velena jones has been following the story since the former mayor's home was raided by the fbi. she was in court today where all four were formally arraigned. the defendants used bribes, mail fraud, wire fraud and other illegal practices to manipulate and corruptly influence the levers of local government. a 21 page indictment lays out eight counts the u.s. attorney's office claiming sheng thao promised to use her influence as oakland mayor to benefit businesses owned by david duong and his son, andy. in exchange, she and her longtime partner andre jones would get money and other benefits. prosecutors claim the bribes started in october 2020, two weeks before the mayoral election. the public needs to know it can trust those in charge of city hall to work for the best interests of the people of oakland. this public trust is broken when elected officials

agree to a pay to play system to benefit themselves. the duong's own count solutions in oakland recycling contractor. they also own a company that builds prefabricated homes. investigators allege tao promised the city would purchase housing units from the duong's, extend a recycling contract and appoint a senior city official of their choice. as often the case. the accused left a money trail from their deceptive acts of corruption. the multi year long investigation also alleges the duong's and an unnamed coconspirator were behind a negative political mailers campaign targeting tao's political opponents. that includes these fliers targeting candidate lauren taylor that were sent out just a week before the election. taylor ultimately lost to tao by less than 700 votes. when we talk about a 677 vote margin, those fliers that were funded through this scheme clearly had a direct impact on

the outcome of our election. all four defendants pled not guilty in court today. tao and jones both face six counts, including conspiracy charges, bribery and mail and wire fraud. if convicted, they both face a ximum sentence of 95 years in prison. jones declined to take questions today. andre, do you have any comments? tao's attorney repeated his client's frequent claims of innocence, saying the case lacks evidence. the case is built on allegations from an unknown coconspirator that we believe when the evidence is revealed, will show that my client has committed no crimes. father and son david and andy duong face conspiracy, bribery and fraud charges. both of their attorneys also say they are innocent of all charges and will fight hard in court. meanwhile, those who spearheaded the recall election against house say her indictment points to a larger issue. i think that it is a wake up call that we've

had these issues pervasive in city hall for some time, and it's time to clean house. in oakland, velena jones, nbc, bay area news. so what exactly are tao jones and the duong's accused of? investigative reporter candice nguyen joins us now to break down the alleged bribery scheme laid out by prosecutors today. and, candice, we know they're prominent businessmen, but who are these dongs? yeah, they are a father son duo working with a waste company that you've probably seen in oakland and in the south bay. they, tao and jes, are denying these allegations, as prosecutors allege a bribery scheme that helped tao become mayor and pay some of her and her partner's personal bills. this federal indictment charges former oakland mayor sheng thao of a corrupt relationship with her partner, andre jones, and two additional defendants, david and andy duong. david duong is the president ceo of kao waste solutions. he's also co-owner of a housing company. his son, andy also works at cal waste and

co-owns the same housing company. leading up to oakland's 2022 mayoral election. federal prosecutors say sheng thao promised if she was elected, the city of oakland would buy housing units from the wongs in exchange, the indictment alleges the duong spent $75,000 on campaign mailers targeting her opponents. prosecutors say the duong also paid tao's partner, andre jones, $95,000 for a no show job with their housing company, meaning no work was ever expected. once tao was mayor, prosecutors allege she used her influence to help appoint a high level city official selected by the wongs, and requested that her staff tour the duong's housing company. it's clear that the federal government is taking this very seriously. michelle is the chair of the criminal justice department at cal state east bay. there certainly seem to be a lot of evidence that they have been able to obtain

and list out in the indictment evidence made possible by a collaboration between the fbi, irs, and u.s. post office, evidence that also alleges tao, jones and the wongs tried to cover up the scheme. prosecutors say tao directed the wongs to make payments to jones to avoid a paper trail leading back to her. in court friday, tao, with her attorney as well as jones and the wongs, pled not guilty. they are presumed innocent, but rippy says the indictment alone is having an impact on public trust in oakland and beyond. it's going to be a very big challenge to overcome in the future for not only oakland, but many other local governments to make sure that they can maintain what trust is left. and now we wanted to know more about that city official who was appointed and allegedly selected by the wongs. i reached out to the city just moments ago. they say they are working on a response right now. candice nguyen, nbc bay

