i'm roger matthai, next on nbc bay area news tonight, the rain is moving in, this time with a chance of thunder and lightning. jeff has our updated timeline as we head into the weekend. also stranded by the blizzard in the sierra, we'll take you to lake tahoe. plus a wave of new lawsuits hitting the catholic church, including against priests who are still working today. we investigate. and who is going to be our next senator? republican steve garvey is pulling ahead in the latest polls. late news from the

peninsula, driverless taxis are coming to town. waymo was just given the green light despitback frothe community. >> good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight. i'm raj mathai on this 1st night of march. we've got some dicey weather. let's start with the blizzard in the sierra. we've talked about it here, dangerous, even potentially deadly conditions on the roads. here's the bottom line. just don't go. stay home. go skiing or boarding next week. let's look now near donner pass. interstate 80 shut down in a couple different spots here, near immigrant gap going eastbound and near truckee going westbound. we've just had reports of multiple spinouts which are prompting the closures of i-80. we're already hearing stories of people being stranded. that includes this bus filled with more than 50 people making the trek to tahoe from southern california.

the bus driver told us they had no idthe bad weather. >> well, it's beautiful, but it's pretty crazy and it's pretty dangerous. i went from a blowout to now i am stuck at a gas station waiting for tires. >> i think i'd have tuned into the weather report here. nbc's jodi hernandez also in the sierra for us today. >> reporter: we're at immigrant gap, elevation 5,200 feet, and look at all the snow. this is how much snow has fallen just today, over a foot. you can see the ground is covered. these cars here are covered and i'll tell you it is beautiful, but it is also very dangerous, very treacherous. now the folks who run this restaurant and lodge here tell me normally they would be very busy. they would be slammed on a friday, but not today. they actually have been calling their customers, telling them not to come up, canceling their reservations. they've been getting a lot of phone calls and say it's just not safe to come up here.

this is supposed to be the storm of the season and the conditions are very dangerous. we were out on i-80 a little while ago and we were afraid we were going to get stuck. again, this is not the weekend to be coming up to the sierra. this snow is going to be sticking around for quite some time and there will be plenty of time to enjoy it, just not this weekend. in the sierra, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> thank you. the storm of the season, back in the bay area we're bracing for more storms. it's going to be a wet weekend. we could see lightning and thunder. let's bring in our chief meteorologist jeff raranieri. we'll have a chance of on again, off again rain through saturday and sunday.

let's take you to storm ranger doppler radar. we have one spot picking up with a lightning strike and the heavy rain is moving off into hercules and vallejo heading into 7:47 tonight, but overall in the forecast i'm not seeing any huge changes through saturday and sunday. we'll stay with these spotty thunderstorms and hail, wind gusts up to about 50 at times, might get into isolated street flooding, but i'm not seeing any flood gauges on the rivers that would go to flood stage. it's all about that snow in the sierra for the top headline and low snow between 1,000 to 3,000 feet. we have winter storm warnings and blizzard warnings up through the sierra, but in lake county we have a winter storm warning tonight all the way through sunday. this includes lakeport, clearlake, kelseyville, snow levels between 1,000 to 2,000 feet this weekend. we're looking at 1 to 3 inches, pass levels 5 inches or more. so icy travel there and

potentially some power outages. now when it comes to the sierra, what is left for us tonight and tomorrow? we'll see 39 inches kingvale, 39 tahoe, 45 in kirkwood, still gusty wind 60 to 100, but sunday we'll get the snow, but it's not as much in a 24-hour period, anywhere from 4 to about 8 inches. we've got more snow on the way, but overall things by sunday should be a little bit less, although, raj, the next totally snow-free day in the sierra may not come until next wednesday afternoon, next thursday, and next friday. so right now we got to wait a little before we get in on that sunshine. >> it's intense watching all this coverage here. thank you. you can track the weather anytime anywhere with our free nbc bay area app. the qr code on the left side of your screen will take you right to jeff's radar. point your phone's camera at that qr code to get to our weather page. some other headlines on

