brittany howard, sophie tucker and tyco set to perform, available for free on the live streaming servicee're tracking hurricane laura due to the historic hurricane in the gulf right now, look at the air quality for tomorrow in the five day forecast. >>> we are monitoring hurricane laura a category 4 hurricane. and could cause catastrophic damage in louisiana and texas. >>> and taking a live look here in the bay area on this wednesday night, hazy out there because of the massive wildfires that are still burning, ktvu channel 2 news at 6:30 will be right back. >>> hurricane laura is now closing in on the u.s. gulf coast as a catastrophic category 4 hurricane with winds of up to 156 miles an hour. it's currently off the coast of louisiana and texas and is expected to make landfall near port arthur around midnight our time. it could be the strongest hurricane to ever hit louisiana and authorities say it could bring an unsurvivable storm surge which is expected to be as high a as 20 feet in some areas. more than half a million people have been ordered to evacuate the gulf coast. >>> let's get

the statues in central park >>> and continuing on the theme women's equality day, the talented brittany howard have more with brittany on friday she's going to join us for a live concert >> that'll be great. >>> then we have an extra special my "today" plaza this morning. it's in honor of national dog day, ladies and gentlemen. we're looking forward to it. those are some loud dogs we'll hang out with them in a few minutes. >>> then just a few more minutes in the third hour, it's the marvelous cast of mrs. maisel. they're going to chat about the show's 20 emmy nominations and we'll see if we can get a bit of a scoop on season four as well >>> all right. it's 8:31. why don't we get a check of the an audio issue there >> i like al any way we get al. >> we can read that map. >> hold on i'm back i'm back i'm back hello? >> we missed you. >> we can't lose you now there's a hurricane approaching. >> i know. i know anyway, so looking ahead to the weekend, friday we got severe storms in the upper midwest. laura bringing a lot of rain to the mississippi and ohio river valleys. abnormally hot out west on

brittany howard's in the house. >> we will hear her beautiful voice and she is so talented and she iss been up to while everyone is staying at home these days >> sounds like she shas been pretty productive. >>> also today, the 57th anniversary of the march on washington for civil rights and we will talk to an historian, one of my favorite historians, who has some insight, the youngest speaker that day, 1963, we're talking about john lewis, jon meachum has a new book out about the late congressman and civil rights activist quite revealing and we will sit down with him in just a moment and then in the third hour, we will meet two nurses on the front lines traveling all over this country to help with the fight against coronavirus. >>> all right, it is 8:31. otherwise known as plaza time. let's show everybody who has gotten up early, ready to rise and shine on our virtual plaza good morning to everybody. and i got to talk to jason and jay. good morning jason and jay, they're in maryland, they' two navy veterans, and i say t i hear you have a big announcement >> yes, we d it's been two or