growing share of new covid-19 cases, so president biden is expected to announce a new push to try and tackle that issue. we'll take you live to d.c. to break down what it could mean for your family. this is "today in the bay." thanks for joining us on this thursday morning. i am kris sanchez. >> i am scott mcgrew. marcus and laura both have the day off today. we have two big weather stories we are tracking. more high heat expected for some parts of the bay area as another flex alert is issues, and you are asked to conserve power from 4:00 this afternoon until 9:00 tonight, and then the other headline is a storm with a chance of lightning and threats of more fire. kari hall is tracking all of this. >> yeah, it's very concerning seeing what is happening in the atmosphere and what could possibly play out as we go into tonight. the national weather service putting out the fire weather

watch for parts of the north bay and the inland east bay. all of these areas shaded in yellow may be upgraded to a red flag warning if we go into this evening, but the timeline between 5:00 and 11:00 tomorrow, as we can see thunderstorms moving through and the rain drying out as we are going to see the two weather systems coming together. we are watching out for that as well as a timeline of the rain. i'll have more on that coming up in the forecast in a few minutes. >> thank you. developing in the east bay of what is going to be a difficult day for parents, teachers and middle schools students in lafayette after a crossing guard was killed. >> bob redell is live at the scene in lafayette. i know the cause of the crash is under investigation, but we can all agree we have been in those school zones and people need to be more careful. >> reporter: one neighbor tells us that in front of this school,

stanley middle school behind me in lafayette, that people do have a tendency to speed. it's important to note police have said yet whether that speed was a factor in that accident where a suv hit a crossing guard and child. somebody has left a candle, some flowers and a note for the man who was a crossing guard. this collision happened a little before 3:00 yesterday afternoon, just as school was letting out. the driver of the suv hit the guard and the child, and the child suffered minor injuries and people had to pull the guard out from under the suv, and paramedics had to do cpr. he was 45 years old, and this was his second day volunteering as a crossing guard here outside the middle school, and his child is a student here. however, his child was not the one who was hurt. diaz', his parents live near the

school, and he was well known in the neighborhood. >> i actually talked to him a few times, and we talked about how we wanted to put our kids in summer school because of the pandemic. he was a very nice guy. i think the city needs to do a lot to ensure that it doesn't happen because i have young children and it's just really scary that this could happen to anybody. >> law enforcement is investigating the collision. the driver did remain at the scene and is cooperating with police. again, there's no indication from police whether or not this driver was speeding. one lady said she would like to see speed bumps installed on the road in front of school that is behind me. >> thank you. new numbers show something the alarming surge in covid cases among children as more students return to school. a record quarter million children tested positive last week alone.

but today president biden lays out a new strategy to hope to stop that spread. today in the bay's alice barr is live in washington. more and more schools are saying they need more guidance. >> that is certainly one area, scott, that president biden is under pressure to deliver that guidance on today that is expected to be part of what he addresses. of course the delta variant is still filling up hospitals, it's disrupting back-to-school and back-to-work plans. the biden white house launching a new battle plan to combat the evolving threat from covid-19. >> we have more work to do. we're still at war with the virus and with the delta variant. >> president biden set to layout six steps to stop the spread, including increasing vaccinations, better protecting those who are vaccinated,

keeping schools safely open, increasing testing and requiring masks. protecting the economic recovery and improving care for those with covid. with largely unvaccinated students now back in the classroom all over the country, last week a quarter of all new covid cases were among children. a judge ruling florida must stop enforcing governor desantis's controversial mask ban after three teachers and 10 other employees died since school began, all of them unvaccinated. >> as an educator and father, it bothers me because children should not be political ponds in this political chess game. >> serious illness and death are among children but more are winding up in the hospital, like an 11-year-old levi.

