♪♪ good morning. it is saturday, april 9th. the live look outside. a golden sunrise over san jose. a beautiful way to start our

weekend, and we appreciate that you are starting it with us. i'm kira klapper. meteorologist vianey arana joins us with a quick look at microclimate forecast. looks like a beautiful morning. >> it is. you know, the sun will be shining and it will be a little cooler but the winds are going to play a big role today. >> oh, yes. >> and as you know we haven't seen much in the way of rain so conditions are really drive right now. a live look in san francisco. we are starting out in the 40s and 50s right now in san francisco. 47 in san jose. if you are curious to know how much cooler we are compared to the past 24 hours, so far look at hayward running about 10 degrees cooler at this hour. 7 degrees cooler in san jose. but even though we will be nice and cool in some spots, the temperature trend is still going to climb into the upper 70s in some spots, including the interior valleys. because it is going to be so dry out there, we are talking low humidity. the winds are going to pick up. there is a wind advisory that is

going to be in effect for the north bay mountains and the diablo range. this is going to bring elevated fire danger. that wind advisory began at 5:00 a.m. and runs through tomorrow evening, but looking ahead we will talk about the rain chances and when that moves in coming up in my full forecast. kira. >> a lot to get to vianey. see you in 15. thanks. as the wind picks up and the fire danger increases, make sure you have downloaded our free nbc bay area app. we will send breaking news and weather alerts straight to your smartphone. turning now to a teacher from an east bay charter school who is now in jail facing 29 counts of child molestation. the school says they fired her but this is the second time in recent years that a teacher at that very same school has been charged with sexually assaulting students. here is "today in the bay's" thom jensen. >> reporter: prosecutors say 35-year-old vanessa paige gower engaged in sex acts with seven

students between october 2021 and february 2022. 29 felony charges filed in contra costa county including allegations of sex with minors, inappropriate touching and sharing sexually graphic material online. >> we believe we have identified all of the victims, but i have been doing this a long time and there's always the possibility there could be additional victims. >> reporter: paul graves oversees the sexual assault unit at the contra costa county da's office. graves wouldn't go into more detail, but a detective with richmond pd told me gower had section with at least two of the boys. >> reporter: investigators say all seven of the victims were high schoolers here at the upper school. boys between 16 and 17 years old. gower was not arrested here at the school where she was a biology teacher. she was fired here in february. instead, she was arrested at sacramento at the airport as she returned home from two weeks in hawaii. graves says he is familiar with the 2016 case involving a middle

school teach earp at making waves who molested 15 boys between 2011 and 2013. he was convicted and sentenced to more than 900 years in prison, but graves says he's not surprised there's new accusations at the same school because he has learned it could happen anywhere at any time. >> you could hire a teacher and think they're a perfectly qualified, good teacher, but you don't actually know what type of person they are underneath until something happens. >> reporter: parents who think their child had contact with gower and may be a victim too should contact the richmond police department. in richmond, thom jensen, "nbc bay area news". the making waves charter school released a statement saying gower has been fired. quote, there is nothing more important than the health, safety and well-being of our students. the school also says it has reached out to parents to provide support where it might be needed. san pablo police arrested this man, 22 year old maldonado

saldana. he is a dental assistants accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old boy. investigators say it happened during the child's appointment at the dental office. the boy's mom was told she could not come into the room. our jody hernandez broke this on twitter. he previously worked at western dental in el cerrito. police fear there could be other victims. anyone with information is asked to call san pablo police. the search is under way for a hit-and-run driver who killed two people in a crosswalk in san jose. the victims are a woman and daughter hit by this man driving this red truck. these are surveillance images of the truck in and around the time the crash happened. it happened thursday night just before 6:30 right in front of a middle school. the crossing guards tell us they were extra vigilant at the crash site yesterday because students use that crosswalk. >> when i cross the kids, i

always, you know, with my stop sign to make attention to the cars coming. >> reporter: make sure they see you? >> yes. >> 26 people have been killed in traffic accidents this year in san jose alone. that is more than double the number at this same time last year. turning now to the crisis in ukraine, at least 50 people were killed in an attack at a train station. about 4,000 people, mostly women and children, were at the station in eastern ukraine, trying to flee the country. photos show bodies covered in tarps and remnants of the rocket with the words "for the children" painted on it in russian. the pentagon says russia struck the railway station with a ballistic missile. ukrainian president zelenskyy says the attack was another war crime of russia. russia meanwhile denies carrying out the attack, saying it doesn't use the kind of missile that hit the station.

