tests on our college campuses. a new group at uc berkeley taking over a vacant building on campus. but this group is that actually students were live at cal, also a doctor from san carlos stuck in gaza. we started to become really worried. we're talking to her family about what's being done to bring her home as well as other volunteers. plus, is crime in oakland really going down? we uncovered a gap in the data and

california is rebranding. the story behind visit california's new slogan called the ultimate playground. good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight, i'm raj mathai. we're going to get to california's new ad campaign in just a few minutes. but we want to start with that developing situation at uc berkeley. things are heating up. a group of protesters who are against the war in gaza have now taken over an abandoned, university owned building. our sky ranger is overhead. this is at the corner of channing and bowditch near people's park. let's go down to the ground angle. you can have a better perspective here. you can see the palestinian flags and graffiti referencing the war in gaza. at this so-called little mini encampment here. this all started this afternoon. the university is calling the people inside criminals. the university tells us this group is not the same student group that agreed

to pack up its encampment yesterday at sproul plaza. those students left campus. and it's worth noting cal uc berkeley did not agree to their demands to divest from israel. let's bring in nbc's terry mcsweeney, who joins us this evening in berkeley. terry, i believe you're you're somewhat close to people's park at that house that's now been taken over. what are you seeing around you? one block away from people's park. but i am told this has got absolutely nothing to do with people's park. even though this is the anniversary of the event at people's park back in 1969, this, i am told, has to do with the war in gaza. you can see the palestinian flags, the signs saying defend gaza, talking about intifada, talking about fighting the jewish state. these are the signs here at this building. this building is owned by the university of california, berkeley. and a spokesman tells me that he doesn't remember, last time it was used, it was

damaged in a fire, boarded up. nothing going on here. and the protesters moved in today. this used to be according to a sign in front of it, the institute for the study of societal issues. and i did talk to a person out here by the name of abu obeida, rather obeida, and he is a palestinian, he says from san francisco, went to galileo and mission high school is over there. and he is saying that this was taken over today. nothing to do with people's park has to do with the nakba, that the displacement of the palestinians as remembered by the palestinians, a displacement of palestinians, hundreds of thousands of them back in 1948. so that is why it happened today. and it happened at this building because it was undefended, obviously available, and they moved in. i would i've been told that there's about 100 people involved in this takeover , but in fact, i think it's less than that. maybe, maybe 50, maybe 60 something somewhere around there they are inside the building as well. it's considered dangerous. and a uc

berkeley spokesman, as you mentioned, says this is considered a crime scene by them. it's breaking and entering and vandalism and trespassing. but the berkeley, of course, is not going to be tipping its hand as to how it intends to deal with the situation out here. so that is the story. there are, by the way, some people from people's park, the protesters from people's park, who are a little upset with these protesters for not helping out them when they needed some help over at people's park. so there's kind of a bit of a division between the protesters over here. that's a situation here in live in berkeley. back to you. okay, terry. thank you. we'll keep you in place for the evening. see, hopefully things stay peaceful there. where you are near people's park, at that house that's been taken over. terry mcsweeney reporting right near the uc berkeley campus. also tonight, a huge police presence down at uc irvine. this is a live look now from our nbc chopper in southern california. orange county multiple agencies are breaking through or have already broken through a barricade on campus to clear out a building that protesters took over this afternoon. again, this

is a live look now at the uc irvine campus. just a short while ago, we saw police in a standoff with other protesters nearby, breaking apart those barricades and detaining some people. no word on how many arrests, if any. you see the police tactical teams going up that staircase there and one of the buildings at uc irvine, all in person classes at uc irvine have been canceled today and this evening, a different story in san francisco, students at san francisco state have agreed to start taking down their own encampment, but they're claiming partial victory, saying the university agreed to consider some of their demands. the school is not promising. the school, excuse me, is promising not to punish any students who leave by this afternoon. but the university hasn't agreed to divestment from israel. this is the first step. we will continue organizing and continue fighting through summer and onwards. this agreement indicates strong progress for disclosure,

