especially during the rise of attacks on elderly asian seniors. >> it was anger. it was frustration, hopelessness. it was shock like how can this even happen? >> reporter: at the time the community felt their concerns were ignored by then district attorney chesa boudin who they believe was not doing enough to protect them. >> it was outrageous that we were seeing it and then allowing it to happen. >> reporter: and in 2022 the power of the asian vote led the charge to recall the former d.a. and that was just the beginning because during the same year that same voting block of asian americans frustrated with the direction the school board. >> education and public safety were two things that the aapi

community rallied behind. what happened was we succeeded in winning historical recalls against four elected officials. >> reporter: hahn lee covers both the aapi community and now politics for the sf standard. he said the school board and district attorney recalls changed the political landscape, forcing city hall to take notice. >> this community has reporter: mayor london breed to those looking to win her seat at city hall, you can easily spot them at asian american functions courting the asian american vote. behind the scenes their campaign teams have staffers who are familiar with the community to do the community outreach. >> reporter: other candidates are taking it even one step further. [ speaking in a global language ]

>> for example, like danny sutter running for distinct 3 supervisor which includes chinatown, he's learning cantonese for years and now in some of the campaign vans for political debate, he's showing off his speaking skill. >> reporter: as for lily, helping to organize the aapi vote may be an awakening of her own. she recently won an elective position on the democratic county central committee. >> there's still a lot of voters in the aapi community that aren't voting, that aren't registered to vote. >> reporter: more work to do to highlight the power of the asian american vote. >> the community recognized that elections are extremely important to the things they cared about. >> reporter: but also to amplify the power of representation. >> when we stay the power of the asian american vote, that power lies within the chinese american community who represent 180,000 of the nearly 300,000 residents in the

city's aapi community and that power was on display earlier this year. we remember in february before the lunar new year mayor london breed had proposed to put a homeless center in chinatown near the north beach border. the mayor received quick backlash considering it was before the lunar new year, an election year and, well, she backed down. in san jose there's a new exhibit celebrating south asian art, music, and history. it's called south asians in silicon valley. you can find it at the king library. nearly 20% of the population in santa clara is south asian. the exhibit focuses on the many contributions of the community. >> people are aware of the presence of the community but not really engaging with these communities at a level at which they could get to know these communities and i think the more we know of each other, the

less biases will persist. >> the exhibit covers the hate crimes that targeted the sikh, the community's rising political presence and popular pastimes like cricket. you can find all of our special stories for aapi heritage month on our website, kpix.com. a series of lawsuits are moving forward against california prison officials after a deadly covid outbreak in san quentin. the supreme court rejected an appeal from state prison officials who sought immunity from lawsuits of 26 san quentin prisoners and one guard died in 2020 after state officials transferred infected prisoners from a prison in southern california. at the time san quentin had no known covid cases. state attorneys told "the times" they have the benefit of hindsight now, but back then they didn't receive any notice that their actions could be considered unconstitutional. the cdc is watching a new covid-19 variant that could

drive a summer surgery. kp.2 is now the leading variant in the u.s. in mid-march it made up just 1% of cases. now it makes up at a quarter of them. early lab information says it could be slightly more infectious than previous variants. the cdc says there's no reason to believe it would cause more severe illness than any other covid strain. google is eliminated 55 positions in san francisco. an electric vehiclemaker rivian will also cut 28 jobs in its palo alto office and another 92 at its southern california facility. earlier this year rivian laid off about 150 workers in the bay area as part of its plan to reduce salaried staff by 10%. employees at an apple store in maryland are threatening to walk off the job. they voted to

authorize the first strike against the company's retail operations, saying they want more money and a better work/life balance. the location in the baltimore suburbs was also the first u.s. apple store to unionize nearly two years ago. they haven't said when the strike could begin, but in this statement apple said it will engage with the union respectfully and in good faith. up next, lake tahoe approaching full capacity the first time in five years, why there could be one major drawback. and we are two weeks away from the unofficial start to the summer travel season. we'll tell you the worst time to

