russian bombs. as that takes place, a steady flow of ukrainians are running from their homes to neighboring countries. more than 500,000 have already escaped ukraine. >> this is, i don't know if i'm going to come back or not, and i don't want to leave, but it's completely dangerous to stay here. >> and the people staying, to money to go out. ukraine needs more help. please help. >> another major issue affecting those still in ukraine, lack of food and supplies. supermarkets have reportedly been empty for five days. now, as the russian invasion escalates, the pleas for help are growing. tech companies are offering help, and others want to join the fight to defend their homeland. >> reporter: images of this explosion at a government building in kharkiv.

it's devastating for a bay area resident. >> a lot of americans woke up to this square. >> yeah. >> getting blown up. >> oh, my god, yeah. oh, my god. >> this is the heart of my city. this is the place where kharkiv citizens are, like, going every weekend or so. >> reporter: for the last six days, he's been online, gathering videos of the assault to share on social media, but recently, he's been helping to remove pen drops on online maps that some believe are be being used by the russian military for rocket attacks. >> people are bringing this alert. >> reporter: he was using his silicon valley skills and connections to contact companies with online digital maps to do something about this. google has already disabled many live mapping tools to try to protect areas in ukraine, as he

pitches in from around his desk, others are considering joining the fight in person. >> i want to go to ukraine, but pie wife say mo, stay here. >> reporter: he says he and his family have not slept much over the last few days. he's in constant contact with family in ukraine. since he couldn't be there in person he decided to decorate his van. there seem to be a lot of people interested in going to ukraine to help. according to the ukrainian consulate last week they were getting about ten calls a day asking how to go there, now they're getting about 100 calls a day. >> we've heard of tesla moving satellites, airbnb hosting refugees and movie companies cutting all ties with russia. i talked about how effective

these measures are. >> it's incredible effective, whether it's hollywood not distributing the latest batman film. when their elite society doesn't have access to luxuries like that, it actually affects them. apple pay not working at a moscow subway station, that affects the day to day lives of russian, and ideally, you won't see just 10,000 people go to red square in moscow our s petersburg but you'd see 100,000 people. >> and we have much more on our stream cast. you can watch a plea for intervention. if to roku or amazon fire or apple tv and find the story

under local top stories. in less than an hour, the president will deliver his first state of the union address. it comes in the midst of that invasion of ukraine and the ongoing pandemic. advanced copies show he will defend his strategies so far and explain to americans what's at stake >> we are in existential danger of having our democracy destroyed. nbc nightly news coverage starts at 5:30. a feeling of disbelief still looming in sacramento county after a man shot and killed his three kids at church and another man. that man did have a restraining order against himself when he

shot his three daughters, the chaperone who had brought them to meet him and himself. the girls ages 9, 11 and 13. the sacramento count sheriff's office says if you have a restraining order against you, you are not legally allowed to have a gun. from the south bay. it started outside a gas station in cupertino. people in two different cars robbed and car jacked an elderly couple as they were getting gas. one of the suspects pulled out a rifle. police were able to track down one of the suspects' cars pulling it over. at first the people cooperated, then took off, leading officers on a short chase through city streets. the driver ended up crashing

into a car near black diamond in antioch. a second juror who convicted scott peterson took the stand today. peterson's attorneys are trying to prove that juror, richelle nice failed to disclose she was a victim of violence when she was pregnant. she repeatedly denied having any bias or lying to get on the jury. but today a second juror testified that when nice first entered the deliberation room, she said, quote, "peterson should pay for killing little man." she testified she didn't recall saying that phrase. >> the importance of the juror today because that she came in to this with a preconceived notion that scott peterson was guilty and needed to pay for what he did to his child.

