christie smith begins our coverage. >> reporter: people here appreciate the extra support. it helps to be moving the line along at a time when demand for testing is so high. people stood in a long line outside antioch center. and today members of the national guard were here to offer assistance >> we're helping everybody here in line sign up through a company called lhi. what it does is makes the process a little bit faster when they're wait anything line. if they are in the front, the process takes 10 minutes for a person to actually sign up. a lot of people are having issues doing it. >> reporter: governor newsom is hoping to expand capacity. demand remains high in the bay area with long waits and testing kits that are hard to find. cases have surged driven by the omicron variant. before the holidays, this site, which does pcr tests, saw 200 people a day. >> it increased 200. we were seeing close to 400. >> after the new year the first of the year, we were seeing close to 600, 700. >> 200 members will be deployed at 50 sites in the state. the state could spend $2.7 billio

that's where christie smith joins us live. >> reporter: i heard from berkeley police. they say the evacuation order for boats and docks has been lifted but of course the tsunami advisory is still in effect. as you can imagine, it has been quite a day for people here that started with leaving in a hurry. the evacuation order was clear, get out of boats, off the docks in berkeley. sarah greenwood was asleep. >> they drove by with patrol boats and also walked up and down the docks with loud speakers, telling us to evacuate immediately. it was about 7:20 this morning. >> reporter: another long time berkeley resident was alerted by a friend. >> got a call from a friend in san francisco, she said be careful, there's something coming. then immediately right after that, then knock knock knock. >> reporter: the red cross arrived to help, some people left, others waited in cars. >> i am more worried about residents of tonga honestly. yeah. we're okay here. >> reporter: a red cross volunteer shared video of water moving near the marina. west coast advisory prompted by underwater

in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >>> we're learning more about a deadly hit and runsan francisco. a 38-year-old man named barry mcgraph was killed. san francisco police say around 7:30 an audi suv collided with a honda at 46th and lincoln avenue. lincoln is right alongside golden gate park. the honda was being operated as an uber at the time of the crash. mcgraph was the passenger and died. the driver was not seriously injured. the driver of the audi took off and hasn't been seen since. people who live in the neighborhood are not surprised by what happened. >> it's a fast track here and also -- and people drive very, very fast on lincoln. >> police say the audi was reported stolen a couple of weeks ago out of san francisco. >>> in oakley, a crash involving three vehicles sent eight people to the hospital. it happened just before 10:00 this morning near the intersection of east cypress road at summerlake drive. one of the cars ended up on its roof. another caught fire. two helicopters and six ambulances were called in to help transport the victims. one is in critical

today in the bay's christie smith spoke to residents that say they are glad to be back home. >> reporter: the evacuation order was clear, get out of the boats and off the docks in berkeley. sarah greenwood was asleep. >> they drove by with patrol boats and walked up and down the docks with loud speakers, telling us to evacuate immediately. it was about 7:20 this morning. >> another long-time berkeley resident was alerted by a friend. >> i got a call from a friend in san francisco and she said be careful because there's something coming, and immediately right after that then knock, knock, knock. >> we have three hours -- >> the red cross arrived quickly to help, and some people left and others waited in cars. >> we are worried about the residents of tonga, honestly. yeah, we're okay here. >> a red cross volunteer shared this video of water moving near the marina. an underwater volcano erupted near tonga. >> for berkeley, that means in the marina there will be waves roughly one to three feet high. >> berkeley police say 113 people were evacuated from the marina shoreline area, and access w

