store parents are shocked after deputies arrest a north bay teacher accused of lewd acts with a minor. good afternoon, welcome to bay area news at 4:30. our jodi hernandez has been looking into that arrest. she'll be joining us live in

just a bit. here's some other stories we're tracking on this friday. a string of burglaries targeting a south bay bar. the owners are disheartened but they tell us they are determined for change. and the cold is sweeping in tonight. everything you need to know about the swift rain that is on its way. and a starter home in the bay raising eyebrows. we're taking a deeper look at what it takes to buy a home in silicon valley. but first let's begin with a teacher in american canyon who's been arrested and charged with multiple felonies relating to inappropriate behavior with a minor. our jodi hernandez has been following the story for us all day. jodi, what can you tell us at this point? >> reporter: well, 41-year-old brad rhule has been a trusted and well-liked teacher for the last 12 years. he's a p.e. teacher and a cross country coach at american canyon high school. now, on monday we were told that the school resource office oren

that campus got wind that rhule had been engaging in inappropriate behavior with a student. so the very next day that teacher was arrested right on campus. but on tuesday, he also posted bail. well, this morning he was rearrested and now faces even more charges. he faces 21 felony counts, including lewd acts on a child, illegal sexual intercourse, and possessing child pornography. now, according to the court documents that victim is just 15 years old and the alleged crimes have been taking place from july of last year all the way up to just a couple of weeks ago. >> jodi, i know you got a chance to speak with some parents and students, what are they telling you today? >> reporter: well, parents and students are absolutely out raged about what has taken place. again, this is a well-liked teacher. one 18-year-old student told me that he was friendly with everybody and says this caught

everybody off guard. she said that nobody expected him to be accused of manager like this. now, the school district does tell me that this also has been completely devastating for the entire district. they're doing their best to support students. they have counselors on campus. and they tell me if the allegations are true, rhule will be terminated, of course, and will never set foot on another campus in this district again. so we will continue to follow this and we'll have more details on our report at 6:00. >> all right, well, thank you for that preview, jodi. we'll see you at 6:00, thank you. in the meantime, on the peninsula, a man is facing accusations of messaging a child inappropriately. police arrested robert at his home yesterday. investigators accuse him of sending messages to a 12-year-old girl. they say he sent explicit images, tried to arrange a meeting, but that girl was actually an undercover detective. prosecutors have already charged

him but police believe that there may be other victims. they are still investigating. all right, let's go ahead and take a look at our weather now, because it is friday. a lot of people looking forward to the weekend. and you've been telling us all week we are expecting some changes. >> we are, and you can see it right behind us. look at this, audrey, you've got that system starting to develop. of course, when you look at the skies, you can see some clouds. those are just the first signs of what's to come, and right now, notice in san jose it's about 64 degrees and, yes, for the most part we're going to remain dry for the remainder of your friday. and i want to show you the current temperatures across the bay area. so san jose's at 64. oakland is at 61. san francisco's at 58. but check out the comparison of 24 hours ago. we've cooled by as much as 21 degrees in santa rosa, novato, 22. morgan hill is about 25 degrees cooler at this hour compared to yesterday. and that just gives you an insight into the cooldown that's on the way.

now let's talk this approaching system, because the instability that is going to move in does look like it caters to the overnight early morning hour but if you live in areas north of the golden gate bridge, you're going to be the first to see the rain. really far up through parts of chico and ukiah. and yes, there is also activity on the fresno/sierra stretch, expecting to see a wintry mix there. the breezy winds will kick up just a couple notches in through saturday afternoon. we're talking 20 to 5-mile-per-hour winds, gustier on some of those coastal mountain areas. timing right now, your hour by hour outlook, notice this is around 11:00. we see that storm system starting to lineup. eventually it's going to line up overnight with heavier pockets of rain. and there could be a chance of thunderstorm, primarily around the coastline and out to the coast. but we're not going to rule out that possibility for your saturday. expect to see some periods of cloud cover followed by some scattered activity into saturday

at around 12:00. and that's kind of what we're painting as far as the picture goes for the saturday forecast. on and off again shower, notice it kind of picks up into the evening around 5:00, 6:00, especially for the south bay and santa cruz mountains. and then the daytime temperatures for tomorrow are going to be even cooler. i took this to about 4:00 a.m. tomorrow. we're going to be in the 40s and 50s. if you notice by 3:00, we're only going topping out in those upper 50s. so we'll talk about not only timing, we'll also talk totals, and then what's going on with your sunday and extended zout look. join me again at 5:00, audrey in. >> thank you. and the rain will create problems for all of you who want to get to big sur this weekend. caltrans is going to pause its daily convoys on highway 1. you'll remember a little over a week ago a storm washed away part of the highway at rocky creek just north of bixby bridge. basically the only road to get in and out of that area. they've been conducting convoys to let essential workers and

