i'm raj mathai. what's next for the mom? we have news on when she'll be expedited to the bay area and if los gatos parents have any recourse. bart mandates their employees must get vaccinated. what happens if they don't? will safety and service suffer? and rescuing wildlife after

oil spills. what they found down in orange county. good evening, we begin with breaking news from southern california. former president bill clinton is in the hospital at uc irvine. he's been there since tuesday, but it was just announced within the past 60 minutes. now, it's unknown exactly why mr. clinton is in the hospital, but his doctor did say he hopes to send the former president home very soon. his spokesperson releasing a statement just a short while ago that reads in part, quote, on tuesday evening, president clinton was admitted to the uci medical center to receive treatment for a non-covid-related infection. he is on the mend, in good spirits and is incredibly thankful to the doctors, nurses and staff providing him with excellent care. again, former president clinton in the hospital at uc irvine medical center. we will be following this story th off in san francisco and marin counties, but there is a ca moms

gatos. the 47-year-old is accused of holding drunken sex parties for teenagers, including her own son, is expected to be in stant a clara county back in the south bay next week. today shannon o'connor was in an idaho courtroom. she was arrested in idaho on charges related to those house parties that she threw in los gatos and santa cruz. late this afternoon we learned that o'connor agreed to be expedited to the south bay. she is facing nine criminal accounts, four felonies of alleged sexual assaults that happened at those parties. once she is back in santa clara county, she will be arraigned and presumaea. we're joined by dean. welcome back to the program. you've been doing this a long time. have you ever seen a case quite like this?

>> well, you know, during covid, and i don't know if there is any correlation, we in the criminal justice system have been inundated with cases like this. but this is by far the most egregious case that i have seen with 39 counts, multiple felony counts. this is a major, major violation. >> indeed this might being a two-state investigation, because they're thinking she might have done the same thing up in idaho. you're a former prosecutor in san mateo county. what's the legal strategy here for the santa clara d.a.? >> the important thing for the prosecutor in this case is three words: keep the kids credible. these cases can be very difficult to prosecute because children can be very easily influenced and their testimony can change. so the prosecutors need to keep an eye on their witnesses, make sure that these children are not talked to about the case by anybody but a trained forensic

interviewer, not let them talk among themselves or with their parents about the case so that when their testimony finally does come out, it's consistent to what they said to the police originally. >> it's interesting you bring up the other kids, because there were plenty of other teenagers, allegedly, at these house parties that she threw. do their parents have any recourse here in terms of a civil lawsuit or los gatos high school or anything? >> well, certainly a civil lawsuit. the parents can't sue in their own capacity, but they can sue on behalf of their children for infliction of emotional distress, assault, any number of causes of action. and, of course, within the criminal justice system itself, part of the penalty, if we ever got to that point, would be restitution for any damages that the victims have suffered. >> last question for you, dean. shannon o'connor has two sons herself. they have now been placed in protective custody up in idaho.

what happens to them? >> that's uncertain at this moment. normally child protective services would have custody of them. they would try to find the father or some relative who can provide a safe environment for the children. if that's not possible, then they would be put into foster care until this case is concluded and maybe beyond. >> this is sad on so many levels. dean johnson, thank you for your insight and your time tonight. >> my pleasure. good to see you. >> good to see you as well, dean. let's move on. happy friday. as of tomorrow the masks can come off, but only inside certain businesses and in certain counties. san francisco and marin will be easing some of the masking rules starting tomorrow. today contra costa county announcing it will be making a similar move beginning november 1st. here's what will be different. take a look. you'll be able to go maskless inside offices, gyms, religious gatherings and indoor college

classrooms as long as the location has fewer than 100 people. but there's another catch. everyone inside must prove they are fully vaccinated. again, these rules start for san francisco and marin tomorrow, and in contra costa county on november 1st, so just a couple weeks away. what about the rest of the bay area? we reached out to all the other counties. all of them tell us they have no plans right now to do the same thing. however, they will drop the mask rules for all indoor businesses when vaccination rates are high enough and case counts are lower. also tonight, what happens if you refuse to get vaccinated? we're seeing it with police officers. hundreds of san francisco cops refusing to get vaccinated and facing the consequences. what about b.a.r.t.? today b.a.r.t. becomes the major bay area employer to require vaccinations. the b.a.r.t. board voted 8-1 to implement a vaccine mandate. the rule will apply to more than 4,000 employees and contractors.

the deadline is october 24, so you have some time here. right now 80% are not vaccinated. >> b.a.r.t. as an employer should not be imposing the vaccine on people with the threat of losing their job. >> by adopting this policy today, no one is getting fired tomorrow. no one is being forced to get the vaccine, but this policy states that being vaccinated is a condition of employment. >> so here we go. b.a.r.t.'s general manager says he'll begin discussions with the multiple employee unions about the mandate, about the deadline in mid-december and the potential consequences. so what's going to happen when b.a.r.t. train operators, cops and other employees refuse to get vaccinated? joining us now is the vice president of the b.a.r.t. board, rebecca salzman. nice to have you on the program. the b.a.r.t. deadline is december 14. what happens to those employees that refuse to get vaccinated?

