These high schools and how crowded the hallways can get as they change classes. Does that really allow for social distancing . One question of many that they have. Alameda county has Just Announced that middle schools and high schools can reopen if they have a safety plan. They can reopen in about a week, november 9th. Not this monday, but the next. Oakland and Dublin Schools, theyve already kicked that can down the road saying they wont open until january and it will be the Elementary Schools that open first. The older kids will then still be at home. One parent in fremont is on board with that idea. She has doubts about High Schoolers staying six feet apart. I definitely would want to know what type of safety matters theyll take before kids touch the campus. The hallways are so jam packed, i dont see how yet even if its a modified amount of students, how they can keep them six feet apart, not crowded, you know, not clustered and stuff. Alameda county says one public school, one charter and 56 private schools have either reopened or announced they plan to reopen. It is up to each school district. Its not up to the county or the health department. So parents should contact their district to find out if their school plans to reopen. Live in dublin, Amy Hollyfield, abc7 news. Thank you. In oakland a coalition of Community Groups and educators are pushing a plan to close the achievement gap for black students. Supporters of reparations for black students say 50 of black students scored below grade level in reading and math. 72 of black eighth graders. Reporter not ready for high school. We have to begin to look at those things as a part of the design of the current system. Our students are in a state of emergency and we have the power here to get this resolved together. Part of the proposal calls for spending lccf money which is unrestricted state funding to go towards programs targeting struggling students. Other goals are hiring more black Tony Thurmond is holding a virtual News Conference today in support of proposition 15, that would change commercial and Industrial Property tax to be based on market value rather than purchase price. The proposition would provide new funding for schools. It does not affect private property tax. In the south bay, new fallout from whats being called a blatantly racist ad by a prominent silicon business valley business group. The Silicon ValleyOrganization Posted this photo on their website. It shows a group of black men rioting in a street and then it has the question, do you really want to sign on to this . The ad has since been removed. It was seemingly meant to sway voters away from San Jose District 6 Council Candidate jake tonkel. Hes running against dev davis who since renounced that organizations endorsement. It was an attack on me in this race, but at the end of the day it was an attack on people of color and our political discourse. Neither candidate in this race is racist or will tolerate any kind of racist behavior. In a release, the svo announced its president and ceo has been placed on administrative leave. Its hired a Third Party Investigator to look into the incident. Voting ends in five days. Ballots are flooding election offices nationwide as a Record Number of people vote early. More than 75 million americans have already voted either in person or through the mail. To help voters get to the polls in the midst of a pandemic, the oakland as are opening the coliseum as a voting site. That will happen from saturday through election day tuesday. Its a critical thing for our community to enable people to safely vote in a pandemic and to ensure democracy has its day. In california early voting is at historic levels. 36 of registered voters in the state have already turned in their ballots. Thats almost 8 million people. We have voting resources on our website. This interactive map shows the early voting and ballot dropoff locations in the area as well as your guide to the 12 state propositions, go to abc7news. Com election. Still ahead, a new change for bay area drivers. The new express lane opening today on a normally congested interstate. Have you been washing your hands with soap and water a lot . That sound byte creeps me out, but in any case, a new way to holiday even for santa. Well show you how st. Nick is changing his workplace so he can still visit kids this year. Make it go away. Not quite your average way to see santa. Not quite your average afternoon coming at you. Hi, everybody. Heres a look at the afternoon temperatures that are 4 to 8 degrees above average. Expect a lot of this in the traffic and air pollution will be even worse after the pandemic. Thats why we support measure rr to keep caltrain running. Which is at risk of shutdown because of the crisis. To keep millions of cars off our roads, to reduce air pollution and fight climate change. And measure rr helps essential workers like me get to work and keep our communities healthy. Relieve traffic. Reduce pollution. Rescue caltrain. [all] yes on measure rr. Welcome back. Lets look at some neighborhood temperatures. Starting on the peninsula, 40 in redwood city. Menlo park, 42. Then you hit the mid to upper 40s around belmont and up towards san bruno and look at 39 at Half Moon Bay. Elsewhere, not quite that cool outside of santa rosa where its 38. Most of us in the 40s, even a few 50s out there. It will be a great day. Another outdoor day with sensational conditions out there whether youre working from home and taking some breaks or remote learning. You will enjoy getting outside and taking in that warm sunshine. Lets talk about what will happen for your halloween planner. Some people do have some activities. 60s and 70s through at least 7 00. 