Karina nova. Lets start with a look at the weather with drew. How is it out there . It actually felt nice coming into work today. Its nice this morning, but then this afternoon, we have big changes. It turns very windy and it gets cooler out here. Heres a live look from the exploratorium camera this morning. We are dealing with clear skies. We are not seeing any fog out there. No dense pockets this morning. Well keep our eyes on that. Temperatures youre starting the day on our friday morning with numbers mainly in the 50s. Now we begin with a lot of sunshine this morning. Temperatures in the 50s and 60s, but well start to see the clouds on the increase right around lunchtime and into the afternoon. Were going to hit our highs a little early today, right around one, 2 p. M. Because winds are going to kick up. Theyre going to gust about 30mph today. And thats going to knock those temperatures down pretty quickly. Later on this evening. So today, its cooler compared to yesterday. Remember, yesterday was the warmest day we had all week. Today so were below average 60s and 70s for the most part. Well take a closer look at those wind speeds and also a few changes to the weekend forecast when it comes to those showers. Ill show you that coming up in eight minutes. Lets check in with jobina and see our friday traffic is doing. Thank you, drew. Good morning, everybody. So we are going to start here with a live picture from the san mateo bridge where everything is moving at the limit. For the most part. We have no blocking issues and no advisories coming in from the chp. So its a true friday out there. The walnut creek camera here, those tail lights are traveling in the southbound direction on 680. And we will end with a look at our drive times for our super commuters. No delay at all. Tracy to dublin is only 29 minutes where were seeing a slowdown at the moment is going to be on that ride from antioch to concord. Its around 23 minutes. Thanks, jobina. Safety on the roads has become a hot button issue in San Francisco. New data shows pedestrian fatalities in the city are on the rise. And now city leaders want answers. As abc7 News ReporterGloria Rodriguez joins us live at city hall this morning. And gloria, the Public Safety committee met yesterday to take up several safety issues. They did, karina and the city officials met here yesterday. The rise in traffic deaths was one of the topics that they discussed. And the city officials are asking for answers this morning. A recent report shows that traffic citations dropped drastically over the past several years. This as the number of pedestrians being killed is on the rise. And the Public Safety committee took up the issue thursday, led by supervisor Rafael Mandelman, the supervisor sent a letter of inquiry to the Police Department after it reported a 97 drop in traffic citations in eight years as i would like for us to get closer to a plan to actually have more traffic enforcement, we have less people overall in the department. Those resources at the Traffic Company are being pulled in different direction as. And you heard right there, the Police Department is pointing to its Staffing Shortage as a key part of the problem as well as to policy upping the amount of paperwork that comes along with a citation. And the supervisor is pushing for a plan on the Drug Overdose crisis was also discussed yesterday and the da is calling out the chords. And well have more on that coming up at 530. Live in San Francisco, Gloria Rodriguez, abc seven news. Thank you, gloria. Two days after announcing that hes running for San Francisco mayor Daniel Laurie is blasting current mayor london breed for quote making another failed promise earlier this week, the mayor announced a plan to require people with Substance Use disorder to be screened for drugs if they want to receive welfare checks. In a statement, laurie blasted that plan. He says in part, quote, you cannot compel people into treatment and services that dont exist. This is the kind of proposal you get when youre more concerned with grabbing headlines than with getting results. Its the Mayors Office gave a statement to the chronicle saying in part , mayor breed believes we should do everything we can to get people into treatment and save lives because this crisis is too severe not to try. In the east bay, Oakland Police say they arrested ten people and confiscated a dozen weapons during a sting operation earlier this week on grand avenue. Mayor shengtao praised the department for the crime crackdown. Were not waiting until we have a Permanent Police chief. Were not waiting until we have a Permanent Department of violence, violence prevention chief. We are moving forward so that we protect the citizens, the businesses and our communities here in our city. This particular group of individuals have been involved in a series of carjackings, armed robberies, auto burglaries, and have a history of engaging in these crimes throughout the bay area. Police say nine people are facing charges and charges are pending against a 10th person who is a juvenile. Community members in oakland had a chance to weigh in on the search for a new police chief during last nights police commission. Town hall. One name kept coming up. The former chief, laurent armstrong. I believe that he should be reinstated. I hope the commission has the opportunity to recommend him to be reinstated. And i think that the city of oakland has suffered dreadfully since he was fired in this past february. What matters is that xiang tao was elected by the majority of oaklanders and she made a decision. The purpose of this board is not to undermine her leadership. Up last nights town hall went on, despite three members of the commission boycotting it. Armstrongs name has frequently come up during other Public Meetings during this search. He was fired without cause by mayor shengtao, an independent report said that he mishandled officer misconduct cases. However for a judge, a judges recent report responding to an appeal from armstrong cleared the former chief of any wrongdoing. A petition to recall Alameda CountyDistrict Attorney pamela price has the go ahead to move forward. The registrar of voters approved the petition yesterday, which means the organizers have five months to collect nearly 75,000 valid signatures if they hit that number, the recall can then be put on the ballot price took