been indicted. we should note that the fbi has not confirmed any of these indictments, but we do know that this comes after months of investigation and speculation. now, this all started back in june when the fbi raided then mayor sheng thao home, taking away several boxes. the same day, agents raided the homes and businesses of multiple members of the dewan family who own cal waste solutions in oakland. recycling contractor tao and jones have both repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. tao also publicly stressed that she was not the target of any investigation. the then mayor also publicly criticized the fbi for the timing of the raid, noting it happened amid a growing push to recall her from office. those recall efforts ultimately succeeded. those reports of tao's indictment have recall organizers celebrating, and have some members of city council concerned about potential impacts to the integrity of city business. i'm shocked,

disappointed, but absolutely maintaining my commitment to moving us out of this mess and doing all that i can to restore the people's trust. and that's going to need a whole lot of elected officials and appointed officials on board, if we're serious about making that happen. we've known for a while that we've alleged that we believe that sheng thao is a deeply corrupt individual. and my thought is that oakland owes us a debt of gratitude. imagine if she was still the mayor of oakland. at least now she's no longer the mayor of oakland. we're already well underway in picking a new leader. last july, the city of oakland was ordered to hand over records tied to the city contracts with california waste solutions, along with a group called evolutionary homes and documents tied to o's partner, andre jones. that subpoena also demanded records tied to the 2022 mayoral election. tonight, the u.s. attorney's office and federal officials announced they will hold a press conference tomorrow morning to detail what they're

calling a significant law enforcement action tonight. many believe that's when we'll hear more about both tao and her partner's indictments. now we've reached out to the city as well as mayor thao and her last known representation in andre jones, and have not heard back yet. reporting live in the east bay velena jones nbc bay area news. lena. thank you. there is more to all of this. the reports of the former mayor's indictment come on the same day we're learning about another fbi raid involving another public official from the east bay. yesterday, the feds descended on the home of a city councilman in san leanandro. let bring in nbc's robert honda, who joins us in san leandro. robert, what's the link? do we know between mayor thao and the city councilman? there does seem to be some, as you heard velena say, the fbi has been keeping a pretty tight lid on information about any of the cases. so while observers are trying to connect the dots at this point, some crucial dots are still missing.

the san leandro home of city councilman brian azevedo is quiet today, and a person inside told me azevedo was not there and he isn't returning our calls. but neighbors confirmed they saw the fbi raiding the home wednesday morning. they also say they don't know why they come in for a reason. they not coming to say hi. that's what i would say. but innocent until proven guilty, right? yes. yes. that was a sentiment expressed by many people today speculating on whether azevedo is somehow, directly or indirectly involved in an ongoing fbi investigation into east bay corruption. we do know azevedo was part of a group, along with former oakland mayor sheng thao, who went on a 2023 trip to vietnam sponsored in part by the prominent east bay duong family. tao's home was raided by the fbi last june, as were several homes and businesses belonging to the duong family. both tao and the duong's have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. legal analyst

stephen clark emphasized azevedo is presumed innocent and has not been charged, but says there could be a link between both cases. i think what the fbi is doing now is widening the investigation from what they had done previously in their search warrants of both sheng thao home as well as others, because when you think about a locality councilman, you don't necessarily think that the fbi would be involved in that investigation unless it involves some type of political criminal activity. san leandro mayor juan gonzalez says azevedo status at city hall has not changed, saying he remains an active councilman who is not currently facing any charges. the fbi might have visited his home for any of a variety of reasons completely unrelated to him as an individual. so at this point in time, there is no change. obviously, we remain attentive to information that may come to us from the fbi. and so that's

where we're at right now. no one is ready to officially connect all of the cases until the fbi provides some insight into what they're looking at. now, of course, we could get some of those answers tomorrow morning when the department of justice holds that press conference, which they're calling a major bay area investigation. live in san leandro. robert honda, nbc, bay area news. okay. thank you very much, robert. well, he's making another run for it. lauren taylor officially launched his campaign for oakland mayor today. taylor ran against now recalled mayor sheng thao back in 2022, tao won by less than 700 votes. taylor is an oakland native, a businessman and a former city council member. he officially filed papers at city hall earlier today. he says he's hoping to leave the past election behind him and move oakland forward. i don't like to dwell on the past. the past election is over. we are now running a different race in a different context. but if e

