. covid-19 vaccines and pregnant woman. how vaccines protecting new babies. what it says about when mothers should get their shots. california in a mega drought. scientists saying this is the worst drought in 12 centuries and rain isn't the only thing we need. plus, new finger pointing, the accusations the d.a. is now hurling at the police. what he say the department is doing that involves mishandling evidence. the news at 3:00 starts now.

>> we're also live on roku, amazon fire, and apple tv. today, we begin with the growing feud and bombshell accusation and at is center, the san francisco police department and district attorney's office. >> bill scott and d.a. have been at odds at the chief ended an agreement about police use of force. now, he's accusing police investigators of mishandling evidence from using dna from a victim's rape kit taken years ago to identify the suspect in a new property crime case. sergio picks up our coverage. >> the san francisco district opened a news conference today by calling out investigative methods of the san francisco police department. >> we're here today to denounce the practice of using rape and sexual assault survivor's dna without their consent on storing

their dna indefinitely. >> the district attorney was surrounded by advocates who joined him in voicing their concerns saying this violates the already delicate trust victims have during an investigation. >> it is revictimizing the victim. it is unacceptable. we need to address this. >> if survivors knew their own dna evidence would potentially be stored and used against them at a future date, even less survivors would come forward. >> he says he's raising concerns after he came across a s last w case. he said the document shows san francisco police detectives compared dna from a rape kit collected in 2016 with dna collected at a crime scene and identified the former victim as a suspect. >> our conversations with leadership at the crime lab suggest that this is a routine practice not only in san

francisco, but in other crime labs across the state. >> the san francisco police chief says his department is looking into the details of how the crime labs handle rape kit dna samples. when pressed about the allegations, the d.a.'s office wrapped up the conference. i did reach out to the san matteo district attorney and alameda county sheriff's department and they tell me they do not use rape kit dna as part of investigative tools. the district attorney in san matteo says they keep dna samples on hand as part of quality assurance to try use it to rule out the possibility of cross contamination of samples. nbc bay area news. right now, the chp investigating another possible freeway shooting again in oakland. it happened shortly after the morning rush hour along 580. sky ranger overhead shows officers searching evidence around 10:00 this morning. the officers combed the freeway,

but it's unclear what they were looking for or if anything was actually hit. the chp has told us they're still working on an update and we'll bring it to you as soon as we get it. our team looked into the numbers and spotlighted where the most shootings are happening on our bay area freeways. you can download the bay area streaming app and look under a investigation play list. now to our coronavirus coverage. this entire pandemic, it is the numbers that have dictated health orders and the numbers are down. statewide positivity rates hovering below 6%. big change from just four weeks ago when we were at 21%. the vaccination rate in california is going up, take a look at this graph. counties in green represent those with at least 50% vaccination rate. the darker the green, the higher the vaccination rate. the bay area doing well there. counties in tan, between 30 and

40%. statewide data shows nearly 70% of people 5 and over are fully vaccinated. let's talk about vaccines and pregnant women. pregnant moms who got either a pfizer or moderna vaccine were able to protect their unborn child before the baby was born. that's the result of a cdc study which shows infants whose mothers got two doses of an mrna vaccine, which is either a pfizer or moderna, were less likely to be hospitalized for covid within the first six months of the baby's life. the cdc also looked at women who got vaccinated after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. the results show getting vaccinated during that time frame provided better protection for instants than earlier vaccination. it is likely protect infants because they're born carrying their mom's antibodies. we are just nine hours away from california lifting its indoor mask mandate, but some

places in san francisco are keeping the mask on. most counties will adopt the mandate. that includes san francisco. but the city says mask requirements will remain unchanged at city hall. the city says it's keeping the requirement until further notice as it monitors local rates. mask rules, mandates, we're tracking all those changing health orders in each county for you. super simple. all you need to do is go to nbc bay area.com. click on the covid link on the trending bar. we've put it all together, a list of commonly asked questions and the answers. election day in san francisco. voters are going to the polls to decide whether to recall three school board members. the campaign drew out of frustration. parents were upset by the slow reopening on schools. spending time on low priority issues such as renaming schools

