a -- on the ground with a report on that record-setting blaze. plus -- >> and you're the only person they have contact with other than using a laptop and face timing, their loved ones, it's not easy. >> hospitals overwhelmed again as the delta covid variant sprez. the warning to the unvaccinated. and -- >> we are live in tokyo. we are heading into the final few days of the olympics. we just hung out with the a-team, the members of the team usa gold-winning volleyball team, beach volleyball, and some interesting comments from steve kerr. you're watching "today in the bay." >> and a good friday morning to you. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. we begin with a live look outside this morning where skies are overcast ahead of the chance for smoke from the massive fire to our north. governor newsom declared a state

of emergency in nevada and plaser counties. >> the smoke triggering a smoke advisory in parts of our area. the bay area air quality management district getting the word out on social media. >> let's bring in meteorologist kari hall, she's seen the smoke and haze forecast and you've been saying all morning we may not see very much of that smoke after all? >> yeah. it's going to be a little bit hazy with some of that smoke drifting higher up, but as we take a look at our ground sensors they're green showing good air quality right now, especially getting out early in the morning is best. some of our near surface models show we could see the smoke increasing today. you may smell it a little bit. the sky may look hazy but it does seem like our air quality will be moderate today. if you're sensitive to the smoke, you might want to limit your time outside. we'll talk about temperatures coming up in a few minutes. >> thanks so much. the dixie fire, of course, one of the fires having a huge impact on northern california air quality. the situation is force nug evac

wags in plumas counties. >> as we showed you yesterday, the flames destroying the town of greenville. the latest from the front lines we turn to steve patterson. >> good morning. from what used to be or the remnants of downtown greenville. you can see the level of devastation. this is main street. the fire came through here. witnesses say it only took about two hours to destroy this town that has stood for generations. officials estimate 75% of all structures here have burned to the ground, of course, leaving residents who have evacuated to multiple towns in this area to wonder if they're even going to have a home to return to. officials assessing the damage, still no word on the missing or dead. thankfully, there was warning far ahead of time, so the hope is most of the people got the word and got out of town. meanwhile, firefighters still on the front lines of the dixie fire which is now the size of

los angeles burning on multiple fronts and the upstart river fire, which is nearby, also threatening multiple homes in the area. right now, firefighters continuing their hoping to put containment on ei work in what is an unpredictable and dangerous situation in northern california. back to you. >> thank you very much. 6:03 right now. to the summer games in tokyo, getting close to the end. what a ride it's been so far. especially for stanford grad who won a gold medal and just visited with raj mathai. >> raj joining us again this morning. raj, this is it. you've been with us for two and a half weeks. this is your last day. it's kind of sad for me. >> you're going to make me cry now. my morning show is the evening show. happy 10:00. everyone says happy friday. i've been in friday 20 hours

already. we are having fun. guess who we just saw on the way up to our fifth floor balcony. i felt like kind of a kid in the candy store, who is short guy a and alix klineman. klineman, of course, she still loves the stanford community, graduated in 2010 and says i miss the bay area. take a look at what happened. klineman and ross the breakfast of champions. take a bite of the fwold. beat the australians in straight sets. maybe we'll see these two at the 2024 olympics in paris. guess what's happening tonight? 7:30 p.m. bay area time, the gold medal basketball game kevin durant, draymond green taking on france. live here on nbc bay area. 7:30 tonight. we sat down with steve kerr who

is reuniting and loving the fact he's reunited with his old player k.d. >> everything about kevin and his involvement in the olympics and coaching him again, all excites me. he just most talented basketball player on earth. if not of all time. >> you played with michael jordan. >> i know. i think he's more gifted, i do. and that's saying something, but kevin is a different entirely different breed. >> wow. k.d. more gifted than michael jordan. we're going to see k.d. and draymond and the gang tonight at 7:30 live he on nbc bay area. reporting from tokyo, back to you in the bay area. >> great to have you. thanks, raj. to the medal count as we head into the final weekend. team usa in the lead with 93

overall, china in second place with 75, and the russian olympic committee rounding out the top three with 62. >> and 6:05 right now. now to the pandemic and "today in the bay's" bob redell is live for us that the covid cases really do -- or those covid vaccines do work because you've been sifting through a lot of new data that we have. >> reporter: yeah, marcus. here in contra costa county the case rate for those who are unvaccinated is six times higher than for those who are vaccinated. you can take a look at these numbers that come from the contra costa health services department as of last week as of july 30th. it shows among the unvaccinated there are 65.7 cases per 100,000 people, whereas among the vaccinated, the case rate is 10.4 for per 100,000 people.

