breaking right now at 11:00,san francisco native o.j. simpson dies at the age of 76. the former nfl star succumbing to cancer. ♪♪ ♪♪

good morning. thanks for join us for our midday newscast. i'm marcus washington. >> i'm laura garcia, as well as being an nfl football standout and actor, simpson was also known for his acquittal of murdering his ex-wife in a televised trial that gripped the nation. >> nbc's jay gray has more on his life and career. >> a heisman trophy winner, an nfl hall of fame runningback, o.j. simpson will be remembered most from something he could never run from. born o ren that will james simpson he was from san francisco, his way out, football. he was drafted by the buffalo bills where he had a record setting nfl career including a league mvp and retired as one of the best to ever play the game and for o.j. the spotlight never dimmed. >> transitioning into a

successful career in tv and movies. >> he was inducted into the pro football hall of fame in 1985, the same year he married his second wife nicole brown. the couple had two children, but apparently a rocky marriage that included allegations of domestic abuse. nicole brown simpson filed for divorce in february of 1992 and just over two years later she and a friend, ron goldman, were found murdered in her brentwood home. >> suspect may be driving a white or light-colored ford bronco. >> five days after the deadly attack, simpson led officers on a low-speed chase threatening to take his own life before eventually surrendering to police. he was charged with murder. the court proceedings dubbed the trial of the century -- >> if it doesn't fit you must acquit. >> lasted nine months. every minute -- >> we, the sure, in the above-entitled action find the defendant orenthal james simpson

not guilty. >> justice was not serveded. >> searching for that justice the goldman family won a civil suit. simpson ordered to pay more than $33 million. he returned to court multiple times over the next several years for traffic violations and even pirating cable tv, but it was a las vegas robbery in 2008 simpson saying he was taking back stolen personal property that ultimately sent him to prison. >> count one, conspiracy to commit a crime, guilty. >> sentenced to 33, he served just over nine. >> thank you. >> before being paroled in 2017. >> jay gray, nbc news. and as jay mentioned, simpson will forever be remembered for that murder trial that really took hold of the nation. >> reporter conan nolan from our sister station in los angeles covered the criminal and civil trial. he had this to say about simpson's legacy. >> he was a charismatic guy. he was somebody who when he was at usc he started making friends

not just on campus, but off campus and frankly, a lot of his friends, his closest friends were white and he -- he was the kind of person who had a personality that, i think, made people feel very comfortable around him. he had some very strong, very loyal friends. robert kardashian, one of them, for example, a lot of his friends in hollywood were high-ranking members of the media community, and i think in part because -- i talked with him on several occasions. i talked with him during the civil trial, and it was -- you know, during the civil trial he'd come out because you're not in custody and he talked to reporters, you know, and you realized very quickly, okay, this guy i can see why people like him. >> we will continue to follow developments surrounding o.j. simpson's death. for the latest 24/7 make sure you visit our website, nbc bay area.com and to get alerts sent

straight to your phone download our free, nbc bay area app. happening now, our other top story, an overturned big rig in san lorenzo still blocking a key connector from interstate 238 to southbound 880 hours after it happened. >> it's been a problem for quite some time. nbc bay area's bob redell joins us. the situation has been complicating things out there. >> so the trailer's been moved. the issue is the repair of the road. we're at the northbound 238 connector to southbound 880. cal trans is out here. you see those orange trash bins in the back of that truck? what they've got to do, they have to fill those with sand and put them up against the median which is to the left side of the truck that has the flashing horizontal yellow bar. what used to be a metal accordion-like structure, during the big rig accident this morning that truck took it out. this is video from the newsroom

