francisco as many restaurants served their guests. they needed the outdoor dining option to make up for lost revenue. some even though decided they needed a little extra time to get things up and running before their first night. little painting the shop so i'll be prepared and tomorrow, friday, i will be opening with the sunshine. >> that business owner wasn't the only one waiting for a break and the weather to reopen.

the mass vaccination site at city college in san francisco also resuming services today. the site was closed two days until the storms rolled through the date. there is good news in the fight against covid-19. it appears some of those cases in the area appear to be following. it was reported on wednesday the state's daily average dropped significantly to just 23,000 cases per day. on the flip side the state has three of the deadliest days in deaths. so you'll want to pay close attention as we continue to reopen to do you what can to prevent the spread with yourself and others. live in san francisco, cierra johnson "today in the bay." president biden -- democrats are now pledging to go it alone if they can't get republicans on

board. tracie potts is live in washington with that part of the story. good morning. >> reporter: hey, kris. good morning everyone. the president wants to move quickly. republicans want to make sure america can afford this covid relief. today he meets with the treasury secretary to talk about what happens if washington drags its feet. >> as we continue to battle covid-19. >> reporter: president biden in a hurry to get $1400 payments to americans. >> the first thing we have to do is get the covid package passed. >> reporter: his $1.9 trillion stimulus includes money to distribute vaccines. in los angeles people are camping out hoping to get a shot. >> if there is any chance i can get it, it is totally worth staying in line all day. >> reporter: republicans say biden's plan costs too much and they want to break it up. the white house says no. but he'll negotiate. >> we'll keep trying till the end. but there is an urgency here. >> reporter: with extra unemployment running out in just over a month, democrats want to

vote next week. with or without republicans. >> it would be very disappointing, madame president, if democrats decided to shove a partisan bill through congress without even attempting to work with republicans. >> reporter: the white house covid response team briefs again today now faced with the new south african version of coronavirus showing up in two south carolina patients who have not traveled. >> we know these two people do not know one another and that they did not travel to south africa. so the presumption at this point there has been community spread of this strain andlear how well the cur the new version of virus. tracie potts, nbc news. speaking of washington in the wake of the capitol chaos new backlash on capitol hill tied to an ultra conservative lawmaker. house speaker nancy pelosi is among leading democrats outraged over the gop assigning representativelo greene to the house education

committee. >> assigning her to the education committee when she has mocked the killing of little children attending elementary school, when she has mocked the killing of teenagers in high school at the marjorie stoneham douglas high school, what could they be thinking? >> greene is a known conspiracy theory promoter and in the past she has reportedly liked social media posts calling for violence against democrats. all of this comes as lawmakers ask congressional leaders for the option to tap their own allowances to boost personal security in the wake of that capitol siege. in a few hours a bay area president trump supporter facing criminal charges will appear in court for a bail hearing. the fbi says ian rogers from

napa built five pipe bombs and planned to attack democrats in twitter. when agents raided his home they found incriminating texts on his phone. a more contagious strain of covid first found in south africa is the latest to appear in the united states. two cases were just identified in south carolina as a recent study by pfizer shows its vaccine lost a small bit of its effectiveness against the new variant. the director of the cdc says the situation is concerning but it is important to keep this in mind. >> we never expected a vaccine as efficacious as the moderna and pfizer vaccine at 95% efficacy. i would say even a vaccine that has 50%, 60% efficacy would still be a really strong tool in our tool box to fight this pandemic. >> in the meantime, as the new contagious strains pop up health leaders are warning everyone to take doublens including double masking.

another vaccine may soon reach the market. novavax says its vaccine was nearly 90% effective, tested on 15,000 people in britain and trials now being conducted here in the u.s. the company says the vaccine is about 80% effective against the uk variant of covid and it is 60% effective against the south african variant. it is 5:09 right now. happening now, parts of highway 1 in monterey county are closed due to storm damage. the heavy rains just took out a part of the road at rat creek to the san lewis obispo county line. chunks of the highway side are flowing on to the highway and down into the ocean. today caltrans will assess the damage and decide how long the closure will last. monterey county is hosting a meeting to talk about this week's storm damage there. you may recall 25 structures were damaged by a mud slide near salinas and at least one person was injured. they really had a tough go

