right now at 5:00, theranos founder and former silicon valley titan elizabeth holmes heading to court. her fraud trial set to begin this morning. what you need to know as she faces a judge. a new plan of attack for covid in the u.s. what we expect to learn from president biden this week and what we're learning about breakthrough cases here in the bay area. recovering from a pandemic after a dip in ridership. the new push to get people back on trains and busses. this is "today in the bay." and a good wednesday morning to you. thanks so much for starting your morning with us. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez. laura is off this week. we want to start you off right with weather because we have another hot day on tap for many parts of the bay area and there's a flex alert issued for today, so you're being asked to conserve electricity from 4:00

to 9:00 p.m. in order to reduce the strain on the power grid. >> lower your thermostat to 78 or higher if your health permits. avoid using major appliances and unnecessary lights. how hot will it get in your neighborhood? we want to turn to meteorologist kari hall who has been tracking these temperatures across the bay area and how are we looking out there? >> usually our early morning hours is the time to let the house cool down before we start to feel the temperatures cranking up. right now we're in the mid 60s in the south bay and dublin at 63 degrees. it's already 73 degrees in brentwood so it's going to be a little hard to cool down the house there. we're going to see the heat advisory continue for solano county. a lot of our east bay valleys are going to look at temperatures today. heading over 100 degrees. 102 in concord and 101 in morgan hill. forbay, mid to upper 90s expected for today and we're going to gradually cool off over the next few days. a look at that and our air

quality coming up in a few minutes. >> thanks. tomorrow president biden is rolling out a new plan to attack coronavirus and it is expected to focus on getting more people vaccinated, as health experts predict a surge of cases after the labor day holiday and heading into the flu season. "today in the bay's" tracie potts is live with that part of the story. good morning, tracie. >> kris, good morning. good morning, everyone. it's a six-point plan and we'll hear more directly from the president on the details tomorrow. so far we do expect that it will focus on vaccinations. right now 75% of adults in america have had at least one shot and health experts are concerned about a post-labor day surge in cases. airports, football stadiums were packed over the holiday weekend, plus 100,000 people right now are hospitalized with covid and icu beds are still running short. experts fear things could get worse this winter.

>> evens the best case scenario predicts we'll see 1,000 daily deaths by the end of november and after that who knows. >> people would like to say we're done with covid but covid is not done with us. >> reporter: experts also concerned about this new mu variant that's shown up in every single state except for one including in california. the fear is that it could resist the vaccine, but with a relatively few number of cases right now, just over 300 total in california alone, experts aren't overly concerned but watching it, kris. >> so tracie, we've been talking about that delta surge which is concerning, but there's a report that signals some good news for people who received the vaccine. >> true, kris. so "the new york times" did an analysis of three states, people who were vaccinated and those

who are not. if you're vaccinated you've got about a one in 5,000 chance of getting covid. if you're an area with high vaccination rates like the bay area, it's about 1 in 10,000. you're even more protected. >> that is very good news to hear. thank you so much. hope you feel better. san francisco leaders are taking the next step in getting everyone excited about taking the bus or muni light rail. >> in a few hours they're hopping on board a grassroots push which today includes a unique ride along that you're invited to. "today in the bay's" cierra johnson is live for us in san francisco. how do we get on board? >> good morning, kris and marcus. that's exactly right as you can imagine, muni like many other transportation services really looking to get back on track after the pandemic. advocates living here in the city are doing something pretty unique. they're making it a transit month and as you can guess, all month long there will be special

transit-related events happening, including today's ride along as well as a rally. that event gets started at 8:00 this morning when mayor london breed and supervisors will do special ride along to city hall taking some of muni's busiest lines. that includes the cable cars which began running again. the busy 38 gary line and the light rail and the cross town 49 vinness as the agency tries to rebound from what's been a year and a half of extremely limited ridership. now, muni does not reveal specific numbers, but we do know revenues dipped to their lowest levels last april when it was down 88%. this past june revenues were still only about 20% of where they are prepandemic 2019. the bart ridership was down more than 90% when the pandemic took hold. now on a typical weekday it's less than 25% of pre-covid projections, but inching upward

