shot mandate, the reason moran county is pushing it back for first responders. >> president biden traveling to pittsburgh today where a bridge collapsed this morning provides an unexpected backdrop to his message on the urgent need to repair the nation's infrastructure. >> we are going to fix 'em all. >> no one uz was killed but ten people were hurt when the bridge caved in, sending several vehicles into a have recent. >> ravine. >> i think it drives home this very urgent idea we have been talking about, how critical these investments are. >> the president hoping his

infrastructure plan passed last year will be a key selling point for democrats ahead of the midterm elections. in pennsylvania alone, more than 3,300 bridges are rated in poor condition. that number, more than 45,000 nationwide. the infrastructure law funnels $110 billion to states to repair and replace crumbling bridges. >> we saw today when a bridge is in disrepair, it literally can threaten lives. >> reporter: president biden also promoting his broader efforts to repair the economy, including relieving supply chain bottlenecks. he touted a new report showing economic growth in 2021 was the fastest in nearly 40 years. >> along with the greatest year of job growth in american history -- 6.4 million jobs created in one year. >> it comes amid low approval ratings for the president. according to an nbc news poll, six in ten americans disapprove of his handling of the economy as soaring inflation is forcing

prices up on necessities from food to housing, and pushing the federal reserve to prepare to hike interest rates as soon as march. the other major piece of the biden economic agenda that's still unresolved -- that massive climate and social spending plan -- the build back better act. house progressives are again pushing to pass pieces of that bill that senate moderates have said they would support. in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> alice, thank you. that collapsed bridge in pennsylvania points to a huge problem all over this country, including right here in the bay area. our senior investigator, stephen stock has been covering our crumbling infrastructure for more than a decade now. how are we looking in california? >> a little better than pennsylvania, audrey. according to the american society of civil engineers, we in california are better off than pennsylvania which has a little more than 15% of their bridges that are classified by engineers as structurally

deficient or problematic. here in california, only about 7% of our 26,000 bridges are classified as deficient or problematic. here in the bay area, that includes 266 problematic bridges that we found throughout our nine county regions. this is the most updated data available. santa clara county has most with 61 problematic bridges followed by alameda county with 56. contra costa has 47. sonoma, 30. san mateo county, 28. solano county with 24 followed by marin, 11. napa, 6. and san francisco, which right now has only 3 problematic bridges. the list includes some big bridges, however, like two bridges on i-80 in solano county that carry an average of 202,000 cars a day on each one of those bridges. two more bridges on i-580 in alameda county that carry an average of 200,000 cars a day.

two bridges on i-680 in contra costa county. and a bridge on highway u.s. 101 in san mateo county. while the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that was mentioned in alice's piece, that was just passed by congress and signed into law by president biden late-last year will help, the experts tell me we will need to spend three times more than that just to fix all these problems with our infrastructure. we will stay on this story. >> wow. that is a lot of money. >> that is a lot of money. >> uh-huh. all right. steven, thanks so much. >> today, the large covid-19 testing company at the center of an nbc bay area investigation announced that it will wind down its operations. center for covid control operated more than 300 test sites around the country. our team has been detailing patient complaints over test results failures that inspectors found at its partner lab and an fbi search that took place at its illinois headquarters this-past weekend.

today, the company's founder said they are laying off 150 workers -- almost the entire staff. founders say they are gonna refocus on cooperating with investigators. they also say they want to clear their names. local center for covid control test sites, like the ones in mountain view, san jose, and san ramon, are currently closed right now. but they could re-open under different names. that is because the company says the labs are independently operated, and free to affiliate with a different test company. a new study is shedding some light on the popularity of booster shots. a survey by kaiser shows that 42% of adults have gotten a booster, while 34% are vaccinated but remain unboosted. the study also found that age and racial gaps with older people and white people are more likely to be boosted. there was a recent uptick in the number of overall vaccinated people, by the way, which has jumped from 73 to 77% during this omicron surge. well, some grumbling now on

campus at stanford. more than 2,200 people have signed a petition saying they are against stanford's booster mandate. one of the university's grad students started this petition earlier-this month. next monday, all students will be required to be boosted. they can, however, apply for a medical or religious exemption. >> all right, raj, they get a little more time. marin county extended its covid booster shot deadline for first responders. the deadline was supposed to be today but now march 1st is the new date. that is when firefighters and members of law enforcement must show proof they received the booster. marin's public health officer says anyone who remains unvaccinated must undergo covid testing twice a week while vaccination rates are high among the department, some first responders still need to get boosted. >> the booster rates are closer to 70%. so we definitely have some progress to make there. we are hoping this extra month will give them the time they need to -- to get that extra protection of the booster. >> he says the reason for today's extension is that the