a live look for you at the white house where this morning the oil ban is now in effect. president joe biden signed two bills into law yesterday banning oil imports and suspending trade with russia. this war, of course, hits home for so many in the bay area, and that includes one woman in the south bay. her family is in bucha, ukraine, a city that was annihilated by russian forces. "today in the bay's" ian cull spoke with her and has this story you can only see here. >> reporter: elena, now of san jose, was born in ukraine. right now her hometown of bucha is in ruins. it was occupied by russian forces for weeks. her mother and brother are still there. >> they have no water. they had to drink rain water for a month. all people, all neighbors got together and feeding each other,

helping each other. >> reporter: her family didn't leave because her father was sick. he passed away yesterday and was buried today. >> can't express in words. >> reporter: olena is not sure where many of her relatives or friends are now. ukraine's president says more than 400 people have been killed in bucha. >> it is hard to imagine that, you know, humans can do that. >> reporter: and she says before russian troops retreated they pulled up to the family driveway in a tank. >> they had machine guns. they made my brother to undress naked, checked him for any tattoos or any military tattoos. robbed him, took his watch, took everything from the house that they could take, but we were just grateful they didn't kill him. >> reporter: many others were not as lucky. >> my brother told me today,

he's like, i would understand if those were aliens, that aliens came and did that, but these are people. >> reporter: not humans. >> they're not human. >> reporter: olena wanted to share her story so people don't turn away from the atrocities in her country and her hometown. >> ask to close the sky over ukraine and please donate and help people. we need your help. >> that was "today in the bay's" ian cull reporting for us. california firefighters are on their way to ukraine. they raised money on their own to fund their trip into the war zone. their efforts will be focused on rescuing people trapped beneath rubble. initially they only planned to send rescue equipment to ukraine, but they were told crews there wouldn't know how to use it. >> from that point on i was like, all right, i'm going to put together a mission where we're going to gather the equipment and we're going to personally escort it in, and then we're going to train the

ukrainian firefighters how to use it and while we're there we're going to work beside them. >> eric hille is with the san miguel fire department in san diego county. his team is bringing 26 palettes of specialized search and rescue equipment with them. the team leaves this weekend. he says the entire team should be in poland by tuesday and then they will drive into ukraine. we're going to turn now to a thrilling day at oracle park. the san francisco giants opened their season at home yesterday for the first time since 2009, brandon belt making a grant entrance. the captain on a boat. he even threw out the first pitch to manager gabe kapler. barry bonds was also there sitting next to mayor london breed. even some of our own nbc bay area and telemundo 48 team were at the game. terry mcsweeney, auld re-asistio, anthony flores. even i couldn't miss the iconic game with my sons. they got to skip school. we will have highlights from the

dramatic walk-off win in extra innings as well as the a's season opener later in the newscast. at 7:10 we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up, a mountain lion paying a visit to a peninsula area. we will tell you where.

welcome back at 7:13 on your saturday morning. a little hazy out there as we

look at the golden gate bridge. we are expecting another warm day across the bay area, but the winds will be returning and putting us in elevated fire danger. vianey will have your forecast in just a few minutes. first, at the white house a formal reception and celebration was held for judge ketanji brown jackson, soon to be justice jackson. the president and vice president hosted the event yesterday. it marked judge jackson's place in history as the first black woman to sit on the supreme court. the judge summed up her journey saying, quote, in my family it took just one generation to go from segregation to the supreme court. >> it has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a black woman to be selected to serve on the supreme court of the united states.