every day and while bart's technically not part of this campaign, the group has organized transit month east bay as well. several meetings and town halls are planned throughout this month. today's rally begins at 8:00. everyone is arriving at the steps of city hall and, of course, that's assuming their busses and trains arrive on time. what a great way to kick off encouraging folks to get back there on that transit. we're live in san francisco, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> i need them to be on time. time is money. thanks, sierra. if people were not taking public transportation they were probably driving and we've seen some of the traffic picking up during commute times. >> people were scared because covid, of course, we're talking about density of populations within an enclosed space and that's what mass transit is all about. now that things are safe we have the vaccines, masking is priority as well. all of these agencies that have come back online and offering deal. ace train restored service for

the one inbound and outbound trains that have been canceled during the pandemic. bart has the clipper account. during the month of september trying to get more back. vta restoring service. not pandemic related remember, but vta does have their service back for the orange, green and blue lines. partial service for the blue and green lines. keep that in mind, that mass transit needs people to come back if that is your option you can choose, consider it. lots of options for your agency. on the roadways things are moving smoother as well. improving highway 84 reopened from the construction the closure overnight, the peninsula, south bay, all moving smoothly as you would imagine at this tomb as well. over here we have 680 and 242 reopened counter commute. back to you. >> thanks, mike. opening statements in the highly anticipated trial of elizabeth holmes begins this morning. here's a live look outside the federal courthouse in san jose. holmes has pleaded not guilty to

wire fraud and conspiracy charges. the founder and former ceo of theranos is accused of defrauding investors along with patients who relied on blood tests conducted by her tech company. once valued at $9 billion, investors poured hundreds of millions into the defunct start-up. make sure you stick around because at 5:30 for you today, "today in the bay's" scott mcgrew will have the breakdown on what you need to know ahead of the trial. the dixie fire in northern california is on its way to becoming the largest wildfire in california history. the fire has grown to more than 919,000 acres across five counties and containment is inching up 59%. it has been burning nearly two months at this point but firefighters are hoping to get a break as winds dissipate and conditions start to improve. investigators are trying to learn what sparked more than a dozen fires within two hours.

this is in healeds burg. the fires damaged several hillsides but no structures. cal fire will take time to figure out what exactly happened and it's actually leaving some residents uneasy. >> no idea on what started those fires at this point. that's a process we use with the scientific methodology to make sure we approach each fire in an unbiased manner. >> there's no wind so how do they just start up? it seems to me like something happened. somebody -- can't blame anybody but -- >> the last fire was the wallbridge fire that was sparked by lightening last summer. the climate in crisis worsens, a new legal battle, san francisco's reportedly taking the state to court over its drought restrictions. the state is now keeping some suppliers from taking water from rivers and creeks. according to the chronicle the lawsuit claims the state water resources control board doesn't have the right to suspend the

drawing of water and hasn't made the cuts in a fair and legal way. suppliers say they want to be able to regulate how much they can draw out themselves to make sure the water doesn't run dry. 5:09. and coming up, covid tragedy. multiple deaths linked to one florida school district. what's being done there to prevent future deaths. a little movie magic this morning perhaps with a slight of hand as well. outsmarted by tesla, a man seemingly trying to fake being hit by a driver, the device that caught him in the act.

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good wednesday morning. as we're coming up on 5:13, stepping out the door in fremont, temperatures starting out mild in the low 60s. going to be a clear day, better air quality, but it's still going to be quite warm. we'll talk more about this and a cool down in our forecast, but what else i'm watching coming up in a few minutes. >> i'm watching the golden gate bridge because the cones have just been picked up. i saw that car driving backwards. the sign flashing still says caution. once it says two lanes that means all clear heading back into the north bay. traffic is very light right now. have an incident on the bay bridge. we'll check that bridge out coming up. good morning. very happy wednesday to you. i think like the rest of us wall street continuing to struggle to understand what the future is under coronavirus. the dow fell more than 260

points on tuesday. nasdaq able to stay afloat. september is always hard on stocks. we know that. let's go out to the futures this morning. looks like it's going to be somewhat of a flat start to the day. don't be surprised if there's a big pull back in the next few days. stock market has been on a roll lately and again, september is the coolest month for stocks. apple will announce something next week in a virtual gathering, presumably improvements to its phone. it also lost its top car engineer. apple has been dabbling with cars but ford announced it had stolen apple's top guy. the movie theater chain amc said the new "shang-chi" was most successful labor day release in its history. most went to the theater even in a pandemic to see this movie than any other labor day weekend ever. even before the pandemic. but, there's a hugs asterisk here. normally hollywood doesn't do major releases over labor day.

