secrecy over covid's origins. we're live in washington with the new u.s. response to growing perceived threats from china's ruling party. this is "today in the bay," streaming live on roku, amazon fire, and online. 5:00, first day of march, wednesday morning. thanks for starting your day with us. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. we're going to get a look at the roads in just a bit. first, we've got to talk about that cold morning we're starting off with today. in some places it is near freezing? >> it's near freezing in parts of the north bay. we'll see if we do get below freezing. the first day of march, we call it meteorological spring and it definitely feels like winter. it is 35 in santa rosa, it is freezing in fairfield, 31 degrees. but for the most part we are seeing temperatures holding above freezing, with some mid to upper 30s, and even low 40s for oakland and san mateo, as well as san francisco. san jose at 41 degrees currently. so it does feel a lot colder because of how much moisture is

in the air and that adds to what it feels like to human skin. we're also going to start to see things drying out, but still lingering snow showers for some of our higher elevations around mount hamilton, just a little more snow before we see all of this pushing farther to the south. we are going to have a chance to dry out after all of that rain. we'll talk about how much rain we've measured, how the reservoirs are doing and we'll also check in on the sierra in just a few minutes. mike has a look at the bay bridge. >> we're going to take a look at the clear drive. from time to time the camera moves just a tad bit. this is a rooftop camera so there may be a breeze. a bigger breeze reported across the san mateo bridge and just note it's going to be chilly despite the breeze. we're looking at a smooth drive through the maze, north bay no major issues. there's a crash still over on west 80, no slowing, and i believe that's completely off to

the shoulder with no injuries. we're looking at traffic building out of the altamont pass, same pattern for the slowing and it starts on 84 getting toward 680 as well as you travel through livermore and in through sunol. a smooth drive for the south bay, peninsula, no surprises. back to you. >> thank you very much. teachers in oakland have survived a budget cut, at least for now. >> "today in the bay's" bob redell joining us live from the newsroom this morning. bob, last night the board voted on two crucial proposals. >> you are correct. good morning. both of those proposals failed to pass. if passed, the proposals would have resulted in teacher layoffs, closed positions and the mergers of at least ten schools starting next year. the board director, mike hutchinson, who voted in favor for both proposals, argued the cuts were necessary because of declining enrollment. there's 2,000 students roughly gone since the start of covid. also, less money is expected to be coming in as covid funds are

expiring and the money the district has, he argues, needs to be spent on retaining teachers. this morning director hutchinson emailed us this, quote, i am very disappointed that the board did not approve the budget adjustment package. this puts ousd in a difficult situation in terms of re-prioritizing our budget for '23-'24. according to oakland side, a district 1 director, sam davis, who abstained from voting on the one budget proposal but said yes to teacher layoffs, said at a town hall earlier this week that oakland unified is not in a fiscal crisis but that the district has to reduce its spending to give the remaining teachers and staff raises. they have until march 15th to give notice for any potential layoffs. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thank you. 5:03 right now and happening today supporters plan to join family members in san francisco to protest an expected decision

from d.a. brook jenkins to officially drop manslaughter charges against a former police officer. last month jenkins announced charges would be dropped at a hearing scheduled for today. also, she asked the state prosecutors to handle the case instead. in 2017 an officer shot and killed a carjacking suspect, o'neill, during a police chase. in her letter to rob bonta, jenkins called the charges politically motivated and part of a policy tied to former d.a. boudin. a preliminary hearing for the man accused in the death of his ex-girlfriend. he is accused of using a samurai sword to kill the 27-year-old, karina castro. she died outside of her home last september with her children nearby. last month the judge ruled him competent to stand trial. he is being held in redwood city without bail. developing this morning in

greece, at least 36 people are dead after two trains collided. this is a live look at the search operation that is under way right now to try to find people that are still trapped in that wreckage. it happened when a passenger train struck a freight train in a small town along the adrian sea about 100 miles north of athens. some trains caught fire in the aftermath. at least 66 people are injured. continuing our coverage on the mounting tensions between the u.s. and china. more than three years after the start of the pandemic. now, this is ahead of an fbi investigation now revealing new details about the investigation into the origin of the virus. "today in the bay's" brie jackson is live in washington this morning with the information about the revelations in this exclusive interview. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. well, the fbi is the latest agency to conclude that covid probably originated from a lab incident in wuhan, china.

