the mayor of inglewood says the flurry security video shows. >> this was a one punch, two shove, one-punch altercation. the greatest damage was done because he landed on the back of his head. jose begins requiring proof of vaccination for some event, we'll tell you why some medical experts are cautiously optimistic about the covid situation. and a subdued celebration. you might have seen it. we are live following the opening ceremony of the olympics. we will take you behind the scenes. ♪♪ ♪♪ the news at 4:00 starts right now. thanks for being with us on this special olympics edition of nbc bay area news. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre and we'll take you live to beijing. was he an innocent victim or did he instigate the fight that

landed him in the hospital? tonight we're getting new information on the bay area chef who was knocked out in a fight before the 49ers game in los angeles. police have arrested a man for that attack. ted chen has more on the charges that that man is facing and the grainy video that may tell us more about what happened. >> inglewood mayor james bud says police were able to find the suspect by using surveillance video at sofi stadium, getting his license and tracking him down. he initially refused to come and did come in after police officers went to his workplace. he was eventually arrested, and here's a photograph that police have provided of that suspect. he is identified as 33-year-old bryan alexis cifuentes russell. booked on assault by providing bodily injury. the victim is daniel luma. the suspect is claiming self-defense. the mayor saw a shoving match

that went awry and there was no danger to the people coming to the super bowl. mayor bud says it does not appear from the video that anyone else was involved in the incident. cifuentes russell was booked and released on $30,000 bail. reporting from inglewood, ted chen, nbc bay area news. back here in the bay area, you might have seen the smoke in the east bay around 880. late this afternoon, you see it here, a fire at the tesla factory at fremont and cardboard pellets were burned around the plant at 1:30 this afternoon and the fremont and milpitas fire department responded and it took two hours to knock down the flames and fire crews are still on site. no word yet on how this started and there were no reports thankfully of any injuries. a gruesome discovery on the south bay has a neighborhood on edge and a man in jail. milpitas police say they found a woman's body buried in her neighbor's backyard. it happened in the milpitas lodge mobile home park less than half a mile away from police

headquarters. officers say they began investigating after 59-year-old tuyet an fong disappeared. they searched her yard and found her body in a shallow grave. today a neighbor tells us she called 911 when she heard a loud noise coming from the victim's home several days ago. >> i feel guilty. >> why guilty? >> because i can't call 911. i don't know how. >> court documents say 34-year-old micah dovlet has admitted to killing and burying his neighbor. okay. starting tonight you can leave that vaccine card at home if you're going to dine indoors or workout inside a gym in contra costa county. the county is celebrating a vaccine milestone by lifting the county's vaccine verification mandate. they're eliminating that mandate because 80% of the county is now fully vaccinated and more than

48% of eligible residents are boosted. so you don't need the vaccine card, but you still will need your mask. >> it's amazing. i'm getting ready to cry. it's amazing. we have suffered greatly so this is amazing news. >> i think we've been really good and we've been honoring what they said to do and we've been hopefully minimizing, but things are looking better. >> there has been a 41% drop in new covid cases since last week in contra costa county. just as that county drops its verification, san jossy is ramping up its vax rules. starting today anyone will have to show proof of vaccination at any event with 50 people or more places like the sap center or the convention center. as robert honda explain, those new comes as people are expressing optimistic views about the virus. >> as san jose starts acquiring

proof of vaccination to get into events such as the sap center, one question is will people feel safe enough to show up? while some medical experts we talked to say the encouraging trend we're seeing around covid cases is not an illusion. going to san jose events now means keeping the booster mandate and the progress of covid in mind, people say they know things are getting better. >> you have to trust the science on what we're seeing and the trends that we're seeing right now and just kind of go with it. >> do you think things are getting better? >> for sure. >> santa clara health cautiously agrees. new omicron sub variant cases rose slightly this week to 30 cases overall. >> every surge that we've been seeing has been different for a variety of reasons due to the nature of the variant, so i think we can be encouraged by the fact that those numbers are going down and the pressure on our emergency rooms has eased. >> from the hospital standpoint, we're in a favorable phase of