>> so it's too early to say. today the b.a.r.t. board passed a policy statement and it directed our general manager and the management team to the impacts and what that would look get vaccinated. but we will be working over the next two months to get as many employees vaccinated as possible, just as we've been doing the past year. >> and you've seen it just as we have across the country dealing with employees who don't want to be vaccinated. dealing with b.a.r.t., as a regular citizen here, what happens with train delays, keeping b.a.r.t. officers? what's the plan to keep things moving and keeping things safe? >> we already had problems with train service due to covid leave. any time somebody gets covid or through contact tracing, we realize that they need to

quarantine. we've had issues with running trains, so there have been a lot of canceled trains already. it continues to be a problem. that's what we're trying to avoid moving forward. we have plans again to get as many people vaccinated as possible and to be ready to get as many employees out there as pos hit their deadlines, and most of it is out of california, they've gotten a majority of their employees vaccinavaccinated, ans what we're trying to do. >> some do allow their employees to get tested weekly rather than getting vaccinated. why not do something here, or is that on the table currently? >> that could be on the table for people getting religious or medical exemptions, but as you stated, 833 employees at this point are unvaccinated.

we're going to get as many people vaccinated as possible. but if instead we went with a testing program right out of the gate, it would be an immense hurdle to do the weekly testing for all those employees, and that could have an impact on service as well. so we have to weigh all the options and all of the impacts. >> last question, do you expect a battle with the employees' unions? >> so what we expect is for management and the unions to negotiate in good faith over the coming weeks just as they have been for the past several months, and we hope to come to an agreement with them and keep as many b.a.r.t. employees at b.a.r.t. and get them vaccinated as possible. >> we appreciate your time tonight, rebecca saltzman, the president of the b.a.r.t. board. what do you think of the new b.a.r.t. rules? should public transit agencies require their employees to be vaccinated? let's bring in abbey fernandez with a lot of responses. this probably goes in terms of a lot of different opinions with

this, abbey. >> a lot of different opinions, raj, but the comments are pretty 50-50 across all the social media platforms. gabrielle on facebook required no to our question. people should have a choice. if people do decide not to get the vaccine, referring to these public transit employees, then they should be tested weekly for the virus and wear the mask, is what she's saying. another person on twitter, urvi, replied yes to the question saying b.a.r.t. is an infrastructure that many rely on. she said b.a.r.t. helps keep the public safe and anyone that doesn't value public safety is a risk. >> any other response that you're seeing that sticks out? >> i'm going to show you a couple more from instagram. rachel says simply no, she doesn't think b.a.r.t. employees should get the vaccine because she doesn't think they interact

with much of the public. scottie says, yes, they should get the vaccine to limit the risk of friends and family. . >> the president saying they'll have to sit down and weigh all the options if they want to be vaccinated and the options if they don't want to be vaccinated as well. it's high risk city workers getting vaccinated. today out of the city employees, 95% are vaccinated. that means 5% are not. those out of compliance, about 101 workers at the sfpd, 35 members in the fire department, 29 in the sheriff's department. most of those are moving to no-contact roles until a due process hearing takes place. after that they may be terminated. up next here at 7:00, a bay

area police chief put on leave. it's a complicated story involving the chief's daughter, an alleged pimp and accusations of physical threats by police officers. we'll explain. also, saving the wildlife. we're talking to a leading group working to rescue birds after that oil spill down in southern california. you're watching nbc bay area news tonight.

welcome back to nbc bay area

news tonight. this is a twisted family drama and this family happens to be pillars of the community. richmond's police chief is on paid administrative leave chain of events involving their 18-year-old daughter and a man accused of pimping her out. here's nbc bay area's melissa colorado. >> how does any mother deal with something like this? >> reporter: it's a family crisis that's now spilling out in public, and caught in the crosshairs, richmond's top cop, chief biza french, as well as her husband, lee french, who are both on leave. the two are parents of an 18-year-old daughter. their attorney mike raines says the 18-year-old was a straight a student until she got caught up with a man accused of being her pimp. >> we have a parent who loves her daughter and has set high standards for her daughter and has seen her daughter grow through the first 17 years of

her life as an outstanding person. smart and motivated to succeed, only to meet this guy and have her mind turned and completely taken over by this guy. >> last week court records from contra costa county show the 18-year-old filed a domestic violence restraining order against her parents. and there's more potential legal trouble stemming from an incident in september. attorney mike raines confirms chief french and her husband visited mcnair's mother at her home in vallejo. >> there were certainly pleas, anguished pleas by both parents tore the mother for them to return their daughter. >> reporter: she said they

