please take care of yourself and each other. good night. over life threatening winds

returns. southern california is under a fire warning as crews battle flames across the region. good afternoon. i'm audrey asistio. welcome to nbc bay area news at 4:30. bracing for the worst. firefighters in southern california have been battling devastating fires across l.a. county for an entire week, and now they're getting hit with another round of powerful winds, which could add more fuel to the fires. palisades fire in the pacific palisades remains the largest, and this is between santa monica and malibu. while the eaton fire is burning altadena, north of pasadena, fires have claimed 24 lives, with dozens more injured. palisades fire, sparked last week has grown to over 23,000 acres. it is now 17% contained. 88,000 people across l.a. county are still under evacuation orders, and experts estimate the eaton fire in altadena has

destroyed about 7000 structures. it's burned 14,000 acres and is now 35% contained. another round of powerful santa ana winds swept through that area today and are expected to last until tomorrow. meanwhi, thousands of students are still out of class in the pacific palisades and altadena areas because their schools burned down. we've always looked forward to being able to go to high school together and then driving me to school every day, and now seeing that that's gone and our school is gone is so devastating. let's go and bring in mekahlo medina medina, live in pacific palisades for us today. kohler you talked to the home to one of the homeowners there whose house was actually not destroyed in their neighborhood. what are they telling you? well, you know, there are about 53 structures here in the palisades that were destroyed because of

the fire. many of those are homes. we found one home here on grinnell stree that was still standing. the rest were all leveled about 20, 25 homes along the street. nothing was standing except this one home. we were able to contact the owner via facetime only on journalists and emergency crews are allowed right now in the areas where the fire is continuing. so when we talk to her, we said, hey, it's amazing your home is the only one surviving on the street. and she says, let me see it. i showed it to her via facetime and she was very emotional. she says it's deceiving. what you are seeing right now is the front portion of my home. we walked around on facetime. we saw the back. she saw. that's most of my home. most of that part of her home was gone. so it was a mix of emotions for her. she saw for the first time that at least part of her home was standing right now, one of the lucky ones on the street,

because, again, all of the homes on this street are leveled because of that fire. i could imagine just such a mix of emotions for her and for everyone out there right now. what are they telling you as far as where they're at now and what it looks like moving forward? well, they're making a lot of progress, at least here in the palisades. we've been seeing a lot of crews certainly working to try to get some of these lines that have been cut down because of the fires, get those going. they are continuing to clear some of the main arteries here so folks can be let back in. we don't know exactly when that is when that timeline will be. just yesterday they had suspended any escorts into the area for folks who wanted to see what was left of their homes or try to gather some important things, they said that just caused too many problems, they put a halt to that. we expect them to start allowing some people back in, within probably

at least a day, maybe two, depending on how fast they're working in these immediate areas. meantime, as i was talking to her about, you know, having at least partially some of her home intact because of the fire, we talked a lot about her neighbors. she said her neighbors were going to come home to much more destruction than, you know, than she will. and she says that all the neighbors stuck together during this fire. they tried to battle it all o on their n with their own garden hoses, tried to make sure the flames didn't get to the neighborhood. so she says what this fire has done for them is brought them all together on this small street, and they hope they will stick together as they begin the rebuilding process here in the palisades. it's incredible to hear how they're just all so strong in such a tough situation, and really banding together and sticking together as a community. mekahlo medina medina, thank you so much for that. update out of pacific palisades. thank you. i want to go ahead and bring in our chief meteorologist, jeff ranieri now because, jeff, they are keeping

a very close eye on those santa ana winds. a lot of people saying they're bracing for the worst. and you know, as i continue to track that all the way through this afternoon, i'm not seeing anything that's close to what we had last week when those winds got up to 100mph. but again, those winds are still gusting out there. we're going to get you a closer view of exactly what's happening with the wind and the forecast. and you can see, as we've been talking about the two main fires here. some good news i can report on the eaton fire. also the palisades fire. we're not seeing too much hot spotting this afternoon. so if we can stay with that, that would be excellent because of course we would see less in the way of embers flying around when we do get these winds gusting up. now, speaking of the wind, you'll see on this map, it's basically contouring out some of the top wind gusts. and you'll notice los angeles itself down in the valley. we're not seeing strong winds. it's right up into the mountains here surrounding los

