a microclimate weather alert as fire danger looms in parts of the bay area. jeff ranieri is tracking these changes. new details in the tragic death of the crossing guard in contra costa county. how the community is coming together to mourn the loss of a man who pushed children out of the way of an oncoming car. and president biden's new six-point plan that could effect 100 million americans in the fight against covid-19. happy thursday. thanks for joining us for this

special edition of nbc bay area news. i'm janelle wang. >> i'm garvin thomas. we're on early because the nfl season kicks off in an hour. it's the cowboys versus the tampa bay buccaneers. we begin with the big announcement from the white house. within the past hour, president biden unveiled his new strategy to get covid under control. >> it's a six point plan getting everyone vaccinated is number one. further protecting those who are vaccinated, keeping schools open, increasing tests and requiring masks, protecting our economic recovery and making sure those who do get covid have the medical care they need. >> let's talk about some of the finer points to meet those goals. the president says companies with 100 or more people must require the employees to get a vaccine or undergo weekly testing. all federal workers must get vaccinated with no option to opt out. he is also calling on states to require shots for teachers and school staff.

>> the path ahead, even with the delta variant, is not nearly as bad as last winter. but what makes it incredibly more frustrating is that we have the tools to combat covid-19 and a distinct minority of americans, supported by a distinct minority of elected officials are keeping us from turning the corner. >> there are a lot more moving parts to this plan. coming up in a few minutes, susan maginnes will join us live from washington to explain them. an east bay middle school is in mourning after the death of a crossing guard. it happened at stanley middle school in lafayette. witnesses say the crossing guard saved the lives of children before losing his own. damian, it's such a sad day at that school. parents now want some changes. >> absolutely. it happened just over 24 hours ago here.

right now the superintendent is acting as one of the crossing guards here at stanley middle school in lafayette. there's also a lafayette traffic control officer assisting in this operation here. this, again, is a crosswalk right in front of the school. parents say their children tell them the crossing guard saved other children from getting hit. a lafayette police officer took over crossing guard duties this morning as children returned to school. a memorial now adorns the crosswalk where 45-year-old ashley dias was hit and killed by an suv. >> it's heartbreaking for this small community for these things to happen. >> reporter: students wrote messages this morning on a board near the crosswalk. witnesses today are calling dias a hero. >> he pushed kids out of the way. he jumped in front of the kids to save them. he literally risked his life to protect those kids. >> reporter: one student is recovering from minor injuries as well.

the driver of the suv just apparently picked up a child at the same school before the accident happened. police say that driver is cooperating with the investigation. dias is well known in the community. at one time he attended this same school. his parents live down the street from the campus. dias was only on his second day as a crossing guard. >> as you can see, it's car after car after car. >> reporter: now families are hoping this tragedy leads to change. >> i think it's really going to say to the community that there has to be a little bit more regulation on signing for staying off your phone, reducing the speed limit, having a bit more layer of protection. >> reporter: police won't say what, if any charges, the driver might face. this is the traffic control officer from the city of lafayette. not your typical crossing guard being assisted by the superintendent here. we reached out to dias' family but we have not heard back.

we're live in lafayette, nbc bay area news. >> thank you very much. let's take you outside. nbc sky ranger over the east bay hills where a red flag warning goes into effect in two hours. the north bay also affected. the biggest concern is gusty winds and the threat of dry lightning. jeff ranieri is standing by. that shot shows us dry brown everywhere. where should people be most concerned? >> up in the hills, in the north and east bay. our system is moving closer. that's helping to pull up some of this moisture and those thunderstorm chances from the south. we'll look at the red flag fire warning. this goes into effect 5:00 p.m. tonight until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow for that slight risk of thunderstorms for the north and east bay. some of the south bay there as well. we did see a few isolated showers earlier this morning. this is all moving off to the north. right now there is no lightning with it. any kind of rainfall would

