right now at 5:00, a fresh fire fear as mother nature putting on a spectacular, but dangerous show. a lightning storm setting fires and unleashing some much needed rain in some spots. if you look out your window if you know the storm system is still here. we're tracking it all for you with our live mobile doppler radar powered by storm ranger. this is "today in the bay." and it is nice that it's friday. it's rough to start off with some scary lightning. thanks for joining us. i'm kris sanchez. >> i'm scott mcgrew, we're in for lawyer laura and marcus. we'll get to our story, live cameras across the bay area. watching for those flashes that we were showing you on tape earlier. meteorologist kari hall tracking the storm cells and the lightning.

good morning. >> yeah. we've got our radar and all the cameras and stuff, but really, all of you out there, our viewers, are our eyes and ears everywhere. if you see some lightning or if you're hearing some rumbles of thunder, tweet us, send us something on facebook. if you captured the video even better. let me show you what storm ranger is picking up on right now. most of the activity around the fairfield area, moving out of american canyon, pushing towards the east. lightning strikes there happening recently. but as i open up the view and loop it from the past several hours, we've had numerous lightning strikes across the bay area and it's still ongoing this morning. as we track this activity now moving through contra costa county, you probably just heard a boom out there, just a few seconds ago. looking at just area south of martinez, moving closer to paceco. it will be over 680. i saw this lightning strike pop up on here just a few minutes ago and this one is just a

little bit older, just south of martinez, but we are also going to see more of this activity, seeing some rain happening north of san leandro and really pouring down on 580. haven't seen any lightning strikes in this area, but it definitely will be possible as it continues to push off to the east and over the hills over the next few minutes. so what we are seeing right now is all of this lightning activity and a little bit of rain. the rain is moving too fast and not really putting a lot in the rain bucket for us this morning. so those lightning strikes are very dangerous because they're hitting some dry vegetation. we've already had several fires starting this morning in parts of the north bay. definitely what we feared coming into this weather situation and we are seeing this panning out. we have several more hours to deal with these lightning strikes across the bay area as the system continues to move through. it's not just here. we're seeing it all across northern california as well as over the sierra and we know that we do still have some ongoing fires with the caldor fire, the dixie fire, and other fires

happening across far northern california. we're going to be tracking that throughout the morning. i'll have another look at storm ranger coming up in a couple minutes. >> we do have new video. this is coming in from our camera on sutro tower. this is above the clouds. you can see the strike high above the golden gate bridge. you can see the storm clouds really taking shape from above this morning. let's get into cierra johnson who is in the north bay. a lot of lightning there overnight and active fires which was the concern. >> yeah. good morning. this is exactly what we've been warning you about for at least the last 24 hours. this is really dry vegetation combined with the lightning. driving up 101 i saw several lightning strikes and since i parked my car within the last ten minutes i have seen a lightning strike and it's that combination, that lightning and the dry vegetation that brings what we all dread, it's the fires. let's first take a look at some of those lightning we've been seeing here in sonoma county.

fire crews spotted multiple lightning strikes. "the mercury news" reporting several touch downs from the national weather service, around eight, cloud-to-ground strikes all before 10:00. that outlet says one strike was within the area where that september 2020 glass fire burn area is, east of santa rosa. now let's take a look at this time lapse. this is of the rock fire. a brush fire in mendocino county. the sheriff tweeted this video a little before midnight last night, caused by more than one lightning strike combined with some wind there in that area. that didn't make the situation any better. it helped start a few other fires near that fear. cal fire right now having trouble locating the fires on a ridge. we will, of course, continue to check with cal fire on any updates with that fire. here a little closer to home, cal fire lnu was also busy with a vegetation fire.

they're calling the wall fire. it's about a 30 foot by 30 foot vegetation fire on wall road in dry creek. many of the fire crews responding there have left but there's still a few crews on scene just watching for any hot spots. right now, we don't have any reports of any significant damage. there was one tree that fell on top of a car, but so far no damages. again, we will continue to keep a close look on this dry vegetation combined with the lightning that we're still seeing at this hour. we're live in petaluma, cierra johnson, for "today in the bay." >> thank you. we'll bring in meteorologist kari hall now. you are actually able to measure just how many lightning strikes we've seen during this weather event. >> yeah. we've seen quite a few. i mean it's been too many to plot on here. but as we get a look at what's going on right now, we are seeing some of the lightning strikes still happening over parts of the east bay, getting a look at all of the activity going back the past several hours.

