♪ >> announcer: this is the "cbs overnight news." good evening. senate democrats go on the offense this week looking to expand voting rights and spend a nuer of republican senators are said to be on board for a trim down half trillion dollar infrastructure bill. but voting rights, that's a far different story. christina ruffini is at the white house with the latest on the impending battle. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, jericka. the commemoration of juneteenth over the weekend as one activist put it was a good start. now there is increased pressure on congress to take action on voting rights.

especially after those new restrictive laws are passing in states like florida and georgia, laws which could disproportionately impact communities of color. >> this was an enormously serious issue. >> reporter: speaking on the sunday shows, senator bernie sanders said he supports federal voting legislation passed by the house and backed by the white house. >> what republican legislatures and governors are doing in the most disgraceful way imaginable is to try to deny people of color, young people, poor people the right to vote. >> reporter: the for the people act would, among other things, automatically enroll eligible citizens to vote, make almost two weeks of early voting standard, and outlaw gerrymandering. partisan efforts to redraw congressional districts. republicans call the bill a power grab. >> that's a federal takeover of our election system. >> i've taken a look at all these new state laws. none of them are designed to suppress the vote. >> reporter: the legislation does not have the 60 votes it needs to pass the senate. in an effort to sway some of his

republican colleagues, senate democrat joe manchin is proposing a compromise which includes doing away with things like same-day voting registration, but allowing voter i.d. requirements. so far the gop response has been mostly the same. >> as much as i like joe manchin, the answer would be no. >> christina, could the debate over the for the people act which republicans do not support, lead to any changes or the elimination of the legislative filibuster? >> reporter: well, look, the filibuster is one of those things that people deride when they're in power and they try to support when they're out of power. democrats have such a razor thin margin that they risk not being able to get anything done unless they take action to do away with the filibuster. but they also risk regretting that decision if they find themselves out of power after the next election cycle. jericka? >> christina ruffini for us at the white house, thank you. tonight the known death toll in the wake of tropical depression claudette is rising. claudette is being blamed for at least 12 deaths, including ten

people, nine of them children in butler county, alabama. the children all from a youth ranch were riding in a vehicle that crashed on interstate 65 about an hour south of montgomery. among them, cody fox and the youngest victim, his 9 month old daughter ariana. one official said the bus may have hydro planed on the rain-soaked road. a tornado ripped through nearby brewton, alabama. this video shows the widespread damage left in its wake. claudette is expected to strengthen to a tropical storm as it heads northeast. storm warnings are up along the carolina coasts. one man was killed, another seriously injured when a pickup truck crashed into marchers at a pride parade in florida. tonight officials say it appears it was an accident. cbs's mola lenghi has more. >> reporter: tonight newly obtained surveillance video show moments after this truck droefr

into marchers preparing for an lgbtq pride parade in florida. >> the vehicle possibly ran over them. >> reporter: one person was killed and another injured in what appears to have been a tragic accident. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz who represents the area and planned to participate in the parade narrowly avoided being hit herself. she said in a tweet, i am so heart broken by what took place at this celebration. may the memory of the life lost be for a blessing. according to police, the 77-year-old driver seen here escorted away from his truck, what was supposed to be the lead vehicle in the parade, had ailments preventing him from marching. police adding, the man has it cooperated with their investigation. the president in the fort lauderdale gay men's chorus which was participating in the parade said in a statement the driver as well as the victims were all a part of the chorus family. adding that he does not believe this was an attack on the lgbtq community. >> we owe it to our community to conduct a thorough and complete investigation and are working in

conjunction with our partners at the fbi to do so. >> reporter: while this appears to have been an accident, still authorities say they will explore all possibilities. mola lenghi cbs news, new york. the european union lifted its covid travel ban this weekend, reopening the continent in time for the summer tourism season. it comes even as the highly contagious delta variant continues to surge. lilia luciano is in los angeles. how are people responding to the threat of the delta varpt? >> reporter: well, jericka, the people i talked to here at l.a.x. say they feel safe to travel. they feel they're confident, especially those who are vaccinated, and that the concerns over this variant are not getting in the way of their summer travel plans. americans are starting summer on the move, crowding free ways and filling up flights. how does it feel? >> amazing. i'm so excited to go. >> reporter: nearly 1.9 million travelers took to the skies saturday, and more are expected