the statements came from the agency's director, christopher wray, accusing them of interfering with the ongoing investigation. in an exclusive interview, he says the fbi is opening a new china related counterintelligence investigation on average every 12 hours, with more than 2,000 cases currently under way. it comes as the house select committee held a rare evening on capitol hill. that committee is examining the origins of covid-19 and the secrecy over those spy balloons seen over the past several weeks floating above the u.s. an initial report by the u.s. defense department finds 163 sightings of balloons or balloon-like entities since march of 2021. some are old weather balloons, maybe high school sign experiments, but american intelligence leaders remain on

alert. paul martinez, a cybersecurity expert and founder of the company i-boss, he says the u.s. remains vulnerable to a multitude of cyberattacks. >> the types of attacks you're going to see, and i think they're going to continue to increase, is situations where it causes panic and urgency. it used to be for financial gain. it still is with bitcoin and other payment methods. but i think that when you have an entire city that's completely out of power, maybe the water systems themselves could also be poisoned, there's chemicals and other things that get put into our water systems to protect us, imagine those things getting turned on to an extent where they could poison a population. what does that mean and what kind of of urgency are we going to have when our back is against the wall? >> reporter: this morning on "today," nbc senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake reports on how the u.s. is shaping its response to the number of technological,

economic and military threats from the chinese communist party. and you can also watch that full interview with martini on our website, nbcbayarea.com. >> so interesting, some of the stuff they're uncovering. brie jackson in washington this morning, thank you. 5:08 right now. happening today, the city of oakland is kicking off a pothole blitz to repair roads after recent storms. mayor sheng thao says the department of transportation will address the damage by focusing the entirety of its in-house roadway maintenance efforts on potholes and minor repairs. the blitz are continue through maye 1st. 5:08 this morning. of course there are some closures out there this morning. try to go good up to the sierra. >> i wanted to show you the map because we are seeing either way to try to get to tahoe, some roads are closed. they're closed for whiteout conditions or avalanche control, even though the snow is starting to taper off, really as of right

now there is no good way to get to tahoe. we've had so much snow, the uc berkeley sierra snow lab has said in the past week they've had over 110 inches of snow, in a week, okay? i mean, our sierra snowpack is well above what we typically see and the largest since 2017. on average it is 186% of normal and only a brief break before more snow comes in over the next few days. in fact, as we extend it all the way out to next weekend, we are looking at another 34 to 53 inches of snow, even possibly up to 61 inches of snow in kingvale. now, while they get snow, we get some more rain. we're going to talk more about when the rain comes back for us and how much to expect in a few minutes. mike has a look at where you're stopping for slightly lower gas prices. >> slightly lower. these are the best we could find. throughout the north bay, the

only price gas buddies are reporting below 4 bucks is san anselmo, $3.99. contra costa county, a few under $4. $3.97. san jose, home of the spartan gas, $3.97 as well. so go spartan gas. looking to the roadways, they're all moving smoothly. the san mateo bridge, reports of a bumper in the lanes. we didn't see a disturbance to the flow of traffic. a smooth drive across. good stuff to or from the peninsula. toward the bay bridge, i-80 locally, it's just fine doing gown the east shoreway.

>> coming up on "today in the bay," the industry heavy-hitters appearing right here in the bay area. >> plus, a big change to tiktok and a fight over fast food. >> a music lover's wait, yes, those tickets go on sale today for one of the bay area's most popular summer festivals. why you may want to plan ahead before you snag a ticke

good wednesday morning. right now as we get ready to get this day started in the north bay, it is freezing now in petaluma, 32 degrees. we'll see temperatures hold steady here with a light wind and a clear sky, but we do have sunshine in the forecast. we are still on the cool side in terms of our temperatures, but it will warm up just a few degrees over the next few days as we get a break from the rain. more on that in the forecast coming up in a few minutes. despite the freezing temperature in petaluma, look at these taillights continuing down through san rafael. it's moving nicely. a smooth drive throughout the north bay. we'll show you how things are shaping up for the east bay commute. good morning, happy wednesday and first day of march. coming in like a lion but not a bull. markets turned negative for the

