help them investigate the early years of our universe. >> that's so incredible. i think that's really cool. so don't forget, you can always watch us live on roku, amazon fire and apple tv. getting his fourth covid vaccine, president biden rolling up his sleeve and sending a message to congress at the same time. >> americans are back to living their lives again. we can't surrender that now. congress, please act. >> the reason health leaders say this second booster shot is really a good idea for some adults. plus, being misled by his own advisors. and promising appropriate action. the academy clears up what happened following the will smith slap at the oscars. the news at 5:30 starts right now. thanks for joining us, i'm

audrey asistio. >> i'm jessica aguirre. a new focus on covid as the new variant approaches. the white house introduced a one-stop information for covid. this comes as the fda approved a second booster for people over 50 and those with a weakened immune system. alice barr is tracking it all from washington. >> reporter: a fourth shot in the arm for president biden. >> didn't hurt a bit. >> reporter: with the cdc now recommending a second covid booster for americans 50 and up. the president urging congress to pass millions in new funding for vaccines, testing and treatment, noting his administration has already had to cut back on some orders. >> americans are back to living their lives again. we can't surrender that now. congress, please act. >> reporter: that, as public health experts warn we may be

headed for another wave of infections. cases are still declining in the u.s., but not as quickly, with the highly-contagious ba.2 variant now the dominant strain, accounting for 55% of new case. that's a 20% jump in just one week. the fda also approved a second booster for people with weakened immune systems from certain underlying conditions. >> vaccines are incredible, but they naturally decrease over time. >> reporter: if you've already had one booster, you may be able to wait a bit, depending on your health and age, especially those over 65. >> pay attention to what's going on in your own community. if you start to see cases go up and you're in one of those risk groups, that's a time to think about getting a booster. >> reporter: to help track the latest developments, the white house is ruling out a new site,

covid.gov. alice barr, nbc news. during the pandemic, blood donations took a critical hit. they declared the first national blood crisis in the u.s. we want to see where that need stands now. so we asked about it, reintroducing testing, all blood donation for covid anti-bodies. >> last year we were hopeful as cases were dropping but delta impacted us. omicron impacted us, and really, as we were looking at hospitals' needs and testing indicating those who are immunocompromised can benefit from the conva less the plasma. >> the red cross says if you do choose to donate blood you will get a notification on whether your blood contains anti-bodies.

tension appears to be growing between vladimir putin and his military leaders. they say that he is being misinformed about how the military is performing in ukraine. putin feels misled by his military creating tension between him and military officials. it is believed putin is unaware of how many soldiers russia has lost in ukraine. they also say putin isn't aware of the extent the russian economy is being crippled by sanctions. while soldiers fight, people continue to run for their lives trying to find safety out of ukraine. more than 4 million refugees have left ukraine since russian troops invaded. that new number exceeds worst case predictions. it's europe's biggest refugee crisis since world war ii. an estimated half of the refugees are children. and it is important to note, it is not just the children. the war in ukraine is also

extremely difficult for the elderly. one in four ukrainians are older than 60. that make this is conflict the oldest humanitarian crisis in the world. now some are getting help. nbc news' gabe gutierrez discovered the network of volunteers moving the elderly to safety. >> do you think that older ukrainians in this war many times are the forgotten ones? >> the government don't have, doesn't have time for to think about old people. for now they think for the people who can move. >> coming up on nightly news, just how overwhelming this experience can be for older refugees. hear from a grandmother who made the trek to safety. and in washington, republican senator susan cllins revealed she will vote to confirm judge ketanji brown

jackson. now that officially gives judge jackson bipartisan support. >> in the end, i decided that she has the qualifications, the experience and the credentials that we require of a supreme court justice. >> collins met with judge jackson march 8 and had a second meeting this week before revealing her decision to support the nominee. this is not the first time collins has supported picks by a democratic president, saying that a president should have latitude in selecting justices. a new poll shows that if the election were held today, former president trump would beat president biden by 6% but would beat harris by 11 points. 49% favored donald trump. 38% preferred harris, with joe biden and donald trump both in

their 70s, the poll asked who voters liked if kamala harris faced ron desantis. in that hypothetical race, harris would defeat desantis, 40% to 38%. the academy of motion pictures is revealing the action it took after actor will smith slapped chris rock during the oscars. this is the moment you will remember that happened sunday night. rock had made a joke about smith's wife, jada pinkett smith. the academy say it is asked smith to leave the oscars after that slap and smith refused. smith has an opportunity to provide a written response before the board meets again on april 18. disciplinary action could include expulsion or other actions. and tonight rock is kick off a

world tour. he is booked for three nights in boston and the shows are all sold out. >> reporter: the stage is set for the first time since the slap. >> oh, wow! >> reporter: the hollywood drama now in boston, as chris rock checked into the ritz-carlton. the comedian gearing up for three nights of shows at the wilbur. >> it's a great opportunity to hear what he has to say. >> reporter: aubrey collins will be in the audience. he bought his tickets seconds after the slap for only $80 apiece. now they're over $800. >> the interest has completely skyrocketed. >> reporter: ace tickets say rock should get some sort of award himself. the demand unprecedented, especially for the first show. >> everyone wants to see that first reaction. this is his first public appearance since sunday night. >> reporter: krista is still