in santa clara county the case rate among the unvaccinated is four times that, 25.3 versus 6.8 per 100,000 people using the south bay as another example. as hospitalization rates begin to tip back up, doctors and nurses are pleading with people to wear a mask, get vaccinated and do your part to stop the spread of this disease. at the kaiser permanente roseville medical center that's up north of sacramento, health care providers are now seeing sick patients who are not only unvaccinated but younger, which is starting to take an emotional toll on health care providers. >> i have had nurses call me and they're just in tears and crying, so just allowing them, people to be able to vent about what happened, you know, you're supposed to pick up the pieces and start over again, that's hard to do. >> yesterday, the state of california mandated all of the roughly 2.2 million health care

and long-term care workers in the state be fully vaccinated by september 30th. you'll recall last month governor said unvaccinated health care workers could submit weekly testing. the department of public health has changed that with this new mandate. bob redell, "today in the bay." >> a lot of changes over this time. thanks so much. so this is a conversation a lot of people saying are we going to brace for another lockdown now? >> public health officers say there's no need because this surge is different. >> all right. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez is here to talk a little bit more about why. >> we're still feeling shell shocked from the 15 months working at home. >> always like cautious, are we going to go back. >> you probably heard it too. another lockdown. well, this one is a little bit different, this surge different. the state says it's unlikely we will have to go in that direction again. few reasons why. high vaccination rates mean

fewer and less severe cases in california, here in the bay area where we have a high vaccination rate, the universal mask mandate indoors means fewer opportunities to spread the virus. when you look at the hospital data, the overwhelming number of people with very serious cases who are ending up in hospital beds, they are unvaccinated. >> what a vaccination means. i want to show you a cdc map that correlates the number of cases. the pink and red areas have few getting shots and a lot getting sick. you can see texas, they don't provide any data the masks do work. should we expect them to stick around? >> i think that we -- i would expect for them to stick around for a while, especially as those kids go back to school because they are very effective at

preventing infection even among unvaccinated people. you can spread the virus still, but you first have to catch it. you can't spread the virus if you don't catch it. if you wear a mask and you are vaccinated you are less likely to spread to other people. thank you very much. expect to get clarity on booster shots within the next month. according to reports the fda plans to have its strategy worked out by september. they will lay out which people should receive shots and when based on what kind of vaccination they first receive. >> new concern tore the bay area water supply. levels are at a 44 year low. the press democrat reporting that drought has taken water there to its second lowest level ever around 24,000 acre feet of water. in 1977 it reached about half that level.

>> it's 6:10. let's talk about the reservoir levels because we're getting -- we're going to take a quick break right now. work out some technical things. 6:10 right now.

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when everyone and everything is connected. that's really beautiful. anything is possible. good morning. cisco. the bridge to possible. happy friday. as you're stepping out the door in novato, mostly clear now, temperatures in the low 50s and we will see it heating up today.

it's going to be hotter than compared to yesterday and more smoke coming in. i will have more on the air quality in the forecast coming up. >> friday happy at the bay bridge where there's no backup, also clear highway 37 eastbound has reopened. i circled what may be a new crash, where we had clearing on 101 through san francisco. more coming up. good morning to you. it's 6:14 on your friday morning. i'm going to talk about jobs and the return to work and electric cars and towards the end speak about a subject that some parents may not want their children to hear about on television. i wanted to give you a head's up. jobs, and the big headline much better than expected. 943,000 jobs added in july. the unemployment rate falls hard to 5.4%. do understand the numbers look backwards. the survey is taken mid-month before delta was filling hospitals. we'll pop out quick to the futures here, a mild move

forward on the markets. the dow and nasdaq set records yesterday. these good job news keeps coming. economists look back at the data from the last few months and adjusted those numbers higher as well. adjustment is fairly common. again, this is before la and texas and florida hit the hospitalizations. 118,000 americans were diagnosed yesterday. that's not the total. that's yesterday yesterday's total. 588 died yesterday. amazon says it will delay back to the office for its corporate workers all the way to the start of 2022. >> the president and big car fan joe biden got to drive the electric jeep at the white house as he announced a new executive order pushing for half the cars in the u.s. to be electric by 2030. the new car sold. the order does not have the weight of regulation or law. that will be up to different

