in washington, alice barr, nbc news >> president biden is seeking a diplomatic victory he held a virtual summit with chinese president xi jinping last night the first since he took office in january chris pollone is if d.c. with the details. so what do we learn from these talks? >> reporter: good morning. the meeting, the virtual meeting lasted about three-and-a-half hours but the white house says that it proud no major breakthroughs. but the leaders did strike a cordial tone aiming to draw attention from superpowers, like china's military presence in asia a senior administration official says president biden brought up the covid pandemic and expressed the important role transparency plays in addressing global health with china hosting the winter olympics in month, it was rumored president xi would invite them to the games the olympics never came up in conversation both presidents agreed to improve cooperation the two leaders, of course, have met several times over the years dating back to president biden t >> chris, thank you. u.s. officials are condemning a russian weapons test if spac

let's bring in alice barr. >> reporter: as tens of millions of holiday travelers hit the roads this week gas prices are hitting the roof. >> they are really high. what can we do? you know, hang in there. >> reporter: the national average, $3.41, the highest since thanksgiving of 2013. in an effort to reverse that trend, president biden is taking the rare step of releasing 50 million barrels of oil from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve. an action typically used during wartime or storm emergencies. >> help provide the supply we need as we recover from this pandemic. >> reporter: the president coordinating the move with other major energy-consuming countries, including china and india. it's designed to drive down prices and increase pressure on oil-producing nations to boost their supplies. but any impact at the pump would likely be weeks away. >> critics are going to charge the president with making a political rather than economic move, because a move of this size is unlikely to help oil and gas prices in the long term. >> reporter: several republicans are attacking the move, shel

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> $1.2 trillion. it certainly is a lot of money. but the question is will california get its share? to answer that question, we're joined by larry gerston, our political analyst. okay, larry, break it down for us. it does sound like a lot of money. what areas is california getting money in and how much? >> well, you know what, the thing about there, jessica, is you hear a number and you wonder is it a good number, is it a bad number? california is scheduled to get about $45 billion. wow, that's a lot of money. in that sense it's number one. texas, new york will get about $27 billion. if you look at what we're getting per person, per capita, it's $1,250 each. look at other states like montana, wyoming, alaska. they're going to get $3500 per capita, almost three times what we get. is it a lot of money? yeah. is it as much money as you should get? well, it depends on how you look at it. >> and do we already have earmarked the projects it would go toward? >> there are a lot of projects, but the biggest chunk concerning people seems to b

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> alice, thank you. >>> it's happening in virginia. could it happen here in california? virginia voters elected their first republican governor in 11 years. this is a major blow for democrats across the country. glenn youngkin narrowly defeated governor terry mcauliffe. in a state that president biden won by ten points last year. former president trump, who endorsed youngkin is claiming victory. but youngkin did not campaign with the former president. youngkin's key issues were education and critical race theory, which isn't even taught in virginia. >> we're going to re-establish excellence in our schools. we're going to embrace our parents, not ignore them. >> in new jersey's race for governor, incumbent democrat phil murphy is in a tight battle with jack ciattarelli. that race is too close to call. here to talk about the national ramifications, is larry gerston. how did youngkin defeat terry mcauliffe? what kind of voters did he win over? >> it's not a surprise when you consider everything going on. to begin, off years, nonpresidenti

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >>> a rare public rebuke in congress today. the house vote to censure congressman paul gosar of arizona. the vote was 223 to 207 with two republicans voting with democrats. it follows his post of an animated video showing him killing alexandria ocasio-cortez. >>> you will likely recognize him. the man who wore horns and carried a speer during the january 6 capitol attack was sentenced today. a judge sentenced him to 41 months in prison. on the day of the riot, he wore a horned fur hat, no shirt and a lot of face paint. prosecutors say he isn't accused of violence. he became one of the defining images of that day. in court today, he told the judge it was wrong for him to enter the capitol. he accepts full responsibility for his actions. >>> we know the problem. car break-ins are a huge concern in san francisco. smash and grabs have exploded this year. they are expensive and seem unmanageable. why? who is to blame? the police and the d.a. are pointing fingers at each other. tonight, we go for a ride in the city's hardest hit neig

