lly, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. red flag warning is in effect for many parts of the bay area. thanks for joining us for our midday newscast. i'm marcus washington. let's start with meteorologist kari hall with a look at this forecast for us. >> we are taking a look at several concerns that we have in terms of weather over the next couple of days. we are headed for a cooldown, but as that cooler air comes in, it's going to be quite gusty at times, so that increases our wildfire risk as the fire danger continues for the next several hours. this is a live look at mt. diablo where we just had a

53-mile-per-hour wind gust. and even though we're not really feeling it in some of the valleys, some of our higher elevations up above 3,000 to 4,000 feet, it's really windy up there. as we take a look at some of our wind gusts we've had, in some of our lower lying areas, san francisco to 27 miles per hour or the past 24 hours. elsewhere it's been about 15 to 20 miles per hour. so as we look at our wind speeds, we continue to monitor for that red flag warning. that means we have high winds and low humidity occurring at the same time. all these areas highlighted in red are in those areas where we have the red flag warning in effect. that includes the diablo range through the east bay, and this will be the case through 8:00 tomorrow morning. our valley winds mostly 15 to 20 miles per hour. we're really concerned about our hills and mountains around the bay area. more on that coming up in a few

minutes, marcus. >> thanks, kari. as kari was mentioning, we are under that red flag warning. we saw the wind conditions out there. pg&e canceled all planned bay area shutoffs. we saw the wind kari was talking about, so why the change here? >> reporter: weather conditions changed for the better. good morning, marcus. pg&e yesterday told us they would be shutting off power to more than 4300 customers in the bay area. some in the east bay, where we're at, some in the south bay but primarily in the north bay, mostly in napa. those, we were notified over about an hour ago that they were canceling them. those planned power shutoffs not happening in alameda, contra costa, lake, napa, santa clara and sonoma counties. 32,000 customers have lost power in other parts of the northern california. that red flag warning still in effect for most of the bay area. because of the low humidities

and high wind gusts, that means there is a high risk for wildfires. national weather service reports winds are the strongest here in the east bay, as kari mentioned, wind gusts up to 53 miles an hour in the hills behind me here in dublin. here on the valley floor we're not feeling those gusts, just some breezy conditions. again, these are dangerous conditions especially with the heat that's out here for wildfire wildfires. that's why this red flag warning is in effect, as kari mentioned, until tomorrow morning at 8:00. bob redell, nbc bay area news. >> bob, thank you. senate judicial committee approving the nomination of judge amy coney barrett for the supreme court. now the issue now goes to the full senate. scott mcgrew, democrats here powerless to stop it. >> powerless. marcus, you could make the argument it's really their own fault. you used to need a two-third

vote for a filibuster. they made that rule change. you only need a majority and republicans have it. video from earlier this morning, as the committee approved the nomination. judge barrett was not there this morning. the vote 12-0, democrats, including senator kamala harris boycotted the vote. here is chairman republican lindsey graham. >> in 2013 when they changed the rules to require a simple majority to pack the d.c. circuit court, you could see days like this coming. it was a decision that senator schumer and reid made in collaboration. i remember the night before the rules change vote senator schumer called me and informed me of it. i was very disappointed because i have been in a bunch of groups around here, trying to keep the traditions alive of having a 60-vote requirement to get on the court. >> in a separate matter of

business, the committee also discussed subpoenas for the heads of facebook and twitter to come answer questions, specifically about why they block users from sharing a new york post article about hunter biden, who is joe biden's son. cbs has released clips of leslie stahl's interview with president trump. for all the hubub, they're relatively unremarkable. stahl reminds the president when he goes off track of what the question is. the white house asked for the video for archives, it says. stahl starts the interview with are you ready for tough questions? trump told his supporters it was a very contentious interview. i watched the entire thing. it was unremarkable. time spent with leslie stahl

asking why supporters don't wear masks, he says many do, she says many don't, he says many do, she says many don't but that was about it. it was not as contentious as people expected it to be, at least not in my opinion. >> we're glad you watched it for us. thanks, scott. president trump and joe biden go head to head for the last time n case you forgot or chose to forget, we wanted to remind you about what happened in the first presidential debate. >> will you answer that? >> the question is. >> radical left. >> will you shut up, man? >> listen, who is on your list, joe? >> a lot of that. this time only the mic of the person responding for the first part of the question will remain on. the other will be muted. reminder, you can watch the final presidential debate here on nbc bay area. kristen welker is moderating. the debate starts at 6:00.

coverage begins at 5:00. the fbi and the national intelligence directors say each country obtained voter information of an unknown number of americans. it included names, emails and party affiliation. nbc news is reporting that iran sent intimidating emails to a number of registered democrats, some reaching the far-right group proud boys. it says, quote, vote trump or we'll come after you. u.s. intelligent officials say that foreign actors have an agenda. >> this data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sew chaos and undermine your confidence in american democracy. >> election officials remind everyone that all ballots are secret in the u.s. and no one can find out who you voted for.