the best labor day release is like the best skiing in july. it's kind of relative. we were talking about how bitcoin is legal tender in el salvador. they become the first country to accept as legal tender. the computers were overwhelmed. a government official showed off starbucks accepting bitcoin much to my chagrin. i bet somebody once that starbucks would never take bit coin. it fell 17% as the hopes and excitement over a computer-based currency turned into disappointment when people realized computers couldn't keep up. kris and marcus, coming up at 5:30, we'll talk about it. >> you were out a nickel if i recall that bet. >> i made that bet with tim draper we say starbucks would

never accept bitcoin. it never occurred to me el salvador, but i think i lost the bet. >> i think mr. draper is on the line. >> a nickel. >> could have been worse no smart with his money. >> i want my nickel. >> bad bet. good with money. louisiana man is under arrest accused of falsifying a police report after claiming to have been hit by a tesla. but the moment was all caught on camera. take a look at the video and see what you see. the man intentionally jumps behind a tesla, throws himself on the ground like a football player. he initially said the car backed into him and the driver fled the scene but he didn't realize that tesla's record all the footage only their cameras. when police found the driver and saw the video they senseding? fishy. police say the man admitted to fabricating the entire event and officers arrested him. >> what do you say, like oops? >> my bad.

>> sorry? >> i mean it's fraud, right. >> yes. >> all right. another stellar performance, kris. >> "america's got talent" we saw the kids from a dance studio in fairfield. ♪♪ >> i want to be on this team. i mean they are bad. bad as in good, you know. the crew put it all on the line last night for the semifinals routine. now it is up to the viewers to vote them into the final round. i know you guys are doing that, right. this is a part of nbc bay area family as well. jodi hernandez and the two sons. those results will be announced tonight. watch that right here on nbc bay area. >> they make it look easy but those boys are at it all the time. those kids practice nonstop. >> i wonder how long it would take me to learn that. >> come on, marcus. [ inaudible ].

>> yeah. >> and then i'm like -- >> not that part. >> no. >> kari could. i know kari could do it. >> kari. >> you know, i was a cheerleader in high school and i could never get the back handspring. i can't do that flip. >> me either. >> we'll be watching that on tv. that's the reason they're there. cheering them on tonight. let's talk about what's going on here we have good air quality for the north bay and that's it. some of the worst air quality will be trapped in santa clara valley. 93 the measure particulate matter, 100 when it gets into the unhealthy range. we are seeing the smoky conditions as well as more ozone and then we have the pollution that we're putting out there and so we're still looking at temperatures today that are going to be hot for parts of the north bay. we're in the mid to upper 90. concord today headed toward 102 degrees, 130103 in antioch and

livermore. san jose 92 degrees. here's what's going on. a couple weather systems about to kick out some of the smoke and also decrease the heat that we're dealing with. we're also seeing some spotty showers farther to the north and watching this to see if there is a chance that we could actually get a good amount of rain in parts of the north bay. a lot of this is drying out, but we are seeing that steady stream of moisture coming in. we'll have another surge of moisture but with this one, it's going to bring in the potential of lightning, really bad news here. let's go through the timeline. we're at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. these little blue spots here indicate the lightning potential. we see a couple of those little dots here and there for farther northern california. not much for the bay area up until about friday morning. then we're looking at a moderate to high potential of seeing lightning in here on friday morning. this is going to sweep through fairly quickly before sunrise. we'll see our chances going down, but this is going to be a

