that has never been filmed before. the scope of the americas is so massive, it's an epic journey across earth's great super continent. our home. there are things that you did not know exist beneath places that you have walked. we think that's extraordinary. "the americas" is up close. it is shocking. and it's beautiful we believe when the evidence is revealed, will show that my

client has committed no crimes. from mayor of oakland to fighting for her freedom, sheng thao now facing federal charges and prison time after being accused in a pay to play scheme. first the recall, now the criminal indictment. sheng thao tonight accused of conspiracy and bribery charges along with her romantic partner andre jones, and two local businessmen. nbc bay area's emma goss has reaction from tao and a look at how the race for oakland's mayor is shaping up. tonight, sheng thao attorney is denying all charges, saying the indictment lacks evidence. but prosecutors say they have plenty of it, including a money trail that links tao and jones to the alleged crimes. oh, let me get a smiling, composed sheng thao leaving oakland superior court friday morning after pleading not guilty to charges of bribery, conspiracy and mail and wire fraud. her attorney vowing to fight the charges. the mayor

looks forward to defending herself against these charges, showing that there is, in fact, no evidence to support these charges, and we will look forward to doing that in the courtroom. the six counts against tao and jones include allegedly using her influence as mayor in a bribery scheme with father and son city contractors david and andy wong. leaders of oakland's main recycling service, california waste solutions. this public trust is broken when elected officials agree to a pay to play system to benefit themselves. prosecutors noted text messages exchanged between andy wong and a coconspirator weeks ahead of the november mayoral election, promising tao would buy 100 modular housing units from a company run by the wong's, guaranteed. andy wong text back. prosecutors allege that wong funded a negative mailers campaign attacking tao's political rivals. they went out

one week before the 2022 election. former city council member lauren taylor, who narrowly lost to tao in 2022, addressed the indictment friday. 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. the multi-year investigation was a coordinated effort with the irs, u.s. postal inspection service, the u.s. attorney's office, and the fbi. our cameras were there last june when agents from the fbi raided tao's home as part of the investigation. if convicted on all six counts, tao and jones both face a maximum sentence of 95 years in prison. jones and the wongs have also pleaded not guilty. andre, do you have any comments? in oakland, emma goss, nbc, bay area news. other

candidates vying to replace tao are weighing in as well. former congresswoman barbara lee said in part city hall must never be for sale we need a fresh start in oakland. our local governance and political system must be beyond reproach. every oaklander deserves no less. we also reached out to candidate reina webb, who was tao's former chief of staff but have not heard back. of course, we'll continue our coverage of former tao's in indictment. our web site, nbcbayarea.com, is a great resource. you can also see a detailed timeline on how the case began there. a new flare up today for a fire kicking out potentially toxic smoke in moss landing. fire broke out at vistra yesterday. battery energy storage facility and is being fueled by lithium ion batteries. firefighters say they can only contain it and wait for it to burn itself out. not exactly clear what sparked that fire, but today's flare up meant evacuation orders in moss landing had to be extended despite company apology. some locals say they are not in a

forgiving mood. we are hurting today because we know primarily it's impacted and disrupted the people who live around our site. lip service from from the company that put those components in place right in my backyard. this is the third fire at this facility since it opened in late 2020, exhausted both mentally and physically by what they saw and what they did. san jose firefighters tonight returning from southern california after battling the deadly eaton fire that scorched over 23,000 acres. nbc bay area's jocelyn moran met with them as they arrive after a harrowing week of fighting a fierce enemy. jocelyn. yeah, jess. they were there for a little more than a week, but after getting back home tonight, they all met with the mayor to talk about what they saw from the devastation they witnessed to the gratitude of the people they helped. tonight, san jose fire crews are back home after helping battle the eaton fire in southern california for more

than a week. the palisades and eaton fires have killed at least 27 people and destroyed more than 1200 structures. one street on the fire front. not a single home was burned. one street back. every home on the street is burned. they talked about some of what they saw with san jose mayor matt mahan, who stopped by shortly after they returned home. when i heard you guys were coming back, i just wanted to drop by very quickly to thank you. apartment that has been challenged by low staffing levels, a pandemic, plenty of challenges, and yet they show up every day. you just came back? yeah. yeah, the two of us. thank you for. battalion chief dennis bell says they were on ember patrol on the eaton fire with the multiple wind events that were going on in southern california and the red flag warnings. we didn't want embers to pick up and start other fires. so that was our main concern for the first two days that we were on the fire. and as they come back home, one of the biggest things they're thinking about is the amount of devastation caused by the fire.