threatened the mother. the parents deny that. the pimp is currently sitting in a prison. >> reporter: now, there is a hearing on october 25th in which they will file that suit by the french's daughter. that's the latest here in richmond. i'm melissa, colorado, nbc bay area news. soon after that recent oil spill in marin county, a group spun into action. they traveled down to huntington beach in orange county with a singular mission, to save as many animals as possible. here's one of the things they do. rescue birds, clean all the oil off the feathers, nurse them back to health and then release them back into the wild. so far they've recovered dozens of animals, but not all, sadly, survived. we're joined by the director of

wildlife care network out of uc davis. doctor, nice to have you on the program. you went to huntington beach right after that oil spill. what did you see when you first arrived? >> when i first arrived, we were covering all the beaches, basically from long beach all the way down to san diego county, continuing to try to recover any animals that could be recovered live, brought back to our purpose facilities, rehabilitate them and hopefully get them back in the wild. >> you're used to this, most of our viewers are not. what are you seeing when you pick up the birds? are they moving their wings? what are they able to do and not do? >> early on in the spill, the birds were completely covered. i mean, basically tar balls, if you will. very heavily coated, but getting them back into our facilities quickly, we were able to return them, and in fact, we were able to return the two heaviest coated birds just yesterday.

so it's heartbreaking when they are in your hands, but it's so rewarding when we can get them cleaned and get them back in the environment. >> you've been doing this with your group for a long time. how does this compare to other oil spills you responded to? >> early in the spill, we were very concerned. a large volume of oil reported spilled, very sensitive area, but we're thankful that the number of animals that are out there appear to be out there and appear to be fairly low right now. we're continuing to comb the area, continuing to try to catch each and every animal that might be affected, get them cleaned up and get them returned back to the clean environment. >> that is some encouraging news. doctor, as we wrap this up, you are the director of the wildlife cares network out of uc davis. do you get funding through private donations, or how do you

survive? >> our funding comes from a very small portion from oil that comes into refineries in california. so it's a really good way to be able to fund the readiness for a program such as this so that when a spill like this occurs, we actually have the furndfundid the ability to send up to 1600 people we've trained throughout the state to be able to recover these animals at a mommy's -- moment's notice. >> that is a very good cause. hopefully we won't need your services again, but it's likely we do. thank you for being with us tonight. >> thank you. let's take you outside. another gorgeous sunset across the bay area. our live cam in san francisco. rob mayeta joins us next to tell us what to expect as we head into the weekend. speaking of what to expect, how

about halloween? do you want something spooky to do? check out our halloween guide on our nbc bay area app. we're back in a moment. ogy. we built the recycling system from the ground up, helping san francisco become the first city in the country to have a universal recycling and composting program for residents and businesses. but it all starts with you. let's keep making a differene together.

hey, everyone, i'm in the middle of a pumpkin patch where you will find pumpkins like this. what kind of pumpkins do you have here? >> we have 46 varieties, some for carving, some for eating, some for decorating. >> those for eating, they're good for you, right? >> they're high in vitamin a and potassium. . >> we have the maze, takes at least 40 minutes to get through. we have a little kids' corn maze. we also have a sand box which is like sand boxes with sand in them. >> don't forget to check out "california live" weekday

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welcome back to nbc bay area news tonight. rob mayeda is with us. i was in the palo alto hills today, clear shot of the bay area. it was fantastic. will we have it again tomorrow? >> i think in the morning we'll start that way. there will be an interesting combination of weather. you'll need a heater for the morning, and at night, our temperatures in the low 60s in san francisco, but by the morning dipping into the low 40s in a few spots around the north

bay, so a chilly start. then for the afternoon, we'll be looking at temperatures trending higher tomorrow. 83 in the south bay, 80s in the north bay. we may see hazy skies as upper level smoke comes around. then stay tuned for sunday. the first of three rain chances coming our way. in this case it will be for the north bay late in the weekend. you see those temperatures trending cooler, and then the chance for another shower wednesday. then could see some heavier rain in northern california. more coming up tonight at 11:00. if the dodgers do advance, they would play in san francisco on saturday and sunday. we might see some rainy weather.

>> possibly sunday, but i think saturday looks just fine. cross your fingers. that will do it at 7:00. for everyone here in the bay area, thanks for joining us. we hope to see you back here at 11:00.

♪ i'm sorry, hold on one second, please. sorry. >> were there warning signs before brittany murphy's sudden death? the new documentary asks that and so much more, including this shocker about husband simon. >> do you know there's a second child? >> excuse me? >> it did get very insecure about it. kate walsh returns to "grey's" tonight as a new book unleashes bombshell after bombshell. >> is it true that the studios really wanted rob lowe to play mcdreamy? >> oh, my -- ♪ and we're just hours away from adele's first new song in six years. but is she feeling the