Yeah, that homecoming parade just ended about 30 minutes ago. The School District says its monitoring air quality. Theres still a bit of haze in the Higher Elevations but no smell of smoke, which is a big change from just a few days ago. San ramon Valley High School parade through downtown danville is an annual homecoming tradition. We always have the big rally and the big parade downtown where, you know, the floats go through and the various town dignitaries. So its a lot of fun, proud parents and excited players didnt seem to be too concerned with the weather. The School District says theyre monitoring air quality and cleared the teams to play well. Theres nice any concern with the smoke that we had . No, weve weve been okay all week and all signs seem to point towards the same direction right now despite the excitement on the ground, theres still some lingering haze around mt. Diablo and the valley below. When youve got a complex of fires burning as we do right now in Northern California and southern oregon, somebody somewhere is going to be downstream and getting a lot of smoke and right now, were the unlucky ones. Professor alison bridgers with the department of meteorology and Climate Science at san jose state university. She says haze from wildfires is not uncommon this time of year. She adds that the air quality has improved over the past week but recommends even if you dont smell smoke, its still important to take precautions. The smoke is a collection of tiny particles and those can get into your lungs and in the right concentration on the wrong day at the wrong time. They could potentially do some damage. I guess, until you smell something or notice it, you dont really think about it. Keep on rashidi and Gabriel Carver have been hiking almost every morning and seem unfazed by the haze. Besides the visibility, it felt pretty good today. Okay. Better than the past few days, relatively. Ive been hiking almost every day with the weather. I cant really tell a difference a little bit of like maybe it seems a little bit harder. But besides that, all good. Professor bridger says strong winds in oregon will likely move the smoke north. So we should be clear by sunday. As for the san ramon Valley High School football team, theyre off to a strong four and oh start. They take on liberty high at 7 p. M. Reporting live in danville on sam houston, abc seven news hunts are unfazed by the haze like it. Good line thank you. You can monitor air quality all in our online interactive tracker. Check it out at abc sen news. Com. In fact we actually put it on the home page just to make it easy for you to find. And you can do that right now. You know, aqi numbers are not the only thing thats up. Larry pg aa e rates are as well. Yeah last week the cpuc released two rate proposals for the utility pgandes is asking for rate increases to boost its revenue by 26. But those proposals would only increase their revenue by 13. Listen to this customer bills would be 24 to 28 higher every every month a decision on this will be made in november. Abc seven News Reporter suzannephan is live in the newsroom with a closer look at what the rate hike would mean for you suzanne. So chris and larry, 28 bucks a month doesnt sound that bad for some, but youre looking at potentially hundreds of dollars a year. Weve got a lot of mixed reactions about theroposed power bill increases these are the power lines mary flat sees by her home in sonoma. Shes among the 16 million pgandes customers expecting to see an increase in their power. Bill soon received a email notice from pgandes saying our rates were going to go up to be prepared. The reason given for this was that they are putting in underground and power lines. Flett says she lives in a fire area and that putting the lines underground makes sense. She says the rate increases though dont. The cpuc proposal is to increase rates by 9 or 13. The initial pgandes rate increase proposal was 26. This is absurd. And basically my frustration at not being able to impact or have any say in address passing this egregious increase. Yes, we certainly understand our customers concerns about affordability and bills. Pgandes says the rate increases are necessary to put 2100 miles of power lines underground, but that the cpuc plan isnt enough. We think that they fall short of the funding that we need necessary to continue making the really important wildfire safety enhancements that weve been making. The Utility Reform Network, aka turn advocates on behalf of ratepayers pg wants to put most of its many of its power lines underground that is far too expensive an approach for wildfire safety. The much better approach is to insulate the power lines, which is a faster and cheaper way, pgandes explains why undergrounding is a better option to reducing wildfire risks. When you put those lines underground, it reduces the need to do things like tree trimming and maintenance around those lines, and it also far increases reliable safety. It reduces it in some cases, eliminates the need for safety shut offs. Talking to residents in San Francisco, we heard mixed reactions to me, i think its a bad idea. I think its a bad idea. It costs a lot of money for the city. I always hate to have anything go up, but i think we need those cables underground today. State senator scott wiener released this statement, quote, this rate increase places an absurd burden on californians pocketbooks to pay for updates. Pgandes should have performed decades ago. Once again, pgandes is saddling its ratepayers with the consequences of its failure to plan and budget effectively again, the California PublicUtilities Commission will vote on november 2nd on whether to let pgandes raise rates by 9 or 13. The Utility Reform Network says concerned ratepayers can express their concerns online by going to the cpuc website. Live in the newsroom. Suzannephan abc7 news. Well, pgandes has had a series of rate hikes over the past several years. From 2018 to 2023. The average monthly bill increased nearly 42. Now last year there were two rate hikes totaling 18. 