>> 49-year-old peterson has her had his death sentence overturned. the defense goal now to have the entire verdict thrown out. you can ditch the masks tomorrow. covid numbers are good enough to end the mandate. it isn't the end of covid or mask rules. they must be in a good mood that people can take off the maxes, but they'll be able to determine if they want people to wear the masks. >> reporter: they hope people will come down and browse and shop. and the mask mandate is about to be over. >> reporter: the crowd the have grown lately. the owner believes getting rid of the count mask mask mandate

will bring more customers in. safety is still the name of the game even with improved number the. >> we are transitioning from a requirement to strong recommendation. >> reporter: dr. sarah cody says it's no longer a rule, but you should at least consider masking up indoors to protect each other. >> but, as much as we wish it were not true, we are still in the middle of a global pandemic and we still do have transmission and it is an airborne respiratory disease. >> reporter: local businesses say they respect that but also want to see more smiles and more business. >> since covid, we were down by 90%. now, slowly but surely coming back up. with the new rule, it will help us a lot. >> reporter: now, i should say

that because of state guidelines, masks are still required in day care centers. no more covid booster mandate. he says it served its purpose during the omicron surge, but with covid cases plunging, the mandate is just no longer necessary. the booster mandate has been in place at facilities like s.a.p. back to the subject of masks. one school district in the east bay is not waiting one more week to take off their masks. in brent wood they decided to defy the mask mandate and made masks optional starting today. >> reporter: as of today, masks are now optional for the more

than 8,000 students part of the liberty union high school district in brent wood and oakland. >> i think it's great. both my kids went today unmasked, and they are very happy about it. >> i think it's great, about time. >> reporter: last night the board of trustees voted 3-2 to stop enforcing the school mask mandate, two weeks ahead of the state guideline. >> the whole covid has affected my daughter in a negative way. so i hope that brings normalcy for her. >> reporter: but some say defying the state mandate sends a bad message to students. >> i don't think it's right. >> reporter: this letter was sent from the northern california regional liability access fund warning the district if it does not comply with the

state mandate, the district may face lawsuit, and they won't be covered by insurance. >> i'm concerned that my students will no longer have their masks on. in oakland, parklets could become permanent. before 2020, businesses had to go that you long, complicated process to add outdoor dining spots. up now, how far are we behind now? the latest snowpack survey reveals how bad our drought is. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. another strange day across the bay area. temperatures near record-setting highs in the 70s and january and february the top ten driest on record, but i will talk about

rain chances coming our way, i'll show you what i see in about eight minutes.

we may now know the motive for yesterday's shooting. we spoke to source close to the investigation and the families who all say the same thing. velasquez may have been targeting a man suspected of abusing a family member. we have the story you'll see only on nbc bay area. >> we spent the entire day poring over documents. and the information we obtained may explain why one man is in a hospital and the other in jail. he's accused of attempted murder and was accused in a shooting that left one person with

non-life-threatening jurs. friends at the gym where velasquez trains and coaches are stunned. >> just a huge surprise. nobody really knows what happened. >> reporter: last week, a 43-year-old was arrested at this day care center, facing charges of lewd acts with a child but is currently out on his own recognizance without any bond. police sources close to the investigation tell nbc bay area one of the alleged abuse victims is related to velasquez. the statement of facts written by the investigating detective states the abuse occurred in the day care bathroom and the victim saw other children go in there with the man as well. sources say he and his father were in the car velasquez allegedly shot at, we have not been able to reach gulard or his

family. cain velasquez' friends say the shooting doesn't match the man they know. san jose police would not take questions today. they turned down our request to talk to us from jail. the man known as an mma icon could now face 15 years in prison. damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. julie sullivan was formally introduced today. all of her predecessors were jesuit priests. after 171 weirs, she will be the first woman and first lay person to lead the university. >> one of the challenges is how we would play a bigger role in social mobility in our country,

and how do we ensure that we're finding more ways to provide access and opportunity for talented low and middle income students. >> sullivan has worked if higher education for nearly 40 years. most recently for the university of st. thomas in minnesota. our snowpack is again below average. the surplus we built up in december now all gone. department of water resources conduct add snow survey today. 35 inches of snow was recorded, which is 68% of normal for march. with no major storms in the forecast, we're staring at a third straight year of drought conditions. >> blue skies, beautiful video of the bay with the golden gate bridge in the background. another stunning day in the bay area. let's bring in jeff ranieri, and

