i have decided to separate chief leronne armstrong from the city without cause. >> now at 11:00, the city of oakland has had a revolving door of police chiefs and chief leronne armstrong was just shown the exit, how community

leaders and armstrong are reacting tonight. from kpix, this is the late news with sara donchey on cbs news bay area. >> good evening. i'm sara donchey. after weeks of virtual silence, the mayor of oakland announcing that she has fired the city's police chief. it is obviously a huge shake-up for the city of oakland and a big test for the new mayor, too. reaction has been swift and in some cases pretty strong. chief armstrong was sworn in as chief in february 2021, nearly one year after former chief anne kirkpatrick was also fired without cause. the department has had about a dozen police chiefs both interim and official over the past 20 years. armstrong did release a statement tonight saying, "i am deeply disappointed in the mayor's decision. after the relevant facts are fully evaluated by weighing the evidence instead of pulling soundbites from strategically leaked inaccurate reports, it will be clear i was a loyal and effective performer of the

oakland police department." our andrea nakano has more on the newly elected mayor's decision and how people are reacting. >> reporter: mayor sheng thao has been in office about a month and made her biggest and most controversial move yet. she fired chief leronne armstrong without cause and some community members are outraged by her decision. >> again, this is not a disciplinary action. the chief does serve at the will of the mayor and again, i've lost confidence in chief leronne armstrong. >> reporter: mayor sheng thao says after her investigation it was clear chief leronne armstrong wasn't the right person to lead the police department forward. during the course of an investigation into how he handled police misconduct, the mayor says the chief made statements that troubled her. >> chief armstrong described the underlying incident as a minor vehicle collision. he said the officers made mistakes. >> reporter: this stems from an investigation into a former oakland police sergeant accused of a hit-and-run and firing his

service weapon inside the elevator at police headquarters. the mayor says this was her decision and she fired him without running her decision by the police commission, which usually provides input on personnel matters. >> while i hoped the commission would be able to review the investigation and recommend action, it was not able for them to do so by the deadline. >> reporter: the firing of chief armstrong has some wondering if mayor sheng thao is the right person to lead the city of oakland. >> outrage. i'm feeling just like i've been betrayed, you know what i'm saying, by this lady. i think she hasn't been in her position long enough to make such a judgment of a man's career, a man's life. >> reporter: chief armstrong was liked and respected in the community. he was raised in oakland and joined the police department 24 years ago. then in february of 2021 he was hired as the top cop. >> he's the best police chief we've ever had. >> reporter: bishop bob jackson says armstrong was able

to bridge the gap between communities of color and the police department. he sees armstrong's firing as a ploy for the federal oversight monitor, robert warshaw, to keep tabs on okayland and continue collecting roughly $1 million a year. >> robert warshaw, he's the one that needs to go. he's the one they need to get rid of, not leronne armstrong. i'm hoping that the community of color will rally more than ever before and support this man, chief armstrong, and demand that this lady, sheng thao, our so-called mayor, would reinstate him immediately. >> reporter: mayor sheng thao said she will work with the police commission in the search for the next police chief. >> in the past 90 minutes, the chair of the oakland police commission released a statement saying she didn't know about the mayor's decision to release the chief before her press

conference. her statement said, "there is an assertion that the mayor asked for the commission's recommendation. that was not a formal request and it was clear to me that last week the mayor was wary about the mayor's relationship with the chief, so we gave our recommendation by standing up a discipline committee." our juliette goodrich met with armstrong last week when he was still making the case keep his job, he wanted to keep it, and he had a lot to say about the initial report critical of the department. >> shocking that someone would do an investigation like this that in my opinion was so biased and so focused on trying to create a crisis, it really was surprising. >> she talked to armstrong on the phone today after he was fired. juliette goodrich has reported a lot on this story. so you talked to leronne armstrong today. how did he find out about this? >> yeah. he said he got an email actually 15 minutes before that news conference. it was not from the mayor herself. it was from an attorney from the mayor's office, not a very