having the tough decisions as opposed to ignoring them. taylor is running against former congresswoman barbara lee, though she represented oakland for nearly 30 years. several other candidates have filed paperwork to run or have expressed interest in running. however, the deadline for candidates to enter the race is tomorrow. we have some updates now from the fire lines down in southern california. there is more progress and more video. we have new drone video over malibu. take a look. showing the damage from the palisades fire. red flag warnings have officially expired for much of the l.a. area. that's good news. those high winds that were expected yesterday didn't really materialize. that gave fire crews a chance to make progress with both the eaton and palisades fires. evacuations have also been lifted for several neighborhoods near the palisades fire zone, but some will have to wait at least another week before they can return to their property. we don't want people going back to an area and getting injured, but

we're doing it just as quickly as possible because we know that there's a lot of conversation about when can i come back? they want a date. we don't have a date, but we're trying to render the area safe. yeah, we saw some of these things happen here in santa rosa several years ago. the eaton fire is now 55% contained. the palisades fire, 22% contained. the combined death toll for both fires is now up to 27 people. and the questions and concerns continue to swirl around the city of la. strategy and response to these fires. new data shows exactly where firefighters were positioned before the palisades fire ignited. investigative reporter eric leonard found the city did not assign any extra crews to the palisades neighborhood. this map shows wherere in the city the extra firefighters and equipment weree positioned. on the morning of january 7th, when extremely high winds were forecast. the map shows the nearest extra help for

the palisades was about four miles away in brentwood, comprised of two firefighters on a brush engine. lafd provided the list of equipment and firefighters this morning. it shows even more firefighters and engines were positioned in the san fernando valley and along the northern edges of the city. we can get you that number yesterday. fire chief christian crowley was asked how much additional help had been placed in the palisades. she said careful decisions had been made about how many extra firefighters to bring on duty and where to put them. we study the weather, we pre-deploy we have a system in place. the dialog did occur at city hall. council members have begun to push for answers about those preparations, the water system, and whether the city does enough. each time there's a wind event in the forecast that brings red flag conditions in advance of adverse weather events, whether it's torrential rains or whether it's potential fire risk, we do do this kind of advanced planning work. councilwoman nithya raman says

she calls public safety agencies directly to find out what's being done ahead of time, and says more preparations have to be done. i think it is clear that we need to be planning better for intense weather events. that was nbc's eric leonard reporting. the fire chief says careful decisions were made about where to place the extra fire equipment, though many fire officials say there's no guarantee a few more crews could have slowed down the palisades fire. well, tonight there is some good news for some l.a. homeowners. state farm is reversing course on dropping their insurance policies. consumer investigator chris chmura joins me now. so, chris, what does this mean for the people down there? and what does this mean for us? it might be good news for us, too, jessica. state farm is doing a 180 with thousands of policies there before the fires. it sent notices telling many families it was going to drop their coverage this year. but today, state farm said it's pausing that and will not drop them right now. a rep told us this decision reflects our commitment to supporting our

customers and l.a. county. customers will have an option to renew with state farm for another policy term. this surprise development is in some ways not actually a surprise. it's proof that insurance companies decision making changes. well, that changes daily. a lot of companies have announced they intend to drop california policyholders, but they're also constantly feeding new data into their risk calculations and adjusting accordingly. like today, sometimes for the better. so no matter who your insurance company is, if you received a letter that says they're dropping your policy this year, call them. ask if they're also doing an about face. you know, don't don't don't sit on it and ignore it. reach out to your company if you have questions about the notice, to see if there are any options for you. right. calm and calm again, because the squeaky wheel might get the insurance policy. meantime, where the fires burned, the state is stepping in to stop insurance companies from

sending new notices to drop people's policies. insurance commissioner ricardo lara issued a moratorium on cancellations for about 100 zip codes in and around the palisades. eaton. hearst, lydia, sunset and woodley fires. families there should be able to keep their current insurance policy at least a year, and people can go online if they want to check their zip code at insurance. dot ca.gov. all right. back over to you, jessica. all right. thank you very much, chris. now, with these disaster claims mounting, california's insurance of last resort could be staring down at a financial crisis. tonight, nbc news has an investigation on nightly news that's coming up right after this newscast at 630. that takes a deep dive into that. some other headlines tonight. a teenager has been sentenced in a high profile deadly crash. he was one of the drivers in a street racing crash that killed a mom and a dad. he's been sentenced to house arrest. the crash happened in 2022. the cars were racing along