we can see just how busy it was, so it's really hard to just go on there and count them one by one. this is the reason why we do have the red flag warning in effect for parts of the north bay, the east bay. the threat continues for the next few hours. but this red flag warning has been extended through 11:00. we need to see what are the impacts of these lightning strikes as we go throughout the morning because sometimes it takes a while before we see where those fires are ongoing. we'll keep watch on that. i'll have another update coming up again in a few minutes. we are giving you inside access to the same data our meteorologists are using. you get it on your cell phone. nbc bay area app is powered by storm ranger. you can see where the storm cells are expected to form in the future. download it. it's for free. higher vaccination rates in the bay area now limiting the impact of the latest covid surge. a chronicle analysis finds two-thirds of our region fully vaccinated compared to 58% in california and 53% nationwide.

the new data as president biden unveils a new plan to attack the covid surge. tracie potts is live in washington. republicans are already raising the red flag on more vaccine mandates. >> right. they're already saying that these mandates they believe are illegal and they are ready to go to court to prove it. president biden making that part of his six-point plan to deal with the pandemic. millions of people, especially american workers, could be impacted by this. >> reporter: president biden running out of patience with 80 million unvaccinated americans. >> our patience is wearing thin and the refusal has cost all of us. please do the right thing. >> reporter: his six-point plan includes mandatory vaccines for federal workers and contractors. vaccines or weekly testing for companies with more than 100 workers. doubling tsa fines for travelers

who don't mask. and low-cost, at home tests available this week. >> this is not about freedom or personal choice. it's about protecting yourself and those around you. >> reporter: employees who don't comply could face fines or be fired. >> anything that we can put in place that's going to make people feel more secure, to come and visit my store, is the best thing for my store. >> reporter: the government is urging states to vaccinate teachers and do more testing in schools. outbreaks have closed 1400 schools in 35 states. >> our student have suffered enough. they need to be in the classroom. >> reporter: the white house is anticipating lawsuits. the republican national committee announced last night they'll be first in line. deaths from covid are up five times over last month and the fda has yet to approve a third booster shot. >> they don't have all the information yet that they need. >> affecting every age group, race, everything. >> reporter: as the covid

pandemic overwhelms america's hospitals, the government is putting new pressure on millions who choose not to get the shot. federal workers and contractors will have to get the shot within 75 days and then there's focus in this plan on the economy and the impact of covid-19 on small businesses. more help for them too, kris. >> thank you very much, tracie. we have a follow-up this morning on the lafayette crossing guard killed this week on his second day volunteering as a crossing guard and he is being remembered as a hero. friends are sharing memories about 45-year-old ashley dias on facebook. he died wednesday protecting stanley middle school students from an oncoming car. he pushed at least one student out of the way of the suv who killed him. one lifelong friend is proud of dias for putting the kids first. >> i wish it didn't happen but it did happen and i'm glad that he was there to save that child because maybe if it wasn't him,

it may be that child or this -- it could have turned out a lot worse. >> we know that one student is recovering from minor injuries. police say the driver of the suv had just picked up a student at that same school and is cooperating with investigators. a walnut creek high school student reportedly in intensive care this morning hit by a car while skateboarding to school. police say he was in the crosswalk. "the chronicle" says it happened yesterday on newell avenue and south broadway. the student's injury is not life threatening and the driver remained at the scene. tomorrow the united states and the bay area mark 20 years since the 9/11 terror attacks and a bay area man is remembering his sister who was the first to alert authorities that her plane had been hijacked. remember the name betty ong, grew up in san francisco and was a flight attendant on that first flight that crashed into the world trade center that was american airlines flight 11. chinatown rec center was renamed

for her back in 2012, but her brother harry feels that our collective memories are getting fainter about that fateful day. >> it's a joy for us to obviously have betty remembered and hopefully by the kids who attend here. >> ong says his biggest hope in the post-9/11 world is to end the divisiveness and try to feel the love for each other and our country we felt back on 9/11. commemorations will take place across the bay area this weekend. a small service will be held at the flight 93 memorial in union city. flight 93 bound for sfo when it crashed in a pennsylvania field. tomorrow at the moment of silence at 10:03 the moment of the crash. the exchange club of san ramon valley will honor first responders and begins at 4:20 at the all wars memorial. 9:00 a.m. volunteers will gather for a beach cleanup at san francisco's baker beach. as we take a live look at the