. >> and as christie smith shows us, national guard troops could be found helping out in anitoch today. >> reporter: outside the anitoch community center people spent another saturday waiting in line for a covid test. >> we are here to support in any way that we can. the testing, the state, whatever they need. >> reporter: that support came from members of the california national guard today making sure that people have completed their sign-up before reaching the front. >> what it does is make the process a little bit faster for while they are whiting in line. if they do that in front, the process takes ten minutes per person to sign up. a lot of people are having issues doing it. >> reporter: he tested here before and noticed the difference today. >> today it's better. last time i'm here i went out of line because it's not moving. but it's because the guards are here it's much faster, much more organized. >> governor newsom is activating the california national guard to help overwhelmed testing facilities and to expand capacity. providing interim clinical staff, crowd control, filling

we don't lose food. >> reporter: in oakland, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >>> an ominous warning in ukraine. the state department is ordering families at the embassy in kiev to leave the country as the threat of russian military action looms. nonessential employees are also allowed to leave. there are reports that russia is planning significant military action against ukraine, leading officials to call the situation unpredictable. there's also a warning urging people not to travel to the region because of the rising tensions. >>> it's rarely fun, but tax season has arrived, and it kicks off tomorrow. the irs is warning a severe worker shortage could lead to significant delays. tomorrow is the first day the irs will accept tax returns from last year, but there's still a huge backlog from 2020 because of the pandemic. deadlines to file have been extended in both of the past two years. it's unclear right now if the irs will offer taxpayers an extension this time around. the irs believes most taxpayers will get their refund within 21 days of when they file electronically, provided th

nbc bay area's christie smith has the latest. >> reporter: the signs went up quickly at the berkeley arena about the tsunami advisory. >> i got a call from a friend in san francisco and she said be careful because there is something coming and then immediately right after that then knock, knock, knock. >> reporter: police came telling people to leave boats. sarah greenwood was asleep. >> they drove by with the patrol boats and also walked up and down the docks with loud speakers telling us to evacuate immediately. it was about 7:20 this morning. >> what our office of emergency services determined is that for berkeley that means in the marina there would be waves roughly one to three feet high. so it basically would affect anyone near the water or on a boat or on a dock. >> reporter: about 110 people were evacuated from the area. the red cross responded, and access was restricted. the actions were in response to a massive volcano that erupted near tonga prompting a tsunami advisory on the west coast. >> better to play it safe and make sure that there are no injuries. there hasn't been

nbc bay area's christie smith shows us what is under way. ♪♪ >> reporter: music set the tone at thrivey winter wonderland for a family-friendly celebration on this last day of 2021. >> it's great for the kids out here. it's a good time to bring them out safely, you know, right before the new year. >> reporter: activities and a lively atmosphere around 12:00 today for what they called noon year's eve. >> three, two, one. happy noon year! >> reporter: families were outside chase center glad to have an event like this. >> it's a really cool event for the kids to come and have fun outside. we've been locked in all this time, so we're having a good time. >> reporter: as for tonight, many said they were keeping it simple. >> we're going to go home and rest and watch tv. >> reporter: san francisco's new year's eve's fireworks show was canceled for the second year. it draws big crowds to the waterfront, but there were concerns about the omicron variant and maintaining staffing. some canceled shows, restaurants went ahead with special meals and some events went on. >> it's call the mother of al

christie smith has a look at testing in the city, coming up later in our newscast. >> as covid casesents in oakland do not want their children to return to in-person learning after the holiday break. a group hosted a virtual news conference today demanding oakland unified shut down face-to-face school for grades k through 12. these parents, students, and educators pointed the lack of vaccination mandates, the sharp increase in child infections, and sometimes unreliable covid testing results. >> there is not adequate ppe for our young kids. the vaccination rates of young people are still quite low. and for young children, there is no vaccine. >> this group is encouraging parents to essentially boycott in-person learning, and keep the children at home. oakland unified says it has beefed up its covid safety protocols, including distributing at-home tests, upgrading ventilation, and hosting vaccination events. >>> terry, you will remember the cdc already made big changes to covid isolation guidelines last week. but dr. anthony fauci says more revisions could be coming soon. last monday,

