the conflict in the middle east has directly impacted our schools. students right now at 11 berkeley school leaders are in the hot seat as house republicans ask about accusations of anti-semitism in

elementary and secondary schools in berkeley, what the school superintendent says the district's doing to keep children safe. thanks for joining us this midday. it is wednesday i'm kris sanchez and i'm chris kamara. we're going to get to that story in just a moment. but first san jose firefighters are at sunrise middle school because multiple people say they are having difficulty breathing. nbc bay area's ian cull joins us now live from the scene. ian, i understand that there are students who are being treated right now. do we know what their condition is? yeah, we understand that. two of those students were transported to the hospital for further evaluation. one was released to their parents after being looked at here, but it has been an extremely busy morning here at sunrise middle school in just the past hour and a half. that is starting to resolve luckilly as we speak and things are getting back to normal here on campus. after firefighters were

called to the scene around 930 to reports that students were having difficulty breathing. now the principal tells me about 24 kids were inside of a classroom, and when they walked in about half of them started coughing. so they all left the class and one of the teachers called the fire department. i believe the principal says that most of them started feeling better right away, but three students still didn't feel well and continue to cough, she says. parents two parents asked that their child get taken to the hospital for further evaluation. the other was released to their parents. she believes a neighboring empty science classroom, which has some chemicals stored in it for experiments, may have been emitting some sort of odor, which caused it. firefighters are still trying to figure out what exactly that was, but i will tell you, the fire department i'm going to read here from twitter. they just tweeted out a minute ago that the classroom was contained, elevated levels of co2 and the hazmat team was able to check for numerous other airborne contaminants, all of which were

negative. so the source appears to be co2 at this. at this moment. but again, they're continuing their investigation and luckily the classrooms now are returning to normal here. and everything that was causing those kids to cough has been aired out of the classroom. so a very busy hour and a half here at sunrise middle school that luckily is starting to clear up. guys, not the kind of morning parents want to have, but luckily those kids are safe now. thank you very much. ian. two of four men originally charged with murder in a 2021 drive by shooting were sentenced to lesser punishment this morning in contra costa county. it's part of a landmark case involving the racist text scandal at antioch police department, and it likely won't be the last case impacted. nbc bay area's tom jensen was in the courtroom. tom good morning. chris. yeah, the two suspects in this case got long sentences, no doubt today, but definitely nothing like the life sentences they faced for the killings. if they would have gone forward to trial. 23 year-old, terry and

deshawn pugh and 25 year-old eric james windham entered no contest. pleas to manslaughter and attempted murder rather than murder charges. earlier this week, allowing for those reduced sentences. today, agreements that were struck after the court learned antioch officers involved in the text racist text scandal exchanged dozens of racist text messages about these four suspects. prosecutors and legal analysts say it's the first real test of california's racial justice act in a major case. it's extremely upsetting to the family of the victim who spoke before the sentences were handed down. this is what the victim's mom had to say after the sentencing. we feel like we paid for what the antioch police department did. so it really wasn't any justice. the time that they'll get is not that much time for what they the crime. if you guys look into it and see what happened, the decision was just horrible. but i did understand what he was saying and it could have went. they could have dropped the

case. it's basically what he was saying. so the time that they are getting, it's like we should be grateful, but we're still just my baby's gone. you know? judge david goldstein said it's not right that so much attention has been placed on the racist texts and not on 22 year-old arnold hawkins death and his family. but he agreed to sign the sentencing agreement, saying these might be the longest sentences possible, even if they went to trial. considering the existence of those racist messages, which no doubt would be brought up during court as evidence, the other two suspects are supposed to be back in court for their sentencing on friday. we're live in martinez. tom jensen nbc, bay area news. thank you very much. so anti-semitism on school campuses is front and center on capitol hill district leaders and the superintendent of berkeley unified are all detailing how the conflict in the middle east is impacting our students, even the ones that are not protesting. yeah, nbc bay area's ginger conejero saab is live in san francisco, following

this for us, ginger protests and confrontations on college campuses are one thing, but the focus today is elementary and high school kids. is that right? that is correct, chris. you know, we have the attention of so many people lawmakers, school officials, parents and families because this does have to do with younger children. this morning, district leaders from across the nation, including berkeley, new york city, as well as suburban d.c, they testified at a house committee hearing to accusations of anti-semitism in elementary and secondary schools. berkeley superintendent nikki afford morsel answering to those made under her jurisdiction. she testified that nine incidents alleging anti-semites ism have been reported since october 7th within berkeley unified, but she says it is not pervasive within the district. she defends actiol officials to investigate to and even redirect students. but she also spoke about how deeply the

