One that means the most. Our exclusive with sarah palin, one of only two women to be tapped as the vp nominee joins us live. Deadliest day of summer. Nearly 1,500 reported lives lost to the coronavirus in the u. S. In the past 24 hours. This morning, the new warning about the next possible covid hot spots. This as President Trump is still pushing ahead for inperson learning but new jersey and new york city teachers are fighting back and those georgia schools now changing course after dozens of students and staff tested positive. Mask showdown in the sunshine state. Why one florida sheriff is prohibiting most of his deputies from Wearing Masks as cdc director Robert Redfield issues a stark new warning saying everyone in America Needs to wear a mask or this coming fall could be the worst weve ever had. Dental dangers. Dentists taking on the World Health Organization after that new warning against routine appointments during the pandemic. What you should do if you need to get your teeth cleaned. Every heartbeat belongs to you and our exclusive with singer amy grant. Oneonone with robin opening up for the first time after surprise open heart surgery. Her inspiring message this morning. And good morning, america. Great to be with you here with t. J. And whit johnson at the desk. Great to be with you. Weve got a lot to cover on senator Kamala Harris historymaking moment and amy has that exclusive interview with sarah palin coming up. We have to begin, though, with this outofcontrol wildfire in Southern California. Its now scorched more than 10,000 acres in a matter of hours. Homes have been destroyed and people have been forced to flee. Thats right, and will carr is in the fire zone this morning with the very latest on those dangerous conditions. Good morning, will. Reporter smoke has filled this area from that fire behind me. It is racing through brush and is so dry, fire crews are doing everything they can but theyre getting mother natures worst and of course this is coming during a pandemic. Oh, my gosh. Reporter overnight the lake fire exploded after a brush fire ignited north of los angeles. In a matter of hours more than 10,000 acres burned. The perfect mix of dangerous conditions creating this hellscape. Check out this fire whirl swirling through the smoke on lake hughes. Authorities have issued mandatory evacuations leaving some residents unsure of what theyll have left when they return. Primary objective is to protect lives and property. Reporter the brush fire sparked wednesday afternoon north of the Santa Clarita valley. Pushed by the whipping winds quickly engulfed both sides of the lake. Bone dry brush, low humidity and strong winds created this extreme fire behavior pushing these flame retardants dangerously close to homes in the area. Our initial reports were coming in pretty quickly. A few minutes later, update, 100 acres and grew within a couple of hours, about 6,000 acres. Right now were a little over 10,000 acres. Reporter that billowing gray plume seen as far as santa monica captured on this satellite image. Now with fire crews battling from both the ground and from the air, this fire showing no signs of letting up. Over 500 firefighters assigned and we have nine helicopters, six air tankers working the fire. Reporter fire crews have been working throughout the night trying to save all the homes in the communities behind me. Some have evacuated to a nearby shelter but because of the pandemic theyve been told they have to stay in their cars, this as were expecting triple degree temperatures in the coming days. T. J. . Want to turn to the official launch of the Biden Harris Campaign. The newly unveiled democratic ticket making their first appearance together as well as making history. Senator harris becoming the first woman of color nominated for Vice President by a major party. Sharing her extraordinary story but also going on the attack against President Trump and Vice President pence. Harris and biden saying, we are locked in a, quote, battle for the soul of the nation. Abcs mary bruce in washington with the latest. Good morning to you, mary. Reporter good morning, t. J. Well, this is a rollout unlike anything we have ever seen before. The historic biden harris ticket making its debut before socially distanced groups of press and staff. There was no massive rally, no big applause, but together they are trying to make it clear this is a True Partnership and that theyre ready to take on trump. This morning, Kamala Harris is officially on board. And on the attack. The case against donald trump and mike pence is open and shut. Reporter the former prosecutor laying out the stakes. This is what happens when we elect a guy who just isnt up for the job. Our country ends up in tatters. And so does our reputation around the world. Reporter at a socially distanced event in a Delaware High School gym joe biden introduced his historymaking pick saying her story is americas story. This morning, all across the nation little girls woke up, especially little black and brown girls, who saw often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities, but today, today just maybe theyre seeing themselves for the first time in a new way as the stuff of president and Vice President s. Reporter the campaign revealing the moment biden asked harris to join the ticket, the first black woman and first asianamerican to be tapped to be Vice President. Hi, hi, hi, sorry to keep you. Thats all right. You ready to go to work . Oh, my god. Im so ready to go to work. Reporter the former rivals eager to show theyre a Team Highlighting their personal family connection. Biden recalling harris