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good friday afternoon, everyone. welcome to nbc bay area news at 4:30. i'm janelle wang. our alyssa goard is talking to the school and talking to parents about this gun found. we're also tracking other major developing stories. the national guard coming in to help fight the drug crisis in san francisco. the governor's response to the growing fentanyl problem in the city. also google's massive campus in downtown san jose on hold. we'll tell you why the tech company is backing off the project. and could she be ready to cut a deal? new details in the case against the so-called los gatos party mom. the victim testimony delivered in court today. we begin with breaking news. you may have seen it at the top of "nbc nightly news." the supreme court has ordered that the abortion pill mifepristone will remain broadly available as litigation plays out in a lower court. the case is being heard in the

u.s. fifth circuit court of appeals. that court has set oral arguments to begin next month. the national legal battle over mifepristone began with a lawsuit filed by a coalition of doctors who oppose abortion. mifepristone, used in combination with another drug, is the most common method to terminate a pregnancy in the u.s., accounting for about half of all abortions. we'll go now to that loaded gun found at a middle school in san jose. our damian trujillo broke the news this afternoon on twitter. then we sent alyssa goard to the campus as soon as we found out this information. alyssa joins us now. can you tell us how this went down? >> reporter: janelle, what we know came from what san jose police first said, which was that they came onto campus after hearing a report of a student with a gun on campus. they said that they did arrest a

juvenile. i saw a young person, a minor here on the campus, and they did find a loaded gun here as well. the school did also send out a message to parents but it didn't mention a gun, it only mentioned an incident with students here on campus. we spoke with students as they were getting let out of school about an hour ago, and they said that they saw a group of police officers coming onto the campus, entering a classroom in a large group, and bringing out a student with them. most of the students really didn't know about what was going on during the day. in fact, most of them said their teachers hadn't brought it up, they hadn't got any type of communication. in fact, they learned about what happened from text messages from other students and from their parents. >> i read that letter. it was pretty vague. it mentioned no loaded gun at all. and police later issued a statement saying, okay, we believe the student didn't have any intentions to do anything criminal on campus, so there's no threat. but i'm sure parents are shaken

up. have you spoken to any parents of these young kids? >> reporter: yeah, janelle there were a lot of parents out here, some came to the campus early today to pick up their students because they heard the news. they were pretty rattled and wanting to just see their kids and be close to their kids and talk with them about this really heavy topic. some of the parents were also coming off work and hadn't heard a thing. when we came up to ask them about it, that was the first time they'd heard about what happened. some of them hadn't even had a chance to read the message from the school about what had happened during the day. but parents were really shaken up. a lot of them asked questions about how it was that a student was able to get onto campus with a loaded gun. they wanted to know how it was possible that a student could enter a campus and go undetected with a loaded gun on campus. that really concerned them. they also were thinking, how were they going to talk with their kids about it? they wanted to be honest with their kids but also not bring

any unnecessary fear to their kids, because there was no active threat from what we're told from police and police say this continues to be no threat to the community. >> thank you, alyssa goard live in san jose. a major announcement in the fight against fentanyl. governor newsom is calling in chp and national guard to help address the crisis in san francisco. the governor says the state is providing more law enforcement to crack down on crime linked to fentanyl, including the drug dealers. the announcement comes just two days after the governor made an unannounced visit to the city's tenderloin district, which has been plagued by open-air drug dealing and overdoses. mayor london breed says she welcomes the help. >> our governor has responded with what i think is going to be some tremendous support and help from the national guard and from the chp coordinating and working with our police department and our d.a. to help us address the challenges around the open-air drug dealing, mostly in the

tenderloin and south of market neighborhoods of san francisco. >> the governor seth the partnership does not aim to criminalize those battling addiction but will instead focus on holding drug suppliers accountable. nbc bay area's christie smith will have more from the mayor and the police chief coming up at 6:00. a los gatos mother accused of throwing alcohol-fueled parties for teenagers and pushing some to commit sexual assault is now considering a plea deal. but today in court, new evidence and additional accusations against her. nbc bay area's ian cull was in the courtroom. what is this new evidence? >> some of it has to do with the month that she spent in jail. the deputy d.a. went through her jail calls and alleges a few new things. one of them saying she has been trying to hide her assets. they also say she left california and moved to idaho specifically to try and avoid prosecution. prosecutors also allege that o'connor has been in a