but we've made it. >> judge jackson will not become a justice until the end of the court's current term, likely in june or july, when justice stephen breyer is expected to step down. bay area political leaders were among those with a front row seat yesterday. east bay congresswoman barbara lee and oakland mayor libby schaaf were at the white house. lee's office shared these photos from the celebration. she tells us the mood was one of joy, relief and possibility coming into focus. >> i tell you, it was almost surreal. it was like we have fought so hard for so long as black women just to be seen, that now all of a sudden we have since 1789 the first african american woman who will serve on the highest court in the land. >> so that i could sit on the white house lawn and watch this incredible jurist, this inspiration, this role model,

and all of the people that helped bring her to this moment. >> oakland mayor libby schaaf already had plans to be in washington this weekend and then she said she got the call from the white house, offering her a chance to attend so she quickly changed her flight. back here locally, new video of a mountain lion walking through a peninsula neighborhood. you can see the big cat stroll right along the driveway there. this happened on kingbridge drive in san mateo. apparently it is a spot the mountain lion quite enjoys. it has visited the same property two times before. banned from the oscars for a decade. will smith is not allowed to attend any academy events for ten years after he slapped presenter chris rock at this year's oscars. the decision also came with an apology that the academy did not address the situation during the telecast. smith is allowed to keep the oscar he won for "king richard."

after yesterday's announcement, smith said he accepts and respects the decision. if you need to get a second booster shot today, you have a chance. contra costa health services is offering the shot to people age 50 and older. health leaders will also distribute free at-home covid-19 test kits at their office on san pablo avenue in el cerrito. that all starts at 9:00 this morning. first come, first served to get the testing kit. because of high demand people will get two test kits per family. new this morning, the axiom-1 crew has docked at the international space station, marking the first time an all-private space crew has reached the iss. this is live for you right now. it docked just after 5:30 this morning. the crew here, you can see, consists of a former nasa astronaut and three paying customers. they blasted off on a spacex rocket ship friday from the

kennedy space center in florida. the crew will spend one week at the space station. very cool to get a live look there this morning. starting today, a new exhibit is now opening at the monterey bay aquarium. deep sea creatures that have never before been seen will be on display. the new exhibit is titled "into the deep." it takes you on a tour of the ocean floor. more than 50 different creatures live in specialized tanks that mimic their unique habitat. some come from as far away as japan, but most of these were found lurking in the monterey bay itself. and trending this morning, a father set a guinness world record for running a half marathon, but get this. quintuplets.ile pushing his chad temple, who lives in idaho, made history when he crossed the finish line at the oakland running festival last month. he had five 4 year olds in a stroller as he ran.

that's an extra 240 pounds. >> whoa. >> it took him only 2 hours and 19 minutes to complete the 13.1 miles. he says his kids had a blast and kept telling him to run faster. this isn't temple's first world record by the way. back in 2019 he ran a full marathon in 5 hours and 31 minutes with those same quintuplets. >> that's impressive. at least the weather looks like it played a good role. >> wow. >> meanwhile, over here, there are changes on the way, kira. >> yes. >> we are under a microclimate weather alert for wind advisories in april. it is supposed to be raining. >> yeah. >> this isn't common for us to have wind advisories in april. if you are curious how uncommon it is, according to the national weather service the last time we saw one was in 2013. it is the first time they've seen a wind advisory in the month of april. that shows how the impacts of the drought will play a key role of this.

