parent-powering, proven quality night's sleep we've ever made. don't miss our weekend special where all smart beds are on sale. save 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 60 months. ends monday. . good morning. it is sunday, august 29th. a live look outside in new orleans where people are bracing for hurricane ida expected to make landfall today. ida was upgraded to a category 4 storm. wind speeds up to 150 miles per hour are expected to hit the gulf coast. i'm kira klapper. we will have more on that story later in the news cast. let's start in the bay area where a spare the air alert is in effect because smoke from the wildfires to our north continues to drift down to us.

you're looking live across the bay area. you can see that one look at sfo there is fog covering sfo. smoke and haze everywhere else blanketing the bay area, san jose, oakland and walnut creek. meteorologist rob mayeda joins us this morning with a look as we are under a microclimate weather alert because of the air. >> due to the smoky skies giving an extra orange glow to the morning, in san jose, you see the view, 64 degrees. warm to start off the morning around the santa clara valley. more of the smoke around walnut creek. it's 62. as kira mentioned some fog closer to san francisco and sfo to the south right now. golden gate bridge disappearing into those low clouds, currently at 58 degrees. so the areas of smoke we're seeing may decrease slightly as the sea breeze picks up just along the immediate coast but notice how the north bay and the inland east bay likely still seeing the unhealthy for sensitive group levels. it may not be until late tomorrow monday around 7:00 before the smoke does clear out.

today's highs near 90s, close to 100 around the tri-valley of course 70 and 80s from san francisco to oakland. more about the cooling trend in our seven-day forecast and when that better air quality arrives coming up in about 12 minutes. back to you. >> i look forward to hearing about better air quality. thanks so much. to the latest on the massive wildfire, the caldor fire burning now for two weeks. new video this morning of flames approaching the community of strawberry in el dor rad do county. the fire jumped in size once again, now more than 152,000 acres. containment stands at 19%. we now want to turn to the crisis in afghanistan where evacuations continued ahead of tuesday's looming deadline of complete u.s. withdrawal. just within the last 30 minutes, we learned that an explosion was heard outside the kabul airport. we're working right now to find out more at this moment on what that explosion was and bring

that to you as soon as we know after president biden yesterday warned another isis-k attack could happen. yesterday's drone killed two high-profile members and wounded one other. it remains unclear whether the three were behind thursday's attack. the u.s. did not alert any other countries to the strike beforehand, including the taliban. the taliban is condemning the act as a violation of the sovereignty of our country. president biden and the first lady are heading to dover air force base to view the dignified transfer of the remains of the 13s u.s. service members killed in thursday's attack after this touching scene out of the nation's capital last night. the 13 were honored for the

candlelight vigil. hundreds gathered in alexandria, virginia. photos of all the troops killed in the blast at the kabul airport. four of these service members were from california. among those lives lost a marine corps sergeant from sacramento, nicole gee was just 23 years old. she posted a photo to her instagram of herself in uniform holding a baby in kabul captioning it, quote, i love my job. she posted that days before her death. in a gofundme post nicolle's sister said, quote, i always said she was the absolute light of my life and i would do anything for her. she was my best friend, my partner in this crazy life and absolute hero. there are no words that will express how much she will be missed. and as the around-the-clock effort to get people out of afghanistan continues one bay area family is relieved this morning because ten of their relatives got out alive. "today in the bay's" sergio

quintana tells us about their dangerous escape and the people who helped make it happen. >> reporter: this is video shot by nilab's family as they made their way to waiting planes on the kabul tarmac. they will be in the bay area with her. >> my whole family on the way. my mom, my dad. my two brothers. my sister-in-law. my nephew and my one younger sister. >> reporter: all ten were able to navigate the treacherous journey through the gates of hamid karzai were in the. these are photos that her family took along the way. we're concealing their identity because she is concerned for their safety while in transit but got great news a few days ago they made it to ramstein air base in germany. >> they're safe and alive. >> reporter: it's nothing less than a miracle that all ten made it out together and she says it's thanks to two men who worked tirelessly to help. powers and aiken. aiken talked with his fellow

