5:30. more local news for you at 5:30. an aggressive disease killing sea lions. now we know what is behind it and how it could help humans. governor newsom's job on the line. the new poll of how he would do if a recall election were held today. today is cesar chavez day, the state holiday honoring the labor organizer and founder of the united farmworkers union. today santa clara county is making a push to vaccinate hundreds of farm and food workers and one of its most vulnerable communities. kpix 5 is live in morgan hill to explain why the county is prioritizing this group. >> reporter: people working in the fields including processing plants have been designated essential workers and they have

been working this entire time nonstop during the pandemic and many of them have gotten sick and now they are being offered the protection of a vaccine. >> reporter: she barely has words for getting her second shot. >> i feel secure now. i feel awesome, protected. >> reporter: the importance of that protection can't be overstated. she said she had a close call during the pandemic and three family members in the household tested positive. >> sometimes it is frustrating because you don't know who can be exposed or who is exposed and if you will get exposed and will you bring it home. >> reporter: they partnered with united farmworkers to organize the drive in morgan hill. agriculture is a $1.6 billion industry in santa clara county employing more than 8000 people. some of the migrant and seasonal workers and the county wants to make it as easy as possible for them to get their shots. >> we know, especially farmworkers live in very crowded conditions. what we want to make sure is that everybody in our county,

while in our county, that we get them vaccinated. >> reporter: in between his first and second shot, he said a coworker and friend died from a virus. >> after the first vaccine i was kind of more relieved and waiting now actually for the second one and this happened and it was too close for comfort i guess. >> reporter: relief is mixed with sadness over loss of a friend who did not receive the protection of a vaccine. >> we were close and we worked together and we spent a lot of time out of work sometimes. >> how is the county connecting with his community to make sure they actually get the vaccine? >> reporter: the county is forming outreach teams that go directly to farm and food processing plants and they realize it is not really sufficient just to set up a clinic and expect everyone will show up and be able to navigate that system seamlessly without a little bit of help and a little bit of encouragement.

to mark cesar chavez day, silicon valley rising launched it's essential workers counsel, a committee of people who have been at the front lines of the pandemic and the groups objective is to draw on their experiences and input from their peers to set the agenda for a post pandemic recovery. >> we launched the council on his birthday today at mcdonald hall and the meetinghouse where he got his start as a young organizer to pay her respects and to remind us of the fight, the dedication, belief and the need for workers to have a real voice at the ballot box and in their communities and workplace. >> they will hold its first meeting in the coming weeks and will also advocate for strengthening eviction protections and rental relief and for helping workers access childcare, paid sick days, and more. the mayor of san jose was passing out free groceries today and volunteering at the

drive through food bank at the st. john church and the group was also out honoring cesar chavez day. >> you see dozens of members of our community out here today in the spirit of cesar chavez because this is what we are about here in san jose and in tough times we serve one another. >> today they served 100 cars which includes the second harvest food bank and catholic charities. the new police chief of san jose met with local merchants to hear their concerns about recent attacks targeting the aapi community. about an hour ago the chief was visiting businesses in east san jose and he said there is a perception of fear in the community , but he hopes that won't deter victims from calling police. >> call us. we are here to respond and to help our community out the best we can and again we are one of the few agencies that reports and documents hate crime incidents, but also hate crimes.

>> he urged business owners to speak out when they witness a crime. san jose pd said many officers and dispatchers are trained in multiple languages. a new poll shows governor newsom would likely keep his job if a recall election were held today. the public policy institute surveyed 1100 likely voters and 56% said they would vote no to a recall. 40% would vote yes. the rest were undecided. voters were largely split along party lines and 79% of republicans were in favor of the recall with only 15% of democrats saying the same. a big factor fueling the recall campaign is governor newsom's handling of the pandemic. people are upset of the restrictions, some of the toughest in the country. a california teacher making national headlines after suggesting that parents want their kids back in class are

