i'm raj mathai. next on nbc bay area news tonight, more protests, more tension, and more arrests. the clashes continue on college campuses. are the students breaking the law? and when does protesting become illegal? we're getting answers. also, the chinese company that owns tiktok has to sell the app or be banned in the u.s. tiktok is fighting back.

plus, could you afford your own home if you bought it today? new data reveals how unaffordable our housing market has become. and quite a sight in san francisco. look at this. the planet of the apes on crissy field. we'll tell you about this hollywood moment. good evening. this is nbc bay area news tonight. i'm raj mathai. at what point will the cops arrest the protesters, and how many will they arrest? let's start with our breaking news on the usc campus. pro-palestinian protesters are now clashing with police. usc joined the nationwide protest just this morning. you can see some of the video that's happening down there. let's show you what's happening in los angeles. about two hours ago, police gave two ten-minute warnings for people to disperse. then officers did start to take protesters into custody. just about 30 minutes ago.

we've seen several small skirmishes between the protesters and the officers. protesters have told us our reporters down there that they're prepared to be arrested. we'll have more on this protest unfolding right at usc and the other protests across the country in a few minutes. let's get to some of the other headlines that we are watching. new developments and new promises of action after our reporting. a boss at the antioch unified school district accused of bullying his employees. tonight we're learning the district superintendent is launching two different investigations. the complaints are about this man, director of facilities, ken turnage. employees say turnage's bullying included putting a worker's desk on the roof, on the roof. he's managed to get away with it because employees say he is good friends with the school superintendent stephanie anello and her husband. turnage, anello and her husband have not responded to any of our

questions. a public message sent out by the district attorney today says superintendent anello has initiated two investigations, one into the overall situation and the other looking at specific concerns that we reported last week. it also says superintendent anello has voluntarily removed herself from the investigative proceedings. two school board members question if the investigations will really be independent, given that some of the complaints are against the superintendent herself. we've asked the district multiple times who is going to be conducting these investigations. we have yet to receive an answer. a special board meeting has been called for tomorrow night to discuss possible disciplinary action against the superintendent. our investigative reporter candice nguyen has been spearheading our coverage into the antioch unified school district. to see her exclusive reporting, we posted all her stories at nbcbayarea.com/investigations.

also tonight, a push to allow arizona doctors to perform abortion procedures her. today governor newsom and california lawmakers proposed a bold plan to counter a strict abortion ban in arizona. the governor appearing alongside first partner jennifer siebel newsom and members of the legislative women's caucus. if the legislation is passed, medical professionals from arizona and their patients could come here to california to perform procedures. right now arizona lawmakers are debating on whether to uphold that strict abortion ban that dates back to 1864. it bans the procedure with virtually no exceptions. >> we will be a safe haven so that arizonans do not have to carry an unplanned, unwanted, or health endangering pregnancy. we proudly take on this fight. we will not abandon our sisters

or their health care professionals in arizona or in any other state. >> this is part of a larger campaign by governor newsom to protect abortion rights. earlier this week, his campaign started running ads in alabama blasting a bill in that state that would make it a crime for women to travel to another state for an abortion. another headline that we are watching. a split-second decision that may have saved a life in oakland. a security guard spotted a fire, stopped to help, and ended up pulling a burning man out of a building. incredible here. it happened at 61st and martin luther king bay around 10:30 this morning. the security guard, heading to meet with one of our news crews, spotted a fire in an apartment building, and decided to stop to help. he found two men who had already escaped the flames trying to get back into the burning apartment to rescue another friend. the guard used a flashlight to direct the man to a window, then grabbed him. >> he was just screaming.

he was i cannot see, i can -- i don't know where to go. i cannot see. so all i see is from the inside. he was banging the wall. so my first instinct was to pull him out of the apartment. and when we went in the apartment, he was on flame, part of his body and his clothes. so i run to my car and pulled out a fire extinguisher. >> always prepared, juan did a great job. all three men were taken to the hospital. two are still in the hospital tonight, including one man in critical condition. fire investigators are trying to determine what sparked this blaze. let's get back to our top story tonight. a fierce debate about the israel-hamas war and the protests happening at college campuses around the country. these are live pictures now from the usc campus. tensions continue to grow. this is the scene at usc, where that pro-palestinian group is clashing with officers. they were ordered to leave the area two hours ago.

