through one of the country's largest lithium ion battery plants. this is cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich. >> good evening. oakland's former mayor indicted in a federal corruption investigation into her dealings before and after she took office two years ago. we were there this morning as sheng thao turned herself in at the federal courthouse in oakland. thao and her romantic partner, andre jones, are accused in a bribery scheme involving the duong family who owned cal waste solutions, the recycling company for the city of oakland. two members of the family, patriarch david, the company's president and ceo, and andy, his son, were also charged today. all four defendants have pleaded not guilty. this all comes more than half a year after the fbi raided the home thao and jones

share along with two homes belonging to the duong family and their recycling company's office. since that day we have been digging into the allegations against everyone involved, but details of the fbi's investigation have been shrouded in secrecy until now. our wilson walker was there when the fbi and other agencies announced these charges in san francisco. so, wilson, what are we learning tonight? >> reporter: i was thinking about that today, juliette, that when we first got the indictment handed to us, i was glancing through it and was struck by how much of it follows along the lines of what we've been reporting the last seven months. we saw the fbi agents go into sheng thao's house, all of us trying to figure out what they could have possibly been looking for with the big question of would there ever really be any charges? today we finally heard from federal prosecutors. >> we are not just up here.

i'm not your traditional politician. >> the indictment alleges the illegal conspiracy began around october '22 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 influence to two members of the political influential duong family, david duong 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 interest. >> reporter: in return, prosecutors say the duongs went to work for then mayoral candidate sheng thao. >> the financing of a negative mailer campaign targeting thao's political rivals. >> 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 . >> today's indictment and the preference held by the government earlier this morning was successful in grabbing headlines, but what it did not do was serve the ends of justice. >> reporter: 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: we've edited the video there from the attorney because there was a crowd of people sort of heckling the attorney and the mayor standing there beside him, sort of shouting things at almost and using language we can't put on television which is sort of a reminder of the other part of this, like the really intense political storm that is surrounding this case. it became part of the recall election and now will become part of the election to find a mayor to succeed sheng thao, a day of tremendous gravity i think for the city of oakland when you put all the pieces together. >> absolutely. those pieces coming together after a lot of secrecy. thank you. let's go to the statement. attorneys for

david duong said, "mr. duong denies wrongdoing and will vigorously defend these allegations in court. he looks forward to prevailing in this case." and attorneys for andy duong said he is, "innocent of the charges. we have kept quiet despite the media frenzy in the past months in the hope that the government would correctly come to see through objective investigation that the allegations are baseless." this all comes two months after voters recalled thao from office. the charges did not come as a big surprise for her political opponents and a former thao staffer who became a whistleblower. da lin has that part of the story on the pay-to-play allegations since last year's fbi raids. he's live outside the oakland federal building with more reaction to today's indictment. >> reporter: many of thao's opponents say they aren't surprised and they feel vindicated. they've been

sounding the alarm for a while now, but one of the first to speak up is thao's former chief of staff, renia webb. renia webb risked her career to blow the whistle on her former boss. >> i wouldn't sell out oakland for any amount of money, like i love oakland. we deserve better. >> reporter: when she alerted the city council in early 2023 about pay-to-play allegations involving thao's boyfriend, andre jones, most city leaders ignored her. some thao supporters even called her crazy. >> most of i got silence. i sent out a bunch of emails, made a bunch of calls. it was silence. >> reporter: webb worked for thao in 2022 as chief of staff when thao was a council member. webb also volunteered on thao's mayoral campaign. she says when she found out about jones' pay-to-play schemes, she told thao about it. >> she just told me to ignore andre, make close to $200,000

and that we could set up our families for life. >> reporter: she says she resigned on new year's eve 2022, not long after thao won the mayoral race. she filed a complaint with the public ethics commission. at the time the commission was already investigating andy duong, reportedly using straw donors to give money to politicians, including thao, to buy influence. webb and federal prosecutors claim duong paid for attack ads, targeting ignacio de la fuente and loren taylorful taylor lost the . race by 700 votes. >> it clearly had a direct impact on the outcome of our election. >> reporter: taylor is once again running for mayor in the special election. >> i am incensed that democracy