el camino real in redwood city. security camera video caught one of the drivers plowing into an unrelated car. a mother and father inside of that car were killed. their twin daughters, who were in the back seat, survived. in november, a judge found the driver guilty of vehicular manslaughter. today, the now 19 year old was sentenced to three months electronic home monitoring. the court will review this sentence after 90 days. the other driver in the crash is expected to be sentenced next month. up next. this doesn't happen often. there are more bay area homes up for saleow than in other parts of the country. so what does that mean for prices? we'll break down the data. plus, san francisco getting ready to ring in the year of the snake. the city's plans to keep lunar new year parade attendees safe as it hosts another major event that very same weekend. and i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. it's clear out here in san francisco, but i'll talk about some clouds rolling in for tomorrow. and

when the wind, yes, wind, could unfortunately kick back up. i've got that

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]

and tonight's making it in the bay report. something that we haven't been able to say in a while. the bay area has more homes for sale than most other places in the country. let's bring in our business and tech reporter, scott budman. that's interesting. walk us through the numbers. yeah, these are numbers raj that come just today from redfin. they track houses, they show san jose down south, san francisco a little further north. both saw a jump in the number of homes for sale year over year. this comes as new listings are falling and most of the country not a lot of action in the winter time. but for the first time since spring, we here in the bay area have seen the number of houses on the market increase by about 13% in san jose, a bit more than 20% in san francisco. since this time last

year. so i think what's, you know, you're seeing is that there is a lot more inventory, and sellers might be coming out because it seems like prices are actually pretty strong in the bay area right now. so in san jose, more than half of homes are selling above their asking price. so you're getting high prices and a sense that mortgage rates are not likely to change much in the s short ter and that appears to be the reason sellers are finally deciding raj to put their homes on the market now. okay, so we talk about this. we always have a lack of inventory. now we have inventory. at some point, maybe in the spring and the summer. could then the prices come down a bit or are we kind of set right where we are? no. i think if we see more inventory, it's just really we need more supply to fill the demand. if that continues into the spring, i think we could see some prices come down. one of the reasons prices stay so high here in the bay area is that if right now you went and tried to buy a house and you had a number and they matched that number, you might have 15 other offers that pass that number. and if we

can get rid of that and have just maybe 2 or 3 people go at it, the prices could stay stable and eventually drop. and agents are telling us, even for open houses this saturday or sunday, there's 50 to 100 people in those open houses. that's a big number, right? because if you want to move your kids to a certain school district or move your family to a certain place, we still haven't seen that much inventory. so chances are that house on the market is likely to be the only one in that area. okay. thank you scott. you bet. jessica. well, he helped lead san francisco through the covid pandemic, but tonight, the city's public health director is stepping down. doctor grant colfax joined the department of public health in the late 1990s, conducting groundbreaking hiv research. he left the city to serve as the national hiv advisor for the obama administration. former mayor london breed appointed colfax to sf public health director back in 2019. colfax did not say why he decided to leave the department, but his last day is february 7th. the deputy director will take over until mayor daniel lurie selects a new director. okay, here comes some big events. sfpd is outlining

plans to protect two big public events that are happenining on e same weekend the nba all star game and the lunar new year parade. both are set for mid-february. on saturday, february 15th. thousands of fans will gather in chinatown for the lunar new year parade. then the next day, the nba's biggest and brightest stars will descend on chase center for the all-star festivities. sfpd's plan includes stepping up foot patrols in both areas. the police chief says the plan isn't just to ensure people are safe, but to make sure they feel safe. most people feel safer when they see officers, the officers that are engaged, that are present and that are taking care of issues when they see them. the police department is still about 500 officers short of its staffing goal, but the chief says they're steadily recruiting, and he's confident they'll have enough officers to handle both of the big events. so the lunar new year parade and the all star game that weekend is far away. but let's show you what it looks like outside right now at the city. let's bring in

our jeff ranieri. so what about this weekend? that's what i'm focused on. we're so we're like raj likes to call it weekend adjacent on eve. i'm so there. i'm already i'm already like feeling like daydreaming into saturday at this point. and we will have some sunshine on your weekend. chance of a little bit of morning fog. but all in all, i think it's going to be a winner on saturday and sunny and sunday sunny so to speak. we'll take it into that forecast here as we head through tomorrow. then we'll get you into that weekend. and high pressure here is keeping that storm track off to the north. so no rainfall for now. the one difference tomorrow is we'll get the chance here of some fog rolling in. it doesn't look like it's going to reduce visibility as a whole lot, but it's going to be our typical. fog moving in from the ocean. so expect some of that low cloud cover here throughout the coastline and making it to the east bay and the north bay a little bit there for the south bay. then as we roll through the

