at five, one of the final acts from president biden. hundreds of sentences commuted. dozens of people pardoned overnight. we break down who is included in the biggest single day act of clemency. plus, a new twist in california's housing crisis. one of the state's biggest insurance companies for homeowners

insurance. now adding customers and not cutting them. the new details, which could help you make it in the bay. and look outside. the rain is here. the wet weather impacting most of the bay area. this morning we're tracking how these conditions will stick around. this is today in the bay. well good thursday morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew and i'm kris sanchez. laura and marcus have the morning be a busy guy today. hopefully just with slowdowns. not anything more. listening carefully to kari. we all. yes. how long are we going to be careful out there? well, most of the rain is coming through early this morning and we are going to see it then start to taper off to some more spotty activity for the rest of the day. we can see that it has already let up in the north bay, and still hitting parts of the south county pretty hard with some heavy rain. but then once again, we are seeing much of this activity coming through as of right now, and then the rest of the day will be

a little bit better. let's zoom in to the north bay once again. we've already seen the heaviest rain moving through there, and it's starting to ease up for there, but still raining in vacaville, down to vallejo and extending down toward the east bay where we are seeing a steady rain. it's mostly light right now, but we've had so much in the past couple of hours. the roads are wet, there's a lot of puddles out there, and you will need to allow some extra time to get to work. and for parts of the peninsula from the los altos hills, as well as over toward palo alto, we're seeing a pocket of some heavier rain, but it is still really coming down for morgan hill to gilroy. that's where the heaviest rain is falling right now. but then we turn our attention to this next storm system that is right on the heels of this one. so we are going to have a very active pattern as we head into the next several days. you can track the rain on the go. just download our nbc bay area app by scanning the qr code on your screen that gets you the latest updates from our storm ranger, the mobile doppler radar, and our team of

meteorologists. and also you can get information on what's happing out there around the bay area. mike, you're tracking the conditions that main concern. yeah, really, that's the big deal right now. as you talked about rain been happening around the bay quite some time. we'll use our network of traffic cameras to show you right here, the bay bridge toll plaza. i wanted to show. there we go. look at that. the water kicking up behind those vehicles. so even though it might be light rain in your area, that water will still kick up and affect your visibility. and your traction clearly will be the case. a number of incidents, over a dozen of them reported around the bay, some standing water in oakland. we're looking at 980 and i-80 that interchange there. we're looking at the north bay as well. kari talking about the rain coming through this area. remember, the green highlighting shows where it's damp, roadways blue, where there's puddling and ponding. there is a crash on on vasco road. we'll talk about that coming up. back to you. all right. thank you very much, mike. breaking this morning, president biden announces he is granting clemency to nearly 1500 americans, the most ever in a single day. the administration

says that the people getting commuted sentences were placed on home confinement for at least one year during the covid 19 pandemic, and now have successfully reintegrated into their communities. biden is also pardoning 39 people who were convicted of nonviolent crimes. he says this country is a nation of second chances. well, just into our newsroom, time is unveiling its 2024 person of the year, and the title goes to president elect donald trump, who will assume office in 39 days. in conjunction with the announcement, the president elect will ring the opening bell at the new york stock exchange this morning. this comes after he arrived in new york city last night. other names on the short list included vice president kamala harris, who of course, defeated trump, defeated in the election ex-ceo elon musk. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and kate middleton, the princess of wales. under pressure from the president elect, fbi director wray is brbreaking wh tradition and

resigning before the end of his ten year term. wray announced he will step down at the end of the current administration amid criticism from the president elect, who has already named his replacement, kash patel, to lead the department. here's today in the bay's brie jackson from washington, with more. current fbi director christopher wray says he will leave his position when president elect trump takes office for a second term. i've decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in january, and then step down. trump tapped wray to lead the fbi in 2017. since then, their relationship has taken a turn. recently, mr. trump criticized wray for his role in the fbi's investigation into classified documents at trump's florida estate. i can't say i'm thrilled with him. he invaded my home. i'm suing the country over it. he invaded mar-a-lago. and in my view, this

is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray. wray's resignation comes with three years left on his ten year term, which has some senators concerned. i do worry about a precedent set. we set up an fbi director to have a ten year term, so they're not going to fall under undue political influence. his decision was a wise one. i think president trump had lost confidence in him. the president elect has already chosen kash patel to replace wray. he's been a fierce critic of the federal agency and is making his case to senators. the senators have been wonderful, and i look forward to earning their trust and confidence with the advice and consent process, and restoring law and order and integrity to the fbi. patel, promising a smooth transition, if confirmed, to lead the fbi in washington brie jackson, nbc news. 506 now, and we are moving you forward