4 and already this year theres been an 8 hike. New details now on yesterdays Fatal Shooting inside a Toyota Service center in albany. Investigators now say the initial shooting and the Police Shootout that followed were the result of domestic violence. The initial shooting happened around 11 a. M. When a man with a gun entered the service center, then shot and killed a woman who worked there. Police found the man on the second floor where multiple officers shot and killed him. Theyve not released the names of the victim or the suspect, and there is no information about their relationship. Today a federal court judge struck down californias law prohibiting gun owners from having detachable magazines holding more than ten rounds. Judge Roger Benitez ruled that the law was unconstitutional, writing, quote, there have been and there will be times where many more than ten rounds are needed to stop attackers, end quote. California attorney general rob bonta says hell appeal. The ban is likely to remain in effect while that case is still pending. Drivers in san jose will have to find another way to get from the Almaden Valley into downtown. The northbound lanes of highway 87 will be closed starting tonight at 9 00 for a major lane resurfacing project. All lanes of the freeway between julian street and highway 85 will be closed until five monday morning. Another closure will take place the weekend of october 20th, when the southbound lanes will be getting repaved. Well, another store closing up shop in downtown San Francisco. Signs posted outside Banana Republic and the Embarcadero Center show that the store is closing for good as of tomorrow. This move follows the closure of the Westfield CenterBanana Republic earlier this year. The gap, which owns Banana Republic, announced plans in april to shutter 30 of its stores in a cost cutting move. A lot of People Holding out hope today trying to get their hands on the new iphone. Look at the lines here. These were shoppers in San Franciscos union square today. Experts say preorders for the new iphone were a lot stronger than they expected. Delaying delivery times for some of those pro models. An effort is underway to save a San Francisco building. Thats been home to the labor and social and Economic Justice movements for 110 years. Today, Community Members staged a rally to save the labor temple located at 16th and capp street in the mission district. Theyre calling on the new Ownership Group to preserve the Community Center and theaters in the building. A spokesperson for new owners told abc7 news that theyre open to making those things happen. Coming up on abc7 news at four, planting trees does a lot more than just give you shade how its helping improve air quality in the bay area. Also diving into the beauty off the california coast and celebrating pride. 36 lowering cholesterol can be hard. Diets and exercise add to the struggle. Today, its possible to go from struggle to cholesterol success with leqvio. With a statin, leqvio is proven to lower bad cholesterol by over 50 and keep it low with two doses a year. Common side effects were injection site reaction, joint pain, urinary tract infection, diarrhea, chest cold, pain in legs or arms, and shortness of breath. Ask your doctor about twiceyearly leqvio. 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Hpv vaccination, a type of Cancer Prevention. Against certain hpvrelated cancers. Can start then too. For most people, hpv clears on its own. But for others, it can cause certain cancers later in life. Embrace this phase. Help protect them in the next. Starting at age 9, talk to your childs doctor about. Hpv vaccination. Trees, but places like San Francisco and oakland, they have small urban tree canopies compared to a lot of other major cities. Abc7 News Reporter leanne melendez here with a look about how thats going to change pretty soon. Leanne. Well, let me remind you that oakland was named obviously got its name because of all the oak trees. Right. And only 20 of that city is covered with trees. Thats it. San francisco has less. So when we talk about building a better bay area, improving the environment has to be part of that goal. Now San Francisco and oakland received some promising news from the federal government. Both cities will receive millions of dollars to plant trees on streets that have been mostly bare. San francisco has long carried a reputation for being conscious, anxious about the environment, yet ironically, there are parts of the city that look more like a concrete jungle barren of trees than an urban oasis. So the temperatures in those neighborhoods that dont have trees or green space can be much higher. Ten degrees or more higher than other parts of the city. The citys rapid growth is partly to blame. In 1848, there were about 1000 residents because of the gold rush of 49. The population grew to 25,000. By 1859, ten years later, San Franciscos population soared to 80,000. Back then, there was so much focus on expansion in on building housing that they really didnt carve out enough space for sidewalks. Therefore, there is limited room for street trees. A lot of our buildings are built right to the sidewalk and so theres not room for a tree to grow large and for a canopy to expand. As a result, San Francisco has one of the smallest urban tree canopies among big cities, just 13. 