now at 11:00, from a plume of smoke to a towering inferno in a matter of minutes, the warnings for people near this massive power plant that went up in flames. i have done nothing wrong. i look forward to the opportunity to vindicate myself. >> plus, what we know about the former mayor of oakland's deepening legal troubles. plus, while many people were told to get out during the fires in socal, some people

never left. we checked in with the people who stayed put for fear they wouldn't be able to come back. things didn't go quite as planned for spacex during the company's latest launch. from kpix, this is the late news with sara donchey on cbs news bay area. >> hi. i'm sara donchey. we are starting off with some breaking news. a huge fire is burning at a battery is wher it's at the moss landing power plant just off cabrillo highway south of watsonville. we covered this facility back in 2022 when pg&e first cut the ribbon on a new power storage project. it was at the time the utility's largest storage facility. it is now operated by texas-based vistra energy. andrea nakano is live near the ill burning. what do we know about what is going on down there? >> reporter: details are still coming in on this incident, but i'm just outside the moss

landing power plant and as you can see behind me, there is quite a bit of smoke still going up in the air and that bright orange glow has become a little bit calmer as the evening has gone on. it was much brighter about an hour ago, but it's been a very chaotic night for nearby residents watching this fire burn and getting orders to evacuate their homes. >> just fear fire and smoke, that's all. there was traffic about an hour ago and it's supposed to be evacuated this area. >> reporter: this fire was called in about 3:00 this afternoon. employees made the call after they noticed a afire in their 300-watt mega storage facility. the plant went online the end of 2020. you can see a

bright orange ball of fire from miles away coming from the power plant. with the possible exposure to toxic chemicals, monterey county started evacuating residents in the prunedale and elkhorn area just east and north of the fire. >> heed the evacuation order. we don't take those things lightly. there's a reason for it. we're concerned about their safety, number one priority, the protection of people's lives. >> reporter: roughly 1,500 residents have been evacuated and at this point we don't know when they will be allowed to go back to their homes. there is a rec center in castroville south of the power plant which has opened for the residents. the one fortunate part about tonight is the weather. this is an area known for heavy fog and it's been fairly clear tonight, allowing the smoke from the fire to go up and out of the area. luckily, the winds have been calm as well. >> the weather is cooperating and it's been in our favor and

all i can say is thank god for that because wind, as we know, what happened in southern california, does crazy things. so we aren't dealing with that, fortunately. >> reporter: as you mentioned, sara, the last fire here was in 2022. that was before vistra energy went through a major expansion to its energy storage capabilities and the cause of this fire is still under investigation. investigators won't be able to get in there and look at the situation until the fire has been put out. >> hopefully, it gets put out quickly. i know it's been burning quite a while now. thank you. now we turn to another big story, former oakland mayor sheng thao has reportedly been indicted. the san francisco chronicle reports she's been indicted by a federal grand jury after the fbi raided her home last summer. no agencies are commenting on this tonight, but the fbi is expected to announce results of a major law

enforcement action tomorrow. lauren toms shares what we know so far. >> reporter: seven months after fbi agents descended on the oakland home of then mayor sheng thao in an early morning raid a report that she's been criminally indicted by a grand jury. criminal attorney randall nuk says an indictment suggests the charges could be severe. >> what immediately goes through my head is somebody's in trouble, not they're presumed innocent, but, you know, federal prosecutors and the fbi generally don't indict somebody unless they think they have sufficient evidence and usually they have corroborators. >> reporter: thao did not respond to our requests for comment. she has repeatedly said she has done nothing wrong and told cbs news bay area back in july she was not the target of the fbi's investigation. >> i have done nothing wrong and i expect there will be an opportunity for us to say more, but not at this time. i'm also fully cooperating with the

investigation and i look forward to the opportunity to vindicate myself. >> reporter: last june the fbi seized phones belonging to thao and her partner, andre jones. they also raided three properties linked to the politically influential duong family and their company california waste solutions, which holds oakland's curbside recycling contract. we've reached out to the duongs and have not yet heard back. while the fbi has not released any details on the scope of its investigation, a federal grand jury issued a subpoena requesting documents related to sheng thao's mayoral campaign as well as communications related to andre jones with, thao denying jones had any role in her administration. >> the standard to indict somebody is relatively low. it doesn't require you prove that they are probably guilty or they're guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. it only requires you prove there's probable cause to believe a crime has been committed, but as we discussed earlier,