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> thank you. we'll have much more on the veterans day activities and events throughout this newscast. at 6:00, we'll take you to the largest veterans day parade in the south bay. >> moderna is on the defensive, last week, the company announced the fda needed more time to decide whether to authorize use of its covid vaccine for children ages 12 to 17. this came after reports of rare heart inflammation called miocarditis in younger men. moderna's chief medical officer admitted the number of cases of myocarditis is higher than pfizer, but it outweighed the risk, and he touted new data from the cdc. >> we still have all these questions involving these vaccines, especially the holidays approaching now, and a surge seems likely. let's bring in our covid expert, dr. peter from ucsf. nice to see you. should people be concerned if they got one brand over the other? i know i have asked you this before, but it seems like we always need this answer. >> i think people shouldn't really be concerned. i think the

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> thank you. >>> now to the house of representatives that passed the build back better bill, the senate is getting encouragement to change a key provision called salt. it stands for state and local tax and matters especially for a lot of people here in the bay area. let's bring in our political analyst. we've talked about this for many years. salt is about high earners for the most part. give us a quick explanation again. >> there are high earners here, but i mean here not so high. we have such a high area of income and cost of living. what is high in say iowa $150,000, $200,000 here, unfortunately, is not so high. that is what happens with salt. it caps your state and local deductions to $10,000. no more than that. that is fine in iowa or nebraska but not so much in california. quite often housing costs are in seven figures here which means you won't get the property tax in there all of it much less any other tax. when the trump tax cut was passed in 2017, they included the deduction now ending at $10,000. that affects 2.3 million californians and

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> a pill to help fight off covid symptoms. pfizer pharmaceuticals believes it's developed it, and it's asking for authorization. pfizer issues a formal request to the tda for emergency use authorization for its covid antiviral pill. the company says it provides an 89% reduction in covid related hospitalizations or deaths. if approved, it would be the first pill of its kind. it could be prescribed as an at-home treatment during the first signs of a covid infection. you could take it three pills twice a day for five days to combat the virus. >> a bitcoin sell-off for the government. the justice department is selling off $56 million worth of cryptocurrency that was seized during a large ponzi scheme. the scheme allegedly swindled thousands of people here in the u.s. and abroad a few years ago. the take was about $2 billion worth of crypto. it offered investors returns as high as 40% per month. supposedly from a company called bit connect. now, proceeds from the ud to reimburse victims of the fraud. >> okay, it's not an ipo unless

and alice barr is in washington d.c. let's begin with you, matt and what happened in the overnight trade in asia. >> it was an interesting session because the asian markets got off to a weak start tracking the performance you were talking about friday state side. but then as we saw the u.s. futures begin trading lifting a number of markets off the lows however we did see a negative session across many of the markets. it wasn't enough to pull the markets into positive territory and we had declines in the order of 1.5, 2% for the japanese market hong kong down, korea down by 1% the shanghai ending the day essentially flat let's take you to the japanese market, this was the biggest decliner we saw. the nikkei 1.6% lower. you were talking about that flight to safety, a lot of money going into the japanese yen we saw that strengthen, which is, of course, damaging to the stock market there given the large export component, so the dollar yen trading around the 1.13 level. we had news from the japanese prime minister saying that

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> thank you, alice. getting paid to vaccinate your kids -- new york city is offering cash if you get your child the shot. today new york city started giving covid shots children 5 to 11 years old. to encourage parents to do so, mayor de blasio says any parent who gives their child the vaccine at a site $100. >> good news, kids are eligible for the $100 vaccine incentive. we really want kids, families to take advantage of that. everyone could use more money around the holidays. >> the city wants to get as many kids possible vaccinated before christmas. >>> britain is taking the lead on the so-called covid pill. it became the first country in the world to develop the anti-viral pill. it was developed by merck and ridge back biotherapeutics. it's being hailed as a pandemic game changer. uk's regulatory agency recommending the drug be prescribed asap following a positive covid test within five days of onset of symptoms. >>> the likelihood of a house vote tonight on president biden's economic spending plan se

here is alice barr.

