we sit down with mayors from three of the largest bay area cities to talk about how they plan to move forward and out of the pandemic. this is "today in the bay." good wednesday morning to you. i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. don't forget, if you're on the go this morning, we're not only broadcasting on television, you can also catch us live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. >> no excuses. things are mellow in the traffic department, so we're going to start with the forecast because it's going to be changing. >> we're going to have high winds picking up later this afternoon. as you're heading out this morning, temperatures anywhere from the upper 30s in napa and san martin to mid-40s for much of the rest of the bay area. after this chilly start we'll see temperatures headed for the mid-60s this afternoon. you'll notice it won't be as warm as yesterday, but we're still keeping that sunshine and the winds will pick up going into this afternoon. more changes ahead with those gusty winds and even some rain

chances farther down the line. we'll talk more about that coming up in a few minutes. >> thanks, kari. the u.s. aiming to hit russia where it hurts. as ukraine forces try to hold their position, here's a live look at the ukrainian capital, kyiv. and russian forces at this hour are moving closer to the city. now, it comes with new concerns about a nuclear power plant now being controlled by russian forces. among the latest developments, ukraine's energy leaders disconnected the nuclear power plant of chernobyl overnight. now, there are fears that that situation could lead to the release of radioactive material. nbc news has reached out to the international atomic energy agency and the russian government for comment. so far, no response. meanwhile, vice president kamala harris, she is on her way overseas. this is to show unity with u.s. allies, poland and neighboring romania. just two destinations for

ukrainians still desperately trying to leave. now there's a fragile temporary cease-fire in place along the humanitarian corridors. meanwhile, we are learning more about the president's decision to institute the new ban on russian oil imports. "today in the bay's" brie jackson is live for us. that decision is really getting support from overseas. >> reporter: good morning, marcus. that's right. in a video on telegram, ukraine's president thanked president biden and the american people for taking a stand against russia. this, after president biden announced a u.s. ban on russian oil, after mounting pressure from lawmakers on both sides. now, while the move is expected to hit the russian economy right at its heart, so far sanctions have done little to slow russian aggression. >> defending freedom is going to cost. >> reporter: the u.s. hitting russia with one of its toughest punishments yet. >> we're banning all imports of russian oil and gas and energy.

>> reporter: oil and gas products account for 40% of russia's revenue. however, the u.s. gets just 8% of its imports from there. president biden acknowledges americans could see additional increases in gas prices. >> i'm going to do everything i can to minimize putin's price hike here at home. >> reporter: republicans criticized the biden administration for not boosting u.s. oil production sooner. >> we need to be ramping up, we need to be ramping up right now. >> reporter: mcdonald's, coca-cola, pepsi and starbucks now joining a growing list of major u.s. companies pausing operations in russia, striking another blow to russia's economy. as the second week of war continues, ukraine's president is vowing to fight to the end. >> we are looking for your hope. >> reporter: getting a standing ovation after an emotional speech to uk's parliament. ukrainians echoing his defiance. >> there is no way we're going to be under the russian

government. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence officials warn vladimir putin is growing frustrated and may intensify his assault. >> he's likely to double down and try to grind down the ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties. >> reporter: between 2,000 to 4,000 russian soldiers have been killed so far, according to u.s. estimates. still, russia has 95% of its military power intact in ukraine. and ukraine's president is again calling for the u.s. and nato to impose a no-fly zone over ukraine, saying allies will share the responsibility for this humanitarian catastrophe if they do not close the skies. this is something that the u.s. and nato allies have been hesitant to do, raising concerns that it could put nato, as well as the u.s. in direct conflict with russia. meanwhile, congress is racing to provide close to $14 billion in aid to ukraine. the measure includes funding for

humanitarian efforts, as well as to support ukraine's military and economy. marcus? >> they certainly need it right now. brie jackson in washington, thank you. well, state leaders this week have been reminding california that our national guard has been supporting ukraine's military for nearly three decades. california troops helped train ukrainian students and pilots. president volodymyr zelenskyy was at moffit field last september. the relationship between the national guard and ukraine started two years after the collapse of the soviet union. more than 2 million people have fled ukraine, and about half of them are children. here at home, the bay area is mobilizing to get help to those still struggling to leave ukraine. volunteers are helping to pack items, including rice, soy and other nutritious food from a warehouse in pleasanton. the organization kids against hunger is hoping to get a quarter of a million more out within the next six days. the goal is to box up food that

