on campus have president biden breaking his silence. violent protest is not protected. peaceful protest is. could the college protest impact his reelection campaign? our political analyst is with us tonight. also oakland crime statistics seeing a big decline. but a well-known city council member isn't quite celebrating. and a whistleblower is speaking out to our investigative unit, raising the alarm about issues within the contra costa county health care system. it's been really heartbreaking, because we are supposed to be, helping

these patients. why this nurse is saying people's health is on the line. good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight. i'm raj mathai. we're going to start with the headlines that we are watching at this hour for a popular hairstylist is now facing charges for sexually assaulting a teenage client. police are worried there may be other victims out there. police arrested this man, 41 year old kai vu, at his concord hair salon this morning on charges of rape, unlawful sex and lewd acts on a child. investigators tell us the alleged crimes happened in 2021, when a mother dropped off her 14 year old daughter at the kai hair salon for a three hour appointment. there's a day in the salon that he works completely by himself, and that's when the suspected assaults occurred. none of them were suspected to have occurred when there was any other workers

there. police are now asking for any tips or clues into this story. we spoke with some of his coworkers who say they're having trouble believing the charges. we have an update now to that bizarre and shocking story we're hearing from the wife of the man who accused of driving her and their two kids off of a cliff near devil's slide. she pleaded in court today for her husband to be released. dharmesh patel is being held without bail. he's a doctor from southern california. he's facing three charges of attempted murder. investigators say he purposely plunged his tesla off of a 300 foot cliff with his family in the car. this was last year right at devil's slide near pacifica. you see that tesla down below? amazingly, everyone survived, all four of them. according to the mercury news, patel's wife told the court his actions were due to a mental health episode the judge is weighing. if doctor patel should be criminally tried or diverted

to a mental health program. also this evening, president biden is speaking out for the first time about the protests that have taken over many college campuses. he says he supports freedom of speech, but not the right to cause chaos. and we did see chaotic scenes erupt overnight at ucla this was part of our breaking news coverage, actually, last night at 7 p.m. on this program before the officers moved in, hundreds of protesters were arrested in the overnight hours. it's unknown how many were actually students. officers took down the tents there. the wooden pallets and other barriers that had been on that campus for about a week. ucla says it let the peaceful encampment continue until they say an attack by counter protesters on tuesday night put students safety in jeopardy at uc berkeley, a new confrontation is raising concerns about the encampment on the cal campus. three people were injured yesterday after someone grabbed an israeli flag from the counter. protesters those

involved say the pro-palestinian protesters also yelled anti-semitic slurs. today, the encampment is quiet, demonstrators saying those responsible for this confrontation were not part of their peaceful group. we set a wall around them to ensure that nobody can try to frame this against us in any way, and we were the ones who pulled back this, this person who tried to grab the flag. university officials say they will not remove the protesters or involve law enforcement unless it becomes a safety issue. let's get back to president biden now. he says the protests have not made him reconsider his stance in the middle east. violent protest is not protected. peaceful protest is. it's against the law. when violence occurs, destroying property is not a peaceful protest. it's against the law. vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. none of this is a

peaceful protest threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest. it's against the law. the protest forced you to reconsider the policies with regard to the region. no thank you, mr. president. do you think the national guard, he will not change his policy? they're joining us now is our political analyst, larry gerston. we could talk about this for hours. there are so many fascinating layers here. i do want to start by saying two things can be equally true, right? many people protesting believe that this is israel. they're protesting against the innocent victims in gaza due to israel's attacks. there's other people also that are protesting in a violent way, crossing the line. absolutely in terms of the law, do you see it that way? yeah, that's part of it. look, we know that there are a number of people from off campus who come to these events, and it's always a mystery as to how many of them just want something to do and how many of them just want to take a role,

really taking over the students who were there. one university recently arrested 8600 people. half of them were people from off campus. so that adds a whole different layer to this thing, which, as you said, already has so many. you see some similarities. a few years ago, we saw the black lives matter protesters, where many of them, their heart was in the right spot, but others came in as bad actors. so you had some illegal activity. are there similarities there? what's happening here? you do? they were pretty overwhelming though. when i say they, i mean the folks who were protesting against black lives matter really had everybody's attention. the others were protesting what they were protesting, but there weren't a lot of them in this case, you've got really three groups. we've got the protesters who are concerned with with what's happening in in hamas in gaza. we've got those who feel the israelis are not being treated fairly because of october 7th, when it all started. and then you've got that third group, that third group is one that may cause trouble for everybody. and that's the non-students, the outsiders. that's right. and when they come over in mass, everything gets far more complicated and usually more violent. many jews are saying

