thursday evening, maybe friday morning. i want to buy apple cheaper. [closing bell rings] liz: you got it. sarge, great to have you own. thank you so much. it's green on the screen with the dow up 357 points and a risk-on day. melissa: getting americans back to work. stocks climbing today as more states move to reopen their economies. i'm melissa francis. connell: i'm connell mcshane. welcome to "after the bell." terrific day for stocks. averages closing up more than 1% across the board. 1 1/2% for the dow, back above 24,000. president trump set to meet with industry executives in the retail industry. that is happening any minute from the white house. then he will address the nation in about an hour talking about new testing guidelines. we will bring all the headlines throughout the hour but we begin with fox business team coverage of our top stories.

blake burman as usual following latest from the administration. we'll get lauren simonetti on the markets as well. edward lawrence reporting on small business from washington. but blake, we start with you. reporter: hi, there, connell, after initially canceling the 5:00 coronavirus task force briefing earlier today as the white house did, they put back on the schedule a news conference with president of the united states in the rose garden next hour to unveil the new testing guide lines that the white house says will be in place come may and june. the white house says that they will be giving all 50 governors everything they need to test at least 2% of that state's population. the guidelines call, for example, the acceleration of the research and development of diagnostic tests, the development of rapid response programs, the federal government acting as supplier of last resort for the states, implementation of what they say would be a vast monitoring system. along with antibody tests to help assess number of people in a community who have been previously infected by the

virus, especially within critical groups like first-responders, essential workers, health care providers and vulnerable populations. we'll hear more about that next hour. separately today i'm told by white house officials that the president's economic team is working through potential options to put before the president to determine what the next relief package might look like. one of the president's top economists saying earlier today, that will happen in the coming days. >> we expect to go to the president with options. that have responded to his guidance and would expect to begin to have something we can talk to people on the hill about sometime this week or next. we're moving very quickly because we think congress is as well. reporter: one of those options is potential additional funding for states all across the country, something that governors are pushing for. the president tweeted today though, that he doesn't want to see what would essentially amount to a bail out for quote,

unquote, poorly-run states. i'm told, connell, melissa, that the president is supportive of help and assistance for states but he would not back something that would be seen as a quote, unquote bailout as you see in the tweet there for past problems that have been in that state's budget. back to you. connell: all right. more to come from washington as we continue. blake, thank thank you. melissa. melissa: here to react dan henninger from the "wall street journal." he is also a fox news contributor. dan, it is starting to feel, hope springs eternal, starting to feel like things may open. instead of pushing the date off even more as happened to us in the past. instead you see various states and communities making actual preparations to reopen. am i being too optimistic? >> no, i don't think so. obviously states are beginning to reopen. they're getting impatient and

there are a lot of states out there that we flatten the curve or we were asked to so call flatten the curve to create capacity for the health care system and hospitals to deal with coronavirus cases and we did that and in a lot of states, once you get past say new york and new jersey, states do have additional hospital capacity now. so we did flatten the curve. as that curve begins to come down across the united states inevitably shopkeepers and businesses are going to want to reopen. people are going to want to come out of their locked down houses and apartments. i think almost like a rising ocean tide, it is inevitable that america across the country is going to be begin but persistently reopen. melissa: you know, dan, you make a really fantastic point, the idea of going inside it, wasn't that, by the time we went back out, that the disease would be gone and no one would get it,

streets would be clean and we would be ready to go. the idea we were at surge capacity at hospitals where there weren't going to be enough beds and enough ventilators to take care of the sick and the idea was, like you said, not to eradicate it, so make it there was capacity in the hospitals so when people do start trickling back out, if they happen to need to be hospitalized we have the capacity to do that. it is not this panacea, all of sudden we're all going to be better. on the funding front, as you listen to the different states, even here in new york, as they seem to be dragging their heels, the mayor of new york, more than dragging its heels, he stuck everything he has into the mud as deep as possibly can, i wonder, there is the tension between the money they're getting from washington and their willingness to reopen. in some places and especially in places where they're deeply in debt, whether that states, municipalities whatever it is, are they going to hold the residents hostage as they try to

