Rid of these tollbooths. Why the heck does it take so long . John grubb, the council coo, says tollbooths at the plaza have been in place since the 1950s and dont fit with the way people drive now. He says caltrans and toll authorities should have removed the tollbooths as soon as they stopped being used. And the impact is can be really catastrophic and tragic where someone is dying, you know, crashing into tollbooths. Following mondays crash, he says they should remove them immediately. Caltrans says they are currently evaluating how to fix it. Were still waiting to come up with a game plan of how we can remove that damaged equipment and replace it. But the toll booths arent the only issue. According to grubb, the way the traffic is jammed leads to an increased risk of car pollution. Its now the largest source of pm 2. 5 emissions. These are really harmful chemicals that get into the lungs of people is from the morning backup, he says. The state needs to make changes to the bridge or else it will get more dangerous for drivers as we need to be able to do stuff a lot more quickly and we need to think about things holistically. Now, grubb did go on to mention they are looking at the possibility of moving the bike lanes away from where theyre currently at. They dont want to get rid of them, but they say right now theres not that many people riding bikes across the bridge compared to the amount of drivers theyre seeing in the morning. So theyre looking at any possibilities they can to make it safer for drivers. Were live in richmond, ryan curry, abc seven news. All right, ryan, we know theres often a ripple effect. How does this crash affect the other bridges . Yeah well, caltrans has said that they havent seen a Significant Impact yet in terms of traffic on this bridge, though, the Bay Area Council did say that its pretty common that when Something Like this happens to a bridge, others are choosing different commute patterns, therefore creating congestion in different areas. Indeed. All right. Thank you so much, brian curry reporting. While chase this afternoon ended with a crash on westbound highway 24 in oakland, and then the suspect s running off, you can see the car here losing control just after to pass the Rockridge Bart station. Then as police were closing in, three people got out of that vehicle. They made a run for it. Police managed to grab one of them while others slipped away, jumping off the freeway right there, which is just extremely dramatic. One suspect was caught on the bridge, while others were eventually found in the nearby neighborhood. Police say the vehicle was wanted in connection with a shooting developing news out of the middle east. Israel formed a war cabinet today with Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu vowing to, quote, crush and destroy hamas. Israel reports more than 1200 people have died since fighting started on saturday. Thats the most since the 1973 war with egypt and syria. Gaza Officials Say at least 1100 have died in israeli airstrikes. Israel claims 1500 hamas military daetz were killed inside israeli territory. Hundreds more in gaza as well. The California National guard announced today that one of its engineering battle aliens is heading to the middle east. Now, the war in israel has people concerned about rising racial tensions even outside of the middle east. Abc seven News Reporter anne hassan spoke with some bay area experts about their concerns as on tuesday evening, a rally in walnut creek turned tense as a small Group Calling for the end of the Israeli Occupation of gaza angered those rallying in solidarity with israel. Rising tensions locally in the aftermath of the hamas attack on israel over the weekend and the bombardment of the gaza strip that has followed has even local lawmakers concerned over possible targeted attacks. And our community. We must make sure that jews, communities who have been subjected to antisemitism are protected by local Law Enforcement and federal resources that we have. We also must make sure that Muslim Americans are not unfairly targeted, that hamas does not speak for the muslim community. Bay area congressman Eric Swalwell met with local muslim and jewish leaders on tuesday, alarmed by the rise in hate crimes since just this past weekend, weve seen right now highest levels of antisemitism that weve ever had in this nation. Globally, 1000 antisemitic incidents occurred just over the weekend in the uk, three times increase in france. Mark levine, who is with the antidefamation league, says oftentimes after an attack in israel, theres an uptick in antisemitism. Um, we have seen an uptick, an increase of hate speech and actual harm, um, to jewish californians and jews globally. Whenever there is an attack by hamas on israel, Muslim Americans are also dealing with the rise in hate crimes and harassment. The council on American Islamic relations has pointed to vandalism of Islamic Centers and harassment of Muslim Students across the country. We certainly dont want to confuse that for muslims as well. Muslim americans had nothing to do with what occurred by hamas in the east bay. Ansar hassan, abc seven news. As the war continues on the ground, theres another battle waging online abc seven News Reporter tim johns, who has more on how the war is being viewed online. Sunday and into the night. Early monday was just a fire hose of information, an overwhelming under the best of circumstances. And these are not good circumstances. Rabbi howard rubin is the head of the Jewish Community high school of