previous variant. >> a new warning from the bay's top health leaders, and the precautions everybody is being asked to take to limit the spread. we will take you inside one major shipping facility making sure your gifts arrive on time. this is "today in the bay." very good friday morning to you. 5:00 right now. we traditionally broad to your television, but we are also streaming live on nbcbayarea.com. i am laura garcia. >> i am marcus washington. kari, is it going to stay cold all day? >> yes, pretty much. i mean, you want to make sure that you have a nice warm coat for today. we're starting out with cold temperatures even in san francisco where the sky is clear. we have a temperature of 42 degrees. you head down to san josé and it's 38, and 38 as well in

livermore, and 35 in santa rosa as we are starting this friday. as we go into today we will see our temperatures reaching into the low to mid-50s. it will still be a cool day but could be colder for tonight as we could see much more freezing temperatures across the bay area, including san josé. we will talk more about this and when the next round of rain comes in, and that's in a few minutes. our nbc bay area app, once you have it you can check out the live radar right on your phone. we will also send you updates to your specific neighborhood. the cdc predicting a major spike of covid infections christmas week with the delta variant wreaking havoc and omicron variants.

alice? >> good morning, laura. yeah, health officials with the cdc if possible you should get the pfizer or moderna vaccines instead of johnson & johnson because of a rare side affect of blood clots that can potentially be fatal associated with only the johnson & johnson and not the other two shots. that message coming in at the same time that president biden is warning of a potential with severe illness and death for the unvac tpaeutd. this morning a twin pandemic threat. >> we're looking over our shoulder and omicron and delta staring us in the face. >> it's more infectious than any

previous variant. >> the cdc predicting cases could shoot up to 1.3 million cases in seven days, with a stunning increase in deaths expected to follow. top officials and the white house hammering the need for vaccines and boosters. >> omicron is here and is beginning to spread more rapidly at the beginning of the year, and the only protection ys to get your shots. >> beingók"#ñ fully vaccinated a booster shot provides strong protection against serious illness and death. >> as long as everybody is vaccinated and everybody eligible to be boosted is boosted, i think it's quite safe. not 100%. nothing is 100%. >> and the cdc recommending not getting the johnson & johnson vaccine when pfizer or the

moderna vaccines are available. the white house covid response team will meet to answer questions a little later this morning, and those advisers repeatedly said the u.s. is not headed for another widespread lockdown. >> a lot to keep track of, alice. thank you very much. if you have questions, head to nbcbayarea.com/coronavirus, and there we have the latest on vaccines and boosters and how-to videos showing you how to add your vaccine record to your apple wallet on your phone. ages 6 to 16 were rushed to the hospital around 7:00 last night in one home, and investigators believe carbon monoxide poisoning may be to

blame here. an investigation is under way. the jurors could start deliberating the fate of elizabeth holmes. she's accused of deceiving patients and investors after theranos technology claimed it could analyze somebody's medical profile from a few blood drops. that's due in the amount of evidence she is facing including audio tapes. >> just listening to elizabeth holmes make those claims in her own words can be very damaging. >> it's all about her credibility, isn't it? >> yeah, it's the credibility including the 29 witnesses the government called. it's up to the jury who they believe. >> holmes could face up to 20

years in prison. we have reporters tracking this case and as soon as the verdict comes, we will bring that to you live and a break down of the sentence of holmes. kris sanchez is live for us at one u.s. post office processing center in san josé with key dates to remember. kris? >> reporter: let me tell you. this has been the busiest week of the year here at this processing center, and really at any usps processing center across the nation, and here they have processed 200 pieces of mail, but none of them mine because i am behind the ball. today is the last day to get first class mail including packages and greeting cards, which i brought with me today.

december 23rd is your deadline for priority mail express if you are trying to use the u.s. postal service. i have mary lou with me here this morning. how is it going? >> it has been very busy since friday, but we are going to get through this. >> reporter: you are processing packages and mail, and i know last year was really busy and you are expecting this year will be more busy? >> yes, we processed 2.2 million letters in this facility and over 1 million packages from this facility alone. >> reporter: this is just not for the entire bay area. if i give you this bag of christmas cards i forgot to mail, will they get there in time? >> yeah, they will.

