he talked to our katie nielsen tonight over the phone and told her this was a difficult decision for him and his family but he does feel like he has made progress. he also put out a formal statement. part of it says he was grateful for the opportunity to serve and he mentioned his last day will be august 11th. now, all of this is happening as antioch police is being investigated by the fbi. that investigation uncovers dozens of racist and homophobic texts allegedly sent back and forth between officers for years. nearly half of the officers in the department have been put on leave because of it. now at the same time, we have learned chief ford is expected in court this week to testify about that scandal. ford was subpoenaed by criminal defense attorneys who say the department violated the racial justice act. several antioch police officers were also subpoenaed but at least five of them are fighting it saying they have industrial injuries and cannot show up to court. the city has also been hit with a federal lawsuit for violating civil rights. andrea nakano spoke to some of the people

this is what he said when he sat down with katie nielsen. >> this doesn't have to be your battle. you can walk away. >> i could walk away now, but i choose to stay. i am committed to the organization. i am committed to the profession. i feel that everything, all the experiences, all the opportunities throughout my career, i feel that they have all culminated into this moment. i don't believe anything happens by chance. this was -- this was supposed to be. >> we will have all the latest developments from antioch on our website, kpix.com. >>> in oakland, another shooting along 580 now under investigation by chp. witnesses reported somebody firing a gun from a car. it happened in the westbound lanes near grand avenue and traffic was stopped for 30 minutes while officers investigated but all lanes have since reopened with no arrests at this time. this was the latest in a string of oakland freeway shootings including last friday when an eight-year-old was shot during a rolling gun battle. >>> in san jose they are dealing with yet another deadly crash. this will be near capital expressw

our katie nielsen is outside the refinery in martinez with today's public health scare. katie? >> reporter: yeah, liz. this is where both of these emissions happened. the first one was on thanksgiving day last year and the other one happened this morning around 8: 30, leaving many residents to question whether enough is being done to prevent these accidental releases. >> all the stacks where they do releases are down. >> reporter: john taylor's home is practically in the shadows of martinez refineries with the tanks visible from his front yard. this is why he said the report about a petroleum coke release was concerning. according to the contra costa county health department, around 8: 30 this morning the martinez refinery company notified them of a petroleum coke release that lasted approximately one minute. it is an and stage product of the refinery process and is black and looks a lot like sort, but sometimes it can contain heavy metals which can be hazardous. that is what incident response teams went to nearby neighborhoods to take samples of the dust that coated everything

back in april he sat down one-on-one with katie nielsen and said he felt at the time that he was the right person to lead antioch through this. >> i have been down this road before. in san francisco we have similar circumstances in my formal organization, so i felt well-positioned to move this forward and get the work done and do what we needed to do. >> we will stay on top of the developments and there will be many when it comes to antioch's search. you can find the latest on chief ford's retirement on kpix.com. >>> the extreme heat coming back inland. tomorrow is another first alert day, and well. there is a lot of haze in santa clara county right now. air quality is not great. let's go to paul heggen who has been keeping track of all of that. i know you have suffered personally because the air has not been great. >> i lost my voice and was not able to talk. the air quality is not great again today. moderate for most parts of the bay area , but these areas had some of the worst air quality, trending towards the unhealthy for sensitive groups category. tomorrow you should reach this

our katie nielsen takes us behind the scenes and livermore to show us how these massive shows are created. >> this is the setup for the fireworks show tonight. more than 500 mortars of all different shapes, sizes, colors and effect, all for a 20 minute show, carefully choreographed by one pirate technician. >> i do it for the love of it. i have been doing it for almost 30 years. >> reporter: this is james wolf. his passion is fireworks. he can pick up any mortar and tell you what it will look like in the sky. >> this is called a comet. when the shell goes up, this comment puts a trail on it. >> reporter: he is the one behind the design of the livermore fireworks show, something he says he can see in his mind after years of experience. >> the customer will say i want the last 20 minutes. you just sit there with an assortment of shells and pick them out. you say on this beat at this time you want this thing to go off. >> reporter: he creates a list of each of the 500 shells in order, then before the show they are loaded into the tubes and each one is set with a fuse that connects to a rail.

the chief told our katie nielsen why he thinks the crimes are the reason why sentencing enhancements exist. >> reporter: this is the shopping center where the robbery happened. two women in their 20s both robbed at gunpoint by a man the police chief says was a convicted felon, was on parole, and was wearing an ankle monitor at the time. >> the facts of the case are very troubling. >> reporter: for the first time in his law enforcement career, he says he was forced to disagree with the district attorney's office. >> i did not feel like i was speaking out against her. i felt like it was a communication to her and an effort to get her to consider the charges that i thought were relevant. >> reporter: this stems from two incidents that happened on sunday, may 21st at the arroyo shopping center in livermore around 5:00 p.m. where police say that this man, 21-year-old colby barry from fremont violently attacked one woman in an attempt to steal her purse, and when he was unsuccessful, targeted another woman by robbing her at gunpoint. the police said they learned that he had already been co

katie nielsen sat down with the chief today. >> the facts in this case are just very troubling. >> reporter: police chief jeremy young has been with livermore pd since 2014 and was promoted to chief in 2020. for the first time in his law enforcement career, he says he was forced to publicly disagree with the district attorney's office. >> i didn't feel like i was, um, speaking out against her. i just felt like it was a communication to her in an effort to get her to consider the charges, um, that i thought were relevant. >> reporter: this stems from two incidents that happened on sunday may 21st at a shopping center in livermore around 5:00 p.m. police say this man, 21-year-old colby barry from fremont violently attacked one woman to steal her purse, and when unsuccessful attacked another woman. they learned he was already convicted of multiple felonies, was on parole, and wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the robberies. they asked for sentencing enhancements to additional jail time for barry if convicted. >> i thought the enhancements would be filed because they apply, and it seems l

