the rush to get a booster and how to snag that now coveted appointment. this is "today in the bay." good thursday morning to you.

i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. we have a lot to get to this morning on this thursday. kari hall has a look at the forecast. how is it shaping up? >> we're starting out nice and clear. we are going to see a mainly clear morning but still foggy in some spots around the north bay, visibility down to a quarter of a mile. temperature wise, mid 40s in some spots. we starting out at 48 degrees in san jose. it's 43 in concord and napa at 43 degrees. as we take a look at our temperatures and how that compares to our record highs we're going to reach into the 70s but i don't think we'll set a new record. once again, well above normal temperatures. we'll talk more about this and a

look at the weekend coming up in a few minutes. >> you mentioned the fog in the north bay. we have a disabled vehicle on highway 4 in concord. [ no audio ]

>> we'll fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion. >> reporter: the strategy focuses on more widespread vaccinations including boosters for all adults even as scientists are furiously studying how effective current vaccines will be against omicron. >> when you get a high enough level of an immune response, you get spillover protection even against a variant that the vaccine wasn't specifically directed at. >> reporter: the president stressing vaccines for kids to keep schools open and more workplace protections to keep the economy going.

he wants to increase the supply of covid treatment pills and expand free at home testing by requiring insurance companies to cover the cost. and as scientists race to learn more about the omicron variant. >> we don't know how infectious it is, although there is a strong likelihood that it is more infectious than delta. we don't know how sick it will make people. >> reporter: the white house set to tighten international travel requirements, making everyone, including americans arriving from foreign countries test negative no more than 24 hours before flying to the u.s. >> concern about the omicron variant has triggered a surge in demand for booster shots. many vaccination clinics no longer accepting walk-ins. appointments only.

others say they're just trying to get the extra protection. >> we're getting up there in age, so it really feels like a protective measure to do this. >> if you are looking for an appointment, santa clara county says it's releasing additional appointments every day. so our consumer investigator chris chmura put together a how-to video on how to book appointments. watch it on nbcbayarea.com and the app. today marks a somber day in the bay area. five years ago a fire broke out at the ghost ship warehouse killing 36 people. ♪♪ >> beautiful sounds there. a concert to remember the 36 victims has been posted on youtube. it features video and pictures of each person killed.

that fire started during a party in the illegally converts warehouse. it was home to aspiring artists. [ audio difficulties ] >> as we check out dublin, already a lot of your friends up and out the door heading into work. temperatures will be in the low

40s for the next couple of hours. the visibility is clear, no issues with fog in the tri-valley. we're headed for the mid 60s for some spots in the inland east bay and low 70s for san jose down to the south county. a little bit cooler for tomorrow. you have an incident in fremont? >> it's one of the two that popped up on the reports. everything moving smoothly on doolittle. everything through the south bay looks great except for this blip on capital expressway. we didn't see any incidents there --

[ no audio ] >> the one thing that americans are now doing that's making their wallets a little heavier.

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good thursday morning. as you're heading out the door, right now visibility is clear, temperatures are chilly. we're at 43 degrees. another really nice day, in fact, the last day we'll see temperatures headed back to the upper 60s and low 70s. a bit cooler for the weekend. at the san mateo bridge, nice smooth flow of traffic here. it's a clear view here. not quite so clear on another. good morning. wall street is set to open higher as the markets look toward cover from a late day

selloff yesterday after the cdc confirmed the first known case of the omicron variant in the u.s. the dow falling about 460 points after being up by more than 500 points. the dow is on track with the worst week since june. americans are applying for credit cards at rates not seen since before the pandemic. the new york fed says in october nearly 27% of consumers said they applied for a card in the past 12 months, the highest level since 2019 and well above the record low of 16% a year ago. while the data doesn't account for potential disruptions from the omicron variant suggests economic recovery. the ceo of restaurant brands which owns burger king and tim horton's says the company's

speed of service has declined significantly. they say advances are making drive-throughs more efficient. a study out in september found wait times for customers rose by more than 25 seconds this year. coming up, a drone may soon be buzzing above walnut creek. this is part of a plan to combat the flash mob smash and grabs we've recently seen.

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a smooth easy drive right now for most of the bay. you'll have signs lit up likely through san mateo county. the over head signs for that express lane continue to be installed. we still have that crash 680 southbound. the off ramp is open and flowing. a little fog here for the north bay. antioch bridge over in contra costa county. we have this crystal clear view of the golden gate bridge this is great.