nbc bay area's christie smith. >> reporter: the evacuation order was clear, out of the boats, off the docks in berkeley. sarah was asleep. >> drove by with the patrol boats and walked up and down the docks with loud speakers telling us to evacuate immediately. 7:20 this morning. >> reporter: another longtime berkeley resident was alerted by a friend. >> called from friend in san francisco, said be careful, there is something coming. immediately after that, knock knock knock. >> we heard three hours with no water above a foot. >> reporter: red cross arrived quickly to help. some left, others waited in cars. >> worried about the residents of tonga, honestly. yeah, we're okay here. >> reporter: red cross volunteer shared this video of water near the marina, west coast advisory prompted by volcano that erupted near tonga. >> for berkeley, in the marina will be waves roughly 1 to 3 feet high. >> reporter: police say 113 people were evacuated from the shoreline area and access was restricted. >> better to play it safe and make sure that there's no injuries. there hasn't been any injuries re

. >> today in the way's christie smith continues the coverage. >> the line for testing wrapped around the block in san francisco's mission district. with the latino task force, the concern keeps growing about the omicron variant. >> i think kids are trying to get tested before they school, to get tested after they have been positive, and others are just feeling sick. >> people will get results of the rapid test within hours. >> we went online and were anyone to make an appointment yesterday. >> some families came to the testing option at san francisco unified as students returned to class, many parents hoping for peace of mind. >> it's hard to find, which we were hoping to do, and then when the district came out that these were available, we jumped on it. >> it's not required. we highly recommend it. we know rapid tests are hard to come by. >> several hundred more were available to take home, and there were walk-ins. >> we know -- we expect tests to arrive from the state and that won't be later this week so we took the opportunity to partner with the department of public health to do

christie smith shows us the challenge that a lot of families are facing. >> reporter: at walnut creek intermediate school, parents picked up free rapid antigen tests today. they are not required but are requested after the winter break. we spoke with one dad who picked up kids yesterday at the district and dropped his kids off today after they tested negative. >> we had a test message saying we're having a drive-up. and we pulled up. and they said how many to you need? we have four kids, so they gave us four. it was really easy. >> reporter: this was the testing line at the willow creek center where the mt. dee dee and blow district was offering tests. >> it's worth it if you want to know. it's worth it. it's good for your sanity, and you're helping everybody else. >> reporter:s on the peninsula a similar scene. those who couldn't wait, they're passing out 10,000 rapid test kits today and tomorrow at foster city school sites. and in oakland, 41,000 take-home tests were distributed before the winter break. >> we feel like we've reached the broad majority of the people across the distri

. >> reporter: in sonoma county, christie smith, nbc bay rea news. >>> several covid testing sites reopened. a software outage has now been resolved. as we previously reported, appointments on monday and tuesday had to be rescheduled due to that problem. >> we know it's tough finding a covid test right now, and we are here to help you. go to our website. you can click on covid testing locations on the trending bar. we list sites that are offering tests, break it down by county so fd a place close to you. >>> police believe speed was a factor in a crash near lake cunningham regional park. investigators say a suv was speeding when it collided with a mini van near the intersection. the driver of the men van did die at the scene. >>> oakland police are hoping this year won't be a repeat of last year. in 2021 the city recorded 134 homicides. among them, 23-year-old jasper wu. he was killed while riding in the back seat of the car while his mother was driving. he was in his car seat at the time amani morris and kevin nishita also were killed. we will hear about ghost guns and making the area safe

. >> christie smith, nbc bay area news. >>> isn't that pretty as we get up on this fine monday morning a holiday morning. first i heard of the tsunami was from vianey arana on saturday morning, and she was warning everybody with the bright red maps staying say away from the sea shore. >> yeah, everybody was sleeping and it was a sunday morning, and people were going to go and want to walk along the beach because the sun was beautiful in the sky, but there were dangers in the water. glad you got that, scott. we have sprinkles to the south. we have had this move in but no measurable rain out of this. other spots you will not notice it at all. it will clear out by mid morning. fog and visibility, we are still seeing the dense fog up through santa rosa. two miles through santa rosa, and then the livermore and tracy area as well. four miles in through novato. not as bad through the south bay. we will see the mix of sun and clouds where it looks gloomy. temperatures are cool and comfortable now. full forecast coming up in a few minutes, scott. >> looking forward to it. >>> taking steps to co