actually be beneficial because of how dry we are. on the current stormranger scan, you can see some of this making its way into the north bay with light showers over bodega bay. this is moving off to the north. we'll track more of this and our thunderstorm chances into tomorrow. details in about 15 minutes. >> thank you very much. the absolute best way to keep on top of everything is to download our nbcbay area app. you can get weather updates sent right to your phone and tailor the forecast to your particular area. just punch in your zip code and you're all set. we want to return to our top story from the white house. president biden's sweeping plan to combat covid-19 and the threat of variants. it includes getting more people vaccinated, increasing testing and making sure kids stay safe in the classroom. susan maginnes joins us live from washington. this big announcement from the president in the last hour. >> yeah, that is correct. the president signing two

executive orders just before giving that speech. a lot of things coming in this plan. here's just a couple of them. this executive order requiring large businesses, 100 plus employees to require vaccine or weekly testing. another executive order requires vaccine for the vast majority of federal workers and contractors. large percentage of the work force. and rapid home tests will be available at retailers like walmart as soon as the end of next week. also he plans to speed the delivery of covid treatments like monoclonal antibodies. he is also strongly encouraging testing and vaccines for small schools and businesses. lots of new funding for small businesses and schools, all of this to get a grip on the pandemic as cases surge and hospitalizations surge. again, this whole renewed effort coming at the same time at the time there is this defiant

anti-vax and anti-mask group out there. that leaves the open question, which is just how effective can this new strategy be. >> reporter: president biden announcing a new plan to tackle covid-19. >> we can and we will turn the tide on covid-19. it will take a lot of hard work, it will take some time. >> reporter: the new strategy comes as new covid cases overwhelm hospitals driven by the fierce delta variant. >> we're in the tough stretch and it could last for a while. >> reporter: along with expanding vaccinations, the plan includes further protecting the vaccinated, keeping schools safely open, including a call for regular covid testing, and increasing testing and mask requirements. >> mandates do matter and they're hard to enforce, but i think that's really our only way out of this. >> reporter: the president today signing an executive order requiring vaccines for the vast majority of federal workers and

contractors. >> if you want to work with the federal government, do business with us, get vaccinated. >> you're looking at upwards of 15% to 20% of the american work force, that's huge. >> reporter: the plan pressures businesses to require testing and vaccinations. there are also vaccines for students 12 and older. >> my message to unvaccinated americans is this, what more is there to wait for? what more do you need to see? >> reporter: the renewed effort coming amid a defiant anti-vax and anti-mask group. leaving open the question, just how effective the new strategy can be. now, some americans according to this plan will be able to get booster shots as soon as september 20th. >> thank you very much. now let's turn our attention local and a possible sign that things are trending in the right

direction. cases dramatically dropping in san francisco. look at these numbers. this graph shows the number of cases in san francisco. you can see a peak during the winter months, 374 cases in the city. things dropped down once vaccinations became available. but then the delta variant showed up and again, it spiked up to 309 cases. this is what we're looking at here. this is the positive trend since that spike. just 113 cases reported now. before the surge that was largely fed by the delta variant. when it comes to covid cases in schools, another positive trend. the city's health department released new data showing not only has the district avoided a surge but they have not had a single case at the school. >> we want to have enough date to to go to the public and say what we're seeing within these initial three to four weeks is reassuring. >> reporter: this doctor is

deputy director at the san francisco department of health. she says with children back to in-person learning it's important to make sure parents know their classrooms are safe and low-risk as long as guidelines are followed. >> nationally we're seeing throughout the country that there's a large proportion of pediatric cases occurring as well as hospitalizations, clearly that is different in california and san francisco. i think specifically that's because san francisco has such a high vaccination rate. i do want to say that those that are 12 to 17 have achieved a 90% fully vaccinated rate. >> reporter: san francisco said some cases have been identified in schools there's not been a sprinkle outbreak public or private this year even with the delta variant surge. >> most of the cases are due to community or household transition and less than five cases due to any type of in-school transmission. all of this is to say, you know, we have been working very hard

with our different school providers to ensure that children can return back to school. >> reporter: the san francisco unified school district has reported a total of 227 cases among its more than 50,000 students and staff. today the district superintendent issued a statement reading in part, san francisco unified has not had any cases of in-school transmission both last spring and this fall. and the data affirms that the health and safety measures we have in place including masking, improving ventilation, ppe and requiring all staff to be vaccinated are keeping schools safe. the san francisco teachers union released a similar statement praising the work of teachers and staff to keep kids safe. in christie smith, nbc bay area news. still ahead, power shut off with no explanation. people in the south bay are demanding to know the reason

why. why pg&e says their power is getting cut off. and how the state's top cop plans on combating anti-asian crimes in the bay area.

