up at 6:00. >> thank you, guys. coming up at 6:00, covid cases we've been telling you are rising as we learn to live with coronavirus. but now we've got new numbers showing which bay area county is seeing the biggest increase. and one of our covid experts gives us his biggest concern as we move forward. >> san francisco risk is not only san francisco risk anymore. it's the risk from elsewhere. >> in san francisco, there could soon be a shorter list of things that police can pull you over for, all in the name of racial equity. that story coming up. also, helicopter training at a pg&e site in the east bay ends with this crash. an update on the two people on board as the feds are now in to investigate. the news at 6:00 starts right now. good evening and thanks for being with us on this wednesday. i'm raj mathai. >> and i'm jessica aguirre. >> we are going to follow our breaking news we've been following now, that fire in

southern california. take a look here. this started about three hours ago, and there are no signs of any containment at this point. this is from our nbc chopper from our sister station knbc in l.a. this is laguna niguel, just south of laguna beach and newport beach. so far at least three acres have burned, and you can see down below several homes. at last count, about eight homes have caught fire. evacuations are in progress for this entire area. the smoke can be seen for several miles. we'll check in with jeff ranieri in a few minutes about the wind direction and what it's doing for the other communities here. laguna niguel is an upscale community right along the pacific coast here, along the water. homes in the range from $3 million to $5 million. we'll continue to bring you the story and bring updates as they come into our newsroom. we've been hearing it for weeks now. covid cases are on the rise in the bay area. the latest numbers shows san francisco has one of the highest positivity rates in the state. nbc bay area's sergio quintana with what you should know and

would mean to anyone working or living or visiting the city by the bay. >> reporter: according to public health data, there is a lot of covid-19 circulating in san francisco. test positivity is at 9.4%. that's double the state's overall rate. at this point in the pandemic, most people we talked with say they've either been infected or know someone who has. >> i just had covid last week. and i had to do quarantine. so, yeah, now i got to wear masks and everything, make sure get your boosters, people. >> i'm just trying to stay safe. even people have gotten it twice that i know, but not me. >> reporter: everyone i asked on san francisco's embarcadero say they're taking precautions like wearing masks indoors and group segments. but they're also trying to carry on with life as usual. >> if i worry about it every day, i'm not going to continue to live. so i'm just -- i just don't want the bring anything home. >> san francisco is seeing a significant surge in covid-19

infections. but health officials point out hospitalizations are still relatively low. according to public health data, there are currently 56 people hospitalized with covid. seven are in intensive care. that's about twice as many patients as they had two weeks ago. one more note, an expert says a prior covid infection is far less likely to protect you from the latest strains. with most covid-19 restrictions lifted, dr. peter hong chin says san francisco is a hub of infection. >> san francisco risk is not only san francisco risk anymore. it's the risk from elsewhere, because a lot of people are traveling back and forth now. >> reporter: he recommends people return to using kn95 or n95 masks in many indoor segments like poorly ventilated officers or large indoor events. he thinks covid-19 testing for small home get-togethers is also a good idea, and gets boosted if you're eligible. he is concerned that more shots and even reformulated boosters

for more variants may be in short supply later this year because of lack of funding. >> because it's stalled in congress, we may not be able to have updated vaccines for the entire population in the fall. but maybe limited to at-risk populations if there is not enough money. >> reporter: in san francisco, sergio quintana, nbc bay area news. we have new information regarding the san jose police department. another investigation of a san jose cop, the fifth in the past few weeks, this time the officers accused of giving a meth pipe to a san jose woman in exchange for information. a spokesperson tells us they cannot comment on a personnel matter that's still under investigation, but they did say the alleged misconduct occurred more than six months ago. this disclosure comes on the heels of a san jose officer dying from a fentanyl overdose. another officer allegedly showing up a at a crime scene intoxicated, a third officer accused of sexual misconduct, and another being investigated for drunk driving offduty.