demand more money from the federal government saying we won't reopen without more money? which some have said here and do you think that will be successful? >> no, i don't think any negotiating tactic like that is going to be successful with president trump. as blake burman just reported, i think the president has it exactly right. that if we're going to send money to states like new york, new jersey, and illinois, that have misgoverned their finances for decades, have enormous pension obligations, that any money being sent to them by the american taxpayers, make no mistake this, would be an income and revenue redistribution from all the other state has have governed themselves responsibly up to new york, new jersey, illinois and to some extent california, that is going to become inevitably a political battle inside of congress especially the senate and the house as their constituents resist the idea of bailing out blue state has have misgoverned

their fiscal budgets for 25 or 30 years. melissa: it does seem like there might be a little bit of room to negotiate in the sense that i saw the governor of south dakota on the air earlier this morning and she was saying she has been responsible but that the guidelines on the current money that's going out are still too strict. her state relies only on a sales tax. that obviously there has been no sales tax as people have been inside. she doesn't want additional money. she want as little loser rules on the current money, so she can replace lost sales tax as opposed to not accepting the funds of the way they're structured, she can't use them. what do you think of pleas like that? >> i think that makes complete sense and what the governor is suggesting, is that you know, this was emergency funding it. was done very quickly. the legislation was written quickly. and perhaps it is time as mitch mcconnell has suggested,

to hit the pause button and try to fix the legislation that they have already passed, rationalize it, make it possible for states like north dakota, missouri and rest of them to straighten out the way they should be receiving money from washington, most efficient way of doing it, rather than bogging down into a political battle over illinois pension obligations or new york or new jersey but you can bet that the democrats in the house are going to make that fight their line in the sand and, i don't know, with president trump he is absolutely right on this. i hope he holds the line. it is an election year. he does have an election prospect in november to think about but one may hope that he does resist bailing out the budgets of these irresponsibly-run states like new york and new jersey. melissa: dan, henninger, always brilliant and wise and calm. i appreciate it. thank you.

connell? connell: that is a good combination. let's get to lauren simonetti. she is all three of those as well i believe covering the market for us today. lauren? lauren: what a rally, right? wall street kicking off the final week of the month of april sharply higher near the highs of the session if you're looking up the dow up 358 points. basically at the highs if you're looking at nasdaq of 95 today. dow up four days in a row. that's a big deal. we have not seen a streak like that since february 6th? why? hope of easing state lockdowns will get the economy moving again. that overshadowed another huge drop in the price of oil, steep losses closing under $13 a barrel. i spoke to analysts over at jeffries, they told me if you look at on-land storage capacity. that is 80% full. what is left has already been leased out. so where do you put the oil? that's the problem. leading gains today in terms of equities, financials, investors

pulling out of bonds, piling back into stocks. also we got a preannouncement of deutsche bank. investors like they're setting aside less money for loan losses than u.s. banks. many places hit hard by coronavirus, casinos, retail, seen all the share prices come back. i want to point out bed bath beyond there, sales up 23%. the store said digital sales rose 85% in april. they convert ad quarter of closed retail stores for fulfillment centers for folks making online orders. they're doing that to adjust for coronavirus. we'll get a whole lot more corporate content tomorrow. starbucks, caterpillar, among latest stocks reporting their earnings later this week. a dozen dow components plus a third of the s&p 500 open their books. look, this is performance for the first three months of the year. it is only going to capture a glimpse of the havoc that has been caused by covid-19, guys.

connell: yep, very good point. lauren, thank you. melissa. melissa: the second round of applications for small business loans opening earlier today. edward lawrence is in washington with the details. edward. reporter: continues, the second round off to a great start if you're a bank that has 5000 applications or more to push through in bulk. the smaller, individual community banks and individual banks, really had a challenge trying to connect to the system. they complained they couldn't process their loans through. in fact, the consumer banking association put out this tweet showing that those smaller community banks could actually not get on the system for four hours. we're talking about this page that they saw for that amount of time. the senator marco rubio saying some of the glitches have to do with the small business administration pacing banks. the agency does not want bank to push through to take up all the money. this is how the senator put it on twitter.

