new information we're uncovering about the system that has been suspended and could have been in use when fires broke out in southern california. and we're less than a week until president trump's inauguration, his controversial choice for defense secretary got a grilling on capitol hill. as mr. trump looks to get his cabinet nominees approved. welcome back. the news at 530 starts right now. thanks for joining us on this tuesday i'm janelle wang. and i'm raj mathai. here's a sobering warning. social workers in the south bay are saying staffing levels are so low that local families are at risk. tonight, they're pointing to a case where an infant died due to fentanyl poisoning. as an example of why they need more resources and quickly. nbc's ian cull explains santa clara county employees were greeted by a rally of social workers as they walked into work this morning. those

social workers are calling for increased staffing, saying they're critical to preventing future tragedies. we have a high vacancy rate and staffing shortages, and we are not able to meet the demands and the needs of the children and families in our county. they specifically brought up the case of baby phoenix. she was a three month old girl found in a south bay apartment littered with opioids in may 2023. she died of a fentanyl overdose. the county said officers and social workers had responded to the home multiple times before the death, but the baby was never removed from her parents custody. 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 the current lack of staffing could lead to similar tragedies. ultimately, the baby's father was charged with child neglect. phoenix's great uncle edward was at the rally today. we have to reevaluate what hasn't worked,

you know, and make the changes so that nobody else has to go through this stuff. the group works for the county department of family and children's services, or dfcs. today they placed children's shoes outside the county building to represent the kids they serve. 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. while noting a social worker shortage in many states. county leaders say they're working to recruit more people and say 20 newocial workers have just been hired, 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 in the south bay. ian cull, nbc bay area news. we're going to turn now to our continuing coverage of the wildfires tearing through

l.a. county. firefighters are preparing for the worst as another round of strong santa ana winds could fan the flames. tonight, the two major wildfires, the palisades fire and pacific palisades and the eaton fire in altadena. together, the fires have burned over 40,000 acres. the fires have now killed 25 people, dozens more injured 88,000 people remain evacuated. firefighters tonight are on high alert as the santa ana winds are supposed to pick up again overnight. crews worry those winds could fuel the flames or ignite another hot spot. president biden says his administration is spending the last few days in office making sure l.a. gets help. our entire administration has been working closely with the governor, newsom, senator padilla, senator schiff, the entire congressional delegation to make sure california is every possible resource to fight these fires and help the survivors. the hearts of the nation are with the victims and families left behind, and all the people who

have lost their homes, libraries and so much, so much to these fires. president elect trump has said he plans to visit southern california to tour the disaster zone. he has not set a date for when that could happen. jay leno was among those pitching in on the fire lines. the legendary comedian volunteered to serve food to firefighters and support staff. after another long day and night on the job. l.a. fire department says the department is grateful for his kindness and support during this challenging time. beyonce has a big announcement, but we're going to have to wait to learn what it is on christmas. you might recall, the singer teased that she was going to share some special news today, but on instagram, beyonce poposted she delaying that announcement because of the fires down south. she said it will come at a later date. beyonce's beygood foundation has donated $2.5 million to relief efforts thus far. we will continue our coverage of the fires on our 6:00 news. investigators are still working

to determine what sparked the flames in the first place. that story and more coming up at six. it is a brand new 911 system that should have already gone live across the state, including in los angeles with the ongoing wildfires. but deployment of california's next generation 911 network is currently suspended. critics say that's probably a good thing, because our investigative reporter candice nguyen, is uncovering new problems. candice. yeah. that's right. janelle. since exposing public safety concerns with next generation 911 last november, we filed more records requests. newly released police documents now show major 911 problems keep coming up some just a couple of months ago. nextgen 911 is our statewide upgrade, bringing our landline based 911 system into the internet age. these new records here are from wasco police department near bakersfield. it's one of the latest agencies to go live with the state's new network. last november, wasco's i.t. manager

wrote in an email, 911 calls were not coming through the system, and callers were receiving busy signals. gia is one of the companies the state contracted with to create this new network. according to that it manager's email, the problems happened more than once, and then a few months before that, the department's records administrator wrote their entire call handling system went down in a six hour 911 outage. fortunately, we haven't had any major tragedies as a result of the system coming online. given the reporting and the new concerns that have come to light, you still want next gen to continue at your police department? oh, absolutely. i think we're in a position candice where we don't have any choice. when you start making major technological changes, there's always unintended consequences that come with the technology. naeher and the california office of emergency services, which is in charge of this project, tell me they are