trying to get her hands on tickets, part of the national alopecia foundation and wants to educate the comedian on her condition. >> i would love to see him acknowledge what happened. maybe see me in the audience and maybe say there's another gi jane up there. >> reporter: but that is the question. will rock even talk about the joke made about will smith's wife at the oscars that led to the slap? smith has since apologized. ticket holders say no matter what happens tonight, they know they're in for a show. >> i'll be very interested to see what he these say. i'm sure he's a genius comedian, i'm sure he'll make a slap about it. >> i just interviewed brian copeland about the will smith situation. i asked him if he thinks chris rock will address the problem on his show tonight. >> it's elephant in the room. of course he's going to address

it. now whether it's the first words out of his mouth to address it or later in the set, i don't know. but it will be addressed. there's no question. because he can't not. it's like going to see a band that you really like that has a hit song and them playing every song but the hit song. i mean, that's what it would be like if he completely ignored it. >> exactly. i can hear, we had a wide range of conversation. it really has a lot of depth to it. we also talked about what he thinks the academy should do. that's coming up at 7:00 right here on nbc bay area news. i hope you join me for that. up next, forced to step away from acting. the announcement from bruce willis and the condition that's robbing him of his ability to communicate. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. we have a nice evening coming our way. and ahead, much hotter weather, i'll detail it all for you coming up in about ten minutes.

a language disorder has sidelined actor bruce willis, drawing attention to a condition known as aphase yeah. his ex-wife demi moore revealed that it is causing him to step away from his career. it impacts his ability to speak and write and understand language. it is often tied to a stroke, brain injury or brain infection. the actor is known for blockbuster films, including "diehard" and "pulp fiction." >> let's bring in nina, the head of the aphasia recovery lab. thank you for joining us this evening. i want to go ahead and start --

>> my pleasure. >> aphasia is something many people connect with a stroke, but i understand it can happen for other reasons as well, right? >> that's right, yeah. aphase yeah is a disruption of language abilities as a result of any kind of injury to the brain. that can be from typically a stroke. it can be from a traumatic brain injury. it can be from a gradual neurodegenerative disease. anytime the brain is injured it potentially can affect language ability. >> so can affect language ability. can you talk about how debilitating aface yeah is for people and how it could impact willis' acting. >> absolutely. it's extremely debilitating. imagine that, you know, one day you can do this, this thing we're doing right now where we're speaking together flawlessly, easily. and suddenly, it's gone.

you can't use it anymore. of course that is extraordinarily frustrating. it affects everybody, not just the person with aphase yeah themselves, but their families and the people they're trying to communicate with. now for an actor, of course, language is a huge part of communication. so one really would need to have sufficient language skills to be able to on the spot be able to communicate and use language. there are of course actors who have had strokes and recovered from aface yeah and done very well. there are circumstances where people can recover quite well from aphasia. it really depends on the part of the brain and how severe the aphasia is. >> it's good to hear that you can recover from it or some can.

are there treatments for aphasia? >> there are treatments, usually by speech language pathologists who specialize for treating in aphasia. there is no treatment for the underlying disease typically. if you've a stroke, that tissue that helped with the language abilities is essentially lost, and it's quite impossible as far as we know at this point in time, to regain that tissue and regain those functions. >> one last question, doctor, how prevalent is aphasia in the united states? >> well, there are currently 1 million to 2 million people suffering from aphasia is the united states, which is pretty much the same prevalence as parkinson's disease. i'm always surprised at how well people know what parkinson's is but rarely know what aphasia is.

my heart goes out to mr. willis and his family, but in the meantime, it has raised awareness to what aphasia is. >> thank you. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> we wish the willis family the best. he is a young man, 67 years with older children and younger children too. we will be learning about the level of degeneration over the years. we're getting close to the weekend and that warmup. >> the warmup is really going to come in strong. a ten-day forecast after winter weather to start the week, yes, the temperatures are going to get cranked up. let's take you into the microclimate forecast. we going to bring it right into

tomorrow's forecast, and the big change is not nearly as much fog to start. we will have patchy areas of fog near the coast. overall that sunshine coming back as well, and we're going to start it off in the 40s. south bay at 45. we are going down to a chilly 44 in the east bay. north bay at 43. not quite on the warmer side for the mornings but temperatures will be changing in the days ahead all from this area of high pressure. this is the same exact pattern that has been responsible for our drier than normal january, february and most of this month. it is basically taking all of that rainfall and sending it off to the north. the next ten days i don't have any hopes of rainfall for the bay area for that rainfall. >> we will start to see temperatures going up by 4-7 degrees. in the south bay, of 8.

