coming up, we'll show you what's the difference of a pandemic and the endemic. the doping controversy proven to be too difficult for the teenager to handle. you can watch all the drama yourgs. yourself. the news at 4:00 starts right now. thank you for joining us for the special olympics edition nbc bay area news. i am raj mathia. >> i am jessica aguirre. governor newsom laid out the next phase of the state's covid response. the plan is called smarter. it is an acronym for, shots, masks, awareness, readiness and testing and education for rx. the plan including building a stockpile of masks and half a

million tests, having the ailment to administer 200,000 doses of the vaccines each day. waste water surveillance will test for different variants. the governor wants to expand school vaccination sites by 25%. governor newsom says there is no finish line or define an end to the pandemic. the goal of this plan is to help us return to a normal life but be able to react to a surge of cases. >> where he are taking a more sensible and i would argue sustainable healthcare approach based on the lessons learned to prepare for the unknown. now the state's top doctor says one of the goals of this endemic plan is to avoid business closures and other mandates. the requirements of kids being vaccinated against covid by the fall remains in effect. endemic verses pandemic, what's the difference here? how will it impact our lives?

here is nbc bay area's robert handa. >> reporter: it is a major step forward, they are not sure if the public truly understands what it will mean. regional medical center in san jose, a top flight hospital where the medical director was concerned of people not taking covid seriously if it gets labeled as an in democratic verses pandemic. you see dr. monica gahdhi agrees. >> you know you can't get rid of it. you can control the virus and live with it. >> reporter: marcelle dugan at san francisco state university politic health department says society may never get back to the normal we envision. >> in terms of normal i think it could be better. as a society we learn how to take care of each other and recognize vulnerable population.

>> we are getting into endemic because we have two tools, one is vaccines and the second is therapeutics for people who decline to get vaccines, things like treatment. >> reporter: despite concerns of falling into complacency, we have been traumatized from covid, we don't want to slip back. nbc bay area news, robert handa. >> it is good news. parades are making a come back in the state and in san francisco. two big ones are looming, the lunar parade this weekend and pride this summer. nbc bay area's christy smith with a look at the parade rules under the endemic. >> reporter: people are happy to hold parades again and believes

it could be an emotional return for some. we spoke to the mayor about returning. >> we'll be out in the market street. >> reporter: after the pandemic, cancelled big in-person event, the lbgtq parade plans to return in june. suzanne ford is the director of pride and says bringing ability to the city is important. >> i really think that people have a deep hunger to be together on pride week. >> reporter: they are working to safely shape this parade. >> we are working with the city and guidelines. >> reporter: lunar new year celebration is underway, too. the parade will line its way on the streets this weekend in san francisco. it happens as omicron surge fades and in-door masks have

eased. >> it signals to me that we are getting through this pandemic. and because of our vaccination rates, we are not seeing the number of fatalities and we are in a better place. i am excited about what it means for san francisco. >> reporter: does that mean the city can stay the course? >> well, i hope so. the more people get vaccinated and boosted, will help put us in a situation that would ease more restrictions. for now, i think we are doing pretty good, it does not mean we don't see a surge or more challenges in the future. >> reporter: plans for separations and some normalcy are moving ahead. christie smith, nbc bay area news. we are moving you forward on air and on streaming, you can get our streaming app for your apple tv and fire and roku, all

you have to do is click the "covid" list. jessica, let's head to beijing, friday morning about 19 degrees. this is a live look at the bird's nest stadium. team usa is hoping to score a few more medals before ceremony. doping and politics intersecting figure skating. in the end, the russian skater in tears after falling on the ice. liz mclaughlin, a lot of drama. >> reporter: it is hard to believe we are in the final stretch of these games and tough moments over the past day here, crashes and controversies and for team usa, some key losses. >> reporter: the u.s. women's hockey team is dethroned

struggling to catch up, ending team usa's quest for a second straight gold. >> i tried to focus on how hard it is to be an olympian and to win an olympic medal and not the color that we set out for. >> reporter: mikaela shiffrin missing medals in all of her events. her third heartbreaker of the game. >> i don't know somebody fell that hard with so many opportunities. >> reporter: a failed doping test from kamila valiyeva has brewed national controversy and figure skating. the 15-year-old falling on thursday and leaving one medal in question. america's top finisher, alyssa liu says she's proud of her team's performance. >> i am glad they did well. they worked so hard and i am

