grounds. intense rainfall from hurricane ida flooded the campground so the four night event in tennessee is off for the second year in a row. >> always a big event right outside of nashville there. right now at 6:00 for you, closing in on south lake tahoe. the caldor fire sending thousands of people from their homes as it blows towards homes and resorts on the shoreline. "today in the bay" is live onlt frontline following it every step of the way. >> uncertain future for a woman's right to choose. a new abortion ban taking effect overnight in texas, but why this along with the supreme court response could impact women beyond the lone star state. this is "today in the bay." it's wednesday morning and a good morning to you. thanks so much for starting your morning with. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez in for laura today. now we begin right now with team coverage on the desperate battle

firefighters are waging in south lake tahoe to save homes as the caldor fire moves in. >> meteorologist kari hall is tracking those conditions. firefighters are dealing with. first we sent "today in the bay's" bob redell to the frontlines and talk to us about the drive up there to south lake tahoe. >> very smoky, especially along highway 50 which we're along right now. so smoky that at some points we had to slow down to find the lines in the road. we were fine, of course. we made it here to echo summit where you can see the fire is burning. there you can see a flare up right now and we're also as the sun is coming up, starting notice a lot more smoke is coming here up through the canyon which makes me wonder if there was an inversion and if that inversion is starting to lift with the heat coming up. there is a red flag warning in effect for the tahoe region until 11:00 tonight which unfortunately for firefighters and for everyone here, that means the conditions are ripe for extreme fire behavior like

what you see behind me here. the humidity levels are low, the fuels are extremely dry, and the winds will be gusty, forecast to be as high as 50 miles per hour. we're feeling a slight breeze. as the caldor fire spreads, authorities have issued evacuation orders for people living on the nevada side of lake tahoe. you can see the evacuation center at the douglas county community center in gardnerville already full. the overflow crowds are being transferred to reno. one woman tells us she paid an exorbitant amount of money for a taxicab to get her out of south lake tahoe to the evacuation center. >> [ inaudible ]. the taxi cost $800 yesterday. >> wait. repeat that one more time. how much did you pay? >> $800. >> how do you feel about paying

$800 for a taxi? >> [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: now as we stand along highway 50 at echo summit and you're looking at -- look at that. the fire erupting again. you can see that the wind is blowing to the left side of your tv screen. that is unfortunately in the direction of south lake tahoe. so that smoke is going towards the city of south lake tahoe. the fact that this fire has burned over echo summit into the tahoe basin is unprecedented. the fire has never crested the sierra nevada in recorded history. not until this summer. the first time was the dixie fire. the second time the caldor fire. burning here behind me. reporting live here atop the echo summit, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> we can see how dry it is out there as that fire continues to rage on this morning. those conditions out there in lake tahoe are changing by the

minute as we saw in bob's report. meteorologist kari hall you have been very busy following all the conditions there. bob was talking about it a little bit but how are conditions looking out there this morning? >> usually the early morning hours are the best time. sad to see that spot where you come around the bend and gets the first view of lake tahoe and now next time we go it's going to look a lot different. all of this land continues to burn and so we have a fire detection at work where it puts yellow boxes where the areas have already burned and the red shows the active fires and the progress that it's making towards the south as well as the east moving closer to south lake tahoe. look at some of these markers here. we mapped it out where we do have active fire and as the crow flies about three miles, but notice here, that's the airport right there. that's just off the road and the fires are getting very close and going up some of those hills and also with the winds today spanning those flames we don't know how much this fire is going

to progress even more. very dangerous conditions for these firefighters as we get these gusts that kick up possibly some of them up to 50 miles per hour. very unpredictable for today. we're watching all of these conditions. another update coming up in a few minutes. >> hard to know those fires are spotting ahead too. another breaking story overnight, a law with the most dramatic restrictions on abortion rights in the u.s. in 50 years. texas lawmakers banned abortions past about six weeks of pregnancy, when the heartbeat of the fetus is first detected. often also way before a woman knows she's pregnant. tracie potts is live in washington and, tracie, this is all despite the fact that there was a challenge before the supreme court. >> reporter: exactly. texas abortion providers appealed. they filed an emergency appeal. the course has not acted on that yet. if this texas law is left in place, it would be the most