>> reporter: ups and fedex also have deadlines, and it will cost you money as far as spending goes. december 21st, three-day service, and you can even ship as december 23rd, that's next-day air or same-day air, but let me tell you from experience that will cost you. if your gifts are staying local, you have options. consider shopping curbside if you are going to keep your packages here in the bay area. that way you can avoid the rush of the store, and we have heard the numbers of omicron and outbreaks, so if you want to avoid the stores make sure you click on the curbside service. be patient with everybody because everybody is doing their best to get your packages when and where they need to go. >> thank you.

>> reporter: you got it. >> thanks, kris. taking a live look at the san mateo bridge this morning. look, folks on it and about with the heaters on in the car. oh, yeah, it's a cold start to our friday morning. and we're going to have another night of this as well. >> snuggle weather. >> yeah, because we get to sleep in tomorrow. >> it will be snow, but we won't have the moisture to bring us snow across the bay area. we are going to have sunshine today, freezing temperatures tonight in some of our inland valleys. this weekend will be dry and cool. next week we will be getting ready for our next storm system getting ready to come in. as you are heading out, our temperatures at 40 degrees. we are only going to reach up to the upper 40s and low 50s today. be prepared for that. 51 degrees here in oakland at noon and reaching 52. 56 in san josé, and 53 in san

rafael. mike, how sit looking at the bay bridge toll plaza? >> it's looking great. there was a crash and i didn't see it move to the parking lot, but there's no injuries, and that's important, no lanes blocked or injuries if the crash was in the lanes. we're looking at fog, so tension for that in the north bay. we're looking at anywhere south with a smooth and easy drive. a little build out of the altamont and that's it. >> thanks, mike. coming up at 5:25, the new wildlife alert. virtual reality brings virtual problems, and -- ♪ >> yes, it's that time of the

year. what holiday movies will you be watching on christmas day. we have ideas for the best christmas films of all-time. including this one. see if your kid's favorite makes the list. there's a growing push for women to restart their careers here in the bay area, this after the pandemic reversed years of progress for working women. you can watch that full story on our website right now, just go to nbcbayarea.com. we'll be right back.

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happy friday. heads up. here's a look at the temperatures you will feel as you are headed out the door. we have upper 30s right now. only 35 degrees in santa rosa and 34 in morgan hill. chilly start this morning but even colder tonight. we will talk about this and incoming rain in our forecast in just a few minutes. we just heard about this disabled vehicle, maybe a hazard for folks head into san francisco in the last approach off the bay bridge. we will track your drive all-around the bay, coming up. happy friday to you. the consumer protection bureau is investigating all the buy now pay later services you find online. it's not because these services have done something wrong, but the worry is some consumers may be using them way too often and

discovering they are over their head in debt. the head of cruz automotive stepped down. we're not sure why. waymo tells bloomberg one of its cars hit a pedestrian in san francisco on wednesday but it was not the computer's fault because it was not driving. a human was. we will look at that when it's turned over to the state. our podcast team fin herbed a new episode on "sand hill road", and we will talk to the venture capitalist. how does stealth work.

find that on apple, google play, spotify, you name it. facebook is pushing the meta thing. it changed its name to meta and offered an interview with the top marketing guy to a reporter from the financial times but they did it in virtual reality -- i mean the metaverse, right? and then -- >> i am drinking my coffee, and this retched head set is to bulky. >> yeah, that's something we can't see. >> every time he tried to lift his chin to get his coffee cup under his mouth, his avatar made

strange head movements. you don't want your head of marketing to call the thing that you are marketing retched. >> marketing 101. >> we could have a little cartoon newscast. >> yeah, could be fun. we ought to try it. >> sticking to this. you can now buy cannabis in the metaverse and have it delivered in real life. it includes a digital shopping experience. trending this morning with christmas coming you may be considering your own trip down