people losing everything. so i think that was the biggest, the biggest thing for us as a group. definitely noticing how much destruction there was and they take with them the gratitude southern california showed them. not only were the other fire departments very thankful that we were thehere, but even the community and the citizens really rallied around the fire departments inan jose. jocelyn moran, nbc, bay area news. new at 11 an oakland police officer is recovering tonight after a hit and run driver allegedly rammed into the officer's motorcycle. started at around noon today on 77th avenue. investigators say the officer first spotted the driver violating traffic near 90th and bancroft avenues. but when the officer tried to stop the driver, the suspect sped away. after the cop tracked down the suspect several blocks away, police say the suspect intentionally rammed into the officer's motorcycle, then toook off again. no word on that officer's condition tonight. chp officers in the south bay are asking for more people who may

have witnessed a deadly freeway shooting to come forward. that shooting and crash happened monday night before ten on 280 north of deanza boulevard in cupertino. when officers arrived, they thought a man had only been hurt in the crash along the center divide. doctors later told them that the man had also been shot in the head. chp says witnesses who first called 911 believe the victim may have been involved in a road rage incident, or that he was in a car race. investigators are looking for suspects and a motive behind that shooting. the community of hollister coming together tonight to help the families of three teenagers killed in a car crash on tuesday night in gilroy. marisol navarro says 17 year old victor lujan was her high school friend's son. that's why, with her husband, they started a car wash raffle to help victor's family. estoy haciendo. what i'm doing is giving my time. what i can do with my business is what i'm going to do. the victims were identified on friday as 17 year old victor lujan, angel villegas lemus and 18 year old brandon

alarcon. a fourth teenager and the driver of the other vehicle were taken to a hospital. how they ended up in that crash is still unknown. all right. the clock is counting down. tiktok could be banned by sunday unless the government steps in. we don't know the exact timing. the app could go dark. tiktok's u.s. headquarters is in santa monica, so that means it could be as early as 9 p.m. tomorrow, which is midnight for the east coast. either way, company says the app will shut down on sunday unless it gets guarantees from the white house that providers like apple or google won't be punished for carrying the app. so this comes after the supreme court upheld the looming ban that says u.s. app stores must remove it unless its chinese parent company sells it by sunday. but now, democrats and republicans who both supported that ban say they may not enforce it. the supreme court's ruling, of course, is a very real, authoritative say and a kind of line in the sand about

the constitutionality of the law. i'm deeply troubled by the ruling, but there are so many other political considerations that make this a real moving target and an ever changing, evolving issue. experts say the security concerns about the app have not changed. but now biden is kicking the issue to the trump administration. ice officials appear prepared to make good on a trump campaign promise, with plans for major enforcement operation immediately after trump takes office, according to a document reviewed by nbc news. ice officials are planning a days long immigration sweep in at least one u.s. city. it claims a briefing for agents who plan to participate was held this afternoon. the document states the operation will include volunteer agents as well, and that mor volunteers than needed have been offered to participate. here in california, the state's top cop is handing down guidance on what police and sheriff departments should do and should not do when it comes to federal immigration and deportation issues. attorney general rob bonta in san