i want to show you satellite radar because as of right now we are seeing calm weather when it comes to the chance of rain for today and for tomorrow, but things will change on that front. current temperatures as you head out the door, in the 40s, starting out at 47 in san jose. 49 in san francisco. 45 in redwood city. look at the temperature change compared to the past 24 hours. so now we are heading into a bit of a cooling trend ahead. about 10 degrees cooler in hayward. so the red flag warning, i should say also too microclimate alert is not because of the heat, it is because of the low humidity and the increased wind. so let's take a look at your hour-by-hour forecast. notice by about 4:00 today we will top out in the upper 70s in some spots including through tracie, about 78 degrees, one of the warmer spots. definitely a lot cooler than the record warmth we had earlier this week, so let's get to the

red flag warning. the area that you see highlighted in area are wind advisories. the red is a red flag warning. this will bring elevated fire danger through the interior northern california area. as i mentioned, for solano county it is the first time they've seen these types of warning for the month of april. as far as how gusty we will get, to the north bay mountains and 50-plus miles per hour possibly headin overnight hours and sunday. let's talk about the low humidity. look at the fire danger index. right now we are starting out okay. typically overnight we see a good recovery with the humidity, but heading into the afternoon it is going to fall less than 20% and the winds are especially going to pick up for the higher elevation areas heading in this afternoon in through tomorrow as women. this is expected to remain in effect, that advisory, through 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. here is a closer look at the drought monitor because this, you know, is one of the key players in into why we're seeing dangerous conditions today. we had a record dry start to

january and march, low stream flows, this is bringing the fire danger elevated into the start of spring. now, as far as the long-range outlook we have a bit of good news on that end because it looks like heading into monday, look at that, we could see the return of some rain to the bay area, definitely a sight we want to see considering how dry we've been. we get a second chance of seeing some rain as well heading into wednesday. so an interesting week ahead for sure? a lot of different weather there, vianey. thanks so much. we will cross our fingers for the rain. at 7:22 we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." the sfmoma soap box derby is returning after 40 years. coming up, two artists looking to cross the finish line with this unique design.

as a small business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving with comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network. with no line activation fees or term contracts. saving you up to $500 a year. so boost your bottom line by switching today. get the new samsung galaxy s22 series on comcast business mobile and for a limited time save up to $750 on a new samsung device with eligible trade-in.

welcome back. tomorrow dozens of artists will race against each other in the return of the sfmoma soap box derby. "today in the bay's" bob riddell spoke to two of the racers with a unique design in san francisco. >> reporter: the last time the sfmoma soap box derby ran was 1978. it will be back this weekend here in the city, first time in 44 years. you are probably thinking that doesn't look like a soap box. well, the idea is you get a bunch of artists, in this case over 50 of them, to come up with their own idea. it has to be self-propelled, brakes, handle bars, wheels, that sort of thing. that's why we have andrew

ingersol, oliver hawk holden. good morning to you guys. tell me, what was the guy you went with shrimp? i would have thought lobster but you went the shrimp. >> yeah, it kind of all started. you know, at artists we have to find ways to support ourselves. you know, i kept hearing about how lucrative shrimp farming is. as entrepreneurs we kind of tried our hand in it. i met someone in the grocery outlet parking lot in portola and bought a few hundred dollars worth of shrimp to try my hand at it. before we started the art business we were trying to breed shrimp. it didn't work out, but this is a homage to all of the entrepreneurs and hustlers out there. >> reporter: typically you get on a soap box, you get in a soap box. here you are saddling it. >> yeah, i thought that the horse aesthetic on the shrimp would pair nicely. >> reporter: have you taken this for a test run since you will be the one racing on sunday?

>> yeah, i took it for a test run two days ago. it went pretty smooth. the steel frame has proven itself to work out. >> reporter: how fast do you think it went? >> i would say about 15 miles per hour. >> reporter: do you feel safe on this? >> yeah. i'm going to try to get a bunch of people to push me at the start line. >> reporter: okay. mclaren park, how steep is the hill there? remind me. >> about a 15% incline. >> reporter: so are you going to have a helmet? >> yes. >> reporter: are you guys going for style, speed or a combination? >> all of the above. >> reporter: good luck to you guys. first time in 44 years. you are looking at -- what do you call it? >> the shrimp car. >> reporter: how did you come up with that? i'm kidding. that's a good name. sfmoma soap box derby is, again, this sunday. the actual race time i believe is at 11:00 a.m. but they will have activities going from 10:00 to 5:00 at mclaren park here in the city. bob riddell, "nbc bay area news". it is 7:27. we have much more ahead for you

on "today in the bay" including a deadly rocket attack targeting a ukrainian train station where women and children were trying to flee the country. coming up, why russia is saying it was not behind the attack.

