At risk. You get suicide. You get depression. You get mental problems. One by one, the religious leaders stepped up to the mic to ask why Grocery Stores could be open but houses of worship could not. Cant we reopen under the same conditions that the stores and supermarkets, marijuana clinics, tattoo parlors are opening under . Both bishop barber whose diocese covers 85 churches in alameda and Contra Costa County and Bishop Bob Jackson whose church holds 4,000 parishioners say they already have protocols in place including masks, seating to keep parishioners six feet apart and cleaning and disinfecting of pews after every service. Some say they plan to reopen on may 31st despite what the government says, and to that end they already have legal representation. Our goal to defend the First Amendment right to spread the gospel of jesus christ. Tyler says he has an army of lawyers ready to defend any Church Leaders who defy the governors order and resist arrest. Bishop jackson says he is willing to be arrested for the cause. Im willing, because i do believe we have a right to do it. The religious leaders hope they can negotiate with the governor so arrests wont be necessary. The clergymen also say they chose may 31st as their day of act because it is pentecost sunday, the day the Christian Church was born 2,000 years ago. In oakland, eric thomas, abc7 news. Whats happening now is a real opportunity to build a better bay area, and abc7 is committed to navigating this with you. Were dedicating more resources to the issues that youre dealing with, health, education, finding a new job or keeping the one that you have and the local economy, the impact on the economy really came into stark focus today as the governor made it clear the pandemic has just ravaged the states finances. He is now preparing to make some painful cuts. Abc7 news anchor dan ashley joining us now with the impact that this is having. The finances are not pretty at all, dan. Not at all. Ugly and painful, larry, and likely to get more so as time goes on. For more than hour today, the governor laid out what he expects to be a challenging, trying time for the state during todays may budget revision. Now in just the past two months, listen to this. The state has gone from a 21 billion surplus to more than 54 billion in the red. More than 70 billion swing. Revenues have plunged 22 . He says it will mean billions in cuts affecting every sector, including public education. He is opening for help from the federal government. But i want you to know that we are not just going to roll over and accept 19 million of cuts to public education. And let me be specific and tell you what i mean. Were going use some 4. 4 billion from the c. A. R. E. S. Act to allow for real discretion and realtime and put that money rather than the general fund, were going put it into public education. And keep in mind, if the money doesnt come through from washington, the state may have to make deeper cuts. The governor is also proposing a pay cut for all state workers. Were asking across the board for 10 contribution in wages. Well be negotiating and bargaining with each bargaining unit in the state of california. I know this is the last thing that our partners want to hear, but fortunately, were in a position where its required of all of us. And by the way, including me and including my entire staff. We have been making historic investments in the last many years in the state of california, and now being forced back into this position where we are having to make cuts. It breaks my heart. Because one thing i know about cuts, there is a human being behind every single number. Weve been talking in terms of life and death. As the first state to do the stayathome order, to take seriously this pandemic, to flatten that curve to it never increased, we believe weve saved lives. Very sobering talk today from the governor. The governor also predicted that state unemployment could peak at 24. 5 . That is just slightly below the Unemployment Rate at the peak of the Great Recession in 1933 it averaged 24. 9 . Of course well recover a little more quickly when people get back to work, but its still going to be devastating for a long time and with a significant Unemployment Rate that is going to take a significant amount of time to bounce back from, larry and kristen. So some really sobering kind of get real talk from the governor today about the consequences that weve dealt with trying to flatten that curve, the consequences financially to the state in the longterm. Yeah, absolutely sobering, and mindboggling. Thank you. Nationwide, 36 Million People have sought Unemployment Insurance since the pandemic began. That includes nearly 3 million who filed just in the last week, and that number peaked in march at 6. 9 million claims. The previous record for new weekly unemployment filings was 695,000 in 1982. Now finding jobs is one way to help recover from the coronavirus pandemic. As part of our commitment to building a better bay area, were holding a virtual job fair on abc7news. Com this afternoon, and devoting time to stories on the jobs outlook. For seniors about to graduate from college, economists predict theyll have a rough entry into the job market. Lyanne melendez takes a closer look at what they can expect. Megan grosspeach is a graduating senior at uc bank of americaly. She was only 11 years old during the 2008 financial crisis. Still, she remembers it well. We were barely making ends meet. We had to have my grandparents give us money just to pay the bills. We had to ration toilet paper. So kind of similar to today. Because the coronavirus has all but shut down the u. S. Economy, it now appears the same scenario will play itself out for many college graduates. Tom devlin is the executive director of the Career Center at cal. I think the job market and what we all are facing, were in a tunnel, and were not sure where the light is at the end of the tunnel. Grosspeach thought her fall 2019 internship would lead to a job, but it hasnt. Were not sure which