>> fema san francisco well, residents and business owners flocked to a giant block party in san francisco. >> organizers hoping the event marks a major boost for the city's economy. it is a new monthly event called downtown first thursdays. hello again. >> i'm claudine wong and i'm mike mibach, the mission behind the event to help revitalize a neighborhood struggling to recover from the pandemic. ktvu is. amber lee spoke with some residents tonight who said san francisco is back. you in my life want to feel alive. >> live music featuring a luna, an english singer and dj on the main stage designed to bring life back to downtown san francisco, this is the first of 12 monthly block parties known as first thursdays, held along second street from market to howard. i'm working nearby and i just heard, like, all these, loud music and stuff, and then i looked outside. >> well, this this is a big

event here. so i walked down. >> looks good. >> a screen printing booth by evolved sf, an art gallery in the mission district, attracted many with the offer to choose a design and help create it on a free tote bag to take home. >> i think it's amazing. i mean, i'm a student. i like to have fun. on thursday nights. it's really fun to just see the community. >> spin a nearby ping pong social club, offered free matches with its staff members. winners get swag, a way to generate business. >> i only wanted this one. okay, there you go, man. all right. thank you. hey, of course. viva san francisco! >> a toast to san francisco and the organizers of this event. hybrid workers say spring is in the air. and this giant block party is a way to celebrate the end of their workweek in the office. >> and i'm glad that they're doing it on a thursday, not friday, because most of my coworkers, like we don't go into the office on mondays and fridays. >> the diverse food offerings

are a major attraction. one man tells me he enjoys oakland's first fridays and wants to see what san francisco has. first thursdays offers. >> the pandemic measures. they set us back so they're just trying to bring us out, and this is a good way to start. it's all positivity. we got little ones out here. they got old ones out here, you name it. >> for the adults, this was definitely a san francisco style street party with drag queen performances. organizers estimate that up to 20,000 people attended the event. if you missed this one, there is always first thursdays next month in san francisco. amber lee, ktvu, fox two news well over 200 volunteers stepped out of their offices today and out into san francisco's sunny downtown to clean up the city streets and parks. >> jp morgan chase, the gap, levi strauss, visa and wells fargo all came together to build this downtown volunteer coalition. each company brought

50 volunteers. they collected trash, cleared pathways and weeded green spaces. one leader with refuse refuse, a grassroots organization that helps clean the city, says they're also benefiting from today's volunteer work. >> in addition to all the volunteers that they're able to do to bring out. just having them there to show, you know, be public facing and showing other companies that, you know, you can be involved and make a difference in your community. leading by example, the head of san francisco's office of workforce and economic development was at that inaugural cleanup and said this kind of community engagement is exactly what the city wants to see in its businesses. >> new at 11 members of the california fast food workers union held a strike at a mcdonald's on jackson street in oakland. the union posted this video to x workers saying that they've complained about working conditions, including an alleged rat infestation. they're now demanding that the company take

action to clean the restaurant. >> a car robbery right outside of an oakland daycare center. when the owner went out to check what was happening, the suspects pulled a gun. ktvu zac sos details that incident, which was all caught on camera. >> any situation like that, you kind of just think about what could have happen. like, you know what if he just decided to fire? it was around seven in the morning last thursday when jelani baines says two masked men rolled up to his mother's east oakland daycare, their surveillance cameras capturing it all, popped a window, took the window out inside his mother, krishna hamilton, her daughter's camaro parked outside. >> they kind of rumbled when you hear the engine start up. so that's how you know the vehicle's being started. >> her assistant, who was too shaken to appear on camera, opening the front door to check on the car to find a gun pointed in her direction. >> it was really early in the morning, so i don't think it was too many kids inside at the time. but you know, bullets have no names on them, so if he would

have started shooting it would it would be terrible. >> the assistant running back inside. >> we have signs in the front of our daycare that say 24 hour child care. and we had parents scheduled to be coming at any moment thankful no one was hurt, but worried about the future. i fear for my life. i fear continuing to have my business in a space where i don't feel comfortable and safe. >> as for her daughter, she's ready to move out of oakland. all the equipment she works with as a professional hairstylist was in the trunk. >> oakland is missing out on the new business owner, who won't be opening up her business in oakland. >> she'll be taking it elsewhere as oakland released new data thursday reporting overall crime in the city down 33% compared to last year. >> i wouldn't say the crime rate is down. i think the way things are reported might be a little different. >> jelani and his mothers view many neighbors have just given up reporting everyday crime. >> it really hurts because we love oakland. we love being here