critical time because we are seeing some extremely dry vegetation and regard dry levels and then we're not getting a lot of rain with this. looking at our temperatures it's been so hot. that dried out the vegetation even more. then we're going to gradually cool off over the next few days. our inland areas are going to head back to the upper 80s and low 90s. this weekend it does look much better and we are going to get breezy wind and bring those temperatures back a little bit closer to normal and san francisco will have some mid 70s today. really humid to start as those showers move to the north of us. but overall we're going to be in a cooling trend by the end of the week. once again, watching thursday into friday. mike, you are tracking an issue on the bay bridge. >> we have a camera that shows us the bay bridge. we're looking at westbound, your commute direction. over here looks like things are bunching up. they're not. that's that optical illusion as the camera folks go away from us and that looks like they're bunching up and move smoothly reported just after treasure island. follow the red line of lights

all moving smoothly getting into san francisco. reports of a disabled vehicle in the area. haven't seen a disturbance to the flow of traffic and the sensors have maintained a smooth drive as well. that's good news across the span. the volume you saw that picking up there. we should see -- there it goes. a little bit of slowing for the sensors here. mare island out of vallejo. the construction is not cleared from north 242 off 680. there will be a delay past concord avenue. use 680 to highway 4. this commute moving through vasco to 580, the slowing out of the altamont. west 237 and matilda. everything looks okay off the shoulder. the car went through the fencing. so far no slowing and injuries. that's great news. south bay, all around the bay, talking about transit having options, folks trying to come back to transit. a smooth flow of traffic going across the bay and that san mateo bridge for a beautiful drive. back to you. >> thanks, mi on "today in the

stronger brittney final be free? new move from her father could end her conservatorship and what could be next for the superstar.

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so from pre-cooling our homes, to using less energy from 4-9pm, together, let's flex our power to save our power. sign up for flex alerts today. welcome back. a news twist in brittney spears quest to end the conservatorship her father has over her. he filed a petition to end the 13-year agreement. in court documents spears said

the daughter is entitled to have the court to consider whether the conservatorship is no longer required. she alleges the an mrnts was abusive and if she didn't comply she would not be able to see her children. the father has denied all allegations. many who support brittney say this is a step in the right direction for the pop star. >> i think, of course, it's good news if it means that brittney might be out of the conservatorship, but it's not going to be a victory until she is emancipated and has the opportunity if she wants to pursue action against some of the people who she feels wronged her. >> watch the full interview on the "today" show coming up after "today in the bay" at 7:00. >> the latest on the coronavirus after more than a dozen staff members died from covid at one florida school. pop-up vaccine clinics are being set up to reap more people. all three are being offered to encourage more people to get the shot and while florida

hospitalizations are trending you ward covid deaths are rising. the florida health department reported 443 covid deaths. that's 175 more than the same time in the previous month. >> imagine a dozen staff members in one school. what that does to a community. so this morning, the police department will honor one of their fallen officers, corporal kevin mooney died august 21st from covid related complications. he joined the department in 2013 an rose through the ranks to detective and served in the contra costa county sheriff's office and saw combat in iraq. today his comrades will hold a procession along moraga way. looks like recent vaccine mandates in the north bay are starting to have an impact on first responders. the press democrat spoke with several agencies about how their teams are responding to the mandate. in all cases the number of vaccinated workers is higher. the sonoma county sheriff's

office has a 70% rate and seb bass toe spol 90%. santa rosa 62% is vaccinated with 80% of the fire department. next the stop stories we are following today including the latest on the caldor fire. and the touching story from one victim who lost their homes and stepping up to rebuild. >> looming pandemic, why flu season could make covid worse. the governor's recall election is less than a week away. the vice president campaign trip to the bay area. you're watching "today in the bay."

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good morning to you and thanks for joining us on this wednesday morning. i'm kris sanchez, in for laura this week. >> i'm marcus washington. we want to begin with a look across the bay area this morning for you because hot weather is expected in many parts of the area today prompting a new flex alert. you're being asked to conserve electricity from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. this is to reduce the strain on the power grid. >> we're not doing laundry, but we'll turn to meteorologist kari hall to see how long we'll put that off. >> mainly today we have to deal with the heat especially for the inland areas. a hazy look to the sky. as we go through the rest of the week our temperatures start to cool off and i'm watching out for a fire danger by the end of the week with a chance of some isolated lightning strikes. we'll talk about that in a bit. as we get a look at these temperatures and where we're headed for today, some triple digits here. as we get a look at concord, antioch, livermore, over 100 degrees, morgan hill topping 101, 92 in san jose and 98 today in santa rosa. we'll talk about the spread in