locals out of the area safely. visitors have not been allowed through. the convoys are set to resume on sunday if the weather allows. and taking a live look in walnut creek, looks pretty good there with cold weather rolling in this evening. we, of course, have you covered. you can access our microclimate forecast at any time. download our free nbc bay area app where you can access our mobile doppler radar and get customized weather alerts sent straight to your phone. david depape is set to return to the courtroom in san francisco. a federal jury already convicted depape last november. you'll remember he was found guilty for attacking the husband of speaker nancy pelosi. but depape is still facing a state trial for the break-in and assault. hearing was held in san francisco today. his actual trial is scheduled to start next friday. a burglary in the south bay is sparking a gaming lounge to ask for change. thieves broke into the guildhouse in san jose last month, but owners say this is

the third break written in just four months and the eighth since the bar opened. our robert honda has been following this story for us. robert, three break-ins, can you tell us about the most recent one? >> reporter: yeah, the most recent one was the most sophisticated because some of the earlier break-ins were more typical. you know, people breaking through the window, things like that. the one that they posted online was from march 26th, and it was very interesting. they first of all used tools to be able to get into the -- through the back entrance. they were able to avoid alarms and sensors. and then they were able to break into the offer and they literally wheeled away the safe on a dolly. and they basically knew what they wanted to take, because owners say they absolutely ignored everything else. the cash registers, equipment, equipment, all the other stuff they could have taken and came base dloi take the safe. and as it turns out, we found out other neighboring businesses have also had this problem. but these owners had not talked

about all these burglars before. they just decided to post it online because they just got frustrated thinking that trying not to publicize it wasn't working. they were trying all these other security reinforcements, they weren't working, and so they decided to go public with it and hopefully get a response from maybe the city and police. >> that's what i was going to ask you next, robert, the mayor and police, have they responded at all? what are they say? >> reporter: yeah, it's interesting, actually, the interim police, paul george, as well as mayor matt mahan, they showed up here and they were here just about an hour ago and met with the owners. first of all, they took a tour to look at the point of entry to see if there was some advice they could give them in terms of how to structure their alarms and things like that to make the entrances less inviting to try to come through. and then they also promised to have more short-term and long-term solutions, such as

more police and patrol, bike patrols, and things like that as well as promising more staffing to follow up on these kind of crimes. and the chief actually said that he's going to talk to investigators and make sure that they follow up on some of the clues that they have picked up from these recent crimes to try and see if they can make those people accountable for what they did. >> okay. all right, robert, thank you so much for that preview. looking forward to your full report later on this evening. it was a milestone today for the sfpd. the department is celebrating 270 reform recommendations made by the u.s. department of justice. one of the mandates given chief bill scott when he was first hired back in 2017, those reforms were first recommended after a series of officer-involved shootings in 2016. among the reforms implemented, the department says officer-involved shootings have dropped by 50%, use of force fell by 65%, and at today's

event at city hall, the chief applauded his department for implementing the reforms even as a pandemic swept the country and criticism of police nationwide skyrocketed in the wake of the kill of george floyd. >> it would have been easy for us to say, we're too busy, can't do it. we did not. we doubled down. >> critics of the department say the reforms are a good start but stress that more needs to be done. spokesman for the public defenders office says that racial disparities with traffic stops, arrests, and use of force are still unacceptable. rescuers are keeping up the search for a missing 15-year-old in the north bay. so yesterday a pair of teens went missing while swimming in the russian river near forestville. rescuers did find one of them, brought them to a hospital, but they did suspend their search just before midnight. today several agencies were back out on the water looking for the other teen. the sonoma sheriff tells us that they have found a body but it is

too early to confirm whether it is the missing teen or not. several bay area cities are in trouble with the feds. the environmental protection agency is fining six east bay cities and two utility districts for allowing sewage to flow into the bay. the epa says oakland, alameda, albany, berkeley, east bay mudd, and a sewage service in el cerrito all failed to prevent sewage from overflowing and reaching the ocean. officials say it happened many times between 2021 and 2023. the majority of the fines went to oakland. as a result, the city has to pay more than $278,000 for 67 sewage releases. look at this, an expensive house in silicon valley is no surprise to buyers, yes, but this tiny home and its price may actually shock you. we're going to take a look at what this could mean for the