when it comes to protecting your home. the state's second largest insurer now says it will start insuring more property owners today in the bay's. bob redell joins us live outside a farmers insurance office in livermore. unexpected. bob. it is good morning to you, chris and scott. you might recall that farmers insurance started writing, stopped writing policies for renters and condo owners. this was last year, in part because of the enormous losses associated with wildfires here in the state of california. you also recall that state farm and allstate, they actually stopped writing policies anywhere in california, with thousands of homeowners having to go elsewhere for coverage. so starting saturday in this surprise announcement, farmers, the state's second largest insurer, says they will start taking applications for new policies, including condo renters, umbrella landlord, vacant and manufactured home, raising their cap from 7000 a month to 9500 a month. that's an

increase of 2500 new policies each month. farmer says it's adding new customers because the marketplace has improved. the company credits recent changes by the state department of insurance that that department is trying to make, california's insurance commissioner said in a statement. he believes this is a positive step forward. consumer advocates agree. so today's announcement is a little bit of hope on the horizon. and that's what i think a lot of us needed something. some sign that insurers are going to come back to reward all the concessions that have been made to address what they say they need. our own consumer reporter chris chmura says the state is focused on making policies more available, but with these new offerings, there's no indication that that that means that they will be more affordable to consumers. reporting live here in livermore. bob redell today in the bay. all right, , bob, than.

developing now out of southern california, crews are beginning to make some progress in the franklin fire down in malibu. the strong winds are finally starting to die down. the fire now has burned more than 4000 acres since it started monday night. thousands of people are still under evacuation orders, and the fire, now 7%, contained. nine structures have been destroyed and at least six others we know are damaged. meteorologist kari hall is here. and kari, with the winds dying down, that could be a good sign. but firefighters say it's still going to take days. right. it's been so much going on there. and then that fire spread so quickly, even though they are starting to get a little bit more containment. the weather conditions always an issue. and unfortunately, the rain that we are seeing this morning won't really make it all the way down to socal before it kind of just fizzles out. we're only looking at some slight rain chances there, and we know that that may pick up the wind a little bit more going into the afternoon, but it has calmed down significantly. and as we go

through our hour by hour wind forecast for malibu, still a 24 mile per hour wind gusts into the afternoon could really kick up some more of those flames. we'll have to continue to watch out for that. here we're seeing some off and on showers starting out this morning. really nice to see the rain coming back to the bay area, but it may affect your way getting to work this morning as the commute may be very slow. and we're going to see some off and on showers throughout the day. it will taper off to some more spotty activity and then rain chances just stay in the forecast into the weekend. we'll talk about a bigge storm coming our way for saturday. that's coming up in a few minutes. mike's been tracking where we can fill up for a little bit less. yeah, we're watching the rain and the traffic and the fuel costs. livermore still winning the race with two marathons. the stations still listing 319, as they have for almost two weeks now. there's one on home street and one on south livermore avenue. then in the north bay, we call out sam's club for solano county's low of 352. it's on helen power drive in vacaville, and the last price we have is in the south bay. the

highest on the chart will point out one of many spots at 369. that's the lowest throughout the south bay. today it's diamond gas and market on south winchester boulevard. check gasbuddy.com to see if there's any lowering of prices near you, or find the best bargains on the roadway. light traffic right now. but a lot of rain happened over the last few hours. so the blue is where there's puddling and ponding green pretty much all over the bay with damp, wet roadways. we are looking at the altamont pass, a crash coming down near grant line road and at the top of the screen, one northbound at vasco road around los vaqueros and the one at camino diablo is heading in your direction out of contra costa county, despite those crashes. commute times are about normal, but watch those conditions. we've seen a number of single car crashes. back to you. slow it down. all right, mike. all right. the big business of christmas returns to the south bay. we started this. then that street there did snowflakes. the other street over there did arches. next. the holiday tradition bringing extra foot

traffic to the willow glen neighborhood. plus a new giant. welcome to the city by the bay. we'll introduce you to the team's newest player. back in a minute.

