we're live in alameda county this morning for the new beginning there today, and for two other counties. >> not just in the east bay. today texas drops all its covid restrictions and reopens fully. that as alaska says all adults can get a shot. we are actually tracking all pandemic changes from coast to coast this morning. back home, another day of rain, hail, thunderstorms and even snow in certain places. our storm watch continues and is next. the third hour of "today in the bay" continues. good wednesday morning to you. thanks so much for joining us. i'm marcus washington. [ muted ] >> -- take it outside this morning. we have a live look at our cameras across the bay area. rain in some spots right now, in fact. kari's been monitoring it all for us. >> as we look at the cameras it's like wow, the sun is rising earlier in the morning. now we're able to see a little bit. once we spring forward, we'll go

back to the dark mornings next week. we're already seeing the rain passing by. storm ranger is tracking it all with waves of showers, even some thunderstorms moving through as we get a closer look at some of the areas getting the biggest impact right now, moving across hayward and approaching dublin, and that's also moving into fremont, within the next few minutes with some heavy rain now in san jose. that will be clearing within the next 10 or 15 minutes. we'll be tracking all of this and talk about what to expect as we go into the rest of the day. that's coming up in a few minutes, as right now, you can download the nbc bay area weather app and also get alerts as rain approaches your location. >> thanks so much, kari. we've got a live look outside in oakland and fremont this morning, there's some new life this morning for struggling businesses across alameda county. along with slow in a each is the latest to escape the most restrictive purple covid tier.

bob redell joins us live in pleasanton this morning. any difference yet for businesses? i imagine all the people that want to get out and workout early in the morning. >> reporter: correct. indoor restaurants will resume indoor operations in limited capacity and gyms like 24 hour fitness behind me in pleasanton, still running the outdoor gym they had set up for covid tent in the parking lot but starting this morning they can let people inside at reduced capacity as long as the capacity doesn't go above 10%. yesterday the state announced alameda and solano county can move out of the purple tier and into the red less restrictive tier of reopening which means gyms, restaurants, movie theaters and museums can resume indoor operations at limited capacities. >> i think like everybody else we're ecstatic. we're excited to finally go back indoors. fitness is essential. 24 hour fitness has always

believed that. >> when the pandemic first started and i stopped working out, my life kind of went into shambles. it helps me keep a good routine in my life and my mental fitness as well. >> reporter: we're outside of 24 hour fitness in pleasanton. six and a half miles away the 24-hour fitness location in san ramon cannot yet resume indoor operations because it's in contra costa county, which is still in the purple tier. we spoke to one person who uses that jute outdoor gym in san ramon. he says this is getting old. it's way past time. especially since the only difference between the san ramon gym and the pleasanton gym is a county line. the 24-hour fitness in pleasanton says they can accommodate some people from san ramon but restricted on indoor operations to 10% so it's probably a first come, first serve situation. as you can see on this map, contra costa and sonoma are the only counties still in the purple tier, but they are headed in the right direction, to move back to red

at some point. mayor london breed of san francisco said yesterday she anticipates her city moving into the orange tier in a couple of weeks. reporting live here in pleasanton, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> all right, bob. from the east bay to dallas, texas, the lone star state going big, fully reopening today at 100% capacity. "today in the bay's" tracie potts joins us. texas not the only state here relaxing those restrictions. >> they're not but they're the biggest, marcus. we're seeing relaxed restrictions in other places like alabama, mississippi, arizona, a number of other states, but today texas not only opens those doors 100%, but also gets rid of its mask mandate, nowhere in the state can you be penalized for not wearing one. there are some cases where they'll be able to restrict how many people enter a business, but for the most part, they'll

be allowed to reopen 100%. the cdc has said they're concerned some states are going too fast with this. also today, president biden meeting with the heads of merck and johnson & johnson, two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies and we've just learned within the last hour or so, they'll be announcing another 100 million of that one-dose vaccine, that doubles the amount of vaccine they had promised by summer. it puts j&j on par with pfizer and moderna, the other two-shot vaccines and ensures that there will be enough for everyone who wants to get it, 600 doses by this summer. but some areas are actually having trouble getting their appointments filled. also this is big news today out of washington, the final vote on capitol hill on coronavirus relief, which includes those $1 $1,400 payments the white house says should roll out this month.

