. the pandemic is putting parents on the fence as thousands had back to class. today was the first day back at oakland unified. we spoke with kids and parents about how it went.>> reporter: the site and sounds of the first day of school. you can see the kids behind me. we are at emerson elementary. they are out and about. most are doing in person. the district says they have a couple hundred who signed up for distance learning. back we almost didn't let him go.>> reporter: what changed? >> our 14-year-old daughter was adamant. we thought about it. i said listen let him go today and see what happens. four how did it go? >> we are satisfied. we are going back tomorrow.

>> reporter: even if you have homework? >> if it continues like today>> reporter: regardless of vaccination status, all teachers, staff, students must wear masks. a half-dozen bay area districts reopened. pleasant, south san francisco, palo alto. as juliet mentioned, masks are required. kids under 12 are waiting for shots. should parents be worried? we put that question to a pediatrician. >> the good news for parents, the bay area in general has done a wonderful job at vaccinating and vaccinating and mask wearing. as long as there is good

handwashing. if you don't feel good, your child doesn't feel good, quarantine and get tested. even if you have been vaccinated . >> we will hold to high standards. we will be as vigilant as we possibly can in terms of what is happening. we will do everything to keep the kids safe and keep them in school. with masks mandatory and an increasing number of spaces, a key metric in the search is headed in the right direction. the state test positivity average 6.3%. it is down from 7% a week ago. good trend. kpix has you covered. we are live tomorrow morning as districts reopened. all questions answered. the best gadgets kids returning. how to keep them sanitized.

that is tomorrow morning at: 30. police are searching for a driver who hit a pedestrian. we want to warn you that video is disturbing. it shows you when the driver comes careening down the road and nearly hits several people. moments later what appears to be the same chevy swerves into a man standing in front of his suv. >> i saw the car barreling down the street and aiming straight for the car. there were words exchanged. nothing qualifies for going after someone with your car. >> the victim is expected to be okay. the driver is on the run.

deputies are searching for a felon accused of hitting and dragon a sheriff's deputy tried to arrest him in east oakland this morning. they know who he is but not where. the deputy was taken to the hospital with back injuries and is expected to be okay. the family of an antioch man who died in custody is suing the police chief and several officers. >> we are never going to get his smile back. he is never going to irritate me again. i miss that a lot. angelo died in december 3 days after police held him down during a mental health crisis. the lawsuit claims police did not acknowledge when he became unresponsive. it says the police chief brooks tried to cover up the officers involvement in the death. we reached out to the city for a response. no word back. a palo alto daughter,

father died after saving his father from drowning. 49-year-old phil slipped below the surface of the lake last week after getting his child safely back aboard a rented ski boot. nearby peters recovered his body. some good news for the fire zone. nearly 2 dozen who were reported missing have been found safe. that's the only good news. containment dropped from 21% from 35%. it covers nearly a half million acres across four counties. it is four times the size of san jose. flames destroyed buildings and damage 28 others. we have details on how you can help the fire victims. as farmers search for what

are some returning to a new approach. it is thousands of years old. plenty of water found here. a group of friends trapped in a flooding elevator. the stroke of luck that may have saved their lives. temperatures are a couple above average. low 90s for concord. upper 60s for san francisco. 2 degrees warmer for tomorrow. we will take a look at the air quality forecast. time is running out for a bay area woman battling a disease. the medicine she believes is helping her is out of reach. >> i want continued hope. >> it's a choice between absolute guarantee of death and some chance. >> the dilemma facing patients fighting for a chance of life in a dosage of.

imagine being told you have just a few years left to live. there's a promising cutting- edge treatment that could extend your life. no amount could buy it. >> that's happening to many. we have an original report on the quest for a dosage of hope.>> reporter: kpix 5 was contacted by a woman who lives in the bay area. her name is gwen. she is fighting for her life. when peterson moved to san francisco eight years ago. within weeks she met the love of her life.

>> we met the old-fashioned way in a bar.>> reporter: soon gwen and nate married. the young couple was looking to starting a family. before they could celebrate their first wedding anniversary. >> my left foot was dragging and scuffing on the ground which led to dozens of falls, trips to the er. four gwen was diagnosed with a progressive neurological disease called als. >> als is 100% fatal unfortunately. patients usually live 2-5 after the first symptom. >> reporter: it robs people of the ability to move, speak, ultimately brief. >> what do we do? what is our action? how do we get treatment? >> only to approve drugs that show modest benefit. >> it is so hard being 32 and

diagnosed with the disease that is still a death sentence and not want to fight. i immediately wanted to start fighting. >> reporter: the clock was ticking. when had to choose from getting pregnant and starting a critical trial. >> it was an extremely difficult decision. >> reporter: she enrolled in a study that uses adult stem cells harvested from bones in the body. the cells are cultured in a lab that produces a substance to help nerves stay healthy. hope that the therapy would slow the progression of the disease. >> i have no doubt i am stabilize. >> reporter: the trial ended. the fda stated that ms., results don't help the majority. there is a benefit for a smaller group. the therapy is unapproved and out of reach.