officers have started arresting the protesters. you can see officers actually surrounding this circle there of about 30 protesters. they were given multiple warnings to leave. but after about an hour and a half, officers did move in. this is a combined effort involving campus police, lapd, and metro police. you see some of the people there being taken away in handcuffs or in tie strings there. before the arrest started, we saw protesters actually throwing water and other objects at the officers. they've also moved on to the streets, the protesters have, blocking cars. here's a scuffle earlier in the day at usc after officers removed the tents that were set up by the protesters. tents are not allowed on the usc campus, which is a private university. more arrests on other college campuses. that includes 20 people at the university of austin, texas. excuse me, the university of texas in austin.

protesters have also been arrested at yale, nyu and columbia. today the speaker of the house, mike johnson, visited the columbia campus in new york city and called for the university's president to resign. >> we just can't allow this kind of hatred and antisemitism to flourish on our campuses, and it must be stopped in our tracks. our feeling is they have not acted to restore order on the campus. this is dangerous. this is not free expression. this is not first amendment. they are threatening, intimidating. >> one of the more peaceful protests is here at home at uc berkeley. for the third straight night, students and pro-palestinian supporters are camping out in the steps of sproul hall. they're demanding the university several all ties with israeli institutions and to divest financially from companies supporting israel. uc berkeley officials say they're committed to free speech, but have no plans to change their investment practices. joining us now is one of our legal analysts here at nbc, dean

johnson. dean, thanks for being with us. this is a fascinating case study about the political climate that we're in and the legal parameters of protesting. do you agree? >> oh, absolutely. first amendment issues are some of the most complex and subtle in constitutional law. and the issues of protests, violent protests, the parameters of legal protests are issues that have puzzled even the supreme court for decades. and this is essentially since the beginning of the republic. >> i'm going lean on your experience and your age here, if you don't mind, for some perspective. i wasn't around for the civil rights protest in the late '60s, but i've seen the footage of the clashes at berkeley and kent state. this a similar vibe what we're going through? >> oh, well, you might want to push on my age a little bit, and i'll age myself. i'm an alumnus of yale, columbia, and nyu. and i was in the middle of those

protests. some of the buildings that you see on television are buildings where i organized and participated in anti-vietnam war and civil rights protests. so, yeah, this is very, very similar. on the other hand, there are differences. the issues here are not as clear-cut. i don't agree with either side entirely, and they're much more -- and that makes things much more difficult. but the parameters are the same. if you break the law, you break the law. if free speech spills over into civil disobedience, then you can be arrested and you can suffer the penalties for your actions. >> in this day and age, though, if you do say hey, clear this area, disperse this crowd, and they don't, usually now the police tactics are just wait it out. it's different, though, in every jurisdiction, correct? >> well, you know, it's always been that case. and it's not only different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,

but different from protest to protest. the police have a lot of discretion here. breaking the law is breaking the law. but when you have hundreds or thousands of people who are there making a good faith protest over a legitimate political issue, law enforcement has a lot of discretion. the people who are in charge of the property, like the faculty and administration of the universities have a lot of discretion about when and where and how many people they're going arrest. and those are very much cost benefit decisions to be made depending on all the surrounding circumstances. >> who had the final say here? is it the university police department? is it uc berkeley police, usc police, nyu police? or does other people come in and start to legislate? >> it's a dialogue. obviously police want to hear the input of whoever is in charge of the property. but ultimately, and that is something we don't often

