of daytona beach and inland with the watches and warnings. some 20 million people affected by those tropical alerts. but there it is. 85-mile-per-hour max winds as of the 5:00 a.m.s advisory. 210 miles south-southeast of ♪ freeport grand bahama. late saturday into early on sunday just off the florida good morning. breaking overnight, target florida. coast bringing some heavy rain, high surf, and winds. as it approaches the southeast hurricane isais slams into the coast, this may be the first bahamas and now has the sunshine landfall for the system churns somewhere south carolina, north through thetlantic. carolina needs to be on alert, florida residents preparing for high winds, heavy rain and a and by tuesday morning weakening into a tropical system, but dangerous storm surge, and now a new fear. how to get people to safety still very capable of producing while dealing with coronavirus. high surf and heavy rainfall. in fact, as much as 2 to >> would you have to operate under the assumption that 4 inches in florida, isolated everyone you are evacuating has spots up to 6 inches, but that covid-19? goes all the way up to the >> we feel that's the only way we could operate. mid-atlantic, northeast and new >> we are live on the scene. england. very much a heavy rain threat well into the middle part of the hope and despair. week. kristen, peter, back to you.

dr. anthony fauci testifying on >> we will continue to check in capitol hill that a coronavirus with you about isais. vaccine could be months away. maria larosa, thank you. this hurricane is the last >> we feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by thing that florida residents the end of this year, and as we need right now as that state deals with a massive coronavirus go into 2021. >> but amid the good news, trouble as well. that $600 federal unemployment outbreak as well. psa benefit expiring at midnight sam brock is in miami beach this with congress and the president far from a deal. morning. >> reporter: good morning. the wind out here picking up a little bit, calmness on miami breaking news. beach ahead of isais. tiktok ban. but these conditions could look president trump announcing very different in just a few overnight he plans to stop the hours. state officials telling people social media app from operating to have up to seven days worth in the u.s. as early as today. of food and water supplies as the news coming at the same time they try to grapple with microsoft is said to be in talks balancing a hurricane response in the middle of a pandemic. to buy the chinese-owned app. overnight, the bahamas battered is there a connection between by isais, unleashing the two? those stories, plus, out at hurricane-force winds an on home? already devastated area and major league baseball's sending floodwaters surging commissioner warning the season is on the brink if the teams through parts of the caribbean, cutting power to hundreds of can't manage their coronavirus outbreaks. baseball fans everywhere hoping thousands in puerto rico. now the attention shifts to the boys of summer will keep on florida. >> signed an executive order to playing today, saturday, august declare a state of emergency in 1st, 2020.

every coastal county of florida's east coast. >> reporter: parts of the sunshine state under hurricane >> announcer: from nbc news this warning, chewing up a good chunk of the atlantic coast line with is "today" with peter alexander, the region still reeling from kristen welker, and dylan dreyer. covid-19. would you have to operate under the assumption that everyone you welcome to "today" and thank are evacuating has covid-19? you so much for joining us on >> we feel that's the only way this saturday morning. we could operate. great to see you, peter. as you know, there are many, >> dylan is enjoying some time many, many asymptomatic off this morning. baseball fans are concerned. baseball literally on the carriers. >> reporter: broward county's warning track right now. more covid cases and concerns emergency services director telling nbc news they don't plan among fans they won't be able to opening emergency shelter but salvage the season. will have to consider spacing >> the commissioner giving and social distancing for future baseball teams to monday to get storms. hospitals in south florida on top of this thing. boarding up windows as they we will have more on that coming up. we want to get to our top continue treating covid story, that hurricane setting patients. it's sights on the coronavirus. >> the covid is one fear surrounding us. the other one is an maria from wnbc in for dylan environmental fear. so we don't know what to expect. this morning. how is it looking? >> reporter: outdoor coronavirus what's the latest? testing sites are closed with >> well, isais is looking the the hurricane approaching at a part, a hurricane right now. time the state can ill afford to do so. how detrimental to shut down the 85-mile-per-hour maximum winds.

let's take a look at who is testing centers for a period of time? impacted in the short term,wain >> it hurts. we don't want to do it, but we have to. we have no choice. but here is probably a little bit of positive on this. they are projecting that we will catch up by the time we reopen. >> reporter: florida bracing, but from north carolina to new england potentially in its path. and in the united states this morning nearly 80 million americans are in the cone of concern from miami all the way up to maine. we know that states like virginia, north carolina and myrtle beach, south carolina, have declared states of emergency. in this state, governor ron desantis writing a letter to president trump last night, a pre-landfall request for emergency declaration anticipating the damage to come. peter and kristen. >> the east coast will be watching this. sam brock in miami. thanks. president trump is back at the white house this morning after a quick stop in florida on friday for a rally and a fundraiser and to talk with

florida's governor about the impending hurricane. his visit came on the same day that dr. anthony fauci testified on capitol hill about the progress being made on a coronavirus vaccine. nba's kelly o'donnell is at the white house. >> reporter: president trump used his cheerleader mode to tell floridians they are ready for the coming hurricane and touted some aspects of the response to the coronavirus. that optimism stands in contrast to the president being sour on the prospects for a secure election. florida under threat. >> i have complete confidence in the strength and resilience of this incredible state. >> reporter: president trump visited tampa as the state hit a new covid case record and braces for a hurricane. >> we've done everything we can do and now we are just waiting for the storm. >> reporter: back in washington, hopeful signs about progress towards a vaccine. >> we feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we

go into 2021. >> reporter: but dr. fauci also faced a heavy dose of politics as ohio republican jim jordan pressed him over health risks of protests. >> i just want an answer to the question. do the protests increase the spread of the virus? >> i don't have any scientific evidence, anything i could tell you. crowds are known, particularly when you don't have a mask, to increase the acquisition and transmission. >> reporter: president trump applauded both jordan and fauci on twitter, and later reflected on the death of death of friend harmen cain from covid but don't believe the tulsa rally he attended put him at risk. >> are you worried he caught railing against mail-in ballots but bristled when pressed by peter about election study mgt. >> the resources and funding from the states that they want to be able to secure this election for all americans?

