>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. >> you are watching getting answers on abc seven. everyday we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real-time shared should the age for participating in the foster care system be raised in california? a san jose lawmaker says at least by five years. we will ask him why. and other set back to california high-speed rail. cost increases and possible delays. we will talk with the regional director about when it is expected to be finished and the many obstacles in the way.

environmentalists are excited about the increase in alleging vehicle sales in california. will the extra demand for electricity crash our already fragile power grid? a ucsd expert in innovation and public. policy will be our guest. we are drying off this afternoon but could you see more showers tonight? how severe will be atmospheric river coming our way be later in this week? let's get the latest from spencer christian. >> the arrival of the storm will not be until the end of the week. we are still dealing with a light storm that has been with us through the weekend. you can see scattered showers around the bay area. some of the showers are producing a little heavy downpours in localized areas. we have some downpours over to the east toward hercules. we are looking at a scattered pattern where most of the area is not receiving rainfall. where it is raining it can be wet for periods of time.

let's give you a look at the storm impact scale. through tonight we expect more periods of scattered showers. possibly some hail, to 15,000 feet. any of our hills will see light snow and occasionally some cold breezes. we don't have powerful gusts right now. starting at 3:30 this afternoon we can expect to see and other surge of widespread concentrated rainfall. that is right in the heart of the evening commute. it can be a wet commute in many locations. about 10:00 tonight we will see another surge of showers moving on shore. just before midnight lots of snow developing in the higher elevations and into the 1500 to 2000 foot level. on we go. a little bit of clearing late tomorrow. i went to skip ahead and show you what is coming our way with this atmospheric river.

we have this long plume of moisture we call an atmospheric river taking aim at the central coast. the storm is going to be a two part storm. it is going to rank a level two on the abc 7 storm impact scale. a moderate storm but it is going to produce a lot of moisture because it is going to tap into the moisture in the atmospheric river. it will probably have a two day duration friday and saturday. here are some of the possible effects of the storm. we have increasing confidence there is going to be limited heavy rain. across the bay area it will be all rain and no snow because we will not have the cold air we have in the current storm. there could be localized flooding. be prepared for that possibility because there is a lot of moisture flowing on the river coming our direction. >> we are getting ready once again.

thank you so much. currently young adults term out of the foster care system at 21. our guest thinks it should be 26. joining us is senator dave cortez he. thanks for your time. >> thank you. i am happy to be here today. >> tell us about senate bill nine and details of what you are proposing. >> senate bill nine takes the current cap on transitional age foster youth which is 21 years old and adds another five years to it. it slickly stands for the proposition that -- it basically stands for the proposition that most of our foster youth manages population by county are unprepared especially in this high cost-of-living state we are in and some of the high cost of living areas we are in like

santa clara county, they are unprepared to launch fully without some additional support and we are seeing the symptoms of that throughout many other systems in a lot of tragic ways. >> talk more about what is supposed to happen during this transitional phase. a lot of people are not aware of its existence thinking you term out at age 18. >> once upon a time you did term out at 18. that was changed to age 21. what is supposed to happen is first of all, foster youth would be eligible for continued foster family support so that that young person would have what might seem like the same kind of support a nuclear family would

provide to one of their own children. what biological parents would provide to the extent that they can. that might just be a room. that might be a little bit of support with community college costs. it might be basic sustenance like dinner every day. those are the kinds of things that end very suddenly with our foster youth and currently that is 21. we have seen as a society, as a community lots of signs the age of emancipation for all young people is something that is going up chronologically. it is not going down. we will not see a trend where 16 to 17-year-olds are able to survive. we are seeing quite the opposite where so many of our youth 25 and under are homeless.

>> especially san jose. if our member correctly, but you have the highest number of and housed adults per capita in the u.s.? >> we do and that was a shocker to the city of san jose. the county as a whole is doing a little better. there are a total of 15 cities in our county but that is not something san jose as a city is proud of. it is not something any of us are proud of to help from that area. we often talk about some of the causes of homelessness. about 35 to 38% of the on housed in san jose and santa clara county have serious mental health or addiction issues. typically somebody under the age of 25 which comprises 25% homeless population under the age of 25, they are not

manifesting those symptoms. half of that population is under the age of 15. these are serious issues. if we want to stop young people into homelessness, if we went to get off the treadmill of homelessness -- it has been worse than a treadmill -- we need the problem at this generational point where we are graduating people essentially into homelessness. >> say this passes and they get to be in the system longer. they get housing, food, health care, educational support. how would this work? would it be up to the counties to opt in and if they opt in the state gives them money or how would that work? >> fortunately, the flow of support dollars and resources has very clean lines already. the state of california passes through dollars to each of the