restrictive piece that we've seen since roe versus wade, essentially legalized abortion throughout the united states, it would prevent abortion for a fetal heart -- once a fetal heartbeat is detected usually around six weeks before many women know that they are pregnant. now providers and abortion rights advocacy groups say this would affect about 85% of abortions being performed in the state. here's what makes it different than other restrictions. this law bans state officials from enforcing it. private citizens have to do so. for example, they can sue providers and anyone involved in facilitating abortions, that means someone who drives a woman to a clinic, lyft or uber driver, anyone where the argument can be made that they helped this abortion take place. private citizens are successful in these lawsuits, they get at

least $10,000. abortion opponents who wrote the law made it difficult to challenge this law in court, in part because it's hard to know who to sue. >> and the fact that any private citizen could intervene with a woman who they have no knowledge of, like they have nothing to do with that woman, is really kind of the interesting twist here. we know that the supreme court has not gotten involved yet. could they still? >> they can. will they is the question. planned parenthood and other abortion providers have filed that emergency appeal. the court has yet to act on that appeal so we'll just have to wait and see. >> we'll be watching. thank you, tracie, for helping us understand. developing this morning, search crews off the san diego coastline are still looking for five people missing after a navy helicopter crash. there were six people on board. one person was rescued. their condition is unknown at this point. this happened about 4:30

yesterday afternoon about 60 miles off the coast. the helicopter was assigned to the "uss abraham lincoln"" which is based in coronado. the navy says it went down during routine flight operation. san francisco getting all sorts of attention this morning when an unusual answer to combat crime came up. well, just pay potential criminals not to commit the crime. you heard me right, pay them not to commit the crime. this is has us talking this morning. "today in the bay's" sharon katsuda is digging deep moving us forward with learning about this. so, sharon, talk to us about how the plan is going to work. >> well, kris and marcus, good morning. the chosen ambassadors will be paid not to shoot people, believe it or not. the city is launching the pilot program in october paying people $300 a month to not commit crimes. the goal is to reduce gun violence. it will start with ten people who want to change their lives and become community ambassadors. participants will have to pass

an interview, the human rights commission says the idea has been shown to be a cost-effective way to reduce gun crimes in other cities. >> so this isn't about cash for criminals. this is about supporting and valuing people's time and expertise who can help us think through how to address the problems of public safety. >> reporter: the payments come in the form of gift cards an the spending habits are tracked. oakland and richmond have similar anti-violence programs. reporting live, i'm sharon katsuda, "today in the bay." >> there's a talker. thank you. san francisco police now offering $50,000 reward to track down the gunman who shot and killed a 16-year-old girl in the bayview district. this is jada tefano. her family made a plea at city hall for that shooting that happened on july 30th on bertha lane. a 45-year-old victim was also shot and survived. one of the contenders seeking to replace governor newsom is scheduled to appear

this morning in the bay area. john cox plans to hold a news conference outside of pg&e headquarters in san francisco. meanwhile, state election office is spending $16 million on a campaign to educate voters about the special election. critics argue that kind of thing most benefits the man already in office. also governor newsom has signed an executive order allowing firefighters on the wildfire frontlines to fill out the provisional ballots. vallejo is the second city in solano county to require masks indoors. council members approved that mandate joining benicia in going against their county, solano county, the only bay area county without an indoor mask mandate. after six weeks the council will have the choice to extend it or end it. happening starting today, riding bart or caltrain will cost you half. it is part of a month long promotion to get people back on to public transportation after the pandemic when we were working at home.

that half price fare applies to all riders using clipper cards and will be automatically credited at fare gates. caltrains is offering half off its monthly pass. >> i like the sound of that. will you like the sound of this forecast as we take a live look looking towards the bay bridge. >> that's nice. >> you can see a foggy start to the day or haze. meteorologist kari hall has been tracking all that. it's hard to tell now because we've gotten so much smoke in the area. >> we have had a lot of smoke mixing in with some of the fog so it's a little bit of both. we're going to start out with that and it's about time to grab the clipper card and head to the bart station in pleasant hill. temperatures that may -- you may want to wear a light jacket for this. upper 50s, but not later on today. it's going to be so nice and comfortable and we will keep the good air quality for this afternoon. take a look at these temperatures. not typical for the first day of september. but we are going to heat up. i'll have more coming up in a few minutes. mike you're seeing a backup in