war is impacting those in her school communities. berkeley born israeli american hirsch goldberg, poland, was kidnaped on october 7th. members of our community where tape on their shirts with the number of days he and other hostages have been held captive. today is day 214, says board morsel says berkeley unified's actions have been at times misunderstood, saying nondisclosure and protecting their students does not mean non-action. now this comes one day after the us department of education said in a letter that it is investigating berkeley unified for allegations of discrimination based on shared jewish ancestry or being israeli. we are reaching out to berkeley school leaders for comment on that investigation. now, speaking of the board of education, the office of civil rights is responsible for answering to reported incidents of hate or discrimination. they reported and recorded, i'm sorry, recorded 19,000 complaints in 2023. that is

record setting. and this year alone, they say that they're already up 36. so we do know that this is a pervasive problem nationwide and needs to be addressed. hopefully those school leaders testifying there at the hill can really aid lawmakers in creating the proper legislation to offer that kind of support. kris. all right. thank you so much, ginger. so as that hearing happens on capitol hill, less than three miles away at george washington university, a pro-palestine encampment is now gone from campus early this morning, at least two police officers used pepper spray, and others were arresting at least three dozen protesters. some of the protesters who were not arrested gathered outside the police department to demand the release of the detained people. a protesters at uc berkeley and stanford continue to decry israel's new incursion in rafah, calling for their school's divestment from israel. hundreds of people rallied at cal's sproul plaza and at stanford.

palestinian supporters held what they called an all out for rafah rally. new at 11 here at home, a disturbing case on the peninsula . a redwood city paramedic is now charged with assaulting an elderly woman in the back of an ambulance. two years ago, the san mateo county district attorney's office says 35 year old miguel ontiveros was on duty with a partner in december 2022. they were dispatched to a nursing home in colma to transport a 76 year old woman who had fallen well. investigators say during that drive, ontivero sexually assaulted the woman in the back of the ambulance while his partner drove the vehicle. now, they say his partner didn't see anything happen, but discovered his partner dressing when they arrived. ontiveros is also accused of a similar assault against an 80 year old patient about six months before that, we're told he's now pleading no contest to sexual assault and battery charges. is currently in jail and is likely to stay there because bail is set at $3 million. a new plan of action to

tackle the big money mess of the san francisco unified school district. the state education department is temporarily taking control of distric spending, and last night that team presented to the school board at overall declining enrollment and millions of dollars in lost state and federal funding are to blame. now, a corrective plan has to be in place by the end of next month. the school district says it has eliminated some job openings, and they are trying to identify schools for possible closure in order to help save money. new details and new help. san mateo county is set to fund a new housing project for the families displaced by last year's mass shooting in half moon bay. a gunman killed seven farm workers there. well, last night the board of supervisors voted to grant nearly $6 million for the project. the money will be used to purchase manufactured homes for farm workers. the 19 families displaced by the shooting get priority. at least

28 units of the new stone pine cove neighborhood will be set aside for them in one richmond neighborhood. public works crews are still working to mop up an early morning water main break. there it is. the main ruptured sometime around five this morning at 47th and carlson boulevard. a flood sent mud and water onto surrounding streets. crews even closed carlson boulevard. about 20 customers are without water right now. officials tell us the water should be back on by 6:00 tonight. that is a rough way to start the day. let's move on to this. maybe a better way to start the day. this is from our bay bridge camera, emeryville camera looking over toward the bay bridge and you can't tell it from that picture, carrie. but it is toasty. yeah, it's starting to warm up very quickly out there. we did have our nice cool morning, but we're already starting to feel that warmth as we approach our lunch hour. and by the afternoon, you'll notice that it's definitely warmer compared to yesterday and windy, with some of our gusts up to 45mph tomorrow. some of our