new at 11:00 for you, russia offering national security whistle-blower edward snowden permanent residency. snowden fled the united states after he leaked secret files in 2013 that revealed u.s. government with surveillance operations on american citizens. russia granted him asylum. u.s. authorities have, for years, wanted snowden back here in the u.s. to face criminal trial for espionage charges. president trump said in august that he was considering a pardon for snowden. just in this midday, new details are coming to light surrounding the 2016 deposition given by a close associate to jeffrey epstein. in it, ghislaine maxwell refutes the account by an accuser, that she was instructed to have sex with prince andrew while inside

maxwell's town home. that accuser alleges that this all happened in 2001, while she was underage. last year prince andrew suggested in an interview with the bbc that a photo allegedly taken the night in question was doctored. maxwell is currently spending time in a brooklyn federal jail while facing charges for inciting a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex act. in a disposition -- deposition, maxwell also refused to answer any questions about, quote, consensual adult sex when it came to epstein. a developing story for you this midday. santa clara county's district attorney is dismissing 14 criminal cases that were handled by san jose officers who posted racial comments on social media. a facebook group that included officers was found by a journalist in june. some of the racist posts were discovered. five officers were identified as

persons posting. 14 casescomprised. all of them are misdemeanors. the victim was a woman in her 20s and has been gravely injured in a shooting that happened just before 7:00 last night near malcolm x elementary school on princeton street. so far police have not release aid suspect description or motive. coming up, rudy giuliani caught in a possible compromising scene in the new borat movie. what he's now saying and how he's firing back. keeping planes covid free, the reason doctors are saying the possibility of catching the virus on your next flight is low. cicely strong stops by the kelly clarkson show. what she says about reactions from politicians and celebrities she's impersonating.

that should be funny. that's coming up for you this afternoon.

welcome back to you. if you're still wondering whether it's safe to fly, new research suggests your risk of contracting covid on a plane may, in fact, be very low. military and aircraft manufacturers teaming up with outside researchers to evaluate the risk of onboard a plane that. new research involves spreading a live virus throughout the plane. tom costello reports. >> reporter: on board an empty 737, researchers in full protective gear spread live virus droplets on high touch services, from tray tables, the laboratory, and cockpit. the surrogate virus is ms2.

not harmful to humans but more difficult to kill than covid. >> we can kill the virus effectively, using the tools and techniques we provided in the actual airline environment on board. >> reporter: researchers tested the same products airlines already use, applying chemical disinfectants, using an electro static sprayer, uv light wand and anti-microbial coating. the results? all four airline techniques worked on their own, killing the virus and making the plane virus free. how safe should people feel traveling today? >> using even the products that are available today, it is safe. they're going to be better because we proved that it really works in a real plane and we have that. >> reporter: with passenger volume still down 65% and tens of thousands of employees

furloughed, airlines are trying to reassure passengers the risk of contracting covid while fly something very low, insisting the air flow inside a plane washes out airborne particles, including viruses, sucking the air through hepa filters similar to those used in operating rooms. on board air is constantly mixed with fresh outside air. military research partnered with united airlines, conducting 300 tests on mannequins, masked and unmasked. each test released 180 millionaire particles, equivalent to thousands of coughs. with masks on fewer than 1% of the particles actually made their way into another passenger's breathing zone. 99.97% were filtered out of the cabin within just six minutes. but infectious disease experts remain cautious. >> environmental clean-up is absolutely important and i'm very glad the airlines are doing it. that doesn't mean that we shouldn't take our own personal

responsibilities, still need to use our facial coverings to protect ourselves and others. >> reporter: also this morning, new information on how effective masks r new research in the journal of medicine found since airlines started requiring masks there hasn't been a single superspreader event. southwest airlines, by the way, also announcing today it will start selling the middle seat come december 1st. tom costello in washington. back to you. >> president trump's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, is denying he had anything -- or did anything wrong in the new borat film. giuliani talks to a young fake female reporter in a bedroom. during that prank, sasha baron cohen calls him his teenage daughter. he said he was only adjusting his clothing after taking off a microphone. he also calls the video a fabrication and says he was never inappropriate.

[ bell tolls ] >> there you have the opening bell of the new york stock exchange. the dow is up aspell owesy signals progress on that stimulus deal. jobless numbers are released and 787,000 people applied for first-time claims. that's less than what analysts expected. more than 8 million people are still receiving continuous jobless benefits. on top of those jobless numbers, california not doing well when it comes to unemployment. federal numbers last month put the state's unemployment at 11%, third highest in the nation. hawaii, nevada round out the top three. mercury news says governor newsom's program is having a positive impact on the jobless rate. trying to get the homeless

off the streets and help them try to make it in the bay. approved prohibited home leless encampment so the homeless won't be able to set up tents in parks or even near homes, businesses, schools and some churches. the goal is to get them into affordable housing. that policy will start next year. this news comes as the founder of charles schwab plans to donate $65 million to build homes for the homeless across the bridge in san francisco. the legally blond crew comes together years later. laura fagarcia wants to show yo one of the best halloween costumes we've seen so far. >> marcus, i know you've been practicing your bend and snap routine during warren teen. the cast of "legally blonde" just reunited this week for discussion about that famous film. it was on reese witherspoon's youtube channel and behind-the-scenes insight about that iconic dance.

