>> the integrity of our selection process has been poisoned by attempts at vote trading. now at 11:00, the power struggle over who will be the next mayor of san mateo takes a major turn. why it could be a lot longer until we know who it will be. good evening. that saga over who should be san mateo's next mayor has been filled with drama. there was even more late tonight. the council has been deadlocked over appointing a mayorment two new council members blocked the nomination last week, saying they wanted to select a fifth council member first. well, that was supposed to happen tonight, but in a late move, new accusations of back channeling and vote trading halted the process once again. >> first, i was propositioned to vote for mr. president robins in exchange for becoming

mayor. i do not know, and certainly don't want to believe this candidate was acting in that. but i feel consideration for his application should be set aside. the responsible choice is to halt this election process and first elect a mayor and deputy mayor, or we're exposing ourselves to liability and further attempts to extort me as well as a profound breach of trust from the public. >> okay, so that just happened minutes ago. betty yu has been in the meeting tonight. betty, this has been a really dramatic twist, and just a for a city council to be going through all of this. >> reporter: that's right, sarah. and the council member said the process has been politicized like she's never seen before. she said this

process, at this point, has been tainted. at the start of monday's city council meeting, a rally called for the city council to appoint a mayor. many supported council member lee. some read but first, a mayor, and i love lee. historically, the appointment has been more of a formality. it's based on the city's current process of rotation. guidelines point to seniority as the most important qualification for the role. lee has the most prior experience. >> san mateo has a simple, almost ceremonial process to elect a mayor. it's a 128-year precedent, and this year we have two new city council members who decided to go against that precedent, go against the recommendations of city staff, of the public, of other council members. >> reporter: 17-year-old lauren

fitzgerald organized the rally. two of the members say they want the council to appoint a fifth member who will then be able to weigh in on the appointment. during a long public comment session, residents sounded off on the delay. >> i'm very disappointed in you council member diaz-nash. it seems you're obstructing the process by a shady, shady back room deal. and san mateo deserves better. >> i was shocked to see the two of you would circumvent city policy to leave the city council without a mayor and prevent the council from doing the work of actually governing. >> reporter: if lee is appointed mayor, she could serve as a tie breaker, creating a 3-2 majority. she'd also become the city's first female, asian-american mail. >> i'm in full support of her being the mayor. she's the only returning council member and only one with experience.

>> reporter: and we just learned the council did go ahead and vote and selected rich hedges to be the fifth council member. we learned this within the last minute. >> wow, so this is still going on right now as we speak. i know diaz-nash on the other hand says this was the fair way to do this, just to sort of add to what the other perspective is. but betty, what's the fallout been like from li's comments she made? how did the other council members respond? >> reporter: at least one other council member wanted to go ahead and vote for mayor instead of voting for the fifth council member, but it sounds like they did make that move first. i will say, during the lengthy public comment session, many of the residents that sounded off just wanted the council to get to business and vote for the mayor. i would say the majority were in support of li. >> okay, that's the first sign this meeting maybe won't go until 3:00 in the morning like

one of the others did. thank you so much we've been closely following the drama on our website, kpix.com. it's a cold one out there. a lot of people were dressed for it at christmas in the park in san jose tonight. get used to the cold for awhile. we even got some snow on the highest peaks. the observatory had to be shut down. there were also flurries in the livermore hills. darren peck is with us tonight. definitely a cold one right now. >> yes, and we'll discuss the freeze warning in the first alert forecast. but right now, since this was such a beneficial storm, it's worth taking a moment and a quick look back at how it came together and where it rained the most. you can put it on a map and visualize it with a color code. if you look at the shades of red, you see a pattern. we got the most rain through the santa cruz mountains and over towards the

central sierra. that's where the atmospheric river was saturday. if you look at the sierra, that's the river water shed that's important for san francisco. that's the equivalent of about nine inches of water there. of course, it's not water, it's seven feet of snow. but back at home, how was the rain where we live? shades of green and yellow for the communities we live in. about an inch and a quarter to inch and a half. look at the san francisco number. 1.35. we measure the water year starting on october 1st. we had good rain in early november, so how are we doing so far for the entire water year? about four inches, a little over including this year. you think we must have done really well. but average would be over five inches, so we're still below average if we look at rain at home. i'll see you with the

freeze warning coming up in the complete forecast in just a few minutes. >> thanks for breaking it down for us. we appreciate it. more headlines tonight. an independent investigation found the vta could not have prevented a mass shooting at the san jose rail yard. ten employees died in the attack in may of last year, including the shooter that committed suicide. some families later claimed the shooter had a pattern of insubordination and there was a complaint he might go postal. but the independent investigator concluded vta couldn't have known what he was planning. >> he didn't say i'm going to do something to somebody either in writing or verbally, and because of that, it's very difficult to do something. >> last month the vta settled a lawsuit with eight of the victims' families for $8 million. elon musk making more changes at twitter. it is disbanding its trust and safety council. the council was an

