this week the va city council w bring back an indoor mask mandate. the city will be on its own. christie smith has reaction. >> reporter: benicia mayor. >> whether to reinstate a mask mandate for interior public spaces and rebuild operations. we had one for about a year that we adopted back in may, i believe, of 2020. and dropped it when the government dropped all the other requirements in june. >> reporter: other bay area counties have recently reinstated mask mandates. >> i think for the council, the question is should we consider something more strict than the county is doing in the interest of health and safety.

>> we reinstituted the mask mandate for our guests no matter what their vaccination status was because we just have such a wide variety of ages and customers. >> reporter: natasha curtis says her customers commend them for it. >> i think the city should adopt a city wide mandate. although, this county isn't. because it takes the burden off of our individual small business owners. >> reporter: certainly some see the mask issue much differently. the mayor says they have a high vaccination rate and now they're looking at this step. >> i'm frustrated by having to do this again because i think that had we as a nation or as a state had everybody vaccinated and everybody wearing a mask, we wouldn't be here. >> reporter: he says the mandate

could stay in effect 60 to 90 days, but it depends on what happens with covid cases. turning to the national effort to get more people vaccinated, nearly a million people got a dose of the vaccine yesterday. now, that is slightly down from the more than one million doses a day we have seen wednesday, thursday and friday. but it is still half a million of the covid-19 shots administered were to previously unvaccinated people. a big day could be ahead tomorrow. pfizer is leading the race to get full fda approval for the covid vaccine. it could happen tomorrow. pfizer would be the first covid-19 vaccine to get full approval. it could lead more people to get the vaccine and lead to more vaccine requirements. new vaccination mandates for san jose city employees start tomorrow. they must be vaccinated or get tested regularly. those who choose not to are going to be put on unpaid

administrative leave. the city says at least 81% of its employees have been vaccinated. the san jose city council expected to vote tuesday on more covid regulations at city-owned venues. the mayor's proposal attendees and staff of events with 50 or more people will be required to show proof of full vaccination, a negative covid-19 test would not serve as a substitute for vaccination. returning to our coverage of the crisis in afghanistan, president biden says the u.s. and its allies have evacuated 11,000 people out of kabul in the last 36 hours. nearly 28,000. negotiations are also underway to extend the august 31st deadline for getting everyone out. president biden spoke publically today and defended the troops' withdrawal. he said it would have been hard and painful whenever it happened. he also assured americans that

terrorists will not be among the evacuees. >> we are conducting thorough scrutiny, security screening for everyone who is not a u.s. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. anyone arriving in the united states will have undergone background checks. number three, once screened and cleared, we will welcome these afghans who helped us in the war effort over the last 20 years to their new home, the united states of america, because that's who we are. >> the pentagon activated several u.s. airlines as part of a civil reserve air fleet. 18 planes in all have been asked to fly people out of the airport in the region. now, afghan refugees brought to the u.s. will temporarily be housed at an expo center in virginia. it will serve as a layover location before they are taken to military bases. as you can see, several busses full of people were outside the facility on sunday. from virginia, afghans will be

taken to either fort bliss or fort mccoy in wisconsin. thousands of afghans again descended on the airport today hoping to find a way out. richard engel reports from qatar. >> reporter: evacuations that took place in kabul is extremely chaotic, and it is not at all what it was intended to be. this was supposed to be for american citizens, foreign contractors, afghans who worked with u.s. troops. instead, the taliban moved in to kabul earlier than expected when the u.s. pulled out troops and the president of afghanistan suddenly ran from the country and now there is a state of panic. people by the thousands, tens of thousands, are rushing to this base. the americans on that base are not equipped to handle this. this is now become a kind of evacuation of refugees from the

city. >> we're going to continue that in the days ahead and get out thousands more afghans who are at risk and who supported the u.s. military effort in afghanistan, along with continuing to ensure that we are focussed on getting american citizens out who want to leave the country. >> reporter: but there are six million people. that place is not equipped to empty out all of kabul. so now the u.s. is doing it. they are pushing ahead. they are trying to pick out the people they need while taking some of the people rushing to the bay and not preventing an trying to prevent it all from collapsing entirely. richard engel, nbc news. amid all the chaos of refugees trying to get out of afghanistan comes a small story of hope. an afghan woman gave birth on board a plane before it landed in germany. pictures show the moment medical personnel rushed to help the

woman on the tarmac. she went into labor on the flight and the pilot decided to descend in altitude to stabilize the mother and likely saved her life. both mother and baby doing well out of the hospital. we continue to follow all the developments from afghanistan across our digital platforms. go to nbcbayarea.com. coverage also continues next on "nightly news" at 5:30. now on to our micro climate weather coverage. a live look outside at san jose and dublin shows smokey skies returning to the bay area. with that comes a new smoke advisory. rob is tracking all of it for us. hey, rob. what do you got? >> yeah. we got major wild fires burning on all sides. and the fire sending the most smoke, picking up ash falling from that major wild fire south of highway 50. look at all the ash and smoke

