>> from the area's local news station, you're watching the kron. 4 morning news at 4. >> good morning. it is 04:00am here on this wednesday. it is january halfway through the week. let's start with the weather this morning. before we get to the headlines we have john with our midweek forecast. >> morning, good morning, james. we're working our way through the middle of the week with some pretty familiar conditions. now, yesterday we did see some low cloud cover settling right into the bay itself. >> and this morning, as you can see from your east bay hills camera, we have some more of that. that low cloud cover and fog and patches sitting right in the midst of the bay. we do have some lower visibility from santa rosa

down one o one towards the bay itself from oakland down to the santa clara valley and on up the bayshore, the peninsula inland areas are also experiencing some patches of dense fog, too. so be mindful of this. as you venture outside this morning. definitely the most widespread dose of fog. and it's going to take a while for it to burn off, especially for our bayshore cities. aside from that once fog does burn off, we are in for a mostly sunny to partly cloudy afternoon. going to be another pleasant and cool one. we're off to temperatures in the 40's for the most part to start this morning with alameda hayward as well as san mateo and san francisco, egypt. 48 degrees cold spot being fairfield this morning sitting at 39 degrees right now. as far as temperatures go later on today and mentioned those low 60's. pretty familiar staff at this point, i'll be talking more about what to expect for the remainder of the week. all still to come now looking at roadways. we are seeing conditions out there on our roads that are still nice and crystal clear. this is a look at the bay bridge right here

and yeah, looks pretty empty at the moment. looking at our at the moment. looking at our next bridge. the sa bridge conditions out there. also nice and clear, not a whole lot of people on the roads just yet in a 13 minute drive over it. richmond center fell bridge a 7 minute drive and i'm not seeing a single tail light in the distance of there's one. but that's about it this morning. and the golden gate bridge. also nice and mt. taking in 22 minutes to get from 37 to the tolls. back to you. james. >> we should be able to walk down the street after going to community college and now worry about being killed. >> the show goes death struck a blow to the bay area. the 40 year-old was killed over the weekend when a homeless man pushed her in front of the new york city subway train. family members and friends came together to honor her at a vigil in san francisco's chinatown last night. proper is tailored for sacking. was there. >> with friends and community members mourning the loss of 40 year-old michelle portable

phone for tragedy. we all deserve to be safe. former classmates and co-workers gathered for a vigil in san francisco's chinatown tuesday night. a similar vigil also took place in new york city's times square, an area close to where go lost her life saturday morning. go who was born in berkeley and grew up in fremont, died after being pushed on to new york city subway tracks as an oncoming train was approaching company that. >> and some is so memorable say that san francisco city attorney david chu also spoke at the vigil calling for a stop to the violence and racism against asian communities at the beginning of the pandemic. >> before a single covid case was diagnosed either of our states. in the chinatown in san francisco and new york city. we saw business drop by 50% before some local case. to

the virus of racism. due to discrimination to stereotypes. york city police later arrested a homeless man who fled from the subway station. >> but later turned himself in. he was identified as 61 year-old simon marshall and has been charged with second-degree murder. police are in show that. >> that's new word that they got i'm taylor bisacky reporting kron. 4 news. >> and new york city mayor eric adams attended a vigil for go in times square, tweeting, quote, i'm recommitted to ending this kind of fear. we must stop crime. we must help those facing eental health issues, but we must unite our city and not allow divisions to tear us apart. and before michelle goes death, adams also proposed adding more officers to subway stations in new york city. although there were officers present when she was killed. back here at home, san

ramon police have arrested a couple that they say may be linked. now to a series of jewelry thefts around the bay area. 24 year-old alex gallo cell. and 21 year-old alina gunness. i'm are or were arrested monday afternoon. their car's license plate was flagged in connection with a bait and switch theft on sunday. police say the couple targeted elderly women who are often outside and alone and using sleight of hand techniques. they removed the victim's jewelry from them and replace them with fakes before fleeing in a waiting car, at least 10 of these steps have been reported in san ramon since november. the suspects have already been identified by at least one of the victims. 3 similar thefts were reported in union city last week. authorities are now investigating whether the couple's connected to those crimes as well. a teenager who police say was involved in a holiday smash-and-grab is now facing a string of felony charges. 19 year-old gregory jefferson was arrested at his home in pittsburgh earlier this month where police say they found more than 30 boxes