today, now that the european union's 15-month ban on u.s. travel is over. >> it's very freeing. feels like everything is very optimistic right now. >> reporter: today marks 500 days since 57-year-old patricia dowd died of covid in san jose, she was the first identified covid victim in the nation, of more than 601,000 lives lost. the threat now, the delta variant which is accelerating in the midwest and accounting for nearly a fourth of new infections in iowa, kansas, missouri and nebraska. >> this variant is probably 40 to 60% more contagious than the 1.1.7 variant that caused the surge in the late spring. >> reporter: former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb also told "face the nation" he is optimistic about the development of an antiviral pill to treat covid. >> i think that this could be a real game changer. this is a virus that we should be able to drug. >> reporter: pent up travel

demand is strong with two-thirds of americans planning a summer trip. and if you're going to europe, germany just opened up today to travelers coming in from the u.s. jericka? >> lilia luciano for us in los angeles. thank you. today is world refugee day. it's when the united nations asks us to remember the millions fleeing wars and persecution. pope francis called for people to open their heart to refugees, single out myanmar where thousands of refugees are homeless and starving. well, two astronauts spent sunday walking in space. shane kim umbrella and thomas installed solar panels intended to boost power in the international space station. the job took a little over six hours to complete. the "cbs overnight news" will be right back.

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♪ >> announcer: this is the "cbs overnight news." i'm jericka duncan in new york. thanks for staying with us. in most of the nation, the school year is either winding down or done. 16 months of zoom lessons and covid restrictions was difficult enough for students and parents, but it also took a toll on teachers. and a lot of them decided it was time to either find another job or retire. a recent study found two-thirds of school districts reporting a teacher shortage, and that's left districts scrambling to fill positions before the new school year begins. meg oliver has that story.

>> reporter: these days scott's life feels more free than freefalling. ♪ freefalling ♪ >> reporter: that wasn't always the case, especially this last year. how hard was it to say good-bye to your students? >> it was extremely difficult to say good-bye to my students. >> reporter: the 55-year-old spent 29 years teaching science in livonia, michigan. after contracting covid, the pandemic pushed him to retire early in january, the middle of the school year. did you ever feel like you were letting your students down retiring midway through the year? >> yes, very much so. it was an extremely difficult decision. >> reporter: if the pandemic hadn't happened, would you still have retired early? >> definitely not. >> reporter: michigan has seen a 40% increase in the number of teacher retirements compared to last year. nationwide, it's a similar story. nearly every state has reported shortages, and many districts

are having trouble finding teachers to fill vacancies. some now offering signing bonuses to help recruit them. have you ever had this many teachers retire in one year? >> no. >> reporter: and will you be able to fill these positions? >> we will work very hard to fill these positions. i'm worried. >> reporter: you're worried? >> i'm worried. >> reporter: karen is the principal at hillsborough high school in new jersey. since last july, 56 staff members in the district have retired or are planning to by the end of this month. 38 of them are teachers. that currently leaves two dozen positions open at the high school alone. why are we seeing this national teacher shortage? >> i think it's been coming actually for several years. there are fewer candidates going into education to begin with. i think some of that stems from the fact that over time, just there's been less interest. there's been a little bit of public pushback on the respect with which teachers are treated. >> reporter: pay has also been a deterrent for many teachers who feel they aren't compensated

properly for the demands of the job. and in the pandemic, we all saw the challenges teachers had to face with remote learning. if it wasn't for the pandemic, do you think some of these teachers who are retiring may have held on a little longer? >> i think the pandemic was certainly perhaps the last straw. >> reporter: so how do you turn the teacher shortage around? what needs to happen? >> some of it is just the messaging that exists out in the world. education is a phenomenal career. it is -- it sparks joy. ♪ >> reporter: the joy of working with students was the hardest to leave behind. but for now he says he doesn't regret retiring early. >> all-in on education, i'm all-in on teaching. and, yes, i felt, i felt a good amount of guilt and trepidation as i made that decision, but for my stephanopoulos myself and my family, it was what we felt we had to do at that time. >> that was meg oliver