relationship with another woman in jail, and once that woman got out, o'connor has continued to talk with her and has attempted to set up a drug dealing operation in jail. the d.a. brought all this up today not to ask for new charges but to prove that she has no remorse. >> this obviously could affect how much prison time she would spend if she agrees to a plea deal, and also, we heard from alleged victims today in court? >> yes, there was a hearing on this. o'connor wants to know what her sentence would be if she pleaded no contest, essentially a guilty plea. prosecutors laid out the evidence for the judge before she hands down a recommended sentence. we also heard from 15 alleged victims and parents, all asked for the maximum sentence and want o'connor to be registered as a sex offender. one teen said through tears, "i will never have the life i once had and neither should she." another teen said, "every day i wake up, i'm grateful o'connor is in jail and isn't able to

hurt anyone else." >> today in court, we saw the bravery and the courage of the victims. and also their family members, who are also traumatized by what the defendant did to them. it is something that is an emotional experience. >> if o'connor pleads no contest to all charges, the sentence would range from probation up to 20 years in prison. she'll be back in court on may 16th when the judge will outline what that sentence could be. that's when she'll agree either to those terms and plead out, or if she says no, let's continue to trial. >> we'll see what happens. thank you so much, ian. we want to let you know about a shocker from google. the tech giant says it's pausing construction on its giant campus in downtown san jose. the campus called "downtown west" was set to cover 80 acres including a shopping village, office space, a slew of new housing. google says it's still committed to eventually building in san jose and is assessing its next

moves but has provided no timeline yet. >> you know, big projects like this, the speed at which they move forward, ebbs and flows based on the macroeconomic situation. they speed up when there's growth, and when companies are contracting, pulling back a little bit after a period of overhiring, they slow down capital investment. that is the natural cycle here. >> our business and tech reporter, scott budman, has been tweeting about these new developments as well as getting reaction from downtown. he's going to have the latest at 5:00 and 6:00. let's talk about our weather. wow, it certainly feels like spring today, vianey. lots of blue skies, a live picture of san jose. this weather is going to continue? >> it is. we're going to land on a stretch of pleasant sunshine, finally after we had a little bit of cooler weather, shower activity early on. let's get to that forecast. it is friday. a lot of folks are going to plan to head outdoors. here's what our temperatures

look like right now. yes, that's 82 degrees in brentwood. san jose 78. san francisco 63. just to give you an idea how much warmer we're running thanks to high pressure, about 10 degrees warmer in concord compared to the past 24 hours. 6 degrees warmer in san jose. 13 in novato. one more thing you might notice, the coastline is going to be breezy and gusty. if you're heading to the game to watch our giants, you definitely want to bundle up. anything by the water tends to get chilled, the late hours toward the end game, layers are appropriate. winds diminish in the south bay. notice san francisco, pretty much staying within the 2025-mile-per-hour range. satellite radar, we've got that high pressure. any chance of rain is going to stay north. this is going to put us on tap for a nice stretch of beautiful weather. tomorrow upper 70s and 80s. take advantage. go out on a hike.

i'm going to take my doing, binks, to the beach on sunday. we cool off a little bit, but we're talking 70s. san jose 73. hayward 68. san francisco 64. i did have folks ask me about lake tahoe. still got plenty of snow up there, but finally sunshine. spring skiing in full effect. saturday 55. sunday 56. the nice weather, 70s forecast. we're going to be monitoring gusty winds on sunday. shaping the future to fight climate change. vianey will introduce us to an organization focusing on teaching girls on how to protect our earth. there are more guns in america than cars, and the number of guns is rising. we're going to take a look at gun death rates across the country and where california country and where california ranks in the u.s. - life is uncertain. it's okay to feel stressed, anxious, worried, or frustrated. calhope can help.