federal prosecutors usually want to have sufficient evidence to have confidence that they can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. >> reporter: the subpoena requested documents related to evolutionary homes, a company involving the duongs and mario juarez. last month the alameda county district attorney filed a motion alleging that juarez and california waste solutions worked to help thao win the mayor's race in 2022 in exchange for access to taxpayer-funded contracts. the documents also reveal andre jones received checks from juarez. renia webb, a former confidante of thao and led her transition team, accused jones of pay to play schemes. webb who is running to replace thao testified before the grand jury. >> what i said two years ago, you know, the reason i resigned, because i was not going to be corrupted and i was not going to be a part of

something that would continue to take oakland down and so i really felt like this was just a breath of fresh air, you know, for us as a city. >> as we mentioned, the fbi and the justice department are supposed to make this important announcement at 9:00 tomorrow morning. you can follow that announcement and any other new developments in this case on air as well as kpix.com and the cbs news app. people in vallejo's crest neighborhood are calling for some serious and urgent solutions days after a 4-year-old girl was shot when she was caught in the middle of a shootout. she is stable tonight according to police. the city's new mayor, andrea sorce, says vallejo leaders have to take action. some say that action should include things like violence intervention. >> safety is more than just relying on the police. safety is bringing community and making sure the community has resources to be able to take care of one another. >> vallejo police are still searching for suspects. electrical and construction crews are starting to clear away debris from homes in

malibu burned to the ground in the palisades fire. we now know as of today, 27 people have died. 31 people have been reported missing after these fires. both the palisades and eaton fires are still burning, but there is good news after red flag warnings were allowed to expire earlier today. thousands of people are still under evacuation orders and while most are stuck waiting for the moment they can get into their neighborhoods, one altadena man is already stuck inside the evacuation zone. our kelsi thorud has his story. >> reporter: so many people lost everything in the eaton fire here in altadena, including the owners of this home here behind me, but also at the same time there were hundreds of people whose homes were not impacted by the flames, including one man we spoke with earlier today. >> a bunch of flashlights, rechargeable, aas, headlights, lighters. we have this propane

gas stove. we take it outside. >> reporter: ruslan and his wife have been camping out inside their altadena home since the eaton fire tore through last week. >> we're on this emotional roller coaster where we're still staying, we can't leave, about the it's up and down. >> reporter: he's one of hundreds of people estimated to still be living in their homes inside the burn zone. we met him as he was making his way home after picking up some supplies at a nearby pop-up station within the zone. kelsi, nice to meet you. >> this is jim. >> reporter: the entire perimeter of the burn zone in altadena is heavily guarded by police and national guard. ruslan says if he were to leave the zone, he wouldn't be allowed back in. even as we were following him back up to his house, he got pulled over by chp. >> that was the first time the sheriff pulled over. i usually pull up to them, talk to them. so they were asking what i was

doing here. this area is closed, not supposed to be driving around here. i told them our house survived. >> reporter: ruslan said he and so many people whose homes survived are staying put not because they want to, but because they feel like they have to. >> because they're not letting people back in, feel like the anxiety and stress would be stressed at the hotel room watching the news. at least here we're trying to do something. >> reporter: ruslan says he already saw one suspected looter drive up his road. he put out these signs to try and stop any more from coming. >> living in california, seen previous disasters and how people take matters into their own hands, especially in the areas where people loot. so i wanted to put up some signs trying to deter. >> reporter: he and his wife he says are continued to camp out in their home as long as they need to, though he hopes officials will create a better system for letting homeowners in and out soon. >> it seems like they're starting to open up areas that are close to us. we're hoping by this weekend. so we're kind

of trying to gauge it like based on that. >> reporter: he says until then they're hunkering down and just doing their best to remember what they still have, not all that they've lost. >> just try to remember that we still have to survive and continue on and that kind of gives a little strength every day. >> reporter: so many people are doing what they can to help those still living inside of these evacuation zones, including this group of people here. they've been out here since the flames started last week making meals and handing out supplies to all those who have been affected. they say they will be out here until they are no longer needed. >> if you'd like to help out, you can go to redcross. organize/cbs to donate. talk about it going right

over us, right? that's amazing. >> what happened moments after launch that led to this. and after about a week, more than that, of clear skies, the fog is rolling back in shrouding the top of the transamerica pyramid. we'll track that fog and talk about the cooler temperatures that will correspond to it coming up in the first alert forecast. this looks like a scene out of "grand theft auto," the wild police chase involving more than a dozen dirt bikers.

