right now at 11:00, the future of bart after the pandemic, moving forward. riders coming back in droves and the agency looking to beef up service while keeping up with pandemic standards of cleanliness. i'm marcus washington. we all know transit agencies have been struggling during the pandemic but right now bart is looking toward the future with their budget. bob redell is live in dublynn.

>> reporter: what they're considering today is delaying fare increasing. right now the bart board of directors is meeting, you can see right here. they're discussing their budget for fiscal year 2022 and how to bring these riders back. yesterday just under 59,000 people took bart. that's an 86% drop from precovid up 3.4% but staff is recommended the board push that fare increase back until july of 2022 as an incentive for riders to come back. this could include the addition of 26 trains during the week and a few more on saturdays. bart could also go back to running trains every 15 minutes and could extend service back to midnight six days a week.

currently they're shutting down at 9:00 p.m. each night due to the pandemic. by 10:00, all bart trains will have upgraded fares. the delay fogging of transmissi of covid there. and the elimination of things like grime, litter, graffiti and in spite of the steep drop ridership, they have been able to stay afloat with funds from the federal government. >> bob, thank you. it is earth day. state and local leaders are keeping a close eye on the drought levels with low-average. nbc bay area cierra johnson is live in mill valley where folks are preparing for those new

restrictions. cierra? >> reporter: good morning, marcus. we're a couple of days away. the water board here in marin county voted unanimously to put those restrictions in to help conserve water. beginning next saturday, may 1st, folks here in marin county, central and south marin county will be encouraged not to power wash their home, refill pools or wash their cars. this is going to impact about 200,000 people. and, as i mentioned, it's all in an effort to conserve water. some folks i spoke with said they're on board with this decision that will begin next saturday and some said they've already begun storing some jugs of water. take a listen. >> water is the primary need for our survival. i can do without food for reasonable period of time, especially if the refrigerator is working, but without water, you know, we're done for. we can't afford not to have water. and especially, you know, with the fire hazards.

>> reporter: governor newsom has declared a regional drought emergency in both sonoma and mendocino counties. these declarations make it possible for those counties to access different forms of drought assistance because, as we know, we are well below where we should be in terms of rain water. so, again, many of the folks i spoke with on board with that decision. it begins next saturday. we have more details listed on our website. we should also note we did have a chance to speak with county leaders in contra costa county. right now they do not believe they will impose any restrictions. they believe their water supply is at okay levels. although, they are encouraging folks in the county to use the water with -- excuse me, to conserve the water, just use it sparringly, if at all possible. live in mill valley, cierra johnson, today in the bay.

>> thank you, cierra. the fog is sticking around there. microclimate weather, we have here meteorologist kari hall with a look of what we can expect throughout the bay area. kari? >> yeah. we've been looking at very dry conditions and the update of the drought monitor this morning is why we're talking about conserving and putting in those actions as we take a look at the update this morning. 96% of the state is in a drought and 5% of the state in an exceptional drought, which is the highest level. as we look at the expansion of the drought in parts of the north bay, now parts of sonoma, napa county, as well as solano county included in that drought where we see the red is now also including contra costa coun it's been extremely dry. we are going to see these conditions possibly worsening. we are going to have some rain in the forecast. may not help us out with the drought but may allow the

vegetation to get enough water to possibly delay the water season. so we'll talk more about that. it's coming up in a few minutes. marcus? >> cierra, thank you. two east bay cities grappling with east bay deadly encounters. fi charges have been filed in the most recent case. felony charges are being filed against danville officer andrew hall. no word on if he plans to turn himself in. the video you're about to see is graphic. dash cam video showing hall firing several shots into the car. driving, moving past hall during a pursuit. back then danville police said

he was driving toward hall and hall fired in self-defense. he is facing manslaughter charges in connection with that fatal shooting. >> these charges are felonies. due to officer hall's unreasonable force used during the 2018 shooting. >> if the officer had been charged earlier and removed from the streets, my latest client would not be dead. >> the civil rights lawyer, john burris, represents 32-year-old wilson who was killed by hall in march. edited body cam individual crow shows hall confronting and shooting wilson, who was holding a knife. the confrontation that lasted just seconds. the officer's attorney says in a statement contra costa county district attorney's office originally deemed deputy hall's use of force as justified, given the fact that he was defending himself from a lethal weapon.