the pandemic right now. santa clara medical center reports it hit a peak of 158 covid patients admitted two weeks ago. today, 94, a 40% drop most with less severe symptoms. everyone's talking about going toward this endemic phase. we have to wait and see, but we have quite a bit of immunity within this area within santa clara county and we're seeing a variant that's less virulent, as well and the rates are coming down. >> while the medical experts we talked to today all agree that cautious optimism is the best approach and one way we'll be able to monitor the situation is how the numbers go as more and more people begin to venture out to events again. in san jose, robert handa, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, robert. we are always updating our covid conk on the nbc bay area app. it's super easy. just download it. use it on apple tv, amazon fire, roku or click on covid, what to

know play list to see how booster shots show significant benefits to californians. okay, where were you at 3:30 a.m.? if you are an early riser you may have seen the opening ceremony live on nbc and it happened inside the bird's nest stadium and there it is. this is a live look at the bird's nest and in the foreground the olympic flame. it's hard to detect there, but it is a rotating giant snowflake with the flame very small inside there. it's just after 8:00 saturday morning in china. there are a lot of concerns about the politics and the pandemic of these games, but there are glimpses of the olympic spirit. we will be re-airing the olympic ceremony at 5:00 p.m. tonight and at 8:00 p.m. tonight. it is a captivating program. let's bring in liz mclaughlin. liz, you were there and bundled up on this saturday morning. what stood out to you? >> hey, raj, got seeing you at

least through the tv. that's what we expect from the ceremony, a lot of fanfare, and a nice spectacle and that's what we saw and just to put it in comparison, and there were 15,000 performers then and only 3,000 this time around so a little bit more subdued, a lot of logistics and protocols going into this game given the timing and then, you know, yesterday the team usa opening ceremony uniform and i will say it's a cooler jacket than team canada had on, literally this is a lot warmer and canada is more used to that winter weather. this is the official kickoff of the games, that opening ceremony, but team usa has already been competing and dominating in some sports. ♪♪ ♪ >> team usa is gliding towards the podium in the team figure skating event. the quad king, nathan chen

delivering a calm, clean short program. >> yes! >> redemption from his less than stellar finish in pyeongchang. >> learn from mistakes and learn from the good and continue moving forward. >> momentum for a medal with the u.s. in the lead after top notch performances in rhythm dancing and pairs. the winter olympics in full swing after the ceremonial start of the games. >> and the moment many of you at home have been waiting for -- >> team usa walking in the parade of nations. >> she is a member of the uighur minority. >> a controversial ending to the ceremony, china choosing a uighur athlete as one of the torchbearers to light the olympic flame. the host country has been condemned by the muslim ethnic minority leading the u.s. and other nations to hold a diplomatic boycott of the games. >> this was a repause to president joe biden for skipping these olympics and a message to the west.

china won't be lectured on human rights or on any other issue. >> politics and a pandemic overshadowing this winter olympics. >> liz mclaughlin in beijing. as we mentioned you can watch an encore presentation of the opening ceremony in less than an hour, 5:00 and then again at 8:00 p.m. and also tonight, team usa is taking on sweden in mixed do you recalls curling. did you hear that? mixed doubles curling. that's at 5:00 on usa network and south lake tahoe jamie anderson at 8:50 p.m. the agency responsible for keeping streets and sidewalks clean has hundreds of openings for jobs. during a supervisor hearing, the public works department explained it has 500 vacationances.

300 of those operations are just in the operations division. many of those positions are not full time and only filled for a specific project, but at least one supervisor says he's concerned to see so many open positions at a time when the city is having a hard time keeping the streets and sidewalks clean. >> we need to dive on this and improve this. >> we are either using overtime to make sure we get the work done or we're doing a big hiring push rid now to get the vacancies filled as we're emerging from the pandemic. >> the supervisor says a working group will be put together to reduce hiring time and focus on filling those positions and something many say are tricky with so many places looking to hire right now. happening now, oakland teachers, parents and students are rallying outside of city hall. you can see it there. this is all in response to the oakland unified school district's plan to close or merge up to 16 schools. that's going to happen over the next two years. what we're giving you now is a

live look and we apologize for it breaking up and this is skyranger above this protest and we march to the district office on broadway. >> up next on this special 4:00 newscast, the top item for thieves, yes, thieves in the bay area. it's tools. the reason construction crews are getting targeted and how this could impact you. we have two new case wes one common thread, zero action from the company to help people get their money back. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura, nbc bay area responds next. we're seeing mid-60s in the bay area and the seven-day forecast and mid-70s what it means for your weekend forecast ahead when we come right back.

