good afternoon. i'm audrey asistio welcome to nbc bay area news at 4:30. our velena jones

is talking to city leaders about what is leading to these freeway shootings. we're also tracking other stories on this monday, including cleaning up after protesters at stanford, students protesting against the war in gaza are being put on notice. also closed for the third time in the past few months. what is going on at san jose's family justice center? we're digging for answers. and who's the man behind the district? 16 recount? our ian cull spoke with him in his first on camera interview since he called for that recount, why? the process has been frustrating for him. but let's go ahead and begin with those new numbers on freeway shootings in the bay area. our investigative unit got their hands on new data showing they are on the decline. so let's go ahead and bring in our velena jones, who's been digging into the numbers for us today. velena what are you finding? yeah, audrey. well, the good news is the numbers are declining, right? overall, throughout the bay area, we're seeing fewer freeway shootings. but the issue is, is it enough? now, these new numbers show that highway

shootings in the bay area surged during the pandemic.e know this. they more than doubled between the years of 2019 and 2021. in fact, in 2021, there were 178 freeway shootings alone. now since then, figures have declined, and this year we've seen fewer freeway shootings to start at around 21. so far. areas of concern though, are oakland and alameda county freeways on 80 and 580. now, since 2023, san francisco has seen about a dozen freeway shootings. that's compared to four times that amount that oakland has seen. so while those numbers are decreasing, we're still seeing problem spots throughout the bay area in oakland being one of those problem areas. and you mentioned a question that a lot of people have, right? volina are those numbers enough? is that decline enough? i know you had a chance to speak with the city councilman in oakland today. what is he telling you? yeah, well, i talked to council member noel gayo, and he has been in

favor of the chp coming to the streets of oakland to help control that violence that we have been seeing throughout the city. now, he says, you know, numbers are one thing. what you're actually seeing on the street is a different thing. so he's saying, while this is progress, we need to see a lot more of this to have substantial progress throughout the city of oakland. he's also advocating for chp to show more presence on the street of oakland. we know since early this year, chp has been out on the streets of oakland helping with opd to try to control some of the violent crime that they've been seeing and they've seen some progress there. but what council member gayo is asking for is an increase presence of chp here on the streets of oakland to try to prevent crime from getting to the freeways to start with. all right. well i know we're going to be seeing your full story later on in our evening newscast. so thank you for that preview. we will see you then. tensions and demands continue to mount as thousands of students are staging campout protests at

universities across the country. we have been following this for quite some time now. they're calling for the schools to join them in calling for a cease fire in gaza. at stanford, students have been camping out at the white plaza. the university says it has already emailed or handed dozens of students a letter saying that they could face suspension if they choose to continue camping in that plaza. protesters are demanding the school divest from companies who do business with israel. with these companies, these have distinct ties to israel. for example, lockheed martin literally supplies weaponry to israel and has been transporting these weapons that are being used against the palestinian people. at uc berkeley, students are camping out in front of sproul hall with those same demands. cal poly humboldt university actually ended up closing the campus. they switched to online learning for the rest of the semester after students barricaded themselves in two buildings there, and usc has canceled its main

commencement ceremony, citing security concerns related to protests. there an ongoing power problem once again shut down a critical south bay courthouse. today, the family justice center in san jose was closed for business this morning. courthouse which handles everything from divorce, child support, payments to temporary restraining orders, has been battling a power problem for months now. this is at least the fourth significant outage. court has been bringing in large trailer sized generators while waiting for a part to fix the building's link to the power grid. court insiders tell us this is the fifth generator since the first. the power first went out back in march. the others either failed or were too loud to be used. today, bilingual court staff stood outside of the door, redirecting frustrated people to other courthouses. it's extremely frustrating. it's not the first time that's happened. spot the fourth time, actually, that i've been here and it's closed today. a court spokeswoman said that

the part needed for a more lasting fix arrived a couple of weeks ago, and pg and e tells us it is working with the customer to complete those repairs as soon as possible. okay. the man who requested a congressional recount in the bay area says it is mind boggling that it's taken more than two weeks. we're talking about the race to replace ana eshoo. nbc bay area's ian cull joins us now after speaking with that man, jonathan padilla, in his first tv interview since requesting that recount. all right, ian, what do you tell you? yeah. you know, i've talked with jonathan, but he before by phone, he's issued some statements before by email. but today we met face to face for the first time. padilla asked, is the one who asked for the recount in the 16th congressional race, where more than 180,000 votes were cast. the first count determined sam liccardo will move on to november and joe simitian and evan lo tied for second. so as for padilla, well, ten years ago, he helped run sam liccardo san jose mayoral campaign, but insists that he isn't supporting