really proud of them. i am really glad that i did. >> reporter: clean skating has a double meaning at these games as the investigation into valiyeva's doping case continues. >> reporter: and the figure skating team event, those medals are still influx, valiyeva and the russian olympic committee winning gold and the u.s. in second place. the roc met with u.s. skaters yesterday to talk about those medals they're waiting for ten days after that competition. raj, back to you. >> liz, nice work out there. it is a big night here. we talked about alysa liu and elaine chen and eileen gu. all the action begins at 5:00 on nbc bay area. it is a crucial step building a new ballpark for the

a's, it could happen any moment. council members may decide to vote to certify the ballpark and environmental impact. it is also known as an eir. if it happens, other deals needed to build the new ballpark can go forward. the a's want to put that ballpark at jacqueline's square. it is possible they could push after next month. not everyone is on board with the ballpark plan. today a rally was held in front of oakland city hall. building the ballpark will cost jobs and hurt schools in the area and send too much traffic and pollution into neighboring west oakland. >> if you can't move around now, what's going to happen if they

try to build a stadium. it is going to be hellish. >> not many people calling for that new ballpark to be built at the coliseum. up next, a high-profile evening at stanford, supporters and protesters awaiting for the arrival of former vice president mike pence, we are live on campus. plus -- >> his power bill is a shock because his solar panel are not reveling up. will the company pay for the extra juice. i am chris chmura, nbc bay area responds. i am jeff ranieri, continuing our coverage gets you to the latest of the drought and see ahead or any changes. we'll be back after a few minutes.

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it is a notable night, former president mike pence will be speaking before a group of republicans. tonight a sizable crowd is expected. let's bring in scott budman who joins us on the campus awaiting for the former vice president. scott. >> reporter: well, good evening, raj. things are quiet outside the hall on the stanford campus, we are a few hours ahead as mike pence talking to people. as well as stanford, the folks

tell us they appreciate that the former vice president came to talk even may disagree of what he had to say. >> reporter: writing things like love and not hate outside the field hall where pence is scheduled to speak tonight. >> the stanford students really lean liberal so to say they're going to go simply because of the vice president and want to see him in person but they don't care to hear much about what he has to say. >> reporter: his topic is how to save america from the woke left. >> we know stanford is a cesspool of liberalism. >> our goal is to have them come and participate in the q&a. get an intellectual debate which

is what college is all about. >> reporter: students and professors say they welcome pence even if they don't agree with him. >> i think it is terrific. i won't say it is terrific because it implies i agree of what he's likely to say. >> reporter: there will be protesters tonight, one of the messages written, the protest starts at 6:00. mr. pence is scheduled to speak at 7:00. live at stanford, scott budman, nbc bay area news. we'll have full coverage for you after the olympics. ahead of the san francisco's tech company with worker in ukraine says he was on the phone with his employees around the clock. on the website, it is based in san francisco and most of its developers are in ukraine. the company's ceo travels there often and with his family, he says he's anxious.

>> rumors that russia is going to invade. can you imagine that stress of fear. a lot of people stood up until 1:00 a.m. guess what happens? the internet went down. just living on the edge like that is awful. a man in alameda is desperately searching for his emotional support dog. someone stole the dog from his car. he's lost without cocoa. he's a retired shipyard worker and who's also disabled. he had an appointment on tuesday, he says the nurse would not let him bring the dog inside so he let cocoa in the car with the windows down. the man opening the car door and grabbing the dog, the dog was seen walking down with the dog

on the leash as cocoa was his own. >> he's my life. i get up in the morning and he's the one that wakes me up. he makes me laugh. he's more than -- he's my family. >> mergado says they'll not stop searching until they find cocoa. our consumer investigator chris chmura steps in. daniel asked for a credit to cover the month where his electric bill was higher, that was not approved. daniel asked us for help. we contacted sun run. a week later it told us it would