>> peter, you know nothing about my energy, okay? you know nothing about what i'm doing. >> what are you doing? >> you know nothing about what i do. >> reporter: and course peter's question was prompted by the president floating the idea of delaying the november election, something he doesn't have the power to do, and he has been using that conversation to try to chip away at the credibility of mail-in ballots. kristen. >> a lot of focus on that, kelly, and also what's happening on capitol hill. the relief package that is still there. we know those $600 unemployment benefits to help americans out of work because of the pandemic ran out last night, so where do things stand now in negotiations? >> reporter: it appears both sides are quite far apart. they will go back to work today. the president's top negotiators, the treasury secretary, peek sp pelosi. also things like eviction protection for americans who

have been without a regular paycheck. kristen, peter. >> millions of americans depending on that. thank you. overnight california surpassed half a million coronavirus cases, becoming the first state to do so. and there are nearly 4.6 million cases now here in the u.s. with more than 154,000 deaths. we want to bring in dr. ezekiel emanuel, a former obama white house health policy advisor now advising joe biden's presidential campaign. he is also the author of the book "which country has the world's best health care." dr. ezekiel emanuel. if we can quickly. is the situation getting any better nationally, and what should those states that the white house identifies as being at risk, potential hot spots, they fear they could be the next california or florida, be doing right now? >> well, we are progressing and we don't seem to be slowing down.

we have 60,000, 70,000 cases every day. we have an increase in deaths. that is not a good we were having 30,000 cases. so we are actually doing worse. the states, they have to impose the public health measures. social distancing, facemask wearing, hand hygiene and closing non-essential businesses, not having indoor businesses like bars, beauty salons, tattoo parlors and gyms. that's what you have to do. we know this. we can see it from other countries that have been successful. they are bringing their cases not quite to zero, but very, very low. >> dr. emanuel, let's talk about the other big issue, which is testing. we are doing more testing now, nearly 1 million tests per day, but a lot of the results are not coming in fast enough. people having to wait days or even longer than a week to get those results. everyone, even the president, says we need to do better on this. so what specifically needs to happen in order for there to be

more quick tests all across the country? >> you need competent leadership and coordination. the president gave this to jared kushner and admiral jugirar in mid-march. five months later, we still don't have adequate testing. that is incompetence. you need a supply chain. you need to tell the testing companies they need to beef up their activities. they wanted these tests. they are getting paid handsomely, $100 a test. if they can't give results in 48 hours, maybe we shouldn't pay for them. that idea has been suggested by a group from duke, and i think it's quite reasonable. if the test isn't medically useful, why are we paying so much money for it? we also need to accelerate the development of those home testing kits, point of care testing kits. all of this should have been, and, you know, jared kushner and admiral girar have not stepped

up to the job. this is not very good leadership. >> doctor, can you give us a reality check on vaccines right now? obviously, there is a reason for optimism. we know that trials are progressing, hope that there may be progress before the end of this calendar year, but how much stock should we be putting in a vaccine sort of putting an end to this, and what challenges still lie ahead on that? >> we have six vaccines in what's called phase 3 trials, the effectiveness, the final phase trials. i think dr. fauci is right, by early next year we will have important results, whether they work or not, and which ones of them work. there are two big issues once you have a vaccine proven. one is how long is it good for. a vaccine that lasts only three months is not very effective. we need one that really lasts at least a year. and then there is the big challenge of actually going from producing the vaccine to putting shots in arms of 300 million americans and some of these vaccines require two doses which

require 600 million shots inside of a couple of months. i don't think that's logistically possible. again, this administration has not shown itself capable of managing these kinds of complex issues. they just don't have the competence to do it. and there are many, many barriers potentially. glass vials to put the drugs in. you need actually to fill them and put them in the glass vials in super sterile conditions, ship them out and get people to vaccinate. imagine 300 million vaccines. you need one million people working almost a whole month. you know, it's a very, very big challenge. >> well, the whole country is united on one thing, hopping they get that vaccine soon. thank you for waking up with us on a saturday. >> thank you. good to be here. >> we appreciate it. we have much more to get to this morning, including questions about the future of the popular video-sharing app tiktok. a source confirms to nbc news that microsoft is in talks to purchase it from its chinese

owner. tiktok has 100 million users in the united states but president trump is not one of them. the president told reporters friday night he wants to ban tiktok using an executive order as early as today. in a statement, tiktok said its data is stored in the u.s. and the company is committed to protecting users' privacy and safety. a florida teen is behind bars this morning and accused of masterminding that massive twitter hack that targeted celebrities like former president obama, joe biden, even e elon musk. how investigators tracked him down. >> reporter: at just 17 years old, florida officials say this is the mastermind behind an unprecedented attack into twitter. graham ivan clark arrested friday is facing 30 felony charges, including communications fraud and accessing a computer or electronic device without authority. officials say he hacked into more than 130 verified twitter accounts targeting some of twitter's most high-profile