reporting. in the battle against the coronavirus, president biden is warning those who have not been vaccinated that they could be in danger from new variants, bring springing up around the world. for instance, the delta variant is traveling fast through india and other countries. it's more transmissible than the original covid strain and is especially dangerous for young people. it turns out the race to update vaccines to combat the new variants is revolutionizing the battle against other diseases as well. here's alison auberry. >> reporter: back in january, just one month after moderna vaccine's was authorized for emergency use -- >> mutations not only spread faster than the original virus. they may also be more deadly. >> reporter: fears about a more contagious strain began to grip the nation. >> the variant of covid-19 first identified in south africa has now been found in the u.s. >> reporter: and scientists at moderna immediately realized

this could be a threat. >> we didn't think we had time to wait. >> reporter: dr. steven hogue is president of the company. >> we thought if we don't start the fall, we won't have an updated vaccine in case those variants really become a significant concern and start reinfecting people. >> reporter: as millions of doses rolled off the manufacturing line at their facility here in nor wood, massachusetts, hogue's team got to work to retool the vaccine. >> and within a week you had designed a new vaccine. >> we designed that vaccine really overnight and started manufacturing and had it and moved it into clinical trials within a month. >> reporter: it can take years to make a new vaccine,so this was a breakthrough. how is that possible? >> it has to do with our technology. so, we use something called messenger rnar mrna for short. it's an instructional molecule like a instruction molecule for your cells. it sends what the virus looks

like to your immune system. like a software or word document, we can edit, change it and manufacture it very quickly. >> reporter: he makes if sot so easy. it's taken decades of research and many technological hurdles. now the company has big plans. >> we had an incredible year using messenger rna to fight a pandemic. but we think we're just starting in the infectious disease space so there's a large number of other vaccines we're bringing forward. >> reporter: their research pipeline includes everything from an hiv vaccine to heart disease treatments to vaccines for different kinds of cancer, including lymphoma and melanoma. connie franchosi is already participating in one clinical trial. when were you diagnosed with melanoma? >> i was diagnosed in may of 2020. so just about a year ago. >> reporter: she's a two-time cancer survivor. and after surgery to remove the

melanoma, her doctor had some troubling news. >> he did indicate that they had found melanoma cells in my lymph nodes which meant that i would need to have further treatment. >> reporter: so you were at high risk of relapse? >> yes, i was considered high risk for melanoma again. >> reporter: she started on a cancer-fighting immune owe therapy drug and she was offered the chance to get the experimental messenger rna vaccine designed to prevent a relapse. >> when you weigh the possible benefits from something like this, i just had to go for it. >> it's definitely too soon to say. i'm optimistic, but the jury is still out. >> reporter: dr. ryan sullivan of massachusetts general hospital treats connie. he says the idea is that the vaccine can help generate the right mix of cancer-fighting immune cells. >> the best case scenario was that a combination of an mrna

vaccine plus standard immunotherapy is shown to reduce the risk of relapse. if we see that happen, it will change the way we treat patients in the future. >> reporter: it will take several years to determine this, but in the meantime moderna's c.e.o. stephane bonsel thinks messenger rna technology can revolutionize a shot millions of us already get each year. let's talk about the flu vaccine. >> everything is wrong about it. the very process of making it makes no sense. >> reporter: currently flu vaccines can take months to produce. to make the shots, scientists actually inject flu virus into eggs. it's a decades old approach, and bonsel says it's part of the reason they're not always very effective. >> you have to start very early on. so you have to guess which strain will be in the u.s. next year. >> reporter: so his plan is to change this. moderna aims to start a clinical trial later this year.

and if it turns out covid boosters are needed, moderna wants to combine its coronavirus vaccines with a new flu shot. >> so we're going to throw everything out the window and give you a good high efficacy vaccine every winter and combine it with a covid vaccine booster so you can have a nice winter. >> reporter: that's his vision for the future. >> it's not clear how this will turnout, but what is clear is that moderna, which grew from a tiny start-up, to a household name over the course of one year is betting on the speed and versatility of mrna technology. so basically you have developed a delivery system for all kinds of different medications or therapies. >> that's really the promise of the technology. it really is the same system every time, just like we updated our vaccine in january for the new variants. we can update it to go after all the other viruses we're looking