they're being targeted, not just recently, but the past few years. on college campuses. muslims are saying the same thing. yeah. is that really happening? your former college professor is that happened on campus here? not just recently. don't take my word for it. a pew research study came out from from october 7th to just a couple of weeks ago. what did they ask? have you felt more pressure? more, discrimination over the last few months? look at the numbers there. 89% and muslims to 70. these two groups really feel that they're being hit upon in all kinds of terribly violent ways. just in the last six months now, we've had discrimination in this country forever. but it really pops up in this case for these groups, especially leadership wise and timing wise. the president could have spoken out about this days ago. instead, it was just today. why did he wait? or did he speak at the right time politically? now? i think he waited for a couple of reasons. i think he didn't want to confuse these protests. if you will, about divestiture and things like that, with what's

going on in hamas and gaza. that's a whole thing he's trying to he's trying to unravel right now. in fact, right now, as we speak, there's the latest proposal. they're considering, and it might actually provide a 60, a 60 day ceasefire, right. cease fire. so that's part of it. the other part of it is he wants to leave this to the states and the local government. it's their issue to deal with. so the more he speaks to this, the more it looks as if he's interfering. and that's the other part of it. one thing you said today in that news conference, that briefing, he said, this is not a political issue. this is about human lives. i see it differently. isn't this a political issue? isn't this what it's all about? this is both. it's about human lives. it's about the right to free speech. and it's also a political issue. absolutely. it's a political issue. and i think the president was just trying to pooh pooh that. but i think he's i don't see it that way. he's coming to town next week to portola valley for a fundraiser. some of our nbc sources have said that fundraiser in portola valley next friday. not not not this week, but next friday. they're having some people kind of on the sidelines here, not donating

as much money because they're upset with his stance with this whole situation. in terms of the palestinians, is that going to happen now? he's going to be paying a price here? i think so in the short term, i think some people are really upset with him and they want to see action now. and, you know, there are a lot of people involved in this process. and he's only one of them, believe it or not. so they're going to hold back. i think at the end of the day, this is not going to be as big an issue as some of the bigger issues out there. the economy, immigration, abortion. but for now, it's hot. it is hot. thank you larry, for your insight. we really appreciate it. let's move on. now. we want to show you this a different story here. a wild chase in the north bay last night a man stole an ambulance with an emt still in the back of the ambulance. it happened in santa rosa at the russian river pub on fourth street. paramedic was treating a patient when the guy jumped into the front seat of the ambulance and took off. they ended up using spike strips to get him. police say he was under the influence of an illegal substance. the emt in the back was not hurt. thankfully well, here are some

good news. promising signs in oakland a new opd data shows overall crime is down 33% compared to this time last year. that includes significant drops in violent crime, including homicides, assaults and rapes, burglaries down, you see 50. that's property crime, robberies are up, though, 11. some business leaders say the data does not reflect what they see. i have two little kids, and we've come down to oakland, downtown all the time and feel have felt relatively safe. but i think it's feeling better. i would say more and more the environment that we're operating in, doesn't feel like it's getting better. it feels like it's continuing to get worse. joining us now is district five council member noel gayo. council member. thanks for being with us. the numbers suggest to me progress, but how do you see it? where do you stand? here well, you know, let's be very clear. the most fundamental

responsibility of government is to provide for the safety of its people. crime statistics is one thing. catching bad guys is another. and but we must, you know, earn the respect and trust from the residents here in the city of oakland. and that seems to be the big challenge. we're not enforcing the laws that we have. we're allowing too many individuals to get away with the crime. and yes, and there's some people here in my, my neighborhood in east oakland that don't get involved in reporting the crime. and they're they're frustrated with the fact those that call 911 are called for service. they don't get a response. and but at the end of the day, here in the city of oakland, certain police policing has taken a negative, view, presentation. and, but for me, it's growing up here in east oakland, policing, it's more about than just crime statistics , catching bad guys, but also deal with dealing with, the