whole year yesterday. interesting problem with mcdonald's franchisees, i'll get to that in a minute. twitter seems to be down worldwide. all users got a welcome to twitter message but couldn't see their feed. it comes to have come back in the last few minutes. we've contacted twitter about it but twitter no longer has a press department or a pr department. elon musk laid them off. musk has a busy day. not only is twitter broken, he has the tesla investors day as well where he fires up tesla shareholders. sometimes he makes promises that don't turn out like 100 robo taxis by the year 2019. the company is doing well, the most popular car sold in california is the tesla model 3, and the tesla model y. >> tiktok announced a few minutes ago it would warn children under 18 when they had spent more than an hour a day on the app.

if they want to continue past 60 minutes, they'll have to enter a pass code which could be set by their parents. it is flexible, parents can allow less time on weekdays or more time on weekends. >> the "wall street journal" says some mcdonald's franchisees are pushing back against an ad campaign called famous orders, which lets famous people like cardi b create new menu items. some owners feel it is not compatible with their decades long history as a family friendly restaurant. mcdonald's responded it was trying to put the chain in the center of american culture. one franchisee in san jose, who is participating, said the fact that we can't talk about the song that we're objecting to because we can't use the title says something. >> interesting. i thought it was more of a production thing because she likes it a specific way. >> and they've had several

stars. i always get a sprite with a small fry. it's clever or fun, i'll take the tony hawk or whatever. >> i thought production-wise it would slow them down because here is your burger. interesting. >> thanks, scott. 5:16th morning, and today kicks off women's history month and it coincides with a special event kicking off today in the south bay. leaders from corporate america, along with arts, media and sports, will gather later today for the first day of the year's california conference for women. it takes place at the santa clara convention center. our own janelle wang will em see the keynote address. naomi osaka and constance wu are among the many speakers scheduled to take part. calling all music loves, presale tickets go on sale for the outside lands music festival. there's only a limited number of

what they call eager beaver presale tickets available for this week. you have to dish out $409 for a three-day general administration ticket. if you want expedited entry, access to flushable toilets and free water, you're looking at $634. vip tickets are $929. the performance lineup will be released at a later date but presale tickets go on sale at 10:00 a.m. it's a huge event. >> those are tickets for the entire weekend? >> yeah, because it's like a three-day event. >> almost $1,000 and you don't know who is going to be there? >> it's usually impressive. >> also, flushable toilets. >> i know, right? >> i went one year for a day, not the whole weekend, and i got the vip tickets. actually, it was more fun over in general. >> was it? then you could go use the toilet if you wanted to. >> you creep back over. you utilize what you paid for.

>> and then you go back into the fun zone. there you have it. we are seeing some cold temperatures out there, our first day of meteorological spring. we're going to make some progress toward slightly warmer temperatures. let's take a second to look back at how much rain we measured just yesterday, most of us had about a half inch of rain in parts of the north bay, a little more for calistoga, and in san francisco a little more as well, over a half inch of rainfall. about 0.6 in san jose. so how is this helping us out with our reservoirs? across the state our four largest reservoirs across northern california are at 81% on average of historical capacity. now, trinity lake is, of course, the lowest. but as we look at some of the other ones like lake oroville, we're at 116%, and we are also seeing some of that sierra snow

melt flowing down. here locally, we're still for a lot of them near capacity, lake sonoma, east bay mud and 101.8. now that the rain has moved out, cold temperatures are settling in. we have a freeze warning in effect for areas in purple. these temperatures are kind of like what we've seen all winter long and only a few spots are dipping below freezing. we have mid-30s for the tri-valley, it is 41 for san jose, mounten view 38 degrees, and san francisco at 40 degrees. as we head over to san ramon, 35 degrees currently and our temperatures will be near freezing. you may have some frost on the windshield, but as you get going we are going to see some sunshine today, helping our temperatures feel a little bit better, even though it's still going to be cold, only reaching 55 in fremont, as well as novato, and 55 in san mateo.