>> it's affecting our kids now. >> a parent's plea as the president push as new strategy in the war on covid. in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> speaking of kids, kids 12 and older may soon have to be fully vaccinated in order to attend school in person in los angeles. the nation's second largest school district tonight will hold a special meeting to vote on and likely adopt a vaccine mandate for eligible students. some say the plan may become the blueprint for school systems nationwide. >> we should not be seeing cases of pediatric hospitalizations or infections. we, as a society, are not doing a good job protecting our children. >> if approved students will have to be fully vaccinated by january for in-class learning. the deadline could be sooner for extra curricular activities. the district already tests their students weekly.

and then berkeley joining san francisco in requiring proof for vaccination for places like restaurant, clubs and indoor gyms. the policy applies to anybody 12 and over, and the policy also requiring people that work at those businesses to be fully vaccinated by october 15th or submit to a weekly covid test. if you are headed to hawaii anytime soon, businesses in maui and honolulu will want proof you are fully vaccinated if you want to go to a restaurant or a bar inside. you can show them a negative covid-19 tests as well. police are now arresting people that lie about their vaccination status. and then attorney general rob bonta is meeting today at visitation valley, and they plan to hold a series of themed

meetings across california to combat hate crimes in chinatown. >> changes are being made, and retired police officers patrolling tourists areas in chinatown, and new security cameras going up, and some neighbors who felt vulnerable are applauding those changes. >> as we slowly try to heal, it's events like this that gives us hope. >> and then discussing the rides and -- the rise in hate crimes and how to combat them. the cache fire in clearlake destroyed more than 100 structures last month. the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. property owners in the north bay have more time to remove

dead trees. the deadline has been extended. pga -- pg&e said people have a couple more weeks to remove the trees. well, let's take a look outside and the bay bridge this morning, it's clear out there. i know one of our concerns is dry lightning that may be coming. we'll talk about trafic in a minute, but let's start with kari. we have a couple reports on twitter that there were raindrops in south san jose. as we take a look at the camera we can see the clouds in the distance as we get ready for the sun to rise this morning. it will be a cooler afternoon, and we're watching out for another round of what could be thunderstorms or also dry lightning, and that's lightning without the rain, and then go into the weekend we'll see some quieter weather conditions coming in. looking at what is happening here, we have a couple weather

systems off the coast. the first one is to the north that will provide energy and then we have another one surging up from the south, remanence of a tropical system. these two systems meeting up could mean we could see thunderstorms and lightning later this afternoon and into the evening. we'll talk about that timeline in just a few minutes. mike, what is the breaking news you are continuing to follow? >> the nimitz in the live look, we have traffic slowing down about 66 all the way up to 16th. that's where there's a motorcycle crash blocking two fast lanes. the two left lanes are open as folks get by that. there may be another crash that is complicating things. it sounds like the worst of it is a broken arm. we are tracking that. 580 is an easy alternate. bay bridge as a result is lighter. no backup or metering lights.

we have slowing for highway 4 and highway 7 right on schedule. the price you pay, the new steps the white house is taking to take down soaring meat prices. and then remember we will be following fire danger all week, especially with the threat of dry lightning. stay up-to-date on the latest by downloading the nbc bay area app. you can customize the alerts so they don't wake you up, too. we'll back.

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good thursday morning. it's 6:13. as you take a look at your microclimate and our high temperatures today, a little cooler in the inland areas compared to what we have had recently, especially in livermore reaching 89 degrees today. low 80s for san jose and mid to upper 60s near the coast. we will talk about the cooler weather and our chance of lightning as well as the technology used to monitor all of this is coming up in a few minutes. and chp canceling the alert but the backup is still here. my alert, northbound 880 still jammed. the motorcycle crash has been cleared from the lanes. we're taking a look at the futures this morning. it's trying to break a three-day

losing streak on the dow jones industrials, and might do it today. everything is trading flat. meat prices, though, they keep surging at super markets across the country. beef and pork prices are up nearly 10% in the last year. president biden is taking action. the white house says four companies control much of the market and the data shows they are raising prices during the pandemic and generating big profits. at one point those companies were facing labor shortages and added transportation costs, but even the secretary suggests there might be price gouging going on. stay tuned for that. to make sure customers are treated fairly the white house says it's moving to strengthen current regulations and expand processing capacity and promote american-made labels. tyson foods was the only one to respond and disputes the claims,

