today in the bay's tom jensen shows us. >> after two years of closures and cancellations, tourists are returning to union square in sizable numbers. >> it is time to tell a different story about union square. >> lauren is the owner of c. the galleries and the mom of 30 feet began ransacking the retailers. >> i was here the depths of the pandemic when everything around me was closed, and i felt unsafe in union square. >> reporter: but she says that the police chief stepped up the patrol, and brought the thieves to justice. he has caught most of the thieves in that incident. he appreciates the police being there especially more and more visitors are in town. >> reporter: yes, i have been seeing it. >> and not only visitors, but people traveling from afar. >> i have seen a measurable difference in the last couple of months. >> that difference is the renewed sense of security bringing back crowds and vibrancy, and the signs that union scare may be recover ing from the pandemic, and the crime sprees that were keeping people away. in san francisco, tom jensen nbc bay area news. >>> we mentio

tom jensen has more. >> it has been a long time for cesar chavez families. >> all we're trying to do is keep our schools open. >> reporter: parents watched as board members voted to transform cesar chavez into an education center for kids preschool through kindergarten. the superintendent met with parents on campus two weeks ago and it seemed like the decision was already made. >> once we got here, she dropped the bomb, okay, we're going to turn this into basically like a daycare. >> reporter: the district's early learning director says it's part of meeting california's universal pre-k initiative to help jump-start kids' learning before age 5. a year of school to bridge preschool and kindergarten. >> environment really matters for these children. they may not have the language, but their brains are ready to learn. >> reporter: many students moved to cesar chavez after their former school closed and she's afraid, once they're relocated, their new school will also be closed. >> we love this school. why take it away from us. >> reporter: other parents and community leaders applauded the

let's bring in nbc bay area's tom jensen. >> reporter: prosecutors say 35-year-old anessa paige do youer gower engaged in nurm sex acts with seven boys between 2021 and february 2022. 29 federal charges filed in contra costa county including allegations of sex with minors, inappropriate touching and sharing sexually graphic material online. >> we believe we have identified all the victims, but i've been doing this a long time and there's always a possibility there are additional victims. >> reporter: graves wouldn't go into more detail but a detective with richmond pd told me gower had sex with at least two of the boys. investigators say all seven of the victims were high schoolers here at the upper school. boys between 16 and 17 years old. gower was not arrested here at the school where she was a biology teacher. she was fired here in february. instead, she was arrested in sacramento at the airport just as she returned home from two weeks in hawaii. graves says he's familiar with the 2016 case involving a middle school teacher at making waves who molested 15 boys between 2011 and 2013.

in richmond tom jensen, nbc bay area news. >> late tonight making waves charter school released thistement to us saying gower has been fired and "there is nothing more important than the health, safety and well-being of our students." making waves has reached out to parents to provide support where it might be needed. >>> new at 11:00, there could be other victims. that is the fear san pablo police have arrested this man, 22-year-old romel salad nado. he's a dental assistant accused of sexually assaulting a boy. investigators say it happened during an appointment. the boy's mother was told she couldn't come in the room. the suspect previously worked at western dental in el cerrito. anyone with information is asked to call the police department. >>> okay. the heat is behind us and the wind is now on the way. here's a live look in dublin. we are under a microclimate weather alert at this hour. the wind is expected to pick up overnight, triggering a rare red flag warning in april. let's bring in meteorologist rob mayeda who's tracking the wind and the fire danger as we head into this we

tom jensen. nbc bay area news. >>> oakland teachers just announce ad one-day strike for this friday because they're upset over planned school closures. the association made their intentions known just today. the teachers union plans on picketing outside oakland unified schools starting 6:30 a.m. on friday. the teachers have been protesting the district's planned closure of several schools by next year. >> this is a strong message to the oakland unified school district, to the majority school board. a strong message to our elected leaders that we as a community are united against school closures. >> oakland unitified called the potential strike illegal and release ad statement that reads, if this is correct, we demand that oea immediately cease and desist moving forward with a strike. there is no legal basis for any concerted activity that would justify a strike. this is for noon tomorrow for the union to call off that strike. not just teachers. bay area nurses also planning to strike. there's no

