it shows that they have no interest in reaching a deal with oakland at all. >> firing back at the a's. oakland's mayor's pointed words to the team that says it's

moving forward with a plan to move and build a new stadium in las vegas. good thursday, everyone. good afternoon. i'm janelle wang. welcome to nbc bay area news at 4:30. we are going to hear from the mayor and the a's president in just moments. we're also tracking other stories including what happened just ten minutes ago. a big 4/20 celebration on hippie hill, we'll show you the big puff of smoke. thinking of dropping off your teens at great america? think again. chaperone policy going into effect this weekend. get ready for game three, live at chase center ahead of tonight's warriors playoff game. how the dubs will have to adjust without the suspended draymond green. let's begin with a bigger sports story making national headlines at this hour. after years of negotiations, it appears the oakland a's are uprooting and moving to las vegas.

oakland mayor sheng thao says she got the news in a phone call from the a's last night. the team said it signed a purchase agreement for a site off the las vegas strip to build a new ballpark. it would be on 49 acres of land near allegiance stadium where the raiders play. funding will have to come next. the noingsment comes in the middle of negotiations with the city of oakland, who claims it has done everything including securing more than $375 million in off-site infrastructure to keep the a's rooted in oakland. mayor thao says negotiations with the team have stopped and she's accuing the organization of using the city of oakland as leverage and says the city will not be bullied. >> it has become clear that we are not able to reach acceptable terms and that the a's have not been engaged as good partners in these efforts. at every opportunity, the a's have made increasing demands on

oakland, and at every opportunity we have risen to the challenge. >> velena jones has been working the story, she'll join us in less than 30 minutes with what happens next and the future of the oakland coliseum. we have also secured an exclusive local interview with a's president david cavill. just 45 minutes ago, raj mathai sat down with cavill to find out more on the team's motivation to leave town. he said the team had no choice to make the move after negotiations went on for too long. >> we've spent six years, over $100 million, investing, trying to make our waterfront plan a reality. we want to thank libby schaaf, the previous mayor, mayor thao, but the challenge is the timeline. the earliest this could come to fruition is six or seven more years away. with the condition of where we

play now, that's a very challenging proposition to undertake as a franchise. >> we'll have more of this exclusive interview in our later broadcast and the full interview is also available to stream on nbcbayarea.com. it's been emotional for fans in oakland, and joining me is brodie brazil, the host for the pre and postgame shows on nbc sports california. brody, you grew up in the bay area, a day-hard fan, how are fans reacting to this news? >> a lot of messages, none of them great to be honest with you. for me, it's unique, it's personal, and it's professional. it's my job, it's what i do. there's a lot of uncertainty did. >> that. that aside, we'll talk about the fans. this is a hard day. it's a day that we knew would likely come to some type of resolution in las vegas, but the fact that it came so packaged, the fact that it came last night, 8:50 p.m., the way this

information came out. the timing of it all, it just hit really hard and hit really wrong. and the fact that then, as we just heard sheng thao, the mayor say, she is basically cutting off negotiations. these two sides, as of next week, were supposed to get together to kind of have a do or die conversation. can we do this, can we not? "san francisco chronicle" said they brought in an arbitrator to try and get these two sides on the same page. so there was progress scheduled to be made. it's very interesting how last night, this comes out. i think the timing of it is the harder part more than the reality of it. >> is there any hope? or this is a done deal? negotiations have gone going on for years. we've seen it stall and then pick up momentum, like you said. next week, it looked like there was going to be progress. is this over, a's announcing they've purchased -- reached this land agreement, they want to build a new ballpark? is it a done deal?

>> great question. people have said, what's the percentage, the chance they stay, the chance they go? recently 60/40 in las vegas. as of last night, 95/5. what's oakland's hope? major league baseball owners, 29 teams, they have to vote 75% yes if they will allow the a's to be relocated to las vegas. also, commissioner man dread had said he would not charge the a's what would potentially an $2 billion relocation fee. he said he wouldn't put them up to that. will he hold his word? that could be a roadblock to move. obviously major league baseball ownership getting the vote in for 75%. and honestly, the a's ultimately securing their land, securing what is supposedly going to take place, getting a $500 million tax credit from the state of nevada. so some things that look pretty lined up could be roadblocks and