users, including barack obama, joe biden, bill gates, and kanye west. >> there is a false belief within the criminal hacker community that attacks like the twitter hack can be perpetrated anonymously and without consequence. i want to say to would-be offenders, break the law, and we will find you. >> reporter: reached by phone friday, clark's mother told nbc news i believe he didn't do it. i have spoken to him every day. also n mental illness a fazeli. the scheme authorities say was twofold. a combination of technical skill and manipulating twitter employees by phone to gain access to their credentials, the company said. once in posting with a high-profile account asking for bitcoin. officials say racking up more than $100,000. all of it sending twitter into turmoil. the company temporarily disabling tweets from all verified users. in a statement, the social media

giant thanked officials for the swift actions writing, we are focused on being transparent and providing updates regularly. >> we rely on platforms like twitter to receive news and other information that is important to our lives. the twitter vip hack undermines public confidence and those information platforms. >> reporter: clark is set to appear before a judge later this morning. for "today," blayne alexander, nbc news, atlanta. well, this morning the u.s. military is still searching for that amphibious assau amphibious marine vehicle that sunk off the coast of southern california. seven marines and one navy sailor remain missing. one marine died and two are in the hospital after the vg a tra mission. we want to take a turn, check in with maria larosa for a look at the rest of the

country's forecast. good morning to you. >> good morning, guys. good morning, everybody. all eyes, of course, on florida right now with approaching hurricane isais, but across the country we have some pretty active weather including showers and thunderstorms, some severe weather, from parts of the ohio valley into the midwest. that will push to the east today. so watch for damaging winds and hail. but it's all about the heat across the west. record highs once again staggering stat coming in for july for phoenix. 99 their average temperature for the month. that sets a new all-time record for any month in phoenix. they will be up over 100 degrees again today. meanwhile, in the northeast enjoying a little bit of sun and temperatures slightly closer t and we do have high pressure dominating this weekend. coming from the desert southwest, we are a lovely aftew in san jose. cool atgrs, wind speeds nonexistent and today's

forecast will be comfortable in the 60s for the coast. we are going to see the morning fog along with low clouds into the afternoon. by about 2:00, 3:00, once we get that sun peeking through, we'll get plenty of sunshine in san jose, predicted highs in the 80s, 90s for the interior valleys. and that's a look at your weather for today. kristen, peter, back to you. >> thank you very much. all right. and still to come, can the major league baseball season survive after more players tested positive for coronavirus? we will take a look. plus, why it took a month for one congressional district in new york to finish counting ballots from june's primary, and what that could mean for the november election. we're back after this.

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we are back on a saturday morning with the weekly

download. our la lo >> a final farewell to the man known as the conscience of congress. ♪ >> civil rights icon the late congressman john lewis honored at a funeral in atlanta after lying in state at the u.s. capitol. presidents clinton, wisbush and obama remembering him as an american hero. >> when we finish that long journey towards freedom, when we do form a more perfect union, whether it's years from now or decades or even if it takes another two centuries, john lewis will be a founding father of that fuller, fairer, better america. >> reporter: the heads of facebook, amazon, apple and google facing questions from republicans and democrats who claim their companies are too big and have too much power. >> can you assure americans you

won't taylor your features had help joe biden in the upcoming election. >> we won't do anything one way or another. >> reporter: a swimmer off the coast of maine was fatally attacked by a great white shark. >> all of a sudden i saw a trailing swimmer being lifted somewhat out of the water. >> the victim 63-year-old julie, swimming with her adult daughter. >> reporter: some beaches in massachusetts and new york's long island were closed after shark sightings. the most decorated olympic athlete michael phelps opened up about a battle with depression. >> one of the scariest times is the last six months. >> the weight of gold, phelps is joined by other famous olympians describing their mental health female tactical jet pilot in the navy. >> i think that representation is important because we are a

very diverse nation. so i would like everyone to believe that they can achieve whatever they want to do. >> some of the week's most shocking moments caught on camera. in china, a pair of pedestrians swallowed by a sinkhole that collapsed the entire sidewalk. fortunately, both survived. >> a close call for a driver in oregon when his car flipped after a fender-bender. he walked away with minor injuries thanks to his seat bet. and a moment we can relate to g a dip in a backyard kiddie pool. >> good morning. >> finally, one more moment that has common place for all of us. teaching our parents how to use zoom. this week it was princess anne guiding her mother queen elizabeth. >> can you see everybody? >> you should have six people on your screen. >> i can see four anyway. >> you know what i look like. you don't need me. >> i love that the queen is such a good sport. and it reminds me of my first

zoom session with my parents, which lasted for about an hour and a half as we worked out the glitches. >> like when i call my father to facetime and i say, dad, i am looking at your ear canal right now. this is a video call, not a phone call. >> yeah, a lot of foreheads and ear canals these days. >> it was a lot of. still to come on "today," from the country's elders farmers farmers market, some of our favorite spots around d.c. inside the popular tourist town where these days it's visitors of a very different kind is that have taken