there. a little break in the s that. kari? >> you have some weather depart. >> yes, we were just hearing about a 3.3 magnitude quake up around clearlake and so that may have awakened some people early this morning. so let us know on social media if you felt anything @nbcbayarea as well as me @karihallweather and let us know if you felt anything in the north bay. let's look at where we are seeing some of the rain lingering this morning on storm ranger seeing some of the light showers over parts of napa and solano counties down to the south bay and the rain will linger for some of us this morning. but then be moving out as we go into today. the weekend, the north bay will continue to see showers off and on while other areas to the south will get a chance to dry out. we are going to see more rain next week. we'll talk more about all of

that in the forecast but, mike, you've been watching for the friday light commute. we're hoping though it is still wet. >> well, the volume is light. and the amount of water on the roads is much lighter than yesterday but still wet. we still have breaking news. changes first in oakland. good news, 580 both directions should be open any second now. westbound lanes are all cleared for pg&e and caltrans and high street. eastbound has some cones being picked up. use caution through the area. there were power lines down across the highway for the freeway there. a new alert over here it looks like just in toward walnut creek toward lafayette, eastbound, 24 at oak hill. two the freeway just watching for the slick conditions. back to you. >> all right. thank you very much. have you heard this one, mike? a new lawsuit filed against a popular sandwich chain gives new meaning to the term mystery meat.

next on today in the bay the claims made by two bay area customers and subway's new response. users of the app robin hood are furious this morning because they wanted to buy some stock and robinhood a stock buying app wouldn't let them. >> banking on an epic performance, putting cash into the halftime show.

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welcome back. we are continuing to follow breaking news this morning. a 3.3 earthquake, 13 miles north of the morning. we'll keep tabs on that. no reports of any damage or injuries so far. >> hey, we're also watching out for the rain that continues for the bay area. it's still snowing in the sierras. so looking at our tahoe report it is still very dane checking out for the covid-19

guidelines. we'll talk about what is ahead in our forecast for the bay area in a few minutes. well, good morning and a very happy friday to you as well. more fallout this morning from the whole gamestop issue. robin hood the stock trading app actually barred its users from buying gamestop shares yesterday. that enraged users who quite understandably wondered how can they do that? and because they couldn't buy gamestop shares the price fell hard. that left some mom-and-pop users in the red. it pleased the hedge funds which were betting against the stock. it seemed to many that the menlo park based robin hood was stealing from the poor to pay the rich. here's the company's ceo on cnbc. >> we're really in unprecedented times and in order to protect the firm and our customers we had to limit buying in these stocks. >> of course robin hood users

didn't want to be protected. they wanted to buy. video of a small protest outside the company's peninsula headquarters. robin hood, hard for them to reach, it appears to have disconnected the support lines at the company. shares are back up in gamestop this morning in premarket ready to double again. you may not own the stock. you may never have been to a gamestop store. a lot of people have never been to a gamestop store. if that is the case here is why you care about this. it is a story of regular people teaming up against a power they feel is being unfair. some piling in to make a point. some piling in to make a profit. laura, yesterday you asked me if any of this could be regulated. i said, hey, none of it was illegal. to follow up on that i spoke with a fintech expert. >> i think this is going to be a good test of regulations as to and what is not allowed and what is considered to be manipulating the market. is reddit manipulating the

market? not really. it is a combination of open source discussions around stocks and around investing and the market itself. >> now, that is reddit users and short sellers we're talking about. they weren't breaking any rules. but robin hood the stock trading app, even u.s. senators are accusing robin hood of breaking the rules. we'll probably see that ceo again answering questions in front of the u.s. congress. bitcoin another trendy investment wall street tends to keep a wary eye at wondering if bitcoin supporters have rational reasons for bidding the price up. it is up 14% today in value after elon musk put the word bitcoin in his twitter bio #bitcoin. that's it. one of the world's biggest supporters is tim draper, he has a school for entrepreneurs in san mateo. he calls it draper university. he is threatening to move that school to texas or maybe redwood city after the san mateo planning commission stalled on approving his plans to add an

elevator to the back of the building. it is housed in the old ben franklin hotel. draper is one of many venture capitalists i've interviewed for our podcast sand hill road. we get into a friendly argument in that episode. tim is one of those guys who is just fun to argue with. that is a very old episode. i talked to venture capitalist this week again, this one time about tv and radio, and i make a very embarrassing admission about tiktok. something that even my kids were face palming over. i am not going to tell you what it is. you have to down load the podcast ifrjts bet he danced, laura. >> that's interesting. >> we'll have to watch. >> all right. thank you, scott. well, new this morning, lowe's is looking to hire over 50,000 new employees ahead of the spring home improvement rush including full-time and part-time jobs. the company will also be issuing $80 million more in bonuses.