friendship with his late son beau. Kamala, youve been an honorary biden for quite some time. I know how much beau respected kamala and her work and that mattered a lot to me to be honest with you as i made this decision. Let me just tell you about beau biden. I learned quickly that beau was the kind of guy who inspired people to be a better version of themselves. He really was the best of us. And when i would ask him where do you get that, where did this come from, he would always talk about his dad. Reporter biden is now standing up for harris defending her against the president s insults. Donald trump has already started his attacks calling kamala, quote, nasty, whining about how shes, quote, mean to his appointees. Its no surprise because whining is what donald trump does best, better than any president in american history. Is anyone surprised donald trump has a problem with a strong woman or strong women across the board . Reporter now this morning our new abc news ipsos poll shows Kamala Harris is both relatively well known and well liked. In fact, she is the only candidate on both tickets to have a net positive favorability rating, whit. Mary, thanks so much. President trump, of course, wasting no time firing back at senator harris again calling her nasty and saying he was surprised that joe biden ultimately picked her, but so far the Trump Campaign has struggled to figure out what line of attack might stick. Terry moran is in washington with more on the white house response. Terry, good morning. Reporter good morning, whit. We all know President Trumps political style is not so much to debate opponents as it is to troll them deploying playground insults and childish nicknames to paint a vivid picture in the public mind but in Kamala Harris hes got a complex and accomplished opponent that he cant really seem to pin down yet, but hes trying. In a scattershot approach to tearing down Kamala Harris, President Trump unleashed an array of insults highlighting her failed run for the top spot on the democratic ticket. I watched her poll numbers go boom, boom, boom, down to almost nothing and she left angry, she left mad. Reporter he also went back to his old playbook resorting to a familiar sexist jeer for his new competitor calling the senator nasty, trying to portray her as too far left for the country. She is a disaster. Shes going to be a disaster, i think, for their party. She started off strong. She is super liberal. I heard she is the most liberal person in all of congress. Reporter but so far republicans have struggled to land a punch firing off an inconsistent barrage of attacks branding harris as too soft on crime one moment i dont want someone who says that they are not going to be tough on hardened criminals. Reporter and as an overzealous prosecutor next. She fought to keep inmates locked up in overcrowded prisons. Reporter the kind of opponent everyone dreams of and eagerly awaiting the Vice President ial debate. I think hell do even better against her than he did against senator kaine which was a total wipeout. Reporter just weeks ago he had this to say. How do you rate Kamala Harris as a vp . I think she would be a fine choice, Kamala Harris, a fine choice. Reporter trump struggled to come up with a vision for his second term, instead hes continued attempts to play up racist fears that a biden presidency would sink the suburbs by expanding low income housing. Theyre going to be opening up areas of your neighborhood. Theyre going to, in my opinion, destroy suburbia. Reporter President Trump won the suburbs in 2016. He beat Hillary Clinton there by four points. This time around hes in trouble. A recent abc News Washington post poll shows him down by nine points there, which helps explain these over the top attacks about suburbia. Whit. Terry moran for us in washington, thanks so much. For more lets bring in abc news political contributor, yvette simpson, ceo of democracy for america, and abc news political analyst matthew dowd. Good morning to you both. Senator harris is breaking barriers making history as a Vice President ial running mate but in her own race for president , her campaign struggled to Gain Momentum and connect and she ultimately dropped out of the race before iowa. How much does that worry you for the democrats and do you believe that shes the right complement to joe biden who can unite the party . Good morning, whit. You know, she has some big moments, you remember that moment when they talked about she was saying, you know, america doesnt want a food fight. They want food on their tables. But she also struggled with her criminal justice history and really got, i think, you know, rocked when Tulsi Gabbard mentioned that in the middle of a debate. I think one of the positive things shell bring, she had this real great legion of a Diverse Group of folks called the k hive who are really excited about this and fired up social media and part of the reason they had a big fundraising day yesterday after the announcement. One of the things i love is that she brought warmth to the ticket. She was both warm and strong yesterday. So i actually think its a net positive for joe biden who really still struggles with energy. I think she is way more clear about the vision for the future. So i think its a really good balance, and i dont know that her performance in a very crowded field, as you remember was very crowded, is going to reflect negatively in this new role as Vice President ial candidate. Some of her strongest moments were actually taking on joe biden but, matt, i want to go to you and the republican response because President Trump called senator