office in january after running as a progressive prosecutor seeking to reform the criminal justice system. Her critics have accused her of being too soft on crime within months of her taking office. We are now less than 48 hours away from a Government Shutdown that could impact millions of us. Jobina. Today, House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy plans to hold a test vote on a spending bill, but it doesnt look like he has support from his caucus. Yeah, reggie, the spending bill. Speaker mccarthy is proposing is considered far right and has little chance of having enough support for an official vote on the house floor. It includes an 8 cut to federal spending and would toughen Border Security while temporarily keeping the government open. But it has a tough road ahead. Democrats and ten republicans have already said they will not vote in favor. Why would they side with biden on an open border. Have an opportunity to sign bucket . What are they doing it for that reason, theyre doing it for personal reasons, doing chaos. The house has passed four of 12 individual appropriation bills to Fund Specific parts of the government, but those are considered dead on arrival in the senate. If no deal is made, the government shuts down at 12 01 a. M. On sunday. President biden has said he believes a shutdown is inevitable if a shutdown happens. 4 million federal workers, including Border Patrol and tsa agents, could be furloughed or asked to work without a paycheck. Karina thanks, jobina while we inch closer to a Government Shutdown , republicans have been focused on their impeachment inquiry into president biden. They held a six hour hearing yesterday alleging the president benefited from his sons business dealings when he was vice president. But even their own witnesses who testified say theres no evidence of that. As Committee Members continue to claim there is corruption in the House Oversight committee will examine over two dozen pieces of evidence revealing joe bidens corruption and abuse of public office. If the republicans had a smoking gun or even a dripping water pistol, they would be presenting it today. But theyve got nothing on joe biden. Even if House Republicans are able to secure a conviction, removing the president from office will be nearly impossible because of resist from senate republicans. Democrats also control the senate, which would have to vote to remove the president. Right now, we go to maui and actually dc because survivors of the disastrous and deadly maui wildfires were on capitol hill. That Going Forward from now, theyre going to do better. Like we lost homes in 2018. And it took our entire town burning down for them to say, okay, well, now were going to do better. Its ridiculous. Yesterday, the ceo of Hawaiian Electric testified before the house energy and Commerce Committee about the utilitys handling of the emergency. Survivors say the ceos testimony was disappointing because many questions went unanswered. Was Hawaiian Electric aware of an incident involving its power lines at that time . I do not know what was known right at that moment, but we would have had a fault indicated. But i cant tell you exactly Hawaiian Electric is undergoing an eternal investigation. But the ceo would not comment, making the results public would not, i should say, commit to making the results public until its finished. West coast wine experts are working with the federal government to find ways to protect wine grapes from wildfire smoke. Scientists from three western universities are looking at ideas like protective spray coatings and pinpointing the elusive compounds that create an ashy taste in the wine. Cal seniors Wine Industry suffered 3. 7 billion in damage during a record wildfire year in 2020. 510 this morning were looking at live doppler seven along with satellite. You can clearly see our next area of low pressure spinning counterclockwise. It is approaching the Northern California coast. And as it does, its going to kick up the winds today, introduce cooler air this afternoon and keep temperatures a bit below average for much of the weekend. And tomorrow, theres the chance of some light showers out there. Lets talk about the winds first. A lot breezier than we were yesterday. Heres 3 p. M. Today. Those winds and a lot of spots are going to gust over 30mph. And thats going to help to really reinforce that cooler air later on this afternoon. We do anticipate it still staying pretty breezy by 7 p. M. With those winds gusting likely 15 to about 30mph. So outside this morning, sutro tower, its bouncing a little bit this morning with a light breeze. Well find sunshine early on, but clouds will be on the increase as that low pressure gets closer to us as the day goes on. Todays totally dry. But its a windy afternoon with those winds gusting 30mph. And its a cooler day compared to yesterday. Well have those temperatures mainly in the 60s and in the 70. Looking at the three day forecast, we have a bit of a change to our saturday. If you remember, we had a level one on the storm impact scale on saturday. Weve removed that. But there is still the chance of light showers. The more spotty in nature as we get better information in for tomorrow, well still start some of our areas wet on saturday, but sunday is certainly going to be dry and its going to be bright. Well take an hour by hour. Look at saturday, the showers, reggie, coming up in about nine minutes. Thanks drew. Tesla once again at the center of a civil lawsuit coming up with the allegations being made by some of its employees and neighbors in East Palo Alto are nervous over whats coming out of their sinks. The answers theyre getting about brown and odorous water coming from their faucet. Steph curry taking up yet another bay area project, a film chronicling the life and legend of a local alex mateo, hey hows business . Great. You know that loan has really worked wonders. Thats what u. S. Bank is for. And youre growing in california . Yup, socal, norcal. Monterey . All day. A branch in ventura . Thats for sureah. Atms in fresno . Fresyes. Encinitas . Yes, indeedus. Anaheim . Big time. More guacamole . Im on a rollay. How about you . Im just visiting. U. S. Bank. Ranked 1 in Customer Satisfaction with Retail Banking in california by j. D. Power. Employment Opportunity Commission in california and follows an investigation at the plant in fremont. The