>> shocking new data on maternal care for women of color. we'll show you what five bay area counties are doing to help improve the health of black mothers and their young children. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. happy monday as well. i'm scott mcgrew. marcus has the day off. >> i'm laura garcia. don't forget if you're on the go you can watch us live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv, and online. >> let's look at the bay bridge. this is from our emeryville camera. there could be a little mist in the air. >> we're going to check that morning commute for you for this monday morning. vianey is in for mike. nice of you to get up early. kari, you're working overtime. we have rain to talk about. >> it's going to be in and out quickly. we're starting out with spotty showers as we take a look at storm ranger. and that may be what's coming down as we take a look at the bay bridge camera. much of the rain is still well to the north of us and will

continue to fill in on the radar over the next couple of hours. we're also looking at cooler temperatures. here we are hour-by-hour, seeing rain moving into the peninsula by 7:30, 8:00, down no san jose by 9:00 and starting to clear in the north bay by noon. we'll see it taper off in the south bay. it's going to be cool and windy today, but there is more rain ahead and we'll talk about that coming up in just a few minutes. >> sounds good. you can also track the rain from your phone. download our free nbc bay area app. you can view our live, interactive radar. well, the number of covid cases are creeping up in one part of the country. "today in the bay's" bob redell joins us live from the east bay. i understand a major city on the east coast could possibly reinstate indoor mask mandates. >> reporter: correct. we're talking about the city of

philadelphia. we're bringing this up because we don't see that happening here on the west coast. this is something happening on the east coast where philadelphia's covid positivity rate is at 4.4%, and california is around 1.7%, less than half that. so later today it's possible the philadelphia department of public health could reinstate indoor mask mandates. you take a look at this map right here and you can see that covid cases are rising in the northeast. that's where philadelphia is. the south parts of the midwest, the northwest and arizona. nationwide, the positivity rate is about 3%. that's a 0.4% increase, but the rate could be much higher since many people are testing at home and not reporting results to the government. the increase in cases in due to the highly contagious ba.2 omicron subvariant, which accounts for about three-quarters of cases in the u.s. and is more contagious than the original omicron variant. >> i am not overly concerned

right now. case numbers are rising, ba.2, we were expecting this because we saw this in europe a few weeks ago. but the good news is we're coming off of very low infection numbers and hospitalizations right now, the lowest they have been in the entire pandemic. so we've got to watch this very carefully. >> reporter: later today, later this morning, actually, oakland unified students will return to class from spring break, and for now they will still have to wear masks, despite california lifting its indoor mask mandate for schools last month. oakland unified said it would still require masks for all elementary, middle and high school students indoors through the 15th. that is this friday. it's unclear if they'll be required after that. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> important to follow those trends. thank you. well, a grim new assessment from ukraine's president on the casualties in some of the country's hardest hit areas.

volodymyr zelenskyy this morning says tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in the besieged city of mariupol and the office of ukraine's prosecutor general believes russia has committed thousands of war crimes. this is as putin puts a new general in charge of the offensive honing in on the eastern side of the country. "today in the bay's" brie jackson is live in washington. brie, this general is known as a brutal person. >> reporter: absolutely, scott. well, this new ground commander has a nickname of the butcher of syria. now, this change in leadership comes after russian forces really made major missteps and had failed attacks and were forced to reposition. seven weeks into the war and russia's attacks are entering a deadly new phase. the satellite images show an eight-mile convoy rolling toward parts of eastern ukraine.

>> ukraine won the battle for kyiv. now another battle is coming, the battle for donbas. >> reporter: officials fear the targeting of civilians will only get worse, now that vladimir putin has put a new general in charge, one who is known for his brutal tactics. >> he is the goon called in by vladimir putin to flatten cities like aleppo in syria. he is the worst of the worst. >> reporter: over the weekend british prime minister boris johnson met with ukraine's president in kyiv and pledged more military and financial aid. still, zelenskyy wants western nations to do more. the biden administration vowed to continue its support. >> what we want to see is a free and independent ukraine, a weakened and isolated russia, and a stronger, more unified, more determined west. >> reporter: the violence has already forced more than 10 million ukrainians from their homes. >> they don't have souls, i think, and they don't think that