valleys will hit highs near 90 degrees and 80s for the coast as well as the bays. and this weekend the heat continues in the valleys, while the coast will get a little bit of relief. today we're going to see san francisco in the mid 70s, upper 70s for oakland, as well as upper 70s for the tri valley. tomorrow is when we hit those upper 80s and that continues into the weekend. we'll talk more about this and a look at the rest of the forecast coming up in a few minutes. chris eats weather. carrie, thanks very much, stanislaus county prosecutors are reportedly shooting down a request from la's innocence project to conduct new dna tests to win a new trial for scott peterson. peterson's team is making the request as part of a series of hearings surrounding a possible new trial. or at least they want one. peterson is serving a life sentence in prison for murdering his wife, laci, and their unborn son more than 20 years ago. his attorneys are hoping this. they want to retest evidence, including a mattress found in a van. well, the modesto bee

reports prosecutors responded last week claiming previous testing not only rules out laci's dna, but matches a male profile not a female profile. the new response also calls the latest hearings a fishing expedition in search of a boat. the next hearing is scheduled for may 29th. a georgia state court of appeals says it will consider an appeal from former president donald trump to disqualify district attorney fani willis from his criminal case. willis is overseeing the 2016 election interference charges against the former president, trump's lawyer said the willis should be disqualified for her misconduct in the case, and now trump's attorneys have ten days to file that appeal. and we are helping you to connect with your teen when it comes to their mental health ahead on nbc bay area the steps one psychologist says we can take even if we think they don't want to talk with us. plus first order, of course, when he gets in, it's always about

bringing down crime rates. oakland's mayor goes one on one with laura garcia to see how the mayor is pledging to move the city and its small businesses forward amid a leadership change in the police department, oakland mayor shengtao speaks out just days before the city's new police chief assumes his new role. we'll be right back

when it comes to the leadership of its embattled police department. a new permanent police chief is waiting in the wings. our regular nbc bay area anchor, laura garcia, joins us now with more. new chief floyd mitchell officially takes the reins on saturday. that's 15 months since the firing of leronne armstrong, an oakland mayor. shengtao says that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to oakland turning the corner on its recent troubles. i sat down with her virtually to learn more about the future

plans for the city, and why she believes things are on their way up and to her, it all starts with lower crime rates. overall crime in the city of oakland is down by more than 30% compared to year to date. last year. specifically we are seeing reductions in homicides by 17. robberies are slightly up by 6. however, that number is starting to flatten out since mid-february. she credits the crime drop to several things, but it certainly got a big boost when governor newsom greenlighted added assistance from the chp. our ceasefire strategy and in our partnership with chp, it really involves multiple jurisdictions, right? everybody has to be operating at a high level and functioning together in order for the strategy to work. and we're seeing that it is paying off other priorities going forward include boosting efforts to clean up blight and illegal dumping, even a new tree planting push to bring the magic back to oakland and boost small business in the process. the

people here in the city of oakland, we love our city, and we know that we go through bad times and good times of what have you, but it is nothing compared to what we are seeing consistently, which is consistent negativity. when there are so many great things happening, we have hundreds of new small businesses opening up and for generations now, our small businesses in the city of oakland is our backbone. the mayor tells us the incoming chief is already working with opd's interim chief and other department leaders to get up to speed on the city's new crime fighting strategies. still the goal continues to be not just flattening out those crime rates , but possibly eliminating them. laura, thanks very much. yeah. all right. so new this morning. may is mental health awareness month. and we're focused on our teens and tweens and middle school which is a tough task. it is such a hard time for them. but a new study by the kaiser family foundation shows they are particularly struggling right now with their mental health. 42% of teenagers who took the

survey reported feelings of sadness and hopelessness, but only 20% report getting therapy to improve their mental health and only 14% report taking prescription medication for their symptoms. a harvard study found that nearly half of teenagers want parents to reach out more and talk to them about how they're doing and how they're feeling, but sometimes it's like hugging a porcupine. so you might be saying, i don't know if my teenager wants that. a psychologist says they do. they just want you to listen. if your child does come to you with something, or you're asking a question, you got to listen to the answer. and you may not like what they're saying. you may be concerned about what they're saying, rightfully so. but in that moment, if you just listen, it will give you so much capital later on to have the conversation that you want to have with them later. my kids say, don't turn this into a life lesson. right now. i'm like, okay, we'll do it later. if you

need help getting started, you can go to sound it out together. org to learn more about emotional well-being and some of the best ways to communicate with your teen next hour. new at 11. city leaders in the south bay are delivering on a promise to make a neighborhood green one tree at a time. san jose mayor matt mahan and council member omar torres are behind this initiative. they are planting trees on south almaden avenue in the willow business district. this is part of a request from businesses to help counteract heat with shade and make the streets more walkable, more vibrant. mayor mahan says this is an important small step to help small businesses in the area. the business association in this neighborhood literally feels the heat, raising concerns last year about high summer temps impacting their day to day lives and activities. for all of us, high temps may mean the difference between supporting our small local businesses,