of luxury sneakers, clothing and a ghost gun. police say jefferson is connected to 2 robberies at a high-end shoe store called fix kicks in santa clara claiming he was one of roughly 2 dozen people who stole nearly $200,000 worth of merchandise. jefferson is now facing charges, including organized retail theft because the robberies, the fix kick store is now just conducting sales online. only. the oakland city council, by the way, passed legislation banning the distribution and creation of those untraceable ghost guns. oakland police say the privately manufactured firearms have grown more popular amid the recent rise in gun violence of the roughly 1200 guns. that officer sees last year. police say nearly 23% almost a quarter. we're ghost guns. similar ordinances have already been implemented in san francisco, berkeley and los angeles. in oakland, the city council is considering a new proposal now to and the competitive bidding for minority owned contractors.

but 2 council members are signaling their strong opposition to that idea. kron four's haaziq has the story. >> hazardous roadways and potholes are major problem in the city of oakland. it's going to take a lot of work to safely restore the streets, sidewalks and the pavement and a lot of money that's up for grabs for contractors bidding for the job. oakland city councilmember loren taylor. we have 60 million dollars of paving contracts that are being awarded. >> and unfortunately, a proposal is that we reward them too 3 large. corporations instead of creating opportunities for small local businesses. >> the open department of transportation is behind the proposal asking for a waiver that would end the competitive bidding and participation for small businesses in oakland. however, a city ordinance requires that 50% of the work is awarded to local businesses. and half of that is specifically award. it 2

small local businesses that are often owned and operated by minority members of the community. and people need to know that the city stands by its word. oakland city council member shane tell the only way to actually shield the historical institutional racism. >> it's really to transform oakland into taking a proactive approach. we're writing racial wrongs and party individuals, including people of color and women. and in this case are oakland small and very small businesses who are frequently by people of color and women. kron 4 offered an opportunity to the department of transportation to be a part of this conversation. they declined in the summary of their nine-page resolution. the directive states, quote. >> wow, all bidders were deemed responsible for ward know contractor proposed for ward was responsive to the full requirement for local participation, unquote. >> and staff is saying that that is the best they can do. i reject that. i think that

there's more we can do. there's more we should be. i know that people are eager to make sure that our roads are paid. >> and but that doesn't mean that we can't do both get our roads paper at the same time, follow the policies that we have implemented. haaziq kron. 4 news. >> 4, 0, 8, is the time. and let's turn now to our coronavirus coverage and we start with another grim milestone for the state of california. state. health officials say they have recorded 7 million total cases. now since the pandemic began, one out of 7 have come in just the past week alone. the state department of public health record 1 million cases from january tense to january 17th. and that is the fastest rate of the entire pandemic. even during last winter's disastrous way. the infectious disease increased more slowly. experts say these numbers speak to just how transmissible the omicron variant is. well, despite the rapidly rising case count, there is reason to believe that we are at some point approaching the peak of the surge. doctor michael vollmer

is an epidemiologist for kaiser permanente. and he says that internal data that they have shows covid cases may be cresting. he expects a big drop sometime this month. >> i think it's fairly safe to say that will see it over the next week or 2. my only hesitation is is any effect at this last holiday period is had? >> you know, that's the question. doctor palmer says the best thing you can do right now is to get that booster shot. if you haven't already that extra protection has been proving very effective against severe illness from the virus. new federal website or i should say the new federal website for free covid test kits has launched with the first shipments going out by the end of the month. the tests will be free. no shipping costs at all. you just sign up at covid test dot gov or usps dot com slash covid tests. click order free at-home tests and it will just take a 2 quick form here. feel like your your address,

your e-mail. and that's it. the news hit. check out now to confirm and the test is on its way or at least will be by the end of the month. you're limited to just 4 tests per address. so if you have roommates, you're going to share that with them. the white house says tests will typically ship within 7 to 12 days of ordering through the u.s. post office. the cdc says that anyone who may have been exposed to someone with covid should test 5 days after their exposure or as soon as symptoms. california's office of emergency services announced that it has delivered more than 20 million masks to county boards of education all across the state. and that since the beginning of the year here in the bay area, santa clara county has received the most masks with nearly a million napa county, the least with about 77,000 officials on each board of education are responsible now for distributing these masks to each school district. they may also request additional resources like cleaning wipes and hand side hand sanitizer. they just have to put in the request. for 11 the time.

we'll take a quick break. but coming up on the kron 4 morning news, a new resource center is open in the tenderloin. >> talk about the services they're offering to people in that neighborhood. and democrats vow to force a vote in the senate when it comes to the filibuster rule will tell you why some lawmakers say they do not. so for that change. we'll be right back.