side from the rain. we have flooding we're watching out for as we head into the next couple of days. king tides will be back in these areas highlighted in green will be under that flood advisory in effect starting

tomorrow morning. we're also watching out for today's rain and a bigger storm ahead. more coming up in the microclimate forecast. yeah, that rain here on the lens in san jose. water on the lens, water on the road and slowing on the road. there is an unusual slowdown in san jose right now. we'll track the details. give you the latest from chp. there is a crash on highway 101. all right, let's check business news this morning. donald trump is going to ring the opening bell on the new york stock exchange. nasdaq crossed 20,000 for the first time ever, thanks in part to google, which hit an all time high after that new supercomputer i told you about several days ago. and the supreme court threw out a case against nvidia, a lawsuit brought by shareholders who said the company hid how dependent it was on purchases from bitcoin miners who use the company's powerful chips to do the complex math needed to discover new bitcoin. the supreme court had

originally taken the case and then changed its mind, which is extremely rare, and issued a dismissed as improvidently granted or dig. even the supreme court has abbreviations and slang. shares in tesla hit a multi year high, making the richest man even richer. elon musk, who now wields considerable power in the white house, probably more than the vice president, now worth more than 400 billion thanks to tesla and spacex and other investments. musk's net worth has increased 77% since trump was elected. here in jersey. two things are pretty universal. we love a great diner like this one, and we don't accept problems as they are. all right, that's new jersey congressman josh gottheimer, who's running for state governor there. you know, it's pretty standard for new jersey politicians to sound real new jersey by loving diners and declaring their love for hometown heroes, bruce

springsteen and this candidate, no exception. gottheimer published his spotify wrapped song list on social media. it was all bruce springsteen, except he faked it. a reporter for the star-ledger posted this side by side comparison of gottheimer's post and the real spotify wrapped on the right, pointing out the g's look different. some of the number styles don't match as well. gottheimer admitted he mocked up a look alike, saying he shares it with his kids, and there was a lot of taylor swift on it. his top list would not have looked the same if he had shown the real thing, but he swears he is a springsteen fan. i mean, i did post something like that. i was like, i don't have spotify, but if i did, this is what it would look like. and i and i copied somebody else's. but i was clear about running for governor. i'm not running for governor. how embarrassing. god. of all the things to lie about. all right. this morning, the new man in the giants dugout will officially take center stage. willie adams

will hold a news conference at oracle park later this morning. and we're going to learn how to say his name by then. this all comes after adams signed a seven year contract to become the team's new shortstop. lots of excitement. already hitting a fever pitch with his new jersey already. speaking of new jersey, attracting attention on the giants x page, the contract is worth an estimated $182 million, the biggest in the team's history. he will be joined by his new boss, buster posey, as well as manager bob melvin, at today's news conference that is scheduled to start at 1130 this morning. new jersey on the brain. all right. less than two weeks to go until christmas. and willow glen neighborhood in san jose is continuing its tradition of getting into the holiday spirit. giant reindeer once again adorning glen erie avenue in a tradition that spans lots of houses and 20 years. local businesses are hoping that the festive atmosphere also brings

them a boost following the lingering impacts of covid. just hoping that people feel like willow glen is their home, and you don't have to maybe have the willow glen zip code, but you come here. there's so many cool places and little knickknack shops along the way. some local businesses in willow glen are also promoting holiday menus in an attempt to draw in crowds. we know a lot of our neighborhoods and districts around the bay area are doing this, doing the same. yeah, i've ridden that little trailer trolley around willow glen. seen the lights? it's fun to do a little horn ring or bell or the bell. you get to. a friend of ours one year rented a bunch of pedicabs, and so we went around the neighborhood and pedicabs, which was just a riot because it was dads and one, moms in one and kids in the other. it was wild. the neighborhood behind us. i know. oh, that was $3 million. that was $7 million. that's true. yes. all right. raining out there? yes. we're starting out with some rain this morning. it won't be raining all day. we are going to see it starting to taper off, but it's been dry. so

recently. it's so great to see it as we take a live look outside in san jose, looking at christmas in the park, where we are going to have a very soggy morning, but then start to see the rain taper off later today. here's a look at our storm ranger, our mobile doppler radar. we can see that there is not as much rain in the north bay, while parts of the east bay and south bay are still getting a steady downpour. but this is where the rain was earlier this morning. you're getting a bit of a chance to dry out. while the rain has really picked up for concord over toward dublin into the tri-valley, we are seeing some light to moderate rain there andt's a little bit heavier as you move down the peninsula and into san jose, where we're getting right now the heaviest of that rainfall, but it will continue to move off towards the south and east, and as we go throughout the day, we're going to see some scattered rainfall as the system still lingers in the area. and then right on its heels is the next one that will bring in heavier rainfall, maybe a little

