right now on nbc bay area news tonight. what happens in the white house is being felt here at home. local law firms that help documented and undocumented

kids are being ordered to stop work. we're breaking down what's happening? also, why did a local we investigate the dangers ofai? these batteries that power our lives. plus. all of my thoughts are skipping how a team of elite stanford doctors helped the legendary singer paul simon get back on the road after suffering from severe hearing loss. and we are heading to spring training, where the giants, wasting no time making big changes. good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight i'm raj mathai. interesting story with paul simon. also the pg&e project in san jose. those stories just ahead. we start, though, with some of the headlines catching our attention. a change in our weather. the rain we've seen over the past couple of weeks is done, at least for a while. the last of it, the showers happening this afternoon and in

the morning, a drizzle from the north bay to the peninsula and in the east bay. it was enough to keep the windshield wipers going and pick up a few hundredths of an inch in our rain totals. but here comes the sunshine. you see, vianey arana right there. she's tracking this dry spell. how long it's going to last? and do we have some more rain as we head into march? that's coming up in about 15 minutes. also tonight, sutter health is expanding $1 billion medical campus in emeryville. this is a big deal. it's going to be built on horton and 53rd street, which is an empty lot right now. the campus will have a hospital and other advanced centers for neurology and urgent care. sutter health is also renovating two nearby buildings. those are expected to open in the next three yearsrs. a groundbreaking date has yet to be finalized, but sutter is aiming for the hospital to be completed by 2033. that hospital will will replace alta bates in berkeley as the main medical center when it opens. alta bates

will turn into a specialized center. well, pg&e back in the headlines. the utility is moving power lines underground near high fire risk areas. this is to reduce power outages to thousands of homes. pg&e has safety triggers on its power lines in areas of high wildfire risk. so right now, when a branch or tree a tree line, it hits that line. the power cuts off immediately to avoid sparking a fe. it started four years ago in san jose's almaden valley, but neighbors say they lose per multiple times a year. pg&e says putting more than a mile of power lines underground will help prevent that. well, it used to be blackouts all the time. you know, we lost power consistently. so with this work, we are obviously continuing to improve wildfire safety as well as releliabilityor our customers in south san jose. this project is expected to help nearly 10,000 customers when it's

completed this june. the company has plans for nine more projects like this in san jose. now, we asked pg&e if projects like this are funded by current rates, or if it's going to need a separate rate hike in the future to pay for all this. we are waiting to hear back from pg&e. well, there's developing news about president trump's immigration orders. bay area law offices that specialize in representing migrant migrant children are getting their funding pulled. one of those firms is called legal services for children. it's in downtown san francisco. they provide legal assistance in san francisco and alameda counties for kids who are in the country without their parents. yesterday, this firm got a notice from the federal government to stop work on its contract. the firm plans to represent their current clients pro bono, free for as long as possible, but they're also scrambling to figure out how to fill this big funding gap. the group is also considering legal options because it says the law

requires the federal government to provide these services. joining us now is cathy sakimura, executive director of legal services for children. cathy, thanks for being with us this evening. just in a nutshell here. what exactly does your firm do when it comes to migrants here? we provide legal and social services to migrant children who are here in this country without their parents, including children who are detained by themselves in federal facilities. we meet with them, we tell them about their rights, and then we represent them in court. so what could happen if these kids, if that your law firm like yours helps if you stop advising them? well, many of them of course, are here. they are all here by themselves. they don't have anyone, any adult allies to help them navigate the system, to know what their rights are. and another thing that they won't have access to is an adult to help them find family that they may have in the united states. another big service we provide is helping them reunify with family that they've been separated from. cathy, how much

of your funding comes from the feds? and do they just say all of a sudden, as of today or tomorrow, you got to stop with this contract? this is a large project for us in terms of the number of children we serve. we serve hundreds of children a year through this contract. and yes, yesterday was an abrupt stop to the contract. stopped doing work today. was the notice that we received yesterday. does the president have the authority to pull your funding if you continue to help migrant children here? there is a legal requirement for the federal government to provide legal services to children who are detained by themselves. the government is going to keep children in detention alone. they need to provide services to them to know what their rights are, and to be able to seek action and reunify with their families. cathy, what comes next here in terms of how long will this process take and when? obviously the money is out, but how long can you go serving these children pro bono? really, we don't know. we're taking it