>> there is going to be some challenges, guys. this thing is restarting. there are a lot of applications, a lot of built-up demand. they're doing best they can to pace applications to get as many businesses as possible and two, as many lenders as possible. reporter: he says no one lender is allowed to push through more than 10% of the funding. now the second round of the funding is open with new rules. companies have to clarify and certify that they need the money and cannot find it from any other source to try to eliminate larger publicly-traded companies from taking money from smaller businesses. at least 14 companies are giving back more than $175 million from the first round. the administration saying this time, the process will be more inclusive. >> the second round specifically earmarked, i think it was $60 billion for, communities, distressed communities. my expectation is that, you know, if we run out of money again because the thing is so

successful that everybody is getting loans then congress will come back in and they will put more money in that pool. reporter: but senator james lankford said today, maybe the program doesn't need anymore money. after the eight weeks, when it runs out, the economy will be open enough that the small businesses won't need to fund that program again. back to you. melissa: edward, thank you. connell? connell: all right. as we look at the state of play today, there are now more than three million confirmed cases of covid-19 worldwide. the caveat there, that number, we did pass three million today, could be far higher when you consider the possible undercut from china. more than a million are here in the united states. president trump is set to announce what he call as safe path forward and new testing guidelines. as blake earlier said there will be a briefing top of the next hour. 16 states getting set to ease

some stay at home restrictions at some point this week. we continue coverage of the pandemic this hour. reopening for business, local leaders outlining plans to restart their own economies including the state of texas. we're live in arlington where things stand. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief here's the thing about managing for your business.s when you've got public clouds, and private clouds, and hybrid clouds- things can get a bit cloudy for you.

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♪. melissa: more restrictions will be lifted across the country this week as states continue rolling out plans to reopen their economies. casey stegall is in arlington, texas, with the details. casey. reporter: hey, melissa, good to see you. yeah. there is a press conference with texas governor greg abbott down at austin, the state capital. he announced steps to get the economy reopen. he will allow his stay-at-home order statewide to expire april 30th. that means, may 1st, friday, when dine-in restaurants will open, same with retail shops, movie theaters, malls, libraries and museums. social distancing is still required. all must only run at 25% occupancy, or capacity. that is the caveat.

however, salons, barbers, gyms, bars, those will remain closed for now. the governor saying he would like to have those open by mid-may. as you know the timeline of this not sitting well with a lot of people. protesters continued marching across multiple cities in this state, critical of how long it is taking to get the economic engines revving again. over the weekend a dallas salon owner says she wasn't waiting around any longer. she opened her business anyway. she got hit with a citation. listen. >> everything is vague, they're all looking at each other, what do we do, this is unprecedented. if they want to lock doors, i will put chairs out here, my stylists can work on the patio, gladly. reporter: meantime over in louisiana, today, the majority of elective surgeries resumed there. a big deal, says governor john bel edwards, considering his state was once a coronavirus hot spot like new york and new jersey. infection levels have greatly

improved according to the health data. officials felt comfortable easing restrictions on certain procedures. as far as the next steps that will come with gradually reopening that state, we expect to hear more from the governor on that a little bit later this week. so, melissa, everyone is just doing this incrementally in phases and i think we'll see that play out the next couple months as people come back online. melissa: can't wait for it. casey stegall, thank you. connell? connell: all right as we talk about more states, melissa, rolling out these plans to reopen the economy, it actually turns out health is at the top of americans minds. at least a new poll conducted, 22% are most concerned about stopping the spread of the coronavirus. 19% said their top concern is creating a vaccine. that is 40 plus percent, the top two, right? the third most important element reopening the economy. that gets 11%.