and we're taking a live look at a beautiful shot of san jose, a nice way to start the very first day of a new month. good morning, and thank you for joining us. i'm sierra johnson in for kira klapper. vianey arana joins us with a

look at your microclimate forecast. good morning. >> good morning, sierra. it's going to be a great day today, even though we've got a foggy start to the coastline. meanwhile in areas like san jose, temperatures are comfortable at 58 degrees but i want to show you a live look at san francisco, no, that camera is not broken. you see the little red light at the bottom? that is just really dense fog covering what's supposed to be a beautiful shot of the city. right now at about 56 degrees. so just to give you an idea, heading into the afternoon here, the temperatures that we're looking out for and monitorg, s where you live. if you live around the coastline, it will be slower to clear when it comes to those clouds and it will be in the 80s and 90s for the interior valley. we begin in marin county as bay area public health officials intensify warnings about the spread of covid-19. the violent reaction of a jogger asked to wear a mask is now under investigation in marin county. rangers responded to an assault on a trail at phoenix lake in

ross wednesday morning. a 59-year-old lark spur man says he put his hand up and told the jogger to put a mask on. he said the jogger pushed him to the ground and kept running. walkers are stunned by the violent reaction and divided about how to handle people violating mask rules. >> and i think it's the wrong choice but yet, you know, it's like, it's their choice and i'm not here to police people. and sometimes feet, and that works. i never had any problem with it. >> courteously asking them to put it on is okay. but to behave abusively, i don't agree with that. >> marin county supervisors passed an ordinance adopting fines for people who violate the health order. the fine for not wearing a mask when it is required starts at $25 for individuals. enforcement is expected to begin as early as next week. coming up this morning on "today in the bay," they tried closing streets for outdoor

dining but some restaurants in contra costa county are still struggling. the new idea one town has to get more people out to support those businesses. that, plus all of your top stories, coming up at 7:00. right now, back to the "today" show.

no matter how bad it gets, we will always come back stronger. because nothing can stop what we can do together. >> we are back on this saturday morning. the first of august, believe it or not, 2020, with nike's powerful new ad you can't stop us. the editing is awesome. the spot brings together athletes in sports from around the world in a visually stunning way. in a few minutes, we are going to look at the return of professional sports and possible storm clouds on the horizon for major league baseball. but for a moment just soak up this thing. it's been watched 25 million times on twitter since thursday.

>> and you can see why. i'm sure chills every time someone watched it. 4,000 hours worth of footage to make that. >> narrated by megan rapinoe. first, we want to begin this half hour with a check of the headlines. this morning hurricane isais battering parts of the bahamas and could make landfall in florida tomorrow bringing heavy rain and high winds. the storm is hitting florida as it deals with the coronavirus pandemic and fears of what could happen if people have to leave their homes and huddle together in shelters. testing sites there have been shut down as well. a federal appeals court has thrown out the death sentence for a man convicted of the 2013 boston marathon bombing. the court ruled unanimously friday the judge who presided over the case zones dzhokhar sar nayef did not screen jurors for potential biases. the court ordered a new penalty

phase trial on whether he should be executed. prosecutors could still appeal. some answers about what exactly was in the mysterious packages of seeds people around the country have been getting in the mail from china. the u.s. department of agriculture has identified 14 of the seeds and says they include flowering plants like morning glory, hibiscus, and roses. others contained herb and vegetables like cabbage. anyone who receives one is urged not to plant them and alert your state officials. >> that's a bizarre one. questions swirling around major league baseball and whether the sport will be able to play out this season after several more players tested positive on friday. the commissioner is reportedly threatening to shut down the season if things get out of hand. nbc's kathy park is outside of yankees stadium in tbronx. good morning. >> reporter: the yankees played

their home opener last night. under normal circumstances, the stadium would have been packed, about you it really has been unprecedented here for baseball with no fans inside, games postponed, and now the possibility of a canceled season. this morning major league baseball's short season is in jeopardy. espn reporting mlb's commissioner warned the players union the season is at risk if the virus isn't better managed. >> i signed up to play this year. i know the risks. >> reporter: teams reporting 29 coronavirus cases in the past week with two st. louis cardinals players testing positive friday, postponing their matchup against the milwaukee brewers. the league says a decision is consistent with protocols to allow enough time for additional testing and contact tracing to be conducted. eight different teams have been affected. the marlins have been sidelined for days after an outbreak infected 17 players and two staff members. the list grew friday when another player tested positive.

>> will there be a full season? >> what you are seeing is baseball trying to adjust on the fly. certain protocols and certain regulations of how players are supposed to comport themselves when they are not on the field or not at the baseball park. >> reporter: restarting baseball meant adjusting to new health and safety protocols, but like the nba, nhl and mls, mlb's pandemic plan did not include a bubble. >> would have had to have multiple locations probably just in order to have enough facilities to make it work. >> you look at the nba, the bubble seems to be working extremely well, which returned several weeks now of no positive tests. >> reporter: the nhl hits play today after a four-month pause. >> the players are being tested every day in the bubble as are all the other personnel in the bubble, and all of the tests have been negative. >> reporter: sliding back on the ice safely for a chance at the stanley cup.

