miles per charge. our reporter scott budman tried out the simulator. the company's founder says once it's available, you may live further away from the bay area hustle and bustle. >> the cost of living is much lower and better quality of life, and you can fly here within 20, 30 minutes. >> aska is hoping its flying car makes it into production by 2026. they're actually making pre-orders now. the price tag, though, $790,000. they're hoping to eventually get the price down to the $200,000 range, i think. >> ouch either way. 6:00 for you this morning. record inflation. prices keep soaring across the country and it's only expected to get worse. we have live team coverage this morning breaking down the increase in prices at the pump and grocery store. scott mcgrew dives into the numbers to show us where we can

save. >> plus, winter games are heating up. we've got a live look at beijing where team usa is celebrating an overnight victory. a local olympian is getting a chance at gold after testing positive for covid. we're live from the games covering it all. this is "today in the bay." good wednesday morning. thanks so much for making us a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> and i'm laura garcia. don't forget, if you're on the go, you can take us with you. we broadcast not only to your television, but you can watch us live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv, online and, also, our nbc bay area app. >> we've got a lot to cover for you this morning. first, want to get to meteorologist kari hall because she is talking about record heat in some places, and possibly some strong winds, too, kari. >> yes, so we've been dealing with not only the dry conditions, but now our temperatures are headed up. you probably can't tell that it's going to be a warm day right now because we are

starting out chilly. but we are not seeing any fog for the most part, especially in the east bay. in the south county as you're dropping off the kids for school, you'll need a winter coat for the start of the day and then more like spring/summer gear for the afternoon at pickup time. we're headed for the low 70s by early in the afternoon. we'll talk about those records in the forecast coming up in a few minutes. >> thank you very much. 6:02 right now. have you noticed prices lately? this morning our team is tracking record-breaking inflation. it's causing a rise in gas prices, groceries, and cars, as many just struggle to make it in the bay. >> scott mcgrew is breaking down the surging inflation, but first we want to go to nbc bay area's cierra johnson in marin county. let's talk about gas prices where you are. >> reporter: good morning. take a look over my shoulder. gas here, $4.89 a gallon. that's well above the national

average. a little higher where it is in each of the areas here in the bay area. so if you take a look at your screen, we have a breakdown of what folks across the nation are paying. according to aaa, folks across the nation, the national average, $3.47 a gallon. but here in the bay area, the average price of gas a little bit higher. in oakland, $4.73. san jose, $4.75, and in san francisco you can expect to pay $4.82 a gallon. so what are some of the reasons behind these higher gas prices? the experts say it's multi-facetted. for one, there's an increase in demand for heating oil in the cold winter months. another issue, the growing tension between russia and ukraine. many experts worry those issues are creating diplomatic tension within europe and among its allies, like us here in the united states. one expert tells cnbc oil will certainly hit $120 a barrel and

the global economy will be, quote, unquote, radically altered if russia invades ukraine. on my facebook page i'm asking what are the gas prices like in your neighborhood and where are they typically higher in the bay area? i did have an individual say they're about 5 cents higher in santa rosa, and i'm sure you've noticed it's not just gas that is on the rise. if you've been to the grocery store, meat, produce, a lot of other of those grocery items are on the rise and those experts are saying it's due to inflation. so if you're headed out to run errands, grocery shopping or getting gas, be sure to bring your pocketbook because you're going to need it. live in marin county, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> don't forget anything. >> we continue our coverage with scott mcgrew. how hard a family is hit really depends on what they buy. >> that's right.

gas and food, those are two things that most american families buy all the time. but when you take that data out of the equation, and economists do this, you get what they call the core inflation. that's not as bad. it's about 2% less. the government measures inflation using a basket of goods and some of those goods get really expensive. for instance, plane tickets are up 2.7%, used cars up 3.5%, tobacco up as well. if these are in your basket of goods you buy regularly, you feel inflation more than some. but, of course, if you like to read and you like to eat cheese, prices of books and cheese are actually down. so sometimes the numbers aren't as bad as they sound, because it depends on what you buy. it's a terrible time to buy a car. most people can put it off, though. and it's not something you would do regularly, like tobacco or air tickets. it's not a monthly purchase to buy a car. we get more inflation data tomorrow as the commerce department releases the consumer

