prepare homes for wild fires. >> this is cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich. >> here we go. california is taking president trump to court over one of his first acts in office targeting immigration. hours after taking the oath of office yesterday, president trump signed an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. a right laid out in the 14th amendment. today, california along with 17 states plus san francisco and washington dc sued the federal government to block the order, declaring it unconstitutional. our john ramos takes a look at the battle over birthright citizenship and its historic ties to san francisco. >> most of us take for granted our citizenship simply because we were born here but it hasn't always been that way for everyone. >> reporter: it only became settled law because of one gutsy young man here in san francisco's chinatown.

president trump signed the order that would deny citizenship to people born here if they didn't have at least one parent who was a citizen or permanent resident. >> i have one message for president trump. i'll see you in courtment. >> reporter: state attorney general rob bonta, himself a child of an immigrant parent, made the announcement that california had joined 17 other states in immediately challenging president trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship. >> he plans to start by knocking down one of our long standing rights. >> reporter: the first statement of the 14th amendment says all persons born and naturalized in the united states are citizens of the united states. and of the state where in they reside but it took an 1898 supreme court decision that made it apply to

everyone regardless of status or nation of origin. a 20-year-old named wong kim ark, born and living in san francisco, was denied reentry into the country after a visit to china on the basis of the chinese exclusionary act. despite rampant discrimination against the chinese, he sued saying the 14th amendment guaranteed his citizenship for having been born here. it took the court a year to issue its ruling which is a piece of constitutional law. he suspects trump will make the case that it doesn't apply to the current immigrant community. >> i just don't see how it is possible to do that. the language is plain and % already interpreted it. there is no wiggle room. i think this is just a harebrained idea and let's see what we can do. let's try anything. why not? the sense is what can we lose? >> reporter: speaking at the

press briefing was larry yee, a member of san francisco's chinese consolidated benevolent group association. >> whatever trump says, we need to fight it and fight it to the max and continue to fight this birthright is our right. it is our civil right. it is our economic right. >> reporter: wong kim ark wouldn't have wanted it any other way. >> usually executive orders take effect immediately but the birthright challenge has a 30 day waiting period and the president lifted restrictions on arrests at churches and schools. so immigration and customs enforcement set a policy in 2011 preventing agents from arresting people in sensitive locations. trump has promised mass deportations but

wouldn't say when. and where they would be carried out. onto the south bay. multifaith leaders held a community prayer vigil in downtown san jose this evening to show support for the immigrant community in santa clara county. faith leaders tell us it is an important time to stand together. >> that community is very scared about what's going to happen next. are they going to be separated? are they going to be able to live the life they have tried to live? >> faith leaders say they hope the immigrant community feels they are supported and leans on them during these times. the aclu and state leaders say the immigration crack down can have big impacts on california's economy and la's wild fire recovery efforts. >> in catastrophic disasters like the fires we underwent in los angeles, immigrant communities are at the

forefront of cleanup and recovery. hundreds of day laborers organize themselves and took to the streets to clean up and help others. >> they say they consider president trump's actions an attack on california. home to more than 10 million immigrants. so president trump is expected to visit southern california on friday. and after a day of gusty winds that sparked some small brush fires, the area is finally talking about some rain in the forecast. and while a small amount of rain is good news for the area's dry conditions, it does bring its own set of challenges. as residents impacted by the palisades and eaton fires return home, there is concern that too much rain could trigger landslides and toxic ash runoff. so crews put up sandbags and barriers in areas burned by the wild fires. officials warn that burn scar areas are much more prone to unstable hillsides and debris

flow. meantime, cal fire says the friar's fire in san diego is now fully contained. it erupted just after noon. and damage to nearby apartment complex, it threatened several homes and buildings including the fashion valley mall. evacuation orders were lifted just after 4:00 p.m. more than 15,000 structures went up in flames in the eaton and palisades fires and now builders and homeowner across the state are looking at better ways to protect their homes. there are ways to make the buildings more fire resistant. our kenny choi shows us how homeowners in the bay area are adapting to growing fears of what could happen to fire prone neighborhoods. >> reporter: jimmy singer's family has lived on the heavily wooded hillsides of mill valley for decades. homes are surrounded by towering redwoods. and other vegetation that could quickly become tinder for a destructive wild