one candidate over the other in this race. now he's a tech ceo, and padilla says, though, that he is frustrate by how long this recount is taking. the pace of counting has dramatically slowed down. we were doing 40 to 50 precincts a day. thursday was three, friday was two. they're still charging the same amount. there's real issues with that. and you have to ask yourself, is this something where they have a lack of wherewithal to get it done correctly? or perhaps it's something more nefarious? so do we have the latest on the recount? okay, so it's been a slow turn in the south bay, but i did just get off the phone with officials about four minutes ago. okay. they expect it is going to finish in santa clara county tomorrow morning. so we'll keep an eye on that. now san mateo county, as we've reported, they finished up last week and now staff in santa clara county have been doing something called reconciling votes. so basically, since the votes are counted in batches, they're finding the votes for this election from those batches

and matching them to the correct precinct and then recounting them. it's not lost and it's not. we just found some in a shoe box somewhere. it's we're reconciling them, pulling them from the different batches to make sure that they're in the correct precinct before we can say anything or any results. now it's important after those results come out there are still about 30, 32 ballots that are being challenged across the district that padilla wants to include, and those have to be ruled on before anything is finalized. and, you know, many questions have been have been raised about this, and we've been reporting on them about who is funding the super pac that's footing the bill for the recount. so i asked padilla about that. and you'll hear his response in our full story coming up tonight at six. it has been quite the process in this race. all right, ian, thank you for that update. and we'll see you at 6:00. see you then. a warning today from kaiser permanente, the health care provider, is telling patients that it may have sent private data to google, microsoft and x on the health care provider's website. it said that the data

shared may have included patients names and any information people searched for on their computers. we have reached out to kaiser for comment, have not yet heard back, but the company did tell bloomberg that it has removed the trackers from its websites and mobile apps after a voluntary investigation, a plan to redesign a busy intersection in san francisco is now on hold. original redesign would reroute traffic through west portal avenue and ulloa street street. the goal was to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists. this comes you might remember after a driver did plow to into a bus stop, killed a family of four. there. we have learned supervisor myrna melgar has brokered a new agreement with residents and businesses in the west portal neighborhood. it would allow business leaders to form a committee to look at the impacts of traffic and parking in that area. the goal is to send a revised plan to the sfmta board for a vote this summer.

okay, if you drive an ev, this could be good news for you. all tesla's chargers in california are now open to other electric vehicles. 10,000 fast or super chargers are in addition to the state's 105,000 public ev chargers, and this comes following the recent approval by the california energy commission of a nearly $2 billion plan to expand the state's charging network. goal is to meet newsom's executive order that all new car sales by be zero emission by 2035. do you have am radio in your car? lawmakers say if you don't, it could be dangerous. a new bill in congress says that all cars should have am radios. they share critical information, can send alerts during emergencies, but companies like bmw and mazda have started to phase out radio features. tomorrow, a house subcommittee is going to hold a hearing on the am radio for every vehicle act. it will require all carmakers to install

access to am broadcast stations without an extra cost. national association of broadcasters calls it a lifeline, especially during storms, power outages and natural disasters. those emergency alerts that fema distributes in a time of disaster are start with fema's relationship to more than 70 radio stations across the country, the majority of which are am stations. they are equipped to stay on the air. in the case of a major natural disaster. critics, including a trade group representing car manufacturers, argue that there are other ways to access emergency alerts or am radio. they say it is not necessary for public safety. as we close the book on april, the fire season, concern is ramping up. our rob mayeda is looking into how we're looking across the state. also, graduation season is almost here and a lot of bay area seniors have another reason to celebrate

the big boost they're getting as they gear up for college. but before we head to break, we want to know what trending story would you like to see later on in this newscast? ava, pull up right now on my instagram. we still have a little bit more time to vote for one of these stories right here. mahomes drops dad bought t-shirts, seinfeld's pop tart box or tight squeeze for olympic flame. we'll

prices are just getting higher and higher. we got the latest stats on housing prices here in the bay area from a year ago. in some counties locally, they're up as much as 20, near $2 million for an average for some of these counties. because remember, last year's prices were very high. mortgage prices and mortgage rates, i should say, have remained high. and people are trying to figure out where it goes from here. there's still a lot of money in the economy, still a lot of people

