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The church is on 27th and west streets in oakland and sustained heavy damage. Tonight. Were being told by investigators this fire is suspicious. Both the pastor and his mother reached out to us about what happened. And tonight were getting their side of the story inside the remainder of the church. Its all its just smoke damage. Pastor robert lacey is talking about the devastating damage to saint Andrew Missionary Baptist Church in west oakland. This was the scene one week ago. A fire started outside on the property spreading to the church where the pastor and parishioners were inside rehearsing for services. Myself and one of the other parishioners thought it was small enough for us to fight it, and at that point, windows started exploding inside and we it was time to leave. Its time to go. The Oakland Fire Department telling us they believe the start of the fire is suspicious and that they are still investigating. Were just at a point now where, you know, were still numb to the fact that the fire was set. It wasnt because of any structural errors or whatever. And now theyre trying to salvage what they can of the designated landmark. It was nominated, i believe, in 2007. Okay to be a historic landmark because of the significance of the building. The church was built in 1910 to house African American oaklanders displaced by the 1906 earthquake, later becoming a home to the black Panther Movement and more recently serving as a school which did encounter some scandal. It now serves a small congregation. Do you have any reason to believe anybody, like why anybody would want to do this . No, im just this, this, this is a this is an area prone to, you know, this kind of activity. It was just a total shock, i couldnt believe that this was really taking place. Elizabeth curry is the mother of pastor lacey and has a long history with the church. So you dont you dont see anybody who would want to do this or have a reason to do this on purpose. No, not at all. I never even dreamed of such a thing. The pastor turning his focus to restoring what they can as fast as they can. But there are seniors that take advantage of the computer lab, Community Members that fill out applications. They come here for support and now we cant provide that support because of what has happened. So were moving as fast as we can to at least get ourselves back. Tara campbell, abc seven news the man who attacked paul pelosi with a hammer will spend decades in prison today, a federal judge sentenced david depape to 30 years over the assault on then House SpeakerNancy Pelosis husband at the couples home in San Francisco in 2022. Todays sentence reflects David Depapes lack of remorse and contrition for violently assaulting mr. Pelosi, a jury convicted to pat back in november of the assault on paul pelosi and attempting to kidnap nancy pelosi, though she ended up not being home. Prosecutors wanted a 40 year sentence for the crime. The defense argued for 14 years. Today in court, pelosis daughter read letters from her parents saying her father still suffers from dizziness and headaches. Depapes exwife says they plan to appeal with his son, describing it as a death sentence for the 44 year old. I think thats a really long time because if you think about it right, hes already nearly 50. Hes hes basically its just a death sentence. Depape is still facing state charges over the attack. Hes pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted murder. His trial in state court is set for next week. New at 11. Being a mail carrier in the bay area is becoming an increasingly dangerous job. Theyre becoming targets for people looking to steal their keys and swipe the mail, which can lead to all sorts of financial crimes. Abc seven News ReporterLauren Martinez with a look at whats happening. Thieves are targeting letter carriers for their mailbox keys. Palo alto police and the u. S. Postal service are investigating a strong Armed Robbery that happened at this apartment complex off middlefield road on thursday, police said. The carrier was approached by two men who demanded his postal keys. When they then asked for his wallet and cell phone, a fight ensued and then the suspects fled towards the parking garage. These incidents do turn really needlessly violent, so this is not something that carriers should have to be worried about. Their job is already physically and mentally demanding. U. S. Postal inspector Matthew Norfleet said. This is not the most recent incident. Over the weekend, two arrests were made after mail carriers were robbed in belmont and palo alto. And in these cases, were seeing the robbers are also traveling across the bay area using cars that were stolen in the sacramento area, according to the analysis by the abc7 Data Journalism team. In 2023, there were 145 postal robberies in california. Approximately 61 occurred in the bay area. The people who steal mail are criminals. They are dangerous. When we catch up with them, they are often armed. Back at the apartment complex in palo alto, residents had no idea a mail carrier had been robbed. On thursday, we spoke with one man who walks regularly to a nearby park. Im very surprised. I would say i never heard about in all my all my time that im here in palo alto. I never heard about any of this