>> tracie potts in washington, thank you. alaska becomes the first state to allow anyone 16 or older to get vaccinated. the governor of alaska says expanding eligibility for alaskans will be a game changer. the u.s. is at 93.7 million administered, california administered more than 1 million vaccines with more than 2 million doses in the bay area. leaders in daly city along with san francisco are the latest in the bay area to approve emergency hazard pay for store workers. employees at large chain stores will receive a $5 an hour rate hike, for the duration of the pandemic. other cities with similar ordinances include oakland and san jose. retailers have warned added cost will be passed on to the shoppers. we have an update on the man that was set on fire near an oakland homeless encampment. investigators say he's died.

it happened last week on douglas avenue near the san leandro border. "east bay times" reports the man appeared to be homeless and people nearby tried to put out the flames. investigators say that man, though, was doused with some kind of accelerant first. no word on his identity this morning or if his death is triggering a homicide investigation. such a horrible hate crime there. two newiness departments are raising some new concerns that they may be tied to the recent spike in hate crimes. in one case an arrest has already been made but the other left an uber driver terrified. "today in the bay's" cierra johnson is live this morning digging a little deep near what happened in each case and what police are saying as well, and pretty compelling video, cierra. >> reporter: yes, compelling video indeed. we'll show that to you in a moment. we want to preface these two incidents are not being ruled as hate crimes right now, although folks involved in the situations are, in fact, asian-american.

take a listen to this. [ coughing ] >> i got corona. [ bleep ] >> reporter: yes, this first incident was captured on video inside of an uber, three women berating the driver with slurs and profanity, one of the women coughing in the driver's face, grabbing his phone and trying to rip off his mask. the women were eventually, they left the car, but one woman did pepper spray the inside of that uber. sfpd are still reviewing the case and working to determine what type of charges they could bring. >> i hope they get arrested soon. i've been in contact with san francisco police department and they have assured me they're going to find them pretty soon. >> reporter: a go fund me was established to help the driver lost wages and legal fees he may have.

so far that page has raised more than $25,000 and in oakland an arrest was made in the attack of an older asian man in the adams point neighborhood, early tuesday morning, a 75-year-old asian man was shoved to the ground and robbed and left with severe injuries. opd is not releasing what led to that arrest, but some living in the neighborhood are still shocked by the crime. >> i can't imagine pushing someone, someone so frail and someone so weak and he's probably just trying to do his morning exercising. >> reporter: and in that oakland situation, oakland mayor libby schaaf says opd is working to determine if that was a hate crime or just a vile attack against an older gentleman. we're live in san francisco, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> it's just really sad what's been happening lately. thanks, cierra. you can step stop the hate. nbc bay area, telemundo 48 and our parent company comcast have partnered with the bay area

pacific fund, providing grants to organizations working to stop attacks against the asian community and asians all together. if you want to toe nate we added a link on our website, nbcbayarea.com. this video is a traffic might nair in reno. a 17-car pile-up and some of the crashes were caught on camera. check it out. >> watch out! >> just scary there speed and ice are to blame for the pile-up. it shut down 395 for hours. nevada highway patrol are reminding people to slow down when driving in winter weather conditions and something we're experiencing with the wet roads out there. >> yes, up in the sierra, so slick out there, the black ice

where it gets you, be careful. we are getting rain here, i imagine snow in the sierra, kari, a lot of it? >> yes, look at how hard in reno, truckee and i-80 and you have to drive a lot more slowly than they were driving in that video. you do want to be careful if you're in these conditions and if you're heading up to the sierra. use the tire chains but today probably not the best day for travel. we are getting some heavier rain through dublin and fremont and moving into pleasanton and livermore within the next few minutes and talk about chance of thunder in the bay area as well as what's ahead coming up in a few minutes. mike, what have you seen out there for the morning commute? >> kari, we've seen a lot of spinouts, peninsula 280 around 92, a number of spinouts and potholes with water in them reported. let's get out to the big issue the breaking news in the

altamont pass, eastbound 580 about two miles of backup now. the updated location the overcrossing is where the overturned rig has an oil spill and debris that needs to be cleaned up, one lane open headed out of tracy. this is causing a backup coming into the livermore area as well. i've circled the area where there's a cluster of crashes as well, 280 at 92, be careful. back to you. >> all right, marcus. we always know the west coast is the best coast and people always complaining there are no good bagels in california. put a "w" on that. now there are. the competition between california and new york. meanwhile, a hacker gains almost like superpowers after accessing hundreds of thousands of cameras. let's take you out to the futures. roblox in san mateo will highlight on the new york stock exchange this morning.