going into tomorrow, highs reaching into the upper 50s for some spots, and then looking down the line to a few days of dry weather before it returns on saturday. if you do have weekend outdoor plans, it's going to be raining off and on and we'll see snow levels coming back down to about 2,000 feet, especially on sunday when those temperatures will be dropping. so only a little bit of time to enjoy the milder temperatures and sunshine. by the weekend we'll see more changes ahead. mike, you were looking at something on the san mateo bridge. >> one of our traffic sources reports something, a hazard, maybe a disabled vehicle. i'm trying to sort out the rest of the details. it was reported mid-span, across the bay bridge. we're looking toward the treasure island. a smooth flow, no interruption, and it continues. for the last few minutes i've been watching the traffic flow. also it's very important to determine if there is an issue. i don't think there's anything

going on. i think there may have been some debris. the build pretty mild right now. subtle changes in the sensors through pittsburg for westbound highway 4. no slowing out of vallejo. a smooth drive at the bay bridge. you saw the span across san francisco and through the dublin interchange we're seeing little blips from time to time. same for 84, the little build coming down toward sunol. no surprises. this is a wednesday, so you should see a more bigger volume of traffic throughout the bay. the south bay will kick in at about 7:30. right now, no slowing throughout. back to you. >> thank you. 5:22. next on "today in the bay," nbc bay area responds. >> more people are eligible for federal help cleaning up from the winter storms, but you have to apply. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. we'll show you how next. >> and as we head to break, we want to share this photo kari hall posted on instagram.

last night kari was in the south bay taking part with other female scientists to talk about climate change. you can find kari on twitter, instagram and facebook. she also

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all on the largest, fastest, reliable network. from the company that powers more businesses than anyone else. call and start saving today. comcast business. powering possibilities. welcome back. it is 5:25 this morning. you know those nonstop winter storms? they're history. many families are still dealing with damage. >> you can apply for help from

fema. chris chmura shows us how, even if you thought you were ineligible. >> uncle sam declared a disaster back in january, then modified the declaration nine times, often adding additional eligible families who can get up to $41,000 for repairs. if you looked previously and thought the feds left you out, look again. there are two ways to apply for fema assistance, online at disasterassistance.gov. the other way is in person at a fema disaster recovery center. they've set up in several places. fema says if your home had storm related damage and you are uninsured or underinsured, you may be eligible for help to restore your home to a liveable decision. they only cover basics, things like toilets, a roof, critical utilities, windows and doors. the application is pretty straightforward. though before you start, fema recommends making a list of the

damage and snapping photos. after you submit your application, fema says an inspector might visit your home within ten days. next you'll get a notice about your assistance and possibly payment. if you disagree with fema's determination, you can appeal. act fast, though. fema only gives you 60 days to file an appeal. after that, you should get a response within 90 days. >> thanks, chris. 5:27 right now. next, the top stories we're following today, including catching a break. the sigh of relief for hundreds of small business owners in san francisco facing fines because their awnings don't comply with city standards. the help they're now getting. >> reporter: and another story out of san francisco, a group is rallying today to ask the mayor and the district attorney to take action against open air drug markets. drug markets. i'll tell you what

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the number one doctor prescribed cgm. freestyle libre 2. try it for free at freestylelibre.us right now at 5:30, the rain may be gone, but those cold temperatures remain. here is a live look in san jose this morning. meteorologist kari hall has the details on today's freeze warning. also, mike inouye monitoring your commute. >> plus -- >> they go in for pet food and go in through pet doors. >> a pesky problem. the recent winter weather leading to an invasion of sorts where homeowners are dealing with infestations.

easy steps you can take to protect your property. >> and calls for a crackdown on drugs. neighbors banning together to shut down what they all open air drug markets. this is "today in the bay," streaming on roku, amazon fire, and online. good morning to you on this wednesday. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia. let's start with a look at the forecast. we're talking about the cold temperatures this morning. at least the rain is gone for today. >> the rain is gone and now cold air is settling in. but i think because of the high humidity, how damp it feels with the cold temperatures, it makes it feel even colder. we are under a freeze warning for the area shaded in purple, that includes parts of the santa cruz mountains, as well as some of the hills over the east bay into the north bay. for the coastline and the north bay, down to the inner bay, as well as san jose, we're under a frost advisory. you may have to spend time getting frost off of the windshield as you get ready to head out for work. as far as our temperatures, we've had a lot of mornings like