marines by cell phone as the family was at the gates of the airport. >> i told them i was a marine that served in afghanistan in 2010, the family was close with a close friend of mine, they were in danger and asked marine to marine if there was any way to get them out of there safely. >> if he was not there i would not be able. the whole family including myself needs to give them a new life. >> reporter: all are being processed germany and expects them to come to the u.s. to live with her in dublin. she will be celebrating when they do. >> i'm very happy for you. sergio quintana, nbc bay area news. coverage continues on our digital platforms. hear the address president biden gave yesterday on our website nbcbayarea.com just click on afghan attacks. that's at the top and the trending bar. >> here locally, tragedy this

morning in the east bay. one teen is dead and more are injured after a car crashed near livermore. six livermore high school students were in a pickup truck that plunged over an embankment on del valle in unincorporated livermore friday night. first responders air lifted two of the teens to hospitals and rushed the other four in ambulances. one of the teens died. the livermore superintendent says crisis support teams are being mobilized for students and staff. it has been three months since valley transit authority light rail trains carried passengers in the south bay but that changes. the vta is moving forward after a mass shooting shut down a majority of operations. "today in the bay's" marianne favro reports it's just in time for tonight's 49ers/raiders game. >> reporter: for three months these rails have remained empty after light rail service was shut down following a mass shooting at vta that left nine dead. this video shows vta testing

light rail trains without passengers earlier this week. it will look much different sunday as some light rail trains resume service. >> the orange line will run from mountain view from alum rock and stop at every station in between. the green line we're only going to open part from downtown san jose to baypointe station near tasman. >> reporter: that will help 15% of niners fans who rely on vta to get to the games. it will also help commuters. >> that is also a necessity. >> we need that. we need the light rail. i always feel like it's a luxury way to travel instead of the busses and all that. >> reporter: but some vta employees are still not ready to come back. >> people were extremely traumatized with this situation. many of our employees are still trying to figure out how to work through it. we are offering and providing counseling services and trauma recovery services. >> reporter: why vta has no

estimate yet on when all trains will be back on the tracks. in san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. now to the pandemic, another bay area city might be asking people to mask up. last week we told you how benicia moved forward with its own mask mandate because solano county doesn't have one. vallejo, the largest in solano county, is interesting doing the same thing. vallejo will have a special meeting tuesday to discuss that potential mandate. stanford is ramping up its covid testing requirements. the university announced beginning september 20th weekly testing will be required for faculty, staff and students regardless of vaccination status. unvaccinated members of the university must have twice a week. stanford will provide the tests for free at several locations across campus. happening today pg&e will begin inspecting gas pipelines in east san jose. crews will test pipe under king

and story roads. that intersection will shut down every night sunday through thursday from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. the inspections will last through november. pg&e says to call them if you notice any issues with your gas service. in 2017, robert paylor was playing rugby for cal in the ncaa national championship game when the unimaginable happened. he was carried off the field on a stretcher, paralyzed. paylor became a quadriplegic and doctors told him he would likely never walk again. the doctors were wrong. today he will take some of the most important steps of his life, walking across the stage to receive his college diploma. he said imagining this moment has motivated him for years and now that it's all finally here he hopes he can give the gift of motivating others as well. >> everybody has a challenge in their life or a goal that they want to achieve and i hope one day seeing me walk across that stage, that they see them doing

the things others told them they wouldn't do. they see them overcoming the challenges in their lives with the goal they want to accomplish. this is a huge motive for me, but i hope it's a huge moment for others too. >> paylor will walk on his own two feet to receive his degree in business from uc berkeley along with the rest of the class of 2020. the graduation ceremony was delayed because of covid. we'll be there and have complete coverage. congratulations. it is 7:11. we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up we take you live to washington, d.c., for our weekly interview with todd. plus, bracing forwe are trackin.

majestic mountains... scenic coastal highways... fertile farmlands... there's lots to love about california. so put off those chores and use less energy from 4 to 9 pm when less clean energy is available. because that's power down time. homelessness, housing, taxes, water, electricity, crime, wildfires. [sfx: bear roar] twenty-five percent.ailed.edials fix housing and homelessness. and make life in california affordable again. i'm a businessman, the only cpa running. shouldn't we choose ability this time? do you think john cox will be a better governor than gavin newsom? [sfx: bear roar] does a bear sh*t in the woods?