obstacles. we'll see if they actually are. but i think that's about a 5% chance. >> right. the a's have been making many trips to las vegas, making some deals, it looks like, behind the scenes. seeing what options they have. let's talk about a's fans. obviously discouraged after last season, this season not off to a good start, the coliseum not filling up. are we going to see fewer fans going to games? >> i don't know if it's possible to have fewer fans, to be honest. i think fans have been making clear their statement, they are around, they would be coming to games, but they had kind of had enough with the status quo and the way things have been going. if the a's say they were frustrated by the lack of stadium progress, how do you think the fans feel? all they wanted was a commitment to know if they buy a jersey with oakland on the front, it would stay oakland on it for the rest of their generation and time. obviously, that's not looking likely is the case right now. a large disappointment. i don't think attendance will be a factor.

at this point, i'm really trying to grasp it for myself. i have a pre and postgame show tomorrow night to do. the a's will play the texas rangers. it's going to be hard to focus on baseball at all. i don't care if they only have three wins or if they had 30 wins. we have 140 games left of this season that are going to be hard to pay attention to because the bigger picture down the road. >> yeah. a lot of hopes dashed after last night's announcement by the a's. brodie brazil with nbc sports bay area, thank you so much. i'll watch your pregame show tomorrow with the a's. i enjoy watching you so much. >> i appreciate it. >> also following you on twitter. >> thank you. >> so much good information there. thanks for your time. >> thank you. it has been a painful five years for oakland sports fans. while the warriors remain in the bay area, they left oakland arena in oakland for san francisco. they called the $1.4 billion chase center home since 2019. a year later, the raiders left oakland for las vegas. the team built a nearly $2

billion stadium just off the las vegas strip. let's move on to some other news. it's not fog you're seeing in san francisco, that is smoke from the 4/20 celebration about 15 minutes ago, at 4:20 p.m., people gathering on hippie hill in san francisco lit up. christie smith is at golden gate park. still smoky? things aired out a bit on hippie hill? >> reporter: a little bit but it's smoky still. the 4/20 celebration in golden gate park went on with a bang. well before 4:20, people started making their way toward the stage because they wanted to hear erykah badu do the countdown. then they lit up and slowly you start to see the haze rise. about 20,000 cannabis fans were expected here today. we saw some of them earlier decked out in cannabis-inspired

outfits. also some tie dye mixed in. we spoke with people who came from out of the bay area and even out of state. i spoke with people who came in from utah who said that it's something that they've been doing for quite a long time, they look forward to it, and they noticed it was more structured than they remembered. >> i noticed hundreds, maybe thousands, of people there. definitely more organized and structured, it seems like. compared to the years especially during the pandemic when a lot of people didn't show up. >> reporter: actually, we're told -- of course it action, it didn't happen in 2020 and 2021. it was back last year. this is actually the second year that regulated cannabis products were available for purchase and consumption. no one under 21 allowed in the fenced celebration area. there was a security area with

bag checks. so you certainly felt the structure. we're told there are about 40 vendors, 100 private security. i spoke with rec and park before we came on. they said that despite the size of the crowd, it's been relatively peaceful. about the size that they expected. so people are still here, still enjoying themselves. soon, around 5:00, but right now people celebrating and taking in the last of it. that's the latest from here. reporting live in san francisco, christie smith, "nbc bay area news." >> a nice, sunny day for the celebration. thanks. we'll see your full report at 5:30. starting this saturday, the theme park owned by cedar fair company will institute a chaperone policy. we're talking about great america. anyone 15 years old or younger must be accompanied by an adult who's at least 21 years old.

this is after 4:00 p.m. if you're going to the theme park, you have to have a chaperone if you're 15 years old or younger. the chaperone is also limited to having no more than ten youngsters with them while inside with that chaperone or else all or some will be subject to ejection. some parents we talked to who regularly visit great america told us they think it's a good idea. >> i definitely think a thrill-seeking adventure spot needs to have their regular parenting and normal chaperone situation. >> coming up, robert handa will have reaction from the park itself as well as some of the kids who will have to go to great america with a chaperone. some call it an unseen water source. nasa scientists uncover water running through soil and fractured rock from the sierra. vianey arana joins us with what that means for our groundwater and our drought.