and the backdrop of the nhl will be the safe zones or bubbles in edmonton and toronto. in the absence of fans, there will be more cameras and new angles capturing the action on the ice and similar to baseball, crowd noise and cheering will be piped in to the arena. guys, back to you. >> kathy park outside yankees stadium this morning. thank you. as we mentioned, the nhl is back today, by the way, jumping right into the playoffs beginning at noon eastern on nbcsn. check the chicago blackhawks and edmonton oilers right here on nbc. another check of the forecast from maria larosa. hey there, maria. >> good morning, kristen and peter. good morning, everybody. along with the hurricane approaching florida another level of extreme weather on the map. the heat. across the west it's another scorcher of a day. we have heat advisories and heat

warnings up. millions of people involved. phoenix 110 today. they are coming off the hottest month on record. july average temp of 99. you can see the low temperatures, with the heat index factoring in the excessive heat, dangerous heat. we have some cooler weather in the central part of the u.s. and cool enough to bring the temperatures down by averages of 5 to 10 degrees. we will see that slide ever so slowly off to the east by tomorrow moving into the ohio valley and eventually touchin and we are certainly seeing a foggy start to our morning around the coastline. look at this shot of san francisco. you can't even see the city through all of that fog in our live cam, 56 degrees right now. eventually by the afternoon we'll get some clearing around the coastline. we're still going to see those low clouds, though, at times, so partly cloudy for the coast to mostly sunny in inland areas, temperatures will range from 60s

to 80s down in the south bay . and that's today's weather. back to you. >> maria, thank you. just ahead, concerns about mail-in ballots in this election year. are we ready for november? find great savings during kohl's super saturday. friends & family - take an extra 20% off. save on men's and women's denim adidas footwear - just $44.99 and under and get up to 60% off bath + bedding. plus - get kohl's cash! plus, limited-contact store drive up. it's super saturday at kohl's.

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♪ love like yours will surely come my way ♪ 2020 and with the election now just 94 days away there are serious concerns about mail-in voting especially after a congressional district in new york just finished counting ballots a month after the primary. >> this drawn-out process is raising questions about whether election officials are ready in the middle of a pandemic. allison barber covered this story for nbc news now. >> reporter: six weeks after new yorkers voted in primaries and initial results just came out for new york's 12 congressional race -- >> we were so ill equipped to handle the massive influx of these and thousands never got

their ballots. >> reporter: trailing by a few thousand votes. she sent a statement thanking her supporters. patel is suing to reinstate ballots that he says were unfairly rejected. about 20% of mail-in ballots were deemed invalid. in most u.s. elections, invalid ballots are only thought to be about 1.5%. >> 12,500 people out of 105,000 are never going to have their voices heard. that's a shame for democracy. >> reporter: once election workers received the ballots, they rerouted them to get counted. then instead of machine counting, they examined every ballot to decide which to reject. the reasons for invalidating a ballot vaurry. a mismatched or missing signature, strange marks or notes on the ballot, the ballot is late and doesn't have a postmark. >> we are a textbook example in new york of how not to run an election by mail. and we only have a few months

left before november. this could be a canary in a coal mine. >> reporter: mail-in votes are expected to play a significant role in the 2020 election because of the coronavirus pandemic. despite historical evidence of fraud, president trump has repeatedly claimed mail-in voting wil increase it. >> mail-in ballots, people can forge them. foreign countries can print them. mail-in in voting is going to rig the election. >> are you suggesting you might not self the results of the election? >> reporter: and he is using the situation in new york to bolster his claim, incorrectly tweeting that state ballots are missing. this year many congressional and down ballot seats are up for grabs and swing states like wisconn larm number of mail-in ballots in primaries. matt sanderson is an attorney specializing in elections and campaign finance. >> it absolutely has to be the case that election officials draw some lessons of both in new

york and across the country. >> reporter: the long lines during primaries across the country combined with trouble in new york's 12th congressional district has some like sanderson wondering if 2020 could be an extended repeat of 2000 and turn election day into an election month or more. >> so what you could see, a type of very contentious post-election day period play out not only with the presidency, but also other down ballot races that are at the end of the day just as important as the presidency. >> voting by mail is actually the rule, not the exception, ia handful of states. how well has it worked there? >> reporter: yeah, so five dates actually vote entirely by mail. utah, washington, colorado, hawaii, and oregon. if you are a registered voter in one of those five states, you automatically get a mail-in

ballot sent to you in the mail. what happened here in new york's 12th district is complicated. our team, especially my producer, did an amazing job tracking the little details. to reiterate, the allegation is not fraud. election officials, election experts we have sd, yes, mistakes were made, but they can be fixed aor avoided entirely. oregon has been doing this over 20 years and they have been doing it very successfully. >> that's an important point to make, ellison. so even if you don't live in one of those states that you mentioned, you can vote by mail, right? so how can the voters out there who are watching right now figure out how to do it? >> reporter: different states have different deadlines and different rules for submitting mail-in ballots. check the deadlines. check that information with your state. send in your ballots early, if you can. make sure you sign them. there are a lot of really good resources and we have helpful tips we can show you on screen.

vote.org is a really good resource. voters can play a role here. they say any official you will talk to, the more that you can do to educate yourself about the voting process in your state, the better off you will be and the less likely are to make tiny mistakes that could make to your ballot being considered invalid or jekted. >> critically important information. thanks to you and your producer. you can see much more of ellison's reporting on decision 2001 on nbc news now on any streaming device. inside the town being overrun by monkeys. >> how about now, simparica trio simplifies protection. ticks and fleas? see ya! heartworm disease? no way! simparica trio is the first chewable that delivers all this protection. and simparica trio is demonstrated safe for puppies. it's simple: go with simparica trio. this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions, including seizures; use with caution in dogs