welcome back. time for our weekly discussion with chuck todd, nbc news political director and moderator

of "meet the press." thanks as always for joining us this morning. good to see you. you have guests on today from the biden and trump administrations who are giving insight into the plans for withdrawal and beyond in afghanistan, of course. what went wrong from the trump administration to the biden administration and is it possible to course correct? >> look, i think the question is, do you believe that that -- i think that's -- there's another divide in that debate which is, is that the blame here? is it sort of how we got out? is it the last year and a half? was it negotiating with the taliban? setting a withdrawal deadline? there are some that say that was a mistake, but at the same time those same people aren't advocating, well, maybe we should have stayed in perpetuity. that's part of the problem here, is that -- is it really a question of the mistakes that

were made in the last 20 months or a series of mistakes made over the last 20 years. again, i do think the core decision -- the core mistake that some people are going to focus on was the decision to cut a deal with the taliban without the afghan government involved and that once you is it that, you empower the taliban and there was no other way around the ending that we're facing now. perhaps that will be the core mistake that is isolated when the history books are written. >> interesting to see those two interviews, chuck. i want to get some insight on covid because you have dr. anthony fauci on this morning. here in the bay area you may have heard in marin county the case of an unvaccinated teacher infecting some of their students, i believe about 50% of the students. what kind of fall is dr. anthony fauci predicting, staying in

school, going back to a repeat of 2020? >> one thing he emphasized it's pretty clear we're not going to shut down schools. there is concern as schools continue to reopen around the country that it's only going to help delta circulate and we what happens there. but considering what happened regarding deficiencies in learning there's an agreement that we're not going back to remote schooling. he lamented the issue of masks. at the end of the day wearing masks is about the best tool we have in the schools since we can't vaccinate every kid right now. kids under 12 can't get vaccinated. we have to create the bubble, vaccinate those that can be vaccinated and wear mask with those that can't. as he pointed out our political polarization is standing in the way because us and getting on the other side of the pandemic which, frankly, he was not ready to concede this, because i asked him, but there are others who believe this pandemic may become

a permanent feature of the globe and be something more like an endemic and we have to just learn to live with this virus. >> oh, boy. >> for the rest of our lives. >> all right. we really appreciate that preview. sounds like a good show. thank you so much. we hope you join chuck for "meet the press." he will have secretary of state antony blinken, former national security adviser h.r. mcmaster and dr. anthony fauci. we hope you just stick right here and watch "meet the press" at 8:00 a.m. right after this news cast. >> to a pilot from travis air force base one of the thousand of u.s. force base helping those out of the country. austin street is commander at travis but right now he's in qatar. so far he's completed five evacuation flights flying thousands of u.s. citizens, allies and qualified refugees to safety. street tells us it's an honor. he recalls one moment after they

offloaded passengers and were cleaning up the aircraft for the next crew bound for kabul. >> found a little pair of shoes and they were made out of card board and duct tape and my load master looked at me and said that's sad. i said that's inspiring. some family made a pair of shoes for their kid so that they could walk to freedom. and so that really touched our crew and that's what we're hoping to accomplish, to provide an opportunity for freedom for these families. >> as the mission comes to a close street tells us he's grateful for the stories evacuees have shared and grateful for their support during the war. back here locally, a mural honoring an elderly asian man killed while walking outside his san francisco home is set to be unveiled today. this is a picture of the measure ral for grandpa vicha. he was violently pushed to the

ground outside his home in january and died from his injuries a few days later. the mural is painted at the intersection of california and grant, that's right across from cafe house. an official unveiling ceremony is set for today at 1:00. now to a bombshell twist in the criminal trial of ther row nose ceo elizabeth holmes. holmes plans to defend herself by arguing his business partner and ex-boyfriend psychologically and sexually abused her. he is facing his own criminal trial. his attorney calls the allegations inflammatory, offensive, and false. the released documents reveals holmes plans to testify in her own defense. jury selection for holmes' trial begins tuesday. and now to that developing situation on the gulf coast. you're looking live at the new orleans skyline this morning where hurricane ida is expected to make landfall today. overnight the storm was upgraded