for hazard pay to current employees. subway is facing a new lawsuit this morning claiming its tuna sandwich isn't fishy enough. my kids would disagree. two alameda county residents are behind the lawsuit and allege the meat in the sandwich is neither tuna nor fish. they claim an independent testing of the ingredients confirmed the products are made from anything but tuna. in response, subway insists it delivers 100% cooked tuna to its restaurants adding it is wild, caught from the ocean. the company calls the lawsuit baseless. the first "snl" of the new year premise tomorrow. let's just say the cast and musical guest machine gun kelly are not neces easy on guest host actor john. >> tons of pressure. the first show back. first show of 2021. >> okay. okay. >> i get it. >> no, she's can live up to all the pressure

when "snl's" first episode of 2021 airs tomorrow live at 8:30 right here on nbc bay area. trending this morning, the weekend spending some big bucks to make sure his super bowl halftime show is epic. he is shelling out $7 million of his own money to help give the production value an added boost. you may not know this. the nfl does not pay super bowl performers for their shows. the weekend is releasing a new biggest hits album next week ahead of the big game. i guess the attention and notoriety it gets just for performing, they put their all into it. >> i would love to know what the original budget is that he had to spend $7 million on top of that. >> i love his voice. all right. singing in the rain today, kari. >> yeah. at least early this morning. but we' been having people shaken up by this

minor earthquake we've seen in parts of the north bay around kelseyville near the clear lake area. 3.3 that happened right at 5:00 in the morning just as the alarm was going off. so that was something a little extra to wake you up this morning. hopefully no damage reports and still waiting for someone on social media to let us know if you felt anything around this area. of course it is very common to have these minor quakes in that region. as we look at what else is going on the rain is still lingering with this atmospheric river. this is the last little bit. we're seeing the scattered showers continuing as this system draws to an end and we're going to see the lingering showers over the next couple hours and then getting a chance to dry out later today. but then the north bay really doesn't get too much of a break going throughout the weekend. the off-and-on showers will continue there while areas to the south of san francisco will not see any rain over the next

couple of days for the weekend before we see some more showers returning on monday. when it does, it looks like we could see another 0.75 to 1 inch. as we go into early next week, wet weather and it lasts a couple days before the sunshine returns next wednesday into thursday. mike, you've been watching the commute. any major issues popping up? >> well, it looks like my happen just had a little hiccup. let's take you right to the screen to see if i can control it from where i am. we are looking at a smooth flow of traffic. you see the blue over on the benicia bridge where the road weather index shows definitely some puddling and ponding left over. i've circled the area of 580 th recently from the wires that were down. another traffic alert now breaking news lafayette into the walnut creek interchange.

not a lot of slowing. the rest of the bay area is slippery. be careful.

welcome back everyone. many san francisco restaurants are excited they are finally getting the chance to reopen. >> and today on the "kelly clarkson show" kelly is honoring one san francisco bay chef who, like so many other restaurant owners, had to pivot during the pandemic. he created his own meals on

wheels. >> this is the dining room that i built. >> my gosh. >> complete with bleach/ash banquettes, cool table, real china on a camper van which i think is kind of rare. >> a fully mobile restaurant. today kelly sampled the menu and has a big surprise in store for the restaurant owner. that's at 3:00 right here on nbc bay area. 5:27 right now. coming up next top stories we're following including a possible breakthrough in the fight against covid. the new treatment san francisco researchers are using that is showing a lot of promise. plus, on hold, why san jose's search for a new police chief is on the back burner for a moment. in the wake of controversy surrounding one finalist. you're watching "today in the bay."

