Crisis. And now some of the birds are being found in unusual places. For example, at a giants game. Abc seven News Reporter cornell bernard visited a north bay bird rescue, which is treating as many pelicans as it can, but they need help. What were seeing is a lot of starving, very skinny birds being brought into care. Angie trumbo taking us behind the scenes at the International Bird rescue center in fairfield, where all these california brown pelicans are in bad shape. Its clearly, turning into a crisis over the last couple of weeks, a new surge of starving pelicans is causing concern. Two weeks ago, the bird rescue began treating about a dozen pelicans. But now that number has jumped to 130 birds in distress, ones that are just hungry just need to gain their weight and strength. But a lot of these birds are coming in with additional injuries because theyre so hungry. They might be getting into trouble with fishing gear and things like that as they take Desperate Measures to get food. Pelicans have been found stranded up and down the california coast at an alarming rate, the California Department of fish and wildlife say many birds have not survived. We still have no idea why this is happening, veterinarian rebecca duer says the pelicans strandings remain a mystery. Pelicans never forget how to find fish, but sometimes they run into problems finding it can be a weather problem, could be a food availability problem. Thats not just a bird though. Thats a thats a big, big uh bird. This pelican showed up at saturdays giants game during the fifth inning. We showed the video to bird experts who were concerned. Thats definitely not normal behavior. That was a young bird. So he was probably just starving and looking for whatever, whatever place he could find food, caring for so many birds, not only challenging, but its also very expensive. Its costing the International Bird rescue about 1,000 a day just to keep all these pelicans fed. Were relying on donations from the public to help care for these birds. During our visit, 18 more pelicans arrive for care. There werent enough volunteers to assist, so they asked me to help get the birds into the clinic for medical evacuations. The good news is most of the pelicans being rehabbed here are eager to eat. Theyre gaining weight and getting stronger. What ive learned in my time here is that they can come back from a lot of severe injuries, so were confident that we can get a lot of these birds back into the wild and healthy again. Experts say if you see a pelican in distress, call your local animal control in fairfield, cornell bernard, abc seven news. We have new information in the grisly killing of a young woman last summer, a jury in oakland just found Joseph Roberts guilty of Second Degree murder in the death of his fiance, part of 27 yearold. Rachel buckners body was found last july on the alameda shoreline, according to reporting from our media partner, the bay area news group. Prosecutors say 43 yearold roberts dodged several Domestic Violence complaints before killing Rachel Buckner in their apartment in pleasanton. Roberts attorneys claim there were no witnesses and too little physical evidence tying him to the murder. Roberts faces 15 years to life in prison. Two Community Leaders in the east bay are among the four People Killed in a car crash in San Diego County last week, several bay area political leaders have confirmed. Peggy moore and her wife, hope wood, died in the crash friday. The couple were Longtime Community organizers in the bay area. They met campaigning for former president obama in 2008 and ran a consulting firm, active in local politics. Politicians, including representative barbara lee and state senator aisha wahab, are among those posting about the couples legacy today. Moore was a Senior Adviser to former oakland mayor libby schaaf. Schaaf remembers moore and wood as kind and passionate activists with deep roots in the community. Two people who were so full of life and love and energy and spirit, its just difficult to wrap your head around. The chp says another driver veered into the couples lane friday night and hit them. Theyre investigating whether the other driver was under the influence. The Oakland Police department officially has its new chief. Today was Floyd Mitchells first day on the job. Abc seven News ReporterLeslie Brinkley is following the story as chief mitchell gets up to speed. Welcome to my first day as an Oakland Police chief, chief Floyd Mitchell spent the morning introducing himself. You see this morning. Hows your day going . So far, so good. He spent time analyzing recent crime reports at his stand up desk, and he greeted a new class of cadets and welcome. All right. Thanks spent the last few days attending some lineups to meet my officers. Im going to spend the rest of this week attending different meetings to get brought up to speed on several Different Things going on within the Oakland Police department and within this community. There is much concern over public safety. While recent data shows crime is falling, robberies are on the rise. Small businesses are leaving oakland and many public calls to 911 remain unanswered. There is a federal 5 Year Police Veteran who was until recently, the chief of police in lubbock, texas. 