san jose. >> in front of our camera. i saw a vehicle pulled over to the shoulder north of 680 on 101 and then a big backup. things just started to move over the last few minutes. the sensors show no slowing and now there's more slowing, so what happened i think a crash just before the camera released trvg and now there's recovery. that's about it for silicon valley. peninsula is clear. cluster of incidents throughout sunol. there may be a vehicle in the middle of a roadway and a motorcycle down. that's the one i'm concerned with. we'll track both and the slowing through contra costa county and out of the area westbound across the bridges and highway 37. back to you. >> thank you. if you've been shopping you might be wondering is it happening again. toilet paper flying off the shelves. next on "today in the bay," the phenomenon behind the round of panic buying. one of the hottest jobs in america pays more than $400,000 a year and there are a lot of openings. out to the futures, the stock

market looking for a positive open. plus -- >> i admire your luck, mr.? >> bond. james bond. >> i've always wanted to play that role. >> i think you could. >> might be my chance. it is returning to the big screen. bond, james bond, next for you the all new look and no time to die. this is the name anyway. you're watching "today in the bay." >> marcus, washington.

good wednesday morning. 6:16, as you're getting ready to head out we will keep the clear sky for the south bay, much of the bay area still under some good air quality. temperatures in the upper 50s and a slow warmup. we will see a lot of changes and we'll talk about that in a few minutes. back at the bay bridge we have the backup here. speaking of changes we with also may have changes here. things may ease up and i'll explain why that might happen coming up. good morning. very happy september to you. walmart already thinking about christmas and the holiday season hiring 20,000 seasonal employees paying well, about $20 an hour on average. walmart will have a hiring event next week. the demand for short-term workers at hospitals is huge as

so many have quit or taken a break during the enormous crush of patients. take a look at some of the job postings we found. a hospital in ohio has two positions open that pay $8,000 a week. that is $416,000 a year. the chances are the best paid person in your hospital room isn't the doctor. it's the nurse. of course, the more they pay for travel nurses the more staff nurses quit, their jobs to become travel nurses, and there are more openings and a bigger need. a parent told me once when i say this word on television it wakes the baby because the device responds. amazon will adjust the voice volume to make it louder in louder situations so you're sure she heard you. these are called amazon echos. they don't use that name. they use this name to describe those. some down arrows on wall street tuesday.

don't let that distract you from the bigger story. wall street doing very, very well. september traditionally a tough time for stocks, so we'll see what's ahead. the bottom line is while everything seems to be coming unglued, afghanistan, fires, floods, hurricane, covid, the stock market is soaring because businesses are doing really, well. their quarterly financial reports are blockbuster. normally when the economy does this well heats up and the fed ups interest rates and the economy and dampens the mood on the stock market. the fed is not doing that. good economy, quiet fed. we will get some key manufacturing data in about 45 minutes. i think you're going to see a slowdown. it's undeniable covid is worse not better, 147,000 americans tested positive yesterday. you can bet some of them worked in manufacturing. they're not showing up to work. take a plant that makes cars

like tesla or ford, 7 to 10,000 people. if they all worked in manufacturing it would be like ten car plants off-line. >> you can't run even with one line. my dad was in food manufacturing, one part of the line is down -- >> or one person who knows the important thing. >> all right. thanks, scott. americans, we are panic buying toilet paper once again. "the wall street journal" reports the maker of charmin and bounty paper towels are running factories 24 hours a day to keep up with ongoing demand. the latest rebound in toilet paper demand comes as the delta variant drives cases and deaths up across the u.s. we're trying to stay out of the store. >> you know what, trending this morning, kris. >> bond, james bond. did i say it right? >> i think you did. we're getting an all new look at no time to die. let's take a look. >> we used to be able to get into a room with the enemy.