and says market conditions because of the pandemic and the weather are to blame for the increases. and then according to the city's chief economists in san francisco, 17% of tech workers are remote based. the city recently added 7,300 jobs to the tech sector, and there are about 120,000 tech workers employed by san francisco-based companies. new this morning, twitter is starting to test communities. it's first dedicated space for groups. it will be similar to a group on facebook focussed on a specific topic. each community has its own moderator to set rules and users must be invited to participate. some of the first communities will focus on popular topics

like skin care, astrology, skin care and dogs. >> i don't know. trending this morning, we have a new look at don't look up with leo and j las trying to save the world. >> it's going to affect the entire planet. >> it stars jennifer lawrence and jonah hill and leo dicaprio. it also includes meryl streep, and it hits netflix and select theaters on christmas eve, so wrap your presents early. jennifer lawrence, a big congratulations to her and her husband. they tied the not back in october of 2019, and they are

expecting their first baby. i still think of her as being so young, catnis, and she's just a baby herself. let's check out the roadway and we'll push through this -- if you get it, you get it. 880 is recovering, though. good news, all lanes did clear north of the coliseum. look at the jam of the high street high-rise. only backing up north of 66. this is getting better, condensing. they have cleared all lanes from the motorcycle crash. the worst of it was a broken arm from what i understand. west 580 is a great alternate. you can get back on the nimitz, and it's a surface street and you have to go slower there. and then we're starting to see the backup on the bay bridge, and that will be an issue for

oakland, and highway 4, the build is there. 880, no real problems, just a slight build for hayward. san mateo, we typically see slowing at 6:18, 6:19, and things are moving good through the south bay. that's the good news. we have some good news in the forecast once we get past the next 24 hours, but the next 24 hours will be critical and how things could shape up for the weekend. we have a fire weather watch in effect for parts of the north bay, and inland east bay, and all of the areas shaded in yellow. we could see dry lightning. that's when you have a thunderstorm but don't have a lot of rain with it, and once the lightning hits dry vegetation, it could create gusting winds. that's what we are up against as two weather systems merge in

parts of the bay area. we are seeing one storm system to the north and one to the south. they will provide the energy and moisture to possibly give us a chance of thunderstorms this evening. then we're looking at not a lot of rain. i'm stopping the timeline here at 1:30 in the morning. where you see the blue shows potential of lightning, and that could be over the east bay well away from the rain. then we see it pushing out by early tomorrow morning, so there's this timeline between late tonight and early tomorrow morning where we could see isolated rain, but the bigger threat will be the lightning. the weather conditions for wildfires to start, you need dry vegetation, low humidity and gusting winds that could fan those flames. lightning could be what starts a fire as it hits very dry vegetation, and it could possibly start a new fire. right now is the time to make sure you have all of your plans in place, and you have an evacuation plan as well as your emergency kit and some of the

things because fires can spread quickly, even if we just get one lightning strike, that's all it takes and we could have a bigger concern here as we go into the weekend with new fires that could start. looking at the 7-day forecast, we are going to see temperatures in the upper 80s for the inland areas. once we get past all of the threat of the lightning and the storms, looks like it will be a nice weekend. temperature wise for san francisco are going to see highs reach into the mid-60s over the next few days. now as we turn to the climate in crisis, you could wonder how are we able to monitor all of this. nasa is using new technology where they basically use satellites to get a look at reservoirs and how they are changing as our climate changes and then they can measure and get a look at the precipitation as well as how that precipitation runs off and creates ground water as well as how the top layers of the soil looks over the years and how it changes. all of this information that they are putting out there also helps us monitor the fires that

have been growing. we have these images that came from nasa showing us all of the smoke plumes that came up from the dixie wildfire that sparked now 60 days ago. some of the plumes of smoke made it 19,000 feet into the atmosphere. a lot of the smoke could be seen in space with the satellites. now we have the dixie fire, the second largest fire we have ever had in the california history as it burned over 922,000 acres, second only to the august complex fires we had last year sparked by lightning. looking at the dry conditions, we, unfortunately have longer wildfire seasons as well as more intense fires. you can find more on the story as well as the wildfire season here on nbcbayarea.com. just click on the climate in crisis tab. offering rent relief. the bay area city now working to help those behind on payments

and how you can apply. and then many cruise lines told some families with canceled vacations they would not be getting their money back. next, bay area responds.