lawsuit claims the company repeatedly violated federal law by allowing the harassment of black employees and tesla did not immediately respond to abc news request for comment. Water quality questions in East Palo Alto. According to a survey, hundreds of people say theyre concerned about water running through their faucets and aging infrastructure. The Nonprofit Organization nuestra casa held a meeting on the matter yesterday. You might remember last year a resident shared video of brown and odorous water saying that this is what it looked like when pipes were getting cleaned to make sure this doesnt happen again. The city secured a 2 million grant for a Water Project the rest of San Mateo County receives clean good tasting water and that the people of East Palo Alto should as well. Officials say two out of the three Water Companies serving the city have had trouble meeting standards. This means the water might be safe to drink and wont harm your health, but it could look brown or smell bad. Happening today, a new pride flag is going to go up in San Franciscos Castro District as the neighborhood prepares for its annual street fair this weekend. Along with the flag raising the Castro Merchants Association will announce the new rainbow flag Donation Program arm. According to the group, the program will donate flown flags to organizations advocating for equality, diversity and other qualities aligned with lgbtq plus rights. Golden state warriors star Stephen Curry is now one of the producers for the upcoming documentary on bay area rap legend mac dre. The oakland born and vallejo raised rapper pioneered the bays famous hyphy movement, which is still very much alive. Curry will produce the film alongside unanimous medias cofounder, eric payton. Curry tells billboard theyre honored to work with mac dre, his mother wanda, to tell her sons story. We are winding down environmental awareness month, and to do so, were taking a closer look at textile waste. Did you know, though, that buying and wearing Second Hand Clothing instead of new reduces Carbon Emissions by an average of 25 . Jobina is giving us a look at how and the local Company Helping to make it happen. When in 2009, the iphone 3g was released, so help me god. President obama was inaugurated and a Company Called thredup was born. Fast forward to 2023 and oakland based thredup is gracing the time 100 list of most influential companies. James reinhart is the cofounder and ceo. The true story is i was getting dressed one morning and i had a closet full of clothes that i wasnt going to wear. So i went to a local consignment store to sell them after school that day, took these bags in and i got to the front and the woman said, oh, we dont take these things. We just do luxury. And i thought, well, but this stuff has real, real value. It just doesnt have value to me. Thredup is one of the Worlds Largest online consignment and Thrift Stores where you can sell and buy second hand clothes and accessories for women and kids. The Company Sells more than 55,000 brands across 100 product categories. The idea that we buy stuff and then eventually we just give it away and it ends up in a landfill at some point, just to me felt like a broken system. Reinhart admits he didnt set out to make an environmental impact, but over time, its become a central focus of the business. The fashion industry admits up to 10 of global Carbon Emissions, which is more than the european union. It continues to be the second Largest Consumer of water and 85 of all textiles go to dumps each year. Atlanta is oh well, were back on that. Yes. Well, when i said atlanta, i was talking about where one of their warehouses is located. So i really love doing this story. And our friend ginger zee is in it, actually. So you are going to get to see the full piece when it airs on abc seven at seven and a little later today as well. But theyre based right off of broadway in oakland and really it was stunning to look at the stats of what you can do if everybody bought one, one used piece of clothing like participated in the circular economy rather than buying something new, just one item. It would be the equivalent of taking off 76 million cars off the road for a day. When we look at the terms of Carbon Emissions. So were going to get into the Science Behind it. Its very cool and interesting. And just consider second hand. Its not an economy killer. And were going to talk about why. Oh, thats interesting. Yeah. Yeah because thats usually the biggest thing is people are like, oh, but youre ruining the economy and not exactly. Youre going to circular economy and theres a way to work that out. And theyre also helping stores like madewell and levis. Kate spade even be able to resell and reuse and work with the products that they have rather than it go to a dump. Well, and people i dont know if everybody knows, but thredup ive used it before. You get money back, right . Yeah, its a win win. Its a win win. You get something new and you get to clean out your closet and make some money. I think thats great. Overall. Yeah. Yeah. In 2009, people were kind of like, yeah, but now its the hot thing to do. It makes more sense. Yeah, it really does. Oh, im excited. Seven and seven. Well see the whole thing. All right. Very cool. Weather wise, we have a lot of changes coming our way in the next 24 hours, were going to say bye bye to the warm weather today. Its increasing. Clouds increasing wind and dropping temperatures. Its much cooler saturday with some spotty showers in the forecast. But sunday, its total sunshine. Were dry for the second half of the weekend and next week it is much warmer. Lets plan your friday. Well find increasing clouds as the day goes on. You have no worries when it comes to any wet weather today. Were totally dry. Its just a mix of sun and clouds and increasing winds. Later on this afternoon. Now, early tomorrow morning, you could see a peppering of green on your screen. Its not widespread. And thats part of the reason why we took down the level one on the storm impact scale for tomorrow. The showers are just too spotty in nature. Its not a very organized system. But nonetheless, throughout the afternoon, we still have the chance of a couple of spotty showers out there. Rainfall totals, you can see where we find those showers. It will end up then less than a 10th of an inch of moisture. Tomorrow, well get some snow in the central sierra above about 7500ft. We could see a couple of inches of snow. Well keep our eyes on that for you. But the seasons certainly are changing. Cooler and windy today. 