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good wednesday morning. right now at 6:15, we're under a microclimate weather alert. the storm system pinwheels waves of rain and thunderstorms into the bay area for today and not going anywhere for at least today. we'll talk about what's ahead in our forecast coming up. kari, breaking news, ahead of you if you're headed out to the altamont and toward tracy,

eastbound 580 one lane open overturned rig there. a live look shows you traffic flows past fremont, camera there and a smooth drive 880 southbound, may get slowing down toward 237 and slick roadways as we look at the camera not far from tesla. scott? good morning, everyone. happy wednesday to everyone as well. really big hack to tell you about involving more than 150,000 security cameras placed in schools and hospitals, jails, factories, even homes. an android developer named tilly cotman who uses the they/them pronouns was able to prove they were able to hack the security cameras to a reporter at bloomberg, this is their website with a picture titled "self-portrait." among the security cameras accessed, cameras at one of tesla's factories. bloomberg has the footage. we do not. it's unlikely we'd show you hacked footage if we did, but the number of cameras hacked is just staggering.

the maker of the camera, san mateo-based verkada said in a statement "our internal security team and external security firm are investigating the scale and scope of this issue and we've notified law enforcement." the hackers were able to gain access after learning its user name and password of a so call super administrator at the camera company. the camera company said it has disabled that access. verkada is probably glad it's not a publicly traded company. it would have a bad day on the market for sure. tech stocks did well tuesday. after several days of he treat, nasdaq got up more than 3.5% and that's his best since september. roblox goes public today, allows people to make video games with a simple interface so even kids use it. roblox estimates half of all american children under the age of 16 plays or programs one of its games. it's an interesting problem for

parents. i know your son does it, right, where it's like okay, enough computer time. >> right. >> i'm programming. oh, uh, well, maybe a few more minutes. >> right, exactly. "i'm learning, mom." >> exactly. >> they love it. they love it. >> thanks. >> thanks, scott. 6:18, a lego surge. the danish company behind the company say profits jumped 20% year over year. some of it probably has to do with more children stuck at home with not a lot else to do. lego says its strong results are boosted by efforts to move more of its sales online. >> that's cool, though. it promotes creativity. a debate rekindled for breakfast. are new york bagels the best bagels anywhere? the "new york times" is shall we

say "shmearing" lots of controversy saying some bay area bagels are beating the big apples. boychick bagels in berkeley which has the owner busying. >> a lot of angry people in new york. a lot of people don't knock it 'til you try t we've been eating these for a year now and they're amazing. >> she says since "the times" posted article, business is through the roof. "the times" cited midnight bagel inside the ferry building as well. all i know is right now that sounds really good. >> i know, i want a bagel right now. >> i'm remembering back to the olden days -- i was just saying >> what happened in the olden days? >> when we could be in the same building together, my favorite bagels were the ones that showed up in the newsroom. that's pretty much it. >> they showed up a lot.

>> i was on their website but you have to order the bagels a day before because we're in the pandemic but they're really popular. got to check it out. >> wrap that bagel up because it's raining outside. don't want to get it wet as you head out. kari, definitely the rain is going to stick around. >> yes, so one minute it's raining, the next minute it's sunny and then raining again. that's the weather we've seen over the past 24 hours and it continues for the next 24 hours. it's still moving across the region with some off and on rain. let's get a closer look at where some of the heavier downpours moving through, fremont right now, as well as dublin, moving into pleasanton and going to get heavier there in livermore within the next few minutes. we've seen some of the rain starting to clear downtown san jose but moving into south san jose and down 101 into morgan hill and gilroy. expect more of this for today as we look at the big view, we've even seen strikes of lightning