the timing of their sudden reversal in deciding to file those charges seems suspect and overtly political. now, alameda last night, a memorial for 26-year-old mario gonzales, who died while in police custody. alameda police say officers were called out to oak street for separate reports of the man under the influence and the suspect in a possible threat. gonzales suffered a medical emergency while trying to restrain him and he was taken to the hospital where he later died. gonzales' family said he had no medical issues and want police to release the body cam video worn by officers on the scene. we expect that video to be released by the end of this month. tragic shooting of ma'khia bryant, shot by police in columbus, ohio. this tuesday about the same time as the derek chauvin verdict. authorities have released new body camera footage showing that

shooting, and they say that there will be a transparent investigation into that incident. nbc's meagan fitzgerald has the latest from columbus. >> reporter: columbus' mayor and police department says they've never released body cameras so quickly but wanted to be transparent. there is growing outrage here and across the nation. a warning here that the video you're about to see is disturbing. police releasing this body camera footage from tuesday afternoon. investigators say you can see 16-year-old ma'khia bryant lunging at a female who falls to the ground before going after another person near the hood of the car. that's when officer nicholas reardon saw a knife in the girl's hand and opened fire. >> regardless of the circumstances a 16-year-old girl lost her life yesterday. >> what information did the officer have and what would have happened if he had taken no action at all? we don't yet have those answers.

>> reporter: officials say officer reardon has been taken off the street. investigators are still interviewing witnesses. as for those two other females confront bid bryant, we're told they have minor injuries. i'm meagan fitzgerald for nbc news. coming up, some parents have concerns about new lesson plans. we're going to explain what zoom in the room is, just in case you haven't already learned. and are you getting sticker shock at the market? everything more expensive, right? the reason hoarding might have been the problem and some tips to save some money for you. and on "the kelly clarkson show" an artist that turns beach trash into mind-blowing sculptures. you can tune in to see the big donation they are getting to continue that work. you can watch it on "the kelly clarkson show" right here on nbc bay area coming up for you at 3:00.

>> parents are complaining that many of their kids are still not getting that in-person, 101, talking to their teacher via zoom. the lesson plans are up to the teacher and it varies from classroom to classroom. this comes as hundreds of those teachers in the district on medical exemptions, $30,000 per day for substitutes. the university will hold two in-person graduation ceremonies starting on saturday, june 12th. there are new rules shall of course. each graduating student is only allowed two guest tickets and out-of-state guests must be the

country has seen in nearly a decade. everyday essentials like paper goods are about to get even more expensive. kristen dahlgren has more on what's behind the price hike and how you can save some money. >> get in line for the toilet paper. >> one year after the great toilet paper panic, get ready for the toilet paper price hike. some of the biggest manufacturers announcing raising prices by 10% in the next few months, thanks in increases to wood pickup used to make along entire pipeline. >> now we're seeing it on packaging, transportation, on just about everything. >> hoarding may have also played a role.

americans spent an extra $2 billion on rolls in 2020. it's not just toilet paper. prices for diapers and feminine products are also going up, but there are ways to save. >> the key is real simple. look for your great prices online. shop around, and make sure that you have that product that you need without overstocking. >> some lower prices may return at some point, many high prices may be here to stay. the price of the pandemic coming soon to a store near you. kristen dahlgren, nbc news. >> we'll have an update for you on the state stimulus checks now being sent to californians. 6 million people considered low income are eligible. anyone earning less than $30,000. people who filede march 31st may have received those payments already. people receiving the maximum $600 include people who received an earned income tax credit last

year. you have to have filed your taxes to qualify. the deadline to file taxes, if you haven't done so already, may 17th. some new help for those trying to make it in the bay. and this looks like some good news for people looking for housing in the tri-valle dublin leaders, this will include more apartments near west dublin. here is a look at some of those renderings for you. approving $10 million for the project. there's still no timetable yet on when that construction will begin. a possible new lifeline will soon become available for dozens of mothers struggling to make it in the bay in marin county. this week supervisors approved their guaranteed income plan. leaders in oakland and this week los angeles have approved similar plans. pilot program will provide $1,000 monthly grants. it's been approved for 125

randomly chosen low-income earning women of color who have at least one child. that pilot program will run for two years and start next month. the pandemic now leading to some long-term changes inating out. so ever since the pandemic took hold, popular park lets throughout the city have kept struggling businesses afloat. city leaders are moving them to make them permanent. but that's sparking some debate between retail stores and restaurants. that's because those parklets really take away that critical parking space even when those restaurants are closed and some of those restaurants are closed all day on some of the slow days. >> when all the stores are closed it's not doing anything for the community at large. >> monday, tuesday, it's quiet in this neighborhood. in fact, i'm closed on monday. >> san francisco supervisors already admit that they will have to serve up a fair solution to this. >> heads up if you're outdoors in the east bay over the next three days.