a bombshell today in san francisco's ongoing public construction scandal. three subsidiaries of thecy's garbage company, recology, have agreed to pay a fine for conspiring to bribe the former public works director. they will also cooperate in the federal investigation against nuru. they paid about $150,000 a year for five years into a slush fund run by the san francisco parks alliance. nuru supposedly used that money to pay for parties and other perks for employees and himself. city supervisor matt haney says this has to stop. >> we should be looking at all the options, ultimately we cannot have business as usual

and keep the structure in place that allowed this to happen. >> recology officials say the company has made management changes, revised policies and training and continues to cooperate with federal prosecutors. president biden will soon head to california to help keep governor newsom keep his job. president biden will touch down in california on monday. he's expected to tour the burn area of the caldor fire near south lake tahoe and then head down to long beach. today newsom was in fresno speaking to voters about why he should stay in office. he said voters have the power to create the future of the california they want to live in >> what you are capable of doing is sending a powerful message to reject that division, to reject this kind of politics. >> labor and civil rights leader, delores webb was also in

fresno. yesterday kamala harris was in san leandro asking for voters to vote no on the recall and allow the governor to keep his job. governor newsom's biggest contender is larry elder. today he kicked off his bus tour called recall express. elder plans on traveling up and down the state to make his final pitch to voters. he was in fresno this morning where he started hiss by tour, then met with police officers in bakersfield where he said officers are in a difficult position. he even called out san francisco district attorney chesa boudin. >> officers are in a bad position because of a false narrative pushed by governor newsom. we have too soft on crime d.a.s and governor newsom's fingerprints are on both, the company in san francisco named chesa boudin and the one in los angeles named gascon. before l.a., gascon was the district attorney in san francisco. on twitter the republican candidate said he would always

stand with law enforcement and criticized governor newsom saying the governor regularly turns his back on public safety. if you have questions about the recall election, we have answers for you. go to nbcbayarea.com, we have an entire page dedicated to the newsom recall election. you can find out where you can vote in person if you don't want to mail in your ballot. just click on governor newsom recall. california's attorney general is touring the state to talk about hate crimes. today in san francisco, rob bonta launched the first of 13 roundtables around the state focused on stopping the hate. he called it alarming that in san francisco anti-asian hate crimes increased by 100%. he is the first filipino american in california state legislature and said too many minorities are asking themselves if they could be next. some angry people in the

south south bay gathered today to give pg&e and earful about repeated power outages in their community. robert handa first broke the story of their dilemma and has pg&e's explanation. >> this group came a long way to protest at pg&e's doorstep and to let the utility know they don't like the choices they've been given. >> power to the people. >> reporter: the 50 or so protests, all residents of the santa cruz mountains assembled at the pg&e san jose offices which are closed to the public during the pandemic. organizers say the lack of access is appropriate because pg&e has ignored their complaints. >> we feel they're giving us no choice. they're saying either we can have power or safety, but we can't have both. we disagree. the technology exists. >> reporter: the group says their area covers around 5,000 residents throughout the mountains. they emphasize they understand the utility needs to switch off

power for a wildfire threat but says pg&e has not tried to improve the system to help individual sections. >> right now they actually set up one recloser for 14 neighborhoods. one sensor for 98 miles worth of line. >> reporter: they say extended outages lead to numerous dangers, especially for the most vulnerable. >> we have enough oxygen in tanks to last for one day. that's scary >> we had people tripping and falling, getting head injuries. it's only a matter of time before there's a tragedy with carbon monoxide from an overloaded generator causing a fire. >> reporter: pg&e said the utility must prioritize public safety for a wildfire threat and that restoration is often slow because pg&e needs to take ma meticulous caution when turning