personal way to find out that you're out of a job. >> i mean i've been wondering all day how does he feel about that news? he really wanted to keep his job. >> oh, absolutely, he did. he told us that in an interview last week. he says he's digesting it all now, understandably not giving a formal interview at this point. he said he's deeply disappointed. heed he prepared for the worse case scenario and the best case scenario and he said this was the worst case scenario clearly. >> thank you so much. >> chief leronne armstrong has done nothing wrong. >> for all this time he has our back, but today it's our turn to say that we have your back. >> that was reaction after armstrong was initially put on leave. several vocal community activists were rallying around him fighting to save his job at the time. the naacp even sent the mayor some letters calling for armstrong to be reinstated. of course, that is not what she

decided to do. tonight i spoke with the chair of the naacp committee on legal redress. >> i think it's fair to say that many in the african american community feel disrespected by the mayor in that she did not listen to our voices. all of this progress was being made by the police department under his leadership. was this the right remedy? and we don't think it was. >> as with any major issue, there is not complete and total agreement. oakland's council president supports the decision writing in a statement, "i support the mayor in leading oakland to continue reforming our police department by instilling a culture of integrity and fairness at every level and achieve constitutional placing without federal oversight." there's been a lot of reaction on social media. this user tweeted, "city of oakland getting ready to host its annual police chief audition." another, "i don't know what is

going on in oakland, but it's mind boggling we've had 11 police chiefs in 13 or 14 years." you can find us on the free cbs news app or pluto tv, channel 397. still ahead, prosecutors reveal exactly what they think caused that deadly house explosion in the sunset that left neighbors with major damage. they're asking who will pay for all of it? the first millionaire, we believe, the first black millionaire in the state of california. and later, she isn't a household name, but wait until you hear her story, the bay area woman who went from domestic servitude to being a real estate icon. only 11:00 at night and temperatures for some inland parts of the bay area dropping down to around freezing, another decent warm-up tomorrow and even warmer temperatures for it

the man accused of causing that deadly home explosion in san francisco's sunset district made his first court appearance today. 53-year-old darron price was not arraigned, after all. a judge pushed that to friday and we were not allowed to show his face on camera. prosecutors say a dryer may have ignited butane vapors from an illegal drug lab inside the house. the victim identified as 51- year-old rita price, darron price's wife. a friend of hers said price was

wheelchairbound after suffering some sort of stroke or brain aneurysm years ago. she leaves behind three children. darron price is facing nine felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, drug manufacturing, and reckless burning. his children were not home when the house exploded, but he is still facing two counts of child endangerment and one count of elder abuse. neighbors are also suffering since that happened. tonight we saw firefighters out on 22nd helping clean up some of the debris there. the blast blew out windows up and down the street and burnt two other houses. >> we need the security out here right now, too much traffic going by, too many people looking and we're worried about our properties. i got three or four broken windows. i live four doors away. we got to call the insurance company. >> i need the city help us, yeah. it's the real thing. >> as katie nelson reports, tonight neighbors are asking

who is going to help them. >> reporter: earlier tonight just down the street from this site where the explosion happened was a community meeting where residents got together to hear from city leaders about what options there are for any financial help available. they said they were grateful to the city that they had a chance to meet, but also disappointed to hear there really isn't a lot the city can do. that meeting was not open to anyone except residents, resident like the garth family who used to live here in this milived in almost a olve a hand decade, a few momentos and books from a back bedroom that didn't burn in the aftermath of thursday morning's explosion. >> total loss. it's everything like damaged, everything like completely gone. >> reporter: david's wife nang says their 6-year-old daughter's bedroom was on the side of the house closest to

the explosion and now almost everything inside is unrecognizable. >> normally i would have been home at that time, but that day things played out differently and thank goodness, we weren't there. >> reporter: his relief turns to frustration as early talks about his former neighbor, darron price, who has since been charged with crimes related to the explosion but has not been convicted. >> i'm angry at darron for killing his wife and endangering everybody else, destroying our home and the other neighbor's home over there. >> reporter: almost a dozen homes were damaged in some way by the blast, which is why san francisco supervisor joel engardino is hosting a closed door meeting for impacted residents. >> we want to bring all the department heads together to talk to the residents and offer information and potential resources. >> reporter: david and his wife hope there's more the city can do to help. they don't have renters' insurance and their only safety net now is an online fundraising campaign. >> most of what survived was clothing in the back bedrooms