and we have that in the south bay yesterday, as we look now at what's going on, still a lot of that off the coast, and moving into the central coast this morning. so looking out there, windshield wipers on, looks very messy for the morning commute and we could also see a sloppy evening commute as well as the showers continue and temperatures only reach into the low 50s for today. so as we go hour by hour, once again, there will be some breaks on rainbow watch still again today as we get some clearing and some sunshine with showers nearby, we could see more rainbows today, and then going into early tomorrow, the rain starts to taper off and we'll have a chance to look out and see the snow that's capped the bay area hills as we wake up and look at the sunrise tomorrow morning. tomorrow is still going to be very chilly, our temperatures staying in the upper 50s with breezy winds, but look at how much warmer it's going to be for the weekend, into early next week, as we spring forward and we have more rain in the

forecast to start out next week. i'll be watching that of course. mike, what are you watching rite now for the morning commute? >> kari, we still have the breaking news for the altamont pass. folks driving there in either direction will find slowing, show you on the map. most of the bay shows an easy drive with green sensors but the green highlighting is indicating that wet roadway that kari is talking about, all around the bay, i've circled the problem spot, the alert on the chp blotter, eastbound 580, still only one lane open because of one overturned big rig and another involved in the crash. tow truck is slowly making its way over there. they have to clean up an oil spill. that will complicate things. at the bay bridge toll plaza the wind and the wet roadways are complicating things a little by but an ease ye, light drive right now. back to you. >> thanks, mike. 6:22. coming up next, it's been one year since breonna taylor was gunned down in apartment by police officers. we'll hear from her mother, next.

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feel the weight on her. she feels in the past year she hasn't seen the needle move at all. she's seen the grand jury decision come and go without any charges for her daughter's death, asked for an special prosecutor and written an open letter to president biden. she gets discouraged but her fight will continue. the focus is still the same as it was one year ago really. >> yes, absolutely, because nobody's been held accountable, and that's the problem, though. so until that happens, i guess i'll just continue to fight. >> reporter: guys, part of that fight is certainly going to bebd in the city of louis ail ven three other states banning no knock laws but not yet passed in the state of kentucky. that's something she's pushing for not just for her daughter's memory but all of the future as she calls them breonnas in the world. >> thank you, blayne alexander.

the morning after the state of the state address. up next on "today in the bay" we're fact-checking governor newsom's key talking points, what was and was not said. >> plus another bay area health care provider canceling thousands of vaccine appointments. there's just not enough vaccines to go around. the bay area counties impacted. we'll talk about it next. you're watching "today in the bay."

right now at 6:30, nbc bay area storm ranger up and running, tracking rain across

the bay area. maybe you heard it coming down overnight, some of the thunder overnight as well. the big question this morning, is the storm putting a dent in our rainfall deficit? meteorologist kari hall tracking the new numbers for us, as "today in the bay" continues right now. we really need it. good wednesday morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. right now we want to get to meteorologist kari hall and kari, today is your birthday so happy birthday and i'm sure one of your wishes, rain. >> yes, and we're getting it, so i am so happy, and we need a lot more storms like this to put a dent in our rainfall deficit, but any rain is good. we've seen about a quarter, up to an inch of rain and storm ranger tracking it, coming in waves, even the possibility of some thunderstorms, biggest impact right now moving through the tri-valley, as well as up and down the peninsula, with some heavier rain moving through and we've also seen a break from the rain in san jose and about

to move back in as this rain over sunnyvale and saratoga pushes off toward the east. we'll be watching this off and on as we continue to see the storm moving through the bay area and because it's so off and on, you want to have the nbc bay area app to get alerts as rain approaches your location, as we are also watching out for that chance of storms. i'll have another update coming up in a few minutes. >> all right, thanks so much, kari. we'll check back with you. governor gavin newsom made what could be the most important speech of his career, addressing the state of our state one year into the coronavirus pandemic. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez joins us live this morning with a look at what he said and really how it's all landing with people as well, given there's also this recall effort going on. kris? >> reporter: so a lot of us are waiting to get our vaccines, waiting for the kids to go back to school, waiting for the economy to get back to normal, so a lot of us were listening to what the governor had to say. he spoke from dodger stadium

