>> from the area's local news station. you're watching the kron 00:00am morning news at 4. >> good morning, everybody. and thank you for joining us on the kron 00:00am morning news. it is friday, december 31st. the last day of 2021. i hope you had a great year. we are ending dry this year and that's the good news. i headed out obviously into here and it is much lighter today than yesterday. but one thing remains constant it is cold this morning john. yeah, definitely cold. well, we're looking at temperatures out there. >> back down into the 40's 30's this morning. something

that if you are heading outside for new year's eve tonight you know playing around bundling up with that extra layer. certainly to keep you warm your view outside your berkeley hills. cameras crystal clear. these clear skies. these calm conditions are one of the reasons that we are seeing are evening lows getting so very chilly. now right now on satellite and radar. we're looking good. very solid start to the day. we are going to remain dry throughout the course of your friday really to the rest of the year. as round things out for 2021 these next 24 hours tonight at midnight, we will see clear crystal clear conditions and that's the way it's going to stay through saturday and sunday before return of rainfall into monday and tuesday of next week, right now, fremont hayward livermore dublin brett, what in almost all the north bay are down in the 30's petaluma at 32 in santa rosa, right below freezing at 31 degrees. so definitely not exaggerating when we say you've got to bundle up and keep warm this morning. staying dry towards the afternoon with highs into the low 50's. much like we did yesterday. i'll be talking about what we have into the

weekend and into next week. all still ahead now looking at bridges this morning. we do have clear conditions. obviously it is going to be an easy go. this was actually an incident from yesterday right here. so we will take that off. and then we will get that bay bridge cam are set up here in a second. if the mouse and the traffic computer would ever want to start working. so bay bridge, 7 minutes to get you from the maze to fremont street. san mateo bridge a 13 minute drive right there. richmond center fell that will be 8 minutes and of course, the golden gate bridge, easy go. 21 minutes 37 to the tolls. back to you. will. john cities across the world they are canceling or scaling back their traditional new year's eve celebrations because of the omicron surge. >> in san francisco. no fireworks show tonight and that will be the second year in a row that we won't have a fireworks show in new york city. the show will go on. but with some restrictions. tom negovan has the story.

>> they've tested the numbers. even the confetti and they're ready. >> listen, the expectation is pretty clear. what set it one more time. if you're coming out tomorrow, let's have fun. let's do it in a safe environment. you're going to wear a mask and that's the expectation for everyone. we are going to tear down barriers. new york's new mayor eric adams planning to be sworn in during the celebration. we're very excited to welcome visitors back to times square. this new year's eve ready for the ball to drop amid the tightened security in the nation, if not the world, including but not limited to. >> magnetometers, explosive trace detection machines. heavy weapons. >> the show will also go on in chicago. in fact, the windy city's planning the biggest fireworks show in its history along the chicago river and navy pier at indoor events masks will be mandatory. got to be smart. >> and i'm not going to be a mom and tell people what they should and shouldn't do.

>> san francisco's fireworks are canceled for the second year in a row along with a long list of other new year's eve events, atlanta canceling the annual peach drop as covid cases rise advising georgians to get their shots and stay home. las vegas planning to launch fireworks from the roofs of 8 hotels on the strip for 8 minutes and now a walk down memory lane to times square one year and one day ago. >> okay. so the show will go on, but it will not have this man here. ll cool j. he was scheduled to perform tonight in times square. but he is dropping out after testing positive for covid the rapper and actor released a statement saying, although he's disappointed he cannot perform. he still wishes everyone a happy and safe new year. cases are skyrocketing

across the country in many cities on the east coast like new york city. they're seeing a spike in pediatric hospitalizations that is raising a lot of concerns that we could soon see a similar surge right here in the bay area. kron four's taylor the sack he spoke with infectious disease expert doctor peter chin home. >> whether or not this is the calm before the storm. >> remains to be seen in the east coast says been a four-fold increase in pediatric hospitalizations in the new york area. chicago, watching to see what will happen. but the bay area's interesting because a lot of people around those kids are vaccinated, including of the highest rates of adolescent vaccines in the country. despite rising omicron cases and hospitalizations among children in other large cities. >> infectious disease specialist at ucsf. doctor peter chin-hong remains hopeful for several reasons for one, he says