cashing in their stock options. and as we've seen in the last couple of years, very little inventory. so lots of multiple bids and prices staying high. well can't wait for that update. yeah. well looking forward to it. what time again that is at 530 tonight. 530. all right scott, thanks so much. you bet. look at this. fire race through a storage company in fremont. this happened just after 6:00 this morning at a company called extra space storage. you can see the massive fire engulfed that two story building on fremont boulevard. destroyed over 50 units, took firefighters about an hour to knock down that fire. investigators are still trying to figure out what exactly started it. now to our climate in crisis. it has been a mostly cool spring that has seen its fair share of rainy days as well. right. and that's a good thing when it comes to something we haven't had to talk about much so far this year. i'm talking about fire danger. we did speak with san jose state's fire weather lab director craig clements earlier today. he explained our relatively quiet start to wildfire activity around the state so far, the

conditions around california and northern california are still really set up for a low fire year in terms of the early part of the summer and even the national predictive services is forecasting a below normal july for california, most of california. so that's good. that could be similar to last year. but then we get into the fall. things could get, maybe more dicey just because it depends on what weather conditions we have. so while we appear to be seeing a break from more widespread wildfire activity for now, when my conditions change. right. and how is climate change making it less likely we'll be enjoying years like this moving forward. our rob mayeda joins us now with a closer look. so, rob, we've been really fortunate when it comes to the weather for fire danger so far this year. but i know you've been following conditions. what's it looking like as we head into the summer? yeah, we're looking at really

the last two years we've really benefited from the average rain years we've had back to back good rain seasons. the mild spring with showers. i know it's not been good for weekend plans, but it has kept that fire danger down. plus the sierra snowmelt, high stream flows there. a lot of that land still covered by snow, so that reduces the drying out and the warming up of the sierra. now the three factors moving forward, we have to watch for as we get into summer the intensity of heat waves, gusty, dry offshore wind patterns, or if we get dry lightning, those areas of tropical moisture that come in that don't bring a lot of rain, but bring in the lightning strikes. those are the three top things we have to watch for as we get into summer. now, due to climate change, the intensity of high pressure associated with heat waves across the west, these are getting stronger. they had a big impact on the pacific northwest fires. western canada last year, even into europe with climate change, we're seeing a higher frequency of stronger and more intense heat waves, which makes it more challenging for fighting those fires because we see warmer nights and more wind, something we'll have to watch to see how the current pattern, which is good, obviously may

june and july, we're seeing the likelihood, the carryover of the cool and wet weather we've had so far this year, meaning we're going to have that slow start to the fire season. but by the end of summer, things might start to look different if we see those more intense heat waves setting up. all right. well, we'll definitely keep that in mind. thank you rob. appreciate it. caltrans is now opening convoys to the public through the highway one closure to the south of us last month. you remember a portion of the road on bixby bridge near big sur collapsed after heavy rain. since then, the road has been closed. anyone traveling the area can join the convoys now running from 7 to 8 a.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. afternoons. southbound convoys will only be open to residents and essential workers. roadway is set to open by memorial day. well, graduation season is nearly upon us and 15 bay area students have an extra reason to celebrate, so these seniors from low income backgrounds are being recognized with the dave goldberg scholarship, named for sheryl

sandberg's late husband. as part of the peninsula bridge program. we talked with two of them, actually evelyn aguilar is graduating from los altos high, where she excelled in biology and worked with organizations focused on emergency response, biomedical research and conservation. valeria chavez franco is graduating from woodside priority school and is known for her leadership in the classroom on the volleyball court, and in causes of diversity, equity and inclusion. they say this opportunity will benefit them and their whole families as well. we understand that there is a lot of other barriers to education and just the financial barrier, or there's a lot of other barriers to the workforce that first generation low income students face. it gives me hope that i all the dreams and goals that i've had, could actually come in real life. students will get $15,000 a year for non tuition expenses plus mentorship and networking opportunities so they

can continue to succeed even after graduation at the anchor desk. now, with our janelle wang working on the 5:00 news on this monday, happy monday audrey. i want to tell you about a makeover and it's coming to the salvation army in san jose. this organization has been around since the 1800s in the south bay. it's a life saver for so many. and today's makeover announcement also came with some other surprises. we'll tell you about them. and a miraculous rescue on the basketball court caught on video. a sports league matchup in the east bay turned into terrifying moments after a player collapsed on the court. stopped breathing. you can see two people in the stands. they jump in, they save his life. so there is a happy ending. we speak with those good samaritans. it's all coming up at 5:00. wow. okay. looking forward to that. janelle. we'll see you in a bit. still to come. top trending story is voted by you on my instagram poll. also coming to the shark tank. we'll tell you when billie eilish is bringing her tour to the bay area welcome back. in two