i'm joined by man, who conducted poll, john mclaughlin. also a trump campaign pollster and last time around this time around. always good to see you. we always do stories about openings, what should we take about the figures i just read? >> this is monthly poll. we have a track record way before president trump was elected president. the poll called his election right. i will tell you i have never seen poll numbers like this and i've been polling over 35 years in america this is like asking the choice between war and depression. in the same poll, back in, two months ago, february we asked them is the economy getting better or worse, 52-39 they say better. are we in recession. only 19% said yes. now it is 65 or 56. it is getting worse, economy, 2/3, 65% say it is getting

worse. underneath health care concerns are immediate. not stay sick, stay well, to them and families, there is a real fear they have got to get moving again. that the economy has to get better. in the same poll, in the same poll, it is amazing too, the president has 48% job approval and they also support prescriptions to get the economy going again, like a payroll tax cut that would, 67-20% they support payroll tax cut through the end of the year. so, there is -- connell: interesting. you're saying basically a choice. in other words, you're saying, is it bad or is it terrible? so it is not like they're against reopening or maybe even afraid to reopen but the first thing they said, i want my family to be healthy and i want to reopen. kind of an either/or or not either/or, you're not choosing, you're saying both are important i guess? >> you got it right. it is a short-term thing and long-term thing. the short-term is immediate not to get sick.

and to reopen safely. that is what the president is trying to do. he has done a phenomenal job when you think of all things he has done where the predictions and forecasts were so dire. you know, he took a lot of flak when he did the travel ban, when they did do the guidelines and called the national emergency. he will help us roll out the economy, get them moving again and what jobs have been -- connell: let me ask you one thing about the president's numbers. i want to go back and forth, what kind of job, or that kind of thing but i want to ask you about the numbers. he has been criticized as you know, about his handling of the briefings. they canceled one, there is one back on, but what i think is interesting about your numbers, always the case with this president, no matter what happens, whether he is up or down, being criticized or not, doesn't seem like his approval numbers budge much. that will be really interesting to watch as we move past this going into the fall. when everything gone on isn't he

still right where he was on approval figures. >> last month 49, two-year high. this month 48. same number statistically. the thing is he has rock solid republican conservative base, nine out of 10 approve the job. slightly net positive among independents. democrats he has real opposition. think about it, he was elected where he beat republican establishment, beat the washington establishment. democrats have never forgiven him. tried to impeach him with phony russian collusion. he holds on. now you have a point where he is facing this enormous crisis. his base is still with him. if he is able to get his job approval over 50% like obama and george w. bush did, he will get reelected. so, we get -- connell: 50 is magic number. >> yes. connell: quick thought before you go on these briefings. they called them off. then it's back on. he said maybe i will cut back. i know you probably say it is unfair. we talked about this in the past

unfair media coverage, i get that, what about politically if you're advising, do more of these, you know what, mr. president, cut back, these don't help you that much? >> washington is having wonderful process argument whether it is good or bad. the fact of the matter in this poll, 56% of voters regularly watch. give him 63% job approval. the ones who don't regularly watch, it is upside down, negative, because they own hi get press reports. real objective with the reports, have something to say. so, today he is going to talk about texting. shouldn't let these become boring that people are not interested in. today he will have a message about testing and getting the country reopened safely. i think that is important. if you're giving important information to the voters, they appreciate that. if you don't have something to say, don't have it that day. skip a day. connell: right. that makes sense. >> it is a content of information. connell: if you have

announcement, right? makes a lot of sense, john. we'll check back to you on the numbers which are interesting especially on the virus. stay safe all the rest. interesting, john mclaughlin. melissa. melissa: first project of its kind here in the u.s. one california town is testing the enfire population for covid-19 and its antibodies. we'll talk to one of the doctors about the study. plus north korean state publishing a new report surrounding the health of kim jong-un. details later this hour. every s, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. as a doctor, i agree with cdc guidance. i recommend topical pain relievers first... like salonpas patch large. it's powerful, fda-approved to relieve moderate pain, yet non-addictive and gentle on the body. salonpas. it's good medicine.