we are people. >> reporter: ukrainian officials say they remain open to peace talks. >> if i have a chance to save a human life or a village, town, from destruction, i will take that chance. >> reporter: but as russian forces prepare for a fresh assault across the east, ukrainians stand ready to defend their country. and after british prime minister boris johnson's surprise visit to kyiv, the white house says that president biden currently does not have any plans to visit the ukrainian capital. scott? >> brie, thank you. new this morning, hundreds of students may be on the move next fall in san jose's alum rock school district. board members will this week decide whether to turn cesar chavez elementary school into a school for preschool and kindergartners. that would mean first through fifth graders would have to go somewhere else. the board blames declining enrollment saying the school is

about two-thirds empty. by changing it to an early learning center, the district would save about $1 million. the vote is set for thursday. it is 6:06 right now and this is black maternal health week. in the bay area and across the nation black babies are two to three times more likely to be born premature and underweight and experts say more likely to die before their first birthdays. the cdc says every year about 700 women die during pregnancy or in the year following, but the risk is three times higher more black women than white women. it's estimated two out of three of those deaths are preventable. health experts say the disparity is related to underlying conditions, access to health care and in some cases bias and racism. a santa clara county director became part of the statistics when her daughter was born months too early. >> i had my daughter two months premature in 2018. she was born at 1 pound 9

ounces. and she is doing wonderful now, thank goodness. she defied a lot of the odds that were against her because of her small size at birth. but i know this is not the case for a lot of families. infant mortality and maternal mortality are devastating events and it happens to our families disproportionately. >> al lead ma, contra costa, santa clara, san jose and solano are launching a campaign to empower black mothers to advocate for themselves and their babies and push for greater health equality and training for health professionals. to head more, head to deliverbirthjustice.org. let's take a look at downtown san jose on this monday morning. >> did you wash your car this weekend? >> i did not wash my car, but i did think to cover the patio furniture. once it gets wet, it's wet forever. let's check in with kari. >> it's nice to see that rain on

the garden, but you do have to prep the patio furniture for all of this wet weather heading in. not too active for much of the bay area, except for san francisco and parts of marin county, where the rain is already moving in. we're tracking it on storm ranger, our mobile doppler radar, scanning the bay area and showing us exactly where it is raining and where it's not. it is hit or miss. we see more widespread rain moving in from the north and it's starting to edge in on northern sonoma county and we can see raindrops on the lens in san francisco as you get ready to head out the door, the mist drizzle will last a few more hours. as we start out this morning with wet weather that continues to spread across the bay area. by 8:00 to 9:00, we're seeing it moving out of the north bay and into the peninsula, east bay and south bay. then it does clear much of the rest of the bay area around noon. so once again, this is going to be in and out of here quickly. we'll talk about the rest of the forecast in a few minutes. vianey, where can we find some of the cheaper gas prices?

>> you know how expensive things are around the bay area. we're tracking cheaper options across the region. in the east bay gas is going for $5.69 a gallon in union city at the chevron on alvarado niles road. cash only, though. in the north bay, in mill valley, it's $5.13 at the hq fuels on 251 shoreline highway. on the peninsula it's $5.49 in redwood city. this is on the arco on the 1700 middlefield road block. a couple of areas that are seeing cheaper options. we're finding the cheaper ones for you. i do want to show you a map of how speed sensors are doing because we did have a couple of fender benders that were starting to cause slow spots and one of those includes westbound 580 from grant line road to 680, 25 minutes. westbound 84 to 680, you're looking at about 14 minutes. slowing through the tri-valley.

and some slowing as well through the south bay, northbound 101 from highway 85, you're looking at about 19 minutes. northbound 280 from highway 101 to 85, seven minutes. and no issues from northbound 85 from 101, about 20 minutes. still no metering lights on. i'll send it back to you. >> thank you. well, a major reversal from elon musk, the tesla ceo not joining twitter's board. coming up next on "today in the bay," what this may mean for his future involvement with the app. >> and what would you do? look at this. a wild animal, you walk out to that in your car. we're going to tell you what it was doing there and what they did next. you want to stick around for this one. 6:11 right now. we'll be right back.

