>> it looks complicated. if i tried, i could, but i don't want to do it wrong because it would be my first time. i want to make sure i will do it professionally. >> i will watch some videos and see how it is done. >> reporter: caltrans remind people that they should always take extra precautions when heading on the road. bring a blanket, snacks, batteries, bring a flashlight, bring chains. or bring anything you might need, including jumper cables and something to fix a flat. you always have to be ready just in case you get halted alongside the road in freezing temperatures. >> i would bring a whole lot of extra time. let's switch over to chief meteorologist paul hagan. >> yes, bring some blankets and some food. this will be an increasing concern, because what has been a high elevation snow event today is going to drop down in lower elevations, a winter storm warning is in effect through 4:00 on sunday afternoon. we are talking many days of snow for the high sierra. 2 to 4 feet in general but

above 7000 feet, 5 to 9 feet of snow accumulation and it will be windy. the 7000 foot mark, that is important because guess what the elevation of donner pass is, 7000 feet. several feet of snow in the forecast models agree. unbelievable numbers adding up over the course of the next seven days. eight feet of snow indicated by fitness models. that is a lot of snow over the next several days. more rain chances over the bay area. i will update the radar and take a look at future kasten just a minute. breaking news out of washington, the supreme court will hold a special session to take up a legal challenge to the biden of ministrations vaccine mandates. it would require vaccines or testing for large employers. there is a separate requirement for healthcare workers. the cases will be heard on january 7th. the other big story, this evening, the fda approves a

pill to fight covid-19. joining us live is dr. peter channahon from ucsf. thank you for joining us. >> always a pleasure. >> can you tell us how pfizer's new antiviral pill works? >> so, it works by shutting down of the virus factory. so, it is not really dependent on how many mutations are in the spike protein, it is very different. it gets to the heart of the virus which is probably the most dangerous, and that is why it is probably so effective in the clinical trials. 89% prevention for hospitalization if you take it early enough. >> that is incredible. the pill is really groundbreaking, but not all covid-19 patients are being allowed to use it. is there a window when it is most effective? who will be eligible to get that pill? >> if you look at the clinical trials, people with comorbidities for severe disease, which accounts for a large alkylation of the american population because they include lung disease and

heart disease and is obesity as well. all these are included. you have to take it within the first 3 to 5 days. the earlier the better. three days, 89% effectiveness, five days, within five days, not too bad in terms of the difference. 88%. but, the longer you wait, the harder it is. you need to get diagnosed, so that is a barrier. you need to get a prescription, and then you can easily pick it up at the drugstore. >> is this for folks who are not vaccinated? anybody who gets it, who could be at risk for heart disease? >> the study looked at people who were unvaccinated, not because it won't work in vaccinated folks but pretty much anybody would be eligible. >> okay. we learned that new york's covid-19 case rate has tripled in less than a month. it is now more than five times higher than california's case rate. they are usually two weeks ahead of us. is this a sign of what is to come? they had high vaccination rates in new york as well.

>> yes. i think that it may be a sign of things to come in the bay area, but maybe we can weather the storm a little bit. new york was trying to put in all of these mitigation factors when the hurricane was going on. we have a little time, still, not a lot but maybe a couple of weeks. the rain is falling but it is not really windy, yet. so, mask mitigation and people doing more testing, you know, people running out and getting boosted and maybe having their kids vaccinated, when they weren't before, these are all things we were able to prepare before new york did. >> period speaking of getting tested it is so hard right now to get rapid tests at the drugstore. should you really try to get tested if you will see family and friends? if you have been vaccinated or boosted? >> it all depends. if you have scarcity of testing you may want to prioritize, maybe you have one box at home

with two swabs, when will you use it? i would probably use it if i was going to a large family reunion or people coming from all over the country and i wasn't really sure, maybe everyone has to use it then. may be i will use it if i am living with immune compromised people in my household and i am going to a party and coming back and i want to make sure that i do not going to infect them, so i need a 2 to 3 days test and be a little more confident. those are ways to prioritize i would think about using them. they are also probably more available in other areas people don't normally think about like community centers and health centers in communities, outside of the drugstore system. >> one more quick question. i know we have to wrap up but i want to ask this. i read today that there will be more breakthrough cases.