this friday evening, driverless taxis may soon be coming to the peninsula. the cpuc just giving waymo the green light. right now the taxis operate only in san francisco. here's where waymo is proposing to go. the city, it's already there, but it wants to go down the peninsula and into sunnyvale and mountain view. in january waymo asked for an expansion here and in l.a. last month regulators put that request on hold after pushback from county leaders from san mateo county. the supervisor says he's shocked by today's news. >> the issues in san francisco, whether these are autonomous vehicles going through yellow tape, whether when there's a fire being stuck on a fire hose and so i support the technology, but the technology's not ready for prime time. >> supervisor canepa says san mateo county plans to appeal the decision from the cpuc.

a bizarre story in the south bay, a discovery during a dui arrest in gilroy triggered a school lockdown this week and there's frustration for a lot of local parents who say they just wanted more information from the school. the issue started monday when 46-year-old markus beck was found loitering on the campus of luigi aprea elementary school. that campus is next to his home. two days later beck was arrested for dui after a crash just blocks from that school. during the arrest police found a loaded handgun and an ar-15- style rifle in the trunk of his car. they then searched his home and discovered an oven had been left on filling the home with natural gas and sparking concerns the home could explode. that triggered the lockdown at the school. neighbors and parents say it's left them concerned. >> me being a parent and having my daughter living here and knowing him because i did speak to him a lot and such like that, kind of disappointed that he would bring that type of

stuff around this area. >> we also spoke with frustrated parents who say they wish they had been told more about this man sooner. the school district says it's seeking a restraining order against beck. he remains in jail facing multiple felony charges. next tuesday is election day in california. today a new poll shows steve garvey, a republican, in a dead heat for the lead in the senate race. keep in mind california hasn't elected a republican senator since pete wilson did it in the early 1980s. take a look. the latest berkeley igs poll shows the former baseball star with a slight lead over democrat adam schiff heading into super tuesday, garvey polling at 27%, adam schiff at 25%, katie porter here at 19% followed by oakland congresswoman barbara lee, a distant fourth. steve garvey has been gaining momentum the past several weeks. he's got high name recognition as a much loved former dodger

and padres player. we should note these numbers are changing and can change quickly. another notable poll recently from the public policy institute showed adam schiff in first place with garvey and katie porter vying for second. so there are different data points out there. joining us tonight is mark decamilla, director of the berkeley igs poll which has had steve garvey in a slight lead. is it surprising to you garvey is leading in your poll? >> what's really going on has to do with the likely turnout in this election. it looks like it's going to be a record low turnout and that really is benefiting garvey because he is very popular among older voters who are the first to turn out. homeowners will be out there. even republicans are likely to be voting in greater proportions than you see in the overall population. so the groups he pretty much appeals to are the groups most likely to be turning out.

unfortunately, for katie porter she's most popular among the young set and they're not very likely to vote, at least according to our poll and to the observers trying to estimate what turnout is likely to be and what they're saying is it's probably going to be less than a third of all registered voters in this election, which would be an all time low. >> mark, historically have you seen a late spike of people showing up in these last few days or do you think it's going to stay pretty consistent what you're seeing? >> i have no idea. i don't expect it because when we ask voters whether they're going to vote or not, we're seeing these kind of numbers where just, you know, very low proportions have a high level of interest and they aren't giving us information that would lead us to believe things will change anytime soon. >> very interesting. what about undecided voters, do they have the potential to swing this election for senate? >> well, it's only about 9% in

our poll. i think voters came to this election quite late. even last six weeks ago when we did our previous poll, only about 45% of the public had a fix on steve garvey. now three-quarters do. they've really come to this race late. i think adam schiff has actually helped garvey quite with a bit with his ads, the profile ads between him and garvey. i think that's raised his visibility. you can see the republicans and conservatives kind of coalescing around garvey now. that's where his support is coming from. he's in pretty good standing. i think schiff is moving up a little bit here and there, but garvey has made the big move the past six weeks. >> final question, if schiff and garvey are the two top vote getters next tuesday, they would then advance to the november general election. does steve garvey have any chance of winning the november general? >> well, we'll probably see at least twice as many voters in the general election. this is the presidential