price index. economists figure the january numbers will show 7.3% increases in prices since the same time last year. this is headline inflation. december, about 7%, november was 6.5%. notice these are year-over-year. you don't add them together. these are year-over-year. but the data definitely shows that inflation is bad and it's getting worse. and laura and marcus, as we've discussed in the past, that means interest rates are going up. >> yep, and we're watching it. thank you so much, scott. >> 6:06 this morning, team usa, snowboarding now front and center at the winter olympics. here's a live look at the olympic flame this morning. tonight go gold medalists will try to capture the magic once again. one of them, shaun white. the other became an overnight sensation in pyeongchang. >> "today in the bay's" janelle wang is live in beijing. let's warn everyone first about the snowboarding news that came down after prime time. you may want to watch this later

tonight. a spoiler alert, team usa celebrating its first gold medal of the games. pretty exciting, janelle. >> big day. yeah, so exciting. it's all about the snowboarders today. team usa winning its first gold medal of these games in snowboard. it happened just after midnight your time. she's from connecticut. her name is lindsey jacobellis. this is her fifth olympics. she won silver six years ago, trying for another medal in every olympics since then, and today gold. very happy for the 36-year-old. now to another snowboarding star, chloe kim, the reigning gold medalist dominating the qualifying round. she blew everybody out of the halfpipe. she advances to the finals hoping for back-to-back golds. >> such a good halfpipe with great weather conditions. i'm almost just enjoying it more than thinking about winning

gold. >> reporter: you can hear more on "today" coming up at 7:00 a.m. also you can hear from shaun white, also in the finals going for his fourth gold medal. i got a message from nick taylor of hayward. he's an alternate on the bobsledding team. he tested out of isolation, back-to-back negative covid tests. he posted his celebration video on instagram. look at that smile. i mean, he says he's been in isolation for a week and a half and he's done a lot of meditation and prayer to get through this time. his wife is elana meyers taylor, competing in the monobob. we've calculated we've downed 2,000 calories today and we decided to have a race to the

top of the platform. he took the outer edge, i took the inside because he's 6'5" and i'm 5'8", and you can see what happens at the end. he won, i lost. but, robbie, i did it again three more times to try to burn off 2,000 calories. i'm not even close. but i got a little exercise in today. >> wow, you got a lot of exercise in. if there was an olympic category for that, you would certainly medal. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: thanks, guys. >> thanks, janelle. if you're keeping track of team usa's overall medal count, here is a spoiler alert. we're going to reveal the count now as the music plays. >> so once the music stops, make sure you come back because we've got more for you. take a look. ♪ 6:09. today is the last day for you to

get a covid vaccine at the peninsula. the site at the event center on saratoga drive is closing. it's open from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. today. they're offering boosters, as well as first and second doses. new this morning pg&e and at the center of preliminary hearings which may lead to a new criminal trial. sonoma county prosecutors are arguing the utility should answer to felony and misdemeanor counts tied to the kinkaid fire in 2019. no deaths have been attributed to the fire, but more than 100 homes burned and firefighters were injured on the front lines. now, pg&e has admitted that its power line sparked the fire, however mistakes fell well short of crimes. the utility is facing environmental charges. prosecutors are claiming that fire smoke eventually led to the death of one person. 6:10, taking a live look outside downtown san jose. a nice start to our morning. kari has a look at the rest of

the day. >> we're starting out chilly, but it's going to warm up quickly. as you're getting ready to head out for that commute in the tri-valley, we are seeing clear visibility. our temperatures in the low 40s right now in dublin. look at the trend for late morning into the afternoon, reaching into the upper 60s, making it into the low 70s. a high of 75 expected in san jose today. and even some upper 70s for parts of the north bay, san francisco reaching 74, and 75 in dublin. what's normal? about 61 degrees. so we are going way above that and we may set some records, not only today but tomorrow. so we'll talk more about that in just a few minutes. mike, you have a second issue reported for freemont. >> yeah, so those temps are not normal and in freemont this is not normal. as we look at the map north 880 moves smoothly, but the exit at malory, there may be a freeway sign that came down.

still, we're watching for any notice about the off ramp, so far it's open. also, 84, all lanes open now. the construction crew cleared from the freemont area. circling some slowing in hayward that's just developing. the rest of the bay on schedule, including san jose. back to you. >> thanks, mike. 6:12 right now. beware, chipotle fans, the next burrito may be a little harder to swallow, and not because it's too spicy. the changes expected to hit you hardest in the wallet. plus -- >> any time more people are able to enter the donor pool, it's a good thing. >> we take a look at the new push to open up donations from the gay community.