bit stronger with some gusty winds. and that's expected to affect our saturday. so here's a look at our live view in palo alto. this is probably the view out your window. the view through the windshield where it is very soggy. and then by about 7:00 we start to see the activity letting up for a while, a mix of sun and clouds throughout much of the morning. but there will be times of rain as we go into the afternoon, so our hour by hour outlook still does show that we will have a chance of rain throughout the day. you just want to keep the umbrella somewhere close by and into the ening, even still some spotty showers. but then on friday we're waking up to some light rain in some areas. but that's not the next system that we'll see. it will actually be much heavier going towards saturday morning with some gusty winds, and the rain just continues throughout the day off and on through saturday. so the additional rainfall we could see over the next couple of days looks really significant here. the possibility of about two to possibly over three inches of

rainfall for the north bay, and then about an inch to an inch and a half for much of the south bay and east bay. the sierra is going to get a big boost in the snowfall, to anywhere from a foot to over two feet of snow into the weekend, where our sierra snowpack is right on target for normal. but i do think it will get a bigger boost over the next few days as we see a more active storm pattern ramping up into the bay area and another system moving in on monday. we'll be watching all of these changes for you. mike, you're seeing a crash in early slowing in san jose. yeah. this is look at the lens. now. we've just been a few minutes since last we checked. you can see that the lights are moving more smoothly behind it despite the blur. make sure those windshield wipers are in good condition. the last few minutes have seen the lanes clear. north 101 at mckee had all blocked for a few seconds as they did a traffic break to clear vehicles. this crash, along with a number of others, do contain notes about. at one point, one of the cars involved in a crash facing the wrong direction. probably slick out there. so do watch the

traction. there's another crash north 101 right around shoreline exit, and there's a little standing water reported near that exit as well. standing water or big puddles basically around the bay. and watch for that really where the blue shows up our road. weather index. no problems for 680, but vasco road has a second crash in the commute direction that also contains detail about one of the vehicles facing the wrong direction. no major injuries for any of these crashes, though, but look at the conditions as you head through the east bay and much of the bay. that water will kick up behind cars as they travel as well. back to you. all right. thank you mike. well, helping your teen cope with the stress of the modern world. up next, the findings showing a rise in youth, depression and anxiety and what you can do to help. hey, there it is. day six of the 12 days of christmas snack edition. and i give you hummus. you might be thinking, i don't know if i want to be the person to bring something kind of healthy or the veggies to the potluck, but this might change your mind. i had never made huhummus fro scratch before. my cousin brandi recommended it and

it is so easy and so tasty. this is tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, lots of garlic, and a can of chickpeas just whizzed in the blender. all right. yeah, i am that person who brings veggies to the potluck. you can check out my full recipe along with the others on my instagram page. they're not all that healthy. some of them are pretty tasty. so your husband barbecues. that's why you're getting invited? exactly. you can find me on instagram and on facebook. you're watching ♪ i'm on my way ♪ ♪ home sweet home ♪ there's no place like the road home. receive a $5,500 bonus on a new 2024 audi q5 plug-in hybrid during the season of audi sales event.

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we have some new resources for you in case they are struggling with their mental health or they have other issues. it comes as new data reveals more than half of young people between the ages of ten and 24 are reporting mental health struggles, including symptoms of depression and anxiety. a new campaign from the ad council is aimed at giviving paren tools to connect with the kids who need that help. it includes an interactive digital component where parents can hear teens share what they need in their own words. doctor charmaine jackman, a mental health expert working with the project, understands one big obstacle can sometimes be just that the words. this is such a great question, right? and i you know, i have been on that side where i try to say something cool and it's not, you know, say all the wrong way. but those are also great moments of laughter, right? it's like, well, tell me the right way to say it, you know. so i think those are

really great moments. but i find the most important thing is asking your child what you know about their opinions about things. how do they say it? how do their friends say it? i think getting to understand a little bit about their world is a really important piece. well, doctor jackman goes on to explain that it is important not to jump in to correct, but rather to keep that door open for communication. and boy, that is the hardest part, right? you just go, this is, you know, better. yeah. i mean lived experience. right. next top stories we're following for you include the rain that is falling over the bay area. we'll take a look at all that green on our radar this morning. meteorologist kari hall returns to break down. who's going to see the most wet

