On parts of 680 this weekend. We have details of the latest freeway shutdown. Welcome to the news at 530. Thanks so much for joining us. Im janelle wang and im raj mathai. Nearly eight weeks after super tuesday, we still dont have an answer. And more than a week after the recount, we have a delay in that high profile congressional race. Who came in second place here . The second place finisher will square off against sam liccardo in november to replace congresswoman anna eshoo. Heres nbcs ian cole work has wrapped up for the day here at the Santa Clara County voting center. There are still a small number of ballots left to be examined, and were told tonight that that process will continue into next week. The question now is, will any of those ballots break the tie . We are our team is working hard and were definitely at the tail end today. Some of the final votes in the 16th congressional race are being tallied as new details have surfaced. Santa clara county Officials Say seven challenged ballots that were not included in the original results have now been counted. Officials wont say which candidate those ballots may favor until the recount is over. And late today, say they dont know exactly how many votes are left to recount a handful of votes that need to be recounted. And in order to complete these precinct batches, while Election Officials initially expected to be done today, they say the challenging and verification process can be painstakingly slow and they will not rush it. We know former san jose mayor sam liccardo will move on to the november election. The recount of nearly 180,000 ballots could break the tie for second between joe simitian and evan low. The district spans two counties, with san mateo finishing its recount wednesday. Officials there say there was no change to the results, but there are 16 ballots that were previously rejected now being challenged. Voting Officials Say they are still in the envelopes and were rejected in the first count. The challenge really is to the vote by mail envelope. And did it receive, was it received on time and was the postmark accurate . And so those details are being reviewed at this juncture to make sure there was an accurate determination for the rejection of that ballot. Voting officials are even checking with the Postal Service to see when those ballots were scanned and delivered. Those talks and conversations with attorneys on all sides are ongoing. As for when all of this will end, the state will not finalize the results until all of those remaining challenges are resolved in the south bay. Ian cole, nbc, bay area news. Another issue of all this whos funding this recount has also come under intense scrutiny. There is no automatic recount in a race like this. It was requested by jonathan padilla. Hes a tech entrepreneur and former staffer for sam liccardo. He said hes not acting on behalf of any campaign. Its costing about 12,000 bucks a day in each county and is being paid for by a newly formed super pac called count the votes. Representative anna eshoo, who the candidates will replace, has called for financial transparency. She believes voters should know whos paying for this recount. Padilla says theyre following all the rules and will disclose their list of donors by july 15th. Dramatic images of a building in San Francisco up in flames this morning. Firefighters say the fire was sparked around 430 this morning. The building, which is four stories tall, is located in the Presidio Heights neighborhood at lyon and clay streets. The fire was contained about 90 minutes later. Nobody was hurt, but given the conditions this morning, San Francisco fire says it could have ended up a lot differently. The Early Morning win that we had coming over the hill were just south of the presidio. Smoke was down all the way to the street level. Visibility was almost zero at some points. We also had a spitting mist almost a rain, which makes all of our tools and equipment slippery. The owner of the building told fire officials the building was vacant and undergoing renovations. Investigators are still searching for the cause. We have launched a new series here at nbc bay area called the high price of power. This is something that so many of us can relate to our skyrocketing pg and e bills. Whats behind all the pg and e rate hikes . Heres nbc Investigative Reporter jaxon van derbeken. Hawaii, the isolated island paradise where everything costs more, including power. Much of it comes from oil. That has to be shipped in from as far as libya and argentina. The cost to generate it accounts for about half the average 0. 41 per kilowatt hour. Price customers pay, according to the federal Energy Information administration. Hawaii has been held out as the entity with the highest rates in the united states. Mike campbell tracks rates for the consumer watchdog arm of the California Public utilities commission. He says over the last five years, pg and e rates have doubled where it operates in california. After the rate hike in january, customers pay an average 39. 6 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to 0. 21 per kilowatt hour in 2019. To put it in perspective, an average customer uses about 500 kilowatt hours per month, one kilowatt hour is the amount of energy it takes to power ten 100 watt light bulbs for an hour, so the average customer will paid 100 for power back in 2019, now pays nearly twice that amount. Bills have been going up at a pace far beyond inflation, and were at a place now where pg and es rates are, unfortunately, approaching the levels of hawaii, but with a network of dams, a nuclear plant, abundant solar, all tied to a multistate power grid, Mike Campbell and other ratepayer watchdog say our power should be much cheaper than hawaii. So why do we now pay almost as much pg rates are clearly insane right now. Matt friedman is an attorney with the ratepayer Advocacy Group tern. He points to this analysis of the added costs borne by pg and e ratepayers. Ratepayers are now paying 0. 