flame is on its way to france. last week, greece passed on the flame to french olympic organizers. flame is now on its way to the french city of marseille. its board, this ship that you're looking at here, that was built back in 1896. today the ship passed through the corinth canal in greece. thousands of people are expected to welcome that ship when it arrives to the old port of marseille next wednesday. torchbearers will then carry the flame to paris, where it will be used at the opening ceremony on july 26th. as always, i will be posting links to the other stories you voted for on my instagram. thank you so much for voting when you're there. i said. i brought you something rare and i left it under clear. so a lot of people excited about this one. billie eilish just announced she is heading on

tour. she is making stops right here in the bay area. eilish kicks off her tour this fall with shows at the sap center in san jose on december 10th and 11th. tour is named after her new album called hit me hard and soft, which is out next month. tour tickets go on sale this friday, with a pre-sale starting tomorrow. it's a big deal for a lot of people. all right, before we go, would like to just take a look at our weather once again, a little traffic here. yeah. and windy out in fremont. we're going to be seeing more of that wind before temperatures really start to climb up for the hills of the north bay. diablo range, solano county. we're watching a wind advisory late tomorrow, but look at those high temperatures, 70s and 80s on the way. as we head towards midweek, let's first talk about the wind. it's been blustery the last couple of days. the areas to watch will be the north bay mountains as we go into tomorrow night and wednesday morning, we will see wind gusts above 30 to 40mph. and i think even for areas around the santa cruz mountains and the east bay hills early on

wednesday morning, that's in those wind speeds will be picking up just before sunrise. and then as you move forward through the day there on wednesday, wind speeds coming down, temperatures set to climb on up now for tomorrow. similar to what we had today for highs low 70s around san jose. still hanging on to the 60s around san francisco and oakland. but look at the trend here by wednesday and thursday. now seeing some 70s closer to oakland and hayward and 80 degree temperatures becoming more widespread by thursday, especially out towards the tri-valley, walnut creek, concord, brentwood, even downtown san jose and santa rosa close to 80 degrees. but this warm up is not likely to last as we head towards the weekend. moving forward for those weekend plans. cooler and breezy and stay tuned if we could see some showers trying to return to that weekend forecast chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. we'll have a closer look at this pattern change ahead. coming up today at 5:00. back to you. all right rob thank you. and you can watch nbc bay area news whenever u want. we're streaming our newscast 24/7 on roku and other

streaming platforms. there you can watch live newscasts, breaking updates and more of our content. thank you so much for joining us at 430. janelle is working on the 5:00 newscast next, and we are back in just two minutes.

turn in some parts of the bay area. we have full coverage across the nation as students call for universities and companies to divest from israel. the strong action school officials are considering at some campuses for the first time. salvation army is opening its doors to women. a look at the new shelter coming to the south bay and when it will be ready. and two off duty nurses come to the rescue at an east bay basketball game. how they jumped into action with a man's life on the line and the nearby tool that helped save his life.

the news at five starts right now. thanks so much for joining me on this monday. i'm janelle wang. all across the state and across the country, university students have banded together to protest the war in gaza, risking arrest, suspension and even expulsion. take a look at this. students at sacramento state have set up tents across campus supporting palestinians at columbia university in new york, where the college protests started last week. students are asking the school to divest all ties with israel. university officials have threatened the protesters with expulsion if the encampment does not clear, and even set a deadline for today. and at the university of wisconsin, students called for a cease fire while linking arms in front of the campus library here at home, students at san francisco state have set up a so-called ceasefire encampment in support of the palestinians student organizers say they're showing solidarity for other campus protests, like those at cal and at stanford, and are making the exact same demands. here's nbc bay area sergio quintana in san francisco. free

palestine. it's a chant heard before at city hall protests, marches and now here at san francisco state university's campus. it's happening now in solidarity with other campus protests that are springing up across the country. this movement started at columbia university and almost two weeks later has encompassed dozens of universities and communities across the world. at this event, organizers did criticize president joe biden's handling of the conflict, saying the united states should be doing more to stop israel's continuing military campaign against hamas, which is inflicting tens of thousands of civilian palestinian deaths. but one of the main organizers also spelled out the difficult choice these students have. in an election year, we only have two choices you either vote for that white supremacist, or you vote for a pro war genocidal president. like other campuses, some in this group will be staging a protest encampment. about a