50s and 60s from 8 00 on. The temperature will drop sharply after the sun sets at about 6 11. Lets get over to traffic and talk to francis about what to expect this morning. Hi, francis. Good morning. Two big trouble spots. One is a sigalert in the north bay. Its on southbound 101 approaching sausalito. Four lanes blocked involving this crash with a garbage or dump truck. Traffic is backing up on southbound 101. Only the left lane open right now. A sigalert has been issued. So we dont know when lanes will be reopening so the backup will continue to grow. The other hot spot is in east bay, westbound 80 in san pablo, San Pablo Dam road. Traffic is backing up towards hercules. Highway 4 to the maze is 32 minutes. Across the bay bridge, slow and go as well. Its a 13minute ride. Southbound 101, San Francisco to sfo, 10 minutes. Here is interstate 880 for those headlights. Once you get past that accident its crowded but moving well towards the bay bridge. Happening today, a virtual Ribbon Cutting sermceremony wil held to hark the opening of a new explaress lane on one of th most congested freeways. The new northbound lane on 680 will run through sunol. It will be converted into an express lane when Electrical Work is completed. A contention hearing on capitol hill with facebook, twitter and ive ever brought down. Prop 22 doesnt help their drivers it denies them benefits. 22 doesnt help women. It actually weakens Sexual Harassment laws, which are meant to protect them. Uber and lyft arent even required to investigate Sexual Harassment claims. I agree with the la times no on 22. Uber and lyft want all the power. So, show them the real power is you. Vote no on prop 22. Is you. A fanfavorite venue ever since they got gigspeed internet. Xfinity gives them the ultimate home field advantage. Its their 12th man. Protector. Hey, amy . Want to grab a seat . Julie, were live. Its game on with gigspeed internet from xfinity. Start him, sit him, trade him. Simple, easy, awesome. Get started with xfinity internet for 19. 9a nth for 12 months. Plus, learn about gigspeeds from xfinity. Click, call, or visit a store today. Welcome back. The chief executives of three Tech Companies are in a showdown are lawmakers over how they moderate content. Mark zuckerberg and jack dorsey appeared before the Senate Commerce committee yesterday each defending their companys practice and rejected accusations of anticonservative bias. It didnt take long for the hearing to turn contentious. Mr. Dorsey, who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report and what the American People are allowed to hear . Were not doing that. This is why i opened this hearing with calls for more transparency. The ceos all argued against repealing a key internet law called section 230 which protects online businesses for being held accountable for content their users create. This week were looking at the new way to holiday. Today were getting a look at how things have changed for santa. Heres abc7 news meteorologist drew touma. Have you been washing your hands with soap and water a lot . Sometimes i do it more than 20 seconds. Oh, excellent. Reporter this santa is coming to Children Online through a Company Called hire santa. Which was featured a couple years ago on the show shark tank. Hire santa uses some of santas friends to spread christmas cheer. Reporter a lot of these santa friends are older and at high risk for covid19. To keep them and visiting children safe, the elves are making modifications for inperson visits. We got details straight from the head elf. Were using what we call a santa shield, its an acrylic shield between santa and the child. You still get that traditional santa picture but youre not coming into direct contact with him. Okay. Lets look at this boy here. This is me all day long. Hes not so sure about that santa shield. Drews complete report on santas changing workplace airs at 4 00 this afternoon on abc7. Were you all fans of santa, visiting him at the mall . Yes. We saw the same santa every year. I think where did you go . Lennox small . No, south dekalb to the black santa. Oh. I like it. A couple thoughts on this plexigla plexiglass, the little boy said he washed his hands for more than 20 seconds, things about how theyre being good this year have changed. They wore their masks this year, they didnt have to use a virtual background because they cleaned their room for online class. Things have changed. Thats a great point. I never thought of that. Boy, we could use the panned to get the best out of our kids. Mmhmm. Used to be just santas watching. I heard that all year long. Santas watching. And he was. Mrs. Claus, too. Theres a thing on twitter, how did it start and how is it going . Thats pretty i thought that would be a good way to talk about our drought. You can see how it started, january 1st. No donrought. Today, were in moderate to extreme to severe drought. Theres a slight chance of rain, but its next weekend. So lets focus on the next seven days where well have sunshine today. Warmer than average temperatures. Well get even warmer this weekend in the afternoons. November starts sunday, it will continue the pattern of warm and dry weather until, again, possibly next weekend. Ill show you that in the next weather coming up. Heres the fog. Theres some developing over the ocean but it stays off the ocean as a slight offshore breeze develops. As the afternoon and evening wears on, an onshore breeze will develop. Heres our temperatures that are running 5 to 8 degrees warmer than average. 75 to 83 across the south bay. Narrower stretch across the peninsula. 73 to 76 there. We have 66 to 68 along the peninsula coast. Low to mid 70s downtown, south San Francisco, sausalito. 