the system back on. the next stage for the group is to hold a town meeting tonight and they plan to be familiar faces and voices for a lot of local political leaders. robert handa, nbc bay area news. we have a red flag warning in effect right now. no pg&e power shut-offs scheduled but we have high fire danger. >> the system we've been tracking is moving closer and this right here is what is helping to pull up some humidity and some cloud cover today. even some thunderstorm chances for us. we had a few isolated spotty showers earlier this morning. we're looking at right now through early tomorrow morning for our best chance of some rain and even those isolated thunderstorms. let's take you into that red flag warning. if you missed it, it's for the north bay, east bay, parts of the south bay. that's 5:00 p.m. tonight until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow for that slight chance of thunderstorms. look at stormranger, i put this in motion so you can see how this current rain is moving. it's pushing from the south off

to the north. so we are looking at shower activity beginning to move in towards bodega bay. we'll get you that. you can see spotty showers approaching right up through healdsburg. look for those shower chance over the next 35 minutes. now, as we continue through tonight, we'll see those clouds move up from the south. we'll see isolated thunderstorm chances primarily to the north until 11:30. then things could get more active by 2:00 a.m., especially over the north bay. that's when we would be in the chance of isolated thunderstorms. that chance would transition potentially over to parts of the east bay through 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. the highest risk of thunderstorms is to the north of us and over tahoe and right through the central valley. anything happens, of course we'll be here to cover that for you. let's bring it in to our forecast for tomorrow morning. starting off with temperatures in the 50s to low 60s. so overall i think we have a

decent morning as you try to get going on that friday. 62 over the east bay. san francisco 57. and the north bay at 56. now, as we head through tomorrow, temperatures not going to be too hot. i have it in the upper 80s over morgan hill, livermore and concord. low 80s up to the north bay and 60s here in san francisco and half moon bay. on my seven-day forecast in san francisco, we'll keep this trend of 60s rolling through the next seven days. all in all a nice weekend moving in. temperatures in the mid 60s. morning fog, afternoon sunshine. for the inland valleys, no more 100s. we'll be in the upper 80s through sunday. low 90s early next week then back to 80s by wednesday and thursday. so we should point out right now some of those showers moving into the north bay, that's beneficial for us. if we can manage to avoid any lightning, well, some of this rainfall that we're getting would actually help us. let's hope that lightning stays

out of here and we'll have more updates tonight and tomorrow morning. >> rain good, lightning bad. thanks. coming up, it is the fourth installment of "the matrix." san francisco has a starring role. we'll show you the new trailer just out. full coverage of the president's new plan to get more americans vaccinated and my interview with dr. fauci. and 9/11 survivors and first responders struggling to get the health care they need. more tonight on "nightly news." i may not be as pretty. i'm not a cable tv personality or an entertainer like larry.

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the fourth unstallment of "the matrix" is about to hit theaters. san francisco has a starring role. >> the question is will you take the blue pill or the red pill. >> am i crazy? >> we don't use that word in here. >> that's a piece of "the matrix resurrection." the trailer dropped today. first image people see is the san francisco skyline. >> you may have even seen film

crews in and around san francisco two years ago before the pandemic hit. keanu reeves spotted in chinatown, north beach. the movie will be released in december. >> i have to watch the first two. >> i think there might have been three. >> three total before this one? >> yeah. >> i only saw the first one. i have a lot of catching up to do.

coming up on "nightly news" with lester holte, checking in on the promises to provide health care for 9/11 survivors. >> nbc news looks at a company tasked to help survivors get coverage. some say they're failing them on getting coverage. >> what is happening to 9/11 survivors who are a part of this program? >> they're being forgotten. their needs are being

unaddressed as the well as minimized. >> they're being neglected. >> ahead on "nightly news," a first responder shows nbc news his frustration to get answers and care. "nightly news" with lester holt starts right now. breaking news tonight. president biden revealing a new battle plan to combat the surging covid pandemic. the president turning up the pressure on the unvaccinated with sweeping new requirements impacting as many as 100 million americans. new rules for private businesses, new vaccine mandates for hospitals, and federal workers in what he is calling on all states to do in schools. it comes as los angeles is set to become the first major u.s. school district to require vaccinations for students. plus, the new partnership with amazon, walmart and kroger on testing. dr. anthony fauci is here answe