Transcripts For KGO ABC7 News 600PM 20240713 : comparemela.c

Unincorporated parts of the county. Pg es website shows where the power is currently out. The purple icons indicate those are the power shutoffs which are under way in the north bay and along the sierra foothills. Pg e said it would start turning off the power at 3 00 p. M. Today although some people told us it started earlier than that. Outages will begin in San Mateo County around 1 00 in the morning. Pg e hopes to restore power by the weekend. A total of about 35,000 pg e customers in the bay area are affected by these Power Outages and that is why we have Live Team Coverage tonight. David louie will join us in a moment and we have Team Coverage in the north bay as well, which will bear the biggest impact. Before we go to Laura Anthony, lets hear from liz kreutz who is life in santa rosa. Liz. Reporter good evening. Roughly 27,000 customers are without power right now in sonoma county. Many of them here in santa rosa. Now, i want to show you where we are. We are inside the citys Emergency Operations center where Public Safety officials are working around the clock, 24 7 to monitor outages, traffic and send nixel alerts. After the outage a few weeks ago the city and people are more prepared, but still several folks we talked to today say it isnt any less disruptive. The oakmont Village Market in santa rosa lost power two weeks ago and again today. I just picked up about 1,000 pounds of regular ice and almost 1,000 pounds of dry ice. Reporter for owner david arcotto its grueling work and also expensive. Just in dry ice i spent 2500 to save as much as i could but i still lost a lot. Reporter still, he says its worth it. The reason its worth it is this is a retirement community. They really rely on us. We have to try to take care of them. Reporter for those who live in oeng montaakmont, it feels l vu. Its round two. It is round two. Were not happy about it. Were not looking forward to Peanut Butter dinner again tonight. I would hope that the Utility Company would be a little bit more responsible about understanding what the needs, the special needs are here. Reporter the city of santa rosa is working around the clock, and this Operation Center to help keep the city safe and functioning. Theres a lot of work thats been done to coordinate outreach to our vulnerable population, our care homes, but make sure our fire stations, our water stations, our sewer lift stations will all be functioning through the duration of this outage. Reporter some schools ended classes early to prevent congestion on the roads. Lots of parents, they take time off of work which affects the employers as well and adds to the frustration. But its kind of the new normal now. Were learning out how to deal with it. Reporter here in the operations center, traffic is the main issue that theyre monitoring. The outages did happen around rush hour. Pg e says that they will start turning power back on tomorrow afternoon, but it still could take several days or a few days for power for everyone to be fully restored. Live in santa rosa, liz kreutz, abc 7 news. The Power Outages affecting schools in sonoma county, four schools in the Santa Rosa City School District released students early today and will be closed tomorrow. Those schools are Hidden Valley elementary, santa rosa accelerated charter, Rincon Valley middle and area carillo district. Five Elementary Schools are not open tomorrow. Whited, bingle why, madrone, sequoia and austin creek. And the geyserville unified School District will close all of its campus. Friday is still up in the air depending on how quickly pg e inspects electrical lines and begins to turn on the electricity once again. Lets continue our Live Team Coverage from the north bay with abc 7 News Reporter Laura Anthony live with the tale of two cities really that is happening in one place, calistoga. Laura. Reporter well, thats right, dan. Here in calistoga it all depends on where you are. Here we are on the west side of town. These folks have been in the dark for the last three hours or so. The only reason that the folks in the business next to me have power is that he brought in his own generator. Thanks to these generators, its a tale of two cities in calistoga, with the second pg e shutdown in two weeks. These giant generators keep the east side of town powered, but the west side is out of luck. Pg e says the high winds and low humidity forced the second Public Safety power shutdown to this community in two weeks. How has this been for you . Really busy. Reporter electrician Javier Gutierrez is trying to help those on the other side of town, not powered by those pg e generators. Do you have enough generators . Theyre having a hard time. Theyre renting them, buying them. So maybe with this kind of round, maybe stores have them in stock now, but they seem to sell out right away. Its delicious. Reporter across the street there are no portable generators, so the restaurant will have to close possibl for days. Youre having to close right ahead of the dinner hour. Thats right. And tonight we had reservations and we had to call them and tell them were going to be closed. Friday we have another one, about 40 people, and we cancelled that as well. Welcome to california. Thank you. Joe and sally are on vacation here from new jeey. We found them trying to finish their lunch before the power went out. Where are we going to have our dinner . Do we have a hot shower morning . Id eat a lot right now. Trying. Reporter and were back live here just to show you a little bit about what a difference a generator makes. This is the front of the business. This is the calistoga inn. They are on the west side of town, but they have power and as you can see, dan and ama, its pretty much business as usual. As for those generators on the other side of town that are powering the east side of town, those were brought in by pg e actually to power the town while they worked on the lines. They werent brought in just for these Public Safety power shutoffs. Live in calistoga, Laura Anthony, abc 7 news. And overnight pg e expects to turn off the power in part of San Mateo County affecting about 400 customers. Abc 7 News Reporter david louie continues our Team Coverage. He is live in la honda where the lights wont be on for much longer. David. Reporter that is true, ama. The people here in la honda have a few more hours if pg e is correct in saying the power wont be turned off until about 1 00 a. M. Tonight. Two weeks ago the residents complained that it took 44 hours before the power was switched back on, and that is making some seniors here very concerned. Retired engineer Gerard Powell says his generator will keep his lights on for 72 hours once pg e shuts power to la haungdonda. He gave a spare generator to a neighbor. All we have is each other out here. And that spirit shines through. Reporter for others, this is a time of anxiety because they didnt fare well during the blackout two weeks ago. Half moon bay residents having lunch expressed a lack of confidence in the information pg e has been releasing about the affected areas. More light is the key. When a senior is in a darkened environment, theyre apt to fall. Reporter nancy