General suspends those controversial cutbacks until after the election and Congress Calls him to capitol hill demanding answers College Crisis notre dame, the latest university to suspend inperson classes just one week into the semester the spike in cases is very serious and we must take serious steps to address it. An entire Sorority House in oklahoma now quarantining. Just ahead what schools are trying to do to keep covid off campus state of emergency the National Guard mobilized in california with dozens of wildfires raging across the state. Evacuations underway overnight and a searing heat wave making everything worse all that plus just desserts. The Surprising New girl scout cookie thats already the toast of the town. Today, wednesday, august 19th, 2020 announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Morning, everybody welcome to today. Nice to have you with us couldnt you go for a french toast cookie got to wait though now to this news the university of notre dames decision to shift to online classes. Forced to make changes because of the surge in coronavirus cases. And this comes as the World Health Organization warns that young people are emerging as the main spreaders of covid19 well have the latest in just a few minutes. Its night three of the democratic convention. Well hear from joe bidens running mate Kamala Harris and barack obama and then well talk to dr. Jill biden. First Kristen Welker joins us with a look at night two of the its 8 00 on today. Coming up, its official. Thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart. Its 8 00 on today. Coming up, its official thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart. Convention hey, kristen, good morning reporter hey good morning to both of you. It was yet another unprecedented night here at the Democratic National convention. Joe biden officially becoming the democratic nominee for president after that remarkable roll call that you mentioned take a look at this. Delegates in 57 states and territories all casting their democrats formally nominate votes for joe biden. Joe biden as their candidate the night also brought speeches from all across the political the Vice President s wife jill talking to us earlier today. Joe is going to heal this country just like he healed our spectrum but perhaps the most poignant moment came from his closest confidant. An emotional and personal appeal family the three things you need to from his wife dr. Jill biden know this morning. Overnight former Vice President plus, deep dive. We see more trash bags than we see sharks and thats really concerning are sharks becoming functionally extinct how the predators are disappearing from reefs around the democratic president ial nomination joe biden officially securing the democratic president ial nomination following a roll call vote of delegates nationwide well, thank you very, very much the world and what humans can do from the bottom of my heart. To protect them. And 100 songs in ten minutes. Luke bryan takes us on a country tune challenge the focus turned to making the case for biden that dont impress me much did he impress us much or achy breaky our hearts the results are in his closest confidant, dr. Jill today, august 19th, 2020 shoutout to the today show. Biden, serving as a character witness for her husband. The heart of this nation with courage. Thats the soul of America Joe Biden is fieghting for now reporter speaking in personal terms, dr. Biden praised her husbands resilience im noah and im waking up with today to celebrate by after the deaths of his first 12th birthday. Wife and daughter in 1972 and hi. Were from maryland and i will be celebrating my 13th birthday on the today show. Shes a teenager eldest son beau five years ago there are times when i couldnt even imagine how he did it watch out how he put one foot in front of 13 we the other and kept goingng he ie right leader for a country in good morning you were up late last night how you feeling . Feel good. By the way, if youre sleeping in a little later these days and we know a lot of you are, you can still catch our first hour, by the way how crisis i know that if we entrust this nation to joe, he will do for your family what he did for dvr you can always set that dvr, come back and watch us later of course were always happy ours when our my today plaza crowd joins us reporter the former vice there they are from all over president briefly choking up after her remarks. Im jill bidens husband. As you heard tonight excuse me america. Were going to party with them in a bit. You can see why shes the love of my life, the rock of our by the way coming up for you tomorrow on today, we are taking a deep dive on masks. Family for all of you out there across theyre required in most schools the country, just think of your and most offices but with so many options, favorite educator who gave you theres cloth, disposal, bandannas, gaiters the confidence to believe in yourself thats the kind of first lady vicky nguyen will look into a lady, lady, lady this jill biden will be. Hack looking forward to that Kamala Harris will be in the spotlight tonight at the Democratic National convention reporter the night also highlighting his National Night three. He officially becams security record with bipartisan praise from colin powell who served as secretary of state under republican president george w. Bush and Democrat John kerry. Our troops cant get out of harms way by hiding in the white house bunker they need a president who will stand up for them and President Biden will reporter the most scathing criticism of President Trump coming from one of