francisco today. he says california law prohibits the use of state and local resources to assist with federal and immigration enforcement. can be sure that, as california's attorney general, if trump attacks the rights of our immigrants, i will be there. if trump breaks the law, we will see him in court. bonta also released guidance on hate crime laws. some people fear the new administration's talk of mass deportations could lead to a backlash against minority groups. let's go and take a live look at capitol hill now. major last minute changes are underway ahead of monday's inauguration, and freezing temperatures are to blame. temperatures are expected to be in the 20s as president elect trump is sworn into office. ceremony will now take place inside the capitol rotunda. that's where ronald reagan was inaugurated back in 1985. also, due to extremely cold weather, capital one arena in downtown d.c. will be open for trump supporters to watch the ceremony live. and then the newly inaugurated president will arrive at the arena for the presidential parade, and we will

have live coverage of the inauguration on monday. you can watch it right here on nbc bay area starting at 7:00 in the morning. the man convicted of an infamous kidnaping in vallejo has now pled guilty to more home invasions in the south bay. matthew mueller was convicted in the 2015 kidnaping and assault of denise huskins. vallejo police originally dismissed that case of a hoax earlier this month. investigators linked mueller to more burglaries from 2009, in mountain view and palo alto. today, mueller pled guilty to those charges. prosecutors say the investigation was only possible with the help of huskins and her husband. they've used that experience and turned it into a force for good in collaborating with police departments to make sure what happened to them never happens again. it was through that collaboration earlier this year with detectives, with chief nick borges in seaside that this whole investigation reopened.

mueller now faces life in prison. he is scheduled to be sentenced next month. we're back in 60s, just ahead. we investigate the breaking issue on bart trains during wet weather, how? bart is trying to find some relief for riders. plus an app that's become a lifeline for people threatened by wildfires. what you should know about. watch duty straight from its creators in the north bay. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri, tracking some fog for tomorrow morning. how much sunshine for the weekend? and we're also trackingome wind

spots that require entire trains to go in for wheeling. resurfacing. now, bart is in the process of implementing a $4.3 million, two year strategy it hopes will help. here's investigative reporter jaxon van derbeken to explain. you just sit there and wait. just do

nothing. you know, go on your phone, play wordle if you have to. at the walnut creek bart station, benjamin brewster says he's tired of having to wait up to 20 minutes to catch bart on rainy days. just stay there, and the time just keeps going up and up. or like, it goes down, and then it goes up and fluctuates. and so it can be pretty annoying. anytime there's wet weather. bart riders typically deal with delays because bart cuts train speeds in half to prevent sudden braking. that happens automatically when sensors on the new fleet of cars detect too much spinning or sliding of the wheels on the rails. it slams on all the brakes. john garnham, the manager of bart's new fleet, briefed the bart board on the problem back in october. he explained that unlike its old fleet, sudden braking grinds flat spots in the wheels of every fleet of the future car at once, and all those wheels need to be resurfaced. so we've been looking for a way to fix this. bart now has a $4.3 million

plan, one it believes could reduce flats by as much as 80%. since bart says it can't override the sudden braking system, it will reprogram train software, so trains only have to run more slowly as they approach problem areas. instead of running all trains at half speed. the train will know five seconds before it comes in there, or six seconds it'll start to slow down early so that it gives it a longer runway to meet the speeds. the speed reductions and it won't slam on the brakes. how slow trains will have to go to avoid flats in those problem areas is still being worked out. bart declined to make garnham or other officials available to answer questions about their new strategy, which will be implemented over two years. but bart internal reports obtained under the public records act show bart identified the risk of sudden braking nearly a decade ago, well before the first fleet

of the future cars arrived. by 2022, bart assured regulators that reducing speeds to 30mph in wet conditions had significantly decreased the damage. yet as more cars are replaced old ones, the problem has continued. according to bart tracking data. by november, bart was losing on average, 14 cars on each day of wet weather. the $8,000 repair cost per car is under warranty for now. as an engineer, you know you want to do preventive maintenance. preventive maintenance. you don't want to see something like this. this is a clear failure. bart board member liz ames says she is only learning the details now about all the braking problems. she says even if the plan cuts flats by the 80% goal, bart could still end up paying for extra repair costs after the warranty expires. it's just too costly to just let this keep going and then we may not have the