divestment and defend in solidarity with other student movements and encampments. fighting for a free palestine. and now, let's go to the south bay at san jose state, a camp around the iconic tommie smith john carlos olympic statue. you see it there. protesters didn't want to speak with us on camera, but they did tell us that they will be rallying tonight. in fact, a rally has just now started a few minutes ago, focusing on the history of palestinian suffering in gaza. we do have a crew at san jose state as well. we'll have more on that situation and all these situations coming up on our 11:00 news. well, as the protests continue in america, it is life and death in gaza. tonight, there is hope, though, for 20 medical workers stuck in that region, right in gaza. among that group, ten americans, including a doctor from san carlos, doctor sheikholeslami is part of a medical team working at a two week rotation at a hospital near rafah. they were supposed to leave on monday,

just a couple of days ago. but last week, israeli forces took control of the border between gaza and egypt. that border is now closed. the state department and lawmakers, including peninsula congresswoman anna eshoo, are working to get them out maybe by this weekend as part of a convoy. but it's far from a done deal. we're tracking this matter closely and working to get the impacted american citizens out of gaza. so that is something that we're working on. we've been in touch with representatives for doctors and their families and are engaging directly with the government of israel to make that happen. so we're doing everything that we can. it is a tense situation. joining us now is ahmad sheikholeslami, the brother of doctor sheikholeslami ahmad. nice to have you on the program here. sorry to hear what she is going through. have you spoken with your sister and how is she doing? good evening, we've had some limited text and communication with her last night. she did speak to her daughter and had some text to

us, and we were encouraged that she's doing well and she's in good spirits. but she was really worried about the you know, they're really low on medical equipment and supplies. and that was her big worry was that, you know, she's there to help the people, but they're really having a challenges in that. and then the other big worry was this is going to be late. back to work. and she won't be able to get to her patients here in the bay area so, that was her concerns. while we're concerned for her safety and the safety of the doctors, she sounds like a special woman thinking about her patients here in the bay area. why does she initially want to go into that war zone? you said obviously, to help people, but that's a big risk. yeah, i think i mean, she has been witnessing what has been happening and that has really touched a core in her. she's about helping others and to see the level of, you know, the destruction and the loss of life. she felt like she

had to do something more. and i think we were watching earlier, you know, the students in their protest, that was her way of using her skill to help the people in palestine under these really difficult circumstances. and so i think that that has brought her some peace in herself and being able to do good for others. ahmad, where are we in terms of bringing her home? i believe your family has been in discussions with congresswoman anna eshoo, who represents where you are in the peninsula. what's the latest in those talks? yeah, she has been very helpful, both, myself and her daughter spoke to the center. she was on the phone for us for over 20 minutes, really reassuring us that she is doing everything that she can. and i think some of the statements from the state department show that. but we have to reopen the border, we have to stop the violence and we have to get both our health workers out and other doctors back in because, you know, the people of palestine

really need the services. and so , so, i know that there's a lot of families that are worried for their loved ones right now. yeah, including yours, keep us posted. we'll be in touch with you and wish you and your sister and your family the best. ahmad sheikholeslami speaking to us from the peninsula. thank you for your time tonight. thank you. thank you. also this evening, we investigate the oakland police department. are we getting accurate crime stats? opd says crimes like car break-ins are going down. so we dug deeper and found major gaps in oakland pd's data that goes back years. here's one example for you from a week in april. where's the snapshot? opd's public crime report for that specific week shows ten break-ins. when we looked into the department's raw data, we found the real number was much higher. you see that 58 break ins reported? oakland police declined to our on camera interview request. the department did tell us, though. while the weekly and monthly

stats may be wrong, they do add in the extra crimes over time and get it right by the end of the year. our own review suggests that is true. however, it makes the weekly and monthly crime numbers inaccurate and meaningless. so there's a lot of, missed opportunity when the data is not put together in a in an actionable or useful way for departments, but also for communities. joining us now is nbc investigative producer sean myers, who's crunching the numbers for us. sean let's just start with the basics here. if the numbers are accurate at the end of the year, why does it matter if they're not accurate weekly or monthly? it's the expert that we spoke to, talked about how messy this data can be. right. and the key is for it to be actionable, it needs to be usable by the tacticians on the ground. if they don't know what's going on, it's hard to react, on the forefront of that. instead, they're on their back foot trying to take in what's happening and then reacting to