in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >>> now families in the east bay are scrambling to find child care or switch their schedules because of the covid surge. with contra costa county school district closing on friday and monday to team clean. it impacts 28,000 students. imagine how many families that is. meanwhile, martin luther king jr. in richmond, ten kids tested positive on monday. >> positive test, covid-19 test. for me, for my little sons, it's better to study at home. >> the superintendent is telling students and staff to stay home. . >> right now we are holding a phone bank. can you call this number on your screen, 408-970-2999. you can call in with questions of anything with the omicron variant, the vaccine and mask questions you have. you can also go to nbcbayarea.com. we've put together a list of commonly-asked questions. >>> let's get a live look at the u.s. capitol, a year after the january 6 insurrection. today very different there. last year's violence started after president trump at a rally nearby urged the crowd to march to the capitol and quote, sto

. >> reporter: in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> that's all optimistic for us here. but across the nation cases are still high. data we want to show you from the "new york times." the counties in purple represent the case. the majority of california is in the purple range, but there is some movement. our positivity rate is slowly dropping. january 10th you saw it was 23.1%. now it's gone down a bit. we're at 20.7%. >> a covid outbreak has forced an east bay homeless shelter to close. it's called st. vincent depaul. this is a shelter on san pablo avenue near grand. some of the guests were moved to a hotel shelter to quarantine, but at least ten guests who did not test positive have had to find another place to sleep. no word on when that shelter will reopen. >>> another threat coming from oakland teachers tonight. the teachers union president says if the district does not commit to an updated safety plan in the next 48 hours, teachers will vote whether or not to strike. melissa colorado spoke to the union president and an oakland parent who believes schools are still

. >> reporter: christie smith, nbc bay area news. >>> tense moments in san jose as police tried to capture a man smashing car windows and businesses with an ax of all things. they got a call and the man was reportedly throwing things at police. he broke into a gym where he barricaded himself inside for about an hour. he used a refrigerator and bicycles to try to keep police from going inside the gym. police eventually got him out, and he was taken away in an ambulance. the gym owner believes the suspect does need help. >> when something like this happens, we want to go to the negative aspect of it, but i think it's a good time to sit back and think about mental disability, right, and how we maybe as a society, we don't quite deal with that like we should. >> very compassionate man. that gym owner says he's out about $4,000 to $5,000 worth of damage and has fingers crossed that insurance will cover it. >>> a lifeline for homeowners struggling to make it in the bay. it's for the 12% of homeowners facing foreclosure and 6% behind on mortgage payments. the federal government is making a billio

here is nbc bay area's christie smith. >> we packed to go to higher ground just in case. >> reporter: these neighbors are grateful today in tiburon, they have a waterfront apartment unit and kept their eyes on the wild conditions outside saturday morning. >> we could see the water was coming in with a lot more force than we have ever seen, before. >> reporter: therapy concerned about potential danger from the tsunami advisory in the bay area because of the massive volcano that erupted near tonga. then, they learned a dock by a neighbor's unit had come off. >> we saw this morning when they actually pulled it and they were bringing it back which was, you know, quite an effort. three people just trying to, you know, corral it. >> reporter: marin county sheriff tweeted a photo yesterday of dock damage in the richardson bay area. and advised avoiding travel to coastal areas to observe surges. >> i didn't know it was gonna happen so i just kind of avoided it, altogether. >> reporter: heather stayed inside yesterday, and noticed differences even today. >> it is definitely higher than it typi