pouring in to south lake tahoe. sierra has been looking at very unhealthy to at times hazardous air quality. that is where the worst of the air quality continues to be. green and yellow dots indicating good to moderate. so i do think with winds northwest down the coast, at this hour, by the time we wake up tomorrow morning, we will see more smoke in the inland north bay. we do have a smoke advisory tomorrow for moderate air quality expected. numbers between 51 and 100. mild temperatures will continue through the middle part of the week, but we'll see the summer heat just around the corner. 95 thursday and we could be very close to 100 degree temperatures by next weekend. a look at that warm up on the way in our forecast coming up in about eight minutes. >> stay up-to-date with rob's forecast there and all of the micro climate weather in our neighborhood. now to the ongoing threats

from wild fire here. good news for firefighters battling the fire near lake tahoe. winds slowed down a bit. highway 50 is still closed. no reopening time has been set. this is a look from near echo lake, that eerie orange glow. the fire jumped the highway last night. zero containment. the national forest in northern california have been shut down through labor day. the big issue that remains, dangerous air quality, really bad in the lake tahoe area. san jose police are looking for a driver in a deadly hit-and-run. the crash happened near 1:00 a.m. this morning. that is in east san jose. investigators say a man was crossing the street outside when a driver hit him and then left the scene. they believe the driver was in a car similar to an older acura four-door sedan.

the car may have damaged its front end. 17 pedestrians have been killed this year in san jose. police broke up an early morning sideshow. it happened at about 2:45 this morning. as soon as officers arrived, everybody just took off. no one got caught. no arrests. it has continued to be an issue for many cities across the bay area. >> how about some football and a vaccine? that option popped up outside the 49ers game today. >> and something happened this morning in the south bay for the first time since before the pandemic, and it was all for a good cause. we'll explain next. and right now seeing temperatures in the low 80s in livermore. find out when we could see temperatures 20 degrees warmer than that in your seven-day forecast when we come right back. closed captions sponsored by airport home appliance.

get a vaccine, get to see a football game. that was the scene at sofi stadium in downtown l.a. this afternoon. a pop-up clinic targeting football fans who decided to get the shot when they learned it meant free seats to tonight's chargers/49ers game. >> i haven't really been outside of the house for the past year and a half. but i just got a new job. i will be required to get vaccinated soon, so i figured might as well get some tickets out of it. >> that just fell into his lap. he deserved it. the clinic was open for four

hours and ended up getting about 170 doses. thousands of rockers and runners hit the streets of san jose today for the first south bay race since the pandemic started. santa clara county and the city of san jose teamed up to host the 5k and 10k. it benefitted the medical foundation. organizers say it was only fitting that since health care workers have been going the extra mile during the pandemic that runners take to the streets in their honor. >> we believe it is so important that our silicon valley community pull together and show our front line hospital and health care workers how much we support what they have done for us these last 18 months. >> organizers set the ambitious goal of contributing a quarter of a million dollars to the foundation. they met and exceeded that goal today. great news. >> double wow. >> a mobile vaccination lab is also available to anyone who wanted to get vaccinated.

good stuff. now, a victim of its own success. burning man went virtual this year because of the pandemic. apparently burners were excited because earlier today the site crashed. things are back up and running now. people are invited into a virtual reality experience of everything burning man, including art, interactions and performances. and while it certainly isn't the same, it comes without the scorching feet and all that dust. but it is also free. another bay bridge series in the books, and this one really lived up to the hype. whoa. we'll show you how the a's and giants turned in another nail biter. that's next. attention, california. new federal funding of $3 billion is available to help more people pay for health insurance —

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can you believe it? >> no. >> they did it again. for the second day in a row, the giants get a pinch hit home run and rally to beat the a's. >> making half of the bay area happy. another dramatic ending to an exciting weekend in oakland. it is the last time these bay area rivals will meet during the regular season. if they meet again this year, it is the world series. can ha with a single to right. kemp has speed and the throw is way offline. a's lead 1-0. it will stay that way until this happened. a pinch hit two-run homer. giants rally, beat the a's 2-1. they won it in dramatic fashion, and the giants win the series

4-2. the giants earned bragging rights over the a's for the next year and they were all valley for that. nbc sports bay area created that trophy four years ago. this year the new meaning renamed the bridge tom pellack memorial trophy in honor of a long-time nbc sports executive who passed away last year. great honor to that man and a great day for baseball and a great baseball game on top of all of that. >> i showed which area of the bay area series i was rooting for there. >> well, you live in san francisco, so that's why you root that way. >> and a beautiful day for baseball. >> yeah. >> you had the sunshine, cool temperatures. but heat just around the corner and the seven day forecast a reminder it is still summer outside. it will feel like it. inland valleys toward the end of the week, but summer in san

francisco has been mostly in the 60s. that's exactly what we got outside right now. strong sea breeze, 64 degrees. 74 in san jose. northwest wind at 14. you are probably noticing upper level smoke drifting in from the north this afternoon. 81 degrees currently. northwest wind. and there you see walnut creek, a noticeable increase in the next 24 hours. southwest wind at 10 miles an hour. straight for the morning, north bay temperatures, if you don't have the low cloud, you could be seeing upper 40s by tomorrow morning. mostly low in the 50s elsewhere and highs at least for monday and wednesday staying about the same we saw this weekend, which means more 60s and 70s bay side. from 75 in san jose. and brentwood and antioch to the inland east bay.