58 counties each of which have social service departments. the department of social services in your county or my county would pass those benefits through to benefit those foster youth just as they always have. we are allowing them to opt in to do that up to the age of 26. >> with the state have the additional money? i know we are looking at a budget deficit. i don't know how many people would fall into that category between 21 and 26. how does the money look like, the cost? >> money is always scarce for new or expanded programs. this year is going to be especially hard because early indications of tax revenue which are slowly coming in all year are lower than what we have seen for two years which makes it tough but we are going to fight hard for what we are asking for here in the bill. that is the five-year extension. we will see what is negotiated along the way. we are going to ask for the

maximum benefit we can for these young people. >> state senator dave cortezy. please keep us posted on the progress of the bill. we appreciate your coming up next, california's high-speed rail is facing additional cost increases and possibly more delays. we will talk with the regional director w here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what? the three ps? what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fix b are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54 and was a smoker, but quit. what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65, retired, and take medications.

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and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. >> the dream of high-speed rail that would like san francisco to los angeles was conceived in 1996 and became more concrete in 2008 when voters approved an initial investment of $9 billion. since then the many delays and cost overruns have caused critics to view the project as a boondoggle.

the latest update acknowledges an even higher price tag and longer timeline for completion. joining us live to talk about it is the regional director for the real authority. thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> remind people of the vision of the high-speed rail. the route, the speed, the goal of it. >> sure. what the voters approved in 2008 and what we have been working on delivering ever since is a statewide high-speed rail system that starts to connect the many regions of our state together in a way they are not today with electric trains capable of speeds over 200 miles per hour and tying the state together making it easier to travel between our many cities and bringing something that is sustainable and fits with how californians want to get around getting out of cars and planes. > was it supposed to be as an add-on or replace flights? it supposed to be greener for the economy? is it supposed to connect jobs?

>> sure. how we see it is a train an airport, you are doing an origin or destination. with a train you can meet the different needs. tying the central valley with our coastal economy starts to change what it means to have fresno in our from san jose for example intel people can live in both of those places or where companies might locate. for the longer halls so between san francisco and los angeles that is one of the busiest short-haul air routes anywhere in the country. we are talking about starting to tackle bringing people onto a sustainable mode of transportation with electric trains. there are still lots of people who drive between the two cities. we are competing with people who might be driving to the destination or people who might be flying. >> all that sounds great. i think that is where a lot of

people enthusiastically voted for it in 2008 but since then, there has been a lot of delays and cost overruns. the 2023 update seems to show the overall price tag is up to $128 billion. do i have that right? that seems to be four times the initial estimate. >> that is the high end. as we have been very clear with the public, we are projecting our costs in ranges. we think the actual cost is closer to 100 but it could go as high as 128. what we are faced is similar to everybody else in the world in the last few years. there's been everything from the global pandemic, the supply chain disruptions and record inflation. we have been clear that in our business plan last year we would come back with updates to reflect those things that were happening and important changes we have made in terms of accommodating the system, addressing issues with

communities and adding mitigations. we have done this in our project update report. we are not immune from what the rest of the world has been facing. >> there is that. what about the timeline? when do you expect to have the whole project i guess that is san francisco to l.a. completed at this point? >> we plan to start service in the central valley the end of the decade. that is the goal here. >> that is the only part currently being constructed, right? >> sure. yes. we have 100 miles under construction. can see one of our structures behind me. that is the largest rail construction project anywhere in the country. that is our first building block and the first new rail line being built in the united states since the ford model t was the top-selling car the last time he built one of these. that is the part where we focused the current funding towards and what we have available to us. we will need additional funding to get to both san francisco and

los angeles because the system has never had all of its funding from day one. the voters approved at that point what was 1/5 of the cost of the system and told us to do it in building blocks so that is what we are doing. we have the construction in the central valley. we are helping to a letter for the caltrain corridor in the bay area. under the last year we have finished the environment a clearance to connect those two. will be finishing the last piece of the environmental work we need between san francisco and los angeles later this year. that is what starts to tee up for conversations with the federal governmen and get us to between san francisco andt los angeles. >> i wonder if you have any worries that because of the delays by the time it is operational it may be obsolete technology concerns for. >> i'm actually not worried about that question. high-speed rail has been around the world since the 1960's. japan was the first line that

opened. we are not bringing in 1960 technology. what we have been building is meant for the 21st century. there are not other modes or other ways of getting around that can compete with the kind of travel times and the convenience high-speed rail can offer. that is why we are the number four economy in the world. every other top economic power has invested in these kind of systems and uses them to tie their cities together. i'm very confident what we are building is the right technology for california and is of a different service class and level than the current rail services we have had in the state so far. are you concerned with the delays and some eroding public support that there will be money to be had from voters if that is where you need to go if you cannot fully count on federal funding or state funding? >> we are very concerned with every challenge the program has faced.