pg&e conducting arial patrols in contra costa and alameda counties. you may notice even here low-lyingd,ayward, richmond and oakland areas starting at 8:00 a.m. each day. this will last until 4:00 p.m. okay. it is time to take a look outside. meteorologist kari hall is looking at those temperatures. looking gloomy out there this morning. >> this is the way it's been throughout much of the week where we get the coastal clouds and fog keeping those temperatures cool while we have a much different picture for the inland areas. let's get a look at our highs for the day. it will stay in the 50s here. with all the sunshine we have at antioch and morgan hill, expect temperatures to reach up to 70 degrees. we've been talking a lot about drought. i wanted to show you a word that you may start tooften.

mega drought. some people are starting to say this could possibly be a mega drought that we're in now or at least experiencing across the west. the definition of a mega drought is it's a drought that lasts at least 20 years. as we look at our data now, the last 17 years of last 21 years, we've been in a drought 17 of those years. it's not consecutive. there were a couple of pretty decent rainfall years in the mix but we didn't really recover from the drought. so it's been pretty bad. and looking back in history, there's been four mega droughts in the past 1,200 years. what we're seeing across the west right now is the worst we've had in at least 1,000 years. and in the past of that extreme drought has caused some mass migrations. i don't think that will happen for us, but it is possible that we are going to see some rain in the forecast as we go into the weekend. now, this will not put a dent in

the drought but may give a little bit of moisture to the vegetation that was dried out so critically and has been very dry. as we look at our weekend forecast, some spotty rain starts to show up on saturday. and then on sunday, we could see more widespread rain moving in here. for the most part on saturday, we'll see a few spots getting rain mostly near the coastline. sunday we start to see the radar filling in with the possibility of some of that rain not only throughout the morning but off and on throughout the day in the evening. it looks like it tapers off as we head toward sunday night into monday, and rainfall totals may reach a quarter to half an inch and the sierra could get half a foot of snow in our resorts which, of course, is great news. possibly last shot of getting decent rainfall in here. our temperatures are warm now. look at the weekend forecast as we get that rain. it's going to feel like winter. only some upper 50s. and we're going to see that

saturday and sunday. monday, we are going to see those temperatures starting to warm up as we go back to some more dry weather. and today is earth day. we've been doing everything about the planet and now joining us is our forecaster, and nasa ambassador, vianey arama, telling us about what nasa is doing to monitor the atmosphere today. >> we have billions of people but only one home, planet earth. scientists gather more information about climate change. but did you know that the international space station is watching from above, gathering data that helps keep our planet safe? located 250 miles above earth is the japanese experiment model otherwise known as gem. attached to its sides are several cameras and tools that orbit around earth taking pictures like these.

everyday weather reflects what's happening in our atmosphere over a short length of time but climate is how it bhavs over hundreds of years. the space station picks up information like carbon dioxide emissions. climate change presents what's perhaps humankind's greatest environmental challenge. for more stories like this one and climate change hot spots impacting the bay area along with my climate hacks that are planet friendly swaps you can do at home visit climate in crisis. you can follow me @nbcvianeyarana. >> as always, thank you for the tips, vianey. the major change coming to the national park. house of representatives just barely passed a bill that

would allow the district of columbia to become a state and provide equal representation in congress for the people living in the u.s. capitol. the bill now heads to the senate, where it will need at least 10 republicans and all 50 democrats to pass. no word on wht senate bill vote will go up. the president has said he supports d.c. becoming a state. we'll be right back.

park ranges say starting next month, anyone visiting the park can now use a day use reservation to enter, helping to control capacity levels to reduce the spread of covid-19. the system will be in effect september 2021. as we've been talking about, it is earth day and with the pandemic still looming and like you we here at today in the bay have been spending a lot of time outdoors, really enjoying it. taking a moment to share some of our favorite outdoor pictures over the last year. for me, with triplets, i was also looking for something to do with the kids. i went on down to watsonville, where i take these maying pictures. fruit, berry, that was gorgeous, which led to a lot of berries

being picked and led to a lot of jam being made, an activity that went on for days. but it's nice to appreciate nature on not only earth day but throughout the year. later today, mbclx is going live on the ocean's floomplt can you see floor. you can see firsthand how pollution and climate change has affected a coral reef at 1:00 p.m. on xfinity cable or any time at lx.com at your leisure or stream it on roku or peacock. great opportunity. check out some of that content. it's great. back to you. >> will do, laura. last look at that forecast for you. kari? >> more sunshine for the inland valleys and spots like antioch, gilroy, santa rosa seeing those

temperatures, too. the weekend is when we see changes coming in, w and on rain saturday >> holding on to the sunshine, but welcoming that rain. thanks, kari. i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love,... more adventure,... more community. but with my hiv treatment,... there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor... and switched to... fewer medicines with dovato. prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment

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