just last night. focused on state response to the coronavirus pandemic, touting the benefit of the early shutdown and mask mandate, driving down new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. however, an associated press fact check shows he misrespected the covid death rate per capita saying it was lower than what the cdc data actually shows. he also talked about record funding for schools passed last week and said 7,000 of 11,000 california schools are either open or set to reopen by april and though the state's vaccination effort ramped up with 11 million vaccines in arms, it does fall behind in other states per capita. the governor also addressed the effort to recall him. >> the california critics out there who are promoting partisan political power grabs with outdated prejudices and rejecting everything that makes california truly great, we say this. we will not be distracted from getting shots in arms and our

economy booming again. this is a fight for california's future. >> covid was particularly difficult for california, because of his lockdowns, and now his own hypocrisy telling people to stay at home and he's at the french laundry having dinner. >> reporter: supporters of the effort to recall the governor say they have enough signatures on the petition to get it onto the ballot for voters to decide later this year. still the governor stuck to his message that brighter days are ahead, especially because he says he's learned from the mistakes he's made up to this point and those are forming his continuing response to the pandemic. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> always interesting. thanks so much, kris. johnson & johnson's covid vaccine is ramping up in san francisco. mayor london breed tweeting the first j&j vaccines were administered this week. they are counting on the doses

to make up for the shortage. san francisco supervisor matt haney is stepping up the push to get more vaccinations to some of the city's most vulnerable neighborhoods. in a new statement, he calls on public health leaders to mobilize vaccine efforts for low income residents in the tenderloin and treasure island. he says both meet the governor's criteria for the state's most underserved zip coats. codes. another major setback to report this morning to get shots in arms. stanford health care canceling nearly 7,000 vaccination appointments in alameda and santa clara counties because of a shortage in supply. they're trying to reschedule the first shot appointments, for 20 days from now, when they hope the supply is more stable. if you're looking for information on how and where to get that shot, just go to planyourvaccine.com and put in your state, age and occupation. it will pull up the closest vaccination site to you. some berkeley students could resume full-time in-person learning within weeks. an email went out to all families this week offering students that option.

tk through second graders are set to start march 29th. third grade through fifth grade returns in mid-april. previously berkeley seemed committed to the hybrid model. the district does not have to sign agreements with the union, but says that the union supports the plan. south bay leaders provided a boost to better help businesses struggling to make it in the bay. santa clara county supervisors approved a recommendation to reduce or waive payment fees for small businesses. the fees charged to restaurants, food retailer, personal care services and gyms with fewer than 50 employees they will be reduced or waived through the end of the year. new doubts about the recent four-year extension for the golden gate park, you see there. the committee is now considering a new resolution to only extend its operation for an additional year. two supervisors argue that the board should make the final call

on its future because at this point, it's not a temporary installation. the city's historic commission originally improved that extension. it's still stormy in the bay area. nbc bay area storm ranger tracking it all for us. we have a live look at storm ranger parked on top of san bruno mountain. that way it can get all the data it needs to see where the rain is coming down so accurately. kari has an eye on the storm as well, a birthday gift to you. we're all loving the rain. we really, really need it, kari. >> yes, we do. we are now running rainfall deficits over 18 inches in santa rosa, so every little bit helps. so far we've gotten close to a half inch of rain there, and we've seen it off and on, and gets a chance to soak into the ground and then another wave of rain comes in and as we get a closer look, we can see the showers moving through fremont, moving through palo alto, all the way up and down the peninsula from san mateo and

extending down to sunnyvale. we've also seen some of the showers moving down into the south county, as this big storm system passes by. we do still have some active weather in the forecast for today, with a soggy morning commute through the east bay. expect the temperatures to stay school today, only reaching into the low 50s and keep that umbrella close by. mike, for the morning commute have you seen any big problems popping up? >> we've had two areas with breaking news, one of them with 580, you showed how soupy it is. the caldecott tunnel, to the map westbound 24 is recovering. very quickly but a crash outside the caldecott was blocking one lane with a big backup. recovery for walnut creek another crash on the right side south 680 recovers. bay bridge toll plaza an easier drive, wanted to show you that backup, the traffic alert, still going on for eastbound 580 over at the altamont pass, still only one lane open at stone cut overcrossing and soupy conditions like you see here in

