Memorial. Im dan ashley. Im kristen sze in for ama daetz. Today in chinatown people gathered to remember the mayor who got political start in that community. Held their own event because felt not represented at public memorial. More than 1,000 people attended but only asianamerican speakers were ed lees two daughters. Alyssa is live. Some offended by how a prominent speaker described late mayor. Reporter talking about his smile and squinty eyes, and lot of people took great offense with. Some people in asianamerican Community Say that was insensitive, especially at his Memorial Service and tonight theyre honoring him in chinatown with a candlelight vigil. Chief of protocol Charlotte Schutz recalled his laugh. Wonderful laugh with swingely wetwingel twingely just like the picture, squinty eyes. Reporter deeply offended. I was shocked. Am i hearing it correctly . Everybody felt uncomfortable but didnt know how to handle it. Reporter retired judges spoke at different Memorial Service for the mayor thursday, this one in chinatown. Felt uncomfortable when one person spoke about slanted eyes. Reporter say they dont think schutz was trying to be racist but found the words uncomfortable. And lack of seating arrangements and lack of asianamericans in reserved area of the rotundra. Not very sensitive to the Chinese Community and no asian speakers other than the mayors two daughters. Reporter in open letter Lee Family Association said it looks like whites only while asians an other ordinary people relegated to the side. Not from ed lees family. This is association for chineseamericans with the last name lee. Mayer mayers office of protocol said in part plis schalts apologizes in any of her comments ment to be heartfelt and warm offended anyone. Loved the mayor much and will miss him dearly. Abc7 news. A special election for new mayor will be held june 5th. Total of six people have filed to run. Former supervisor angela alioto, senator mark leno and janekim among them. Deadline is january 9th. New at 6 00, San Francisco symphony severed ties from charles de twa after multiple allegations surfaced today. He was scheduled in concerts january and april. In a statement the symphony said move for zero tolerance of Sexual Harassment in the workplace. News first broke at 4 00, man arrested and accused of mailing homemade bombs to two homes, including to a police officer. Live with exclusive details, melanie. These are the federal charging documents just unsealed. Ross laf erty with mailing explosive device with intent to injury or kill and not his first runin with authorities. Long rap sheet including drugs, arson and weapons related crimes. His past helped authorities catch up to him now. This is the man. Prior convictions and dna on file led them to him and this house on the 4500 block of Mountain View avenue in zbloekd i seen that last night, not in this neighborhood, we dont do that up here. But i guess we did. According to the documents unsealed, dna on file matched dna on batteries used on explosive device mailed in east palto alto in october. Father opened the box suffering injuries. Fidgeted with it, held it at distance and it exploded. Then last month, Alameda Police officers wife was injured opening explosive device. In both cases, return address to jewelry store. The devices and packages were also similar. Laverty appeared in federal court, remauns in custody. Detention hearing next week. Abc7 news. New details, suspected robber shot to death by Security Guard at walgreens identified. Maurice charles. Happened before 8 30 monday night at walgreens on 1st and santa clara street. Reviewing the case to determine whether the Security Guard should face charges. Took almost a month but this escaped inmate from stockton is become under arrest. Stockton Police Posted this on facebook, hard to believe he stayed hidden this time with skull tattoo on his face. Tough to conceal. Got a tip today, found and arrested him. Back on november 27th, escaped from honor farm where he was serving time on a weapons charge. With the passage of the republicans tax reform, some homeowners are thinking of prepaying april installment of property taxes now. Santa clara countys Tax Collector says 3 increase so far. David louis said it has to do with changes in the federal tax law awaiting the president s signature. Reporter its not tax filing but bay area homeowners are doing the calculations to deduct this year before the plan takes effect. Second installment is due april 10th. Calls this idea win for taxpayers and government. Thats almost 500 million in property taxes paid to Santa Clara County and split between the schools and cities and so forth. If more people pay that sooner, significant financial benefit. Reporter math is complicated because the 2018 tax bill limits property and income Tax Deductions to 10,000. Recently bought median priced 1 million house are already paying in property taxes. Says prepayment might be a big help to those paying 5,000. If they prepay 2,500 due in april, might derive a benefit in the new plan. Out of luck those whose taxes are collected and dispersed by mortgage servicer. I dont think can direct the servicer to pay early on their behalf. Much of the time may not be enough in the impound account to pay early. Reporter because all tax situations are different, consulting adviser or accountant is advisable. San jose, abc7 news. Congress has approved a stopgap spending bill to keep federal agencies running through january 19th. Awaiting president trumps signature ahead of a midnight friday deadline. Hes said he will sign it. Includes extension of funding for Childrens HealthInsurance Program and foreign Intelligence Surveillance act. Were ready to work across