kids love visiting kidifornia. but parents like it to, like a lot. they go bonkers. (wuaahh) totally boom it's an adventure. (sound of playing) you know ,you have to keep an eye on them. you got to let them explore and figure things out for themselves. so hurry up (screams) they're not gonna stay this way forever. kick off your kidifornia vacation at visitcalifornia.com

cruises are not cheap. take a look at the map and the dollar figures. these are just some of the viewers asking for our help getting their money back from cruise lines, including bonnie

street in palo alto. she paid 10 grand to cruise, and it was canceled and they only offered a partial credit. now a federal commission has taken note. coming up, how can you sound off about the new proposals before they hit the books. if your money is tied up, too, go to nbcbayarea.com, click the responds option or call us. i'll join you again tonight after nfl football. and then some tenants have until the end of the month to apply for assistance. they can apply on the alameda housing secure website. if approved, they could receive up to 15 months of assistance.

berkeley currently has an eviction moratorium. the half moon bay pumpkin and art festival canceled for the second year in a row. the city council voted to deny special event permits. >> we get it, right? they point to the concerns over the fast-spreading delta variant, and also the local vaccination rates are not what they wanted. one thing that will go on is the pumpkin weigh off scheduled for october 11th. we're tracking dangerous fire conditions. >> local hospitalizations for covid are falling. coming up i'll break down the numbers. are we any closer to losing the mask in the workplace. what local health workers are saying. you're watching "today in the bay."

right now at 6:30, a delta decline. cases are dropping in the bay area. how the drop could lead to a big change for you at the workplace. firefighters are making headway battling the caldor fire, but another wildfire is sending more people away from their homes, new evacuations for the dixie fire. you're watching "today in the bay."

good thursday morning to you. i am kris sanchez. >> i am scott mcgrew. marcus and laura have the day off today. first, in this half hour, we are tracking a chance for lightning in the bay area. kari, we don't need this because it will increase the chance for other fires. >> yeah, we are thinking about the one-year anniversary with the orange skies in the bay area, and all of that was triggered from the august complex fire, and now we have a new fire weather watch up from parts of the north bay to the east bay, all of these areas shaded in yellow. we could see thunderstorms moving through here tonight but not a lot of rain. what you have left behind is lightning, and once that hits dry vegetation could start new fires. we'll go through the timeline of what you can expect where you

live. that's coming that in a few minutes, scott. >> kari, i know you follow this all the time and update the nbc bay area app. we have breaking news that parents may want to hear. nbc news just confirmed president biden will call on all schools to set up regular covid testing, and nbc news learned the president is expected to announce a new vaccine requirement for all federal workers and contractors that work with the u.s. government according to a source familiar with the plan. this will come as an executive order. and then the number of hospitalizations is dropping in the bay area. today in the bay's cierra johnson is live. you are looking at the data. what can you tell us about this good news? >> good morning, kris.

i can tell you we are still very much in the midst of a pandemic, and taking a look at the data, at least here in san francisco, there were several consecutive days of falling numbers in terms of folks being hospitalized for the covid-19 virus. take a look at your screen. we have this laid out in a graphic for you. by the end of august, the beginning of september, that's the latest that data was available, the total number of folks hospitalized with covid in san francisco fell steadily from 110 individuals to 89. according to "the chronicle," the bay area reported on average 16 cases per day per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending on tuesday, and that compared with about 24 cases per 100,000 two weeks ago, and you can see numbers related to covid cases have decreased and some local health leaders are

considering softening the mask mandate, and that would likely be tied to vaccination status, as we know that full approval of the pfizer vaccine was significant for many offices. right now there's no timeline on the softening of the mask mandate, but local health leaders are exploring it as a option because of the falling numbers as well as the full approval of the pfizer vaccine. san francisco has the 80% vaccination rate. it's a lot higher than a lot of the other metropolitan cities. we want to remain vigilant, and health leaders are encouraging folks to get their vaccinations. we're live in san francisco, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> thank you. health leaders in india are ramping up efforts to prevent an outbreak that is much more deadly than covid. a 12-year-old boy there died