future of the starter home idea. and a few bay area high schoolers got a major surprise today. the scholarships that will help set up these student's futures. but before we head to break, what trending story would you like to see later on in this newscast? you still have a little bit more time to vote for one of these stories right here. golden bachelor couple divorcing, harry and meghan to launch new show, or zoo celebrates world's oldest

welcome back, buying a starter home anywhere is a big step, and of course, it can be difficult. you probably know this. here in the bay area difficult is becoming an understatement. scott budman took a look at a small home in silicon valley today with a stunning price tag. we were talking about it during the break. so tell us about this. >> here's the thing, this is the

least expensive home in cupertino. you think, wow, $1.7 million. here's the stunning thing, this is 384 square feet. >> oh wow. >> that's it. that's the whole thing right there. you're looking at it. we'll show you the inside, also taken in one shot. it is 384 square feet. on the market for $1.7 million. admittedly, there you go, there's some land that goes with it, and this is going to be a teardown, but it's on the market. and it has been around for, gosh, 80 years this was built in the 1940s. originally as a small hunting sort of house. and it survived all this time on a cul-de-sac on the corner lot on the cupertino/los altos border so. super, super prime real estate here in silicon valley, and it went for over asking price. i'm told it got multiple overbids for a tiny, tiny house. it just tells you -- you'd think, really small house, $1.7 million, which is still

admittedly -- that's the whole thing right there, straight through, kitchen, no appliances to speak of. no heat. >> oof. >> a little bit of a bathroom wedged in between. all that staged. it really was a sparse little house, and it, you know, went on the market for $1.7 million. the idea of a starter home doesn't really exist in silicon valley, because even to afford what is traditionally called the starter home in the bay area you have to make something like $300,000. and that's san francisco or san jose. north or south. and that really puts, you know, most of us out of the idea of even owning a starter home here. you see why so many people have to rent until they get a lot of money. >> it's very discouraging, scott. >> i apologize. it is discouraging to roll through and see this house about as big from me to you right now and it goes for $1.7 million. >> they're really buying the

land, like you said. that's really what it's all about. >> exactly. >> thank you for that quick tour of the less than 400-square foot home. appreciate that. thank you. all right, double whammy for biotech workers in south san francisco. the san francisco chronicle reports that two companies are now preparing to lay off workers. both companies say it's all part of a plan to close their offices there. a french company will be laying off about 100 people. those cuts will happen from june to september when it plans to halt u.s. operations. the other company will be cutting 436 workers from its hq and those layoffs are expected to start on june 5th. today marks the annual day of no silence. it's billed as a chance for lgbtq youth to speak out against discrimination in school. the day of action was started in the '90s by two college students and has now expanded to thousands of students across the nation. as part of the day, students go

through classes without speaking, culminating in silent rallies that are meant to highlight ways your schools and communities can become more inclusive. and now lawmakers are taking notice. today california representatives were among those who introduced legislation on capitol hill supporting the day. >> it is critical that those in power take tangible steps to ensure that all people have access to a good education. we have to stop the scapegoating. >> among other things, the resolution demands equal education opportunities for all students. meanwhile, amazon is helping move some high school seniors forward with college scholarships. students unboxed the scholarships at the amazon innovation lab in sunnyvale today. seven students were given $40,000 to pursue s.t.e.m. degrees at the clj of their choice. it's part of a company program called amazon future engineers

to make tech and engineering education more accessible to students in underserved communities. >> i'm so grateful for the opportunity, because this is going to facilitate like going to college and i won't have to worry about the cost. and the internship will be great as well to get, like, the experience to enter the, like, tech and engineering field. >> the students will also have the chance to take paid internships with the company. starting tomorrow, you'll need a reservation to drive through yosemite national park, at least on some days. for now through june you'll only need a reservation on saturdays, sundays, and holidays, but starting in july you are going to need a reservation every day. new spots will open up each morning, we're told, at 8:00 online. the park says be ready to act quickly. this month is autism awareness month, a time when many local teachers are asking people to focus on acceptance