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this next story will probably look familiar to you if you live in san francisco, but it happened somewhere else, dirt bikes going out late at night and disrupting everything. this was a problem near east l.a. today. chp officers chased down two dirt bike riders for a traffic violation, but they kept going, narrowly missing other drivers of one suspect allegedly tried to ram an officer with their bike and then a group of almost 20 other people joined them on dirt bikes before officers ended the chase. check this out. orange and

white strikes spotted in the sky across turks and caicos after a spacex starship failed. it broke up in the atmosphere minutes into the flight from texas. >> wow. what was this? did you see? >> oh, my god. this is crazy. >> like what is this even? >> i don't even know what i'm looking at. >> the spacecraft was supposed to make its way across the world and splash down in the indian ocean. spacex said the starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly, which is a very formal way of saying it blew up. first alert weather powered by kia. learn more at kia.com. kia, movement that inspires. >> rapid disassembly. >> rapid unscheduled disassembly. >> that is what happens at 11:35 when we depart all of a sudden, the makeup comes off and we are disassembled. >> old joke from the simpsons when a nuclear meltdown is

called an unexpected fissure and plus. the weather, light winds and fog is making its way back the first time in a while. let's look at the fog on the satellite view. you can see where the skies are still clear. you can see the fog along the coast and now across san francisco and trying to poke a little farther across the bay and you can see it with our current view outside as well, the view or lack thereof from the mark hopkins hotel. it is soupy out there in san francisco. that fog will continue spreading out and some cool temperatures. most of us are in the 40s, down to 39 degrees in santa rosa. we'll see a mix of 30s and 40s by early tomorrow morning, not a huge drop in temperatures compared to where we stand now. let's switch to the futurecast version of the fog which will continue spreading out through tonight and we'll stop the map at 8:00 tomorrow morning when the fog will be widespread. so

allow extra time for the morning commute, not a guarantee it's necessarily going to slow you down, but better safe than sorry. temperatures tonight not changing a whole lot. we'll drop down to the mix of 30s and 40s, 30s already in santa rosa. you'll drop a little farther, only a couple more degrees, mid- to upper 30s there and east of the oakland hills, low to mid-40s around the bay and mostly low 40s in the santa clara valley, but the fog's presence will slow down the warm-up that tries to kick in tomorrow. we'll be back to near average high temperatures, a couple degrees above normal in san jose, 62, but pretty much everybody is within 3 degrees on either side of normal, near 60 degrees east of the oakland hills. the impact of the fog is more apparent around the bay and in the north bay, mid-50s in san francisco and in the north bay because

the fog will be more stubborn in the north bay. what you'll also notice if the fog departs from your vantage point, still haze on the horizon. air quality is not changing even as the pattern shifts and allows the fog to spread back out, moderate air quality across the entire bay area as the smoke from wood burning stoves and fireplaces, locally produced stuff trapped at ground level. don't think the air quality will get worse for the weekend, but it won't get better until we get some rain which there are hints of it in the very long range data. forget this weekend. we're looking at monday through sunday of the following week and there are signs that maybe a chance of showers will try to sneak towards us by the last weekend in january. it is a long way down the line. we'll keep you updated. there are signs of hope to add some moisture to those fire fuels. in the coast low to mid-50s the next few days and you warm up as the offshore breeze returns monday and tuesday. it's not a big deal around here, but it could

be another offshore wind event that could be problematic for southern california. for the bayside and inland communities, upper 50s back to the low 60s as we head into next week. for the most part, pretty close to normal for this time of year. we'll see the temperatures warming up a little bit heading into next week, pretty close to normal january stuff. >> we'll take it. normal is good. >> you don't have a chance. >> rain would be nice. tonight the recording academy threw our local grammy nominees a big party at the claremont in berkeley. >> you're nominated and we're like what? >> you called me on my day off and pretended it was a work thing and we're grammy nominated! >> i'm so excited to be here tonight. it's always such an honor to be nominated and to be nominated twice. >> the 2025 grammy awards airs sunday, february 2nd, right here on cbs. coming up in sports, cal

women made the 2,700-mile trip east for a top 20 match-up against duke at cameron indoor stadium and that twenty the only excitement in college hoops this week. a young fan wasn't going to be denied his court time, a top five coming up you won't want to miss. the bay area concert calendar brought to you by live nation. >> award winning comedian kathy griffin is making a hell of a comeback on her laugh your head off world tour january 18. comedian tom segura standup comedy tour at chase center january 24th. ♪ rock with san francisco greats metallica, 107.7 the bone presents metallica m72 world tour two-day ticket for june 20th and 22nd. tickets on