to a category 4. video shows the aftermath of hurricane ida in cuba. we told you yesterday morning it hit cuba. strong winds and currents left devastation in the western part of the island. the storm damaged plantations, uprooted trees, flooded agricultural areas, destroyed electrical grids and damaged roofs. miraculously no deaths reported. 13,000 had to be evacuated, residents of low lying or vulnerable areas. landfall is expected some time this morning. 16 years to the day since hurricane long lines at gas stations, rental cand voluntary evacuation orders. >> by the time you go to bed tonight you need to be where you intend to ride the storm out. >> fema is on standby and the white house sent 500 emergency response personnel to the area

on top of those already deployed to help with surging covids cases. let's turn now to meteorologist rob mayeda who has been tracking the storm's path overnight. >> unfortunately, bad news where this storm is concerned, strengthening all the way on approach to making landfall within the next couple hours of grand isle. the storm is a strong category 4 of winds sustained of 150 miles per hour expected to maintain that intensity possibly trend stronger as it moves inland inz 155 miles per hour moves northward maintaining category 1 strength as it moves inland across louisiana in the next hour or two, southwest to grand isle will see hurricane ida make landfall. the story closer to home is the smoke and the hot temperatures that started the weekend. round two coming up later on today. haze and low clouds around san

jose. smoky skies towards walnut creek at 62. and fog and misty skies closer to san francisco to start off your sunday morning. 58 degrees. our highs on the coast near san francisco will start a little bit of cooling as the sea breeze picks up a bit stronger than we saw yesterday. highs should be in the 70s around san francisco, low 80s into oakland, still near 90 san jose upper 90s closer to morgan hill. hottest places today likely brentwood, antioch, concord and towards livermore. upper 90s to near close to ones degrees. raiders and 49ers, temperatures will be in the upper 80s at the staid. moderate air quality but could see unhealthy for sensitive groups at times around the north bay and the inland east bay hills. we're going to take this into monday and there you finally see by monday evening, as the wind picks up, more of that unhealthy air will finally start to move

out. a look at the aqi index, that hangs on into monday before the winds pick up and you can see what it's doing to the smoke. pushing it away from the bay area. look what's happening on the wildfires all that extra wind is prompting a red flag warning. this is monday into tuesday. the caldor and dixie fire zones are going to have to watch those areas closely as we get into monday night and tuesday. notice the temperature trend, we're going to see cooling here around the bay area, low 90s inland for monday and then by tuesday and wednesday, we're back in the 80s. inland around the tri-valley 70s in san jose and so cooling changes, better air quality headed to the bay area to start the week. for san francisco, that means highs dipping back into the low 60s. with morning drizzle at times and valleys highs today near 100 in the inland east bay. we'll be cooling things down into the low to mid 80s tuesday and wednesday so with the better air quality and cooler temperatures here, the issues will be that wind on those fires burning in the sierra.

have to watch that closely through the middle part of the week. >> never letting our guard down. thanks so much. 7:23. we do have much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up, kicking off the college football season with a touchdown, a lot of them. how many touchdown passes was thrown in the san jose state season opener victory. sports is next.

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only at metro by t-mobile. good morning. i'm anthony flores. the reigning mountain west conference champs get a win to kick off the college football season. san jose state playing host to southern utah. look at that, fans in the stands for the first time since 2019. 16,000. the biggest crowd in ten years for a home opener. they saw a good game. nick starkel playing catch with jermaine broadic. nice move, 23 yards for the touchdown and the route is on. second quarter, spartans up 21. starkel over the middle to moss, and he's breaking ankles.

the defenders crash into each other. 65 yards for the scores. starkel with five touchdown passes and 94 yards passing. spartans win 45-14. next up, usc. to baseball and giants at atlanta in what could be a preview between division leaders. out to a fast start. top of 1, tommy on a power trip and like francisco. logan westbound in control on the hill with runners on the corners. he gets the double play ball to get out of the jam and struck out six in seven scoreless innings. he has not allowed more than two runs in 13 consecutive starts. that's impressive and so is that. mike with a solo home run in the seventh. giants blanket atlanta 5-0. >> driven, left centerfield, and that baby is gone.