harris nasty as we heard before. His Campaign Launched a flurry of attacks labeling her radical. Other surrogates kind of all over the map. We heard some describe her as both too tough and too weak on crime. As theyre trying to see what sticks here, is that an effective strategy . Will it work . Well, whit, it is a strategy, but i dont think its effective in this moment. I think im actually surprised. They knew, the republicans knew that Kamala Harris was likely to be the Vice President ial nominee and they seemed unprepared to have a singular attack on her which in every other past Campaign People are ready for that but i think the bigger mistake theyre making is i think they should have actually done Something Different and been polite and respectful on the first 24 hours and welcome this pick, say welcome to the race. This is an historic pick but then concentrate their fire on joe biden. This race is fundamentally between joe biden and donald trump and thats where they should be concentrating their fire. The top of the ticket is ultimately what matters most. Matt, yvette, thank you so much. Good morning to you both once again. Coming up here in our next half hour the second woman to be tapped as vp nominee, sarah palin joins us with her advice for senator harris. Amy . Whit, we want to turn now to the very latest on the coronavirus emergency. In the past 24 hours the United States is reporting the nations highest number of deaths in a single day. Cdc director Robert Redfield issuing that spark new warning saying everyone in America Needs to wear a mask or this coming fall could be the worst weve ever had. This as new Research Highlights the emerging hot spots from restaurants to major cities like chicago. Alex perez has the latest. Reporter this morning, researchers used by the Covid Task Force predicting three of the next likely hot spots for the virus to hit chicago, boston and baltimore. Were just seeing significant transmission in all three of those cities. Its happening late in the summer, acknowledging that they only have weeks left before the nights get colder and the transmission dynamics may actually worsen. Reporter researchers from policy lab at Childrens Hospital of philadelphia say chicago has a high transmission rate and inadequate social distancing measures. Bostons transmission rate is growing and many are traveling for leisure according to cell phone data. Baltimore at risk because of its high density and poverty rates. And a large number of multigenerational households. I worry about a perfect storm. Reporter traveling icu nurse, trinity goodman, knows the challenge all too well working in new york when the pandemic first hit. I felt this almost like a deeper calling to go. Reporter and more recently the texas border where she says all her patients were under 40 and not one of them lived. We had no literally had no resources. Reporter and new data shows that many of the outbreaks we have seen this summer are linked to bars and restaurants, as many as 12 of cases in maryland and 9 of cases in colorado, so thats another area that experts say is a big concern, amy. And, alex, were hearing President Trump continuing his call for students to return to school, arguing online and Remote Learning isnt good for their development and this all comes despite growing opposition to inperson learning. Reporter yeah, amy, the opposition is growing in new jersey, hundreds of teachers say they will not return to work. In new york city teachers are pushing for a remote start and, remember in georgia the first day of classes where we saw that hallway packed with students, well, that school now dealing with at least 35 cases of coronavirus. Amy. All right. Alex perez in chicago for us, thank you. T. J. . All right, robach, are you ready for some College Football . Its not over yet, not entirely sidelined. The big 12, the football teams in that conference are gearing up to play football this fall. That conference includes big dog schools like texas, oklahoma and baylor, they are moving forward with the plan to play. The s. E. C. Acc also plan to play and the big 12, get this, the last couple of days we covered other conferences canceling fall football. The big 12 just released a revised football schedule. They are moving ahead. They put flexibility in there in case they have to postpone some games and announced enhanced covid19 testing protocols for the players, and, again, big ten, pac 12 announcing theyre postponing the fall season. These conferences moving forward. Well see. Raises questions about playoffs, crowning a National Champion with everything going on. Thank you for that. We are following a lot of other headlines including more on senator Kamala Harris family. How her husband doug and stepchildren are gearing up for the spotlight. Heres what joe biden had to say to doug. Doug, youre going to have to learn what it means to be a barrier breaker yourself in this job youre about to take on, americas first second gentleman. Someone who knows what its like to take center stage in a president ial campaign all too well, sarah palin joining us live for an exclusive interview. Also, the new mask showdown in the sunshine state. A florida sheriff is banning his deputies and visitors to his office from wearing face coverings. First lets say hey to ginger. Yes, more than ten inches of rain in one day in texarkana, arkansas. They had the emergency calls coming out. Weve got more flash flooding to talk about. It was the rainiest august day ever in texarkana. Manassas park outside of d. C. , roads collapsed. You had water rescues like you see right there. Those roads collapsing c