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i feel lately with bay area sports there have been a lot of ups and downs and a lot of downs for the professionals. >> you've noticed we're in a bit of a valley now. >> we're in a bit of a lull. >> great self-help book called "peaks and valleys." maybe the bay area gms should get together, meeting of the minds. cal women's basketball picked to finish last in the acc, but through 18 games are bears exceeded all expectations ranked 18th nationally with a 16-2 record. tonight cal got its first true road test, top 20 match-up against 16th-ranked duke, 2,700 miles away, tall task after a 5 and a half hour flight. third quarter reagan richardson, strong finish and the foul for the three-point play. big block from toby

fournier, cal's top two shooters held to 25 points. duke wins 72-38. cal plays wake forest sunday. nhl game number 1,300 for mark vlasic. sharks in columbus facing the blue jackets. first period sharks struggle to clear the puck from their own zone. blue jackets win 4-1. sharks play at the islanders on saturday. first thursday in a while without any football games and as football season nears its end, it's a good time to look around the world of sports for another edition of the kpix top five. number five, australian open danielle collins played villain after beating the local favorite and don't win over the fans with each other with postgame comments. >> you know, i was thinking

during the match i was like hmm, i'm out here. i might as well just take that big fat paycheck and coco and i love, we love a good five-star vacation. so part of that check is going to go towards that. so thank you, guys. thanks for coming out here and supporting us tonight. >> feisty. number four, santa clara loyola marymount and clear the lane for the seven footer, not enough. loyola wins. number three, we showed you a seven feature dunking, but how about a seven feature getting dunked on. ja morant puts up 7' 3 center victor wembanyama on a poster. a plus for style points. number two, final minute of gardner webb at radford and this young fan said i'm going out there. it was a three-point game. he stopped play a good 30 seconds and eventually this guy said that's enough, all time moment

for the kid. number one, michigan/minnesota tied 81-81. garcia puts up a prayer from the logo and hits it. it might be january, but it feels like march when you see that happen. i am pumped for march madness. >> i would have reordered, though. >> what was your one? >> ja. i know it didn't count, but the man can fly. >> got to get up there. i could do it. >> you'd have to clip probably. >> a ladder. >> thank you. tiktok is just days away from potentially being banned in the u.s. what will i do? but it's a completely different app that's reaping the benefits this week. i'm jonny moseley and the mountains are calling. the toyota's packed up ready to go, but before we get out there let's look at what conditions are like. the toyota tahoe report is ready. let's head

over to the map. >> we're heading into the martin luther king holiday weekend which means a lot of people are going to be heading up into the sierra where exactly zero new snow has fallen the last 24 hours. in fact, zero new snow has fallen over the last week and a half as the dry weather pattern across california continues. the good news is temperatures will be favorable for the resorts to make their own snow with overnight lows at lake level in the 20s and higher elevations dropping to the teens. dry weather also means good travel weather on both u.s. 50 and i-80. it will be a bit breezy sunday and monday, especially at elevation. that's something to keep in mind if you're heading up to the mountains. the next chance of snow is likely over a week away. we'll keep watching. as always, have fun, be safe and we'll keep you

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well, with the end of tiktok as we know it, maybe just a few days away maybe, i'm really upset about this. >> i've devastated. it's the worst thing that's ever happened to me. >> what are we going to do? >> couldn't care less. >> take a hike, bloomer. >> fine. >> the top app of choice as a tiktok alternative is chinese-based rednote which is probably not the effect the government intended. the app is already very popular with so-called tiktok refugees. u.s. downloads were up more than 200% year over year this week. people can share videos, photos, and text on rednote. many chinese users have welcomed the newcomers, even

asking the americans for help with their english homework, but there is a language barrier. that is where the learning app duolingo comes in. they poked fun with this message on x. oh, so now you're learning mandarin. duolingo says with the switch they've seen a 216% growth in new mandarin learners compared to this time last year. the supreme court is ruling on the tiktok ban tomorrow morning and other intervention perhaps. we were talking about this, tiktok, before your going to bed, ten minutes can turn into two hours. >> i don't want my phone to make any noise ever, so no videos. >> >> maga pillow entrepreneur, mike lindell, who was facing a series of legal and financal woes, is selling my cross