77 to 81 across the north bay. 73 to 77 along the east bay. We have 79 to 81 inland. Lets look at whats going on with the accuweather 7day forecast. You can see slightly warmer afternoons. Sunday and monday for election day touesday, a few more clouds but still above average through wednesday. Thank you. Good morning america is coming up at 7 00 on abc7. And ginger zee is in biloxi, mississippi with whats ahead. Another day here at the gulf coast where we will be cleaning up and it is not just here. Let me start you out with whats behind me. Thats a Church Steeple taken off this church along the gulfport and biloxi state line. Wind guests were over 100 miles per hour. We had storm surge over eight feet. Rob is in new orleans, im here in coastal mississippi, its all the way up to georgia where 800,000 customers are without power. Ill have the latest track coming up here on gma. Coming up at 6 00, an urgent alert about health care data. Cyber criminals are going after hospitals. Also well tell you about the new contactless way you can get your soda on. All right. And as you get your day started, a live look outside. Beautiful shot of the golden gate bridge. Asof being stretched too thinar to do my job right. And its not Just Health Care workers. Our teachers and school staff are going the extra mile for our kids. Our firefighters are taking on unthinkable missions to keep us safe. How can we keep giving billions in tax breaks to rich corporations when our communities need that money . Prop 15 closes corporate loopholes and invests in our schools, health care, and public safety. Help us do our jobs. Vote yes on 15. In california, were the only state where wealthy trust fund heirs get their own tax loophole. These tax cheats avoid millions in taxes on vacation homes and coastal mansions depriving our schools. Prop 19 closes this unfair loophole thats been exploited by an elite few and helps our schools, firefighters, and seniors. Vote yes on prop 19. Tell them [record scratch] the partys over. Do you remembering a typical la nina year, which is what were kind of in, you can see the rain mainly hits van voouf vancouver and portland. On friday that front moves south, and perhaps next saturday we could have our first chance of rain, a long way away. The fbi is warning hospitals and Health Care Systems about an imminent cyberattack that could lead to data theft and disruption of health care services. Federal agencies say criminals are using ransomeware to scramble up health care data. They threaten it can only be unclocked once the target pays up. The group hit five hospitals with this malware this week. Covid19 infection rates are soaring in europe. Now two countries are taking drastic steps to slow is. France is reimposing a nationwide lockdown starting tomorrow through december 1st. People will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential work, doctor visits and shopping for necessities. Theyll need to fill out a form before they go out. Germany is also imposing a fourweek nationwide lockdown, theirs starts monday. If you work at facebook, they have a holiday surprise for all the staffers. All u. S. Employees are getting the entire week of thanksgiving off according to an internal memo. Its meant as a reward for their work during the unprecedented challenges during the covid19 pandemic. Mark zuckerberg says the idea is to give as many people as possible a break. New at 6 00, cocacola is teaming up with amazon to create mobile pouring at its freestyle machines. Those machines use a touchscreen interface where you select what you think you want to drink and then you put you dont have to touch the screen here. Instead you will be able to operate the machine with the smartphone, all you do is scan the qr code on the machine which brings the touchscreen interface to your phone, then you press pour, fill up the drink. There we go. Its spooky season, everybody. Heres a fun and safe way to celebrate halloween and get your car washed at the same time. Extreme wash in san jose opened the tunnel of terror. Abc7 news south bay journalist Dustin Dorsey checked it out in person. He will have an inperson tour, full tour of all of that later on in our newscast today on abc7. Heres something i just found out. The money goes to charity. It goes to st. Judes. That changes everything. Isnt that cool . I love that. It does. I already liked it. As you said what was it, double trouble . Double the trouble in the car wash. You can get a car washed and get scared to death. Now its a triple threat because youre giving money to charity. There we go. Next at 6 30, the new order that will make it easier for certain california drivers to renew their licenses by mail. And San FranciscoPublic Schools on the path to in person learning. An update on the progress they made and timeline for reopening schools. And if youre looking for a job its thursday, everybody. We have a Bay Area Company offering for members like martin. An air force veteran made of doing whats right, not whats easy. So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. Usaa insurance is made just the way martins family needs it with hasslefree claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. Because doing right by our members, thats whats right. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa now at 6 30, Alameda County will allow kids to return to ne schools to reopen. Weve got a group of volunteers all lined up. Theyre also excited. The race for a Coronavirus Vaccine resumes in San Francisco today. A doctor explains why shes look at the nt about the opening bell. Investors closely watching wall street after the dow dropped more than 900 points. Good morning. Welcome to thursday, october 29th. Well start with a look at your weather today. Hi, mike nicco. Nothing that dramatic here. In fact, a tranquil pattern. You can see a few clouds out there as we talked about, theyre staying off the coast so everybody is clear this morning. Look for a few more clouds tomorrow morning along the coast. From the exploratorium, that shows how clear and cool it is outside. 30s and 40s most of us, San Francisco a bit wa