jessica aguirre joins us with what's coming up at 5:30. >> right now at 5:30, moving forces over to europe. the u.s. now making some military moves to deter a russian invasion of ukraine. >> these are not permanent moves. they respond to current conditions. plus, does covid have a negative effect on women who are breastfeeding? what a new study reveals and the one thing doctors say mothers should continue to do. and the u.s. flag bearers for the winter olympics are announced. the reason one of them with strong ties to the bay area will not be part of the opening ceremony. i'm audrey asistio. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. president biden has approved the deployment of 3,000 u.s. troops to central and eastern europe. that move follows a recommendation from the secretary of defense and underscores growing concern over russia's threat against iran.

russia's threat against ukraine. >> reporter: in a major shift, president biden is sending 3,000 american troops to germany, poland, and romania to back up european allies. >> these movements are unmistakable signals to the world that we stand ready to reassure our nato allies to defend against any aggression. >> reporter: the move comes amid stalled talks with russia over its buildup of more than 100,000 troops on three sides of ukraine's borders. russia's president insists he's not planning to invade ukraine, but no satellite images show the extensive forces in place. the biden administration still pursuing a diplomatic solution. >> we are clear eyed about the stakes, and that's why we've been relentless in our diplomacy. >> reporter: the pentagon says 2,000 of the troops deploying will come from fort bragg in north carolina. >> these are not permanent moves. they respond to current

conditions. >> reporter: and they are in addition to 8,500 service members who remain on standby to join nato-allied forces. >> these forces are not going to fight in ukraine. they're going to ensure the robust defense of our nato allies. >> reporter: on capitol hill, lawmakers nearing agreement on a massive sanctions package to severely damage the russian economy if it invades. >> sending a clear message to russia there are going to be huge consequences if they march into ukraine any further. >> reporter: the u.s. using every channel to head off an invasion that could ripple across the world. in washington, alice barr, nbc news. in-person classes at ucla resumed today after the arrest of a man accused of threatening violence there. investigators say matthew harris sent an 800-page manifesto. he no longer lives in

california. after three-hour standoff with boulder police officers, harris was taken into custody. the numbers show the covid surge behind us for the first time since december. new covid cases in san francisco has fallen below 1,000. to put it in perspective, during the peak of the omicron surge, cases topped 2,300. at the beginning of december before the surge hit, san francisco was reporting an average of 60 cases a day. meanwhile, doctors in the united states are facing a new enemy in the fight against covid, and that is medicine shortages. the cdc has determined the previous doctors are scrambling for another treatment which is in short supply right now. doctors are demanding to use two

newly approved antiviral pills made by pfizer and merck, but the pfizer pill is not at full production and takes six to eight months to make. we shouldn't be dealing with such basic principles as tests and therapies three years into a pandemic. these should've been already resolved. >> doctors say they are rationing medicines for the patients. last month the white house indicated it was working with pfizer to speed up production of its antiviral pills. now reassuring news tonight for nursing and pregnant moms. a new study shows covid doesn't spread through breast milk. that's huge. here's nbc bay area's kris sanchez. >> of all the worries for pregnant women and new mothers, there's one that maybe they can cross o of the list. it looks like covid cannot be transmitted to babies through breast milk. they tested breast milk of more than 100 nursing mothers. more than half of whom tested positive forcovid.

researches found that even in mothers who were symptomatic, there's no transmission to their babies even with the close contact. one of the professors of pediatrics leading the study says the findings validated an earlier smaller study. >> the fact we can find zero out of more than 250 breast milk specimens from women who were infected being in the hospital and the intensive care unit at the time the milk was given without finding the infectious virus, we think, is very reassuring. >> the doctor says mothers should continue to breastfeed if they are well. if they are sick, they can still breastfeed if they mask up or pump milk. i did ask the doctor if any of the babies got any sort of protection from the breast milk who were positive or vaccinated. he said this study didn't look at that, but other studies found