palo alto. be careful in general. back to you. mike, you always have your eyes on traffic. inrix is out with his 2020 traffic global scorecard. major cities across the united states saw traffic fall 44% last year. new york city drivers spent the most average time in their cars at 100 hours. l.a. coming in fifth with a 56% drop from 2019. the bay area came in sixth. drivers here lost 47 hours in traffic on average, but that was right about half the year prior. i guess that's the one good thing about the pandemic, it's not hurting the commute. it's just down the stairs for me. coming up, a live report from the east bay as alameda county is getting ready for indoor dining, workingout and movie theaters getting ready to reopen. >> i hit the gym for the first time yesterday in month. disneyland is getting

opened, but inside going to take some magic. plus -- >> the senate bill, the stimulus bill was supposed to save taxpayers a bit of money compared to the house, but the math is all the same. we'll take a look. let's take you out to the big board this morning, san mateo's roblox will start trading on the nyse. you're watching "today in the bay." don't miss out on the grand opening of floor and decor in pleasant hill! our expansive store is fully equipped with safe distancing guides, so you can browse our wide aisles and be amazed with our even wider selection.

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right now at 6:41 under a

microclimate weather alert and a chance of thunderstorms and hail. the national weather service telling you if you encounter a road covered with hail, do not slam on the brakes and ease off of the gas pedal and avoid quickly turning the steering wheel. we'll talk about what else we're watching in our forecast coming up in a few minutes. >> you will encounter road covered with rain as well as cars eastbound 580 still only one lane open heading out to the altamont pass toward tracy. over here at the bay bridge toll plaza, we have a lighter volume of traffic, slow off the 880 overcrossing and also damp roadways here, that's the general note. be careful, it's slick from any drivers. a follow-up in lafayette. councilmembers passed a resolution to ask the chp and cal trans for help in preventing trump supporters from gathering an on overpass above highway 24 near walnut creek. since september protesters with patriots of contra costa lined up every monday and friday. those protesters say it's a matter of free speech.

the city calls it a public safety issue. now to new developments in the capitol hill siege. the national guard plans to stay in d.c. for ten more weeks following january's violent attack. its mission was expected to end on friday. the fbi is now releasing video that shows the person they believe planted two pipe bombs in d.c. the night before the riots. they were placed outside the democratic national committee and republican national committee offices. a $100,000 reward is being offered. 6:43. the president will likely have the stimulus bill on his desk sometime today. >> scott mcgrew, checks will start printing shortly after that. >> that's right. the white house, marcus, saying the checks will not have president biden's signature on them. something president trump did, signing the memo line, not the signature line. $1,400 to individuals making less than $75,000 a year and of course money for unemployment benefits, the hungry and much more. speaker nancy pelosi says what congress has accomplished was as

important as the affordable care act. >> in the 33 years that i have been in congress and up until now, the affordable care act has been the most consequential legislation that i had been a part of. this is definitely on a par with that. >> the house passed its own version of a stimulus some time back but it's the senate version that will become the law of the land. the house has to approve it. competent expect that will happen today. the stimulus the house originally planned was $1.9 trillion. the senate proposed scaling that back, reducing the number of americans who got a check and reducing the amount of extra unemployment benefits but still roughly a $1.9 trillion cost according to the congressional budget office. so what's going on? it turns out when you're dealing with numbers this big, it's all in the rounding. according to the congressional budget office, the house version

cost $1,919,633,000,000. the senate cut it back to 1,874,808,000,000. a savings of $44 billion, enough to build four aircraft carriers, a lot of money but a rounding error. bottom line, how big the checks should be and who should get them was a really big argument, but it's actually really small part of the bill. the bill also includes the most money the u.s. government has ever spent on native american communities plus $39 billion for child care, and quite a bit of biden's plan to reform the affordable care act and make premiums that much more affordable. on a lighter note, the dogs at the white house have been sent back to delaware after an incident but the bidens plan on bringing in a cat who will no doubt say i'm in charge here. >> where is the cat? today is a good day for the cat. i don't have any update on the

cat. we know the cat will break the internet, but i don't have any update on its status. >> we'll keep watching for that and the stimulus plan, talking about it on twitter. you can find me @scottmcgrew. >> all right. cat taking over the white house. thanks so much. purr-fect. oakland and fremont there's new life this morning for struggling businesses across alameda county. along with solano and santa cruz counties, they are the late toast escape the most restrictive purple tier opening up today. >> "today in the bay's" bob redell is live in pleasanton. what are you seeing out there? i'm sure a lot of people happy to get back inside the gym. >> reporter: something you haven't seen in a while, a line of people waiting to get inside the building of 24 hour fitness, waiting for the doors to open shortly instead of the tents. first time in a long time 24 hour fitness can resume indoor