angeles, where you'll see some of this red to magenta color corresponds with my key here at the top. that's wind gusts of about 40 to 50mph. so we are getting some gusts up at the higher elevations. we still could see some winds through the next 24 hours up to about 70. so the red flag fire warning here in southern california until 11 p.m. tomorrow. and here's the thing. i really hate to put this on this graphic, but weay actually get another round of wind developing by the time we get to next monday and tuesday. this is super early out, but we could be in for some very strong and gusty winds next monday and tuesday. we're going to continue to track that. i'll be back with another update in about ten minutes. all right jeff thank you. we are learning more celebrities are stepping in today to lend a hand and give money. metallica just donated $500,000, half $1 million to the california community foundation's wildfire recovery fund, among other relief funds. money will be used in a variety of different ways, including providing mental health services, housing and other

financial disaster assistance. and as crews keep working to contain the flames and investigations are launched, our team is continuing to follow all the developments when we're not on the air. our website is a wonderful resource for updates. all you have to do is go to nbcbayarea.com. well, san jose police arrested two men for armed robbery and confiscated nearly a dozen guns. christopher sanchez of san jose and alex maldonado of stockton, are now facing armed robbery charges. robbery took place at a business on alum rock avenue last july. police say there were actually five armed robbers who got away with about $6,000 in property and cash. when officers searched maldonado's house, police say they found all of these guns you're looking at right here. they say one was stolen and several others were not registered. this armed robbery was obviously a very frightening situation for the victims inside the business. and although we do have two of the five suspects

arrested, we still have three outstanding suspects that we're looking for. and police are not identifying the business that was robbed. as they say, the business is considered a victim. no word yet on whether they have a lead on the three remaining suspects. a two year old girl remains in critical condition this afternoon after getting caught in the crossfire of a gun battle in vallejo. you're watching video that was captured by a neighbor's surveillance camera. the gun battle left bullet holes all over that neighborhood. vallejo police tell us that the toddler and her mother were just driving through the area of moorpark avenue and sawyer street sunday night, and that is when at least one bullet hit the two year old girl. those bullets also hit multiple cars, and they narrowly missed an eight year old boy sitting on the couch inside his

family's home. our officers are determined to find those responsible and bring them to justice. this is a sad and senseless act of violence, and it is uncalled for and it will not be tolerated in our community. and we did speak with neighbors out there today. they say they are scared and frustrated. they are calling for a larger police presence and more help stopping the violence. social workers in the south bay say their staffing levels are so low they're putting local families and children at risk. and to make their point, they're highlighting a case of a san jose infant who died due to fentanyl poisoning. nbc bay area's ian cull joins us now. ian, what are these social workers calling for? yeah, and they say that they need more social workers now to prevent future tragedies. the group works for the county department of family and children's services, or dfcs, and they specifically brought up that case of baby phoenix. she was a three month old girl found in a

south bay apartment littered with opioids in may of 2023, and died of a fentanyl overdose, the county said. officers and social workers had responded to the home multiple times before her death, even removing two other children from the home. ultimately, the baby's father was charged with child neglect. the group says the county didn't include social workers in the decisions on whether or not to remove a child from their family, and though that has been resolved, they say they worry the current lack of staffing could lead to similar tragedies in the future. when social workers are working, 150 hours are assigned over their case standards, and crisises in our community are not being responded to in a timely manner. children and families are left at risk. a lot of people out there speaking out. ian so how is the county responding to their calls? well, the county points out that there is a social worker shortage in many states across the nation right now. but they say that they've recently actually hired 20 new

social workers and continue to recruit more. they're also recruiting a new director of dfcs, as the current one is stepping down, telling us that current staffers will be a part of the process to select that new leader, adding dfcs is committed to recruiting additional qualified staff as quickly as possible, and to partnering with staff on the development of solutions to meet the community's need. and coming up at 530, you'll hear more from both sides and from a relative of baby phoenix who was at that rally today. all right, ian, thank you. we'll see you then. see you then. preparations are underway in d.c. for president trump's inauguration, and we are getting our hands on a guest list. the big names in tech expected to attend. also, we are less than a week from tiktok possibly being banned in the united states. so where are people going instead? our scott budman fills us in on the new hot social media app. but before we head to break, we want to know what trending story would you like to see later on in this

newscast? i do have a survey up right now on my instagram, and you still have some time to vote for one of these stories you see right here. should nutrition labels go on the front of food paris reissuing olympic medals or watch water freeze instantly? we'll tell

candice nguyen because she has an update on a story she broke a couple months ago, an update on the state's 911 system. yeah, audrey. we continue to investigate next generation 911, and this is our state wide upgrade, bringing our landline 9911 system into the internet age. so our recent investigations already uncovered public safety concerns that prompted the state to actually suspend deployment of that new network across the state. but now, as they're continuing to answer questions, address concerns, we are finding more problems with this network. recent problems from just a couple of months ago. and we go in depth tonight at 11. all right, candice, thank you for that preview. really appreciate

