we have our thom jensen live in downtown walnut creek and, thom, it's tough. we all need to remember not to let our guard down with masks and social distancing. >> reporter: and we are seeing a lot of people out. around my house a lot of people out, a lot of people outside on sidewalks, too. and that is good for businesses. medical experts are saying there is just too much closeness right now. that is a good thing normally during the holidays but not right now. with the current surge and the presence of the virus running at high rates everywhere in general even if we're masked, if people are too close together it's not good and they say that's true even outdoors. >> and the problem is when people are too close together that is an opportunity. not distancing means you have to be away from each other by at least six feet even with your mask. that's the rule. >> reporter: nbc bay area caught up with some. they admitted they had to get out but others said there were last-minute gifts they had to get. medical experts say the best gift is to stay masked up, stay dis

at the federal corrections institution in dublin for her part in the 2019 "today in the bay's" thom jensen thom? >> reporter: good morning, guys. yeah, we got confirmation from the federal bureau of prisons just a short time ago, not the exact time she was released. but earlier we talked about this happens with the high-profile people, they get released. a lot of times it happens when it's dark in the wee hours in the morning. we saw a lot of vehicles leaving the institution here in dublin. she apparently was in one of them. she did turn herself in to federal authorities back in late october in los angeles. she has served her sentence and paid $100,000 in fines along with her designer husband mossimo giannulli. the two of them admitted that they were involved in the college admissions cheating scandal. they paid $500,000 to a key figure in the scandal who helped get their daughter in the university of southern california through the admission board by convincing the admissions folks that they were elite crew team recruits to the college. that all ended up to be false. both of them, again,

thom jensen is in vacaville with a response from the police department, which says the video does not tell the whole story. >> reporter: roberto was just rolling up to a work warehouse next to a fire station when he heard a dog yelping loudly. >> the dog was crying. the dog was crying like somebody was running him over. >> reporter: he couldn't believe what he saw, a man later identified as a vacaville police officer repeatedly punching a dog. in the video the officer has the dog pinned and appears to strike the animal in the head. vacaville police captain tells nbc bay area the incident is being investigated but says the video may not tell the whole story and believes it's too soon to call this animal abuse. >> there is times during k-9 training, as i understand, that the dog is -- can be struck. >> captain matt lieden says the department has reached out to a third party vendor that it uses for k-9 training to determine if this was appropriate discipline. as far as sitting on the dog goes, he says the officer had to gain control of the animal after it lunched at him and tried to bite

he's not alone in his defiance as thom jensen discovered. customers are coming from miles away to show their support. >> reporter: this is what a wednesday night looks like right now at this restaurant in danville. even though the restaurants are only supposed to offer delivery and pickup services due to the covid-19 surges. a bustling business in outdoor dining and enclosed patios. some of the people walking in for the first time. >> i came here on purpose because they're open. >> reporter: george drove from walnut creek specifically after hearing the owner was being fined by remaining open. >> i'd go an hour to help someone trying to feed their family. >> reporter: after this much time in pandemic mode, outdoor dining leaves few choices forget togethers which are ultimately going to happen. >> outdoor dining, you're pushing people into people's homes, making people sick. >> reporter: appreciating the sentiment from his walnut creek neighbor. >> if someone opens up in walnut creek, i'll be there tomorrow. >> reporter: a ban on outdoor dinin

. >> nbc bay area's thom jensen, when will the hospitals start to administer the vaccine? >> reporter: that is still up in the air. we have not gotten any response from the hospital with that question yet. yes, 2,000 doses, just 2,000 arriving here at sf general today. a lot of relief from the frontline workers that were finally on the attack against this virus. but also a warning from public health officials not to let your guard down yet. the virus is everyone, and most of us won't even be eligible to get the vaccine for several months. confirmation that the first 2,000 bay area doses of the coronavirus vaccine arrived at san francisco general this morning also came with a sobering reminder from san francisco's top health official. >> it will be a long rollout and too late for this surge. >> reporter: public health director dr. grant colfax laying out the bigger problem. just as the vaccines start coming in, icu capacity down to 7% statewide. >> and it doesn't appear that this downward trend will be changing anytime soon. >> reporter: dr. colfax now estimates san francis

