rate. and how it's making prospective students more anxious as they await their acceptance letters. >> we're really disappointed the university has used our deserving california high cool students as pawns in their efforts to avoid taking lael responsibility. some people choosing to stay, others deciding to leave. the difficult decisions people are makings a the russian invasion of ukraine continues. also raising money to buy body armor. the bay area plan collecting donations to ship bulletproof vests and helmets to civilians in ukraine. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening, and thanks for being with us on this thursday, i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. russia's slow and steady

campaign in ukraine, they have hit ukraine's biggest nuclear plant. russians are trying to get out, too. some already arriving here in the bay area. nbc bay area sergio quintana has more. >> reporter: as she drove out of her home city of kharkiv, she shot this video of the devastation of her neighbor hood. after days of covering and ducking she decided it was too dangerous to stay. >> usually the streets from kharkiv, it takes about four hours. but we spent 11 hours. >> reporter: she made the 155-mile drive to stay with a friend. she brought her mother with her because her mom can't walk well anymore. >> a lot of people can't leave

it because of their health or they love their country more than anybody or just because they volunteer, as my boyfriend does. >> reporter: people trying to escape the violence of the russian invasion are already arriving here. but it's not just ukrainians who are trying to leave. for about two hours, alex sat alone in the terminal. he only wanted us to use his first name. he's waiting for his nephew to arrive from russia. why is he flying here? >> he afraid to be taken to the war. >> reporter: protests against the war vupt has waged are spreading to more cities. thousands of people have been arrested. he had trouble getting a ticket to san francisco. >> he couldn't, because he is money, not accept. >> reporter: the russian ruble has collapsed after much of the world has issued sanctions, and

his nephew's credit cards wouldn't work, so he will to wire him money. after more than two hours talking with customs, his nephew finally came through the gates. >> it's a big danger. it's very dangerous for all continents, for all europe. >> reporter: sergio quintana. >> a group of ukrainian americans here in the bay area, raising money to send equipment to protect them. nikita runs a council and they obtained a special license from the u.s. department of commerce to purchase military-grade body armor, including bulletproof vests. buying the armor is only half the challenge. they have to get all this equipment into ukraine as well. he says the goal is to get the supplies to volunteer soldiers in the western city of laveef.

>> our brave defenders of europe, they will not die without, like, without anything on them. so they really need this as well as medical supply. >> now the group has already raised more than $300,000. the goal is $3 million. with some of that money going to medical aid as well. bay area groups are sending a message to nato leaders. today members of the mt. diablo peace and justice center and bay area code pink hung these banners along the i-80 industrial bridge. they would like the u.s. and nato to work more towards diplomacy. >> we do feel like the leaders of these big nations are not using their intelligence and their skills to sit down and find a solution that both parties can agree on. >> they're hoping to send a message against using war as a solution. if you're interested in helping the people of ukraine, we've posted a link with credible

outlets providing aid to those fleeing that country, head to nbcbayarea.com. our other top story tonight, our weather, very erratic today. in some places dangerous, especially in the east bay, where lightning left many without power and may have start add fire. lightning hit several power poles in concord, triggering neighborhood blackouts and likely the cause of a fire that destroyed an abandoned building. witnesses reported seeing a flash near the structure right before the fire started. >> it actually shook the house a little bit. >> i saw a big flash and heard a big boom. >> national weather service issued a special alert this morning warning people of wind, hail and lightning. so far no reports of other weather-related injuries. how significant was that lightning, and can we expect more? >> at this point we're not seeing any on the radar. through tonight we should be in the clear on that front.

you can see the storm system now. if you watch this real closely, the counter clockwise rotation is where the storm s storm ranger is showing totals of trace amounts to .10 of an inch. it's moving off to the north so it will continue showers over mountain view, san leandro and then more rounds of light to moderate showers through hayward and san ramon as well through the next 30-45 minutes. we'll keep these on and off spotty shower chances definitely through friday morning. i have a full look at the forecast coming up a little later on. one other thing i want to get you to is the winter conditions in the sierra. if you're headed there tomorrow, we're looking at snow as soon as auburn or placerville, overall totals of 4-9 inches. we'll have a look at the forecast and wind. it's hard enough to get into

umt c berkley, now it's going to be even harder. the california supreme court has weighed in. umt c berkley has cut its enrollment numbers to reduce the impact on the community. >> reporter: uc berkley students will likely notice a bit of a change this coming school year, fewer students on campus. this morning the california supreme court rejected uc berkley's appeal and upheld a lower court's order to cap enrollment at 2020-2021 totals. that means they will have to withhold acceptance letters from roughly 5,000 qualified applicants. >> we've been willing to negotiate sit 2017. >> reporter: phil is president of the neighborhood group. he says they're very pleased with the decision. >> having said that, we're really disappointed that the university has used our