realize. law enforcement officers on the street, in the actual situation have a wide range of discretion as to how much force they use, who they're going to arrest, when they're going to arrest, and how tolerant they're going to be of people who are otherwise peacefully protesting legitimate political issues. >> we've seen just several months ago the protesters shutting down the bay bridge last november. they were off i think for five hours of community service. all these students, we believe they're studenting being arrested now across the country, is it going to be pretty light penalties for them, if any? >> generally, yes. and as i said before, you know, the prosecutors who take these people to court are human beings too. and they have political interest as well. and they also understand the constitution. and in any criminal case, you look at mitigating factors and aggravating factors. and where you've got a young

person who is otherwise a well-behaved student who is exercising his or her free speech rights, sometimes for the very first time, that's a very mitigated case. and it's just a natural output of the criminal justice system in mitigated cases to impose very light penalties. >> we have a rich history in this country, especially here in the bay area of protesting. dean johnson, appreciate your perspective with all this. have a good evening. >> my pleasure. you too, raj. let's move on now. the clock is ticking for tiktok. its china-based parent company bytedance now has nine months to sell off tiktok or be banned in the united states. that ban would impact a whole lot of people. there are 16 million tiktok users in california alone. the white house posting this video showing president biden signing the bill into law today. the potential ban is part of a larger $95 billion national security package. today tiktok's ceo is vowing to

fight back. >> it's obviously a disappointing moment, but it does not need to be a defining one. rest assured we aren't going anywhere. we are confident we'll keep fighting for your rights in the courts. the facts and the constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again. >> this is going to be interesting. the ceo posting that message on tiktok. he has also called for tiktok users to post stories about how a potential ban would impact their life that would be smart business for the ceo. if the ban goes through, it's going to have a big impact on people who use tiktok to make money. that's a lot of people. creators, as they're called, are using the app to network, to find jobs, and to reach out to potential customers. and many worry if tiktok goes away, it's going to take revenue, and the revenue stream with it. >> what's great about tiktok, you can put out your expertise and experience in a way that goes straight to consumer and whoever your target audience is.

>> let's bring in our business and tech reporter scott budman. is this really going to happen? because it seems like you just said, 16 million in california alone. so many more million around the country. >> right. >> are tiktok users. >> 170 million in the country. more than a billion dollars worldwide. this is a huge social media success story. and yet at the same time, it's the one thing, really, in this country that unites the left and the right is their fear of our data being in the hands of the chinese government. and that's why this social media company is under such scrutiny. >> it's funny, because for so many months, even a couple of years we talked about tiktok. oh, you have to be a teenager in to use it. there are plenty of people in their 40s, 50s, 60s on the app. >> that's why you have the users and those who are dancing and hanging out with friends. you also have people who are starting businesses, or even in their older ages networking on this site. it is very powerful for all sorts of reasons. you could say the same about instagram and twitter and even snapchat. this one gets more scrutiny

because it's owned by a chinese company. >> okay. so really kind of what's our road map here? we've got nine months. and they would have to sell off the u.s. app? >> right. so that u.s. users would know that their data is being taken a la instagram or facebook by an american company, not a chinese company. and there is also the worry that bytedance, being a chinese-owned company is pumping out misinformation from the chinese government to our young people. so that would also stop if tiktok was sold to an american company. however, does bytedance want to get rid of this golden goose? i don't think so. and i'm not talking about politics here. i'm talking about sheer dollars. so there is nine months as the clock starts right now, raj, for a deal to happen. i imagine it would be a massive deal, and i imagine that companies right now and venture capitalists and other investors are starting to get those deals together to see if they can come -- >> let's have fun. who might step in? who are names? >> microsoft?

>> probably microsoft. not google because they already have a big social media presence in youtube. meta could not be a part of this. apple could. i think instead of one company, maybe sort of a consortium of venture capitalists that want to get together there could be a start-up out there saying hey, if i get enough vc dollars, maybe we can be the next american tiktok. also, what can happen in nine months? somebody could take their place. this is the tech world. >> no, you can't take away tiktok. thank you, scott. good information there. up next at 7:00, two separate pushes to change how driverless taxis operate on our roads. it comes after our investigative unit exposed safety and ethical concerns with the technology. also, a strange sight in san francisco. you seeing that? people wearing planet of the apes costumes and riding horses. we'll explain. you're watching nbc bay area news tonight.