from nipah virus. it has a mortality rate near 7%, where covid is around 1%. it's far, far less contagious because it comes from direct contact with food. >> we should not panic, but we should be aware of its occurrence. >> covid is hitting india hard right now, and the nipah virus occurred 20 years ago and the infections never have spread outside of asia. and then the trial of elizabeth holmes resumes in san jose. she's accused of defrauding investors with faulty blood tests that posed real risks to

patient including one test showing one woman was not pregnant when she was as well as inaccurate hiv tests. while homes did make mistakes, her attorney said they were not crimes. if convicted, holmes could face 20 years in prison. newsom supporters will gather today in san jose holding a rally outside superior court at 2:30. another poll suggests newsom opponents facing an uphill battle, this one done by suffolk university. larry elder continues to top the replacement candidates nearly 40%, and no other candidate tracking even 5% support. you can head to nbcbayarea.com and click on the newsom recall in the trending bar for more information.

and then president biden campaigning for governor newsom in the recall election on tuesday, and he plans to tour some of the hard hit areas from the wildfires. caldor fire is now 50% contained. the fire has burned 217,000 acres over more than three weeks' time, and nearly 800 homes are destroyed. the dixie fire meanwhile triggering more evacuations in shasta county. it's burning in five counties after starting near two months ago in chico. containment thousand is around 60%. we're taking a live look at san jose. well, that's -- is that san jose? that's san jose! there's palm trees there.

and kari got a chance to golf yesterday, and it was cooler. >> yes, you will get that. we just have to make it through the humidity and also that chance of thunderstorms that we'll have over the next 24 hours. let me show you what is going on. we have two weather systems coming together and by tonight we are looking at a risk of thunderstorms. once we get past that we are in for a nice weekend. if your plans take you to napa valley this weekend, look at the high temperatures reaching the low 80s. that's going to be comfortable during the middle of the day with a nice breeze and sunshine. for santa cruz, we will see temperatures near the coast reaching up into the near 70s tomorrow. low 70s for the rest of the weekend. we're also going to see temperatures warmer in l.a. reach into the upper 80s. a lot of sunshine there. once again, a nice weekend but we, of course, will be watching that lightning potential. i will have a timeline of that in a few minutes. mike, you are watching breaking news. is that still going on? >> the motorcycle crash has been

cleared from the nimitz, but the big breaking news is the unusual backup in oakland by the coliseum, and we have not seen this in month, perhaps even a year, and at this time looking at a jam from the coliseum to high street. the cash at 16th cleared, so as we had the recovery, we had the commute building out of fremont and hayward city, so 580 still a great option, and the span is moving smoothly. highway 4, typical commutes. everything looking standard including san jose where the slowing has now started to kick in from 680 to oakland road. back to you. >> thank you. night tours of alcatraz will resume after more than a year. >> starting tonight people will be able to visit the rock at night, and monday through

thursday tours begin at 6:00 in the evening, of course from pier 33. 20 years later, the images that shocked the world with smoke billowing over the skyline on 9/11. next on "today in the bay," we'll show you the before and after pictures 20 years in the making. tragedy here in the east bay where a crossing guard has been hit and killed in front of a middle school. complaints about people speeding on the road behind me. plus, the top pandemic issue state lawmakers just put on the back burner. and the covid protocols in place for the nfl season that starts tonight. we'll be right back.

it's 6:42 on your thursday morning. take a look at your microclimate and the high temperature for today. coming down, nicer, better for many of the inland spots reaching in the upper 80s. for concord and livermore. 75 for hayward. but tonight a risk for thunderstorms. we'll talk about that and the timeline coming up in a few minutes. the view at the bay bridge toll plaza, a typical view. we'll talk about the earlier crash and the affect it's having on your drive. 6:43. this morning we are learning the 13 u.s. service members killed in last month's terror attack will be awarded the purple