9/11 memorial, make sure to stick around for 5:40, a live report there ahead of the events that will start later today. join us tonight for a special edition of "dateline remembering the heros of flight 93." some of the children of the passengers on board that plane coming to san francisco, come together for the first time and share stories about their parents who fought back against the terrorists so others could live. that's tonight at 10:00 here on nbc bay area. we are tracking some lightning and some stormy weather that could be dangerous. meteorologist kari hall is looking at the strikes. >> yeah. we've got a storm ranger powered up, our mobile doppler radar and the red scan parked on san bruno mountain giving us a clear view of what's happening in parts of the east bay as we're seeing more lightning strikes popping up as it moves over across the bay area into the solano county area. we're seeing one lightning

strike east of crockett. we're going to see heavy downpours in some spots as well as a few isolated lightning strikes. the in the south bay it has quieted down an we're going to have a quiet start to our morning with a mainly clear sky. temperatures in the low 60s and as we go throughout the rest of today, our temperatures head from the low 60ss to the low 70s and our rain chances will be going down. i'm tracking all of this and we'll talk about what's ahead for the weekend in a few minutes. how is it looking for the commute? >> we have an alert. i'm going to give an alert. misty conditions. you can see a little sheen on the roadway. here, where there's also a jackknifed big rig. i'm not saying one contributed to the other. it's the fact that that's the conditions there. as we're now down to two lanes eastbound 80. for local landmarks, the denny's, getting away from the bay bridge, down to two lanes. that jackknifed big rig, a tractor trailer there, it's empty. they need a tow truck and that's coming from san leandro. right now, we have a slower drive for the one section toward

powell. everything else throughout the east bay and your commute looking plipt watch for misty conditions. pandemic shortages causing cuts. one major carmaker slashing production for thousands of vehicles. what's causing the shortage and why it's not just cars. tuition covered. one of the largest on-line retailers paying for employees to go back to school and they're not stopping there. the other perks they're mist we were talking about. mike talking about some trucks having trouble. be careful on your way to work as well.

right now at 5:16, we have storm ranger powered up and tracking some active lightning strikes from cloud to ground from between concord up just east of vallejo toward fairfield. this could start wildfires. the concerns with that and the weekend forecast coming up. concern over this off the berkeley curve eastbound 80. chp has issued an alert. that means it's going to take at least a half hour to clear the jackknifed big rig blocking lanes getting away from the berkeley curve. this is a problem counter to our morning commute. we'll track this and check in with dom. >> good morning. i am dominic chu from cnbc global headquarters. wall street is set to open

higher as the markets look to bounce back from yesterday's losses. the dow and s&p 500 falling for a fourth straight session and the nasdaq down for a second straight day, all three by the way are on track to end the week in red. now the plashgtsz in a bit of a holding pattern until there's more clarity from the federal reserve on its next moves. traders will be watching for an update on the fed's plans to reduces the stimulus measures put in place during the virus pandemic when it meets later on this month. in focus for traders and investors, a report on producer prices, a key gauge of inflation at the wholesale level. toyota is cutting production by about 300,000 vehicles this year due to covid and the global computer chip shortage. the automaker is facing difficulties in securing parts amid a rise in covid cases affecting suppliers in its chain in southeast asia. the pandemic has also boosted demand for chips used in everything for laptops and video game consoles to the dash board in your possibly toyota prius. get this, jp morgan chase

getting into the restaurant review business. the banking giant is buying the infatuation, a website known for dining recommendations and runs a food and music festival and bought [ inaudible ] from google in 2018. they are trying to lock in affluent consumers looking for dining and travel. res si in 2019 has since launched exclusive deals for amexmembers. i don't know if you are users of the infatuation but makes sense the banks want to get more people kind of connected to them using these types of websites for reviews and what not. i've never used the infatuation. >> i have not. >> i'll give ate try. i get that, they're trying to create a point system and get that expensive meal on the credit card. >> we only dine at places where we can pay cash. or pay $20. >> here's the funny part i'm

looking at the website right now. apparently a whole bunch of recommendations for san francisco, nothing yet in san jose or oakland. maybe they will get those up and running soon. >> in the meantime we'll pull up to the second window. >> that's our speed. >> thanks. so this could be one of the coolest perks for work out there. amazon says it will offer to pay 100% of college tuition for all of its hourly employees. off of them, anyone, 750,000 employees. it comes shortly after walmart and target announced that they would offer tuition reimbursement programs. amazon says it will cover the costs for fees and textbooks starting in january. we're monitoring the weather. let's get a check with kari here. >> yeah. so we are still seeing a lot of active weather here this morning. storm ranger is really helping us out here and showing exactly where that rain is falling. it's the red scan that you're seeing.