memory lane and watching some of the christmas classics. >> rotten tomatoes reminding what film comes out on top all the time. and the first one, "it's a wonderful life," and then "miracle on 34th street," and then it was "the shop around the corner." another jimmy stewart film there. and then "how the grinch stole christmas." the old classics seem to win out, but are they really the best. on my facebook page, i posted that and i want to see what your favorite is. put that list together and maybe we will have a lot to watch over the next eight days. >> my favorite is the "home

alone," the original. i am getting into the "merry little christmas," and they just had "merry little baby." >> i like the one with -- >> that motion innovation. classic. >> mike? >> "diehard." >> rounding it out with kari? >> i am loving the "merry little christmas baby" and that series, but my all-time favorite is "a christmas story." but let's get a look at our christmas view as people are getting in the christmas spirit

and checking out the lights, doing the drive-through event. we are going to have cold temperatures this weekend and you want to make sure that laura really recommends this, the hot chocolate out there. we will see temperatures in the upper 30s and we'll see it very cold this morning and more of the same as we go in to today with a slow warm-up. 54 in gilroy. for the east bay, up to 52 in livermore and 52 in martinez, and also 52 in oakland. not a big spread in our temperatures today because what we feel at the coast will be the same inland. santa rosa reaching 54 degrees. cold today and we're getting ready for rain in the distant forecast. with some of the more current runs of our computer models,

it's holding off this storm until monday or tuesday. we will have a dry weekend and then on monday a few spotty showers. then the more measurable rain will start to move in on tuesday and that's our first day of winter when we see the atmospheric river coming in and that could be tuesday into wednesday and continuing into thursday. we will see if it goes beyond that. right now, our one-week rain forecast will bring one to two inches of rain with the next system coming in. won't be as strong as the previous storms but could be beneficial for the sierra with another foot or possibly two feet of snow going into next week. we are going to see dry weather into the weekend. highs reach into the low 50s. next week, once again, more rain coming in. scattered showers, highs in the low 50s. about the same in san francisco. we will want to make sure that we are getting everything done this weekend, that last weekend

before we really have to settle in for christmas week. mike, you are watching san francisco for a possible hazard? >> yeah, there's word of a disabled vehicle, and we have not seen slowing here in the last ten minutes since it has been reported and usually that's enough time for a struggling vehicle to make its way off the ramp there. the rest of the bay, we are exhibiting what we see this time of the year, as we approach christmas we see lighter commutes. watch those delivery trucks. >> yeah, in my neighborhood all the time. >> are they? next here on "today in the bay," "nbc bay area responds." >> who loves to read insurance policies? we do. we have two new cases where we are decoding insurance lingo,

and got some folks a lot of cash back. "nbc bay area responds," next. [ sfx: ping ping beep beep bloop bloop ] lisa looks like you've... [ sfx: pop pop pop pop ] lisa, you might be on mute. [ sfx: pop ping bloop ] [ phone buzzing ] the day can wait... enter the golden state with real california dairy.

good morning. we know a thing or two about insurance because we have seen a thing or two. more than 1,000 complaints in our database where insurance was a puzzle piece. the expertise is mutual at "nbc

bay area responds." jesus in napa was trying to cancel a insurance policy and get a refund. we got jesus all his money back. and amber in antioch, her car needed more than $7,000 in repairs after an accident. but amber felt that nobody was on her side. nine months went by with no payment. our team e-mailed the insurance company on a monday and it resolved amber's claim on friday the same week. like a good neighbor, we are here to help your consumer insurance, so call us 888-996-tips, and we respond to everyone. that's our policy. have a great weekend. >> thanks, chris. in the south bay, a warning for you to be on the lookout after a coyote was spotted

yesterday afternoon at ponderosa park in sunnyvale. coyote sightings have increased recently and just call 911 and give them a warning. we are following a lot of stories, including holiday travel surge, including airports. the new advice from health leaders before you hop on that flight. plus -- schools across the nation on high alert after the latest tiktok challenge. you're watching "today in the bay."