from skyranger gives you a better chance of what is taking so long. just a lot of road repair and it was 50, 55 minutes ago this is also newer video when they removed this tractor trailer. the reason why it took so long, that tractor trailer overturned at 1:30 this morning. it wasn't until 10:00 that they were able to finally remove it. it's because it was stuffed with 35,000 pounds of frozen chinese food and the trailer was compromised so they couldn't simply upright it and wheel it off and they had to bring two wreckers to slide it on to a tow truck or flat bed to get it out of there. this overturned around 1:30 this morning and chp says the driver did fall asleep and the driver was not hurt and no other vehicles were involved and if you come back out here life, you can see they're trying to get the road cleaned up and they have to put in a temporary protection in front of the median which will be the barrels of sand in the orange trash can

and your brake lights right there to the left side of your screen, those are the brake lights that are headed to southbound -- excuse me, they're headed to 880, probably some of them want to go southbound 880, but they're not going to be able to do that yet. the estimated time of reopening right now not until 1:30 this afternoon. if that is, in fact the time that holds, that would have been a 12-hour shutdown of this crucial connector which obviously caused problems for people in the morning commute and chp expects it to be open for the drive time home. reporting live, bob redell, nbc bay area news. >> a lot of folks travel that corridor. >> sure do. cinthia pimentel, you've been helping people all morning long. >> that backup is past san lorenzo into castro valley and there were accidents in the backup of this, and alternates if you have to get yourself

through this area. you can follow chp, they're directing people northbound 880 and back down or 238 to mission boulevard, 185, connect to 92 and bring it down to 80. another one i have for you is continue southbound to 238 to 92 and then take 880. overall it's been a messy commute there and the entire bay area continues to recover from that morning commute. back to you. >> thank you very much, cynthia. >> a woman is i critical condition after being hit by a car in san jose. it happened early morning in story road near happy hollow park and zoo. she's now at a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. the road is back open this midday. >> let's take a live look outside in san jose for us this midday. a beautiful sun there this midday, i was going to say this afternoon. not there quite yet, but the temperatures are going to go up more? >> yes. it will warm up to the 80s in

the south bay and this is the last time we will see that in quite a while. in san francisco, the fog has rolled into the golden gate bridge and it will keep the coastal temperatures down just a bit and we'll heat up farther away from the coastline. at noon here in the city we're at 66 degrees and then the temperatures just have to stop rising and we'll continue with sunshine, but then as we go until late this evening temperatures dropping back into the 50s, but we see the big difference in the range in temperatures across the bay area with the south bay in the low 80s today and the inland east bay into the low 80s while the east bay will be in the upper 70s and there will be a drop in temperatures tomorrow and cooler on saturday. we'll talk about that and rain coming in. how much we're expecting is coming up in the full microclimate forecast. >> kari, thank you. oakland port commissioners are expected to vote on a controversial name change for oakland airport. the airport may soon be renamed

san francisco bay oakland international airport. the airport leaders say the reason for this change is simple. travelers from elsewhere don't necessarily realize the airport's close proximity to san francisco, but the idea is of course, facing serious headwinds starting with san francisco leaders already vowing to sue and saying that it would create too much confusion. the san mateo county supervisors this week approved a resolution approving the plan and oakland leaders insist steps will be taken to limit potential turbulence. >> we will continue to keep the identifier as well as the logo which is what people use in general for baggage claim, tickets and that sort of stuff so i really think that that will help eliminate it. >> that meeting is scheduled to start later this afternoon. >> now to a follow up to a story you saw here on nbc bay area. the man accused of vandalizing a san francisco mosque is now behind bars.

police say this surveillance video captures 35-year-old robert gray using a skateboard to smash the windows of the mosque last week. police say he returned on tuesday causing more damage and then again last night. police say he returned to the property and that's when police arrested him. gray is facing vandalism and other charges. a massive three-alarm fire in san joaquin county is still burning at this hour. it's all happening in the banta community near tracy. that nearby elementary school across the street canceled classes for the day. it's believed five acres filled with wooden pallets are fueling the blaze. there's no water supply in the area so firefighters are having to shuttle their water in. at one point more than 50 firefighters were on the scene frying to put it out. 19 nearby homes were under evacuation. new details this midday, that dispute over the valencia street center running bike lane in san francisco is escalating. more business owners have filed

