thank you for joining us for our midday newscast. >> you can always watch us here on your television but you can also watch us live on roku, amazon fire, apple tv. russian president vladimir putin was just on russian television announcing russia intends to recognize two parts of ukraine as separate countries. >> scott has the very latest for

us updated by the minute. >> the russian leader says the country will recognize two areas in the donbas as their own countries. the russian separatists have essentially taken over there from a previous invasion years back. just televised moments ago, this came a if you hours after putin met with his security council so publicly on television. world leaders do not normally televise their security meetings. the area in question is the donbas, down to the south and the east of the country. if russia recognizes these areas as their own sovereign areas, then those countries could ask russia for military help and all of a sudden, it's not really an invasion. it is just one country helping out another. one way to invade without invading. putin says he will do this by signing a decree which he has

not done which gives him one more negotiating point. he said he plans to talk once more with german chancellor schultz. there's a meeting between antony blinken and sergey lavrov. here's blinken yet on "meet the press." >> it feels like your meeting with sergey lavrov this week. if it happens, it means no war. if it doesn't, that means war has begun? is that a fair way to look at that meeting? >> that's a pretty good summary, yes. we're doing everything we can and it is my responsibility to do everything i can to try diplomatically to prevent a war. so i will leave no stone unturned to do that. >> expect blinken and lavrov to speak later in the week. >> and scott, before you go, there's a french proposal that they talk about. >> yes. french president macron negotiated that last night. putin seems willing.

the white house says we'll see what happens first. if there's progress, then we can talk. as of this morning, we now know what excuse russia will use to invade if it does. >> very interesting there. all right. thank you. closer to home, there are concerns among ukrainians in the bay area. those with loved ones remain on edge. >> reporter: good morning. we are hearing from some locals who tell us right now they're really concerned for their relatives still over in ukraine, given what they've seen and heard over the last couple of days, all of this playing out nearly 6,000 miles away from the bay area. now, our crews were at a rally on sunday near the embarcadero where many in attendance were from ukraine and said they fear as tensions continue to rise, and they worry that their loved ones will need to evacuate or risk their safety if they decide to stay. >> of course, they are also concerned a lot.

so for them, it is a very hard situation. but they are trying to be strong in this situation and we need to defend. >> reporter: we're also hearing from the world of international relations. dr. katherine stoner is with the center of development and the rule of law at stanford who says there's a specific reason for the recent escalation in russian military efforts this week. she said soon russia will celebrate the day of fatherland. and putin, she says, is using it as a way to heighten russian nationalism and get more support for an invasion. >> there has been an uptick in shelling from the rebels toward ukraine and so they're trying to create a sense of panic and crisis, and i think that is the pretext that mr. putin will use to send in more russian troops. >> reporter: nbc bay area news.

and when we're not on air accident you can get the latest updates on nbcbayarea.com. once you get there, i want you to click on the links in the trending bar. >> did you notice something? if you've had a chance to walk out the door? much cooler today. a live look in san francisco. windy and combined with the cooler temperatures makes it pretty chilling. >> oh, yeah. meteorologist kari hall has been tracking it. the cooldown that we're having. this is a good reminder, it is february. >> it is february and we are seeing the back to winter weather today. we are keeping it live on presidents day, reaching 65 miles per hour. mount diablo had a wind gust at 46. mount tam, 39. bdega reaching 37. that coming with temperatures that will only reach into the mid 50s today. this is a big change compared to

the weather we've had recently and we'll have some cool weather for tonight as we dip down near freezing and a lot of the inland valleys, the tri-valley and the south bay where we will have a very chilly start. the next several mornings will be cold and that's the reason why the national weather service putting up these freeze warnings for the north bay. all of these areas shaded in purple from tuesday night through friday morning may have temperatures dipping into the 20s. so we are going to talk more about that and our rain chances. that's in the forecast coming up in a few minutes. >> thank you. developing now in oakland, parents and students will use the presidents day holiday to call for new action. they're angry over plans to close nearly a dozen schools. >> bob, this comes after the district announced delaying the closures. >> reporter: correct. this protest with parent and teachers will take place at 2:00

this afternoon. this will be outside parker elementary in east oakland. this is one of seven schools that are slated to be closed within the oakland unified school district. the lift includes not only parker but as you can see on your tv screen, community day school, brookfield, carl b.munck, also grass valley and others. and rise community will be merging with new highland academy and the sixth you this eighth grades will be cut from schools. the district says it is has to do with the ballooning budget deficit. on friday night as you were alluding to, the oakland school district's board voted against delaying school closures at the end of the school year. that means community day will close and some schools will close at the end of the next school year in 2023. the closures have ignited a lot of anger in parent and teachers, including two teachers who stopped eating in protest.

now, both said they would end their 18-day hunger strike on friday, but teacher andre sanchez of west lake middle school, he waited until yesterday, day 20, to end his hunger strike. on social media, you can see on it your screen there. he posted this picture of himself in a hospital bed with the caption that includes, thanks for your love and support. the torch is in your hands. all power to the people. reporting live, bob redell. >> 20 days without eating. all right. thanks. coming up next during our midday newscast, a one-on-one with one south bay housing leader outlining the steps being taken right now to help people get off the streets. plus, taking aim at speeding and side shows. the new proposal that helps with eyes on the road. >> and the kelly clarkson show.

someone the guest is grooving to. here's a behind. she's no stranger to the nbc family and someone kelly clarkson knows very well. to find out who we're talking about, tune in to the kelly clarkson show coming up at 3:00 this afternoon. we'll be right back.