there were covid antibodies in breast milk, they just aren't sure if it's to the level of being able offer the babies protection. in the united kingdom masks are going back on. nearly two weeks ago, prime minister boris johnson told schools to drop the masks, but since then absences have increased by 100,000, nearly 10% of teachers and administrators also out sick. starting this week many brought the requirement back in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. one education leader said the government acted prematurely in the changing rules. the white house announced his office is revamping the cancer moonshot program. >> just as we harnessed the science to develop cutting-edge covid-19 vaccines and treatments, we'll bring a fierce

sense of urgency to the fight against cancer. >> the cancer moonshot initiative is personal for both biden and harris. biden lost his son to brain cancer in 2015, and harris' mother died of colon cancer in 2009. it is creating shock waves in the nfl. former coach alleging racism. former miami dolphins head coach brian flores suing the nfl and three former teams. flores claims the new york giants only interviewed him to satisfy the league's rooney rule that teams consider candidates of color. flores's lawsuit says the smoking gun was a text from bill bill check which congratulated the wrong coach brian. that's what he learned the giants already hired someone before even interviewing flores. >> i was humiliated. it was anger, there was disappointment, disbelief, and

that was really the tipping point. that's when i should be given an tub. i earned that. >> flores says the lawsuit is about a much bigger issue than his job interview. you can hear more from him tonight on "nbc nightly news" coming up at 6:30. a live look at the great wall of china. take a look. it's 9:30 in beijing on a thursday morning, and the wait is over. it is time for the winter olympics to begin. competition is set to begin while the opening ceremony is still a couple days away. the olympic torch relay is making its way through beijing where it'll ultimately end at the opening ceremony. on friday it'll ignite the olympic caldron and burn through the duration of the games. more than 1,000 torch bearers helped carry the flame through beijing before the opening ceremony. it is unknown who will get the honor of being the final torch bearer. we now know who will lead team usa into the stadium during friday's opening ceremony.

the flag bearers for usa were announced this morning on the "today" show. four-time olympic bobsledder ilana meyers taylor and john surest were given the honor. however, meyers taylor won't be able to take part in the ceremony because she tested positive for covid. speed skater brittany bowe will take her place. olympians are already competing. u.s. women's hockey team took to the ice today to practice a little before their first game thursday. team usa comes into these games looking for more gold. they beat canada that nah thriller in the 2018 olympics to win it all. 13 of the 23 players who are on the team were at the last olympics. >> the devotion they're showing to one another, the family atmosphere that's created, you know, it's been great because our group is really close knit, and i think part of it is due to covid. they just got no other option. but the good news is it's been a

great option for us. >> team usa will play finland on thursday. one sport that always catches a lot of attention for a lot of people during the winter games is curling, right? curling kicked off in 2022 olympics today. first contest of the games between usa and australia in mixed doubles curling. the americans pulled out a victory and they move on in that tournament. if you want to watch some of the early action, you can tune into the usa network. usa is taking on italy in mixed doubles curling. training for men's downhill skiing will be shown and then at 8:00 switzerland plays canada in hockey. canada is the favorite to win the gold there. up next, carry on. the musicians following neil young in leaving spotify over covid misinformation. new rules require us to pick through our trash a bit and sort out certain stuff. i'm consumer investigator chris chmura.

we'll show you how and explain when you might be fined for not doing it. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. the wind today may have your allergies kicking up, tree pollen in the high category. we'll take a look at the wind forecast and a change in the weather tomorrow in about ten minutes.

the next time you take out the papers and trash, your garbage might require a second glance. >> chris chmura breaks down new rules for organic waste that just kicked in. >> reporter: on january 1st, the state required all cities and counties to start up programs that provide organic waste collection for things like yard trimmings and food scraps. many already do. lots of houses, apartment, and condo complexes have green bins. if your home doesn't, just wait. >> you should see the bins showing up within the next year. >> local governments are now

required to provide houses and small apartment or condo complexes green bins for curbside pickup or let you haul them away yourself. either way, it's each family's responsibility to sort through your waste. what do you put in that green bin? cal recycle says generally it's green landscaping waste, wood, paper, carpet, textiles like natural fiber clothing and other organics. the biggie is food waste. >> if you think about all of your food waste from eggshells to banana peels, that's what we're really focused on. 56% of the waste that we throw away right now is organic waste >> the state's goal is to try to basically compost everyone's scraps so they're not just rotting away in a landfill. what about condo complexes? if you live in a place with five or more units, the landlord or property manager is now required to enroll in a curbside pickup