68. beautiful in hayward, 67 degreeses. san francisco, we have winds out of the west at 15. you'll get in on the sunshine and 65 through downtown. things are going to change as we go into next week. i think we're going to have a mini peak by saturday, 75. we'll drop a little bit sunday and monday as the storm track begins to change, and that's going to set us up for larger heat next week. 8 wednesday. thursday, definitely of next week we'll get close to record-setting highs. with the heat starting to crank up we will notice a lot more things blooming.

if your allergies are starting to bother you, it's just the beginning. you can see in san francisco we'll be tracking wind. up to 67 next tuesday. and through the inland valleys we start to see the heat, and we will be at an average of 86 next wednesday >> 86! >> yes. >> next wednesday 86! >> that means we've had three seasons in a two-week time period here. >> wow. >> winter, spring and right over to summer. >> that's impressive. you better be here on wednesday. i'm giving you advance notice right now. i love me and 86 a new tornado touching down in the south. we'll show you that destruction this time in arkansas.

are you looking to renovate your kitchen or bathroom? i'm mike holmes here with ivan from agm renovations thanks mike! too often, homeowners hire the wrong contractor. ivan, i see this all the time. delays, shortcuts, hidden fees - nightmares. at agm we use the top trades, and each project is finished on time, on budget, backed by a five year warranty. that's why agm are the only kitchen and bathroom renovation specialists i recommend. ♪ agmrenovations.com ♪ [announcer] call now and get $3,000 off!

a violent storm ripped

through arkansas, leaving seven people injured and a lot damage behind. an ef-2 tornado damaged the shopping center in fayetteville and knocked out power for thousands of people in northwest arkansas. not far away, a school was destroyed while seven people suffered injuries, two no critical condition. a tesla went over an embankment and crashed into a parked ambulance. happened this morning. rescue crews were able to pull the driver and two passengers out. investigators say the driver may have been distracted. everyone is expected to be okay. there was nobody inside that ambulance at the time of the crash of the another reason to eat avocados. they are good for your heart. more than 1,000 men and women why followed. people who ate at least two servings of avocado for a week had a lower risk of heart

problems. a big hurdle ahead to reach the goal of another championship. they'll have to beat a legendary coach and program. anthony flores has the preview next. when it comes to cybersecurity, the biggest threats don't always strike the biggest targets. so help safeguard your small business with comcast business securityedge™. it's advanced security that continuously scans for threats and helps protect every connected device. on the largest, fastest, reliable network with speeds up to 10 gigs to the most small businesses. so you can be ready for what's next. get started with internet and voice for $64.99 a month. and ask how to add securityedge™. or, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card.

stanford just two wins away from winning back-to-back national titles.

>> and standing in their way, a long-time powerhouse program in women's basketball. we're talking about the uconn huskies. >> hmm. >> anthony flores has a final four preview. >> reporter: for the 14th time in her career, kara vanderveer is guiding stanford into the final four. >> on a 10-year-old waking up for christmas, it never gets old. >> they've won a record number of chps and have reached the final four 14 year in a row. >> i don't care how many of these we win, it's still like the first one. >> it features two of the winningest coaches in basketball history. >> all the coaches that are going next week to minneapolis, they'll have really, really good players or we wouldn't be there. >> we're really excited to be

there. they're a very talented team. we match up very well. we know the team that does their thing better will went. >> stanford is one and four against uconn in the final four, but there's fresh on both teams. the huskies haven't won at all since 2016. the cardinal have the nation's longest active winning streak and are chasing back to back national titles for the first time in program history. >> i'm really trying to focus on the basketball, not the outside noise of it. what i want them to do is block some of that stuff out and really just play basketball. do what we've been doing all year and really have fun and enjoy being here. >> friday's game tips off at 6:30 p.m. in minneapolis, minnesota. anthony flores, nbc bay area. >> go stanford! >> go cardinal. >> right now at 6:00, once a football star, now in the hospital. an update on the young man shot

by police outside a popular tacoria in san jose. >> all the different things that he's going have to unfortunately go through in order to have a chance at regaining the life he once had. >> and what we are learning about the man accused of bringing a ghost gun into the restaurant. this homeless encampment has been set up outside of the school in the mission district for more than a week. the school leaders are asking the city for help in dealing with it. that story is coming up. and a 400-foot hole on the cal campus. the reason they are drilling and what it could mean for the future of clean energy. the news at 6:00 starts right now. thanks for joining us, i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm garvin thomas. for the past two weeks, parents and school leaders at st. anthony's immaculate church and school have been trying to get

help. the kamt has presented challenging the school isn't equipped to handle. >> reporter: for the last two weeks, this collection of tarps, wood panels and lots of other items have been set out outside the st. anthony immaculate conception school. >> kids are going to be coming, so please pack up and move on. for the most part, people do. >> reporter: but the people in this enkamtment have not moved. school leaders say they're not concerned about the tents the instead, it's what the people inside the tents are doing and how long it's taking the city to respond. principal moody says it's more serious because the dogs at the camp often bark at the kids, and a man at the camp has been urinating at the parking lot and