now -- >> finds its way out it will be the death of him. >> oh, my god. >> targeting our people. >> the people become the weapon. >> looks pretty good, right? this will be daniel craig's final film. the new movie will hit theaters october 8th. the question not answered, who will replace him? i'm thinking mike, but i don't know. >> he has the suit. he has the voice. >> he's got the moves too. >> right. >> so trending this morning, the rock giving a shout out to his famous doppelganger. you can hardly tell them apart. >> i know. >> little closer. side by side you can't even tell. alabama's officer fields is on the left. the rock is on the right. i got it wrong. the rock can't wait to meet him in person. i thought it was opposite. >> i saw that online too and i was like be why are there two photos of rock. >> i have a question. okay. so the james bond story, marcus, you were kind, maybe mike, maybe

that's mike. then the rock's look alike contest comes up and -- no mention of me. >> no mention of mike. >> no mention of me either. >> i guess so. >> we're going to toss it to kari. >> we're still watching what's going on with the caldor fire. in fact, we've got some new live pictures this morning as the sun is coming up and this is so heartbreaking to see. so much more of that beautiful landscape is being charred this morning as we're seeing that smoke billow up. this is right off of highway 50 at echo summit. first little turn you make there before a lot of people pull off the road and take pictures of the beautiful landscape there, that first little view of lake tahoe, from high above. it's really sad to see that burning this morning. we're still looking at some unfavorable conditions this morning. red flag warning continues through 11:00 this evening as the winds will pick up once again later on today and so if you're wondering how much land

has been charred across the bay area over the past year, now we're at the point of 1.83 million with climate change you can see how much this has continued to increase every single year. last year was so historic with 4.25 million acres burned. so really seeing much more of our landscape that is being lost to wildfires. and so as our temperatures remain cool today, we're in the upper 70s. we are seeing some more favorable weather conditions here in the bay area with some mid 70s up and down the peninsula. upper '50s in san francisco and low 70s for parts of the north bay. we are going to see that smoke returning after today. it looks like as we go into tonight throughout the day tomorrow we're going to see the smoke from the fires that are to the north of us starting to be entrained to the marine layer and ocean breeze and brings the smoke in as our temperatures remain cool. it will be heating up into the labor day weekend.

our inland valley temperatures from the upper 70s to the mid 90s by sunday. mike, you're starting to see things ease up a little bit. >> the big picture here. even in this close-up picture of the bay bridge toll plaza you see that about 20 minutes ago i showed you all lanes were filled in and stopped or at a barely visible crawl. now there's movement and the hov lanes kind of just zinging through there. slower drive across the span, but moving cars all the way across there. there's little backup at the richmond bridge i think what's happening is what typically happens the week of labor day is folks ease off of the commute. there is slowing from vasco out of the area but not as much as we often see and the rest of the bay light, san jose shows the relief for 101. back to you. >> thanks, mike. 6:23 and next here on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> an airline changes its schedule and totally throws off your vacation plans. you just have to accept it? no, you don't. you can fix it. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura.

we'll show you how next.

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many frustrated families have turned to our consumer team for help with their airline. >> all of them hit some type of turbulence. here's consumer investigator chris chmura. >> here's the scenario. you booked a nonstop flight from sfo to honolulu that leaves around 10:00 a.m. and puts you in paradise around noon. you plan accordingly but then a month before you're supposed to

go the airline sends an e-mail saying it's changed its schedule and moved you to a connecting flight that doesn't land until 4:00 p.m. can they do that? yes, they can. do you have to just agree? no, you don't. >> many folks make the mistake of assuming when the airline sends you that airline that says you your schedule changed you have to accept it. >> here's the bottom line. when an airline changes its schedule and your ticket you can reject the automatic changes they've made and recommend your own. you might be able to change your time, your day, even your airport. if the schedule changes really lousy, you might be able to get a refund. >> any of those are fair game and you don't have to pay any penalty. >> the bigger the change the airline makes the more pull you'll have to get what you want. even if the airlines only juggle you about a half hour or so no harm in asking for what you want. here's how. call them. >> you can call them up say this new schedule won't work for me. >> but first research your options. go to the airline website and find the flights that best fit your schedule. then ask the airline to rebook you on them.

be sure to tell the agent you have that schedule change e-mail. obedell live on the scee of the caldor fire which is till burning close to south lake tahoe. the challenging weather conditions facing firefighters today. you're watching "today in the bay."