had back surgery recently and she said the brace she is wearing makes her unsteady. The last shutdown forced her to walk up and down three sets of stairs which gave her back pain. Her neighbor is worried about her device for sleep apnea. She doesnt know what happens if the power goes out when asleep. That leads to anxiety. The anxiety was just off the roof. And you dont need this kind of stress . No, not at my age. Reporter a power outage could even impact a seniors ability to get in or out of bed. People have innovative beds and they may not be able to get out of them or get back into them so it is very challenging for our older adults. Reporter la hondas small market here is indicating they will not be open tomorrow so theyre not going to be operational whatsoever. Residents if they havent done so yet still have time to run out and get some gasoline if they happen to have generators. David louie, abc 7 news. A lot of people coping. David, thank you. The abc 7 news iteam has been all over pg e and these Power Outages. Our dan noyes was at todays News Conference that wrapped up a few minutes ago and is live now. Dan, whats your take on what we heard here tonight . Reporter well, dan and ama, theres one huge headline that we are stuck in this weather system. Those high winds and dry conditions theyre saying now that we have another system this weekend. In fact the highest winds yet of this month. So now were talking about the third power outage. And that really brings up a real concern that were going to be stuck in this new norm of Power Outages again and again and ceo and president of pg e bill johnson says this is going to be a tenyear process, a tenyear process where he can hopefully limit those number of Power Outages. But i sasked him here at this News Conference just a few minutes ago, how did we get to this point . I talked to him i asked him how we got to this point. Clearly there is a root cause. He likes to say that hes only been here hes only been here about six months so he really cant talk about the longterm history of this. But i pressed him on that point because he has to know how we got here and how to get out of the situation. We are getting a lot of frustration on the part of our viewers and the ratepayers. They say that they are doing their job by paying their bill every month. I want to get to the root cause. How do we get to the point where the choice is are houses going dark or are some houses going up in flames . How did we get here . Thats a stark choice, but that is the choice. You know, the risk, the fire risk has grown exponentially, particularly in this region, in the last couple years. 2012, 15 of our service area was designated high fire threat. This year, 52 . More than a threefold increase in the geography of risk in that period of time. And so these events for us, they dont have anything to do with the quality of our system, with the vegetation management, they are pure weather relate blowing stuff out of the forest into our lives. So thats really what the story is. Ive got to tell you that the governor doesnt buy it. He told me last night this is the result of decades of greed. That if you had covered the wires in high fire threat areas, if you had done the vegetation more severely, if you had undergrounded wires years and years ago that we wouldnt be at this point. Were the maintenance dollars spent well over the past decades . And i know you havent been here that long. Youve been here less than a year and ive heard that from you before but we have to address how we got here. Should pg e done more to fix their system to upgrade it so we wouldnt be where we are right now . Actually ive been here less than six months. Im not evading your question, i dont have a basis to answer it. I didnt come here to cast stones going backwards, i came here to be helpful going forward. Since i got here, i think the maintenance and all those other dollars have been very well spent and are reducing the risk of this every day. Reporter now, johnson told me that the only reason that we do this is to protect human life. In his words, quote, those losses are forever. He also addressed a rumor going on social media that the power would just be out through the weekend. Hes saying that thats not the case, that they will as soons athe conditions clear up tomorrow they want to get people back online quickly and theyll have to look at turning out the power again on sunday and perhaps into monday. There was an incident recently, i think he said today in glen county, where another pg e worker apparently got fired with a pellet gun. A pellet piercing the passenger window in his vehicle. We really dont want that. Johnson made it clear to say that we should not be blaming the workers. That if anything, the company should take the heat, treat the workers well. Dan and ama. Theyre just doing their job. Thank you so much, dan noyes. Our website is a hub of information on the Power Outages. Youll finding it right on our home page. Abc7news. Com. Well let you know when things change and news breaks through the andbc 7 news app. Well have the latest on pg es actions. The pg e Power Outages are such a big deal because there arent many all teternativealte. Even some Solar Systems use the pg e grid. Well look at efforts to revamp pg e and our goal is building a better bay area. Reporter this is eric thomas at sarahs last tuition payment, sent off. Feeling good . Oh yeah. Now im ready to focus on my project. This is why we plan. You never cease to amaze me, maya. Visit your local chase branch. Morgan advisor can help you. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Tto harrison, the wine tcollection. To craig, this rock. I leave these things to my heirs, all 39 million of you, on one condition. That you do everything to preserve and protect them. With love, california. A red flag warning is rolling across the bay area partly because of the high winds. Listen to what they sound like. The chp in napa tweeted this video from mt. St. Helena. Sandhya patel is monitoring these tricky weather conditions very closely for us tonight. Yeah, lets take a look at the red flag warning first and then well talk about the winds. It is in effect for the north bay, the east bay until 4 00 p. M. Tomorrow for parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains until it begins at 7 00 p. M. And goes until tomorrow afternoon. So those gusty winds along with low humidity will mean extreme fire behavior is possible. Take a look at the winds right this minute over mt. Diablo gusting to over 40 miles an hour. Knoxville creek 31 miles an hour. These winds are expected to crank up as we head into the overnight hours and t going to some issues. Live doppler 7 showing you clear conditions. Those temperatures at this hour are in the 70s and 80s. Today we got up upon the 70s to low 90s. Heres a live look from our Golden Gate Bridge camera and it is absolutely clear outside. Stronger winds later tonight. Fire danger will be high through tomorrow and were expecting sunny and warm weather the next two days. First thing tomorrow morning clear skies. Temperatures anywhere from the low 50s to the low 60s first thing in the morning. Were not expecting it to cool off as much because