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thank you! a customer service rep is working unseen, making it happen. and at genesys, we're proud to help them help you everyday. right now at 5:30, bundle up. we are tracking frigid temperatures across the bay area. and a freeze warning in effect in the north bay. kari hall timing out how the rest of the day will shape up. and the timeline of when it will return. >> taking no chances. a new viral social media trend causing one south bay school to cancel classes today. a new warning from santa clara county health leaders, why they are calling this one of the most challenges moments of the

pandemic. their advice to everyone this morning. this is "today in the bay." a very good friday morning to you. thank you for joining us. i am laura garcia. >> i am marcus washington. we will have a look at the commute coming up, but first let's talk to meteorologist, kari hall. kari, a warm-up in sight? >> yes, just a little today. not too much. we are headed for the low 50s and starting out with low 30s, and so a dry and cool weekend and next week we will see more rain coming in. right now mid-30s in parts of the north bay, and we also see upper 30s in the tri-valley heading over towards the east bay. this afternoon, we will reach up to 55 in san josé. 53 in santa rosa. also some low 50s in san francisco. we'll talk more about how cold it gets for today and what is ahead for the rain forecast,

coming up in a few minutes. developing this morning, schools not only here in the bay area, but really across the nation. they are on high alert because of a new tiktok challenge encouraging students to make bombs and bring them to school today. >> cierra, one south bay school canceling school? >> yeah, gilroy district canceled the high school classes, and it's across the nation where letting schools know. gilroy high school will be closed and it's all because of the latest tiktok challenge. tiktok challenges are not anything new to a lot of the local school districts. we have seen them before.

just a couple months ago there was a challenge encouraging young people to do wild things like destroying bathrooms, and many districts are explaining there are no credible threats just reports of threats circulating on social media. again, school districts around the bay area believe this one crosses the line and goes beyond the)a(6z attempt to disrupt sch and many parents simply say they want these challenges to stop. >> a lot of the challenges they throw out there to kids put them in a bad situation. >> it's exhausting, but what can you do? they stay one step ahead of us. >> reporter: tiktok has issued a statement about the rumors of threats of violence saying we are looking to law enforcement, even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via tiktok.

for some schools like outside houston, texas, they are telling kids not to bring their backpacks to school today just out of caution, and security will be increased today. we're live in mill valley, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> taking no chances. cierra, thank you. happening today the south bay mother accused of throwing all of control2amd

message out to get your booster shot now. 80% of the county is now vaccinated, and only 44% have received a booster. the message here, two shots are not enough. >> those who are 50 years and older are at highest risk and that's the population we want to make sure have gotten their booster or are planning to get one. >> so far the county is holding back on plans to tighten health restrictions with the hopes more people get their booster shot. >> a live look at sfo this friday morning. holiday travel picking up this weekend, this as the omicron variant cases continue to grow. travelers we spoke to said they

got boosted just to be safe. >> we are taking a trip over the holidays and just wanted that protection that is readily available. >> airlines are expecting near prepandemic level of flyers. >> good morning. hard to believe that today is going to be one of the heaviest travel days ahead of christmas. so many people have christmas planned, experts say we could be approaching prepandemic travel levels, which could mean crowded roads and skies in the days ahead. aaa estimates more than 109 million americans will travel for the holidays. it's nearing prepandemic levels. the busy holiday season expected to kick into high gear between december 23rd and january 2nd.

if you are hitting the road, prices at the pump starting to ease, gas buddy predicting the national average will drop to $3.25 christmas day, and that's down 10 cents from soaring highs before the holidays. and try to show up about two hours ahead of your flight. if you are bringing a gift make sure it's not wrapped or you could be facing frustration, and if you are bringing holiday treats, as long as it's solid food it should make it through security. >> thank you. this is for the a's proposed stadium. >> could make or break the team's future in the east bay. it will be posted at 8:00 a.m. on the city's site.