. >> "today in the bay's" tom jensen spoke with one of our experts about the current flu season and the next outbreak. >> it's been a problem since the beginning of the year, but it's getting worse. many of the shelves are empty of the things that we turn to to feel better when we get bitten by the bug, and the pharmacy at this safeway in santa clara looks like many these days. as we move into the third year of this global pandemic, more and more people who feel sick are going to their old over-the-counter standbys to get better. >> my friends are getting the cold medicine instead of really testing. >> these parents have noticed a lack of cold and flu remedies on store shelves and a return to the old routine of treating sicknesses at home. >> sore throat, stay out late at 1:00 in the morning, you know what i mean? this is how you develop your health. >> reporter: bay area infectious disease effort dr. monica gandhi isn't surprised that cases of the cold and flu are picking back up. she says it's something that also happened a year ago when covid cases were in decline. >> when we're in a

tom jensen is there. >> reporter: it has been a long night for students of parents at cesar chavez elementary school. >> they're basically picking out the first through fifth graders. all we're trying to do is keep our school open in our community. >> reporter: she watches as the board members voted to transform the school into an education center for kids preschool through kindergarten. cruz said they met with parents on campus two weeks ago and it seemed like the decision was already made. >> once we got here, she dropped the bomb. okay. we'll turn this into like a daycare. >> reporter: the district's early learning director said it is part of meeting the pre k initiative to help jump start kids' learning before age 5. a year of school to bridge preschool and kindergarten. >> environment really matters for these children. they may not have the language but their brains are ready to learn. children are born ready to learn. >> reporter: but she says many students moved to cesar chavez after the former school closed and she's afraid once they relocate, the new school will also be closed. >> we

that's where nbc bay area's tom jensen picks up the story. >> reporter: we still don't know what provokedtest attack. but these attacks against people in the aapi community have gone up dramatically since the start of the pandemic. in 2020 there were nine in san francisco, and last year that number jumped to 60. now another one. and this latest attack was against a young asian woman on a busy north beach street. an nbc bay area reporter was there with his cell phone just as san francisco police detained the suspect at about 1:30 this afternoon. he was taken away on a stretcher. no word from sfpd about why or who he is. but they tell nbc bay area the man was running with a knife and people told officers he's the one who assaulted the woman just a block or so away on columbus. >> he cracked this young asian girl on the back of the head. >> reporter: libby staub has seen videos of the attacks in the past but this is the first time she witnessed one. she wondered at the time if the woman was targeted because she's asian. after hearing what the man said after hitting her. >> she fell down. he

in contra costa county, thom jensen, nbc bay area news. >> tom, thank you. in the meantime, we are still following a developing story out of morgan hill. the search is on for a missing child believed to be taken by her mother. take a good look at these pictures right here. chp says 7-year-old ophelia bushman may have been taken by her mother. chp describes jabr as a suspect in this case. ophelia hasn't been seen since last night. she was wearing a light-blue sweater, glittery shoes, and a rainbow hair tie. this is the license plate number of the car they may be driving in. chp says it's a beige 2017 hyundai elantra. if you see ophelia or jabr or their car, you are urged to call 911. >> moving you forward tonight. covid rules have loosened again. california's no longer have to prove they are vaccinated to attend concerts, sports games, or other big events. the restrictions lifted yesterday for indoor venues with more than a thousand people. the sharks are playing at the sap center tonight. shark tank is aligning with the state and will not be asking fans to s

tom bateman, bbc news, zaporizhzhia, in eastern ukraine. us presidentjoe biden has described russia's actions in ukraine as "major war crimes" and urged the world to hold the perpetrators accountable. donald jensend now director for russia and europe at the us institute of peace — i asked him how you'd going about trying to prove such a case. it's long and its detailed but it's sometimes worth it. the ukrainian government, great humanitarian organisations like humanitarian organisations like human rights watch, the us government, the british government, the british government, i am sure they are painstakingly looking at the facts, building the case, seeing who is responsible and seeing who is responsible and seeing what happened, the pictures in my view speak for themselves. these are war crimes. but we have now, but we didn't have 20 years ago in the yugoslav crisis, for example, we have got much higher technology to identify troops, see who was in the area, we have overhead satellite images. we know for example in bucha what russian units were there. that unit has been pulled back already to belarus, perhaps to keep it safe. so these cases are tedious and i remind you of the notorious mh 17 ai

tom bateman, bbc news, zaporizhzhia, in eastern ukraine. scene us presidentjoe biden has described russia's actions in ukraine as "major war crimes" and urged the world to hold the perpetartors accountable. let's speak to donald jensen now director for russia and europe at the us institute of peace. thank you forjoining us. the thank you for “oining us. the imaaes thank you for “oining us. the images and _ thank you forjoining us. the images and accounts coming out of ukraine at the moment are so harrowing, i rent they? how do you go about approving a war crime? ~ , ., ., crime? well, it is long and detailed — crime? well, it is long and detailed but _ crime? well, it is long and detailed but it _ crime? well, it is long and detailed but it is _ crime? well, it is long and. detailed but it is sometimes worth it. the ukrainian government, great humanitarian organisations like human rights watch, the us government, i'm sure the british government, are all painstakingly looking at the facts, building the case, saying he was responsible, seeing what happens. and the pictures, in my view, to speak for themselves. these are war crimes. what we have now that we did not have, say, 20 years ago in the yugoslav crisis, for ex