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breaking at 6:30, the caldor

fire raging with no end in sight. those flames inching closer to some 30,000 homes in the south lake tahoe city limits. this morning "today in the bay" is live on the frontlines to show you what's happening now. >> looking forward to telling your side of the story. >> do you have anything to say? >> day two of the criminal fraud trial for theranos founder elizabeth holmes. inside the first critical step. this is "today in the bay." >> and as you get your day started we are broadcasting for you here on the television as well as streaming online. go to nbcbayarea.com if you have to head out this morning. thanks for joining us. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez. i'm in for laura garcia. first to that fire fight in lake tahoe with so much at stake on what could be a pivotal day for firefighters. >> we sent bob redell live there to that area. he's at echo summit above south

lake tahoe, and i know you have a good vaptsage point for us this morning tells us what's going on behind you. seems like more smoke is coming around you. >> yeah. the fire is over there to the right or the flames i should say, but looks like their suppressed right now. about a half hour ago you saw the flames crowning over these trees or probably about 50 feet tall. you are seeing a lot of smoke and what is critical to note is the direction the smoke is blowing. it's blowing to the left side of your screen the direction of south lake tahoe. that is of concern because if the wind is blowing there there's a chance the fire could blow there as well. weather conditions are not ideal for today. we are in a red flag warning for the tahoe region until 11:00 and could see wind gusts today in the range of 20 to 50 miles an hour. we're along highway 50 at echo summit, a 15 minute drive from south lake tahoe. this is that bend where if you're heading into south lake

tahoe, you can usually see the lake, but if we were to pap all the way to the left right now, you can't see the lake. it's just smoke. white smoke as you're looking in that direction. south lake tahoe did evacuate on monday and la night authorities issued new evacuation orders for the nevada side of the lake. the concern continues to be the direction of this fire that could wind up on the backside of the popular heavenly ski resort which oversees the lake. the people that evacuated are scared too. >> it's nice to have one more night in our house and hopefully it will be here when we come back. >> there's lots of family and memories. it's absolutely devastating. i don't know. we're all very close. >> we're happy we're all together and safe right now. >> reporter: so far the caldor fire has burned almost 200,000

acres, destroyed almost 500 homes, and right now is threatening almost another 35,000 homes and other types of structures. containment just at 18%. that's something that the fire fights are going to try to up today. don't know if it will be possible given these conditions. reporting live here atop echo summit, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> stay safe out there. kari, we know that the fire is a couple miles away from south lake tahoe itself and we know that fire is spotting about a mile ahead. this is really scary. >> especially when those winds pick up during the afternoon hours. that's going to be a really dangerous time for those firefighters. they're trying to get people out of the way. some of the embers can spot fires ahead of the actual fire about a mile, so that's really dangerous for everyone in the path. we can take a look at all of our fire detection sensors that are showing where the fire has burned in yellow and the red indicates the active fires this

morning and it's getting so close and coming over the ridge and that's going to be the concern today with this red flag warning that continues until 11:00 this evening. this is with the dangerously dry fuels and the high winds. it may be erratic and explosive today unfortunately. we're watching that. i'll have another update in a few minutes. >> thank you. so real-time map shows the destruction left behind by the caldor fire. if you have a home or go somewhere there, this is where you can check it out created by cal fire and shows the homes that were damaged or detroid. we have a link to that map at nbcbayarea.com. 6:35. from silicon valley to wall street, what many consider a blockbuster trial is getting under way. this is the fraud trial of theranos founder elizabeth holmes. forget any testimony for now. just assembling a jury may be the monumental challenge here. sharon katsuda is live at the

federal courthouse with more on that. sharon? >> marcus, potential swroors are being asked a lot of questions, not because this trial is expected to last three months. elizabeth holmes a stanford dropout was met by media as she showed up to court in san jose. she's accused of putting the lives of patients in danger. potential jurors were asked about planned vacations and how much they've heard about the case. holmes is expected to testify her former boyfriend and fellow theranos executive ramesh balwani abused her leading to some of the company's issues. the silicon valley entrepreneur dreamed of changing the world with a simple blood test and turned that into a $9 billion company. holmes and sunny balwani were indicted in 2018 on two charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud. both deny all charges against them. reporting live in san jose, sharon katsuda, "today in the

bay." >> all right. thank you. we do have new details this morning in santa cruz county. aptos high school will be closed today and tomorrow so authorities can investigate a deadly stabbing. this happened yesterday on the campus grounds. school immediately went on lock swroun. a 17-year-old boy died. deputies arrested two students ages 14 and 17. they also believe that video may exist showing what happened. they're asking parents and students to come forward. in the north bay this morning, an update on two covid vaccine mandates, one takes effect today for all of sonoma county, fire, law enforcement, emergency services personnel. the other was just approved yesterday in santa rosa for all city workers there. starting october 1st, they must be fully vaccinated or undergo weekly covid testing. a highly infectious covid variant is causing concern. a report out of south africa

