evidence. the kidnapper at the center of a high profile case in vallejo in a south bay courtroom today, the plea from matthew muller on the latest sexual assault charges. federal agencies now responding to a fire at a monterey county battery plant that's been burning more than 24 hours. we're live at the scene with the impact on the surrounding community. >> it seems like it's more dangerous this time around because the air is more toxic. disturbing new details on the evacuation process in the minutes after the palisades fire erupted. from cbs news bay area, this is the evening edition. we begin with a federal indictment of former oakland mayor sheng thao, her romantic partner, and two oakland business owners. >> good evening. i'm ryan yamamoto. we there were this morning when thao surrendered to authorities at the federal courthouse in oakland with her attorney at her side. this is

all connected to the june raid of thao's home which she shares with her partner, andre jones. jones is also named in that indictment and our camera was there as he arrived at court this morning. also facing charges, andy and david duong, the father/son duo prominent in the oakland business community. all four defendants entered not guilty pleas in court today. our wilson walker joins us live outside the federal courthouse in san francisco where officials laid out the allegations for the very first time. wilson. >> reporter: a busy day today. all of those charged over in oakland and today here in san francisco we finally, seven months after those raids, we heard what prosecutors were looking for. >> we are not just up here as traditional politicians. >> the indictment alleges the conspiracy began around october

2022 before the november 2022 oakland mayoral election. weeks before that election thao made commitments to take official actions as mayor that would benefit the duongs. >> reporter: from there first assistant u.s. attorney patrick robbins gave a brief tour of the government's case against the former mayor of oakland. it alleges sheng thao and her partner andre jones offered up city hall influenced two members of the politically influential duong family, david and his son andy. >> examples of promises allegedly made by thao include her agreement to purchase housing units from a company owned by the duong family, her agreement to insure the extension of a contract for recycling services that the city of oakland had with one of david and andy duong's companies, and her agreement to use influence to help appoint a high level city official to benefit the duongs' business interests. >> reporter: in return, prosecutors say the duongs went

to work for then mayor candidate sheng thao. >> the financing of a negative mailer campaign targeting thao's political rival. >> reporter: as we reported last year, those mailers targeting two of thao's opponents were requested by this man, mario juarez. now juarez was co-founder of a housing company with andy duong and while he's not named in the indictment, our reporting and court documents show that juarez would be co-conspirator one and according to the indictment, following thao's election co-conspirator one texted andy duong to say, "we may go to jail, but we are $100 million richer," to which andy duong is said to have replied, "money buys everything," and as thao's mayorship unfolded, prosecutors say checks started getting mailed to andre jones, some as large as $35,000. >> providing jones and thao

with $95,000 in direct payments disguised as wages for a no-show job for jones with the promise of additional payments all intended to benefit both thao and jones. >> reporter: today's indictment and the press conference held by the government earlier this morning was successful in grabbing headlines, but what it did not do was serve the ends of justice. thao, jones, and the duongs appeared before a judge in oakland where all four entered not guilty pleas and following her arraignment the former mayor appeared with her attorney, jeff cy, who questioned the timing of this action and the indictment itself. >> the indictment itself is chock full of allegations. the case is built on allegations from an unknown co-conspirator that we believe when the evidence is revealed will show that my client has committed no crimes.

>> reporter: the attorney went on to mention specifically the unnamed co-conspirator, right? that might give you an idea where they may be going, what they might be thinking as the defense proceeds and as for questions of identity, the case was unfurled today, a very high profile case obviously, by the first assistant u.s. attorney,ish ismail ramsey. he was not present. he reduced himself it was announced, but no reason was given. >> wilson walker reporting live at the federal courthouse in san francisco, thank you for helping us try to unpack all this. in the meantime in a statement attorneys for david duong said, "mr. duong denies in i wrongdoing. we'll vigorously defend these allegations in court." and attorneys for andy duong said he is, "innocent of the

charges. we have kept quiet in the hope the government would correctly come to see through investigation that the allegations are baseless," and today's federal indictment is sending shock waves through the city of oakland as sara donchey follows some of the reaction coming in. >> after this big announcement today, some of sheng thao's political opponents were very quick to condemn the former mayor, perhaps totally unsurprising news there. former oakland city councilman loren taylor lost to thao in the 2022 mayoral race. he was one of the targets of all of those negative political mailers allegedly sent to try and boost thao's campaign. he said today," it's clear the alleged corruption had an impact on the outcome of the election." >> it's about oakland voters, their choice, their ability to have real representation being stolen and we have to restore the system, restore faith and trust in the system and we have