. but something has to happen, you know, because it's getting out of control. >> her message to city leaders. >> we've got to see more police presence. we've got to see more community engagement with the police. we've got to see these criminals get off the street. >> and it turns out this is not even the first time they've had a family car stolen. they say it has happened three times before. so they say frankly, they are not expecting to get their daughter's car back in oakland, zac sos. ktvu fox two news. the san mateo county sheriff's office will hold a gun buyback event saturday. >> the buyback provides community members an anonymous option to turn in firearms. they no longer want to keep anyone can surrender weapons, no questions asked. members of the community can receive $50 cash for nonfunctioning firearms, $100 cash for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and $200 in cash for assault weapons. ghost guns will also be accepted for 200. the event will be held at the north county courthouse parking lot in

south san francisco. >> all right. we turn now to the protests that have taken over college campuses across the nation. on the right side of your screen, you can see right there ucla. that's where hundreds of students were taken into custody overnight on campus. that was after a nearly nine hour standoff. law enforcement officers breach and dismantled a pro-palestinian encampment, bringing an end to a week long protest. lapd saying in that case, they made 210 arrests, all for failure to disperse. those protesters were released this afternoon with fellow demonstrators welcoming them out. now, on this side of your screen, you see, you see berkeley demonstrators there have remained peaceful. and that's despite the number of tents at uc berkeley multiplying . protesters at cal, like others nationwide, are calling on universities to divest from israel. these protests all do have that in common. demonstrators are questioning

how universities invest their money. charlie eaton is an associate professor of sociology at uc merced. he wrote a book on endowments at colleges and universities and says the system as it stands now is unequal and lacking in transparency, and says the tie between higher education and wall street can be traced back to the 1980s. >> part of it was that wall street had new ideas for how to make more money, and in the 60s, universities and even our elite schools like stanford might be hard to imagine today. but stanford in some ways was strapped for cash in the 60s and early 70s. they started looking for a different model for how to grow their endowments when they were struggling with inflation. and then wall street came up with these new techniques for making money, private equity and hedge funds. for the last 40 years, it was mostly about how do we get the highest returns to grow our endowment, and it's more recently that campus communities have started saying, is it just about maximizing

returns, or do we also need to think about how do we apply our values to what we invest in and so we've had in recent years, for example, divestment from fossil fuels, the university of california system, which has over $150 billion in assets under management across its endowments and its hedge funds, that's our system. the uc system decided to divest from fossil fuels in 2020, and sold off over $1 billion in fossil fuel assets . >> eaton says that, in part, was driven by advocacy from uc faculty groups, and scrutinee does continue to grow. in 2018, congress also passed a tax on the wealthiest endowments. and of course, student protesters continue to question and ask for both transparency and accountability as well. >> student protesters at cal say they've actually had meetings with university officials. the students are calling the university to review all of its investments and cutting ties with any weapons manufacturers related to the israeli military.

>> we've met with all, all sorts of people. chancellor christ, the staff. i'm not sure about the positions of each of these people, but like it's in progress, all these companies that are profiting off the war. >> so the primary ask is complete divestment from blackrock, just to take our money, our tuition, our taxes away from these companies that are making money off the blood of the people of gaza. >> university officials have not commented on the divestment issue in tonight's west coast rap. >> a beloved monk seal giving birth to a pup in hawaii. why? it marks a major milestone for a species in danger. plus just continuing to, you know, kind of put softball out there, in the ways we can as players. >> women's sports continues to grow in popularity. how stanford's softball team is paving the way for the sport and its push for the playoffs and high traces of lead still found

in our drinking water. >> how the biden

first responders were initially called to the home where they learned that two toddlers had fallen into the pool. officials say their father stepped in and was performing cpr on the children. it is still unclear how long the toddlers were in

the pool before paramedics arrived. paramedics rushed the little girls to the hospital, where they unfortunately died in the state of oregon. >> dozens of police vehicles were damaged or even destroyed during a possible arson attack at the portland police training facility. firefighters got those first calls at 2:00 this morning, and when they arrived, at least 15 vehicles were on fire. all of the damage was inside a fenced off area. no one was hurt. a large propane tank was found beside two of the burning vehicles. authorities have not identified any suspects and the fire remains under investigation. >> one of hawaii's beloved monk seals, named kiwi birthed her six cup pup yesterday on kaimana beach in oahu. residents and visitors flocked to the beach to get a look at the pup, but the new pup is also getting some special attention from wildlife organizations as the monk seal species is highly endangered. hawaiian marine animal response members have put up fencing and posted signs to block off people from getting too close to the seal, and her pup, which could