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the bay area this morning, and we are tracking how long this new storm will stick around. plus, we'll get another chance at wet weather and we'll tell you when we are going to pursue this until we find an answer. new hope in finding arianna fitts. the new image of the fbi is hoping will help crack the case of the missing girl. more than a decade later, and still no verdict. as we head into day six of deliberations in the nima momeni murder trial. are we seeing any movement from the

jury? we have an update on the case before they recess for the weekend. this is today in the bay. thanks so much for joining us. i'm kris sanchez. and i'm scott mcgrew. we're in for laura and marcus this morning. we want to start, of course, with the rain moving intohe bay area overnight. just take a live look outside this morning. almost every part of the bay area from the north to the south, getting hit with rain. meteorologist kari hall here with our coverage this morning. and lots of green on your radar. i was so distracted by all there. yeah, there is a lot of rain coming through. much needed at this point, especially for the south bay. and it was dry for so long. so here we go, back to the wet morning commute, and much of it has moved through parts of the north bay into the east bay, where it is now starting to taper off the south bay, still getting hit with some rain as we take a look at storm ranger. that's our mobile doppler radar. the red scan that you're seeing there parked on san bruno mountain. we are seeing it

easing up for many of us and hitting us before a lot of people are getting up and out the door. so it's going to be a soggy and very slick drive to work this morning. still raining quite a bit in san jose, but as we can see, much of it has already moved through and the rest of the day will be partly cloudy with still some lingering showers. just kind of hit or miss, and then we get a brief break before the next storm system that we see. that cluster of clouds just to our west will be moving in for the weekend. so there is a look at the commute this morning for the peninsula. we are going to see it easing up a mix of sun and clouds over the next several hours, but there still will be some times of rain into the afternoon, so you can check the storms as they move into your neighborhood. just download the nbc bay area app by scanning the qr code on your screen, and that gets you the latest updates from our storm ranger mobile doppler radar, as well as updates from me now. mike, you have an update on the morning commute. i do, and i'm glad that i sit next to you. i

keep talking about what's coming folks. more traffic coming as the roadways are still wet. look at that. definitely see some water kicking up behind these cars that are going through in the hov lanes and the backup forming the metering lights were turned on a little early this morning, likely because they want to make sure that they meter the traffic on the span in case of any issues. there have been a series of crashes here on the east shore freeway right around central, and reports of some standing water in lanes, some big puddles on the freeway. and so that will be an issue. look at eastbound 80 going away from the bay bridge and up in toward richmond. but the build coming in from richmond also kicking in just about now. we'll look at the rest of the bay and a smooth drive, but the south bay did get a good amount of rain. we have a new crash on highway 17. we'll check that out. coming up. back to you. thank you. mike. it is 534 on your thursday morning, the fbi released a new photo of a two year old girl who vanished in san francisco eight years ago. it's an unsolved case that shocked the bay area. it's so sad. today in the bay, ginger conejero saab live in san francisco. ginger. the fbi, they believe that the girl is still

alive. well, chris scott, that is the assumption that the fbi has been working under for eight years now. in 2016, then two year old arianna fitts vanished after her mother was found murdered at a san francisco park. now, the fbi wants your help, so take a good look. have you seen her? this is arianna. in an age progression photo that was recently released by the fbi, she was just two and a half when she disappeared. she would now be 11 years old of age. investigators hope that this new photo can lead to new clues that can solve this case. that now dates back eight years. it happened on april 5th. arianna fitts and her mother, nicole fitts, were reported misissing from the bay area. a few days later. nicole was found dead and buried in san francisco's mclaren park. arianna has not been seen since. our goal is to

find arianna and recover her and reunite her with her family. now, investigators say arianna was in the care and custody of her babysitter and her babysitter's husband at the time of her disappearance. coworkers i have spoken to in the past told me nicole worked long hours and relied on help to care for her daughter. investigators have reviewed or have revealed, i should say, that nicole was lured to meet the babysitter during the time of her disappearance, although they do not believe arianna was with her mother when she was killed. now, investigators say arianna could be anywhere, even another state. the fbi and sfpd are offering a $250,000 reward that can lead for information that could lead to an arrest and a conviction. in this case, if you are out there and you have any information that can lead to an arrest and a conviction, you are

asked to call sfpd's. tip line in san francisco, ginger conejero saab. today in the bay. it's happened before. okay. ginger. thank you. we are now heading into day six of deliberations in the murder trial of nima momeni. he is accused of killing cashapp founder bob lee in san francisco last year. the defense says he killed lee in self-defense after lee attacked him in a drug fueled rage. now the jury has reached what it's called its hardship point. if the verdict isn't reached today, the judge will have to begin figuring out how to schedule deliberations around the upcoming holiday weeks. and when that jury reads the decision, we will break into programing to bring that to you. we will also send it out in a breaking news alert via our nbc bay area app, and we'll have complete coverage on nbcbayarea.com. the evidence meantime, building against the young man who is accused of killing the unitedhealthcare ceo, brian thompson. the nypd says its crime lab has made significant forensic