>> for 14 the time. let's get

quick check of the forecast. if you're just waking up this morning, let's find out what's in store for today and the rest of the week. john, good morning today. good morning, james. it is going to be a pretty steady go this rest of this week. not a lot of changes. as far as temperatures go and we're staying dry, too. one thing that has worked its way back in the picture has been some dense fog in places and that is especially true this morning. your view outside at san francisco show some low gray over the city. fog is not as bad in the city as it is for some of our bayshore cities further down the peninsula into the south bay right up the east bay all the way up to santa rosa in the north bay. also some to leave fog out in the central valley. so that could be holding up a little bit this morning. you can actually see that faint grain future cast here where you are seeing that fog settled into the bay as well as out of the delta later on today, we get that solid dose of sunshine for some further south in the inland. it will be some hazy sunshine, a partly due to the high pressure kept that we have overhead contributing to the

less than ideal air quality that we've been having. now, tomorrow is going to be another sunny afternoon for us. same will be the case into friday, saturday and sunday of the weekend. i mentioned that high pressure ridge that just ever expanding across the region continuing to send the jet stream to the north that low that had been bringing a few showers to southern california is now out of the picture. so the state in general is dry back out. we're holding on to the sunshine and we're definitely going to be holding on to dry skies, 50's and 60's for daytime highs today. today's temperatures a bit more mild than yesterday's as compared to all the 50's we had on the map today. it's more so 60's san jose and campbell, each at 64 for your daytime highs. low 60's across the east bay, whether you're inland or right along the bay shore, oakland, right at 60 degrees at that same number will sonoma napa, santa rosa among spots at 63 today. tomorrow, right around the same as today. friday is going to be one of her most mild days of this forecast with a

few mid 60's expected. now the weekend into next week, not bringing a lot of changes, sunshine, dry skies not going anywhere just yet. bridges this morning. still really empty. maybe a workday as it is the middle of the week now. but not for a lot of people just yet early risers are few and far between at the bay bridge. only a 7 minute drive from the means to fremont street san mateo bridge, a 13 minute drive over the span. and as far as the richmond center fell goes also pretty empty. just a few cars making your way on over into bergen county golden gate bridge, a 20 minute drive from 37 up in marin down to the tolls in san francisco. james. john, thank you very much. let's turn our attention to wildfires. the biden administration plans to significantly expand efforts to thin forests. >> in the western u.s. in hopes of preventing these record setting fires. we seem to have every summer the 50 billion dollar plan would focus on forest around areas that are designated as hot spots where nature and neighborhoods come together.

the plan more than doubles the use of controlled fires and logging to reduce the trees and other vegetation. that service tender in these most high-risk areas. it will also focus on regions where out of control blazes have wiped out neighborhoods and sometimes entire communities, including california's sierra nevada mountains. well, a new development in the investigation into the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol. lawmakers have now subpoenaed former president donald trump's attorney, rudy giuliani and 3 of his associates. they include jenna ellis and sidney powell. they helped the former president challenge elections in several states and raise money for for you. got to fund that effort. there are also reports that the committee has subpoenaed and obtain phone records associated with eric trump as well as kimberly guilfoyle, who is engaged to donald trump junior. we've been talking about it all week, but today senate democrats say they are forcing a vote to change filibuster rules so they can pass their voting rights bill.