cites the c.1.2 variant. health officials say could be more infectious than any other covid mutation identified so far. it is not widespread at this point. the infectious disease expert tells "the chronicle" the variant has not been detected in the u.s. with less than two weeks until election be day, new polling numbers are favoring governor gavin newsom in the recall push. a survey, usa poll, it shows that more than half of those plan to vote no on the recall. it's now at 51%. this is compared to the no to the recall that you see right there. the replacement for contenders larry elder the only republican tracking double digit support, 27%. john cox and democrat kevin paffrath are a distant second. developing right now at least four deaths in the south are being attributed to the devastation from hurricane ida. we are learning at least some people are starting to get their power back.

many more are still in the dark. louisiana's governor is urging people to stay put in shelters and not return to their homes until basic essential services can be restored. this morning we want to take a live look outside for you at the golden gate bridge as we get started with the day. still a very foggy start to the morning there. cooler temperatures as well. meteorologist kari hall has been tracking all of what we can expect there as well as what's going on with ida. i know that rain heading up north. >> yeah. so a lot of people along the east coast will be talking about this today, as a lot more of that heavy rain extends through palo alto and new jersey and new york as well as connecticut. here at home we've seen some rain closer to home as well in southern california with some flash flooding possible with the remnants of a tropical system that's been surging that monsoonal moisture over arizona and vegas as well. we'll be watching that. all quiet here at home. this is where we're headed. much cooler than normal. temperatures highs in the upper 70s for the first day of

meteorological fall as our coastal temperatures will be in the low 60s and then we'll talk about labor day weekend warmup in a few minutes. mike, you're tracking a crash in the tri-valley. >> that's what's causing extra slowing here at 680 as you come down past 84, still a crash. activity there may be in the lanes. one lane might be blocked. that's why we have the pocket of slowing. the motorcycle not a problem. no injuries. that's better news now. typical slowing 880 through hayward out of san leandro. san jose atypical, lighter traffic despite the crash on the shoulder, alum rock, cleared up there. lighter volume approaching labor day weekend here. the commute has your westbound slowing at the bridges, of course. back to you. >> all right. keeping tahoe blue. next on "today in the bay," the caldor fire serving as a reminder about our climate in crisis. we'll show you why experts are asking if the smoke could change the color of lake tahoe's famous turquoise water. working to reach a settlement. new developments in the larry

nasir sexual abuse scandal. >> the president tells americans we should change our focus to russia and china. the big board, where there's not a whole lot of movement on this september 1st. you're watching "today in the bay."

the time is 6:43 and it's the first day of september. we're waking up to a nice clear sky, better air quality for the south bay and temperatures in

the upper 50s that will warm up. we're still on the cool side and have more on this in the forecast coming up. and even though we still have some lanes which are only half filled here at the bay bridge, we are looking at the backup starting to build and traffic moving slower. we'll track it coming up. new developments in the usa gymnastics and larry nasir abuse scandal. the organization reportedly reached a $425 million settlement with hundreds of women that claimed that nasir abused him. it was filed in u.s. bankruptcy court. survivors have been in mediation since usa gymnastics filed for bankruptcy in 2018. president biden says that the u.s. military will turn its focus to russia and china. >> this comes, scott mcgrew, as the afghan war comes to an end. >> it's over. the president announcing that yesterday. we'll get to that speech in a minute. as for china and particularly russia, we will see evidence of

that today as president biden meets with ukrainian president at the white house. ukraine, of course, in a shooting war with troops who say they're not russian, but they're russians. russia has taken territory in ukraine. zelensky is the same person and same president that donald trump called to demand ukraine investigate joe biden and withheld military assistance until zelensky didn't -- did it, zelensky didn't do it and trump got caught and impeached. for biden's speech about afghanistan he gave americans a long explanation of his thinking as to why we needed to end the war. >> to those asking for a third decade of war in afghanistan, i ask, what is the vital national interest? in my view we only have one, to make sure afghanistan can never be used again to launch an attack on our homeland. >> the president says we can fight that terror in afghanistan