of those winds over the higher elevations. As you take a look at the temperatures for tomorrow afternoon, it is going to be a warm one. Youre looking at 87 in San Francisco, 90 san rafael, 92 in santa rosa, 89 in oakland, fremont, 91 antioch, concord, 90 degrees in san jose. Well above average for this time of year. Accuweather sevenday forecast, fire danger remaining elevated tomorrow, low 80s to low 90s. Warm and sunny friday but the winds do come down. Cooler weather expected over the weekend. Most noticeable on sunday when those temperatures are in the 60s and 70s, but we are expecting another offshore wind event that will develop between saturday night and sunday. Those gusty winds could be stronger than what were about to experience, so definitely will need to watch that carefully. Next week temperatures will be much cooler in the 60s and 70s. That will help at least. Absolutely. Thank you, sandhya. Our commitment to building a better bay area means improving the place we call home. When it comes to the pg e Power Outages, theres a lot that can be done better. In the south bay there is talk about making some major changes to the Utility Company. Abc sev7 News Reporter chris nguyen has the story now from san jose. Reporter san jose is the largest city served by pg e, but its mayor says its time to imagine a future without them. We need to align the financial interests of pg e with the public interests. Reporter the mayors buyout proposal, which will be presented to the California Public utilities commission, would strip pg e of its status as an investorowned company and turn it into a nonprofit customerowned cooperative. His proposal also looks at creating a cityowned utility to develop independent Power Systems such as microgrids to protect the system from future shutdowns. Customerowned utilities dont have to pay federal taxes, they dont have to pay shareholder dividends. They can Access Capital at much lower cost. That is going to be critical for us in the years ahead given the extraordinary investment well need in the system. Reporter pg e told abc 7 news that its Energy Facilities arent for sale nor have they seen the mayors proposal saying in a statement we remain focused on the safety of our customers and communities and will continue working together with our state and local government partners and across all sectors and disciplines to develop comprehensive, longterm safety and Energy Solutions for the future. If were going to make a proposal to pg e, what are we going to get for it . And will it really stop the San Mateo County<\/a> around 1 00 in the morning. Pg e hopes to restore power by the weekend. A total of about 35,000 pg e customers in the bay area are affected by these Power Outages<\/a> and that is why we have Live Team Coverage<\/a> tonight. David louie will join us in a moment and we have Team Coverage<\/a> in the north bay as well, which will bear the biggest impact. Before we go to Laura Anthony<\/a>, lets hear from liz kreutz who is life in santa rosa. Liz. Reporter good evening. Roughly 27,000 customers are without power right now in sonoma county. Many of them here in santa rosa. Now, i want to show you where we are. We are inside the citys Emergency Operations<\/a> center where Public Safety<\/a> officials are working around the clock, 24 7 to monitor outages, traffic and send nixel alerts. After the outage a few weeks ago the city and people are more prepared, but still several folks we talked to today say it isnt any less disruptive. The oakmont Village Market<\/a> in santa rosa lost power two weeks ago and again today. I just picked up about 1,000 pounds of regular ice and almost 1,000 pounds of dry ice. Reporter for owner david arcotto its grueling work and also expensive. Just in dry ice i spent 2500 to save as much as i could but i still lost a lot. Reporter still, he says its worth it. The reason its worth it is this is a retirement community. They really rely on us. We have to try to take care of them. Reporter for those who live in oeng montaakmont, it feels l vu. Its round two. It is round two. Were not happy about it. Were not looking forward to Peanut Butter<\/a> dinner again tonight. I would hope that the Utility Company<\/a> would be a little bit more responsible about understanding what the needs, the special needs are here. Reporter the city of santa rosa is working around the clock, and this Operation Center<\/a> to help keep the city safe and functioning. Theres a lot of work thats been done to coordinate outreach to our vulnerable population, our care homes, but make sure our fire stations, our water stations, our sewer lift stations will all be functioning through the duration of this outage. Reporter some schools ended classes early to prevent congestion on the roads. Lots of parents, they take time off of work which affects the employers as well and adds to the frustration. But its kind of the new normal now. Were learning out how to deal with it. Reporter here in the operations center, traffic is the main issue that theyre monitoring. The outages did happen around rush hour. Pg e says that they will start turning power back on tomorrow afternoon, but it still could take several days or a few days for power for everyone to be fully restored. Live in santa rosa, liz kreutz, abc 7 news. The Power Outages<\/a> affecting schools in sonoma county, four schools in the Santa Rosa City<\/a> School District<\/a> released students early today and will be closed tomorrow. Those schools are Hidden Valley<\/a> elementary, santa rosa accelerated charter, Rincon Valley<\/a> middle and area carillo district. Five Elementary Schools<\/a> are not open tomorrow. Whited, bingle why, madrone, sequoia and austin creek. And the geyserville unified School District<\/a> will close all of its campus. Friday is still up in the air depending on how quickly pg e inspects electrical lines and begins to turn on the electricity once again. Lets continue our Live Team Coverage<\/a> from the north bay with abc 7 News Reporter<\/a> Laura Anthony<\/a> live with the tale of two cities really that is happening in one place, calistoga. Laura. Reporter well, thats right, dan. Here in calistoga it all depends on where you are. Here we are on the west side of town. These folks have been in the dark for the last three hours or so. The only reason that the folks in the business next to me have power is that he brought in his own generator. Thanks to these generators, its a tale of two cities in calistoga, with the second pg e shutdown in two weeks. These giant generators keep the east side of town powered, but the west side is out of luck. Pg e says the high winds and low humidity forced the second Public Safety<\/a> power shutdown to this community in two weeks. How has this been for you . Really busy. Reporter electrician Javier Gutierrez<\/a> is trying to help those on the other side of town, not powered by those pg e generators. Do you have enough generators . Theyre having a hard time. Theyre renting them, buying them. So maybe with this kind of round, maybe stores have them in stock now, but they seem to sell out right away. Its delicious. Reporter across the street there are no portable generators, so the restaurant will