temperatures when we cool off and that chance of lightning all coming up in a few minutes. the fraud trial for self-made billionaire elizabeth holmes starts today. by now we all know the theranos founder is accused of building a revolutionary blood testing machine that ended up not doing what she said it was going to do and accused fooling some of the names in silicon valley and washington, d.c. scott mcgrew, some pundits say that silicon valley's fake it to you make it culture is also on trial here, but you disagree with that. >> i do. there's, marcus, a wide bit between telling investors you will create a delivery service or dating app and telling patients, people with illnesses, that you're testing their blood and they can trust the test results. silicon valley startups over over promise, but these are lives hanging in the balance. holmes fooled people that a

stanford dropout created a machine could test a single drop of blood for hundreds of indicators. a lot of people excited. take a listen to the enthusiasm of tim draper one of the earliest investors in theranos talking back in 2015. >> she dropped out of stanford and she came to me and said i'm dropping out of stanford and i want to change medicine as we know it completely. and i said, wow, you're dropping out of stanford. i had known this girl since she was 2 years old and she was now 19. i got so excited about her and what she was doing. i said okay, i'll invest your first million dollars. >> did elizabeth holmes commit fraud? that's up to a jury to decide. we can say she repeatedly failed to show the world her machine worked even as the company told patients their blood tests were accurate. had she simply shown the world the machine worked the way she says it did the current accusations of fraud would hold

no water. she actually had a chance at a medical conference in philadelphia in 2016. we were told at the time she would appear at this conference to release the data that would prove she had invented the impossible. not only did she not provide any proof, she actually announced she was building yet a new machine. it was a "wall street journal" reporter john kerryroo and his book "bad blood" exposing theranos for what it was. now, of course, kris and marcus, the fraud trial that again starting today. >> we've heard along the way that perhaps holmes' defense would be to claim that she was being controlled by her then boyfriend and the then chief operating officer for theranos. >> sunny balwani. she was in an intimate relationship when she was ceo and based on early filings does seem she is going to say that balwani, it was his fault, going to claim, we think, he was abusive and controlled her every action. balwani, by the way, denies

this. that accusation itself is really when you think about it is upsetting. holmes had been the most powerful, important ceo in silicon valley history, richest self-made female billionaire in history. the next steve jobs. it is possible her defense is going to be that actually there was a man behind it all. so balwani goes on trial after holmes facing many of the same charges. meaning she can blame him at her trial, he could blame her at his. >> all right. scott, we know you, along with the rest of our team, covering all of this trial. look for that coverage all day on our social media platforms as well as nbcbayarea.com. >> thanks. developing right now, at least one person now is confirmed dead after a powerful earthquake hit near acapulco along the pacific coast of mexico. one state governor says someone died from falling debris. video in the seconds after the 7.0 quake which happened a

little before 8:00 our time. the chandelier swinging near the town of puebla, four hours away from the epicenter. meanwhile in mexico's capital city the ground shook for nearly a minute straight. some people briefly evacuated but felt they had to go back inside because it was storming. no reports of extensive damage. 92 aftershocks were felt in the hours after that initial quake. and under a week, californians will vote on whether to recall governor gavin newsom. today vice president kamala harris will stop in the bay area to try to save the governor's job. "today in the bay's" bob redell joining us live on what we can learn from the ballots already returned so far. bob? >> good morning to you, marcus. you'll recall that vice president harris was supposed to campaign on behalf of governor newsom last month but she had to postpone because of the events in afghanistan. she'll be making that trip today here in the bay area. the white house has announced that next week president biden

will also head to california to campaign on behalf of the governor. newsom, of course, next week faces the recall because a number of voters are angry about his stay-at-home orders during the pandemic. job losses from businesses who had to close during covid. his dinner with lobbyists at the french laundry restaurant while most were told to stay home. thens the fraud at the state's unemployment agency which has cost billions of dollars. the recall ballot asks yes or no, do you want to recall the governor? and if yes, asks you to choose from 46 replacement candidates on the ballot. two of those candidates businessman john cox and former san diego mayor kevin faulconer, they will be campaigning later today in san francisco. now research by politico data incorporated shows 29% of ballots statewide have been returned. of those returns, 33% were from registered democrats. 30% registered republicans.