breakthroughs in its investigation, linking luigi maglione to the murder. investigators now say the weapon the 26 year old had on him when he was arrested at that pennsylvania mcdonald's matches the video from the manhattan crime scene. the gun also matches the three shell casings found at the scene, and fingerprints on a water bottle and a granola bar that were left behind by the shooter. this is powerful circumstantial evidence, and it's going to start coming in like an avalanche. now that they've found mangione. a notebook found with maggioni at the end. at the time of his arrest, contained a description of killing a ceo, which matches the details of the alleged murder. prosecutors in new york are working to extradite the accused shooter. he remains in a pennsylvania jail. his defense team has two weeks to file a challenge. the plan to merge ten oakland school campuses into five failed to happen. now, the school board is planning new district wide cuts,

which parents, teachers and students are still opposing. i'm tired of you lying. i'm tired of you lying to us. oakland, ununified's projected budget deficits now total $100 million for next year. during a meeting last night, staff analysts said that the merging of administrative costs of ten schools into five would have saved up to $3 million annually. with pushback from the community, the board did not vote to merge those schools. it approved a budget balancing to find other areas where the district can save. one teacher accused the board of balancing the budget on the backs of migrant students and communities of color, while largely leaving wealthier neighborhood schools untouched. you want to touch a school? go to north oakland. we invite you to go somewhere else. hit those schools up. hit the charter schools. hit wherever you want. but you cannot keep attacking our community. the board president says that avoiding cuts to those communities is impossible because they make up about 80% of the district. the new cuts

will go into effect at the beginning of the new school year next fall. well, live look this morning in san francisco, where there's new developments on parking changes. drivers in the city will have more time to learn the new state rules. california's so-called daylighting law bans drivers from parking within 20ft of a crosswalk marked or unmarked statewide. now, about a month ago, violators in san francisco started receiving warnings that was supposed to be the case until the first of the year. and then they get tickets. but now the sfmta tells the sf gate. that will be the case until march 1st. after that, you're going to get a fine. obviously, this law designed to improve pedestrian visibility at busy intersections. fewer people hit. a spokesperson tells the paper. get ready for traffic if you're driving home. meantime, in the south bay. yeah, that's because the 49ers are taking on the rams at levi's stadium for thursday night football. kickoff is at

515 and right in the middle of the evening commute. tasman drive in front of levi's stadium, will be closed from 930 this morning until at least three hours after the game, so if you're going to the game, get there early or plan to take public transportation. vta will help you out because they are running extra trains and tune in to nbc sports bay area for 49ers. pregame coverage starting at 4:00 this afternoon. again, kickoff is 515. postgame live begins immiately after the game, and now we'll turn to meteorologist kari hall with how that weather is going to be for the game. do we take a poncho? yes, i would take one just in case, even though it may not be raining right at kickoff, there's that chance that we could at least see some spotty showers into the evening. so let's get a look at that forecast. it's only going to be 55 degrees. so kind of chilly out there with a breezy wind. and it will be partly cloudy with the chance that we could see some rain at any point later

on in the evening. we'll also be watching out for those showers in san francisco. if you're going out late to watch the light projection show, and san francisco, it's going to be in the mid 50s and then still a chance of showers through late tonight. and then if you're planning for the weekend, maybe going to the sierra, that's a live look. it is so sloppy out there. we are seeing a mix of rain and snow, and we are going to have a chance of snow in the forecast for today as well as into the weekend, just off and on, and we will see that into saturday as well. if your weekend plans take you to the coastline, it looks like at least for santa cruz, you have a break for tomorrow from the wet weather, but we will see some times of heavy rain and gusty winds in our saturday forecast. and sunday is looking a little bit better. mike, how's the traffic moving through the south bay? yeah, well, this is the area kari where your radar showed, having had most recent activity here. you see the water on the roadway getting kicked up a little bit, but the lens looking a lot clearer than the