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good monday morning. right now at 6:14, as we take a live look at storm ranger on san bruno mountain, the radar scanning the rain as it is actively falling in the city, as well as in san francisco. we're looking at parts of the peninsula and marin county starting out with wet weather. we finally get much-needed rain this week. we'll talk more about what's coming after this in the forecast in a few minutes. >> the metering lights are on at the bay bridge toll plaza. take a live look. right now we're seeing backup and delay through that stretch. i'll have a closer look at how the rest of the bay area drive

times are doing coming up. wall street is set to open the week in the red as the markets come off a losing week. you can see the red arrows there. dow expected to lose about 100 points on the open. late last night twitter announced elon musk will not join the company's board of directors after all. twitter says it was musk's decision, but that the ceo also thinks it's for the best. it's a stunning reversal, just a week after musk disclosed he owned more than 9% of twitter stock, making him the largest single shareholder. the decision to part ways comes after musk spent the weekend tweeting about potential changes to twitter, including at least one mildly crude joke, and after suggesting twitter's headquarters should be converted to a homeless shelter. board members are not supposed to make fiduciary announcements, like the future of the company's headquarters on their own. you may recall musk got into trouble with the s.e.c. for

doing just that at tesla. and this development may make musk's relationship with the company more complicated, not less. the deal that musk originally reached to join that board would have prevented him from owning more than 15% of twitter stock. now he's free to buy as much as he wants if he wants to. he could buy the whole company. it is 6:16. you may be shelling out more money for eggs this easter. wholesale prices for eggs reaching historic highs. analysts cite a deadly bird flu. the shortage comes as americans gear up for easter sunday. economists say there is about 25 million fewer eggs in the weekly supply than what was first forecasted. maybe we'll use the plastic once for egg hiding. trending this morning, an unusual sight when one person returned to their car in

arizona. it's a javelina that got trapped inside after the driver left the hatchback open and it went in for a bag of cheetos. a deputy managed to open the hatch, allowing the javelina to escape. can you imagine walking out to that in your car? >> i think the opportunity to have a new friend is lost. >> i was amazed they were able to get the pictures of it sitting in there. >> it looked so calm. i honked, i'm waiting. >> getting a little lot in here. it's definitely much cooler across the bay area and it was so hot last week. it's nice that we do have changes coming our way because we didn't want to go straight to summer, did we? now we're going back to winter as we see cooler weather coming in and also rain really starting to fill in on storm ranger as we're getting a lot more green

here. around san francisco, showers are moving in across the coast and south san francisco as well, marin county, waking up and heading out to wet weather. we're seeing more widespread rain still farther to the north, around ukiah and starting to creep into northern sonoma county. this is the view in san francisco. you need windshield wipers and hopefully they haven't dried out too much here recently. you need the umbrella, the sweater and later today the sunglasses. we're starting out the day with some light showers, moving into the peninsula by about 7:00 to 8:00 into parts of the east bay. san jose will start to see the rain between 8:00 to 9:00 and then notice the north bay's clearing out around noon. we're getting the last little bit of that rain pushing through parts of the east bay and south bay right around lunchtime, then the rest of the day is clear and sunny for most, as the cool air really starts to settle in with gusty winds. how much rain are we going to see? about 0.1 to possibly 0.25 of

rain, especially near the santa cruz mountains and coast. when we look at our temperatures, we've gone from one extreme to the other. last week we were setting high temperature records. today in many spots we're about 10 degrees below what's normal for this time of year. our temperatures don't change too much over the next few days. tomorrow we're looking at highs in the mid to upper 50s. wednesday, only some low 60s in some spots. that's because we get reinforcing shots of cool air. by wednesday into thursday, another round of rain coming in. also more sierra snow. saturday is looking wet, so keep that in your weekend outdoor plans. easter is looking dry. we may have more rain coming in next week. looking at how much we could see over the course of the next several days, models are starting to come together that the north bay and areas in red from santa rosa northward could get about an inch, maybe a little more. yellow areas getting about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of rain.