hospitalizations here in the bay area still remain relatively low in 2. the omicron variant doesn't appear to be more severe in kids than previous trance between ucsf benioff children's hospitals in san francisco and oakland doctor chin-hong says a high of 15 children were hospitalized with covid in september compared to only 5 hospitalized now, at the end of december. however, if the bay area were to follow trends on the east coast. doctor chin-hong believes the surge would be short-lived maybe that we'll see acision kids here in area. that's more pronounced than what we have right now. >> but what we do know about omicron so far is that it believes in, but it also blazes out. so my feeling is. you know, we see that surge. it's going to end very quickly. it's not going to be like delta some of the other decisions we've seen in area to help prevent further spread, especially as we send students back to their classrooms after winter break. he says limiting gatherings wearing masks and taking extra safety precautions. >> will be crucial. i'm taylor

reporting kron 4 news. >> the fda is expected to broaden eligibility for covid booster. shots come this monday, 12 to 15 year-olds will be eligible to receive 3rd doses of the pfizer vaccine. regulators also plan to allow both adolescents and adults to seek an extra shot. pfizer's vaccine 5 months after receiving a second dose. instead of the 6 month waiting period. a booster shot is also expected to be authorized for kids, ages 5 to 11 years old with immune deficiencies. the cdc will then meet to vote on whether to recommend the changes. a new study says that 2 doses of the johnson and johnson vaccine is 85% effective against hospitalizations from the omicron variant. now, that's according to a study of south african health care workers. a u.s. study also says that the vaccine protects against

omicron johnson and johnson says its vaccine also works well as a booster for people who got 2 doses of the pfizer vaccine so you can mix them up. more than 50,000 students and staff in the san francisco unified school district will go back to school on monday. the teachers union is now demanding that the district provide take home covid tests. a district spokesperson says covid testing has been offers since last spring and that there are also plans to make more testing sites available starting this weekend. the district plans to wait until the end of the school week to pass off at home tests being provided by the state. but san francisco supervisor matt haney says that's a bad idea. >> but the students and the staff will already have been in the school for an entire week before and so the result of that is that we may have some spread in the schools that could be prevented. >> the district says testing is just one part of that safety plan. it will also

include things like daily health screenings and encouraging everyone to get vaccinated and boosted. the fda has authorized another at home. rapid covid tests. this one is by a german company siemens that demand for at-home tests has skyrocketed mostly because of the omicron variant and people gathering for the holidays. it's almost impossible to get your hands on those tests. if you've been out there looking for them. the siemens test should also be available starting next month. it's authorized for anyone 14 years and older. okay. so while we face a surge in new covid cases. many infectious disease experts say they're still optimistic next year will be a better year. and as lourdes duarte reports, some say the keys to beating covid is already here. >> it was one year ago when we got a look inside north shore university health system's covid icu or pulmonary and critical care doctors respiratory therapists and

nurses handle the heavy lifting gear we just catch it so early and in covid and now it's looking traditionally covid or is it something at the time, about 20 beds were occupied on the unit are volumes are not quite as bad as they were last year and numbers of positive cases are high, but the numbers of of are severely ill patients. thankfully of end. >> lower and the that's been attributed almost exclusively to the vaccine. still, the prognosis for a patient on a ventilator remains much. the same. the overwhelming majority of them are unvaccinated. once you're in the icu and once you get on a ventilator that mortality has not really changed. so we have a you know, all of our treatment protocols. and not move the significant. so i i think the real emphasis for everyone is just to prevent that situation from occurring in the first place. on the way to do that is to be vaccinated. and if you're vaccinated get boosted busy, we're getting busier. the

count is up to 90 plus covid patients at rush university medical center that's compared to the facility's all-time high of a 189. >> during the early stages of the pandemic. >> we're in a better place than that because we do know what does work. >> there are multiple therapies, blood thinners monoclonal antibodies immune modulators and steroids help patients pull through covid and now the hope is to new antiviral pills will keep those at increased risk for severe disease. >> out of the hospital. all those measures help incrementally none have been real game changer years. but you know, it's a you know, it's a disease of increments and everything you can do. hopefully contributes to helping some people get yet. doctors say they're often asked by patients and their families to administer unproven we get it can get very coytentious. sure. >> we had our one of our physicians was a actually a family offered a bribe him with cash to give someone