we have the truck parked on san bruno mountain. let's head over towards the east bay because we've seen a lot of lightning activity here over the past few hours. i'm looping this going back 12 hours and we can see where those lightning strikes occurred and there have been lots of them, anywhere from south san francisco over towards the east bay. we've seen the lightning developing during the late evening hours and still continuing this morning. as we've seen the active weather system passing by. for the north bay, this is where it sparked several fires earlier this morning. it looks like they are getting a lot of that under control, but as far as the rain, we've seen some of this and some of the hills pouring down but moving too quickly to really help out with the drought situation. it's really not able to soak in the vegetation, in the summertime goes dormant. looking at the lightning strikes and what's happening right now, mainly the rain moving over the delta passing south of fairfield. we can see the lightning strikes as storm ranger is able to detect as it comes out of the

cloud to the ground, it puts one of the icons on the map and right there on 680. so some heavy rain pouring down as you're heading in and out of fairfield this morning. as we get a closer look we can see the rain that's just off cordelia and the lightning strike. just picks up on it and it plots it right as it happens. we're still getting some lightning strikes in the sky. maybe lit up if you're farther away from that. because we're seeing lightnings the red flag warning hasn't been extended and will continue until 11:00 this morning for all of these areas shaded in red. mostly the north bay is what we'll have to watch over the next few hours because of the dry conditions. once all this passes, by 8:00, 9:00 this morning we're all in the clear. our temperatures the rest of the day will be very nice and comfortable, still pretty warm in spots like antioch with upper 80s, morgan hill to 87 degrees and low 80s for san jose and upper 70s for palo alto and santa rosa today. expect a high of 83 degrees. going hour by hour we're going

to see the rain tapering off, pushing off to the east, but where you see the blue that's still the potential of some lightning and that's going to be happening near the caldor fire. we're watching what's happening around those fire zones as well as unfortunately it could spark some new fires over our hills in the next several hours. as far as the smoke forecast we're going to see our air quality improving for today. tomorrow once all of this clears out and the winds calm down it's going to look hazy again as some of the smoke from northern california starts to come into the north bay. so air quality will start to be an issue heading into the end of the weekend but in the near term watching the lightning strikes and also for the rest of the day, skies clearing, temperatures in the upper 80s. low 90s into the start of next week. mike, you were watching some breaking news. >> yeah i was giving the alert now chp emphasized they issued an alert as well. jack knifed big rig blocked three lanes of eastbound 80.

denny's behind the sign there. folks familiar with the berkeley curve getting away from the bay bridge. the crash here. we don't know how long it's going to take but a tow truck, special larger tow truck that way coming from san leandro. right now just a bit of slowing coming off the curve and heading toward powell the counter commute, your typical commute westbound. that's fine. watch out for misty conditions. the rest of the bay outside of that portion just north of the berkeley curve, everything else is clear. back to you. >> thank you. next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> is your refrigerator running, two folks who needed help with their ice boxes. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura, nbc bay area responds next.

a refrigerator is pretty much a bust but often they bust. >> they do. consumer investigator chris chmura is here with how he responded to a pair of recent appliance problems. >> >> reporter: let's call this one fridge fail friday, shall we. first my partner at telemundo, arland helped christina in hayward. her $1800 brand new fridge stopped working just six months after she bought it. the manufacturer started the warranty process to swap it out, but then, nothing. until arland and her team got involved and they gave christina 1847 refund so she could get a new refrigerator.

at nbc bay area responds, we heard from a very frustrated marissa in napa. she had spent $4500 on a new fridge in may, but in august, she was still waiting for delivery. she said the company's explanations were a lot of hot air. our team stepped in. the company delivered marissa's brand new refrigerator the next day. pretty cool. perhaps we can help you thaw an icy situation. 8 8-996-tips. have great weekend. >> we will. >> first we have to get through the lightning storms that are taking over our morning headlines. already the lightning strikes have sparked fires and the threat remains at this hour. >> there you see them. meteorologist kari hall tracking these dangerous conditions.