have to close possibl for days. Youre having to close right ahead of the dinner hour. Thats right. And tonight we had reservations and we had to call them and tell them were going to be closed. Friday we have another one, about 40 people, and we cancelled that as well. Welcome to california. Thank you. Joe and sally are on vacation here from new jeey. We found them trying to finish their lunch before the power went out. Where are we going to have our dinner . Do we have a hot shower morning . Id eat a lot right now. Trying. Reporter and were back live here just to show you a little bit about what a difference a generator makes. This is the front of the business. This is the calistoga inn. They are on the west side of town, but they have power and as you can see, dan and ama, its pretty much business as usual. As for those generators on the other side of town that are powering the east side of town, those were brought in by pg e actually to power the town while they worked on the lines. They werent brought in just for these Public Safety<\/a> power shutoffs. Live in calistoga, Laura Anthony<\/a>, abc 7 news. And overnight pg e expects to turn off the power in part of San Mateo County<\/a> affecting about 400 customers. Abc 7 News Reporter<\/a> david louie continues our Team Coverage<\/a>. He is live in la honda where the lights wont be on for much longer. David. Reporter that is true, ama. The people here in la honda have a few more hours if pg e is correct in saying the power wont be turned off until about 1 00 a. M. Tonight. Two weeks ago the residents complained that it took 44 hours before the power was switched back on, and that is making some seniors here very concerned. Retired engineer Gerard Powell<\/a> says his generator will keep his lights on for 72 hours once pg e shuts power to la haungdonda. He gave a spare generator to a neighbor. All we have is each other out here. And that spirit shines through. Reporter for others, this is a time of anxiety because they didnt fare well during the blackout two weeks ago. Half moon bay residents having lunch expressed a lack of confidence in the information pg e has been releasing about the affected areas. More light is the key. When a senior is in a darkened environment, theyre apt to fall. Reporter nancy had back surgery recently and she said the brace she is wearing makes her unsteady. The last shutdown forced her to walk up and down three sets of stairs which gave her back pain. Her neighbor is worried about her device for sleep apnea. She doesnt know what happens if the power goes out when asleep. That leads to anxiety. The anxiety was just off the roof. And you dont need this kind of stress . No, not at my age. Reporter a power outage could even impact a seniors ability to get in or out of bed. People have innovative beds and they may not be able to get out of them or get back into them so it is very challenging for our older adults. Reporter la hondas small market here is indicating they will not be open tomorrow so theyre not going to be operational whatsoever. Residents if they havent done so yet still have time to run out and get some gasoline if they happen to have generators. David louie, abc 7 news. A lot of people coping. David, thank you. The abc 7 news iteam has been all over pg e and these Power Outages<\/a>. Our dan noyes was at todays News Conference<\/a> that wrapped up a few minutes ago and is live now. Dan, whats your take on what we heard here tonight . Reporter well, dan and ama, theres one huge headline that we are stuck in this weather system. Those high winds and dry conditions theyre saying now that we have another system this weekend. In fact the highest winds yet of this month. So now were talking about the third power outage. And that really brings up a real concern that were going to be stuck in this new norm of Power Outages<\/a> again and again and ceo and president of pg e bill johnson says this is going to be a tenyear process, a tenyear process where he can hopefully limit those number of Power Outages<\/a>. But i sasked him here at this News Conference<\/a> just a few minutes ago, how did we get to this point . I talked to him i asked him how we got to this point. Clearly there is a root cause. He likes to say that hes only been here hes only been here about six months so he really cant talk about the longterm history of this. But i pressed him on that point because he has to know how we got here and how to get out of the situation. We are getting a lot of frustration on the part of our viewers and the ratepayers. They say that they are doing their job by paying their bill every month. I want to get to the root cause. How do we get to the point where the choice is are houses going dark or are some houses going up in flames . How did we get here . Thats a stark choice, but that is the choice. You know, the risk, the fire risk has grown exponentially, particularly in this region, in the last couple years. 2012, 15 of our service area was designated high fire threat. This year, 52 . More than a threefold increase in the geography of risk in that period of time. And so these events for us, they dont have anything to do with the quality of our system, with the vegetation management, they are pure weather relate blowing stuff out of the forest into our lives. So thats really what the story is. Ive got to tell you that the governor doesnt buy it. He told me last night this is the result of decades of greed. That if you had covered the wires in high fire threat areas, if you had done the vegetation more severely, if you had undergrounded wires years and years ago that we wouldnt be at this point. Were the maintenance dollars spent well over the past decades . And i know you havent been here that long. Youve been here less than a year and ive heard that from you before but we have to address how we got here. Should pg e done more to fix their system to upgrade it so we wouldnt be where we are right now . Actually ive been here less than six months. Im not evading your question, i dont have a basis to answer it. I didnt come here to cast stones going backwards, i came here to be helpful going forward. Since i got here, i think the maintenance and all those other dollars have been very well spent and are reducing the risk of this every day. Reporter now, johnson told me that the only reason that we do this is to protect human life. In his words, quote, those losses are forever. He also addressed a rumor going on social media that the power would just be out through the weekend. Hes saying that thats not the case, that they will as soons athe conditions clear up tomorrow they want to get people back online quickly and theyll have to look at turning out the power again on sunday and perhaps into monday. There was an incident recently, i think he said today in glen county, where another pg e worker apparently got fired with a pellet gun. A pellet piercing the passenger window in his vehicle. We really dont want that. Johnson made it clear to say that we should not be blaming the workers. That if anything, the company should take the heat, treat the workers well. Dan and ama. Theyre just doing their job. Thank you so much, dan noyes. Our website is a hub of information on the Power Outages<\/a>. Youll finding it right on our home page. Abc7news. Com. Well let you know when things change and news breaks through the andbc 7 news app. Well have the latest on pg es actions. The pg e Power Outages<\/a> are such a big deal because there arent many all teternativealte. Even some Solar Systems<\/a> use the pg e grid. Well look at efforts to revamp pg e and our goal is building a better bay area. Reporter this is eric thomas at sarahs last tuition payment, sent off. Feeling good . Oh yeah. Now im ready to focus on my project. This is why we plan. You never cease to amaze me, maya. Visit your local chase branch. Morgan advisor can help you. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Tto harrison, the wine tcollection. To craig, this rock. I leave these things to my heirs, all 39 million of you, on one condition. That you do everything to preserve and protect them. With love, california. A red flag warning is rolling across the bay area partly because of the high winds. Listen to what they sound like. The chp in napa tweeted this video from mt. St. Helena. Sandhya patel is monitoring these tricky weather conditions very closely for us tonight. Yeah, lets take a look at the red flag warning first and then well talk about the winds. It is in effect for the north bay, the east bay until 4 00 p. M. Tomorrow for parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains<\/a> until it begins at 7 00 p. M. And goes until tomorrow afternoon. So those gusty winds along with low humidity will mean extreme fire behavior is possible. Take a look at the winds right this minute over mt. Diablo gusting to over 40 miles an hour. Knoxville creek 31 miles an hour. These winds are expected to crank up as we head into the overnight hours and t going to some issues. Live doppler 7 showing you clear conditions. Those temperatures at this hour are in the 70s and 80s. Today we got up upon the 70s to low 90s. Heres a live look from our Golden Gate Bridge<\/a> camera and it is absolutely clear outside. Stronger winds later tonight. Fire danger will be high through tomorrow and were expecting sunny and warm weather the next two days. First thing tomorrow morning clear skies. Temperatures anywhere from the low 50s to the low 60s first thing in the morning. Were not expecting it to cool off as much because of those winds over the higher elevations. As you take a look at the temperatures for tomorrow afternoon, it is going to be a warm one. Youre looking at 87 in San Francisco<\/a>, 90 san rafael, 92 in santa rosa, 89 in oakland, fremont, 91 antioch, concord, 90 degrees in san jose. Well above average for this time of year. Accuweather sevenday forecast, fire danger remaining elevated tomorrow, low 80s to low 90s. Warm and sunny friday but the winds do come down. Cooler weather expected over the weekend. Most noticeable on sunday when those temperatures are in the 60s and 70s, but we are expecting another offshore wind event that will develop between saturday night and sunday. Those gusty winds could be stronger than what were about to experience, so definitely will need to watch that carefully. Next week temperatures will be much cooler in the 60s and 70s. That will help at least. Absolutely. Thank you, sandhya. Our commitment to building a better bay area means improving the place we call home. When it comes to the pg e Power Outages<\/a>, theres a lot that can be done better. In the south bay there is talk about making some major changes to the Utility Company<\/a>. Abc sev7 News Reporter<\/a> chris nguyen has the story now from san jose. Reporter san jose is the largest city served by pg e, but its mayor says its time to imagine a future without them. We need to align the financial interests of pg e with the public interests. Reporter the mayors buyout proposal, which will be presented to the California Public<\/a> utilities commission, would strip pg e of its status as an investorowned company and turn it into a nonprofit customerowned cooperative. His proposal also looks at creating a cityowned utility to develop independent Power Systems<\/a> such as microgrids to protect the system from future shutdowns. Customerowned utilities dont have to pay federal taxes, they dont have to pay shareholder dividends. They can Access Capital<\/a> at much lower cost. That is going to be critical for us in the years ahead given the extraordinary investment well need in the system. Reporter pg e told abc 7 news that its Energy Facilities<\/a> arent for sale nor have they seen the mayors proposal saying in a statement we remain focused on the safety of our customers and communities and will continue working together with our state and local government partners and across all sectors and disciplines to develop comprehensive, longterm safety and Energy Solutions<\/a> for the future. If were going to make a proposal to pg e, what are we going to get for it . And will it really stop the Power Outages<\/a> . Reporter councilmember johnny camas is open to exploring the mayors ideas but has some concerns about the potential costs. I cant imagine how many billions of dollars it would take to buy an outdated system. Reporter the city council will consider the mayors full proposal in midnovember. In san jose, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. In the east bay the battle over the oakland as coliseum annoepidemic fueled by juul use with their kidfriendly flavors. San francisco voters stopped the sale of flavored ecigarettes. But then juul, backed by big tobacco, wrote prop c to weaken ecigarette protections. The San Francisco<\/a> chronicle reports prop c is an audacious overreach, threatening to overturn the ban on flavored products approved by voters. Prop c means more kids vaping. Thats a dangerous idea. Vote no on juul. No on big tobacco. No on prop c. One of our missions here at abc 7 is to build a better bay area and that means covering issues that are important to all of us. A longtime columnist and abc 7 news contributor phil metier broke a story that the oakland as have an offer for the city of oakland. The as are offering to buy or lease the city of oaklands share of the complex to end a legal log jam. However, the city must drop its lawsuit against the as redevelopment plans for the coliseum site. The as proposal also includes a clause that the city allow the team to build a new ballpark elsewhere in oakland. As ownership is already planning a new stadium at howard terminal. Phil spoke about the issue today on midday live. Basically what we have here is a deal where the oakland as want to build a new ballpark and they have for years in oakland. There were questions about whether they could build it or leave the city. The city wants them to stay. But every time they come up with a proposal, theres a reason it doesnt work. Its tradeoffs. Then they said well build it at the water front. Everybody liked the idea of a waterfront stadium and well pay for it ourselves. But in return for building it on the waterfront and building it ourselves, we want that coliseum site where were now playing and we want to develop that commercially to get money to pay for our operation at the water front. Well, that sounds nice on concept. They said, by the