at just as quickly. and that allows us to advance medicines across a wide range of diseases, both in cancer and in vaccines. >> reporter: meanwhile, connie franchosi says she's back to living a busy life. it seems like you have a lot to live for. >> i do. there are certain things i can't change. can't change my age. can't change my dna or the fact that i've had cancer. but i can change my attitude toward it, the opportunities that have been presented to me to do everything i can to avoid having a recurrence. >> reporter: and participating in the mrna research trial also makes her feel like she's giving back. >> i feel very fortunate. i feel very fortunate indeed to have this opportunity. because you're helpiping breyerers is alwayays so delelicious.... i cacan tell thahat they useser milk, matitilda. greatat job! moo you're welcomeme. breyerers natural l vanilla is made wiwith 100% grade e a milk andnd cream

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>> reporter: researchers recently blanketed the brush along northern california beaches. >> we're surprised to find large numbers of ticks and on that coast. >> reporter: typically the northeast is the epicenter for ticks in the u.s. and scientists are expecting an explosion of ticks there this year. warmer, wetter winters could be contributing to the larger numbers of mice they like to feed on. and more ticks means more tick-borne illnesses like lyme disease. the cdc's most recent data shows cases in 48 states with nearly half a million americans being treated for it every year. >> so they're looking for blood basically, and it can be as small as a poppy seed. >> reporter: parish was infected eight years ago on the beaches of new jersey. >> i lost every part of who i was. >> reporter: scientists say it's not the sand sun bathers need to worry about, but rather the walk to it. these are things people in california don't think about when they're going to the beach. >> i hope the studly bring light

>> reporter: finding ticks early is the key to avoiding lyme disease so when you get home do a tick check, then take a hot shower, and finally, throw all your clothes in a hot dryer to kill any

a new mural in galveston, texas, is a bright reminder of the role the city played in our nation's newest national holiday. juneteenth. janet shamlian has that story. >> reporter: for such a pivotal slice of history, only this historical marker recognized galveston's role in juneteenth. >> many times i would drive-thru the intersection and notice that people were walking by, but not reading the marker. >> reporter: for historian sam collins, an idea was born. a blank wall a few feet from the marker as a canvas. a museum in the form of a mural on the spot where a union general signed the order freeing enslaved people in texas. >> we were here at sun up to

typically sundown. >> reporter: reginald adams led a team of artists using six cherry-pickers, 350 gallons of paint and encourage. of passersby. >> it became a performance piece here in downtown galveston. you had hundreds watching artists bring the mural to life. >> reporter: the mural is called "absolute equality" the exact words used in the order in texas. the panorama depicts harriet tubman, abraham lincoln holding a broken shackle and the general who signed the order flanked by soldiers. >> i didn't think we could do it. >> reporter: the faces of those soldiers and soldiers are those of the artists. >> what this mural does is put a face on over 150 years of history. so that whether you like it or not, you can't help but see this work of art. >> i know a little of my history, in that we survived it and, you know, we lived through it. >> reporter: for lawrence thomas it has special meaning.

his great-great grandfather was enslaved by one of galveston's founders who lived in this home, the island's oldest. what do you think juneteenth means in 2021? >> to they it should be a celebration of understanding. >> reporter: for sam collins who grew up in galveston but says there were no lessons about juneteenth, it's a chance to effect change. >> i'm not upset about what didn't happen in the past. it's my job now to teach the history today so that future generations won't have these gaps in the history story. >> reporter: the power of public art and an outdoor classroom helping preserve history. janet shamlian, cbs news, galveston.eston. >> and that is the overnight news for this monday. for some of you the news continues. for others, check back with us later for "cbs this morning". and, of course, follow us online any time at cbsnews.com. reporting from the broad cast center in new york city, i jericka duncan.

it's monday, june 21st, 2021. this is the "cbs morning news." claudette's fury. the powerful storm batters the southeast killing at least 13 people. where it's headed now after causing widespread damage. covid resurgence fears. vaccination numbers slow as the delta variant spreads. the new strategy one health expert is pushing for to help vaccinate america. for the people act. the fate of a sweeping elections bill is uncertain just one day before a key vote. how one lawmaker is trying to sway republican senators.