care coalition, it's so good to see you all! alright! let's brainstorm. any ideas for new members? i'd like to nominate alaska airlines. this neck pillow i'm dating says great things! a caring airline?! wait, those exist?! it says here they were the first airline to switch from plastic bottles to boxed water. they also hire a lot of people from caring professions. i'm seeing former teachers and nurses. it's settled! alaska airlines is officially in the running! round of applause!

for years. thieves targeting construction sites and contractors. those thefts involve materials and for the contractors valuable tools. as nbc bay area tells us, many of the contractors say the problem is getting worse and they worry that it's getting more dangerous. [ bleep ]. >> three men surround contractor william marcus' suv in the middle of the night. this time he scared them off, but he says he's lost tens of thousands of dollars of equipment to thieves over the last couple of years. now he has layers of security around his house and his work truck. despite all that, every week someone still shows up and tries to steal his tools. >> several times when i've

literally caught the guy red-handed and he's in front of me and there's nothing you can do about it. i mean, you don't know if these guys have guns. >> and unfortunately, that's the nightmare scenario one man in san francisco met last month. he ran out to to get video of the getaway car's license plate and that's when someone in the car fired a shot and it's not just an issue in the east bay in san francisco in menlo park. this contractor who only wanted to use his first name, rodrigo had his entire truck stolen. william said fending off these robberies adds time and cost to construction projects. >> every time i need something out of my truck i have to go through five to six locks to get to my tools. >> for the smaller projects these trades people are left on their own. >> architect adam mayer says he's seen challenges getting construction workers to sites in san francisco because they're worried about being robbed. he blames policies that have reduced penalties.

>> quote, unquote victimless crime. the tools are their livelihood. >> we have checked in with san francisco and menlo park about the robberies and so far no response from either department. sergio quint ana, bay area news. >> how has your life changed? we continue to see the impact of people deciding not to go back to their own jobs. our investigative units spent the past week learning more about those who were laid off during the pandemic and specifically what they're doing now and how they're getting by and for those choosing to stay jobless, why they made that decision and how are they surviving financially. that's a lot of fascinating insight including thoughts from the bay area worker, becoming a new mom pushed her to take a risk launching a new business. >> i feel like i'll never go back to my old job because i enjoy creating products and

having the passive income so i can enjoy my time with my son. >> candace nguyen digs deeper tonight at 11:00 and shows us what employers now have to do to lure workers back. >> 2022 is off to a busy start for our response team. our consumer investigator chris chmura is here with problems he's solving and the money, more importantly, he's getting back for viewers like you. chris? >> we received a flood of 100 new complaints and we're working on getting back to everyone and we will. here are a few cases we put in the books. gary in cupertino says his newspaper suddenly stopped arriving. this dragged on and on. in the end barry expected a refund for the missed papers. we agreed and we contacted the publisher and he got a $36 refund. kathleen needed help getting $1600 back for five tickets she bought for a concert that was ultimately canceled. kathleen expected a full refund and we can't argue with that,

but the ticket company kept her money until we sent a note. kathleen got her $1670 back. we've taken on a bunch of concert ticket cases lately for folks in the area. if your trying to get a refund. try our secret weapon. it's section 22507 of california law, it says you get a refund when shows are postponed or canceled. tell them 22507 means your money back, all your money. if that doesn't work, tell us. we'll tell them again. our phone number is 888-996-tips and click the response option from the main menu. have a great weekend. >> thank you, chris. you, too. we are in the year of the tiger and tonight a celebration to kick it off. why are we here? we need to be there at santana row. >> we never get the good assignments. >> let's bring in steve me