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♪. connell: all right. back with a "fox business alert." we have new details coming in on funding for state and local governments. so let's go back to edward lawrence now in washington. what's the deal here, edward? reporter: yeah, the federal reserve just announced on the municipal liquidity facility that they have started, this is where the fed is going to lend to state and local governments to try to help them out. the federal reserve just

announced they're lowering, revising the rule, lowering amount of people that needed to be in a county or state for that county or state to get that funding. they set aside $500 billion to lend out to u.s. states, including the district of columbia. counties of 500,000 people or more and cities of 250,000 people or more. that is reduction of 75% in terms of the number of people for the city or county to qualify. that opens it up to a huge range of cities across the united states that need help. one other item on the payroll loan protection program, i can tell you there is a little quick update to that. 100,000 loans have been given today as of 4:00 p.m. also four thousand lenders have been involved in that. on background i have from a small business administration official telling me unprecedented demand is slowing their system and the response times. so currently they have double the amount of users accessing

the system, compared with any day during the initial round of the ppp. so clearly, the demand between round one and round two has increased as small businesses see that this is working and that has been slowing the system and the frustration that banks have been seeing. back to you, connell. connell: all right, edward, edward lawrence with the news from washington. melissa. melissa: making a bold move. the town of bolinas, california, is offering free coronavirus and antibody testing to all of its residents to better understand how the virus spreads. here is the scientist behind the study, university of san francisco school of medicine assistant professor. sir, thank you so much for joining us. first of all where did you get all those tests? >> well, first of all i want to point out i'm not the lead on the study. my colleagues in the infectious disease department are. i was fortunate to play a role being a community member and

physician at usf. we were able to access the tests because of the partnership with the academic medical center where they're producing their own kits and had capacity so we weren't taking kits away from the front line. we have the capacity to develop and analyze the results. that was very important to us, to find testing that wasn't taken from a needed, a needed population. melissa: where are you in the process and what do you hope to learn? >> well, this idea of doing a communitywide survey with both types of tests, so the pcr test to understand viral load or current infection and also an antibody test to assess who might have already been infected. both of those tests done at once across an entire community was a very unusual type of project to be done and we have just finished four days of drive-through testing and a final day of testing homebound citizens in our community. we're in the process right now of analyzing all of those

results. melissa: and you know what is it that you think you'll find? obviously you want to know how prevalent it was in your community but do you think that you're representative of a larger sample? are you around an area that was particularly exposed, either by any of the cruise ships or any of the early transmissions that came along? or was there reason this community was of particular interest? >> well, it was, it was partly because there was a willingness and -- [inaudible] felt need for communitywide testing as only safe way out of this epidemic. while we currently don't have vaccine or validated or evidence-based treatment. the only way to move through this understand how it is transmitted and stop the transmissions. that really comes back to the need of communitywide testing. we didn't see the government stepping up rapidly in a way to

built in the infrastructure or funding for the communitywide testing, so individuals in community, two individuals in particular felt like how can we make this happen? can we demonstrate this could be done? what meaning can we get out for individuals, community, the county but by also partnering with the university how can we feed into the knowledge base that can help stop the global pandemic t was a partnership of several different sectors that came together to make this happen and ultimately, hopefully there will be local meetings, there will be county meetings and statewide meetings but also the idea of what's a model? how can this be done? how can this be replicated across different communities? our community has particular high-risk. our median wage is over 60. we have social yo economic disadvantaged population, quite a few are homeless and minorities in the population. yes, we have a high-risk exposure.

uniquely we're rurally located, off a main highway. that gave an interesting population to test for the university. they're also doing a sister study studying a population in dense urban environment, what is called the mission district in san francisco. so looking at two different populations but trying to understand the presence of a virus currently at the infection level and also could people have been exposed and infected previously by doing antibody test as well. melissa: dr. sawyer, that is really fascinating. i hope you come back when you have your results and share what you learned. we appreciate your time. thank you. connell. connell: all right. we're looking at a lot of difficult states making progress in fighting the virus, even here in hard-hit new york. governor andrew cuomo outlining plans today for a potential reopening of the state. it would come in stages as the state expand antibody testing we were talking about. we're live outside where things

stand in new york. from washington we're waiting for an update to come out from the white house on new testing guidelines. so we'll bring you any breaking headlines from the president and other administration officials throughout the hour. so all of that is coming up. plus, melissa, you have something pretty cool for us. melissa: a very special birthday in our home this weekend. we celebrated my son grayson's 10th birthday yesterday, delivering gift bags. this was his idea, to the door stop of all his friends, before having a zoom party at home with pizza and cake. so much fun. happy birthday, grayson. i love you have.