omicron surge is really stretching the county's supply of test kits. when twice-weekly testing is mandated, the county wants to have enough testing supplies. >> we have been asking this for two years now. what is good for business? what is bad for business? a new study by economists in san francisco found that vaccine requirements may actually help small businesses find new employees. anything to help here because so many of these businesses are struggling. let's bring in our business and tech reporter, scott mcgrew. >> yeah, that old saw about it's hard to find good help these days has never been more true than now. small businesses report the main reason they are not able to fill open-level entry spots is because nobody applied. so, finding something to entice employees to work, like higher wages, is key. now, that same study by economists at san francisco's gusto found businesses that require their employees to be vaccinated actually have an

easier time filling open positions than companies that don't have a vaccination requirement. >> those that did saw fewer sick days, and saw more trust from their employees and that's, you know, a signal from companies to employees saying that, you know, we care about you, we care about your safety. and, you know, we want to create an environment where you feel protected. >> now again, it's rather opposite of what you might expect. the barrier of vaccination actually working in small businesses to encourage people to work. i mentioned wages. this morning, we got the latest data from the labor department showing wages are, indeed, up 4% in the final quarter of last year compared to the previous. back to you. >> thank you, scott. you can see scott and the rest of our morning gang every weekday. today in the bay runs from 4:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. they wake up early right here on nbc bay area. the 9th circuit court of appeals today granted permission for california's net neutrality law to stay in effect while it

works its way through the court. so that means california can keep its ban on internet providers from blocking websites or imposing limits on users for now. a different federal court previously denied permission. the attorney general who made the request says the pandemic has moved so much more activity online that neutrality has never been more vital. california's 2018 net neutrality law is undergoing several legal attacks from the telecom and cable industries and the former trump administration. january 6th remains a dark day in u.s. history. there is now a new round of subpoenas for the house committee investigating the u.s. capitol insurrection. the panel has subpoenaed 14 more people it claims they falsely tried to declare former-president donald trump the winner of the 2020 election by submitting false electoral college certificates from seven states that president biden had actually won. among those subpoenaed, judd deer who worked as a spokesman for the trump white house.

this week, san jose voted to require gun owners to carry liability insurance for their firearms and pay a monthly fee. i did speak with "meet the press" host chuck todd earlier today to get his thoughts on how the rest of the nation could follow. >> but i think the idea is you are going to see more cities do these things because they want to put more pressure on congress, you know, there's been pressure over the years to, you know, right now there's gun -- gun manufacturers have way -- have -- have gotten a liability waiver, right? they can't be sued if their products are used in the destruction of somebody's life or property. um, i think that all of these local efforts are designed to sort of get congress to do more, and see if they could find a new angle in the courts. >> you can catch "meet the press" this sunday at 8:00 in the morning right after today in the bay. an emotional day for police officers in new york city. and it could be felt across the country. thousands of officers said farewell to a detective killed in the line of duty.

look at this. a sea of blue stretching down fifth avenue in manhattan as they stood shoulder to shoulder for hours in the falling snow. jason rivera and his partner were killed last week responding to a domestic disturbance call. rivera died just 14 months after joining the force. the 22-year-old is among the youngest police officers killed in the line of duty in new york city. covid has taken the life of argentina's famed singer and musician. he died today in la at the age of 70. rolling stone reports the artist did not speak publicly act his stance about the vaccine but his wife has tweeted anti-vaccination sentiments. as a soloist, he released 15 studio albums beginning in the mid-1970s. a versatile musician, he easily navigated between romantic ballads and ran cha ra music. fans and fellow artists are mourning his passing across social media platforms. today, we have two cases.

one for a couple grand. and another, for $0. but it's not for nothing. i am consumer investigator, chris chmura. nbc bay area responds, next. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. we have clouds coming back for tomorrow morning. we will show you how long it sticks around for your saturday. i have got that for you coming up in about six months. minutes.

we are not open a month into the new year and our consumer team already delivered some wins for our viewers. >> if you are having some trouble, consumer issues, call or e-mail them. they are a good team. our consumer investigator chris chmura shows us some recent cases. chris? >> reporter: let's start with a viewer in the north bay whose name we are not going to use. i will explain why in just a second. he said his new $3,000 wood floor started to self-destruct within a month of installation. luckily, the floor had a lifetime warranty. expected the store to replace or refund him, well they couldn't agree so he called us. what happens next i appears to

involve a nondisclosure agreement because the viewer said he could only say everything is resolved with his 3,100 dollar complaint. after we got involved, that is. we tracked every penny here but it is not always about the money. lee in san jose asked for help stopping unwanted deliveries. newspapers he does not subscribe to appear in his driveway almost every day. they contacted the publisher but the papers kept on coming. so we contacted the publisher. a rep said those deliveries had now stop. share your consumer problems. go to nbcbayarea.com. click the responds option from the main menu or call us 888-996-tips. have a great weekend. >> so, exploding floors to unwanted newspapers. >> i know. >> chris covered it all. >> got everything. >> chris around. i mean, my goodness. >> who would we call? we call jeff for our weekend forecast. we made it to the end of the week. >> yeah. good for checking those things off the to-do list. can't get that out there. all right. let's get into our microclimate forecast and it is a beautiful night out here across the bay area.

