major companies contributing to making our downtown cleaner and safer, bringing our most valuable resources. >> our employees, together to help revitalize san francisco. >> mobilizing to clean up san francisco. literally today, a coalition of volunteers from five of the city's biggest companies hit the streets to beautify the area where they work and live. good evening. i'm ama daetz, and i'm j.r. stone. >> today's san francisco is downtown, has been busy with workers, but they weren't in the

office. they were building a better bay area. volunteering to clean streets to make the city more inviting. >> abc7 news reporter luz pena is live on howard street with that story from an event city leaders are hoping will draw tens of thousands of people loose. >> hey, j.r, we are at first thursday. this is one of the events the city is holding to bring back people to downtown san francisco. and just a couple hours ago, over 200. listen to this. 200 san francisco office workers left their jobs to clean up downtown san francisco. this is not a typical work day. trash bags. everybody more than 200 employees from five major companies in downtown san francisco joined forces to give back to the city. >> this is our home and people take care of their homes. and so we want to ensure that the neighborhoods that our employees are living and working in, the places where people are coming to visiting, are, are gleaming. >> here's how it started. several months ago, executives from jpmorgan chase got wells

fargo, levi strauss and visa got together to come up with ideas to revitalize downtown san francisco. they formed the downtown volunteer coalition and this is the outcome of that meeting. >> we had a brainstorm saying, well, what if we just started small with a joint volunteering event, and here we are three months later and we're making it happen. >> the nonprofit leading them is hands on bay area. >> they're going to be picking up trash on all the streets in downtown, and we also have a group of people who are going to go to the park over there, sue bierman park, and another group going to a park in rincon hill cleaning graffiti. >> san francisco has been pushing for workers to also come back to the office. the city's office vacancy rate set a record this year, hitting over 36, according to preliminary data from real estate company cbre. how do you convince more people to actually come back to the office? >> that's that's a hard that's a hard part. >> san francisco's executive director for the office of economic workforce development

said their efforts are working by summer. >> this year, we will have opened almost 40 new storefronts under really exciting. we opened another 100 more ground floor businesses in storefronts across the city, through our grant programs and our leasing specialists in the city, we're seeing up to 700 new businesses a month open in san francisco across the retail and corporate sector. >> these companies are now taking a stance in their commitment to the city. >> we're back in the office and we just want to show our support and hopefully lead by example. >> and these companies are now planning the upcoming volunteering events coming up this summer. many hoping for more companies to join them. so it's more than five of the ones that you're seeing there. so while they're cleaning graffiti, you can see over here graffiti artist here for first thursday live here in san francisco luz pena, abc seven news luis, thank you so much. >> looks like a great time out there. and for people in the area of first thursdays there

are so street closures you need to know about. take a look at this map. you can see the main programing is along second street from market to howard. but of course the street closures extend much further, including stevenson, mina, tehama and clementine. between new montgomery and first streets. >> but while some are hoping to revitalize the city, others are leaving, including $1 billion artificial intelligence company. abc seven news reporter tim johns has the details and joins us live from the newsroom with more. tim. >> yeah. the company ceo created a whole thread in which he laid out his decision to move its headquarters down to foster city. he said the move was inspired by what foster city has to offer just as much as it was by the problems he thinks san francisco is facing. mayor london breed has hopes ai will help revive san francisco, and major players in artificial intelligence have already moved downtown. but on monday, replit, an ai company valued at over $1 billion, announced it was leaving the city. despite the relocation, replit says it's not going far. they're simply moving

down the peninsula to foster city. it's just one company is not a trend. >> that's what i'm saying. >> ahmed benaissa is a tech expert at san jose state university. he says the move doesn't change the fact that san francisco remains the undisputed ai capital, not just here in the bay area, but around the world. it's not clear how many employees replit has, but bonfa tells me he'd be worried if bigger companies like openai decided to leave. >> they called him anchor. you know, companies where everybody is around them. but if you have companies who are just starting or companies who are new in the field, we have we have thousands of ais companies. >> that view was also shared by jim wunderman, the president and ceo of the bay area council. wunderman says given that the bay area's economy functions largely as one unit, san francisco will still benefit from replit being nearby. >> the fact that a company is in san francisco itself, or in silicon valley or san jose or in san mateo county, you know, right in the middle of it all. each has its own distinct