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woo! whoa! what the heck? oh, it's all that nacho cheese flavor packed into my nacho tiny tacos. (coughing) i love it. i love it. it's good. get my nacho tiny tacos for $3.50. or try them bacon loaded for $4.50. good wednesday morning. right now at 6:15, you're standing in front of the closet getting dressed. i don't know, maybe a coat and shorts. it's not going to match because our temperatures are cold this morning. in rohnert park, 36, it will be in the 70s today. >> a coat and shorts sounds fine to me. a nice, easy drive on the bay bridge, but the metering lights just turned on. we'll give them a few minutes to build here. you'll need your fas trak flex

here. remember, tolling starts charging on friday. >> reporter: good morning. very happy wednesday to you. tesla may be facing another lawsuit, this time from the state of california, over alleged racial discrimination and harassment. the lawsuit from the california department of fair employment and housing was revealed in a tesla financial filing. so we don't have much more information about it. it just says unspecified allegations. in october last year, a jury in san francisco federal court decided tesla should pay a former worker, owen diaz $137 million after he faced a hostile work environment. our investigative unit did all kinds of research into that case. you can find their report at nbcbayarea.com/investigations. the justice department on tuesday announced a major bust in the world of cryptocurrency, accusing a married couple of laundering stolen bitcoin. the doj says it seized more than

$3.6 billion in cryptocurrency, which it says was held by ilya liechtenstein and his wife, heather morgan, who were arrested in manhattan. according to court documents, they allegedly conspired to launder the bitcoin that were stolen from a platform called bitfinex after a hacker reached bitfinex's systems. the couple is not accused of the robbery, just the money laundering. the flowchart we showed you, a good reminder that bitcoin can be tracked. it's one of the biggest selling points of bitcoin, that there is a ledger. the other interesting aspect in this case, in addition to being an alleged money launderer, ms. morgan is apparently a wrapper who goes by the name razzlekahn. >> for all the hackers, misfits. ♪ ♪

>> marcus and laura, you know, our producer warned us we're run ago little short on time and we don't have time to discuss this. in fact, he asked us for a tight wrap, and we just gave you a tight rap. >> that was about enough of that. >> rap? i don't know. that's questionable. thanks, scott. 6:18 this morning. the next time you visit chipotle it won't be just the guacamole you're paying more for. the company is raising prices again. chipotle raised prices back in december 4% and the ceo sees more price hikes before the end of the year. trending this morning, not everything uber eats delivers is meant to be consumed. >> several celebrities learned that the hard way in a new super bowl ad. check it out. ♪ >> thanks to uber eats, we don't know what food is anymore. >> we can't eat any of this.

>> that bag is a liar. >> i just got so excited. >> jennifer coolidge, trevor noah, among the celebrities in the commercial. it's already going viral. for anyone wondering, coolidge revealed she did chew up the paper towels while filming the ad. don't forget, you can watch the super bowl and all those ads as well right here on nbc bay area this sunday. >> can't believe it, this sunday. and this sunday the weather in l.a. is going to be warm, kari. >> yeah, we're going to be talking about that in just a second, and it's also going to be very warm here. take a live look outside. starting out with our cool morning in san francisco and around the bay area. it's also clear. we've only seen just a little bit of fog farther to the north in northern sonoma koun.