abandoned cars, all the illegal activity that's currently happening to our businesses, to our homes. i mean, i, you know, my car has been broken in several times, and i do hear from grandma and grandpa here on fruitvale, said, mister guy, i'm afraid to walk down fruitvale, due to the fact that, you know, two people jumped out of their car and hit me on the head and stole my purse. yeah and then so this we're still challenged when it comes to public safety. it's not just about statistics. yeah, you're right. the stats and leaders and politicians can say one thing, but the actual people on the streets might be telling a different story. is this a leadership issue? you say this dates back obviously a long time. is this a leadership issue from the mayor? is mayor tao the right person for this job? well, you know, we have a mayor form of government. certainly we need to take responsibility for the action and but not only are the police officers, responsible for the safety within our streets, it's every employee from the mayor down to the council, down

to every employee. we need to be part of public safety here in the city of oakland. and. but at the end of the day, you know it. everything ends with the mayor and the city administrator, because they have the right to hire and fire the council. all we can do is, approve the budget. and so it is. but all of us needs to be engaged. and certainly i grew up here in the city of oakland seeing crime for many years, but it will take a unified effort. and one of the challenges that oakland has today, look, i have the negotiated settlement agreement. i have the federal monitor that shows up every three, four months and tells me what i'm doing wrong. i created a police commission to oversee our police department, and the voters clearly demonstrated their support by 70% of the votes. and so but we need to strengthen, support those that are on the street providing police activity

or police services. sure, but the rest of us, as employees, also need to be part of that effort to make oakland a safe city, a clean city, and a city that our children can walk to school and walk back from school, home. and that's the challenge we have today. last question for you, councilmember. when does the police chief start the new one? do we have a start date here? yes, well, you know, we did approve, the council approved, the budget or the contract that was approved by the new police chief mitchell, as well as by the mayor and the administrator, and we approved it. and my understanding is he will be reporting to the city of oakland this coming this next week. okay. we look forward to that. a new start in oakland once again with the new chief council member, noel gallo. thanks for your time. we appreciate it. thank you. thank you. up next, a story that our investigative unit has been following for months. why a whistleblower sounding the alarm about issues within the health system in contra costa county. you're watchingbc bay area n

initiative that's supposed to transform medi-cal. but part of the program is accused of cutting corners in contra costa county. the new medi-cal benefit is called enhanced care management, or ecm. it's supposed to care for the whole patient, meaning it addresses both medical and social needs. but a whistleblower with contra

costa health is speaking exclusively to our investigative unit. the nurse says the county's program is ignoring medical requirements altogether. as a result, she says, vulnerable patients are slipping through the cracks. do you have first hand knowledge of patients being harmed or dying as a result of this? yes, yes they do. it's been heartbreaking. it's been really heartbreaking, because we are supposed to be, helping these patients. nbc's candice wynn is leading our investigation. some strong allegations here. what's the county's response? so i have reached out to the ceo as well as the chief medical officer of contra costa health. they repeatedly declined to sit down with me, but their communications officer, she spoke with me, and i asked her about concerns that these patients are getting harmed because housing specialists, social workers, for example, charge people without medical licenses just don't have the training to catch medical red

flags. i also asked her about concerns of patients passing away, dying because their illnesses were missed. it is an unfortunate thing that oftentimes these very complicated cases are far along in their disease process. does the state know that contra costa county is not providing clinical care through its ecm program? yes. because we're an integrated system. so we are providing care through our own system, just not this one specific team. that's this is this goes beyond a local story or a state story. this is a national story right here in our backyard. yeah. that's right. i mean, homelessness, mental illness, the people who receive this benefit are our most vulnerable. the people who go to the ers multiple times in a week, even this kind of program is supposed to serve the entire person, and it's costing taxpayers a lot of money. how did how did this come on your

radar? how did we find out about this story? so i first got a call from this whistleblower 13 months ago. so not this april. last april and the reason why we took so long on this is because we wanted to be patient with it, a lot of sensitive information. so i reviewed her internal emails, audits from the state, public records that we requested through public records act, documented complaints that we got independently from the state, not just from the whistleblower or other sources. and, raj, i, i made more calls than i can count and after i spoke with three separate sources familiar with the system who also corroborated these concerns at this program in contra costa county is, they are saying, ignoring the medical side of this program. that's when i went to the county as well as the state for answers. okay, this is very challenging. taking on a health care system like that. we will have more tonight at 11, i believe. correct. that's right. okay. we'll see you then. thank you. candice, let's take you outside now on this evening. it is beautiful. on this thursday, a live look at the bay bridge. some interesting plans you might

have to change on saturday th the rainwi it's time to get away and cache in, at cache creek casino resort, to rock and to roll. to go all out or... go all in. with four stars and rising stars, northern california's premier casino resort is the perfect place... ...to do as much -or as little- as you want. make your get away now and cache in at cache creek casino resort.