lake tahoe is expected to reach full capacity for the first time in five years and we're talking about the water level, not people. that's thanks to two very wet winters

in a row. the snowpack peaked above median levels ending the year to 108 to 244% of average. the lake tahoe basin snowpack is at 122%. much of that snowpack will fill the lake, but there could be a drawback. trying to find a spot in the sand could be even tougher since high water levels could reduce the amount of available beach space. memorial day is now two weeks away and aaa says it will be the busiest year for travel in nearly two decades. nearly 44 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more for the holiday. kris van cleave has everything you need to know for your memorial day getaway. >> reporter: on board the brand-new carnival forenza ahead of its sold out inaugural mexican cruise, the summer vacation season has started a little early for the cruz family. >> this is probably the most eventful vacation you can have in such a small area.

>> part of it is you can sort of lock in the cost. >> absolutely, yes. >> reporter: cruising is surging in popularity. nearly 35 million passengers are expected this year, 5 million more than prepandemic. the forenza was originally intended to serve china but was shifted to the u.s. to meet demand instead. >> we're well booked ahead of where we would normally be. we have inventory open through the first half of 2026. >> reporter: are you full for the summer of 2024? >> there's still space available, but we are telling people you got to book early and plan ahead. >> reporter: carnival president christine duffy. >> we're seeing more people that are discovering cruising as a great family vacation. the value of a cruise vacation relative to what it costs today to go to a resort makes it extremely attractive and efficient and easy. >> reporter: aaa expects travel by cruising or train to jump

nearly 6% this memorial day. the vast majority, though, will drive, a record 38.4 million, up 4% from last year. gas prices have been ticking down, though they're still sitting about eight cents a gallon higher than last year nationally. >> people are still prioritizing travel and they're budgeting for it. maybe they're cutting back in other areas of their life, but we aren't seeing people pull back on travel and how they're spending. >> reporter: at airports aaa expects about 5% more flyers this memorial day. joanna booked her summer trips months ago but pivoted destinations when she spotted a deal. >> to go to japan would have been $1,200 round trip for one person. to go to canada it was the same price for both of us. >> reporter: aaa expects the busiest times on the road will be next thursday and friday between l day will be thursday.

up next, spectacular images from the solar storm that captured the attention of the bay area and beyond. straight ahead in sports, from the olympic club happy to lend my voice for a fundraiser tonight, details to follow. also details on the status of the giants center fielder jung hoo lee who had a bad owie yesterday. coming up on the cbs evening news, financial aid fiasco, our reporting on the millions of students impacted by delays in federal college aid packages. we have tips for kids making a weighty investment in thei a slow network is no network for business. that's why more choose comcast business.

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a powerful series of solar storms sparked a spectacular light show this weekend all over north america. >> yeah. the aurora borealis more commonly known as the northern lights are visible when there's an interaction between the solar wind environment and the earth's magnetic field. >> we had a particularly violent interaction that ended up sending particles into our atmosphere, electrons, protons, and those interact with the constituents of our atmosphere

to produce these beautiful lights. >> so here are some of the photos of the aurora from all around the bay area, including marin county and orinda. >> scientists say the solar storms disrupted gps satellites, some power grids, and even affected the operations of a few midwest farms. that's wild the impact of this. i'm so bummed i missed it. >> i actually went on top of the roof of my building. i couldn't see anything with my naked eye, but i took a shot with the iphone and it picked up a little bit of that reddish hue. you can see it from san francisco. >> that's so cool that we got to witness that. at least we could see pictures of it. >> yeah. doesn't happen this far south very often. the magnitude of that solar storm is diminishing, so it's not likely to happen again. hope you're able to take it in late friday night. this week we're in for typical mayweather, a cooler start compared to the warm temperatures last week. it's a weak offshore wind in the upper