>> it's been really dense fog in that same spot that we've seen all throughout the week. we've also seen fog creeping through the delta and into parts of the east bay. we're going to see if that changes throughout the morning. taking a look at our temperatures, reaching into the low 70s in palo alto and san jose reaching 73. also 73 in morgan hill and temperatures in the upper 60s from concord to antioch and livermore. north bay reaching into the upper 60s and low 70s. this evening maybe around union square you'll see temperatures at around 64 degrees for lighting the menorah tonight. it's going to cool off again as we see a few more clouds moving

in. as far as our overall weather pattern, we're still seeing rain farther to the north and the atmospheric river still targeting seattle. the change in the weather pattern is about to start as that high pressure moves away from us and allow that atmospheric river to take a dip to the south. it's really tapped out as far as the moisture and we're not looking at a lot of rain here. parts of the east bay in the highest level of drought and it does look like that continues. we're still in a surplus for a lot of spots but it does continue to shrink with the dry weather we've had recently. temperatures coming down for the weekend into the mid 60s in the valley and san francisco will see some lower 60s in the forecast. time now for your climate hack.

>> there is something so relaxing about enjoying a cup of tea at any time of the day, but you might be surprised to find out that the small tea bags have an impact on our planet. that's because most tea bags are 25% plastic. tea bags can release micro plastics and end up in our waterways. paper bags aren't much better. millions of trees are cut down to make them. go for loose leaf tea instead. an estimated 150 million americans drink tea every day. if some of us switch to loose leaf, we can prevent lots of

trees from getting chopped down. >> i did not know that. micro plastics in my tea. you can find out more climate hacks right now on nbcbayarea.com and hit the climate in crisis tab. walnut c voted to spend to $2 million on beefing up public safety. the city plans to hire five more police officers and wants to upgrade its surveillance camera system and a high-tech drone to give a warning of suspicious activity coming from the freeway. >> being able to have a enough surveillance that should a crime occur, we can go back and use that as investigative resources. >> contra costa county d.a. says she's teaming up with other district attorneys to combat

theft rings throughout northern california. two tours were at the palace of fine arts and they didn't leave anything in their car rental. the thieves just waited until they returned to strike. >> we walked around, took pictures, sat in the car. i put my camera bag behind me on the back seat. we went to leave and someone pulled up next to us really fast. we heard knocking on the window. by the time i looked back, someone was shattering the window and reached in and grabbed my bag and pulled off with it. >> wow. that entire smash and grab took only 5 to 10 seconds. about $5,000 worth of camera equipment was stolen. neighbors told her that the thieves have lookouts planted in popular tourist spots waiting

for those targets. coming up next, alec baldwin breaking his silence. the reason he says he's not to blame in that deadly shooting on a movie set. and happening now, berkeley is trying to move forward, ending healthy streets car free roads pilot program to expand more outdoor activity space during the pandemic. the city says it hopes to adopt elements of the program as part of a 2023 plan. who's on it with jardiance? we're 25 million prescriptions strong. we're managing type 2 diabetes... ...and heart risk.

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alec baldwin says in an interview he would never point a gun at anyone and fire. halyna hutchins was shot file filming a scene. baldwin says he has no idea how the live round got onset. so far no charges have been filed in that shooting. a former trump justice department official this morning has one more chance to avoid criminal contempt charges. yesterday the january 6th committee voted to recommend contempt of congress charges for jeffrey clark. the committee will halt the process if he appears for a deposition this saturday. clark's attorney has already been indicted and he will exercise his fifth amendment rights.

>> this is, in my view, a last ditch attempt to delay the select committee's proceedings. however, a fifth amendment privilege assertion is a weighty one. >> clark appeared before the committee last month for a deposition and then walked out before answering any questions. his attorney has cited executive privilege claims by the former president. the omicron variant confirmed here in the bay area. what we know about the case and what you need to know going forward. plus, a look inside the san francisco lab that detected it. in mountain view it's going to be a chilly start, but another beautiful afternoon as we head toward 70 degrees.

>> traffic flowing just north of mountain view no problem north of 101. you see the signs lit up for the express lanes. they're just testing them out. no charges yet. a space walk is just getting underway on board the u.s.s. national space station.

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breaking right now, the white house just out this morning with a set of new measures to fight the newest covid variant as winter descends. president biden will address the nation in hours. coming up, the impact you could be feeling when it comes to your holiday plans. san francisco now the focus of national attention after america's first confirmed case of the omicron variant. ahead in a live report, new details on the patient, the doctor who made the discovery and a closer look at how they found out. sounding the alarm for more police officers. the push east bay leaders are making today in response to the recent surge in violent crimes. good thursdays morning. i'm laura garcia. >> i'm marcus washington. we're going to have more breaking news coming up.

first, we want to get you moving forward this morning with a look at that forecast. meteorologist kari hall has a look at that. >> we're starting out with fog once again mainly in the north bay but also patches moving through the delta as well. the fog and the low clouds the big issue for us this morning. as we go through the rest of the day we'll see temperatures starting to warm up. a very cold start but already at noon we're in the low 60s and we'll see those high temperatures headed for the low 70s in the south bay, upper 60s for san rafael and 71 in santa rosa. there's a slight chance of rain in the forecast. more coming up. president biden now laying out all the new steps to fight the omicron variant. we have live team coverage after the first case was