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the coronavirus pandemic has taken a heavy toll on tourist destinations worldwide. fewer tourists means less money for locals. >> in one town in thailand there is a different problem. they are dealing with too many hungry monkeys. janice mackey frayer takes us there. >> reporter: in an ancient thailand town, these free-wheel macaw monkeys are a big attraction. tourists come to feed them bananas and snap selfies. the economy relies on it.

for a long time, generations even, this human/monkey coexistence worked until the tourists stopped coming. this is what it looks like when gangs of monkeys go hungry. they are brawling over one scrap of food. this video went viral when it was filmed as an example of how the coronavirus has messed with everything. thailand's borders have been closed for months. during covid-19, there are no people visiting, says this fruit e vendor. without people, the monkeys started skroun jing, now desperate and supercharged on junk food, they are literally overtaking the town. they steal, terrorize. they are loud and they fight. and, worse, locals say the monkeys are putting all that sugar energy into their sex lives, so the monkeys keep multiplying. so humans are trying to take back control with snacks.

and the sterilization campaign. monkeys are scooped up and humanely knocked out for the procedure. about 500 of them to try to get the monkey population under control. sterilization is the urgent solution, says the head veterinarian. if we don't do anything, it may become animal cruelty later for the monkeys that may get hurt by the fighting. ultimately, the problem is the lack of a real habitat. so the bigger plan for authorities is to create a sanctuary down the road where the monkeys can rule and wait for the tourists to come back. for "today," janice mackey frayer, nbc news. >> not something you see every day. they are cute. i hope the snacks work to get them under control. >> feels like a hitchcock movie. still to come, the music from the go

still to come on "today," beyonce is back and she is bringing the whole family with her. her new visual album is coming up. plus we take you to our favorite tar

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let's take a live look outside. this is a shot of walnut creek. you can see that sun coming up, still a little foggy but looks like a beautiful start to today. good morning, and thank you for joining us. i'm sierra johnson in for kira klapper. vianey arana joins us with a look at your microclimate forecast. good morning. >> good morning. and you know, we are seeing a little bit of the cloud cover in

some inland spots but definitely noticing the fog around the coast and this is what's supposed to be a beautiful shot of san francisco, but you can't even see the city because of how dense that fog is. and we're going to keep that lingering around at least until the first half of our morning. so, keep that in mind as you head outside. definitely expect to keep those cool, cloudy conditions. meanwhile in walnut creek, about 59 degrees, little bit more sunshine in there and inland areas throughout the afternoon. look at the range in temperatures, we go from 60s at the coast, 70s in oakland, 80 down in san jose and upper 80s in martinez. meanwhile a couple of low 90s in concord, antioch, 95 so we are going to be slightly warmer compared to yesterday and the past couple of days because of high pressure coming from the desert southwest. i'm going to break down the timing of that and a look at your air quality coming up. we begin in marin county as bay area health officials intensify warnings about the spread of covid-19. the violent reaction of a jogger

asked to wear a mask is now under investigation in marin county. rangers responded to an assault on a trail at phoenix lake in ross wednesday morning. a 59-year-old lark spur man said he put his hand up to tell a jogger to put a mask on. he says that jogger pushed him to the ground. walkers are stunned by the violent reaction and divided about how to handle people violating mask rules. >> and i think it's the wrong choice, but yet, it's like, it's their choice and i'm not here to police people, and sometimes when people come really close, i ask them, please keep six feet and that works. i never have any problem with it. >> courteously asking them to put it on is okay. but to behave abusively, i don't agree with that. >> county supervisors passed an ordinance adopting fines for people who violate the health order. the fine for not wearing a mask when it is required starts at

$25 for individuals. enforcement is expected to begin early next week. and coming up this morning on "today in the bay," they've tried closing streets for outdoor dining but some restaurants in contra costa county are struggling. the new idea one town has to get people out to support those businesses. that plus all of your top stories coming up at 7:00. right now, back to the "today" show.

♪ good morning. breaking overnight, target florida. hurricane isais slams into the bahamas and now has the sunshine state in its sights after making a move to the west as it churns through the atlantic. florida residents preparing for high winds, heavy rain and a dangerous storm surge. a new fear. how to get people to safety while dealing with the coronavirus. >> would you have to operate up the assumption that everyone you are evacuating has covid-19? >> we feel that's the only way that we could operate. >> we're live on the scene. final appearance. netflix overnight releasing naya rivera's last guest spot on a reality cooking show. >> this hummingbird is coming home with me. >> the program taped months before her tragic drawing. how the late actress was honored. weekend day trip. kristen and i got together with

our families. >> look how pretty, and look at pretty water. >> i will jump in after lunch. what do you think? >> for a visit to some of our favorite spots around d.c. from the country's oldest farmers market -- >> i'd like to get shallots maybe. >> to a hike in the great outdoors. we will share an afternoon celebrating friends, family, and socially distant fun. today saturday, august 1st, 2020. >> thank you from new york. >> wanted to wish you huge congratulations to my cousin valerie. she graduated, heading to the university of alabama next week. ♪ >> good morning, today show. shout out to my precious granddaughter. ♪ congratulations, valerie, and welcome laila. that is nugget, right? thanks for waking up with us on a saturday on "today." >> she is adorable.