06 more per kilowatt hour for wildfire efforts. That includes pg and his plan to put power lines underground. There are 0. 06 more per kilowatt hour to subsidize rooftop solar and 0. 02 more per kilowatt hour for low income subsidies. Its low Income Customers in pg and e Service Territory are really facing a crisis of affordability. We saw 180,000 customers disconnected for nonpayment last year, and about a third of pg and e low Income Customers are late in paying their bills right now. State regulators have proposed one way to make bills more affordable. It involves charging an income based monthly fee to account for fixed costs, while trimming rates per kilowatt hour. Were in a race for the highest rates in the nation, and that is an ignominious prize to win. But critics like former cpuc president Loretta Lynch say many customers dont use enough power, even at a discount to make up for the proposed standard 24 monthly fee for people who rent apartments. People who are in smaller units, people in urban areas where usually the footprint of the house is smaller, are going to pay more per period. Besides, she says, any benefit wouldnt last long as pge already has approval for rates to go up even higher next year. Lynch says the only long Term Solution is for regulators to limit pg and e spending. Im not as worried about beating a hawaiian becoming the most expensive state for electricity in the nation. Im worried about it continuing for the next 5 to 10 years at this rate, pg and e says it knows the current structure isnt fair to low Income Customers. It has sought a 75 monthly fixed fee, but with greater discounts. Pg and e says any change will take time. And although pg and e says rates should go up about 50 per month this year to pay for bearing 1200 miles of lines and other wildfire investments, ratepayers may see some relief as soon as next year thanks to cost cutting. Its achieved as it already is. Cut fire risk by 94. We are working hard to have average bills decrease in 2025 and 2026 compared to this year, even as these Investments Continue to pay off in greater safety and reliability for our customers, the utility says. The cpuc is slated to consider the rate change proposal as soon as next month. Jaxon van derbeken nbc, bay area news. Well, for years, its been difficult to get straight answers about these pg and e rate hikes. Tonight we go straight to the source. Our exclusive interview with the ceo of pg and e ceo patty poppy. When will rates come down and if so, by how much . And whats she doing with the 2 billion in profit that pg and e made just last year . Our exclusive interview coming up on our 6 00 news heads up plan for detours. If youre driving through the east bay this weekend, caltrans is shutting down southbound 680 for repaving work, starting tonight, all lanes of southbound 680 will be closed from 580 to koopman road in sunol. The closure begins at 9 00 tonight and is expected to wrap up by 4 00 monday morning. Northbound 680 will remain open all weekend. Its possible for your air conditioner to deliver nice, cool air without making you boiling mad about your high electric bill . Im consumer investigator chris kimura. Ill show you how next were checking in on those wind speeds down to the teens in san jose. But 20 to 30 mile an hour winds along San Francisco and the peninsula. Well talk about how they do this weekend. And if you like warmer temperature and we want to talk about summer. Its just around the corner and you can cool your home without unnecessarily heating up our planet. Our consumer investigator chris chmura is empowering us to be climate warriors with the little ac and diy. Air conditioners are notoriously hungry for energy. In fact, pg and e estimates they account for about 40 of our summer electric bills. But if you give your ac a little tlc, it might run a lot more efficiently. The Energy Department says you can hire a pro to check out the coils and perhaps clean them, but there are some other steps you can take yourself. For starters, check the filter and consider replacing it. The Energy Department says replacing a dirty, clogged filter with a clean one can lower your air conditioner Energy Consumption by 5 to 15. Check your outdoor unit two. Debris can disrupt air flow and cost you money. The Energy Department also recommends at least two feet of breathing room, so trim back plants and shrubs at least 24in inside your home. Check your ductwork and use tape to seal any loose connections. The state contractor board says sealing and insulating ducts can improve the efficiency of a homes heating and cooling system by as much as 20. Sealing ducts will require time, elbow grease, and possibly squeezing yourself into your homes crawl space. Yes, thats me. The work might pay off in a big way. Consider a big home with a big ac. Well, sealing everything up and lowering the bill 20 equates to roughly 50 a month every month. Those savings are pretty cool. And those those rates pg and e rates will be rising when the summer kicks and were all clicking on our ac or many of us, its going to go sky high. I look forward to more of your interview at six with the ceo of pg and e lets talk about the weather the weekend. A bit windy today. We had to bundle up. Yeah, i mean, you look to the skies. Its beautiful. Right . But then you hear the wind on your window and you step outside. Youre like, oh, maybe i should grab a jacket. I think we should keep the jackets lying around for the weekend, because those wind speeds could stick around as we go on and check on our microclimate forecast. If youre staying put or maybe traveling about, weve got it all for you. Lets check on conditions outside in oakland right now. Low 60s. And look at those winds out of the west northwest at around 