the aisle to ensure theres no lapse in funding for critical services. We hope the future will be different and republican friends realize their goals better served by bipartmanship rather than strife. Passed a bill for hurricane and wildfire recovery. Not expected to review until after the new year. Federal judge blocked changes by Trump Administration on Birth Control coverage. Would have allowed more employers to opt out of Birth Control at no cost to women, part of obamacare. California and other states filed lawsuit arguing would lead to unintended pregnancies to cost the states more money. Similar ruling. San jose frost covering the roof of the car. Opening Warming Centers for people who need to get in out of the cold. Didnt look much more bundled up here than usual. Spencer christian with the temperatures. Feels like winter. If you thought this morning was cold, find new adjectives for tomrrow. Live doppler 7, clear skies, temperatures tumbling. Freeze warning for virtually all the bay area except coastline and frost advisory there. 1 00 a. M. To 7 00 a. M. , dropping to 22 to 32 degrees inland. 29 to 32 on the coast. And under conditions like this, helpful tips. Protect plants, pipes, pets and watch out for icy spots on the roadways. Despite cold weather and moderately clear skies, concern about the air quality. Spare the air issued for tomorrow, saturday and sunday as we expect air quality to become poorer, possibly because of wood burning which is not permitted in spare the air alert. Keep that in mind. Coming up next, san jose firefighters who got to have dinner with rob lowe after saving his home from the thomas fire. Youre not alone, four days till christmas, cooking and cart filling not overiest. Heard of lost mail but how do you lose a 7 foot tall Christmas Tree . Just happened t really . Really . Really . Really . Really . Really . See zero in a whole new way. Get zero down, zero deposit, zero first months payment, and zero due at signing on select volkswagen models. Now with the people first warranty. Southern california fire crews have contained a fastmoving vegetation fire not far from downtown riverside, started just after 11 00 a. M. , forcing mandatory evacuations in the area. Cal fire says extra resources ready because of the danger conditions, wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour. Raced to get more containment of the thomas fire before tonight. Destroyed more than 1,000 structures, including 750 homes since it started december 4th. 18,000 still threatened. Burned more than 272,000 acres, second biggest in california history. 60 contained at this hour. A group of san jose firefighters made National Headlines after invited to dinner at rob lowes house. Part of a strike team in Southern California for the thomas fire. Sat down to talk about the experience. Reporter its not every day you meet celebrity and eat dinner in home with them. Thats exactly what happened to mike and brian, sent to battle the thomas fire. We heard oprah lived there, ellen, creator of friends. Rob lowes house in is mont see theto and you can see how close the flames were to his house. Group of firefighters protected his multimilliondollar home. Thrilled when invited to dinner. Welcoming. Went in, lots of food. Started heating up when we showed up. Had a fridge, whatever you want to drink. Lowe and wife fed them hamburgers, spaghetti, chicken and salad. Relaxed and ribbed him a little bit. He told me how many twitter followers he had and i told him he needed to work to get more like the kardashians had. He was laughing about that. Reporter muchneeded break after days of fighting flames and hospitality meant a lot to the strike team. He said thanks, appreciative of the work, said he didnt know how we did it. Reporter now getting attention, interviewed by National Media outlets by skype and phone, humbled by it, glad to walk away with a memory they wont forget. Abc7 news. Happening now, were in one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season, aaa expects more than 170 million americans will travel some way, most by car. More than last year, continuing trend of increased travel. Interstate 680 in walnut creek. Busy out there. Afternoon rush hour and with lastminute shopping, now more crowded. South bay, 101 in san jose, heavy traffic southbound there as well. Peninsula, heavy on the san mateo bridge. Moving but busy both directions. Headlights are east toward hayward. Shipping online for Christmas Gifts is closing rapidly. Brick and Mortar Stores seeing more business from shoppers. Walmart in san landro to see how things are going. 14. This is 9. Reporter no Department Store can beat nearly infinite choices online but can compete in prices. I hate the stores and crowds. The lines are going to be crazy. Reporter might be overstatement. But manager of this San Leandro Walmart says the sales are picking up. Will be intense, well over 350,000 the next three days. Reporter some people wait because procrastinators, other do the bulk online and pick up odds and ends at store. Ramon likes the feel of store shopping. Shops late so the kids wont find out. Look around to see what they want, come back by myself to pick it up. Reporter laura is 21st century. Rather do amazon prime. Reporter sales up 8 even though shoppers say it doesnt feel as crowded as years past. One piece of advice . Shop early. Bulk, 5 00 to 10 00 p. M. Reporter if youre stuck, professionals do gift cards. Reporter and remember who christmas is for. In san leandro, eric thomas, abc7 news. Cutoff for ups and fedex overnight is today. You missed Priority Mail cutoff for christmas. That was yesterday. But tomorrow is cutoff for priority express. Teensy bit more time. Weather, feels like christmas now. Colder by the minute. Tonight is cutoff for heavy blankets. Live doppler 7, clear skies and chilly conditions prevail and just going to get colder into the night and overnight hours. Live view from abc7 exploratorium pier 15 San Francisco, sliver of the moon up in the sky over San Francisco. Current temperature readings, 52 in the today, san jose at 52. 