thank you guys for all of those at home my "today" plaza shout-outs. they are fantastic. keep them coming by posting them on instagram, twitter with our #mytodayplaza. >> the best part of the show. we begin with today's news with florida, which is already dealing with the coronavirus pandic maria, good morning. >> good, peter, kristen, everyone. we just had the latest 8:00 a.m. intermediate advisory in and it is still a hurricane with max winds of 85 miles per hour. let's show you what hasn't changed. those watches and warnings that are posted. we have those hurricane warnings from boca raton to south of daytona beach. tee tieriating continues the next 12 to 24 hours. looking at the satellite picture, a little ragged right now but moving to the northwest at 12 miles per hour. now 50 miles south of nassau, bahamas. so on that track we continue to watch by late tonight, early

tomorrow approaching south florida, may stay off the coast, but the effects won't. so still expecting rough surf, dangerous rip currents and a lot of rainfall, maybe as much as 2 to 4 inches of rain. tomorrow and monday approaching the southeast coast where we could be looking at a landfalling system by early on tuesday morning and then on its way, racing up the east coast here, perhaps another landfall in parts of new england by wednesday morning as a tropical storm. but taking a look, too, at that rainfall, this an impact whether it's a hurricane or a tropical storm, that will be felt all the way from florida through the mid-atlantic up into the northeast and new england, as much as 3 inches of rainfall and likely seeing a few spots that could tally as much as half a foot of rainfall as we get into the middle part of the week. kristen, peter, back to you. >> the east coast will be watching this for much of the week. maria larosa. thanks. turning now to the coronavirus where there are glimmers of hope, but also

despair. overnight that extra $600 a week benefits that tens of millions of americans have been relying on in the pandemic expired. lawmakers have so far failed to come to an agreement or pass an extension to the c.a.r.e.s. act which would continue those unemployment benefits. meantime, as the u.s. gets closer to 4.6 million coronavirus cases, dr. anthony fauci offers good news friday saying he is optimistic there will be a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year or the start of 2021. also this morning, we are learning more about what's inside newly released court documents about jeffrey epstein, including the former president who one accuser claims was an epstein's private island. stephanie gosk has more. >> reporter: little st. james, jeffrey epstein's private island in the caribbean, in newly released court documents virginia roberts giuffre says this was one of the places where he abused underaged girls. she said she saw former

president bill clinton on the island according to this document. she told lawyers, i remember asking jeffrey, with what's bill clinton doing here kind of thing? he laughed it off and said, well, he owes me a favor. he never told me what favors they were. in a statement clinton's spokesperson tells nbc news the story keeps changing. the facts don't. president clinton has never been to the island. g giuffre ac fourth of julied to nbc she used drugs when she was abused by jeffrey epstein and ghislaine maxwell who pleaded not guilty to federal charges earlier this month. she pushes back on others who have questioned her credibility. >> i might not have the dates and times right, and sometimes occasions, like the places might not be right, but i know their faces and i know what they did to me. >> reporter: she does not allege that clinton engaged in any illegal sexual activity. the documents also include emails that appear to contradict

maxwell's claim not to have had contact with jeffrey epstein for a decade. in this email from 2015, epstein writes, you have done nothing wrong and i would urge you to start acting like it. go outside, head high, not as an escaping convict. go to parties. deal with it. the documents released are from a 2015 defamation lawsuit that giuffre filed against maxwell. for "today," stephanie gosk, nbc. all right. still ahead, a look at what's believed to be actress naya rivera's final performance before her tragic death. we are back after this. hey, uh, i didn't order any pizza. jake from state farm... after you saved me so much dough on insurance with that "parker promo" i devised a promo for you. here's the deal parker, state farm offers everyone surprisingly great rates. yeh, right. pepperoni pocketz, atomic brownie, cuckoo crustiez... there's no promo. just great rates. and a side of ranch.

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we are back on a saturday morning with "popstart." joe fryer is back again it week. great to see you again, joe. >> hey, you guys, too. good to see you. we want to start with the late actress naya rivera. we are getting our first glimpse at what might be her last tv appearance before her drowning death last month. rivera was a guest judge on sugar rush, extra sweet, a netflix baking competition reality show. it was filmed in february.

it is believed to be her final tv appearance. netflix worked with rivera's manager and her family and decided to release the episode as planned. that episode, which is streaming now on netflix, is dedicated to rivera. all right. next up, we want to change gears a little bit here. first of all, grab your headbands. that's because we are taking a trip back to the '80s for a group that is, wait for it, they like to say "we got the beat." not these beats. we are talking about the go-go's. the all-female rock band is back. the go-go's just released their first new song in 19 years called "club zero." here is a listen. ♪ we got something to say ♪ ready or not here we are ♪ better get out of our way >> love it. fun fact.