and on whether a historic mural should be removed. just three members have served long enough to be recalled. people in the eastern half of san francisco are also voting in a special election. a drought, the likes of which we haven't seen since the time of sharl main. think back that far. that's what scientists say we're going through in the western u.s. they say we need more rain and we need to take action. >> there's drought and then there's what climate watchers say we're going through here in the west. a once in 1200-year drought. >> this is an existential threat if our way of life. >> an ucla study says the last two decades of drought are the worst since 800 ad and says climate change is a cause of our water woes. >> it's a double triple whammy. >> she says the rise in

temperatures leave us with less water in our reservoirs and a faster melting snow pack. >> we see the increasing storms in odd places and heat waves in other places and that heat then takes whatever precious precipitation we've gotten and if that brings it back up into the air before it can run off. >> it also hurts our agriculture industry and likely means higher food prices in the near future. >> today where we have to conserve water and make water conservation a way of life in the area we live and then support for long-term projects because water projects take decades to get done. >> long-term projects like more. >> rocky: reservoirs, but those take a lot of time and money. there are more short-term projects we can do in our homes like more recycling and more water conservation. and coming up in about ten

minutes, we're going to check in with jeff ranieri and take a look if there's any rain heading our way to help ease that drought. >> okay, san francisco native eileen gu is back on the podium. she was able to jump into second place in slopestyle. that's the run which is pretty amazing. gu has now won two olympic medals representing china. one gold, one silver. she's 18 and a skiing sensation. she has one competition left in the olympics. the halfpipe. that will happen this week. they are allowing her to compete despite testing for a banned substance. kamila valiyeva took to the ice today in beijing for the women's short program. this comes a day after a court ruled to let her continue even though she tested positive for a drug known as tmz. that happened in december.

it is considered a performance enhancing drug because it makes the heart work more efficiently. now, the 15-year-old, should she medal in the event, there will not be a ceremony until the investigation is concluded. you can watch her performance as well as the rest of the short program in prime time on nbc later. the olympics, of course always about more than just competition. scandal. almost always somewhere in the olympics. >> as if the intrusion on real world, the olympics has never been immune to that. garvin thomas is here with his must share moments you may have missed including a rare political statement. at these games when we thought that was going to be a no-no given those games were happening in china. >> that's right. you know, there is no bigger event facing the world right now than the prospect of a russian invasion of ukraine which is why at the end of his skeleton run,

a ukrainian athlete pulled out a sign that said no war in ukraine. now, the international olympic committee does ban most protest gestures, but says no action will be taken. the ioc executive director says no war is a message we can all relate to. >> .05 of a second away from turning it over now. oh, no! >> you know the track is nicknamed the dragon. well, great britain's two-man bobsled team got bit. they overturned on their third heat. they reached speeds of more than 80 miles per hour on this track, so any crash is dangerous but thankfully not only did these athletes walk away unhurt, they crossed the finish line on their side, but still had a time good enough to qualify. >> no way. >> they went on to the fourth

heat and they say they are okay. finally, i want to share with you a wonderful bit of sportsmanship courtesy of the men's 15 kilometer classic cross-country race. you're looking at the last place finisher from colombia. he finished 17:47 behind the women, but when he crossed, you know who was waiting for him? wanted to be there to congratulate the last racer. he said not all athletes have the same level of support and he wanted to celebrate someone who really had done it all on his own. didn't start cross-country skiing until he was 33 years old. >> there's hope for us. >> before that, he was a competitive triathlete but switched because he wanted to try and achieve his goal of competing at the olympics, which he did. >> that is spectacular. a class act for sure.