. ♪♪ >> reporter: in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> the developing story for youht now. thousands still have no comcast service in the east bay after an early morning shooting. comcast's spokesperson confirmed around 15,000 to 20,000 customers have no service right now. they told us fiber lines near eastmont mall were hit by gunfire about 3:00 this morning. someone did fire 17 rounds into the air there. they went out, checked it out. didn't see any damage when they were out there. comcast, our parent company, says they are working to fix that problem. >> san francisco police are looking for a man who they say crashed into an uber ride killing the passenger inside. police say at around 7:30 last night, an audi suv collided with a honda at the intersection of 46th and lincoln avenue. that's right next to golden gate park. the honda was being operated as an uber at the time of that crash. this happened during that uber ride. he died shortly after. the driver of that audi took off and hasn't been seen since. police say the audi was reported stolen a couple of weeks ag

. >> reporter: in tiburon, christie smith, nbc bay area bay area news. >> tonga remains covered in ash. we've just learned a surveillance flight from new zealand has been launched to inspect the damage. satellite images captured eruption friday with ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the pacific ocean. the sonic bum could be heard as far away as alaska. the eruption cut tonga off from the world, leaving many to wonder about the situation there. so far there are no official reports of any deaths. for the latest on this story, head to nbcbayarea.com and click on the link on our trending bar. >>> a stark warning from the u.s. surgeon general today, dr. murthy said omicron has not peaked in the u.s., not yet. he's warning the next few weeks could be very difficult in many parts of the country as hospitalizations and deaths rise. the highly contagious omicron variant has fueled an explosive surge in the last 24 hours. more than 800,000 cases have been reported nationwide. in an interview on cnn's "state of the union" dr. murthy said states in the northeast are seeing plateaus b

nbc bay area's christie smith spoke with people in the oakland hills trying to make the best of it. >> reporter: in the oakland hills, russ taylor still remained without power most of the day sunday. >> all day yesterday, and half the day today. >> reporter: okay. >> so far. >> reporter: a neighbor shared pictures of the damage when a huge tree fell in the neighborhood early saturday morning, hitting a car and knocking down power lines. today pge crews were on scene working to restore power. taylor was hoping the lights would be on until late afternoon. he said he managed last night. >> we have a gas stove so i made some pasta and we had dinner by candlelight. we managed to cope. >> reporter: and it was a night he won't soon forget. >> it was so windy, i thought the house was going to blow down. >> reporter: crews also worked to restore power after another tree fell nearby. pg&e says extra crews and resources are in place, but people in the community say they're used to power outages with the threat of wildfires there. >> we have a propane generator with a couple of barbecue tanks. th

. >> reporter: in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >>> well today was the day free n95 masks from the federal government were supposed to start arriving at pharmacies and grocery stores. but it appears, at least here in the bay area, no luck. walgreens says n95 shipments are still arriving at its warehouses. deliveries will start happening on a rolling schedule over the next few days and weeks. cvs says it expects a rolling-delivery schedule, as well. santa clara county health leaders say these masks are important. >> n95 masks are more effective against any kind of covid. um, the reason we are more encouraging people to use it more now in the age of omicron is just simply because omicron is so much more contagious than, let's say, covid from a year ago. >> walgreens and cvs say it will be updating delivery locations on their websites when the masks do arrive, you will be limited to three per person. >>> what is going to happen with schools the next couple weeks? the wait for a deal continues. we are expecting to hear from teachers and the superintendent of west contra

nbc bay area's christy smith shows us advice for celebrating safely. >> completely booked. all of our tables and chairs are -- are currently reserved. >> reporter: at harry's bar in san francisco, they are ready for the big 49ers game on sunday and the crowd that comes with it. they are holding some walk-up space for regulars and setting up tvs, both, inside and outside. >> we are going to be expanding our kind of the outdoor-seating area. i rented 40 additional chairs from a -- from a local party rental and so we are going to seat as many people as we can outside. >> they upgraded the hvac system a while ago. they are also following city mandates on masking and vaccinations and that's not all. >> we do continue to sanitize everything. we do make our own sanitizer and we do sanitize the tables and menus and -- and everything between each seating. >> reporter: with the lunar new year arriving, the warriors at home, and the 9ers playing for a chance to get back to the super bowl, there is no shortage of events to draw a crowd. >> lots of reasons to be celebrating. >> reporter