the models are showing about the same with higher amounts of rainfall in parts of the north bay. we are seeing showers this morning, clearing out this afternoon. tomorrow is dry. wednesday evening we get rain in the north bay, but that moves into the rest of the bay area on thursday. friday is looking cloudy and cool, with some more widespread rain on saturday. easter sunday is sunny and highs in san francisco will stay cooler than normal, only in the upper 50s for the next few days. vianey, you've been tracking the roads. >> bay bridge toll plaza, the metering lights are on and you can see how backed up it is. of course, we're also seeing some other slow spots and this is a look right now in san jose as we inch closer to the 7:00 a.m. hour. i did just see these two crashes pop up along 880, so i'm going to check the chp traffic reports to see what's going on through

the east bay. tri-valley drive times, slowing along westbound 580 from grant line road to 680 about 26 minutes. a quick check of sp drive times, northbound 101 from highway 85, you're looking at 20 minutes. i'm going to check the traffic reports for the crash that popped up in the east bay and i'll have an update in a few minutes. >> sounds good. next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> a rope oh man takes his rental car, then the company sticks him with $1,000 bill. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. we respond to him and we have a warning for everyone else next. ♪♪ one of the biggest names in music right now on the "today" show this morning. lizzo is stopping by studio 1-a,

talking about her new business venture and here upcoming snl appearance. the "today" show starts at 7:00 right after "today in the bay." 6:21 right now. we'll be right back.

6:24 right now. nbc bay area responds to a south bay man who had an incredible rental car hassle. >> consumer investigator chris chmura has been looking into it and found a much bigger story. >> pat in sunnyvale says he had a rental car about a month when

all of a sudden a repo man showed up. >> i had a repo man at my front door saying i want the keys or i'm going to take the car and charge you for the keys. >> then the rental company build pat $1,000 for the tow back to their lot. so what is going on here? we dug deeper and discovered pat is not alone. hundreds of other customers around the country describe a similar situation or worse. some say their rental car got them arrested. tonight at 11:00, we'll explain why. and we'll show you how to protect yourself. here's a little hint. when you rent a car, get everything in writing, paper contracts when you pick up, extend, or drop off. we'll spell it all out in detail tonight. if you've had trouble with a rental, let us know. go to nbcbayarea.com and click the respond option from the main menu. i'll join you again tonight at 11:00. things are about to get real for the warriors. the postseason is about to

begin. last night the dubs wrapped up with regular season in new orleans. klay thompson scored a season-high 41 as the warriors beat the pelicans. after the game, all win really wanted to know is will the injured steph curry be ready to return. >> as the week goes on, we'll see where steph is. i imagine this will go right down to the wire. >> all right, keep us hanging. the third seeded warriors battle the sixth seed denver in the first round saturday night at the chase center. >> that will be a fun one. 6:26 right now. coming up, top stories we're following today, including a traffic stop that's gone viral. what san francisco police found, or rather didn't find, when they pulled that car over. >> reporter: investigators still on the scene of the home depot here in san jose right now, clean-up under way as that investigation continues. we'll have that story coming up

next. you're watching "today in the bay." this is elodia. she's a recording artist. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities.

it was really weird because there were no alarms, nothing flashing, like it felt like, is this a joke? >> right now at 6:30, one customer inside the south bay home depot that went up in flames, describes the scramble to escape. ahead in a live report, the reason firefighters say the people inside may not have had much warning.

>> a traffic stop in san francisco goes viral. the surprise behind the wheel that caught police officers off guard and the issue experts say it's raising. >> plus, back to work. apple employees return to the office today, but not without some issues. why some of them are upset with their new schedule. this is "today in the bay." a very good monday morning to you. thank you so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm scott mcgrew. marcus has the day off. if you've got that smart tv, you can watch us on roku, amazon fire, apple tv, and online. >> you name it. let's take a live look, after the record-setting heat last week, you're arriving to some rain this monday morning. >> meteorologist kari hall is here and we're getting the rain now, right? >> yeah, so it's coming in this morning. the rest of the day it's going to be rolling out of here. take a look at storm ranger, our mobile doppler radar. you need something here locally that can give you the best view

of what's happening. it's not raining everywhere. we're seeing it in mill valley, as well as parts of southern marin county, into san francisco and parts of the peninsula. but then when we open up the picture, we can see there's another round of rain just to the north of us that's going to continue to fill in on storm ranger, and as we go into the 8:00 to 9:00 hour, it's moving into the east bay, as well as the south bay, and the north bay is clearing out by lunchtime for the most part. the rest of us will see the rain out of here by the evening commute. so we're going to take a closer look at this, the cooler temperatures and all the changes ahead coming up in a few minutes. developing right now, firefighters this morning still on the site of the home depot that burned over the weekend. if you were anywhere in the south bay, you probably saw the huge plumes of smoke, smelled it at the very least. >> that's right. "today in the bay's" cierra johnson is live at the scene this morning. firefighters, i understand, are still there. are they learning any more about how this started?