today in the bay's alice barr joins us live in washington. do we know what the president is focusing on here, alice? >> good morning, laura. we are going to hear more about these travel restrictions going out that are taking effect today. and certainly from members of the medical team, the president's medical team, they are pushing this message that you need to be vaccinated now. we need to learn a lot more about how this variant is going to interact with the vaccines, but they do believe that you're going to get at least a degree of protection by being vaccinated. the white house in close contact with south africa getting realtime information from them and health officials say that, coupled with the new travel restrictions give a head start on the u.s. response. this morning the race to contain a concerning new covid variant sparking more travel banns. overnight japan joining israel in announcing it will bar all foreigners from entering the country. morocco halting all inbound flights. starting today the u.s. is restricting travel from south

here's alice barr. >> reporter: the price you pay is getting steeper, from food to gas and housing, asort today shows inflation soaring up 6.2% from a year ago. that's the largest increase in consumer prices in more than 30 years. >> the outlook is a little more bleak than we thought. by now there was a sense that maybe prices would be coming down or at least stabilizing from mere. >> reporter: president biden has continually insisted inflation would be short term, tied to economic the president taking a harder line. >> many people remain unsettled about the economy, and we all know why. they see higher prices. >> today, he's visiting the port of baltimore to highlight efforts to unclog the supply chain. the biden administration is moving to fasttrack $17 billion for ports in the newly passed bipartisan infrastructure bill. >> this bill is going to reduce the cost of goods to consumers, businesses, and get people back to work. >> heading into the holiday season, orders and packages are piling up in ports amid a shortage of warehouse workers and truck drivers. >> it's the worst that i

in washington, alice barr, nbc news >>> still to come, he'll need more than a hail mary.kers' quarterback aaron rodgers testing positive after he says he has been immunized. >>> changing one fan at a concert. uchhh!!! so now we use our swiffer sweeper and dusters. the fluffy fibers? they pick up dust easily. grabbing it in all those hard-to-reach places. gotcha!!! and for our floors, sweeper's textured cloths lock all kinds of dirt, dust and pet hair. unlike my vacuum, it sneaks under and around places. look at that!! dust free and hassle free. stop cleaning and start swiffering. good morning! maria! getting that fiber in. nice! ah, the miller's. rising and shining! that's a bright idea. with high fiber and plump juicy raisins kellogg's raisin bran gives any day a sunny start. ♪ ♪ plump juicy raisins kellogg's raisin bran want more from your vitamins? at nature's bounty, we give you more. more immune support. with the only vitamin c that lasts 24 hours. more restful sleep. with the first-ever triple action sleep supplement. we put more of our brains into helping your hear

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as alice barr explains, that could come in a separate case in early december. >> hey, hey, ho, ho! >> reporter: high drama as u.s. supreme court justices take up two challenges to a texas law that has stopped nearly all abortions in the state. the law effectively bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they're pregnant. >> a six-week ban on abortion is unconstitutional and having a devastating effect. >> reporter: because the supreme court has long held state officials cannot ban abortion that early, the texas legislation handed enforcement over to individuals meaning anyone can sue abortion providers or anyone who helps. >> this bill does something that hasn't been done before which is to recognize that life is protected when the heartbeat is first detected. >> reporter: texas is urge being the supreme court to rule it cannot be sued because none of its officials enforce the law, but the u.s. justice department and texas abortion providers want the high court to block texas judges and clerks from taking cases brought under the law. the biden adminis

let's bring in alice barr. >> reporter: as tens of millions of holiday travelers hit the roads this weekroof. >> they are really high.