u.s. agencies to follow up on. apple says it will start scanning people's private photo albums on icloud searching for child pornography. if it finds photos that match what it's looking for it will lock the account and notify police. here's what apple is doing. it's going to hard code the search into your phone and other devices as it updates its ios, operating system. that code will have information on what the pictures look like when they're reduced down to a mathematical formula, what programmers call hash. there are, thank god, a limited number of abusive pictures out there. police and apple know what they look like. so to answer a common question, no, it is not going to detect a picture you took of say your child in a bath. nonetheless, the overall concept that apple is going to look at any of your pictures even if it's an automated program, even if it's all mathematical, and then call up the authorities has privacy advocates concerned saying it's not a big leap that

once you start looking for one people's phone to look for why a government requires it. the u.s. government isn't the only government apple deals with. it'sf these photos and this is a useful tool to do that, but then there's this privacy issue as well. >> right. >> very interesting. >> yeah. >> thank you, scott. all right. it's 6:17. planning on going out this weekend you may need to show proof of vaccination. yelp rolling out two features to help consumers see new safety measures. businesses are implementing. the two new attributes of vaccination required and all staff vaccinated. users can use filters when searching for local businesses they want to go to. new this morning despite the pandemic business is booming at applebee's. this is thanks to new song, one i just learned about this

morning. it's called fancy life by walker hayes. it went viral on tiktok. the lyrics include we fancy like apple bees on a date night. oh, yeah. now the song is bringing new attention to the restaurant chain boosting interest among younger set of customers and applebees reported its best quarterly sales in a year thanks to the song. applebees was a big spot in high school to go to on a date. the best way to capture your life's most memorable moments, npr reports experts say you want -- you know you may want to take fewer pictures. i don't know about this one. instead, just live in the moment. >> studies show we're less likely to retain memories when taking too many photos. scientists say not only are we distracted by our brain pays less attention because we'll know we have the photos later to just rely on. expert says you should put a friend in charge of taking your photos so you can be fully in

the moment. >> who wants to be that friend? >> as long as they know the best camera angles and lighting. >> oh, yeah. >> want a professional friend. >> i think it is important to like be in that moment. >> i'm quite the stuff and -- >> taking too many photos. >> no. i'm very like -- a month or so, i don't know. i have very short-term memory and so like thinking back, i don't remember that stuff. i need the pictures. >> one thing we found with the kids is even just a short bit of video and audio brings you back. >> true. >> love that. >> my phone has 42,000 photos on it. >> whoa. >> you only have 3,000 kids. >> i know. here's the weather. >> and i think we're going to be taking pictures of this, the iconic fog that's draped over the golden gate bridge right

now. you see people out there taking selfies all the time. expect more of that today. at least we can see a little bit of that drive coming out of the north bay into san francisco but i'm watching the air quality, let me show you the near surface smoke model that shows a lot of bright reds and purples. look at where that is on the legend there. that is almost very unhealthy as we can see some of the smoke moving in with all of the fires nearby. we've seen the possibility of some of this could be just above the surface and then it clears out tomorrow so we will have better sky conditions for the next couple days. wow, we have such large fires burning across the state. much of that smoke burning and moving over toward nevada. heading out the door this morning, really does help to take public transit to cut down on the emissions that we're putting in the air additionally with the smoke. in oakland, our temperatures start out around 60 degrees, clears out, we'll head into the mid 70s today. with a look at our high temperatures it's going to be

hotter in the inland east bay, north bay, we were in the 80s yesterday but we can expect to head to the upper 90s this afternoon. the spike in temperatures is temporary. we're going to see it cooling down tomorrow. check out livermore. it will be in the mid to upper 90s today. low 90s tomorrow. i think sunday is going to be the best day tore outdoor activities. only slightly warmer next week. we don't see major spikes in temperatures. we're holding steady with a nice weather pattern. san francisco keeping us cool with highs in the 60s. mike, you're looking at a crash in san francisco. >> i am, kari. overall the commute looks great. we'll give you a second to admire this beautiful green flow of traffic. you line it, take a picture of it and that will be there for your memories. over here southbound 101 we have more slowing, remember we also had the earlier crash south 101 at cesar chavez. the second crash just as the first one backup cleared. more coming off west 80 off the central freeway as well down to the area.