60s and 70s with winds gusting about 30mph. This afternoon. Heres the accuweather seven day forecast. Well track those spotty showers tomorrow. Sunday were dry and sunny and then look at that warm weather taking over 90s return by the middle part of next week. Jobina. Thank you, drew. Good morning, everybody. So if you rely on mass transit, were in great shape this morning and its pretty much trended that way all week long. Bart, muni and as all running on time at the moment. Our busiest stretch is going to be in emeryville as we show you 80 that westbound traffic is where you see all those headlights going towards the maze at san rafael here, our 101 camera very light. No problems to report in this area. And we will end with our drive times because now were starting to see a minor slowdown pick up from that tracy to dublin ride. Its going to be 32 minutes. Karina all right. Coming up, the seven things to know this morning. If you havent been to the academy of sciences out of Golden Gate Park in a while, well, maybe today is a good day. Theyre offering special ad we made it bmo has arrived. Hello . You said it. Hello to more ways to save money, grow your wealth, grow your business. Just what we needed, another big bank. Not so fast. How many banks do you know that reward you for saving every month . Hes got a good point. Did i mention bmo has more feefree atms than the two largest us banks combined . Uh, bmo . Just beemo, actually. Quick question, will all this stuff fit in your car . should i get rid of the mug . Bmo give it to me by timbaland screams bleeding gums are serious, jamie. Dr. Garcia . Woah. Theyre a sign of bacterial infection. Crest gum detoxifys antibacterial fluoride works below the gumline to help heal gums and stop bleeding. Crest saves the day. Crest. Im steve, i lost 138 pounds in nine months on golo and taking release. Crest saves the day. Since taking release, my sleep is way better. My inflammation has gone way down. Im nonstop now, i feel way better than i did before. I dont sit down in life anymore. Time is running out for congress to agree on a funding bill to avoid a Government Shutdown. Today House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy plans to hold a test vote on a far right bill, but its not clear if he has enough votes to pass it. If no deal is reached, the Government Shutdown begins at 12 01 a. M. Sunday. Number two, traffic citations are down. Pedestrian deaths are up in San Francisco. Now supervisors want answers. Sfpd is reporting a 97 drop in traffic citations as saying they just dont have enough officers. And that is a huge part of the problem. Number three, Governor Newsom is calling on Oil Refineries to switch to the cheaper winter blend of gas early. It comes as gas prices spike across the state. Number four, music is going to be all over San Francisco this weekend. The hardly strictly Bluegrass Festival begins today. It runs through sunday at Golden Gate Park and then across the city, portola Music Festival takes over at pier 80 saturday and sunday. And number five wins pick up today. Its cooler this afternoon. Well track some spotty showers tomorrow. Its not a widespread wet weather event, but sunday we are dry and bright with temperatures warming back up. Number six bringing you a live picture from our oakland, 880 at the coliseum camera. In terms of traffic, you are in great shape this morning. We have no blocking issues. And number seven, we want to take a moment to recognize a very special person here at kgo , joanne young wohlers. And she is retiring today after an incredible full 43 year career here at abc7. Youve likely never seen her, but joanne has touched every aspect of the news gathering process from coordinating our live reports to finding obscure historical video and so much more. Joanne, if youre watching, you will be missed. We love you. And she loves purple, so thats why weve done it. Were all wearing purple for you, joanne. Thank you for finding all that video that we bug you about. Yeah, shes always on it. Shes on it. I dont know how she. You know, itd be like, i need a video from 1965. Shes know just where that is. Ill get that for you. Ten minutes later its on your desk. Shes a kgo. Shiro yes, for sure. I agree. Were going to miss you. 43 years. Its unbelievable. Thats a long time. Wow all right. Moving on now, a plan to convert an empty high rise buildings in San Francisco into housing is gaining some momentum. According to the chronicle, eight Office Building owners have responded to an initial request to identify landlords interested in converting their properties into apartments or condos. Most of those buildings are in the midmarket and civic center neighborhoods. If all eight buildings were to be converted, it could create about 100 housing units. The port of San Francisco is evicting two longtime restaurants on the waterfront after they accrued a combined 1. 4 million in debt for fishermans grotto number nine and tarantino were named in eviction cases in San Francisco superior court this week, according to the chronicle, both restaurants received three day notices. September 13th to pay rent or vacate these evictions. Add to the list of restaurant vacancies in the area hit hard by the pandemic. California academy of sciences in Golden Gate Park is marking 100 years of its aquarium to celebrate. Its offering pay what you can admission today starting at 3 a person. The steinhart aquarium first opened its doors in 1923. Now a century later, it is the oldest, continually operating municipal aquarium in the country. Its such a cool place. I love that whole building. Yeah, and fun fact. Dan ashley is in one of the exhibits. Wait, dan, ashley is our very own. Dan ashley, our very own dan ashley. For some scientific reason, he is the voice of the earthquake simulator. No. Yes so next time youre in there, unless its changed since ive been there last, i had no idea. Check it out. Yeah i know that guy. Yeah, its pretty cool. Thats great. Goals, goals is a Wellness Check on Britney Spears coming up at 530. The Reason Police were called to the pop stars Southern California home. Plus, a win for fast food workers across the state when they can expect to we handcraft