white supremacists. heather jansen is in sacramento with the social media post a lot of people are talking about. >> reporter: a teacher in washington unified parent calling out some parents demanding to returned in person learning. >> it is not a fight between parents and teachers but about getting our district to do what is right by kids. >> reporter: and west sacramento, kristi mckinney is one of them. >> i was actually blown away that not only apparent but also an educator would make those kind of statements about parents. >> reporter: those statements were since removed from facebook but read of disappointment aimed at parents demands to demand teacher agreements calling those pearl clutching and white supremacist and arguing too much is being asked of teachers going as far to say teachers are being treated as country club waitstaff and the words shocking to many who read them. >> to use that language and be so harsh about it, it is not

needed. >> reporter: parents understanding the message but not the way it is delivered. >> i feel the teachers love their students and they love their job or they would not have gone into it. if they don't feel safe, i don't want to force them into that kind of situation. >> those schools issued statements not condoning any derogatory remarks and saying it does not reflect on the districts values. the pentagon has overturned a trump era policy that largely bands transgender people from serving in the military. the new rules broaden access to medical care and gender transitioning for those serving and it all goes into effect may 1. earlier today president biden tweeted " transgender rights are human rights and i am calling on every american to join me in uplifting the worth and dignity of transgender americans. together we can stamp out discrimination and deliver on our nation's promise of freedom and equality for all.

the changes come two days after the state of arkansas past transgender bills, one banning reassignment surgery for anyone under the age of 18. the governor just signed a bill banning trans girls from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity. you will want to double check that promise in your refrigerator. in the recall. a home intruder has the tables turned and how he has his little dog angel to thank. one less tax headache to deal with in the refunds coming to those who already paid taxes on unemployment benefits. coming up all new at 6:00 and day with record-breaking spring heat, hollow the bay area is gearing up for fire season. why residents and one e. bay neighborhood are taking unique steps to prepare. >> part of what makes this area a high fire hazard severity zone is the slope and the fire preheat the vegetation above it and that plus the possibility

of a prolonged drought have's

a southern california dog living up to her name in a big way. the small pub angel was being credited with alerting her owner to a home intruder. the 69-year-old vietnam veteran says he was sleeping when angel began jumping on his chest and woke him up and he discovered somebody was in the house. he confronted a man hiding in his bathroom. >> she took care of the ones there and she is a special place in my heart. she has done a great job. she done a great job. i was very proud of her. >> doing her job. he was able to hold the suspect until police got there and arrested him and he credits his time in the military for his quick thinking but says angel is the one who really saved him and his wife. americans lost their jobs last year and have already filed their tax returns are getting a break. today, the irs announced it

will automatically recalculate the returns to account for the new stimulus tax break. the legislation allows taxpayers who earned less than $150,000 to exclude unemployment compensation up to $10,000. the agency will then send any refund directly to taxpayers in may and continuing into the summer. the stock market closed out march on a high note. the dow and sap had their best month since november. at the dow slipped today by 85 points and the nasdaq was up 201 with apple, facebook, and tesla all seeing gains and s&p was up 14. you may want to check the refrigerator. a popular brand of hummus has been recalled. the fda said salmonella was detected in some of their classic hummus and the 10 ounce containers are part of that affected batch. they were produced on february 10 and have a best before date

of april 26. coming up, a northbay man may be retired, but he is

does your vitamin c last twenty-four hours? onlyly nature's s bounty doe. new immunene twenty-fofour hours has longnger lastingng vitamin. plusus, herbal and otheher immune s supers. onlyly from natuture's bountn. a retired fairfax man volunteering seven days a week coming up with new and creative ways to help his northbay neighbors stay afloat. >> we introduce you to this week's bay area jefferson award winner. >> reporter: if you have a

need, jack hayes will find a way to meet it. he does not take no for an answer. >> just loved it. love doing it. truck 82-year-old jack hayes spent his career as a school superintendent and let the federation that oversees california's interscholastic sports. >> after retirement i had an idea of what i wanted to do. >> reporter: he started volunteering 17 years ago. >> i wanted to be hands-on. >> reporter: he has a group from saint rita's church and fairfax. >> there were families out there the needed assistance. truck they serve fairfax, san geronimo valley and beyond and they deliver weekly food bags to dozens of families to help pay for utility bills and gas, and sometimes they provide furniture and close to people and nonprofits. jack helped about 50 families