levels of the atmosphere, but at ground level, there's quite a bit more fog pushing inland the next several nights. this is the live view now from salesforce tower looking towards the bay bridge. temperatures today were much closer to average for this time of year, slightly below average in a number of locations, 57 half moon bay, 59 san francisco, didn't even hit 60 in the city, upper 60s fremont and santa rosa, 70s for san jose and concord. san jose should be almost 10 degrees warmer tomorrow as a wind shift will protect the santa clara valley from that marine influence, your temperatures more likely up to around 80 degrees. there is going to be a lot of fog. it's going to push well into the inland valleys by early tomorrow morning. if you wake up with gray skies overhead inland, it won't last long, the fog retreats out of the valley by 8:00, 9:00 and backing up to the coast by about noon. it won't dissipate along the coast. you'll be stuck under may gray most of

the week, make an hour or two of sunshine in the afternoons about it. temperatures tonight a mix of upper 40s and low 50s, very close to normal for the middle of may. let's look at tomorrow's forecast high temperatures which for most of us are very close to normal, too. the exception is in the santa clara valley where the high temperatures are 80 degrees. inland in the east bay reaches up to the 70s, very close to typical. 70s for fremont and redwood city, only upper 50s at half moon bay, a couple degrees warmer than today, maybe a little sunshine peeking through. san francisco should return to the low 60s tomorrow after being confined to the upper 50s today. temperatures in the north bay in the low to mid-70s, not as warm as other inland parts of the bay area because you'll have fog hanging on a little bit longer and that slows down the warm-up. the winds kick in during the afternoon to deliver cooler air farther inland except to the santa clara valley. the winds will be out of the southwest over the next

24 hours and really throughout this week. the winds diminish overnight but pick back up. some of the stronger gusts in the 20 little change to the pollen count as well. it's going to be in the medium category. if you're sensitive especially to oak, mulberry or grass pollen, make sure you have allergy medication well supplied. let's look at the seven-day forecast and start inland where temperatures will be the warmest, very close to what's typically warm for this time of year, mostly mid- to upper 70s, the warmest spot around 80 degrees, a little more cooldown by early next week, some of the long range forecast models trying to bring in one of the ripples in the atmosphere to allow the cooler air farther inland. temperatures elsewhere mid- to upper 60s to around 70 degrees around the bay, more of a mix of clouds and sunshine. plenty

of cloud cover along the coast, you won't see much more than that hour or two of sunshine every day and we're talking about temperatures right around 60 degrees as we head through the rest of this week into the beginning of next week. two weeks from today is memorial day. we've got to look at the eight to 14-day outlook at 6:00. for a check of what's ahead at 6:00, we switch over to juliette. >> a small coastal community called out for dragging its feet on new housing for farmworkers. the governor has threatened legal action. we'll look closer at the project that's divided half moon bay ahead of a closely watched vote tomorrow. plus a new chapter for driverless cars in the bay area as waymo expands to the peninsula, we give the new commute option a ride and look at the possible obstacles in its way, all that coming up in about ten minutes, but first let's head to vern for a look

at sports from the olympic club. >> reporter: that's right, jules. i'm rubbing shoulders with some of the elite out here at the olympic club. look at this merchandise and everything must go. i'm here to work the fundraiser for the ascent foundation, very timely during aapi month, more on that in a moment as the giants look to host the dodgers tonight at oracle park. here is an update on center fielder jung hoo lee. no surprise lee was placed on the injured list with a dislocated shoulder he suffered sunday. the team will know more about how long he could be out after he speaks to a doctor on tuesday. lee becomes the fourth outfielder placed on the il in the last week joining jorge soler, michael conforto, and austin slater. >> has it felt like you can't buy a break in that things aren't going your way in that regard? >> that would -- yeah. look, there's a lot of injuries. it's just one of those times