a plant in your garden. landy, where do we start? well, you want to start with tomatoes. these are sun loving, so plant them in full sun. plant them as deep as you can and water them every 4 or 5 days, and they'll start producing for you real soon. okay. tomato. right after that we got our sweet corn. plant it right at the root level. give it another 60 days. these will make beautiful ears of corn for you. okay? you can even do them on your porch. ooh, cucumbers. already starting to produce. if you plant this one in your garden, it'll be just a few days and you'll have your first cucumbers. they'll produce for you all summer long. water everywhere, full sun. water them every other day. okay? and eggplant. last but not least, full sun waterm every 3 or 4 days and they'll be beautiful in august. beautiful and they're all great ingredients for a good salad. thank you landy, make sure t

on to honor may the 4th. as in may, the force be with you. may the 4th. the skywalker marathon features all nine films. the event kicks off tomorrow night and ends saturday night, may the 4th. this is only one of ten theaters in america screening the complete skywalker saga. this is a big weekend for all the star wars fans out there.

yes, and it's actually. this is good, marathon viewing weather. correct? completely. so you start tomorrow, and then you're continuing on saturday when it's raining. exactly. so, yes. may the 4th be with you. i'd love to see all of those, still haven't, so that'd be a lot of fun, now, tomorrow, we still have high pressure here. it's going to keep us dry tomorrow. but once again, that rainfall on the way this weekend. let me get you more in that microclimate forecast right now. and for tomorrow morning, we will start it off mostly sunny. so that's nice on your friday morning temperatures here in the 50s. and as we roll through the day, we keep that sunshine and relatively warm temperatures here throughout our inland valleys. we're going to go up to some upper 70s, maybe a few 80s back towards brentwood, discovery bay and antioch. but concord will be at 78, 76, in san jose, 77, in napa. really gorgeous weather throughout the bay area, chillier at the coastline, though 50s and 60s. a little bit of a breeze, 15 to 25 rainfall that starts to arrive

by saturday morning. four, five and 6:00 over the north bay. first moves to the peninsula east bay by 8:00 in the morning. then it's down to the south bay, certainly by 11 a.m. and even at 11:00 in the morning, we're still into that rain up towards the north bay. now, this should clear out of here at least start to by saturday afternoon and into saturday evening. rain totals were locked in for a half inch across the bay area. some of the higher elevations could even get in on three quarters of an inch and look at the sierra snow. in just one day, we could get up to 21in in kingvale 12 south tahoe, 20 in kirkwood, so that may actually close some roads on saturday. big time winter conditions up there. back half of your weekend is dry here and we're down to 68. and then we warm it up next week. so that's right, 79 tomorrow, 59 on saturday. that's a big drop. may the 4th be with u je. you too sir. here's what's coming up in prime time tonight on nbc. it's law a ord beginning at

8:00, svu at nine and law and order organized crime at ten. and then of course, our 11:00 news, which is live and local. that's going to do it for us here at seven, for everyone here at nbc bay area, including our producer, lisa principe. thanks for joining us. we hope you enjoy your evening, and we hope to see you back at 11.

on medicare? have diabetes? when enjoying life's special moments are you left guessing which foods are right for you? with the freestyle libre 3 system you'll know your glucose and where it's headed no fingersticks needed. freestyle libre 3 manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c.

so you can focus on those special moments. covered by medicare for more people managing diabetes with insulin. talk to your provider or visit freestylelibre.us/medicare tonight on "access hollywood" -- >> breaking britney news. the latest on a late-night incident at the chateau marmont hotel. >> the one thing i could not protect her from was the monitor she was married to. >> a look at the nicole brown simpson story. are their children, sydney and justin finely sharing their truth?

i