day by day and continuing to provide the best possible services to these children every day. and we will continue to do so for as long as we can. we're seeking private donations and we have had some success. we hope to be able to continue to do it for as long as possible, and we seek people support in being able to continue to serve children. and final question are you are you uniting with other law firms in your in your in your case here to battle back, to fight back against these orders? well, we're part of a larger network of services across the country who represent 26,000 migrant children under this contract. and all of us are in communication about the best way to continue to provide these services and to move forward in a way that's best for children. cathy karma, thank you for your time and your perspective. keep us posted on what happens. absolutely. thank you so much. president trump's executive orders have caused a lot of turmoil. you just heard there. today is also the anniversary of another executive order by

president roosevelt, fdr. it led to the incarceration of 120,000 people of japanese descent, including many american citizens, in response to the attack on pearl harbor. nbc's bert honda joins us from san jose state on this day of remembrance. we're here in a building at san jose state university that is named after a japanese american community icon. yoshi uchida, the former u.s. olympic judo coach. but ironically, this was also the building where local japanese and japanese americans had to register before being sent to internment camps. now, today, san n jose sta not only acknowledges what happened, but have also turned day of remembrance into a day of action. interestingly, one of the people that attended today's events was a 99 year old man who was interned in camp as a teenager. we talked to him about what he felt was the reluctance by the community to fight what happened then, and he wants the younger generations now not to

do it this time. we didn't do anything to break the law or anything. it was just because of our our racial background that we were thrown in camps. what do you want to make sure people now current generations understand about that kind of situation? well, i guess get up and speak out. in san jose, robert honda, nbc, bay area news. certainly an emotional day for many japanese americans here in the bay area and across the country. also tonight, a new flare up at that local big energy store battery energy storage plant. this is moss landing near santa cruz. our sky ranger was overhead today. you see the facility still smoldering with smoke there after being engulfed in flames last night. this is among the dangers of lithium ion batteries, which power everything from our cell phones, laptops to electric cars. here's what happened. neighbors first noticed light smoke yesterday evening, not long after the fire

grew. you see it there. neighbors were told to close their windows and stay inside. vistra energy, the owner of this plant, says it hasn't detected any hazardous conditions in the air. a monterey county supervisor tells us this new fire was in the same area as last month's fire, but it real clear it's a complicated mess. there's thousands and thousands of batteries, so you get one that goes wrong and it's close to another, and it can spread that way. joining us now is investigative reporter jaxon van derbeken, who's been on this now. and jackson, am i gettings this right? this is essentially last month's fire that rekindled. that's right. it's the theory is that a bank of unburned batteries somehow survived the original fire and were intact under the rubble, but that when rainwater hit them, they started to overheat. and after the recent storms that built up and touched off a new

chain reaction, what's known as thermal runaway. why wasn't this 100% extinguished last month? was there any way to see this coming? well, there's a problem that a battery fire is very hard to put out because it doesn't need oxygen or even flame to continue. and all crews can essentially do is monitor the situation. in this case, luckily, the latest fire was limited to the pile of already burned rubble from the first fire and didn't spread or ignite other batteries. jackson, what about the toxic smoke here? vistra said it didn't detect any problems with the air quality. do we just take their word for it?rticulates, which are these heavy metals, are depositing in higher or elevated levels nearby and the elkhorn slough and may have traveled some distance. so it's not just the fact that local monitoring doesn't pick up

some things. sometimes the wind in this case shifted outward to the sea as opposed to eastward to bring the fire. excuse me? the fire or smoke went over homes inland. and what about future regulations with these type of battery power plants, whether it's down nr moss landing or here in the bay area or anywhere? well, there's talk of legislation the public utilities commission is talking about doing more to, you know, mmission regulations and set guidelines for these plants. but right now, there really isn't much going on in that. it's going to take some time to get that all set. yeah. concerning for a lot of people, especially the neighbors there in moss landing. jackson. thank you. up next, the legendary paul simon is touring again thanks to a team of researchers at stanford. one of them is with us tonight to explain how they helped him. also, we are in scottsdale for spring training. we're going to