take a look at the high temperatures. you're looking at the calendar, like, what's today again? yeah, february 9th, and we're seeing temperatures that are going to head into the mid to upper 70s. 73 in livermore, 79 in santa rosa, and san mateo reaching 70 degrees, san jose in the mid-70s. with temperatures warm for this time of yeerks by tomorrow it gets even warmer and we may be setting records. santa rosa headed for 80. the record is 79. concord reaching 76. the record is 64. you can see that at least in three cities in the bay area we may have record highs here over the next couple of days. but while we're warm, it is really hot in southern california. and they have heat advisories in effect starting today through sunday. so there was something going on this weekend, and as a lot of the fans are heading into sofi stadium it's going to be in the mid-80s. at kickoff we're going to see

temperatures even slightly warmer. by the end of the game temperatures drop off to the mid-70s. but really warm for this time of year. and then as we look at our dry weather that continues, models can't even agree on whether or not we'll just get a sprinkle or two. that's about all we're seeing as we run the models out ten days, and each day without rain and no snow, our sierra snowpack is declining. right now we're at 82% of normal. back in january it was 160% of normal. we're looking at warm weather in the near term. it will be cooling off, but unfortunately the cooldown doesn't come with any rain. mike, how is it looking right now for the commute? >> the wait has started. we were waiting for the metering lights at the bay bridge. let me show you the developments over the last few minutes. the metering lights weren't turned on until 6:08. there's barely a backup visible, but you do see folks slowing. the maps shows you slower across

the span there. also highway 37 and 4, traditional spots for the build, a lighter build overall and slowing through hayward, southbound nimitz and san jose 101 north a little slowing. back to you. 6:21 right now. coming up next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> you might consider your pay stub to be private. we found otherwise. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. we'll explain what else gets to see it next. >> and we are celebrating black history here on "today in the bay." we are shining a light on archie williams, the oakland native, an olympic gold medalist. after the olympics he served in world war ii. we thank him for his service and contributions.

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!

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new this morning, the fda is taking steps to possibly lift a ban on blood donations by gay men. the decades old policy goes back to 1980s during the height of the aids epidemic when gay and by sexual men were first restricted in donating blood to keep hiv out of the blood supply. the ban was reduced to a required one year of abstinence that's been adjusted to three months. if the donor ban does get lifted, it could boost blood supplies close to 5%. who knows how much money you make at work. >> we know there's a good chance a data broker does.

investigator chris chmura has been asking how and why. >> it turns out millions of companies are sharing their own employees' pay stubs every pay period. one data broker says it has salary info for more than half the country's workforce. the startup in san francisco is doing the same thing, scooping up pay stubs from thousands of companies. this employee at the electronic frontier foundation wonders whether workers have any idea this is going on. >> employees should be able to make the individual choice about what the benefits and costs are of something like that. >> why do they share pay stubs? what do they get out of it? we'll dig into all of that tonight at 11:00. we'll help you see the payroll info that the data brokers have on you. if you have a consumer problem you want to share with us, go to nbcbayarea.com, tap the responds option, or call us, 888-966-tips. i'll join you tonight at 11:00. >> next, the top stories we're

following, including some record heat in the bay area. meteorologist kari hall is going to break down the potentially dangerous conditions in some parts of the bay area. plus -- >> reporter: developing news overnight, oakland unified votes to close or merge several schools. the timeline from when those sites will be shut down. you're watching "today in the bay." we learn about covid-19,

the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next?

if you're feeling anxious about the future, re not alone. the biggest question now, what's next? calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. the ball in y'all's court. y'all see what's happening. i know what you're about to do.

>> breaking now at 6:30, oakland schools now set to shut down, including some as soon as this fall. it follows an emotional debate going late into the evening. we're breaking down where families will feel the most impacts and the response from teachers. >> another bay area county indicates plans to lift its mask mandate next week. however, others are still holding off. our team is moving you forward and sorting out the confusion. >> plus, hopes quickly evaporating. the changing strategies water leaders are devising with no rain on the horizon. and the impact it could have on you during the summer sizzle. this is "today in the bay." a very good wednesday morning. thank you so much for starting your morning with us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. so many ways to watch "today in the bay," not only here on television, but you can watch us live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. let's take a live look at

beijing. janelle wang will join us at 6:55. she's got reaction from one of team usa's first victories. >> now we want to go to meteorologist kari hall with more on not a drop in sight when it comes to rain in our forecast. >> it's been extremely dry over the past 33 days now and counting. so as we take a look at where we're starting, we have temperatures anywhere from 40 in morgan hill to 58 degrees in oakland. already much milder than what we've seen recently. and you need to be prepared for a cool morning as you're getting the kids ready for school. we're in the low 40s now for drop-off for school in morgan hill. at pickup time we'll be in the low 70s. so a pretty significant warm-up for later today. and we may set some records this afternoon. we'll be very close in many of the microclimates and temperatures warm up more for tomorrow. we'll talk more about that in the forecast coming up in a few minutes. 6:31 right now.