this, mid to upper 30s. that continues for today. then take a look at our afternoon highs, reaching into the low to mid-50s. it's going to feel better because of that sunshine and we'll warm up a few more degrees over the next few days. mike, you're already seeing a little more slowing in contra costa county. >> on this side, highway 4, and i did just see those sensors slow a little bit out of vallejo. typical pattern. my windshield had a little bit of a crunch as i did that first swipe this morning, so that may be the case for a lot of folks. we're looking at a smooth drive. highway 4 slowing does show up, a little more time traveling, and 680 toward the walnut creek interchange. nothing big. the volume just showing up at the bay bridge toll plaza. the metering lights will likely be turning on over the next seven or eight minutes. no problem there or throughout the west of the bay. advocates in san francisco will try to take back the streets from what they call a

growing drug crisis. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez is live with the push on balancing public safety on the streets. it sounds like voters will play a huge role here. >> reporter: yeah, and that's the part of the conversation today, they want the city to shut down those open air drug markets, saying that they are the reason for the city's drug problems and they're going to rally today. now, this happens just one day after supervisors voted yesterday to allow nonprofits to open and operating overdose prevention sites in the city. while the city awaits guidance on whether it can use public money for this, several nonprofits offered to provide the services. this group says that addicts and dealers should not be treated the same. >> it looks like prioritizing

law enforcement, supporting law enforcement and addressing the dealing that's happening because we do know that cartels are bringing drugs into our city and it is not the same sort of drug dealing that was happening before. and we want our leaders to prioritize recovery in our cities because the behavior of addiction is causing the loss of more lives in san francisco than covid did. >> reporter: so this group is holding a public gathering at 2505 mariposa street this evening. they want the mayor to put forth more funding for police officers, but they say they do like what the district attorney is doing, which is prosecuting some of those drug dealers, something that had not happened before, they say. we reached out to the mayor's office for comment and she says the mayor introduced a $26. million supplemental to help fund police after the staffing shortage and adding this includes more than just

police officers. mayor breed is partnering with the district attorney, who is taking a more aggressive stance on public safety, including holding repeat offenders accountable, targeting open air drug markets and addressing theft. again, that meeting, that gathering is tonight on mariposa street at 6:30. in san francisco, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> thank you very much, kris. our investigative unit has been taking a closer look at crime and safety. in our streaming series "saving san francisco" you can watch all six episodes at nbcbayarea.com/saving san francisco. happening today, west contra costa school leaders are expected to sign off on a three-year contract for teachers. two weeks ago the union ratified the deal. the district says it includes a 7% raise this year and a slightly higher raise next year. it a avoids potential job cuts for the first two years of the deal. a follow-up, relief for hundreds of small business owners in san francisco's

chinatown facing fines because their awnings don't comply with city standards. it turns out there are regulations for awnings so firefighters can get their ladders up to second stories. mayor london breed and supervisors are asking for legislation to help almost 200 small businesses reported by an anonymous whistleblower for code violations. this man has operated the gift shop since 1992 and tells us that he has never heard anything about this awning issue before, until earlier this month. >> why do you need a permit for an awning? >> i don't know. i don't know, too, after 30 years, i don't know. >> scheduled for monday at 1:00 in the afternoon at the playground in chinatown. city representatives will be there to answer any questions for business owners. collateral impact, in parts of the bay area, pests are

seeking shelter in people's homes, according to teams who say the weather is keeping them extra busy. workers at one east bay company say they've been responding to infestations ranging from ants and roaches to rats and raccoons, in people's living spaces or underneath their homes. >> people calling in frantic, they've got rats running around inside the living area. >> they go in for pet food and they go in through pet doors. >> experts recommend making sure there are no unwanted entries into your home. if it comes to an infestation, try starting with non toxic measures because chemicals will get into storm drains and move into rivers and creeks. a live look in san jose this morning, where it's cold, like a lot of parts of the bay area. >> at least the rain is out of here and we will have a couple of days of sunshine in the forecast. we're waking up and heading out