last time we took a look. now, this early slowdown because of a crash around mckee has cleared. but it's blending in with the with the first burst we typically see. and that's actually a little bit lighter. we're watching the rain soaked roadways and highway 17. there is a crash reported a car went off the roadway on the northbound side right near the summit. you'll see a lot of activity. you haven't heard about any major injuries, and i think it's just down a bit on the roadside there. so no major concerns, but we'll track that. meanwhile, earlier break for the north bay. so things are calmer on the roadways. but still we have this lower manzanita park and ride closed until the 17th because of those tides we're talking about, not the rain, but that doesn't help things there. meanwhile, here's the wet roadways. the green sensors are moving well, but the east shore shows to build into richmond. back to you. all right, mike, thanks. a controversial political donation from a silicon valley giant. up next, we'll tell you who just donated to president elect donald trump. plus, the bird flu taking a toll on zoo animals in arizona. how? people there believe the animals got infected. and the new

actions that are taken by one bay area zoo amid the surge. plus, thousands of catholics gathering overnight to honor la virgen de guadalupe. we will take you to the early morning celebrations in the south bay. we'll be ghtri

nearly 1500 people pardoned 39 others. it's the largest number

of commutations and clemencies ever, according to the white house. the administration says the americans who will have their sentences shortened were in home confinement at least one year during the covid 19 pandemic and have now successfully reintegrated into their communities. biden also paroling 39 people who were convicted of nonviolent crimes. he says this country is a nation of second chances. americans on both sides of the aisle are still trying to digest the news. fbi director christopher wray is stepping down as of january 20th. incoming president trump made it clear he did not want wray, who he appointed during his first term after firing fbi director comey. wray had every right to stay on the job, continuing his ten year term, which was designed in part to make the fbi that much more independent and clear of presidential politics. instead, wray not only quit. he did it before trump asked him to. trump wants to install kash patel into

the position. will this force trump to appoint a temporary leader who has already received senate approval, like the deputy director? well, that would be the rules. wray, meantime, said he stepped aside to keep the fbi out of the political discussion. secretary of state antony blinken testified before a house committee investigating america's withdrawal from afghanistan, which, by anybody's standard, didn't go well. blinken rinding lawmakers it was trump, not biden, who negotiated the american withdrawal. even as we work to address the places where we fell short, i firmly believe the president's decision to withdraw from afghanistan was the right one. american troops are no longer fighting and dying in afghanistan. the american people are safer and more secure. now, it was an adversarial hearing, with democrats defending blinken and republicans trying to pin the blame on blinken. but there were some moments of bipartisanship, even a bit of love as well, which we don't see very often. it's worth watching. here's the republican chairman

of the committee and his ranking member, the democrat. i'm extremely proud of everything that we've accomplished, most of it on a bipartisan basis. we've been the most productive committee in the 118th congress, and i want to thank mr. meeks, my ranking member. but he's more than that, and he's more than a colleague. he's my partner and friend. we've worked together on matters of foreign policy, national security. most of the time we agree. and when we don't, we agree to disagree civilly. and that's the way it should be. i appreciate the fact that we've always, even when we disagree, as we will disagree on this hearing. but we've always been able to talk about it, be honest with one another, and that's what's really important. you know, when you have honesty and truth and can talk, you can disagree, but it never becomes personal because of you and the

character that you have. i thought that was worth watching. lastly, meta donating $1 million to the trump inauguration. trump has constantly made fun of mark zuckerberg using a crude yiddish word to make fun of his name, and has even threatened to put the facebook founder in jail. kris interesting times. well, at least five animals are dead after testing positive for bird flu at a wildlife world zoo in arizona. among the five animals include a mountain lion and a cheetah. the zoo believes a wild bird flew into the zoo and spread the virus to six animals there. the zoo is now quarantining animals and heavily sanitizing the enclosures and performing regular tests on animals to prevent the spread. 25 workers also in close contact with those infected animals. they are also now being monitored by their county health department. they have stopped all interactive animal encounters in order to keep guests safe. it is 5.50 and now back here in the bay area, the

san francisco zoo also temporarily closing its walk through aviaries as a precautionary measure because of that risk of bird flu. the zoo says it's not only monitoring birds here, but also looking out for ill birds to protect the safety of the zoo. well, today is a very important day for cathols in the bay area and worldwide in the south bay. parishioners are commemorating the anniversary of the virgin of guadalupe s apparitions in mexico nearly five centuries ago. today in the bay is natalie vieira has a closer look. well, it's a big day for our lady of guadalupe church here in east san jose, where we've seen thousands of people drop by since wednesday evening to pay their respects to the virgin. some of those people even telling us about miracles they say the virgin has done for them. now, we did have a mass right at midnight where they sang las mananitas for the virgin. and this is a