>> reporter: good morning. we have not received any notification that they have released any new details, but we do know that fire at the home depot did start in the lumber department of the store. and as you can see, by the video right now, you can still see the smoke. the wind has begun to pick up a little bit so we're getting stronger whiffs of smoke. you can also see the building, some charred bits right there on your screen. just days ago, roaring flames, that is what folks here in the south bay could see. it's what they could smell. it's what firefighters worked for hours to knock down. as i mentioned, clean-up under way and there's also water trucks that have been brought in to collect hundreds of thousands of gallons of water used to douse the flames in order to prevent it from getting into the bay. when the fire first broke, more than 100 firefighters worked to stop the flames from spreading to nearby buildings. one of the buildings is a pet

hospital. at one point the fire was so massive, people living in 15 homes behind the store were ordered to evacuate as a precaution. the evacuation order has been lifted. one woman we spoke with, a quick trip to home depot for some paint took a dangerous turn. >> within five minutes it went from we were just standing in the painting section to the entire thing is covered in smoke and flames. it was quite scary. >> reporter: and that customer we spoke with said she didn't recall seeing any sprinklers going off inside of the store during that fire. firefighters said the sprinkler system worked, but they believe it was overwhelmed by the intensity of those flames. and i can only imagine just how intense those flames are, because days later we are still smelling that smoke. it's a little bothersome, almost, just how strong that smoke is. behind me they're keeping us a safe distance away, because they are looking to knock down any of

those hot spots. if you were in the south bay on saturday, even if you're driving around today, you will still smell that smoke from that home depot fire. it started in the lumber yard, but they're looking for the exact cause. we're live in san jose. cierra johnson for "today in the bay." >> one of the biggest fires in san jose in years. thank you. >> it reminds you of the early santana row fire we had here. we're keeping a close eye on this investigation, posting new developments for you as well on our website. get the latest updates on nbcbayarea.com. just click on sj home depot fire. you'll see it on the trending bar. it's 6:34. there was another big weekend fire at the benicia port. that's out as well. fire boat crews made significant progress on that fire. this is a look at the crews clearing up hot spots. the fire burned for more than 24 hours, starting on saturday, left behind a mess. the cleanup effort began yesterday, starting with a 3,000 foot boom in the water to help

capture debris. the cause of that fire is also under investigation. happening today, the south bay mother accused of throwing out of control parties for minors in due in court to enter a plea. in february the judge denied bail for shannon o'connor. investigators say she held parties for young teens at her former los gatos home and encouraged them to drink and engage in sexual acts. authorities arrested her in idaho. prosecutors have called her a flight risk. she's facing more than three dozen criminal charges. 6:35 right now. a 21st century problem for san francisco police now gone viral. >> what happens when you pull over a driverless car? the video posted over the weekend shows officers stopping a gm cruz car which is empty. it operates as a private shuttle. the company says the car had its headlights off. you can see at one point it kind of tries to get away. it crosses the intersection before stopping again. the company says it was trying to pull into a more safe location.

now, robot cars will stop for police lights, but one stanford fellow says the incident suggests law enforcement must have control when it comes to this kind of technology. >> we need to have processes and protocols and standards that cars can actually communicate. maybe it is a switch where the car can be stopped by the police. >> now, the company says it does work closely with police on how to interact with those vehicles and we spoke with people who have gotten rides in cruz cars. they say the vehicles are safe. police are not commenting. this morning are you heading back to work? apple is set to start its hybrid return to work model. the cupertino company is asking employees to return for two in-office days weekly by may 2nd and three days a week by may 23rd. many apple employees are reportedly upset about the return. a report from the pugh research center finds 60% of employees capable of working from home want to stay home once the

pandemic ends. >> a live look at palisades tahoe ski resort. look at that. we're going to give you a view across. if you're thinking about traveling to the sierra, the national weather service has issued a winter weather advisory, believe it or not. forecasters expect up to 8 inches of new snow in the tahoe basin, and strong winds could lead to lower visibility. make sure you check those mountain conditions if you're headed that way. this is probably tempting for a lot of people that are on spring break in the snow. >> wait until later today or tomorrow to travel there, but the sierra snowpack is extremely low for this time of year, only about a quarter of the normal amount, so it is great to see snow coming down there. we could see in some spots more than 8 inches, possibly about 11 inches in the kirkwood ski resort, about 17 inches. there's more snow on the way for the end of the week, even into the weekend. so there in total could be 50 inches of snow.