apply for $85,000 in rental assistance they received during the pandemic. he insists on going to visit those he helps. >> we can listen and also we will see needs that they don't ask about. >> reporter: to pay for those needs, he has organized for this championship for 12 years and it has generated more than $175,000 to rescue at risk women and families and senior citizens on the brink of homelessness. >> this has been a blessing for me and my family. >> reporter: linda, who was forced to take custody of her two young grandchildren is grateful beyond words, not just for the food and clothes and true during help the for jack's generous spirit. >> it is not like you feel so i am here. it is like let me help you. i want to help you. don't worry about it. >> thank you to all who help out. >> reporter: thank you notes posted in his office but his service means to families.

>> i will use something that mother teresa once said. we can't do great things we can do small things with great loves and that defines jack. >> it is true that you get more back then you give. >> reporter: for so tirelessly meeting the needs of the northbay community, this week's jefferson award in the bay area goes to jack hayes. >> jack has been married for 59 years with six children and 13 grandchildren. is next focuses tutoring for children and stress relief for single moms. >> amazing.'s generosity is astounding. what an incredible person. >> the energy. >> no kidding. i could use a little bit of that. >> if you would like to nominate a quiet area -- hero for an award you can find the form on our website, kpix.com. it goes without saying, paul, it was really warm today. i mean, it was nice but it was

a little strange. it feels so early for it to be so hot. it is kind of startling that even downtown san francisco got up to 80. it is the last day of march but it is still that calendar page and it is significant this early in the year. another warm day tomorrow, but then we track some changes as we head into easter weekend. the onshore wind will strengthen and send some log and cloud coverage toward the coast and bay and cooler temperatures across the board friday and saturday and even a chance for a few showers making their way into the bay area and we talk about a chance of showers for easter sunday pushing that back a little bit now. it is a slight chance easter sunday night after the sun goes down and the best chance of rain is monday into tuesday of next week leaving it at about a 50-50 chance so there is a lot that far down in the forecast that could go wrong and send that rain somewhere else but things are at least looking somewhat favorable and we will pick up a little rain and don't get your hopes up for a big rainfall event and 1/10 of an inch or so is what you will see.

and hopefully it will wash some pollen out of the air but it won't arrive until monday so as we head through the weekend the pollen count will be stuck in the high category and it is still juniper and alder the top three and if you have been suffering from seasonal allergies, keep the netty pot in medication handy over the next several days. will look at the high temperatures from today and blue skies as we look out from the hopkins hotel and 84 in fairfield and san jose at 83 which actually fell a degree short of the record high temperature and i know i said at 5:00 we set a new record and san jose and it makes of the record high temperature at 84 so just barely below that we set new high temperatures in concord and at the oakland airport in the low 80s and right 80 degrees downtown in san francisco and even half moon bay made it into the upper 70s. the current temperatures in the 70s and upper 70s downtown in san francisco mostly low 80s on the map right now and still 84 degrees and the high temperature in fairfield happens to be the current temperature. back down with dry air in place

and nothing there to hold it to ground level so temperatures fall 30 degrees between now and early in the morning it puts most of us in the low 50s with a few spots in the 40s. we do warm-up with temperatures topping out just short of 80 degrees by early afternoon. that onshore breeze will start to kick in and it means a sharp drop in temperatures and by this time tomorrow evening, temperatures will be back in the low 60s. soy 16b0 drop. santa rosa, it will be more leisurely of a decline after you reach highs of low 80s by midafternoon in mid-70s by this time tomorrow and concord reaching into the mid-80s again and likely to break another high temperature tomorrow and san jose you will break getting up to 86 which will barely break the record in the mid-80s, 85 for the record high tomorrow. it will be 84. i can't get these numbers right. we will get these dialed in. san francisco falling short of record territory the same thing for oakland and records for san