external organization that advised on things like hate speech, child trafficking, and self-harm. the ap reports twitter is looking into other ways to get external insight. the 49ers banked on a big win at home this weekend, but now the team could be looking at a couple of huge losses. we are stuck in that pattern once again, vern glenn, where we talk about something good and then we have a set back. >> we're holding imaginary footballs. come on, sarah. go like this side so side. now, go like this like you're throwing a football. imagine every single move you made caused you searing pain from the rib cage down to the waist. >> not good. >> that's brock purdy's oblique injury. it's a muscle injury, and it's painful. that's what he suffered in the loss, in the route i should say against the tampa bay back nears. that's why he's listed day-to-day. he'll rest. if he can't go,

look for oakland native josh johnson to play. the 15-year veteran has played for 14 different teams in his career. now for deebo samuel. the star receiver is expected to be back later in the regular season after suffering a knee and ankle sprain. that's about as good of news the team could have asked for when samuel left on a cart yesterday. if the 49ers win the game thursday at seattle, they win the division. i'll see you later in sports. >> more exercises to come for us, vern. thanks. still ahead tonight, will dianne feinstein step down early or not? what she's saying

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okay, a quick update on our top story tonight. seconds ago we learned the san mateo city council finally has a mayor. they just voted 5 to 0 for council member li to become mayor, so the stalemate is over, and the city should be able to move along with business now. now, in other headlines, for the first time since the election, senator dianne feinstein says she'll not step down early. in fact, the california senator is still deciding whether to retire in 2024 and could make that decision in the spring. that's what she told the la times today. the 89-year-old is the oldest sitting u.s. senator. concerns have been growing about whether she has the stamina for the job, and she's faced growing pressure within the party to retire. now to first alert weather. the latest storm dumped feet of storm in the tahoe area. certainly good news for the snow pack. we go to a sierra community that's digging itself out now. >> reporter: after a weekend of sierra snowstorm, so there's

no time to waste. for people in this neighborhood just off interstate 80, they're getting to work. >> yeah, it's a lot of work. >> reporter: jim sharp got morn clear a path. >> you're shoveling, pushing, moving. >> reporter: so the rest of his family could get to work. >> the snow, it just doesn't leave. >> reporter: luckily, he had lucy. >> she loves the snow, actually. >> reporter: keeping him company. >> showing your best side? >> reporter: sharp says this dumping of snow was pretty good. >> normally we don't have this much early. we get it later in the year like february, march is normally the best. whereas, this is just a bonus. >> reporter: he speaks from experience, because he's been here awhile. >> since 1978. >> reporter: whereas his neighbors across the street? >> somebody wants to be on tv too. >> reporter: just moved in a couple of weeks ago. >> i just can't believe there's more snow here than my brother's in new hampshire or

my old house in vermont. i must have brought the snow! >> reporter: heidi says her dad has had the tough job of snow removal. >> it's an all day thing. way too much coffee. have to make sure he's on tea now. >> reporter: he department seem to find. >> it's fun. it's so beautiful. okay, darren, this is some new video. pretty video. >> i'm just going to watch this. >> the tahoe ski resort is 125% of its average snow pack for december. >> that's just one reporting site. if you took the whole sierra and averaged it out, we're at 200% of average. some places have 300% of average. but the sierra as a whole, speaking of which, all the stuff that's moving is the clouds. there's a lot of white on here, but if it's white and stationary, this is all snow. that's around 3:00 this afternoon when a took a grab of this off the high resolution satellite. that's beautiful.

that's what the sierra looks like from space right now. looking at the central sierra snow lab and just did a comparison, you can look at the year, how does the snow pack typically behave. there's november 1st, here's july back here. the green line shows an average year. right now there's your 300% of average. the black line shows today. but we have to keep this in perspective, because we had a really good december last year, too. last year, we'll put that line on here. it's going to show up in purple. might be kind of hard to see, but there it is. last year's december was way better than this year's, and then it didn't snow again pretty much the entire rest of the winter. by april, it quickly disappeared. it doesn't have to go that way again this year, but let's temper our expectations because january and february, there's a lot of pressure on those months, and

those, i know the gentleman living up there since the 70s is used to those being big months, but over the last several years, those are months we've been consistently losing where nothing happens. hopefully we break the pattern this year. cold tomorrow morning. already in the mid-30s in some places. there's a freeze warning for the north bay valleys tomorrow morning. sonoma, napa, this is for you guys. san rafael, you're included, but you won't be quite as cold. you'll go to 36. as will just about everyone else. the majority of us in the mid-30s. but upper 20s gets a freeze warning because you're several degrees below the freezing mark, and you'll be below freezing for several hours. if we do the comparison, you can see santa rosa really stands out. but let's put a forecast on it. what happens the next several mornings? it's going to be slick tomorrow because we have a lot of dampness out there.e'

goto be icy surfaces in the morning in the north bay. st plngghs be . kind of coolt they're not going to be drastic. it's a few degrees below average. and when we look at the big picture, there's the next possible storm. watch what happens. kind of creeps our way a little bit, and then it gets denied and sheered apart. pushed away and stretched out. and there's a developing ridge of high pressure over us. you don't see the ridge itself, but you see the impact it had on that storm. we're changing the pattern now. we've had a really active first half of december because the atmosphere was locked in a favorable pattern. now it's starting to go into a pattern that would put more of a blocking ridge. so there's no rain in the forecast for the next several days. most of late december is looking quiet, and we were just talking about the trend at the central sierra snow lab. we'll enjoy

the fact they're at 300% now and the sierra is at 200% as a whole, but we need more. vern, over to you. bad night for an nfc west