would be sent to help refugees and cities along the border. >> we have 40 people here who showed up on their own to volunteer, instead of sitting home and watching the news and crying, they decided to do something about it. >> close to 200,000 meals went out last week alone from that warehouse. if you're looking for ways that you can help, too, we do have a list of credible organizations, we've vetted them for you. you can find them at nbcbayarea.com. later this morning, the "today" show is kicking off their new series "how to help" for the millions of people in ukraine. they'll go over specific ways you can help from across the country. we are moving you forward as many bay area cities are easing covid-19 mandates and we're starting to move forward. we are asking the mayors of san francisco, oakland and san jose what lies ahead. >> now, we first asked if they agree with governor newsom when it comes to making that transition from a pandemic to an

endemic. here's san francisco mayor london breed. >> i don't just see it, i feel it. and it doesn't mean that we won't have a new variant or increase in the number of covid infections, but what we're seeing with the vaccination and all of the things that we've put in place, we're able to prevent people from losing their life as a result of this. so it gives me really a lot of hope and optimism about the future based on where we are. >> do you agree with the governor right now? do you see this moment as one of the transition times for oakland? >> well, he's been clear that this is the moment we have to have the endemic plan, even though we are not quite there yet. and we have to be prepared to move in and out of different scenarios. but we are more ready than ever. you know, government is emerging from these terrible two years more resilient, more nimble,

faster and more responsive. and so we are going to keep those muscles in good shape as we move into this next era of endemic. >> the reality is that it's not up to the governor and it's not up to me. it's up to the virus. and what's so critically important, i think, for us now is to ensure we are completely honest with our communities. if there's a new variant that's much more virulent, we're going to have to go back to some pandemic-era restrictions that are more significant than what we have today. and i think we need to be honest with folks, because that's the only way we're going to have the trust to be able to do what we have to do to reduce the risk of death and hospitalization. so certainly we're going to do everything we can to put ourselves on that path, but we have to be nimble enough to follow the data. >> i mean, this is just something that we have to continue to follow because these

mayors have a big job ahead, because we are ultimately leading so many people as we move into this endemic. >> right, and those are just our three biggest mayors and we have mayors in communities all around the bay area. all trying to move forward together. >> absolutely. >> all connected. we are just getting started with this discussion, too. >> we are going to show you what happens and what the plans are for each city when there is or if there is another covid variant that pops up. we will reveal the mayors' answers tomorrow morning right here on "today in the bay." also today, jobs could be on the line for west contra costa teachers. at least that is what the union believes. the district is scheduled to hold a special board meeting and at this point we do know that the agenda includes a debate about what could be a $12 million cut to the workforce as early as next school year. however, it's not clear if any pink slips will be distributed. the meeting gets under way tonight at 6:30.

let's take a live look outside this morning. this is san jose. dark and early for you right there, as we move across the skyline. look at that. >> that is very nice. >> meteorologist kari hall has been monitoring what we can expect from the forecast today. what you said earlier, i loved that you said it is cool outside, but not as cold as it has been. >> we're making progress here, right? we're going to see some gusty winds picking up today. a lot of changes in the work. although we're not going to see any rain, we are seeing change in our temperatures and wind speeds. it's going to be gusty for all of these areas shaded in yellow. that includes much of the north bay and east bay hills. and over the next couple of days we can see those winds gusting possibly to 55 miles per hour. the winds picking up as early as 2:00 this afternoon for the coastline. we'll talk more about that in a minute. mike, the east bay freeways are clear. >> as far as incidents go, that's right. highway 24, that cleared to the

shoulder. it was eastbound, and now it's off to the shoulder. the other issue, the disabled vehicle around carlton did clear, not only from the roadway, but from the chp report. there's a new incident on the center divide, westbound 80, without any problems. no issues, no early slowing out of vallejo or for our usual suspects through contra costa county. vasco is moving nicely. altamont pass shows a little build and it looks like an animal was hit earlier. no lanes blocked but there may be chp activity. back to you. >> thank you, mike. grocery delivery demand is booming. amazon's new offer for some of the gig workers roaming the aisles filling your bags. >> plus, more u.s. businesses halting operations in russia. the growing corporate boycott and the reason some of those companies are facing new backlash. >> and we investigate, mistakes with your medications happening at pharmacies across the state.

it is a story you will only see on nbc bay area. companies are facing new

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right now at 5:14, as you're heading out in the tri-valley, let's check out dublin. our temperatures start out at 40 degrees and we'll see the temperatures climbing today. it will warm up, but just not as warm as yesterday. we're also going to have gusty winds and we'll talk about that in the forecast coming up.