his predecessors former president bill clinton. If you want a president who watches tv and zaps people on social media, hes your man. A t collapses like a house of cards. Denying, distracting, and demeaning works great if youre trying to entertain or inflame but in a real crisis, it collapses like a house of cards. Reporter now, tonight will be historic as well when senator Kamala Harris becomes the first woman of color to accept her partys nomination for Vice President and we will hear from former president barack obama who is expected to argue that democracy itself is on the line. All right Kristen Welker, thank you so much joining us now fresh off that speech last night is dr. Jill biden. Good morning youre nice to get up early because i know it was a late night. Youve given yes good morning good morning good morning. But were in the same boat here. Youve given Many Convention speeches after all these years, but never like this. Never in an empty classroom. Do you feel you got your message across yes, i do feel i got my message across th good morning. But were in the same boat here. Youve given Many Convention speeches after all these years, but never like this. Never in an empty classroom. Our family. I wanted americans to see that hes strong and that hes resilient and hes ready to take on the job im sure youre following the news youve seen the postmaster general has decided to suspend those cutbacks that have left him open to a lot of criticism do you worry about the election, the fairness of the election, voting you know, i think that all americans really take their right to vote as sacred. And i think we have to do Everything Possible to ensure that every american has the right to vote. Whether its by mail or in person every american should have that right. Are you concerned by what youve seen with the recent activity at the post office . Well, i think that nancy pelosi is calling congress back. Lets talk about schools. As we well know, you are an educator you are a Community College professor yourself weve seen whats happened at notre dame just announcing they have to suspend inperson classes after a week we saw it at other schools so far. Do you think it was a mistake to have College Campuses open just given what we know about college kids, frankly . Well, you know, i think we have to listen to the experts and the doctors and the back mf so i think educators just cannot i know that im looking forward to going back myself so i think educators just cannot wait to get back into their classrooms but we have to do it safely. Tonight is, of course, Kamala Harris big moment you were definitely a part of that process, that selection process. Tell us about why she was chosen why did your husband choose her as his running mate . You know, during the campaign, we saw kamala as a strong, fierce woman and she stood up for what she believed joe wanted a strong woman on the ticket and there were lots of candidates that brought all different strengths to the ticket, but kamala i think is perfect. And weve loved getting to know her and doug her husband ive campaigned with him a lot, so i think its going to be a lot of fun campaigning together. Well, fierce is a word that could be described for you you are said to be fiercely loyal. We all know and remember that democratic debate back in june of last year Kamala Harris really took it to your husband in a pretty personal way on the issue of race and segregation was that a tough hurdle for you personally to overcome you know, it was a debate and we moved on from there weve come together and weve united we hope to unite the country so i think its really turned into something quite positive. Politics are tough. Your husband has been in politics since the 70s. You know it well you know how hard it can be. Got to have a thick skin the president s campaign this week released an ad really attacking your husbands few years. Is that a fair attack . Is that something that should be cognitive capabilities saying he lost a step or two in the last few years. Is that a fair attack . Is that something that should be debated as part of a campaign . No. Its ridiculous. Joes on the phone every single minute of the day talking to governors who are calling him and nancy pelosi, hes on om 9 e morning until 11 00 at night so, you know, thats ridiculous. Lets talk about the campaign i mean, polls have your husband ahead. A tightening race though do you worry about overconfidence on the part of democrats . Were not going to take any vote for granted joe and i are working as hard as we can every single day and were talking to thousands of americans on zoom whether its on the east coast or the west coast. Were traveling to several states, talking to thousands of people all different communities. So i think we have 80something days left. But whos counting, right thank you so much. Up late, up early. We really appreciate your time thank you. Thanks, savannah. All right and as mentioned, senator harris and former president obama are tonights featured speakers at the Democratic National convention we will have live coverage starts at 10 00 eastern, 7 00 pacific right here on nbc. Lets turn back to that new development at the post office craig joins us with more on that hey, hoda, savannah good morning to you. Savannah just mentioned the postmaster general announcing that he will be suspending all changes to mail service until after the election but concerns over mailin voting still remain Geoff Bennett joins us with more reporter good morning. After public outrage, postmaster general louis dejoy now says hes putting on hold some of his policy changes that