fire. >> living in the hills of california, we thought about fires forever. >> reporter: singer does what he can to harden his home and make it more fire resistant including working with neighbors to help maintain defensible space. >> kind of brings a community aspect to know that hey, if i do all this work on my property, somebody sharing the fence line is doing that work too. >> reporter: the long time resident says other steps like replacing the siding of an older home with newer composite material to make it more fireproof can be extremely cost prohibitive for homeowners. while there is only so much that can be done to harden older homes, new construction in an unprecedented era of wild fire destruction is vastly different. >> with the phone blocks they are fire rated and essentially your forms like it is right here. >> reporter: home builder paul mcgregor cuts and stacks the blocking before pouring concrete into the cavities. >> you know, it is just one of those things, you learn more if you go along. >> reporter: the foam blocks

are designed with fire retardant properties which minimizes the risk of fire spread and minimizes the use of wood in the construction of homes. by doing it this way, he estimates a 10% added cost compared to a typical wood stick framing job. >> i wouldn't recommend tearing down a house and doing this but i would recommend doing it from start, from scratch it would make sense. >> reporter: he is not required by building code to add this extra layer of protection. but considering the house is in a wildland urban interface zone where human development meets undeveloped wildland, it is a no brainer. this cal fire map of mill valley shows how the very high fire hazard severity zones highlighted in red has expanded from 2007 to 2023. >> houses are burning down at the ocean. so, you got to take the precaution at this point in time. you can't think it is not going to touch you. >> reporter: housing experts say meeting or exceeding local building codes will result in

something far more resistant than homes built 30 or 40 years ago. like many of those burning in los angeles. for homeowners like singer, the task of protecting property is paramount. >> taking it seriously and taking the lessons. we set ourselves up to not be the next palisades fire. >> reporter: the goal is to minimize risk. as builders look for new ways to tackle a growing concern of wild fires wiping out entire communities. >> other ways to protect homes can include stucco exteriors, double paned windows and roof liners. defensible space around your home always key. still ahead, another blow for san francisco's shopping district. as the largest remaining retailer is set to close up shop in an already struggling mall. and the life and legacy of a culinary pioneer who was behind the bay area's famed slanted door. we had a chilly start this morning. despite cold temperatures we warmed up into

the 60s and we will see a similar recovery the next couple of days. we'll tack take a look at how long this pattern will last

the bay area just lost a culinary trailblazer. charles fan died at the age of 26. he was known for his modern vietnamese food. he opened the slanted door in 1985 and the restaurant moved several times. and was due to reopen this spring. he had other ventures like the sandwich shop. shuck's take away in the mission. >> he was an important restauranteur. and, he had something left to offer. one time i went by there and bill clinton was trying to eat there. when he was president. that's how famous the restaurant was. this was video from 2002

when he joined kpix5's kate kelly for a cooking segment to make his famous shaking beef. we posted that full segment in the story on our website. another major blow to the san francisco city center. bloomingdale announcing it will close its store in late spring ending a two decade run in the city. the center along market street has seen other major tenants leave the mall including nordstrom in 2023. we took a look inside today and you can see a lot of empty store front. the san francisco mayor called it disappointing and they are working to make downtown safe again. though he didn't specify exactly how. we'll take a closer look at the store's closure tonight on pix plus. the bay area's oldest independent bookstore company has filed for bankruptcy. books incorporated has been in the bay area since 1851. now the

ceo says it is closing its berkeley store. the company has not confirmed any plans to close its other ten stores. the bankruptcy filing is a response to rising costs and changing customer habits. speaking of weather, it is changing. >> temperature whiplash. it was cold this morning and warmed up nicely. now it is dropping off again. you want to talk about weather whiplash, how about another part of the country where a snowstorm made its way all the way down to the gulf coast. this is the radar replay. that is snow that made its way down into houston and new orleans and the gulf coast of alabama and florida. mobile. new orleans picked up over eight inches of snow officially. this is the biggest snowstorm in that area in 130

years. it is spreading ice and snow into the carolinas, georgia, and florida. closer to home, we have active weather o f a different sort. that is a continuation of the fire conditions. tomorrow is critical. two more days of red flag warnings for our neighbors to the south. light rain is good things because it comes without the significant threat of debris flows and mud slides. let's look at the monitors. our temperatures are dropping off quickly with dry skies and light winds. temperatures retreating to the upper 40s in concord, livermore and santa rosa. those spots will end up around freezing. not quite as cool closer to the water. the