we have anna wiernicki joining us live from dc with more on this and what the prognosis is. what's the outlook at the hands going to work out? and a good morning. >> good morning. we're just going to have to wait and see. but senate democrats did meet late last night on capitol hill in a last-minute effort to really try and unify their party behind changing this filibuster rule and really just trying to convince 2 senators to support it. >> all eyes are on democratic senators joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. i don't know why we can't come together and find a pathway for the fate of the voting rights bill is in the hands of these 2 moderate democrats who say they won't break the senate rules to get it done. majority of my of my colleagues in the caucus democratic caucus, a change that changed in march. i respect that. you have the right to change your mind. i have and i hope they respect that too. i've never changed my mind on the filibuster. this is so sacred and so important. the right to vote is the wellspring of our democracy because senate democrats don't have the 60 votes needed to pass the

legislation. senate majority leader chuck schumer says he will bring a vote to the for wednesday to change the filibuster rule so that democrats only need 51 votes to advance the legislation to the president's desk. if senate republicans are going to oppose it, they should not be allowed to sit in their office. they got to come down on the floor and defend their opposition right now. no republican support the bill. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell says the changes democrats want will do more harm to the election system. weakening wildly popular voter id laws and making it harder to produce accurate voter rolls. >> it's not about making voting easier. it's about making cheating. is you? >> and senate majority leader chuck schumer says the vote will take place tonight at 06:30pm, for now live in washington. i'm anna wiernicki. back to you. all right. thank you very much. it is for 20. we'll take a break. coming up next on the kron 4 morning news airlines and airports are worried that more flights could be disrupted.

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are now warning thousands of flights could be grounded starting today. >> because of the planned rollout of 5 g cell service near airports. now there are fears that 5 g could interfere with the plane's altimeter. we have brian. and with a closer look at what the concerns are. >> it came down to the wire, but crisis averted, at least for now wireless companies for rising an atnt agreeing to delay 5 g near some airports after major airline said the new technology could lead to an unprecedented number of flight cancellations. united airlines alone said the 5 g could negatively impact. 1.2 million passengers and cancel nearly 15,000 flights annually. pilots say the new technology could interfere with instruments they use to landing during low visibility as a pilot. how big of a concern is this? >> its major concern, phil orban is a commercial pilot and work for american airlines for 3 decades. the ramifications of the interference at a critical time of the landing could be

hundreds lives and we can't do that. we can say, well, we're not going to do anything until something really bad happens. rising and atnt both expressing frustration today with the faa saying they had years to prepare for the deployment of 5 g. we certainly understand what's at stake for both industries. >> we are actively engaged, as you said with the faa fcc wireless carriers, airlines. president biden also reacting in a statement saying in part this agreement will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passengers, travel, cargo operations and our economic recovery while allowing more than 90% of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled. >> well, as brian entin reporting now, the faa has created buffer zones around about 50 airports and that includes sfo. and then at a san jose they're going to require wireless companies to turn off nearby transmitters for 6 months to minimize potential 5 g interference. >> it's 4.25. we'll be right back with more headlines here in just a minute.

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>> we are back at 4.28, let's get another check of the forecast here with john trouble. and john at the half hour here. how's it looking outside? yeah, looking pretty good. we do have that blanket

of cloud cover. kind of like we saw yesterday again, shrouding the bay this morning. some of us will see of it. some of us won't. and some of us are having a foggy impact from it. look at all this low visibility that we do have stretching from santa rosa down one on one to the bay itself and then down into the bay interior and even into some of our inland valleys. it is patchy this morning where you're running into lower visibility, but be mindful today does have the greatest visibility impact because of that fog that we've seen in quite some time now. so slow things down. good morning to give yourself some extra time, even though traffic is an anticipated to be so bad now, skies will again be dry today. so that's not going to be a concern. current temperatures are mostly in the 40's to 50's san jose fairly mild at 50 degrees. where is our coldest spot on the map in the upper 30's is fairfield sitting right now. 39 degrees later on today. it's right back to the low 60's. we go under what will be increasingly clear conditions mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies later on

today. bridges this morning been pretty empty. looking at the bay bridge. we do have conditions out there that are really nice and clear. just a few cars making their way into the city. now, expecting there to be a modest back up towards the core. the commute here in a few hours. but as for now, you are good to go. 12 minutes across the san mateo bridge, not a whole lot of cars making that trip just yet. and nobody really driving across the richmond center fell just yet nice and quiet. make your way across that span. golden gate bridge also really quiet for early risers. 19 minutes from 37 down to the tools. james. john, thank you very much. at 4.30, san francisco is stepping up efforts to help people in need, especially. >> in and around the tenderloin. we have from charles clifford with the story. >> on tuesday, san francisco opened a new center near un plaza to provide assistance to people who may be struggling with homelessness, health problems or addiction. visitors can get access to water, hot food, laundry services, showers, bathrooms,