vanness, closed today through the weekend for the surface street closure. it will be crowded and congested this weekend as well. over at the bay bridge, this is friday. that's the bay. back to you. >> thanks, "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> all right. what makes a winning consumer plant complaint. we have ranked our cases. who made it to our podium and medaled next. raj mathai not just covering the olympics but out living it up in tokyo. you need to see the latest episode of checking in with raj, our digital correspondent abby catches him at the famous and busiest intersection of tokyo on nbcbayarea.com. we'll be right back in a bit. 6:22, watching "today in the bay." 6:25 this morning, tok

isn't the only place where people are earning medals. >> chris chmura is here to award a few locally to viewers like you. >> we've heard from some champions, the bronze to mike in san francisco, an airline failed to deliver his luggage to the baggage belt, it should ship it to him. he had a detailed timeline and that a photo of what actually arrived is a 7 foot long car part. not his luggage. looks like an axle maybe. i don't know. we stepped in.

mike got a $1500 reimbursement. winning silver, jake in the north bay had an issue withdrawing money from his stock trading account and the company was acting like nothing was wrong but jake gave us proof, a detailed log showing transaction after transaction. that failed. we stepped in. jake then got his $3,205. and taking home gold, jennifer in santa clara, she shared a photo of the flowers she sent to her mom. the thing is, this was a flop and she had evidence to prove it. she sent us the company's advertising photo. something here is off. there's a slight difference. after we stepped in, jennifer got a full $70 refund. so send us your consumer complaint and please send us your receipts, contracts, photos and anything else that helps make your case. go to nbcbayarea.com and click the responds option from the main menu.

have a great weekend. >> thanks so much. starting monday we are returning to our normal schedule. we're always here for you in the morning, 4:30 to 7 but our midday starting at 11:00 comes back, watch california live at 11:30. more local news in the afternoon. nbc bay area news at 5:00 after "ellen" and another half hour of news at 5:30. at 6:00, nightly news with lester holt moves back to 6:30. join us for nbc bay area news starting at 7:00. >> the fun begins again. all right. 6:27. top stories we're following today including riding shotgun. a lot of questions raised about this photo you see right here. it is going viral. what a san francisco police investigation is now saying about this. plus -- >> could we be saying good-bye to a five-day workweek. i'll break down the poll that reveals how companies plan to staff in the future.

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emergency planning for kids. we can't predict when an emergency will happen. so that's why it's important to make a plan with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family. write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. pick a place to meet your family if you are not together and can't go home. remind your parents to pack an emergency supply kit. making a plan might feel like homework, but it will help you and your family stay safe during an emergency.

what does it take to make it? in the race to succeed, does somebody always have to fail? we've got to start lifting each other up. and give everybody a fair shot. because when that happens, we've all made it. ♪ right now at 6:30, returning to the office and the classroom. surprising new findings on how the pandemic is changing bay area work patterns. plus, back to school outbreaks. why parents shouldn't be surprised as schools reopen. the water shortage worsens. a major source of electricity shuts down. for those who rely on its power. this is "today in the bay."

very good friday morning to you. 6:30. of course broadcasting to your television and streaming live on nbcbayhington. first, to the pandemic, and newo the office five days a week may never return for a lot of us. >> "today in the bay's" cierra johnson joins us live in san francisco this morning and the new workweek idea could really forever change bay area commute patterns as well. >> reporter: good morning. yeah, that's exactly right. i don't think many of us a couple years ago imagined that there would be a point in our lives where that wasn't that traditional five-day work week, but according to a new poll, a lot of employers are leaning toward that shortened version of a workweek now that we are still in the midst of a pandemic. take a look at your screen we have a breakdown of how many days employers think their employees should work. this poll according to the bay area council. they surveyed more than 200