week as the biden administration works to increase the supply of the child-size doses washington, alice barr, nbc news. >>> the president is other cabinet members will fan out across the country this week to explain what's in the infrastructure bill that just pass. after last week's democratic election losses the president is trying to harness momentum from his infrastructure bill victory. next up, though, an even tougher challenge to pass another trillion dollars package, the bill back better bill, a social safety net and climate change bill. passing the house is promising but finding 50 votes in the senate will be hard. >> i'm sure the senate will make changes. that's the way the legislative process works but we're going to get a strong version of the bill through the house, through the senate, to the president's desk. >> the house will resume work on the larger spending bill a week from today one reason for delay on voting on the plan, some democrats are waiting for a final score from the congressional budget office. joining us now, larry gursten. president biden has wind in his sails as

alice barr live in washington. what do we know that the

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> well, today, we asked consumer investigator chris cimura to dive deeper into the inflation numbers and find out what they mean for bay area families. >> you love crunching numbers, you love trends. what's standing out to you? >> food and fuel, which we already know about. let's talk about gas, it was up 6% from september to october. that's the fifth month in a row gas prices have climbed. aaa by the way, we contacted them. a ganl of the cheap stuff here is $4.85 in the bay area. $3.40 a year ago. that's a little low because lots of people were still staying home back then. in the grocery store, the bureau of labor statistics said beef led the higher priced herd, poultry, fish, eggs not too far behind. i went looking for bright spots. dairy, fruit, and vegetable prices were almost flat. some prices were also down. right now, we're paying less for airline tickets and alcohol than we did a month ago, just not saving enough there to cover the rising cost of everything else. >> okay, thank you so much, and chris, let's dig in. you run a tight budget at

. >>> the omicron variant has been detected in 15 nations, and today in the bay's alice barr live in washington. >> president biden on thursday is going to layout a detailed plan for what exactly that will look like because we are bracing for omicron, but we are already seeing cases rising in many areas because of the delta variant we are still dealing with. and many experts believe it's a matter of time before we start seeing cases of the omicron in the u.s. president biden said travel restrictions put in place yesterday will slow the variant but not stop it. >> the omicron variant, there are questions about how contagious and dangerous it will be. for now the u.s. is not headed for another widespread lockdown. >> we have more tools today to fight the variant than we have ever had before. >> president biden stressing new travel restrictions for eight south african countries, pressing americans to use this window to get vaccinated and boosted. >> this variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic. >> the cdc now strengthening its recommendation to say all adults should get a

in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >>> 6:05. moderna ceo proving existing vaccines will be much less effective at tackling the omicron variant compared to other strains. it could take months before pharmaceutical companies could manufacture a new variant-specific jab at scale. >>> developing for you this morning, this is a warning for seniors here in the bay area. criminals have recently targeted older women, at least four east bay cities all of them walking along and then they lost thousands of dollars in jewelry. one of those victims, 95-year-old francis roberts said she was walking in berkeley on thanksgiving day when a car pulled up with a man and woman in the front seat and two children in the back. the woman got out of the car and put her necklace around her head as a distraction and stole her $2,500 ring and her necklace passed down by her mother. >> we had a pact that she would wear the chain until she died and then i would wear it when i died, and that was our way of keeping up with each other. >> over the past few days

alice barr live in washington. what do we know that the president is focusing on, alice? >> good morning, laura and scott. president biden is unveiling these new travel restrictions that will take place today. restricting inbound travel from several countries in southern africa. that coupled with the fact that top white house officials are receiving realtime information from south africa where this var yabt was first detected. those two things are giving a good head start on the u.s. response. this morning the race to contain a concerning new covid variant sparking more travel bans. overnight japan joining israel in announcing it will bar all foreigners from entering the country. morocco, halting all inbound flights. starting today, the u.s. is restricting travel from south africa where the omicron variant was first detected along with seven neighboring countries. though top health officials say the new strain may already be in the u.s. >> this is a clarion call as far as i'm concerned of saying let's put aside all of these differences that we have and say, if you aren't