the go-go's produced this song themselves doing it all over email. if you want more than new music, showtime just released a new documentary on the band, "the go-go's" premiered last night on showtime chronicling their 40-year history of their raise, reign, and breakup. >> we would have brought thetio lips are sealed. >> as kids of the '80s, you just meat our saturday, joe. >> glad to do it. one more thing. i have to bring my waitering skills back from the day. finally, we go to the beehive. we are not talking about this bee. we are talking about this one, queen b. the summer drop we have all been waiting for. beyonce's visual album, "black is king" is out. it is deemed a celebratory

memoir for the world on black experience. the visual album moves you from new york to l.a., south africa, west africa, london, and belgium. there is a cast of "a"-listers on this one from lieupida nyong'o to kelly roland, pharrell williams and beyonce's husband jay z. it has a rare appearance from all of the beyonce's kids, blue ivy, rumi and sir carter. it's only available for streaming on disney+. we checked it out last night. it is absolutely extraordinary, guys. >> queen b. what would you expect? amazing. >> the production value, the outfits. >> peter has a few of those. joe, thank you for that. appreciate it. maria back with a final check of the forecast. >> all right. all eyes on florida over the next 12 to 24 hours, approaching hurricane isais. even if it doesn't technically make landfall in florida, all of the impacts go along with it.

storm surge, heavy rain, 2 to 4 inches and rough dangerous surf. already seeing some of the northern most rain bands begin to effect florida. we also have severe weather in the ohio valley to parts of the mid-atlantic. gusty winds, even some hail. another day of record highs and excessive heat across parts of the west and the southwest. phoenix, as an example, headed well over 100 degrees today. there is a cold front that will be squeepg through as well. that will bring about just enough of the cooler weather. we are back into the 70s for the upper midwest after a very warm july. in fact, much of the eastern half of the country making a run at a top ten warmest july. here tomorrow that front will bring some showers and thunderstorms, some here maybe on the strong side, too. the gusty winds and the possibility of hail along with that heavy and here in the bay area, we

are off to a cool start, especially for those folks who live around the coastline in san francisco, right now about 56 degrees, wind speeds are nice and light so far but your forecast for today, it's actually going to be a pretty nice day. we're going to keep the low clouds lingering for the first half of our day, by the afternoon, slower to clear up the coast but plenty of sunshine in inland areas, temps will be warmer, in the 80s for the south bay and 90s for the interior valleys. 12340e6789 >> that's a look at your weather. kristen, peter barkck to you. >> thanks for tracking it all. tistill ahead on "today." we are having socially distant fun around the nation's capital. some of

we are excited about this story. we're back with the new normal while we're all trying to navigate how best to get through

the hot summer days, peter and i found it helps to get by with our friends. but the first few months of the pandemic you weren't able to do that. >> nice to work with friends, but recently kristen and i and our families formed a pod at the white house and when we hang out on the weekend that's why we decided to share some of our favorite parts of d.c.'s from the favorite place to hike to the farmer's market ♪ >> so this is your farmer's market. >> this is our spot. this was our saturday morning routi routine. we used to live so close to here with the girls this is the longest continuously running farmer's market in the country since 1753 >> it's beautiful. it's crazy but it's so beautiful. you can smell all the good food. >> i can help the next person.

>> i like to support the local places around here you can drive from virginia, west virginia, maryland, delaware, the produce comes from all over the place how long have you been coming to the old town farmer's market >> 15 years. >> 15 years. why don't i get kale. >> i'm blown away by how big it is >> they used to have 7,000 people a day, now they say it's 3,000. >> this is a two year process to make the bowl. >> what kind of tree >> american black walnut. >> how has it been to be back? >> slow to start my business won't recover for probably two years. >> have you been busy? >> yeah. we brought like 18 bushels of corn and it's gone by 10:00. >> when we're doing the show,

that's the prime purchase time >> let's go to rock creek park, that's one of my favorite places. >> i'm in. >> this is rock creek park, it was the biggest urban park in the country. john and i come here once a week and go on a long walk. we look at the trees and birds, there's more than 180 species of birds here do you know what sound a woodpecker makes >> a knock on the door more than 3 million -- >> that's right. we love the park, it's historic. presidents used to come here. >> teddy roosevelt, eleanor roosevelt used to ride her horse here >> maybe we'll jump in after lunch, what do you think >> you lead. >> we're washing our hands and then we're going to have lunch look you guys. >> that's for after lunch,

right? >> actually, it's going to be the first thing i touch. >> what? >> what? >> fun >> to being together >> to socially distanced gatherings with friends. >> cheers to that. >> cheers to together. >> it was such a special day and so nice to spend time with you guys obviously it's what people are doing right now, spending time with people they trust my favorite part was when ava said she was eating desert first. >> that's how we do it the old town farmers' market, that's my first stop leaving here >> we still have our peaches, they are delicious it was so much fun hope you guys can get outside and do that with friends and family today we're back right after this. ss . taking my treatment at home. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection not for sudden breathing problems.

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good morning, i'm sierra johnson. coming up next on "today in the bay," a violent confrontation playing out on a popular trail after someone asked a jogger to wear a mask. plus, the shutdown has officially begun. the last bay area county forced to close hair and nail salons, gyms and other indoor businesses. and a cloudy morning will give way to a weekend warm-up. vianey arana lets us know how high those temperatures will rise. our week long series, keeping up in the classroom, kicks off. we'll show you why some graduating seniors are taking a big pause before heading off to college and what it could mean for them down the road.

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good morning, it's saturday, august 1st. we're taking a live look outside of san jose. what a beautiful shot there to start the first day of new month. thanks for joining us. i'm sierra johnson in for kira klapper. vianey arana joins us with the mic microclimate forecast. alo long time, no see. how are you? >> doing well. nice to work with you this morning. and it