type of thing. In light of these robberies, police are asking the public to keep a watchful eye out for carriers and their Postal Service vehicles. We usually do see the cars the robbers are using follow the carriers for a ways before they get ready to do the robbery. Looking looking for that opportunity, the Postal Inspection Service offers a significant reward of up to 150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of suspects in palo alto. Lauren martinez abc seven news. New developments with the campus protests one day before graduation ceremonies at sonoma state university, the schools president has announced hes retiring. Mike lee was put on administrative leave wednesday for insubordination. Lee reached a controversial agreement with propalestinian student protesters without proper approval. He apologized, but in his original message, he endorsed student activism, protest and dissent. Today, csu chancellor Mildred Garcia issued a statement saying president mingtang mike lee has informed me of his decision to retire from his role at sonoma state university. I thank president lee for his years of service to the california state university. In the meantime, the university of california system is trying to get the state to stop what it claims is an illegal strike. A union for uc workers authorized the strike earlier this week over how the University System has handled propalestinian protests on campus. The uc system says the strike would be in violation of the United Auto Workers contract. Uaw does represent uc employees. The College System is asking a state board to issue a cease and desist. Uc santa cruz workers are set to be the first to walk off the job come monday. Do stay with us for continuing coverage of the College Campus protests in the bay area and nationwide. Get the latest anytime at abc7 news. Com. All right. This just in. Its the weekend and i want to look ahead to the weather. Yes meteorologist sandhya patel has your 24 hour accuWeather Forecast. Sandhya yeah and dan and ummah the forecast looks fabulous for any Outdoor Activities this weekend. Let me show you a live picture. This is how youre going to start off your weekend. Gray skies over San Francisco. Like many of the last several days, heres a look at the forecast. Clouds and drizzle. Temperatures in the 50s mostly sunny by noon, and we are looking at bright, breezy conditions upper 50s to upper 70s at 4 p. M. And turning partly cloudy later in the evening. The winds have backed off a little bit right now, but theyll pick right back up again tomorrow afternoon, 25 to about almost 30 miles an hour at times, particularly near the coast. Ill be back with a full look at the forecast, which does include bay to breakers and all the other graduations that are taking place. The Weather Forecast is coming right up. Dan. Ama okay, sandy, thanks a lot. Houstons mayor says it could be weeks before power is fully restored to all homes and businesses left in the dark by storm related outages. Thunderstorms with Hurricane Force winds tore through the texas city last night and knocking out electricity to nearly 1 million people. At least seven people died in the storms, and widespread destruction has brought much of houston to a standstill. Happening now if youre heading to wine country this weekend, you may want to plan to allow some extra time eastbound highway 37 from sears point in Sonoma County to highway 29 in vallejo is closed right now for repaving work. The detour you can see on the map is the green line. It is scheduled to reopen at 5 a. M. Monday morning in time for the morning commute. This is the last scheduled closure of that highway down in big sur. Highway one is open for the first time in about six weeks. Caltrans posted this video showing traffic today on a section of highway one that was closed after a partial collapse. Its going to be one way traffic because the southbound lane still isnt fixed. This reopening comes eight days ahead of schedule. A permanent repair is in the design phase. The highway is still closed at pauls slide on the south end of big sur. A big Birthday Celebration is planned for this weekend on the Santa Cruz Beach boardwalk. Today marks 100 years of ups and downs, twists and turns for the giant dipper. The iconic wooden roller coaster opened to guests on may 17th, 1924, cost just 0. 15 for a ride back then. Tomorrow, the boardwalk will celebrate the giant dipper with special events and a fireworks show. A century in the making, its now the fourth oldest roller coaster in the united states. Its one of the 10th oldest roller coasters in the world, so its really one of the last of its kind. Its a really special treasure. Ive been coming here since i was little. This is my first time. This first time. So just sharing a little piece of history and my family with him, you know, ride it. How many times . Ten times as many as we can. We can. The giant dipper helped Santa Cruz County see a 135 tourism spike in 2023, with more than 1 billion flowing in. Thats remarkable. It is. All right. Find out what has triggered a new warning tonight from the centers for Disease Control about mpox. A couple of them made some jokes, i think, when they figured out, you know who i was and what happened. A wild day for golfers, Scottie Scheffler that saw him getting arrested as