it. we'll see you at 11. forbes richest men will reportedly attend president elect donald trump's inauguration on monday. we're talking about tesla's elon musk, meta's mark zuckerberg and amazon's jeff bezos. that's according to someone planning the inauguration. musk was has given mr. trump already appointed him to chair a new efficiency department, and he donated more than a quarter billion dollars to the trump presidential campaign. both bezos and zuckerberg have donated $1 million to trump's inauguration fund. last week, zuckerberg ended professional fact checking on instagram and facebook, citing a shifting political landscape, and bezos decided last fall that the washington post, which he owns, would not endorse vice president kamala harris. and as we await the supreme court's ruling on whether tiktok can stay in the u.s, a new app is topping the charts on apple's app store. and it's a lot like tiktok in more ways than one. let's bring in

our business and tech reporter scott budman. okay, scott, go ahead and tell us about red note. yeah, the more things change, audrey, apparently the more they stay the same. r red note, interestingly enough, owned by a chinese company just like tiktok. and so that's part of the problem. but also part of the interest. apparently people are going on red note and they're subtitling their their posts, which is thoughtful to people on the other end who may not speak either mandarin chinese or english. and there's a lot of back and forth, and it's very much like tiktok in terms of good feelings dances, but also, you know, giving our data to a chinese company and that has people worried. obviously, this is happening in the overall shadow of the supreme court deciding whether or not to let tiktok live here in the united states. okay, so i know you got to speak with the texas tech expert about all of this today. what are they telling you? well, so. right. you know, they point out that the same concerns that america has about tiktok. and remember, there is a law on the books that

says by january 19th, if tiktok is not owned by an american company, it's banned. we're waiting to see if the supreme court puts a stay on that or not. meanwhile, the same would happen to red note. yes, yes, this is a law that doesn't just affect tiktok, it affects chinese owned companies. and it could even spread. people say, well, what about tmu? what about, you know, byd cars? sure, it could spread, but for now, the concern is data, social media, young people. and that's why it hits tiktok and would hit red note. but meanwhile, in the short term, it's kind of interesting that there are people who are doing this, apparently partly as a protest to say, i'll find another chinese owned company if you won't let me use this one. at the same time, there is something to the algorithms that chinese owned companies are doing that people find very attractive, very intuitive to what we like to see. and it works, and people are enjoying them, at least for the short term. yeah, sure. okay. short term. well, speaking of when do you think we'll hear from the supreme court about this? and then if they do uphold the ban,

let's say there's an american company that that may potentially buy it would then that just cancel all of this? yes. if they do it by the 19th, because the ban would say and does say if tiktok is still owned by bytedance on january 19th, it's banned in the usa. if a company comes in and granted, why wouldn't they have done it by now? sure. but you never know. there could be some last minute behind the scenes dealings going on, either with the company or a very rich person that can convince bytedance. and let's be honest, the chinese government to part ways with tiktok. if there's enough money on the table, maybe that deal could happen. but the supreme court, which is expected to give us its ruling as early as tomorrow, could say no. the ban stands and then it's really up to the last. what would we have like five days to see if anything happens? and if not, the 19th comes and tiktok is removed from the apple and google app stores. wow. so it is really a day by day situation. and you're right, audrey, something could change. a last

minute white knight could come in to buy it. and maybe those deals are going on right now behind the scenes, but so far nothing has happened. all right. but the countdown continues and we'l'll stay on top of it. we'll talk more at six. we've really at 6:00, talk to someone who actually is a choreographer who makes her living on tiktok and has some really interesting things to say about what would happen should tiktok go away for a lot of people. all right. well, looking forward to that, scott. thanks. we'll see you then. you bet. okay, if you want to hang out inside a starbucks or maybe use its restroom, you will now have to buy something first. coffee chain is reversing a nearly seven year old policy of letting the general public linger in cafes and use their restrooms. it's also banning discrimination or harassment and the consumption of outside alcohol, smoking and panhandling. violators will be asked to leave, and employees may call the police if necessary. i am with chief meteorologist jeff ranieri once again, who has been keeping an eye on the weather everywhere north northern california,

southern california, and it's been really nice back here across the bay area, we had some calm winds. a lot of sunshine, temperatures right about near normal, as you can see. as we get this closer view in here. upper 50s and low 60s throughout the bay. not too many differences here across our microclimates. currently checking in with 61 here in santa rosa, 62 in concord, down there towards san jose. we're at 63. so we'll take you outside tonight, show you how those temperatures are going to be trending. and while we have 63 in san jose, it will drop off pretty fast. we're down to some colder 40s starting at 10:00 tonight in concord right now, 62 light winds coming out of the north northeast at three. and we're into those upper 40s here at seven and eight and in san francisco, 60 degrees right now. calm winds. and then you're also getting to the 40s here through ten and also 11. so more of that jacket weather tonight. if you're just trying to run any errands, get to the grocery store whatnot. you're certainly going to need it. now. the overall weather pattern i wish i had better news on this front doesn't show any sign of rainfall here in the immediate