companies over three months and concluded a majority of offices plan to have workers in the office three days or less in the future. about 5% plan to have workers in the office one day a week, 22% plan to require two days, 40% plan to require three days, 13% four days and 19% are planning to return five days a week. just to put this in perspective, prepandemic, 93% of companies said workers were in the office four or five days each week. and as you can imagine, seeing how often employers require employees to visit the office, it will impact traffic levels. right now, this is a live look at the bay bridge, and the bay area council says congestion is approaching the prepandemic levels, despite the fact that most folks are still working remotely. it is also important to note that although a lot of folks are driving and hitting the freeways, that public transportation they're not seeing that same return. bart has brought back a lot of

their routes but they're not seeing a lot of folks getting back on those routes. a lot to pay attention as time continues. offices making those tough decisions on how many days to have the employees come back. we're going to be keeping a close eye on the traffic as it impacts your commute. live in san francisco, cierra johnson, for "today in the bay." >> thank you. it's time to talk about a spike in covid cases it's bringing new concern to families preparing for the new school year. >> starting next week, classes in many school districts reopen in person full-time. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez joins us now, some of the jitters from the impact of the delta variant we've been reporting on. >> the school district that my kids attend as of a week ago were telling us there were a lot of unknowns including some of the safety protocols, so a lot of things still in the air. doesn't make us feel better. hoealth departments are adamant that schools can reopen in person safely and that when that inevitable outbreak happens the goal will be to contain.

>> we're hopeful even if we start to see outbreaks in schools, that very quick intervention of identifying cases and making sure their contacts are followed up not allowed to spread the virus in the school will keep these outbreaks to a minimum. >> reporter: so here are some of the school districts headed back to school next week. on monday oakland, san mateo high school district, also tuesday san ramon valley unified, east side union, wednesday palo alto unified, middle and high school go back, palestine and sequoia, thursday, palo alto's elementary schoolers go back, mt. diablo, santa clara, santa rosa city schools but certainly we're all in it together. we're all feeling the same kind parents still looking into some of those situations that they don't want to send their kids back at all. >> the push has been to get the kids back in school. we saw it has had a taxing

effect on our kids' mental health on their socialization and academics and so the goal is to get them back on campus. they've even come up with a modified quarantine so that if the kids are exposed they still go to school and they are just monitored so that they don't lose any more instruction. >> keeping track of it all. thanks so much. 6:35 right now. a new vaccine mandate from governor newsom. he's ordering anyone who works in health care to get their shots. under the new directive anyone working at a health care facility must show proof of vaccination by september 30th. the order will require health care facilities to verify all visitors are vaccinated or have a recent negative covid test. two of the state's most prominent health care unions are supporting the move. >> i think it's a great thing that we have the option now or not the option of that mandate now, that everybody needs to be requiring workers to get the

vaccine. county employees have until september 30 to the submit exemption paperwork. any city worker not at least partially vaccinated by august 20th or refuses weekly testing will be put on unpaid leave and could be fired. napa county is joining all but one other bay area counties requiring masks indoors. that announcement yesterday with covid cases rising. masks will be required indoors? work places and public settings regardless of your vaccination status. solano is the only bay area county not requiring masks indoors. the vta rail yard mass shooting inspiring one woman's call for change. she lost her husband on that tragic day. now she's demanding new laws for families seeking ressy tution. her only recourse is a civil lawsuit to obtain money from the gunman's estate or pension. that will be gone before a conviction happens. she wants to create new state and federal measures allowing

assets of mass shooters to be seized and handed out to victims' families. supervisor chavez is working with her to craft that legislation. a photo shared by san francisco police going viral leading to an investigation. take a look at it. a woman hanging from a car holding what appears to be an automatic assault rifle. police believe it's an ak-47. they say the photo is from some kind of illegal driving gathering on july 11th in the bayview district. police also say they've tracked down the car and impounded it. so far they're not commenting about the case. today marking five years since the unsolved deadly shooting near fisherman's wharf that shook up people in san francisco. 20-year-old calvin riley playing pokemon go with friends a little before 10:00 p.m. that night. that's when a gunman approached and opened fire. he played baseball at junior college in stockton after graduating from serra high school in san mateo. eventually the reward surpassed $100,000 to find his killer.