with over the horizon warfare drones, which we have in the last month hitting isis-k twice. >> a new poll shows a majority of americans support the ending of the war. that same poll, though, shows a plurality of americans think the white house's job of ending the war was poor. biden seems to be betting we're going to be happier with the ending than we are with the way it ended. there's no question the first day or two of the evacuations were a disaster. we called it a catastrophe. the u.s. military says by the time they stop, more than 100,000 people have been evacuated. that's like moving the entire town of sunnyvale or vacaville to a new country. largest military evacuation in history. the panicked evacuation of saigon was 7,000 people. the texas legislature passed tough new voting restrictions. much of it aimed at houston which developed ways to make voting easier, 24-hour voting, drive-through voting. texas will not allow that once the governor signs the bill nor

allow governments to promote mail-in balloting. biden came close to winning texas and carried the houston area. we're talking about all of these things and the ukrainian president's visit on twitter. follow me there @scottmcgrew. breaking right now, the caldor fire threatening lake tahoe miles away from the city forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes. it has burned nearly 200,000 acres, though containment did inch up to 18% overnight. at least 575 structures are destroyed, more of them are homes and evacuation orders are in effect past the nevada side of the lake. we know these conditions are changing by the minute. want to bring in photo journalist ryan harper joining us over the phone. ryan, thank you so much. so talk to us about some of the views that you have been able to see on the frontlines. you are trained to be safe in these conditions, but what's

amazed you most about what you've seen. >> good morning. thank you for having me. what amazed me the most was the scale of the fire. highway 50 at that viewpoint, just look down into christmas valley and just seeing it from a bird's eye view is just completely shocking. it just shows the scale of these fires in california. >> we're seeing on our screens the video that you took driving into that fire zone. we know you've covered other fires in the past. how is this one different? >> i think the difference here was what shocked me the amount of evacuees leaving and not only that, this is lake tahoe, such a treasured place, and that people know, and now people see that fires can touch places that, you know, are so famous for its butte. these are real. now it's like kind of letting californians know that fires are

real and they're here to stay. >> what about the firefighters? they're extremely working hard right now, but have you been able to talk to them? are they telling you anything? >> the one thing i noticed different about this fire, too, is that many firefighters are f 54 with the north tahoe fire district and they live he. one of them was saying that their house you one block away, which is in meyers, california, which shows the gravity of the situation and their dedication to fighting these fires. >> you can see live pictures right now as we're looking at lake tahoe. i want to thank you so much for bringing us perspective of what's going on there as we've been looking at these pictures and you can see right nows the thick cloud of smoke out there from these fires. >> difficult as the sun comes up. be safe out there. experts are now wondering if

lake tahoe's famous clarity is going to be impacted by the long-term fire. >> lake tahoe is just one of the deepest in the world. however, more debris and sediment are going to be part of the water an it's a long way from being done. one uc davis expert telling "the examiner" he believes there's no chance of green lake water but, of course, that impact may still be felt for several years. you've been talking about that as well. >> i really don't think we're going to see it remaining clear or blue or anything like that because when we start to get the rainfall during the winter that sediment is going to wash down into the lake. very unfortunate to see that. as we wake up to a hazy sky some of the smoke starting to move into the east bay. moderate air quality as well in parts of the north bay as our temperatures remain cool. we are getting fresher breezes off of the ocean an our temperatures today will hit the upper 70 for the south bay, reaching 74 degrees in gilroy.

for the east bay 78 in walnut creek, really cool for the first day of september. well below average temperatures and reaching 70 in san mateo, for san francisco we have some mid 60s we're headed for for today and the low 70s for much of the north ba ukiah reaching 89. smoke returning to the north bay but much of the rest of the bay area is going to be mainly clear up until this evening. by tomorrow we are looking at a lot more smoke coming in from fires to our north being brought into the marine layer and the bay area. unfortunately warmer temperatures, more smoke and we are going to see more of that heading into our labor day weekend. with our inland temperatures from the upper 70s to the mid 90, plan on it being hot for the valleys and the inland areas this weekend. san francisco will see the highs reaching into the low 70. mike, you were starting with the tri-valley again. >> again, kari because we still have the slower drive right here, south 680 past basically