go ahead and get you set up and ready to go here on our weather headlines. and tonight, we do have temperatures in the 40s and 50s through tomorrow morning. we have some clouds rolling in and then ahead, we are looking at the possibility here of some winds. so let's get you into tomorrow's forecast and we have this area of high pressure this is going to keep dry weather with us but we are also following this area of low pressure just off to the south that is going to bring a little bit of cloud cover for us. you can see how widespread it will be to start. then as we head through the day, you can see that cloud cover will start to clear on out and we will get some sunshine in here. so, as we move into our temperatures to start going out to walk the dog, get a jog on for yourself, just kind of start your day nice and quiet outside make sure to have that jacket with you. upper 30s and low 40s to begin. got you down to 39 here in the tri-valley. south bay at 40. right through the east bay, san francisco will be in the 40s and the north bay beginning at 39. as we head through tomorrow,

temperatures really not a whole lot different from what we've experienced all-week long. look at this. 68 in east san jose over to cupertino will be at 66. take it to the east bay. right up to vallejo, my friends out there at 63. down to pleasanton, 65. the peninsula, also coming in with some mighty fine weather, 66 here in palo alto and 64 in san mateo. move it through san francisco. 63 in downtown headed to the golden gate bridge and near the marina will be at 59 tomorrow and across the north bay, 65 in clear lake. 66 in napa. down to mill valley, 63. so weather looks really good through the afternoon. the only problem you may start to notice this week is your allergies with this recent dry spell we have seen pretty much all month long, we are now starting to see the pollen really dropping on a lot of trees. so your allergies definitely could be kicking in saturday and sunday, especially with cedar, ash, alder, and elm all in high category. my extended forecast doesn't have any rainfall to wash that away. so here is the deal. we get some sun, clouds this

weekend, mixing in. partly cloudy skies. goes to cloudy on monday. we will see the wind kick up on tuesday to elevate fire danger 15 to 35 miles per hour. sunshine wednesday, thursday, and friday. right across the inland valleys, we are looking at a very similar temperature forecast. we will go up to the warmest day here on tuesday will be at 66. so all in all, looks awesome sunday for the 49ers. doing a get-together back here in the bay but if you are headed down to la, we talked about this earlier, 60s and of course sunshine in los angeles. so, raj, audrey and i -- we need tickets. >> yes. >> get your connections. come on. >> make it happen. >> you are looking at me? >> yes. >> you know, a lot of folks in sports. >> all right. i will work on it. >> thank you. up next. making his presence known on the field. how one 9ers' fan is helping a star player put his best foot forward.

my name is douglas. i'm a writer/director and i'm still working. in the kind of work that i do, you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. i discovered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

all right.

you ready for sunday? have you planned your viewing party? if you don't go to the game, have you planned your viewing party? >> well, i have to work so the viewing party will be in here. make something happen. >> as we speak, audrey, the 49ers are getting ready to leave santa clara. their wheels up out of sjc down to la about two hours from now. >> 49ers going head to head with the rams but tonight, we are talking feet. yeah, feet. as we count down to kick off, the 9ers superfan in sack ra men toe recently got the chance to make custom cleats for defensive tackle eric armstead. kevin gray designed the kicks to help the sacramento native highlight his armstead academic project. helps give back to local students in need. gray is a custom shoe designer who handpaints shoes of all kinds and says he is thrilled to have this opportunity. >> after they told me about my cleats, it definitely blew my mind. so it was definitely a great --

just this whole thing is such a great experience. >> gray also got the chance to meet with armstead and he say es loves that the football star knows and appreciates his hometown. >> got a million-dollar smile, that guy. really nice. well, the bay area might want to see the 9ers go all the way but best buy -- the company best buy -- might not. that is the hot take from analysts at loop capital markets. the firm tried to figure out which super bowl matchup could drive more sales of new tvs at best buy. super bowl weekend always prompts the sales of tvs. to them, the ideal matchup would be the rams and the bengals. la has a much bigger population than the bay area, we know that. and it's been a while since cincinnati has made it to the super bowl but you know what? we don't care about that. >> yeah. all right. kickoff in less than 48 hours now with the super bowl on the line. anthony flores has an update from 49ers hq next in sports.