okay. it is hard to handle. inflation taking a bigger bite out of our paychecks than it has in decades. and prices unfortunately not likely to drop any time soon. our business and tech reporter scott budman is here with the latest numbers, and they're not that great. >> it's true, jessica. the numbers still climbing here in the bay area. prices rising not just for gas, not just for wages or groceries, but across the board. and that's hitting just about everybody. we've talked recently about grocery stores, but higher prices are also slamming small businesses. a report released today shows consumer prices here in the bay area jumped by another 5% in april. the u.s. labor bureau says inflation in our area is at its highest point in 21 years. for small businesses, that means they're paying more for everything you see and pay for at the grocery store, but also much more in transportation costs thanks to the price of gas. also higher labor costs as inflation forces businesses to pay more to attract and keep workers. think of it not so much as dominoes falling, but like a

tornado sweeping up higher prices in its path. >> your supply chain has issues, your materials are increasing in pricing. so then companies to develop and manufacturer et cetera, their prices increase. they pass along the prices to the consumers, but the consumers are spending more. so there is still a high demand. and we kind of start swirling like this. >> that is a bad swirl. so scott, what's going to happen now in the summer? we know that travel is way up this summer. but what about everything else? is there any chance that we're going to see anything come down? >> i mean, some things might come down. jessica, let's start with travel. as more people travel, gas prices are likely to rise. and that affects shipping everything from groceries to things that we see in restaurants. now it's baby food. all these things cost more and are in shorter supply, largely because of supply chain issues and gas prices only exacerbate that. this could be a summer where once again we're trying to find things at the store and we're

paying more for just about everything that we buy. >> okay. talk to me a little bit about the loop between the stock market and inflation and the potential we may go into a recession. >> right. we're seeing equities fall because of a lack of confidence and a cloudiness going forward. the stock market hates uncertainty, and we have a lot of that. we have the federal reserve raising interest rates the try to slow the economy down. okay. that's good news if you have savings. but if you're paying a mortgage, or if you owe debt on anything, that's going cost even more, leaving you with less money to do things like invest in the stock market and people are looking ahead and saying it might be time to pull some of that out too. so we're seeing a whole lot of things come together at the same time. >> yeah, it is a bit unnerving. it does feel like a tornado like she said for sure. thank you. >> you bet. tonight the faa and the ntsb investigating a helicopter crash in livermore. two people on board rushed to a hospital. that crash happened just before 10:00 a.m. at pg&e's livermore electric safety academy. pg&e says this crash involved a

contractor doing training exercise. livermore-pleasanton fire tells us they arrived to find the pilot trapped in the chopper. the ntsb says the second person injured was actually suspended from a cable outside the helicopter, directing the pilot to a power line. >> pg&e has to both maintain and inspect their utility lines throughout northern california, and the easiest and most efficient way to do that is from the air. >> pg&e tells us both the pilot and passenger have nonlife-threatening injuries. okay. right now the san francisco police commission is considering a proposal to reduce the number of reasons why a police officer can pull you over. the goal is to end what is known as pretext stops. that's when someone is pulled over for what a minor infraction is in hopes of the officer finding something more sinister. nbc bay area's christie smith has more. >> reporter: ahead of tonight's meeting, police reform activists

say racially biased traffic stops have been going on for too long. they say it needs to stop now and they'll keep speaking up. >> being a person of color while driving, bicycling, or walking should not, should not make you a target. >> reporter: san francisco's public defender joined a group calling for an end to so-called pretext stops. >> they're fishing expeditions to prolong the stop, to investigate something wholly unrelated to the stop. and these are biased. >> reporter: supporters say it often starts with being pulled over or stopped for low level offenses like a broken taillight or failure to signal a lane change. san francisco board of supervisors president walton is among those calling for them to end. >> we need to stop immediately. they're terrifying, extremely traumatizing, and it's unfortunate that this has been the status quo for black males and brown males. >> reporter: advocates say the numbers don't lie, and they show black people are far more likely to be subject to a pretext stop.

the san francisco police officers association says race isn't the factor. they simply pull over those who break the law. they also say those low-level stops are responsible for helping get hundreds of illegal guns and other paraphernalia off the street. they warn that taking them away is essentially offering criminals a free pass. but advocates say the law has been twisted. >> it's simply unacceptable the racial disparity in spots. >> tonight the police commission will hear a proposal that will dramatically limit the low-level stops. reform advocates say it's a step in the right direction, but just one of many changes that need to be made to ensure racial equity in policing. the san francisco police chief issued a statement saying in part, addressing traffic enforcement and limiting pretext stops with a balance in carrying out public safety duties is critical to breaking any potential patterns of biased police and impacts to communities of color.

in san francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. up next here at 6:00, voting to unionize. the starbucks stores making history in california. demolition today to knock down a reminder of vta's darkest day. what may be built in its place. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. i'm tracking another system off to the north. i'll show you how that changes our weather tomorrow and also another update on our fire we're tracking in southern california.