every batch of our delicious popcorn. Like our cretors cheese and caramel mix. Great on their own, even better together. Try cretors, handcrafted smallbatch popcorn. Ya know, if you were cashbacking you could earn on everything with just one card. Chase freedom unlimited. So, if youre off the racking. Or crab cracking, youre cashbacking. Cashback on flapjacks, baby backs, or tacos at the taco shack. Nah, im working on my six pack. Switch to a king suite, or book a silent retreat. Silent retreat . Hold up yeeerp . I cant talk right now, im at a silent retreat. Cashback on everything you buy with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. How do you cashback . Chase. Make more of whats yours. When it comes to high gas prices. Governor newsom says enough is enough. Now, at 530, how he plans to combat the price disparity for californians compared to the rest of the country, a priority on Public Safety. San Francisco City leaders want to refocus efforts to keeping the public safe. What the da is now saying about drug dealers on the streets. Accurate results in just minutes. The new Cutting Edge Technology here in the bay area that can detect cancerous tissue using artificial intelligence. Good morning to you. It is friday, september 29th. Im karina nova. Lets see what that friday weather looks like. Hey, good morning. All right, so its going to cool off this afternoon. The winds are really going to ramp up. Its going to feel a bit different than it was yesterday. Well have increasing clouds and well find those temperatures going below average today. Right now, were starting out in the 50s for the most part. You can see 57 in the city. Good morning. Sf the same in san jose, 55 in oakland, napa. Good morning. Youre at 52 degrees now. We have a lot of sunshine first thing this morning. Once that suns up here at about 703, but the clouds will move in as the afternoon goes on for partly sunny conditions and those winds are going to pick up by 3 p. M. Theyre likely gusting about 30mph. So certainly a lot cooler than yesterday. Remember yesterday was the warmest day of the week. Today yay. We had those temperatures mainly in the 60s and in the 70s. Were going to take a closer look at those winds and also, we still have the chance of some showers first thing tomorrow morning. Well talk all about that in eight minutes. Lets check in with jobina and see our friday traffic is doing. Thank you, drew. Good morning, everyone. By this time yesterday, we had so many issues out on our roadways. Not the case today. You can see from our map are pretty much all lit up in green, which is good news for our commuters starting here with this live picture from the richmondsan rafael bridge where you see those headlights traveling is in the westbound direction. San jose looking live at 87. Tail lights are traveling south bound. So far, so good. Ill let you know, of course, if things change out there, if you rely on the bridges Golden Gate Bridge southbound, six minutes westbound on the bay bridge, eight minutes. San mateo bridge traveling westbound will be 12 minutes. Jobina. Thank you. This morning, investigators are trying to figure out what caused a deadly construction accident in San Francisco. A contractor working on a sewer project died yesterday after a trench collapsed near divisadero and oak streets. It trapped the man underneath up to ten feet of dirt and concrete. Rescue crews work for hours to try to get that worker out, but the weight of all the debris was too much for him to survive. We want to make sure that we know exactly what happened. We want to make sure that Something Like this doesnt happen again. We never want a construction accident. Safety is our number one priority. The contractors name has not been released yet. The Drug Overdose crisis has become a hot button issue in San Francisco. Da Brooke Jenkins tells city leaders a big chunk of that problem lies in the courts. Abc seven News ReporterGloria Rodriguez joins us live from city hall this morning. And gloria, the Public Safety committee met yesterday to talk about this. Yeah, you know, thats one of the issues that they discuss, reggie, as well as pedestrian deaths. Also gun violence, but definitely the Drug Overdose crisis dominated a good part of that meeting. District attorney Brooke Jenkins calling out the courts, saying that of the more than 200 motions to detain drug dealers, only a fraction have been held in custody. Weve only had 19 of those motions granted to date, which means we still have most of these drug dealers back out on the street selling the same poison. We have to, as a city, make that a focus that just like we wouldnt allow someone who shoots a gun to cycle back out onto the street immediately. We cannot allow those who are selling death to do so either. The Public SafetyCommittee Also took up the issue of traffic citation plummeting and pedestrian fatalities on the rise. Super visor Rafael Mandelman sent a letter of inquiry to the Police Department after it reported a 97 drop in traffic citations in eight years. And the da also doubled down on investigating Overdose Deaths and says that her office is prepared to charge drug dealers with murder. Live in San Francisco, Gloria Rodriguez, abc seven news. Gloria, thank you. We do have some breaking news this morning and it is tough news to hear. Abc seven insider phil matier has now confirmed with our newsroom that california senator Dianne Feinstein has died. She was 90 years old. Shocked many of us right now. Feinstein was first elected to the senate in 1992. Since then, she has led many bipartisan efforts in passing monumental legislation, including the effort to legalize gay marriage. Abc7 news anchor dan ashley has a look back at her life and long career as the lead democrat on the judiciary committee. First woman. Her career was marked by many firsts. Senator Dianne Feinstein was the first woman president of the San Francisco board of supervisors, the first woman mayor of San Francisco and one of two women. First elected to the us senate from california. Dianne feinstein right from the start was an icon for women in politics. Yes, shes a legend, a legend in california. As the first woman senator. A legend in this senate. She she was the leader on so many different issues. Feinstein was born, Dianne Goldman in San Francisco on june 22nd, 1933. Her mother was Russian Orthodox father, jewish. She