tomorrow. >> a repeat tomorrow and monday with spring starting tuesday, then we see unsettled weather. >> thank you, we will be back at it at 11:00. janelle wang: this is an nbc bay area news special. we investigate: a fleet of retired cars bought with nbc bay area news special. we investigate. a fleet of retired cars bought with taxpayer money finally being moved to get auctioned off after sitting in a south bay parking lot for four years. >> people have to hear about this organization. it is stunning. hundreds of female prison guards sues the state over how they were treated after they became pregnant. >> there is no accommodation. there was no putting you anywhere. >> reporter: san francisco's millennium tower is now shored up and shouldn't lean any further to one side. but new tests show it might be sinking somewhere else instead.

>> there is a tendency for the center to settle more than the edges. >> reporter: silicon valley lab using lasers to turn up the heat to 180 million degrees. >> we can put energy that continues to work. >> reporter: is nuclear fusion the next gold rush? thank you for joining us, i'm janelle wang. we start this evening in the south bay with a fleet of public transit cars that remain parked in the same spot for years. until we reported it. within a few weeks this happened. the cars are now being prepped for auction. candice nguyen first broke this story and tonight shows us the transit agency's quick response. >> reporter: i sat down with the chair of the board, a county supervisor. they had no idea of these taxpayer funded vehicles wasting away until they saw our investigation. she says changes are being made

so this doesn't happen again. after more than four years, santa clara valley transportation authority or vta is taking action on 95 retired para transit vans it left to depreciate in san jose parking lots since before the pandemic instead of selling them years ago while they were years younger. this month our cameras were there as bta started moving them. they are now being prepared for auction so bta can recoop some of the millions of public dollars it spent on them. >> i was not aware of the issue. i had a chance to watch your story. and that gave me an opportunity to have a conversation with the staff so thank you for doing it. >> the cars were used. most had more than 100,000 miles on them after driving around some of the south bay's

most vulnerable riders, like zsa zsa taylor, a wheelchair patient who relies on it to get to work. >> it seems like a waste. >> reporter: but the problem with properly retiring these vehicles, bts aid, was caused by staffing issues and the pandemic delaying the county service that handles the auction. chavez says she is concerned they may have missed a window to sell the vehicles when the used car market peaked. >> our obligation is to get as much money back as we can. those are public dollars that were spent. >> the fact a newses organization. people have to hear about this from a news organization. it's stunning. >> reporter: eugene bradley with a watchdog group says the agency has more than missed a window to sell. it has compromised the car. >> when you need an entire fleet of decommissioned cars in

the elements, unprotected for four years, it would be scrap yard people. >> reporter: more than wear and tear, we told you about thieves stealing catalytic converters from some of the abandoned prius. moving forward, she is speaking with vta staff about new processes to ensure the agency when retired vehicles are ready for auction. she is appreciative of whistleblowers that come forward and public transit riders who shared their concerns. >> i love public transit. i'm such an advocate for it. i want so much for it to work. >> we have to get better at what we do. we have to acknowledge mistakes and identify the path we will use to fix them. >> reporter: so the plan now is

for vpa to begin advertising those 95 vehicles for vehicles march 18th and the actual auction begins on april 30th. if the cars don't sell, they will go back into the auction process so the agency can try to get back some of that public money. more problems for the troubled millennium tower. it has been six months since the luxury high-rise was fully supported to bedrock to stop it from sinking and linking any further. guess what? it appears to have worked. but nbc bay area investigative reporter jackson has learned while the high-rise is no longer sinking to the side, new data shows it could be sinking in the middle instead. >> you can see the construction crews and scaffolding are all gone and the cracks that once marred the front of the high- rise are gone. no signs of the three-year effort to stabilize the

