Monday, a reported on the nightlife summit held by mayor, breed and city leaders, stressing the importance of bars and clubs to keep the city energized and another good example of that tonight with the new First Thursday Block Party downtown. Yeah, the boost to San Francisco is a central focus of our mission to build a better bay area. And the breakthrough we found tonight, abc seven News ReporterTara Campbell has more on the new energy coming to the work night. The stages to the food trucks. San francisco taking another step towards a comeback with downtown. First thursdays make it feel like there is actually things that are happening in downtown San Francisco. Make us think of a future in the city and give us hope. Tonight, marking the first of many block parties in the soma district scheduled for the first thursday of each month. Its great. Its i saw them setting up. Its a fun vibe, its nice to see a lot of the stores that i see in some of the, the other events. And yeah, its a good time. The food smells great. San franciscans need to remember that we are great at throwing a party and celebrating, getting people back to downtown. District six supervisor matt dorsey believes the city is on its way to bringing the downtown back from the pandemic. Hopefully, this is the kind of thing that makes people who are have the option of working from home and commuting want to come downtown, and thats good for our downtown businesses. Even if people are coming downtown for work, they leave as soon as its done, so its fun to actually have something nearby for like all the coworkers or friends to meet up and enjoy time together. I have little slimline versions of them right here, and for business owners, its a welcome sight. I mean, these events are great. I love seeing all the people coming out. I mean, theyre expecting 10,000 people tonight. Thats amazing. On a thursday, the packed street offering a glimpse of what could be. I like being able to see the energy and kind of the vision of like, what it would look like if everyone did come back. San francisco, in my mind, is hope. San francisco has changed and so, you know, were going through a transition period. But all that means is that its an opportunity for new stuff to bloom. Tara campbell, abc seven news. There are, at least two more night markets coming up bhangra and beats takes over downtown at battery street in clay street next friday, may 10th. There are additional dates at that location in the fall. The city is also planning another sunset night market to be held this summer, and thats not all. Before tonights first thursdays event, more than 200 employees from five of San Franciscos Biggest Companies downtown helped volunteer to clean up nearby streets. Several months ago, executives from gap, levis, visa, wells fargo and chase formed a coalition to revitalize the city, and now they are seeing their work in action. This is our home and people take care of their homes, and so we want to ensure that the neighborhoods that our employees are living and working in, the places where people are coming to visiting, are, are gleaming. With all that said, we are still seeing the city struggle to get workers to return downtown. According to early data from Real Estate Brokerage cbre, the citys Office Vacancy rate recently set a record high at more than 36. New developments on the fire that destroyed the ultra popular horn barbecue in oakland. Investigators are treating the case as arson. The Fire Department says evidence found at the scene indicates the fire was intentionally set, but the investigation is ongoing, as is the search for suspects. The barbecue spot on mandela parkway closed after the fire back in november. But last week, horns owners reopened in a shared space with their other restaurant on eighth street. The tensions on Us College Campuses seem to be simmering tonight, in what has been a week of clashes between police and protesters, according to new data compiled by the associated press. More than 2100 people have been arrested in propalestinian demonstrations nationwide since april 18th, and the unrest doesnt appear to be slowing down tonight. Police say they detained a driver in portland who briefly accelerated toward some protesters at Portland State. Nypd now says one of its officers accidentally discharged their firearm during a takeover at Columbia University on tuesday. No one was hurt. The bullet hit a wall, and the white house also says today, second gentleman doug emhoff spoke with jewish students and hillel leaders about the claims of antisemitism theyre seeing at various universities tonight. Abc News Reporter zohreen shah has more on the campus protests and the new response from the president. Reporter tonight, the smoke clearing from uclas campus after more than 200 propalestinian student protesters were arrested in a Massive Police crackdown. Hundreds of officers peeling back plywood barricades, launching flashbangs to break up crowds who defied orders to leave protesters wearing hard hats and gas masks, trying to fight back with fire extinguishers. Abcs trevor ault on the scene. Protesters basically spent all of yesterday putting up this barricade. Were watching Law Enforcement tear it apart. One by one, firing these projectiles here as this encampment is basically slowing slowly coming down. One ucla professor who had joined a student encampment questioning the use of force. Students are absolutely injured. I was on this prison bus after we were arrested, and students were students and faculty were were bleeding. The crackdown coming just one night after proisraeli protesters attacked the propalestinian encampment using fireworks, pepper spray and their own barricades against them. Around the country, more tense scenes at Portland State university in oregon. Officers clearing antiwar protesters from their library. They say only four out of the dozen people arrested were students. Police showing these pictures of ball bearings and armor that they say were homemade weapons found on the Campus Library in new york city. Police say roughly half of the 300 protesters from the new york schools were outside agitators. President biden, pledging that peaceful protest is a right, but order must prevail. Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. Its against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. None of this is a peaceful protest. The president also condemned islamophobia, antisemitism and discrimination against arab americans and here at ucla, while the encampment is now fully cleared out, some students vowing that they will be back. Zohreen shah abc news, los angeles. One example of the peaceful protests has been on the campus of uc berkeley that is, until last night. Three people were hurt when someone grabbed an israeli flag from a counter protester and a fight broke out. People at the encampment say they had nothing to do with it. We had one person who ive never seen at the camp. No, no, none of us knew who disappeared immediately after. Were not sure who this person is today. The Northern California chapter of the aclu put out a message saying there monitoring the situation on campus and around the state, freedom of speech and the right to assembly , including peaceful protest, are fundamental to our democracy. The aclu is committed to defending these rights, as well as to ensuring a free press on the ground, access to Legal Counsel and due process. The aclu has had representatives visit College Encampments around the state, including at uc berkeley and cal poly humboldt. You can follow our coverage of the College Campus protests in the bay area and nationwide around the clock on our website, abc seven news. Com. Today, the Oakland PoliceDepartment Paid a special tribute to two fallen officers. The names of officers tuan lei and jordan wingate were etched into stone. This Alameda County 100 Club Memorial wall lists other fallen officers and firefighters. Lei was fatally shot while on the job last december. Wingate just recently died from injuries sustained in an on duty crash in 2018. One. We are approaching a bit of a shift in the forecast, i guess you could say as we look out live across the bay area tonight, were getting closer to that change on the way. Thats right. Lets bring in abc seven news meteorologist sandhya patel, who is tracking what were looking at ahead. Sandhya. Yeah. And ama and j. R, we are looking at back to winter this upcoming saturday. So were going to be talking about downpours at times, gusty winds and slick roadways. So if you do have saturday plans youll want to watch out for this storm. Its a level one on our storm impact scale and its moving in our direction. Itll get here as early as saturday morning. So here it is 5 a. M. In the north bay. Heavy rain around 8 a. M. Is crossing most of the bay area as we go into the afternoon. Just some scattered showers. The winds will pick up as well, anywhere between 25 and about 35 miles an hour. Gusts in the afternoon and evening. It is a level one on our storm impact scale for saturday. Rain with those brief downpours, slippery roads, breezy conditions, 4 10 of an inch to an inch. Plus for most areas this is a cold storm and its going to bring some snow to the sierra. Ill be back with a full look at the forecast to let you know if things will improve by sunday. Coming right up, j. R. Ama. All right, sandhya, thank you. Lets move to san jose, where the Cinco De Mayo celebrations have faced some controversy in recent years. Abc seven news south bay reporter Lauren Martinez has more on the proud lowrider parade, returning for the first time in over a decade and the change of plan from local Law Enforcement. Were taking over this whole corner from the 680 bridge to king and story. After months of planning, final preparations are underway for Cinco De Mayo festivities in san jose. Its going to be a mix of lowriders and Different Community groups, david polanco, president of the Organization UnitedLowrider Council of san jose, said. This year, the Cinco De MayoCommunity Parade is making a return on sunday. Polanco said its all thanks to a collective effort. I would think we had 0, so it was something, you know, how do we do this . Whats the vision . And we figured now its we just wanted it to be uh done by the community, for the community, more than 300 lowriders will be cruising from king and alum rock and end at story in king, where 90 different vendors will be set up at emma park. The sharks, you know, theyre doing a collaborative effort with the local artists, Abraham Ortega on a shirt, and thats going to benefit a nonprofit. So theres a lot of little nuances within this, you know, voter registration. Polanco credits the partnership with Council Member peter ortiz, Office Businesses and the san jose Police Department. Last year, Police Closed streets and freeway exits , making festivities difficult to access. We had a good talk and weve been working together ever since , just trying to build that relationship. This year, the san jose Police Department will have their own lowrider taking part in the parade in effort to mend the bond with the community. We