service. or start collecting your organic waste separately and haul it away for you. just like homeowners, families in apartments and condos are the ones required to start sorting through the waste. we wondered what happens if you don't? nothing now. but you could be fined starting in 2024. >> i don't anticipate needing a major penalty program because i think californians want to recycle. >> the state says local governments like cities and counties are responsible for specific rules and rollout throughout 2022. so be on the lookout for information from your local recycling department. >> chris has a number of how-to videos to help you walk through a number of things, including filing your federal taxes. you can watch it later on our nbc bay area streaming app on your apple tv, roku, or & find

the video. more artists pulling their music from spotify. david crosby, nash are the latest to remove their group recordings from spotify. the latest hit to the site's library after neil young removed his music over his issue with joe rogan's podcast. it's been criticized by a lot of professionals who say rogen has a history of spreading covid misinformation. will there be six weeks more of winter? according to punxsutawney phil, the answer is yes. thousands gathered to learn if the grande hog saw his shadow, and he did. which means at least a month more of cold weather. legend has it that if phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. if not, it's an early swing. phil has predicted a winner more than 100 times. i think that's his go to. i don't think he's really putting some effort in there. i think every year he's like, six weeks.

>> he's got to work in california. >> i feel like he's not bringing it. let's get you into the weather forecast tonight. we did have more of a spring-like pattern or early fall partner. we had the wind out across the bay area. cool temperatures and also blue sky, but that wind definitely didn't come with rainfall. you see in walnut creek, 61 degrees, a breeze will give us a wind chills. make sure to have that jacket across the east bay, really anywhere throughout the bay area tonight. now, the wind produced gusts in our mountains up to 60 miles per hour. we are going to see these warnings expire at 9:00 p.m., so we're on the downward side of this event. so after tonight i think things definitely look a lot calmer as we roll through tomorrow. you can see as we hit tomorrow morning, we're looking at calm wind starting to return. but we are going to see another little bump in the road here with the weather forecast. we're not looking at more wind, but this system right here is going to drop down pretty quickly tomorrow. that's going to increase cloud cover.

here we go, high pressure still bringing us more continued dry conditions. so as we head through tomorrow's forecast, you can see some of those clouds for the early morning. and then we'll see the high clouds really stream across as we head through tomorrow afternoon. so, if anything, it'll make us feel different tomorrow. we'll start chilly too without any kind of wind. numbers are going to drop colder. tri-valley down to 36. peninsula, 39. upper 30s in the south bay. east bay at 37. san francisco, 42. north bay, 38. daytime highs tomorrow, decent rebound after that chilly start. you can see across the south bay at 63 in san jose. 61 in los gatos. not too many differences tomorrow if you're number of the south bay headed to the east bay, you got low 60s as well. same thing for the peninsula except near coast will be in the upper 50s. back to redwood city, 61. through san francisco, 61 here in downtown. much calmer in the north bay, 64 in sonoma.

62 in santa rosa. seven-day forecast we continue with this dry trend, low 60s this weekend. next week up to 68 in san francisco. see what we mean about punxsutawney phil? kind of close, but next week we're going to low 70s tuesday and wednesday. certainly going to feel like spring. we may have to warm these up as we get closer. come on, phil. >> he just wants to go back in his borough. he doesn't care about us. and the nominees are, the candidates for the rock 'n' roll hall of fame next.

here's live look at the great wall of china. it's almost 10:00 in beijing on a thursday morning. our janelle wang is there now. she'll join me live in our 7:00

p.m. newscast to get us ready for action starting tonight. >> can't wait. and the nominees are -- the rock 'n' roll hall of fame announced this year's list of possible inductees. among the 17 names is legend dolly parton, singer lionel richie, rocker pat benatar, and british band duran duran. musicians become eligible for induction to cleveland's hall of fame 25 years after the release of their first recording. this is the first nomination for rapper eminem who is already having a big year since he's part of the super bowl halftime show. the nfl's washington football team has new name. are you ready? it will now be called the commanders. the name and the logo are the result of an 18-month process that the team said included over 40,000 fan submissions. the team retired its original controversial name mid-2020 following decades of criticism