right now at 5:30, something we haven't seen for months, rain. with it lightning and new wildfire concerns. right now there is -- this morning we're on top of it all. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. i'm kris sanchez. >> i'm scott mcgrew. we're in for marcus and laura. the storm system whipping up

lightning and small fires bringing rain to some parts. this is a live look where we've been watching for the lightening across the bay area. watching those cameras. these are our cameras from san jose and walnut creek and fremont and sfo. meteorologist kari hall can also see that lightening on her computers. >> yes. we're looking at storm ranger that's our mobile doppler radar. we have it parked on san bruno mountain and it's giving us a look at what's going on. all of you out there are our eyes and ears. if you are hearing any thunder or seeing rain, send us the pictures and what's going on where you live because, of course, that is the most important information we're getting in. as we get a closer look at storm ranger and some of the lightening strikes around the fairfield area. this is busy even though a lot of us heard rumbles of thunder or rain during the overnight hours, some of the rain moving over 680 and we're seeing some of the lightening strikes as it comes out of the cloud to the ground.

storm ranger is able to plot a lightening icon where it happened and we haven't seen any within the past few minutes, but it definitely has been a busy 12 hours here. as we've seen numerous lightening strikes, some showers and even some very heavy rain in some spots. really that rain is moving way too fast so we're going to be tracking that after all of this rain moves through in the next few hours, i should say. we're going to see quieter weather conditions and some slightly cooler temperatures. we'll take another look at storm ranger and where exactly the rain is falling in a few minutes. >> thank you. we've been watching for these small vegetation fires which are popping up around the bay area. this is a brush fire that happened in the oakland hills overnight. grizzly peak boulevard off highway 24. now fire crews were able to get that one quickly under control but oakland hills does scare you when you hear it. we are tracking this weather situation all morning long. this is kari hall's twitter page. she's updating that constantly

tracking that lightning and what's expected to happen for our forecast this weekend. you can find kari on twitter. starting today another bay area city will require proof of covid vaccination to enter certain business. "today in the bay's" bob redell live in berkeley and bob, tell us about the new rules. >> reporter: good morning. these proof of vaccination requirements are similar to what is happening in san francisco across the bay from us in berkeley. starting today, here in berkeley, if you're 12 years and up, you must show proof of vaccination for certain businesses. certain businesses like the gym behind me. so gyms, yoga and dance studios other fitness facilities and restaurants, bars, clubs, theaters, other types of entertainment venues. if you're running in to pick up food from inside a restaurant and just running in to grab your order you don't need to show a vax card as long as you're masked. other entertainment venues,

employees must start showing proof starting 10/15. indoor events of 1,000 or more people, again, proof of vaccination from anyone attending those events starting october 15th. workers at adult or child care facilities, home health care, dental offices or pharmacies must be tested weekly or show proof of vaccination, again starting october 15th. so in a nutshell starting today, customers going to those businesses i mentioned must show proof of vaccination. employees generally speaking, they must start october 15th. reporting live here in berkeley, bob redell, "today in the bay." thank you, bob. an unexpected twist in the jury box now bringing elizabeth holmes' fraud trial to a sudden halt. testimony was supposed to resume today in that fraud case involving the former theranos ceo, but one of the jurors reveals he may have been exposed

to covid over the labor day holiday weekend. that juror is said to be vaccinated and not showing any symptoms, but the judge decided to cancel things until next tuesday in order to err on the side of caution. covid affecting everything. all right. and stick with nbc bay area for continuing coverage of this trial. we will walk you through every step of the way with team coverage and analysis and we're following the latest on air and on-line at nbcbayarea.com. 5:36. developing east of redding this morning, new evacuation orders in the dixie fire. these are for people living in lassen county near hoover flat reservoir. the flames burned another 15,000 or so acres yesterday. the area burned is now nearly 1500 square miles. the fire about 60% contained. a dramatic morning to start, but hopefully it will be over by the time we head on into the weekend. kari, i think we can use a break after the short week. >> absolutely.