right now breaking news. nature unleashing its wrath overnight. a landslide in santa cruz county sends a pg&e truck down an embankment. the new video just into our newsroom. we have a live look at the radar which is lighting up right now. a little bit of rain lingering across the bay area. not much though. a little break for us. >> and the war of words intensifies between the governor and teachers over the return to the classroom. and billions of dollars taken. a live report of the new audit

detailing just how much money california handed out to bogus unemployment claims. as "today in the bay" continues right now. good friday morning to you. thanks so much for joining us. that's good to say. good friday morning. i'm laura garcihington. we'll get over to meteorologist kari hall timing out the friday forecast. it was nice to see the radar with the rain moving out a bit. >> yeah, it's been a very impressive with this atmosphere moving in and now starting to move out. it is giving us a break, giving that rain a chance to soak into the ground. we're still seeing lingering showers on storm ranger. we'll be tracking that as the storm moves off toward the east. we'll talk more about what is ahead in the forecast coming up. mike, what's going on right now for the commute? >> breaking news but breaking toward the better over here as we look at lafayette, eastbound 24 at oak hill the earlier crash blocking half of highway 24 then

cleared. now we're looking at green sensors there but green highlighting there. blue across the benicia bridge. some puddling and ponding. the arrow shows you westbound 580, still a slow drive right at the split with the warren freeway. highway 13. the earlier wires have been cleared from 580 but there may still be a crew in the area. so use caution and use caution on slick roadways still out there. back to you, laura. >> you talk about the slick roads, mike. breaking news we're following. all that rain from the recent storms still causing new problems this morning. an overnight landslide in santa cruz county caused some pretty scary moments for a pg&e crew. and there is a lot of road repair ahead. >> this isn't even near the burn scar area we watching. we have new video and details coming in. what happened, sharon? >> reporter: people are very concerned because there are more storms coming in and they already caused a lot of damage. a pg&e truck wiped out by the

mud slide on valencia school road released a statement saying the employee is okay, thankfully. the roadway gave way when the unit was out there trying to keep the community safe during the storm. the winter storm is also causing trouble for drivers who want to get to tahoe. look at this beautiful blanket of fresh snow there. but it is causing road hazards and closures so call ahead of time for road conditions if you are heading to tahoe this weekend. and santa cruz county residents who had to evacuate earlier this week due to concern over mud slides are happy to be back in their homes. crews are out clearing trees to make it safer in the burn areas. overall pretty good news concerned with mud slides in santa cruz county except what happened overnight with pg&e and in the aptos area but definitely with the dry weather we're getting now it should be a little break to regroup for the

storms coming next week. reporting live at highway 17, sharon katsuda "today in the bay." >> thank you, sharon. help may be on the way not only for renters struggling across california but also for landlords they now owe money to. that is part of the news coming out of the state capitol. we are learning painful new details about the state being scammed for billions and billions of dollars. "today in the bay's" bob redell tracking it all this morning. >> reporter: we're talking about $2.6 billion in rent relief that forgive some of the renters' rent if this all goes through as planned. yesterday the state assembly and senate passed legislation that would use $2.6 billion in federal stimulus money. governor newsom expected to quickly sign the bill and it would pay up to rent. that only

agree to forgive the tenants' debt. it is not clear if the 2.6 is enough to cover all of the unpaid rent nor how many landlords would accept the deal. the state auditor calculates unemployment fraud to total at least $10.4 billion. the auditor identified 26,000 street addresses where fraud was suspected. and yet the department only stopped sending money to 10,000 of those addresses. the auditor wrote that the edd has relied on uninformed and disjointed techniques to prevent imposter fraud. more than a million accounts still have not been verified. >> we can't estimate exactly how much it will end up being but we're pretty confident it is going to be in the billions. probably tens of billions of dollars. >> reporter: that money could be impossible to get back because as nbc bay area responds reporter reports our contacts with law enforcement and banking believe that m went overseas.

the audit agreed to implement all seven. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thanks so much, bob. it is 5:35 right now. now to a followup for you. several businesses are changing their tune after dropping their lawsuit against governor gavin newsom. it is reported more than 50 businesses part of wine country coalition for saw of reopening, aren't going to take legal action now that outdoor dining is resuming. the coalition warned it will sue again if the governor reinstates that ban. governor gavin newsom not quite seeing eye to eye with teachers in the debate about going back to school in person. the state's teachers association this week sent a letter to the governor demanding an aggressive vaccine plan before reopening classrooms. that letter also calls for higher priorities for educators.