a beautiful shot. look at that moon! ♪ full moon -- i don't know if that's the song. >> blue moon. >> yeah. we will talk about the music a little later. let's look at the forecast for today. let's talk to kari hall. it's cold out there, kari. >> yeah, just singing into the weekend. we will take a look at some of the events we have going on. christmas in the park, san josé, it's going to be very chilly out there tonight, and we are starting out with low 50s, and those temperatures will drop off in the mid-40s. be prepared for that and get a hot chocolate, too. we have golden gate park winter lights and that's going on in san francisco. 51 degrees, right before sunset and dropping down into the

mid-40s by 8:00. we know you still have shopping to do if you are headed to the san francisco premium outlets, we will see temperatures in the low 40s to start out tomorrow morning. we are going to have great weather if you are hitting the roads. here's a look at some of your destinations. dry weather continues with 40s and 50s, and we wrap up the weekend with the falcons versus the 49ers, and the weather looks nice for that, in the mid-50s. mike, you are talking about that too for your commute this morning and for the weekend. >> yeah, we will mention that, kari, because the commute is light right now, the early-morning commute seems to be lighter, and we have the typical pattern for northbound 101 to 880. not far from there is levi stadium and a 1:00 p.m. game here, and then local closers happen about 12 hours earlier

starting in the area, and tailgating and the parking lot opens four hours before the game. right now the local traffic and all over the bay, in fact, a light volume of traffic. no real problems or slowing. take your time, folks. back to you. >> thanks, mike. coming up for you this morning, cracking down on retail robberies. we will have more on that and the new action expected from a few hours from governor newsom. and then the white house moving on from build back better. sometimes the golden gate bridge hums. the noise can be an earful for those that live nearby. ahead we will talk about what is in the works to make it stop.

good friday morning. right now at 5:43, heads up that it's cold out there as you step out the door. we have dipped into the mid-30s in morgan hill, and a temperature in oakland of only 40 degrees. a modest warm-up today and then we will talk about colder taopls and when the next round of rain

is coming. we have another hour until we see the slowing and we will see the south county to see what is developing for the longer drive. a live look at the golden gate bridge this morning. a beautiful sight, right? that's where silence may be golden, at least when it comes to all of that humming. what is that? what is going on there? we're talking about the humming sound you can hear that can be heard on windy days. it began last year when the slates were installed on the pedestrian handrails and engineers are recommending rubber to absorb the vibrations, and the board will be voting on

the cost of the fix. organized retail robberies started the week before thanksgiving, and at that time the governor promised more money for cities in the new budget. we will reveal that next month. scott mcgrew, you say this could be a sign the president is shifting his focus from build back better. >> yeah, we reported earlier this week that it looked like the bill would not make it to vote before christmas. now president biden has acknowledged it's not happening this year. the president will be the commencement speaker at south carolina university today, and his speech will be in part about the importance of voting rights. that could be a pivot point, from build back better to voting

rights. voting rights are a democratic priority as many red states move to limit mail-in voting. it's important to minority groups and the minority vote will be important for democrats in the midterms. politicians have two goals. get things done is one of them and get votes is the other. they were hoping build back better would do both of these things, but working on voting rights could also get you both of these things. other news, lawyers representing families separated at the border. the biden administration has pulled out of settlement talks. families were separated by the u.s. government and the u.s. government lost track of where they put the children. for a while there was talk of a settlement of $450,000 per family, and conservative media

had a field day. now the u.s. government will go to court in each and every lawsuit instead of offering a settlement. this could put the u.s. on the hook for more than $450,000 per family. then the lady on the left there, the widow of army sergeant cash. new nba and the players agreed on a new plan to increase daily covid testing, this after more than 50 players placed in protocols, and the bulls canceled two games.

this is for players and staff who have not received their booster shot two weeks prior fund the literacy program not only in oakland but in every one of their bay area locations. every child won't just get one book per visit but five to build that literacy library.

so important, early reading. join us for nbc bay area at 5:00 and 6:00 to find out the latest. >> the literacy programs are important. >> yeah, and reading is fun. it can lead to a career. 5:49 right now. trending this morning, the wait is over for marvel fans. >> yeah, the best known superhero back on the screen. you ask? well, spider-man ♪ spiderman -- i won't sing that. "no way home" officially opening today. some bay area theaters got an early start last night, and this is the ninth spiderman film overall. let's just say so far it's killing it. when it comes to early reviews and rotten tomatoes, and a

friend of mine went and said it was pretty good. >> not our producer. she said she went last night and was so good she's going again. >> i love the way they are evolving the franchise, i have to go and see it. >> a little normalcy is what we are looking for, and little warmth, too. >> yeah, we always complain about how cold it is in theaters, but that could be a warm place to go this weekend. we are going to start out with cold temperatures this morning. walnut creek, right now in the 30s. 39 degrees and it's all clear. as we go into today, we will see the temperatures making it up to 50 degrees at lunchtime. the 7-day forecast is coming you know at the bottom of the screen. check it out.