assessing and addressing these challenges. cal oes says it plans to discuss the issues and respond to concerns that the agency hasn't been transparent about them. at the next at 8 911 advisory board meeting. okay, so what's the state and its contractors? what have they done so far to respond to these public safety concerns? and is it enough to get this half $1 billion project back on track? we investigate tonight at 11. candice nguyen nbc bay area candice. we'll see. a bit later. we have an update now on the future of governor newsom's controversial underground water tunnel in the central valley. today, the santa clara valley water district voted 6 to 1 to contribute nearly $10 million toward the planning and design of this massive infrastructure project. valley water is the 13th water agency to vote in favor of the plan. the 45 mile tunnel would take fresh water from the sacramento river and divert it underground to large water pumps already located in

tracy. from there, the water would be diverted to other parts of the state. it will cost an estimated $20 billion. environmental groups and counties along the delta who oppose the watater tunnel say ts tunnel would make the delta water saltier, lead to more algae blooms and hurt the fish that swim in it. defense secretary pick pete hegseth is on capitol hill, kicking off confirmation hearings for president elect trump's incoming cabinet. he pitched himself as a change agent to lead the department. democrats grilled him on his sexual misconduct allegations, drinking and past comments on women in the military. nbc's alice barr has more from washington. reporter. from handshakes to hostilities completely mischaracterized. you can't answer this question. pete hegseth, president elect trump's choice for secretary of defense, facing tough questions in a confirmation hearing before the senate armed services committee. my only special interest is the

warfighter. the decorated combat veteran and former fox news host defending his credentials to lead the massive and complex department of defense. it's time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm a change agent. democrats tore into hegseth over his experience. we have someone who has never managed an organization. more than 100 people is going to come in and manage this incredibly important organization. and allegations of financial mismanagement at past veterans groups. by the time you left, that organization had deep debts. every dollar we raised was used intentionally. hegseth also faced a grilling over past comments that women should not serve in combat roles. what do you have to say to the almost 400,000 women who are serving today about your position on whether they should be capable to rise through the highest ranks of our military? i would

say i would be honored to have the opportunity to serve alongside you. hegseth argued it's about holding everyone to equal physical standards. the standards need to be the same and they need to be high. and he forcefully denied accusations of past alcohol abuse and a 2017 sexual assault allegation that he says was consensual. he was investigated but never charged. completely false charges against me. while acknowledging he's not perfect, hegseth promised to boost recruitment and morale and stand with the nation's war fighters. ahead o the hearing, president elect trump posted his support for hegseth that after railing against special counsel jack smith's report summarizing his investigation into the president elect's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, smith saying the government had enough evidence to convict had the president elect not won another term in the white house. in washington, alice barr, nbc

news. and we will have live coverage of president elect trump's inauguration on monday. you can witness this historic event right here on nbc bay area. coverage begins at 7 a.m. our time. generous people have given more than $100 million to l.a. fire victims. but how can you be sure your donation is actually helping someone in need? i'm consumer investigator chris chmura. i'll show you how. next, and i'll take a look at that wind forecast as we move through the next seven days. plus, what's happening with our rain chances. we'll get you that

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xfinity internet customers, ask how to get an unlimited line free for a year, plus a free 5g phone. (vo) with wells fargo premier, a team can help you plan for your dreams. so your dream car, and vacation home, may be closer than you think. ready to meet the dream team? you can with wells fargo. authorities are collecting cash contributions for la fire victims. at the same time, many individuals are also appealing for donations online. you got to be careful here. consumer investigator chris kamara wants to help you protect your good

intentions and good money from ing into the wrong hands. we're going to start with a warning from the better business bureau that scammers will inevitably tug at your heartstrings. unfortunately, it's something that we see very common when it comes to natural disasters or any sort of community. impactful event. one of the most common places we see individual appeals is gofundme. the fundraising site says people have already donated more than $100 million to la fire victim fundraisers. gofundme says it's verifying that those fundraisers are legitimate. we are getting eyes on these fundraisers and working directly with organizers to confirm their connection to the person or family or business that they're raising funds for. gofundme put verified fundraisers in a hub of sorts. let me show you how to get to it. start on the home page. at the very top. there's a special la fire section. next click find fundraisers. then you'll see the