that is pretty amazing for april. and it's because we have three storms coming this way, with some rain that's coming down right now and we'll be tracking that with storm ranger. we'll take a closer look in a few minutes. how is it looking for the commute? >> it's getting busy. look at the bay bridge. the metering lights are on. you can see the backup. a live look in san jose as well. aside from the building commute, we also have a crash to tell you about along northbound 880. i did look at the chp reports and it looks like it's right near the niles exit and we are noticing some yellow and orange, which means it's slow out there. a look ahead, just something to give you a heads-up about along i-80 there's going to be a closure in the westbound lanes because of a construction project and then eastbound lanes will be closed on tuesday because of a construction project. you can see there's already some de about, western avenue to bear creek road, we're talking about

a construction project that will run through may 6th, so you may catch delays through that stretch as well. i'll send it back to you. >> thank you. it's 6:38 right now. reducing gun violence. coming up next on "today in the bay," president biden's new push to halt the production of certain guns. authorities say they're popping up more and more frequently in shooting investigations. >> and distracted behind the wheel, everybody has done it. we talked with one expert about new concerns on the road arising from the pandemic. let's take you out to the big board this morning. dow industrials losing about 140 points after a losing week last week. >> plus, they're loud, they're spiky, and now they're heading home. the touching story of recovery behind these tahoe porcupines that were injured during the caldor fire.

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right now at 6:42, make sure those windshield wipers work before you head out for work. we are seeing storm ranger tracking rain, mostly in san francisco, the peninsula, but it's starting to pick up in parts of the east bay. we'll get a look at what's ahead as we get more rounds of rain in this week's forecast coming up. >> a look at bridge drive times. westbound 580 to the richmond bridge, 14 minutes. also the metering lights are on at the bay bridge. westbound 880 toward the bay bridge, about 19 minutes. we'll take a closer look at the bay area drive times coming up. 6:42 right now. bracing for a new russian

offensive in ukraine. russian leader vladimir putin has put a new general in charge of the attack which is now focused on eastern ukraine. european union says russian troops are preparing to attack the eastern region of donbas as soon as tomorrow. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy this morning says tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed in the besieged city of mariupol. the office of ukraine's prosecutor general believes russia has committed thousands of war crimes. and the world bank now says russia's invasion may shrink ukraine's economy by 45%. 6:43 on monday morning. a live look at the white house. president president biden expected to announce a new federal crackdown on ghost guns, the untraceable guns assembled from parts and made without serial numbers. authorities across the u.s. and in the bay area say those guns are behind more and more shootings. our investigative unit reported

recently a sophisticated ghost gun factory was found hidden inside a san jose home. you can read that at nbcbayarea.com. sources tell nbc president biden will issue an executive order today expected to announce a new replacement to lead the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. april marks national distracted driving awareness month and a new study from gm reveals stress driving is a growing factor in crashes. 40% say they feel more anxious driving now than they ever did before the pandemic. one in three people have pulled over because they felt just too emotional to drive. joining us now is gm safety engineer, tricia morrow. thank you for joining us. this is interesting, one noteworthy finding from the study was that parents of young children, particularly vulnerable to distraction, as a mom of triplets, when they were little, i can understand why.

>> absolutely. one of the outputs was that 60% of parents that have children under the age of 10 mentioned that they have -- they've had times they've screamed at their kids and about half of parents say having their kids in the vehicle makes them a worse driver. >> it's easy to get distracted. you need to be looking at the road. a lot of us think we're safe drivers, but actions on the roadway may say otherwise. can you tell us something that's called driver delusion. >> 90% of people mentioned that they think they're a good driver and that road crashes are due to other people on the road. so it's kind of the driver delusion that while they participate in texting and speeding, they still feel they're a good driver and not contributing to crashes. >> you need to put down the phone. i'm so concerned about young

people learn to go drive right now and they're growing up with phones. what can we teach them or all of us learn about how to keep your cool? >> through this study we found and know that distracted driving is not just about your phone. it's not just about eating in your car or watching a video. it's also about your emotional state. a study from virginia tech transportation institute showed that your emotional state, so an agitated emotional state, increases your crash risk by about ten times. so general motors has responded with a scream it out challenge on tiktok, partnering with some mental health influencers, really to encourage folks, whatever means possible, in a playful way, of screaming it out before you drive to reduce stress just so you can drive safely on the road. >> so if i see my neighbors screaming in their front yards, i shouldn't be alarmed before they take off for the morning commute? >> yeah, don't be alarmed. tiktok challenge.