additional legal claims against san francisco, fighting the reverse effects of the bike lane project. more than ten businesses closed since the implementation of the bike lane. the original lawsuit was filed in february by three businesses and has since increased to seven. they suffered major losses due to decreased accessibility. >> it has had a horrible effect on the businesses on valencia. it has diverted traffic and it has made parking less available and valencia street is now a shadow of what it was and it's worsening every day. >> the coalition is looking for financial compensation and other alternatives that can be safe for the cyclists as well as pedestrians without undermining the validity to valencia street. japan's prime minister addresses a joint session of congress. ahead for you during our midday

newscast. the worries he's expressing surrounding the future of his country and the big fear looming for president biden when it comes to the war in the middle east. plus changing the view we view outer space. we'll show you the world's largest camera and talk with a scientist behind the project. >> first, a reminder for you, you can now apply for nbc universal's local impact grant. this is the program entering its seventh year and it will award more than $227,000 to eligible local non-profit. the application window is open until april 19th. for more details scan the qr code there on the screen and it will take you directly to our website.

thanks for sticking around. new overnight, a new russian missile strike targeting ukraine's physical infrastructure. the damage includes a thermal power plant outside of kyiv said to be destroyed.

kyiv leaders say up to 200,000 people are without power and it targeted two underground storage facilities and this is where ukraine stores natural gas. volodymyr zelenskyy is making a new, desperate plea and this is to the west for more defense supplies. >>. the japanese prime minister wrapping up a joint address to congress. >> his country's worry about nuclear weapons and baseball. scott mcgrew has more. >> it was a mostly light hearted address, though, of course, the alliance between japan and the united states is very serious, as it shows unity against china. the prime minister reminded the members of the house and senate he grew up for a time in new york city in queens. >> my father would take the subway to -- where he worked as a trade official. we rooted for the mets and the

yankees and ate hot dogs at the coney island. [ cheers and applause ] >> the prime minister also introduced his wife in the galley. he said he married so well. if you know his wife yukko, you know you can trust his judgment on everything. addresses to joint sessions of congress are not rare, but not common either. this was the first one so far this year, but last year leaders from israel, south korea and india spoke before both houses. in 2022, ukrainian president zelenskyy did it twice in one year. president biden will meet again with the japanese prime minister today along with the president of the philippines ferdinand marcos, jr., as they discuss security in the pacific. yesterday at a press conference, president biden hinted at concerns that iran could strike israel at any time. this would be in retribution for an israeli strike on an embassy in syria killing members of the iranian military. as we reported this week israel

is scrambling to get gps signals above tel aviv scrambled so they cause problems with inbound missiles. back to you. >> thank you, scott. instagram will now offer a warning before a user sends or receives intimate photographs. this is an example of the screen sent by meta. before you share, it says, it can be difficult to control what happens to a photo once you share it and then it gives you one more chance to change your mind. the service will also remind those who receive a nude picture they're under no obligation to send one back. new at 11:00, after two decades of work scientists at stanford celebrating the completion of the world's largest digital camera. it's the space and time camera and this is in menlo park. that camera will soon be sent to a space observatory in chile.

ginger conejero saab explains just what kind of mysteries this new camera will begin to unveil. >> hey, guys. we are getting the chance to see the world's largest digital camera up close and the sheer size of the lens and the resolution of its sensors and what it can do just simply blows away anything out there at least what we know of. the team here at slack in menlo park have been working on this and we get to talk to travis lang who is part of that team and travis, this might be a proud moment for you and it's proud for those of you in the bay area and for you, specifically, this is special. >> we're working on this for a long time. i personally have been working on this for over a decade, so i'm excited to have this finally culmination and send it off to the next phase in chile. >> talk to us about the significance of this camera. >> so, yeah, what you're looking at here is the lens on the camera is five feet in diameter. the camera is ten feet long and weighs about 6,000 pounds so

it's a very large camera. the resolution of the array of sensors is 3200 megapixels and it is larger than your iphone which is probably something like 12 to maybe 48 if you have the latest version. it's specifically built for doing surveys and looking at all of the night sky. so you look at all of the night sky and it's going to see pretty much everything that we can see including very, very dim objects and very faint stars, galaxies and the distance. >> scientists will have a field day learning from it, as well. >> also, people who are interested in near earth objects and things in our nervous system and understanding our solar system and what the objects in the solar system are and just like media will be releasing various stories on the journey as it goes and the next step after it's commissioned and ready for use on the top. >> okay. congratulations, travis. congratulations to you and the team here.