22% independents. those not yet returned are in the hands of groups that tend to vote democrat. >> the voters that still have outstanding ballots, you know, young people, latinos, other minorities, renters, those are generally not the kind of voters that would be fertile ground for a conservative republican running in california. >> reporter: whoever wins the recall next tuesday won't have much time off the campaign trail. the next election, the traditional election for governor, just 14 months from now. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> and the work continues. bob, thank you. head to nbcbayarea.com we have an entire page dedicated to the recall election. find out where you can vote in person, if you don't want to dos the mail-in ballot. just click on newsom recall in the trending bar of our home page. more evacuations are being

lifted as firefighters gain containment in the caldor fire. the fire has been burning for about a month near lake tahoe. the caldor fire now 50% contained. this comes after the flames wiped out entire neighborhoods in el dorado county. so far that fire has scorched more than 217,000 acres and nearly 800 homes were destroyed. a family in lake tahoe who lost everything in the caldor fire they are now giving a boost from family and friends. >> tiffany devos said her family's home is a pile of rubble. the family had to evacuate from their home as the fire got closer. devos says she watched on her ring camera as the fire approached the home and then just destroyed everything. so now they are living on a trailer on a friend's property. her sister in san diego now set up a gofundme page to help the family get back on their feet. >> the support of our family and friends is so overwhelming.

>> the family says they plan to rebuild that home where it once stood and hope to return to their lives as they were before the caldotovid and the flu could combine for a powerful one-two punch this fall and at least even a new term for it. the twindemic. last season most were staying at home and it never materialized. the concern flu season could have a different outterm. >> people need to have the vaccine before the beginning of november so that when the coldest months hit and the flu season is maximized, that's when you have the protection. >> all right. so experts say if you are not yet fully vaccinated for covid your might want to separate your shots so that potential side effects can be pinpointed. >> lot of people thinking about that, the weather and all that

with that. weather wise we're dealing with another thing, those wildfires that are burning. time to get a look at air quality. that's a big concern for a lot of us. >> we've had to deal with the spare the air alerts and today air quality is improving in the north bay, but we're still going to have the little bit of smoke and haze as well as ozone added to that as our temperatures heat up. santa clara will have the worst today with a measure of the particulate matter of 93, which is moderate. then we have the heat advisory in effect for solano county but mostly over the central valley temperatures head to the upper 90s and over 100. we have cooler air in the forecast. more on that in a few minutes. you're tracking the slowdown. >> there are slowdowns now that the traffic volume is building. you see it a little bit in this camera, but dublin almost always shows us a steady flow of headlights westbound would be right about here, right by the shield through dublin and pleasanton. the origin of the slowdown

starts over here in altamont pass. vasco still smooth drive out of brentwood and discovery bay heading down toward 580. there's the slowing for 101. you see that typical about this time as well. 5:42. that crash is over on the shoulder. no injuries or no major injuries confirmed for 237. back to you. >> thank you. coming up, nearly two decades after 9/11, two victims were just identified. we'll tell you what we know about who they were and the new technology that helped make that happen. plus move over brangelina and bennifer, a new it couple in the animal kingdom. the new addition at the cincinnati zoo causing headlines and the ties they have to the bay area. love is in the air. >> fiona getting a sibling. >> 5:42. much more ahead on "today in the bay."

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good wednesday morning. if you have some outdoor activities to do, going for a run, yard work, any of that stuff get it done early. martinez starts out in the upper 60s. see how fast the temperatures climb. at noon 88. a cool down in our forecast coming up in a few minutes. >> driving is definitely an outdoor activity getting more popular right now. the bay bridge look at the volume. the taillights westbound, the slowing as you get over towards san francisco. we may have an issue getting to the bay bridge as well coming up. pressure is growing on the biden administration to do more