afternoon, lots of sunshine returning here throughout the bay area. morning temperatures will be a mix, 30s and 40s. some of the coldest inland valleys would range anywhere from 35 to about 39 degrees. so you see, you're in that range here in the tri-valley at 38 for the south bay 43, also coming in with some chilly upper 30s through the east bay. and for the north bay back here to san francisco, 45 temperatures for tomorrow. we're still on a steady climb through the afternoon. that's going to put us into the mid 60s down here across the south bay. nice day to just be outside back here in concord 64, napa 61. and then at the coastline, we've got our typical chiy breeze that will bring us to 57 and half moon bay 59 right here in san francisco. we're going to see those temperatures stay just about like this all thehe way into sunday's forecast. then as we fast forward things into next monday. the big concern we're looking at right now is the chance that we could get into more wind. we have high pressure to the north and it's this area of low pressure to the south. it's going to pull air across california from high pressure to low pressure. this could bring us gusts of up to 50mph. now, i will say all of this hinges on

this low pressure setting up exactly right here. if we see this develop a little bit more off to the east, the wind would be off the table for us and it would be a much better forecast. but right now i would start thinking about the chance for some wind in california. by the time we get to monday, it is obviously the last thing we need in southern california. after all of the devastation down here. but you'll see on monday, it's 15 to about 35 lower elevations in that magenta color in the mountains could be some gusts of 40 to about 50 back here locally not as gusty, ten to about 25 lower elevations, although the north bay could get some 20 to 50 mile per hour gusts. we're going to closely monitor that on the 7-day forecast. here it is that weekend, mid 50s in san francisco and 40s for the morning and for the inland valleys. we have some low 60s coming in saturday and sunday, maybe some rain chances around the 25th of this month, but everything is really pushing the much better chances into february. so we're just kind of in a holding pattern right now.

we'll enjoy the sunshine, but hopefully february will get some rain. considerable rain. thanks, jeff. okay. up next, did the cops pull over one of their own? no. the story behind this arrest inhe north bay. t

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petition last week. it would prevent missouri from appearing on the upcoming march ballot. it approved. if approved, it amends the county charter to allow the board of supervisors to remove a sitting sheriff. this comes following an independent report that was released in november accusing the sheriff of workplace misconduct. it suggested she fostered a culture of fear and retaliation, and may have had a romantic relationship with her chief of staff. sheriff corpus has denied all acsations. she recently filed a $10 million claim against the county over the release of the report, alleging harassment, discrimination and defamation. an east bay man's ride landed him in jail. that's because he was behind the wheel of a fake police car. san rafael police say officers were on patrol yesterday when they saw what they thought was an older model chp cruiser. they waved at the driver, thinking he'd be a fellow police officer, but then they noticed he wasn't wearing a uniform and that the license plates weren't registered with the agency. officers pulled over. the driver arrested him.

that man now faces charges for impersonating a police officer. up next, more help for people down in la. how hockey teams are coming together to send supplies down to los angeles. we'll tell you how you can help. here's a look inside the control room at rockefeller center. lester holt preparing for nightly news. one of the top stories. lawmakers suddenly trying to save tiktok just days before it's supposed to be banned. pete g. writes, "my tween wants a new phone. how do i not break the bank?" we got you, pete. xfinity mobile was designed to save you money and gives you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. so you get high speeds for low prices. better than getting low speeds for high prices. right, bruce? -jealous? yeah, look at that. -honestly. someone get a helmet on this guy. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get an unlimited line free for a year, plus a free 5g phone.

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wean help. another bay area sports team is stepping up to support the fire victims. yes. the san jose barracuda are the sharks minor league affiliate. the team is donating the proceeds from a chuck a puck promotion last week to the lafd foundation. barracuda will donate money from the upcoming chuck puck events on the 25th and the 26th as well. sharks ice at san jose is also setting up donation stations to collect food, clothing and household supplies. tonight at seven, we are following the latest on the reported indictment against former oakland mayor sheng thao. also, here comes the nba all star game. our warriors insiders are with us to talk about the glitz and glamor in both san francisco and oakland. those stories and more coming up on our 7:00 news. up next on nightly news. is the hostage deal in trouble? the last minute complication between israel and hamas that could put the ceasefire in jeopardy. lester

holt joins us from new york right now. tonight, the potential setback in the announced ceasefire deal in gaza as new strikes there leave dozens dead. israel launching new attacks on gaza and delaying a key cabinet vote to ratify the ceasefire. accusing hamas of provoking a last-minute crisis. the militant group saying it is still committed to the deal to end 15 months of fighting and to release dozens of hostages including americans. our richard engel is in jerusalem. also tonight, the new concerns in california's fire zone. mud and debris slides. one home that survived the flames split in half