♪♪ thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole. ibrance may cause low white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. both of these can lead to death. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever,

chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are or plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. for more information about side effects talk to your doctor. ♪♪ be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. thanks for sticking around. happening tomorrow, vallejo leaders will vote on the mask requirements, whether they'll keep them in place or not. solano county lifted its indoor mask mandate when the california requirements expired last week. vallejo has recorded nearly a third of all the county's covid cases. we reach out to the mayor and city council members but we received no response ahead of tomorrow's meeting. and tomorrow at&t says it will permanently shut down its 3g network to make room for more

5g. that means it will leave millions of 3g users in the dark. but critics say it may put lives in danger as well. less than 1% of mobile traffic runs on 3g and they've been actually transitioning customers off the old technology for years. but 2 million home and personal emergency systems still use it. 80% of those customers are seniors. today bay area's largest cities may be part of a pilot program may be pumping the brakes in the name of public safety. nbc bay area's reporter has more on who could soon be watching your speed. krr this is a proposal to put speed safety cameras in some of those areas in our communities that are known for excessive speed, known for side shows, oakland, san francisco, and san jose. and here's the reason why. just this year, two months in, 16 people have died in deadly crashes in san jose. two in san francisco, and five people have died in deadly

crashes in oakland. assembly bill 2336 will put cameras in areas known for excessive speed and side shows. and the cameras will capture license plates, not the drivers, for the citations, kind of the way parking tickets work now. when they were put in, there was a 63% drop in speeding in school zones. >> this is not men to be punitive, it is not men to generate revenue. it is meant to slow down cars and speeds that are dangerous. they can only be used in high injury networks or places with particularly vulnerable populations like around schools. >> reporter: fines vary depending on income keeping the equity component in mind. and any revenue would fund traffic and safety improvements in the same area where the revenue is collected. once the fine is paid or the ticket is drop, all license plate image to be deleted within

60 days. this bill will get its first reading as early as next month. if it does move forward, then san francisco, oakland and san jose will be part of a five-year pilot program. kris sanchez, nbc bay area. you can follow her interview about keeping our streets safe. download our nbc bay area app. you can find it in the must-see play list. here at nbc bay area, we continue to talk about the struggles many face trying to make it in the bay. large encampments are just one part of it. there is now some important things happening to improve things in santa clara county. according to newly released data, 6,000 people have been housed since january of 2020, and there is also a decline in the number of people seeking help. the numbers represent the only data recently available on the homelessness crisis in the county, which has been delayed

when it comes to the federally mandated homeless census. now it is set to take place this week. i actually spoke with ray ransom, the chief operating officer of destination home about the upcoming goals. >> poverty, very high cost of living, lack of affordable housing. but during the pandemic, all those things that make every one of us just a couple paychecks away from being on the streets kind of hit home. so people really struggled. there was a lot of challenges and a lot of hard times. >> we've noticed a growing number of encampments across santa clara county. i personally live in santa clara county and i am seeing more of these encampments. however, there is a new number showing it has dropped 33% since january 2020. talk to me about how that is and how you came one that number.

>> i think one of the remarkable things about the system that we work on and how we focus on addressing homelessness, we know that there are nearly 10,000 people on our streets night after night in santa clara county. but we know there are people becoming homeless all the time because of the financial emergency, the lost job, the trip to the hospital that you just didn't have the insurance to pay for. one of the major focuses of our community plan for homelessness has been preventing families from losing their homes. >> what are the services available now to get people to permanent housing? >> yeah. i mean, over the same period since 2020, we've housed 6,000 people which is an incredible number. where we are able to get people off the streets. get them rental vouch enters into their hands. place them in apartments throughout our community, and provide them with the services

they need to remain stable over time. we know there isn't enough affordable housing in santa clara county, anywhere in the bay, for that matter. so we've worked really hard since 2016 when santa clara county voters approved measure a, a $950 million affordable housing bond to build more housing. and we funded over 4,000 units in that time. we've opened hundreds of units in the past year and hundreds more are on the way. >> we know this problem did not get created overnight and it will take a lot longer to clean it up. thank you. switching gears, taking a alive look outside. oh, look at this. this is palisades tahoe where folks are already heading down the slopes from siberia express. and the conditions are snowy. travel conditions by tonight may be a little difficult at the higher elevations. the hope is the upper elevations