that it was offensive to native americans. preparations are under way at sofi stadium ahead of the big game. it's the largest super bowl campus the nfl has had to decorate. crews are hanging up graphics and decor at the stadium. then at the nearby convention center they're putting together the super bowl experience, a theme park for fans. it's the rams and the bengals in super bowl lvi, as you know. sofi at it rams' home stadium, but the bengals will be the official home team because of a technicality. you can watch the super bowl right here on nbc bay area sunday, february 13th. some famous faces back at pebble beach. anthony flores takes us down there for all the golf action next in sports. yep, it's go time with wireless on the most reliable network. ok, that jump was crazy!

but what's crazier? you get unlimited for just 30 bucks. nice! but mine has 5g included. wait! 5g included? yup, even these guys get it. nice ride, by the way. and the icing on the cake? saving up to 400 bucks? exactly. wait, shouldn't you be navigating? xfinity mobile. it's wireless that does it all and saves a lot. like a lot, a lot.

golf is returning to normal on the monterey peninsula. >> always such a great time of year. anthony flores shows us that fans and famous faces are back for this week's pebble beach pro-am. >> and jimmy walker! >> reporter: the gallery is back. >> great to see everybody out here having a good time. >> it's amazing and a blessing what we're here. you take it away and when you come back you really appreciate it. >> reporter: from former 49ers quarterback steve young to singer darius rucker to alfonso rib berio, stars are back for

the 76th edition of the at&t pebble beach practice pro-am after a hiatus last year. >> to be here with everybody and to have the fans out here, this is what this tournament is ability so for me just to be part of it is truly special. >> reporter: the 3m celebrity challenge par 3 and the putting contest at the newly radioactivity nine-hole layout and new putting course designed by tiger woods took center stage. alfonso won on a hole where they had to kick a soccer ball, he nearly made a hole-in-one. even though the celebrities are used to being in the spotlight, they feel a little extra pressure when all eyes are on them on the course. >> you get a few takes when you do a tv show or movie. there are no do-overs out here. so it's very different. it's not in our wheel house, but again, it's something we're having a lot of fun doing, so it's great. >> they're also raising money for local charities and

reestablishing a personal connection with the fans. one feature of the tournament that's made it so popular over the years. >> so we're really excited to be out again in the prettiest place in the world. >> to give back and be able to get with the fans and really do more than just have fun. so it's nice when you can have fun and there's benefit to others. >> reporter: today was about having fun. tomorrow, a little more focus on golf as round one tees off. there are three courses in the rotation. the goal of every amateur celebrity is to make the cut and play pebble beach on sunday. anthony flores anthony. >> thank you, anthony. >> nice assignment for anthony because he loves golf. making it in the bay proves tock difficult in san francisco.

why homeowners are puckering back. you see a lot of neighborhoods, buildings that have been abandoned. plus cars stolen and then dumped in their neighborhood. the people helping reunite them with their owners before they get another unexpected blow. one moment she was stopped at a light, next, a man car jacks a mom with her young kids inside. how people at the gas station came to her rescue. good evening, the news at 6:00 starts right now. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm terry mcsweeney. san francisco has been in a housing crisis for years, and that makes the story you're about to hear all the more troubling. city government researchers have found 1 in 10 of the city's condos and homes are sitting empty. no one there. nbc bay area sergio quintana reports a city supervisor is hoping to do something about that. >> reporter: at the corner of 3rd avenue and lincoln way, an entire building is empty.

>> i think there should be a date for how long it can remain empty. >> reporter: this property is in supervisor dean preston's district. he says it's a prime example of a persistent problem in the city. >> we see a lot of neighborhood buildings abandoned and sit vacant for sometimes five or ten years. >> reporter: but those older buildings are a smaller portion of the overall problem according to city figures. larger towers and condominium complexes that have been built in the financial district, soma, and mission district really make up a larger portion of the empty units in the city. according to a report by the san francisco budget and legislative analyst's office, there are 40,458,000 units sitting empty, according to 2019 data. of those, the vast majority have been sold and are unoccupied or they're seasonal recreational housing, or they're off the market for renovations, corporate housing or