family and friends tonight will hold a vigil at san mateo church. as drought levels continue to climb from our climate in crisis one of the largest hydro electric plants have shut down. due to a lack of water. authorities say there's not enough water in the oroville reservoir to power the edward hyatt power plant, the first time the plant has closed since the dam was completed over 50 years ago. it can normally produce enough power for 80,000 homes. the shutdown has been in the works for a while. other sources will be tapped to make up for that lost power. 6:38. this friday morning, taking a live look outside as we look in downtown san jose. talk about a way to begin or continue with your friday morning. meteorologist kari hall has a look at the forecast. i wish the weekend forecast was as beautiful as the shot. you say we have to deal with a few things. >> the reason it's so beautiful because there is smoke moving by so we have to be mindful of that for our outdoor activities. looking good going to santa cruz

this weekend. a little bit warmer today and it's going to be a great beach day and then some highs in the low 70s for the rest of the weekend with some sun and clouds in the mix. checking out napa valley today, 92. yes, it's going to be hot and once again, some of that smoke drifting by. we will see the air quality improving tomorrow and temperatures drop. we'll see a high of about 82 degrees and upper 70s on sunday. south lake tahoe is going to be warm with some mid 80s throughout the weekend especially the warmest day on saturday. you might want to go for a swim. checking out some local activities, the harbor water front festival is going to be a great one with the family. it starts out in the mid 50s in the morning but makes it into the low 60s and might want to wrap up the weekend with the street fair in san francisco. we're going to be celebrating the closing ceremony of the tokyo olympics and see our temperatures there in the mid 60s for some of those dances

going on this weekend. i got the head shake from mike. hopefully i did say it right. we have an ongoing problem in san francisco. >> it's not your pronunciation. great stuff if you want questions answered go out and see robert. he will be out there. over here we're concerned getting into san francisco because of the ongoing crash. turns out there was a vehicle involved out of service, no passengers or injuries but having trouble getting cleared because a tow truck has to get there. northbound distracted. southbound 101, westbound 80 all jamming up down in toward that scene. chp says do not call the alert because they hope to get it cleared quickly. they have been hoping that for a while. over here we're seeing slowing west 37, also highway 4 just kicking in. typical commute spots later, lighter, that's the friday pattern. we also see that same thing over here in hayward. a little light traffic southbound. northbound 101 through san jose, no surprises. a little slowing from 680 to

oakland road. it's looking great for the drive into the area. back to you. >> thanks, mike. something to think about for families trying to make it in the bay. next on "today in the bay," costs to raise your children going higher. the eye-popping new numbers from one study and which counties have got hit the hardest. >> the white house absolutely celebrating blockbuster good jobs numbers. what it means coming up. >> where were you in 1993. the giants did something they haven't done since then. details on their impressive win. >> first ahead of the closing ceremony on sunday, there is still plenty of olympic action tonight. see bay area basketball stars draymond green and damian lillard go for gold in tokyo against france. after that, don't want to forget track and field events including the 4 by 100 relays for men and women. it all begins at 7:30 tonight here on nbc bay area.

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from her biggest fan. some real face time. just an amtrak away.

right now at 6:44 on this friday morning, still looking cloudy and misty in palo alto right now. it's going to clear out today. our temperatures go from the low 60s to a little bit warmer than it was yesterday. we'll be in the mid 70s by early in the afternoon. we'll talk about the air quality and some slightly cooler temperatures for the weekend coming up. >> your drive quality should be improving as they cleared all lanes south 101 at cesar chavez. second crash causing a bigger

backup than before. the bay bridge is slow. a bigger look coming up. good morning to you. the white house, wall street, main street, all pouring over the latest jobs data and it is so much better than we were expecting. take a look for yourself. 943,000 jobs added in july. the unemployment rate falls hard down from 5.4% than 0.6% and gains we didn't know about at the time. let's bring in tracie potts. i want to get your reaction and what you're hearing in washington. >> well, first of all, scott, it makes sense when you consider that these numbers are a month behind. last month was the holiday. a lot of these new jobs were added in the leisure industry so people traveling, they took more people to support that. also local government education, kids going back to school, many of them already and many of those were part of the jobs that

were created. >> that's important to point out. these jobs look backwards. of course this came before the latest delta scare. >> exactly. so remember these numbers are a month in arrears. we'll see what happens now. the big concern economists have about the delta variant is that it will continue to drag down the economy. we have some evidence of that. the national federation of independent small businesses out there still say, scott, that they're having a hard time finding workers and remember small businesses make up the bulk of the employers in this country. >> part of that could be just the child care issue and with kids getting back to school, hopefully, maybe we'll see a bump in the numbers as parents are able to go back to work. >> exactly. because as parent go back to work, they cans do it if they don't have child care. the other issue related to covid and the economy as parents go

