. i'm raj mathai. next on "nbc bay area news tonight," here comes a big spring storm just in time for easter weekend. how much rain and how much new snow? we have the timeline. also the bridge collapse in baltimore prompting the question, could it happen here? we take a look at the structural safety of our bay area bridges. and the 420 festival at

hippie hill called off. what's behind the sudden cancellation in san francisco? and we get a rare look inside san quentin's death row as the state starts to shut it down. good evening. this is "nbc bay area news tonight." i'm raj mathai. the presidential race arrives in oakland. we're going to get to that in just a minute. but we want to start with a uniquely san francisco event, and it's being canceled. the annual smokeout at golden gate park on april 20th, or 420. 420 hippie hill, the group that stages the event each year, in conjunction with the san francisco rec and parks, says it can't afford to properly staff the event this time around. the annual gathering draws thousands of people to the park to smoke, listen to music, and peruse through rows and rows of vendors. but this year organizers say because of city budget cuts, the economy, and the state of the

cannabis industry, they cannot raise enough money to do it right. >> it was pretty difficult to find sponsorships this year, and for the rec and park department, you know, the city is in a budget crunch. and so we just couldn't supply the level of staffing and overtime needed for cleanup and security. >> their goal is to now just bring the event back next year. we should add, officially or not, people have been showing up to hippie hill on 4/20 for years, so they might still do it this year. by the way, april 20th is to celebrate all things marijuana. it was started by a group of teenagers in marin county back in 1971. let's get to the presidential race now. one of the biggest names in politics was in oakland today. the independent candidate, robert f. kennedy jr., came to town to announce his running mate. >> the next vice president of the united states of america,

nicole shanahan. >> she's an attorney, founder of clear access ip, which is a tech start-up that used a.i. to manage intellectual property. she's also the ex- wife of google co-founder sergey brin. rfk jr. said he picked shanahan because of her experience in tech and advocacy around children's health and environmental concerns. shanahan says her oakland roots taught her about giving back. >> nicole and i are running to help heal the symptoms of an ailing america, to heal our divisions, to heal our economy, to heal our mental health and our spiritual and our physical health. >> i've never forgotten that the purpose of wealth is to help those in need. that's what it's for. and i want to bring back -- i want to bring that back to politics too. that is the purpose of

privilege. >> neither kennedy nor shanahan has ever ran for elective office. rfk jr. is the nephew of former president john f. kennedy and son of former presidential candidate robert kennedy. political experts say rfk jr. faces an uphill battle to get on the ballot even in enough states to be considered a serious contender against president biden and former president trump. well, another story that we are tracking, the rain. a spring storm is headed our way. it's right on our doorstep in fact. you can see it in the radar behind me. it's also going to bring more snow to the sierra. some tahoe resorts are now extending the ski and boarding season. let's bring in our chief meteorologist, jeff ranieri. let's start with the rain in the bay area. >> yes. >> we got easter weekend coming up now. >> we do. >> this is an interesting forecast. take it away. >> all in all for easter, just to kind of get that out of the way, it's just a spotty chance for easter on sunday. >> great for the brunches then. >> exactly. but leading up to that, a little bumpy. a storm system is already

offshore. 9:00 tomorrow morning, some spotty rain for the north bay, northern coastline. it's really not going to pick up until tomorrow evening, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00. we'll get into the heaviest rounds of rain tomorrow night, 10:00, then this gets out of here as we head into thursday. rainfall totals tomorrow not extremely high. trace amounts to a quarter inch for most of us. north bay around millville will be in the half inch range. friday into saturday, a half to one inch with the coastline getting in on the higher totals of around one inch. >> enough to get our attention in the next couple of days. >> a lot of people still heading to tahoe to ski and snowboard. there's spring break coming up. people might even go skiing. >> it's going to be really good timing. the snow up in the sierra looks good for one to two inches in the highest levels.

kirkwood, 21 inches. kingvale, 22. that's total accumulations from tomorrow right through real if anyone's office next week, we're expecting some sunshine on monday, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. that's going to line up excellent. and look at the snowpack, okay? these numbers, wow. 115%, northern sierra. central sierra, 99%. southern sierra, 91%. after this storm everybody right now is going to be 100% and/or better. >> that's great. >> i know. we've got a few more seconds left. there's going to be a lot of numbers on this map. what you're looking at here is know going back to 2005. last time we had back-to-back above average snow years, 2010 and 2011. really from 2012 to, you know, 2022 -- >> those drought years, a lot of those. >> we only had two years in that time span above normal. and then now, 2023, 2024,

back-to-back, 100% and/or better. it's pretty rare what we're seeing right now after what we've been through over the past ten years. >> i'm a visual learner. i like these graphs. >> all right. >> thank you, jeff. you can stay on top of the weather in your neighborhood anytime, especially the next couple days when the rain is coming in and out. download our free nbc bay area app. just point the camera on your phone at the qr code on the left side of your screen, and it will take you right to our app. at this hour, the recovery has been called off for the night in baltimore. they'll resume in the morning, hoping to retrieve the bodies. six people are now presumed to be dead after last night's bridge collapse. an immediate question for us, could something like this happen here? the short answer, yes, but it's a lot less likely. the ship that hit the bay bridge years ago, but not nearly to the extent we're seeing in baltimore, we'll get to that part of it, the bay area concern, in just a moment. here's the latest now from maryland. this is the francis scott key

