11 and planning to close some stores permanently. This as some Grocery Store workers and employees at other American Giants get set to lose the hero pay theyve been receiving for the passed two months. Start your engines. Nascar back in action this weekend and racing fans cant wait, even though they have to watch from home. But how will they keep the drivers and their crew members safe . The president of nascar will join us live. All of that, plus mission to space. The u. S. Space force making history this morning, launching a secretive plane into orbit for the first time ever. The mission and what it hopes to accomplish. Today saturday, may 15, 2020. From nbc news this is today with peter alexander, Kristen Welker and dylan dreyer. Welcome to today. Thank you for joining us on this saturday morning. It is the weekend, whatever that means anymore. We are glad to have our friend dylan back of course as well. The days are all blending together these days. This is only your second weekend back but we are putting you to work. Last weekend you were tracking the cold weather. This weekend it is a tropical system off the coast of florida. What can you tell us about it . I know. The Hurricane Season doesnt start until june 1st and here we are talking about what could be the first named storm. It would become arthur, which is possible in the next possibly 24 to 48 hours, 80 chance of that happening. We will break down the details and what it means for the southeastern parts of the u. S. In a bit. We look forward to that. Good to see you again. First though lets get to all of the breaking news we have overnight on the coronavirus. By the end of this weekend 48 states will have partially reopened in some form. Mass ch massachusetts and connecticut are the only states with strict stayathome orders in place statewide right now. Overnight, the house passed a 3 trillion aid for americans. Home, voting by proxy meaning members would not have to be on the floor to cast votes. Meantime, the number of coronavirus cases keeps rising. Nearly 1. 5 Million People infected with more than 88,000 deaths. Our correspondents are covering the story from across the country. Lets begin with nbcs gabe guterres in syracuse, new york, part of an area that was just allowed to start reopening on friday. Good morning to you. Reporter kristin, good morning. This part of upstate new york construction, manufacturing and some Retail Businesses with curb side pickup are back open, but across the country what was once seen as a tugofwar between the economy and Public Health is turning increasingly political. From arizona to okay objectiola wisconsin to virginia, this morning more states are back to business. It felt like normal. It felt like something we havent done literally in six weeks. Reporter the cdc director says the agencys models predict more than 100,000 covid19 deaths by june 1st. By the end of this weekend 48 states will have started to partially reopen, including parts of new york where a Construction Company in syracuse had laid off 22 employees. To get back to where we were before this happened, i see it being two years. Reporter in some states the political divide is growing wider. The Republicancontrolled Legislature in michigan is suing the democratic governor over her emergency order. While in pennsylvania i am not seeing democracy. I am seeing tyranny. Reporter some gop lawmakers are urging residents to defy the states shutdown. Nobody has the right to take freedom away from you. Reporter Harvard University researchers say only nine states met the testing levels needed to safely reopen and the rest have fallen short. What im worried about is that those states are playing with fire, that theyre going to they might have a big outbreak and in the worst Case Scenario may have to shut down again. Reporter still, it is clear summer is on the horizon. North carolinas outer banks are welcoming visitors this weekend and several northeastern states have announced they will reopen beaches on memorial weekend at half capacity. After nascar and golf run this weekend for the first time without spectators, nfl teams can begin reopening their facilities on tuesday if state and local governments allow it. Travel is also up in the air after complaints of packed flights on social media, a Major Airline is in preliminary discussions to get rid of social distancing efforts all together. Instead, worried passengers will be allowed to cancel or change flights without fees. A summer like none other. Eric hicks manages a Clothing Store near syracuse university. He is now open for online orders and curb side pickup. To turn the lights on after the past two months or however been, it is an feeling. Reporter and here in sifr u syracuse many have decided not to reopen. The mayor there says the area probably wont reopen until at least next month. Kristin. Very different story in new york city. Gabe gutierrez starting us off on a sunday morning, thank you. President trump is doubling down when it comes to a vaccine. The president saying he wants to see one by end of the year. Also saying america is back whether or not there is a vaccine. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is at the white house for us this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning, peter. The president s project has been given a name showing the focus on a quick timeline. Operation warp speed is supporting research on 14 potential vaccines and gearing up manufacturing even before final approval to speed up eventual distribution of some drug. As ambitious as that is, the president claims while a vaccine would be good it is not a necessity. In the stayathome era, President Trump getting a change of scene at camp david, while in the rose garden friday it is going to be a very hot one. Reporter the president exerting a force of will. And i want to make something clear, it is very important. Vaccine or no vaccine, were back. Reporter yet making promises for a new vaccine faster than the 12 to 18 months many scientists consider ambitious. We would love to see if we could do it prior to the end of the year. Reporter the president tapped a vaccine Industry Expert and military logistics general to lead this project. The doctor echoed the president s optimism. And these dates made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020. Reporter President Trump also countered medical experts like a masked dr. Fauci behind him by again saying covid19 could just vanish. It will go away at some point. It will go away. It may flare up and it may not flare up. Reporter dr. Fauci testified tuesday. Will this virus just disappear . As i have said publicly many times, that is just not going to happen. Reporter the Vice President expanded the Coronavirus Task force to include more medical experts and the secretaries of agriculture and labor. Working late friday on capitol hill some of the members say, lets take a pause. Lets take a pause . Do you think this virus is taking a pause . Reporter the democraticled house voted on a new 3 trillion relief package that is expected to stall in the senate. And while that passed in the house, that will really be a negotiating point for another effort at trying to get a relief package. In a historic move the house voted to allow remote voting for the first time in our history, breaking that tradition of lawmakers have to be physically present for votes and committee hearings. Peter. Kelly, another major headline overnight the president firing another government watchdog. What more can you tell us about that . Reporter well, he was required to give congress 30 days notice and he did so in a latenight letter. This is steven lentic who has been the inspector general, an obamaera holdover who the president lost confidence in. The president has the right to remove the individual, but democrats in congress are calling it outrageous. Some democratic aides saying he had begun looking at secretary pompeo and whether he used political appointees to do business for him and his wife. Also, he briefed lawmakers about ukraine and related documents from Rudy Giuliani back during the impeachment era. Peter, kristin. Kelly, thanks. Another sure sign america is trying to return to normal, nascar is back this weekend. Drivers, start your engines sounds good, doesnt it . It has been ten weeks since fans have heard that call to start a race. Tomorrow theyll hear it once again as nascars biggest stars compete at Darlington Raceway in south carolina. But while the drivers and their teams will be back at it, there will be no fans in the stands. Tomorrows race will be extra special with frontline workers being honored. Steve phelps is the president of nascar and joins us live this morning. Steve, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. I think we cant state this enough, whether you are a sports fan or not a sports fan, a lot of people are excited to hear this news. It is a sign that things are slowly getting back to normal. We know a lot of thought went into it though. So why now and is everyone comfortable with this move . Yes. Well, first of all thank you for having me, kristin. We are thrilled to be back. We have developed a plan over the last two months that was tailored for us and then we vetted it with local state and federal health officials. So it is a rocksolid plan. We are excited to be back. The drivers are excited to get back to doing what theyre doing. And what go ahead. I was going to say, steve, walk us through some of the precautions you have put in place here. Normally these team rosters are about 16 people, would be three times what it is going to be. It would normally be much larger. What are you guys doing to make sure everybody involved in this is safe . Yes, peter. If you think about a normal nascar race, we have, you know, between 2,000 and 2,500 people who would be part of putting a race on. That number will be down to about 900. Theres a footprint that is there. Only essential personnel will be allowed to be in the footprint. Im not essential personnel, i will not be in the footprint, so weve again, we have had a plan that is tailored to us. When you think about nascar racing, you think about the crews, the drivers, theyre already wearing protective equipment. They have helmets, head socks, fire suits, gloves. Theres a picture right there. Thats a you know, the ability for us to go back because of how we conduct our races makes us unique it is a really important point to point out, that protective gr t but what happens, steve, if someone does test positive . What plans do you have in place for that and could we see a delay in the season if that does, in fact, happen. Yes, kristen, we have looked at scenario planning for, you know, hundreds of Different Things happening including obviously someone showing symptoms of having the virus. So protocol is in place that would allow for us to have that person removed. I dont foresee any further shutdown for us. We had a tenweek hiatus. I dont see that happening. There are replacement crews. There are all kind of different scenario plannings we have done for ourselves, our ono fishw own officials, the race people. It takes a village to put on a nascar race but it will be a smaller village and one were excited to do. Darius rucker will be doing the National Anthem virtually. When do the fans get to get back . Im not sure. We want to make sure everyone is safe going back to racing itself, and it is a great sign for the country that a major sport is back. It will look much different. You know, it is the first time in our 72year history where we havent had a fan in the stands. When it is safe to have fans back, we will have fans back. Again, no timetable for that. Yes, Brad Keselowski wins the pole for this thing. We will be watching darlington tomorrow. Steve phelps, we appreciate your time this morning. Good luck. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it. Now to unwelcome news in the trying economic times. Many frontline Grocery Store and other big box employees will be losing the extra pay they had been receiving since the crisis began two months ago. Nbc Business Correspondent jo ling kent is outside one of the affected stores in los angeles with moreorr peter, good morning. Kroger which owns ralphs here will be rolling back the extra hazard pay for frontline workers starting this weekend. This has customers thinking twice about where theyre spending their money. Thousands of grocery workers are about to see their paychecks shrink and some are taking a stand. Dont take away our hero pay reporter starting sunday kroger is ending the extra 2 an hour for hero pay for essential worker. Amazon, walmart and target are following suit by end of the month. It makes me upset because were dealing with being in the pandemic still, the coronavirus is still here. Reporter bates has worked the checkout counter at kroger more than a decade. They just want us to work like normal business and it is not normal business yet. Reporter kroger issued this response saying, as the country moves towards reopening, we will continue to safeguard our Associates Health and wellbeing and recognize their work. Instead kroger will now offer a new bonus payment, up to 400. But frontline grocery workers continue to be exposed to the virus. The Largest Union representing grocery workers says at least 65 workers have died and nearly 10,000 have been ineffectfected exposed to covid19. Amanda barr was one of them. It was actually rough. I didnt have just the mild symptoms. Reporter barr has worked for king for 16 years. She tested positive during the height of the panic buying. How much of a difference does 2 make for you . Were not surgeons or doctors or anything but, you know, we are putting our lives at risks and putting our families at risk. Reporter that risk is not shop on this shopper who may take their business elsewhere. It is not fair because theyre risking their life working here. Jo, other nice we learned that jcpenney filed for ba bankruptcy. What does that mean . Reporter thats right, peter. Jcpenney is the biggest retailer so far to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy following j crew and neiman marcus. They have long been struggling ahead of coronavirus. It accelerated its fall. It has over 800 stores, 85,000 employees and some of the stores will close permanently. This comes as retail sales dropped by more than 16 last month, peter, and thats the most on record. Jo ling kent with the latest on that. Jcpenney a big name for a lot of people. Autopsy results are in for the Helicopter Crash that killed kobe bryant and eight others. According to the report the pilot flying the helicopter did not have drugs or alcohol in his system when it crashed. Bryant, his daughter gianna and seven others were on their way to a youth basketball tournament when the Helicopter Crashed outside los angeles in january. All nine victims died immediately from blunt force trauma. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. We want to turn now, get a check of the forecast with dylan who is following the tropical system off the coast of florida. Could soon be the first named storm. Good morning, dylan. Good morning, guys. Yes, the last thing we need to hear about is the potential for the first tropical system of the season. Right now we do still have some heavy rain. We have already seen about 3 inches of rain through fort lauderdale. Miami has seen more nan 2 inches of rain. The bahamas, about an inch and a half. You can see the rotation in the clouds there and the moisture being spun back to the east coast of florida. Theres an 80 chance of this becoming a named storm, and it is looking like it would be arthur if it does get named. That area in orange there, thats the development zone. The water is warm, conditions are favorable for development. So either way, whether or not this officially becomes a storm, a named storm, it is still going to produce dangerous rip currents up and down the coastline. So as beaches start to reopen and the temperatures continue to warm up, we are looking for that as a threat. The rough surf and the dangerous rip currents. Well also see some of the rain make its way on shore, but rain is not so much the bigger issue, again, it is just the threat at the beaches as we go into most of next week. That will continue up thr on this saturday morning, we are tracking our next chance of seeing rain. But today mostly dry conditions. Mild temperatures right now in through walnut creek, 58 degrees. We will see those cloudy skies. By the afternoon, our temperatures will remain in the 70s for most of the bay area. Partly cloudy. San jose 75. Oakland 70 degrees. Napa 75 and late rain chances moving in first to Sonoma County becoming more widespread by sunday. Back on until at least after labor day. Now at least one broadway blockbuster is being forced to close for good. Nbcs ron allen is in new yorks times square outside the where frozen had been performed. What can you tell us . Good morning. Reporter good morning, kristen. Frozen may be the first of many. It had a good run, nearly two years. But broadway has been hemorrhaging money, millions and millions every week since the shoulddown happen shutdown happened in midmarch and now broadway is struggling to figure out how to stage a comeback. Reporter with broadway dark until at least midsummer, settle in with the stars on stage from home. Im passed patiently waiting reporter the entire great way extending the longest intermission ever, the Spring Season scrapped in midmarch. It has been about two months since i was in this area. Reporter how does it feel on broadway . It feels lonely. Where are all of the people. Reporter thats tony award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell most recently seen appearing from his new york apartment window, urging the city on as he himself recovered from a bout with covid19. The unreachable Live Entertainment