♪♪ good morning. it is saturday, april 9th, 7:30 on the dot as we take a live look at oracle park. wow! what a cool camera to have. a gorgeous morning after a

beautiful opening day yesterday. the giants won in the 10th against the florida marlins -- or the miami marlins i should say. whoops, i just dated myself. thank you so much for joining us. i'm kira clap earp. meteorologist vianey arana joins us with a look at the forecast. >> the concern of the wind is something we will be on top of today. 51 degrees right now in san jose. notice the temperature trend. it will be running a few degrees cooler, so we're heading into a bit of a cooling trend after a pretty warm friday. record-breaking temperatures earlier this week. in san francisco right now it is about 50 degrees. then notice in the temperature trend we still climb up into the upper 60s through the afternoon. so, yes, it will be very sunny, but because we really haven't seen rain it is also still very dry. this is the reason why we are under a microclimate weather alert as the winds pick up into

the afternoon. the combination of dry, you know, weather out there, you have seen that the hillsides are brown, low humidity, and then the winds pick up, it will bring elevated fire danger. we are talking about windy conditions, a wind advisory already in effect. it will remain in place through tomorrow, but we are also talking about rain chances ahead. so i'll guide you through all of that coming up in my full forecast. kira. >> wind and rain and elevated fire danger as it all increases. make sure you have downloaded our free nbc bay area app. we will send you breaking news and breaking weather alerts straight to your smartphone. it is 7:32 right now. a former teacher from an east bay charter school is now in jail facing 29 counts of child molestation. this is the second time in recent years that a teacher at that very same school has been charged with sexually assaulting students. "today in the bay's" thom jensen

reports. >> reporter: prosecutors say 35-year-old vanessa paige gower engaged in numerous sex acts with seven boys between october 2021 and february 2022. 29 felony charges filed in contra costa county including allegations of sex with minors, inappropriate touching and sharing sexually graphic material online. >> we believe we have identified all of the victims, but i have been doing this a long time and there's always the possibility there could be additional victims. >> reporter: paul graves oversees the sexual assault unit at contra costa da's office. graves wouldn't go into more details but a detective with richmond pd told me gower had sex with at least two of the boys. investigators say all seven of the victims were high schoolers here at the upper school, boys between 16 and 17 years old. gower was not arrested here at the school where she was a biology teacher. she was fired here in february.

instead she was arrested in sacramento at the airport just as she returned home from two weeks in hawaii. graves says he is familiar with the 2016 case involving a middle school teacher at making waves who molested 15 boys between 2011 and 2013. ronald ginto was convicted and sentenced to more than 900 years in prison, but graves says he is still not surprised there's new accusations at the same school because he has learned it could happen anywhere and at any time. >> you could hire a teacher and think they're a perfectly qualified, good teacher, but you don't actually know what type of person they are underneath until something happens. >> reporter: parents who think their child had contact with gower and may be a victim too should contact the richmond police department. in richmond, thom jensen, "nbc bay area news". the search is under way for a hit-and-run driver who killed two people in a crosswalk in san jose. the victims are a mother and her daughter, hit by this man driving this red truck. these are surveillance images of

the man and the truck. the crash happened thursday night just before 6:30 right in front of a middle school. crossing guards tell us they were extra vigilant at the crash site yesterday because students use that crosswalk. >> when i cross the kids, i always, you know, wave my stop sign to make attention to the cars coming. >> reporter: make sure they see you? >> yeah. >> 26 people have been killed in traffic accidents so far this year in san jose. that is more than double the number at this same time last year. turning now to the crisis in ukraine, at least 50 people were killed in an attack at a train station. we are told about 4,000 people, mostly women and children, were at the station trying to flee the country. photos you can see show bodies covered with tarps and remnants of that rocket with the words "for the children" painted on it