i think were fortunate the community is willing to collaborate with us. So were thankful to these organizations and our elected officials who are coordinating to put all this together and allowing us to be a part of the celebration and to ensure that we can do so and people can celebrate safely, blanco said. Safety is the goal this weekend so everyone can enjoy a memorable Cinco De Mayo. I hope people that need resources get them. I hope people that have never seen a horse dance in a parade see that. I hope people take a lot of pictures. And just like i said earlier, a safe family event and, have a lot of fun in san jose. Lauren martinez, abc seven news robbed on the job. Another bay area postal worker surprise attacked while delivering mail, plus the future of wine. The Northern California innovation hoping to change the shape of the industry for the greener. And its our pick for the best thing youll see today. The first ever teacher of the year dinnert the white house, giving them the recognition they get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer. Join the millions whore feeling the power of osteo biflex®, the 1 pharmacist recommended joint care supplement. Find our coupons in sundays paper. We can tell you what its capable of or you could find out for yourself. How we get there matters. Get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer. A bay area. A usps driver was robbed of his postal keys in oakland today in an effort to curb these crimes, police are offering a 150,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in this case or any other involving a robbery or assault of a postal worker. At least two suspects were involved. Robbery happened around 1235 this afternoon on euclid avenue in the adam point neighborhood, near the lake. Happening now a repaving project in the north bay is affecting a major commuting artery. Good news is it should be cleared by the morning commute. This is happening along highway 37. The westbound lanes are closed between vallejo and sonoma. The detour route is on your screen. Take highway 29 to 12, then 121. The lanes will reopen by 4 a. M. Caltrans is now restriping the lanes they freshly paved over the last couple of weekends. The plans to close the eastbound lanes this weekend have been postponed until later. Its one of the crown jewels of the bay area and its getting some of its sparkle back. The bay bridge will see its shimmering lights return next year. The relighting project will come with a new design and twice as many leds as before. March of next year is the exact target date. Two years after the lights went dark. Today on our 3 00 pm program getting answers, we asked why the lights went off and what the new display will be like. It just didnt hold up over time and it was starting to fail faster than we could ever keep up with economically. So we did the responsible thing. Rather than let it fade into oblivion. We pulled it down. We have a crackerjack team now committed to making a product from the ground up Musco Lighting that will perform well over time, guaranteed minimally for ten years. And more than that, and were bringing it back with double the number of leds so theyll actually wrap around the cables. So the light will be visible as a matter of esthetic equity to communities all around the bay. The Organizer Says they are still short, just 500,000 of the funding needed. If you want to chip in, you can donate at the bay lights 360. Org. First Lady Jill Biden hosted the first ever teacher of the year state dinner at the white house this evening. Its a cause close to the first ladys heart, as she herself still teaches at a community college. Tonights dinner honored state teachers of the year from across the nation. The Biden Administration also announced new efforts to strengthen support for teachers and schools. Missy testerman, an esl educator from tennessee, was awarded during tonights dinner for being the 2024 National Teacher of the year. You not only teach our students, we wrap our arms around them, advocate for them, help them feel secure and help them create a Better Future for themselves. The event comes ahead of Teacher Appreciation week, which starts on monday. Two California Wine companies have developed paper, wine packaging, and its not a box. The Monterey Wine Company and our bonny doon vineyard partnered to create a paper wine bottle. Company representatives claim the packaging has a six times lower Carbon Footprint than an average glass wine bottle. The cardboard is completely sustainable, made out of 100 recycled material, the light weight of the bottles can also positively impact the shipping process, and that changes the amount of truck space that you need. It changes the load weights when youre dealing with your employees and your forklifts. Bonny doon vineyards pink rose bottles are now available at whole foods stores nationwide. Well, storm troopers took over the State Capitol today alongside darth vader and other characters. May the 4th be with you on saturday. May not. Today. Saturday. Today. Saturday. Assemblyman juan alanis of modesto joined other star wars lovers for an early celebration today in the rafters of a state assembly meeting. George lucas grew up in modesto, and much of the iconic film series originated in the small marin town of san anselmo. The town is now home to imagination park, which lucas built and donated, complete with its own yoda statue, right by where he began writing star wars. There is a serious amount of star wars history in the bay area, from the yoda fountain to all of the speculat