area. we investigate. i'm sure you'll be around more with more information on this. thank you, candice, for following it. of course, we're going to continue our coverage of former mayor thao's indictment in our 6 p.m. newscast. we can also see our previous reports on our website, nbcbayarea.com. we've posted a detailed timeline of how this case got to this point. 24 hours later, this large fire at a lithium battery storage facility is still burning in monterey county. in fact, it reignited today. emergency crews are giving reassurances to nearby residents, but many just aren't buying it. meantime, local leaders are demanding action to make sure this does not happen again. nbc bay area's damian trujillo is live in moss landing with the latest and damien, i know there was a late afternoon press conference. you can still see the smoke behind you. are there still road closures and evacuations? yeah. highway one remains closed and people remain evacuated. janelle. we had that second and perhaps a third flare up this afternoon here in moss landing. now, the epa told the

county this morning that they had no measurable detections of toxins in the air. but this community is still on edge. the fire flared up again this afternoon after vistra battery plant in moss landing. inside, the company says lithium ion batteries produced for grid energy storage caught fire. county supervisor glenn church explained how serious he believes this event is. this is really a three mile island event for this industry. if renewable energy is going to be the future, it really needs to rest on safe energy. the county says it appears all safety and fire suppression protocols are state of the art at the plant. vistra says it is still unclear what went wrong. our company takes very seriously what happened last night and we are hurting today because we know primarily it's impacted and disrupted the people who live around our site, our neighbors, our friends and

businesses. and for that we are sincerely sorry. 1200 people were evacuated. 37 of them are sheltering at the castroville rec center, including bruce thomas. thomas isn't buying the company's message lip service from from the company that put those components in place right in my backyard, downwind of me. there are three different lithium ion battery plants on the compound. this is the third fire for vistra. the previous fires prompted a new state law in 2023 that requires all energy storage facilities to file an emergency response with the state. there are 187 energy storage facilities in california. the one in moss landing can store 750mw, enough to power more than half a million homes for hours. there must be accountability for this, and there will be accountability. we need to get the information out and it needs to be transparent. highway one has been closed in both

directions in moss landing air quality monitors are in place around the plant as this farming community braces for any further impact of this ominous fire that will literally have to burn itself out. and the epa continues to monitor the air quality in moss landing here in castroville and also in watsonville. so far, they say the levels are low. they're not detecting any toxins in the air. this community, though, is not buying it. we're live in castroville. i'm damian trujillo nbc, bay area news. okay. thank you very much, damien. investigators are searching for the gunman in a deadly highway shooting in san jose. it happened monday night around ten. chp found a car that had slammed into the center divider on interstate 280 north of deanza boulevard. paramedics took the driver to the hospital where he died. but while looking at his injuries, doctors discovered the man had been shot. investigators now searching for the suspect. they're asking anyone with information to come forward. x 49ers star dana stubblefield will stay in jail. a judge

denied him bail after an appellate court overturned his conviction on the basis of racial bias back in 2020. stubblefield was convicted of rape last month, though a court overturned that conviction, saying stubblefield did not get a fair trial because the prosecution was racially biased. at a sentencing hearing today, the judge decided not to release him. the judge says the court does not have the jurisdiction to do so yet. his lawyers explained that the judge has to wait a certain number of days before releasing a defendant. when a conviction is overturned. but as he sits here, everything has been vacated. he has been convicted of nothing, and a legally innocent man is sitting in prison because we're waiting on a time clock. stubblefield's lawyers say they will be filing more paperwork on tuesday to ask their client to be released immediately. we're going to continue our coverage of the destructive and deadly wildfires in l.a. county, as crews still work on extinguishing the flames, the focus is starting to

shift on making a recovery plan. the palisades fire sparked last tuesday. it's now 31% contained. the eaton fire burning north of pasadena, now 65% contained. winds lighter these past few days, allowing firefighters to get a better handle on the flames. today, the county lifted more evacuation orders. leaders are slowly turning heads now toward the difficult next steps of wildfire recovery. and that includes understanding the state of this charred landscape. if you were in a fire evacuation zone, is there a likely chance you'll be evacuated come rainy season from mudslides? there is a very likely chance. houses that are in the burn scar after a fire event are the most prone and most susceptible to ere being a mudslide or debris flow around them. a lot of concerns. l.a. mayor has appointed stephen soboroff, a real estate developer and l longtime civic ader, to lead the wildfire recovery efforts. we should note he is the father of nbc correspondent jacob soboroff.