operations in the east bay at limited capacity after the state announced yesterday alameda and solano counties with move out of the purple tier and into the less restrictive tier because case and test pass activity rates dropped enough. this means that gyms, restaurants, movie theaters and museums can resume indoor operations at limited capacities. depending on what the business is. >> i think like everybody else we're ecstatic. we're excited to finally go back indoors. fitness is essential. 24 hours fitness always believed that. >> when the pandemic first started and i stopped working out my life went into shambles. it helps me keep a good routine in my life and my mental fitness as well. >> reporter: we're at the 24-hour fitness in pleasanton. six and a half miles away the 24-hour fitness location in san ramon cannot yet resume indoor operations because it's in

contra costa county, which is still in the purple tier. we spoke to one person who uses that outdoor gym in san ramon. he says this is getting old. it's way past time. especially since the only difference between the san ramon gym and the pleasanton gym is a county line, talking about the line between contra costa which is purple and alameda, which is red. on the map, contra costa and sonoma are the only counties still in the purple tier, but they are headed in the right direction, to move back to red soon. mayor london breed of san francisco said yesterday she anticipates her city moving into the orange tier in a couple of weeks. reporting live here in pleasanton, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> since we're talking about new tiers and reopening, what about the details this morning the happiest place on earth just got some of the happiest news in about a year. disneyland and california adventure will reopen next month. the "l.a. times" is reporting disney will actually recall 10,000 california employees and train them on the covid new protocols. disney's ceo is targeting late

april with attendance now capped at 15%. it's a -- [ muted ] -- "today in the bay." we love to celebrate and today is meteorologist kari hall's birthday and even though things are different we want to give her some hugs we're celebrating and requested help from kari's friends and family. take a look. >> hey, kari, i just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. look, it has been such a long past year and i just wanted to say you know, from my work from home to your work from home studio, you're so great to work with, and i can't wait until we can celebrate in person. i hope you have the perfect day and again, happy birthday. >> happy birthday, kari! >> from your friends and family in louisville, kentucky. ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ >> this is from your family in louisville. we wish you a wonderful birthday.

>> bye! >> bye! >> happy birthday kari. we love you. >> happy birthday, mommy. >> just beautiful. just beautiful. happy birthday. >> that last one was the best. happy birthday. >> thank you. i must have been sleeping because they were all whispering. when did that do that? that was so sweet and i appreciate all of you guys for getting that together. that was such a nice surprise and also just seeing my family that i haven't seen in so long. it really makes me feel good. so thank you. all right, so we are getting my favorite gift, some rain across the bay area, and there is a lot more to come for all of us, as we have seen the showers moving through, even a few thunderstorms and of course that for me makes things really interesting. we have a chance of seeing that again for today. let's get a closer look of our view right now in the east bay, as we've seen some of the heavier rain moving through fremont and union city as well

as now livermore, but we are going to see that just kind of taking a break after a little while. san jose getting in on another wave of some heavy rain. now i know there's a lot of colors here and that's because there is some snow coming down on mt. hamilton, as well as mt. umunum where we have our radar site. up above 3,000 or 4,000 feet that's where we've seen the snow this morning and look at all of the rain and snow that we'll see still coming into the bay area, as we go into the rest of today. we can even kind of see it on that view looking at mt. diablo and here is what to expect. we're going to see it at times taking a break, at times some heavy rain and even a chance of more lightning, small hail, as well as temperatures dropping and more sierra snow. as we go hour by hour we're not seeing it all day long. there will be breaks in between but when we get the downpours it may be heavy for a while and rainfall totals for the most part reaching half to over an

inch of rain near the coastline but we still need a lot more rainfall in the forecast to catch up with our rainfall deficits. we're running at about 17 to 18 inches below our normal amount of rainfall at this point. the good news is that we have more rain farther down the line in the forecast, and we'll have a chance to dry out and warm up in time for the weekend. mike, how is it looking right now for the morning commute? what is the update on the breaking news? >> kari, i still have to talk about that alert for the altamont pass area. let's look at the map. it's eastbound 580 at the stone cut overcrossing. folks familiar with the high flyers over the overcrossing there know what a distraction something on either side is, so the westbound commute direction also jammed up. your eastbound commute two miles of backup but they have a heavyduty tow truck there, still only one lane open. arrow another smaller crash 84 just at 680, but enough of a distraction to slow things down. the green highlighting shows you