>> when an individual has a death sentence, i believe they should have access to drugs that show promise. >> reporter: the u.s. representative anna from the bay area chaired a hearing on neurodegenerative diseases. >> make the fda i. >> reporter: the panel heard from lawmakers to ensure fda act with greater speed and flexibility. they want companies to make it easier for patients to gain access to promising, unapproved therapies. >> when you are suffering and every single day your body is dying then i think patients deserve to have the dosages of hope. four 50 million are affected by neurological disorders such as als, alzheimer's, huntington's, parkinson's.

it takes 30% longer to reach approval. the patients don't have that kind of time. >> we have more treatments in the pipeline that never. ever, we need access. >> every day i see the challenges of this disease and know that it will get worse. it is frightening. anything i could do to keep her with me and be my best friend. it is worth fighting for.>> reporter: they are throwing support behind two bills in front of congress. if passed and signed into law, it would accelerate access to promising therapies. >> the bills had bipartisan support. one in the house and the other in the senate. we posted information on what you can do to help. taking a look at headlines. the u.s. is averaging 100,000

new covid cases a day. a six month high. not just vaccinated adults overwhelming hospitals. they are caring for a record high, 1004 jim 50 pediatric patients. defense secretary the weight austin is calling for troops to get vaccinated now and not wait for the mandate coming no later than mid september. one of jeffrey epstein's accusers is suing prince andrew. she claims the royal sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions when she was 17. including at the london home of socialite maxwell. and epstein's mansion in new york. he faces charges in november. he denies any sexual involvement. a new report by

the leading scientist. we will see many more fires, he weighs, droughts if we don't cut carbon emissions. even if that happened today. such impacts like melting ice and sea level rise are irreversible for centuries. >> sobering for sure. wild weather in omaha, nebraska left friends trapped in an elevator at it is filling with floodwater. one happen to know the buildings maintenance technician. called him on a cell phone. after 10 minutes the group was free. northern california farmers and vineyards are tapping into a six cents in search for irrigation water. bob thompson using an agent method called dowsing to find underground wells. he uses two metal rods. if they cross they will point toward a water source. >> think of us as one big

radio. we tune into that change in the magnetic field. we pick response? >> i hand them dowsing rods. some can do it and say what is going on. >> critics claim there is no merit to the method. thompson says he has had for decades of success. he is busier than ever this year. too bad we can't distilled. what are and as we look. our chief meteorologist is here tracking the forecast. the usual back-and-forth as we had through the rest of the week. temperatures will be on the warm side away from the bay. the onshore breeze reestablished over the weekend to push wildfire smoke out of the bay area.

air-quality. let's look at the map. we see green dots indicated good air quality. a couple malfunctioning sensor that stand out this look so much better than it did last friday and last saturday. there is a hayes at ground level. a lot has been pushed out of the bay area by the wind. we remain good as we had through the rest of the week. green dots across the board. you might see smoke in the upper levels drifting in. some could settle on the surface. i don't think it will get worse than the moderate category for air quality for the rest of the week. another look at fog spreading in. temperature downtown about 60. mid-sixties in oakland and low 70s in santa rosa, san jose. low to mid 80's in the east bay. everyone will be 2 degrees warmer for high temperatures on tuesday. that will continue. the fog spreads in the inland

valley. the inland disabilities improve rapidly and around the bay. you should see unobstructed visibility toward midday tomorrow. the fog will backup away from the case by tomorrow afternoon. tonight mid to upper fit these cost 60. close to normal for august. high temperatures in san francisco warmer than today. 70 in the afternoon. the onshore breeze reasserts. temperatures drop down in the low 60s by this time. santa rosa, mid 80s. early morning fog and low cloud cover giving way to sunshine by nine. concord reaches to the mid-90s for the highs tomorrow. a couple degrees warmer than today. livermore same. san jose mid 80s. a degree warmer than this afternoon. temperatures don't change much as we go through the rest of the work week. highs for tomorrow, to above

average. 70s around the bay, 80s and 90s inland. the temperatures hover in place for the rest of the work week and even into the week went. a couple degrees above normal. no records being set even in the hotspots. for the north bay the warmest days are saturday and sunday with highs reaching up. clouds floating wednesday and thursday. it doesn't look like we have to worry about dry lightning. still to come. a mural appears on the bay area hillside. what the landowner has to say. the smash hit hamilton returns to san

a property owner is literally facing a big ministry. who created the space on the hillside on highway 101. catholic charities into the

property. they tell an independent journal the artist is trespassing and should stop. they also say if the person comes forward they may be opened to saving face. don't throw away your shot to see hamilton. smash hit starts a new run in san francisco tomorrow. you need to show vaccination or negative test to get in. masks are required. we are a few days from 49ers football. it's not too early to get a sneak peek at the best place.

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the 49ers preseason kicks off in a few days right here on kpix 5. if you can't wait here are the early highlights. the team posted a nearly 6 minute real of the greatest hits from training camp on its youtube page. rookie quarterback lance will make his debut when they take off the chiefs. kickoff is set at 5:30 right here on kpix. thank you for streaming. they keep saying

announcer: it's time to play "family feud"! give it up for steve harvey! [captioning made possible by fremantle media] steve: finally. how are y'all? how's everybody? i appreciate that. thank you all. i appreciate it, folks. thank you all. yeah, i do. well, welcome to "family feud," everybody. i'm your man, steve harvey. [cheering and applause] got a good one for you today. returning for their second day, with a total of $20,000, from my hometown of beckley, west virginia, it's my homies. it's the champs. it's the lehman family! kyle: yeah! [cheering and applause] and from covington, georgia, it's the hollingsworth family. [cheering and applause] everybody's here trying to win theirself a lotta cash, and somebody mighte