we've been told not to use because it could be contaminated from lead from the old house and chemicals next- door and that darron was playing with. supposed to be a really good ski weekend, but lots of traffic if you're going to the mountains. ski resorts are supposed to be kind of busy. >> yeah. at least the weather won't cause any problems on the roads. i'm sure caltrans will have some random lane closures, just fantastic, already traffic on the bay bridge slowing down in anticipation of the nightly closures, but it's going to be worth it weatherwise if you can get up there. try to plan it to avoid peak traffic. >> mountain traffic, though. >> it's a whole different thing. let's look at the weather forecast. we're talking abundant sunshine throughout the presidents' day weekend both throughout the bay area and at all the ski resorts and temperatures reach the upper 40s to around 50 degrees. be patient getting up there. then enjoy yourself. all the resorts have a good base. most of the lifts are open. they might get a little fresh

snow by the end of next week, but they'll have to rely on the manmade snow to get fresh powder onto the slopes, clear and chilly continues tonight, but gradually an increase in cloud cover tomorrow, filtered sunshine. the clouds will not yield any showers. we removed that chance of rain from the forecast for friday. the sunshine does return in abundance for the holiday weekend. there's the moisture missing us staying offshore tomorrow night into friday and clear skies friday night continuing into the first day of the holiday weekend with those conditions likely to continue sunday and monday. the next rain chance is several days down the line, maybe as early as tuesday into tuesday night, more likely by wednesday into wednesday night. that looks like the beginning of an unsettled pattern that might carry us through the end of february into early march. we'll keep you updated on that.

right now clear skies, temperatures dropping off. it's almost freezing in santa rosa down into the upper 30s in livermore, otherwise temperatures in the low to mid- 40s. you'll end up a good 7 to 12 degrees below average, but that leaves us safely above tomorrow's record low temperature. it will be chilly, but it's not going to be anything that's that far out of the ordinary for february, just a typical february cold snap with inland temperatures near freezing, around the bay upper 30s to around 40 degrees and another decent warm-up tomorrow. we'll end up within a few degrees on either side of what's normal for this time of year, mid-50s along the coast, low 60s in the santa clara valley, upper 50s inland, in the east bay with valleys collecting some of the colder air in the morning. upper 50s for san francisco and oakland, mostly mid- to upper 50s for the north bay, a little more cloud cover a little earlier in the day putting the brakes on the warm-up and cooler temperatures for lake county especially topping out around 50 degrees. we warm up a degree or two friday and it continues heading

into presidents' day weekend, low 60s around the bay with temperatures inland saturday, sunday and monday reaching into the mid- to upper 60s. we see more clouds building in tuesday and the next chance of rain showers moves in wednesday. not only is it the beginning of an unsettled weather pattern, but the beginning of a colder weather pattern as well, below average temperatures to finish off a wintertime month, february. >> petitioning for sweat pants for us that day. >> maybe we can wear that on air. >> that's what i'm asking. >> super. let's go. >> you know i'll try. up next, one local sheriff's department in trouble over a valentine's day joke, why they're apologizing for a tweet. >> sweatpants, vern does. it. next in sports draymond green gives us his reasoning why the warriors are average at the all-star break. plus james wiseman made his pistons

simmer charlie's back. so i have to ask. is this the season you thought

the warriors would have? >> no. not at all. they came in with i think the second best odds to win entirety thing behind the boston celtics. here we are. we hit the all-star break and the warriors avenue, .500 record. it's going to be tough. they'll have to battle just to make the play-in tournament right now as they are just right there a game up right now on that last spot for the play- in tournament. golden state gave up 134 points to the clippers last night in l.a. the warriors have given up less than 100 only once all year. let that sink in. this was a good defense last year. so what's the difference? someone asked draymond green if it could be a championship hangover? >> it's the will to want to defend and you are hung over at .500, 60 games into the season. there's no hangover. it's now or never. we're at .500 at the break. we got to come out of the break and win and do it at a high