>> bend and snap. >> bend. and snap. >> that was a full musical sequence that we ended up cutting out of the movie. >> we filmed that for a month. >> a lot of rehearsing there. witherspoon says at the end of the day it felt odd to just have one musical number in the movie. "legally blonde" was eventually made into a musical for broadway so they worked it in there. one dad creates a pretty amazing costume. take a look. he built a pretty genius set-up. if you look closer, that's his daughter in the middle screen and all the other screens, monsters. he says every year kids challenge him to make a unique costume. and today's big halloween show is airing next friday october 30th. filling the virtual plaza with costume viewers. we want to see you there.

come on, bay area, let's represent. head to today.com/plazaween to sign up. that will be fun. check it out. and dress up. >> can't wait to see those costumes. have you all chosen costumes yet in your house, kari? >> yes, we have. so, of course, we'll unveil all of that on social media this year. >> can't wait to see it. >> what are you going to be, marcus? >> marcus. marcus washington, that is. >> i've got a lot of halloween colors on this map but it's probably not the best thing. we have a drought that we got an update on this morning. wanted to show you where we're seeing the red, that's where we have extreme drought conditions in parts of the north bay, including solano county, northern napa, as well as lake county. we've seen very dry weather throughout much of the year and it has contributed to the drought conditions we're seeing

right now. as we look at san francisco over toward the east bay, we have some severe drought conditions and then for the south bay, a moderate drought still going on. so with all of this dry conditions, we've seen our reservoirs going down significantly. right now with our south bay reservoirs, they're only at about 34% of the historical average, meaning those water levels have been dropping a lot. then when you compare that to what's happening across the rest of the state, we're actually doing much better elsewhere, because we do not have drought conditions in southern california. so as we look around the state for the largest reservoirs, they're about 85% of the historical average in terms of the capacity level. we're doing better elsewhere. of course, with the dry conditions, we also have our high fire danger that we continue to watch for the bay area for today. now, as we get to our high temperatures for this afternoon, we'll reach up to 81 in

cupertino, 81 in morgan hill. cooler than the last couple of days, but still a little warmer than normal, especially for the east bay with antioch reaching 80 degrees. coastline mostly mid 60s here. palo alto will reach 79 degrees. downtown san francisco 71 degrees. the north bay will see temperatures mostly in the mid 70s in mill valley but up to 84 in ukiah. we are on a cooling trend over the next few days, even as high pressure builds and gives us a northerly wind. what's happening here is a couple of storm systems are passing by to our north. one on sunday will actually provide some significant cooling, but along with that comes more gusty winds. we'll have to watch out for that high fire danger. even though it's not going to be really hot. wanted to show you san jose and our temperatures for the next few days. we're going from the upper 70s to low 80s to the mid 70s. if you can believe it by sunday we're only looking at high

temperatures that will make it up to 70 degrees. we'll start to warm up early next week but not bad at all. we are looking at very dry conditions. unfortunately, even with the extreme drought that we have right now, no rain over the next seven days. so we're going to see a cooldown that will help us out along with those breezy winds, but we'll still have to watch out for a high fire danger even throughout the weekend, marcus. >> at least there are cooler temperatures. something we can get excited about. thanks, kari. a streaming service that you can only watch on your smart phone turns off the lights. why quibi could not find an audience.

new at 11:00 for you, quibi, streaming service designed to view on your phone was shut down. the service made the announcement six months after its debut. the company was founded by hollywood producer and former

hewlett packard ceo. they made the decision to wind down the business after the return cash -- and return that cash to shareholders. cnbc shareholders say quibi projected more than 7 million subscriber after its first year. it only had about half a million subscribers as of a few weeks ago. trending for you this morning, a new beat from a late hip hop star, notorious b.i.g. take a listen. ♪ up to 12,000 >> 23-year-old previously unreleased freestyle sings the praises of pepsi. now that soda giant is transformed into an advertisement. that track was remastered to honor the brooklyn wrapper's induction into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. can't believe he has been gone for 23 years now, kari. final look at that forecast for us. >> yeah. we are going to still have some warm weather for the valleys today, but this is a positive

change as we head toward some cooler temperatures for the weekend, marcus. >> thanks, kari. thanks for joining us for our midday newscast. next one at 4:30. presidential debate coverage starts at 5:00. you can get latest information all day on nbcbayarea.com. have a great thursday.

right now on "california live," we're soaking in some wisdom and inspiration from "today's" ray of sunshine, hoda kotb. >> you can't expect some people to open up to you if you're not willing to do the same. >> then smooth sounds for a brand new day. jazz icon is lifting our spirits with his sax. ♪ plus a guide for brides planning a wedding during the pandemic. >> i firmly believe walking down the aisle is the closest thing to walking down the red carpet. >> it's the same thing. and stop the