back and mix and mingle some places are requiring vaccines, some not. could they bring the virus home to children largely unvaccinated and going back to school. with staff members. could we see a recirculation because of the return to work and return to school. >> so many challenges ahead of pus. tracie potts, i appreciate your thoughts. turning to the capitol the senate is close to a deal on infrastructure. this is the first of two, the bipartisan deal the one we're talking about, the one that should sail through the house. that's why we're so laser focused on its progress in the senate. majority leader schumer wants a vote as soon as this weekend. i have a very big update. remember, the republicans like the bill because it's paid for. democrats tend to worry less about that. they like it because the republicans like it except the congressional budget office says it's not paid for and they ran the numbers and it's short by several hundred billion dollars. congress was unanimous aboutard

medals to police officers who defended the capitol during the insurgent attack of january 6th. there are four medals in all that's led to confusion perhaps it's deliberate on social media. the four medals are not going to the four officers who testified at the select committee. several were condemned president trump. the four go to different offices, two go to the capitol police offices, one to the washington, d.c. metro police headquarters, one to the smis sewn yan so everybody can look at it. one of the members of congress who says he doesn't want to wear a mask in house chambers and suing nancy pelosi over the rule has covid. representative ralph norman of south carolina a republican, had bristled at pelosi's requirements saying they weren't necessary and says he's been vaccinated. crossover infections are not unheard of. he says he has mild symptoms. we wish him the best. we'll be talking about the jobs numbers on twitter waiting

for the president's comments. you can watch along on twitter, @scottmcgrew. >> thank you. 6:48 right now. happening today, governor newsom will make a stop in southern california to highlight the safe reopening of schools. he'll visit an elementary school in san bernardino county. the governor is expected to lay out the ongoing effort to fund for resources and support schools need to safely reopen. for families trying to make it in the bay new proof of the financial costs tied to raising children. a new united way study finds marin county is the most expensive in the region when it comes to child care. a family of four averages spending nearly $24,000 a year. the average yearly cost for the bay area nearly $20,000. here's a win, giant fans may look back if the team goes on to win the pennant, this is an epic comeback to wrap up the series in arizona. the giants score four runs in the ninth to tie the game and then in the tenth inning, chris brian knocked the game-winning

double. the giants win 5-4. the largest ninth inning comeback since 1993. >> taking it back to the 90s. all right. hey, the weekend, temperatures going to hit the 90s. >> yeah. for some spots, but not across the bay area. we still have the wide range in temperatures and i wanted to give you another view of the sunrise that looks a little smoky, but isn't it beautiful. well, it's bright orange as the sun comes over the hills and we're monitoring our air quality. let's go through this near surface smoke model and where we see the bright reds and the purples, look at the legend here. that's approaching unhealthy and possibly very unhealthy but it does look like with some of the smoke it may be above the surface and not having a huge impact on our air quality, but the sky make may look hazy and then we go from those dark reds to some lighter shades of blue. it does look like it improves for tomorrow afternoon. and that may continue to be the case for the weekend. but we have such large fires

burning just to our north and much more of that smoke is traveling off towards the east away from the bay area. then as we take a look at our temperatures and some of those spots yesterday that were in the 80s, we're going to be in the upper 90s today. you're going to feel the difference cranking up the air conditioning, concord to 96 degrees, but 86 in san jose, oakland reaching 78 degrees and some upper 60s in san francisco. i wanted to show you livermore because even though it's going to be hot today, we see those temperatures coming down and sunday will be the best day for outdoor activities and warmer next week. not seeing major spikes in temperatures. this is the pattern we're settling in with highs in the upper 80s and low 90s into next week. san francisco, remaining steady here with clouds and fog and highs in the 60s. mike, you're tracking a slower drive on the bay bridge. >> getting into san francisco was a problem. still actually slower than you like and slower than we've seen all morning. but the crash did clear in the last ten minutes.

