county as with every where a lot of low-lying areas there, underpasses and just parts that, they are braced for possible flooding. >> we're taking a live look now the wet weather affecting traffic across the bay area. we have pictures here from across the golden gate bridge, the bay bridge, san mateo bridge and the richmond, sandra fell bridge and they are wet tonight and the weather is expected to even get worse. more rain is on the way. our chief meteorologist lawrence karnow joining us now with what we can expect. up. busy. yeah. a lot of rain on the way. in fact, it looks like a real winter. you know something we really haven't experienced over the last few years. we've been fairly dry. but now >> things are changing. we've got showers moving in. we had a little bit of a brief break during the middle of the day. a very wet out there on the roads, very slick. a traveling around the bay area. this really more of a lighter rainfall compared to what we're going to see. we've got a big time storm that's going to be rolling in as we head into late friday and saturday. flood watches have been posted during that period from friday evening into saturday that we expect the good old pineapple express, the atmospheric river to roll into town. and that is going to bring tremendous amounts of rain. remember, the ground is already saturated. so all that rain is going to start running down the many local creeks and streams and rivers and well, there could be some issues. in fact, we're watching the russian river near hop. lynn expected that to rise to about the middle of day, possibly some minor flooding as we head toward midday on saturday, just cresting slightly above flood stage. but still have to watch is the forecast could change of the storm system slows down. well, then we could have other issues around this. just the beginning of a series of storms coming our way. the rain out there right now fairly a light around much of the bay area. pretty steady out there throughout the afternoon. that is going pick up get very intense as we head toward tomorrow night and saturday. more storms after that. we'll have more on the rest that coming up a few minutes. lawrence, thank you. a lot of homes and businesses will need protection from the flooding that's expected in the coming days. >> the san francisco public works department is offering as many as 10 free sandbags per person. you could pick them um at the publix works operations yard. that's on street. it will be open saturday from 08:00am until 2 in the afternoon. and you will be asked for proof of address. >> the cities of sandra fell in vallejo along the santa clara county are offering overnight warming centers to people who need them. we've got a short list there on the screen, but we've got more locations and other details, including the hours on our website. kron 4 dot com. and you can learn more about weather conditions in your neighborhood on our website or the kron. 4 app. you will find full forecasts, interactive radar, weather alerts, just download the kron. 4 app from the app store or google play. >> this is a tragic case of the 2 old child. this should not have happened. >> another big story tonight. oakland police are investigating the homicide of a 2 year-old boy. police found his body in a rural area of napa county. police have made an arrest for the young child's did reveal some new details earlier today. kron four's gayle ong joins she's live in the newsroom and has the latest kale. >> yeah, justine and catherine open police making an arrest in connection to the child's death. police say the suspect in custody is someone close to the family and the child. >> this is a tragic case of the 2 old child. this should not have happened. oakland police chief leronne armstrong providing an update thursday about the homicide of a 2 year-old boy. >> killed in oakland. his body was found in rule. napa county chief armstrong says opd received a tip from san pablo police just before 02:30am, in the morning on december. 23rd. >> our investigators immediately begin follow up on all leads. the investigation eventually led us to napa county where investigators located the body of 2 year-old jamari mac its chief. armstrong says the child's body was found outdoors. >> the circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation. the chief would only say the suspect in custody is close to the family and the child. heartbreaking. >> ashley mccullough is a family friend watching the morning. >> you know, even when i was at the home yesterday, speak up, just out, enjoy that. he bought in the home missing. that's out of having little guy running around was just very painful. chief armstrong says the suspect is being held on unrelated charges to this case. opd is working with the alameda county da to determine charges to be filed for the murder of the child. it's just >> anybody close friend anybody all, you know, immediate family to have to do something like this. if we can just keep this in prayer. >> the coroner has not released the child's cause of death. anyone with information about this case is asked to contact oakland police in the newsroom. gayle ong kron. 4 news. >> gayle, thank you so much. in an unrelated case on the same day, the body but 2 year-old that that 2 year-old atkins was discovered. san francisco police found another 2 young girls dead inside of their san francisco home. officials say that these homicides are not connected. the victims have been identified as a one year-old baby name paragon and a 5 year-old girl named justice. they were found dead last week inside of their baby home on navy road. police have arrested 34 year-old alicia green pullman on murder charges for the