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they're empty. volumes down 60% of both emergency rooms i worked in two different boroughs, and queens and brooklyn. i'm not working today. just doing interviews because they're cutting our shifts and some overtimes and while this is encouraging, this is the effect of social distancing this is emergency room. i can't speak what is going on hospital floors up stays. volumes are down. i had very few shift this is week. i have three later on this weekend. at most it, was every other day, if not every day for the first three weeks. so complete change. connell: so for people don't remember when you were on the first time, essentially a freelancer. that is one of the reasons we thought your perspective was so valuable because you were seeing so many different emergency rooms around the city and at the time you were seeing the same things in those emergencies rooms. it was hell on earth as you said. it was brutal. now here we are a month later that is fascinating, you're not

even getting that many calls. so, i guess, i mean everybody says, let's not get ahead of ourselves here what are you thinking about where we are in all of this? >> well, i have major trust issues after this pandemic. i don't know what to believe in anymore, whether this treatment, that treatment, testing, if testing is even good. i got my antibody test, apparently tested negative. you worked 23 shifts in the first 27 days. no way you could be negative. you were exposed. my grandfather, just passed from covid-19. he stepped out once for grocery shopping and he got it. and i've been in, without ppe for the first two weeks. i told him not to go to the hospital but he went. yeah, it i don't know what to believe in anymore. we're holding our breath. low volumes is encouraging gives time to breathe and deep breaths but maybe there will be another surge, i don't know. connell: really sorry to hear about your grandfather. that's horrible.

you say about the antibody tests, you were talking about it before, it is one of those things, many of us thinking about going back to work, hey, i want to get that test. i guess is not a silver bullet either. you know, some information, right? >> right. the results should be, the results are only as good as the tests. so if the test isn't great, it seems like if you get the pinprick antibodies it is not great. not a lot of blood. supposed to take it again. i got a whole vial of blood taken, it seemed to be more accurate. friends who got covid, tested positive, they couldn't smell, lost sense of tate, lived with a domestic partner, who tested positive, they have tested negative. we're kind of con if you had delled. they said to all the health care workers, take it in two weeks. everything in the pandemic is fly by fire. connell: dr. sun, thank you

again for coming on. i don't want to glaze again headline on interview, hey, night and day from a month ago. absolute disaster in new york city hospital emergency rooms. and now, all but empty at least in some of the hospitals that dr. sun has been dealing with. thank you, sir. we'll check back with you as we continue to cover this. melissa? melissa: no, that match what is we've been hearing from people on the ground. interesting to have it confirmed on the air. thank you. meanwhile kim jong-un's health in question. north korean state media offering proof that the leader is alive and well. we have details next. in just a few minutes, president trump is set to give an update on new testing guidance and how to safely reopen in the u.s. we'll bring you the president's remarks just as soon as they begin. which is why we're ready to listen. and ready to help you find opportunity.

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♪. melissa: kim jong-un thanking workers supposedly. north korean state media releasing a statement allegedly from the regime's leader, showing his appreciation on the development of a tourism zone. here now to discuss is rebecca heinrichs, national security analyst and hudson institute senior fellow. okay, so obviously the reason

why him thanking anyone would be much interest is because he hasn't been seen in public in a while and there has been a lot of speculation about what is going on with him and where he is. some of the reports have been that he had some sort of a heart incident and was grasping his chest. the next day he had surgery. another said that he was injured during a missile launch. another was that one of his body guards came down with the coronavirus. there is so much speculation. why is there speculation because we haven't seen him lately? >> speculation comes from rumors that the regime would allow to us believe. and so without actually seeing some video evidence of kim jong-un, we really don't know. the story that broke, that the news that there is a possibility that he might be ill or recovering from surgery or are from cnn and "tmz" which are not

reliable sources from this kind of information. we actually need to see video evidence. now the north koreans have been claiming that they have not had any cases of coronavirus of course in the middle of global pandemic which nobody is immune that is simply untrue. it could be the case that the dictator kim jong-un kim is hiding out in the midst of a pandemic sweeping through the hermit kingdom and they don't have any control of it, so he is scared of catching coronavirus. which for a guy a heavy smoker, heavy drinker and obese, obviously he has got some underlying conditions that would make him susceptible to becoming very ill or succumbing to the virus. melissa: he did miss celebration of his grandfather's birthday, which is a ritual, tradition, celebrate the founding of his power and the kingdom.