check in with the new loo giants. you're wkat

news tonight. one of the most legendary singers in america is going back on tour, thanks in part to a team of elite doctors at stanford. we're talking about paul simon. all my thoughts escaping home where my music's playing. there he was on the

right side of your screen. fresh off of the snl's 50th anniversary special, the 83 year old simon is announcing his comeback tour includes three dates at san francisco's davies symphony hall in july. now, simon, as you might know, first gained fame in the 1960s as part of the iconic duo simon and garfunkel. he retired from music in 2019 because of severe hearing issues. he only has 6% hearing in one of his ears. now, last year we told you about this paul simon at stanford, at the stanford initiative to cure hearing loss. they gave him some crucial advice on changes he couldake in order to tour again. joining us now is doctor konstantina stankovic, a neurosurgeon at stanford medicine. doctor, thanks for being with us once again. nice to see you. how exactly did your team help him? we saw him surrounded by speakers during that snl performance just a few nights ago. well, thank you for having me. and while paul has certainly been very public about his hearing loss, i'll let him

tell his story. but i'll just mention that we help paul with hardware and introduce him to the cutting edge technology. and what we are really focused at the stanford initiative to cure hearing loss is the next generation approaches. and they include regeneration, stem cells and gene therapies. and we are not focused only on the inner ear but also on the brain, because lots of people with hearing loss are at risk for cognitive decline. but not everyone. so we are trying to understand who is at risk and on developing strategies to minimize this risk. and doctor stankovic, when someone comes in, paul simon or whoever it is, is it just like a one hour session with you guys, or is it several days or sessions or weeks? it really depends on the problem, because they see a physician, depending on what their problem is, they may need a hearing test. they may need imaging studies, they may need

additional consultations. so it's really very personalized, individualized for every given person depending on what their problem is. having paul simon as a patient has the word gotten out? is this helping your program? oh, absolutely. paul's impact has been phenomenal through his advocacy and ambassadorship. our network of friends and donors has grown greatly. but most importantly, paul's brave decision to talk openly about his hearing loss is changing the social perception of this problem. so when a musician of his stature and a transformative artist of our times talks about this invisible disability, he is emboldening others to speak up not only about how hearing loss affects their ability to communicate, but also how it impacts their emotional and relational well-being. and it turns out

that hearing loss affects 1.5 billion people, which is one out of six individuals. and people struggle invisibly, so they are reluctant to speak openly about this problem because there are currently no cures. and hearing aids are just aids. as the name says, they are not like glasses that can restore vision back to normal. yeah. it's amazing. a very good point. it impacts so many of our families, including mine. final question. he's coming to tour and perform in july in san francisco. davies symphony hall. are you going? oh, absolutely. how could i miss that? doctor sankovitch. thank you. nice work over at stanford. appreciate your time tonight. thank you. let's take a look outside now on this wednesday evening. vianey ron is going to join us with our forecast. the rain is o and how much suutns

baseball fans are optimistic. the a's and giants are in arizona for spring training. the giants have a lot of new faces down in scottsdale. the biggest name three time cy young award winning pitcher justin verlander. yeah, he's here with the giants. he's a true veteran. he turns 42 years young tomorrow. and he's taken on a mentorship role for the giants young pitchers. his top priority is still winning games of course with his own starts. but also just having a guy like that around in the lineup and in the

clubhouse and on the field. two decades in the big leagues can turn out to be a big positive for the young guys and everyone else. the other big name, a lot of people are watching shortstop willy adames. they got him from the brewers and he's already hit three home runs during live batting practice. the giants brought him in for his defense, but also to add some power to the lineup, so that's a good sign. our giants insids say the players have noted there's a different culture in the clubhouse right now in scottsdale. buster posey, a part of that setting the tone early that they want to start winning again. all right. apple unveiling its latest iphone today. it's called the iphone 16 e. apple says it's meant to offer the same powerful capabilities of its other iphones, but it's cheaper. that's good. it sells for about 600 bucks. that's $200 less than the cheapest version of the iphone 16. it's integrated with apple's artificial intelligence that gives people advanced photo editing, writing and search functions. you can also choose whether to integrate chatgpt.