continuation of a celebration that kicked off on wednesday with aztec dancers, live music, a play, and multiple serenades. it's beautiful, you know, even though we are far away from mexico, i feel like i feel like getting close to our people through these events and sharing the same faith. it's very important for the community. while the church has a full program continuing today with mass starting back up again at 6 a.m. all the way till 9 p.m. both in english and spanish. reporting in east san jose, natalie veira, nbc, bay area news. all right. it is 552 now and trending this morning. we all know the famous christmas songs like let it snow and jingle bells. and now the san jose sharks are looking to have the next holiday hit. they're spreading holiday cheer with a new rap song called holiday inflatables. this holiday season, you won't be bored. just grab yourself an extension cord, plug it in and it will glow. get

lovey dovey with the mistletoe. decorations. sure comes a decade after their first song, holiday sweater, features players like mario ferraro and cody ceci. william eklund even sha'carri the video, shot inside the sap center with their merry chakmas sweaters. i love it. get lovey dovey with the mistletoe. people ask why it took ten years for this next song to come out, but do you hear a lot of work? you hear the complex lyrics they have. this is really well done. they're waiting for those inflatables to come back into fashion. i walked into break room this morning and i saw the inflatable and i was like, whoa, you don't see them in doors very often? yes. and, you know, 2:00 in the morning. it's kind of it doesn't take much to scare us to 2:00 in the morning. they didn't want it to blow away outside. probably not. yeah. you know, you have to watch those

christmas decorations. these next few days may be blowing away with all of the wet weather and the wind that we have coming in for the forecast into the weekend. as of now, we are waking up to wet roads and some early morning rain that is now starting to taper off, and the rest of the day we're going to see kind of a mixed bag of weather as we zoom in to the north bay. the rain that was there earlier this morning is not as heavy, and we're starting to see it really breaking up and becoming very spotty. and the same for san francisco. even though the roads are still wet, you're still seeing those puddles. you may not have a lot of heavy rainfall falling right now, just some lighter showers, and it's still coming down from san jose down to gilroy, where we are seeing the bulk of that rain moving through the last little bit of this system that's producing some widespread rain. and then once again later today, just kind of tapers off to some spotty showers. and the next weather system coming in for the weekend is right on the heels of this one. so there won't be much of a break in the activity. and

we're going to see more scenes like this where you're driving, the roads are wet, the cars in front of you are kicking up some water, and we're going to need those windshield wipers to work very well. there will be some breaks, and we're seeing that happening in dublin right now, and it will last through about 10:00. but really, at any point today we could see some rain falling. and it may be heavy at times with some of those bouts of the spotty showers moving in for the afternoon into the evening, and then a break for much of the day tomorrow, with the exception of some light rain, the heavier rain, the bigger storm system will be arriving early on saturday morning and just continuing off and on throughout the day. it looks like sunday. we will get a break from the wet weather, but between this system and the next one, we could see about a quarter to a half inch of rainfall initially, but then really getting a big boost for the weekend, with in total anywhere from one and a quarter to possibly over three inches of rainfall. and those higher amounts of rain will be in the north bay at the same time. of all of that, rain will also have

king tides coming back. that's the higher than normal tides that happened during the winter time, due to the gravitational pull of the moon. that's going to create some of these low lying areas. those creeks and the streams possibly flooding over the next few days during high tide, which will be happening during the late morning hours, breezy winds and heavy rain in our saturday forecast. but sunday is looking better. and then more rain. spotty showers expected on monday. now you're seeing mike the bay bridge backing up. yeah, it backed up pretty quickly. didn't have a chance to show you the full lanes last report, but that happened within about 15 minutes of the lights being turned on early at 5.30. so this morning we do have a slower drive. getting to the bridge. probably wanted to reduce the amount of traffic because of that rain and the conditions across the span, but everything is moving smoothly now. here we have more slowing throughout the east bay typical spots, but it's counter commute eastbound 80 where we still have slowing towards central because of an earlier crash there. back to you. thank you mike. 556 happening now. a listeria

outbreak connected to ready to eat meats is growing. the outbreak has killed two infants sickened at least 19 adults in eight states, including california, linked to contaminated meat sold by yu xiang food. the company is based in south carolina. last month, it recalled more than 72,000 pounds of product made before october 28th. now these are sold at ranch 99 markets, which have several locations in the bay area. if you have any of these products, you're urged to throw them away or reteturn them. all surfaces that touched the recalled food should also be sanitized. there is good news when it comes to making it in the bay. ahead at 6:00, the big sign that things may be turning around for california homeowners in the insurance crisis. you're watching today in the bay.

right now at six time, names its person of the year. the person coming out on top this morning. plus, a new twist in california's housing crisis. one of the state's biggest companies