an trade. the crash has been cleared. one lane and the center divide were blocked. it was a distrack counter commute which is light. out of sunol toward fremont, more traffic heading to the funnel over to mission boulevard for 880 and 680 transfer back over. a smooth drive for the south bay and it's contra costa county that has the slowing, typical spots for earlier in the commute although later in the commute we have no major problems still slow through concord, though. back to you. >> all right. thanks, mike. happening now, santa clara is moving forward with the first of its kind trauma recovery center. it is meant to help survivors of violent crime and other traumatic events leak wildfires and floods but it comes just three months after the mass shooting at the vta that left nine people dead. a quick look at the top stories we're following including a live look in san francisco because the all new plan to crack down on crime includes paying potential criminals. we're going to lay out the fine

print on this unusual plan coming up. i'm bob redell. we're live atop echo summit where the caldor wildfire burns close to south lake tahoe. the challenging weather conditions that will be facing firefighters today. you're watching "today in the bay."

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thanks for sticking around. one last look at the top stories during "today in the bay" with our breaking news down in south lake tahoe. this is now the doorstep of the caldor fire. >> bob redell is on the frontlines this morning. we've watched the smoke kind of billow up behind you as the sun has come up. what's it like? >> looks like the flames have suppressed for the time being. this is typical usually at sunrise on a big fire like this. there are going to be two major issues for the firefighters today. one is the red flag warning that we're under. that means the conditions are ripe for extreme fire behavior that we've been seeing. the humidity levels are low. the fuels are extremely dry. that's in effect until 11:00 tonightp the winds will be gusty, forecast to be as high as 50 miles an hour. now as this wildfire spreads, authorities have issued evacuation orders for people living on the nevd side of lake tahoe.

they did that last night. the douglas community senior center is full of evacuees. the overflow crowds are being transferred to reno instead. one woman told us she paid a taxicab driver $800 to get her evacuated out to that evacuation center. if you're going to go back out here live and look at that smoke it is blowing towards the left side of your tv screen. that unfortunately is in the direction of south lake tahoe. the fact that this fire has burned over echo summit where i'm standing here along highway 50 the fact it has burned over this location and into the tahoe basin is unprecedented. cal fire says a fire has never crested the sierra nevada in recorded history, not until this summer. the dixie fire did it first and unfortunately the caldor fire behind me did it second. reporting live here at echo summit, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> seeing more of those records every year, thank you. there's more breaking news for you this morning. certainly to be a talker. the state of texas waking up to

a new law banning most abortions. it allows people to sue over abortions done after doctors can detect signs of a fetal heartbeat usually at about six weeks, which opponents point out is often before a woman knows before she's pregnant. the u.s. supreme court let a midnight deadline come and go without acting on the emergency appeal. the law is called the most restrictive since roe versus wade made abortion legal nearly 50 years ago. silicon valley's trial of the decade continues today with the second day of is jury selection. we're talking about the trial, of course, surrounding the criminal charges against theranos founder elizabeth holmes. assembling the jury may be a monumental challenge. potential jurors are being asked a lot of questions and the trial is expected to last three months. holmes is accused of defrauding investors and putting the lives of patients in danger. with less than two weeks until election day, new polling numbers are favoring governor

newsom in the recall push. the survey usa poll shows more than half of people plan to vote no on the recall compared to 43% supporting the recall. earlier in this newscast we mistakenly flipped the numbers on the grave and regret that error 51% no, 43% yes. is what we're showing this morning. a live look in san francisco right now which will soon start paying people to not shoot each other. this sounds wild, but the city is launching a pilot program in october paying people $300 a month to not commit crimes. the goal is to reduce gun violence. a lot of details here. starts with ten people who want to change their lives and become community ambassadors. participants will have to pass an interview. you can find all those details at nbcbayarea.com. last look at that forecast, kari. >> a little bit cooler today, still better air quality but we are going to see the smoke and heat returning for the weekend.

>> that is what's happening "today in the bay." we'll be back with you at 7:25 with live local news. >> we're continuing to follow what's happening in the caldor fire right now as you are taking live pictures as the fire continues to burn. more online and coming up for you at 11:00. ♪ good morning. wiped out, stunning new images revealing ida's catastrophic damage across louisiana. >> this is ten times worse than what we lived through for katrina. >> every single building in one community damaged or destroyed. search teams still unable to reach the stranded three days later. this as the storm threat sweeps up the east coast. 62 million people set to face heavy rain from north carolina up to maine. a rare tornado watch issued in the nation's capital overnight. we have everything you need to

know.