if you are infected with covid- 19 and you have been vaccinated and boosted, the likelihood of you passing it on to somebody else is pretty unlikely. is that true? or, is that something circulating it has not been proven yet. >> it hasn't been proven yet but there is a biological basis for it. again, the best bet you have is booster, vaccination plus booster. it is not like it is a certainty that you are going to get omicron, which is the word on the street, but is not true. >> okay. dr., thank you so much. i know we have to ask these rapidfire questions and you always handle them so well. thank you. >> thanks so much. other news tonight, sentences go police looking for three suspects accused of robbing an elderly couple at gunpoint. this happened on 40th avenue in the richmond district yesterday morning. police say these suspects forced their way into a home and held a couple at gunpoint but they demanded money, they looked around the house and then they ran away empty- handed. new details on a case involving a napa woman who has

been missing for more than a week. police released this facebook photo of 37-year-old crystal mccarthy at a local 711. it was taken nine days ago. mccarthy was last seen in napa near lincoln avenue and silverado on the napa river trail. police and her friends fear she may have been swept away during the recent storms. investigators have been searching the napa river, but so far, no sign of her. her boyfriend says he last saw her december 13th after they had dinner. the south bay deliberations are set to resume tomorrow in the elizabeth holmes fraud trial. the jury took a break after two days of deliberations ended without a verdict. based on a note the jury sent to the judge yesterday, that could take a while. the judge made a request to take home all 39 pages of jury instructions. the panel has three months of evidence to sift through as

they weigh whether or not holmes defrauded patients and investors into backing her faulty blood testing technology. now to the fight to save the companies graham at san francisco city college. the schools trustee, allen wong wants the school to create a certificate or a degree program which includes cantonese. wong says that cantonese classes can't be transferred to schools in the uc system if it is not in a certificate program. he wants to establish transfer agreements with the school because there is a high demand for cantonese classes in san francisco. >> for me it is about recotimy community. more practically, ensuring the public safety of our seniors to ensure that our monolingual chinese community has access to bilingual first responders, healthcare services, and social workers, to get the help they need. >> reporter: his proposal aims to save money from the act.

sentences goes municipal extension is nearing completion. service could resume next year or in october. once complete, the third street line, central subway extension will take muni riders to for new stations, three of them are underground, cutting through the south and market neighborhood at union square and chinatown. police in southern california are using a new weapon to fight porch pirates. michelle g lee tagged along with police as they conducted a sting operation to catch him in the act. >> once we get the notification that the package has been moved, we can have officers converge on the location. >> reporter: with two more shopping days before christmas, anaheim police are ramping up their bait package program to catch thieves with stolen valuables. >> they are a victim of male

software package that we placed the package at the front door and we wait for the signal to go off. >> reporter: officers in plainclothes riding in an unmarked lack of and deliver the box with a gps tracker. it is sitting in a home near police headquarters where porch pilots pirates have hit twice before. now comes the waiting game. >> this batch we will get the notification that the package has moved and they are able to relate it to officers at what speed at which direction the package is going. >> reporter: once the package is stolen, and alarm sounds on dispatchers computers. notifications that it is on the move, are received on officers and cell phones. the bait packages work. here is video from the same house almost 2 weeks ago, when a suspect nabbed a different bait box. the man was tracked and arrested at a park as he opened the package, minutes later.

there are more than $1000 worth of goods inside of the bait package, which makes it a felony. anaheim police have been using this crime-fighting tool for several years between thanksgiving and christmas. now, the plan is to expand it year-round. coming up next, researchers unveil a stunning discovery for more than 66 million years ago, and why it has been sitting right under their noses for decades. plus, if you think cell phones are distracting to drivers, what about videogames? the tesla technology under investigation. new at 6:00, even amid the omicron surge, people are hitting the airports for the holidays. plus, a closer look at the bay