bridge. most of that bridge now rests after that massive cargo ship crashed into it. it happened overnight as the crew on board warned they lost power just minutes after taking off from the port of baltimore. watch it here. the mayday call gave police enough time to block traffic, but a construction crew sadly was still on the bridge as it collapsed. [ speaking in a global language ] that's jesus campos, a contractor who knew the workers, telling nbc news they were immigrants from mexico, guatemala, el salvador, and honduras. the governor of maryland says he's met with the families already, and he is not giving up hope for the survivors. >> the thing that continues to give me hope is a commitment that we made that we are a place where we say we leave no one behind. and we made that commitment to the families and we're going to continue searching. >> because of the darkness and

the chilly waters and the sharp edges from the debris, rescuers suspended the search tonight and will resume tomorrow morning. so what's the impact here and the safety of our bridges? you might recall in 2007, a cargo ship sideswiped a pier of the bay bridge. thankfully no deaths or significant damage to the bay bridge. bumpers on the bridge pier helped protect the structure. there are eight major bridges here in the bay area spanning the san francisco bay as well as richardson, san pablo, and suisun bays. what protections do they have? joining us now is a professor of civil engineering at construction at cal state east bay. professor, thanks for being with us. let's start locally here. we have these bumpers now on our bridges. you're the expert. please explain how do these work? >> so the way it work is that they try to steer you from

hitting the piers. but at the same time, if the force is straight, it will crumble much like a lot of devices that take the impact, absorb the impact by crumbling. so those are just part of the protection for the bridges. since the last incident, the bay area caltrans has also instituted some preventive measures, which include that, you know, in san francisco area, once the ships want to enter the bay, then they're boarded with san francisco bar pilot, which basically steers the vessel around the coastline and also the infrastructure. also for larger ships, there are

tugs that will escort them and prevent any collisions or problems of such magnitude. bay area's six major toll bridges have a fender system, which you mentioned. so these fender systems are a big protection. but the thing that i wanted to bring up, the main reason why this thing happened in baltimore was because of the fact that the power went out, and the hydraulic system steering of the ship locked and then basically the water current took the ship and rammed it into the pier. >> professor, if i could jump in here, did that bridge have those fenders like we have on our bay area bridges? and if it did -- >> as far as i know, it did not. and i think it also did not have

the steering situation. the other thing that they were lacking was in the bay area, if there is a mayday call coming in, the chp is alerted immediately, and they close the two sides of the bridge and vacate everybody off the bridge, which was not the case here because a lot of the workers, as you mentioned in your reporting, fell in the water, and some of them are still missing. and there were cars that also fell into the water. >> sure. final question for you. structurally speaking now, the key bridge in baltimore, it appeared to just fall almost instantly. it just kind of collapsed. can you explain how that happens? >> yes. so basically this ship rammed into the pier, which was one of the main supports, and then

shook that off, or i'm not sure how much damage was incurred. but basically this bridge is a very heavy bridge, carrying a lot of load. so once that support was compromised, then it was like a domino effect that the pieces, as you can see even in the film that has been released, started falling. >> it's stunning to see that. professor, we appreciate your time and your insight. thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. let's move on now. another high-profile politician is expected to run for mayor of san francisco. sources within the california democratic party tell us tonight they expect that san francisco supervisor aaron peskin will enter the mayoral race next month to challenge incumbent mayor london breed. the 59-year-old peskin has hinted a run for mayor in the past few months. today our senior investigative reporter bigad shaban -- you see

the two of them there -- asked him about his intentions. >> have you given any further thought about adding your name to the list? >> it's on my mind. i'm thinking about it. >> you feel like you're getting closer? >> i'm leaning in that direction. >> when do you think you might officially have a decision? >> it has to be before june 11th. that's the last day to decide. >> we'll see. again, we have heard that he will enter that race. if peskin does run, he's entering a crowded field. other challengers include nonprofit executive daniel lurie, san francisco supervisor asha satisfy yi, and board supervisor mark farrell. up next, we take you inside san quentin's death row. we're granted rare access before death row gets shut down. also, we sit down with giants pitcher logan webb ahead of opening d. you're wayat