7, measured by the amount of land covered by trees. When viewed from above, the National Average is just over 27. And while some neighborhoods have tree lined streets that beautify the area, the citys tree canopy is inequitably distributed with underserved communities lagging behind. A map created from state data by the abc7 News Data Team shows in light yellow. Which areas are in most need of trees for example the tenderloin and south of market neighborhoods. But dont get confused. Most san franciscans love their trees and in 2016 voter approved a measure that sets aside 19 million a year from the general fund to care and maintain street trees. But not necessarily to plant new ones. Thats about to change after San Francisco was awarded 12 million from the federal government to plant thousands of new street trees. So with this grant we have for the next five years, were going to be able to double the amount of money we use for planting trees in San Francisco. Were always looking for sustainable funding sources. This kind of gives us a head start and momentum. The larger goal of our urban forest plan is to plant to get to 155,000 street trees. We currently have 125,000 street trees, so we need to plant 30,000 new trees by 2040 as our goal public works is now calling this proposed expansion of the canopy the bloom loop to counter the National Narrative that the city by the bay is at risk of being in that doom loop. We keep hearing so much about the recreation and Parks Department will also receive another 2 million grant to plant trees in parks located in the southeastern part of the city. Another part of the component of the grant that recreation and parks is getting is going towards workforce development. So that means cultivating and creating a workforce within the southern eastern neighborhoods to help with maintaining the trees. San francisco isnt alone in getting new trees. The yellow areas on the map show that many parts in oakland are barren of trees, as oakland was also awarded 8 million to increase its tree canopy on public and private land and to deal with deferred maintenance. As back in San Francisco, this will be the citys nursery hub already under construction. From here, many of the new street trees will be planted in those neighborhoods that for years have been crying out for help, like the tenderloin in the south of market area and the bayview Hunters Point district. But even if you dont live in one of those neighborhoods, you can still request that a tree be planted on your street. At one of the things that i heard from people when i told them that i was doing this story was is, you know, can i have a tree in front of my house . And thats the question that i want to ask you. Can anybody call you and say, i want a tree . Yeah, thats exactly the question we want to hear because we want people to want trees to love trees and we can help them plant trees if theres a space where they can do it, well send an inspector out to see if this is a good location, an if its not something that you can do right in front of your home or business, then you can maybe work with a Neighborhood Group to see if there are other areas where you can plant trees. So lets be clear in those three underserved neighborhoods that i mentioned, they are going to plant trees. Whether people request them or not. But if you live outside of those neighborhoods and want a tree, you will need a permit from public works. But the permits get this are free. Now typically, nonprofits like friends of the urban forest will also plant trees and they will take care of those trees for the first three years. Again for free. Now, even if you rent a property, say, an apartment or a home in San Francisco, you can also ask for a tree. You dont need the permission from your landlord because guess what . The city owns the sidewalks. Wow, that makes sense. Did not know that. And you should just jump on it because it takes a few years for it to pay dividends. Yeah, thats right. And we need it. You need more trees, thats for sure. All right. Thanks liane. Sure. So you know the old line, you cant see the forest for the trees, right now. You can barely see the trees because of the haze out there. That just wont go away. I can barely see my fingers in front of me to see when conditions will get better. I think the smoke is just overstayed its welcome. Thats what i would say, larry and kristin, it will get better late tomorrow night and by sunday everyone will be breathing a little easier. Let me show you a live picture from our south beach camera. And yes, that smoke and haze, you can see just kind of making for a little bit of a murky view. Visibility has been impacted by this livermore con