his childhood home was destroyed in the palisades fire. we have continuing coverage of the wildfires on our home page nbcbayarea.com. you can also scan this qr code on the screen to get our coverage whenever and however you want it. still ahead, the supreme court has cleared the way for tiktok to be banned in the u.s. that means for the popular app moving forward. and spacex's starship program gets grounded by the faa after a mid-flight explosion. what investigators are focusing on before it's allowed to take off again. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. fog is back for tomorrow morning. we'll show you how much sunshine on your saturday. and an update on that wind. chance for next week. i'm

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i tried to quit smoking cigarettes probably hundreds of times over the years. two or three days into quitting again. i go get into a vehicle and guess what? there's a pack of cigarettes in there. i mean, i've got the unlit cigarette in my hand and i said to myself, why do i even try to quit? when if i'm going to cave so easily every time. something clicked in my head that told me i can do this? sunday. in a unanimous decision today, the supreme court upheld a ban of tiktok in the u.s. that would take effect this weekend. so what happens now? nbc's alice barr is in washington with the latest on this developing story.

today, the news 170 million american tiktok users have been fearing for months feels like we're losing like a community. as the supreme court chose not to save the popular video sharing app, instead upholding a federal ban set to take effect in the u.s. on sunday because of national security concerns over tiktok's chinese parent company, bytedance. the high court citing, quote, tiktok scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects. but that may not be the final word. tiktok's u.s. ceo, appealing directly to president elect trump. i want to thank president trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps tiktok available. after initially opposing the app, the president elect has signaled he would intervene to save tiktok today, posting, quote, my decision on tiktok will be made

in the not too distant future, but i must have time to review. his options are unclear. president biden signed the law last spring, requiring the chinese owners to sell or shut down in this country on january 19th. today, passing the problem along to his successor, the next president. anyway, so i think it will work. two biden administration officials tell nbc news that during the final hours of his presidency, the federal government will not enforce hefty fines on companies like apple and google that give users access to tiktok. two administrations hoping to dodge the blame for a broadly unpopular ban. president elect trump could potentially offer an extension, giving more time for tiktok to be sold, though its parent company has so far resisted selling. he could also direct his justice department not to enforce the law. but that may not be enough to reassure app stores about their legal

exposure. in washington. alice barr, nbc news. good insight. thank you alice. the faa has grounded spacex's starship after a mid-flight explosion. that rocket broke up during a flight test yesterday. you can see the video here was posted on social media showing debris streaming across the sky. no one was on board, but there are reports of property damage on the caribbean island of turks and caicos. faa says it will not allow spacex to launch starship again until it completes its investigation into that failure. and what caused the incident. the feds say spacex must also take corrective actions to prevent another explosion. the weekend is finally here. we've had sunshine all week and it looks like nothing's going to change. yeah, some fog for the morning and really comfortable temperatures. yes, it's going to be nice to get outside and enjoy it as we head throughout your saturday and sunday forecast. we also have updated looks here at some wind and what we're tracking on that chance for next week. let's

take it outside right now. we'll start it off across the bay. if you have any plans for tonight. and it is cold already. numbers dropping 52 in san francisco with a mix of sun and clouds. we'll get down to some 40s here as soon as 7:00 tonight. 48 here at 9:00, right near the bay. not too many differences in the temperatures under these clear skies. 53 right now, 48 at 8 p.m. and you're down to 47 here at 9:00 and 10:00. and across the inland valleys, also looking at some clear skies and 54. but look at those numbers dropping 45 here at 9:00 tonight. so layer it up. and as we head through this weekend, high pressure will keep that storm track off to the north. but we'll still have to contend with some fog here as we heaead throg the morning hours, just like we did this morning. it looks like it's going to be pretty widespread here throughout the bay area. everybody gets a chance here. some of that fog, but certainly going to be the thickest and most dangerous if you're doing any traveling down the central valley. this is where you just have to advise some caution, where visibilities could go down to a half mile and

also less on interstate five and 99. now, all of this fog will clear back as we head through the afternoon, and that's going to set us up with those sunny skies. so let's get a look at those morning temperatures. you're going to feel it as you ep out the door tomorrow morning. if you're going to try to get all kinds of errands done on the early side, seven and 8:00 in the morning, you need that jacket. we're going to be dropping it down to 41 across the south bay, 40 peninsula 36 tri-valley, also coming in with those 30s across the north bay and back here to the east bay. 37. but by the afternoon, with that sunshine on the way, look at this recovery here. 62 in san jose, also some low 60s for morgan hill and gilroy, right near the bay. 59 in oakland, 58. vallejo, 63, in pleasanton. very light winds for tomorrow 56 and half moon bay out to redwood city. we're at 59. can't quite get into widespread 60s here. and that's just because of that cooler ocean breeze. let's move