this is the first time that i know of that he hasn't been there. so much of his power is invested in the idea of are rituals, ceremonies, it is, take a lot, wouldn't it for him to not go to this? >> i think that's right. i think it would take a lot. it makes sense there is so much mystery and obviously desire to know what's going on but from the perspective of the united states government and our intelligence community, that is a very hard country to get a grasp on what is going on within the regime and the health and well-being of kim jong-un is of course a very top secret for the regime because there isn't a plan for succession. if somebody happens to kim jong-un, many people believe that the most likely person to succeed him is hisser sister, km yo young. he killed his half-brother. she is most likely person to

follow after him. this is reminder, president trump policy towards north korea, is largely dependent on his personal relationship with kim jong-un. that is on thin ice. even if kim jong-un does not survive, then there is still the regime, north korean regime that will live on after him. they are still in possession and growing a large missile force with nuclear weapons to put on top of them. melissa: no question. >> it is a very serious concerning situation for the united states. needs to be preparing for some kind of a plan if in fact there is instability in north korea because kim jong-un has succumbed. melissa: rebecca heinrichs, thank you so much. connell? connell: shifting gears, melissa. we'll talk a little bit of sports coming up. the sports world taking the first step to the road to recovery. some nba training facilities across the country reopening this week. we'll look as well as what other

leagues have planned. that is coming up for us. also there will be a white house briefing this evening from the president, on again, off again briefing is on. specifically it will be about new testing guidelines. we'll bring you there once it starts. we'll be right back. now more than ever, you need technology you can rely on. and people you can rely on. i'm a dell technologies advisor. me too. me too. me too. and if you're a small business, we're with you. we are with you. we're with you. we want to help. so we'll be right here. at home. answering your calls. providing support. and standing by you every step of the way. bye bye.

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guys! guys! safe drivers save 40%!!! safe drivers save 40%! safe drivers save 40%!!! that's safe drivers save 40%. it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. - he's right there. - it's him! safe drivers do save 40%. click or call for a quote today. connell: so the big sports leagues around the country are slowly taking steps to bring games back and get us all back into our everyday lives. i guess what's interesting about this, grady, one of the things, there are different areas. you might have a team in texas that has different rules than a team in new york -- >> reporter: yeah, so that's what the nba is grappling with. they're hoping to reopen training facilities in states and cities that are loosening those stay at home restrictions, but, you know, whether that'll happen, we'll have to wait and see. but their target date is may 8th. espn had previously reported it

would happen starting friday. the league making clear this time thing could get bushed back even -- pushed back even further, and players in states like georgia would be able to return for voluntary individual workouts, no more than four players at the facility at one time. group activities would still be prohibited, and we don't know when the league could resume games or what that would look like. clearly, there's an appetite for live sports. just look at the nfl draft, that's the closest thing we've had over the past few weeks. a record 15.6 million people a watching the first round last thursday, 55 million watching over the three days of the draft. and then on nascar, people who miss if ray racing, some say it could get rolling in the next few weeks. the more morning news in south carolina reporting it'll take place may 17th at darlington raceway, but with no fans. it's not confirmed on nascar's official schedule yet either.

connell? connell: all right, grady, covered it all for us on the sports beat. grady trimble in chicago. thanks so much for joining us, see you back here same time tomorrow. "lou dobbs tonight" starts right now. lou: good evening, everybody. the chinese communist party is intense ifying and broadening its global propaganda and disinformation campaign as china refuses still to acknowledge their role in unleashing the worst pandemic on the world in more than a century. china's president xi jinping refuses not only to admit that china engineered the virus, but he also refuses to apologize to the world for unleashing the virus on unsuspecting nations, nations he could have warned as the contagion has raged outside communist china now for almost