worshiped at Temple Emanuel synagogue and graduated from a Roman Catholic girls high school. That school was San Franciscos convent of the sacred heart. There, feinstein was in the glee club ballet camera club and athletics. She went on to study at stanford university, where she graduated in 1955. Feinstein was married three times. She had her only daughter, catherine, with her first husband, who she divorced after three years in 1962. She married her second husband, bertram feinstein, who died in 1978 of colon cancer. Just months before feinstein became San Francisco mayor in 1980. Feinstein married her third husband, investment banker richard blum. She remained with him until his death from cancer in 2022. Feinstein first foray into politics came in 1960, when thengovernor pat brown appointed her to the california womens parole board. But it was in 1969, at the age of 35, that feinstein first held public office, winning a seat on the San Francisco board of supervisors. Former San Francisco mayor willie brown was in the state assembly at the time. He recalled meeting feinstein during those years. I remember that i was trying to get a house here in San Francisco when they wouldnt allow black people easily to get houses and there was a demonstration and this angular, tall, great looking white woman pushing a baby stroller with a little kid in it whom nobody knew anything about, came out to participate in the protest. That was Dianne Feinstein then, and that was that long ago. And so i am a great admirer. In the 1970s, while serving as the first female president of the board of supervisors, feinstein ran twice for mayor but lost. She had decided not to run again when tragedy struck the city. Its been seven hours now since that 38 caliber pistol went off, nine times and took the lives of the two leaders. Both mayor moscone and supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed. The tragic assassination of San Francisco mayor George Moscone by supervisor dan white in 1978 put feinstein in the job. In 1979, feinstein won her first full term as mayor and began reshaping the city during the decade she served. She survived a recall attempt, led mostly by detractors of her proposal to ban handguns in San Francisco, oversaw the remaking of the citys skyline, which some decried as the manhattanization of San Francisco oversaw a raucous 1984 Democratic National convention and saved the citys cable car system. The cable cars still running because of Dianne Feinstein rose to power as crisis gripped the citys Gay Community, a disease that would later be called aids, killed thousands of gay men hoping to save lives. Feinstein ordered the citys bathhouses closed, a risky move considering the political power of the Gay Community at the time. Under her watch, the citys Health Department created the global standard for aids health care at San FranciscoGeneral Hospital in 1990, feinstein set her sights on a Higher Office running for california governor. She lost to republican pete wilson, but still made history again as the first woman in the state to win a major partys gubernatorial nomination. Then in 1992, a turning point during what was dubbed the year of the woman. Feinstein was elected to the us senate alongside the bay area congresswoman barbara boxer. Her i feel a little bit like i just got married. I was a very special ceremony to be in the chambers, to be in this room with the history in congress, feinstein served as the first woman to chair the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Intelligence committee. She authored the 1994 federal assault weapons ban, leading to a ten year restriction on certain semiauto weapons. The legislation was prompted by the 101 california street shooting when a gunman opened fire at a law firm in San Franciscos financial district, killing eight people. I worked with republicans and democrats alike, ten republicans along with 46 democrats, vote voted in favor of the amendment. Dianne feinstein is the only member of congress either on the congressional side or on the senate side whos ever been able to get a controlled weapons as ban. So signed into law. Dianne got that in 2014. Feinstein released a report revealing how the cia was detaining and interrogating potential terrorists. Sometimes torturing the suspects. The release of the report led to antitorture legislation this program was morally, legally and administratively misguided and that this nation should never again engage in these tactics. Feinsteins legislative legacy also includes creating federal coordination of amber alerts, the National Child abduction warning system, passing the california desert protection act, which protected millions of acres of california desert and created the death valley and joshua tree, National Parks reauthorizing the violence against women act to protect women from Domestic Violence and sexual assault, and authoring the 2022 respect for marriage act to enshrine Marriage Equality into federal law simply put, americans should be free to marry the person they love regardless of Sexual Orientation or race. At times, senator feinstein faced criticism from some in her own party, some of the worst came in 2018 after she initially declined to make public a letter from bay area professor Christine Blasey ford during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Justice Brett kavanaugh. Ford had said kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school to years later. Some democrats also criticized feinstein for appearing too cozy with republicans during the confirmation hearings for conservative Supreme Court appointee amy coney barrett. Still, throughout her career, feinstein was seen as a trailblazer for women, someone who broke barriers, juggling, being a wife and mother while navigating a career in the male dominated field of politics. Diana is unbelief able in terms of how she sets her mind into her program. On doing something in a guest home in feinsteins later years in office concerns were raised about her Mental Fitness and ability to serve. She was the oldest sitting member of congress in late february of 2023, at age 89, she was hospital ized with shingles that health scare coming the same month. Feinstein had announced she would retire from the us senate when her term was up in 2024. She told reporters it was time to you know, there was times for all things under the sun and i think that will be the right time. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said. Feinstein teared up when she told her democratic colleagues about her decision, and she got a standing ovation that lasted for minutes and minutes and minutes, one of the longest ive ever seen, which shows the love that our caucus and our country have for this wonderful, wonderful leader and legend, Dianne Feinstein. A true legend. So sad. Its really stunning news, even though we know shes been having Health Issues over the past couple of years to hear that she is gone. She is an institution here in San Francisco and in the us senate and across the world to right a true trailblazer. Yes. Has done so much for women, equal rights, guns. And we heard a lot of her accomplishments there, lgbtq rights. Joining us right now is abc seven news insider phil matier. Phil, it is as i say, a stunning morning, even though we know that she has not been doing well health wise. This is a woman who in San Francisco history took over at a time when the city was reeling from the death of two people at city hall in an incident that seemed like it would be very hard to overcome. And she was able to bridge that gap. It was you know, we talk about San Francisco being in dire straits now, back then, you were absolutely right. There was the assassination and the twin assassinations of supervisor harvey milk and mayor George Moscone. We also had the tragedy of the mass suicide in jonestown, guyana. The San Francisco was was really in the grips of some violent times and some split times. And Dianne Feinstein, the first woman mayor of San Francisco, who many people thought was just sort of a lightweight, she stepped up. She was the president of the board of supervisors and she moved into the Mayors Office, brought the city together and actually brought it into a riva catalyzed showed strength at a time when the city was really needing it and got it through some difficult very difficult times that followed then, including the white night riots. She you know, you you called it as you write, she was a trailblazer and some ways that word is overused these days in describing people. But she was a quiet trailblazer. She never really grabbed the spotlight, although she knew how to use it. She always put, you know, her principles first, even if it countered with those of her own party members. She was a big consensus builder. And one of the things that that is sort of underreported was her incredibly pivotal role. And strong, strong role during the early days of the aids epidemic, when she really stood up and said, San Francisco, were going to close the bathhouses down, but we are also going to embrace our brothers and sisters in the gay and lgbt community. This is not a disease you can catch. This is a disease we can handle. And she did that and she made San Francisco in the bay area living example of that. And after that, she also did everything from rebuilding the cable cars to making sure that San Francisco and california got their proper share of all the federal money that they could get. She was a powerhouse and a party unto herself and her passing is momentous. Phil, i know you covered her for many, many years. Can you talk about maybe some special moments that you might remember her in covering her or seeing her at events . You know, i know you have some of that that id love for you to share with our viewers. Well, you know, i saw Dianne Feinstein in victory and in defeat. And in those times in between. And i would have to say the most incredible thing about her was that she was always, always sort of poised and steady through it all. You know, when she lost the governors race and was people were when she ran for governor in california after being mayor, people were counting her out. She went through that period with steadfastness and reemerged and took the stage during crisis. She was known, as you would see her driving up to the scenes of fires, up to the scenes of police actions. She got right in there in the middle of it. And she was a tough taskmaster. I would have to say that, you know, one of the words you did not want to hear or you recall was that the Dianne Feinstein would like to talk to you because usually she was not happy about something and she would sit there, you know, she went to Catholic School and she would sit there like a mother superior looking at you and going, you know, phil, phil, phil . And that would start the conversation off. But as i said, she was always, always and she was a very forgiving person in some ways. People that had slighted her in the past, she tended to get over it and move on as a matter of fact, i can remember some times when i would have to remind her of when shed gotten knocked around a bit and she would just go, well, thats the way it is and move right on. Phil do we know much right now about about what happened in her final hours . Do we know where she was, who she was . She was any of those details . I can tell you that shes been in and out of care and shes been with caregivers and that on thursday, her daughter, catherine flew back to washington, dc because she had taken a turn for the worse. Now shes taking turns for the worse. Before her and come back. This time she didnt. Now this puts the next question is also who is going to replace her and how . Thats going to be done. Its up to governor gavin newsom to select someone right now. He is talking about he has made public statements that it would be an africanamerican woman and he is also said more recently that he would be trying to find someone who could act as a caretaker since we already have three prominent democrats in the race to replace her. So that is going to be a political rubiks cube for the governor to handle right now as well, because in situations like this, also in washington, we have to add that the senate is at a very close balance in every vote counts. And right up to right now, we have questions about the Government Shutdown. And the democrats need every vote. They can get literally. And they are missing one right now. That might sound a little bit harsh, but believe me, that is whats going through peoples minds right now, is whos going to replace or be the interim and when are they going to be in office . Yes. And just to make clear, what youre talking about is that Governor Newsom essentially said that the people who are running for