level or you go home in the beginning of april. six days after being dealt by the warriors, there he is, james wiseman making his pistons debut tonight in boston. the former number two overall pick scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. the most minute wiseman played since december 21st. detroit lost to the celtics 127- 109. today for the second time in four years the kansas city chiefs paraded through the streets to celebrate a super bowl title. last offseason when the team traded star receiver tyreek hill, some said kc was rebuilding this year. well, today their stars remembered the doubters. >> the afc west said we were rebuilding. i'll be honest with you. i don't know what rebuilding means. rebuilding, we're world champs. we're world champs. >> the haters were saying that the chiefs would never make the

playoffs. the haters were saying the chiefs were done. >> there may have been two human beings on planet earth that said the chiefs were done and weren't making the playoffs, nick wright and skip bayless. that's. it everyone knew they were going to be good. >> skip's got a lot of enemies, you know. up next, she was

as we continue to celebrate black history month, we introduce you to one of america's first black self-made millionaires with a deep connection to the city of san francisco. john ramos shares the story of a powerful black woman in california's gold rush era. >> reporter: every day people drive past this row of trees in san francisco having no idea of its connection to black history

or the extraordinary woman who planted them. artist sheryl daricot was researching eucalyptus trees when she happened upon a tiny eight by ten memorial to a woman she'd never heard of, mary ellen pleasant. >> this stand of eucalyptus trees was actually planted in what would have been her front yard in the 1800s. >> reporter: darecot became intrigued by this little known piece of black history. pleasant arrived from new england at the start of the gold rush with a keen eye for business. >> she realized with so many people coming over, it would be a great place for them to settle and she could open businesses like the one she had learned how to run in the new england states. >> reporter: pleasant opened countless service businesses, boarding houses, brothels, laundries, restaurants. she quietly became a major property owner in the city, but because a black woman had few

rights, everything she purchased was under the names of white business partners. that included thomas bell, co- founder of the bank of california, with whose family she shared the opulent mansion on octavia street often masquerading as a domestic worker. pleasant actually had a different distinction. >> the first millionaire we believe, the first black millionaire in the state of california. >> reporter: in fact, she secretly amassed a fortune of $30 million, nearly three- quarters of a billion in today's dollars, using it to help fund the underground railroad for people fleeing slavery back east, but as astounding as that may be, black historian john templeton says she had another hidden agenda that may have changed the course of the entire nation. >> she was part of an international network that was devoted to ending slavery in

the united states and she is probably the single, most important person in their success. >> reporter: templeton says pleasant moved to california not just to generate money, but to help incite a war that would end slavery. she gave $30,000, nearly $1 million today, to abolitionist john brown to fund his famous attack on harpers ferry in west virginia. >> harpers ferry was a precipitating event for the several war. so she specifically caused the thing that led to the several war. >> reporter: when the civil war began, california was governed by pro southern politics, but templeton says that changed in 1862 thanks to the money and influence of san francisco and the wealth of the state suddenly became available to the union war effort. >> the deciding factor in the civil war was california's gold. she was the one that turned california's wealth toward the

union. >> reporter: and the fight against slavery. >> yes. >> reporter: this woman who helped start the war that would end slavery eventually died pennyless relying on the hospitality of old friends. she lies now in this cemetery in napa under a headstone with the inscription pleasant herself requested. she was a friend of john brown, but in the city where it all happened, there is a living tribute, the eucalyptus trees she planted, shade provided by a woman who always worked from the shadows. >> pretty incredible. coming up, the valentine's day joke that backfired on a local sheriff's department.

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the santa clara county sheriff's office is apologizing after a valentine's day joke kind of fell flat. this is the tweet from yesterday afternoon. it said, "if you haven't gotten a gift for your special someone, you can stop by for a warrant check and they'll give you a free ride to jail." yeah. they got some backlash. >> really? >> yeah. they deleted the tweet. so naturally the sheriff's office posted this apology saying the caption did not meet their standards. i will say i mean if we're having problems with warrants, make the guy or girl doesn't meet your standards either. >> might be a red flag.

>> could be. >> yeah. not judging, though. >> no judgment. >> we work with you i mean. >> why do they even let me in here? >> i'm staying out of this one. my night's done. my shift's over. >> that background check must have been fun. >> it was. thank you for watching! "the late show" with stephen colbert is coming up next. the news continues streaming on cbs news bay area. good night. (upbeat music) - hi everyone, and welcome to legal help center. this is where we have professionals standing by to answer your questions regarding personal injury.