the bay in San Francisco. He says since the war broke out several days ago, the amount of hatred and vitriol being spread online has exploded in his school, even sent out an email to students parents urging them to protect their children from some of the harsh realities of war. It reads in part that there is a point at which graphic imagery is paralyzing or traumatizing. We recommend you talk with your teens about their social media usage and discuss whether or not it makes sense to delete, even temporarily, social media apps such as tiktok and instagram to avoid inadvertent exposure to these graphic and potentially traumatic images. The violent rhetoric online is sadly nothing new, says grant keene, a professor of communication at cal state east bay. The intensification of smear campaigns and misinformation happens is in tandem with modern warfare, keene says. In conflicts where emotions are extremely high, fake posts and videos are widespread. Always look at the source, look at the sources source. If something seems a little bit off, then dig deeper. Its a view also shared by thomas plants, a psychologist at santa clara university. Plan says while hatred online can impact anyone, even those with connections to israel and gaza are at particular risk. If you have a child in this situation, plant recommends talking to them very Broad Strokes and say, do you have questions about that . You know, what do you want to know about this . And to try your best to try to give that message that youre willing to talk to your children in a developmentally appropriate way . Now, with the war showing no signs of ending anytime soon, though, rabbi rubin says hes worried the online battle will only continue to get worse. Nothing has been this grotesque in terms of its barbarism, in terms of its lack of humanity, and thats disturbing to absorb. Tim johns, abc seven news and tonight at 10 00, a special edition of 2020 israel at war. Abc looks at life under threat in israel and gaza and how this attack is different from what weve seen in the region in the past. New today at four, taking the bait. Police using bait cars to catch thieves and they say its actually working. A teen with dreams of College Crushed after 16 rejections. What College Admissions experts are saying to give your kid an edge and cracking down on those junk fees or what that could mean for you. Im meteorologist sandhya patel. Winds are picking up. Ill let you know how long they will remain gusty and when our next opportunity for some wet weather enters im just the flu. coughing, sneezing im quite harmless, really. And when people ask, but arent you linked to dangerous flu complications. coughing, sneezing. . Like pneumonia, heart attack, and hospitalizations . coughing, gasping. . I just say, but im just the flu. sniffs elevator dings its him who . Im just the flu. Fight the flu with higherdose flu vaccines from sanofi. Theyre proven to provide better flu protection than standarddose flu shots in older adults. Theyve even been shown to better protect against flurelated complications. Dont get fluzone® highdose quadrivalent. If youve had a severe allergic reaction to its components. Including egg products, or after previous dose of flu vaccine. Dont get flublok® quadrivalent. If youve had a severe allergic reaction to its components. Tell your health care professional. If youve had severe muscle weakness after a flu shot. People with weakened immune systems may have a lower vaccine response. Demand more from your flu shot. To get a sanofi vaccine, make sure to ask for it by name. Schedule your sanofi flu shot. Available at these preferred national pharmacies. Is that despite all those rejections, is he impressed . Google . So much so that he got a full time job offer as a Software Engineer yesterday, i shared the story of 18 year old stanley xiong on our 3 p. M. Show, getting answers. And today were following up because so many of you, our viewers were interested in this story and the uniqueness of it. Abc seven News Reporter suzanne phan live in the newsroom now with a look at what College Admissions experts say really needs to change suzanne. Larry, kristin, what an unusual story indeed. One Educational Consultant told me hes not surprised that xiong was rejected by 16 top schools. He says the College Admissions process is extremely competitive, but he says there are other options out there to land a spot at a top college and at a company like google. Stanley xiong, seen here with anger kristen sze just landed a job at google as a Software Engineer without ever going to college. I really thought, you know, i had a good chance and it turns out, however good of a chance i had, i didnt get in. His path raised a lot of eyebrows and some criticism of the College AdmissionsProgram Since he was rejected by 16 of the 18 colleges he applied to. Even with great grades and a nearly perfect sat score. Alan koh is ceo of cardinal education families pay his Educational Consultants to help students compete against the other very qualified College Applicants out there. Koh is not surprised that colleges rejected zhangs application. Asian male computer science. The probabilities are darwinian much worse than for any other demographic. Koh says the other possible factor is he came across as too unidimensional for most universal uses. Koh says all the sciences, including engineering, are very competitive programs for many reasons. It is getting much, much more challenging for asians to be accepted into competitive stem programs, koh says. What xiong did