to start working for oaklanders. >> and also organizers of the effort to recall sheng thao which was successful, as we all know, also talked today. they have been vocal throughout this entire process and now they're saying the charges justify that recall which again already happened. thao faces up to 20 years in prison for some of the most serious charges. cbs news legal analyst jessica levinson talked to us about how the legal process might play out from here. >> now everything is going to -- the clock is going to start for things inside the courtroom. there will be aggressive something called motion practice where the attorneys will file a motion. obviously her attorneys will try and get this indictment thrown out. i, frankly, don't see that happening and then we will start the process of marching towards trial. a reminder for everybody that most cases, both criminal and civil, never go to trial. there is a settlement, but this isn't most cases. this is a

high profile public corruption case. when it comes to indictment to trial, oftentimes that can be years. >> so in the meantime thao has been released on a $50,000 bond. she had to surrender her passport. shoos he been barred from traveling outside of the area. ryan, a lot to play out here, a big story and pretty shocking developments today. >> thanks, sara. we have much more reaction to today's indictment, including from a former aide of thao, who sounded the alarm months ago coming up at 6:00. as for who is in line to replace thao, loren taylor officially entered the race for mayor yesterday joining former congresswoman barbara lee and at least nine others. in april oakland will hold a special election to fill that mayoral seat. another high profile case, matthew muller, the man convicted of kidnapping and the subject of netflix's "american nightmare" series pled guilty to new charges that stem from

two home invasions and sexual assaults in mountain view and palo alto back in 2009. muller was already serving time for kidnapping and raping a vallejo woman in 2015 in a case police initially called a hoax. the latest charges, he faces life in prison. he is scheduled to be sentenced on february 21st. evacuation orders for nearly 1,500 people are still in effect near one of the largest lithium battery plants in the world. that fire broke out yesterday at the monterey county plant. that continues to burn. this morning our chopper got a close-up look at the facility. you can still see flames inside the building, the roof destroyed, toxic smoke and flames still shooting up into the air. the battery plant operated by texas-based vistra energy is located in moss landing. that's about 90 miles south of san francisco. our reporter kara st. cyr is there with the very latest on the fire and the concerns about the impact in the surrounding area.

kara, what are you seeing up in the air right now? >> reporter: i'm actually standing right in front of vistra energy. it's right behind me. what you can see right now is that the smoke and the fire has definitely started to subside and the smoke is turning white, which is a pretty good indication. earlier around noon there was a much bigger flare-up, really large black plumes of smoke which indicate an active fire. if you look at the smokestacks, just imagine a large flare-up right there. what we do know is that this fire did break out yesterday, as you said, burning about 75% of the building. the cause is still under investigation, but vistra energy officials say a fire suppression system didn't activate in time. now lithium battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish because of how hot they burn. so firefighters in the north, monterey county fire district, had to essentially let it burn itself out which fueled a lot of questions about air quality

from people living nearby. >> there must be accountability for this and there will be accountability. this is a lot more than a fire. it's really a wake-up call for this industry and if we're moving ahead with sustainable energy, we need safe battery systems in place. >> reporter: now i did speak with a spokesperson for the epa and they said they sent out four people here to monitor the air quality and they also sent out equipment, but officials did say that the smoke plume had gone high enough into the air that air quality is not a concern at this time. back to you. >> thank you very much. in southern california some evacuation orders were lifted or downgraded today for the palisades fire. it comes as the associated press is now reporting that the first evacuation order related to this fire did not come until 40 minutes after homes were already burning and the roads were already jammed. today crews took advantage of calmer winds to make progress on the fires, but there is now growing concern the water being used is

saturating the ground which could possibly lead to landslides, especially in the burn scar area. >> it's safe to say that the infrastructure under thousands of homes have been compromised and with that can come challenges like this if it's on a steep hillside. landslides will be more of a condition when the rain comes. >> officials from the u.s. geological survey say threats of landslides in the area will loom for years. we hear from bay area republicans headed to washington for the inauguration of president-elect donald trump. >> i have a new tuxedo and a new suit. and the supreme court ruling stops the clock on tiktok, what a ban means for millions of users of the popular social media app. you know, a little icy, but it's still pretty fun. >> tahoe resorts say they have plenty of snow despite a couple