way, we also want to buy that site and thats when things started getting sticky. Phils columns run every wednesday and sunday in the San Francisco<\/a> chronicle. Hes also contributing to our building a better bay Area Coverage<\/a> and initiative. When it comes to housing, thats definitely something in an area where the bay area can do better. Sure. Theres a lot of building going on, but fancy high rises are not the Affordable Housing<\/a> that we so desperately need. Well dig into the options that could help solve the crisis. And next the power do you recall, not long ago we would walk on the sidewalk all around the wind blows we would only hold on to let go blow a kiss into the sun we need someone to lean on blow a kiss into the sun we needed somebody to lean on all we need is someone to lean on how you watch it does too. Tv just keeps getting better. This is xfinity x1. Featuring the Emmy Awardwinning<\/a> voice remote. Streaming Services Without<\/a> changing passwords and input. Live sports with realtime stats and scores. Access to the most 4k content. And your movies and shows to go. The best tv experience is the best tv value. Xfinity x1. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity. The future of awesome. Anger and frustration about the latest pg e power shutdown has taken a violent turn. Someone with a pellet gun opened fire on a pg e truck today in glen county. Thankfully the employee was not injured. Law enforcement and our own security people are looking into this. Let me say this directly. There is no justification for this sort of violence. Whenever you see any of our crews anywhere in your community, theyre there to help. They are specifically to help you. Thats the president of the company pleading with the public to not attack front line workers this evening or take it out on them in any way. 179,000 customers across 17 california counties are affected by the latest round of shutoffs. They began at 2 00 today in the sierra foothills. They were supposed to begin at 3 00 p. M. In napa, sonoma, lake and mendocino counties. We heard from some people who said their power went out almost an hour before that. Pg es chief executive said thats because the high winds arrived in the region earlier than forecasted. As for san mateo and kern counties, they should begin around 1 00 a. M. But could happen around midnight. Power restoration could begin as soon as lunchtime tomorrow but that could take days. They have to inspect the lines. Tonight theres even more worrisome news. Pg es meteorologist is warning of what could be the strongest wind event of the year taking place in the bay area this weekend saturday night. And those high winds could trigger extreme high fire danger and lead to another widespread planned outage. Now, pg e is turning off the power to reduce the risk its equipment will spark wildfires. Thats the concern here. Abc 7 news meteorologist drew tuma looks at the conditions that were under with the fire danger index. Weve always looked at this fire danger index which takes into account the wind, the humidity and the temperature. You do finding the highest fire danger early tomorrow morning in the north bay with pops of orange and red. However, this weather pattern is very common and normal for this time of the year. We often see these offshore wind events. What is different now and what may be our new normal is how were responding to them. So the winds this is nothing new. We see this all the time in september and october but now the response is different. So the best way to stay up to date on pg es response is through the abc 7 news app. Download it now so youll receive push alerts letting you know the latest information about the situation just as soon as it comes in. Because of the Power Outages<\/a>, abc 7 mornings is starting early tomorrow, 4 00 a. M. Well have the latest information and lisa argen will track the red flag conditions. Well be on the air from 4 00 to 7 00 a. M. Lets move on for the time being. A progress in action as you see from sky 7 here behind me. Crews today were working to remove something that has bothered neighbors near walnut creek for ages. Eric thomas did the story last week and has tonights update because its an example of building a better bay area. This, you know, this is great progress. Reporter on this windy wednesday with red flag fire warnings in the air, pg e finally removed a power pole that residents of rossmoor saw as a serial fire starter, most recently last month as seen in these pictures. Yes, we did experience a fire in september kautz ecaused by a squirrel that made contact with our equipment. Reporter that was just the latest of five fires that stretch back over a dozen years, each cause thought to be the same. Squirrels electrocuted, their bodies falling into the dry grass below sparking a fire. So were now adding covers to her vertical conductors and connections and that should help prevent those kinds of problems from occurring moving forward. Reporter today aerials from sky 7 showed us workers replacing the old wooden pole with a new one. With the help of a special hill climbing excavator brought up from san luis obispo. But hold on, says resident jim brennan, thats not what we were expecting. They led us to believe that the new pole was going to be steel. Now, you can see thats not the case. Reporter pg e responded that the terrain is so rough, they cant bring in a regular cherry picker, so they had to install a pole that workers could climb, and that means wood. Changing out the power pole is one thing, but residents say the other key is keeping the vegetation on these hillsides to a minimum. The utility says the plan may not be perfect but it should be effective. Jim brennan says hes keeping his fingers crossed that theyre right. At rossmoor, eric thomas, abc 7 news. The head of facebook, mark zuckerberg, had to answer lawmakers questions on capitol hill today. The topic was officially facebooks Digital Currency<\/a> proposal, but lawmakers asked about a lot more. A Home Warranty<\/a> Company Claims<\/a> a customer broke their furnace on ahey, fred, itsage medicare open enrollment. Time to compare plans. Were fine with what we have. Thats what the johnsons thought until they tried medicares new plan finder. The johnsons . We saved a lot on our prescription costs and got extra benefits. How bout it, fred . Plans change every year. Use the new plan finder at medicare. Gov. Comparing plans really pays. Wow, look how much we can save lawmakers grilled Facebook Ceo Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> on capitol hill this morning. Zuckerberg was supposed to testify before the House Financial Services<\/a> committee about his companys plan to create a global Digital Currency<\/a>, but he faced scrutiny about a whole bunch of other challenges facebook is trying to overcome, privacy lapses, tolerance of hateful speech, and fake political ads, just to name a few. Los angeles congresswoman Maxine Waters<\/a> criticized zuckerberg for the Fact Checking<\/a> of political advertisements that appear on phob facebook. Let me be clear, you do no Fact Checking<\/a> on any ads, is that correct . Chairwoman, what we do is we work with a set of independent fact