reimburse daniel $1,063. it will work close with him to meet his energy need. daniel sent us a nice note, this would never have happened if it were not for you. we like to give some credit to daniel, he saved key documents sent them to sun run. that's important. we love to help but before calling us, we encourage you to give the company a chance first to make things right. if that does not pan out and the consumer issue is draining your energy, maybe we can give you a boost. go to nbcbayarea.com, click the respond option from the main menu or call us at 888-996-tips. >> chris, thank you. chris is very popular in the bay area, he gives a lot of people money. >> yes, everybody loves money. >> second popular to jeff is bringing us all the sunshine. >> oh, thank you. i want to get you the latest on

what's happening with the drought and wefoia in a severe and there is really no bigny ma couple of days. >> i want to show you the rainfall. december rain, off the charts and record setting, 4 to 8 inches. january and february is the top 10 driest on record. how are things looking as we head into next week. i am seeing cooler temperatures maybe some showers moving close by next tuesday. still nothing locked into that forecast just yet. early march, i am looking at a 55% chance right now, a system brings rainfall. we are putting everything on march because historically once we get past march, our chances really continue to diminish. here is the other thing while our climate changing has been

contributing to this latest extreme rainfall this past season. we also have la nina which brings below average rain. climate change and la nina combining to bring us this odd weather pattern we have been experiencing. tomorrow we'll see a system drop down, it is dry, it is moving over the land and so no rain chances. we'll see the clouds beginning to increase. it is going to feel different for us here as we roll through tomorrow. 7:00 in the morning, there is those clouds. we got filtered sunshine moving back into the bay. this means we start off for tomorrow morning, we'll stay on the chilly side, 42 in the south bay. with those returning high clouds, numbers drop off a couple of degrees, we are still looking good on the south bay. 68 here in cupertino. the east bay and low 70s like we had today. back down 68 in concord.

67 in denseville. let's move off to the north bay. 66 in clearlake, 68 in navado. 70 on saturday, 59 and mid to upper 50s on next tuesday or wednesday and thursday. the weekend is calling my name, i am ready for saturday. >> i am ready for friday. >> oh, yes! >> today is thursday. >> we are almost there. thank you very much. up next, it is their secret weapon and it is made right here in the bay area. we'll see you what gives skiers an edge at the olympics. an am. we all win when everyone can get to their starting line. ♪

let's check out today's medal count. norway is keeping the top spot. would you believe the road to the olympics to by the way beij right to santa clara? >> reporter: this building in santa clara could not be further than the olympic slopes near beijing. their connection, the man behind

the curtain, terry curtail. >> i can look at them and tell whether it is good or bad. >> reporter: hertel manufactured hertel max. he's a one man operation. turning out 500 wax bricks a day and 14,000 a year at the controls of a contraption he designs himself. >> everybody blows their mind when they see this. oh, he's a candle company. >> reporter: instead, his kind of wax with names like hot sauce and white gold helps athletes burn down the slopes that's been used by olympians in games going back to the '80s. >> my product helped win five medals in canada in 1988. >> reporter: back in the '70s, hertel sold computers. >> that's my background in

computer science. i didn't want that anymore. >> reporter: he applied his scientific mind to a different sort of race. >> you see this. watch this. see it dispersing. this allows your ski to float and now they got way more control less accidents and injuries. >> reporter: like a downhill skier, hertel's mind is always in motion. >> this is called a hot waxer and i have a line of ladies -- i invented this for the industry. >> reporter: he even designs a travel pillow. >> i have been inventing since i was a little kid. >> reporter: hertel thinks maybe it is time to reinvent himself, he's looking to sell his company and retire. >> would be nice to relax more. >> reporter: he's the one pulling the lever. >> some people say they're going to quit skiing if i don't keep making it. >> reporter: the man racing

upward and the downward slopes of life. nbc bay area news. >> that's his license plate, the wax man. before we go, a live look at sharks in san jose. a figure skate watch party to cheer on the olympians. both skaters train here and including kristine yamagucci. this evening eileen gu goes for gold for the women's halfpipe. all the action begins here at 5:00. we are not done yet. we'll be here coming up later. we'll join you now for the olympics zone.

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tonight on "the olympic zone." >> the difference between the gold and silver medal, you would not see if your bare naked eyes. >> the steel that separates athletes from the ice. >> jo lynn kent helps break down the boots and blades. >> it happens 12 years ago. >>. >> gold