appeals that gofundme has verified. if you find one that seems suspicious, scroll toward the bottom and click report fundraiser. doing that will put it on gofundme's radar. you can also alert us snap the qr code on screen right now to fill out our consumer complaint form online. the fda wants to make it easier for you to make healthier choices. it is proposing that levels of sugar, saturated fat, and salt be displayed on the front of the packaging. that's in addition to the standard nutrition labels on the back. the new rule would go into effect as ear as 2028. let's bring in our chief meteorologist, jeff ranieri, talking about our forecast here. and also down south in southern california. and man, it was gorgeous out here today. we had sunshine light winds across the bay area. then as we move through the next couple of days i think we're going to be on a steady pattern. then next week things look to change for us again. i'll show you what i mean here. coming up in your microclimate forecast. we'll start it off with tomorrow. we

have high pressure. that's what's going to make our forecast here for wednesday. coming in beautiful sunny skies. looking all good here. but in southern california, unfortunately, this area of low pressure is going to linger there looking at strong winds all the way up until about 6 p.m. we're in the mountains. it could get up to about 70mph, although i think the steady range in the mountains would be 25 to 50. and right now the valls not expecting super high gusts. we'll talk more about that wind forecast here in a little bit. but let's take it into tomorrow morning's forecast. we'll start it off on the chilly side. upper 30s and low 40s that will have you down there to 40 across the peninsula. also checking in with 39 in the east bay, 43 san francisco and 38 in the north bay. daytime highs. wait until you see this across the south bay. we are going to get close to 70 degrees tomorrow down here across downtown. i have it at 69 in morgan hill and 68 in milpitas. let's move it over to the east bay right there in oakland. 65, martinez 63 and mid

60s in antioch for the peninsula, 62 in daly city, down towards palo alto. we're at 64, san francisco, 64 across the mission and 61 in the marina. and those light winds continue across the north bay, 67 in ukiah and 64 here in sonoma. so while it's all good right now, what we're seeing is what could be another windy weather set up by the time we get to next week. now, this is still very early out and this all is dependent. every single bit of it on these weather systems developing right where we have them placed on the maps. and current long range models are showing that this could happen for us. unfortunately, with this strong area of low pressure over southern california, high pressure to the north, air flows from high to low pressure. so that would set up this vacuum effect and really pull some strong wind across california again next monday, where gusts may be up to 15 to 50mph. but if this low pressure right here develops in another location,

moves more off towards the east, all of this is off the table and we would not be looking at strong winds. so in the coming days we're going to track where these systems set up, and we're going to have more details on if we'lll get into gusty winds next week. but how about rain chances? january can be one of our strongest months when it comes to rainfall and high pressure. it is stopping any kind of rain from coming towards us, going way up towards canada and alaska. we may not actually get in on substantial rain chances until we head into february, so not what we want to see. so we'll likely go back into a rain deficit here in san francisco. we're already seeing a deficit in oakland, livermore and san jose. north bay still with a huge surplus over 11in. and that's from that very strong november atmospheric river right here on that 7-day forecast. you can see it that weekend, mid 50s in san francisco for highs, 40s for lows we'll get up to 61 on saturday inland. and the morning temperatures will be in the 30s

to 40. so get that heaviest jacket kind of sneaks up on you when you walk out the door. it's cold in the morning. yeah it is. wait, i got to get that next level jacket. not the other one. the puffer. okay. thanks, jeff. thanks, jeff. up next are t the ers close to bringing back an old friend to run the defense. our 49ers insider discuss the

away for the 49ers as they look

to fix what went wrong this past season and return to the playoffs, hopefully next season. a lot went wrong among the first items on the list finding a new defensive coordinator. how about robert saleh returning to the south bay? here are 49ers insiders. this. this could be a pivotal week, right? i mean, the 49ers who have a few spots on their coaching staff. something it wouldn't shock me if something happens sooner than later at the defensive coordinator position. last week, they interviewed robert saleh. they interviewed deshea townsend. he's the passing game coordinator, defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach of the lions. but it just seems like they did the first moves to satisfy the rooney rule. having interviewing two external candidates. minority candidates. so i would think kyle shanahan will want to move quickly because now one spot as far as nfl head coaches has been filled. and you know the mike vrabel with the