as katie nielsen reports, it's the second time in less than eight months residents have been warned about a release from martinez refining company. >> all the stacks where they do the releases, those are down that way. >> reporter: john taylor's home is practically in the shadows of the martinez refineries with tanks visible from his front yard. that's why he says this morning's report about a petroleum release was so concerning. >> there's a lot of dust here now. >> reporter: according to the contra costa health department, around 8:30 this morning, the martinez refining company notified them of a release that lasted problthsly one minute. it's an end stage product of the process and is black, looks a lot like soot. sometimes it can contain heavy metals, which can be hazardous. that's why incident response teams went out into the nearby neighborhoods today to take samples of the dust that coated everything from cars to trash cans. >> because this is mostly -- and because the release is not continuing, right now we do not believe there are any health impacts that would be experienced by t

over the phone, chief ford told our katie nielsen this was a very difficult decision for him and his family. but he feels like he made progress. this is a statement he sent to us saying in part -- that he was grateful for the opportunity to serve and said his last day will be august 11th. keep in mind, all of this is happening as the antioch police department is being investigated by the fbi. the feds uncovered dozens of racist and homophobic text messages between officers for years. nearly half of the officers in the department have been put on leave. at the same time, we've learned chief ford is expected to be in court this week to testify about that texting scandal. ford was subpoenaed by the criminal defense attorneys who say the department violated the racial justice act. several other antioch police officers were subpoenaed but at least five of them are fighting it, saying they have industrial injuries and can't show up to court. the city has also been hit with a federal lawsuit for violating people's civil rights. our andrea nakano spoke with some of the people who are going a

over the phone, chief ford right here talked to our katie nielsen and says this was a difficult station for him and his family but he feels like he has made progress. he said quote, that he is grateful for the opportunity to serve and said his last day will be august 11th. keep in mind, all of this is happening as the antioch police department is being investigated by the fbi, the feds uncovered dozens of racist and homophobic text messages allegedly sent back and forth between officers for years. nearly half of the officers in the department have been put on leave. at the same time, we've learned chief ford is expected to be in court this week to testify about the scandal. ford was subpoenaed by criminal defense attorneys who say the department violated the racial justice act several other antioch police officers were also subpoenaed but at least five of them i should say are fighting it. saying they have industrial injuries and can show up to court. the city also been hit with a federal lawsuit for violating people's civil rights. and andrea nakano spoke with some of the people who ar

now as katie nielsen reports residents have been warned about another release from martinez refining company. >> all the stacks where they do the relays, those are down -- that way a couple. >> reporter: john taylor's home is practically in the shadows of the martinez refineries with tanks visible from his front yard. >> so you know, you can see there's a lot of dust here now. you know, i don't know what that is. >> reporter: according to the continue cost health department, the martinez refining company notified them of a petroleum coke release that lasted approximately one minute. petroleum coke is an end stage product of the refining process and a black, looks a lot like soot. but sometimes it can contain heavy metals. that's why incident response teams went out into the nearby neighborhoods to take samples of the dust that coated everything from cars to trash cans. >> because this is mostly coke, and because the release is not continuing, right now, we do not believe there are any health impacts that would be experienced by the community. however, we are asking people to avoid cl

less than eight months and it's an issue i seconded back then and in the following months, as katie nielsen reports residents have been warned about another release from martinez refining company. >> all the stacks where they do the releases, those are down -- that way a couple. >> reporter: john taylor's home is practically in the shadows of the martinez refineries with tanks visible from his front yard. >> so you know, you can see there's a lot of dust here now. you know, i don't know what that is. >> reporter: according to the contra costa health department, the martinez refining company notified them of a petroleum coke release that lasted approximately one minute. petroleum coke is an end stage product of the refining process and is black, looks a lot like soot. but sometimes it can contain heavy metals. which can be hazardous. that's why incident response teams went out into the nearby neighborhoods to take samples of the dust that coated everything from cars to trash cans. >> because this is mostly coke, and because the release is not continuing, right now, we do not believe there ar

katie nielsen explains how this all went down. >> reporter: this is norm.e is a 2 and a half-year-old bearded collie and monday night he was able to get out of the backyard when a delivery driver left the gate open. but the story of how he got back home after that sounds like the plot out of a hollywood movie. >> i knew things were -- getting sideways when i heard zak say, why are you doing this? >> reporter: this is the dog sitter who was watching norm on monday when he escaped the yard. she didn't want us to show her face or use her name. she says after norm escaped got out, she says a person found him at a nearby shopping center and called the number on his tag, but instead of offering to return him, made a disturbing demand. >> he's asking for $1,000 or we'll never see our dog again. >> reporter: that's when the dog sitter called sunnyvale police. >> it was menacing like -- they were never going to see the dog again unless they paid the money. >> reporter: officer kevin morton was working the night shift on monday and was assigned to the call. he and hi

katie nielsen explains. >> reporter: this is norm.s able to get out of the backyard when a delivery driver left the gate open but the story of how he got back home after that sounds like the plot out of a hollywood movie. >> i knew things were -- getting sideways when i heard zach say, why are you doing this? >> reporter: this is the dog sitter who was watching norm on monday when he escaped the yard. she didn't want us to show her face or use her name. after norm got out receive she has a person found him at a nearby shopping center and called the number on his tag but instead of offering to return him, made a disturbing demand. >> he's asking for $1,000 or we'll never see our dog again. >> reporter: that's when the dog sitter called sunnyvale police. >> it was menacing like -- they were never going to see the dog again unless they paid the money. >> reporter: officer kevin morton was working the night shift on monday and was assigned to the call. he and his supervisors came up with a plan for a sting operation. >> that's where he ag