warranty enforced. she wants bart to require a long term permanent fix, like a re-engineered braking system, and not just cut speeds. has made be delayed. meanwhile, bart passengers like brewster are anxious for relief. it still makes me want to ride bart because i love bart. i think it's a good system, but also i just hate the delays. jaxon van derbeken nbc bay area news. the southern california wildfires are shining a spotlight on a new app that was born here in the bay area. it's called watch duty. in fact, you may have it. the app was created in 2021. ceo and co-founder john mills wrote the code while living in healdsburg. less than four years later, there are now more than a million users. watch duty alerts you to nearby wildfires and firefighting efforts in real time when every second counts. the service is powered by real people, active and retired firefighters, dispatchers and first responders. well, you'll be surprised to know it's really just about four engineers who pulled this off from an engineering perspective. i mean,

we saw about 2.5 million downloads in the past, i guess nine days since the fire. and at peak, we were doing about 100,000 requests, a second, about 3 million users a minute. here's the key to this app. it is used at every red cross and every office of emergency services. so it's got vital information. absolutely helpful for sure. excellent. okay, so i guess our chief meteorologist, jeff ranieri, you're actually on watch duty when it comes to our weather and the southern california as well as here. yeah we do have some winds. we're going to be watching as we roll through the next couple of days. we're going to get you the details on that and some increasing fire danger. but as far as it goes tomorrow and really through this weekend, we'll see this area of high pressure keeping us with some afternoon sunshine. but we'll also get in on some morning fog. visibility is dropping just a little bit. i wanted to show you those. right now it's between 5 to 10mph. 5 to 10 mile visibility. but you can see how that fog is now starting to form. let me get you more details on what's happening as we roll through tomorrow. and

also the wind and some updated rain chances. and here we go saturday morning. going to be nice to get to our weekend, and this might help you to sleep in a little bit easier tomorrow morning. we do have some of that fog returning here throughout the bay area, although it will be the thickest, possibly dangerous here if you're traveling on interstate 5 or 99 early tomorrow morning, so do watch out for that. but this all clears out as we head through the afternoon and it's going to save our saturday. we got some nice weather rolling in to enjoy outside by tomorrow afternoon, but the chill for the morning, we can't get rid of that. we're going to be back down here to the 30s tomorrow morning. got yet at least for parts of the bay area, 41 in the south bay, but 30s right there in the tri-valley peninsula at 40. also coming in with some 30s here across the east bay and the north bay. daytime highs were on a climb through the afternoon. so that's going to leave us with 60s down here. 61 in los gatos, 62 in san jose. let's take it over to the east bay, where i have you coming in at 59, in oakland, 60. martinez, 63, in

pleasanton. now the peninsula, not quite as mild as that. and that's because we have the ocean breeze. so a lot of the peninsula will stay in the 50s tomorrow. but hey, you get the sunshine and also some light winds. so not too bad. up to san francisco, 54 in the marina and 59 in the mission. and for the north bay wine country. maybe you're headed up that way. 61 here in napa and 59 in santa rosa. so weather just like this as we roll through sunday's forecast. no big changes there. then as we head through next week, specifically monday, we're tracking this windy weather set up and it looks like high pressure is going to develop just off the coastline. and we got low pressure in the four corners. that's going to help to pull some wind across the west. but the new thing we're seeing as of tonight is that low pressure continues to move more off to the east. so we're going to get some wind. but it doesn't look as strong as it was two weeks ago when the palisades fire started. i'm not seeing 100 mile per hour winds, but we will have winds maybe up to about 50mph in the southern california

mountains. that will heighten fire danger. our mountains up to about 35 and generally 10 to 25mph here throughout the bay area. rainfall chances we may get this area of high pressure to break down. by the time we hit the 25th, 26th and 27th. it's not the major storm we'd like to see, but a little something could be on the way for us by the time we get to the end of the month, right here on that 7-day forast. there it is, saturday and sunday, 50 in san francisco, 40s for the morning temps and for the inland valleys, 61 tomorrow and get the heavy jacket out. we got 30s next several mornings but then it goes up to 60. so that is the best way to look at that. i like that so positive. yeah. thanks, jeff. all right. crime takes a new and bizarre look at an east bay cemetery. why? a string of thefts is leaving families on