was stolen from oaklanders. we installed a mayor who was underqualified and corrupt putting us on a downward spiral. >> reporter: those who worked to recall thao also feel a sense of vindication. >> we all knew. we all knew. we've been telling you for over a year that sheng thao is corrupt, dishonest, and incompetent. >> reporter: about 60% of oakland voters voted to recall thao in november. >> oakland owes the recall effort an apology or a thank you depending on which way you voted because now we know that we have saved oakland a great deal of time, energy, and heartache. imagine this happened today and she was still our mayor. >> reporter: webb doesn't hold any anger towards her former boss. she says it's time to look forward and fix a broken city. that's why she's also running for mayor in the special election. >> i'm running because i know oakland has such a bright future ahead of us. they deserve a leader that's going to stand up for what's right, that's going to serve the

people. >> reporter: former congresswoman barbara lee is also running for mayor in that april special election. now lee actually urged voters to reject that recall back in november. today lee released a statement saying she is devastated by those allegations in the indictment. lee also said oakland is not for sale. >> da, thank you so much. we will continue to follow this case and the latest developments on air, online at kpix.com and on the free cbs news 24/7 app. let's get to the major fire at one of the largest lithium battery plants in the world, flared up again this afternoon. evacuations are still in place more than 24 hours after the fire broke out in northern monterey county, sending a plume of toxic smoke over the air there. you can see that. fire is still burning at the battery plant operated by texas-based vistra energy. it is located in moss landing. that's about 90 miles south of

san francisco. our kara st. cyr is live with the latest on the fire and its impact on the surrounding area. kara. >> reporter: juliette, here in moss landing the fire has definitely subsided. it's really dark outside, but you can see the lights of the smokestack. that is the plant and the smoke is currently white, which is a pretty good indication that fire is definitely starting to go down a little bit, but residents are still asking questions. they want to know how this fire started and what the impact of the air quality will building. be. plumes of black smoke coming from the battery storage plant in moss landing was just miles from victoria's home in castroville. her daughter loosely translates for us. >> we're just worried in terms of what's going to happen in the future. it seems more dangerous this time around

because the air is more toxic. >> reporter: the fire started thursday and began to spread after a fire suppression system failed to activate prompting the closure of highway 1 and evacuations of 1,500 people. lithium batteries, which are used for vehicle vehicles and tools, burn very hot and are very hard to extinguish. these battery storage facilities are becoming increasingly important as the state shifts towards renewable energy. they're a way to store solar solar power from the day for use at night. >> 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: the plumes of smoke are fueling questions about air quality. a spokesperson for the epa told us four air monitoring specialists were sent to moss landing with equipment to determine the impact. the fire chief said the department is working closely to monitor

toxin. >> out of that information given to me, there was no hazardous -- there's hydrogen fluoride gas emitted from these batteries that is a dangerous gas. at no point did i get a report back that any of that was picked up by any of the monitors. >> reporter: officials today said the plume of smoke has gone up high enough it's not currently concern for residents. after an investigation there will be a comprehensive report that talks about the impact on the air quality. back to you. >> thank you. coming up, a new concern down south for neighbors whose homes survived the wildfires as exhausted evacuees start making their way home. >> i haven't been home in two weeks. i miss everything. i miss my whole life, but i'm lucky. i have a house.

temperatures across the bay area today return to basically normal for this time of year and in the background you can see why. the fog and low cloud cover slowed down the warm-up, kept us in the 50s and low

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but for now winds are calm. the search begins for the 31 people now missing. seven people from the palisades fire and 24 from the eaton fire. friends and family are waiting and hoping for good news. >> it is a horrific tragedy that i don't think we've ever seen before and it's going to take a long time to sort all this out and for everyone to process everything. >> the sheriff's department is taking new steps to try and find the missing by posting flyers. both l.a.'s sheriff and police departments say many of the missing are older. meantime the palisades fire is 31% contained. each dot on the map represents one of the more than 4,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. people

evacuated during the palisades fire are being let back into their neighborhoods. many are still playing the waiting game. they want answers. >> what are you most looking forward to right now? >> just getting back into my house and feeling what it's like to be home. >> reporter: how long have you been out for? >> since the fire, a week and a day. >> this home in pacific palisades survived the fire only to be broken in half by a landslide. saturated ground along hillsides have become increasingly unstable due to lost vegetation and large water drops used to fight the flames. officials are concerned a major rainfall event could do even more damage. >> the infrastructure under thousands of homes have been compromised. there were, when the rain drops hit, it hits with more impact and it can displace the earth quicker. >> if you would like to help