breaking news overnight. oakland school leaders voting to shut down or merge several schools, some as soon as june. "today in the bay's" bob redell is live this morning to give us a little bit of a better understanding of when the closures are going to happen. >> reporter: good morning, laura. we're talking about 11 schools that will be closed or merged over the next two years. so community day and parker elementary, those schools will be shut down this year. then oakland unified will shut down five more schools the following year, all of them elementary schools. you can see that on your tv screen, the list. the board also voted to merge rise community elementary with new eyeland academy and sut sixth through eighth agreed from escuelita and hillcrest. the vote happened around 1:00 a.m. this morning, after eight hours of comments from families and staff. they say the closures are necessary to deal with declining

enrollment and a multi-million budget deficit. they point out other school districts similar in size have about half as many schools as oakland. opponents question why the decision has to be made right now, especially in light of the state's $31 billion budget surplus. >> we've got kindergartners, elementary students on here telling you how much they love school and for y'all to close them down during the midst of a pandemic, people out of work. >> it's one big community and it would hurt a lot to take it apart. >> reporter: school board director mike hutchinson who voted against the closures posted on social media, and i'm quoting, the oakland school board just declared war on the community by voting to immediately close schools at the end of the school year. it's on. adding that lawsuits will be filed today. one teacher remains on hunger strike for a ninth day to protest the school closures. a second teacher was in the hospital temporarily last night

to deal with issues surrounding his starvation. they are encouraging people to speak up at the board's regular meeting that takes place virtually again at 4:00 this afternoon. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thank you. moving you forward in the pandemic, a new sign the latest full-blown phase may be behind us. dr. anthony fauci telling "the financial times" that covid restrictions may end soon. we're talking about sometime this year. he says local health leaders are going to have to start making their own decisions on how to deal with the virus as covid cases have dropped 50% in the u.s. over the past week. that's according to the world health organization. now, along with those lines, another bay area county ready to roll back its masking rules when california's mandate ends next week. health leaders in other counties are still on the fence. "today in the bay's" sharon katsuda is live for us in san jose. santa clarita county leaders will likely tip their hand later

today. >> reporter: that's right, marcus. we should find out soon. a news conference is supposed to take place at 8:30 this morning. on february 15th the state says that indoor mask mandate will expire if you're vaccinated. there's been a lot of discussion in all bay area counties on whether and when to follow the state's lead. many health experts say local cases have dropped significantly, about 70% since the omicron surge. so the time is right to drop the indoor mask requirement for those vaccinated. local leaders say there needs to be local decisions, and soon. >> if we don't somehow match the effort of the state, saying that's not the case in santa clarita county, at least not right now, there's going to be a lot of conflict between people walking into stores without masks and business owners saying you should have masks. >> reporter: san mateo county is the latest to align with the state, saying masks can come off

for people vaccinated indoors starting on the 16th. solano and marin counties will follow the state highlighted in green. others in yellow are still waiting to decide. alameda and contra costa say they'll make an announcement before the 15th. and we haven't heard back from sonoma county. so under the new state mask rules, people who are unvaccinated will still be required to wear masks indoors and people will have to wear masks indoors at public places, such as public transit and hospitals. reporting live in san jose, i'm sharon katsuda, "today in the bay." >> thanks so much, sharon. 6:36 right now. new this morning, the cdc is considering a longer interval between doses of two-shot covid vaccines. the agency is now considering advising people to wait eight weeks between injections to lower the risk of heart inflammation, an extremely rare side effect found in males. currently the agency advises waiting three weeks for a pfizer second dose, four weeks for moderna.