and i think we'll be watching to see if we have any fires, but also hopefully it's all nice and quiet and we can enjoy that weekend. take a look at sonoma valley as we look at our temperatures headed towards the low 80s and this is what we'll see throughout the weekend. we will start to see a little bit more haze to the sky as we head towards sunday. but for the good part of the day on saturday, it looks pretty nice. santa cruz will also be a great destination for a lot of people who are still dealing with some warm valley temperatures, for the coastline we're going to see some upper 70s today and then some mid 70s for the rest of the weekend. now as we go through the forecast if you plan to head to l.a. this weekend, it's going to be warm with some highs reaching into the mid to upper 80s but all sunshine. looks like a nice weekend there. and then for a spot closer to home heading to central california, heading over towards the central coast or paso robles temperatures in the mid 90s. it's going to be very hot and

hazy as we're going to be watching some of the smoke filtering there. i'm watching air quality. we'll talk more about what's happening on storm ranger. as you get ready to head out the door that's coming up in a few minutes. what's going on with the morning commute? >> below our camera in emeryville the flashesing lights, that's good news as i believe the right side tow truck a heavy duty tow truck arrived and hooking up that big rig right now, getting poised to do that. the powell street on ramp is accessing the freeway, away from the bay bridge all the backup constricted down here because of a couple lanes available heading away from the bay bridge and the berkeley curve. we see a little bit more traffic getting through. might have opened one more lane there as you're passing by the on ramp. there's a little wider roadway and may be the reason the sensors are turning yellow instead of orange. that is the problem getting away from the bay bridge and the berkeley curve. to the bay bridge and the rest of your commute drives are moving calm right now. we have your typical slowing north 101 in san jose which happens just before 5:40 as it

is now. back to you. >> thank you. 20 years later, next on "today in the bay," live report from ground zero as we remember first responders who lost their lives on september 11th. the votes ahead of tuesday's special recall election. an early look at where bay area voters are making their voices heard the most. >> and we are looking live at san francisco this morning. we are watching for lightning, but we're hoping it will clear out by midday and we'll have a nice weekend ahead. kari is tracking all of that this morning.

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good friday morning. it is 5:41. storm ranger picking up on some rain over alameda and oakland as well as another cluster of showers around lafayette moving towards concord. we are going to see pop-up showers and hopefully no more lightning. i'm watching out for that chance in the forecast and we'll talk about it coming up in a few minutes. >> live picture we have a traffic alert in berkeley, emeryville area. i saw a car pulled away as well. they've moved the big rig and another car from the scene. there may be injuries involved in this crash, but right now we're worried about the full stops getting away from the bay bridge on the east shore freeway. we'll check in real quick. tomorrow marks two decades since the september 11th attacks. and a moment that changed our country and left a scar for many people still remains today.

>> hit home in the bay area. one of the flights high jacked 93 was headed to san francisco that morning. nearly 3,000 people in total died chug so many innocent rout terror struck. "today in the bay's" jay gray is at the memorial in new york with the emotional story of one family's loss and the memories that keep them going 20 years later. >> yeah. scott, good morning to you. you may hear the bagpipes behind us. the flag ceremony going on at the memorial site. lieutenant colonel michael rodriguez doesn't talk a lot about that day or his time on the frontlines in the war on terror either, a mission driven not by revenge but love for his sister and a chance to honor her memory. >> reporter: the images.

>> get inside a building. >> reporter: the horror and heartache linger 20 years later, especially for those who were there. >> i started hearing this, the most eerie, gut-wrenching sound of impending death. >> reporter: lieutenant colonel michael rodriguez was there and so was his big sister lisa. >> she worked on tower 2, 89th floor. >> reporter: he rushed to the site first alone and hours later leading a national guard platoon in, working recovery and a mission that was personal. >> she was a great person, you know. loved life. >> reporter: lisa king johnson was 34, a wife, mother of two young girls a daughter and sister. her body was pulled from the rubble ten days after the towers collapsed. for rodriguez, the mission shifted. deployed in the war on terror he was in iraq september 11th, 2003, when a commander asked him to share his memories during a

memorial with coalition forces in a packed amphitheater in the ruins of babylon. >> she was a big sister. >> reporter: the emotions overwhelming. but his resolve unyielding that the memory of lisa and the support of his fellow soldiers. >> i was propelled by my uniform, duty. >> reporter: the words still don't come easy but two decades later he has this message for the country. >> never forget. >> reporter: and a goodbye that he never got the chance to share with his big sister. >> i love you and we'll be okay. the girls will be okay. and, you know, i can't wait to see you one day. >> reporter: now, rodriguez doesn't attend the public service here each year. he's only been to the memorial site once.