those are so great. still ahead, bad news for potential cal students. the reason uc berkeley says it won' admit more than students. and many covid-19 survivors are now experiencing. a study says it's not all in your head. i'm jeff ranieri tracking wind picking up in the bay area. i'll have the wind forecast for tomorrow and details on a warm up coming up in about seven minutes. right now, what we're learning about a stunning discovery. a young girl missing almost three years is found alive and well. also, sandy hook families and their settlement with the rifle used in the attack. vid-19. call 833-317-4673 or live chat at calhope.org today.

ling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673 or live chat at calhope.org today. putin says he is moving

troops away from the border. he said he's engaged with more talks in the west while meeting with the german chancellor. america is ready no matter what putin decides. >> we'll put intense pressure on their largest and most significant financial institutions and key industries. these measures are ready to go. as soon as and if russia moves. we'll impose long-term consequences that will undermine russia's ability to compete economically and strategically. >> the defense secretary traveled to europe today to meet with allies. at the white house, experts are exploring responses to a wide range of scenarios. a history making settlement in the sandy hook elementary shooting. it is between the families of the nine people killed and maker of the rifle that took their lives. families reached a $73 million

settlement. this comes after a legal battle over how remming ton marketed the weapon. families claim the company targeted younger, at-risk males, that it marketed it violent video games. they've denied accusation. a san diego judge has been nominated to be the first latina justice on california's supreme court. governor she's an associate justice with the fourth district justice court of appeals. she graduated from cal berkeley and stanford law school. thousands of qualified uc berkeley applicants are learning their chances of getting accepted may vanish this year. the university says it will likely cut the number of acceptance letters by more than 5,000 because of a court order capping enrollment. as jodi hernandez reports, the group has sued the university. they say the population is changing community for the

worst. >> the university is really great. >> third year student lauren says she's grateful she gets to study pre-law at cal. >> i love the environment. i love all the students. i love how i'm pushed academically and otherwise. >> but the university says fewer qualified students will likely get the chance to attend next year. this is the letter perspective students received this week informing them cal may drastically reduce the number of admission offers. >> it looks like berkeley will have to cut its incoming class for the 2022 '23 academic year by one-third. meaning that more than 3,000 students who would have hoped to have enrolled will need to go elsewhere. >> some have sued the university, claiming it has failed to study the impact the students have had on the community. they say long time residents have been displaced as the area has faced a major housing

crunch. >> when i moved into any house, the university has 27,000 students and now it has 45,000 students. so i didn't choose to live in a town with a university that had 45,000 students. >> look at telegraph. look at people, the homeless. there are some students that are homeless in people's cars. >> the university says they've already sent out admission offers to graduate students, so undergraduates will likely face the brunt. while lauren feels lucky she has a spot at cal, she agrees the university needs to scale back. >> it's no secret the university impacts the neighboring housing environment and university students often displace a lot to have local communities and local people who were here first to be frank. >> the university has asked the california supreme court to step in and reverse the pact, but it needs a decision fast. nbc bay area news. >> that's a difficult position

for a lot of people. let's turn things over to jeff. another change in the weather today. today was warmer and less breezy than yesterday. >> kind of getting all stirred up. we've seen quite a few changes here across the bay area so as we get you outside here, right now, 61 degrees. winds out of the north at 20. you can see tonight, we're dropping down to the mid-50s by 7:00 p.m. so when that wind kicks up, it's going to feel like the 40s this evening so you want to watch out for that. let's take you into that wind now and we're really seeing some of the strongest gusts across the mountains. 40 to 50 miles per hour. through tonight, we're going to keep some of these breezy conditions for the lower elevations, but i still think as we head through tomorrow, we're going to get some wind in the mountains, especially over the north bay lower elevations, 15 to about 35. now besides that, we're seeing an area of low pressure move

closer. we're seeing about a 5 to 10 degree increase. also warmer temperature, we'll have elevated fire danger. we haven't really seen significant rainfall since the first week of january and things don't even look good into the first week of march. so we're really in this dry stretch here when we should be picking up quite a bit of rainfall this year. tomorrow morning, mostly sunny. yes, the heavier jackets. 41 here in the valley. south bay at 42. east bay at 43. to san francisco for work, 47 and the north bay at 44. how about that warm-up? again, 5 to 10 degrees warmer tomorrow. in the south bay, instead of 50s, we're back up to 69 in east san jose. 68 in gilroy. we're going to see temperatures also in the upper 60s even a few low 70s. concord and antioch. pleasonton at 69. peninsula, not quite 70s, but 68