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a stunning discovery made by researchers, years after the initial finding of a dinosaur embryo in southern china. that is what it looks like, it was discovered inside a fossilized egg. findings of the study were released today, nearly 20 years after it was first discovered. researchers say they found stones and suspected it contained egg fossils but they put them away in storage and only years later did staff identify them as dinosaur eggs. >> because it is so well preserved, we can observe its posture very clearly, which allows us to compare it with other dinosaurs, as well as modern birds. >> researchers say the egg belongs to a toothless dinosaur, they named the

we know there has been a surge in bad behavior on planes and now the tsa is warning that unruly passengers could lose pre-check privileges if they have them. the faa is sharing a list of unruly passengers who are facing civil fines. now the tsa might strip them of expedited security screening privileges. so far this year there have been 5600 reports of this behavior on planes.

a formal investigation has been opened against the tesla and their passenger play feature which turns the center touchscreen into a videogame system. the ntsb released a statement today stating the future increases risk of an accident. tesla, who has since disbanded 10 media relations team could not be reached for comment. some people are born knowing exactly what they want to do in life, and 10-year-old devon always wanted to be a cop. thanks to make a wish and sacrament are police, one young man battling a genetic disorder was given a chance to be a sheriff deputy. rachel wulff is in sacramento with that story. >> reporter: led by 10-year-old devon wade and his mother daniela made possible by the make-a-wish foundation. dozen battles a genetic disorder. >> it has been a challenge, for sure. but he has had such an awesome attitude. >> reporter: his love for law enforcement led to a special

request, a cop uniform and a cop bike. >> when a kid like devon comes along he gets qualified and referred to the make-a-wish foundation it's great to see our community come together. >> reporter: napa auto parts provided the scooter and the sheriff department consulted with them on the design. >> it is always a joy when we can become a part of something special and be able to make someone's dream come true. we are working behind the scenes to make the dream come true. >> reporter: the scooter is equipped with sirens, lights, and something else. is richard and badge, making devon and honorary sheriff's deputy. >> he is absolutely in love with it. >> i got a ticket for no tail lights and we had to come here to get it written off so it's hard to keep it a secret. >> reporter: big smiles for a little boy who could hardly contain himself. as he finished his lap with deputies around the building --

>> it's hard to hold back emotions. >> reporter: everyone's hearts were filled with gratitude. >> thank you, everyone. this has been absolutely amazing. >> what an incredible gift. he was so thrilled to be there. switching gears, we are grateful for this rain we are getting because we need it. >> yeah. then a break for the rain for him to do his lap. let's take a look at the big picture weather pattern. rain is likely tomorrow night from today, but tomorrow night we will get a brief break in the action as this chunk of the storm system moves inland and falls apart. the next one is going to be dropping down from the north and taking its place already by saturday. another round of rain is looking likely by late christmas eve and into the first half of christmas day. let's focus on the rain out there right now which is barely showing up on radar. there are some showers over contra costa and solano county, those are showing up elsewhere, there. a lot of locations have picked

up, but it is not showing up on radar because a lot of it is intense drizzle which barely falls around the atmosphere. there is actual rain to our north and that will be a factor later on tonight. for this evening, we're talking about the mist, the drizzle, the general wetness sticking around with off and on showers. after midnight, more widespread rain and heavier downpours as air from the south surges up through the bay area. at the same time, the cold front will approach from the northwest to squeeze the atmosphere and produce heavier rain and the possibility for some rumbles of thunder, most likely timeframe for that will be between 3:00 and 6:00 in the morning. heavier rain moves off east. still lingering, like today there will be plenty of mist and drizzle to keep things wet but the next round of rain will develop into tomorrow evening.

rain chances continue. we have a break in the action on friday. it is not a dry day but a dry- ish day. 24% chance of passing shower and then into christmas day, another round of rain. by sunday night into monday than the rain chances gradually diminish next week but they do not go away. there is no wet accented forecast if we add up the rain over the next seven days this is the outlook from the weather protection center. up to 3 inches of rain for the bay area but the northbay and santa cruz mountains are picking up more than 3 inches and some high peaks picking up 5 inches of rain over the next seven days. the wind will get gusty tonight as warm air surges and. wind gusts between midnight and 4:00 a.m. . still gusty conditions tomorrow morning. the wind will be strong and the roads are going to be wet. it will be a breezy afternoon. right now, we are looking outside from the kpix rooftop