during the season where you got to persevere. >> we got to fight. even when we have everyone, we got to fight. i think the mentality stays the same. we've got good guys in the clubhouse. we're meshing well now. nfl, jared goff out of novato got paid today. >> what you going to do, jared? >> show me the money. >> the detroit lions showed goff the money, a four-year extension reportedly worth $212 million with 170 million guaranteed. goff becomes the highest paid player in lions franchise history. shout out to st. mary's softball. the gaels won the west coast conference title over the weekend to clinch a spot in the ncaa tournament the first time since 2010. st. mary's will open up against

eighth-ranked stanford in palo alto friday. cal is facing southern illinois in their opener. back at olympic, what a setting, first time ever the ascent foundation has moved its annual golf and tennis fundraiser to the west coast and the lake course here showed well. the norcal region is raising money for research, leadership, development and community engagement to support the pan-asian business leaders of tomorrow. >> exactly what i expected and more. we are here to celebrate aapi heritage month. ascend foundation is out here for a great cause to support students for scholarships giving back to the community with ascend cares. >> reporter: i hear you've got a live action guy that's pretty good. >> we do. we do. vern glenn, he's the best. >> reporter: hey, no pressure. man, i got to get my voice ready. my big live auction

ticket, a signed guitar used by taylor swift. last one went for 20 grand. >> oh, man. that's going to be a good auction. >> wow, yeah. >> hey, they only got the best, vern, hands down. have fun. >> reporter: do i hear five grand? >> bidding starts at five grand. the place will go wild. >> thanks, vern. still ahead here at 5:00, the race to develop artificial intelligence is heating up, how bay area tech

today a big announcement from a san francisco-based tech company as the race to develop a.i. products heats up. >> but it could also have some unintended conferences. >> reporter: at an openai conference the company announced an update to its chatgpt product. gpt 4.0 now includes the ability to interact with live speech. the artificial intelligence actually listens to the audio instead of transcribing the speech first, which cuts down response time. >> oh, i see it now. >> reporter: the new version also utilizes images to help problem solve. >> so chatgpt, this is what i

ended up with. how does this look? >> spot on. >> reporter: google is expected to announce its own a.i. developments tuesday and apple has an event scheduled in june. the race isn't just to be first with the tech, but to become dominant and to do that, the companies need to know how to protect consumers from potential a.i. abuses. >> our team has been hard at work figuring out how to build in mitigations against misuse. we continue to work with different stakeholders from government, media, entertainment, all industries. >> reporter: beyond the competition among a.i. developers china and the u.s. are facing off in their own global competition to implement artificial intelligence. the u.s. and china will hold talks tuesday on how the two countries can work together to safely deploy a.i. technologies. >> keeping lines of communication open on the risks of the technologies that are transforming our world is an important part of competing responsibly. >> reporter: part of the tech

arms race includes developing computer chips came of carrying out a.i. functions. that's it for the news at 5:00. cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich starts right now. >> thanks so much. it's not often a small town planning commission attracts the governor's attention, but tomorrow the pressure will be on half moon bay to take action on new housing for farmworkers. >> always been a by the state f its feet on much needed affordable housing, the new scrutiny over a project that's divided the town. >> i don't think our voices are heard. i think everything is railroaded and passed through because of the urgency. a new chapter for the oakland police department. >> this is one of the most honorable and greatest professions that you can choose. >> oaklanders sound off on their hopes with the new chief. >> one guy with the proper attitude will always make a difference. >> and he's trading the tech world for law enforcement in

his 60s. >> upon which i'm about to enter. >> and what inspired this south bay retiree to take the oath? >> i actually thought he would have a retirement career or hobby that was building things. i didn't think he would be like building community. plus as waymo expands to the peninsula for the first time -- >> hello from waymo. >> -- how it could change your commute and the obstacles still standing in the way of a driverless future. this is cbs news bay area with juliette goodrich. >> good evening. thanks for joining us at 6:00. it is the talk of the town in half moon bay ahead of a vote tomorrow that's put the coastal city in the spotlight. even the governor is closely watching what happens with this controversial farmworker housing project. half moon bay has been under pressure to build more affordable housing since the deadly mass shooting at two mushroom farms last year exposed the