ivermectin. >> of course you refuse to do that. it. >> would be inappropriate to me when i know that there is a medication that does work to you something that does. and as we enter another pandemic year a simple message. it's been a long year. it's been a hard year. >> and there's certainly an amount of burnout involved. but i think we're doing pretty well. take care of yourselves and each vaccinate, not just for yourself but for all the. >> other people around you. >> okay. so federal data shows that pediatric hospitalizations are at the highest level. they've been since the pandemic began. experts are reminding parents. it's not too late to get your child vaccinated. for the latest covid updates you can scan the qr code right there on your screen. all you have to do is just take your phone to it. and then after you do that, we'll take you to our web site will tell you everything you need to know, including travel restrictions and the very latest information coming from the cdc. still ahead on the kron 4 morning news and endangered tiger is shot and killed.

>> after attacking a man who got near his zoo enclosure. now, one of the stars of the netflix hit show tiger king. well, he's weighing in. and the season's first snow survey came back with great results with more than 78 inches of snow recorded. we'll tell you how much more they need to go.

>> and welcome back to the kron 4 morning news time now is for gold eyes john for 15 in the morning. if you're getting up, then you are working on last day of 2021 john, i was driving in. it was light, but it was still cold yeah. definitely cold out there across the bay area and up in the sierra, which is still looking very wintry. >> we had some pretty good travel conditions up there yesterday. ice on roadways, though, this morning because of some freeze and are some melt and then freeze overnight. so do watch your travels up that direction as far as our drought goes, this is where we were october. first. we had our latest drought monitor released yesterday last week. it looked like this with exceptional drought. worst category still hanging on the pockets of the bay today. it looks like this. it's still not ideal for sure. most of the bay, area's and severe drought which was really something that was a dream for us. just a couple of months ago. so we have taken a major step in the right direction as far as our drought goes, we hopefully

will continue that momentum into 2022 yesterday. we did have some flooding in southern california due to some heavy rainfall down that direction. great find was temporarily closed due to snowfall all those conditions have improved today as conditions will dry out and we should remain dry through the remainder of this forecast. we do have a weak low pressure area that skirted through just enough to keep us cold. otherwise, though. we're not looking at any chances of rainfall as we work our way through the finale of 2021. now these next 24 hours and the start of 2022 here in less than 24 hours. so today's going to be nice and dry. one tomorrow is going to continue that. it is going to be really, really cold for evening lows tonight. blame that on the clear and calm conditions were in the mid stepped sunday. we keep the dry weather around before monday. we do see a chance of showers for the bay area tuesday. we should stick take our foot off the gas pedal a little bit before another chance of rainfall works its way back into the picture. come wednesday of next week. as for temperatures today, we will be in the midst of mostly

low 50's on terror are not in the half moon bay each at 52 burlingame in south san francisco, fairly mild 54, same for you in foster city down to saying carlos south bay temperatures in the low 50's. morgan hill, you'll be at 48 today. also in the upper 40's our inland east bay livermore at 48 degrees. san ramon at 49 oakland and richmond. you will each be at 53 antioch in fairfield at 51 for your highs and some 40's right along the coastline in stinson beach, tomorrow's highs will be a little bit more mild than today's to kick off 2022 we will be looking at 50 staying with us all the way through this forecast. look at those evening lows tonight, bayside in coastal areas falling into the 30's inland areas falling as cold as the 20's. so if you are heading out for new year's eve festivities just layer up every layer. you got monday and wednesday will be our best chances of rainfall next week. as far as roadways go this morning, we're not having any issues here in the bay area. we do have calm conditions and a pretty light commute. 7

minutes to get you from the maze to fremont street. they're on 80's. as for the san mateo bridge. also a nice and easy one. we are seeing conditions that are nice and clear out there on this bridge and certainly dry richmond center fell bridge that was going to take you 8 minutes this morning and then we are looking at the golden gate bridge. 20 minutes from 37 to the tolls. no highway 50 up in the sierra nevada is open. but i do want to alert you on what is going up on 80. it does look like we have some closures going on along 80 right now and i'll get you more information on that as we go back to you. well, okay. so john, you were talking about how cold it's going to be over the next few days. so the government is responding cities are responding. they're setting up warming centers across the bay area. >> so take a look at your screen. so in san francisco, they've opened up the gene friend recreation center on 6th street and that is around 5 o'clock last night so it's open and will be open. 24 hours a day through sunday in