was truly exceptional. The fact that he was able to get this job while being selftaught, mccoy says the admissions system needs to change. There absolutely needs to be reformed. The Playing Field can be leveled by universal cities being much more transparent about what the standards are and just advertising it publicly to everybody. And if they were to do that, then you dont need private college consultants, let alone school counselors, to help students navigate it. Students can get ahead, too, by being resourceful, heard a lot of great books out there. Reddit, frankly, is actually a very good resource. And so there are some great books out there that students can read and really give them a head start. And Community Colleges are a big help. We talked to a College Counselor at San Jose City college says students should definitely consider california Community Colleges, especially their stem major. Why many universities are impacted, meaning that theyre getting a lot more applicants than they have spots to serve. So this is a great way to start. And students have a better probability of getting to their university of choice by coming through the Community Colleges than straight out of high school. And counselors remind students that Community Colleges offer a great deal. They have the lowest tuition in the country, koh says. One third of the undergrad at flagship ucs transfer from Community Colleges live in the newsroom. Suzanne phan abc seven news. All right, suzanne, thank you so much for following up on that. Yeah, larry, there was so much interest because i think it hits a nerve for a lot of people here. Right. The lack of transparency is what stanley and his dad say they really wish they had. Well, weve both endured the summer times agony of the College Admissions process to the point where you have socalled experts paid consultants, who will tell you, oh, in our case, shes not getting in here, shes not getting in here, shes not getting in here. Shes not getting in there. Oh, wait a second. She actually did get in. Okay. So its an inexact science at best. I think it feels like a dart board, which is whats scary to so many people. Yeah, especially somebody as smart as stanley obviously is. Well, hes going to be just fine. I think google will take care of the free lunches. Okay. All right. Coming up, it was a girl powers day at San Jose Regional Medical Center in celebration of International Day of the girl. The Medical Center hosted its Second Annual day of the girl empowerment expo for local high schoolers. 100 students from oak grove and andrew hill high schools were invited to explore the health care and science fields. The event featured a panel of female speakers and several information booths for people coming. Young people coming into health care to never give up and to know that east side is supported here at regional. The goal of todays event was to inspire young women to think about career paths in health care. San franciscos Castro District is bringing back its big halloween party, but its going to be a little bit different. That celebration was banned after nine people were shot back in 2006. The neighborhood wants to move on from this kind of a rowdy after dark. Adults only party. They want a more Family Friendly atmosphere. So the new halloween will feature activities such as face painting, pumpkin carving and drag shows. San Francisco Mayor london breed officially kicking off italian heritage month today day. She spoke at city hall telling the crowd that you cant talk about San Francisco without talking about the many traditions of this month, whether its the italian heritage parade or the many celebrations that happen around it. The flag raising and others that we continue to remind San Francisco of the legacy of the Italian American community. So after the speech, the mayor and her supervisor, catherine stefani, raised the italian flag outside of city hall. Mayor breed said this was supposed to actually happen last week, but out of respect for the Service Honoring the late senator dianne feinstein, they decided to push it back a little bit. The citys annual italian heritage parade and festival brought out crowds over the weekend. Its been a San Francisco tradition since 1869. Its beginning to look a lot like winter. The sierra got its first dusting of snow this season. This video is from palisades tahoe. The resort officially opens. For skiing november 22nd. Its getting a little later in the calendar. Kristin 80 and sunny is disappearing rapidly. Yes, i know. But skiers and boarders are excited about that. Obviously. Yeah, surfers maybe not so much. So much. Not so much. No. Sandhya has a look at the forecast. Thats right. And larry and kristen, lets take you and show you the radar from this morning where we saw the snow showers in the sierra. Pretty cool stuff. They got a little bit at the highest elevations. Mount rose kirkwood, you just saw there, palisades tahoe. So the showers switched over to snow showers, all in association with the same system that brought us some showers and some drizzle yesterday. Right now, the energy is to our north, but the winds behind that system is bringing us the breezy conditions out of the northwest. So lets take a look at those winds right now, gusting to 29 at sfo right now, 20 sustained in San Francisco. As we go hour by hour, the winds are going to pick up a little bit later on this evening around 5 p. M. You will notice strongest near the coast, 30 to 38 miles an hour at 7 p. M. But inland areas will be breezy, not quite as w