and really, again, the simple method that driving while stressed can be dangerous and by whatever means necessary, just make sure that you reduce stress before you drive. >> tricia morrow, thank you so much for joining us. take a deep breath. here's a prickly problem. one of three porcupines rescued from the biggest fire in california history is now back in the wild. >> firefighters saved them last year during the caldor fire that burned through the tahoe burned their quills aser taken in by a wildlife care group, which called them p-1, p-2 and p-3. very creative. the road to recovery was neither quick for silent, though. listen. >> it's okay. >> they sound like little baby lambs. the wildlife care team says all

three animals were very local in their likes and dislikes. p-1 now released back into the wild. p-2 will be the next to go. then p-3's turn, provided he proves that he can climb trees again. >> i didn't realize porcupines were that big. >> pretty good size. i've never heard them squeal, either. >> the more you know. >> they're not very cuddly. >> i love animals. >> i do, too, but you can't pug a porcupine or you'll be crying. >> let's get a check of weather and traffic this morning. >> it's so great to see rain coming back to the bay area, and it's not a whole lot, but enough to just turn the sprinklers off for a while, as we get a live look at san bruno mountain where we have our storm ranger mobile doppler radar parked. let's show what it's scanning right now across the bay area. picking up on a lot more green here with moving into marin county and san

francisco, as well as the peninsula. a closer look shows that your drive on the golden gate bridge is pretty soggy and starting to pick up a little bit on the bay bridge, as we head down 280 we're also seeing showers, but it's mostly near the coast on half moon bay and along that side of the coastline we're seeing showers moving through. we're also seeing some rain to the north that's going to start to move into parts of the north bay, but take a look at that drive across the golden gate bridge right now, and windshield wipers on for the start of the day. we are going to see this clearing out fairly quickly going into this afternoon, so let's go hour-by-hour with our rain forecast, showing that storm ranger will most likely be picking up on rain for parts of the east bay where you see the darker greens on the peninsula. near the coast it will continue through 8:00, 9:00. by 10:00, the north bay is starting to clear out and south bay clearing out around lunchtime. the rest of the day, sunny, breezy, cool. there may be a couple of spotty

showers, but most of us won't see that activity. we're looking at a possibility of getting about 0.1 to maybe 0.25 of rain for redwood city. light rain to start out the week, but that's not our only chance. we get several cold front coming through, our temperatures stay in the 50s and low 60s. tomorrow's highs really not changing too much from what we'll see today. even on wednesday we'll see temperatures in the upper 50s. the next round of rain comes in late wednesday into thursday and it looks like there could be a third storm system for the week coming in on saturday. and if you're worried about easter sunday, it's going to clear out for then, but we'll see our next storm system coming in on tuesday. so very active weather pattern setting up with the possibility of getting over an inch of rain for parts of the north bay, looking at a different computer model showing about the same. they're coming together in agreement we're going to get a pretty good soaking over the next few days. it may not put a big dent in the

drought but it will hold off the fire danger at least for another couple of weeks and we'll see much cooler temperatures with highs in the 60s. vianey, you need to keep the windshield wipers ready for the commute. >> even if it's not pouring, you want to slow it down with slick conditions. the bay bridge right now, metering lights are on. you can see it's a little slick out there and it's also starting to get really busy, backed up right now as you approach the toll plaza take a look at this. no accident, but just some morning delays with the typical morning commute northbound 880. also noticing delays really in both directions for oakland. your bridge drive times right now, because the metering lights are on, westbound 80 toward the bay bridge, you're looking at about 21 minutes. back to you. >> thank you, vae yany. 6:51 right now. our new series "saving san francisco" has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. many of you are continuing to join the conversation on social media about the episodes, which really expose the city's, san