>> matt chapman going long. the a's snap their losing streak putting an end to the 13-game win streak and win it by the final of 3-2. a big game out at levi stadium. the 49ers preseason finale against the las vegas raiders. that's a look at your morning sports. i'm anthony flores for "today in the bay." >> thanks. 7:28, we have much more ahead. coming up another day of smoky skies. we have a live look for you at walnut creek. meteorologist rob mayeda is tracking your sunday forecast and when we could see some improvement.

this unplugged device is protecting our beautiful coastlines and more. put off chores and use less energy from 4 to 9 pm to help keep our state golden. good morning. it is sunday, august 29th. a live look for you in new orleans. you can see the skyline of the outer bands of hurricane ida are moving in. expected to make full landfall today. overnight ida was upgraded to a

category 4 hurricane with wind speeds up to 150 miles per hour expected to hit. thank you for joining us on this sunday morning. i'm kira klapper. we will have more on that developing story later in the news cast. let's start here in the bay area, where a spare the air alert is in effect for the second day in a row because of smoke from those massive wildfires burning to our north. you're looking live across the bay area. you can see fog sort of coming through the sfo sky camera. otherwise you're seeing smoke and hazy over san jose, oakland and walnut creek. meteorologist rob mayeda has been tracking it all and joins us this morning with a look at the microclimate weather alert we're under. >> the weather alert due to the spare the air alert around the bay area you're seeing some of the smoky skies around livermore at 62 degrees, san jose a combination of smoke and patchy low clouds. currently 65. back to san francisco all into the fog there. 58 degrees. golden gate bridge disappearing into the misty skies.

but those areas near the coast with the sea breeze picking up might later today begin to see that better air quality that's going to probably take another day to mix through the bay area. here's the tren as we head towards the evening. see the blue here on the coast improving conditions near san francisco and the coastline in terms of the air quality, but look at the high temperatures inland. near 90 degrees in san jose. upper 90s around the tri-valley. 70s in san francisco. we'll talk more about the cooling changes and better air quality in the seven-day forecast coming up in about 15 minutes. >> we'll see you soon. thanks. let's get to the latest on that massive wildfire in south lake tahoe. the caldor fi burning two weeks. this is new video of the flames approaching strawberry in el dorado county along highway 50. the fire jumped at more than 152,000 acres. containment stands at 19%. >> we are going to turn to the

crisis in afghanistan where evacuations continued ahead of tuesday's looming deadline of complete u.s. withdrawal. just within the last hour we learned that an explosion was heard outside the kabul airport. we're still working to find out what explosion was and bring it to you you as soon as we know. this comes after president biden yesterday warned another isis-k attack could happen. friday's u.s. drone strike killed two high-profile members of the terror organization and wounded one other. that's according to the pentagon. it remains unclear whether the three were directly behind thursday's attack at the kabul airport. 13 u.s. troops and hundreds of afghan citizens were killed. the u.s. did not alert any other countries to the strike beforehand including the taliban. the taliban is now condemning the act as a, quote, direct violation of the sovereignty of our country. this morning the president and the first lady are heading to dover air force base to view

the dignified transfer of the remains of the 13s u.s. service members killed. the service members were honored with a candlelight vigil. see hundreds are gathered at the marines corps memorial in alexandria, virginia. here's a look at the photos of all 13 troops killed in the blast at the kabul airport. four of these service members were from california. among those lives lost a marine corps sergeant from sacramento, nicole gee was just 23 years old. she posted a photo to her instagram of herself in uniform holding a baby in kabul here it is, she captioned it, i love my job. she posted that days before her death. in a gofundme post nicolle's sister said, quote, i always said she was the absolute light of my life and i would do anything for her. she was my first best friend, my partner in this crazy life, my absolute hero.

there are no words that will express how much she will be missed. and as the around-the-clock efforts to get people out of afghan continue, one bay area family is breathing a sigh of relief because ten of their relatives got out alive. "today in the bay's" sergio quintana tells us about their dangerous escape and the people who helped make it happen. >> reporter: this is video shot by nilab's family as they made their way to waiting planes on the tarmac at the kabul airport. pretty soon they will all be here in the bay area with her. >> my whole family on the way. my mom, my dad. my two brothers. my sister-in-law. my nephew and my one younger sister. >> reporter: all ten were able to navigate the treacherous journey through the gates of hamid karzai international airport. these are photos that her family took along the way. we're concealing their identity because she is concerned for their safety while in transit but got great news a few days ir base in germany.