heart, as they would be. the suicide bomber near the airport killed 200 people. this will be the first flight out of the city since the u.s. withdrew from afghanistan last week. new overnight, the security fencing outside the u.s. capitol that went up after the january siege may be going up again, and this is because of a rally scheduled september 18th to support the two suspects jailed after the riot. there's growing concern the upcoming event will attract extremist groups. and then the search for a person who planted new pipe bombs. you can see somebody sitting on a park bench with his or her face obscured by a hoodie. a reunion more sweet than bitter, 20 years after the 9/11

attacks centering around a summer camp called america's camp set up for young people who lost family members on that day. it ran for ten years after the attacks helping a lot of young people include incredibly difficult times. >> tell me what that place meant to you? >> it just brought out so much light and sunshine for me. i just felt like it was a gift that, like, my dad gave to me because he would always call me his sunshine. >> that's one former attendie that lost her father at ground zero with jenna hager bush. the display among a series of reports and nbc features that nbc is doing during the 20-year

remembrance, it continues, as we were mentioning, on the "today" show. and then the state senate passed a police accountability bill and it's on its way to governor newsom's desk. the legislation will create a statewide certification system so an officer's license can be revoked and they would be barred from transferring to other departments. two vaccine mandate bills are on the back burner. it would introduce vaccine mandates in the workplace and to enter most businesses throughout the state. now there's speculation the delay could be tied to the recall election to avoid what is considered a volatile issue. it's likely the bills will be re-introduced next year. football fans everywhere are dying to know can tb 12 do it

again. do we call him that? i don't know. if you don't know, the nfl seasons kicks off here tonight and tom brady will be at the center of it taking on the cowboys. this season the league and fans will face new covid protocols. nbc's craig melvin has a preview from tampa where the bucs won the lombardi trophy. >> hello from tampa bay, or champa bay is what they have been calling it since they won the trophy. tonight the buccaneers taking on america's team, the dallas cowboys to kick off the nfl season. this season will look different than last season. last season you saw a slew of the covid restrictions because the virus was so rampant, and

tonight they are expecting a packed house. football is back and another sign, perhaps, america is also starting to come back as well. another big difference this year for football fans, you get one more game. a 17-game season this year instead of a 16-game season, which, of course, means more football, kris. >> that's one more pot of cueso. nbc bay area's schedule is different because of the game, and it will air at a different time, at 3:00 this afternoon, followed by "nightly news" with lester holt, and then coverage of the bucs and cowboys prepare to open the nfl season, and that's at 4:00. >> a 4:00 football game today. absolutely perfect. >> we get to watch it. >> yeah, i get to half-time and then i am done, never know who wins. >> we are watching the sky,

because kari, you have maybe some dry lightning in the forecast. >> it was just one year ago the skies were orange across the bay area, and it was something we never experienced before. now we have the risk of that happening again with the risk of more fires starting because of the weather conditions coming together. let me show you what i'm looking at here. can you see the clouds approaching from the north. this is going to provide energy, and then from the south we have the remanence of a tropical system off the coast of l.a., and that's moving northward. both of the systems coming together will provide energy and moisture for the potential of isolated thunderstorms but once it moves over the bay area it will dry out so we may be left with the lightning. there could be some spots that could get rain. i will stop the timeline here at 10:00 tonight, and we see rain and i overlaid where we could see the lightning and that's in

a light shade of blue. can you see light blue north of ukiah, and you see the green indicating the rain, and that's later this evening. there could be isolated lightning strikes over fairfield before midnight tonight. some of the showers may be passing to the north, a chance of isolated lightning strikes, and unfortunately what rain we do see is not going to help us out much here. we need a heavy soaker but doesn't look like that will happen. we will see the chance that some of the thunderstorms could produce a lightning strike that could hit dry vegetation we have on the ground and could spark new fires. we will see if the fire watch we have now could get up to a red flag warning based on the conditions. what you need is energy, lightning. most fires are started by