the iphone will also have a single camera versus the three lens that the most advanced models have. it goes on sale later this month. we like cheaper when it comes to those iphones. i still have the iphone 11. i think i'm on like the generations. i'm on the 12. we're four for five behind practical. you know, it's rocking and rolling and the weather is going to be fantastic for any sort of sports, whether that's outside or indoors. right now we're in the 50s. it's going a little chilly, but we're going to warm up. so let's get right to your microclimate forecast because you're also going to notice we're going to see some areas of fog at times. and here's what satellite looks like right now. now that weak cold front that brought that light rain early on for the first half of ouray has now made its exit continuing to weaken, still bringing some windy conditions for areas in the sierra, so travel conditions could be tricky through about tomorrow morning. aside from that, though, high pressure starts to settle in. what that will do for us is it's going to warm us up. but before i get to the warm up, i want to show you some areas where we're already noticing some of the development of fog,

and that includes the coastline and areas in san francisco. but also notice it stretches into parts of the east bay and the south bay. now tomorrow morning you're going to wake up to some of that, but it's not going to stick around all day. we'll get some decent clearing by about 7 a.m. we're going to be in the 30s and 40s throughout, so we get a mix of sun and clouds and it will be breezy at times, especially into the early afternoon. once we head to that 12:00 hour. if you're going to be out about for lunch, nice. daytime highs are in the 50s by this point, but look what happens as far as our maybe two 3:00 window. we start to see a bit of a preview of those warmer temps. upper 60 in san jose we do have mid 60s and through the interior. and then let me just give you something else to look forward to if you have plans for, of course, your friday, saturday, sunday. this is what that 7-day forecast is looking like right now. notice breezy hills again not extremely gusty. it does fall below that wind advisory criteria, which is a good thing. but you could see conditions very similar to what we saw today. w with the exceptn of the warm up today. we had cooler weather because of that cold front as we edge into friday, 68 degrees as that ridge

of high pressure continues to build and strengthen. this is when we really start to notice the warm up on saturday. inland areas could see 70 in the forecast. but notice heading into sunday we're going to stick to those 70. but just looking out ahead into next week, of course we've been dealing with some stormy systems, but for now look at monday, tuesday and wednesday. this will continue to stretch for now into the start of next week. so nice warm trend ahead. and then soon we head into march which usually brings some showers as well. right? certainly does. okay. and by the way, alicia, our producer, says she has an iphone eight. oh, she beat us both. we need to get her updated as we wrap up. mario lopez just getting started with access hollywood. did rihanna's presence at asap rocky's trial helped sway the jury toward their not guilty verdict? well, the judge specifically instructed them to ignore that as a factor. so we're going to break it all down for you. plus, denise richards and her three daughters, two with charlie sheen, are opening up about the wild ride of their hollywood lives, including why denise now is part of the steamy onlyfans website. joining right after her

daughter sammy became a hit on the site. add to thate're first on the set of nbc's highly anticipated new show suits la, and it is all just moments away on access hollywood. back to you, mario. thank you. and then coming up in prime time, it's chicago night here on nbc bay area chicago fire at eight, followed by chicago med and chicago pd. and then of course, our 11:00 news live and local. that's going to do it for us here at 7:00, for everyone here at nbc bay area, including our nighttime assignment manager, tim bollinger. thanks for joining us. we hope you enjoy your evening. we hope to see you back at 11.

i don't ever see anyone coming out to maintenance anything, so it's very scary for me because i have everything i love in this home. so, we've now implemented drone technology.

how is that safe for me? it enhances the inspection, so it allows us to see things faster. your safety is the most important, and if you're feeling unsafe, that's not okay. it doesn't feel like that in our hearts. i mean, it's worrisome. [dog barks] [dog barks]

a$ap rocky, not guilty was rihanna's support a major "access hollywood" starts right