deserving california high school students as pawns in their efforts to avoid taking legal responsibility for the severe impact they've had on the community. >> reporter: but not everyone is happy about it, including some lawmakers. >> i'm so deeply disanti--ed. >> reporter: senator wiener says this is a policy decision that should be decided by the people, not the court. >> when the court starts stepping in to effectively rescind 3,000 enrollment offers, that is so damaging. >> reporter: in a statement released today, uc berkley says it is disheartened by the decision and is working with state lawmakers to find possible legislative solutions to address the impact. meanwhile, the neighborhood says it is still willing to negotiate. audrey asistio, nbc bay area news. san francisco's changing its mask rules starting march 18th.

you'll no longer have to wear a mask inside city hall and libraries. you'll still have to wear a mask during public hearings, regardless of your vaccination status. ready to go back to the office, like in person? with covid cases falling, many bay area companies are starting to urge employees to come back to the office. one bay area city encouraging bigger companies to start, if only to boost the smaller companies. our business and tech reporter scott budman is here. we need everybody in line to come back is what they're saying. >> yeah, and that city of san francisco, home to some of the biggest tech companies in the world, today it launched a plan to bring techies back. the city put out the call for several businesses to return to in-person work this month. so far, uber, salesforce and wells fargo are among those on board. within the last couple of days, twitter and google also

announced plans to bring workers back to the office. big companies coming back will help smaller businesses like coffee shops to stay open. we caught up with this firm. they say they're still careful, but this way is better. >> very much needed to have that kind of personal interaction with your colleagues. we've been doing a lot over zoom, we've continued to do that. but there's no substitute having people here working closely. >> a lot of people really like being back in the office, but there are still holdouts who say they don't want to come back to the office. they've gotten used to working at home, do they have an option? >> they do have an option. we've seen the employees sort of take command. a lot of the big companies' concern is that smarter startups will allow workers to stay home and steal them away. i asked the ceo of san francisco

what he thought, he's thinking about how to get this plan going. he says san francisco is a diverse place, we have diverse ways of doing business. we're okay if people choose to stay home. look for a balance in the weeks and years ahead. up next, this is a big plan. is it too ambitious? is it even viable? the mental health plan unveiled today by governor newsom in the south bay. it's already getting push back from people inside of his own party. gas prices just keep going up and up. this is what one person paid for a fillup here at this gas station in san francisco. close to $100. coming up, what state leaders have to say about handling gas prices if california. and some showers on storm ranger right now, i'll show you what's ahead the next couple days and continue our climate coverage and how spring has been

changing over the past couple decades.

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it's what the governor wants. people currently living on the

streets getting help whether they want it or not. it would require counties to provide services for up to 12 months. family members, the count, could refer someone. anybody refusing to comply could be put in jail. >> there are components to guarantee due process, the civil liberties of those individuals. >> he is hoping to get the legislature's approval. the plan needs to be amended some say. san francisco has been struggling with the issue of homelessness for decades. and our new series takes a deep

look and the potential solutions. you can watch episode one on roku or streaming device. download the nbc bay area app. you still have a gas-powered car? some praises charging more than $5 a gallon. some of the people are calling for repeal of the gas tax and other fuel fees, but it's not that simple. here's christie smith. >> reporter: gassing up means paying up at this san francisco gas station. >> they are ridiculously high. >> reporter: his solution is to buy the minimum at $5.90 a gallon and go hunting for something cheaper. >> to get me to the east bay and then fill up from there. >> reporter: aaa says the current average in the city is $5.05 a gallon, up 13 cents from a week ago. there are several factors. the cost of crude oil was already rising before the russian vegas of ukraine sent it high sky.

californians already pay more for gas than anywhere else in america. now questions are coming up about the gas tax. >> it's never popular to defend a gas tax. >> reporter: state senator scott wiener tweeted this morning about lots of calls to cancel or reduce california's gas tax but says it's a bad idea. it would mean less funding for infrastructure. >> it's gotten very, very hard for people. i understand and respect that. but it also is not in the public interest to start letting our roads, highways and transit systems deteriorate. that doesn't help anyone. >> reporter: some republican leaders have proposed temporarily suspending the tax, noting the state already has a budget surplus. the governor also proposed halting the next increase, but some say there's more to consider. >> it's inevitable, if you fund the government with the kind of progressive taxes that we have in california that you're going to hit some bad years, and