spring to find out if they might be released from jail decades earlier than expected. much anticipated resentencing hearing for lyle and erik has been pushed back, this time because of the los angeles wildfires. the brothers are serving life in prison for the brutal murder of their parents back in 1989. the case is now getting a second look, though, in light of new evidence which seems to

corroborate claims of sexual abuse at the hands of their father at the time of the killings. their hearing is now set for march 20th. some cold hearted thieves dipped to new lows in contra costa county, stealing 200 bronze vases from several grave sites happened at oakmont memorial park cemetery in lafayette. managing partner says thieves ripped the bronze vases right off the gravestones. some families tell us they've been told they'll have to pay more than $800 to replace each vase. it's really sad. it's like i'm a widow. i don't have the money to replace this. you know i didn't do it. i don't have no respect for anybody who wants to do that for money. i feel like it's totally disrespectful. i feel like, you know, whoever did it is the lowest of the low. contra costa county sheriff's investigators say they are still searching for those thieves. well, up next, the warriors could be missing one of their stars tomorrow night as they face

tomorrow, the team confirms he is still recovering from an injury, but he is making some progress. yeah, we're going on three weeks since pod h the court. he's trying to come back from an abdominal strain that happened back when the warriors beat the phoenix suns in december. today, coach steve kerr says he did manage to scrimmage forhe first time, so that's a good sign. warriors will host the washington wizards tomorrow at chase center. and a reminder that we've got playoff football this weekend. the road to the super bowl continues right here on nbc bay area. the rams and eagles from philly on sunday, andd our covage begins at

world to south bay family. toda, at kaiser permanente santa clara, a two year old girl celebrated that she is now cancer free. there she is. her

name is lucy wynn, and she is so absolutely cute. lucy was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer of lymphoid leukemia when she was just two months old. now she's two and a half years old. she spent her entire life in and out of the hospital, unfortunately, and during chemotherapy and other treatments, been a super difficult journey for lucy and her parents. but mommy and daddy say lucy is a warrior. nothing brings her down. even in her hardest days, she still puts a smile on her face and that puts a smile on our faces. and it just makes things a little easier. oh gosh, it really touches your heart, doesn't it? poor little girl. lucy's care team and extended family all took part in today's celebration. her parents say they're looking forward to traveling and letting lucy just run wild. lucy tells them she wants to go to school, just like her five year old big sister. look at all those hugs and kisses. congratulations to that family for having this recovery for her. you know, it really

touches your heart. that's the last thing in the world that you can have anything happen to you. you just never want it to happen to your children, right? lucy's been such a warrior. so, so happy for her. all right. jeff, is lucy going to have a nice weekend outside? it's going to be perfect outside. yeah. we got a little bit of fog here to start. sun for the afternoon. we'll start off on the chilly side with 30s, but as we head through two, three and 4:00, we'll get into those 60s. it will make it just right by the time we get to monday. we do have some wind we'll be watching right now. it doesn't look like the worst of wind, but we could see some on and off. gusts 15 to 30 may get up to about 50. in southern california that wind would be out of here tuesday, wednesday, thursday and friday looks pretty calm. maybe some rain chances by the end of the month. we're also keeping an eye on as well. all right. well, thank you very much. go! run, lu tonight, the supreme court upholding tonight the supreme court up holding a law that could ban tiktok in the u.s., but will it actually be enforced? the unanimous ruling