checkers. Somebody fact checks on ads . You have contract with someone to do that, is that right . Chairwoman, yes. As for facebooks cryptocurrency project, zuckerberg told lawmakers the concept could make exchanging money more affordable for people worldwide. The plan, though, has been met with skepticism in washington. Abc 7 news is committed to building a better bay area, looking for improvements to the issues that we face living here. The housing crisis makes headlines frequently. We recently told you San Francisco<\/a>s Housing Production<\/a> for low income earners is out of sync with the actual demand. De. Lee Lyanne Melendez<\/a> took a look at the problem. Reporter construction is everywhere in San Francisco<\/a>. Do you ever stop to wonder who gets to live in those pricey buildings . Ill tell you whos going to occupy those units. The City Projects<\/a> that San Francisco<\/a> will have 15,000 highincome households by 2026 ready, willing and able to move in. People like that gentleman, or maybe him, or even her. And why t . The market rate units needed to house all those people have been approved or are in the pipeline. More than 18,000 units, according to a report by the legislative budget analysts office. Theres just more money for it. So right now in a very hot business economy, if you will, theres a lot of real estate capital. Its looking to put itself into new construction. Okay. But what about low income families . Thats where we fall short, big time. The city has a shortage of 15,600 lowincome housing units. We are living in a chronic housing shortage and weve been building that housing shortage for the last 50 some odd years. Reporter sam moss of the Mission Housing<\/a> Development Corporation<\/a> says only in the past few years has San Francisco<\/a> aggressively begun to tackle the problem. Heres how. By next year San Francisco<\/a> will have built 30,000 Affordable Housing<\/a> units. Its a lot, but clearly not enough. Currently developers have to set aside 20 of the units they build towards Affordable Housing<\/a> or they can put money into a fund towards building Affordable Housing<\/a>. That gives these nonprofits that oversee these projects more leverage because money in hand attracts state, federal, and private investments. So they get more bang for their buck. The city is also in the business of buying older buildings and refurbishing them, but that has only given them about 200 units. Again, still not enough. Since were into finding solutions, heres what the experts in that field say will help solve the housing crisis. This is Affordable Housing<\/a> . Yeah. This entire building is Affordable Housing<\/a>. Reporter supporting ballot americans will bring in more money, says peter cohen of the Community Housing<\/a> organization. Among the leaders of the Affordable Housing<\/a> movement. Meanwhile moss says neighborhoods have to stop legally challenging developments. Theres a ton of land. There is an absolute gargantuan amount of landing on the west side of San Francisco<\/a>. The sunset district and Richmond District<\/a> do not need to be one and two story family homes. Reporter he said other bay area cities need to build more housing in order to lessen San Francisco<\/a>s burden. In San Francisco<\/a>, Lyanne Melendez<\/a>, abc 7 news. Coming up next, another check of the weather and the conditions which could determine conditions which could determine how many people lose power in. 6, 7, 8 conditions which could determine how many people lose power in big dreams start with small steps. But dedication can get you there. So just start small. Start saving. Easily set, track and control your goals right from the chase mobile\u00ae app. Chase. Make more of whats yours\u00ae. Shouldnt mean a change in standards. Thats why thanks to you were rated number one in Customer Satisfaction<\/a> by j. D. Power. Home warranties are supposed to cover you when something breaks in your house but do they really . An east bayviewer had a rude awakening until she got help from 7 on your sides michael finney. This is a story. This viewer purchased a Home Warranty<\/a> to eliminate any worries if something should break. However, instead of helping when she feneeded it most, the warray added to her stress. The bay area was sweltering in record heat. 108 temperature. Of course thats when yo longeda and garys air conditioner broke down. My son noticed it was leaking water, then it stopped cooling. No problem. Yolanda had purchased insurance from First American<\/a> Home Warranty<\/a> just for this kind of breakdown. They did sending someone out in a few days. However, things did not go well. Two minutes after hed been in there, he said you tampered with this and the Home Warranty<\/a> doesnt cover you tampering. I said i didnt tamper it. They said she had deliberately damaged this furnace and cooling unit presumably to get it serviced. He said it was null and void and immediately left. He didnt take pictures. He didnt go around to look at the furnace. She called the man who sold him the policy telling him she never damaged any such thing, she wanted her repair. It was like they didnt have intentions of really repairing anything. First american refused to reopen her case, sending this letter saying the unit broke due to, quote, abnormal wear and tear. And her claim was denied. Yolanda was crestfallen. She had paid 600 for nine months of coverage and couldnt get help. Its really emotionally draining, especially when you get older as a senior yo laulanda contacted 7 on y side. We contacted First American<\/a> right away. They sent out a different technician and instantly cool air blew into her house. First american is committed to providing our customers with superior service and value. After a Second Opinion<\/a> from a contractor, First American<\/a> Home Warranty<\/a> determined repair of the furnace was covered under our customers policy and the Company Facilitated<\/a> the repair. Thank you. Im glad you guys are there. First american did not explain why the first technician accused yolanda of tampering. Shes just glad things have cooled off. Now, i want to hear from you. My 7 on your side hotline is on monday through friday from 10 00 to 2 00. 