companies are hiring, and when we do apply, we dont get any responses back on if weve been rejected or if they just rescinded the position because of the pandemic. Sarah day, an architecture major, has had several job offers only to be canceled by the pandemic. So that was kind of disheartening to have a couple of jobs that were really my dream job in terms of what i wanted to do in the next couple of months or year, to have that taken away. Many seniors Start Building their network by doing weekly recruiter introduce. But with the campus closed, they are now done online, if at all. Its bad enough that their hard work will not immediately be rewarded with many also have to face the harsh reality of having to pay those student loans. Yes, the c. A. R. E. S. Act suspended all payment of federally held student loans, but only through september 30th. Here are some steps up for graduating seniors published by forbes magazine. For a generation uncomfortable with using a phone, its a good idea to build up your phone interviewing skills. Include parents and your extended family in your network. Stay active on social media, especially on linkedin. Search the career section on corporate websites. Take any job offer, even parttime work. And stay strong. Even if they find a simple parttime job, they will get to know people. Those individuals will pass them on to others. As one graduating senior put it, years from now saying she graduated with the class of 2020 means that you overcame great adversity and still made it. But for now, its a waiting game and trying to stay safe. At uc berkeley, lyanne melendez, abc7 news. All right. Now back to that virtual job fair weve been talking about. 7 on your sides Michael Finney always helping people. So its natural hed be helping people now trying to find employment. And michael joins us now from home with how all this is going to work today. Michael . Yeah, look. Let me start off by telling you, this isnt kidding around. This isnt some vague thing going on. These are real jobs that you can apply for and land. Hopefully you can apply for them today. I have an expert from ziprecruiter. She really knows what she is talking about. She has strategies and advice, and well be taking your questions live. Now let me explain how this is all going to completely roll out. At 4 30, were going to be on facebook live, and on abc7news. Com. On the program again we have a problem expert. Were going look at the companies hiring, the Big Companies and small. Strategies for finding work, and job openings again that are available today. Now this is serious. We plan to find you a job. If you have a friend or a loved one who needs a job, tell them to tune in. Were building a better bay area today, hopefully one job at a time. And i know you guys are going to be checking in with us during the rest of your program as well, or at least i hope you are. Thats right. We cant wait to see how many people are connected. Yeah, and this is fantastic. It can really help a lot of people this afternoon. Well check in with michael later on, as he said. Coming up, a demoted government scientist testifying on capitol hill. His warnings to lawmakers as he gives a rather bleak assessment of the countrys response to the coronavirus. Im Laura Anthony in oakland where the owner of this yoga studio and other Business People are having a hard time seeing a future past the pandemic. Im spencer christian. Isolated showers are tapering off and ending. Well have a brief warmup. Brief, however, is the operative word here. Word here. Ill havcalifornia phones offers free specialized phones. Like cordless phones, phone ringing big button, and volumeenhanced phones. Get details on this state program. Call or visit and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. Like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. phone ringing get details on this state program call or visit today on capitol hill, a demoted government scientist delivered a rather bleak assessment of americas coronavirus response. Dr. Rich bright filed a whistleblower complaint after he was removed from his post as the head of an agency that was leading the effort to try to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Abc News Reporter rachel scott has the story. We fail to improve our response now based on science, i fear the pandemic will get worse and be prolonged. Dr. Rick bright testifying before a house panel, telling lawmakers that he sounded the alarm back in january about limited supplies but was ignored. Ill never forget the email is received from mike bow indicating that we are mask supply, n95 was completely decimated. And he said were in deep [ bleep ]. And i pushed that forward to the highest levels i could in hhs. I got no response. But some lawmakers pushed back, saying bright was in a position to help. You hadnt gotten the job prior to january, and you were at those tables, as were so many others. In a whistleblower complaint, bright says he was removed from his post in retaliation for speaking out. I believe part of the removal process for me was initiated buzz of a pushback that i gave when they asked me to put in place an expanded access protocol that would make chloroquine more freely available. Brights assessment is at odds with President Trump who has promoted that drug repeatedly, including today as he departed the white house. Weve had a tremendous response to the hydroxy. When i watched him and he looks like an angry disgruntled employee. Bright is calling on the Trump Administration to ramp up production of supplies and implement a National Testing strategy. As parts of the country reopen, he casted doubts on the white houses efforts to find a vaccine quickly. We need to have a strategy and plan in place now to make sure that we cannot only fill that vaccine, make it, distribute, but administer it in a fair and equitable plan. And thats not the case at this point . We dont have that yet, and it is a significant concern. The white house has launched the program to produce and distribute a