it's just an example of many changing guidelines and regulations surrounding covid. i sat down with ucsf infectious disease expert dr. peter chin-hong for a one-on-one interview about the change in guidance. as the state mask mandate now is set to expire, we're still in the middle of this pandemic. what should people continue doing moving forward? >> i think that it depends on your own risk/benefit calculus, and again if you are a little queasy about crowded, indoor settings, if you live with immunocompromised individuals, if you haven't gotten vaccinated and if you haven't gotten boosted and you're older, i think you should still keep your protections up, your mask up, and personally speaking, if i go into a crowded grocery area, rush hour, i'm not going to take off my mask. i'm probably going to skill keep it on, because there's still a lot of covid going around. >> when do you think this pandemic will turn into an

endemic? >> i think there has to be two things before i personally think that it will become endemic. the first is the number of deaths has to go way down. right now we're over 2,500 deaths a day in the united states. if you think about the flu, average flu season, average per day, it's only about 100 cases a day. so 2,500 deaths a day is no chump change. the second thing i would like to have happen before we think of it as truly endemic is predictability. if it turns out every winter with influenza and other respiratory viruses you may have covid circulating and the number of deaths go down, i think we'll be in good shape of thinking of this as the background rather than something we live in fear of randomly. >> we're all getting through it together. dr. peter chin-hong, you've been a great leader in informing the public about what to do and how to keep healthy. we thank you for it. >> thanks so much, laura.

>> i talked to dr. peter chin-hong about so much more, including what he thinks about the new vaccine interval consideration by the cdc. you can watch a full interview on our nbc bay area streaming app. download it now for your amazon fire, roku or apple tv. you can find the story under the must-see playlists. 6:39, and to our climate in crisis. optimism evaporating for south bay water leaders after a promising start to the rainy season. the tail end of 2021 provided a surprising amount of rain in the bay area and snowpack in the sierra. now reservoir levels are starting to dip back into the red zone with no rain in sight. so the leader of santa clarita county valley water district is really growing concerned by the day. >> the only water we're getting from the state is a little bit over emergency supplies, which is health and safety levels, which means they don't give us any water for irrigation, for for business. that's why conservation is

extraordinarily important. >> experts say with global warming, water conservation these days really should be a way of life, not just when drought concerns are high. >> and let's talk about that forecast for us today. meteorologist kari hall has been monitoring what we can expect. we were talking about the reservoirs and they're not looking great. >> they're not looking great, and then when you take a look at the statewide numbers in some of our larger reservoirs, we are only at 32% of capacity, and so these numbers continue to drop each day without any rain. and this dry weather continues and we're also going to be warming up. take a look at oakland and our temperature trend going from the low 40s to the mid to upper 60s by 1:00 today. a lot of sunshine once again at our dry weather continues and near record highs starting to enter the picture today and really peaking tomorrow as our temperatures warm up even more. santa rosa today headed for 79,

while we'll see a high of 76 in south san jose. we'll talk more about this coming up in a few minutes. mike, you were warning folks about the bridge delays after the morning commute. >> yeah, or predicting moreyest. let me show you the map. aut re-striping falift going o today across the golden gate bridge from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. yesterday folks did slow past crews and that would make things a little safer for their drive across. now, as we get across the bridge, no problem coming into san francisco. it's the bay bridge that has slowing, an earlier incident at fremont did cause more more slowing at the metering lights. a bigger build at the toll plaza. now we're back to a pretty steady flow. overnight we're looking for a closure of the webster tube tonight, getting out of oakland to alameda and that's normal maintenance. the rest of the bay, a typical pattern. back to you. 6:41 right now.

college enrollment on a serious slide. coming up next on "today in the bay," the staggering number of students who are passing on pursuing a higher education, and the schools getting hit the hardest. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell with some very strong words about the january 6th attack. let's take you out to new york city. dow industrial doing very well. the nasdaq is doing about twice as well. plus -- >> the sod father, nitty-gritty dirt man, anything they call me is okay with me. >> talk about a familiar face fans will see on the sidelines come super bowl. one that's been there for years. he has a central role in making sure the game gets off on the right feet.