>> finally. finally they are safe and they are alive. >> reporter: she says it's nothing less than a miracle that all ten made it out together and she says it's thanks to two men who worked tirelessly to help. matthew powers and matthew ache. aiken talked with his fellow marines by cell phone as the family was at the gates of the airport. >> i told them i was a marine that served in afghanistan in 2010, the family was close with a close friend of mine, they were in grave danger and asked them marine to marine if there was any way they could, you know, get them out of there safely. >> if they were not there, i wouldn't be able. the whole family, including myself, needs to give them a new life. >> reporter: all are being processed in germany and she expects them to come to the u.s. to live with her in dublin. she will be celebrating when they do. >> i'm very happy for you. sergio quintana, nbc bay area news. coverage continues on our digital platforms.

you can hear more of the address that president biden gave yesterday on our website nbcbayarea.com just click on afghan attacks. that's at the top and the trending bar. new this morning southbound 101 is back over after a deadly accident in san jose. it happened near the fair oaks avenue exit around 3:00 a.m. the chp says a 19-year-old woman from san jose hit the median and was then hit by two other cars. she died at the scene. the chp does not believe drugs or alcohol are involved. there were no other injuries. all lanes were closed for about three hours and reopened after 6:00 a.m. tragedy in the east bay. one teen is dead and more are injured after a car crashed near livermore. six livermore high school students were in a pickup truck that plunged over an embankment on del valle in unincorporated livermore friday night. first responders air lifted two

of the teens to hospitals and rushed the other four in ambulances. one of those teens later died. the livermore superintendent says crisis support teams are being mobilized for students and staff. it has been three months since valley transit authority light rail trains carried passengers in the south bay but this morning that will change. the vta is moving forward after a mass shooting shut down a majority of operations. "today in the bay's" marianne favro reports it's just in time for tonight's 49ers/raiders game. >> reporter: for three months these rails have remained empty after light rail service was shut down following a mass shooting at vta that left nine dead. this video shows vta testing light rail trains without passengers earlier this week. it will look much different sunday as some light rail trains resume service. >> the orange line will run from mountain view from alum rock and stop at every station in between.

the green line we're only going to open part from downtown san tasman. >> reporter: that will help 15% of niners fans who rely on vta to get to the games. it will also help commuters. >> that is awesome and it's a necessity. >> we need light rail. i feel like it's a luxury way to travel instead of the busses and all that. >> but some vta employees are still not ready to come back. >> people were extremely traumatized with the situation. many of our employees are still trying to figure out how to work through it. we are offering and providing counseling services and trauma recovery services. >> reporter: why vta has no estimate yet on when all trains will be back on the tracks. in san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. now to our ongoing coverage

of the pandemic, another bay area city might be asking people to mask up. last week we told you that benicia moved forward with its own mask mandate because solano county doesn't have one. vallejo, the largest in solano county is considering doing the same thing. vallejo will have a special meeting tuesday to discuss that potential mandate. meantime stanford is ramping up its covid testing requirements. the university announced beginning september 20th weekly testing will be required for faculty, staff and students regardless of vaccination status. unvaccinated members of the university must have twice a week. stanford will provide the tests for free at several locations across campus. happening today pg&e will begin inspecting gas pipelines in east san jose. s crews will be testing pipes under stretches of king and story roads. that intersection will shut down each night sunday through thursday from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. the inspections will last through november.