millennium tower by supporting two sides with 18 piles. six engineers has predicted once that was done the tower's weight would shift to the other side. they now acknowledge the projection was overly optimistic. saying the soil under the building is not acting as predicted. instead of sinking at the opposite edges, the tower now appears to be sinking in the center. >> there is a tendency even though the foundation may be quite thick, there is a tendency for the center to settle more than the edges. >> reporter: henry is an internationally recognized expert on tall building foundations and says though the sides are not sinking as much as hoped, the tower is still settling at a 10th of an inch a year. >> a 10th of an inch is not that much. but it is not headed in the right direction. that would be a little bit of a

concern to the longer term. >> the overall situation is complex. >> reporter: robert pike says center sinking can trigger cracking under the foundation. >> that should have been obvious. there was the possibility of further increase in cracking and water intruding into the foundation. >> reporter: this wall under the opposite side of the foundation may be another hit. engineers figured the wall would sink when more weight was shifted onto it. and help right the building a bit. but so far, pike says, monitors data shows the wall is holding fast. the designer of the fixed project told us in a statement the remainder of the building continues to settle as we always anticipated resulting in tilt recovery albeit at a lower rate than modeling predicted. he added we believe that lower rate of settlement was because stress relief on the soils under the building has been more effective than originally forecast. as it stands, the tower is now tilting about an inch less than

before. now leaning just under 29 inches at the northwest corner. jaxon van derbeken, nbc bay area news. up next, the race for cleaner and cheaper energy. these powerful lasers are creating temperatures hotter than the sun. how it could change how we power our world. we investigate. [alarm rings] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [alarm rings] ♪♪

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polluting the earth and changing our climate. so tech companies are now in a race to harness what is believed to be a cleaner and even cheaper form of energy. it could one day power everything from high-rises in homes to cars an airplanes. senior investigative reporter bigad shaban explains what it is and when we can expect the benefit. >> reporter: inside an unassuming warehouse in berkeley, karl bass is hoping to change the world. >> we would have power. >> reporter: he is building miniature nuclear reactors. >> the first ones will fit on this table. >> reporter: small enough to store in a closet but big enough to power entire neighborhoods. >> we are not talking about a massively large guys. >> no, we are not. >> reporter: steve wong oversees research and development at alpha ring and gave us a tour of one of the

labs in monterey. >> three, two, one. >> reporter: alpha ring is working to create a totally different kind of energy source. the plants rely on nuclear fission. alpha ring uses nuclear fusion. instead of splitting atoms they are fused together to create energy. it doesn't create carbon or radioactive waste. and the materials needed to create it are found around the world. >> we can produce energy with a fraction of the cost to almost none of the problems. >> this would essentially be a much cleaner way of powering our lives. >> for almost everything we do. you can imagine a small reactor in a vehicle, a boat, a ship.

almost everywhere, where we need to use either heat or electricity. we can produce it differently. and much more cleanly. >> reporter: for all the benefits, there is one major complication. no one has ever been able to turn nuclear fusion into a viable energy source. the only place fusion occurs regularly is among the stars. powering most famously the sun. on earth, scientists believe we are the closest we have ever been to creating and sustaining that kind of power. >> not a matter of if, but when. >> reporter: physicist john edwards invited us inside the livermore national laboratory where earlier this month, government scientists managed to create a nuclear fusion reaction. their fifth the past year where the power produced made more than what went to jump start it. >> you have a pile of wood. you know you can get energy out of the wood if you light the fire.

we showed we can light the fire in fusion. >> reporter: the ignition was sparked by 192 lasers. >> these are the laser beams. >> reporter: their aim? to replicate the sun's scorching heat. they are inside these massive aluminum tubes and able to top temperatures 180 million degrees. six times hotter than the center of the sun. >> is there anything as hot as that in the solar system? >> only when we do another one here in the lab. >> reporter: relying on fusion power could be decades away. even the most successful reaction here lasted less than a billionth of a second. and barely produced enough energy to heat up two pots of coffee. the process needs to generate about 100 times more energy to be considered commercially viable. and the frequency of reactions would have to increase exponentially. essentially running non-stop. >> so you would need to go from about once a month to ten times