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right now at 6:44, as you're waking up and heading out, we're starting out with temperatures that are cool in brentwood, but it's going to warm up quite a bit. so 41 now, headed for the upper 60s at 1:00. a look at all of our microclimates and warmer temperatures coming up. >> and the bay bridge toll plaza has this backup as an incident happened over at fremont. the exit there and the incident all cleared. we should be better movement, we do see better movement. still backed up heading out over the 880 over-cross. police in antioch are investigating a deadly drive-by

shooting that happened just after 7:00 last night near canada valley road and pinnacle view way. police say a driver called 911 about his passenger being shot, who was having difficulty breathing. officers say the 76-year-old victim was shot in the back and she died at the hospital. they believe that a gunman in another car fired those shots. so far no arrests have been made. also new overnight, firefighters say the person rescued yesterday in a san jose house fire has died. flames engulfed the home on deborah way. this is the second deadly house fire this week in san jose. president biden will meet with energy executives today. >> scott mcgrew, he's still pushing for build back better. >> reporter: yeah, and he knows those executives support the bill. earlier this month the president met with auto executives about the same thing for the same reason. now, the other thing we're watching is congress. the house just passed a bill that solves a lot of the

problems for the postal service. most importantly, it changed a well-intentioned law that forced the post office to pre-fund retirement benefits, meaning it was always short on money. it's also worth pointing out this was a very bipartisan bill. both republicans and democrats strongly supporting it. the most powerful republican voice in the senate, mitch mcconnell, is speaking out against members of his own party, who censured fellow republicans adam kinzinger and liz cheney. the attack, in which people died have been labeled as legitimate political discourse by the republican national committee. mcconnell disagrees, calling it a violent insurrection. >> it was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent a peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately

certified election, from one administration to the next. that's what it was. with regard to the suggestion that the rnc should be in the business of picking and choosing republicans who ought to be supported, traditionally the view of the national party committees is that we support all members of our party, regardless of their positions on some issues. >> reporter: one of the people allegedly part of that attack, this man in the center, guy wesley of texas is going to be a very important part of all of this. he'll be the first person to face full trial over hisde the include the man's own children, who will apparently testify against him. the documents say the father told them not to cooperate with the fbi, bec and then he allegedly said

traitors get shot. the trial is due to start at the last week of this month. we also know from the very same court records that prosecutors got access to his private text messages, including those on telegram, an encrypted service many thought was secure and used by many of the january 6th attackers. we're watching everything that's happening in washington and answering your questions about them on social media, on twitter you'll find me @scott mcgrew. two years into the pandemic and new signs showing just how it's impacting young people. nearly 1 million fewer students have enrolled in college. that's according to the national student clearinghouse research center. that amounts to a 5% drop over two years, including a 3% decline over the past year. community colleges are being hit especially hard. let's take a live look at sofi stadium in los angeles. super bowl lvi now just four days away. one guy at this sunday's game will be exactly where he's been

for all 55 other super bowls, right there on the field. george thoma has been called a lot of things, the god of sod, the sod father. he's made sure the super bowl field is fit for game come game day. >> you have to give these athletes the best playing surface, a safe playing surface. that's number one. number two, you've got to give the fans in the stands and the fans on tv a field of beauty. >> it sure does look good. don't forget, super bowl lvi airs right here on nbc bay area. all right. here we go with a look at the forecast today. 6:50 right now. meteorologist kari hall has a look at what we can expect. we can actually see the golden gate bridge behind you. >> we can. and it's going to be a very clear day, a lot of sunshine, quickly warming temperatures. when we take a look at our highs

and where we're headed for this afternoon, reaching into the upper 70s. so what's normal for early february? low 60s. yeah, we're going way above that, reaching into the mid-70s for concord and san jose. also reaching the mid-70s in san francisco. tomorrow even warmer and we may be setting records in santa rosa, concord, as well as san jose, going above these numbers where we are used to seeing 60s, we're headed for the upper 70s and low 80s, which would most likely set a new record. we were talking about the super bowl, the sod is going to be perfect. but, also, outside of sofi stadium we are going to have some really warm temperatures. starting today, they'll have heat advisories in effect all around southern california. temperatures reaching into the mid-80s to low 90s. and at the time of the game on sunday, the heat advisories will continue. we'll be in the mid-80s already at noon. and then going into the afternoon, some mid-80s.

