from cbs news bay area, this is the afternoon edition. >> right now, a live look at san francisco and about the

struggle to revive downtown and new numbers show bay area tourism is still lagging behind. good afternoon. the news comes as governor newsom said tourism and tourist spend $150 billion last year which is an all-time high for tourism spending in the state but here it is a different story. visit california said tourists spent $2.7 billion less in 2023 and they spent four years ago and the three counties that see the most have yet to make it back to pre-pandemic levels and taurus spend 14 billion compared to 14.2 billion back in 2019. businesses see the impact and here this café said they are surviving and not thriving and they say business was down about 25% when compared to 2019 and they are not alone. many small businesses complained they are recovering from the pandemic.

>> you need people coming through the door to survive and when they don't come, it is hard to keep the doors open. >> the owner said his tour bus business is down 40% in 2023 compared to 2019. industry leaders blame a drop in international visitors. they said about 50% of the chinese tourists have returned. >> pretend an -- pre-pandemic china was our largest market and right now it is capped by the governments in the united states and china air services capped at 50% of pre-pandemic levels. so we can't get back to the normal of what we call normal visitation because you don't have the seats and the planes to make that happen. >> santa clara county is back with tourist spending about $7 billion. the county was about

even in 2019 compared to spending. a live look at our airports right now and the travel season kicks off at the end of the month with millions of americans making plans and figuring out how to pay for those trips. and a new survey finds 36% of people say they are willing to go into that -- debt for their vacation. people who don't pay it off faced interest rates of 20%. >> if you're only making minimum payments with the average interest rate, you will be in debt for more than 18 years and pay close to $10,000 in interest. >> according to the union the average american has more than $6000 in debt. >> here is a live look outside with temperatures warming up. let's get to jessica in the studio. >> it was a cool weekend for us

with gusting conditions once the rain moved in but we are left with cool temperatures lasting into the afternoon. san francisco and oakland sitting in the low 60s and we have mid to upper 60s the north we go to napa stretching into santa rosa and along the coastline it is breezy and cloudy with 50s all throughout the afternoon. once we head into areas like livermore and fremont, we will see a warm-up but for now we hold on tight for the 60s and a similar trend near san jose. inland, you have some warmer weather this week . high pressure is moving in getting rid of the rain system we had over the weekend and it will continue to warm us up day by day with 60s turning into 70s and 70s and 80s and then suddenly 90s as we go into the friday forecast and then we average out heading into the week into the mid-to low 80s. that is inland. if we went to

the bay closer to san francisco like berkeley or oakland, we will hold on tight to the 70s for tuesday and wednesday and see sunny skies and average into the 80s thursday and friday and a cooling down into the 70s next week. people around the world marking holocaust remembrance day and it honors the 6 million jews killed by the in world war ii. sirens sounded across israel with millions remembering the terms of the holocaust while still reeling from the hamas attack seven months ago. the prime minister said his country will defeat its enemies. the military is carrying out airstrikes in rafah hours after telling palestinians to evacuate parts of the southern gaza city and it is a sign that a ground offensive could be imminent. colleges across the country are bracing for more protests and tensions over the war in gaza as they spill into graduation season. police arrived at an

encampment in san diego making arrests after declaring it an unlawful assembly. demonstrators have been kept up for seven days in the new york columbia announced it is canceling its main spring graduation and that decision comes after weeks of protests at the school with demonstrators calling for the university to divest from israel. columbia will instead hold school ceremonies over the next few weeks. >> we spoke to these students that said the risk for them when it comes to expulsion or suspension is very severe and significant and it was sort of despite that participating because it is their belief that if the people in gaza experience this i can go through this discomfort or even this challenge. >> columbia is not the first school changing plans as demonstrations continue in last week the university of southern

california canceled its commencement and instead will hold an event at the coliseum for many of these students and this will be their second missed graduation after covid-19 canceled ceremonies in 2020. the pro-palestinian demonstrators at uc berkeley fully have been mostly peaceful so far but as of now we don't know of any planned disruptions to commencements. the berkeley ceremony is this weekend and sonoma state the following weekend. san francisco state is on may 24. still ahead, you can soon see more driverless cars on streets where they plan to expand its fleet plus boeing is hours away from launching its first ever flight into space. the final preparations are now underway. >> she is definitely the role

model. >> here is a live look outside before we head to the break. we will be right back

they will begin testing driverless cars in the next few weeks in the state is the first step to expanding service from san francisco to sunnyvale and for now they will be given to

employees first between the city down to the border and there has been pushed back to the expansion of driverless cars testing in the bay area after a string of safety incidents involving the crews in their vehicles. meanwhile they will hold a hearing that will give local governments more control over permits and regulations for driverless vehicles. today is the last day for the conference in san francisco and the security expo welcomes industry leaders and academics and government officials and 40,000 people are expected to attend. after years of delays, boeing will launch its new spaceship with a crew for the first time and it's now under scrutiny ahead of tonight scheduled test flight to the international space station. we have more from florida where the reputation will be on the line. >> tonight the rocket will lift off with this most precious

payload yet, people. >> it is the real deal. >> 170 feet of the launch tower we met ron, the head of launch operations and he showed us what the crew will do and climb into history. >> this is the last stop before they head into space. >> to do that the ones writing this and leaving. wow. truck they are former navy test pilots and two of the most seasoned astronauts and they will take it on a test drive to the international space station. the goal is to certify it the way it is supposed to and nasa can return crew flights to the space station and they want redundancy and hired boeing and spacex a decade ago. they are under great pressure to perform after a costly and deadly setback in the commercial aviation business and more costly setbacks in developing starliner to fly people and it