to a clear start, but also some temperatures in the 30s for the inland areas. the wind will be variable today at about 10 to 20 miles per hour, and a lot of sunshine today, but ahead we will see rain coming back this weekend, as well as low bay area snow once again. all of the rain and snow now pushing farther to the south. we can see the clear conditions farther to the north. and once again, we are going to have things drying out. but there may still be some puddles out there. this is a look at the approach to the richmond-san rafael bridge. it's 38 degrees in richmond and we'll see temperatures holding steady, but a slow warm-up as we get that sunshine. we'll talk about the weekend rain coming up. so far it looks like a smooth commute. i was just watching the toll plaza area and things are ready for the morning commute. the volume is starting to build across the golden gate bridge. the north bay you're at speed all the way from santa rosa through san francisco. a little blip as the zipper truck moved.

the sensors have a little bit of a lag. we're going to get a little more snowing for highway 37 out of vallejo, highway 4, typical pattern, pittsburg to bay point and into concord. the bay bridge toll plaza will see the metering lights in a few minutes. no surprises there. we'll look ahead to some changes. friday we'll have these sensors right here activated for taking fees. remember, this is a stretch where they've been working on the san mateo county 101 express lanes. you can drive there without high occupancy, just a single driver, but you've got to pay that fee. that will be activated on friday. they will charge your fas trak flex. get one. if you want to know more about fees, check my facebook page. over here, this is not happening this weekend, north 680 will remain open because of the inclement weather that is coming into the area.

no problem for the drive as you travel through sunol right now. and your typical build for north 101 through san jose, which we typically predict right about now. back to you. >> thanks, mike. during the pandemic many people felt isolated from the world around them. but two women helped each other pass the time without ever meeting in person. >> the two finally met face-to-face after becoming friends. here is garvin thomas with this morning's bay area proud. >> good morning, everyone. i'm always interested in stories that show that we've finally come out the other side of the pandemic. well, did i find a good one. it's about two women, rita, an 81-year-old who lives on her own in san francisco, and austin krieger, a volunteer in santa cruz, who signed up to do a weekly call for one year with rita to help her not be too isolated during the pandemic. one year turned into three and the women became dear friends, but had never met, until now. >> i'm overwhelmed.

>> i might cry. >> you can experience the whole story at nbcbayarea.com/bay area proud, as well as hundreds of other stories about people being good to each other in the bay area. >> that's nice. that should continue with the elderly people. 5:41 right now. controversial speaker is coming to stanford's campus. still ahead, the reaction ahead of the appearance leaving divided students pointing fingers. >> if president biden were a quarterback, he may feel he's got a wide open field and not much defense. we'll stretch that analogy out. >> also, rising costs are leaving many americans more anxious this tax season. a new survey highlighting rising uncertainty for the expecting os

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good wednesday morning. right now at 5:44, as you head out in san ramon it's only 35 degrees. it is clear and a light wind. temperatures will go down another couple of degrees near freezing before we see it going up. lots of sunshine today and a bit of a break from the rain. i'll look at that and the microclimate forecast in a few minutes. a bit of a brake tap as you approach the bay bridge toll plaza. the metering lights were activated in the last few minutes. a slower drive off the 880 over-crossing, of course, approaching the toll plaza. once you pass the metering lights, it's a smooth drive toward san francisco. we'll show you the bigger build coming up. >> thank you very much.

it is quickly approaching a quarter until 6:00. happening today, a controversial ultra conservative speaker and filmmaker visits stanford, matt walsh. ahead of his appearance liberal and conservative groups have clashed, including accusations of torn-down promotional banners and burned paper fliers. stanford republicans are promoting his appearance. his last visit in the fall at the cal campus prompted large protests. walsh is on a tour for his recent documentary called "what is a woman" which addresses gender identity issues. critics say it borders on hate speech. in a recent piece, stanford republicans saying they invited him because the rush to tear down what it means to be a woman without stopping to think twice about why womanhood was around for years is misguided.