>> i mentioned there may be something going on 280 at 17. this is basically the interchange right here. you're looking at a smooth drive right now. we're checking other reports. so far, the freeways are at speed. good morning. i'm silvana henao from cnbc. wall street is set to open higher as investors continue to track rising commodity prices. it was a choppy day yesterday with stocks lower. the nasdaq fell further into bear market territory for down 20% from its record high in november. energy stocks were a bright spot as oil prices climbed, with president biden announcing the ban on russian oil and fuel imports. u.s. crude trading around $122 this morning. mcdonald's, pepsi, coca-cola, starbucks and general electric are the latest western brands

suspending business in russia. the companies had faced international pressure to do so. mcdonald's will temporarily close 850 stores, but continue paying its 62,000 employees. pepsi will halt sales of beverages, suspend investments and promotions, but w operations, except for essential is offering jobs at whole foods to a number of its grocery delivery contractors. the spokesperson confirming to cnbc those shoppers will become whole foods employees by the end of this year. the jobs don't offer benefits given to amazon warehouse or full-time whole foods workers such as medical and 401(k) plans. it appears, though, they would keep their existing status level and pay, but there would be opportunities for promotion. guys, back to you. >> thank you.

a recent audience member for "the batman," no doubt, had a vested interest in seeing the film. >> either it was that or maybe there was an inner calling here. you can be the judge. trending this morning, an actual bat flying around inside a movie theatre. this managed to stop the show this weekend in austin, texas. customers pulled out cell phones, that's what we always do. they took some video of that. the workers tried to guide the bat out to the exit, come on, fly out this way. that didn't work. so they actually just said, you know what, we're going to go on with the show. if you want to stay, stay. but the guests did get their money back. most of them decided to stick it out. it just the bat inside batman. viewers were har like, whateve

>> they're known for bats. >> you go to the attraction, wait for the sunset at the bridge and they come flying out. >> i drove under that. that was my college job, i drove boats under that. i'm like, don't lean out too far. >> in the swimming pool in the back yard, bats would come down. they said don't move, stop, let them eat the little bugs in the pool and they would go off. >> that's easy, because you just freeze. >> and then they would go away. bats aren't that harmful. you just don't want to get bitten by one. i'll do the movie without the bat. >> oh, it's in austin. >> yeah. >> we're going to have some gusty winds today. a lot of changes as we get ready to head out today, and if you follow me on social media, there's a skirt alert for today. you know what that means. it's going to be gusty this afternoon. it's for all of these areas

shaded in yellow and that mostly includes the hills where we could see the highest wind gusts. it will even be gusty in some of the valley areas. take a look at our forecast for today as we go hour-by-hour with road speeds. santa rosa at 3:00 is at about 26 miles per hour and san francisco higher. where we have the purple, it's going to be super windy in those spots. then we see the breezy winds stick with us tonight and then continue into early tomorrow morning. but a lot of those higher winds kind of shifting to the inland east bay as well as the north bay hills. our upper elevations once again will have highest wind gusts. then it does calm down heading into late friday into saturday. as far as temperatures, we're coming down a few degrees with that front moving in, and that's the reason why we do have wind gusts today. so instead of low to mid-70s, we have upper 60s today. walnut creek headed for 68 degrees. san francisco reaching 57, and

look at those winds on the map coming in from the west. we're also going to have the breezy westerly wind for clear lake, reaching 66 degrees. so we have this strong area of high pressure that's kept it dry here and then we have the storm system that's moving across the pacific northwest causing a little bit of rain and some snow. as that moves away and we continue to see it moving toward the east, that pressure gradient gives us gusty winds. by early next week we could see the high pressure moving out of the way and possibly a quick-moving round of rain between monday and tuesday. and in the meantime, it's just going to be dry, windy, and our temperatures coming down a few degrees. still pretty comfortable. and then for the weekend, we see our high temperatures headed for the low 70s. on sunday we spring forward, setting our clock forward one hour, and then those rain chances early next week. you were talking about you lose an hour of sleep. >> it all sort of evens out. you've got to wait six months for that to even out.

traffic is great. peninsula, no problems. all the way through silicon valley, a great flow of traffic as well. we have a little slowing out of the altamont pass and vasco, still 20 minutes from marsh creek. big note for the east bay, b.a.r.t. no red line service. they come out of richmond. take the orange line and transfer to the yellow line if you want to get to the peninsula. the electrical issue continues over there. the eastshore freeway light traffic all the way to the bay bridge toll plaza with no backup. >> thank you. next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> staffing issues inside pharmacies have led to a recent rise in mistakes with medicine. it's actually pretty easy for you to verify the pills in your medicine cabinet. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. i'll show you how next. >> and be sure to catch up on our new streaming series "saving

san francisco". episode 2, we tell the story of a troubled un-housed man, the neighborhood that he lives in, and the system that some say is failing him. you can watch both episodes 1 and 2 of "saving san francisco" on any of our streaming platforms or at nbcbayarea.com/saving san francisco. we'll be right back.

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left in a coma, after a violent attack outside rams home stadium last month in southern california. somebody punched daniel luna during an altercation. he then fell and struck his head. doctors put luna into a medically induced coma to prevent internal bleeding and his attorney now says luna is awake. a friend says he is getting therapy and another man now faces felony assault charges. luna owns a restaurant in oakland. our investigative team just found out about a labor shortage at a lot of pharmacies around the bay area, and at the same time they've also found mistakes with medicine. >> the question is, what can you do? consumer investigator chris chmura is going to show us how to verify your prescription. >> my investigative unit colleague candace nguyen reported the state received more than 500 reports of pharmacy medication errors, causing patients harm during the pandemic. you might want to make sure your pharmacy filled your

prescription properly. you'll need your pills, a computer or smartphone connected to the internet and maybe a magnifying glass because we're going to read some really tiny type. drugmakers stamp pills with an imprint code. we're going to show you how the pill search works on poison.org. on the home pagelii.d. to get started. there are two boxes. one for each side of the pill. grab your magnifying glass, read the code and punch it into the boxes exactly as you see it. you should instant why i get a result that shows you the pharmacy gave you, contact the pharmacy as soon as possible for help. the state might also like to hear from you. the california in pharmacy board says errors in filling prescriptions or misconduct may be violations of pharmacy law and should be reported, whether

or not a patient was harmed. >> the more you know. good information, chris. next here, the top stories we're following, including ukraine's worsening humanitarian crisis. >> it is absolutely insane, because it is 2022. >> the temporary cease-fire now in place allowing ukrainian residents to evacuate targeted cities. plus -- >> reporter: the second theranos trial is expected to begin for business partner and boyfriend, sonny balwani. what we can expect today. we'll have that story coming up. you're watching "today in the bay."

- [announcer] the more we learn about covid-19, the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year?

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right now at 5:30, ukrainians digging in as russian forces attempt to advance on yet another key city. this, as the refugee crisis worsens. we're live from the ukraine/poland border with the flood of refugees and the obstacles preventing some people from leaving. >> no end in sight. prices at the pump are skyrocketing, but that's not all. the everyday items you may not realize are also poised to be a whole lot more expensive. >> if she pointed the finger at sunny, you can expect that sunny in his trial is going to point the finger right back at her. >> jury selection begins today for elizabeth holmes's former partner. the charges are the same, but we'll explain why this trial could end up looking different.

this is "today in the bay." a good wednesday morning to you. thank you for making us a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez. laura garcia has the morning off. if you are on the go, we are broadcasting not only to your tv, but you can watch us on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. >> overnight the kremlin announcing what it calls a silent vote. here's a live look at kyiv this morning. right now a new temporary cease-fire. this is along certain corridors. it's allowing residents to evacuate from targeted cities. >> but the bombing and combat has killed thousands of people, including at least 474 civilians. among them, the woman on your screen, a silicon valley employee, and her two children. tatiana perebeinis worked for a silicon valley company. she and her children died while

trying to evacuate on sunday. >> "today in the bay's" jay gray is live with us this morning along the poland-ukraine border and one of those refugee processing centers. no doubt, as we can see right there, people are still active and busy trying to help them. >> reporter: no question, marcus, kris. and this place is amazing. i want to give you a little tour and tell you what happens here. this is obviously a catered lunch they're wrapping up. everyone that comes through gets some food. this place two weeks ago, guys, this was a shopping center. they've moved the venders downstairs. a doctor in this town said, i want to do something for these people. and he converted this into a shelter. look what he's done here. he's installed washing machines and a place for people to wash clothes and dry them. they did all of this conversion in a matter of two days. 48 hours, he had crews working around the clock to get things to where they are right now.

if you get here and there's no food there, you can make a sandwich here. there are power bars, fruit, things that you can have the minute you get in. there's 800 beds in this facility. this may be one of the most important areas. this is a medical center. it is staffed 24/7 by a doctor. a doctor is here and can help anyone who may need assistance. i talked to one of the doctors today. she said that she studied in ukraine, that's where she went to medical school. she said it was vital that she be here to help out. >> it is so hard to see. and we were just talking about this, jay, that we have shopping centers all over the bay area. to imagine them going from a place where people are just walking around with friends to being a refugee center that could be a life-saving place. it's just really remarkable how fast people can move. >> it's amazing. >> thank you, jay. stay safe. 5:33 right now. skyrocketing oil prices are

impacting prices for many other items as well. now, it's not just due to higher transit costs either. only about 60% of oil consumption goes to producing fuel. you can expect higher prices for other items, including your smartphones, fertilizers, sunscreen and cosmetics. one expert tells the "today" show that higher oil prices may impact you at your local pharmacy. >> it's so hard to tell a patient, especially with groceries going up, gas prices going up, to tell them, now your medication that you need on a day-to-day basis to survive is going up as well. >> our crew live this morning at the chevron in menlo park and here is what you'll see when you drive up there. look at this. $6.51, just for regular gas this morning. and it only goes higher from there. according to aaa, the average

price in san jose, $5.59. it's $5.64 in oakland and in san francisco it is $5.69 per gallon. now, if you're willing to drive a little farther to save money, we've got you covered. we're tracking the least expensive gas stations across the bay area. go to nbcbayarea.com and click on the link in the trending bar. police are investigating a robbery that happened after 10:00 last night. police responded to an alarm call and that's when they found a worker who had been shot. the man died at the scene and the shooter is still on the loose. the second theranos trial is set to begin. it's holmes' former boyfriend and business partner. this trial may lack the high drama we had gotten used to. "today in the bay's" cierra johnson is live to show us how

the trial will look different. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, kris. today the jury selection for sunny balwani begins, and after the holmes trial it may take a little longer to select those jurors, because some folks may have already formed an opinion, given the coverage that we've seen for the previous case. now, balwani faces the same charges as elizabeth holmes, wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors and patients by claiming that theranos developed technology that diagnosed dozens of diseases with a single drop of blood. opening statements are scheduled for tuesday, march 15th. so in january, holmes was convicted on four fraud and conspiracy counts, but only related to investors. our legal analyst says prosecutors may go harder on those charges related to patients and doctors, but we are unlikely to see evidence related to holmes' allegation thas balwani abused her mentally and physically because he's unlikely to take the stand. >> holmes took the stand and she is, by everyone's account, a

very charismatic and appealing character and that worked well for her to take the stand. sunny balwani doesn't have that kind of charisma and personal appeal. >> reporter: from what we know, balwani's trial is expected to be shorter as the judge has decided which days the jurors will have off and the days will be longer. in san jose, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> thank you. 5:37 this morning. california has now surpassed 9 million confirmed cases of covid. this is according to the "l.a. times." that equals to nearly one in four californians. half of those cases occurred in the last six months. globally the world health organization says last week new cases and deaths declined by 5% and 8% compared to the previous week. taking a live look at the san jose skyline right now, and the sun is not quite up yet.

the temperatures are pretty cool, though. not as cold as we've been seeing up to this point, kari. >> we're starting to see a little bit of light in the sky and then, of course, that's when we get ready to set our clock forward. a live look in oakland, you're heading out for work and temperatures are cool, but not as cold as we've seen recently. we start out with some mid-40s here. we are going to see that sunshine throughout the morning and into the afternoon. and we're headed for some mid-60s, but you'll notice that the winds will be pretty gusty today, and the highest of those winds will be in the hills. all of these areas shaded in orange for today. and that continues with the wind advisory into tomorrow morning. we could see some downed trees and power impacts so we're going to be watching out for that. we'll talk more about the timeline and what's ahead coming up. mike, you're looking at a couple of spots. >> we predicted this one. san jose's first burst of traffic and slowing here. yesterday it took about 45 minutes until that cleared up, so we'll see a volume of traffic

for the south bay. and meanwhile, because things are so light, we look a little forward and warn folks about a closure in the north bay. it continues overnight tonight and tomorrow, the exit from southbound 101 and east washington street. they're working on that. in a couple of weekends there will be a full closure and i'll warn you about that ahead of time as well. not necessarily a big deal as far as publicity goes, but this is another overnight closure eastbound, one bore at the calbrecat. you have choices getting to your commute, all of them are looking green right now. we expect highway 4 and 37 -- there it is, 37 shows a little slowing around b.a.r.t. through the same area. you're limited to the orange line. transfer to the yellow line if you want to get to the peninsula. there's a problem with the power for the red line that continues in richmond. back to you. >> thanks, mike.

5:39, and the question for you this morning, are your medications being mishandled? coming up, we investigate the mistakes being made at pharmacies across the state and explain what you should do if it happens to you. >> plus, cracking down on street vendors. the tough stand san francisco city leaders are implementing to punish illegal sales on the streets. >> and cameras catch an unwanted prowler outside of a south bay home. >> south bay? >> yeah, that's a big cat. kris, was this your house? >> i hope not. >> we're going to tell you what you can do to keep him away. wow, we'll be right back.

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right now at 5:43, it is time to get up, get moving and make this a great day. in concord we're starting out with temperatures in the upper 40s. it's going to be a cool morning and we do see a lot of sunshine in our forecast today. we're headed for the upper 60s and those winds are going to pick up this afternoon. we're going to talk about gusty winds acrouan expect in your microclimate coming up. >> a lot of times when we talk about wind i'll talk about the san mateo bridge. right now that's not the issue. the headlights coming toward us, slowing across the high-rise. some incident reported by chp. we'll show you what's going on there and a way to get around that coming up. >> thank you. well, more than 500 californians have been harmed by pharmacy mistakes.

this is during the pandemic and that's according to complaints sent to the state. but the real number is likely much higher because pharmacies aren't required to report all mistakes to regulators. >> these findings were revealed in an investigation last night by nbc bay area reporter candice nguyen who joins us. why did you come about looking at this? >> reporter: good morning, nationwide, pharmacists and technicians have been reporting being burned out during this pandemic. now we're seeing the public impact, which is complaints of prescription mistakes. we're talking about wrong medication, wrong dosages, or delayed medication when a patient really depends on it. i wanted to figure out what's going on across the bay area and in california. a state survey last year of more than 4,000 california pharmacists showed 91% of chain pharmacists said they didn't have enough staffing to provide adequate patient care. that's a scary number. >> when you think about this, medications that we need to keep

us healthy, this could be scary. how serious are these errors? >> it could be a matter of life or death. really, it can be. the complaints to the state showed some errors resulted in serious harm, even death, and these are people's prescriptions. when customers are asking pharmacies and the people for prescriptions, i'm hearing they need to remember this isn't an order at a restaurant. this isn't a fast food drive. >> my father-in-law was a pharmacist and he was overworked a decade ago and things are not gotten better. in the report you talk about complaints being more prevalent at certain pharmacies versus independent ones. >> specifically the chain pharmacies, walgreens, cvs, rite aid, so i spoke with nearly a dozen industry workers who say the pandemic really exacerbated big problems at chain pharmacies that workers were already dealing with. and that's profit-driven

prescription quotas mainly used by these chains. companies like cvs, rite aid and walgreens. and we're talking about quotas, for instance, being forced to fill a certain number of prescriptions in a certain amount of time. this is something dr. clint hopkins describes. >> when i first started with walgreens, they had the little dials on the screen and you can see when you were on the phone too long or too many phone calls were coming in, it would turn red or yellow. you had to keep those green. the numbers had to be low. they would bypass the safety steps that were there for that reason, but they were bypassing it just so that they could be green. >> walgreens didn't want to comment on that. we asked them about that claim right there. we also reached out to cvs and rite aid and all of them say they have to track prescriptions and work volume because they have to see how each store is performing so they can staff properly. >> we know we can catch some of those mistakes because chris chmura showed us how to look at

our pills. as a regular person, how would you know? >> good question there. thank you. you can watch that entire story on nbcbayarea.com/investigations, and if you have tips for our investigative unit, please give us a call. the number 888-996-tips. oakland police are helping that you can identify the attacker in this video. take a look at it closely. the attack happened early saturday night on 28th street near interstate 580. you see that person dressed in all black approaching that woman, who just returned to her car, and then wrestles away her purse, eventually gets away. the woman was not injured physically, but you can only imagine how she feels emotionally. >> absolutely. san francisco cracking down on rogue street vendors. critics say too many people are trying to re-sell stolen items and other illegal obtained goose. many congregate in the mid market area. yesterday supervisors approved

new regulations, including requiring anyone who sells nasdaq or pre-packaged food to obtain a permit. vendors must follow specific metrics. this is including within certain times and locations, and violators may be fined, even have their items confiscated. new video this morning of this mountain lion making a visit in the south bay. that's pretty scary if you walked out your door. this is in los gatos near camden avenue. look at that. that is scary. you can see that cat checking out the family's porch before disappearing into the darkness. it was in and out in just seconds. >> it felt longer than seconds. >> if you walked out, it would be a lifetime, i'm sure. nobody knows why the cat lingered around that area, too. experts say things usually effective in keeping them away is motion detecting lights, so sometimes those sensor lights can actually scare them away.

>> camden and coleman, that's not like in the hills. >> that's in your back yard. this morning we want to take some time to celebrate one of our very own. >> an amazing member of the "today in the bay" family, meteorologist kari hall, to cel she's going to party and take the rest of the week off. >> happy birthday. >> thank you. >> this is from the "today in the bay" crew. >> unexpected. i was just like, what are we talking about here? you guys are so sweet. thank you. >> tomorrow is your birthday and we wanted to celebrate because you're taking some well-deserved time off to celebrate. >> i'm going to sleep in tomorrow and then go get a massage and then just hang out this weekend. >> lovely. >> kari, i had gotten you a mountain lion but -- [ laughter ] >> -- it got out somewhere. >> we'll find it. >> you can keep that, you know, for your back yard or something. thank you, guys.

i'm, of course, going to make sure the weather stays nice for my birthday. although, it would be a great gift to get some rain. i've got a little bit of that after my birthday. let's get a live look outside in san francisco. we're waking up to all of this sunshine, and i'm really excited about these little cakes. i know how the. napa. it is cold. we have low 40s as you're headingut palo alto and saratoga. dublin, we're dipping intohe upper 30s right now. take a look at our afternoon temperatures reaching into the upper 60s, reaching 68 in los gatos and a high of 68 in walnut creek. hayward up to 66 degrees and 61 in san mateo. you're going to feel a slight cooldown today, especially with high winds. in san francisco, we're in the low 60s and some mid to upper 60s for much of the north bay. we're looking at those high wind

in the hills as the storm system passes to the north of us, and still no rain as of yet. but once that low moves out, high pressure pushes to the south. it's going to open up the door for a quick-moving system to move in between late monday into early tuesday. it does look like another fast mover. look at the models. one computer model shows a potential of getting a nice soaking for the coastal sonoma county area and northward. most of the rest of the bay area may not get a lot out of this, maybe a quarter inch of rain or less. as far as the sierra snow, another 2 to 5 inches by the end of next week and our dry forecast does continue, once again more sunshine for my birthday weekend. we are going to be springing forward, so the bad part of that is that we lose an hour of sleep. but i like to get the sunrise earlier in the morning, later in the evening. we have longer days and we're

heading towards that, as we'll be watching out for rain early next week. mike, how is it looking now? >> we do have an issue on the san mateo bridge. it didn't look bad and the sensors are just starting to clear. maybe they cleared the slower-moving vehicle. someone reportedly ran over debris traveling east toward the hayward side. it was slow coming toward the flat section, but the dumbarton bridge is clear, but i think chp is going to have that cleared by the time i get back to my desk. here's low slowing for san jose, lighter than yesterday. that's been lasting a little longer as the weeks have been moving throughout this month. we're looking toward west highway 4 and west 37. those showed a slower drive. we should have metering lights on any second now. back to you. >> thanks, mike. happening now, supervisors in santa clara county are receiving an update on a program aimed at helping those make it in the bay.

the focus is on heading home. that's the heading he program. it provides 1,200 unhoused families, 150 of which received permanent housing over the three-month period ending in january. the program provided homes to several hundred unhoused veterans. >> sobering new data surrounding anti-asian hate crimes. the leading cause behind the surge and where california stands when it comes to crimes across all 50 states. plus at 6:00, moving you forward out of the pandemic. mayors from our three largest bay area cities lay out their plans as the covid becomes an endemic. a live picture from ukraine as we are following the latest overnight developments, including a power shutoff at a major nuclear plant. the worries that remain on the updates on the russian invasion. you are watching "today in the bay."

you're watching "today in the bay." new national data indicates more than 10,000 hate incidents were reported against asian americans over the last two years. the group stop aapi hate started tracking u.s. hate crimes in march of 2020 when the pandemic started, and that anti-asian surge of cases began. it found that race accounted for

more than 91% of incidents and the majority of the hate incidents happened to asians here in california. >> sherri papini, the northern california woman accused of lying about being kidnapped in 2016, is out on a $120,000 bond this morning. this is the moment she left jail yesterday, met with a swarm of journalists. she did not answer any questions. you may remember authorities found her weeks after she was originally reported missing with injuries, including a brand on her right shoulder. at the time she said that she was held captive by two hispanic women at gunpoint. the fbi now says that she had been staying with a former boyfriend down in southern california. new developments in morning in the high profile case of mm allege end cane velasquez. we have learned that at least one of the judges involved in the attempted murder case is now getting extra security. velasquez, a former ufc heavyweight champion, is facing attempted murder charges for allegedly shooting at a man

accused of molesting a close family member. during his court appearance, dozens of people have shown up to demand his release, and they are frustrated that velasquez is being held without bail, while the accused molester is out without posting any bail at all. there have been threatening comments posted online and a number of judges involved in the case against them, and it's unclear which of them has asked for additional security. the security can change from extra patrols around their homes to around-the-clock armored guards. >> you look at each and every case and you do a threat assessment and you come up with the ideas and the tools necessary to provide them safety. >> it's not clear whether the sheriff's office has activated its judicial protection unit for the velasquez case. in a statement, sjpd tells us it's monitoring the situation. to one of our most read

stories online, a san jose neighborhood on high alert after dozens of people woke up yesterday to find their car tires slashed. neighbors say more than 40 cars parked in south san jose were targeted. one neighbor says it's not the first time something like this has happened. >> there were some windows broken about two years ago, somewhere around 20, 30 vehicles have also got thn windows broken with pellet guns. >> neighbors are now combing through home security video, hoping to catch those vandals. you can watch the full report right now at nbcbayarea.com. right now at 6:00, russian forces moving closer to the heart of ukraine. coming up for you, the growing concerns about a power plant caught in the crossfire, and a new report from washington on the efforts targeting russia's bottom line. >> it's really important for us not to oversell the finish line.

>> plus, navigating the world post-covid. we hear from the mayors of our three biggest bay area cities about their plans to move forward from the pandemic to endemic. >> and another bay area school district talking about slashing millions of dollars. the new fears jobs may be at stake. this is "today in the bay." wake up, it is wednesday morning for you. thanks for making us a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez. laura garcia has the morning off. i needed that wakeup call. don't forget, if you are on the go, we're broadcasting not only to your tv, but also on roku, amazon fire, apple tv, and online. speaking of moving forward and shaking up the morning, we're going to talk about traffic in just a moment. we want to start with a look at the forecast with the almost birthday girl. >> this morning i was like, oh, i'm sleep-walking. so sleepy earlier. but the coffee really d