magallon with a lot of people behind you. stephanie? ? yes. everything just started right now at 4 chok. there are tons of performances and there's actually one going on right now and this is just one of many that we'll be able to enjoy today. there is live music. we just finished hearing from mayor sam liccardo and emceeing the event and this place is packed and the place to be right now. we have tons of families enjoying the activities and there are several giveaways, there are games and we have a curling game going on right here. you can get a chance to win one of these beijing medals. i didn't earn this one, but i'm going to try and earn one of them. this one was just given to me to show to everyone, but over on this side we can turn the camera just a little bit, we have the olympic village going on. there are several activities going on over there. there's cutouts of our local

players from the olympics. we have some handouts and some giveaways and there's going to also be an art contest for the youth. you can take pictures. this is going to go on until 6:00. we're going to be out here. so if you get a chance to head out here to santana row, we'll be out here. go ahead and stop by and say hi, and if you're afraid of missing the olympic performances, don't worry. the restaurants here will be having that for you. here in san jose, i'm stephanie magallon. >> that looks fun. we can go to santana row, watch the performances and then go to the restaurant and watch the games. >> the weather looks pretty mild and not too bad. a nice little jacket and you're good to go. >> folks in february, we should have umbrellas out there and no, not the case. we have mid-60 'and santa clara and haze in the trivalley. 59 degrees in livermore and san

francisco also in the 60s today, but let's take a look from the east bay. this is emoriville looking back to san francisco. do you see how it disappears into the haze and this is a sign of strong high pressure acting like a lid on top of the bay area and watch what happens when the wind started to back off. we had good air quality of those winds last week and look at that index spiking back to unhealthy for the sensitive groups range. if we're not going to get the wind, and if you're in the north bay hills and the east bay hills you'll see the breezes pick up and hopefully some of this can mix down into the lower levels of the air into the bay area and help to clear out our skies a little bit and notice the arrows still pointing out the high pressure as we're locked in. morning temperatures and you'll still have to dress in layers with some 30s to low 40s to start the day and by lunchtime tomorrow you should be in the

60s around san jose and los gatos and santa cruz and half moon bay by noon. high temperatures tomorrow and we had the repeat performance tomorrow. san jose will be in the upper 60s and mid-60s over towards oakland. so high pressure likely to strengthen as we go through next week so it's not only sending the storms way off to the north even as the clouds come by at times and no rain in the forecast and the bigger story moving forward will be those temperatures. look at san francisco from tuesday into the end of next week, likely to see upper 60s to near 70-degree temperatures for highs and probably the coolest days for the seven-day forecast and by next week we'll be looking at 70s inland. oakland, we could be in the 70s, wednesday through friday of next week and in the trivalley it does seem, no signs of rain just

yet and plenty of the springlike temperatures and they'll be sticking around for a while as we head into the middle part of the month. >> spring break weather. >> up next on this special 4:00 edition of bay area news. no fan allowed inside the stadium and we'll show you how spectators found a way to enjoy the opening ceremony there in beijing. stay with us.

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during the openinger is money pep covid, no spectators. >> limited fans gathered and so did journalists and they came out of the international broadcasting center or ibc as we call it to watch the opening ceremony in big screens outside. the ceremony included some technological wonders including the traditional parade of nations. if you missed it this morning at 3:30 in the morning which is understandable, don't worry. you can watch it right here on the nbc bay area at 5:00. >> you didn't stay up? >> i have to confess, i did not. >> we'll watch it today. we are just getting started. up next, ross and malu in studio for the olympic zone. we'll see you again at 9:00. bye, guys. yep, it's go time with wireless on the most reliable network. ok, that jump was crazy! but what's crazier?

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tonight on "the olympic zone." the athletes who will carry the american flag into the opening ceremony, the honor and emotion. >> i have been chosen to carry the flag. >> and the reason behind the replacement that embodies the olympic spirit. plus, it's z some of the greatest action in a pool took place. >> the u.s. has done it! >> all those records and all of those gold medals and in the same building, pretty epic. >> now beijing's water cube has a cool new look as competition heats up.