a second? >> ten times a second. >> yep. >> reporter: private companies are hoping to speed up the innovation and are seeing a surge of investments. more than $6 billion last year. that's over a billion more than the year before. >> if we want to do this relatively rapidly, it will be critical that we would be partnering in the private sector. >> reporter: around the globe, there are over 40 companies currently experiments with more than 20 different methods. to figure out how to sub stain nuclear fusion reactions. >> solving that problem would change lives in a fundamental way. >> reporter: engineer ed morris is a berkeley professor and author on nuclear fusion. he says he is skeptical about eager tech companies. >> if anything sounds too good to be true, it probably is. >> you don't think the science is quite there yet? >> sometimes it will never be

there. some of these concepts are really bad. others are passable. >> so this is closer to what the reactor will look like. >> reporter: alpha ring's process for producing fusion is considered unconventional. but the company says its science has led to more than 15 nuclear reactions. the energy generated each time has only been enough to power a lightbulb overnight. but the company says some of its reactions have extended more than 19 hours. remember, at the nation's premier government lab at livermore, fusion has only lasted less than a fraction of a second. >> the accomplishment of this is such a big deal. one of the important things when you make a claim like this, is that this will be able to be reproduced by others. >> reporter: to prove that, alpha ring plans to submit its findings to a slew of scientific journals for review. the company hopes independent researchers will eventually determine the technology really

does have star power. with the investigative unit, i'm bigad shaban. coming up, risk your pregnancy or face a pay cut? we investigate the choice hundreds of california prison guards said they had to make when they got pregnant. my late father-in-law lit up a room, but his vision dimmed with age. he had amd. i didn't know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. his struggle with vision loss from amd made me want to help you see warning signs of ga, like: hazy or blurred vision, so it's hard to see fine details, colors that appear dull or washed out, or trouble with low light that makes driving at night a real challenge.

if you think you have ga, don't wait. treatments are available. ask a retina specialist about fda-approved treatments for ga and go to gawontwait.com have heart failure with unresolved symptoms? it may be time to see the bigger picture. heart failure and seemingly unrelated symptoms like carpal tunnel syndrome, shortness of breath, and irregular heartbeat could mean something more serious, called attr-cm a rare, underdiagnosed disease that worsens over time. sound like you? call your cardiologist and ask about attr-cm. ♪ you were always so dedicated... ♪ we worked hard to build up the shop, save for college and our retirement. but we got there, thanks to our advisor and vanguard. now i see who all that hard work was for... it was always for you.

seeing you carry on our legacy— i'm so proud. at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner. setting up the future for the ones you love. that's the value of ownership. janelle: welcome back. hundreds of female prison guards have been fighting a lengthy welcome back. hundreds of female prison guards have been fighting a lengthy legal battle against the california prison system. they say they were denied reasonable accommodations or lighter duties unless they took a pay cut during pregnancy. investigative reporter hilda gutierrez has the story. >> reporter: many prison guards say they have lost wages because of a prison guard pregnancy policy. their fight might soon come to an end. >> i have had punches thrown across my face. i have been hit. i have been kicked. stuff thrown at me. i have had feces thrown at me.

>> reporter: as a correctional officer at the california medical facility in vacaville, a medium security men's state prison, lia mccowen said she expected the incidents but not after she became pregnant. >> i knew i was going to have to continue to work. i had never seen anyone pregnant working there. >> or if they did, they were upstairs in payroll. or in the mail room. >> reporter: that was 2016. just a year prior, mccowen's employers at california department of corrections and rehabilitation had quietly replaced the policy that required them to provide light duty accommodations for pregnant officers for reasons it refuses to explain. >> there is no accommodation. you would have to figure out a way to go hide yourself. >> how did that make you feel? >> awful. absolutely terrible. >> reporter: but she says she continued working, 16 hour shifts carrying a 15-pound work