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one of the biggest reminders of the deadliest mass shooting in bay area history is being demolished. nearly one year ago, a vta employee opened fire inside of that transit work yard, killing nine people before shooting himself. nbc bay area's marianne favro is in san jose with the latest. >> reporter: using heavy equipment, demolition began this

afternoon on building b. that's where six victims lost their lives. the goal is to remove what many see as a painful reminder of the tragic shooting. walls coming down today at the vta yard in san jose, demolishing the brick and mortar location of a deadly attack. on may 26th of last year, maintenance worker samuel cassidy shot and killed nine coworkers before killing himself. today santa clara county supervisor and vta board member cindy chavez explained that many felt keeping the building up was too painful. >> many employees wanted that whole facility to look and feel differently. they wanted to come back to something fresh. building b is a building that we lost six lives in that building, and this is really in response to a majority of our employees saying it's time, and they wanted to see that building gone. >> reporter: several vta employees who survive credico

worker tapp tejdeep singh with saving their lives because he called and warned them there was an active shooter in building b and to get out immediately before being killed himself. now as building b is torn down, there are also plans to build something to remember singh and the eight others who went to work and never came home. >> very long-term, i'm hoping that the redesign of that facility will both include a monument, but also make it more functional for the work and safer for the work that happen there's now. >> reporter: the overall goal is to help employees heal. for some, this demolition will accomplish that. for others, the destruction can't destroy the grief. in san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. all right, washington and oregon have unionized starbucks coffee shops. now california has too. that announcement came in a tweet from sb workers united claiming, quote, workers just won the first unionized starbucks store in california. the vote at the defer and

mission street in santa cruz was 15-2. an hour came another all caps message, another one. the ocean and water street store wins the second location in the state that vote 13-1. and a third santa cruz starbucks holds a union vote next month. let's get back to our breaking news in orange county. we are awaiting word now from the orange county fire department on the status of this fire. this is in laguna niguel, just south of laguna beach and newport beach. you can see here the intensity and how widespread this is. the flames, the smoke, at least eight homes have caught fire so far, as far as we can count. evacuations are under way. let's bring in jeff ranieri. talk about the wind direction. really so many people trying to get home after the work day and realizing they can't even get into the neighborhood, and watching the coverage down in l.a. >> a really frightening situation for them down there. because the way the wind is blowing, it's pushing it all towards laguna niguel. that's where they've got the evacuations in place.

our sister station knbc is now saying it's at least 30 acres. so hopefully we'll get more updates on that. as we get a look at my map, i did want to show you location in case you have friends or family down here. there is laguna beach right there. the canyon is located toward the west of laguna niguel, and the way the wind's blowing, it's pushing it right towards laguna niguel. we've got wind gusts 15 to 35 miles per hour tonight. current temperature is 65. tomorrow i'm seeing warmer numbers at 78 and 15 to 30-miles-per-hour gusts. this is going to be hard for them to contain, but we did see those fire retardant drops. so all hands on deck, as we have been talking about. we've got more coverage there at nbcbayarea.com. okay. let's move it back into our bay area weather here at home. we do look at another system just off to the north. now i'm not seeing any rainfall from this for us, but it is going to spread in some cloud cover here as we roll through tomorrow. and that's going to switch it up little bit. starred off tomorrow at a.m., a

chance of patchy fog in san jose. down to about gilroy, and then those high clouds filtering across as we head through the late morning and the early afternoon. temperatures to start not quite as cold as it has been lately. we've had lots of 30s to low 40s. tomorrow it's going to start it off at 49 in the peninsula. that will be better for you. south bay right here at 47 as well. 49 in san francisco. the north bay coming in at 44. daytime highs tomorrow don't really adjust a whole lot here. that is going to mean in the south bay 68 at los gatos. san jose at 69. let's take it to the east bay. a few warm spots. walnut creek, concord and antioch in the low 70s. right near the water 64 in oakland. the peninsula not really that warm. we've got that chilly breeze at your back. so we'll be at 65 here in redwood city. san francisco at 55 in the marina. 61 in the mission. let's take it off to the north bay. 69 in napa, down to mill valley 67. okay. you're going to want to enjoy tomorrow, because things do get

hotter from this area of high pressure friday, saturday, and sunday. san francisco, we're going to see that heat top out on saturday at 72. so that's a warm day for you. and dry over the next seven days. look at the inland valley forecast. we're at 71 tomorrow. 80 friday. saturday 86. and sunday coming in at 80. i do think it will cool off once we hit next monday and tuesday. good thing is we're not expecting a major wind event this weekend. hopefully we can just enjoy that warm and sunny weather. >> let's hope so. thank you, jeff. >> thank you, jeff. up next, the south bay gearing up for a busy primary election. what you need to know before casting your ballot. stay with us.