in russian. we just learned moments ago that five of the dead are children and 16 other children were injured. witnesses reported a large explosion and then four or five bombs that ripped through the crowd of people. the pentagon says russia struck the railway station with a ballistic missile, and ukrainian president zelenskyy is calling the attack, quote, another war crime of russia. but russia denies carrying out the attack, saying it doesn't use the kind of missile that hit the station. we want to turn to a live look at the white house this morning where the oil ban is now in place. president biden signed two bills into law yesterday banning oil imports and suspending trade with russia. there are so many families across the bay area touched by this war, including one south bay women. her family is in bucha, ukraine. she tells "today in the bay's" ian cull what the russians did to her brother. it is a story you will only see

on nbc bay area. >> they could not bury bodies because of the mines from the cemeteries. >> reporter: olena gutsa now of san jose was born in ukraine. right now her hometown of bucha is in ruins. it was occupied by russian forces for weeks. her mother and brother are still there. >> they had no water. they had to drink rain water for a month. all people, all neighbors got together and feeding each other, helping each other. >> reporter: her family didn't leave because her father was sick. he passed away yesterday and was buried today. >> i can't express it in words. >> reporter: olena is not sure where many of her relatives or friends are now. ukraine's president says more than 400 people have been killed in bucha. >> it is hard to imagine that, you know, humans will -- can do that. >> reporter: and she says before russian troops retreated they pulled up to the family driveway

in a tank. >> they had machine guns. they made my brother to undress, naked. checked him for any tattoos or any military tattoos. robbed him, took his watch, took everything from the house that they could take, but we were just grateful they didn't kill him. >> many others were not as lucky. >> my brother told me today, he's like i would understand if those were aliens, that aliens came and did that, but these are people. >> reporter: not human. >> they are not humans. >> reporter: olena wanted to share her story so people don't turn away from the atrocities in her country and her hometown. >> ask to close the sky over ukraine and please donate and help people. we need your husband. >> that was to order call "today in the bay's" ian cull

reporting for us. this is a live look at the area of meridian way and pedro street not far from 280. police say the shooting happened around 4:30 this morning. one man was taken to the hospital with a life-threatening injury. as far as we know the shooter remains on the loose. police are still investigating a motive. we're going to take a turn now to a lot of excitement as bay area fans welcomed another season of giants' baseball. for the first time, a home opener at home, a season opener at home i should say for the first time since 2009. after blowing the lead in the top of the ninth, the giants responded right back at the bottom of the ninth. estrada hits a solo home run, tying the game, 5-5.

bottom of the tenth, austin slates delivers a game-winner, that walk-off homer, the rbi double, and darin ruf sliding home to win. a walk-off win on opening day. nothing better. the team rushed the field as the game was called. the giants beat the marlins, 6-5. the a's, let us not forget opening season in philly. dallas braden and glen kuiper broadcasting with the number 10 on the wall for fossey who died of cancer. the phillies held their lead to hold the game. 9-5. i was a little off there. 7:40 still to come on "today in the bay." being in the right place at the right time, the quick action by fishermen off our coast to save two women who were swept out to

sea. >> you guys okay or are you in trouble?