deaths of the 2 young girls. this is a picture of her handcuffed in court from yesterday. she is scheduled to be arraigned in court on friday. >> when the new year begins, a bay area city will be the first in the nation to have a law requiring gun owners to have private insurance plan for us. has he doing reports now from san jose? >> starting january first, 2023. there will be a new gun insurance requirement in the city of san jose. san jose mayor sam liccardo says there will be no grace period for gun owners to get up to speed with the new law. we want to make sure that every >> coming knows about this. we have about 55,000 households. we believe in the city of san jose where guns are owned. several states have enacted similar gun insurance laws. however, when the new year rolls in san jose will be the first in the u.s. to require gun owners to have private insurance for their regarding the problem, the new gun ordinance aims to solve. we have the 2021 study that found more than 200 residents in the city were admitted to emergency rooms every year as a result of shootings. a little more than 80% of those shootings resulted from an intentional acts. that is. accidents, reckless or negligent acts of gun ownership. that's where insurance can have a real impact. the primary purposes of the new law will be to compensate victims. families incentivize safer behavior and reduce the risk of gun related deaths and injuries in order to be compliant with the new harm reduction ordinance. gun owners need to fill out a city of settles a gun at a station form available in different languages. the requirement simply to keep the form of the gun. we think this is a fairly simple requirement. there are some legal challenges against the city's new ordinance. but the mayor says so far the courts have ruled in favor of the city of santa live. this is not about taking away anyone's guns. this is not about invading anyone's homes. private spaces for cars will be none of that. this is simply about ensuring. >> that gun ownership is safer. >> san jose city officials say violators of the gun insurance law will have to pay a $250 citation in san jose. has made kron? 4 news? >> we're learning more about what may have caused the martinez refinery to flare up last week. the refining company says a raccoon allegedly broke in and caused this power interruption. this power interruption resulted in 7 minutes of flaring. officials say that the animal got into the refinery substation and caused a loss of equipment across the refinery. but the report did not say what happened to the record. >> now to a story that we've been following all week, southwest airlines and says now it's planning to return to full operations tomorrow. this is after flying only a 3rd of the schedule this week. thousands of people have been stranded. some still are after bad weather computer system problems. all of that leading to a meltdown and operations here in the bay area. things getting a little better according to the flight tracking website, flightaware travelers at san jose's airport are still getting the worst of it. southwest canceled 145 flights there yesterday. what's that's today? actually, yesterday there were 147, so not much better. oakland's airport has had 117 southwest flights canceled today. that's compared to 124 yesterday and sfo. 35 cancellations so far compared to 38 yesterday. and many miss the holidays entirely. some are still trying to get to their destinations. the issues so catastrophic. many customers are now. >> writing off the eye airline entirely. our washington, d.c., correspondent raquel martin has the latest. southwest airlines this afternoon announced it will fly a nearly normal schedule by tomorrow. >> that's after canceling thousands of flights over the past week. southwest airlines employees we spoke with tell us they are not at all surprised by the system wide failure. southwest airlines flight attendant union vice president corliss king says the airline's computer scheduling system was a disaster waiting to happen. there was a perfect storm, no pun intended combined. one historic winter storm, hundreds of thousands of holiday travelers in decades, old computer technology. we have a lot of things happening at one time. and what that did was expose the real under oie issue, which is our challenges and our technology and our inability. >> to quickly recover. king has worked for southwest airlines for 12 years and says employees have long warned company executives about the flaws and their employee scheduling system. she says the exact just didn't listen. we're the first people to know when the operation on paper but we do not necessarily have a seat at the table. southwest airlines is apologizing for the breakdown, blaming it on whether but for now. >> we're focused on restoring the reliability and level of customer experience. we expect of ourselves and that you expect from us. as of thursday. the company says one in 3 of its flights are back on schedule and is promising nearly normal operations by friday. we're continuing to work to make this up to you. the department of transportation is promising to hold the airline accountable. transportation secretary pete buttigieg says the problems at the airline. >> we're not all weather related. he says the department is working with southwest to guarantee all impacted customers get refunds. southwest has already canceled a few dozen flights for tomorrow. but that's down from the roughly 2300 cancellations today lawmakers are promising to take action once they return to washington next week. for now washington, raquel martin, back to you. >> coming up, some would argue it's another reason to grumble about ranked