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mistake. america is trying to comprehend three separate recent shootings. a 16-year-old boy shot after ringing the wrong doorbell. a 20-year-old woman shot after turning into the wrong driveway. and teenage cheerleaders stopped outside a supermarket, one of them shot after trying to get into the wrong car. the shootings have devastated communities and intensified calls for stricter gun control policies and deepened a sense of fury over everyday american violence. peter hall looks at the number of firearms in our country and the states with the highest and lowest gun deaths. >> reporter: there are more guns than cars in america. the national shooting sports foundation estimates there are around 434 million pistols, rifles, and shotguns in the u.s. and that number's been trending up. atf data show back in 2010, american companies produced 5.5

million new guns. by 2020, that number doubled to 11.3 million. that doesn't count the 6.8 million guns americans imported, which means more than 18 million new firearms were on the market in 2020. that same year, the gun violence archive reported 163 mass shootings and 411 accidental shootings. that's 19,000 people killed and 39,000 injured. more than 5,000 of them were kids under 18. not all states suffer equally. some have 50 times more gun deaths than others. cdc data from 2020 show hawaii had the fewest dun gets that year, 50. the highest gun deaths, texas, over 4,100. compared to each state's total population, texas falls somewhere in the middle. in 2020, the highest gun death rate in the country went to mississippi. 28.6 deaths for every 100,000

people. these 10 states had the highest gun death rates in 2020 and accounted for more than 8,600 deaths. they lost the bigger share of their population to gun violence than most other states. these ten states accounted for over 1,100 deaths. hawaii had the lowest deaths total and the lowest death rate, around 3 people killed out of every 100,000. you might think that's because hawaii has the smallest population in the u.s., but that's not true. there are 10 states with a smaller population than hawaii and three of them have a death rate that's seven to eight times higher than hawaii's. but murders and mass shootings only account for 43% of gun deaths in america. in 2020, of the 43,676 people killed by gun violence, 24,292 of them died by suicide.

that means 54% of gun-related deaths in 2020 were self-inflicted. think about this. in mississippi, the number of deaths from car accidents is 25.4 per 100,000 people. the gun death rate is 28.6 per 100,000 people. that means you're more likely to be killed by a gun than a car in mississippi. that's not just a mississippi problem. in 40 states, for every 100,000 people, the gun death rate is higher than the fatal vehicle crash rate. >> you can watch more on nbc lx. go to lx.com. you can watch lx on xfinity channel 185 or over the air on channel 11-5. we're continuing our climate week coverage. a protest in san francisco from youth demanding action on our climate in crisis. the group called "youth versus apocalypse" rallied at civic center plaza before marching to the state government office nearby. they're calling for governor

newsom to "put their futures fist." the group argues the governor has not done enough to cut california off from fossil fuels and protect communities from climate change. >> despite his failure to do his job and protect communities, we're still out here strong, coming out to the community, we're going to be out here every single day until he takes the action we need. >> marchers left messages and art on the steps of the building. governor newsom's agenda on climate change includes an 85% cut in greenhouse gas emissions and a goal of net-zero carbon pollution no later than the year 2045. the scientists of tomorrow are tackling the big job today, saving the earth. that includes a local nonprofit, scientific adventures for girls. vianey, our meteorologist, is taking a look at the program that's helping shape the future of science. >> this is exciting for me. this program is all about empowering young girls to take

on the world of s.t.e.m. by encouraging curiosity, and most importantly asking questions. the activities that we got to see from them are certainly going to spark curiosity that helps shape the future of science. >> one of our main mottos is to change the face of science literally. we want girls to be represented. research says that the stereotypes girls have for themselves and that society places on them starts early. >> constellations are pictures of stars? or stars that make up pictures in the sky? >> scientific adventures for girls, we're a small nonprofit located in berkeley. our main after-school program is a 27-week hands-on science k-6. we're in 21 schools in oakland and richmond, mostly.