83 in livermore and 70s across the north bay. here is a look at the smoke forecast. the reason why it is on the increase again, coming down the coast with some northwest winds and a little more smoke dropping into the north bay into the inland east bay. so you see the transition there. a little bit of green and yellow here on the map color coded to moderate smoke here. and then tuesday we might see a little more of that get pushed out by a slightly stronger sea breeze. may see temperatures come down a little bit for tuesday. but look at the smoke banked out here into lake tahoe. that looks mostly unhanged. this is really the poorest that the air quality can get. it is unhealthy to very unhealthy at times downwind there burning on the west slope of the sierra. you see across the pacific northwest, we have rain coming in. but storms staying just too far to the north to help us out.

that might push more wind across the wild fires at times. in sierra, the story will continue to be the smoke, hotter temperatures across the inland east bay temperatures. still mild, not quite as cold out near the bay and coast as we take a look at the extended forecast. we talked about 80s today. could be in the upper 90s to near 100 degrees friday and saturday look to be the hottest day. san jose closer to 90. but from san francisco to oakland, warmer for you means 70s and 80s. you finally get a break from the sea breeze. temperatures climbing up as we head towards next weekend, which does mean san francisco hits get of that air-conditioning by friday. temperatures in the mid-70s, but valleys will feel the heat as we head into next weekend, really hot. the tri valley i think could be close to 100 degrees. so you got the hazy skies and the temperatures aren't too hot. it is not all that bad.

but you add smoke and heat, we will have to watch that closely for air quality concerns heading into next weekend. >> we are kind of lucking out a little bit. it is not going up and staying there for an extended period of time. >> just enough to push it out to the east after 24 hours. >> all right. rob, thanks a lot. all right. imagine being in college and having your student debt wiped away. it's happening more and more at some universities across the country. how it's being done next. california! during a flex alert, let's keep our power up and running. set ac cooler and use big appliances before 4pm.

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the covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the african-american community on many fronts, including finances and education. black colleges and universities are stepping in to help. >> they're using federal funds to erase student debt.

cnbc has the story. >> we were all surprised. we were like, is this real? is this really happening. >> reporter: at clark atlanta university, students were stunned when they heard their unpaid student balances had been wiped out. >> when i found out i was speechless. we were all just talking about how it was such a blessing. >> reporter: the historically black university was one of the first in the nation to use pandemic relief aid to cancel student debt. >> we committed $5 million assisting nearly 2,000 students with account balance. >> reporter: the president of the university says the move will help boost enrollment and remove financial burdens that could prevent many students from graduating. >> we are reinventing the college experience so that our students can graduate nearly debt free. >> reporter: cau and other schools sparked a movement that's currently sweeping across the u.s. more than 20 historically black

colleges and universities cleared all or part of money owed for tuition and fees and experts say that number could grow. >> i wouldn't be surprised if more institutions choose to utilize the funds to continue to positively impact their students because we're still in the grips of this pandemic. >> reporter: autumn, a junior and student government association president says she and her friends were relieved at the unexpected financial assistance. >> a lot of students were contemplating how they would start fresh, come up with thousands of dollars. with that announcement, that definitely allowed some students to just breathe. >> i'm looking at all of these students who have no prior account balances and they're smiling as they begin a new year. it makes me feel tremendously gratified on the inside. >> reporter: many hbcus, including clark atlanta have

seen an increase in alumni and private donations. they're trying to alleviate the debt load and allow many to graduate with a clean slate. we're back in a moment. and there you have it— -woah. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow! -big deal! ...we get unlimited for just $30 bucks. sweet, but mine has 5g included. relax people, my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. switch to xfinity mobile and save hundreds on your wireless bill. plus, save up to $400 when you purchase a new samsung phone or upgrade your existing phone. learn more at your local xfinity store today.

finally tonight, a connecticut neighborhood turns into a playground. >> take a look at this. the creek overflowed, heavy rains from the tropical storm. here is this guy. this is connecticut, folks. they don't surf a lot there. they don't have much in the way of beaches, and he was doing this, making the most of it, doing a 180 and a spin. i got to say, if you got to have flooded streets, you got to make the most of it, street surfing is one way to do it. remember the good old days when

we used to have flood like that? looking forward to rain season. need some of that here. >> heat in the forecast. 90 coming back to the valley. >> all right. "nightly news" is next. see you back here at 6:00. tonight, tropical storm henri hammers the northeast. tens of millions in the storm's path as it barrels across several states, bringing drenching rain and flooding cars submerged people rescued from rising waters. nursing homes evacuated and hundreds of thousands without power. and a deadly disaster tennessee flash flooding leaves at least 21 people dead and 50 still missing. >> this is almost of biblical proportions here. >> the race against time to find survivors. crisis in afghanistan. the u.s. orders commercial airlines to help transport evacuees as president biden defends the speed of those