politico reports newsom online with state school administrators yesterday told them to be up front with parents if there is no intention to reopen schools this year. he also argued that no return is possible if the only solution is a perfect solution. video of the meeting was originally posted on youtube but then quickly pulled. along the same lines the governor's $2 billion safe schools proposal is apparently on thin ice in sacramento. the chronicle reports this morning there is no real timeline on when the money would be available. that is in part because school districts have a lot of uncertainty over the application process and lawmakers have uncertainty over how they're going to distribute the money. california reported its second highest number of covid-19 deaths during the pandemic. the state department of public health reporting 737 new fatalities bringing the total number statewide to nearly

39,000. the total number of cases is approaching 3.2 million. another somber milestone in santa clara county. it surpassed the 100,000 mark for cases of covid-19, that is about 5% of the population. well, it is a potential major medical breakthrough in the fight against covid-19. ucsf researchers say they may have found a cancer drug that kills the virus. that drug is called aplidin and currently only approved in australia to treat multiple myeloma. the team of researchers sought out drugs that would protect key human proteins from being hijacked by the virus and they say this was by far the most effective. >> we're hoping this gets approved quickly and it can be used in this worldwide fight against this virus. >> the team at ucsf says the side effect seems to be minimal so far. planning is under way for phase 3 trials in using that drug to

treatment covid-19 patients in the u.s. and putting brakes temporarily on its search for a new police chief. the short list of six candidates this week dropped to five after minneapolis police chief medaria arredondo dropped out. his department is under national scrutiny for the death of george floyd. the city manager yesterday released a statement saying the search will pause two weeks to bring together a more diverse candidate pool. and gather more public feedback. a forum is now scheduled for saturday, february 13th. it should include the current, remaining five candidates. it is 5:39 right now and a very special treat coming up. you may have noticed marcus washington has been absent for a fewe to tell us about w >> boy, we've missed him. plus facing fallout. still ahead on "today in the bay" l.a.'s mayor under growing criticism after receiving a covid vaccine. his response to critics this morning who say he did not live

up to his word. on capitol hill this morning, democrats are telling republicans they will push through a covid relief bill with or without you. pick that recipe up. >> pick it up yourself. >> we are remembering the legendary life of a hollywood icon, cicely tyson.

right now at 5:42 storm ranger still scanning and showing some rain across parts of the bay area from solano county over toward gilroy. we are seeing spotty showers still lingering. we'll talk about this rain aher the weekend coming up in a few minutes. and traffic ranger, that's me, still scanning right here. let's show you the san mateo bridge live cam. looking extra twinkly today. we have the rain on the lens. be careful. it's slippery out there. kris? thank you, mike. the groundbreaking emmy and tony award winning actress cicely tyson died at the age of 96. >> we will give him a very good life. >> tyson in 1924 in harlem. she shot to fame first through modeling but then decided to pursue acting instead.

she was the first black actor to win an emmy for best actress in a drama and went on to win a tony and honorary academy award and also received the presidential medal of freedom from former president barack obama. after her passing tributes flooded in from people like oprah, tyler perry, and bill clinton. democrats are ready to pass sweeping koechbs relief but president biden is still hoping for something more bipartisan. >> democrats in congress telling republicans with or without you. >> reporter: that's right. democrats, laura, have the votes to pass a big relief bill. that would include much bigger checks for american families and more funding for small businesses. they can do it without theo movt the gop. the white house is a lot less eager. you're going to hear from the senate majority leader then the biden white house. >> but if our republican colleagues decide to oppose this urgent and necessary legislation, we will have to move forward without them.

>> if we got to that place where only democrats voted for it, is he okay with that? >> we'll have a conversation at that point. we're not there yet. >> reporter: president biden will meet with treasury secretary yellen today. this morning she is coordinating with congress on the stimulus plan. both democrats and republicans have legitimate points. republicans say we're $27 trillion in debt. much of that run up in the two years before the pandemic. and we can't afford more debt. democrats are saying, yeah. we've almost maximum eld out our credit cards but we need to buy a fire extinguisher because there is a fire. republicans themselves split on a number of issues. this is matt gaetz of florida campaigning in wyoming trying to convince folks in wyoming to vote out their representative republican liz cheney. cheney says trump had responsibility for the attack on the capitol and that's angered many in her party. kevin mccarthy the republican leader in the house went to florida to patch things up with president trump. earlier mccarthy had also said the president bore some responsibility for the attack on