we have been transparent about what those have been and what we are doing to resolve them. in terms of public support i am very encouraged. when the proposition passed in 2008 it got 53% support. 47 percent were those numbers continue to improve. those folks want the system. in the bay area we have close to two thirds support. . in is what i see when i talked to communities. the main question i get is how quickly can you get here. when can the service start. so i think we have maintained and grown that support since the original proposition. we are confident about where the program stands. >> we certainly hope to see it. thank you so much. appreciate your time. >> thanks very much for having me on. >> just how prepared is california's power grid for an increase in electric vehicles? we will get answers from an

>> to drive around the bay area you have seen an influx of electric vehicles the posteriors. california officials expect 12 and half million ev's to be on state roads by 2025. that is 15 times more than what we have today. will california have the infrastructure to support that? joining us is david victor, professor of innovation and public policy at the school of global policy and strategy at ec san diego. thanks for your time. >> delighted to be with you. thanks. >> i have been looking forward to having this conversation. explain to our viewers why the year 2035 is an important mile marker. >> that is the gear when the california resource board expects all new vehicle sales, passenger cars to be electric, to be zero pollution. that means electric. we are right now at about 19% of vehicle sales last year were electric.

we are on track to be 35% by the year 2026. unless they adjust the targets. people are concerned the grid is going to need to keep up with the capacity to charge those vehicles. not just the cars but potentially vans like ups trucks and so on. the whole state trust to reduce its emissions. >> i have seen people express those concerns. officials say it will not be a problem even if we have 12.5 electric vehicles by then. you agree or we will have a problem unless we do a lot more? >> we have to start learning a lot more. the answer that question hinges on two things. will we make the grid bigger? there is a new proceeding from the public utilities commission to expand investment under the transmission system in solar and wind generators. we have to make the grid

the key variable is when are people going to charge their vehicles? if they charge them at night, that is when solar power is at its minimum. that is going to be a problem. if we can get people to charge their nickels in the middle of the day it is a totally different picture because that is when we expect to have a lot of extra solar power available. if that could be s by vehicle charging, -- >> or convincing all the employers to allow employees to work flexible shifts. that is another option. >> that is another option. i think ultimately we are going to need avenue -- need to have an industrial charging system. the extra cost of the charges can be spread over many different charging sessions as opposed to people individually charging one or two vehicles at their home. i think that is the direction we are going to go. a lot of places are experimenting.

the state has set these ambitious goals which has gotten everybody focused. and then we have to figure out can we meet the goals and if we cannot meet the goals how are we going to adjust them and so on. california has a history of setting ambitious pollution goals and figuring out what is possible and going from there. >> this is a state where we have seen rolling blackouts or brownouts. some are heat waves. that threat is always there. with global warming not going away. >> we are going to have these critical periods we had last summer and a couple summers earlier where we need to reduce demand on the grid overall. that is going to mean reducing demand from electric vehicles. it is going to require peo think about their vehicle in a way that is different from the gasoline economy which we are still in right now where you can show up anytime and get your car filled up. >> that calls for incentivizing,

right? to get people to start planning when they will start the charge. >> that is one of the great research questions or that is where my group at uc san diego does. we run experiments to see what kind of experiments work -- what kind of incentives were to sometimes you are going to have to change the pricing structure. to change. that is what we need to figure out is how are we going to get people to change. it may well be a we are going to need to have a set of chargers that is automatic. you show up at your workplace. you plug in the vehicle. the system figures out the optimal time during the day to charge. >> you had mentioned more wind and solar and expanding our grid as a whole. it sounds like there is a lot of work for the california energy commission in the next decade to do. >> california is interesting structure. we have the regulator of the public utilities commission.

we have the air resources board. california has an aggressive alice e in this 8 -- aggressive policy in this area. texas has a lot of renewables. it tends to be wind. we have enormous solar resources. most of these resources are going to be solar. our challenges are going to be different. wind dominates. >> certainly a lot to think about. hopefully we can meet that challenge. appreciate your insight. >> pleasure to be with you. thank you. >> everyday pressures can feel overwhelming

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>> you so much for joining us forgetting answers today. will be here every weekday at 3:00 answering questions with experts from a tonight, the chillig midair attack. a passenger accused of trying to stab a flight attendant multiple times. the united flight from los angeles to boston. the passenger trying to open an emergency exit door, then accused of attacking the flight attendant, trying to stab the attendant multiple times. passengers and crew tackling him, restraining him until they could land at boston's logan airport. also tonight, the other news from logan, two united planes clipping wings on the tarmac. and then news tonight on a southwest flight to florida. the bird strike. smoke filling the cabin. passengers then standing on the wings, escaping down emergency slides. gio benitez covers aviation for us. also tonight, the disturbing new video appearing to show four americans being kidnapped at gun