instead, scott and kris, he spend each september 11th with his family. >> i think so many people find that a more powerful way to do it. we've heard a lot of these names before. but what we sometimes overlook is that there are a lot of victims who have not been identified and those families don't have that closure. >> reporter: you're right. hundreds that still have not been identified, but it's a commitment that this city made to doing everything they can to identify every victim from the attack, so much so that just notified that their lost loved ones had been identified. >> that was so shocking for me to here that. yeah. thank you so much, jay. >> here's a look at some of the 9/11 commemorations happening tomorrow in the bay area. san jose fire department will host its 2021 patriot day observance. hayward will hold a candlelight vigil at 10:00 a.m. at heritage

plaza. those who want to give back to the community volunteers will be gathering at the palace of fine arts in san francisco to pack meals for those in need. the "today" show will continue live coverage from the ground zero this morning and shanksville, pennsylvania, ahead of tomorrow's commemorations. this will start at 7:00 right after "today in the bay." join the "today" show earlier tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. followed by an nbc special 9/11, 20 years later at 5:30, on nbc bay area, you can watch "today in the bay" with kira klapper and vianey arana, that's at 8:00 a.m. new developments out of afghanistan this morning, the first passenger plane to leave there since the taliban takeover arrived in cutter filled with more than 100 western evacuees. some were u.s. pa port and green card holders. since the taliban took over on august 30th, concerns run high for those at-risk afghans who assisted u.s. forces but don't

have the proper documents to leave. so we are now heading into the home stretch of the recall election. it is now just four days and counting. doesn't seem like a lot of time for us, but those candidates are maximizing the time. no bay area county has reached a 50% response yet for those mail-in ballots. see from the map some of them are getting very close, particularly in the north bay. marin leads the way with 43% of the ballots returned, solano is all the way at the other end in the blue, 28% of ballots returned. remember, we all got one in the mail. statewide, the turnout is about 30%. remember you have an entire page dedicated to your questions on the recall election on our website. head to nbcbayarea.com and click on newsom recall. it's right there at the top in the trending bar. let's go live across the bay area. we are keeping an eye on lightning strikes and the high

fire danger overnight. you see the live pictures there. haven't seen any lightening as we've taken those live but we have a lot of video of that as well and you have records on your computer as well of the dangerous strikes. >> eyes and ears everywhere across the bay area. we're looking for the videos pictures you have of the very active weather. it is starting to taper off. that's the good news. we're looking at some rain right now at this point in parts of the east bay. storm ranger is able to pick up on that and when there is a lightning strike it puts a lightning icon on there. i've been watching the area around the caldor fire. may be wondering how much rain is it they get in the air and it's been moving quickly and we've also seen some lightening strikes over the past 12 hours there. and then also going up around the dixie fire it's been good to see some rain in some of those spots, especially over some of those active fires, but once

again, lightening of concern too. that may spark a fire even if the rain is falling at that point. the vegetation dry. ving through and dry lightening, it takes a to see fires burning or just get an update on what's going on out there and some of the more sparse vegetation and the rural areas that we have farther to the north. so looking for that activity over the past 12 hours. at one point i mean the radar was really lit up with all of these lightning strikes, but once again things are starting to calm down here. through the rest of today fairly quiet weather with the our temperatures. this basically where we were yesterday. it won't be as humid. some of the humidity will go down. spots like livermore heading up toward 85 degrees. 70 in oakland, 82 napa and san francisco headed towards the mid 60s and san jose will see a high

of 82 degrees. as we go through the forecast also monitoring air quality looking good today. blues skies but tomorrow itt moe hazy once again in the afternoon especially in the north bay and it does start to move into parts of the east bay as well. we have to keep in mind we have a lot of fires going on and barring no new fire starts it will be a fairly good weekend for getting out and enjoying some of the nice and comfortable temperatures. our highs headed towards the mid to upper 80s for the inland areas. it's going to be slightly hotter going into the start of next week. for san francisco, we're going to keep that wide range in temperatures there and along the coast so mainly some mid 60s as we watch out for the next couple hours. a chance of any showers after that. we're all dry for the next seven days. mike, you've been watching the roads. how is it looking? >> look at this, video that came into our newsroom. this crash involving a jack knifed big rig. the rig is facing the wrong-way. that's the trailer it's pulling