election year. usually you'll get at least two- thirds, probably three quarters of all the voters turning out in. that setting his chances are not very great. in fact, we had a question on our poll just among the voters in the primary who would you vote for if the choice were garvey and schiff in a general election and schiff leads by 18 points. >> that's believed to be just the more democrats in california than republicans. mark, appreciate your time and analysis. we will talk to you as this election progresses. thank you. >> my pleasure. thanks. >> if you're looking for more election news, check out our elections section right there on our website, nbcbayarea.com/elections. up next, a wave of new sex abuse lawsuits hitting the catholic church, including against priests who are still working. we investigate. could san francisco be home to a panda? mayor london breed laying out her case. >>you're watching nbc > ba

i launched our campaign at this union hall. let's go win this thing! then we hit the road and never stopped. you shared with me your frustration at working harder to barely get by and afford a place to live. your fears for our democracy and freedoms and your dreams for yourself, your family, and the future. it is not too late to realize those dreams. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message because together we can still get big things done.

what do i see in peter dixon?

i see my husband... the father of our girls. i see a public servant. a man who served under secretary clinton in the state department... where he took on the epidemic of violence against women in the congo. i see a fighter, a tenacious problem-solver... who will go to congress and protect abortion rights and our democracy. because he sees a better future for all of us. i'm peter dixon and i approved this message. welcome back to nbc bay area news tonight. it's an uncomfortable story, but one we've reported on extensively, a new wave of abuse lawsuits is hitting catholic institutions across california. four years ago the state passed a law that allowed survivors of sex abuse to sue their alleged abusers no matter how old the case is. since then our investigative unit has been sifting through hundreds of newly filed

lawsuits. we've uncovered new allegations, including those against priests who are still working in the bay area today. this is all part of our half hour documentary. >> the priest is god on earth. i was a devout kid. i was an altar boy and it was being an altar boy that exposed me to this priest. he was a predator. i just remember always thinking he was, you know, almost like a king or something. he would make me do things to him. >> they're scared out of their mind. they don't know what the hell happened. what do you think's going through their head? >> in 2023 we have brand-new allegations. >> name your predator. >> we should not be here today

teaching the bishops of san francisco how to be responsible. >> occurrences of abuse within the catholic church are very rare today. >> why are you saying that these allegations are meritless? >> well, we're not going to try our case in the media. >> the hunt just started. this thing never ends. >> you can't outrun the memories. so i might as well stand up to them. >> this impacts a lot of families, not just here in the bay area, but across the country. joining us now is our investigative reporter candice nguyen. how many priests are we talking about here and what does this suggest about this scandal? >> yeah. so we are talking about hundreds of california priests accused for the very first time in this new wave, many of those priests right here in the bay area. raj, that suggests the scandal that the boston globe broke 20 years ago may be more widespread, deeper than we previously knew. to give you an example, bishop

floyd beggen, astounding bishop of the oakland diocese in the bay area, one new lawsuit accuses him of abusing a 12- year-old girl in the 1960s after he had become bishop. >> so this really penetrates a lot here. you spoke to more than a dozen accusers. what's their message in all this? >> their big thing is they're just now able to tell their stories and they want the public to know about it and they want accountability, of course. experts tell us it's very typical for these survivors to take 30, 40 years to come forward with their stories, especially something as traumatic as this. i want to show you video of one new accuser we spoke to, steven chavez, nearly 60 years old now going public with his personal story for the first time in his life. his alleged incident was when he was 16 years old in san jose when he was abused by a san jose priest and not just that. he was given hiv at 16 years old. that was a death sentence at that time, at the very least a terrible stigma.