pg&e says your service should not be interrupted so call them if you notice any issues. in 2017, robert paylor was a uc berkeley rugby star playing in the ncaa national championship game when the unimaginable happened. he was carried off the field on a stretcher, paralyzed. becoming a quadriplegic. doctors told pay you lohr he would likely never walk again but pallor will walk taking some of the most important steps of his life walking across the stage to receive his college diploma. he said imagining this moment has motivated him for years and now that it's all finally here he hopes he can give the gift of motivating others as well. >> everybody has a challenge in their life or a goal that they want to achieve and i hope one day seeing me walk across that stage, that they see them doing the things others told them they wouldn't do. they see them overcoming the challenges in their lives with

the goal they want to accomplish. this is a huge motive for me, but i hope it's a huge moment for others too. >> paylor will walk on his own two feet to receive his degree in business from uc berkeley along with the rest of the class of 2020. the graduation ceremony was delayed because of covid. we will be there and have complete coverage. congratulations to robert paylor. what an inspiration. it is 7:42. still to come on "today in the bay," counting down to the recall election. the important date coming up this week if you want to cast your vote.

homelessness, housing, taxes, water, electricity, crime, wildfires. [sfx: bear roar] gavin, you've failed.

we have to immediately cut taxes twenty-five percent. fix housing and homelessness. and make life in california affordable again. i'm a businessman, the only cpa running. shouldn't we choose ability this time? do you think john cox will be a better governor than gavin newsom? [sfx: bear roar] does a bear sh*t in the woods? your sunday morning starting off in san jose with a few patches of low clouds and more of that smoke lingering over the bay area. 65 in san jose. today is another spare the air day across the bay area. we'll see temperatures closer to 90s later on in downtown san

jose. 62 in walnut creek, more 90s expected across the inland contra costa county and to the south, down into the tri-valley as well. but a bit of a cooler day expected in san francisco. you see the foggy start around the golden gate bridge. we hit 84 degrees in downtown san francisco yesterday and expecting 70s from san francisco over to oakland. a little bit of cooling on theco as the marine air has deepened up. it was about 800 feet deep yesterday offshore and now climbing above 1,000 feet this morning and some of those cooler changes will work inland by tomorrow. look at the numbers from concord into livermore, 90s expected to near 100, 90 near san jose and low to mid 90s across the north bay. air quality is at its worst across the north bay in the inland east bay. and i think the trend will probably hold up through mid afternoon but then by the evening as the sea breeze turns stronger you can see the areas of blue on the coast maybe over into san francisco, and then

monday north bay may still have some of that lingering smoke pollution right there, but then by 7:00 you see how the winds pick up, start to push the smoke out and the aqi index hour by hour will improve we think into monday. we have to see if we have one more spare the air day up around the north bay and by monday evening skies should start to clear and the smoke moves out. the driving force behind the better air quality is not good news in the sierra. you can see here in the smoke model around the dixie fire and caldor fire the smoke plumes getting more active generating a lot more smoke off to the east as fire activity is likely to ramp up as the winds hit the fires. that's going to be midday monday into tuesday. red flag warning on those major fires in the sierra. we will have to watch that closely towards the middle part of the week. a sea breeze for us, notice the temperature trend for monday and tuesday inland numbers in the low 90s for as we get into monday afternoon, 60s again, san

francisco over to oakland and by tuesday, the cool down really gets under way. see our inland valleys into the 70s and 80s. almost 20 degrees of cooling just around the corner and your seven-day forecast though the weekend will end with the spare the air alert and those hot temperatures in the valleys. san francisco will stay in the 60s towards next weekend and the valley temperatures cooling rapidly you tuesday and wednesday. morning clouds and maybe another run towards the 90s as we approach next weekend. kira, back to you. >> i'll enjoy the cooler temperatures while we have them rob. thanks so much. we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up, nbc bay area political analyst larry gerston joins us. stay with us. it's time for the biggest sale of the year, on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it helps keep you effortlessly comfortable by sensing your movements and automatically responding to both of you. and, it's temperature balancing to help you stay comfortable all night.