lightning, they are human caused or caused by vehicles. if we get the lightning tonight and it hits dry vegetation, it could start things and spark things off quickly because of how dry it is. some of the vegetation have hit record dry levels. make sure you have a plan and know where to evacuate as well as having an emergency kit together, and do that ahead of time before this risks tonight. once we get past the 24-hour window of the high fire risk, looks like a nice weekend, san francisco will head into temperatures in the mid-60s throughout the weekend. great news for oakland at the coliseum, northbound, look how nice ask clear the view is now. what a difference 20 minutes makes. a pretty relatively quick recovery in oakland but a lot of traffic is now getting to the bay bridge, where the metering lights were not turned on until 20 minutes later than yesterday,

because of the crash in oakland. now, the good news is even though you have the jam here and starting to build on the east shore freeway, the maze and the approach through oakland looking good. everything south of there, a lighter or typical pattern. happening now, the justice department is preparing to sue the state of texas over its new law banning most abortions. that lawsuit would be filed as early as today. it's expected to claim that the texas law interferes with federal interests. the law allows private citizens to sue anybody performing or aiding somebody seeking an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually six weeks into pregnancy, often before a woman even knows she's pregnant. a crossing guard and a student struck by a car right in

front of their east bay school. the tragic new details we're learning about the guard and how some neighbors consider that crossing unsafe. and then president biden expected to announce a tpha plan to tackle rising covid cases. what it could mean for your family. we're back in two minutes.

welcome back. before you head out the door this morning we are moving you forward with a look at the top stories here on "today in the bay." it will be a day of mourning for a school in lafayette community after the death of a crossing guard. a suv slammed into him and a child yesterday after school in front of the school. >> awful. bob redell is live at the scene. drivers have to slow down. >> reporter: yeah, we have heard from one neighbor saying people drive too fast in front of the middle school in lafayette. somebody has placed a candle and nice flowers and a message for the man hit and killed yesterday. police have not said if the driver that hit the guard was speeding. the driver of an suv hit the guard and a child. the child suffered minor

injuries. people had to pull the crossing guard out from under the suv and paramedics performed cpr and he was pronounced dead at the hospital. he was 45 years old and this was his second day volunteering as a crossing guard here at the school and his child is a student here as well, however his child was not the one hurt. diaz' parents lives near the school and was well known in the neighborhood. >> i actually talked with him a few times. we talked about how we wanted to put our kids in summer school because of the pandemic. he was just a very nice guy. i think the city needs to do a lot to ensure that it doesn't happen, because i have young children and it's just really scary that this could happen to anybody. >> law enforcement is investigating the collision. the driver, they say, did remain at the scene and is cooperating with police. as i mentioned, at least one person who lives around here say

people drive too fast around the school but no indication from the police whether or not the driver in this collision was speeding. one neighbor says they would like to see the city put speed bumps here in front of the school to get people to slow down. bob redell for "today in the bay." covid cases among kids surging. a record quarter of a million kids tested positive for covid last week alone. president biden is trying to set up regular testing for covid in schools. the president is expected an executive order requiring vaccines for all federal workers, and that would be millions, including millions of federal contractors. and then another flex alert has been issued. you are asked to conserve power

from 4:00 this afternoon to 9:00 this evening. meteorologist, kari hall, is tracking a chance for storms and that could mean lightning and fire danger. the last time we had lightning we had a lot of very big fires and lot of devastation, kari. >> yeah, we did, unfortunately. we are watching out for that chance. the timeline mainly after 10:00 tonight and about 3:00 to 4:00 tomorrow morning is when we will be closely watching the radar seeing what is going on and getting your reports. our temperatures head towards the upper 80s and we will see a lot of energy in the atmosphere, and a little more humidity overhead, and it will be muggy with clouds overhead, but once again, we're watching that lightning threat. now we're down to our normal pattern which for the 7:00 hour means, southbound slowing starting back at capital expressway. it's on for the commute down here. >> that's what is happening on

"today in the bay." we'll be back with you at 7:25 with a local update. good morning stopping the spread. president biden set to address the nation today laying out a new strategy to get the pandemic under control. the cases and hospitalizations surging from coast to coast. >> many of them are younger, and they're getting sicker faster. >> a major concern -- outbreaks driven by children now returning to the classroom this morning, what the white house plans to do to drive down the virus and boost vaccinations. rainmakers tropical storm mindy crashes