welcome back to nbc bay area news tonight. big changes could be coming to driverless cars. california lawmakers are pushing two bills that would change how those cars operate on our streets. this comes after a series of reports by our investigative unit. we raise safety concerns and ethical questions about the technology. senior investigative recorder bigad shaban is with us now. >> reporter: you might remember we told you about the pair of bills in february, which lawmakers pitched in part to close a bizarre loophole we

exposed that's continued to leave driverless cars in california immune from getting traffic tickets. now these proposed laws would change that. currently the traffic code in california says traffic tickets need to be issued to drivers. law enforcement has interpreted that to mean that in the case of autonomous vehicles running red lights or making illegal turns, since there is no driver, there is no ticket. assemblyman phil ting's legislation would make the car company liable and another takes a step further, giving california's more than 400 cities the power to write their own individual regulations relating to driveless cars. that can certainly include traffic citations. but the authority also gives local governments to power to dictate even more restrictions, like where and when the cars can operate. the autonomous vehicle industry association, which represents major av companies like cruise and waymo opposes both bills. >> when you have the potential

for hundreds of local jurisdictions to set up their own regulations, that creates a patchwork of rags and that creates an incredible amount of uncertainty. >> the bill's author, dave cortese says autonomous vehicles can't have it both ways. since driverless car companies have long argued their tech is superior to human drivers and can adapt to all sorts of scenarios, cortese doesn't understand why all of the sudden the prospect of having to program the cars to adhere to different rules in different cities would be too problematic. >> how are taxis and ride shares doing it with human drivers? and supposedly, this wealth of intellect that's built into the computer chip in the coding is not going to be able to do the same damn thing? thinking week both bills got enough support from lawmakers to pass through their transportation committees. the bills now move on to one more committee vote. if approved, they could each go to a full vote of lawmakers some time this summer. with the investigative unit, i'm

bigad shaban. >> bigad, thank you. let's move on now. how expensive is california? well, a significant chunk of current homeowners say they wouldn't be able to afford their homes if they had to buy them today at the current market rates. according to a national red fin survey, 38% say they either definitely can't afford it or probably couldn't afford it. in california, it's 40% of the people in that boat. another 20% of californians say they might not be able to afford their homes if they bought them today. the survey did reveal that 42% were confident they could afford their home again if they bought it today. in california, that number was a bit lower at 40%. overwhelmingly people saying that they can't probably buy their homes at today's market value. well, here is something catching our attention. do you see this? were you out at crissy field today? the planet of the apes in san francisco. it's part of a marketing campaign for the new kingdom of the planet of the apes movie, which comes out next month.

good marketing. a lot of people noticing this. san francisco wasn't the only stop the apes on the horses weer business. it's not a nine-to-five proposition. it's all day and into the night. it's all the things that keep this world turning. the go-tos that keep us going. the places we cheer. and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions and round the clock partnership from comcast business. see why comcast business powers more small businesses than anyone else. get started for $49.99 a month plus ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. don't wait- call today.

welcome back. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri with a quick look at your weather. as we head through tomorrow, we'll start it off with temperatures in the 50s and low clouds and fog. we'll see that cloud cover hang out through the afternoon with just a few sun breaks. and overall numbers staying in

the 60s here throughout most of the bay area. 67 in san jose. 67 in napa. 62 right here in san francisco. now, but the time we get to friday, a system is going to develop over the west. but it's only a few spotty chances of showers. i think the thing most of us will notice is the wind picking up tomorrow afternoon, 15 to about 30. and then for friday afternoon, we could get gusts, especially at the coastline up to about 50. we'll get into some calmer conditions this weekend with sunshine and warm it back up into the 70s from this weekend through next week. so some better weather on the way for sure. >> awesome. thank you, jeff. that's going to do it for us here at 7:00. for everyone h

tonight on "access hollywood" -- >> 41,701 emails, 300 hours of voicemail. >> don't you dare! >> i was going through a chaos and trauma back then. >> he stars in the drama based on his true-life, but are some fans a little too obsessed with