. >> in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >>> we are now learning what triggered a trafficn on 580 this afternoon. we brought you this as breaking news at 5:00. chp shut down 580 in castro valley. here's a picture of the scene there. nobody on it. you can see one police vehicle there behind another one. here's a closer look at the scene. chp says they shut down traffic for a possible bomb scare. turned out to be unfounded. officers reopened the freeway after about two and a half hours. that's because drivers also had to deal with this earlier in the day. a crash caused a pickup truck to go through a fence in the center divide and partially onto b.a.r.t. tracks. this is the exact same area as the bomb scare just hours apart. b.a.r.t. had to shut down service, and some lanes were closed while crews cleared the area. train service didn't resume until around 1:30 this afternoon. >>> continuing to climb. today the number of covid infections in the u.s. exceeded 74 million. the milestone comes as millions of home tests are arriving in the mail across the country. the case count r

nbc bay area's christie smith continues our coverage. >> reporter: in oakland, a huge tree crushed a parked car in the rock ridge neighborhood and blocked the whole start. somehow, nrman mcleod didn't notice the strong winds that slept through overnight. >> my wife and i were fast asleep, didn't hear anything at all. and when we got up in the morning, we -- we found that distressing sight. couldn't believe it. >> reporter: there were no injuries, but this is all that's left of the car. and there were others parked across the street. and the power is out. >> we lost power briefly. it came back on, but our -- the rest of our block is still out today. >> reporter: in berkeley, neighborhood stopped by willard park to see a huge redwood tree that toppled off. >> it is a big wind storm. it is sad. it is an old tree. >> reporter: trees and breezes were down in several parts of the city. the berkeley fire department received dozens of always for service overnight mainly for fallen trees and power lines. pg&e worked to restore power to thousands of customers and had extra crews on to handle i

in san francisco, christy smith, nbc bay area news. >> the west contra costa county got thousands of tests. workers said the lines just never stopped. >> i got here at 9:00. we were supposed to start passing out at 10:00. they were already way down the street. it's been continuous. we haven't had a break at all. the district will hand out 30,000 tests today. >>> in oakland, same story. long lines to get the rapid test kits. some say they waited in line for four hours. we'll look at testing demand in the south bay in a little bit. >>> some parents in oakland do not want their children to return to classes tomorrow. parents, students and educators talk about the lack of vaccination mandates, to the sharp increase of child infections. sometimes unreliable covid testing results. >> it's not as ppe for the young kids. vaccination rates are still low. >> the group is asking parents to boycott in-person learning and people the kids at home. they say they have upgraded the covid protocol. >>> the museum teamed up with health leaders to make vaccinations fun and easy for busy parents. >> we t

christy smith has more on today's event. >> reporter: they came to rally and march for justice and tosure people never forget what happened here. it's been one year since he died after he was violently shoved to the ground in what authorities called an unprovoked attack. >> i miss him every day. one year ago my father was walking in this neighborhood when he was pushed. >> reporter: today his daughter addressed the crowd. >> we all have a right to stay safe and walk in our neighborhood without fear. >> reporter: his death sparked outrage and came at a time of rising violence against asian americans during the pandemic. violent incidents like the attack helped inspire a stop asian hate movement. >> but we know when you add hundreds upon hundreds, thousands upon thousands of incidents, these are not coincidences. this is racism. >> reporter: city leaders came to show support, including mayor london breed. >> the fact that we're here today signifies hope for a better future of what we can do when we do come together. >> reporter: carrying a banner, they retraced his steps on his last day