allowing the ban to take effect days from now where tiktok's 170 million users in the u.s. unless its chinese owner sells it, citing national security concerns, but the biden administration saying it will leave tiktok's ultimate fate in the hands of president-elect trump. what he is saying tonight and what happens to your phone sunday if the law takes effect. also tonight, the winter storm sweeping through the plains to the northeast, an arctic blast bringing the coldest air of the season to tens of millions. and that deep freeze forcing monday's inauguration to be moved inside for the first time in 40 years. the last-minute scramble. the confirmation hearing for president-elect trump's homeland secure pick kristi noem. what she revealed about the immigration overhaul he plans on day one. the battle against california's wildfires. new tonight, many of the 31 people still missing now identified. moments ago, israel's full cabinet

approving the gaza cease-fire deal. new details on how and when the hostages will be released. and it started as a way to help her friends displaced by the fires. after a boost by some big names, the overwhelming response. ♪ ♪ this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. good evening and welcome. the future of a wildly popular social media app that has helped define a younger generation of americans is being decided at the country's highest levels tonight. first, the supreme court today upheld a law that would ban tiktok from operating in the u.s. that ban was set to go into effect sunday, but there is now growing uncertainty as the biden administration, which in the past has called the chinese-owned app a national security risk, now says it will let the trump administration deal with it all. their decision will impact a creative online community of 170 million american tiktok users. what is unclear is

what happens in the meantime. savannah sellers is covering that for us tonight. >> reporter: in a unanimous decision, the supreme court said the tiktok ban stands, rejecting the company's free speech argument. the court upholding a law passed in april that says the video-sharing app had to divest from its chinese-based parent company bytedance or effectively be shut down in the u.s. as of this coming sunday. >> always remember this moment. when you think of the future, oh, is the government going to do the right thing? no, they're not. >> reporter: some tiktok users quick to mayor their feelings known. >> all nine supreme court justices, you guys are mean bodies. >> reporter: but the supreme court said tiktok's very popularity is part of what makes it a threat to national security, noting a foreign adversarary's abily to leverage its control over the platform to collect vast amounts of personal data from 170 million u.s. users. and while the court's ruling was clear, what actually happens next is anything but. today the biden administration saying,

tiktok should remain available to americans but simply under american ownership. with a sale by sunday seemingly all but impossible, the administration says now it won't implement the very law president biden himself signed. rather, it will punt next steps to the trump administration. that move giving tiktok hope. the company's ceo posted this message today. >> i want to thank president trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution thahat keeps tiktok available in the united states. >> reporter: as president in his first term, trump tried to ban tiktok but has signalled support for it more recently. today trump says he spoke by phone with china's president xi about the app, and posted to social media that his decision on tiktok will be made in the not too distant future. in a statement released late tonight, tiktok pushing the biden administration for more clarity and assurance to the service providers that made tiktok available to americans. saying about the law, unless the biden administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most

critical service providers, assurg non-enforcement, unfortunately tiktok will be forced to go dark on january 19th. savannah sellers, nb news. also tonight, a winter storm hitting north dakota and minnesota today with the mid atlantic and northeast expected to get a few inches or more starting tomorrow. most of the country is in for a bitter blast of arctic air with temperatures 20 to 40 degrees below average starting tomorrow and going into next week. that includes washington where today the decision was made to move president-elect trump's inauguration on monday indoors. kelly o'donnell joins us. kelly, this is exceedingly rare. >> r reporter:ester, it has been 40 years since weather caused this kind of major adjustment to the iconic ceremony. the traditional parade is changing too with parts of it going inside, and officials are encouraging the public not to congregate here in order to stay warm. tonight, frigid weather becomes the

fit clear threat to safety for monday's inauguration. president-elect trump on social media. i don't want to see people hurt, or injured, as he announced, i have ordered the inauguration address, prayers and other speeches to be delivered in the united states capitol rotunda. noting the same move inside happened for ronald reagan. >> so help me god. >> reporter: mr. trump said the ceremony could be watched inside washington's 20,000-seat capital one arena. contingency planning prepared for changes including weather. >> the threat environment obviously changes as we move along, so we look at all of those different areas and we plan from the ground up. >> reporter: the u.s. secret service is leading this national special security event involving more than 25,000 responders, a secure perimeter. it includes a record 30 miles of anti-scale fencing. drones deliver expansive