and you can barely see the lights on the marketer a center. temperatures mostly in the upper 40s and 50s except san jose at 61 degrees. you are still in the warm sector of the system which will push its way further north. temperatures actually only rise to the upper 40s and 50s by early tomorrow morning or stay steady. then we managed to warm up slightly above average temperatures thursday afternoon despite clouds and continuing rain chances. temperatures do cool off across the board as we have through the first half of next week. the wettest days look like tomorrow, saturday and monday. off and on showers will be possible the other days of the seven day forecast. leading to temperatures and snow levels dropping down to 3000 feet. you will see some snow on some bay area peaks. i will have an update for the long-range future cast coming up at 6:00. new at 6:00, the holiday rush for covid-19 tests. the scramble before people see their loved ones. omicron isn't holding travel for now, but people at the airports for the first time

in a while, heading home is not as easy as you would think. greetings from overseas. bay area servicemembers sending their family some love while they are away for the holidays. still had at 5:00, >> i am john ramos in san francisco, where they are rolling out a new sy here in california, we believe in what if? after all, if is our middle name. like, what if we could go surfing and skiing in the same day? boom! what if we could have the moon and the stars

what if we could roll like this. or float like this. and eat all this. here we welcome all what ifs, with open arms. even what ever this is. after all, there's only one wrong way to what if. what if you don't?

welcome back. when you buy a beverage you usually pay a deposit of $.05-

$.10. getting that money back is not easy. now, a pilot recycling program in san francisco claims to make the process simpler without paying a headache for retailers. john ramos has the story. >> reporter: california created its crv program in 1986 to encourage recycling but there has been flaws in the system and a new pilot program in san francisco aims to correct them. >> reporter: this crv redemption center is one of only two remaining in all of san francisco. there used to be dozens of them. the law says if there is not a redemption center within a half- mile of a store, that store has to redeem the crv containers or face a $100 per day fine. even for those who do, it is clearly not working. >> what do you guys do with them? >> it goes in the dumpster.

>> reporter: are you serious? >> i wish i wasn't, but i don't have any way of returning them to anybody. >> reporter: as of january 5th, that all changes. >> retailers like a small immigrant owned businesses no longer have to accept bottles and cans directly from consumers and that is because we have a rotating schedule accessible citywide. >> reporter: he is talking about bottle bank, a high-tech redemption system where people register on an app, place crv bottles and cans and special barcoded bags and deliver them to a mobile collection truck. when they get to the recycling center, and optical scanner counts the number and types of containers, and payment is automatically made to a customer's bank account or payment at. it is a far cry from the current system where containers are sorted by hand. >> using the technology to make things easier for everyone. by having the mobile system, we want to make it convenient for everyone. >> reporter: the mobile program will start at two sites in the city, stearns county galleria and venice division. that should grow by march with the ultimate goal of 32 stops

across the city. with the launch of the mobile program, san francisco retailers will be considered back in compliance with the law .'s budget is creating access for people to recycle, to redeem their $0.10 crv deposit and rear alleviating burdens on small retailers who did not want to be a part of this program and cannot afford to pay the $100 per day. >> reporter: and sentences go, john ramos, kpix 5. now at 6:00, mother nature might not be getting us what we want for christmas but she is definitely getting us what we need. i am tracking multiple waves of rain in the forecast. the omicron surge is not stopping travel. what you need to know before you get on that flight. developing news, a small plane crashes into the roof of a house. what we know about this scene in the sierra foothills. good evening, i'm elizabeth cook. we start with the next

round of what weather tracking towards the bay area with a life look outside. drizzle at the golden gate bridge and on the camera right now. in a lot of places it is hit or miss with showers or drizzle. this video just in from napa gives you an idea, light rain and gloomy skies. a look at the south bay, santana row looking dry at the moment. we will check in with chief meteorologist paul hagan for a look at where it is raining. >> reporter: other locations around the bay area have been increasing in the best past our. almost a 10th of an inch within the last hour at hadfield. has picked up more now, approaching an inch and one quarter. just over one half inch for concord and santa rosa. not quite one quarter inch for santa rosa but it is not showing up on radar at the moment. the mist and drizzle is definitely out there for most locations arounde