to protect abortion rights in texas. >> pressure on president biden may be misplaced on this one. >> these sorts of issues, people's legal rights, laws fall under the justice department and the justice department is supposed to be very independent from the white house. it may fall under the executive branch but presidents have not and really should not tell the justice department what to do. that said, president biden has been outspoken in his opposition to the law which prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. video of the president coming some of the wreckage left by ida. the texas governor greg abbott signed another law tuesday, this one restricting some methods of voting in texas. he was asked by a reporter about the abortion law, asked what he would say to a girl or a woman seeking an abortion who had been the victim of rape. the texas law makes no exception for rape. the governor says there will be no rapists in texas. >> make something very clear,

rape is a crime. and texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of texas by aggressively going out and arresting and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets. goal number one in the state of texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no person, will be a victim of rape. >> now critics point out the obvious, somebody is not a rapist, not a criminal that can be arrested until they can commit the crime which would be too late. texas has a backlog of unexamined rape kits, thousands of them. hue stan based chemical company says it will open an office outside of texas, perhaps in california, because it appears it's going to have a difficult time recruiting people if they have to live in texas. the ceo told axios we've come to the conclusion after talking to a lot of candidates that want to join but don't feel comfortable coming to texas for us it's become a no-brainer to have our

facilities elsewhere. the texas governor claims the opposite he's talked to lots of california ceos who say they are coming to texas because they prefer texas values. at one point lumping in tesla's elon musk who distanced himself from that claim. president biden will meet with the coronavirus task force in preparation for a speech thursday where we're told the white house will release an updated strategy to fight the disease. a fight some states are losing. quarter million americans tested positive for the first time yesterday. also on tuesday, 1,576 americans died of covid. roughly the equivalent of ten short haul airliners crashing all at once. kamala harris will be in town today and talk more about that as the news cast continues. i'll be on twitter. find me @scottmcgrew. ahead of this week's somber commemoration, modern dna technology has helped identity two more victims in the 9/11 terror attacks. the chief medical examiner says

a woman from hempstead, new york and a man not named yet were ided with the help of new dna matching technology. 1,647 wkt world trade center have been identified since the fateful day 20 years ago. another 1100 victims have not. >> so many people. 20 years later 9/11 commemorations will include more people who were not yet born on that fateful day or too young to remember. some experts argue the stress from the traumatic events of that time parallel the stress surrounding some of what's happening today. >> i would say that there's been really strong parallels between what it was like to return to school after covid or in the middle of covid and what it was like to return to school after 9/11. kids these days, i mean, really grow up in an entirely different school environment. >> it is an interesting and different perspective you can check out on nbc lx. also trending a midwest

celebrity has a new beau and he's from the bay area. >> yeah. the mother of world famous hippo fiona has a new boyfriend. his name is tucker and he arrived at the cincinnati zoo last night from san francisco zoo. tucker's nickname bruce which is a tribute to giants manager bruce bochy. right now tucker has not made his public debut yet and little fiona will join the couple as an as they feel comfortable with each other? you don't thrust the guy into the whole family. first let them warm up a little bit. imagine, show up, at your new gal pal's place and meet the whole family. >> we'll see how that goes. let's check out what's going on this morning. watching a couple of things. we have a few storm systems approaching the pacific northwest but something a little bit closer to home. take a look at that cluster of rain off the coast and even some spotty showers moving farther to the north this morning. feels so humid as you're

stepping out the door but this is also helping to kick out some of that smoke and we are looking at some improved air quality today, a bit of a hazy sky across the bay area. then going into tomorrow, that clears out even more as our temperatures cool off and a lot of the smoke from the fires across northern california kicking off towards the east. we'll smee more changes ahead. temperatures today still unbearably hot in the inland areas. reaching into the upper 90 and over 100 degrees. here we are just stopping the timeline here at about 4:30 this afternoon. then going into tonight, cool off a little bit into the low to mid 60s but it won't be as hot tomorrow. some of us still headed towards the low 90s but that's going to be a huge improvement over the triple-digit temperatures we've had. once that concern goes out, we'll have another one. we're looking at a chance of some isolated lightning strikes. this computer model in blue indicates the moderate to high professional of these isolated

lightning here, dry lightning that means lightning without the rain, some thunderstorms moving through are not a lot of showers to go along with it. it shows the possibility we could see that in paray morning. we'll see that sweep through and hopefully go back to quiet weather without incident. we'll be watching that closely between thursday and friday morning. take a look at our inland temperatures from the upper 90s today to the upper 80s for the weekend. san francisco, will drop as well going from the mid 70s today to the upper 60. mike, off new crash in contra costa county. >> i do. this is the upper east shore freeway. westbound 80, at san pablo, a crash blocked only one lane but enough of a distraction at the critical time when the volume builds causing quite a slowdown coming down toward richmond out of san pablo. that's going to hold folks up where the backup started. for highway 37. let's look at the bay bridge toll plaza. this is just five minutes of build up, filled in quickly at the toll plaza.