if there is one thing that we all know that they will eventually come back, boom bus, christie, i, kelvin smith transform the research. thank you so much and you guys and time now for a quick break, only come back. the threats of sanctions are being levied as tension at the russia ukraine border continue to escalate straight ahead will discuss the economic impact of the proposed measures. will be right back. mm. up and so now for the past couple of decades, the solution was always print more money, but now that the money printing is causing real inflation and exacerbating all the problems, that solution is only going to make the problem worse. but of course, that's what they'll do, that's what the elite will do. that's what they plan to do. any inconvenience that falls them, they will answer well, we need to print more money, print more money and the food will get in shorter supply and workers will disappear . and the situation get worse and worse because it does never money printing never worked with with james all down through here, holland, this, the larry over here. so your camps are always

if there is one thing that we all know that they will eventually come back, boom bus, christy i, it's helping smith to transform the research. thank you so much. thank you guys. and i'm now for a quick break when we come back. the threats of sanctions are being levied as tensions asked the russia ukraine border. continue to escalate straight ahead. we'll discuss the economic impact of the proposed measures. will be right back. mm. ah ah it's an open secret that private military companies have been playing a role in our conflicts world wide. us government doesn't track a number of contractors and uses in places iraq or afghanistan, the united states army and the military and general is so reliance on the private sector. i would call that dependency, but we don't know who's the on the ground presence of these companies overseas. we just don't out west and private military companies can in their turn, use so cool subcontractors from countries with trouble pass. the chances are quite good that they had also been child diligence. this is i was a child, as a, as in my job professional joe is he's with th

that there is one thing that we all know that they will eventually come back, boom bus, christy i and toby smith transform the research. thank you so much and you guys and i'm now for a quick break, only come back the thread of things are being levied as tensions at the russia. ukraine border continue to escalate straight ahead. we'll discuss the economic impact of the proposed measures. will be right back. mm. ah, ah, ah, still large enough to satisfy the ambitions of jeff, based on, you know, it's that its tentacles in so many aspects of the economy. there's nothing that amazon isn't trying to get into to step by step. the amazon empire has extended its group on the world that walks like a dog in quiet like a dog dog. so amazon looks like monopoly trades like a monopoly makes money like monopoly behaves like monopoly. amazon essentially it controls the market place. it's not really a market, it's a private arena, a wild where a single company controls the distribution of all data products. and the infrastructure of our economy is loose, the will know, according to amazon, up and so now for the

smith, ceo of transformative research. it's great to have you both on the show today. christy. let's start with you now. we know that the federal reserve has been using this term, a maximum employment as a target for months now. so are we finally approaching that target and do we know what it could mean for the funds timeline? yeah, so despite the poor job creation, last month, wages rose and the unemployment rate fell below the 4 percent level that the fed official feels is assailable. so what that means is that there's really nothing to dissuade the fed from raising interest rates in march and shrinking its balance sheet soon after that. and that's the benchmark that they set. so they're going to try really hard to try to stick to it, even though it doesn't tell the full story. because as of mid december, the economy was missing about 3600000 jobs relative to the employment levels from just before the pandemic began. so there are basically 2 story lines here, unemployment rate improved, but the labor force participation rate didn't budge at all. and now this measure includes people who don't have job

and we will be here to cover it along the way. tobin smith of transform new research and boom bus, christie, i think you both for your time and then side b, u and 2022. it kicking off with a new round of media consolidation among the move that appear to be on the horizon warner, media and cbs. looking to sell majority ownership of the c, w network boom bus co host, an investigative journalist. ben swan is looking into the story for us guys among the media moves that are being made are a new round of acquisitions aimed at making media companies not only bigger, but much more valuable. so let's take a look at those. the new york times is bind sports new site, the athletic for $550000000.00. the latest movement strategy to expand its audience of pain subscribers as the newspaper print ads business continues to fade. as of the most recent quarter, the times had around 8400000 subscribers. it has been diversifying this coverage with lifestyle advice, games and recipes. how we need to counter a pullback from the politics driven news traffic boom of 2020 or meanwhile, vox news is planning its own