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so we can all stay up and running. sign up today. now to the upcoming election to recall governor gavin newsom. a reminder for anyone who

intends to vote but isn't registered. midnight tomorrow is the deadline. forms must be dropped off at a registrar's office or postmarked august 30th. you have until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow night to get registered. scott mcgrew put together an explainer on how to complete your ballot. find it on nbcbayarea.com/recall. or click on newsom recall in the trending bar at the top of our home page. while the u.s. is showing signs of economic recovery, california seems to be lagging at least in terms of unemployment claims. the question is, will this impact the upcoming recall election of governor newsom. nbc bay area political analyst larry gerston joins us. the unemployment, how bad is it? >> pretty bad, kira. last week alone, california had 23% of all the nation's unemployment requests, 23%.

we have 12% of the population. nationwide you can see 5.6% unemployment, 7.6% here. yes, it's a serious problem that doesn't seem to be going away very quickly. >> and you mentioned there that edd hasn't been managing unemployment very well. what exactly do you mean? >> long history here, kira. goes back 35 years the problems they've had at that agency, but in the short term, if you go ahead and call the edd they would get back to you about 10% of the time, 10%. we have 200,000 unemployment claims that have been lagging for at least three weeks without response. now the governor changed that, with the strike force a year ago, but it's still 200,000. then you have all these fraud claims that have been paid. $11 billion in fraudulent claims and another $19 billion that are suspicious.

put it together the edd has its problems. >> how does this play into the recall election? >> and here's where it gets interesting. the fact is, a survey usa went ahead and asked pro recall voters what's the most important reason you're voting to recall the governor? 12%, one out of eight, said the most important reason is because of the way the state is handling unemployment. think about it. the $30 billion in fraudulent or suspicious claims paid out on one hand, people not getting their unemployment checks on the other it's a bad combination and for those who are looking to replace the governor it happens to be a very important reason why this election looks to be as tight as it is. >> all right. just about two more weeks, larry. we know you will keep us on task and see you again next week. thanks so much. up next, a quick look at the top stories we're following. we'll be right back. hope you stay with us.

this unplugged device is protecting our beautiful coastlines and more. put off chores and use less energy from 4 to 9 pm to help keep our state golden. welcome back. here's a quick look at the top stories we're following. we told you in this news cast an explosion was heard near the kabul airport. we have learned thats u.s. military conducted a missile air strike in kabul this morning. officials say they hit a vehicle near the airport they believe it was an imminent isis-k threat. they were unable to confirm if there were civilian casualties. we'll bring you the latest more this morning. three months after a deadly mass shooting at the vta, some light rail trains will begin

carrying passengers once again. trains will be able to take as many as 6,000 passengers to the 49ers/raiders game at levi stadium. hurricane ida intensified into a category 4 storm. the live look in new orleans showed the outer bands of rain are hitting the city. hurricane ida is expected to make landfall along louisiana today. back locally you smoke and haze from wildfires burning up north are blanketing the bay area. a spare the air alert has been extended into today but there could be some relief tomorrow. let's check in with meteorologist rob mayeda with one last look at the forecast. >> air quality a concern and our valleys near 90s in the santa clara down in downtown san jose near 100 towards the tri-valley. cooling today, san francisco over to oakland with 70s and 80s in the forecast. seven-day forecast starts to

cool off inland areas tomorrow. more so by tuesday and wednesday. clearing skies and better air quality coming our way for the middle part of the week and temperatures will try to rebound as we approach the start of next week. kira, back to you. >> we look forward to the air quality improvement and a little bit of a cool down. thanks to all of you for making us a part of your morning. more news at 4, 5, 6, 11 and rob will be back with your forecast and news all day on nbcbayarea.com including the very latest on that air strike happening today in kabul by the u.s. we just brought that to you as breaking news and bring you the latest on our social channels and our website as we learn more throughout the day today. we're going to send you out with one last live look at new orleans as it braces for hurricane ida to hit today. we hope you stay safe here in the bay area. have a great sunday.

homelessness, housing, taxes, water, electricity, crime, wildfires. [sfx: bear roar] gavin, you've failed. we have to i cut taxes twenty-five percent. fix housing and homelessness. and make life in california affordable again. i'm a businessman, the only cpa running. shouldn't we choose ability this time? do you think john cox will be a better governor than gavin newsom? [sfx: bear roar] does a bear sh*t in the woods? i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love, more adventure, more community. but with my hiv treatment, there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor and switched to fewer medicines with dovato. dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment

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