advantages, but the location of a company benefits those outside that area. >> but leaving san francisco is only part of the story, according to the company's ceo, who laid out his reasoning in a thread on x, saying in part, the why we're leaving is boring, sad and predictable crime, dysfunction, etc. so instead, let me tell you why we chose foster city. the rest of his post describes what he finds attractive about the peninsula city, namely its safe environment, ideal location, and high standard of living descriptors. foster city leaders say they're happy to receive, all in the hopes that more companies may choose to follow in its footsteps. >> we are a prime location for offices, and we have that that tech hub biotech hub, all of that co-mingling with with beautiful residential and recreational amenities. the city has to provide now, replit ceo says in the future, he hopes when people hear the word replit, they associate it with foster city. >> similar to how google is

associated with mountain view and apple is associated with cupertino in the newsroom. tim johns abc seven news thanks, tim. >> a highly praised vietnamese restaurant is closing down its location at san francisco's ferry building. according to the chronicle, the slanted door is shutting down after 15 years. it was initially supposed to undergo renovations after temporarily closing during the pandemic. however, restaurant owners say the cost to remodel the long inactive building was too expensive. the owners recently opened another slanted door location in napa. >> taking a live look outside. it's another nice and sunny day around the bay area, but there is change on the way. for the details, let's get to abc7 news meteorologist sandhya patel. sandhya. yeah, and umma, you know it wasn't going to last forever, but we are going to flip it back to our rainy season this weekend. >> let me show you live doppler seven. we have a level one storm that is on its way and this is a cold storm that's going to be moving in early saturday. taking

a look at the hourly rainfall every two hours, you will see that there is a rapid increase in when that rain starts to really roll through here, which is early saturday morning, 4 a.m, you will notice that rain is here on saturday, 8 a.m. it is spreading across the central bay and the south bay, and it is going to be heavy at times. 2:00 in the afternoon switching over to showers. this system is going to be accompanied by wind 25 to 30 mile an hour winds. and then this really remains gusty for the afternoon hours. it is a level one on our storm impact scale. saturday rain, brief downpours, slippery roads, breezy conditions, 4/10 to an inch plus of rain for most areas . i'll be back to let you know if sunday will include wet weather or sunshine. coming up j.r. >> thanks, sandhya. ucla's chancellor says the campus community is in deep pain hours after police dismantled a pro-palestinian encampment, arresting more than 200 people today, crews had a big job cleaning up after the protesters. reporter sophie flay of our sister station in los

angeles shows us how it went down and the reaction to the operation more than 200 protesters arrested, zip tied and removed from campus at ucla. >> chp officers in riot gear seen going into the encampment in royce quad after the dispersal order around 330 in the morning. this ucla student journalist has been following the events for the last week, capturing the protest through her own lens. >> i felt nauseous and i felt very, disturbed. >> protesters and hard hats. officers seen dismantling wooden barriers, clouds of smoke engulfed the crowd. >> i feel like the administration still all us, the students and explanation and they still owe us a plan that they're going to come up with to make it better for future students. >> as the sun came up, campus crews seen cleaning up what's left of the encampment, loaded trash bags and deconstructed tents while graffiti still stains. royce hall's exterior.

the multiple day protest disrupted classes and midterm's for students we support. >> obviously, everyone's right to say what they feel, say what they think, but we don't support people coming in being violent or people, just disrupting people's student life in that way. >> everyone that i've talked to, non-jewish protester, jewish and otherwise, have felt that the campus has not handled this properly at all. >> a ucla librarian who was seen taking part in cleaning up campus says he feels sadness, hopelessness, anger, frustration . in a statement from ucla, chancellor gene block said in part, several days of violent clashes between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators put too many bruins in harm's way and created an environment that was completely unsafe for learning. >> president biden addressed the protests at campuses around the country, expressing his support while also condemning those infringing on the rights of others. >> we are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent. the american

people are heard. in fact, peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how americans respond to consequential issues. but dissent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others so students can finish the semester and their college education, the president said. >> the protests have not forced him to reconsider american policies toward the middle east. when asked if states should call in the national guard to intervene in the protests, he said no. >> protests at uc berkeley are calm again today after violence broke out last night. pro-israeli protesters arrived in front of the encampment. someone grabbed an israeli flag out of the hands of a counter-protest fighter and a fight began. members of the encampment say no one knows the man who did it, and that his actions do not reflect their intentions. group students supporting israel calls the incident distressing. protesters say they won't leave even when the semester ends next week. >> it's not just students. so far, more than 5000 uc alumni