he went to play in a tournament. Youre going to hear from him later in sports. Plus, why mayor london breeds plan to bring pandas to the San Francisco zoo is suddenly in serious jeopardy. First, a look at whats coming up tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live right after abc seven news at 11. Jimmy lets stay up and braid each others hair. Oh. Youre leaving . Oh i am obsessed with olays retinol body wash. With olay retinol body wash, 95 of women had visibly renewed skin. It makes my skin feel so smooth and moisturized. See the difference with olay. When life spells heartburn. How do you spell relief . Rolaids rolaids dualactive formula begins to neutralize acid on contact. Rolaids spells relief. This graphic footage was exclusively obtained by cnn. They say it shows combs and a towel chasing Cassie Ventura down a Los Angeles Hotel hallway. Back in 2016. Ventura is grabbed by her neck, thrown to the floor, kicked twice, then dragged. Now we are not showing the entire video because it is disturbing. Venturas lawyer says this video collaborates allegations made in a. Since settled lawsuit that combs physically abused her for years. Combs has previously denied the allegations. Abc news has not independently verified the video and has reached out to combs representatives for comment. Following the release of the diddy video, the National Domestic violence hotline saw a spike in calls and chat requests. It posted a message on its website saying people should expect longer than usual wait times to talk to someone. The cdc is warning about a resurgence of mpox, the Infectious Disease formerly known as monkeypox. This alert comes ahead of a pride events around the world, which start on june 1st. Mpox spread to thousands of people, disproportionately affecting gay and bisexual men around the world in 2022. The cdc says theres currently an epidemic of an Even Deadlier version of this disease in the democratic republic of congo. So far, no new cases have been identified outside africa, but anyone at risk is being urged to get vaccinated just as soon as possible. The california fish and Game Commission voted this week to ban in river salmon fishing. The ban will affect sacramento area rivers and klamath basin. This comes after the amount of chinook number of chinook salmon returning to spawn sharply dropped by 40 over the last year or so. The state has banned in river salmon fishing. The salmon fishing ban is expected to go into effect before july 1st. Mayor london breeds plans to bring pandas to San Francisco have hit a roadblock. She thought she had sealed the deal during a trip to china last month, but a board of Supervisors Committee has rejected her fundraising plans. Abc7 News Reporter tim johns has been following this story and has a look at the political fight over a pair of pandas. The push to make two pandas, San Franciscos newest residents has officially stalled. On thursday, a committee of the board of supervisors rejected the fundraising proposal put forward by mayor london breed supervisor dean preston, who chairs that committee, says amendments need to be made to the proposal before he would support it. We do need to make sure we have the information to prevent actual conflicts of interest here and make sure that this is all being done transparently. Preston isnt the only one criticizing the mayors plan. Supervisor asha sapphire, who is running against breed in novembers election, tells us he thinks the mayors fundraising plans are a distraction from the cuts the city is making amid a budget crisis. In the same week youre announcing all these cuts to major programs that have been a vital, vital delivery of services in our city. Youre announcing those cuts while at the same time youre like, look over here. On friday, breed, responding to some of the pushback her office sending a statement to abc seven news, which reads in part, postponements of a vote or requests for amendments are not uncommon, and the Mayors Office will work on amendments based on the feedback from supervisors. But concerns are being raised about more than just the fundraising effort. Some are also worried about whether the San Francisco zoo can actually accommodate the pandas. That includes justin barker, the head of a Watchdog Group called sf zoo watch. Theres animal neglect, animals escaping their cages, and this is a decades long issues, barker says. The zoo has been mismanaged for years and is in desperate need of repairs. He tells us that even if the city can get funding, he doesnt think the zoo will be able to actually take care of the pandas at this point, that this zoo is not meeting the needs of its animals and bringing pandas here is a terrible decision. In response, the San Francisco zoo sent abc7 news a statement which reads in part, concerns about our zoos conditions are unfounded as we undergo regular inspections by various regulatory bodies. These independent inspections are thorough and encompass aspects such as animal enclosures and exhibit spaces. Breeds fundraising proposal will rely solely on donations to bring the pandas to the city, and not taxpayer money. In San Francisco. Tim johns, abc seven news. Participants in San Franciscos famed bay to breakers are gearing up for sundays big race. Expect to see those fun and wacky costumes, or perhaps none a