endanger them or the animals. monks seal harassment is a class c felony and can result in up to a year in prison. >> hawaiian monk seals are one of the most endangered seal species in the entire world, and they're only found here in hawaii. >> this is their area. we share it with them. so be mindful of any signage, any barrier to areas. >> a portion of that beach is going to remain closed for the next 5 to 7 weeks, as officials monitor the endangered monk seals, hawaiian marine animal response says kiwi almost always weans or leaves her pups at about six weeks peak pupping season for oahu is usually between april and september. this is the third pup that she's given birth to on that beach, and you can hear about the west coast top stories everyeekday right here on ktvu. >> west coast rap with alex savage airs 7:00 monday through friday, or you can find round the clock coverage at west coast rap .com. as the popularity of

women's college sports continues to rise, stanford softball team hoping to keep this momentum rolling. >> new tonight ktvu bailey o'carroll spoke with the team about how they hope their program will pave the way for softball players. >> it's an unbelievable time to be a female athlete right now and we've got some great products, on the court on the diamond, jessica allister, a stanford alum, is now in her sixth season as head coach of the university's powerhouse softball program. >> this season, her fifth ranked cardinal are headed into their final homestand friday with a pac 12 tournament and women's college world series. not far off, but she wants her team to focus on the task at hand. >> and we got all sorts of end goals. but if you start looking too far into the future, you're not going to take care of the work in front of you off the diamond. >> it's a unique time for alistair's team, and they know that. >> i think it can really get to a point where, softball does become a big of a sport, as it should be. >> tv viewership of women's sports is at an all time high. cherry topped by an unprecedented 103% jump in

viewership for the ncaa women's college basketball tournament. just last month. now, stanford's softball is hoping their sport carries the torch. >> they say there's two kinds of fans. there's softball fans and fans that haven't watched softball yet. and i believe that across women's sports, across all platforms, last postseason viewership of the women's college world series fell 4. >> the sport was also dropped from the 2024 olympics, though it will be back in 2028 for the games in los angeles. alistair thinks the key to growing the game is simple build it and they'll come as they continue to build stadiums that have bigger capacities and more people can come and see games. >> i think that's a big piece of it. you're starting to see programs really, invest in their women's softball programs. >> in the meantime, her focus is on this squad and seeing just how deep of a postseason run they can make. i feel an obligation to fight for the young women on my roster and to take great care of the program

and if that means knocking on a lot of doors to make sure they're getting all the resources they need in order to be successful. >> it's not something i'm scared of. >> stanford getting set to host their last series of the regular season. that's tomorrow here against oregon. up next, a week from today, they will host the last ever pac 12 tournament. and then they await their fate when it comes to the ncaa selection sunday is on march 12th at stanford. i'm bailey o'carroll, ktvu fox two news. >> all right. a big time step for public transit across two bay area cities. the latest on the vta extension and a new exhibit showcasing san francisco through music. >> what to expect of the exhibit and when it's available to see. >> and in the words of the observant mike mibach, here we have a sliver of fog that is drifting underneath the golden gate bridge and look at that, mike. they just took it away from me. they're hanging me out to dry. >> no fog in downtown, though. >> oh, but see that pink highlighted city hall will tell

you why that is all lit up and adorned in pink. that's all

to identify and replace lead pipes in california. the epa says millions of people are still drinking water that passes through those lead pipes that they say can actually lead to negative health effects, including high blood pressure and heart disease in adults. the sea lions are packing it in out at san francisco's pier 39. skyfox flew the city's northern waterfront today, and according to officials, the sea lion count is the highest it's been here in 15 years, with about 900 sea lions spread out on those docks.

officials say that's due to an abundant supply of anchovy in the bay. and because of that steady food supply, the sea lions are extra active and very playful. right now. >> so, mike, don't ask for any anchovies on your pizza. not at all. you're not going? >> not at all. >> they're not sharing, not taking it from them. okay. and to repeat, in the words of the observant mike mibach at this hour, we do have a little sliver of fog that's laying low underneath the golden gate bridge. yeah, that's what you're going to wake up to tomorrow morning. might obscure a little bit of visibility next to the seashore. other than that, we are monitoring this right there. right now. it's an area of low pressure. it is a cold front. it's not characteristic for this time of the year. and this system here, it's going to provide a big punch here in the bay area on saturday. and a lot of colder air mass as well. so don't get me wrong, tomorrow is going to be a gorgeous day very similar to today, but things change in a hurry for your

saturday. we are banking on anywhere from a half to a full inch of rain in the bay area on saturday, primarily through the morning hours. here it goes. here's our future cast. here's your friday evening. the clouds begin to descend on the peninsula. this is the frontal boundary as it slices through the north bay before sun up on saturday. sunrise is at 609, so it's going to rain out. all those little league baseball games on saturday. then it slices to the south behind it here. a lot of instability, a lot of cooler air mass and then a renegade shower here and there behind the initial front. so bank on a shower throughout the afternoon hours into the evening. but we clear out for your sunday. we will allude to it as partly to mostly cloudy. meanwhile, what does this do to the tahoe area? we're talking about a foot of snow in the highest elevation, perhaps as much as six inches at lake level. tonight with a few clouds and the areas of fog next to the seashore. temperatures into the