senator feinstein seat, that they are not going to be the people on the list to temporarily replace feinstein should something happen to her. And obviously now that we know that she has passed, this is going to be something thats going to be in front of him. Exactly. And that is the nature of politics. You dont get a lot of time to mourn. You have to move on. And we have to because youre also in the in the in the business of governance. You know, Dianne Feinstein was a one of the last of the of the people and she got into hot water for this for bipartisanship. She really didnt care whether it was a democrat or a republican she was dealing with. She if she had a mission to do or something to go with, she went with it. And she didnt mind crossing backward and criticizing, for example, on the United States torture policies that embarrassed a number of administrations. And the democrat and republican alike. And but she went for it and she pushed to get the information out there for the american public. Were a fickle group, though, and we sometimes tend to forget peoples accomplishment and say, well, what is what are you doing now . And so that is part of her legacy as well, was that she not only stood alone, but she stood up. All right, phil matier, thank you so much for your time and your insight on all of this and your reporting. Yes, really appreciate it. Today is and right now we are going to get some more insight from former congresswoman Jackie Speier who was is friends with Dianne Feinstein, worked with her for many years. We have her joining us live live now over zoom, zoom. So hopefully we can get that live picture here with jackie speer. Jackie, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Some shocking news for many of us to hear the passing of your colleague and your friend, Dianne Feinstein. You two were very close. How did you take the news this morning when you found out about it. Okay. We are having some audio issues with jackie spear. Were going to get that fixed as soon as possible, all because i really want to hear about about her personal relationship up with this woman who, you know, without Dianne Feinstein. A lot of i mean, women, but also many other people would not be in politics. We keep saying trailblazer, right, for Dianne Feinstein. But for many of these women in politics like Jackie Speier, many others, she did pave the way. And we know that for someone like Jackie Speier, who worked with her on, you know, many important laws and bills, she was someone that she could look to and count on and work with and help her pass this very important legislation that weve heard about. So lets try once again to talk to Jackie Speier. Hopefully our audio is working. Jackie so back to my question. You know, shocking news for many of us this morning. Your initial thoughts and your feelings as you found out this horrible news today. Well, of course, it was shocking to all of us, but but also, she was very frail and we knew it was a matter of time. But i think for us at this point, its important to really focus on an extraordinary career of a woman of firsts. She was the first female mayor of San Francisco. The first female us senator, the first female to chair the Intelligence Committee in the senate, the first woman to chair the rules committee in the senate. So she is a role model for all of us who followed in her footsteps. We became friends in part because, as we both lost our husbands early in our political careers and so there was a bond that was created then that, you know, stood for decades. And she was, you know, a strong and tough as she was in in life. There was also a sweet part of her that she was girly and i say that because she at one point said, i love your lipstick. Where did you get it . And so i made sure that she got the same color so that she could wear it as well. But but i would say that its very important for us to reflect on the strength she had throughout her career, whether it was announcing the assassination of George Moscone and harvey milk, or return. Turning to the senate in her weakened state because she was going to do what she believed was right and she was able to come back to the senate, even though there were, you know, cries for her to resign because she wanted to finish what she started. She wanted to be there to vote on judicial appointments that, frankly, had she resigned and those appointments would never have been made because anyone who would have followed her as an appointee by the governor would not be serving on judiciary. So there were a number of judges. Now that can thank her for in her last days making that herculean effort to come back to the senate. Jackie, when was the last time that you talked to the senator and what was the conversation about . So the last time actually talked to her was quite a while ago. Ive talked to members of her staff for the most part in recent times. But the last time i talked to her, im sure it was about legislation. When we carried legislation together on the violence against women act, on Sexual Harassment in sports for women. She had she was a feminist before feminism was really a term, and she recognized the importance of protecting women. You know, the gun, the assault weapon ban will go down in history as one of her great successes, but she but for over ten, well, just about ten years, we had an assault weapons ban in this country. It was sunsetted because is that was the negotiation. And she had to go through in order to get the measure passed. And it was joe biden at the time that she was working with on that piece of legislation. But she was a fierce advocate for what she believed in. And she was extraordinary in all she did around conservation as well. We can thank her for protecting lake tahoe and getting 450 million for that. She was able to get areas within the Mojave Desert protected as a national monument. So her her career, her legacy is one that is really unmatched. Shes had her hand in many of the changes that weve seen over the years here locally and nationally and made such a big impact. Jackie speier, former congresswoman, thank you so much for your time this morning and our deepest condolences. Thank you. And we will be right back with more on our coverage. As we have learn of the passing of senator dianne feins stein has died. She was 90 years old. Feinstein was first elected to the senate in 1992. Since