south 101 at cesar chavez the vehicle cleared, not an in service vehicle but causing slowing off octavia and van ness. recovery pretty quick as folks are starting to slow down at treasure island but not enough to cause the metering lights to be turned on. there's still no backup at the bay bridge toll plaza just slowing from treasure island down the skyway. we see the build, the richmond bridge, highway 37 and a bit over here for highway 4 as we expect those are the typical sos that show the backup and on friday we have a lighter backup. the rest of the bay being friday light including san jose. back over to you. >> thanks so much. it is 6:52. happening now, united airlines has a new vaccination requirement for u.s. based employees. workers will have to show proof of vaccination online either five weeks after the fda fully approves the covid vaccine or five weeks after september 20th. the airline says workers who are already vaccinated can upload their information and receive an additional day of pay.

next, a quick look at the top stories including rubble and ash, the latest on northern california wildfires and an update on the search for four people missing in the dixie fire burning in plumas county. also the smoke's impact on bay area skies. we're back in just two minutes with more right here on "today in the bay."

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welcome back. before you head out the door we are moving you forward with a look at the top stories on "today in the bay." >> four people remain unaccounted for after flames from the dixie wildfire caused destruction this week in plumas county. the fire triggered new evacuation orders. as we've been showing you all morning yesterday as well, flames completely destroyed the town of greenville. here's a look at just how devastating the destruction was there on the left is what downtown greenville used it look like. on the right, what it is now. as of this morning, the fire has burned more than 360,000 acres. it is 35% contained. a live look outside this morning, skies overcast ahead of a chance for smoke in the upper atmosphere from those fires that we're talking about to the north. a smoke advisory in the bay area does end today. governor newsom has declared a state of emergency, however, in nevada, and placer county. expect to get clarity on

covid booster shots within the next month. according to various reports the fda plans to have its strategy worked out by september. "the wall street journal" says leaders will lay out which should receive follow-up shots and when based on what kind of vaccination they received. about half of all americans are fully vaccinated. one last check in tokyo the olympics are nearly over. >> here's a live look for you at the olympic torch burning bright this friday night there. friday morning here. raj mathai has been working hard over the last three weeks and raj, thank you. >> happy friday evening to you. happy friday morning. for everyone back in the bay area, get ready for the big event tonight. 7:30 p.m. live right here on nbc bay area. the gold medal basketball game, the usa men against france. remember kevin durant, draymond green and assistant coach steve kerr leading team usa. take a look at this, the a-team i was hanging out, the gold medal beach volleyball squad,

alix klineman on the ride, the stanford grad, april ross on the left. they're tall. pretty cool to see the gold. they took a bite out of the gold after they beat australia in the beach volleyball final match. and it's a homecoming for all the athletes now across the bay area. across the world, across the country here. simone biles and jordan childs coming home to houston, hugs and fanfare, missed their support staff, community and parents and family members. we are coming home a big thanks to everyone back home especially our producers tony and justin. happy birthday week for you guys. and laura and marcus, i'm thinking when i come back maybe i'll transfer to the morning show and sit there between laura and mike and it will be a five shot wouldn't that be something. twice, we'll see you back in the bay area. >> it would be great. >> you know what's going to happen, put raj here and mike go over here. like, hey, guys.

>> where did mike go. >> it has been fun to have him. >> last look at that friday forecast. >> it's a little warmer today for our inland valleys reaching into the mid 90s and then cooling down just a few more degrees tomorrow as well as sunday. san francisco, also looking pretty good. clouds and fog now. mist and drizzle and highs reaching into the upper 60s as we get peeks of sunshine later today. >> san francisco also looking better but getting there still a little slow. treasure island down to about ninth slowing recovery from the earlier crash at cesar chavez which did clear. >> no kidding. it's friday in that. we'll remind you it's friday but back here on monday morning. thanks so much for joining us. leave you with a live look outside this morning. >> san jose, as we coast into the weekend. it is friday, enjoy yourselves. we can't wait to see you back here monday morning. have a great weekend. the "today" show is next as we

take a live look in san francisco this morning. all right. look, bay area, we love you. we'll see you back here next time. good morning. gold rush. americans april ross and alyx kleinmann serve it up in beach volleyball. >> the a-team with an a-plus performance. and join us live. plus, unexpected gold for team usa in pole vaulting and the u. women's basketball and volleyball teams head for their gold medal games. >> out of bounds and the united states will play for gold. just ahead, the spotlight shining again on allyson felix, the legendary track star in her