50s. tomorrow, just maybe a degree or two cooler than what we experienced today. and yes, still blustery with those westerlies 10 to 20mph. and here we go. we're talking about a shot of winter returning to the bay area on saturday for cinco de mayo. partly cloudy conditions and then really nice conditions except for the allergies on monday and tuesday. >> all right. thank you roberta. well, new at 11. the vta took a significant step tonight in making the second phase of the bart silicon valley extension become a reality with nine votes in favor. the vta board of directors agreed to purchase 48 railcars that will carry weekday passengers to destinations throughout the bay area. when that bart extension is finished, the cars are expected to carry over 54,000 passengers each day of service. completing this extension project will complete a transit ring around the bay area. a popular light installation coming back to the bay bridge when we should expect

the light show to shine once again. but first, here's a quick look at the sunset from earlier tonight. what a gorgeous look over the estuary, the sky turning into that beautiful orange for that beautiful sunset you're watching the 11:00 news on ktvu and we'll be right back

future is our future installation went up with 12 historical markers highlighting the importance of climate solutions. also, new public pianos are out there across the promenade, with two more on the

way the pop up beer and wine garden relaunching on may 25th. there will also be interactive games and live music. frozen dessert truck g's freeze is now stationed right across from the conservatory of flowers, open thursday to sunday. the owner, gail hart, is a city native and grew up going to the hamilton recreation center. >> also new at 11. a new exhibit is debuting at the sfmoma this saturday on the museum's free community day. the art of noise focuses on the visual artifacts of the city's shared musical experience. there are over 500 concert posters featured on a floor to ceiling display, and music lovers can also check out 100 years of design history for products like headphones and speakers. a museum curator tells us what he hopes attendees get out of that exhibit today. >> it's very easy to take music for granted. sometimes we're able to carry around an infinite amount of music in our pockets, but to be reminded of where we've come from and that arc of evolution, and also within the exhibition to explore some

exceptionally high fidelity music playback and some special, rarified opportunities for listening. i think that's very exciting. >> the 840 object art of noise exhibit is going to run at the moma through august 18th. >> two u.s. senators introduced bipartisan legislation today that would honor the first black woman elected to congress, california senator laphonza butler, and georgia's raphael warnock, each introduced legislation to posthumously recognize congresswoman shirley chisholm. she was elected in 1968 and represented new york for seven terms. now, during her time in congress, she focused on issues of gender and racial equality. she did die in 2005. senator butler's legislation would endow chisholm with congress highest award for her. activism and legacy. warnock's legislation would commission and place a permanent statue of her at a public place in the us

capitol. >> the popular bay bridge lights will be returning early next year. the organization behind that art installation said today. it has secured the funding to turn that light display back on. those lights went dark more than a year ago because of maintenance issues, and since then, more than $10 million has been raised to revive the installation. earlier on the four, we spoke with ben davis, the founder of illuminate, the nonprofit behind those bay bridge lights. >> it won't look substantially different, but it may look a little bit more mature and beautiful. but what's really exciting is we're we're doubling the number of leds. we're actually going to still be on the western span, on the northern edge of the bay bridge, but we're going to wrap around the cables with a light node on each side. so you'll still have the same view into san francisco and the north bay. but the idea here is, as a matter of esthetic equity, we invite all the other communities around the bay area to join in the money raised for the project was all donated. >> those lights are set to be installed and turned back on next march. i'm excited for that.

>> yeah, i wish they could flip the switch right now, but we'll wait. takes a minute. we'll wait a year. i know, know, i'm a fan of them. thank you for watching everybody. happy early weekend. have a great day tomorrow. our next newscast, don't forget, is mornings on two. >> that starts at ur. and you hello. i'm dave clark. thank you for joining us. welcome to like it or not. it's a show where our panel weighs in on everything from major controversies to some of those daily annoyances. we will tackle a topic each person will let us know whether they likeit or not, and i'm here with some of the best people in the world. the smartest people in our building. well i'm just telling you, amanda quintana and andre senior. they know things they i. i followed their lead and i'm you a couple of questions. just us talking here. how do you feel