nbc bay area's thom jensen reports on those experiencing unemployment for the first time, hoping more stimulus money comes soon but thankful for a real meal today. >> reporter: this is a first for danielle iglesias and her 4-year-old daughter, mia. >> it's been okay. we're just trying to tell her we'll be okay. >> reporter: they enjoyed a prime rib dinner prepared by glide community outreach christmas eve and back in line for turkey, ham, and the trimmings today. now jobless, this holiday meal added a bit of normalcy for this little girl, who opened her presents in a nearby shelter this morning. >> i just want her to feel like we're at home and everything, yeah. that's why i'm walking here. >> reporter: glide has seen more people like the iglesias family ten months into the pandemic. unemployment benefits beginning to run out and no job prospects. >> the people we serve now are those that are still remaining on the streets. but then a lot of people who are trying to make ends meet. >> reporter: glide delivered 200 meals and estimates it will feed as many as 1,500 people by the end of

"today in the bay's" thom jensen is live outside of that facility. sometimes high-profile people like this are released in the wee hours of the morning. >> reporter: definitely has happened before. good morning, marcus. and at the very least lori loughlin is getting up for her last 5:00 a.m. roll call here at the federal correctional institution in dublin. one of five every day here. it's something she's had to do since turning herself in to federal authorities nearly three weeks early in late october, and after making a very public apology and now she's served her time. the actress and her designer husband mossimo giannulli also paid hefty fines and completing hundreds of community service work hours, paid half a million dollars to a key figure in the federal scandal who helped get their two daughters admitted to usc posing as elite crew team members. loughlin is in the general population, had to be tested for covid-19, and was restricted to no visitors, like every other inmate here due to the pandemic. there was a large outbreak here. about 20% of

we're live in san jose, thom jensen, "today in the bay." >> thank you. >>> let's take a live look for you this morning. this is where last-minute holiday travelers will still be on the go. this is sfo. because of the pandemic, those numbers are down dramatically. holiday travel is off by almost 80% at sfo and then over in oakland, it's down about 70% and then close to 90% down in san jose. now, everyone is being warned to stay home if possible and many travelers we spoke with said they're willing to take that risk just to see family and friends. >> been separated from my 5-year-old and i'm taking a risk to go see him. i'm healthy and i think i'll be okay. >> we didn't see anyone not wearing masks and all arriving passengers are supposed to be warned ahead of time about that ten-day quarantine policy in san francisco and santa clara counties. >>> despite the pandemic, shopping lists need to be checked and completed. we saw the last-minute shopping rush at great maul in mill in m. the gift giving goes on. >>> and christmas eve is officially crunchtime for delivery drivers and workers wh

i'm kira appekl here's a look at what's happening now. >> i'm thom jensen in san jose.news they do plan to hold a christmas eve service tonight that despite the protests from county health officials and the demand that they close down and mounting fines against the church. county health officials really afraid that having the service here could become a super spreader event. >>> i'm cierra johnson in san francisco. if you're one of the families that decided to stay home and follow the shelter-in-place rules the city's top doctor said you helped save lives. according to grant colfax 330 lives have been saved by folks simply following that shelter in place order. the lack of mobility along with people wearing the face coverings have led to. >>> as we check out your forecast, we are going to see some sun and clouds today. temperatures reaching into the low 60s and rain set to arrive tomorrow especially during the afternoon and most of it clears out by saturday. we should see some cool temperatures and sunshine but a new storm system will arrive between sunday night and mon

"today in the bay's" thom jensen is live in downtown walnut creek with a preview and a little bit of what we were seeing last night. hi, thom, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. yes. it is a little bit of what we were seeing last night. expect to see more of the same today. unfortunately, what we are seeing is too many people too close together indoors and outdoors and too many people, quite frankly, with the chin diapers on, the mask all the way down on their chin or noses hanging out and too close together even outdoors. medical experts warning that even outdoors we need to follow the rules of social distancing and masking is important with the surge and the number of coronavirus cases out there. covid-19 cases in hospitals, surging icu beds full and the uncertainty with this new strain of the coronavirus out there not knowing where it is exactly how contagious it is. they say that we need to do those practices at all times now. nbc bay area caught up with shoppers. some said they had to get that last-minute gift still. >> you don't want your kids to not get what they want dur