dry weeks, but they do have some advice before you hit the slopes. temperatures today significantly cooler than where we were on thursday and where we've been the past week and a half thanks to a return of the onshore breeze and

the state's major utility companies including pg&e will now are subject to frequent safety evaluations. the goal is to prevent wildfires and gas leaks. every four years an independent evaluator will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the safety, culture, and practices at pg&e. meanwhile the state public utilities commission also approved pg&e's wildfire mitigation plan. that includes hardening infrastructure and removing hazardous vegetation in and around power lines. more than three years after the caldor fire caused widespread destruction in el dorado county, some residents are now pleading for help. the

fire leveled homes in the small community of grizzly flats, but fema has previously denied requests from homeowners for individual assistance that covers things like replacing destroyed property, medical expenses and many other costs that disaster victims might incur. a county supervisor has written a letter to incoming president trump asking him to push fema to reconsider its decision. >> the old town is gone. >> i just people like we were kind of forgotten. >> well, fema has previously said the impact of the fire and severity of the damage did not meet the standards for providing individual assistance. for many bay area residents, a three-day weekend means a trip to tahoe, but no snow for two weeks. what can you expect? >> reporter: at boreal mountain resort people like michael thompson get a few runs in before the weekend rush.

>> a little icy, but it's still fun. >> reporter: the icy conditions not keeping people away with resorts across the tahoe basin preparing for a busy holiday weekend ahead. >> really icy, almost fell every time i went down the slope. >> reporter: january may have been a dry spell so far, but mother nature set the stage early this season. >> we are 100% open, every chairlift, every run. >> reporter: tucker with boreal mountain resort said the cold temperatures have been a game changer. both boreal and palisades tahoe are utilizing snow cannons keeping continues on the slope at top shape. >> when we get the snow machines out there and till it out, it's really good snow under that hard pack that freezes up over the afternoon. >> reporter: still resort officials are urging skiers safety this weekend and encouraging people to take on slopes below their typical skill level. >> definitely icy. i, in fact, fell. >> reporter: still these skiers are keeping their skis crossed, hoping next no brings some

fresh powder. >> i'm hoping it will pick up in february. it's done that in the past because if it's like this the rest of the time, it's spring skiing at this point. >> they're able to make that manmade snow because it's so cold. >> right. >> it's just not the same as fresh powder from mother nature. >> no. there's only so much they can make. they can try to freshen up the runs. we with would like some actual rain. all the action will be somewhere else in the country. let's talk about the big picture pattern. we're pretty calm, typical january weather. on the eastern side of the country there's a couple storm systems, the first of which will be spreading rain and snow and pushing farther to the east, including snow possible in buffalo for the bills/ravens game that we'll be carrying sunday afternoon, always fun when there's a snow game in the middle of the nfl playoffs, but crashing behind this first storm system is a lot of cold air. this is arctic air that is going to make a big intrusion

pushing all the way down towards the gulf coast with the freezing line making its way much farther south than normal which sets the stage for storm number two, which is going to be interesting. always have your antenna up when a meteorologist says interesting because it means something weird is going to happen. what's weird about this one is how far south the snow will be. we're talking about snow potentially adding up to some extent in places like houston, new orleans, mobile, alabama, atlanta, georgia, places not equipped to deal with this kind of weather. it's going to be all kinds of chaos in the southern part of the country next week. around our neck of the woods, it is a calm pattern. let's look at current conditions as we look outside from salesforce tower, seeing fog and low cloud cover in the distance. it was tough to shake along the coast and over san francisco which limited how much our temperatures warmed up and now everybody between 51 and 54 degrees. as we head through tonight, that fog will spread back out. let's

simulate it with futurecast. it's going to become widespread spreading across the entire region through tonight and into early tomorrow morning, any early morning plans, have the fog and low cloud cover in mind. temperatures tonight despite the layer of fog still dropping down to a mix of 30s and 40s, mostly 30s in the north bay valleys, 39 degrees for bodega bay, kind of rare along the coast, 30s on a widespread basis east of the oakland hills with temperatures around the bay and into the santa clara valley mostly in the 40s, morgan hill 37 degrees the exception, and high temperatures tomorrow warm up to basically normal for this time of year, 63 for san jose and morgan hill with mostly low 60s east of the oakland hills, 50s around the bay and along the coast and also 50s in the north bay valleys until you get farther north, a mix of upper 50s and low 60s with the fog hanging on a little bit longer