getting out into the community and building connections, or staying inside. now, the city is planning to plant 29 trees across the neighborhood in order to help combat that upcoming summer. heat and trees just make things look better and feel better, too. yeah, but there's just so much research around what trees do in urban areas. those are really actionable steps that we hope to see more cities doing. so that'd be great. it's good to see that happening and it's going to be turning quite hot here over the next couple of days as we get a look at our current temperatures. we're right now in the low 70s, and this is actually closer to our normal high temperature for this time in may. so we're already 1213 degrees warmer than yesterday at this time. and as those temperatures are ramping up, we're also seeing a mostly clear sky across the bay area with low 70s and many spots. but we also have a wind advisory that will be in effect for these areas, and that will continue until 8:00 tomorrow morning. we'll have a northerly wind coming in

15 to 25mph, and some of those gusts up to 45. so let's time it out. we're going to see the winds at 2 to 3:00 today in parts of the north bay, 15 to 20mph, even up to 30mph for some of those upper elevations. and it does stay windy as we go into this evening, into tomorrow morning. and we'll even feel it in the valleys and along the coastline. but much of that wind coming through the sacramento valley and through the delta, and then moving through the bay as well. so it's going to be windy and warm as our temperatures head for the upper 70s and low 80s. let's check out tomorrow. you've been looking at that 7-day forecast at the bottom of the screen tomorrow we'll be in the low 80s for the peninsula and the coastline and the inland valleys in the upper 80s. but then take a look at friday. we're going to see highs near 90 degrees. so really hot temperatures in a few spots, but well above average temperatures for the south bay, the east bay into the north bay. so let's check out walnut creek and what

to expect. ten days out. will there be a cool down? well, it's going to take a while. we're still in the 80s all throughout much of next week until the end of next week. so our 7-day forecast shows that as you're making mother's day plans, it will still be quite warm with some low 80s. you'll want to get out there early while it's still nice and mild. at least we do have our cool mornings, but our afternoon temperatures will be in the upper 80s throughout the end of the week into the weekend, and just slightly cooler early next week. while san francisco will see temperatures in the mid 70s today, we're peaking tomorrow close to 80 degrees, and then we'll get just enough of an ocean breeze to bring down those temperatures for the weekend into early next week. and mother's day is looking nice with highs in the upper 60s, and we'll see that again. also on monday and tuesday. back to you, carrie. thanks. perfect for mother's day brunch happening now. a potentially life saving change for bay area firefighters. just received a preliminary green light from san francisco leaders. supervisors voted unanimously to ban pfas,

or forever chemicals in crews. protective gear. as our investigative unit has shown, studies suggest jackets and pants that firefighters wear are made with materials proven to cause cancer. well, if the san francisco plan clears another vote, the ban would be the first of its kind in the country. current uniforms would be phased out over the next two

in san francisco beginning at sunset. the laser beam you see here will begin shooting into the sky at telegraph hill. the blue green beam is the brainchild of barrett lyon, who is the ceo of mega laser and the cto of tasl, which is a digital data security company that display falls in line with the san francisco cybersecurity conference, which is happening this week at the moscone center and things are also looking up for the san jose sharks. they got the number one draft pick, and the team is closer to a brand new ice skating complex. we've got pictures to show you. this is what the plan sharks ice at gilroy sports park will look like. it'll have two nhl sized rinks, a cafe, a fitness center and shark store. fans can watch hockey games at a bar and restaurant on the second floor, and it should open down in gilroy by the end of 2026. is awesome. exciting stuff down there. okay, kari, we've been bracing for the heat. we're

getting a taste of it today. yeah, we're getting a taste of it. it's starting to warm up, but we'll really feel the peak of those hot temperatures tomorrow and friday. it's still going to be pretty warm on saturday too, but we see it coming down a few degrees on sunday and looking at some cooler weather in san francisco. looking good. thanks very much. all right. thanks so much for joining us. we're streaming 24/7 on roku, amazon fire tv, samsung tv plus and xumo play did i get them all? and you can also get it at nbcbayarea.com. com and find more news coming up in our newscast at 430. have a great day. stay cool.

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