"today in the bay's" thom jensen spoke with some of his survivors after it was finally all over. >> i'mkful and amazed that it all turned out. >> he deserves every single second and i hope he lives a very, very, very long life. >> reporter: the sentence for waller a resounding one. a total of 897 years to be served consecutively. >> i never have to think about him for one more second of my life and that is the greatest relief i could ever ever feel. >> reporter: in three weeks he will send his 61st president in prison and likely every other birthday until his death. >> knowing though that he's not going to do it to anybody else is the most amazing thing ever. >> reporter: waller's known kidnappings and rapes continued to 2006, targeting mostly asian women in sonoma, contra costa, and butte counties. he went undetected until 2018 when prosecutors discovered dna taken from the crime scene in the women's homes, closely matched one of waller's family members' genetic dna on a website. >> there were so many people that were being looked at as potential suspects. >> the oakland police departm

i'm thom jensen in walnut creek this morning. you get in that last-minute christmas shopping to warn people to wear your mask, social distance not only in the stores but outside as more and more will be on the sidewalks walking shoulder to shoulder. try to stay apart and stay safe and ring in the holiday. >>> we're going to check in with meteorologist kari hall now for our forecast on this christmas eve eve. >>> we are waking up to sunshine and it's a cold start. we will have a nice, sunny day. as we go through the forecast we'll have more dry weather for tomorrow but then on christmas day we'll be awaiting rain and will have more updates on that, kira? >>> thanks. marcus washington will have another local news update in half an hour. until then, back to "today." >> nancy pelosi firing back by agreeing with the president, tweeting "let's do it!" so what is it it mean for the future of the bill? when can americans expect to see a stimulus check, and how much will it be? we're live with the latest. >>> then, home for the holidays?

we're live in san jose, thom jensen "today in thebay." >>> last-minute holiday travelers are still onhe go, but because of the pandemic holiday numbers are down drastically. almost down 80% at sfo and 70% over in oakland and close to 90% in san jose and everyone is warned to stay home if possible. many travelers we spoke with said they're willing to take that risk to see family and friends. >> been separated from my 5-year-old and i'm taking a risk to go see him. i'm healthy and i think i'll be okay. >> we didn't see anyone not wearing a mask and all arriving passengers are supposed to be warned ahead of time about that ten-day quarantine policy in san francisco in santa clara counties. >>> of course, mreplenty peoplet and about despite the pandemic despite the last-minute christmas shopping. we found the parking lot packed even though most in-person holiday parties are canceled this year, the shopping must go on. >>> today christmas eve is officially crunchtime for delivery drivers and workers trying to get your packages delivered in time. and the pandemic has put a new sense of urge

. >> reporter: good morning, i'm thom jensen in dublin. lori loughlin is freed.he was freed from the federal correctional institute in dublin this morning after serving a two-month prison sentence. freed this morning after being released from prison. >>> some rain overnight. vianey arana is in for kari hall this morning. how are we looking for the rest of the day? >>> the rain is clearing out and it's going to be a lovely afternoon with a nice mix of clouds in san jose. it's going to be really fresh and clean out there. we know when the rain moves in, once it moves out it leaves behind some great air. a beautiful start to our morning. the last of the rain pushing through and things will get quieter into the afternoon. our temperatures will be in the 50s. upper 50s down through the south bay. our next chance of rain moving in wednesday night into thursday morning. back to you. >> sounds good. i'll be back in about half an hour. hope to see you then. >> that ball is still going to drop, but as kristen mentioned, it is going to be closed to the public, but you can w

nbc bay area's thom jensen joins us now to tell us what you can expect from next week's vaccine. >> reporter: this is what it looks like to prepare for the worst. richmond's craneway pavilion now set up as a makeshift hospital in case area hospitals run out of critical care beds as predicted in the next few weeks. the news from governor gavin newsom that 20 million vaccines could be in the state before the new year is music to the ears of frontline health care workers, who would see patients here. >> we're working on a planning assumption of 2.16 million doses of the vaccine within the calendar month of december. >> reporter: newsom said the state is getting its original order of vaccines from pfizer, about 327,000, as early as next week. and now will add enough from moderna and other vaccine makers to likely give the needed two doses to about half of the state's 2.4 million health care workers in the first wave of vaccinations. the chair of uc san francisco's epidemiology department says the announcement offers new hope to those trying not to burn out on the front lines. >> and it's coming