good morning. it is 7:43. we are under a microclimate weather alert. not because of the heat, but because of the wind and the dry conditions. overall, it will be a beautiful, clear day today. a live look right now in san francisco. we are expecting a lot of sunshine. satellite radar right now shows things are for the most part pretty calm. we have a system just out in the

pacific and we talk about our next chance of rain in just a bit, but first i want to guide you through our temperatures, the timing of the wind and the advisories and the effect. starting in the 40s, 47 in san jose. 49 in san francisco. through concord, 47. town through morgan hill and gilroy also in the 40s. look at the 24-hour temperature change. this is how we look compared to the past 24 hours. 10 degrees cooler in hayward. 8 degrees cooler in livermore. the daytime highs today are expecting to be running a few degrees cooler, not as warm as what we saw earlier this week. a high in the mid 70s. in through livermore, 75. morgan hill, 76. san francisco, upper 60s, 67, 68 degrees. if yl start in the 50s, but by the afternoon upper 60s. noum, the reason we are under a microclimate weather alert is because of the wind advisories and red flag warning that are not common for the month of

april. we're supposed to be seeing a ton of rain, we haven't gotten that. from our perspective, according to the national weather service the last time we had advisories like this in the month of april was in 2013. this is first time for solano county. we expect gusts 35 to 50-plus miles per hour. this will bring elevated fire danger because it is so dry out there. look at the relative humidity. typically we see a nice recovery overnight. anything above 40% is pretty good. but if you notice by the afternoon at 1:30 we see some areas fall less than double digits when it comes to the humidity. so bone dry in through parts of concord, livermore at 8 percent humidity. then it sort of continues and carries on into sunday when we start to see the winds pick up. that combination of the two items is really, you know, what can brew disaster, especially considering we haven't seen any rain, which brings me to our drought monitor. i just want to give you an idea of how we are looking right now for the entire state of

california. d3, extreme severity remains. of course, we had the record dry start for january and march, but i do want to show you a little bit of relief in sight. that's going to come in on monday. take a look at that. we are monitoring not one but two systems heading into wednesday. that's going to bring us the potential of seeing some showers heading into thursday as well and for inland areas, but the wind we really have to be careful out there. play it smart, guys. >> perfect timing for the rain to move in and hopefully give us some relief. >> exactly. >> vianey, thanks so much. up next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. uncle sam is working this weekend, offering free face-to-face tax help. plus, we have an invitation to meet our team face-to-face just to say high. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. i will show you where, next. in episode six of our streaming series "saving san francisco, going to jail to talk one-on-one with a homeless man

accused of terrorizing a san francisco neighborhood. hear james durgin in his own words. you can watch all six episodes of "saving san francisco" by downloading the nbc bay area app for your roku, apple tv or other streaming device, or you can watching on nbcbayarea.com/savingsan francisco.

♪♪ welcome back at 7:49 on your saturday morning. the sun is shining in san

francisco. we are expecting another beautiful day, but the winds are going to pick up, putting us in elevated fire danger. tax day is just nine days away and it is crunch time at the irs, and yet two local irs offices are going to open their doors today for free in-person help. consumer investigator chris chmura shows us where. >> reporter: good morning. irs offices are usually only open monday through friday, but two offices will open special for saturday walk-ups. in oakland, it is the irs office at 1301 clay street. in stockton, 4643 quail lakes drive. you can meet with a real, live human being from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. you do not need an appointment and it is free. the irs says bring an id, social security card if you have it and any letter the irs might have sent you. irs reps won't fill out your return for you but they will answer your questions to get you started.

we've done lots of stories recently to help you tax return, minimize mistakes and maximize your refund. you can see them all on our website, nbcbayarea.com. click the "responds" option from the main menu. one last note. our team is headed to san francisco's cherry blossom festival in japan town this weekend. i will be there tomorrow, midday. feel free to come by and say hi. i will be handing out some of the handy magnifying glasses to help you read the fine print like i do. have a great weekend. >> thanks, chris. you can see chris and some of the other nbc bay area team at the northern california cherry blossom festival. today the festival will be emceed by our reporter and host of asian pacific america robert handa. the cherry blossom festival runs this weekend and next weekend in san francisco's japan town. now to new video of a daring rescue. some salmon fisherman saved two