have caused service slowdowns and raised fears that he was hindering the agencys ability to handle voting by mail his announcement coming the same day that President Trump continued to falsely claim that mailin voting leads to fraud. President trumps Weeklong Campaign tour in battleground states stopping in yuma. Encouraging voters to vote in person despite the pandemic. November 3rd is one of the biggest dates in your life, in many cases its the most important date of your life. Reporter ahead of his visit, President Trump again attacking universal mailin voting where some states proactively send mailin ballots to all registered voters. For the first time, the president floating the false notion that fraud will lead to an election doover which cannot happen universal is going to be a disaster the likes of which our country has never seen itll end up being a rigged election or they will never come out with an outcome. Theyll have to do it again. And nobody wants that. And i dont want that. Reporter President Trump oming the same day postmaster general louis dejoy announced the Postal Service is until after the november election to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail. The move following accusations the Trump Administration has been intentionally trying to undermine an expected surge in mailin voting Top Democrats quickly claiming credit they felt the heat. And thats what we were trying to do is to make it too hot for them to handle reporter dejoys cost cutting measures including the removal of sorting machines and the slashing of overtime have been blamed for Severe Service slowdowns and delivery delays. This Photo Provided to nbc news by a postal employee shows packages the employee says have been sitting at a Distribution Center in new york for nine days dejoy, a trump ally and republican megadonor, now says mail processes equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are. Its unclear if whats already been removed will be restored. He also says workers overtime hours will continue to be approved as needed now, dejoy says the Postal Service is ready to handle all the election mail it gets this fall we expect to hear more from him in person soon because dejoy agreed to testify at a pair of emergency congressional hearings one this friday and then a democratic controlled panel on monday all right Geoff Bennett from the white house, thank you California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency tuesday night due to those ongoing wildfires and the extreme heat wave across california evacuations underway this morning near the city of vacaville which is about an hour northeast of San Francisco flames just a road there and are now threatening dozens of homes usual summers. Take a look at this. A summer of extremes were talking the warmest summer to date or top five warmest in the area. More than 30 wildfires are burning out of control across the state of california. All right. Lets get our first check of the weather. For that we say good morning to al al, good morning the heat wave out there not making anything better from the west to the east were all looking at warmer than usual summers. Take were talking the warmest summer to date or top five warmest summers from reading to austin, tucson, and head into the northeast in parts of the midwest and new england. All the way from Cape Hatteras warmest summers or top five warmest summers to date. Out west, heat advisories, heat warnings for 45 Million People triple digit heat today. Sacramento, boise, albuquerque, l. A. To phoenix. Numerous record highs likely as we move into the latter part of the week, it is scorching from tucson to bakersfield down to yuma, were talking triple digits into the weekend. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds all we do is hand you the bag. Simple. Done. We adapt and we change. You know, you just figure it out. Weve just been finding a way to keep on pushing. Good morning. Ill meteorologist kari hall. A lot of smoke over the bay area blocking our view of the sun rise and smoke and wildfires continue across the bay area. Well also going to have some hot temperatures and excessive heat warning from the south county to east bay. Highs in the upper 90s in the north bay and our temperatures will come down just slightly but still a lot of fires around the bay area and we heat back up again early next week. Tropics are very active were going to take a look at that coming up in the next half hour wait. No shoulder sling . What happened . You said goodbye to it . No. Its my doctor told me i can start working out of it. But i still have to keep the arm kind of anchored on my side. So its theres plenty of side anchorage here. Mr. Roker, all right. You started it. I know. And we finished it. Coming up, notre dame switching to online classes to control the coronavirus. Have campuses become the new breeding ground . Well discuss it and to the front lines of the debate surrounding a controversial Drilling Plan in alaska the 11th hour push getting some surprising push to stop the project from moving forward. But first this is today on nbc. Floor and decor is now open for safe shopping and Curbside Pickup whether youre looking for tile, wood, stone or laminate, with our incredible selection and everyday low prices, youll find the perfect floor at the perfect price. Come explore in person or online. [upb i fell asleep tobut when i woke up. I put everything in perspective. boy hi, do you want to share my sandwich . vo good feeds our connections. Good feeds us all. Hormel Natural Choice lunch meats. Still ahead, the latest on the College Admissions<