jose, livermore and concord in the temperatures drop off as we head toward easter weekend. looking further down the line, a new month-long outlook from the climate prediction center despite the warm start to the month of april. there is not the below-average temperatures for most of california as we head for the next 30 days about a 1 in 3 chance either above-average or close to normal or below. and same thing for precipitation. fingers crossed that maybe we could see rain chances headed our way once we get past the slight chance of showers early next week and that will be for monday and tuesday. we dry out a bit on wednesday below normal temperatures probably continuing throughout most of next week and coming up at 6:00 will take another look at how close we came to record high temperatures in areas and maybe it fell short today. record-breaking temperatures and fire crews on high alert and how some east bay residents are taking unusual steps to protect themselves from what the fire

season has in store. hopes for a march miracle dashed and the entire bay area facing drought conditions. the residence concerns it could put their homes at risk. fire after her tweets prompted outrage by one san francisco school board member accusing the district of violating her civil rights. still ahead, a bit of a mystery for decades and now we know the cause of

for decades sea lions along the west coast have been plagued by lethal form of cancer. now, research conducted at the marine mammal center has determined the cause of the disease and how it holds both promise and shame for mankind. john ramos is the story. >> reporter: see lands have become a sort of spirit animal for the bay area. one day they may actually save the life of somebody you love, but for the most tragic of reasons. the sea lions that hang out at pier 39 are always a tourist favorite and this four-year-old doesn't want anything bad to happen to them. >> they need to be safe and they need to live in a safe place. >> reporter: they have not been safe for a long time. in 1979, the marine mammal center began finding sea lions dying from cancer called urogenital carcinoma.

since then up to one quarter of all adult sea lions admitted to the hospital have died from it. it has been a mystery until now. researchers have discovered that the cancer is caused by a sea lion version of genital herpes. >> it is a sexually transmitted virus which is actually quite an efficient way to spread if you are a virus because you have to reproduce to keep a species going. took the lead researcher said man has a hand in this as well. it is believed that contaminated water is triggering the virus to create cancer and recently it was discovered that thousands of barrels of the pesticide ddt were dumped in the ocean in the 1970s right off the channel islands. the place where 90% of sea lion pups are born. >> it is like last place you want a bunch of contaminants to be in the nursery and the channel islands is that place. >> reporter: in a bitter irony the sea lion cancer is similar

to cervical cancer in humans so it may unlock answers to preventing it in people. doctor deming said there is no treatment for the sea lions, but she would like to see something good come from their deaths. >> we can utilize these animals and respect them in their death by taking advantage of learning as much as we can from them. >> reporter: in san francisco, john ramos, kpix 5. >> she credits the mammal center in recognizing the spike in cancer cases in saving tissue sample starting in the mid-90s. those samples from more than 300 animals are helping drive the research. spring heat and already some worries about the coming fire season. how neighbors are joining the fire watch. the entire bay area suffering from drought conditions and the people concerned their homes are at risk. firing back. a san francisco school board member demoted over some past tweets is now suing for a

multimillion dollar claim against her former board members. good evening. and day with record- breaking spring heat we take a special look at how the bay area will be dealing with the drought and the upcoming fire season. at first a live look at san jose, one of the places approaching temperature records today. paul shows us the areas that hit the 80s. >> there were a lot of them and we set a couple record high temperatures today in san francisco fell short but did reach 80 degrees, which is unusual in the month of march. the oakland airport broke a record high temperature hitting 82 and concord hit 83 and breaking the record by one degrees and one of the warmer spots was santa rosa at 84 that fell short of record territory. we will give a run toward a lot of records again tomorrow with temperatures into the 80s

inland and even close to 80 degrees in san francisco falling a degree short of today but that is still 17 degrees above average for the first day of april with temperatures 18 or 19 degrees for oakland, san jose and concord and the temperature is 86 in san jose and it also sets a new record high for thursday with the old record at 84 and we will see a cool down as we head into easter weekend with the big drop near the water on friday and temperatures dropping for inland parts of the bay area on saturday. we will look ahead at the next chance of rain headed our way in a few minutes. now the focus shifts to wildfires and of course the drought. the team coverage begins on how some neighborhoods are already on fire watch. >> reporter: we know the term fire season has fallen out of favor over the last several years and we hear now more about the month in the calendar at which fire risk is most elevated and that is normally coming around september or october and this year they think it may arrive maybe a month or two early. >> her hope was obviously we would have much more rain than we did and it was the lack