the capitol where police officers were beaten with hockey sticks in one case an american flag. one officer killed, another died later. this was this month. here's what mccarthy is apologizing for. >> that doesn't mean the president is free from fault. the president bears responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. >> reporter: mccarthy has since withdrawn that statement. it appears georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene has scrubbed some of her social media. she has in the past made claims many originating with qanon. one claims california's governor started our wildfires using space lasers. setting the fires in butte county to pave the way for high speed rail from san francisco to los angeles. and if you could think about it a minute you may ask yourself, hold on. butte county is not between san francisco and l.a. it's north of san francisco. that certainly is one question.

space lasers is another one. greene has also claimed the murder of 20 first graders and six teachers at sandy hook elementary was fake. she has been assigned to the house education committee. we're watching everything happening in washington including committee assignments. we're talking about it on twitter. and the new johnson & johnson vaccine as well. you can follow me there @scottmcgrew. >> thank you, scott. our l.a. mayor eric garcetti is responding to criticism. folks are accusing him of jumping the line to be vaccinated. he got his first shot last week during several days he was assisting vaccine workers over at dodger stadium. you see him directing traffic there. garcetti's daughter also has had the virus and answering reporters' questions yesterday he said medical experts on site strongly recommended that he not wait and get the vaccine right away because he was interacting with so many people. >> i think it is really important when people get that medical advice to say yes and be example. not to be an example because you are an elected official but when that comes we need people to

know you should say yes and feel good about this vaccine being safe and i wanted to make sure we did that as well. >> garcetti is 15 years younger than the state's 65 and older threshold. covid-19 really hitting home for us here at "today in the bay." marcus washington has been awa with covid. boy, did it worry me. he joins us now live from home with more on what that was really like. good morning, marcus. i've missed you. >> hey, i miss you so much, laura. we've still been talking through text and things but i miss seeing you all as i'm working. you know? i always thought if i was going to be off for nearly a month from work i would come back and say you know i was filming a movie. but, not the case. i was diagnosed with covid.s to. for a moment.

people, 3.2 million people here in california have already been diagnosed with covid-19. it was a mild case but it took me out for about two and a half weeks. i had chills. i had a constant headache. my fever got as high as 102. that was for a couple days. that scared me a little bit. but, you know, i made it through. i am fine now. i feel like i could run a marathon though i know i can't. >> take it easy. >> it has really been -- everyone has been telling me pace yourself. just rest. get some rest. but i'm feeling so good. into the full swing of things.k but you know it's good to at least be able to see you guys this way. >> very much. exactly. what we can do at least. so it is good news. i know. isn't it wonderful? look at the team just for a moment. the team is back. still in our little boxes but at least we're back together.

you know, marcus and i are pretty close and i texted you every single day and i've been so worried but it is nice to be able to see you as well. and to know that you're doing so much better. >> yeah. doing a lot better. i want to thank everyone at the station has called, texted me, and all of the viewers, i've gotten so many messages from facebook, twitter, instagram asking, hey, where are you? are you okay? but i'm back. i'm feeling good. you know, coming up at 6:00 i know i'll come back and talk to you all about really what helped me get through all of that. and if you know someone with covid you want to hear this because it really did help me keep going. >> all right. perfect. we'll check back with you in the next hour. but since we're all together in our little four boxes right here, why don't you toss it over to weather? >> all right. hey, the weather is looking good -- i'm in the house -- it's looking good from where i'm standing. kari, i've been enjoying this. i was so excited about the rain

last night, kari. >> yeah, and it's been so great to see you this morning. we're really excited to get you back to work. the rain has for the most part cleared out for many of us. take a look at this shot of the moon that we are seeing, finally able to see it after all of the downpours that we had. that is a way to wake up on this friday morning with some good news and a shot of the moon as the rain soaks in. let's get a look at where we're still seeing some of the lingering showers this morning. as we are looking at storm ranger, still some spots not able to see that clear view especially as you head up around spots in contra costa county from brentwood over toward antioch and then up toward napa. we're also still seeing some of the rain around gilroy. but this is all starting to clear out and we will see the system moving away. still snowing in the sierra. we'll have several more hours of the snow coming down there tota. let's talk about our rainfall totals that we had in the santa