his life fell apart. many others in his situation, lives of drugs, incarceration. their lives fall apart. many say this opportunity to sue has been their first layer of justice. >> there's so many layers of pain here. you found accused priests still working today. how did you track them down? what's their response to you? >> we tracked down a couple. you'll see in the documentary. it wasn't easy to track them down. one took months and months, but we hear their side of the story if they wanted to talk to us. when a priest is accused, the church has an internal review board that investigates this claim. mind you, this is a board the church puts together. during this review process the priest is usually taken out of ministry. if that review finds the claims what are they call unsustainable, not enough clear evidence, people to come forward, other reasons, then that priest is returned back to work. >> currently there are priests working right now that are accused in some of these lawsuits? >> many of them across the state and a good handful of them here in the bay area. the shocking thing that we

found is many of those priests accused have been returned to ministry and that is why victims advocates feel there are some big holes in the church's review process. >> there's a lot happening here. we have a lot more reporting on this. we invite you to watch this half hour documentary called "reckoning" airing tomorrow 6:30 p.m. right here on nbc bay area. let's move on now. a pricey ultimatum in the south bay, san jose told to clear out encampments near waterways or the city could get fined more than 100,000 bucks a day. san jose has about 140 miles of waterways. encampments have now popped up along a lot of the waterways. the problem isn't the encampments themselves, but the pollution the state says the encampments are causing. unless the pollution is gone by june next year, major fines are coming. the city council will begin reviewing options for rehousing those people living along the

creeks by next week. could a panda be coming to san francisco? mayor breed is once again asking china. the second request comes just a week after china decided to restart its panda diplomacy program and send a pair of pandas down south to the san diego zoo. we obtained a copy of the new letter mayor breed sent to the chinese embassy and the chinese president xi jinping dated yesterday with signatures of support from more than 60 local american asian organizations. in the letter the mayor referenced a conversation she had with president xi about pandas during last november's apec summit which was here in san francisco. she also writes the research panda reservation recently visited the san diego zoo and she was told the visit went well. maybe we'll have a panda here in the bay area. let's take a live look in richmond on this friday. it's wet.

it's wet. jeffwill return "overflowing with ideas and energy." that's the san francisco chronicle endorsing democrat katie porter for senate over all other options. porter is "easily the most impressive candidate." "known for her grilling of corporate executives." with "deep policy knowledge." katie porter's housing plan has "bipartisan-friendly ideas to bring homebuilding costs down." and the chronicle praises "her ideas to end soft corruption in politics." let's shake up the senate. with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message.

when peter dickson led my platoon into combat in afghanistan, he cared about two things: completing the mission, and making sure his marines came home. and we all did. pete's always fought for what he believes in, and i know he'll do the same in congress for affordable housing, the rights of women, and the democracy he swore to protect. because helping people who need it has always been pete's mission. and i know he'll get it done. next generation veteran fund is responsible for the content of this ad. hi, i'm greg. i live in bloomington, illinois. i'm not an actor. i'm just a regular person. some people say, "why should i take prevagen? i don't have a problem with my memory." memory loss is, is not something that occurs overnight. i started noticing subtle lapses in memory.

i want people to know that prevagen has worked for me. it's helped my memory. it's helped my cognitive qualities. give it a try. i want it to help you just like it has helped me. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. welcome back. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri. we'll keep with the rain picture through 11:30 tonight. heading through tomorrow morning we'll start off with spotty rain chances, low snow even over mount hamilton. the next round would get here by the afternoon around 3:00 p.m. and stick with us through tomorrow evening. along with the rain chances

tomorrow it's going to start off chilly, lots of 40s here and look at this, daytime highs just in the 40s, 47 santa rosa, 54 in san jose. we'll bump it down to a 40% chance of showers monday with sun mixing in, a little more next tuesday and wednesday and then check this out, raj. thursday and friday next week that sun will be nice. >> looks great. thank you, jeff. happy 1st day of march. that's going to do it for us here at 7:00. for

tonight on "access hollywood" -- >> there is some news now that could really impact you and your brother's case, right? >> that's sort of shocking. >> what a new interview with lyle menendez is that could set them free. >> there was an incredibly loud bang.