abc7 news reporter lyanne melendez tells us why. >> reporter: guard dogs attacking black men, a realityvil rights era now embedded in the fabric of american history. yet the art world has neglected to recognize and celebrate african-american art. >> it's often thought of that a lot of the african-american art is less than and it's not as valued, it's not as appreciated. >> reporter: today the fine arts museum announced they have acquired 62 works by 22 contemporary african-american artists. they will now be part of their permanent american art collection. the director of the museum's max holine took over last year and noticed a gaping hole in the collection. >> a big chapter is missing and that's really in this case the whole story, the history, the appreciation of african-american art, especially from the deep south. >> reporter: most of the artists were born in the era of jim crow segregation, carrying with them the memories of their ancestors. the slave ship by thornton dial is a moving image of their transatlantic voyage. while revealing they also touch upon universal issues. >> rac

abc7 news reporter lyanne melendez spoke with don rosenberg who lost his son in 2010. she joins us live from the newsroom. lyanne, that is a name bay area residents will recognize, kate steinly. >> reporter: it is. many have used the steinly case including president trump. don rosenberg is one among many fighting to stop california from becoming a sanctuary state. don rosenberg is no stranger to lawmakers in washington. in 2015 he was handcuffed for interrupting a hearing on sanctuary cities on capitol hill. >> i'm don rosenberg. >> reporter: now rosenberg is speaking to a much larger audience. >> imagine if kate had been your daughter. jamil or drew your son. >> reporter: his son drew was killed in 2010 by roberto gallow who was here illegally and driving without a license. rosenberg wants to stop senate bill 54 from passing in the state assembly. it would help deportations in california. we spoke to him from los angeles. >> they want to not just protect the person who killed my son, but now they want to use my tax dollars to help him not be deported. >> reporter: gall

. >> abc7 news reporter lyanne melendez is live in oakland where a new initiative was just launched to deal with climate change. lyanne? >> reporter: well, if you recall angela merkel, the german chancellor said, we europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands and that seems to be the same kind of approach that the governor of california and environmentalists here are taking when it comes to president trump and fighting for the environment. president trump has refused to sit down with environmentalists about the paris climate accord. the channels of communication have been as follows. the president has had direct contact with gary cone, his chief economic advisor, and a number of ceos. those ceos are in contact with environmentalists and the ceos convey the environmental concerns back to cohn. jason clarke, the chairman of the republican party in san francisco, says the creation of jobs will drive the president's decision. >> it is definitely the motivation. when he was on the campaign trail he said he was going to try to preserve american jobs as what he thought was point

in pleasanton, lyanne melendez, abc7 news. >> another passing, jim little et in san bruno, he won his 1,000th game just last year. in fact, he started the program there in 1976 as a favor to the administration. he ended up staying 41 years. his daughter said he died of complications of als sunday night. jim was 76 years old. >> new at 5:00, hawaii has become the first state to enact law that implements parts of the paris climate agreements. >> the law signed just about an hour ago now, expands strategies to reduce greenhouse emissions in the state. >> the governor says the state looks forward to working with other states to fight global climate change. >> they are counting on other counties to fight climate change. >> the board of supervisors is responding to president trump's decision to withdraw from the paris climate. they vote today clean the environment and seek wider support for its campaign. >> to approach other counties throughout the nation, to join us in an alliance of counties, and to either become signatory to the accords if that's indeed what they allow the city's coaliti

abc7 news reporter lyanne melendez looks at the implications and shows us one group that is trying to help the kids make the grade. >> reporter: in every ethnic group girls did much better than boys in last year's state english test. boys identified less with reading and writing than girls. african-american boys scored the lowest. this is troubling to amos brown whose church sponsored freedom schools. >> that's why we don't have our fair share of students at sclej, at san francisco state. the enrollment is way down. >> reporter: african-american male students are also more likely to be suspended and drop out of school than other demographic groups. identifying with books and the curriculum is important to many african-american male students, but many times what's here isn't always relevant to them. reverend james smith is the director of the freedom school. >> the materials that we're using, the pictures, even the books, many of their faces are african-american. and then their leaders are african-american. >> reporter: an added bonus, music education will be part of their summer learn

abc7 news reporter lyanne melendez has a closer look. >> reporter: the senior pictures are posted on cassel mont high in oakland. the school district will begin calculating this year's graduation rate for all schools. the most recent numbers revealed today show some positive news for oakland. the graduation rate has increased in the past four years from 59.3% in 2012 to nearly 66% in 2016. >> it was achieved by the hard work of our students, our parents, our teachers, and all the staff in our schools. >> reporter: two other programs here in oakland also helped increase the graduation rate, nulk one, link to learning, be in two, dual enrollment. >> so, dual enrollment are rigorous classes that students take where they actually get high school credit and college credit. >> reporter: this way they not only graduate, but get a head start on their college careers. the second program linked learning involved project-based learning and internships, making certain careers more relevant to the student. >> it was up to me to say, you know what, nicole, you're going to break that cycle of corru