oakland, a warming center will open today at saint vincent depaul community center and shelter on san pablo avenue that will be open through monday morning. and in the north bay, the city of santa rosa. they are partnering partnering with the catholic charities organization to open a center on wilson street that will be open every night from 8 o'clock at night until 00:00am in the morning now through sunday. you can find all of this information on our website. if you did not catch all of it. just go to our website at kron 4 dot com. the season's first snow survey was done and it came back with some great results, water content of the snowpack is way above normal with more than 70 inches of snow depth record. it. the survey was done at phillips station in eldorado county where water content as 202% of the average for this state. the statewide average is now 160% of normal. it's a

strong start to the drought stricken states. traditionally wet winter season, although state authorities say california is definitely not out of the woods just yet. as you can see from the latest drought monitor map much of the state is still under a drought emergency with a darker red signaling extreme drought. but there has been one significant change on the left is the drought monitor map from last week. look at the difference. the dark is red means exceptional drought. the driest category of them all. and then you can see just how much the conditions have improved from all the heavy rain and snow and more rain on the way next week, although the record snowfall is good news for the drought. it also caused a lot of damage down trees and unsafe conditions forcing caltrans to close both interstate 80 and highway 50, although both routes have since reopen. the agency is still strongly warning against any travel to the sierra south lake tahoe mayor de the

middlebrook says the area is now seeing a break after a week of recorr snowfall but drivers should expect long delays with several back roads closed because of the downed trees and power lines. >> basically we had closures for the last several days. we be real close. you can get base and the roads have been extremely icy and snowy. you have to make a critical trip. a critical trip for work. an essential trip. it's okay. >> what if it's a trip just to hang out with family and friends were saying stay off the roads. >> chain controls have dropped. i've been dropped on highway 80 and interstate 80. but the california department transportation says trips. you just heard him say should be limited to essential travel while crews continue to clear all of that snow from the roadways and keep in mind another storm as john trimble was just talking about expected to hit us next week. so if you don't have to try to stay home because it's still not safe and very icy up there possibly. a sad update in the

search for a missing skier. the placer county sheriff's office has officially suspended all efforts to look for rory angelina the 43 year-old truck. the man was last seen christmas morning at northstar resort in north lake tahoe. authorities say at this point there's no realistic possibility that he survived that severe winter all of that snow up there. the freezing conditions more than 200 personnel from 17 different agencies. they comb the mountains in an effort to confine this particular man. rory right there you see picture. officials face are scaling back as they are no longer in a recovery or rescue operation. and at this point moving forward and more than likely will be a rescue mission or excuse me, a recovery mission. coming up on the kron 00:00am morning news, biden and putin exchanging warnings during phone calls. >> and rising ukraine tensions. rink.

before that drink turns to drinks, make a plan to get home safe. just call a friend, a cab, and get a rideshare. whatever you do, don't let drunk drive. go safely, california.

out. hair, done. fit, fantastic! marijuana. not so fast. remember, marijuana and some meds don't mix. a sober driver can cure that. don't let high drive. go safely, california. president vladimir putin in a tense standoff over ukraine. the leaders speaking yesterday with putin warning of a quote complete rupture of us and russia relations. >> at the pollutants request. he and biden talked for about 15 minutes on the phone yesterday focusing on the escalating crisis in ukraine.

there are roughly 100,000 russian troops along its border and what the u.s. cause a threat of invasion as reshad hudson reports, president biden has a threat of his very own. >> president. biden made the phone call from his home in wilmington urging russia to de-escalate tensions with ukraine. this is the second time the 2 presidents have talked since they're face to face meeting in geneva last june. the call comes as defense analysts warn russia has upwards of 100,000 troops gathered on the ukrainian border and appears poised for an invasion. >> he's using the intimidation of all those troops to again make by blink. >> former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, john herbst says who wants nato missiles out of eastern europe and wants a commitment that ukraine and other countries surrounding russia will be permitted to join the nato alliance so prudent things by believe in you may be able to get something. the president has promised severe sanctions. should russia invade ukraine.

secretary of state antony blinken renewed that warning last week there will be massive consequences. that's the language is massive consequences. russia, but republicans still think the president has been tough enough on putin. this is texas senator ted cruz on the senate floor earlier this month. >> if we see russian tanks in the streets of kiev. it will be because joe biden surrendered to putin and to show the seriousness of the situation. this is the second time this month that the 2 presidents have spoken reporting in washington rashad hudson, back to you.