cruz mountains, nearly 11 inches of rain. that was a huge thing there. not much of a rain shadow, in morgan hill almost 6.5 inches of rain. fremont, redwood city over 2 inches of rain and also for clearlake, sonoma, san ans elmo measuring 3 inches and san jose almost 3 inches of rain. now we take a break except for the north bay. you're still going to see the off-and-on showers throughout the weekend. tomorrow, sunday, still raining off and on. then the rest of us will see some rain heading into monday as a new storm system comes in. it could bring us another 0.75 inch up to 1 inch of rain for parts of the north bay as we are going to see a lot more rain in the forecast. but if you're going to the sierra, we are going to see a break in the snow after today. nice ski conditions for squaw valley and alpinen.

one of the resorts there. can you imagine a small dog trying to do this? that snow was so deep in some of those spots getting, wow. 7 feet of snow. it's been huge there. but i just love this video, because that's just a dog trying to get outside and doing business but he is like, i can't see anything. i keep jumping to stay up and breathe. amazing there. >> i don't want to get too graphic but imagine trying to do your business in those conditions. my goodness. my business is just traffic in my department. we'll show you how things are on the roadways. wet roadways about it left over from the rain. some active rain in a few spots kari has been showing you not quite as bad as yesterday but still over the last few hours we had spots reporting with a little flooding on the roadways. outer lanes really so watch out. a little build over the last ten

minutes through the tri valley. recovery for 580 finally over there near highway 13. we had the wires down earlier. lanes were clear but there was some slowing better now through oakland and at the bay bridge toll plaza. you see the conditions still wet. water on the pavement. slick conditions. do be careful. but the flags are steady. easy on the winds this morning. back to you, kris. >> thank you. breaking and happening right now, johnson & johnson says its covid-19 vaccine is a 66% effective in global trials but 85% effective against severe disease. that is a big difference between vaccines already being administered which are 95% effective. the johnson & johnson vaccine, however, is just one shot and does not require extreme cold during transportation. the company says it is working to file for emergency use authorization with the fda within a week and we're looking forward to that. we'll be right back.

welcome back. you're watching "today in the bay." the wind and rain kicked up big problems at a contra costa county marina. the entire g dock at new life marina on bethel island was ripped from its moorings alwas levy and down the hill side. some people who live on their

boats actually rode out the storm. one boat owner set his alarm for 10:30 to check the docks during the storm and now he is glad he stayed home instead. >> do all the stuff i do every night during storms and i just felt like i wasn't supposed to go that night. and i didn't go and the docks blew over at 10:35. >> really got to listen to your gut sometime. the marina owner says it is too expensive to insure the marina so unless emergency disaster funds help him rebuild the damage may be devastating. now to a dramatic rescue in monterey county. a horse and pony were stuck in the mud in salinas. this is some pictures of rescuers pulling that pony out to safety. the horse and the pony were stuck in the mud for close to 18 hours. the fire department and spca du help as well. in moments kari hall will tell usn the rainy conditions are expected to finally move out.

what a rescue that was. >> no kidding. that is the same one that injured two people there in salinas. one south bay community hit hard by covid now has a new walk up vaccination site. we've seen the testing sites. this is a vaccination site. people lined up at mexican heritage plaza in san jose to get their covid shots. at this location people don't have to make an appointment. the site is open indefinitely on tuesdays and thursdays but just for health care workers or people over 65. >> we are making it very accessible. so for folks who don't know how to navigate an appointment system, who may not have reliable internet, they are able to come here. >> and the goal is to make it as easy as possible for people in this predominantly immigrant community to get vaccinated. new drivers will once again be able to get behind the wheel at the dmv. driving tests will start again next month. there are so many teenagers

excited. the dmv will automatically reschedule drivers for the behind-the-wheel tests that were canceled this month and last month because of the statewide stay-at-home order. once the rescheduled appointments are completed the dmv will begin scheduling new tests. >> there are so many parents. right now at 6:00 a break from the rain. no break from the cleanup that lies ahead. a pg&e worker inside a truck that got washed downhill overnight in a mud slide south of santa cruz. and the roads to tahoe nearly impossible to pass. here in the bay area, back to the rain. some spots seeing a steady overnight downpour. not over just yet. kari hall's forecast is moments away. >> what did you mean by the enemy is within? >> it means we have members of congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of congress. >> the e