so they're going to be talking about that, some of the people standing outside, the media and all of the tailgaters and people celebrating are going to have to deal with some really warm temperatures, especially for this time of year. and then it cools down into the evening. here we're looking at warm weather. check out concord and our ten-day forecast for the next few days, we'll see well above normal temperatures, a cooldown early next week. but, unfortunately, with that cold front we don't get any rain. maybe just an increase in the wind speeds. and so our seven-day forecast for our inland areas are going to reach into the mid to upper 70s, a bit of a taste of summer, or at least late spring, before we go back to some normal weather for next week. mike, you're seeing a pretty predictable pattern for the east bay, right? >> exactly. slowing for highway 4 really kicking in now. over on the right side of the maps year showing it to you. richmond bridge a backup at the toll plaza, and of course the bay bridge and the each shore

freeway continuing with the build. the bay bridge moves better after the incident cleared at fremont. slowing through hayward and also at the bottom of the screen, 101 and now 87, typical for the pattern coming into the south bay out of san martin. on the peninsula in this area, we still have express lanes and they'll start taking tolls on friday. get the fas trak at walgreens or costco. 6:53, help is on the way for families trying to make it in the bay. 600 families are receiving $500 a month through the pilot program. the program is entering phase two. the funds for each family will total $9,000, which they can use however they would like. the program was designed to address wealth disparities in that city. and a quick look at the top stories, including breaking news. overnight oakland families will wake up this morning to learn a number of schools are closing. details on the late night decision and an updated timeline

for when those campuses will be shut down. plus -- >> reporter: i'm janelle wang in beijing. team usa wins its first gold medal and more gold could be on the way tonight in prime time. i'll have a preview coming up.

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on "today in the bay." >> starting with breaking news. oakland school leaders approved a plan to close or merge 11 schools over the next two years. the vote happened just before 1:00 this morning. the board decided to close parker elementary and community day school this year. the district then plans to close five elementary schools next year. the board also voted to merge rise community elementary with new highland academy and to cut sixth through eighth grade from la escuelita and hillcrest schools. the governor will sign a new law extending covid paid sick leave for workers across california. he's also expected to outline a plan for the $4 billion investment to help small businesses recovering from the pandemic. it all gets under way this morning at 10:00 in alameda county. three names are going for gold tonight for team usa. >> "today in the bay's" janelle wang live in beijing. she's also got a bit of a recap

on the news that broke after last night's prime time coverage, right, janelle? >> reporter: the biggest news, marcus and laura, is that team usa wins its first gold medal. jacobellis is the oldest snowboarder to win a medal at the olympic games. three more opportunities tonight in prime time, in the halfpipe we're talking about more snowboarders, shaun white going for his fourth gold medal. he is retiring after the games. for the women it's chloe kim, the reigning gold medalist in the halfpipe for snowboarding. she's going to go for gold tonight. and nathan chen is in first place in the men's individual figure skating competition in the short program. tonight it is the free skate and he is most likely the favorite to win that gold medal. so a lot going on today in prime time and we'll cover it for you all. >> can't wait. thanks so much, janelle. we're talking about a big night on nbc bay area.

you can catch coverage of the women's snowboard, cross and the halfpipe finals, then it's the men's alpine skiers turn, with a combined down hill. lastly, watch figure skater nathan chen compete for team usa. it all kicks off at 5:00 this afternoon. you can watch that right here on nbc bay area. and a quick look at the forecast this morning. >> yeah, we're starting out cool, but it's going to warm up significantly today. we're talking about mid 70s for highs, and we will be even warmer tomorrow. most likely setting some records across parts of the bay area. then it starts to cool down by the end of the weekend into early next week. mike? >> we're really lucky. 101 i had intended to show you traffic really starting to back up in front of your camera, north 101 you see in the distance the over-crossing for 680/280. in the last three minutes we've seen traffic start to improve, but the backup is kicking in toward silicon valley. you can see it's not

instantaneous. folks have to have reaction time. >> thank you for joining us for this wednesday edition of "today in the bay." >> we want to give you a live look at the flame in beijing this morning. our olympic coverage continues online at nbcbayarea.com. the "today" show is next. good morning, striking gold. >> can lindsay jacobellis hold on she does it. >> overnight lindsey jacobellis wins the first gold medal for team usa. her moment 16 years in the make --. she'll join us to tell us all about her big win. >> heartbreak, mikaela shiffrin fails to finish in the second straight vent. olympic stunner. >> oh, no.