how much wet roadway we have but at the bay bridge light traffic but again the damp pavement and the flags moving. there's a breeze across that span. back to you. >> thanks, mike. happening now, airline industry leaders are asking president biden's administration to set new official standards for a vaccine passport. this would allow travelers to disclose their covid testing and vaccination status as more americans start to fly again. in a letter, more than two dozen airline industry groups are urging that the covid response coordinator establish uniform guidance. coming up next, a quick look at our top stories we're covering, include new concerns after attacks targeting people of asian descent. what police are saying about the most recent incidents. you're watching "today in the bay."

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>> 6:56. welcome back. here's a quick look at the top stories we're following, including two new incidents raising new concerns they may be tied to the recent spike in hate crimes. >> "today in the bay's" cierra johnson is live this morning, digging deeper into what happened in each of those cases, so cierra, what are police saying? >> reporter: good morning. right now, police are not ruling these two specific incidents as hate crimes but both situations have a lot of folks in the asian-american community on edge. take a listen to just a snippet what have played out in an uber ride that turned violent.

[ coughing ] [ bleep ] >> i got corona. yeah. >> reporter: this first incident was captured on video inside of an uber, the video shows three women berating the driver with slurs and profanity, one of the women coughing in the driver's face, grabbing his phone and trying to rip off his mask. the women eventually left the car, but one of them pepper sprayed the inside right after sfpd says they're reviewing the case and working to determine what type of charges they could bring. a go fund me was established for lost wages and legal fees. that page has raised more than $25,000 and in oakland, an arrest was made in the attack of an older asian man in the adams point neighborhood. this played out early tuesday morning, one of 75-year-old man was shoved to the ground, robbed and he was left with severe injuries. opd is not releasing what led them to that arrest, and some in the area of course still stunned

at what happened. as for that oakland attack, mayor libby schaaf says opd is still working to determine if it was a hate crime or just a vile incident as that investigation continues we'll keep you updated. we're live in san francisco, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> thank you. governor newsom taking a swipe at critics while delivering his annual state of the state address. this time around the stakes are high. he's fighting off current efforts to recall him from office. he hee lights california's successes in the past year. critics are not backing down, though. >> covid patients, cared for by doctors and nurses and paramedics who despite the chaos and risk to themselves paused to hold the hands of strangers in their final moments. >> covid was particularly difficult for california because of his lockdowns and now his own hypocrisy is telling people to stay home and he's at the french laundry having dinner.

>> recall supporters say they've collected enough signatures to get it on the ballot. taking another quick peek outside, a rainy start to our wednesday morning. s.a.p. center in san jose, those palms will like the drenching there. kari has a look at our forecast quickly. >> we're going to see this off and on for today. we'll be tracking it with storm ranger, make sure you have that nbc bay area app so you can see when the rain is heading in and get a live view of storm ranger as well. check that out today, and mike, you've been watching the roads. what is going on right now? >> we hope we can turn off the breaking news on the alert for the area here at sewn cut overcrossing into the altamont pass. we now have two lanes open but still two lanes closed eastbound 580, the overturned rig i'll share a picture that chp just shared with us, it's dramatic for that overturned rig. and of course wet roads. guys? >> all right, thank you very much, mike. that's going to do it for us this morning. >> we leave you with a live look

at oakland, alameda county, now open for indoor business. make sure you take it easy out there with the wet roads this morning. the "today" show coming up next for you. good morning. open season. texas, the first state to swing the doors wide open today, ending all pandemic precautions. the mask mandate gone. businesses welcome to open at full capacity. >> they don't need government to tell them what to do. they know exactly what to do. >> just ahead, is what's good fobusiness bad for the battle against the virus? the dramatic, real world test about to unfold. and from washington, help on the way. the nearly $2 trillion relief plan with direct cash payments to millions expected to clear its final hurdle today. manhunt. the fbi releases this new

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