>> appreciate it. >> proudly bay area, guys. built right here in menlo park. something we can all share, right? back to you. >> definitely going to share. >> and we'll share the forecast, as well. >> let's get out there and share some lunch, maybe. >> we've got to wait a few more -- we have ten more minutes. 73, feels really nice in san jose. temperatures here warming up faster compared to oakland and walnut creek and san francisco at 63 degrees. when we take a look at the expected high and how that compares to a normal high for this date. santa rosa will be ten degrees above a normal high temperature and reaching 78 degrees and a high of 81 in concord and oakland will hit a high of 73. we're about there now and san jose up to 80 degrees. we are going to see a significant cooldown and you can see that in the seven-day

cooldown, and as of now we are seeing a clear sky. we'll start to see clouds increasing late tomorrow evening and for late tomorrow night, rain first moving into the north bay and spreading across the bay area. notice the change in colors here, this is not just all rain. the pink and the white indicates where we can see some snow and they're in elevations above 3,000 feet and we can also see that in the santa cruz mountains and in the north bay mountains and a coating of light snow after having 80s in the past couple of days. big shift in the temperatures as well as the weather pattern with this cold front coming in still brings in some off and on rain in the forecast for saturday afternoon and then tapering off on sunday morning. so we can see about an inch of rainfall along the coastline, the farther inland you go the less rain you'll see up to about a half inch of rain and it's still a pretty good soaking for

a saturday. we are also going to see one to six inches of snow for the sierra and that's mostly coming on saturday afternoon into sunday morning and our temperature going from napa to upper 70s to low 60s tomorrow and a high of only 49 degrees on saturday and we start to see it rebounding and temperatures even out and take a look at the seven-day forecast for the inland areas and low 80s today and upper 60s tomorrow and we'll see more clouds coming in. off and on saturday and some of the heaviest early in the morning and spotty showers throughout the afternoon. it moves out on sunday, but we are still left with clouds with highs in the low 60s and bouncing back to the low 70s for the middle of next week. marcus and laura? >> thanks so much, kari. happening now, spacex launching from southern california. they'll deliver a satellite for

the u.s. space force into orbit. the launch triggered a sonic boom after liftoff. the data will reportedly be used in military mission planning and operations. an a-list actor's hoping fans will select go on one big idea. coming up here on nbc bay area, the plans to bring monopoly to the movies.

a retired judge from california shows us he is still king of the court. the tennis court, that is. robert quall of merced just won a gold medal for team usa in turkey. the world championship organized by the international tennis federation for people 85 and older. quall who is 84 has been playing tennis since he was 14 years old. a study from denmark found that people who play tennis live ten years longer than those who don't exercise. >> meet you on the court after the show. >> pick up a racket. >> monopoly is using its get out of jail free card as it's heading back to the big screen. margot robbie is headed back to the big screen. film giant lion's gate made the

announcement and they're collaborating with robbie and her production company. in the same company that produced barbie there. so the box office hit generated more than a billion dollars in ticket sales and they're hoping to bring the same success to the classic board game. there's no tentative date on when the movie could hit theaters. >> i love the hat. >> top hat. >> skateboard. >> you're the modern game. >> oh, okay. >> the them bell. >> we'll take that game outside today, maybe back inside for the weekend when that rain comes in. >> all right. sounds good. >> thanks for joining us. >> we'll see y bacouk

♪♪ ♪♪ right now on "california live," we're raising a glass to a healthier planet. how a northern california vineyard i