least coolest spot, 55 degrees in san jose. you will drop off as well. and your temperatures will be in the upper 30s . forecast lows for tomorrow, it will be four to eight degrees below average. a lot of the coast, temperatures will bottom out in the low 40s . sub freezing temperatures down to 30 degrees in petaluma. 32 in santa rosa. 31 degrees in fairfield. but despite the cold start, the atmosphere will warm up quickly. we'll see plenty of sunshine throughout the day. no fog to slow down the warmup. and temperatures are going to warm up as a result of the sun just irradiating the dry atmosphere. temperatures likely to close up to 70 degrees. even the 60s are unusual for the month of january. what you might see is a little bit of haze. air quality will be a

concern as the dry weather pattern lingers for quite a while. we are talking moderate air quality. probably at worst as we head through the end of the workweek. the strong winds yesterday did stir around the lowest levels of the atmosphere, but with lighter winds in place, and still no rain in sight, back to that moderate category for thursday, friday, and again on saturday. the six to ten day outlook from the climate prediction center continues. the trend we have been talking about, drier than normal conditions and the six to ten day outlook takes us through the last day of january. if we get zero additional rainfall, this will go into the record books as the third driest january on record. for downtown san francisco. where recordkeeping goes back to 1850. 175 years of recordkeeping and the third driest january on record. early february doesn't offer a whole lot of promise either. still a signal toward drier than normal conditions even it if is not quite as strong in that time frame. we'll keep searching for the next chance of rain. it is just not going to happen any time soon. temperatures are going up and down a little bit.

well above average tomorrow and thursday, starting to back off a little bit on friday with additional cloud cover. no moisture out of the clouds. upper 50s for highs saturday and sunday which is where we are supposed to be this time of year, then we start warming back up into the low 60s on an average basis monday and tuesday. upper 50s to mid 60s for highs. it has been an odd month of january to this point. >> very odd. question for you. if you don't have snowplows in areas like new orleans, how do you clean up all that snow? this is not an area that expects this. >> you wait. they will be shut down for the next few days. oh yeah. bourbon street is probably not shut down. they have other chemicals to get rid of the snow and ice there. >> up next, a gun battle in san jose. the search for two suspects who fired the first shots.

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san jose police are searching for one gunman who opened fire at officers. police say two suspects drove toward plain clothed officers and one of them fired a gun and hit their patrol car. an officer fired back but they got away. >> gun violence has become an epidemic in our communities. the very individuals who risk their lives to protect us also increasingly become targeted by these who seek to sow chaos and fear. >> both officers were not hurt. it is unclear if the suspects were injured or if they knew they were shooting at police. investigators say the officers were unable to activate their

body cameras. in monterey county, supervisors declared a state of emergency after last week's major fire at the vistra battery plant. the special meeting gave updates on the fire and ongoing response. there have been no visible flames. in 48 hours but crews are watching for flare-ups and officials say air quality readings show no danger from the toxic smoke. state parks and schools are back open. in san francisco a plan to link the city with a maze of bike lanes hit the board today. it is to connect communities through 385 different routes by putting a safe bike lane within a quarter mile of every resident's home. the biking and rolling plan is still in the planning stages. a planned adoption hearing will happen next month on february 18th. all right, the ground, it is covered in snow in places

where you may least expect it. up next, look at that. where do you think that is? historic winter scenes sweeping through the south. you won't believe it.

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high quality care that meets you where you are. talk about a rare winter storm. it dropped piles of snow across the south today at the alabama gulf shores where you would normally find beach goers tanning or surfing. they are not doing that. people were bundled up. even throwing some snowballs. why not? meanwhile in new orleans, bourbon street, that is bourbon street. looked more like burr-bon street thanks to all the snow. clever writing there. one person came prepared with a pair of skis. in pensacola, the sunshine state was looking anything but.

this is downtown pensacola where they were making snow angels. that's it for us. the news continues at 8:00 on pix plus. we'll see you back here at 11:00. have a great evening. (♪♪) ♪ (slow down) ♪ (♪♪) cut!!!! i get it! slow motion. slow down geographic atrophy. but we don't need gimmicks. stick to the facts. ga, the advanced form of dry amd, can irreversibly damage your vision. but syfovre is an fda-approved eye injection that gives you the power to slow ga. syfovre was proven to slow ga lesion growth over 2 years with increasing effect over time. it's the only treatment to slow ga in as few as 6 doses per year. don't take syfovre if you have an infection, or active swelling in or around your eye that may include pain and redness or are allergic to it.

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