forecast. you can see what i'm talking about. look at how the storm track right here goes way up towards canada and alaska. and that's from this strong ridge of high pressure. so this will mean some calm and comfortable weather tomorrow. temps in the 30s and 40s with sunshine to start by the afternoon. plenty of 60s in fact close to 70 down here towards morgan hill. san jose 67, martinez 63 and santa rosa 66. coming up tonight at five, we'll take more looks at the southern california wildfire conditions and also when california could be in for another round of some gusty winds and what that could look like. again, a lot coming up tonight at 5:00. all right jeff, thank you. i'm at the anchor desk now with our janelle wang who's working on the 5:00 news. hi, audrey. another school district looking to close schools to help balance its budget. any school closure, of course. upsetting to parents. but one particular school in the south bay that may shut down is adding a new level of anger and frustration. that's because the school is named after a south bay native and heroic pilot in the nine over 11 terror attacks.

we're going to take you to the bitter battle unfolding and feeling helpless and doing something about it. a south bay teenager has put his tech skills to work, and created a website to help the fire victims in la. the website has valuable information on recovery centers and links to state and federal agencies. also, a way for people to donate cash and other supplies. all those stories and more coming up at five. all right. looking forward to it, janelle. thank you. we'll see you in a little bit. all

medals that will shine as well. the french mint says it is replacing a lot of medals from the 2024 olympics and paralympics, after athletes complained last month that they're already deteriorating. more than 5000 awards wer produced for olympic winners last summer. the medals include chunks of iron from the eiffel tower embedded in bronze, silver

and gold. and as always, i will be posting links to the other stories you voted for on my instagram. baseball season is almost here, and the san francisco giants are making sure fans can get their hands on special edition merch. team just released its game promotions and special events schedule a few of the highlights on june 22nd. a few special attendees will be able to get their hands on a jungwoo lee hooded jersey. july 26th is steph curry night, where the team will be handing out bobbleheads of his likeness. and later on in september is 49ers night at the stadium with a special baseball themed 49ers jersey giants play the seattle mariners for their home opener april 4th. thank you so much for joining us at 430. jess and janelle are working on the 5:00 newscast next, and we are back in just two

when we moved to the states, i kind of had no cultural identity. and i just immersed myself in the music. smoking was sort of synonymous with being cool.

that is just not a life i want to show my daughter. i don't want her to ever be controlled the way that i was. but she's not interested. she doesn't associate smoking with being cool. californians are beating big tobacco. you can too. i guess what i'm looking for from you is, i mean, i know how the fire affected me, and there's always a constant fear that who's to say something like that won't happen again? that's fair. we committed to underground, 10,000 miles of electric line. you look back at where we were 10 years ago and we are in a completely different place today, and it's because of how we need to care for our communities and our customers. i hope that's true. [joe] that's my commitment. [ambient noise] gaining control of the southern

california wildfires, though keeping a close eye on those dangerous winds. we're live from the front lines. in just a minute. frightening moments on the streets of vallejo. bullets whizzed through the air during a gun battle, hitting a two year old girl. how distraught neighbors are reacting tonight while police look for those responsible. and a school district in san jose facing the very real possibility of having to close some schools and among those on the chopping block, one named after an american hero. the fight underway to keep it open. the news at five starts right now. thanks for joining us. i'm jessica aguirre, and i'm janelle wang. it's all hands on deck. as firefighters in southern california braced for another round of those strong santa ana winds. here we go again a nonstop week for emergency crews in los angeles county. firefighters battling massive, deadly fires, the biggest by far, continues to be the palisades fire in pacific palisades, which is between

malibu and santa monica. that started exactly a week ago, and it's grown to over 23,000 acres, 17% containment at this point. the burn threatening the encino and brentwood neighborhoods. now the eaton fire, a little smaller at 14,000 acres, tearing through altadena. that's north of pasadena. firefighters were able to gain some ground over the weekend and contained about 35% of it. but weather analysts predicted the santa ana winds would pick up today and fuel the flames. they did strengthen, but luckily the winds have not been as devastating as experts initially predicted. still, gusts are expected to pick up later this afternoon and into the night. meanwhile, investigators are working to pinpoint exactly how the pacific palisades firetarted. they believe the ignition point is an area called skull rock. it's a popular place to hike. federal investigators are working with local teams to check out the scene at skull rock and collect evidence, and they are looking at the possibility a small new

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