francisco's dark side, and explore solutions on how to fix it. we want to take time to share some of your thoughts about our streaming series. on youtube one viewer wrote it goes to basic questions. do you want to help people or just lock them up. what is the city doing to really protect people with mental health, substance abuse or homelessness. they want the city to be safe, they need to save themselves first. >> another person said there's no reason sf should look like this, none. here's a portion of what lina shared, the problem is more leadership and mismanagement of government funds, not to forget career inept politicians. we have some others as well. let's go ahead and take a look at those. "saving san francisco" is available on roku and amazon tv and fire tv. u binge at

san francisco. >> if you want to comment, you can hashtag saving san francisco. happening now, cal fire will now require permits for outdoor burning in the north bay. back in december cal fire allowed people to conduct controlled vegetation burns on their property during certain days without a permit. now people in sonoma, lake, napa, solano and yolo counties will need a permit. new details on the massive fire in san jose at the home depot. we'll tell you where the investigation stands this morning. >> reporter: one major city on the east coast reconsidering indoor mask mandates. could local government do the same here in california? stay with us. you're watching "today in the bay."

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ welcome back. we're moving you forward with a look at the top stories on "today in the bay." >> we start with developments in the south bay where the home depot over the weekend went up in flames. we have a live look this morning in san jose. investigators are still on that site. right now massive cleanup is under way. still no word on how it may have started, but water trucks are being brought in to collect the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water used to douse the flames to help prevent it from contaminating nearby bay waters. the fire started late saturday

afternoon. it took more than 100 firefighters to stop those flames from hospital. a lot of customers scrambled to escape. some say they never heard any alarm. this is on blossom hill road right across from oakridge mall. thankfully no one was injured. the number of covid cases are creeping up in parts of the country. "today in the bay's" bob redell joins us. one of the major cities on the east coast talking about reinstating masks indoors. what about here? >> reporter: well, right now we're not there yet, because we're talking about the city of philadelphia. it's got a covid positivity rate of 4.4%, california is well less than half, we're at 1.7%. so later today the philadelphia department of public health could announce it's bringing back indoor mask mandates because of the higher covid positivity rate. you can see this map. covid cases are rising in the northeast where philadelphia is

located, the south, parts of the midwest and arizona. nationwide the positivity rate is about 3%, about a 0.4% increase over the past seven days. but the rate could be much higher since many people are testing at home and not reporting results to the government. the cases are due to the highly contagious ba.2 variant, which accounts for about three-quarters of cases in the u.s. oakland unified students will return to class from spring break and they will still have to wear masks, despite california lifting its indoor mask mandate for schools, last year oakland unified said it would require masks for all elementary, middle school and high school students indoors through april 15th. it's unclear if they'll be required after that. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thank you very much, bob. 6:58 right now. new this morning, hundreds of students may be on the move next fall in san jose's alum rock coal district. board supervisors will decide

whether they will turn cesar chavez school into preschool and kindergartners. they say by changing the school to an early learning center the district would save about $1 million. the vote is set up for thursday. let's get a final check of your monday morning traffic and weather as you get out the door. >> you don't want to send the kids to school with shorts on today. you need a rain jacket and heavier coat. temperatures in the upper 50s. more rain this week. >> is this rain affecting the commute? >> we are noticing slow spots. you just want to slow it down, because even if it's not pouring, it might be slick. westbound 80 toward the bay bridge, it is slowing, 22 minutes and the metering lights are on. >> monday morning. coming up next on the "today" show, the latest from ukraine where there is a new showdown looming. the ukrainian president says the

focus is shifting and he is issuing a new plea for help from the united states. nbc's holly hunter is live on the ground there. her full report in just under a minute. >> that's what's happening at "today in the bay." we're back at 7:25 with a live local news update. we'll see you at 11:00. we'll take a look at the rainy storm ranger. ♪♪ good morning. disturbing signs. vladimir putin appoints a new war leader. the notorious general known as the butcher of syria to head russian forces in ukraine as the invasion ramps u. an eight mile long military convoy now in the ea and the president of ukraine with a stunning revelation this morning. tens of thousands of civilians likely killed in war torn mariupol. we're live on the ground with the latest? spring surge. covid cases up in more than half the country with some areas facing the possible return of