is more than seven years behind schedule and stung by problems with flight software, jammed valves and parachute safety concerns, costing the company more than $1 billion. >> the priority is to do this safely. >> reporter: he is the program manager. >> i have full confidence they are doing this properly to get a safer vehicle up and orbit with people on board. >> back to our first alert weather and looking live nice and tall as it stretches into the sky with blue skies and a little sunshine and warmth coming and we will check back in with jessica. looking at the next seven days, there is no chance of showers at all in the forecast with the rain system moving its way through the bay area over the weekend was a cold front behind some chilly temperatures and we do feel it today. the daytime highs sit a little bit below average and we will get to that in the second. looking

at the skies we see a mix of sunshine and clouds today and tomorrow but no rain drops and let's look at these highs throughout the area and we expect low 60s from san francisco across the bridge over into oakland. mid and upper 60s into the wine country. into the east the only place that hits the 70s today is areas like antioch where we see blue skies into the santa clara valley which will be the trend and 60s in the forecast and let's take a look at the next seven days. san jose is sitting at 69 headed into this afternoon and we will continue to warm up day by day as we head into the forecast with high pressure moving into the state of california and along the west coast and it will get us from the 60s into the 80s just within a matter of five days and we could see some 90s into the inland areas like concord and antioch. really anywhere from the pacific northwest into san diego the prediction center shows above normal temperatures in the next 6 to 10 days. we are already

seeing that trend now so let's look at what happens in the bay area starting inland if you live near concord and antioch. you could expect 90s into the forecast with a big difference compared to what we have today and tomorrow. we are still holding on tight to 60s and 70s but we than average out luckily as we head into the week with 80s insight and plenty of sunshine to share throughout the bay area. closer to the coastline are closer to san francisco along the peninsula we see a mix of sunshine and clouds for monday and tuesday and we rule those out heading into wednesday through friday topping off into the low 80s closer to the shoreline. the average out into the low 70s early next week. she lives life to the fullest at 99 and not only that, she is royalty in chinese american history. we will meet the oldest living miss chinatown. i am excited to share with

you this click chair which is the bottle sized chair for anywhere and it is lightweight and portable and has a patented design that is uncomfortable to sit in and it weighs over 3 pounds and holds about 300 pounds. the weather will get warmer and i do know we want to spend more time outside with loved ones whether we are going to a picnic or sitting at a game on the sidelines. you could even bring it to outdoor concerts. it could be cumbersome to have a heavy chair or one that has a lot of polls you have to mess with. this is compact and portable and it sets up in seconds and this tip proof design is comfortable to sit in. i know the family loves our annual beach vacation but we are always complaining it could take away from the fund to log out heavy chairs to the beach and this lightweight chair is fun and i am thinking about gifting this. i love the blue but i think my mother-in-law

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as we celebrate asian american pacific islander month, we share some living history. we introduce you to the woman who became the very first miss chinatown and this is the new crown she recently received. >> reporter: penny wong is royalty in chinese american history. the 99-year-old woman was crowned queen at the very first miss chinatown beauty pageant in 1948 and she admits she wasn't planning to enter the contest and it is the chinese american version of the miss america pageant. >> one lady said why don't you join them and i said i don't know but i did. >> reporter: she found herself breaking barriers because it

was a big deal to parade in a bathing suit when you aren't swimming. but she is known for taking chances. >> i was surprised that i won. >> reporter: suddenly, she got invited to a lot of parties. >> i am just like everybody else. >> she did pave the way for younger women like cynthia, miss chinatown san francisco 1967 who has admired penny's boldness and confidence. >> she was the first one to be in a bathing suit to win a contest and that was a no-no in 1948. she made very important strides and steps for the chinese american woman. >> reporter: those women include cynthia's group, the grant avenue follies and the dancing senior citizens who

called themselves grandmas from the golden age of san francisco and they honored her to replace the crystal crowned -- crown. >> she deserves it. don't you think? >> after winning this she did office work and modeling and she married her late husband and had three children and they owned a nightclub and other businesses in chinatown where she lived most of her life. >> she definitely is a role model and you don't have any children and having a career or business and encouraging everybody to get out and live. >> i had a lot of fun and after this i still have a lot of fun. >> you go back in time. >> reporter: these days she holds court with her younger friends like the grant avenue

follies whom she supported for years and with age her experience -- she has experienced some memory loss and hearing loss but she still loves to play poker and laugh. >> reporter: what is the secret to long life? >> drink a lot of water. >> reporter: it is no secret that the first miss chinatown still rains when it comes to living life to the fullest. >> she does have three children and five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and the civil rights group alliance organize the first pageant and she said the only makeup she wore was lipstick at that time. and we will feature stories highlighting issues important to the community and we will post all of these on a special section of our website. coming up

the wnba golden state announcing a new general manager today. she will be joining the team as they join the season in 2025 and coming to the bay from new york where she was the assistant general manager for the liberty leading her previous team to three playoff appearances in the last five years and is hoping to do the same with her new team from

the bay area. >> the new investment that has been committed to building an incredible franchise is nothing short of amazing. i am really excited to collaborate with the current and future incredible minds to build a winning culture. >> golden state will be headquartered in oakland and play home games in chase center here in san francisco. a new era of baseball hits the community today and you can get tickets to see the oakland baller's inaction for any of their games. the team paused sales for a bit to implement a new ticketing system and they say there are lower ticket fees and the first game of the season is scheduled for june 4 at their newly announced in. that is it fo

[ relaxing music ] >> finn: i mean, i just-- i still can't believe it that you're here and that you're with us. i mean, i thought-- i thought i lost you and that we would never see you again. >> sheila: yeah, well, i-- i am right here and i'm not going anywhere. and i never want to be apart from either of you ever again. >> deacon: you think i'd let you? you're stuck with me.