choice voting. the problem that's turning election results and one oakland race upside down. >> and the family of one of sacramento's first pioneers is demanding answers after the statue honoring their ancestor is decapitated. >> also from added holidays to jaywalking. we're going to talk about some of the new laws taking effect >> now to our 4 zone forecast as we're taking this live look here at a caltrans camera on i-80 it donner lake. the roads are clear, but they're getting a lot of snow in the sierra. they are just really hit with tons of snow up. kron 4 chief meteorologist lawrence karnow was here. >> maybe again. not a great time to go up there, but you've got to be careful going up in the high country at this time of year, especially with a series of storms that be impacting much of this year and that, of course, the bay area to but the high country. yeah, they're going to get slammed. that's going to be testing how it's going to work out, though. the snow levels are going to be switchiwg around quite a bit 4,000 feet. that's your snow level. you're seeing some snow coming down now about the roadways are open in clear your head up over both 50 80 right now. you can see some of that snow start to move in as a move to the bay area. begin to pick up now this evening across the sierra nevada. so if you're planning to head up there tonight, you're likely to run into some delays up there in a pack. your chains if you're going in that direction, you may need those of some time tonight. winter storm warnings have been posted tonight through 04:00am on sunday. the higher crest of the sierra nevada. we're talking 7,000 feet up that you're going to see the real heavy snow. these are very warm storm system coming through on friday into saturday. the atmospheric river event. ridge in the storm systems tend to be a lot warmer. and so now you may have some flooding issues across the sierra. i think as you can see, some melting snow in some spots. so something else to watch out for. you've got a different type of a storm system moving in with a very different type of moisture content. and so avalanches are real possibilities for an avalanche watch has been posted all the way from the taller it down the south across the southern sierra nevada to so something to watch out for. if you're headed up there in the coming days, we've got the storms rolling on into start with. you're going to see a mixture of rain and snow. heavy snow above 7,000 feet. you get above 8,000 feet. that's we're talking about 3 to 5 feet of snow. so, yeah, be prepared. a likely going to see some delays during this period in these storms. just continuing to roll in. this is going to be a one coming through tonight. the lower snow level, 4,000. also tomorrow, you may actually be able to drive across the sierra at some point because the snow is going to rise up so high by tomorrow night. but still that rain is coming down. likely have some flooding issues. there's going to be trouble all around going across the state are sounds like it. all right. thank you, lawrence. authorities in buffalo, new york, are facing a grim task of searching for people who may have died in last week's blizzard. >> crews continue to dig the city out from under a lot of snow. at least 40 deaths have been reported in western new york. most of them in buffalo, the national guard is going door to door to check on people who lost power. but authorities do face the possibility they will find more victims as the snow melts. >> unfortunately, there are families in this community who not been able to identify where a loved one is. they're missing and we do have still. john doe's. and eventually those family members are going to find out the worst news possible. >> meantime, the driving ban in buffalo has been lifted, although the mayor is telling people, please continue not to drive. if they don't have to drive the city is preparing for the possibility of flooding as the snow melts and there is rain in the forecast. >> starting on january first, some military veterans will be eligible to cross all california toll bridges for free. that includes the golden gate bridge bay bridge, dumb barton and richmond, sandra fell bridge and some low income residents can waive their penalties for bridge toll violations. households with an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level can request a waiver for outstanding penalty fees st rting july 1st. >> in the east bay of voting mix-up in oakland, the alameda county registrar of voters says the results initially certified in the oakland school board race. we're not correct. in fact, the candidates certified as finishing 3rd. it's not claiming victory. this involves the ranked choice voting system which some voters find confusing and annoying. the problem being described as a miss configuration of the system, whatever that means, incumbent mike hutchinson is not claiming victory over nick resnick and district 4. it is the only race apparently affected by this problem. >> more about so welcome in 2023. and with the new year comes a new loss. yeah, there's a lot of them. they officially take effect january 1st, capitol correspondent eytan wallace gives us a look at some of them. >> well, we're talking nearly 1000 new laws on all kinds of issues from minimum wage to homelessness to guns. as we enter a new year. get ready for minimum wage to go up on january. first statewide. it will increase by $0.50 to 15, 50 an hour. all part of a reoccurring annual california mandate requiring it to go up. no more than 3.5%. >> to help account for inflation. >> 2023 will also see several other new laws go into effect, including one requiring companies with 15 or more employees to