teenage girls who had been swept out to sea in the monterey bay. this happened on thursday. one fisherman said it was dumb luck they even saw the girls in the water. the girls had been swimming near salinas beach in moss landing when they were pulled out by a rip tide. the fishermen got them into their boat. the girls were freezing and exhausted but we are told they were otherwise okay. wow. 7:52 right now. up next we have a quick look at the top stories we are following including a deadly rocket attack in ukraine targeting women and children in a train station. coming up, what we've learned and why russia says they weren't responsible.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

welcome back. before we get to our top stories this morning, here is what you can expect tomorrow morning on "sunday today" with willie geist. hey, willie. >> good morning, kira. great to see you. tomorrow morning on "sunday today," my new conversation with mark wahlberg on his latest role already drawing critical acclaim in the movie "father stu." it is the true redemption story of a former boxer turned priest, a life transformation that reminded wahlberg in some ways of his own. >> were there people, mark, when you were a kid you feel like maybe wrote you off based on the way you came up in dorchester and all of the things you went through as a kid? >> yeah, yeah, but there were also people there for me and

encouraged me to do the right thing. i was just unfortunate. i was too -- i just wasn't able to recognize the importance of listening to the people that were actually having my best interest at heart. i had to go through some really hard times. >> mark wahlberg. plus, the latest news and another life well lived when "sunday today" airs at 6:00 a.m. in the bay area. if you're not up at that hour on a sunday, we get it. just set the dvr and we will see you whenever you are ready for us. kira. >> thanks, willie. good to see you. back here locally, a look at the top stories we are following. at least 50 people are dead after an attack at a ukrainian train station yesterday. five of the dead, we have just learned, are children. 16 children were injured. about 4,000 people, mostly women and children, were at the station trying to flee the country. video shows bodies covered with tarps and remnants of a rocket with the words "for the children" painted on it in

russian. the pentagon says russia struck the railway station with a ballistic missile. ukrainian president zelenskyy says the attack was, quote, another war crime of russia, but rush denies carrying out the attack saying it does not use the kind of missile that hit the station. before we go, meteorologist vianey arana has a last check of the forecast. you say we are under a microclimate weather alert. >> yes, because of the wind. any time we see dry conditions and wind, that brings elevated fire danger. now, the temperature it aren't going to be as hot as what we saw earlier this week, so it is not necessarily the heat that's of concern, but take a look at the red flag warning. this went into effect starting at 5:00 a.m. so it is already in effect now. it will remain in place until about 5:00 p.m. on sunday, which is tomorrow. elevated fire danger for the interior, for example solano county, the first time they've seen a red flag warning for the month of april ever.

it is not common to see these warning in april. the last time we saw it was back in 2013. now, things to look out for the north bay mountains and diab row range, 35 to 50-plus miles per hours gusts possible. it is something to be mindful of there. as far as the next seven days go though we have something to look forward to in the form of rain. we will see low humidity today, but heading into monday the breezy winds will continue. notice the drop in temperatures as well. so we have gone from, you know, 70s, 80s, down to the 60s, now to the 50s for monday in san francisco, and inland areas also expect to see the return of rain heading into monday but it is going to be really windy. you just have to be careful out there. be mindful of how dry it is. >> yeah. >> it will be sunny. i know barbecues are a thing, but not today. >> not today. thank goodness that rain might be returning to help with all of the dry conditions. vianey, thanks so much. thanks to all of you for making us a part of your saturday

morning. we will have more local news for you tonight at 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00, and you will be back with the forecast tonight. >> i will. >> you can see vianey again. we are also available online at nbcbayarea.com. have a great saturday. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow morning. time and temperature on nbc bay area is brought to you by --

. narrator: when you see this symbol you know you're watching television that is educational and informational. the more you know on nbc. dylan: hi, everybody, i'm dylan dreyer and this is "earth odyssey". on today's show we head to south america to explore all types of exotic animals from crocs to capybaras. we'll find out what thrives the most from this rich and fertile ecosystem. en, we march down to the forest floor to salute one of the hardest working creatures in the world. and later, jaguars and monkeys don't make the hunting team, but there are two species that help each other from the water to the sky.