in castro valley, lyanne melendez, abc7 news. >>> b.a.r.t. riders who have been eyeing the security cameras on their trains and wondering if they're real can now rest assured however, last week, those cameras might not have been working. it was over a year ago that abc7 news reported that many cameras were fake decoys. b.a.r.t. promised real cameras would be installed and this week, they're fitting the last train in the project with its real security cameras. >>> a brand-new courthouse hoped today in alameda county with very little fanfare. instead, the east county courthouse is already facing trials of its own. the public defender is among those critical of plans to hold criminal arraignments only at the new dublin facility. that could make it harder infer relatives to be present. the presiding judge claims family members usually don't attend arraignments. >>> the minimum wage is going up on saturday in many bay area cities, but some are questioning whether the increase is really helping low wage workers. today, community activists handed ou

in san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. >> jurors heard from witnesses for the first time todayn a sexual assault trial of show business legend bill cosby. he walked into court with one of his cosby show co-stars by his side. keshia knight pulliam played the comic's youngest tv daughter. the trial claims he drugged someone and abused her. cosby's defense team tried to cast doubt on another woman that cosby assaulted her in the 1990s. >> we have new details about the gunman who killed five people and himself at an orlando business this morning. 45-year-old john newman walked into a company and went looking for his victims. the business makes awnings for recreational vehicles. he had been fired from there in april. the sister of a survivor described the chaos. >> she was in the bathroom. she heard a bang. when she come out, she saw one person on the floor. and then she was hysterically crying. >> newman was an army veteran. he had been arrested before for dui, property damage and possessing stolen property. >>> british authorities released the names of two of the three men shot de

lyanne melendez has the story. >> i think when you come out of your home every day and you open the door and 100 flies go into your house. >> reporter: that was reason enough to begin investigating the owner of this home for having an excessive amount of tropical birds in her backyard. >> sheriff's office for animal control. >> reporter: today, animal care and city officials came to the home on jenson home to see how many birds she has and to examine their condition. >> our animal service experts seem to say the birds are being adequately cared for and maintained and fed. >> reporter: neighbors have complained about the stench. nigh flies and the noise. this is video where they were kept, more than 500 birds. today, we confirmed half of those birds have been given away or sold. empty cages and equipment were found at the front of the home. vector control inspectors were part of the team that went in today. the droppings have been attracting flies and insects. also, the planning and zoning code enforcement department says because of zoning laws, the owner can only have up to 50 birds. >>

in san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. >> jurors heard from witnesses for the first time todayal assault trial of show business legend bill cosby. he walked into court with one of his cosby show co-stars by his side. keshia knight pulliam played the comic's youngest tv daughter. the trial claims he drugged someone and abused her. cosby's defense team tried to cast doubt on another woman that cosby assaulted her in the 1990s. >> we have new details about the gunman who killed five people and himself at an orlando business this morning. 45-year-old john newman walked into a company and went looking for his victims. the business makes awnings for recreational vehicles. he had been fired from there in april. the sister of a survivor described the chaos. >> she was in the bathroom. she heard a bang. when she come out, she saw one person on the floor. and then she was hysterically crying. >> newman was an army veteran. he had been arrested before for dui, property damage and possessing stolen property. >>> british authorities released the names of two of the three men shot dead. 27-y

. >> reporter: in san francisco lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. >>> now today the supreme court gave challengerso president trump's travel ban. a little over a week to respond to the government's request to let the order take effect. the court's announcement comes a day after the administration asks for the immediate reinstatement of its ban on travelers from six mostly muslim countries and refugees from anywhere in the world. the administration says the u.s. -- if the policy is put into place. >> today comedian kathy griffin spoke publicly for the first time since apologizing for the controversial president trump photos. she says the first family is trying to ruin her life. >> the president of the united states and his grown children and the first lady are personally, i feel, personally trying to ruin my life. >> in addition to being fired from cnn and dropped as spokeswoman, the two-time emmy winning comedian has had six gigs canceled and that includes a june show at the uptown theater in napa. >>> the busiest aiort in california, there is a plane on the runway every single minute of the day,

lyanne melendez has the story. >> i think when you come out of your home every day and you open the door and 100 flies go into your house. >> reporter: that was reason enough to begin investigating the owner of this home for having an excessive amount of tropical birds in her backyard. >> sheriff's office for animal control. >> reporter: today, animal care and city officials came to the home on jenson home to see how many birds she has and to examine their condition. >> our animal service experts seem to say the birds are being adequately cared for and maintained and fed. >> reporter: neighbors have complained about the stench. nigh flies and the noise. this is video where they were kept, more than 500 birds. today, we confirmed half of those birds have been given away or sold. empty cages and equipment were found at the front of the home. vector control inspectors were part of the team that went in today. the droppings have been attracting flies and insects. also, the planning and zoning code enforcement department says because of zoning laws, the owner can only have up to 50 birds. >>

. >> reporter: in san francisco lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. >>> now today the supreme court gave challengersident trump's travel ban. a little over a week to respond to the government's request to let the order take effect. the court's announcement comes a day after the administration asks for the immediate reinstatement of its ban on travelers from six mostly muslim countries and refugees from anywhere in the world. the administration says the u.s. -- if the policy is put into place. >> today comedian kathy griffin spoke publicly for the first time since apologizing for the controversial president trump photos. she says the first family is trying to ruin her life. >> the president of the united states and his grown children and the first lady are personally, i feel, personally trying to ruin my life. >> in addition to being fired from cnn and dropped as spokeswoman, the two-time emmy winning comedian has had six gigs canceled and that includes a june show at the uptown theater in napa. >>> the busiest airport in california, there is a plane on the runway every single minute of the day, and