we serve about 650 girls in our main programs. >> we get to learn new things and build. >> my name is alexandra. i played with my friends. i had a lot of fun. >> we have a role model as part of our program. every session, we try toffee mail scientists in the specific field come and visit every classroom. so the goal is each site gets to meet three female scientists who look like them and hear about their experiences. >> you can do anything, you can do science, you can learn -- if you just share what people say, you can learn new stuff like i did. >> say it one more time -- constellations! >> the program has served over 5,000 families and they learn everything, from protecting mother earth, recycling, the planets. this program focuses on

representation. showing them women scientists, also diversity. one of my favorite things when i go into classroom settings is when i start speaking in spanish and i get a student in the crowd that says in spanish, "you speak spanish too?" it's nice to see. >> they're getting jazzed about science. they're going to be just like you. >> if you want to volunteer or learn about the program, we'll link the organization on our "climate in crisis" website. >> thanks, vianey. the "today" show takes over the bay area. marcus washington and kari hall get a behind-the-scenes look at al roker and his team's trip to wine cntry.ou "the doctor will see you now." but do they really? do they y see that crick k in your neneck? that ache e in your heheart? will they y see that funny y little thihing that wasasn't therere last ye? a new bobounce in yoyour ste? the way yoyour reretinal scanan connectss to your blblood sugar?r?

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it is certainly not 30 rock but quite the field trip for the third hour of the "today" show team. they traveled to wine country. meteorologist kari hall and marcus washington met up with them to get a behind-the-scenes look at their bay area visit.

>> a fun time had by all in sonoma valley as the third hour of "today" brought friday's show to wine country. the entire team was there, al roker, sheinelle jones, dylan dreyer, craig melvin, and the crew keeping things going behind the scenes. folks were entertained. the weather and the backdrop, just amazing out there at st. francis winery. this trip for the third hour of "today" sponsored by sonoma county tourism. to make the show more exciting, they had viewers who were invited there to experience all that fun up close and personal. >> i literally woke up to an email in the morning and said, okay, i'm not waiting, i'm not talking to my husband, i have a 7-month-old -- i'm just going to sign up. >> the day wasn't all about wine, but also protecting our climate. st. francis winery is a 380-acre certified sustainable vineyard both in sonoma valley as well as russian river valley. we talked to al about the effects of climate change and

how it's impacting our communities. >> the unbelievable amounts of rain that you saw, that's what climate change is doing. it makes these violent swings of extreme weather. and so it really -- it's so important for u to all really buckle down. >> to get more behinthscenes stories like this, join us on "today in the bay" every monday through friday. laura, kari, mark and i will help you get started with the day. >> what a fun field trip and way to showcase sonoma county. baseball, the mets are in town taking on the giants. a met is legend is in town and happened to surprise a die-hard fan. okay, that bartender is working at local tap and is wearing the jersey of famous mets third baseman david wright. and the person surprising her,

david wright. the bartender was speechless to see the mets icon in the flesh. the two embraced and chatted. all smiles. hopefully giants fans will be all smiles as their team gives them something to smile about. the boys of summer return to the field tonight. game two of the giants series against the mets gets under way. giants hoping for a victory after losing one last night. all the action on nbc bay area, yes, right here, beginning at 7:00 tonight. giants baseball on nbc. you can now access "nbc bay area news" wherever you want, whenever you wa, whether on roku, samsung tv plus, or xumo. watch breaking news, live news conferences, and repeats of our newscasts. that's going to do it. kyra clapper is here working on the 5:00 news.

a frightening day at a south bay middle school. a student with a loaded gun. hear what police are saying about why the student had it in a backpack. alsogoogle's plan to build aarge campus in downtown san jose is put on hold. the project halted with no warning. we'll break down what's next for the city. just a little more than an hour ago, the supreme court makes a decision about access to a commonly used abortion pill. the reason the high court ruled women can still have access to it. thank you for joining us. i'm kira klapper. a bay area middle school student has been arrested on charges of bringing a loaded gun to school today. it happened at hoover middle school in the san jose unified

school district. nbc bay area's damian trujillo broke the story on twitter and explains what police have learned so far. >> reporter: parents at hoover middle school were stunned to hear that one of their children's classmates brought a loaded gun to school today. >> scary, you know? first thing, worry about the safety of the kids. >> guns everywhere you go. i don't know. you can't do anything about it. >> reporter: san jose police say it is unclear what the child's motive was for bringing the gun to school. they say there did not appear to be any imminent danger or a specific plan to shoot anyone, but they stress that simply bringing the gun to campus raises the possibility that something horrific could happen. >> i think any time there is a weapon involved, there's always the potential of something bad happening. >> reporter: the principal sent an email to parents saying there was an incident involving a student on campus that was resolved quickly and safely. the letter said the school day would proceed as