south bay highs this afternoon reaching 56 in milpitas. for the east bay, we will see 54 in danville and oakland only up to 52 degrees after the cold start. reaching 52 in redwood city and san mateo. san francisco reaching into downtown. our north bay highs reaching up to 54 in santa rosa. after the cold start we have another cold night tonight, and then we will get ready for rain set to move in next week. this will start to move in as we go towards monday. looks like the timing shifted a little later. looking at that rain arriving on monday into tuesday, and we do see that wet weather continuing into wednesday and then into thursday before it starts to taper off. as far as how much rain we may see, at this point it looks like one to two inches, but we are still several days out so we

will fine tune that forecast, and update you as we get closer. another foot to possibly about two feet of snow up around kingvail. we're looking at highs near 50 degrees, and it will be a dry one so you will be able to get all that stuff done even if you have to do last-minute decorating outside, and then going into next week, we will be taking down some of the decorations especially those inflatables once the rain moves back in. our temperatures will reach into the low 50s while san francisco will see highs reach into the low to mid-50s. we're all good for the next couple of days but we will keep you up-to-date on the changes in the forecast as the next storm system comes in. mike, you are tracking changes at the bridge. >> yeah, the metering lights were turned on about five

minutes ago, and that should be enough time to see brake tapping, and light traffic will maintain over there at the toll plaza for sometime. we're looking at a smooth drive around the bay. that's about it as far as the slowing goes. we move down towards san martin, where we often see slowing on 101, but not today. the cars are moving smoothly over the santa cruz mountains. vasco shows a little bit of slowing, guys. happening now, california is taking another big step when it comes to going green. starting in the new year, the state will require all plastic drink containers to be made from recyclable materials. and state manufacturers must meet the criteria or will face

finds. 5:53 right now. still ahead on "today in the bay," the reason investigators want to take a look inside alec baldwin's phone. we will look inside one of the bay area's busiest shipping centers and tell you what to do to avoid shipping delays. you're watching "today in the bay." if you could give me some dance lessons you would be saving my life. how do i know that you're legit? ♪ ♪

yeah, that's more like it. centers and tell you what to do

5:57 right now. you are watching "today in the bay." authorities want to look at alec baldwin's cell phone to look at the text baldwin sent before and after the shooting in october on the set of the movie "rust" where it killed the cinematographer and injured the director. in an interview, baldwin said he did not pull the trigger. and then you may remember back in october a crack lined leaked some 25,000 gallons of oil off the coast of huntington

beach in orange county, and the doj charged three oil companies with negligence. divers will place a steal patch over the pipe and that will allow the pipeline to be cleaned and flushed before two large sections of cleaned and flushed. going ahead with plans for new year's eve despite the cases of the variants. some broadway shows were canceled due to positive cases including "hamilton." this past week nbc news has been looking at the new technologies in the fight against cancer, and this morning today's craig melvin is introducing viewers to a new

clinical trial that could be a game changer for those trying to stave off the reoccurring of colon cancer. the trial is being head by a doctor that treated craig's brother that passed away from the disease. >> it was roughly four years since we sat here and talked about another experimental vaccine that my brother was going to use, and that did not work and how is this one different from the one lawrence used? >> we are using an mnra vaccine, and it will recognize the foreign proteins in the body, and trying to use these vaccines earlier. >> learning how the same company that created the pfizer vaccine was already using this mrna

technology and it could help prevent the cancer. meteorologist, kari hall, has details on the timeline for the arrival of more rain. plus -- >> it's more infectious than any previous variant. >> this has more omicron cases are popping up in the bay area. the precaution everybody is being asked to take to limit the spread. and the race to deliver. we are taking you inside one major shipping facility working to make sure your gifts arrive under the tree in time for christmas day. this is "today in the bay." here we go.