may receive about a foot and a half of snow. >> that looks like a lot of fun. >> so how much snow? >> it looks like we could get at least a foot in some spots and it is still coming down. i love that view. i'm really inspired by the olympics to try something like that. let's see what's going on as we look at storm ranger. our mobile doppler radar. we'll keep this powered up over the next few days because it could be quite busy. tracking snow and also rain for the bay area. this system is just to the east of us. we can see some warm moisture starting to come into far northern california, going to be approaching the bay area by later tonight. it's been 45 days since we had any rain. we're hoping we can get some spotty showers and something measured out of this next system that will be coming in. you probably guessed that it systembe a particularly strong

o have a chance of scattered showers t will beery hitr miss a we go into late tonight and into the day tomorrow. our at that are very chilly and nor some of our upper elevations, we could see a coating of light snow. you can see that it can possibly get in on some light snow as well as around mount st. helena. as we go through the next several days, this system quickly passes by. cold air coming down. and it will stay with us throughout the week. we're notectingh infallulation but we may see a change in the pattern that could open up the door during the month of march for rain. that's what we were hoping for for february. with this system, we may get a tenth of an inch. maybe more in the santa cruz

mountains. we were taking a alive look at palisades because we have a chance of getting a fat or more in some spots, but mostly six to eight inches of snow and that's better than when we've seen the last few weeks. now looking at gilroy, it will be chilly and we are really concerned about the next several mornings. the highs only making it into the 50s and everything is blooming. we have beautiful flowers out there and the plants may have started budding as well. keep them covered, protect them, as well as the crops we have around the bay area. we could see some freezing temperatures over the next few days. showers and maybe even a chance at some of the isolated showers could drop some small hail. we'll see this very active weather pattern tomorrow. and then clearing out fairly quickly with our at that in the mid to upper 50s for the next several days. and the weekend is looking nice. highs in the low 60s. san francisco will have some mid 50s over the next several days.

the weekend is looking great for your weekend plans. marcus and laura? >> perfect. we'll start planning for it even though it only monday. new pressure for the white house as the clock ticks down for millions of americans saddled with student loan debt. in december, the white house put student loan payments on hold thanks to the cares act. payments were supposed to resume this month but it has been extended until may 1st. democrats are calling for the pause to remain in place at least through mid-term elections. the average stand loan debt amounts to about $35,000. the winter games may be over. happening tonight, the start of a new game. the end game. >> the new series on nbc bay area, a cat and house thriller involving an fbi agent and an international arms daler up to no good. here's one of the stars who plays the arms dealer. >> she is fighting for ultimately, what everybody wants. family and peace.

and she's going about it maybe not the best way. >> the other person you saw there on the screen, the stanford grad who is also sterling k. brown's wife. end game airs at 10:00 p.m. on nbc bay area. before that, the lineup start with america's got talent extreme at 8:00. liberty to this. soda may reach the final frontier. literally. the new carbonated creation and the lengths coca-cola went to to make sure that it tastes out of this world. and happening now, the british government is ending all remaining covid restrictions in england. that move ends the required self-isolation of ten days for testing positive and also ends free covid testing starting april 1st. it comes a day after buckingham palace announced that queen elizabeth has tested positive for covid and is experiencing mild symptoms.

thanks for sticking around. check this out. look at this. beautiful pictures and video from my hike over the weekend in marin county. that was near muir beach. a beautiful hike out there. if you get a chance, go out and take some pictures. >> i love it. so much great areas in the bay area. perfect. well, burger king plans to

raise prices this year. they said they hope it helps offset higher costs from the ongoing supply chain crisis. so far, there is no time line on when the price hikes will take effect. >> i like the discount menu. i'm going to miss that. >> maybe save your money because you're not going to the justin bieber concert because they're delaying a portion of his world tour after he tested positive for covid. >> yeah. he was just days into his scheduled show. he tested positive for covid. he's feeling okay despite the diagnosis. the vegas show rescheduled for june. and he had tickets for here a week from today on march 2. hold on. so far there's no word on where those shows have been affected. >> bieber fever takes on a whole new meaning. if you've ever wondered what out of space tastes like, maybe

your spaceship has come in. >> coca-cola is out with a new space-flavored soda called star light. one of the first of carbonated beverages to be tasted by astronauts in orbit. coke says it even tastes like space, whatever that means. the one thing we can agree on, soda has finally reached the final frontier. >> what does that taste like? >> i don't know. liquid sunshine? we're having some cold temperatures and gusty winds. watch out for the showers. keep checking back in for updates. >> all right. thanks. so for joining us for our midday newscast. our next newscast is tonight at 5:00. >> you can get the latest information on nbcbayarea.com. have a great monday. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning starting at 4:30.

danielle nottingham: right now on "california live," we're showing you a place where comedy and courage break down racial barriers. paul costabile: this is the coolest interview i've done yet. we get to hang out, have a cigar, have a little whiskey. jessica vilchis: then we're movin' and groovin' with a star choreographer, sharing his skills with the world. dexter carr: you know it. you know it. jessica: plus, oh baby. now this is art. amber pfister: i don't think lyla's ever gonna wanna leave. like, this is so much fun for her. she's enjoying all of it. lisa breckenridge: and i'm gonna show you a new way to get your yoga on. danielle: it's all happening right now on "california live." ♪ whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ california, california live. ♪