vaccine when it becomes available. Health and Human Service secretary alex azar also reacted to dr. Brights testimony today saying everything he is complaining about has already been done. Rachel scott, abc7 news, washington. Million of people around the country are unemployed right now because of the pandemic. As part of our efforts to build a better bay area, were providing resources to help you find a new job. Joining me now is blake barnes, senior director of careers and Talent Solutions at linkedin. Thanks for joining us, blake. Thanks for having me. Its great to be here. Yeah so, linkedin is a platform to connect and showcase professionals. So what are you seeing right now from both the employer side and the job seeker side . There is no doubt that its a hard job market out there right now. And hiring in the u. S. Alone has fallen by nearly 25 in the last month alone. But the good news is there are jobs out there. Industries such as hardware, networking, Public Safety and education have proven to be quite resilient. Some of the most in demand jobs are things Like Customer Service specialists or an i. T. Network developer. Weve seen a huge increase amount of jobs remote, 90 in the last month alone. So there are jobs out there for people. Okay. So given those jobs that are available, what types of skills are they looking for most . How could you acquire those skills . Yeah, so people are looking for a lot of skills. When you think about the foundational skills of communication and collaboration, those are some of the foundational ones. There are a lot of things you can do to help prepare yourself for getting the opportunity. There a handful of things on you ever profile, for example. If you can turn your setting to open 2 and allow people to reach out to you with opportunities. You can also leverage your network. Networking is a great way to figure out what jobs might not exist out there and arent listed and get tips and interviews, things like that. So leverage. Reach out to colleges and things like that to figure out what the right thing to do is. And the last thing is there are all sorts of skills. You mentioned skills and what might be useful. We have a ton of learning courses on linkedin. For example, how to land the interview or interview great within a video context. And i see on linked in a really useful feature is if you have a profile, you guys suggest jobs that, you know, the applicant may be interested in based on their skills that theyve entered an their relevant experience, right . Thats right. You should list the skills that you have. The soft skills or the hard skills that make you unique what n what you do. We have a whole suite of skill assessments. These are short assessments that you can take on linkedin that show you know the skill. And when you take these assessments, recruiters on the other side are better able to assess the skills that you have and may fast track you for the opportunity. So list the skills you have in your profile, and then take the still assessments that match up to them to show the world that you do in fact know that skill. Got any tips for people who may not necessarily have a li link Linkedin Profile . I think there is plenty of things you can do. First i would consider creating one. Were always welcoming new members into the Community Every day with hundreds of Million People in the platform. That would be my first piece of advice. The second like we talked about, user network. Talk to people that you know and respect that are kind of, you know, in a good spot and get advice from that. Thats one of the best things we can do on the platform. In a lot of ways, thats what our platform is built around, the network that you have. Get on linkedin if youre on already, and if not use your real network to understand what the right move for you is. A lot of people suddenly finding themselves unemployed. Do you think this might be a good time to launch a new career . You know, this is a time for transformation in a lot of ways. And were seeing people learn things in an unprecedented rate. People are teaching themselves all sorts of great things on linkedin. Its a great opportunity to figure out what the next move for you might be. Were seeing a huge uptake in the amount of learning on our platform. We think the reason why is people are recognizing the opportunity to rescale and figure out what their next progression might be. So absolutely. All right. Sometimes with challenges come opportunity as well. Blake barnes, senior director of careers and Talent Solutions at linkedin. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me. Have a great evening. You too. So we continue with jobs. Abc7 is partnering with zip recruiter to host a virtual job fair. Join 7 on your sides Michael Finney in about ten minutes at 4 30 to see whos hiring in the bay area, and theyre going actually try to hook you up. Were streaming the event live on abc7news. Com and on our facebook and youtube pages. So lets get to the forecast now. Spencer, you and i have been broadcasting from home for a while. And every few minutes i look outside and im seeing cloudy. Im seeing gray. Im seeing windy. Im thinking certainly its going to get sunny well, youre right. It is going to get sunny soon. Some pockets of the bay area right now are seeing sunnier skies im seeing earlier. Whoops, i almost knocked my equipment over here. Here is doppler 7. You can see most of the bay area is dry right now. In the northernmost part of our viewing area, there are spotty isolated showers, parts of lake county, and the northernmost part of sonoma. Wind is well, it is fairly calm and light right now. Breezy, up to 15 miles per hour. So its not very strong. But it is warming up already in our inland areas. You can see many inland locations 4 to 58 degrees warmer right now than they were at this time yesterday. Thats because the sun finally broke through the clouds in some areas during the afternoon hours. Here is the view from emeryville as we take a look at current readings. 61 degrees in San