12 new officers graduated from the Oakland Police academy last friday, bringing the total number of sworn officers to 716. His big challenge is going to be community or our public perception. Ken houston is director of the Beautification Council and a community advocate. Dont go in for the big wins. Going for the small ones, parking on the sidewalk, parking in a handicapped, spot, tinted windows, all the way around, driving around without license plates. Do what the great gavin newsom did. He sent in highway patrol, right . Theyre going after the small things the police chief is the most important position for the city of oakland. We dont want just more talk, feeling sorry. We need action. Its not about shaking hands and meeting people. I need a strategy. He should already have a plan. Strategy in place that will work for oakland, not atlanta. Now, texas. In oakland, chief mitchell has indicated his agenda will include proactive policing with high visibility in oakland. Im Leslie Brinkley, abc seven news San Francisco could be facing more drastic budget cuts. Abc seven News Reporter luz pena spoke to the director of budget and analysis in the Controllers Office on what they are seeing so far, ahead of a report coming out tomorrow, and she joins us now with those details. Luz thats right. Im i based on the latest data San Francisco is facing a projected budget deficit of nearly 800 million over the coming two budget years. Now, the question is what will be cut out . San francisco could soon face more budget cuts. Were about three quarters of the way through our fiscal year, and so were taking a look at how were doing in the year. How is our revenue coming in San Franciscos current annual budget for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 is 14. 6 billion, a record high up 4 from previous years by tuesday, the citys director of budget and analysis in the Comptrollers Office said they will have a detailed report that will inform the mayor what steps to take what are you looking into for this report . So were looking at the general fund and were looking at all the tax revenue. So theres sales tax and hotel tax. The Controllers Office is Digging Deeper into the expenses by city departments and the revenues coming in. One of the biggest red flags so far is office vacancies. Were definitely seeing that not a lot of commercial buildings are selling. So we are taking a hit in our real estate transfer tax ahead of the latest budget review, mayor breed asked for the Citys Department to make cuts for the next fiscal year as the last report looms today, the Mayors Office responded. The mayor has asked departments to propose reductions of 10, but that doesnt mean those will lead to cuts. She could choose to take all their proposed reductions, or only parts of them, or none at all. One of those asked to make cuts was a Sheriffs Department. We dont have anything more to cut. Were already short staffed. Weve cut. Were proposing to cut a little bit of our overtime budget only as a part of that, and were looking at asking for actual more money. The Sheriffs Department is reporting a 36 increase in the jail population over the past year. We need to deal with the increase in the population and the needs of that population, the transportation costs that are associated with moving people back and forth from our main jail. By june first, the mayor is set to submit a full Budget Proposal to the board of supervisors. Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is part of the citys budget and finance committee. Were still in a rough place, budgetarily. We had to make pretty significant cuts last year, and were going to have to do that again this year. Im concerned about basic services, public safety, of course, but im also concerned about housing. Now, there are some good news. According to the Controllers Office, San Franciscos 790 million budget deficit is improving by tens of millions of dollars. The Mayors Office said they will have more details on the budget by thank you. After more than 170 years in the city, the Jewelry Store shreve and company will no longer call San Francisco home. The jeweler says its closing its Flagship Store near union square. The company moved to the post street location in 2016, its third location in the city since the companys founding in 1852. Shreve and company told customers in a letter it would hold a Liquidation Sale starting friday. The stores palo alto location will remain open. Its no secret that living in the bay area is expensive. A new uc berkeley report finds. It may be worse than we think. Researchers measured how affordable a county is based on the percentage of current california residents who could financially manage to live there. Their study found just 35 of californians could comfortably rent in San Francisco county. That is the lowest share among any of the bay areas nine counties. Contra costa county fared the best. 50 of californians could afford to rent there, based on the report, a coalition of Public Health groups is sending a warning about governor