that information. so if i can jump in here. so oakland pd often says they're data driven. so they're reacting to the data. perhaps weekly or monthly. but that data correct is not accurate until at the end of the year. that's correct. there's some sort of delay in the process here where things may take weeks or even months to get into that, reporting that we can see on the back end. and the raw data is coming in. right. so they file this report, it's sent out, they have a deadline, just like we do. and if it doesn't make it into that report in time, they're not going to actually add it to that week. they're just going to throw it into that yearly count of the crimes. how far does this go back? are we talking just a few months or does this go back to farther. so our reporting has found that this goes back years, to 2021 easily. and potentially even before the pandemic. so this is not a new thing. this is not one week that's off. this is a recurring issue that we found in the data. i guess the big question is what did oakland pd tell you? or what have they said

even publicly about why there's such a lag in getting the crime numbers updated? so they say that there is a reporting tool where online i can go and submit any crime that happens to me, and it'll hit that database and then show up in the crime reports. they point to me the user, they're lagging and not entering that information. and soon enough now our reporting is showing that what may be happening is they don't have the staff to handle that report. once it comes in, process it and then get it through the system onto that report. okay. good information. sean myers, thank you. our nbc investigative unit producer, appreciate it. up next, california is changing its slogan to the ultimate playground. we'll explain why. and there's a lot of hidden meaning in the new name, the golden state valkyrie's new logo and name. we're going to break it down forou. y

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make your get away now and cache in at cache creek casino resort. at uc irvine we showed you just a few minutes ago. multiple agencies breaking in to clear out a building that protesters took over a few hours ago. police have been in a standoff with some other protesters nearby. breaking down some barricades again. you're looking at a live picture now from our nbc chopper down in southern california on the campus of uc irvine. we know police have been interacting with some of these protesters. we don't know if they've made any arrests or they're simply just detaining

and clearing people. we also know that they escorted some people away. classes down at uc irvine were canceled. we'll continue to stay on this breaking news throughout the evening. and again, we told you that there's been a house takeover at uc berkeley. and there's also protesters currently at san francisco state and san jose state as well. so it's an active night of protests across california. well, speaking of california, we are rebranding for years. visit california, our state's tourism arm, has been using the slogan dream big, but now the campaign and the ads are changing. find your ultimate playground at visit california.com. you just heard it. california will be known as the ultimate playground. the ads feature some of our hot spots, our iconic spots, lombard street, our giant grove of sequoias, and the hollywood sign. so the question is why the new campaign? joining us now is dan gordon, the chair of the visit california board and the owner of gordon biersch brewing in san jose. dan, nice

to have you back on the program. you're well known across the state through your beer. are we in a slump because we know san francisco is struggling, but southern california apparently is doing really well, right? yeah, actually, the rest of the state has really rebounded, the numbers are up even from pre-pandemic levels, which is just incredible, it came in at $150 billion, which is a record, for 2023, much higher than, 2019 before the pandemic, which was also already a record sales. so the campaign is working okay. so this is our playground here, the ultimate playground. are you targeting specifically out of towners or are you also targeting maybe, you know, people here in the bay area to go down south or vice versa? it's literally everybody. what what, the marketing research showed is that people want to play and california represents an abundance of fun and taking advantage of what all the natural resources that we're

already famous for. but engaging with them in such a fun way, we had a researcher that came in and just talked about the power of play and how important it is for people to get out of their normal elements and go out and have fun and that is the most memorable aspect of tourism. yeah, well, travel is going out and having fun. you brew beer, so you're all about having fun. where are the where is this ad campaign? just here in california or other states or other parts of the world. where do we see it? yeah it's actually international. so california, visit california is really targeting anybody that's going to come to the country. so whether they're international tourists in europe, we found that the french and, brits, italians, canadians mexican tour is our mexico and canada are number one markets for bringing people into california for visiting. so yeah, we're targeting international then national players. you know, everyone from georgia wants to come walk fisherman's wharf and