4159548151. You can also reach me on my Facebook Page<\/a> at abc7news. Com. You can see how that would be frustrating. You paid the money. Right. All right, thank you, michael. Lets turn our attention back now to this very critical Weather Forecast<\/a> not only the next 24 hours but the next few days. Meteorologist sandhya patel has been tracking whats coming our way. Yeah, thats stronger winds. As you look at the hourbyhour forecast, 7 00 p. M. Tonight notice those winds are 30 Miles Per Hour<\/a> in fairfield. They will continue to increase across parts of the north bay. Santa rosa 32, 34 calistoga at 11 00 p. M. Its a gusty northnortheasterly wind that will dry out the air even more. Going into tomorrow morning, cloverdale 48mileanhour winds and that strong wind will continue into the morning and then it will start to subside by the time we head into the early afternoon. But when you combine the wind and the humidity, you get the fire danger index that is going to be increasing to very high extreme fire danger in the north bay late tonight as those winds crank. As we head into tomorrow morning, parts of the east bay and San Mateo County<\/a> will also be facing moderate to high fire danger. Tomorrow afternoon its going to be another warm october day. Low 90s from san rafael to santa rosa. 91 in concord, 90 in livermore and san jose, 89 in oakland, 8 San Francisco<\/a>, 85 in half moon bay. If this isnt what you exactly enjoy, well, friday is still going to be warm, although not as warm. Saturday the cooling is noticed, 60s to 80s. By sunday most areas are going to have a dramatic drop in the temperatures inland and well see only 70s. Accuweather sevenday forecast, fire danger elevated tomorrow. Winds will relax tomorrow afternoon and well go with a dry, warm, sunny pattern friday with cooler witnessconditions t weekend. Another rounding of potentially strong gusty offshore winds saturday night into sunday. Thats worth watching. Next week monday through wednesday those temperatures in the 60s, 70s, close to average. All right, thank you, sandhya. Sometimes as the 49ers know, when its going your way, its just going your way. Yeah, larry is here. And they hope its going to keep going their way. Niners undefeated. They have a brand new weapon to unleash. What is the plan exactly for good evening. The 49ers got their first up close look at the man they hope will become Jimmy Garoppolos<\/a> favorite target. Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders<\/a> wearing the red and gold for the first time today in practice. Sanders acquired in trade with the broncos yesterday. You see him wearing number 17. Niners 60, but they lack a receiver that scares opposing defenses. Its been kind of a crazy 24 hours for sanders, who is expected to play sunday against carolina. Yeah, i was on the plane about three or four hours, headed out here. Got out here around about 9 00 and studied until about 11 00, 11 30 and had to be up for my physical around 5 00. So its been going by fast but ive been enjoying it. Hes been a guy that i personally wanted since probably the last eight years, since he was a free agent in pittsburgh. Huge fan of him coming out of the draft and everything hes done since. When you get a guy that talented, its just about getting the ball in his hands and let him make plays, yards after catch. Obviously hes tremendous with that. You want to give him opportunities. As quarterbac its your job to do that. Left tackle joe staley back in practice for the First Time Since<\/a> suffering a broken leg back in week two. Sta staley was limited to individual drills but theres a chance he might be line up and play sunday against the panthers. Former niner eric reed will be returning to levis stadium for the first time as the opponent. He has not forgotten about his messy departure from the 49ers. Youll recall reed was involved in the Colin Kaepernick<\/a> protests. The former allpro safety was let go by the niners before eventually signing with carolina. I remember they changed my position in my contract year. I remember they released Navorro Bowman<\/a> the year before and asked me to play his position so that will be on my mind when i get there. Bitter much . Stop me if you heard this one before but the raiders have another road game this week. They take their 3 oh, my. 33 record into houston to fakes the texans. I hope they take the chucky doll with them. Silver and black havent had a home game since september 15th and theyre thrilled this absurd journey is about over. Were anxious to finish this road trip. Its been a lot of fun. You know, the schedule that we have here. It feels like finally, you know, were almost there. I almost get to sleep in my bed a couple more days in the week, right . You know, but it is nice knowing that we just need to handle business and then when we come home, raider nation will be ready for us. On jon gruden dripping with sarcasm. Yeah, its been a lot of fun. The warriors begin their first game at chase Center Tomorrow<\/a> hosting the clippers. One of the Biggest Challenges<\/a> for golden state this season is defense. The dubs lost andring adolla, Klay Thompson<\/a> out with the acl injury. Dangelo russell, not known for his defensive prowess, more of a scorer, but he has shown flashes in practice and that has caught the eye of one draymond green. Even watching him in practice yesterday, i told him, oh, you showed me you could defend. I didnt kncould. So thats the expectation now. Yesterday i think he was asked to defend and he showed that he can. And so, you know, i told him that will be the expectation moving forward. Sorry, buddy, you showed it. Now youve got to show it when the games counti. Well be at the chase Center Tomorrow<\/a> at 4 00, 5 00, 6 00 and 11 00. Going to be a lot of 135133 type games for the warriors this season. Theyll give up a lot of points but should be able to score a lot of points. Big burden for steph curry to carry the team of the its a whole different era. It will be interesting in its own way. By the way, game two, nationals and astros tied 22 in the fifth. Joining tonight at 11 00. San jose police are searchig for a man suspected of molesting a young girl at a park. How he managed to approach her several times. And the christmas window at macys in San Francisco<\/a> are getting a makeover. The adoptable pets that will now be joining puppies and kittens. Tonight starting at 8 00 catch the goldbergs, schooled, modern family and Single Parents<\/a> followed at 10 00 by harry and megh meghan, an african journey. An interview about the causes and issues that affect them the most. Then stay with us for the news at 11 00. That will do it for this edition of the akz 7 news. Look for breaking news on the app. For all of us here, we appreciate your time and well see you again at 11 00. We all have things we love and long for. A place, a feeling, a moment. But only kerrygold can take you there. To irelands lush, green pastures. Where grassfed cows produce rich, creamy milk for the most delicious taste imaginable. Thats no ordinary cheese. No. Its kerrygold. Kerrygold. The taste that takes you there. This is jeopardy lets meet todays contestants a database administrator and composer from farmingdale, new york. A communications and special events director from wellington, florida. And our returning champion an attorney from indian trail, north carolina. Whose 1day cash winnings totals. And now here is the host of jeopardy alex trebek thank you, johnny. [ cheers and applause ] thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Just to show you how important final jeopardy is in success on our program, yesterday, our champion, martha, was trailing for quite a part of the match, but shes the only player who came up with the correct response in final, and thats why shes here today to defend against allyson and nick. Ill wish you all good luck and put you to work right now in the jeopardy round, which as you know, contains one daily double. Here are the categories. First off, Women National<\/a> geographic women. Next. Hey, its back to school. Dont we all . Martha . Government abcs for 600. Nick. What is an executive order . Correct. 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