out-of-state corporations wrote an online sports betting plan they call "solutions for the homeless". really? the corporations take 90 percent of the profits. and using loopholes they wrote, they'd take even more. the corporations' own promotional costs, like free bets, taken from the homeless funds. and they'd get a refund on their $100 million license fee, taken from homeless funds, too. these guys didn't write a plan for the homeless. they wrote it for themselves.

california's primary election is less than a month away, june 7th. and our local counties are ready to go. in the bay area's most populous county, santa clara county, mail-in ballots were sent out monday, and drop-off locations opened yesterday. on may 28th, 24 voting centers

will open, more than a week before election day. the registrar's office also wants to remind everyone that ballots are safe and protected. >> every ballot in this office has to be with two people at all times, no matter what. so the entire -- the path of the ballot is two staff members at all times, whether they're picking them off or dropping them off or they're getting processed or they're getting adjudicated. every step has to have two people. >> drop-off locations open yesterday. if you still need to register to vote you have until may 23rd. we have full election coverage including registration deadlines on our website. you can watch full elevator pitches from the san jose mayoral candidates and santa clara county sheriff's office. that's all on nbcbayarea.com. nurses on the peninsula held a rally today protesting working conditions. staff at daly city seton medical center claim the hospital is not following state staffing laws. the hospital is abruptly closing down the geriatric psychiatry unit and nursing unit that cared

for vulnerable elderly patients. they say they need more resources. according to the nurse, in the past two years, more than 65 nurses have left the hospital because of poor working conditions. the hospital, though, released a statement saying it is undergoing seismic retrofit, and the units are closed temporarily while that construction is being completed. well, making it in the bay is not easy. just wait until you hear we're paying for a square foot. those numbers are next. and a look inside 30 rock, the control room there lester holt preparing for "nightly news." one of the top stories, the incredible landing that a lot of people are talking about. nbc news chats with the air traffic controller who talked a passenger through how to land the plane. lester joins us in about four minutes.

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for state controller, only yiu will save ♪ ag taxpayers money.♪ wait, who, me? me? no, not you. yvonne yiu. yvonne yiu. not me. good choice. for 25 years, yiu worked as an executive at top financial firms. managed hundreds of audits. as mayor, she saved taxpayers over $55 million. finding waste. saving money. because... yiu is for you. yiu is for you. exactly. yvonne yiu. democrat for controller. well, we know making it in the bay is challenging. we have new numbers to show just how challenging it is. >> according to the real estate,

$400,000 will get you 467 square feet in manhattan. in san francisco, that will buy you 400 square feet. in san jose, 510. oakland on the list 677 square feet can be yours for $400,000. >> that's a lot of money. tonight at 7:00, live updates from our breaking news. that fire down in orange county. about a dozen homes are on fire. multimillion-dollar homes in laguna niguel. this is a live look right now. we will be joined by an nbc reporter who is there on the scene. and jessica, you can see the flames there in the background and the fire department doing their thing there. this story and more tonight on our 7:00 news. we will see you then. lester holt is next. tonight the pace of inflation slowing for the first time in months, but staying near an historic high. consumer prices rising 8.3% year over year in april, down slightly from a 40-year high in march. but the cost of food,

housing, airline fares, and new cars all going up and gas prices hitting a new record high today. how much longer will it last? also tonight, the senate failing to advance a bill to protect abortion rights nationwide. democrat joe manchin and all 50 republicans voting against it. where does the battle go now ukraine's forces said to be making gains against russian troops near kharkiv as kyiv disrupts the flow of russian gas to europe dramatic dash cam showing the arrest of alabama fugitive casey white and the 911 call from the corrections officer he was with, vicky white. what she said to him as police closed in. the passenger landing a plane after the pilot suffers a medical emergency. tonight we hear from the air traffic cont controller, how he guided the passenger to safety.