you're going to need that gas tax. >> reporter: in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> you pay $100 the last time you filmed up? >> $97. >> that's the going rate. >> you two have electric cars. you look like the oracles of figuring this out. >> it feels good. >> it's a lot of money for a fillup. it doesn't last very long >> electric cars aren't cheap. you're kind of paying ahead in some respects for the gas, but then you get the savings down the road. at least we got a little rainfall today. that's good news. we'll talk about rain chances, but i want to continue our climate coverage tonight, and take a look at more warm spring days. san francisco is really one of our coolest cities on average. check this out, since 1970, we have had 21 more days of

above-average temperatures, and that includes numbers in the 70s and close to 80 in spring. so certainly way out of whack there, and that really has been the trend since 1970 across the national map. you can see here on average we've warmed especially in the west from 2-5 degrees. you say okay, we've got some warming, really what has that meant for us? we've seen impacts of increased drought, wildfires, more extreme weather with things like atmospheric riffs. all of this we've already seen, number one way to slow it or prevent any of this from getting a lot worse is to lower our carbon footprint. we've got more on nbcbayarea.com. let's bring it back to the rain here across the bay area. the system that brought us that weather today is going to move off to the east tomorrow. then we'll see another one drop down friday and saturday to keep us, spotty chance of rain, cold temperatures and even some wind. so the rain as we move through

tomorrow morning, very hit and miss. a slim chance we could see isolated thunderstorms, but then as we hit the day, we should get sun in here, a little bit of a break on friday, and as we roll into saturday morning, more scattered rain moving back in. now by saturday night into sunday, we'll see all of this clear out of here, and we should have good weather for your weekend. but again tomorrow, the other focus is going to be the wind. i really want you to watch out for this. can you see how these colors really expand on the map. that's wind gusts in that magenta color for 50 for the mountains. then this calms down and moves out. certainly by saturday morning. temperatures to start tomorrow, upper 30s and low 40s across the pay. coldest weather in the tri valley at 38. also down in the 30s in the north bay with 37. daytime highs stay on the chilly side with 50s to 60s. we'll start to see numbers warm up in san francisco.

58 by sunday, and through the inland valleys, 65 on sunday and low 70s the middle part of next week. so nice weather this weekend on sunday to get out and enjoy some of the places we haven't been able to go to with the covid restrictions loosening. >> it's nice to see wet freeways and wet roads even tonight. up next, apple execs grilled.

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firefighters trying to figure out what sparked this fire in a san jose home this morning near cherry avenue. nearby streets closed for a few hours. the fire was lard to control because the house was packed with a lot of stuff inside. luckily no one was hurt. apple and the fbi are in the hot seat together. two republican lawmakers are putting pressure on them to provide information about spy

spyware made by an israeli company. the house judiciary committee wants to know more about how the spy wear is being used and if there is prifsy concerns. it allows messages to be accessed on encrypted apps. they grilled tim cook for information. are you ready for the return of summer concerts? yes. levi stadium set to host big names. this guy, you foe him, the weeknd. with his hits. doja cat. and tickets, by the way go on sale next thursday. >> you always get the fancy

tickets. i'll be in the third deck. >> all right, we'll see. up next, the new food distribution site in the bay area helping out a lot of people. and here's a look inside rockefeller center, lester holt preparing for nightly news. one on one with william barr, how his resignation went down and how what made him livid. behold... unlimited wireless for only 30 bucks. that's pretty cool, but you know what's cooler? saving up to 400 bucks! exactly. and if we really want to take it up a notch...

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well, cases of covid are

down, but the economic impact of the pandemic is still very prevalent across the bay area. there's a new drive-through food bank helping people in need. >> second harvest is hosting the food give away for the san mateo community and beyond, open every thursday morning from 8:30 to 10:30. everyone is welcome. tonight at 7:00, we're digging deeper into care court, the governor's ambitious plan to get those severely mentally ill and living on the streets help. why not everyone is on board. that's coming up on our 7:00 newscast. up next, what the russian leader's state of mind is, and what about nuclear threats is lester holt joins us from new york right now. . tonight the first major city falling to russian forces as they advance in southern ukraine. the dramatic dash cam video of a missile striking a neighborhood russian forces seizing a key port city and surrounding five others

the two sides agreeing to open humanitarian corridors after one million refugees fled. vladimir putin today saying the invasion is going according to plan and putin's chilling phone call that convinced france's president the worst is yet to come. also tonight our nbc news exclusive, my one-on-one with william barr the former attorney general in his first tv interview since stepping down from office what he says about president trump's false claims of election fraud, and explosive moments, what barr says happened when he offered trump his resignation. the verdict in the trial of the officer in the botched raid that led to the death of breonna taylor. and that heated moment, florida's governor doubling down after he scolded students for wearing masks. our exclusive with the director of the cdc and how she is responding >>