we especially encourage students who disagree with walsh's views to come to his talk if not only to get a better understanding of why everybody is not completely on board. >> president biden is accusing republicans of planning to cut popular programs. >> he sees open receivers, no defense. the republicans have not yet come up with a budget, some of them have indeed talked about cutting or modifying programs like affordable health care, social security and medicare. republican leadership say those ideas are off the table, but biden is running with it saying prove it, show me a republican budget. biden says his detailed budget will be out march 9th. >> look, make no mistake, if maga republicans try to take away people's health care by gutting the medicaid and affordable care act, i will stop them. >> now, it's not just biden. former president trump, who is

also running for president, has also accused his own party, specifically nikki haley and ron desantis, of wanting to cut social security and medicare. trump says he would not. >> fbi director christopher wray, the latest to say his agency suspects covid came from a chinese lab. the energy department said it had low confidence in its conclusion. the fbi says it has medium confidence. no agency has offered specific proof, but many have wondered about the coincidence that covid can be tracked back to a neighborhood in wuhan that also contained a bio lab studying viruses. what was extra strange was how much the scientific community discouraged people from talking about it during the pandemic. the issue came up in the house select committee on china yesterday, its first meeting since it was created. the other videos you're seeing, a house hearing on border security and another on funding ukraine. congress was busy. >> and the president has nominated california julie su to be the next secretary of labor.

su served as state secretary of labor here and she's currently deputy secretary on the federal level. >> we're watching everything that's happening in washington, talking about it on social media. on twitter when it's working, you can find me at scott mcgrew. >> scott, thank you. well, about half of all americans expect to receive a tax refund this year and new this morning, more of them are really worried about what's at stake here. so a new bankrate survey finds 70% of those expecting a refund are anxious about it being smaller. there's also concern there about the refund and how it will be delayed. three out of four people call their refund money important to their overall financial situation. the most common uses for refunds include paying down debt and boosting savings. 13% will use it for daily expenses. today nbc bay area kicks off a month long celebration of

"women's herstory". >> we are not under any false pretenses here. everyone here at "today in the bay" stands on the shoulders of strong women who have inspired and made us the people you see right here on television every single day. in some cases members of our "today in the bay" team are raising future generations of strong women. these are the photos of kari, mike, laura and their daughters, along with my mother. >> nice. also another strong woman, mike's wife tracy. we'll take a moment to say we salute, honor, and of course love you very much. >> and those are not the same pictures you have. >> first i was, like, wait, why am i up there twice? oh, yeah, i have multiple children. many people do, mine happened to come all at once. >> you're very efficient. [ laughter ] >> i'm go big or go home. >> i like that. very efficient.

>> we'll celebrate that all month. we found out this weekend in union square there's going to be tulips out there. >> and you can pick them, too. >> let's talk about the rain, though. >> it is going to be raining off and on this saturday and we're trying to celebrate women's herstory month. let's talk about how much rain we've gotten. most of us measured about a half inch of rainfall coming on top of the day before, where we also had about a half inch of rainfall. it's all adding up. as we go into meteorological spring, we say february showers bring march flowers. we can change it, i guess. let's talk about our reservoirs. so for the four largest reservoirs across northern california, on average they're at 81% of capacity, and we're seeing them really making some significant improvements. lake more vil 116% of capacity, and trinity lake, which usually is pretty low at this point,

we're waiting for the spring-time sierra snow melt to fill up that reservoir. around the bay area, reservoirs running in the 90% to 100% range for most of them, and then of course the coyote reservoir lowered for seismic safety. it is slightly above 50% right now. our temperatures are headed to the low to mid-50s today. it's going to be cool, but slightly warmer tomorrow with one spot reaching 60 degrees, we'll see that in santa rosa. mostly upper 50s across most of the bay area. we'll have a couple of days to dry out and then the rain is back. saturday, as we talk about what's going on in san francisco, there's going to be more rain coming in, as well as some snow down to about 2,000 feet. and then on monday there still looks to be scattered showers, into tuesday. maybe a break on wednesday. during that time additional rainfall may reach another inch across the bay area or slightly higher for a few spots.