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nfl up top, and the 49ers medical monday. i'm not a doctor, but i'm playing one on tv. in case you're just walking in the door, the 49ers said today that deebo samuel is expected to return some time in the regular season with knee and ankle injuries. and quarterback brock purdy is day-to-day with an oblique injury. he was a rock star yesterday. threw for two touchdowns. ran in for another before injury hit. there's purdy's dad who teared up as the crowd chanted his son's name. he and mom purchased the tickets months ago to see tom brady! not knowing their third string son would be the niners' starting quarterback.

>> you know, the emotions on their face and how they looked down at me from up on the railing, man, it just means a lot. throughout my whole life, the ups and downs of playing quarterback in general in high school and college, they're the people at home that always believe you in and see the best in you. they've always been telling me you're good enough and we know you can do it. to see them after that performance meant a lot to me. very blessed to have them as my family. monday night football, kyler murray and the cardinals a forgettable night against the patriots. murray went down on the third play of the game suffering a noncontact knee injury. they'll have an mri tomorrow, but it does not look good. he had to be carted off the field. game tied at 13 in the third. the cardinals mccoy to hopkins and he lost the football. it would be a scoop

and score by patriots' mcmillan. patriots win 27-13. college football. troy taylor introduces stanford's new head coach. came over from sacramento state. 30 and 8 the last four years, and he's a former cal bear. >> reporter: do you just wake up in the middle of the night and say i have an idea for a play, yet me diagram this on a cocktail napkin? >> yeah, it's usually a yellow legal pad. that's the beauty of football. there's 22 players on the field, it's the most complicated sport in the world. if you're not creative and trying to find a better way to do something, i don't think you're doing yojob. i love the creative nature of football. baseball, the a's sent murphy to the braves in a three-team deal. oakland got catcher manny pena and three

draft picks. former a sean manaes returning to the bay area, but with the giants. he agreed to a four-year, $225 million deal. he spent the last season in san diego. he spent the first six seasons of his career in oakland. and sarah, pitchers and catchers report for spring training in february. that's not far off! around the corner. still

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♪♪ nothing brings the pack together like a trip to great wolf lodge. now open in northern california. the u.s. government set to announce a big break in clean energy made here in livermore. the announcement is expected tomorrow, but wilson walker reports the scientific community is already excited. >> 3, 2, 1. >> of course, what fusion offers, the thing that most people are most excited about

is this possibility of clean energy. >> reporter: if the fusion is the energy holy grail, lawrence livermore appears to have taken a step towards it. >> they use a large laser to create a system that produced energy by thermo nuclear fusion ster than it all the enerinhesy exceeded that by a significant margin. i'll leave it to them to tell you what the margin was. >> reporter: uc berkeley's lee bernstein says the breakthrough goes beyond the energy possibility. for example, the plasma created is not unlike the core of a star. >> this is a reproducible platform to let us study the way that elements and energy are evolved in stars and stellar interiors. so for nuclear astrophysics, this is a really big development as well. i think that, you know, i know

it's not the one everybody is super interested in, but it does have this angle as well. >> reporter: more practical applications like power are years or decades down the road. >> you have to bring the engineers in, and they have to make it work in the form of a power plant. >> reporter: but the science of fusion is moving ahead and picking up speed. >> so what will happen in another year? or 15 months? i don't know. >> reporter: no doubt a lot of questions for the team that ach begin with a press conference tomorrow. we are here in berkeley. wilson walker, kpix 5. >> make some noise for the richest man in the world. up ne

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>> elon musk made a surprise

appearance at dave chappelle's show last night and got sort of a mixed reception. >> make some noise for the richest man in the world. >> okay, so that was leaked video. nobody was supposed to have their phones out there. but in it you heard some people cheering and others booing. dave chappelle said it sounded like some of the people you fired, elon, were in the audience. that was referencing the massive lay offs since musk took over twitter. musk said technically it was 90% cheers and 10% boos, but still, that's a lot of boos, a first for me in real life. he said it's almost like i offended sf's unhinged leftists. that was the tweet. a pair of pants just sold

for $114,000. they're actually old, old as hell, and maybe a little crunchy. these are the oldest known pair of jeans according to the people at the auction because they were pulled from a ship wreck that happened in 1857 off the coast of north carolina. hmm. >> so they're not mine! [ laughter ] >> no! or darren's. they sold in reno last weekend. there's some dispute about whether they're tied to levi strauss. indeed, they are old. and a little crusty. >> 114 grand. >> but like i said, that could be a runway look from diesel now. >> right? that would be extreme stone washed. i had a pair of jeans that kind of looked like that in the late 80s in junior high. >> and you could wear them now and the kid wouldn't know the difference. everything comes back around. >> next week she'll be doing the 11:00 in those jeans. >> thanks so much for watching.

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