have signed a petition to withhold donations until the uc system divest from companies that have military and business ties with israel. back in january, alumni published an open letter to the regents chair and uc president calling for an immediate and permanent cease fire in gaza. pledge organizers say the number of signatures has quadrupled since april 22nd. abc seven news reporter suzanne phan has more. >> we are always asked for donations from the university. >> uc berkeley alum krista chen says it's time to put the brakes on those donations to her ama mater and to other uc campuses. >> i'm not going to donate until they remove their financial ties from weapons and from israel. >> back in january, this letter was sent to the uc regents to divest from israel, especially military investment. >> we do not endorse what they are doing as far as repressing the voice about palestinian students, the number of alum signatures has grown exponentially in the past week or so. it's a very diverse

group, and from graduating classes dating all the way back to 1966, that includes uc berkeley alum cynthia papermaster. >> i think putting economic pressure on on any issue is the way to go. >> papermaster and other alums say they want the ucs to stop investing in weapon manufacturers, which they say caused thousands of palestinian deaths in gaza. >> we have weapons companies that are directly benefiting and profiting, lockheed martin, elbit, boeing, grumman, raytheon . >> the university of california says it won't divest from israel . the office of the president issued this statement saying, quote, the university of california has consistently opposed calls for boycott against and divestment from israel. affirms the right of our community members to express diverse viewpoints, a boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our

campuses, papermaster and other alumni say change is possible. >> many years ago, you see divested from south africa, which really helped south africa to end apartheid. so i think that they can change their mind, and i certainly hope they do. >> in berkeley, suzanne phan, abc seven news. >> coming up. a man airlifted to the hospital after being stabbed multiple times by his own father while the dad was not arrested. and what the dad told us about their violent fight. >> but first, police are looking for more possible victims after arresting a hairdresser accused of raping a teenage customer during an appointment. details

that a child inside his business and conquered vu faces a total of seven charges, including rape and lewd acts on a child. we are

showing you his picture because police say there may be other victims. vu is the owner of chai hair salon on clayton road. the victim is under 16 years old. police say vu remains in custody. $275,000 bail. >> oakley police are investigating a dispute that led to a father stabbing his son multiple times. police say it happened at a home on omega lane just before 7 a.m. the parents told authorities their 38 year old son fired a shotgun at the ceiling of the home, then again at the father. that's when the father claims he started stabbing the son to disarm him. officers briefly detained the father when they arrived, and the son was airlifted to a hospital to be treated for injuries. he says his son has mental health issues and has been failed by the people who should be helping. >> they don't give him no help at all, they just give him a pill, tell him to go lay down. then they tell him, okay, you got three. you got to get called in three times before you. they try to help him. >> oakley. police expect to seek formal charges against the son.

>> the wife of a man who intentionally drove his family off highway one and over a cliff near half moon bay, testified in court for the first time today. our media partner, the san jose mercury news, reports that dharmesh patel's wife begged prosecutors to drop the criminal charges. patel faces three counts of attempted murder and trying to kill his wife and two young children. on january second of 2023. patel's legal team wants the judge to let patel enter a mental health diversion program, which could lead to the charges being dropped. >> coming up, it is beautiful outside right now, but there are changes in the forecast, abc seven news meteorologist

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and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. you may have an increased risk for lower limb loss. call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of infection in your legs or feet. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪ jardiance is really swell ♪ ♪ the little pill ♪ ♪ with a big story to tell! ♪ india. patel, sandhya. i saw people shirtless today in san francisco. that's big news. >> it was definitely mild to warm enough to go shirtless if

you'd like, or take the top down and drive your car. if you have a convertible grand ama we do have changes underway, but soak this up lots of sunshine out there, no matter what direction you look from san francisco to santa cruz, oakland, golden gate bridge, this is all changing in case you want to get out of town. since we have rain coming here in the bay area, here's a look at your oakland airport sponsored travel forecast. oakland 71 degrees tomorrow. mostly sunny. honolulu 30% chance of scattered showers, but it's going to be warm. 82 degrees. you will notice kahului 83 degrees and an isolated shower. and we're talking about 77 at lihue. our northwesterly wind flow around this area of high pressure. that pattern continues. here is our storm for saturday. let's talk about what's happening ahead of the storm. we're already starting to see some changes. fog has started to move in along the coastline, and as we check out those winds gusts to 45 at sfo right now, airport weather warning until 10 p.m. tonight.