46 at gilroy and 45 at half moon bay. Emeryville, also looking at moon. 49 in santa rosa and napa. 37 at fairfield. Sutro tower, nice view of San Francisco. Freezing cold next two mornings. Milder days as clouds come in and warms up. Sprinkles possible day after christmas, next tuesday. Overnight, clear skies and low temperatures in north bay, dropping into mid to upper 20s. Inland east bay, 30 expected in concord, 28 in fairfield. Morgan hill, 28. 32, right at freezing san jose. And around the bay, 35 in richmond and oakland. Cold everywhere. Tomorrow mostly sunny, thin high clouds around. Cool to chilly with highs on the coast low to mid50s. Upper 50s inland but not many 60degree readings. When we have these cold snaps, north bay is usually coldest. So santa rosa is indicator of the low temperature trend next seven days. Next couple of mornings, low temperatures, several degrees below freezing bouncing up to a few degrees above over the weekend into early next week. Thats inland trend. And fourday forecast for greater lake tahoe area, mostly cloudily, 40s, low to mid20s overnight. Some freezing precipitation there monday or tuesday. Here too but not freezing. Accuweather seven day forecast. Sunday morning is more typical. Increasing clouds. Milder for christmas, mid60s inland, low 60s around the bay. Pretty mild tuesday. Theres a slight chance of light precipitation or sprinkles tuesday mainly in the north bay but highlight it because any rainfall this time of year, we cheer for it. Clinging to hope. But not desperate. Just a little bit. On the verge of desperation. Coming up, 663 million will bay area voters approve a proposed toll hike in bridges next year . Could be up to 3 more for all bay area bridges except the golden gate. Officials say would fund dozens of regional transportation projects. Go before voters in june. 54 support 3 increase if it helps ease traffic congestion. Were conducting informal poll on twitter and its landslide, 95 , absolutely not. Wed love to hear from you. Youll see thousands of new electric cars and trucks on california roads next year and people hope fewer emissions as result. Californias air Resources Board as approved 663 million in funding to increase the number of zero emission vehicles used in the state. Spend most of the money on programs to clean up shipping industry and rebate for companies diesel replacement with clean energy options. Last year this is closer to 400 million. Cleaning up air around shipping ports because piece proportionate number of economically disadvantaged people live there. Goal is reduce 30 2030. New numbers on the sales of recreational cannabis. Three months after became legal in nevada, sales higher than projected. 12. 5 million more in tax revenue in three months. Becomes legal in california january 1st, aged 21 or older. Cities and counties create their own rules governing sales, some have banned them. We put together explanation on our website abc7news. Com. There is a place in concord going the opposite way of a national trend. A lot of Stores Closing but new Shopping Center is opening. Next, what is bringing in shoppers across the bay area . And hear about unknown contender who c do i use a toothpaste that whitens my teeth or. One thats good for my teeth . Now i dont have to choose from crest 3d white comes new whitening therapy. Its our best whitening technology. Plus, it has a fortifying formula to protect your enamel. Crest. Healthy, beautiful smiles for life. Youre so cold, come in whats wrong . Its dry. Your scalp . Mine gets dry in the winter too. Try head and shoulders dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp and. Keeps you up to 100 flake free head and shoulders dry scalp care this is the First Major Development in since 1973. Concord is setting a new trend, opening a new Shopping Center thats drawing people from across the bay area. Its a rough time for retail. Many brick and Mortar Stores are closing down. Leslie brinkley shows you what makes the situation so different in concord. Reporter what do shoppers like about this new Shopping Center . Nicer, fresher shopping environment, clean, hip, new, modern. Reporter came from dublin to check out 50 new tenants in the veranda. Shocked theyre opening mall, sun valley across the freeway. Reporter ten new theaters, fountain, light shows. 365 whole foods. First 365 location in Southern California. If i want to shop for clothing and on the way out get groceries, we provide the opportunity. Reporter bucking a national trend. According according to a study announced plans to close stores in 2017 more than store openings. Celebrating additional retail space. Add more services to the community, we have more happy people. Win win win. This is First Major Development since 1973. Reporter new veranda center expected to generate as much as 800,000 in sales tax revenue in first year. Concord, abc7 news. New developments with the controversial plan to build 16 cell towers in hills borough. Contractor didnt get to the Public Utilities first to get approval. Adds if they have to make a decision, denying all 16 applications. Been a lot of residents pushing for that outcome. In a statement said contractor failed to meet application requirements. Frontrunner in race for the next governor is familiar to us in the bay area, gavin newsome. Current Lieutenant Governor