yep, it's go time with wireless on the most reliable network. ok, that jump was crazy! but what's crazier? you get unlimited for just 30 bucks. nice! but mine has 5g included. wait! 5g included? yup, even these guys get it. nice ride, by the way. and the icing on the cake? saving up to 400 bucks? exactly. wait, shouldn't you be navigating? xfinity mobile. it's wireless that does it all and saves a lot. like a lot, a lot.

two years ago, they made a promise to each other. soon after losing the super bowl, the 49ers were devastated. we all were. but they said they would be back. >> i remember being inside that locker room s. teams can either fall apart. two things. they either fall apart or get reinvigorated, right? reinspired. 9ers are one win away from getting back to the super bowl. here is nbc bay area's anthony flores. >> i will be back here. i will be back here and i will

be back with vengeance. >> this was george kittle in the final moments of super bowl liv. the pro bowl tight end made a promise to himself to get back to super sunday after losing to the chiefs. >> i said those words because i believed in the fact, i believe in myself and i believe in this football team we have an opportunity to get back to the super bowl. >> the 49ers have about two-dozen players remaining from their last super bowl run. the disappointment of losing on football's biggest stage still serves as motivation heading into sunday's nfc championship game. >> when you have big moments in your life, whether it's really good or really bad, i mean those are things that you think about from time to time. >> feeling that can't describe. it is unlike any other loss i have ever had, and it's just -- yeah, obviously since that moment, it's motivated me and it always will, going forward. >> that is something that is always stuck in my mind since we lost to kansas city. more importantly is you got the perfect group of hungry guys from '19 but also great

additions from other places that have been through the same experience. >> reporter: the 49ers believe that hunger and experience are key to their plan to beat the rams for a third time this season and for the seventh time in a row. >> we are on the doorstep, and you know, this whole season actually means nothing unless we get this win. you know, that is all we are focused on is getting this win and getting ourselves an opportunity. >> reporter: and a chance to stop the sting of the last super bowl loss if they take care of business against the rams. in santa clara, anthony flores, nbc bay area. >> hungry and ready. our teammates at nbc sports bay area have you covered on sunday. a one-hour pregame show starts at 2:30 and then switch over for the best 49ers postgame show. see the entire team right there and they are ready to go as well. >> they are. 49ers ready to go. in fact, they leave from santa clara. buses are rolling in around 7:30. and they are expected to fly out of san jose airport around 8:30 down to la. >> uh, i just can't wait.

going to be so good. >> did i hear you guys say you guys are nervous for sunday? >> yes, of course. >> are you playing in the game? >> feel like i am. all right. thank you, raj. >> what do we have? >> coming up at 6:00, speaking of the big game. where and how are you going to watch it? who are you going to watch it with? right now at 6:00, we have tips from health experts to make sure you stay safe while having fun. >> the cases are still quite high, though, so it's very important for us to continue to layer up our many layers of protection. also, where are those free masks from the feds? pharmacies say they got 'em from the government but lot of people say they can't find any. we head out in search of those free masks. and tense moments in napa as a hot air balloon starts going down. how the pilot and the people onboard made sure no one got hurt. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening and thanks for being with us on this friday. i'm raj mathai. >> and i am jessica aguirre.

it is going to be a superbusy weekend in san francisco. multiple events planned. start of the lunar new year, hot ticket as the nets face the warriors at chase center. lots of options also for watching that, you know, little game we have within talking about, the 9ers and the rams. but as crowds are expected to gather, the health department is now urging everyone to keep your guard up. saying omicron is not gone, yet. nbc bay area's christy smith shows us advice for celebrating safely. >> completely booked. all of our tables and chairs are -- are currently reserved. >> reporter: at harry's bar in san francisco, they are ready for the big 49ers game on sunday and the crowd that comes with it. they are holding some walk-up space for regulars and setting up tvs, both, inside and outside. >> we are going to be expanding our kind of the outdoor-seating area. i rented 40 additional chairs from a -- from a local party rental and so we are going to seat as many people as we can outside. >> they upgraded the hvac system a while ago.

they are also following city mandates on masking and vaccinations and that's not all. >> we do continue to sanitize everything. we do make our own sanitizer and we do sanitize the tables and menus and -- and everything between each seating. >> reporter: with the lunar new year arriving, the warriors at home, and the 9ers playing for a chance to get back to the super bowl, there is no shortage of events to draw a crowd. >> lots of reasons to be celebrating. >> reporter: dr. mary mercer is medical colleague for the covid task force at the department of public health. and says we still need to be careful how we come together. >> san francisco is now on the downslope of the omicron surge. um, cases are still quite high, though, so it's very important for us to continue to layer up our many layers of protection. >> reporter: that includes masks, like an n95 or kn95, isolating and testing if you have symptoms, and they want to remind everyone outdoor gatherings are safer than indoors. >> this weekend, we have our, um,