metering lights may be slower, everything else predictable. back to you. >> all right. thanks, mike. happening now, time is ticking under california's covid-19 sick leave policy. it's expected to expire at the end of the month. workers get two extra weeks of paid sick time if infected with covid related illness. that looming expiration causing worries for low income workers many have jobs that force them to interact with the public. state lawmakers have until friday to act if they want to extend the policy. more ahead on "today in the bay" including a heat up. top ten states experiencing an increase in extreme temperatures. not just today. working to discover another possible solution to the pandemic. a new vaccine that could be coming. and it would not require you to get a shot in the arm. are you listening? we'll be right back. .

5:56. welcome back. you're watching "today in the bay." developing new this morning, new clues into that helicopter crash that killed five navy sailors. this happened last month at the naval air station north island on the san diego coast. five sailors were identified yesterday. their ages range from 21 to 31. the department of defense says that the helicopter was landing on the flight deck.

this is when it experienced side to side vibrations, causing the main rotor to hit the flight deck and then flip over on its side of the ship. the bodies of those victims have not yet been recovered. happening in richmond, virginia, this statute of confederate general robert e. lee is coming down. the 12 ton statute will be taken apart in sections and transported piece by piece, but you can see just what a labor it is from the live pictures here on the screen. richmond's mayor is speaking out on what this landmark decision means for the future of his city. >> we can embrace a new title, not the one of the formal captain of the confederacy but the capital for inclusivity and being more welcoming. >> general robert erjt lee's statute is the sixth and final statute to be removed from the area. for now it will be held in a secure storage at a state owned

facility. one of the largely historically black colleges in the u.s. howard university canceled classes tuesday after a ransomware attack. that shut down the campus wi-fi. no word on what information was accessed. in-person classes will resume but online classes are on hold with internet access unavailable on campus. live look at sfo, if you are planning an international getaway beware. the cdc is adding destinations to its high travel list risk because of the pandemic. those include jamaica and sri lanka as both nations deal with a spike in delta variant cases and other spots previously on the list the bahamas, costa rica, france and greece. the cdc says anyone who must travel should be fully vaccinated first. research is now under way to develop a covid vaccine that does not require injections. instead, it would use a nasal spray. this is just one blast

recipients would be protected. experts say the vaccine differs from current vaccines because it uses live virus or vector to create immunity. one doctor at cincinnati's children's hospital says that that method is commonly used for canine vaccines. >> this is a live but harmless viral vector we squirt into the nose. >> researchers hope a nasal vaccine will better protect nasal passages in the upper respiratory systems where covid usually attacks. >> america is heating up and not in a good way the ongoing effects of our climate in crisis are being felt across the country. air filter delivery company released the top ten states heating up over the past two decades. number five, connecticut, rhode island, delaware, alaska and new jersey are seeing the biggest temperature spikes. california however did not make the top list. right now at 6:00, a new plan to attack covid in america.

>> evens the best case scenario predicts we'll see 1,000 daily deaths. >> a live report on what we expect to learn from president biden this week. also the growing number of kids testing positive at an alarming rate. >> recovering from the pandemic. after a dip in ridership, the push to get locals back on trains and busses. >> blockbuster trial, theranos founder and former silicon valley titan elizabeth holmes heading to court. her fraud trial set to begin this morning. what you need to know as she faces a judge. this is "today in the bay." we are broadcasting live on your television as you're watching this morning and streaming online right now, live for you, go to nbcbayarea.com. want to say a good morning to you. thanks for making us a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez. laura is off this week. we want to start with another hot weather day that is on tap for