compared to other inland spots. as we look farther down the line, we're going to see air quality improving fractionally heading into tuesday next week, but over the weekend, the three-day weekend, moderate air quality across the board. the smoke from wood burning fireplaces and stoves trapped near ground level, but the winds will pick up, offshore winds not overly blustery around the bay area. that will help disperse some ground level pollution, but we need some rain, which we still don't have in the seven-day forecast, but the six to ten-day outlook, the signal towards drier than normal conditions has weakened a little bit and more of that in the eight to 14-day outlook which takes us to the end of january trying to put us back into a typical january shower pattern, even if it's not substantial rain. let's look at the seven-day forecast and start with the coast where temperatures are going to be on the cool side the next couple days with that marine influence, highs in the mid-50s, but like flipping the

switch, when the offshore breeze returns, temperatures warm back up to the low 60s. that's where the rest of the bay area will be next week. so just a couple more days of more of a difference between the coast and inland and bayside places. it will be back to the 60s on a widespread basis through most of the next week with the offshore wind, not too problematic around here. we'll have to keep an eye on southern california once again. less than three days left in office, president biden commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people. today's announcement. plus -- >> we're grammy nominated. >> -- the bay area celebrating local nominees and how the grammy awards will also honor our first responders. (vo) struggling with moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis? talk to your doctor about #1 prescribed entyvio, offering two maintenance options, including the entyvio pen. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen

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a live look at the white house where before he leaves office president biden is making a big move commuting prison sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. the president says his goal is to help people who received sentences based on flawed distinctions between crack and powder cocaine. that's because crack cocaine which tend to involve more people of color have often led to inflated charges and harsher sentences and today's announcement is the broadest commutation of individual sentences ever issued by an american president. within the last two hours israel's cabinet approved a deal for a ceasefire in gaza and the release of dozens of hostages. that deal has been in doubt since it was first announced. the vote was supposed to happen yesterday, but israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu insisted

there were last minute problems. a cbs news team in gaza says israel has ramped up bombings in the territory since the agreement went public. phase one of the ceasefire is planned to last six weeks. israel would free up to 1,000 palestinian detainees and hamas would release 33 israeli hostages. more people would be released in phase two and family members of those hostages say, well, they have mixed feelings. >> i'm very happy for every hostage that will return home. i feel like they are my relatives, but knowing that it's going to be underground more than 42 days, it's torturing. >> the first hostages could be released as early as sunday, but there are still significant details that need to be ironed out. the presidential inauguration will be held indoors for the first time since ronald reagan. up next, we'll hear from bay area

republicans heading to the nation 's capital. >> we've got a california legacy ball which is a number of elected california republicans and republicans from all over. a ban on tiktok could come as soon as sunday. and in the-store shopping experience is about to get a little more hi-tech, what you might see at the store in 2025. hey, jonny moseley here. the toyota is loaded up and ready to carve some new lines. let's look at what mother nature cooked up for us. the toyota tahoe report is cued up. let's take a look. >> we made it to the weekend and even better, it's a three-day weekend because of the martin luther king holiday monday. if you're heading up to the sierra, zero new snow over the last 24 hours. it's been almost two weeks since mother nature provided any fresh powder. there's still a

good base on the ground and temperatures will be cold enough for the resorts to fire up the snow guns. topping out in the 30s and 40s this weekend, cord and breezier in the higher terrain with lows in the teens and highs in 20s and 30s. farther ahead looks like a slight chance of snow in the last weekend in january, but it's too soon to make promises about that. in the

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at kaiser permanente all of us work together to care for all that is you. i'm not happy with the way that pg&e handled the wildfires. yeah. yeah. i totally, totally understand. we're adding a ton of sensors. as soon as something comes in contact with the power line, it'll turn off so that there's not a risk that it's gonna fall to the ground and start a fire. okay. and i want you to be able to feel the improvements. we've been able to reduce wildfire risk from our equipment by over 90%. that's something i want to believe. [skateboard sounds]