we're counting dune to tip-off. the kings warming up right now at chase there. a live picture where the warriors are hosting game three of the playoff series. the series moves to san francisco. our anthony flores is courtside. we'll check in with hiwhen we com me

we've heard the promising news this whole winter season. our sierra snowpack. it provides one-third of california's water sa high. a recent study by nasa measured the underground water flowing from the sierra to the central valley. our meteorologist vianey arana to tell us what this could mean for our record show pack. even more water? >> it's something we're looking into. in this study they essentially found groundwater volume fluctuates more widely between wet and dry years than previously captured.

surface versus groundwater and why they matter. surface water is a body of water that collects on top and is mostly collected through precipitation. groundwater is key as precipitation seeps through the soil until it reaches rock material. typically, that water is stored in spaces between rock particles and generally flows in a downward angle, of course because of gravity into our bodies of water and reservoirs. the thing is, groundwater gets depleted quicker than replenishedlong-term. typically collected withells and pumps for agriculture in central valley, which altho only makes up 1% of use farmland, it provides 40% of our nation's fruits, veggies, and nuts annually. dr. donald ar gus, a research scientist at jpl, led the study about what they found. >> for the first time, there's all these drought indices based the farmers and agriculture. of what the gps bringing is

we're getting a good idea of what the subsurface water is and how that changes from month to month, from season to season. so we're getting a better understanding of the water surface processes and how these subservice water interacts with the deeper groundwater. >> now he added that the use of gps and the grace measurements will help us better understand how to mitigate and help us find better ways to capture all of the water during the wet months. >> our current snowpack, the snow survey at the beginning of april, it's looking great. we've had a lot of dry days. how is it looking now? the snowpack peaks april 1st and numbers are fantastic, still sitting at over 200% of the sierra snowpack, which is great. we're trending aboven old record set in he did let me kno they're already calculati numbers

fothe current sierra snowpack. you can see there, 253% of the statewide average. oncench numbers, he said in the next 15 w we'll know mor this is going to translate into our groundwater supply. we'll link that entire study on our website along with the story on our "climate in crisis" tap. >> thanks, vianey. we'll see you in the forecast for the bay area. let's talk about the warm day in san francisco. as we told you earlier, the 4:20 celebration is in full swing at golden gate park. the giants and warriors are both hosting games tonight in the city. the giants host mets a the oracle park at 6:45. the warriors continue their playoff series at chase center. tip-off is 7:00 p.m. warriors down 0-2. the first two games have been rough. besides the warriors losing, e-40 got ejected out of the first game after a miscommunication with a fan. game two, draymond suspended tonight. anthony flores is courtside at

chase center. anthony, dub nation needs to be out in full force tonight. the warriors need all those cheers. what's the vibe so far at chase center? >> well, first let me say hello, janelle, from inside chase center. there's been a lot of drama in this series, but not a lot of wins for the warriors. the fans, still about 45 minutes away from being let inside the arena. when i was walking from my car to the chase center, i saw a number of fans. i asked, what's the mood light? you feeling confident? every one of them, "absolutely, we're going to get it done tonight!" i said, "you're not nervous?" they said, "no, we've seen them do it too many times." they're confident despite being down 2-0 games. >> how are they going to fill that hole with donte, with draymond out, what adjustments are going to be made? >> they used to have the motto, strength in numbers. that's probably what they're going to need tonight.

they're going to need a lot of players to step up, fill the role that draymond greenl, not only rebounds, he's the vocal leader, he facilitates the offense, gives steph a break bringing the ball up the court. they're going to need other players to bring the ball, to really help out. steph and players are going to have to play one of their better games. they haven't been great the first two games. turnovers a big concern. coach kerr said, i'm not really worried about the turnovers. i would be, 22 last game. that was a big reason why they're down 0-2 in this series. >> get your crystal ball out. you make a lot of predictions. what are you predicting? warriors back at home game three? >> this is a hard one. the warriors are in a much better team at home than they are on the road. they've been in with of those two road losses. i think the warriors will be able to get it done. the crowd is going to lift them tonight. i think the warriors are going to get their first victory.