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welcome back to "nbc bay area news tonight." san quentin's infamous death row is facing its own death sentence. last year the governor announced that it would transform the prison into a state-of-the-art rehabilitation center. now that transformation is under way. today we got a rare look inside death row. even though the state put a moratorium on executions back in 2019, prisoners who were sentenced to death are still being housed there. but by the end of this summer, all of those inmates will be relocated to other prisons

across the state. joining us now is nbc's jodi hernandez, who was inside san quentin today. jodi, nice to see you. what are conditions like inside death row? >> i'll tell you, it's really eerie to go inside death row. i've been to san quentin several times before through the years, including for a metallica concert. but this is the first time i've actually been inside the east block. you can see the images there. and, you know, we had pretty much free access to the whole bottom floor. you can see how these cells are stacked up on one another like sardines. i mean these cells are tiny. they're 4 by 10, and, you know, that's where the inmates spend their lives. they're there for 20 hours a day. sometimes they don't even get to get out. anytime they come out of their cell, they have to be handcuffed and escorted by at least one, usually two guards. so their whole existence, they

eat in the cell, they sleep in the cell. they do everything in the cell, hardly ever get out. so it was really eerie to think of all of the, you know, serial killers and famous folks that we've covered through the years, some of them being housed there. >> eerie and fascinating at the same time. can you walk me through this? are you walking with an escort, with some guards, and are the prisoners seeing you walk right by them? >> oh, yeah, they are. i mean we -- actually the security is very tight of course. we had to send in all of our information beforehand. and then when we went through, we had to show our ids to get onto the grounds and then sign in, and show our ids once again to get into the building. then they put a stamp on us that you could only see -- it's like an invisible stamp on our wrist that you could only see with a fluorescent light. they said that was our get out of jail card. so when we left, they, you know, scanned our wrist to see we were actually who we said we were.

so very, very tight security. and then, again, going to the east block and going inside the east block, it was something else. >> did you chat with some of the prisoners, or maybe did they chat with you? >> we did. they actually had several of the prisoners sort of pre-screened, ones they knew would be willing to talk to us. and they were in, like -- i would describe them as cages, like these small cages, sitting there. and so we interviewed several of them, including i interviewed a triple -- somebody who was sentenced to death for a triple murder. another former white supremacy gang member. he had swastikas and tattoos all over his face and body. he was convicted of killing a fellow gang member. i interviewed somebody who had killed somebody else in prison. and then i interviewed another man, really interesting, actually who was in his cell and kind of caught our attention, wanted to talk. he's actually written ten books

inside his cell while on death row. he's been there for over 20 years and has seen fellow inmates executed, has lived through that scary situation of saying goodbye to some of his friends. but he has two degrees. he's written ten books, and all of these guys are really looking forward to getting out, to leaving and being transferred to these different facilities across the state. >> when you say getting out, they're not going to be paroled, they're just getting out of san quentin. >> no. they'll still be condemned. their sentence doesn't change. they're still condemned. but as you know, there's a moratorium on the death penalty. nobody has been executed in the state of california since 2006. but they are being transferred to other facilities where they will be free to sort of be mainstreamed with the rest of the population. they'll be able to do like work programs and training, and

they'll be able to also pay restitution, work and pay restitution to their victims. so they're going to have a lot more freedom. they'll be able to go to the cafeteria. they won't be handcuffed all the time. so they see that as a real positive sign. i mean all of them obviously are hoping that their fate -- they'll never have to go through that fate eventually, but they're all looking at this as a positive sign that maybe they won't have to do that. but of course everything can change if we get a new governor. >> you've been a reporter for many years. i'm guessing this day stands out to you. jodi, appreciate it. thank you. >> it really does. i've been outside the facility during executions, and now i've been inside death row. >> thank you, jodi. let's move on now. one last dress rehearsal before opening day. the giants and a's are playing their final exhibition game tonight at oracle park before the real season starts on thursday. the a's open up at the coliseum against the guardians. the giants open up on the road in san diego on thursday. and logan webb will be the

starting pitcher. last year's cy young award winner runner-up is the leader of the squad. >> i think the attention to detail and being professional, the amount of respect you got to show for everybody in the club, that's the thing i learned the most from those guys. you guys have been in the clubhouse with these guys before. it's the same with talk about guys like buster, alex cobb with us still. they do everything the right way. no nonsense, and you have fun while you do it. that's kind of what i've learned and what i try to help out with the young guys as much as i can. >> you can watch more of tt hain

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welcome back. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri with a quick weather update. here's what's coming our way. we're tracking this storm system moving down the coastline from tomorrow right through sunday. it's going to keep these on again, off again chances of rain, even the possibility of thunderstorms in the mix for us. so through tomorrow morning, we'll begin with a spotty rain chance. temperatures in the 40s. a cooler afternoon with some rainfall picking up through the afternoon and evening. and some upper 50s and low 60s. so on that rain timeline, a few spotty showers for the morning commute. but by the evening, right around 6:00, 7:00, and 8:00, that rain picks up and would continue through 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night. so overall totals tomorrow, trace to a quarter inch for most

of us although the north bay would be in that quarter to half inch rain. we'd see a second round friday and saturday with a half to one inch. on the seven-day forecast, just a spotty chance of a few isolated thunderstorms on easter sunday, and we dry it out next monday and tuesday. those temps looking a lot better once we get to next monday and tuesday. >> next week is the payoff. coming up tonight at 11:00, another effort to recall governor newsom. the green light the group just got from the state of california. that's coming up on our 11:00 news. that's going to do it for us here at 7:00. for everyone here at nbc bay area, including our producer, alicia corso, thanks for joining us. we hope you enjoy your evening.

tonight on "access hollywood" -- >> the aftermath of the raids on two of sean "diddy" combs's mansions. have federal authorities found what they're looking for? and what's