but facing opposite direction. still attached. we were down a number of lanes, three or four lanes. another vehicle here that was involved in the crash and the photographer who took the video says that authorities told him there was someone taken to the hospital after the crash. the driver of the big rig was staying for interviews. you see the person being interviewed in this video. live looks, east bay 80 from the bay bridge seconds ago they reopened all but one lane. look at that one still has flairs. debris in this last lane. the powell on ramp you can get by except for one lane as you approach the powell on ramp on to eastbound 80. this is away from the bay bridge and counter to any commute. this may affect folks coming off the bay, off the maze and heading up towards berkeley. coming away from berkeley to the bay bridge toll plaza mild slowing indicating more traffic for your morning commute. the rest of the bay showing a little bit of slowing through hayward for south bay 880, northbound 101.

slowing for san jose. we have your typical spots, friday a lighter commute but kari has been talking about rain in the north bay. we saw misty conditions near the northbound as well. in a few hours authorities will clear a growing homeless encampment in the north bay located in row nard park in a park and ride lot. over the past few weeks the encampment has grown and it poses a health and safety risk and beds have been secured for the people being moved. >> 5:53. we have more ahead for you on "today in the bay." including perhaps a two in one fix headed or way. a major pharmaceutical company looking to take both the covid and the flu vaccine so you only have to take one shot. we'll break down how that can work. nbc bay area and telemundo 48 are honoring local animal heros for clears the shelters positively good awards. go to nbcbayarea.com to submit your nominee. you're watching "today in the

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welcome back. you're watching "today in the bay." details in the kristin smart murder case. the judge apparently agreeing with prosecutors about the defense trying to pull a publicity stuns for the ongoing preliminary hearing. the attorney representing paul flores sought to include

testimony from scot peterson, attended cal policy at the same time that kristin smart did and may have known her. the defense thinking was prosecutors are focusing too much attention on flores and not considering other possible suspects. yesterday the judge disagreed reportedly ruling peterson would likely not testify unless some kind of relevant information is presented. turning back to the pandemic now, moderna is working on a single shot that would combine a covid booster dose and a flu shot. this new vaccine would take that experimental flu shot that's farthest along in the process and combine it with the covid vaccine. earlier this week vaccine developer nova nax announced it has started a trial for a similar combined covid and seasonal flu shot. cal state university is publishing campus data online with the new covid-19 dashboard

updating case rates among students, staff and faculty for each school. some schools include vaccination rates as well. a statewide database is also available which combines the information collected from the 23 campuses. in tennessee, what some are calling a shocking display of a lack of empathy. there's a student who supports mask mandates was mocked by a group of adults. >> grady knox was sharing the story at a school board meeting of losing his grandmother and many in the crowd laughed at him. >> this time last year my grandmother, who was a former teacher at the rutherford county school system died of covid because someone wasn't wearing a mask. this is a very -- >> no. >> those two minutes of roughly a three-hour meeting have spread on social media. knox says it is not a reflection of his home county rutherford county, tennessee. wow. all right.

so minnesota senator amy klobuchar says she was diagnosed with breast cancer early this year but that treatment has been successful. she says doctors made the discovery during a routine mammogram. a biopsy was recommended by the doctors. the biopsy revealed the senator had early stage breast cancer. the 61-year-old says that like many others, she delayed routine examinations because of the pandemic. now health officials recommend mammograms every two years for women between the ages of 50 and 74. don't put it off any more, ladies. right now fresh fire fears this morning. putting on a dangerous show and a lightning storm setting fires unleashing some much needed rain in some spots. will it be enough? >> look at that. the storm system still here. we're tracking it with our live mobile doppler radar powered by storm ranger. you're watching "today in the bay." good friday morning to you. it's good to have you with us.

i'm kris sanchez. >> i'm scott mcgrew. in for laura and marcus. our big story, the fire and weather. we've been watching live cameras across the bay area and i know we've been hoping to see a strike live, but we have not so far been quite successful. >> did see one on my drive in. meteorologist kari hall is tracking the storm cells and has been watching those lightning strikes on the computer model. so as we take a look at storm ranger our mobile doppler radar that gives us a good look at what is going on around the bay area, so all of the chances of lightning we've seen from the overnight hours is really starting to go down and we haven't seen any lightning strikes over the past hour or so. as we get a look at storm ranger, it is showing all of the activity we've had. i want to loop it going back about 12 hours because it was so busy at one point at about 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning