biden not holding back in his view of vladimir putin, as he prepares for a high-stakes meeting today with china's president. a live report ahead from washington on the new warning for china if they assist in the russian invasion. >> a new health alert in san francisco. it follows a string of recent drug overdoses. the sometimes deadly mistake health leaders say most of the victims are making. also, drugmaker moderna moderna hoping to get approval for a fourth covid vaccination shot. who would be eligible if they get the green light? this is "today in the bay." good friday morning. so nice to say that. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm kris sanchez. marcus washington has this friday off. if you're on the go, we are broadcasting not only to your tv, but you can watch us on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. >> we'll get to the morning

commute in just a moment. let's take a look at the friday forecast. lots of changes this weekend. >> enjoy today because it's going to be really nice. and we're starting out with a clear view in palo alto, no major issues with fog as you're driving to work and temperatures now in the mid-40s. we'll see it wa warming up quickly with a lot of sunshine, upper 50s by noon. we're headed for about 67 degrees in palo alto. and we'll see some upper 60s in dublin and 70 in san jose and los gatos, and in fairfield today we're looking at highs in the low 70s. santa rosa reaching 68 degrees, but tomorrow is when the rain moves in and it's going to be much cooler. we'll talk about the timeline of the rain and how much you can expect coming up in the forecast. developments while you were sleeping on the war in ukraine. new numbers indicate the russian bombardment has damaged more than 430 schools. since the start of the war at least 109 ukrainian children are confirmed to have died. kyiv's leaders say at least 22

ukrainians have died in the capital, including 60 civilians. another 900 kyiv residents have been injured. the u.s. state department confirms another american among those killed in ukraine. james hill was from hide hoe. he had been living in kyiv and recently traveled north to get medical care for his partner, who has multiple sclerosis. officials say hill was waiting in a bread line for food when he was gunned down by russian troops. president biden turning up the rhetoric against russian leader vladimir putin and there are new fears russia may turn up the heat on china for a lifeline. brie jackson is live in washington. president president biden is set to speak with chinese president xi. >> reporter: good morning, laura. well, this is expected to be a critical call and it's the first time that president biden has spoken with his chinese counterpart since the war started and the administration is warning china of severe consequences if they do in fact

help russia. cell phone video shows a bombing of a theatre in ukraine, inside hundreds were sheltering in place. outside the building a satellite image shows the words children written in russian. officials say this and other attacks are signs russia is knowingly going after civilians. there's a rush to provide more killer drones and other weapons to help ukrainians, but with russia's convoy stalled and putin's back against the wall, there are more signs that china will give them military aid. >> for any actions it takes to support their aggression, we will not hesitate to impose costs. >> reporter: the talk this morning between president biden and chinese president xi jinping could play a consequential role in the war's outcome. china has called for a peaceful resolution, but they have avoided condemning russia and they continue to rely on russian oil and gas. laura?

>> brie jackson from washington, thank you. a north bay woman now making it her mission to help the many children leaving ukraine, some of whom are leaving their parents behind. she's from poland and now lives in santa rosa. she launched a gofundme page after learning about a 12-year-old girl who escaped from poland from ukraine by herself. nastia's mother died of cancer a few years ago. her dad decided to stay in ukraine and fight. to help kids, monica is collecting a foundation, contributing to a foundation in poland. >> these kids are scared. they not only need food and shelter, they need to go back to some kind of routine, normalcy. >> the gofundme page has raised close to $20,000. she says the money is going directly to poland one heart

foster care foundation to help these young mfgs. stay with us for the latest from overseas. we have an entire section on our website that is dedicated to the russia/ukraine crisis. there you can find credible sources to donate and help refugees. just head to nbcbayarea.com and click on the link in our trending bar. this morning teachers and staff in one bay area community are preparing to strike. educators in another district announced they reached a tentative agreement with their district. "today in the bay's" cierra johnson joins us live. it sounds like one district ending the strike, as another prepares to begin. >> reporter: that's exactly right, kris. good morning. a lot to follow this morning. the two districts we're talking about, mount dee bab low, and according to the education association, staff members have been working for more than 250 days without a contract, and at this point union members say

that educators have voted to authorize a strike, if necessary. so according to the union website, fact finding with the district is scheduled for later today and this statement was also posted to their website, reading in part, we don't want to strike but we will if that is what it takes to ensure our students get the education they deserve. the union represents more than 1,500 teachers, librarians, school nurses, counselors and other staff members for a district of 29,000 students. and all schools in the catati district will operate on a half schedule today after it was announced late last night that educators with the educators association have officially ended their six-day strike. the union shared that a tentative agreement with the district was reached and the union feels the agreement honors the best feel from their factfinding recommendation and it also allows the district to stay fiscally cool haven't over the next three years. now, the union also shared 310

educators went without pay for the past six days and they'll be fundraising to help offset their lost wages. so a lot to follow in terms of education here in the bay area. we're live in san francisco, cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> thank you. and we do have another education story. lots to cover. follow up this morning, san francisco schoolteachers no longer sleeping outside the superintendent's office. this week they organized an unusual sit-in protest over a dispute over back pay. teachers say that they had been unpaid for weeks. the district cited problems with transitioning to a new payroll system. yesterday both sides agreed to a new deal and it includes new protocols in the event payroll issues pop up again. 5:07. san francisco health leaders issuing a new alert in the wake of a spike in fentanyl overdoses. over the past two weeks there have been at least a dozen overdoses, three of them fatal. the deaths all occurred in march in the mission district, and all

the overdose cases health leaders say victims believed they were using cocaine that turned out to be laced with fentanyl. it can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin. >> moderna moderna is asking the fda to authorize a fourth shot of its covid-19 as a booster for all adults. the company is making that request based partly on the most recent omicron related covid data out of the u.s. and israel. currently a single vaccine booster is authorized for emergency use on top of the two-dose vaccine. the request comes days after pfizer requested emergency authorization for a second booster for those over 65. it's 5:08, taking a live look outside overlooking downtown san jose. enjoy today, warns meteorologist kari hall. >> it's going to be a really nice one. we're starting out cool and for the most part just a few clouds here and there, but pretty clear, and as you're starting

out in oakland, our temperatures in the mid-40s and we'll see the sun starting to peek out around 8:00 and then the rest of the day it is partly cloudy, mostly sunny for later this afternoon as we head for the 60s. this is a storm system that's going to be coming in and giving us much-needed rain for the weekend and it will hang out for a while. we'll be watching this and talk more about how much rain you can expect coming up in the forecast in just a few minutes. vianey, it looks like your maps are all green. >> we've been doing good. it's friday. we've got a friday-like commute as we head toward the weekend. here is an overall look at our speed sensors. moving along. let's check out drive times. peninsula drive times southbound 101 from van ness so sfo, 11 minutes. and your bridge drive times are also doing pretty good. yesterday the metering lights tend to come on around 5:30, but westbound 580 toward the

richmond bridge, seven minutes, westbound 80 toward the san mateo bridge, about seven minutes. i'll send it back to you. >> thank you. 5:09 right now, another price hike caused by russia's invasion coming up next on "today in the bay." how soon you can expect to pay more for shipping. >> and amazon buys the movie studio behind the bond films, which i guess means bond reports to jeff bezos. >> all right, so are you having trouble sleeping? we were just talking about this. maybe there's a solution for us. a new viral trend that some say can have us sound asleep in two minutes. stay with us. >> i'm having trouble waking up. that's a different tiktok story. >> stay with us. you're watching "today in the bay."

when it comes to cybersecurity, the biggest threats don't always strike the biggest targets. so help safeguard your small business with comcast business securityedge™. it's advanced security that continuously scans for threats and helps protect every connected device. on the largest, fastest, reliable network with speeds up to 10 gigs to the most small businesses. so you can be ready for what's next. get started with internet and voice for $64.99 a month. and ask how to add securityedge™. or, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card.

bay."

happy friday. it is 5:13 and we're starting out with a look in santa rosa. our morning starts out cool with low 40s here, but we will see a mostly sunny sky. just clouds at times as our temperatures go from the low 40s to the upper 60s. shaping up to be a really nice day. today is the day to get outdoors, because tomorrow you'll be spending the day inside. we'll talk about that in the forecast coming up. and let's look at your south bay drive times right now. northbound 101 to highway 85, 18

minutes. we're doing good in the southbound. we'll take a look at how the rest of the bay area is doing coming up. good morning. happy friday to you. mortgage rates just crossed 4% for the first time in years and, yes, this is very much related to the interest rate hikes from the fed earlier this week. the fed doesn't set mortgage rates, but the two tend to move in concert. the interest rate for a 30-year fixed is now 4.16%, and that's still very historically low. your parents or grandparents, depending on your age, would have loved to have gotten a home at 4.16%. stocks roared ahead for the third day on thursday. the s&p 500 having its best week in more than a year. oil prices had dipped a bit, but they're on their way back up this morning. president biden and others have said they would like to see gas prices fall as oil prices fell, but there's an old saying in the petroleum world for that, rices go up like a rocket and do down

like a feather. amazon has completed its purchase of mgm, maker of the james bond series films. government regulators have some concern amazon is getting too amazonian but they let the deal go through. do you remember gamestop fell 6.7%, and users bought it up in droves sending the share price to new records. despite the fact that the store's business is kind of terrible, it sells video game discs despite the fact that most video gamers download video games, sell accessories like controllers that people buy on amazon. so the company lost money in the fourth quarter. that's christmas. those stores lost money at christmas. >> that's tough. >> it's a terrible sign. >> although my son still gets

excited, there's a gamestop. clearly i'm not going to save their business. >> neither one of you, no. >> thank you. >> read a book. this morning fedex will impose a new fuel surcharge on april 4th, as rising costs impact the global economy. that fee is going to apply to fedex express, fedex ground and fedex freight. they will range from $2 to $6 depending on weight and destination. the news comes as fedex reported a mixed set of early quarterly earnings, higher shipping prices helping the company's bottom line but profits fell short of wall street's forecast. trending this morning, it turns out that one of the best kept secrets is falling asleep fast, and it might come from the military. >> there's a new viral tiktok trend of an alleged military technique claiming to help you fall asleep in just two minutes. but the real question is, does it work? you find a comfortable position,

breathe out slowly while focusing on releasing any tension in your body. relax your shoulders, continue to inhale and exhale, letting your muscles in your legs and feet relax. then you start visualizing yourself lying on your back on a canoe that's floating on a calm lake with a clear, blue sky above. >> i should have recorded that. i need your voice. >> it's time to relax. >> i would like to volunteer right now to test this study. >> your weather segment is two minutes. you go and we'll see if we can fall asleep. >> i think we'll all be asleep tomorrow with it raining. it's going to be the prechkt sleep-in day. i like that it comes on a saturday, but i know people have plans. here's a look at what's going on in san jose. as it starts out clear, we will see our temperatures head for the low 70s.

beautiful out there today. really pleasant, as our temperatures also head for the upper 60s in livermore. we have a mostly sunny sky. and novato reaching 67 degrees. san francisco reaching 60 today. tomorrow this is a look at our high temperatures. only reaching into the mid-50s and we'll see a high of 56 in novato and 57 in san francisco. this as some widespread rain, much cooler temperatures, as well as the rain comes in. now, we're going to see on sunday more sunshine, first day of spring, and it's going to be pretty nice out there. just a little bit warmer. so here is the next storm system coming in. it's pretty wide, so it's going to take a while before it works its way through the bay area. with the cold front we're also going to see rain starting about late morning. by 9:00, most of us are at least starting to see the sprinkles coming in and it's going to be raining off and on throughout the day. at noon we're seeing some breaks

here and there. for the most part, still scattered showers. then at 5:00 it's starting to taper off for parts of the north bay, but still raining pretty good in parts of the south bay and east bay. then clearing out late tomorrow night. in terms of how much rain we could see, this, of course, much needed, any rain at this point. but we're looking at about a tenth of an inch of rain for much of the north bay, a quarter inch of rain for parts of the peninsula, and it may be higher for a few spots. 1 to 5 inches of snow, just enough to make the roads slick if you're going there this weekend. we'll see high pressure building across the region and that's going to boost up temperatures and keep the storm track to the north. we may see something in the works for late next weekend. we'll be watching that and see if the high pressure moves out of the way. take a look at our san jose temperatures over the next ten days. yes, this is the battle of spring, where we see the temperatures in the upper 50s for the last day of winter,

upper 60s for sunday and low 80s for the middle of next week. kind of all over the place. you want to make sure you keep checking in for updates. what's the update on the morning commute? >> not much, but i like how it's a roller coaster. the temperatures are going to take us on a ride. no worries on the roads right now. it's 5:20 right now. you can definitely relax and drink your coffee. the bridges are, i'm not seeing any issue. san mateo, moving along. this is getting busier as we move closer to the 5:30 hour. a look right now at our speed sensors, we're green in castro valley, down through oakland, the east bay, san jose. no major accidents to report. your east bay drive times, southbound 680 from 580 to vargas road, only ten minutes. and southbound and northbound 880, no issues.

southbound 101 from van ness avenue to sfo, only 11 minutes. we've definitely got a friday light commute this morning. i'll send it back to you. >> thank you. 5:20 right now. coming up next on "today in the bay." nbc bay area responds. >> two viewers cry foul over their missing money. i'm security investigator chris chmura. nbc bay area responds next. >> a 13-year-old boy says he was racially profiled by san francisco police and now his parents are ready to take action. this is a story you will only find online if you head to nbcbayarea.com. it's right on our home page. oh, wow, barbara corcoran! good morning. sorry, we don't need any business help now. we're gigillionaires. what? we're gigillionaires now. i don't get it we have at&t business fiber with hyper-gig speeds.

but i just... so thanks, but, we're doing great. i'm so happy for you! but i'm just here for my order. oh. entre-pin-eurs? yeah, my bowling team. i like it there's money in puns. do business like a gigillionaire at&t business fiber, now with speeds up to 5-gigs. limited availability

welcome back. it's 5:23 right now. although major league baseball was on hold for a while, one team was hitting home runs the whole time. >> our responds team, here is kmurm investigator chris chmura with a lineup of recent wins. >> when a company walks away with an issue and hits you with an unexpected charge and runs errors, we run interference. we went to bat for christina, a san jose college student. she said a study abroad program canceled her trip to europe. an airline was supposed to give her a $1,200 credit for her airfare. our team got her a credit, $1,227. next roy and jenny were fighting their bank over the double withdraw of a recurrent payment.

and then late fees out of left field. our team ran with it. roy and jenny got back $232, plus a written promise to fix their credit file. that's a grand slam. roy and jenny provided us with great documentation to make their case. that always helps. thank you, all as for the teamwork. since we debuted back in 2016, we've gotten you back almost $6 million. when you have a consumer problem you just can't bring home, perhaps we can cover the bases for you. go to nbcbayarea.com, click the responds option from the main menu or call us, 888-966-tips. have a great weekend. >> thanks, chris. a live look now at sfo and the spring break travel rush is now on. most planes are packed, after two years of pandemic living kept families home. but if you have not booked a vacation in a while, things are going to look different.

experts warn because of covid, many hotel chains are making staffing cuts and they are yet to recover. >> the reality was the cost of hiring people became exorbitant and the reality was that they could still use covid as an excuse to not provide these services, and so it became one of those things that kind of just went away. >> you can see the full report about staffing issues that might snarl your vacation on the "today" show after "today in the bay." coming up next, the top stories we're following, including the latest developments in the ukraine refugee crisis. we're going to take you to the poland border where conditions are said to beetting worse. also -- >> reporter: a 13-year-old boy hit and killed on his way to school in the south bay. it's tragic. the history of other crashes involving students in that area. stay with us. you're watching "today in the bay."

behold...unlimited wireless for only 30 bucks. that's pretty cool, but you know what's cooler? saving up to 400 bucks! exactly. and if we really want to take it up a notch... get all that and nationwide 5g included. oh nice shot, send that to me. i got you. break free from the big three and get connected to the nations most reliable 5g network. get the new samsung galaxy s22 series on xfinity mobile. and right now, save big with up to $750 off a new samsung device. switch today. in new york city, ♪ ♪ there's always something new to discover. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ come be a part of it. plan your next vacation at iloveny.com police say shot and killed a former officer protecting a television news crew is making his first court appearance. the charges he faces in the search for another man believed to be connected to the crime. >> he was a good student. he always had good grades. he was a really good person.

>> a demand for change and a growing memorial for a boy killed while riding his bike to school. we'll show you how his friends and family are remembering him and the way the school is helping the children who were affected by his death. this is "today in the bay." a very good friday morning to you. thank you so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm kris sanchez. marcus washington is off. if you are on the go, take us with you on roku, amazon fire, apple tv and online. >> we'll get to the morning commute in a moment. >> it's going to be a lot going on this weekend. today is still looking pretty nice. let's get you going in the east bay with a look at martinez. we'll start out with mid-40s and then a mix of sun and clouds. look at how comfortable temperatures will be between 2:00 and 4:00. we're looking at some upper 60s and then more clouds moving in. here's a look across the bay area and what you can expect for this afternoon.

we're going to have some more comfortable weather, but with that rain tomorrow it's going to be much cooler and it looks like that rain just kind of hangs around throughout much of tomorrow. so we're going to talk more about that and the timeline coming up in just a few minutes. >> thank you so much. 5:31 right now. a middle school in the south bay is reeling this morning after a tragic death of one of its students. >> grief counselors will be on campus to help the students and staff deal with the tragic death of their fellow classmate. "today in the bay's" bob redell joins us live. we want to talk about the kind of help the district is providing to those students. >> reporter: good morning. we're talking about gram middle school in mountain view. they will provide grief counselors today and monday for any students, teachers who knew this young boy. a 13-year-old boy who was killed on his way to gram middle school yesterday morning. we'll show you a live look right now. this is in mountain view. a live look at the intersection

of the el camino and graham road where he was struck and killed by a truck. that intersection is very busy, it's located about a mile away from the school. yesterday morning the 13-year-old was rising his bike to class when he was hit by a truck at that intersection. police say the truck driver remained at the scene, was very cooperative. we spoke with one of his family members who visited the scene to leave flowers for her young cousin. >> he tried his best. he was a good student. he always had good grades. he was just a really good person. >> this is the worst place for traffic. it's as if they don't see you. something about the corner or something. but they just ignore you and drive on. >> we live in the area that promotes the use of bike as part of the environment, as part of the healthy life, and we need to do more to protect our children

and our boys and daughters. >> reporter: yesterday's crash did not happen in front of gram middle school, savemountainview.org says there have been three accidents in the past ten years. back in december the school held an event about bicycle safety. in a letter to families, the superintendent of the school district announced the availability of grief counselors and reminded parents and students to take care of yourself, one another, and hug your loved ones a little tighter. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> watch out for the kids as you're on your way out this morning. >> it's important for the kids to get the bicycle safety training, but for us, the drivers. happening today, the man accused of shooting and killing a security guard protecting a tv news crew last november is set to appear in court. this is a live look at the alameda county courthouse in

dublin where later this morning there is an arraignment scheduled. oakland police this week identified three men connected to the shooting of kevin nishita. they leevd shadihia mitchell pulled the trigger. a second suspect named herbal heal was arrested last month. police are still looking for the man on the right land of your screen, laron gilbert. nishita was a decorated former police officer and that made solving this case even more personal for fellow officers. >> i've spoken to his wife, i committed that we would do everything we could to identify the people responsible, and so it is rewarding to be able to come before her and the family, friends of mr. nishita and say we have identified the individuals. >> police are looking for laron gilbert.

if you know his whereabouts, you are asked to contact police. authors last week discovered the body of 8-year-old sophia mason and her mother is now accused of child abuse and faces murder charges. sophia had been missing since december. family members say she had been living at the home with her mother and mother's boyfriend who deputies are still searching for. a vigil is planned outside of hayward city hall. to overnight developments in ukraine and an update on the assault in ukraine's capital city, this is a look at kyiv this morning. leaders there are now providing new numbers on ukrainians killed in the capital since the start of the war four weeks ago. there are now 222 confirmed ukrainian deaths. that includes more than 60 civilians, four of whom were children. another 900 kyiv residents have been injured. and this is new video this morning from the western city of

lviv. you can see a plume of smoke where, according to the city's mayor, a aircraft plant was destroyed. they say there were at least three explosions in different parts of the city. today president biden will meet with xi jinping and it will be the first time he's spoken with his counterpart since the war started. the administration is warning china not to provide assistance to russia. this, as the way out for those trying to escape becomes even more difficult, and more dangerous. already more than 3 million refugees have left ukraine with more than half of them fleeing to poland. "today in the bay's" jay gray has the latest on the humanitarian crisis along the polish/ukrainian border. >> reporter: kharkiv, mariupol, kyiv. ukraine is a country under constant attack, russian

missiles gutting cities, towns and villages. food, water and fuel scarce, if available at all. >> people have lost their homes, we lost everything. they lost relatives, they became refugees. >> reporter: refugees struggling to escape, and for those who do make it to the border the effects of their harsh journey and the horrors of war are more evident than for those who came before. >> the refugees who have been coming across are more vulnerable and are in a more traumatic state than those who came in the first days and maybe the first week. >> reporter: it's been more than three weeks now. the conflict seemingly growing more intense and deadly every day. as the way out gets more difficult and more critical for those caught in the cross fire. and things getting more difficult on the other side as well, especially here in poland, where there are fewer and fewer

places for refugees to stay. jay gray, nbc news, along the poland/ukraine border. a southern california micro beer maker is trying to help ukrainians impacted by war. the abnormal brewery outside of san diego is making a new beer called glory to the heroes and it will hit the market next month. all proceeds will go to ukrainian soldiers and families across ukraine now left with nothing. the brewery owner says he's just doing his part to help. taking a live look at palisades tahoe this morning. would love to go up skiing. we're getting rain here. does that mean snow in the sierra? kari has a look at our weekend forecast. >> it's going to be really nice to see snow coming down. you want to get there today because tomorrow the roads are going to be pretty hazardous driving through the sierra. as we take a look at our palisades forecast, winter weather advisories up from 8:00

a.m. until 11:00 p.m. and we are ing to see thatw coming down throughoue day. they've got a lot of lifts and runs open. if you're heading back to the bay area on sunday, it's going to be warmer and sunny and hopefully the roads will be clear by the time you ahead home. if you're lucky enough to be able to stay until monday, it will be much warmer as our temperatures head for the low 50s. a little closer to home, we'll see temperatures in the upper 50s today, but then mid-50s tomorrow and it's probably not the best day to be out there. it's going to be pretty rainy, as well as cool and windy. by sunday, the roads and the trails may still be wet. we're heading up for 60 degrees. and a good beach day today, but then tomorrow it's just going to be a day to sit there and watch the rain fall. for the first day of spring on sunday, we're looking at a high of about 64 degrees as rain moves out.

cooling down significantly as the cold front moves in and the rain expected with highs up to about 60 degrees on sunday. we'll see a high of 71 degrees. if you're headed farther north, lake shasta is going to see warm weather. look at how cool it's going to be on saturday, highs in the upper 50s. then sunday it's all clear as you're headed back to the bay area. vianey, how is it looking heading off to work? >> pretty good. a look at the san mateo bridge, a lot more taillights, but it is moving. i also want to take you to the bay bridge toll plaza, because typically the metering lights are on. we've got a friday light commute. this is what you're going to be dealing with as you make the approach. as far as our speed sensors go, the only thing i did notice was the typical morning slowing on 101 in the south bay. your bridge drive times,

westbound 580 toward the richmond bridge, seven minutes. toward the san mateo bridge, 12 minutes. tri-valley times, a little slowing along westbound 84. it's just a typical morning commute. no accidents to report, major accidents. i'll send it back to you. preparing to face another dry year. coming up on "today in the bay," the latest setback from drought continues on the state's farming industry with reservoirs across the state well below normal levels. >> as kris reported, president xi and president biden will talk today. we'll take a look at what they're going to talk about and a very specific warning. >> caught on camera, thieves stealing an expensive car part. what you can try to do to deter them from targeting you. >> first, they vacationed in hawaii with an accused murderer. the bizarre story involving two men from the bay area which you will only see on nbc bay area. you can watch the full story

online right now. head to nbcbayarea.com. it's right there on our home page.

oh, wow, barbara corcoran! good morning. sorry, we don't need any business help now. we're gigillionaires. what? we're gigillionaires now. i don't get it we have at&t business fiber with hyper-gig speeds. but i just... so thanks, but, we're doing great.

i'm so happy for you! but i'm just here for my order. oh. entre-pin-eurs? yeah, my bowling team. i like it there's money in puns. do business like a gigillionaire at&t business fiber, now with speeds up to 5-gigs. limited availability it is 5:44 on your friday morning. let that sink in. we're going to have a nice day, also, in the tri-valley we're starting out with low 40s and a lot of sunshine today. warming up quickly, at 61 at lunchtime, but then headed for the upper 60s today. it's going to be the day to get outside today because tomorrow rain moves in. we'll talk about that coming up.

and a quick check of your east bay drive times, southbound 680 from 580 to vargas road at ten minutes. no delays northbound or southbound from 238 to highway 84 you're looking at 11 minutes. i'll have a full traffic report coming up. >> it is quarter until 6:00 right now. president biden will speak with chinese president xi today. >> and no doubt warn him not to help russia in its invasion of ukraine. >> that's exactly right. our secretary of state had that same warning yesterday, help russia militarily or help it evade sanctions and you may be sanctions yourself. the white house says the call will take place 15 minutes from now. we will not know what was said specifically, but the administration will give us what they call a read-out at some point after the call. no doubt the discussions will be described as frank, because this is going to be straightforward. help the russians hurt ukrainians, and america will punish you.

most of us don't speak ukrainian or russian. president zelenskyy switches back and forth between the two. but i assume you got that one word biden, that was the ukrainian president thanking biden for his help arming ukrainians. i bring that up because there is a push by some in washington to say that biden is not doing enough. the central irony there, of course, is those same critics supported president trump after trump denied ukraine many of the exact same weapons and got impeached for it. you may also see some headlines that point out the same republicans who claim biden isn't doing enough voted against the latest round of funding for military aid to ukraine. it's true, but it's not fair, and it's very misleading. they voted against a giant omnibus bill worth trillions that did all kinds of things. the lawmakers that voted no in this case weren't necessarily against arming ukraine. the house has pretty unified

voting to revoke russia's trading rights with america, the so-called most favored nation status. it was nearly unanimous and very bipartisan. i didn't get a chance to point it out when it happened, but on wednesday when zelensky spoke to congress, the senate majority leader and minority leader sat together, schumer and mcconnell, making a statement by their closeness to each other. though there's good reason to stay apart, coronavirus is getting very close to leadership. yesterday president biden held the traditional shamrock exchange with the irish prime minister via webcam because the prime minister has covid. the two were in close proximity wednesday night before the pm was diagnosed. president biden tested negative. the second husband has covid. though his wife, the vice president, does not. and former president obama said last sunday he contracted covid. everybody says they're feeling fine. we'll be waiting for details on that call, which should take place 13 minutes from now.

we'll talk about it on social media. on twitter you'll find me @scott mcdrew. thank you so much. we have details in the sentencing of two north bay men who killed an italian undercover police officer. they've now learned they will not spend the rest of their lives in prison. an italian court reduced the sentences. the two were convicted last year in the 2019 deadly stabbing. both men are now expected to serve a little more than 20 years in prison. some new v that'rd to bel it wasn't staged, but the person whoosted it o so media says she caught two people in middle of the day ng a catalyticonverter s it happened monday near martin luther king park in we talked toichmond police and theyay these type of theft bay area. common across the >> they've been absolutely a

very ctheft w. ths something that's happeningtiple times a day, all over the nation, really. this is widespread. it's just not a richmond exclusive. this is everywhere. >> to avoid a catalytic converter theft, experts recommend etching your vin number on the car part or installing an anti-theft twice. you can find a video on nbcbayarea.com. head to responds, and chris chmura explains how to mark or etch your catalytic converter. our climate in crisis hitting deeper this week for california water agencies and water suppliers. as early as today, they may learn about more severe cutbacks from the state this summer. they're scaling back water distribution plans as new fral data suggests that the sierra will only provide about half the levels of snowpack runoff in the months ahead. remember, those unusual range we

had in december, forecasters now say if not for those early-season storms, california would be in a lot worse trouble. >> and that was such a series of juicy storms. >> we were so optimistic. >> we were. taking a live look outside in san francisco, clear this morning. but tomorrow we're going to get more rain. >> we're going to get more rain, but this is not the juicy storms we had at the beginning. this is what a lot of climate scientists call precipitation whiplash where you start out and you have all of this rain, and then you go to the other extreme. let's take a look back at the past couple of months. in october, remember through december, we were at 160% of normal for our rainfall. and the sierra snow was at 160% of average. and with a start like that, you're like, yes, maybe we're seeing things turn around. but then it did turn around and it was not for the good. january 1st started, we have dry conditions. we were counting the days.

and since then, we've had some extremely dry conditions, and the storms that do come through are a lot lower. and now the sierra snowpack was only half of what we normally see for this date. we're hoping for some type of turnaround before that really critical april 1st sierra snowpack survey. so as we're starting out thisrn head out the door. we are going to see rain coming in tomorrow. we're still enjoying the sunshine today and temperatures in the 60s and 70s. look at the change tomorrow. we're only looking at highs in the mid to upper 50s. and it's opening season for little league and we're going to see this rain all throughout the day, but just think about how much we need this rain. and as we head into sunday, it's the first day of springs and temperatures will be slightly warmer, reaching into the mid to low 60s. this is a storm that's coming in, although it's not a really heavy storm it's going to be kind of lasting longer

throughout the day compared to what we've seen recently. it starts by 8:00 to 9:00 with more widespread rain moving in, a few pockets of some heavier downpours, and then by 6:00 to 7:00 we're seeing it clearing out. it's going to be windy and still cool. as far as how much rain we're going to see, about a tenth to a quarter inch of rain. there may be some spots that get closer to a half inch of rain, maybe parts of the santa cruz mountains. and sierra snow looks to bring us about 1 to 5 inches. it's been consistent in showing that. a light coating of snow. spring begins on sunday. temperatures coming back up. look at how warm it's going to be next week. whatever rain we get over the weekend is going to dry up quickly as our highs head for the low 80s for the middle of next week. vianey, how is it looking heading through the east bay? >> we're kind of cruising right now, but it is getting busy. look at 880 in both directions. this is just getting busy

because of a typical morning commute. i did check the traffic reports to see if there were any accidents or anything and it doesn't look like it, at least not according to the traffic reports. if you see something out there, let us know, but for now it looks like it's just getting busier as we inch closer to the 6:00 hour. as far as the san mateo bridge shot, it looks good. we're moving along. we're also doing good, i did notice this accident just pop up on 580. if you're traveling from the tri-valley, it might be something you encounter. i'll look more into that. south bay drive times also starting to slow down. northbound 101 from highway 85, you're looking at 23 minutes. northbound 85 from highway 101, you're looking at 20 minutes. and no major on northbound or southbound 208. back to you. >> thank you. happening now, the city of vallejo is warning residents about a new scam. fraudsters are said to be spoofing the water billing number and calling people to

demand payment for outstanding water bills. the city says they will never call a customer and ask for payment over the phone and that's true of a lot of other agencies. you can pay your water bill by mail, in person or online at vallejowater.org. one school district threatening to strike and another ending theirs. we have more you need to know about an expected walkout and where teachers are returning today. plus, st. mary's college taking down indiana hoosiers. march madness has become. you're watching "today in the bay."

welcome back. you're watching "today in the bay." state lawmakers just approved plans to make abortions less expensive for many women. the bill bans using private insurance fees to the costs of an abortion procedure. the vote is part of lawmakers strategy to make abortions still available should the u.s. supreme court overturn roe v. wade. according to the california health benefits review program, the average co-pay and deductibles currently range from about $540 to nearly $900. lawsuits are mounting against san jose's gun law. in january san jose council members passed an ordinance requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance and pay a fee to help reduce gun violence in the city. it's supposed to take effect in

august. now three fiscal oversight organizations are suing the city, joining lawsuits already filed by gun rights groups. this latest suit focuses on forcing more people to pay taxes. a live look at sfo this friday morning and the spring break travel rush is on. most planes are packed after two years of pandemic kept families at home. but you haven't booked the vacation just yet, experts say things are looking different. they warn during covid many hotel chains made staffing cuts they have fully to recover from. >> the reality was the cost of hiring people became exorbitant and the reality was that they could still use covid as an excuse to not provide these services, and so it became one of those things that just kind of went away. >> see the full report coming up on the "today" show at 7:00 a.m. right after "today in the bay." have you made dinner plans this weekend? happening today, oakland restaurant week kicks off and

runs through march 27th. the event pivoted to a takeout promotion last year because of the pandemic. diners now can search 82 participating restaurants by neighborhood, cuisine, meal type and price at oaklandrestaurantweek.org. we're not cooking. march madness now in full swing and college english majors may call it a tale of two west coast conference schools. for usf it was heartbreaking, the end. jamari hit a clutch three-pointer halfway through overtime. murray state finishing just a little stronger down the stretch over usf. they beat them 92-87. but things turned out much better for laura's st. marys. >> you know it's great when the opponent's best play comes from its cheerleading team. check out what happened. so the ball got stuck behind the

backboard. they didn't have a ladder, so they just raised up the cheerleader. the game could go on. as for the game itself, gaels fans hardly broke a sweat. up 31 after a bakt in the second half. they went on to defeat indiana 82-53, and now they're facing ucla on saturday. >> all right. it is 506 and right now at 6:00 -- >> murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging a war against the people of ukraine. >> president biden not holding back in his view of vladimir putin, as he prepares for a high stakes meeting today with china's president. a live report ahead from washington on the new warning to china if they assist in that russian invasion. >> and a new house alert in san francisco following a string of recent drug overdoses. the sometimes deadly mistake health leaders say most victims are