it up to san francisco 54 right now in the marina and 59 there for the mission. and across the north bay, 62 in clear lake, down here to mill valley, 59 bodega bay. we're at 53. we're looking at similar weather like this into sunday's forecast. and then by next week, we've been talking about the chance we might get into some more wind. now, i still think we're going to see some wind in the forecast by the time we get to next monday, but we're beginning to see a change in how all of this is going to set up this area of low pressure that's going to bring the wind. looks like it's developing more o to the east. so let me show you what that would look like. and we would see widespread gusty winds across the four corners also in southern california. but right now it doesn't look like the worst of the wind like we saw two weeks ago. right now, we're not tracking winds up to 100mph in southern california, albeit the fire danger will still be increased gusts, maybe up to about0 for bay area mountains, 20 to 35, so not nearly as strong expected for the bay area

next monday, but we're still watching it here extremely closely. temperatures in the 50s in san francisco this weekend and low 60s back here across the inland valleys and some cold mornings, thursday 30s all the way into next thursday, coming up at 530, we'll take a look at our rain chances and kind of where all that's sitting over the next couple of weeks. okay, great. thank you. coming up, new research showing the dangers of eating too much processed meat. why you nice to meet ya. my name is david. i've been a pharmacist for 44 years

and i'm from flowery branch, georgia. when i have customers come in i recommend prevagen. number one, because it's effective. does not require a prescription. and i've been taking it quite a while myself and i know it works. and i love it when the customers come back in and tell me, "david, that really works so good for me." makes my day. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription.

i'm not happy with the way that pg&e handled the wildfires. yeah. yeah. i totally, totally understand. we're adding a ton of sensors. as soon as something comes in contact with the power line, it'll turn off so that there's not a risk that it's gonna fall to the ground and start a fire. okay. and i want you to be able to feel the improvements. we've been able to reduce wildfire risk from our equipment by over 90%. that's something i want to believe. [skateboard sounds]

brain and its connection to what we eat tonight. researchers at harvard and mit say they've found that eating a lot of red meat, especially in processed foods, things like hot dogs, sausage and bacon, increases the

risk of dementia by 13%. the study also found that eating unprocessed red meat, like hamburger and steak is not as cognitively debilitating. the study included thousands of older people and their dietary habits over decades. that study is published in the journal neurology. pepsi may be in hot water with the feds. the federal trade commission is suing pepsico for illegal price discrimination. the ftc alleges the food and beverage giant gave an unnamed retailer more favorable prices than its competition. cnbc has learned from people familiar with the matter that that unnamed retailer is walmart. the agency argues pepsi gave walmart promotional payments and allowances, as well as advertising and promotional tools, but did not offer those same things to walmart's rivals. pepsi is denying the allegations and says the ftc lawsuit is wrong, both factually and legally. let's talk about wall street. plenty of green on the big board today, with the three major indexes posting their

first weekly gain of the new year, the dow added 334 points, the nasdaq advanced 291 and the s&p gained 59. the gains come after investors received back to back reports showing inflationary pressures were softening somewhat. kobe bryant's widow helping fire victims in a

victims of the la wildfires. vanessa bryant,t, the wife of te late kobe bryant, held a giveaway today at dodger stadium. bryant and her mambacita foundation handed out free kobe sneakers and other essentials to kids impacted by the fires. she shared on social media that she and kobe lived in pacific palisades in the early days of their marriage, and she said their house was on the street where the fire first broke out. wow. don't forget you can watch our newscast 24/7 on pluto and other streaming platforms. raj mathai joins us now with what's coming up next at 530. here's what we're working on as we head into this holiday weekend with president elect trump's inauguration just a few days away. california's attorney general is trying to make sure everyone in the state is on the same page when it comes to dealing with the new

administration, how he plans on implementing it. also, after more than 100 years, an iconic restaurant in san francisco's chinatown is close to shutting down the last ditch effort to keep it open. and not many dry eyes in the house as a young bay area girl is triumphant in her battle against cancer. the news at 530 starts right now. thanks so much for joining us. i'm janelle wang and i'm raj mathai. the trump immigration policy could kick in on day one. and day one is next monday. today, california's attorney general was in san francisco to ouine what the state's police and sheriff's departments should and shouldn't be doing when it comes to handling federal immigration and deportation issues. nbc's christie smith explains. i want to reaffirm california's immigrant community has my support. california attorney general