26 miles an hour. And we go out to sfo, not only the winds, but the return of that coastal marine layer out there. So definitely bundle up. If your plans include sfo, the peninsula on south, lets go to the north bay. Its breezy out there towards the civic center. Temperatures 63 degrees. And we come down here to san jose where weve had a bit of that cloud cover, but the peaks of the blue and the sunshine also come about. Our winds down here at around 17 miles an hour. You might be wondering where its all coming from. Theres been a few weak systems that have moved through parts of the state, even bringing sometimes isolated thunderstorms as you make your plans to head to the sierra, i would bring about those chains and the warmer jackets just to keep you nice and safe later on tonight, even if youre heading down south through the Central Valley into la, also be careful with those changing conditions. Lets see how those wind gusts go as we go on into this evening. Making our friday plans still bringing those jackets, those layers, as we go to about 730, 37 mile an hour wind gusts through San Francisco, continuing through redwood city and down into san jose, and further on east. Theyll die down a little bit as we go on into the overnight hours, but then continue on for our saturday plan. So if you have any outdoor plans, make sure you tie everything down and just be prepared for another bit of a breezy day. How are our temperatures going to look aside from the breezy conditions . Not too bad as we make our way into our inland valleys, weve got 73 in concord, 71 in morgan hill and another 73 on the map in santa rosa. Its a pretty nice and comfortable away from the gusty shoreline, and our mountain passes as well. So just be careful with those changes. There a bit of a more events for you. Sausalito yard sale. This will start at nine and continue on into 1 00. Bring that jacket. We start in those low in those mid 50s and only top out in those low mid 60s as we go on into the afternoon. If you missed the San FranciscoCherry Blossom festival, well weve got one in cupertino for you this weekend. We also start off in the upper 50s. And then those temperatures should climb into the upper 60s. As we go into the afternoon. Lets fast forward and talk about sunday. The winds should start to die down just a little bit further, and our temperatures will live up to the sunday funday name in those 70s through our wine country area, 71 out in livermore, the tri valley to those upper 60s. As we make our way from San Francisco through the peninsula, well do 69 in Mountain View for our sunday plans. Lets talk about whats ahead for next week. Were saying goodbye to the final days of april and starting to warm up over the next couple of days in santa clara by the middle of the week, may 1st. Were up to those upper 70s and continuing to enjoy those warm temperatures as we go on into thursday and friday. High pressure is Building Back in here, and it wont be too bad in San Francisco either. After we get done with a windy weekend, we will be looking for sunglasses or short sleeve shirts, as those temperatures could also hit the 70s as we go on into the end of the week. And if were talking 70in San Francisco, you know its going to be warm inland as we go from 70s to mid 70s to those 80s. By next week, i dont care if its windy, its friday. Oh, there we go. Thats true. Were good. Thats the bright side. Well, i have to work tomorrow morning. But for everybody that it is friday for them. Youre welcome. Well be watching you and kira today in the bay. Thank you so much, cynthia. Thanks, cynthia. Up next, the rookie has landed a new sign, the 40 niners, welcoming their new player, Ricky Pearsall. Hes the bay areas newest millionaire. He is cashing in. Could he be the answer for the 40 niners today . The rookie showed up for his first day at work. Heres nbcs Anthony Flores with his family and his girlfriend by his side, Ricky Pearsall was introduced as the newest member of the 49ers. Words cant really describe my feelings right now, man, you know, it hasnt hit. It hasnt hit yet, just trying to soak it all in. Were going to make you a niner right now, okay . We are 40 niners. When he received the call last night, he said he was overwhelmed. The niners were selecting him in the first round with a 31st overall pick. Obviously, this is a legendary program, and i just appreciate the entire organization taking a chance on me, man. And, you know, im gonna prove them right. So im looking forward to , you know, getting the work in and, you know, showing everybody the six foot one, 190 pound arizona native played the past two seasons with the Florida Gators prior to the swamp. He spent three years playing near his hometown at arizona state. There he was briefly teammates with current niners star receiver brandon aiyuk. He says bay made a strong impression on his game. It just felt like every time he touched the ball or was throwing his way, he was taking it to the house. So, you know, watching the dude like that really helped me. You know, seeing, you know, what it takes to get to that next level, he can separate down the field. He can separate underneath. Got really good hands. The 40 niners also like his versatility. His addition to the niners creates uncertainty in the wide receiver room. The team is trying to reach a new deal with aiyuk, whos entering the final year of his contract. But the niners appear to be keeping their options open when it comes to a possible trade for aiyuk or deebo samuel. Never close the door on a trade. I mean, we, you know, well always listen and, and we have and, but we like our group as it stands, the first time well see pearsall and the rest of the 40 niners draft class rookie minicamp during the second week of may at levis stadium. Anthony flores nbc, bay area. Excited to see him play. All right, guess what. Its orange friday th