in palo alto and at the coast, 60 at half moon bay. 61 in the marina. mission, 65. through the north bay, a couple of 70s from santa rosa to sonoma. now, the only thing that might be bothering you is your allergies as we get a breeze tomorrow, 15 to 25 miles per hour, we've got cedar, ash, pine, and elm in the high category, so watch out for those. seven-day forecast, no good news when it comes to rainfall. we're going to keep it dry. temperatures here in the mid-60s through san francisco. and we'll drop it cooler by next monday and tuesday and through the nto the upper 60s next couple of days then we drop off to cooler once you roll into next monday and tuesday's forecast. so once we get over tomorrow, i think we've got really nice early spring weather coming our way. >> thank you. coming up, facebook removing the news from news feed. we'll explain what's behind that rebranding.

a hospital in oakland needs help identifying a man. this is the man they're trying to identify. he was found in a homeless every campment and has been in the hospital since february 7th. he has tattoos that could possibly identify him. also the letters j&j on his fingers. a picture of jack skellington on his forearm. if you recognize this man, highland hospital really wants you to contact its icu team. new insights tonight into one of the most high profile symptoms of covid. there had questions about the validity about losing the ability to taste after getting the virus. the question came because loss of taste was rare before the pandemic. also, the sense of taste and

smell are closely related and easily confused, but a new study found that reports of taste loss are real and distinguishable from smell loss. researchers found 37% of covid patients experienced that loss. facebook is pivoting a bit after 15 years, facebook is rebranding what it calls its news feed and dropping the news part. calling it simply a feed. a facebook spokesperson says the change is meant to better reflect the content users see on the app. a lot of it isn't actually new, but it won't impact how the app works. it comes months after mark zuckerberg said he was renaming the company. in san francisco, a sneak peek at some of the floats celebrating the year of the tiger. >> you can check it out right there. now covid canceled the event last year, but like a tiger, san francisco's chinatown parade staff is roaring back in 2022. although they say they've got fewer workers.

>> in pre-covid days, we used to have anywhere from 20 to 30 people working on a given day. this year, we've been working on it with an average of eight to ten people per day, so it's been a skeleton crew. >> a skeleton crew of veteran float builders. the parade begins at 5:00 p.m. there are strict health and safety protocols in place. you have to have a mask. proof of vaccination required or proof of a negative test result. still ahead, karen chen will hit the ice once again. when you can watch her coming up next. 5-hour energy... 'cause it's time to hit the gym and work up a sweat. and you're going to need some energy. lots of energy. 5-hour energy...for every workout. ♪♪

♪ 5-hour energy...for every workout. the land is such a great way of connecting us. and i just remembering thinking this is such a special moment and i am extremely thankful to be here with these people.

an extra special valentine's day for simone biles, who now has a diamond to go with her gold, silver and bronze medals. the 24-year-old gymnastic star announced she's engaged to boyfriend, jonathan owens, safety for the houston texans. nice. she said it was the easiest yes

she had to make. are you tearing up over there? he just completed his third season with the texans. confirmed they were dating in august 2020 by making it instagram official. to beijing we go. winter games will soon come to a close. look what's coming up in prime time. figure skating featuring karen chen. tonight, president biden warning that a russian invasion of ukraine is still distinctly possible after vladimir putin said russia has begun withdrawing some troops. the president and the white house saying the u.s. has not yet verified putin's claims, and that russian troops remain in a threatening position. but the president also vowing to give diplomacy every chance, and is warning about the risks to the u.s. economy. also tonight, the historic settlement. the gunmaker agreeing to pay $73 million over the sandy hook reactin. prince andrew