and accommodation. here's marcus washington with more. >> reporter: for autism awareness month, some advocates are focussing on accommodation instead of change. they're laying out ways schools and employers can create an accepting space for students and workers. for example, some people on the spectrum need loud noise input, others are adverse to noise. some like to follow a routine and structure, suggesting agendas in advance can help, and some others are uncomfortable with eye contact, putting a priority on verbal responses and body language. one south bay special education teacher telling us that there are many ways to understand someone with autism by taking what's called the more neurodivergent approach. >> individuals with autism exhibit, such as, you know, different kinds of movement and trying to make different kinds of noises. instead of telling them to be quiet or stop doing that, these are behaviors that they can't control, so sort of think of trying to hold your sneeze or hold your cough in a public

setting. it's something that's really hard. >> she says two groups provide helpful resources, including awe schism speaks and the autism society of america. for stories like this join us for today in the bay. we start at 5:00 a.m. on air. you can watch us on nbc bay area news whenever you want. we're on 24/7 on roku and other streaming platforms. i'm marcus washington, back to you. >> marcus, thank you. still to come, the top trending story as voted by you on my instagram poll. also, taylor swift fans are known for their deadcation, but near the south bay, the swifties are especially powerful. the reason one local city has the reason one local city has be deemed the most die henar ( ♪♪ )

you made a cow! actually it's a piggy bank. my inspiration to start saving. how about a more solid way to save? i'm listening. well, bmo helps get your savings habit into shape with a cash reward, every month you save. both: cash reward? and there's a cash bonus when you open a new checking account to get you started. wow. anything you can't do? ( ♪♪ ) mugs. ♪ bmo ♪

here it is, top trending story as voted by you on my instagram poll. it is a special day at the zoo in germany. the oldest gorilla in the world turned 67.

this is fatu. she arrived at the berlin zoo when she was just 2 years old back in 1959. as you can see, she just enjoyed her birthday surprise with a basket full of her favorite fruits and greens. fatu is the oldest animal at the berlin zoo, and zookeepers believe she is the oldest gorilla in the world. she's a matriarch in a growing family of gorillas. fatu is a great-great-great-grandmother to more than 20 gorillas. as always, i'll be posting links to the other stories you voted for on my instagram. cesar chavez parade and festival kicks off in san francisco this weekend, and you are looking at the parade route. starts at dolores park on 19th street, ending at 24th and mission street and is set to begin at 11:00 tomorrow morning. festival will take place just down the block from where the parade ends and will include live music, vendors, and other activities. the events come just a couple weeks after cesar chavez day. and it's a big win for the

city of santa clara when it comes to all things taylor swift. probably remember when swift came to santa clara last summer, city changed its name to swif tee clara. hype didn't end there. researchers decided to figure out which american city has the biggest fan base, calculated tiktok posts, google searches, and the number of people who attend the tour. it turns out santa clara landed the highest score. when it comes to concert turnout alone, santa clara's eras tour shows saw more swifties than the city's entire population. a lot of people. all right, thank you so much for joining us at 4:30. jess is working on the 5:00 newscast next. we're back in two minutes.

right now at 5:00, the muslim community showing support for a san francisco mosque vandalized. what they're calling for as the

suspect appears in court. plus, consulate chaos. why people can't get appointments at the mexican consulate in the south bay, and why the consul says it's costing them time and money. is there a fix? and after days of warm weather, major changes are on the way. when rain's going to return to the bay area and how long it is going to stick around. good evening, welcome to the news at 5:00, i'm jessica aguirre. so was the vandalism fuelled by hate? that is debate tonight over the damage done to a mosque in san francisco. muslim community leaders gathered today to show support for that mosque as the man accused of targeting the place of worship faced a judge for the first time. here's nbc bay area's christie smith. >> reporter: 35-year-old robert gray appeared in a san francisco courtroom, accused of defacing a local mosque. we were not allowed to show his face. he was charged with felony vandalism with a hate crime for

allegedly using a skateboard to break windows at the mosque this month. outside the courtroom, the deputy public defender raised questions about the charges. >> there was no ethnic or religious an mouse and i think at this point -- not i think, at this point we don't believe that there's any indication that there's a hate climb at all. >> reporter: gray entered a not guilty plea and assistant district attorney brooke jenkins said in part, our houses of worship are sacred spaces, and targeting them in any way will not be tolerated in san francisco. my office will make it clear that there is zero tolerance for those who commit any crimes targeting our religious spaces. >> and some hate crimes have happened where we had windows broken. we've had basically our property vandalized, windows broken inside and outside, as well as writings on wall and essentially on our sidewalk. >> reporter: earlier today outside the mosque, interfaith leaders, police, andoc