then even the natives, because we californians love to have fun in our own state. yeah. and taking advantage of these fantastic elements that we don't always take take, we take for granted a lot of the fun that we can do at home. yeah, i haven't been to the staycation become. yeah, i was going to say it's getting over here. i haven't been to yosemite in more than a decade. i got to get back. so it's one of these things where we got to get around in our own state as well. while we have you, you're also working to bring people back out to downtown san jose or in san jose. what's happening tomorrow? well, tomorrow we have the, inaugural day of the gordon biersch night market, which is in conjunction with off the grid, doing our, our food, food trucks. and then we have san jose jazz partnering with us, too. so we kick that off. this is our first day tomorrow, and we'll be running it for the next 13 weeks. and it's something that's a big party in a lot of fun, and it's walkable if you live in san jose japantown, we're pretty close to, to light

rail, and it's just a fun day. that sounds great. downtown san jose tomorrow. and final question now you still drink a beer at night or is it kind of one a week now? i believe it's a recommended. is 2.3 beers a day or is that how many kids you're supposed to have? i don't know, one of the two. dan gordon with visit california. thanks for your time. we appreciate it. thanks, raj. let's move on now. there's a lot of meaning hidden in the logo for our new wnba franchise, the golden state valkyries. we have a detailed explanation. you ready for this? a lot of people are getting into this. first, there's the border of the logo that stylized v as in valkyrie. then there's the design inside the v, it's supposed to symbolize the bay bridge. since the team will be playing in san francisco yet practicing in oakland, connecting the two cities. the bridge also contains 13 lines, because the golden state valkyries will be the 13th wnba team in the league. this same bridge design also doubles as a sword and wings, both associated with the original valkyrie,

which is a woman warrior figure in the old norse mythology. by the way, the basketball team begins playing next season, next year at chase center. let's take you outside now. our live look in oakland. our meteorologist, next. stayna is going to join us

and then all of a sudden, bam!

we got memorial day the following week. that's a good point. so preps are underway. we're hoping the weather cooperates. depending on where you live, though, you're either going to be seeing this marine layer right now or you're going to get much better clearing inland. but we're at about 56 degrees, and we're certainly expecting to keep that fog into early morning tomorrow. so let's get right to your microclimate forecast. so i can help you plan out your commute. let's take a look at the current temperatures right now. we've still got some 70s out there, so it's been quite comfortable down through the south san jose you can see 72 degrees, danville 75. meanwhile, areas like oakland, we're at about 57 degrees now heading into tomorrow. here it is. you can see the time stamp late overnight. we're going to see the return of that marine layer in some areas. it never left. that's pretty typical for this time of year. but this green that you see here we do see some areas of drizzle that will be likely, especially around the coastline into the early morning. notice though, that fog does extend into concord, oakland and even down through stretches of gilroy. that could mean low visibility especially. you're going to be out and about really early in the morning. we'll get much better clearing inland. notice by about 4 or 5:00. we get

complete sunshine and daytime highs for tomorrow will be in the 70s and a couple of upper 80s as well. by friday though, things start to cool for inland areas and then we get some cooling heading into the weekend, but at least the temperatures will remain nice and not the temperatures stay the skies will remain dry with warmer temperatures and cooling ahead. as we know what you're trying to say, you're just thinking about the weekend already, right? thanks, mia. as we wrap up, mario lopez just getting started with access hollywood. well, our new york week rolls on tonight with a whole lot of relationship news kicking off with tom brady's major regret after sitting through that scorching netflix roast. then taylor's guy travis is talking a lot too, but it's all happy. stories from swifts eras tour in paris and this is a big development for taylor's buddy. selena is her guy. benny blanco, talking marriage. we're going to show you what benny is saying. one wedding that's definitely going down soon is corinne fox's, and she's sharing just how much it means to have dad jamie, who is, of course,

thankful to be bouncing back from his health crisis. and then we get wicked with the new trailer and major tears flowing from stars ariana grande and cynthia erivo, it's all just moments away on access hollywood. back to you, mario. thank you. we'll see you in a moment. and then coming up in prime time here on nbc, it's all about chicago. chicago med at eight, chicago fire at nine, and chicago pd at ten. and then of course, we're back at 11. our late news, which is live and local, that's going to do it for us here at seven, for everyone here at nbc bay area. thanks for jo

tonight on "access hollywood". >> i didn't like the way it affected my kids. i wouldn't do that again. >> relationship news is on fire with tom brady's scorching roast bringing a side dish of regret. >> it's hard to walk away from something that's not your pregnant girlfriend. >> maybe he didn't consider the backlash from his family, but i also think -- >> travis w