newsoms plan to address the states 27 billion budget deficit. The coalition, made up of county health officials, workers and advocates, claims the 300 million in Public Health cuts proposed by the governor in his revised budget on friday would put vulnerable communities at great risk. These cuts are dangerous and deadly because they take away vital funds that support our Public Health infrastructure, which is working behind the scenes to save lives every day, the coalition says. In addition to impacting Public Health, the cuts would lead to the losses of hundreds of jobs. Weve reached out to the Governors Office for response, and we have yet to hear back. Coming up, Donald Trumps former fixer takes a stand against him today in the hush money payments trial against the former president. Plus, federal officials are now investigating another robo taxi Company Following a recent crash in San Francisco. Details when abc seven taxi fleet. The San Francisco based company is on the hot seat now. After two incidents when zoox vehicles braked suddenly and motorcyclists rear ended them. One crash happened in San Francisco, the other in nevada. The feds now plan to evaluate the automated driving system developed by zoox. Several lawsuits over covid deaths at san quentin can move forward tonight, after the Supreme Court turned down an appeal by prison leaders back in may of 2020. Staff at the prison in chino tried to stop an outbreak there by sending more than 100 inmates to san quentin. San quentin had been covid free, but after the transfer, hundreds of people got sick and more than two dozen died. State lawmakers later blasted the decision, calling it the worst Prison Health mistake in state history. The Supreme Courts rejection means the state cannot claim immunity in the case, and multiple lawsuits can move forward. Today, Donald Trumps former personal attorney and ally took the stand in the former president s criminal trial. Abc News ReporterChristiane Cordero has more on Michael Cohens testimony today. Michael cohen, who previously said he would take a bullet for donald trump, took the stand against him, saying under oath the former president directed him to pay for multiple womens silence. We paid a lawyer a Legal Expense, and we have a Legal Expense is a Legal Expense. Its marked down in the book, quote, Legal Expense. Trump is charged with falsifying Business Records linked to the 130,000 cohen paid actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election. Prosecutors say the payment was to prevent voters from hearing daniels graphic story about an alleged 2006 affair. Trump denies all wrongdoing, including the alleged affair. The defense so far has claimed trump wanted to kill the story to protect his family. Cohens testimony today directly contradicts that, saying he wasnt thinking about melania. This was all about the campaign. He claimed. Trump called the Stormy Daniels situation a, quote, disaster for the campaign, adding trump said women will hate me. Cohen also testified about a catch and kill scheme set up with National Enquirer publisher david pecker, where they agreed to publish positive stories about trump and stop negative ones from coming out. Pecker himself testified about that three weeks ago. Jurors heard a conversation cohen surreptitiously recorded between him and trump in september 2016. It references one of those alleged catch and kills a 150,000 hush money payment to playboy model Karen Mcdougal by pecker. So what are we going to funding . Yes when it comes time for the financing, which will be what . Financing well have to pay you. So some previous witnesses have taken swings at cohens reputation. Prosecutor Josh Steinglass conceded he has what you might consider to be some baggage. The defense calls cohen obsessed a convicted liar and that he cannot be trusted. Jurors have seen more than 200 pieces of evidence so far. Cohen is the 20th witness to take the stand and is described as the linchpin in this case. If the jury believes him. Christiane cordero, abc news, new york. Coming up here, wildfires raging across canada as firefighters there work to tackle more than 140 fires. And now that wildfire smoke is drifting across the border. Details on the impact its having h concerns in parts of the midwest. Firefighters are working to tame more than 100 active fires as harmful smoke crosses the u. S. Border. Its so bad. In fact, minnesotas air is considered unhealthy and more states are on alert. Abc News Reporter tim pulliam has the details. Reporter. Right now, western canada is on fire. Season started again. An eyewitness capturing this wall of flames. Marching across this highway in the Western Province of alberta. The satellite images show the widespread damage, which officials estimating more than 100 wildfires are ravaging the region, with dozens of them considered out of control, including one in British Columbia scorching thousands of acres and forcing thousands of people to evacuate. With no precipitation, no major precipitation in the forecast ahead. Uh and uh winds that can that can pick up at any time. We are lets just say we are extremely concerned. The toxic smoke now billow