the victims of the wildfires, you can go to redcross.org/cbs. let's look life at the u.s. capitol. the inauguration of u.s. president-elect donald trump will move indoors monday because of intense cold weather in the forecast in washington, d.c. the swearing in will take place inside the capitol rotunda. outgoing president joe biden, members of congress, and other dignitaries and guests will be able to view the ceremony from inside. the last time the inauguration was moved indoors was 1985 when president ronald reagan began his second term. you can watch the inauguration right here on cbs news bay area. coverage starts at 6:00 a.m. on monday. hey, it's time to scope out the conditions with the latest toyota tahoe report. i'm jonny moseley, your host for the day. let's see what kind of weather we'll get into. >> we're about to get into a

three-day weekend. if you're heading up to the sierra, don't expect any new snow. it's been almost two weeks since mother nature provided any fresh powder. there is a good base on the ground and temperatures will be cold enough for the resorts to fire up the snow guns. temperatures at lake level start in the 20s and top out in the 30s and 40s this weekend, a little colder and breezier in the higher elevations with lows in the teens and highs in the 20s and low 30s. farther ahead is looks like a slight chance of snow the last weekend in january, but it's too soon to

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we have an update on that fire at the batter storage facility in moss landing. we have just learned all evacuation orders have been lifted. the monterey sheriff said the epa monitored the air quality and there is no health threat from the smoke. they are still advising people in the area to stay indoors and keep windows closed. first alert weather powered by kia. kia, movement that inspires. >> let's find out what inspires our weekend, shall we? >> i think just the weekend itself is inspiring enough, especially the holiday weekend.

a lot of folks will be off on monday. the weather is looking cooperative, typical january stuff heading into the martin luther king weekend. >> dry. >> dry weather for a while. we could use some rain, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. we did see the return of some moisture in the form of fog. this is the current satellite perspective. the fog is starting to show up on the east side of the bay as well. let's look at the futurecast version through tonight. it's going to spread out through the evening and overnight, widespread low cloud cover and fog as we start the day saturday, but like today, inland it won't last that long. it will take a little longer to back up towards the coast. it won't do that until about lunchtime saturday. along the coast i think we'll see more of a mix of clouds and sunshine. let's check out the current temperatures. no fog visible yet looking out from

sutro tower towards downtown san francisco, a mix of upper 40s and lower 50s, starting to cool off, down to the upper 40s in livermore and santa rosa. those are a couple spots that will end up in the 30s by early tomorrow morning. the forecast low temperatures, it's a mix of 40s and 30s heading into the early morning hours, mostly 30s in the inland valleys of the north bay, 39 degrees in bodega bay, doesn't often reach the upper 30s along the coast, but tomorrow morning is an exception, upper 30s east of the oakland hills, low to mid-40s around the bay and in the santa clara valley unless you go farther inland where temperatures could dip down briefly to the upper 30s. temperatures bounce back to within 2 or 3 degrees of normal for the middle of january, 63 in san jose, should get up to 60 degrees east of the oakland hills, a mix of upper 50s and low 60s around the bay with low to mid-50s along the coast, a mix of upper 50s and low 60s in the north bay valleys, the fog

putting the brakes on the warm-up a little while longer. that haze on the horizon will be with us. air quality won't be great. we'll check that forecast out momentarily, but got to get to the dog walking forecast. pastel probably not going to see her shadow tomorrow morning, but looks like better walking weather in the afternoon with highs in her hometown in concord up to the low 60s or right around 60 degrees tomorrow afternoon. here's the air quality forecast. we were moderate across the board today, same thing for the three-day holiday weekend, but strong offshore winds begin to develop monday. that will dry out the vegetation, but it will help improve our air quality tuesday. there are signs of hope in the extended range data. the six to ten-day outlook shows us drier than normal, but it's a weaker signal towards dry conditions and the eight to 14-day outlook is hinting maybe a return to

normal january weather. we'll have to wait a while for showers, probably not heading our way until the last weekend of january the earliest or the last full week of january. along the coast on the cool side the next couple days and then back up to around or above 60 degrees next week. temperatures for bayside and inland communities, upper 50s and low 60s over the weekend, more low to mid-60s through the abbreviated post mlk week. >> thank you. when we come back, a tearful reunion in the wake of the palisades

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an emotional reunion caught on camera in southern california fire zone, a woman back together with her sheep after the flames died down. take a look. >> hi, honey. hi, baby. the firemen have been feeding you. how did you guys survive? thank you, god. >> oh, that's sweet. this was in malibu. the owner of the sheep finding her animals alive and well. nice way to end the news st. cbs evening >> we are preparing for the worst. >> norah: tonight, what's next for tiktok and its 170 million american users? as the supreme court allows a ban of the popular app to move forward. >> just knowing that we are