that onshore breeze taking those temperatures down by five degrees in san carlos, four degrees cooler in napa right now. still pretty nice. 60s to 80s at this hour. we did get into the 80s for our warmest spots. blue skies from our golden gate bridge camera tomorrow. breezy and cooler weather saturday wet and chillier and next week we'll have sunshine gradually warms each and every day. tomorrow morning we will have that fogginess around the coast and parts of the bay looking at 40s and 50s. later on in the day, the clouds will increase, but you still will manage to get in some sun tomorrow afternoon. 70s and 80s inland 50s coast side with some lingering fog. it is not going to be quite as warm as today. we do have a level one for saturday, a light storm coming our way. rain brief downpours with breezy conditions, slippery roadways, 4/10 of an inch to just over an inch of rain expected for most areas. here is a timeline 5:00 in the morning, you start to notice that rain moving in at 830 pretty widespread and some areas of downpours in the

oranges there. 11 a.m. it's going to be still a rainy one, so if you have early morning plans, you'll want to keep those the rain gear handy. now for the afternoon. we'll just have scattered showers and even some sun breaks at 4 p.m. you will notice for parts of the bay area, but here comes a few more showers 830 at night. going into 11 p.m. and then it will wind down rainfall projections. it's going to be a pretty good soaker. most areas between 4/10 and just over an inch as we look at the sierra winter weather advisory. this is late in the season and the snowfall is pretty good. uh- 11 a.m. saturday until 8 a.m. sunday, 4 to 8in above 5000ft, a foot or higher for the peaks. with those gusty winds, travel could be impacted. so if i were you, i would carry those chains and plan accordingly. maybe hold off on travel on saturday, the accuweather seven day forecast does feature a cooler friday 50s to 80s 20 degree drop on saturday, down to 60 in the warmest spots. that's chilly level one storm, wet and breezy,

and then it will turn those temperatures around for the second half of your weekend. bring in some sun and next week on monday will bring in some 80s, too. >> all right. >> just freeze time or fast forward through the weekend. >> just, you know, a little bit. yes. thanks, sandhya. well, hopefully the weather won't dampen any cinco de mayo plans this weekend. up next, the ev

and more with our abc seven bay area streaming tv app. just search abc seven bay area and download it. >> the city of san jose is getting ready for the cinco de mayo celebration on sunday. it's a great place to be for cinco de mayo. last year, police closed streets and freeway exits, making it difficult to access. in a move to mend the bond with the community, sapd will be participating in this year's lowrider parade traffic will be rerouted in some areas to avoid congestion, but there will not be extensive freeway ramp closures like last year. the official cinco de mayo lowrider parade is back for its second year since the city lifted a ban on cruising before the ban. >> after the ban, we've always wanted people to come down here, but to celebrate and do so safely, so as we've seen in years past, we've had an increase in sideshow activity in

some of our parking lots and some of our streets. and as we have in years past, we will employ a zero tolerance on any type of criminal behavior. we will have additional resources out on the streets. >> police will also focus enforcement on alcohol related incidents. the parade starts at 9 a.m. that's followed by a festival at plaza de cesar chavez and the lowriders parade ride down king street at ten. plenty to see. i need a car like that. i know, let's ride. yes, let's do it. >> we still have much more news ahead. yes, let's go to abc seven news anchor zach fuentes for a look at the stories coming up at 530. >> zach. yeah. >> jr ama tonight a heartbreaking end to a family's desperate search for a 15 year old girl. abc seven news i-team reporter melanie woodrow joins me to explain how the family is piecing together the last moments of the teen's life, plus sharing her great grandmother's legacy. i get to talk to the author of a new children's book about freedom fighter and activist, yuri kochiyama. so join us for those stories and more. at 530 on abc seven bay area streaming tv, jr ama. >> all right, thank you, zach. and you can download the abc

seven app or head to abc seven news.com and join zach in just two minutes. >> and if you're watching us on tv world news tonight with david muir is next for sandhya patel and all of us here. thanks for joining us. i'm j.r. stone and i'm ama daetz. >> we will see you again at six. good. when you've got type 2 diabetes like me, you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack or worse death.

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tonight, breaking news. the sweeping arrests on campuses. the dramatic images tonight from ucla. and from new york city to portland, oregon, how many of these protesters are outside agitators? the new numbers tonight. president biden this evening saying violent protest is not protected. also tonight, here in the northeast, the crash and tanker truck explosion shutting down a key part of i-95 in both directions. and severe storms tonight across several states. the disaster just declared. >> get back! first tonight, the dramatic images of police in riot gear clearing the campus at ucla. flashbangs echoing across the university. the overnight operation into