a loss, they're down 0-3, and that is desperation time. if you're watching the game tonight, i'll be the one wearing this. every fan yets a yellow gold blooded t-shirt. >> i'll look for you courtside, okay, thanks. >> i'll be screaming and waving the shirt. >> thanks, check in with you in anthony flores is courtside. tip-off 7:00 p.m. tonight. watch the game on our sister station, nbc sports bay area. garvin thomas is here for the 5:00 p.m. newscast. what are you working on? >> janelle, you know we've been following this story out of antioch involving the racist text messages in the police department. big developments in that story today. as a reminder, the messages involve roughly half the entire department. this story has huge implications for that city. today, a federal lawsuit was filed by some of the very people

who they say were once targeted in those texts. i have a "bay area proud" story. it involves a teacher helping a little boy learn how to read english and the touching way their lives have reconnected many years later. >> do i need to get out tissues? >> yeah, i think so. >> all right, i look forward to that coming up. did you see this? it exploded in midair. so many people were watching. but spacex scientists are actually cheering still after this explosion of their massive rocket. we'll tell you why they're cheering and me about the cheering and me about the or ♪♪ ♪ alexex! mateo, hey y how's busisiness? alexex! great. y you know ththat n has s really wororked wonder. thatat's what u.u.s. bank isis. great. y you know ththat n has s really wororked wonder. and d you're grorowing in calififornia? great. y you know ththat n has s really wororked wonder. -yup, , socal, nororcal... -monteterey? -all d day. -a brancnch in ventutura? that's's for sure-e-ah. atms in n fresno? that's's for sure-e-ah. freses-yes. that's's for sure-e-ah. encinitatas? yes, indndeed-us. encinitatas? anaheim? encinitatas? big g time. encinitatas? more guauacamole? encinitatas? i'i'm on a rololl-ay. encinitatas? how about t you? i'm jujust visitining.

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cocome to lifefe at the disisneyland reresort. cheers from spacex headquarters as their rocket exploded midflight. the company launched that unmanned rocket from texas early this morning. it's the most powerful rocket

ever built to successfully take off. that's why you heard cheers. employees knew something like this explosion was likely. they knew that. they were celebrating just the fact that it took off at all. no word yet on what caused the failure or the rocket to explode. ceo elon musk of spacex said they learned a lot from today's launch, and they will devise another plan to try again later. let's talk about our forecast. quite the warmup today. it's going to get even better? >> it really is. right in time for the weekend. great skies overlooking san jose. let's get to the forecast. i think you're going to like the temperatures, not only now, but what's in store. as we take a look at where we stand with our temps right now, 67 in santa rosa. look at this through the interior. we've got 70s. over the past couple of days, we've been a little cooler, breezy. now high pressure that's going to roll in. this is going to set us up not only for a warming trend ahead but what's looking like an extensive stretch, finally, of pleasant weather. more than one, two, or three

days of sunshine. tomorrow we're going to be reaching upper 70s in san jose, 79. even 80s on the map. this is going to lead into saturday and sunday where we're expecting equal sunshine, equal dry weather. this is going to extend all the way to sunday. by sunday, we cool off just a little bit. as you notice, san francisco, we're talking upper 60s, maybe even 70s. definitely some 80s into the interior for saturday and sunday. our stretch cools off a bit into next monday and tuesday. i'm happy to say no rain right now in our seven-day forecast. jeff ranieri will have more coming up at 5:00. >> thanks, vianey. that does it for us at 4:30. jessica and garvin are working on the 5:00 newscast. they'll have more on the a's and their planned move to las vegas.

right now at 5:00, rebuked by the mayor. oakland's mayor sending a strong message to the a's after the

team agrees to buy land and build a new ballpark in vegas. now where do the two sides go? >> i think we're all disappointed. we put so much into our waterfront vision. to not have success based on all the investment is disappointing. >> also, we talk exclusively with a's president david kaval. he shares the team's side of the story. the city of antioch spacing a lawsuit after some of the city's police officers share facist and homophobic texts. what the people filing that suit are asking for. good afternoon. the news at 5:00 starts right now. i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm garvin thomas. packing up for vegas for the second time in three years. oakland is facing the likelihood of losing its last major professional sports team. with the a's announcing they are in negotiations with las vegas and have even committed to

buying property for a new ballpark. >> a gut punch for oakland after losing the raiders to vegas three years ago. nbc bay area's velena jones is live in oakland with what happens next and the mayor not holding back at all, velena? >> reporter: not at all. like you said, jessica, the mayor says she has been in daily negotiations with the a's and only learned last night they were entertaining other offers. behind me, you can see the a's changed their slogan to "rooted in oakland" in 2017. now those words adding insult to injury for a city that accuses the team of not being committed to the place they've called home since the '60s. >> oakland is not interested in being used as leverage in the a's negotiations with las vegas. and it is disrespectful to our residents and our fans to string the city along this way. >> reporter: strong words from oakland mayor