patriots now will want to start filling his vacancies on that coaching staff. so yeah i would think that kyle shanahan learning from you know the past would like to get ahead of this. absolutely i think the faster they get a guy in there, the faster they can start deciding how they want to format the defense. you know, whether they want to make some changes, how they want to approach the draft. i mean, all of that stuff becomes so important early on. and the fact that the 49ers have not been able to do hiring this way until well into, you know, after the super bowl is over or the nfc championship game is over, i think has been you know, i think it it doesn't give them an advantage, that's for sure. i think it gives them a disadvantage. so getting it done early i think only helps them in the process. getting ready for 2025. and i guess you know the big one is robert saleh. you know, he's the one he's the big time name that that has emerged. we'll see what happens. you can follow all of the 49ers offseason moves by downloading the 49ers talk podcast. up next,

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accused of carrying out that new orleans attack on new year's day. take a look. the photo shows shamsud-din jabbar from november when he visited new orleans. the fbi is hopeful this image will lead to new information that could help the

investigation. jabari used a rented truck to pl into crowds along bourbon street on new year's day, killing 14 people and injuring 57 others. as officers began to surround that truck, he opened fire and was killed. when police returned fire. a man arrested for stalking basketball star caitlin clark made his first appearance in court today. michael lewis was charged with stalking and threatening the wnba rookie of the year. police say it started last month when clark began receiving sexually explicit messages on social media. earlier this week, officers traced the messages to a hilton hotel in downtown indianapolis. that's just minutes from where clark plays as a member of the indiana fever. lewis could face up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted on all charges. she's officially in remission. that was the headline today, as the princess of wales visited the hospital to thank the team who worked to treat her for cancer. the royal marsden hospital in london is one of the

country's leading cancer centers. princess kate middleton thanked the medical teams who helped her. she then offered support to the current patients there undergoing treatment. after the visit, she posted on social media that doctors say she is in remission. the princess says she's relieved and adjusting to a new normal. a lot more local news in the next half hour. jessica aguirre joins us now with what's coming up next. well, coming up at six, a disturbing attack in san francisco's neighbors say someone has been shooting ducks with darts at one of the city's largest parks. we're hearing from the family that first spotted the issue. also, the fire lines are holding in southern california as thousands of firefighters continue to battle those flames. we have the latest from the fire lines and where investigators are looking to determine how this all started. and as schools in the south bay are set to close, parents are trying to save a campus named after an american hero. the news at six starts

right now. good evening and thanks for being with us on this tuesday. i'm raj mathai. and i'm jessica aguirre. working hard to stay ahead of the fires that are still raging in l.a. county. before that next windstorm potentially accelerates the fires. again, tonight, we have new information into the newsroom. officials have found another set of remains among the debris. but we want to start with the website. the cal fire website. the palisades fire burning between malibu and santa monica. it is the largest of the burns at more than 23,000 acres, the second largest that we've been telling you now is the altadena fire. it's the eaton fire in altadena. it scorched over 14,000 acres. now to that grim update, the death toll just rose to 25 people after crews found more remains. dozens more are missing or injured. firefighters are facing serious problems as those strong santa ana winds are expected to pick up speed again early tomorrow morning. the winds can fanned

flames and sparks even more fires. the governor says 11 new fires broke out overnight, but teams were able to extinguish them quickly and crews on the ground say they are working hard to be prepared. we have surge and resources into the southern california, into the region with pre-positioning. we've also stood up a mobilization center in beaumont, and those resources are prepared to respond to any new and emerging fires. now that southland did luck out today, the winds did increase as forecast, but not as high as predicted. but there is still some concern about tomorrow morning. another development we're just learning about. crews in los angeles jumped into a new fire that broke out close to hansen dam, near north hollywood. the fire was small. you can see the massive response it drew as crews converged to put it out before any problem with winds fanned it. all right, let's go straight to our chief meteorologist, jeff ranieri.