so we're still in an active weather pattern and only get brief breaks in between, with a little bit warmer temperatures. it's still cooler than normal, 60 degrees on friday. then it dips into the lower 50s for highs for the weekend as we get that rain recurring. we'll be watching all of that. for now, let's just enjoy the sunshine. mike, you're seeing a crowd at the bay bridge. >> predictable. the bay bridge toll plaza right now, before 6:00 on a wednesday, we've seen this pattern. a bigger volume than pretty much any other day during the week as far as the early commute goes. we see slowing down the eastshore freeway and then clearing by the time you get into berkeley. highway 37 holding steady, a little more volume out of vallejo, and highway 4 starts the slowing back in antioch all the way toward concord. the drive through pleasant hill, walnut creek fine, san ramon and toward the dublin interchange also fine. westbound shows a little more

traffic and slowing around the dublin interchange and a crash, but this is north 680, so it's opposite your main commute. it's on the shoulder. shouldn't be a problem or a major distraction. the build over here at the castro valley y starts to build for 238 and down 880. standard bill for the east bay and across the san mateo and dumbarton bridges things are fine. we saw the build volume, no major delays. a little slower for 580, as well as 84. we're looking at vasco road and we'll check on that coming up. 101 slows up past 680 and then again over toward the airport. back to you. >> thanks, mike. happening now for you, extra food snap benefits are ending for millions of americans starting today. california and 31 states in the covid boost from the so-called snap benefits, and advocates

expect that will put a strain on familiar less already struggling to make ends meet. local food banks are bracing for a spike and while snap users will receive food stamps, the monthly amount will be significantly less. cutting rewards. still ahead on "today in the bay," more places like starbucks are may being it harder to use loyalty benefits and that has a lot of people upset. why one expert argues you are the reason businesses believe they can get away with it. >> plus, rising tensions with china. it comes as the fbi reveals its findings on the origins of covid. we're live in washington with the new u.s. response to growing threats from china's ruling party. a lot more news ahead on this dnesday morning. we we

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5:57 this morning. welcome back. you're watching "today in the bay." a follow up this morning on actor jeremy renner, whose progression on the road to recovery, after nearly dying in january in a snowplow accident, he posted this new video on social media of him pedaling a stationary bike with his left leg with the help of a support

device. he captioned the video "whatever it takes". renner says he is also working on his mental health. the star of "hawkeye" broke more than 30 bones after being run over by a snowplow near his home in lake tahoe area. police say the machine started sliding toward his nephew and that's when he jumped up trying to stop that vehicle. he actually fell and got pulled underneath it. >> he was lucky to survive. loyal customers of many big brands from coffee shops to airlines can't help but notice more companies are tweaking their rewards programs in ways that are not so rewarding. starbucks is among those now making customers accumulate more points to receive free drinks and other items. some experts argue companies are hoping to get away with it without you noticing. >> demonstrated already that you like the company because you keep going back and buying things from it and you've amassed rewards, so it knows, if you diminish these somewhat, cut

them back, you might not notice or care so much, or not care enough to where you stop using our company altogether. >> ahead on the "today" show, tips on getting savvy with rewards programs and how to figure out which ones are actually worth it. it's coming up at 7:00 right after "today in the bay." right now at 6:00, budget cuts avoided, at least for now. oakland unified is still looking to merge schools and cut dozens of jobs. the reasons some argue the cuts make economic sense. >> a frightening scene in greece after a deadly train crash, as the search for answers continues, we have new details about an arrest. >> and bundle up for a bitter cold morning. the rain may be gone but now we are tracking freezing temperatures throughout the bay area. meteorologist kari hall has those details for today's freeze warning. this is "today in the bay," streaming live on roku, amazon fire, and online. good morning to you on this wednesday. thanks so much for allowing us to be a part of your morning. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia.

the rain finally stopped but now it's still cold. but it is still winter. >> well, yeah, we say it's meteorological spring on the first day of march, and basically that means from this point forward temperatures on average start to warm up. we do have a cold start as we're seeing the shadings in purple included in a freeze warning until 8:00 this morning. it may be frosty before you get ready to head out this morning. allow extra time to get that frost off of the windshield. as far as where we're starting, we have mid-30s. it's been very close in some areas or even slightly dipping below freezing briefly, but we are going to see more cold mornings ahead. as we take a live look outside in san francisco, as the sun rises, it is 41 degrees. i think the wind has been a little too high to keep those temperatures from really dipping to freezing all around the bay area. still wind at 12 miles per hour there and we will be in for sunshine today as we head for the low 50s. we'll talk