belt around her waste. >> i would have inmates say what are you doing? why are you still working on the line? >> reporter: this was mccowen's second pregnancy, her first under the new policy. she and her husband wanted a large family, and in 2018, she was pregnant again when she took part in an emergency cell entry where she had to remove a heavy locker. >> so i moved it and pretty much instantly, i felt pain in my back which i thought, i just kind of tweaked my back, but i ended up miscarrying. >> reporter: mccowen is one of nearly 300 female correction officers suing the state department for discrimination, retaliation, and denial of pregnancy disability rights. >> it is a lawsuit about the equality of women in the workplace. >> reporter: arnold peter is mccowen's attorney. he said they violated california law adding that other prison systems and most

law enforcement systems provide accommodations for pregnant officers. >> we are asking for the same treatment that any other woman in the state of california would be entitled to. >> reporter: according to cal hr data, since 2017, between 15 to 16% of correctional officers have been women. their website shows the first female correction officers were hired in the 1970s . and they claim to currently hire women at a higher rate than the national average. >> so i work in the mental health side of it. and have my entire career there. >> reporter: melissa is also a correctional officer at the vacaville prison and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. she says she was 24 weeks pregnant when she was asked to do an emergency cell entry. >> and i refused. and then went home. i emailed my doctor and let him know what had happened. and he took me off of work and put me on disability that same day.

>> reporter: she says she only received 50% of her pay while she was on disability. but she considers herself one of the lucky ones since many of the plaintiffs suffered miscarriages. >> it is just sad. i mean, i got to bring my babies home, but not everybody did. >> reporter: the state civil rights department responsible for enforcing workers discrimination law filed its own lawsuit. seeking a return to the pre- 2015 pregnancy policy. facing lawsuit ins a bill toll address the issue in 2020, it reverted to its pre2015 policy, but not before mccowen suffered another incident while pregnant. >> the inmate fought and he fought us. he broke the threshold. he kicked, he punched. he did everything he could.

>> reporter: her baby survived. but she couldn't work for three years. the california department of corrections refused to talk with us but in an email told us a settlement to the class action lawsuit is in the works and the proposed settlement will provide significant benefits to the members of the class. >> they all understand they signed up to undertake a very dangerous job. that was their decision. they did not sign up for their children to be placed in this situation. >> reporter: attorney arnold peter and his clients say they reached out to governor newsom's office asking him to intervene since state prisons fall under his per view. that never happened. his office told us they don't typically weigh in on matters involving active litigation. the class action lawsuit has since expanded to include other female staff of the prison. an estimate of more than a thousand women who were

pregnant between 2015 and 2020 under cdcr's prior policy. with the investigative unit, i'm hilda gutierrez. >> hilda, thank you. we'll be right back.

janelle: some of our most impactful investigations come from you with your tips. if you have a story for our investigative unit, please give some us a cof our most impa investigations come from you with your tips. if you have a story for our investigative unit. giver us a call at 888-996-tips or go to our website, nbcbayarea.com/investigation. that's all the time we have tonight.

i hope you enjoyed watching just some of our in-depth coverage. i'm janelle wang. on behalf of our entire team, thanks for watching nbc bay area where we investigate. ♪♪ when you have moderate—to—severe eczema, it's okay to show off.

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ask your eczema specialist right now on access hollywood, back with a new album after a divorce and new love in her life. but how much do ariana's new songs reflect her real life? then, from the red carpet to the vanity fair after party, exclusive secrets behind margot robbie's oscar looks straight from her stylist. and it is not easy being a doctor, even a fake one, ok? i get life-saving training from the cast of grey's anatomy. plus, it's an olympics opening ceremony dream team. and only we are on the set with kelly clarkson, peyton manning, and mike tirico to work out the details. our sydney sweeney new york city exclusive and an emotional hoda kotb reflecting on four-year-old daughter hope's health crisis last year. from universal studios hollywood, access hollywood starts right now. [theme music]