our rain chances are getting slimmer at each week goes by. >> that's so right. while we do have a little bit of rain in the forecast this week, it looks like all air crass over the next couple weeks will slip below average. while our total numbers real really were impressive we're dipping below. we're still above average in oakland and san francisco. it has been feeling strange outside. for the first of march, we had 70s. you had that cloud cover. this continues to hang out through tomorrow. then eventually the storm track will move closer to us giving us much, much colder temperatures. as we roll through tomorrow's forecast we'll keep the clouds

with us as we head throughout the day. 47 in the south bay, peninsula at 45, tri valley at 44 and the east bay 46. daytime highs tomorrow going to stay, again, feeling a little unusual. it will drop off a couple degrees, but we're still well above average. let's move it to the east bay, 68 in vallejo. low 70s in danville and pleasanton, starting to drop to the 60s in oakland and hayward. right through san francisco, have it at 56 in the marina and 62 downtown. 71 in clear lake, 72 in napa. the chances of rain coming our way, we have seen a few changes in the timing. looks like it's getting pushed back a little bit by wednesday evening we're still seeing the best chances of rainfall

offshore. we don't think we'll get in on rainfall until thursday morning, here it is 8:00. rain up towards guerneville and santa rosa. we'll see that swing down here towards the peninsula, east bay, maybe a little for the south bay by thursday afternoon. we'll keep a chance here of scattered rain in the forecast on friday. and also as we head through saturday. now we're going to get really cold air as this moves in, so the chance of small hail will be possible thursday through saturday and low snow that could range between 1,000 to 2,000 feet. on the accumulated rainfall forecast, on average about a half inch. so in the seven-day forecast, 50s back in san francisco thursday and friday 56 on friday. we clear out and dry out on sunday's forecast. yes, we're getting something, but not really what we need. up next, going up, up, up,

the reason pg&e is raising rates and why they're likely to go up again.

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what about my car? weathertech. you're not going to like this. get ready to pay more for your energy bill. pg&e is raising its rates by 9%. the latest increase will cost the average consumer about $14 a month. the price of natural gas has fon gone up. >> it's challenging.

any increase to our customers bills is challenging, especially as we see the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. >> we it reach out to a reform network that's been highly critical of pg&e. they call the rate hikes mind-boggling and say it's a punch in the gut for millions of californians. the east bay has a new place for food and supplies. it's a members-only food surplus supplier. the grand opening comes at a good time when contra costa restaurants are struggling to manage costs and labor. items include meat, seafood, produce and frozen foods and janitorial equipment. it offers delivery and online ordering. >> it was a project that was exciting for us. we're very excited to be here, willing to help a lot of customers grow their business. >> the restaurant depot will

open seven days a week. while he will not be in attendance at tonight's state of the union, the reason alex padilla is staying home. and let's take a look. lester holt is preparing for nightly news. one of the top stories, what nbc news has learned about putin's state of mind. new details about his behavior. with less moderate-to-severe eczema, why hide your skin if you can help heal your skin from within? hide my skin? not me. dupixent helps keep you one step ahead of eczema, with clearer skin and less itch. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision,

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well, right now it appears neither of california's senator also be in the audience for the state of the union address. >> it happens in less than half an hour. senator dianne feinstein is mourning the death of her husband. her office was unclear of her status. likely she will not be there. alex padilla tested positive for covid and is isolating at home. president biden's set to leave any minute to head to congress. can you watch the state of union right here on nbc bay area at 6:00. and up next on nightly news, inside a volunteer effort in western ukraine, to get essential supplies, food,

clothing and diapers. tom llamas speaks with volunteers and ukrainians who need these essential supplies as soon as possible. lester holt joins us from washington, d.c. right now. tonight, russian forces escalating their attacks on ukraine. russia stepping up its deadly air strikes. a tv tower taken out by a blast in kyiv. a holocaust memorial nearby damaged, the missile blast hitting freedom square in ukraine's second largest city the country's president calling it a war crime a russian convoy now stretching 40 miles headed for the capital. the humanitarian crisis worsening. more than 600,000 have now fled ukraine. all eyes on vladimir putin. what the u.s. fears he will do next. >> also tonight, president biden preparing to give his first