post pay scales on job postings i'm homelessness care. courts will launch in riverside, orange and san diego counties in 2023 one year earlier than the rest of the state, in essence, allowing court ordered care for the unhoused and specifically those struggling with mental health and substance use disorders. these are the streets that my daughter sleeps on. the first introduced you to elizabeth hopper in the she lobbied lawmakers to get care. court passed a program she says will benefit her daughter christine, who suffers from psychosis and paranoia. that tends to feel hopeless is has capacity to engage her in her own treatment and save her life. on the issue of be 2011 will become backed by several labor and trade unions. supporters say the law will fast track housing, construction and commercial areas and empty properties once used for parking lots offices and retail on the environment. the law known as the california climate crisis act will require the state to reach 0 greenhouse gas emissions. no later than 2045? a goal supported by senator scott wiener. his own bill to speed up solar panel permitting will also become law. the new law that i'm very excited go online and all the boxes. you get your permit. >> and on guns sb 9, 1, 5 will go into effect. look, this is a first in the nation law authored by irvine senator dave min. the law will outlaw the sale and transfer of firearms on all state owned property effectively banning gun shows from taking place at the state. 74 fairgrounds, gun shows sell 10's of thousands of guns in our communities. >> and there is at this point overwhelming statistical evidence. >> that the morgans, you have a community and surprisingly, the more likely you are to have all sorts of different gun violence. this bill is misdirected fairgrounds, our own, but all the people in the state of california, them, therefore it cannot be banned from these public facilities. and in 2023 jaywalking will also become legal reporting here outside the state capitol. wallace kron. 4 news. >> the committee investigating the january 6 insurrection has dropped. the subpoena issued to former president donald trump was issued in october and directed trump to hand over phone calls, text messages and emails related to what members say was his attempt to invalidate the results of the 2020 election. trump's attorneys sued to block the order making it unlikely that he ever have to testify. the great great grandson of one of sacramento's first pioneers is asking the public to come forward with information. >> as to who vandalized a statue in william land park. police say a runner from the head of charleston wants statue on the ground on monday morning. somebody had managed to cut it off. swanston arrived here in 18. 65 but again, the meatpacking from swanston and son that statue has been in the park since 1926. nearly a century. the family is very upset. historians have no answers as to why somebody would target the hardworking successful pioneer. >> my family is angry. we all really don't understand this or why anyone would do this. he was not a confederate. he was from northern ohio. i and ohio is not a border state. quite honestly. the only thing that you know where that statue is place, it isn't so completely visible. it was easier to vandalize >> the city says they've got the head and its possession that can be repaired. but the police, the family, the community want the people responsible, held accountable. the sacramento police department is offering $1000 reward and a local marijuana dispensary is adding another $5,000 to that reward. well, coming up here. >> another pharmacy is limiting the sales of kids. flu medications. details on how many you can buy. >> the department of justice is suing drug wholesaler amerisourcebergen claiming it helped fuel the country's deadly opioid crisis in its civil lawsuit. the doj claims the medical distributor violated its legal duty by failing to report thousands of suspicious opioid orders. enforcement. according to the complaint executives at amerisourcebergen knew that prescription pills shipped to florida and virginia. we're being diverted and, quote, sold in parking lots for cash, unquote. the company released a statement denying any wrongdoing. dot says that amerisource should face billions of dollars in penalties. >> authorities are now confirming that 18 year-old actor tyler sanders died from a fentanyl overdose. he was found dead in his home in los angeles in june. police say there was a plastic straw and white powder next to his body. the medical examiner says the teenager had sent a text to a friend the night before saying he was using fentanyl. it is believed the death was accidental. the young actor probably best known for his role in the tv series, 9.11, long star. for your health. target is the latest retail chain to restrict the sale of some children's fever and pain relief medicine. the demand is high. the supplies getting low shoppers can only buy 2 boxes of tylenol. advil or motrin site. cbs is doing the same thing. walgreens is limiting online purchases to 6 at a time. but drug stores are trying to prevent stockpiling. >> coming up here at 6 o'clock berkeley's interim police chief is facing harassment allegations. how this could impact her from taking the job full-time. also, san francisco's chinatown is going virtual. how group of bay area youth? well, the full replica of one of america's most iconic neighborhoods inside of the mind. kraft video game. plus a looming atmospheric river is promising several inches of rain for the bay area. chief meteorologist lawrence karnow has the full forecast. that's straight ahead. 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