kate >> morgan chesky, thank you. >>> strict rules like that are being implemented in many areas. but as the weather warms up, people i think a success to get outside are crowding public sapace as well and in some cases, ignoring social distancing rules kathy park has that. >> reporter: tonight, quarantine fatigue forcing people outside and on to beaches from coast to coast in los angeles, masks are mandatory but not everyone is putting one on >> i think it's a little disappointing and kind of scary when we're some of the only people like wearing masks. >> reporter: some new jersey beaches launched a soft reopening ahead of the memorial day holiday with restrictions. but that didn't stop these crowds eager for a taste of summer. >> everybody is staying in their own groups and the people that are wearing masks, that's where they're, that's what they want to do. >> reporter: the weekend warm-up also putting new yorkpark to the test as they filled up. this brooklyn park creatively enforcing social distancing with circles, while police handed out masks. >> we're trying to find ways to

correspondent morgan chesky is among our folks who have been in the crowd and around these various fires that have been burning. morgan, have you moved your location since we last checked in with you? >> brian, we absolutely did because about five minutes ago we heard succession of gunfire from what sounded to be inside the third precinct which is just beyond this parking lot here. i looked to my security team. i said is that what i thought it was. it sounded like an assault rifle. at that point we left the building where we were and we're standing at the intersection now. we haven't heard a repeat of that. right now i'm listening to glass being broken. about 20 yards behind me, an arby's that had been boarded up in hopes of protecting that bids is now being broken into as dozens of people kind of swarm that entrance there. and that is really the scene block by block in this part of the city right now, brian, because now for going on about an hour i have yet to see any police presence of any kind. i had seen some cruisers in the distance about a half hour ago, expecting them to roll into

correspondent morgan chesky is among our folks who have been in the crowd and around these various fires have been burning. morgan, have you moved your location since we last checked in with you? >> reporter: brian, we absolutely did because about five minutes ago, we heard a succession of gunfire from what sounded to be inside the third precinct, which is just beyond this parking lot here. i looked to my security team. i said, is that what i thought it was? that sounds like an assault rifle. and at that point we left the rear of the building where we were and came back to this intersection where we're standing now. we haven't heard a repeat of that, but right now i'm listening to glass being broken because about 20 yards behind me, if we can just flip the camera around, an arby's that had been boarded up in hopes of protecting that business is now being broken into as dozens of people swoarm that entrance there. that is the scene block by block in this part of the city now, brian, because going on about an hour, i have yet to see any police presence of any kind. i had seen some cruisers

and joining us now by tone from minneapolis is nbc news correspondent morgan chesky. along with our other correspondent ali velshi, you've been on the scene throughout the evening, and then at one point, maybe about 45 minutes ago, it came down from the city to get people out of the area. tell us where you are, what you saw, and what's transpired since then. >> reporter: yeah, chris, i can tell you that we have since kind of created a serious distance from that 3rd precinct police station where we were reporting from for the better part of the evening because the city said that after it had been basically taken over by protesters we were told that there were potential explosives inside that if ignited could pose serious threat. so we went ahead and distanced ourselves from that building. and then when we retreated to a nearby parking lot there was a flurry of gunfire, what we believe to be into the air, but either way our security team made the decision to go ahead and put more distance between us and that very much developing scene. as we pulled away from that inters

morgan chesky brought this up. my colleague a few moments ago. quote the defendant has his knee on mr. floyd's neck, 2 minutes and 43 seconds of eight minutes were after he was unresponsive. rallying cry for minneapolis and across the country who would like to see more done here. >> not only that, but several times one of the officers according to the complaint said do you think we should turn mr. floyd on his side, defendant said no, going to keep him where he is, that may turn out very important. other thing, where department of justice can help, what is the history of this officer, and that investigation takes a lot of time. what about all the prior complaints, what does it teach us, tell us, what was his reputation, do other officers think he goes after defendant -- arrestees and uses too much force and what do we know about those instances. all those need to be investigated to make a decision whether or not this is going to be superseded. some people are pushing and pushing and promising essentially first degree -- not joyce obviously, but p

nearly 20 years and that plunging demand for fuel is leaving some communities just devastated our morgan chesky is in one town reeling from the crisis. >> reporter: in curbing oklahoma, down brings a disaster millions gallons of oil filling every storage tank in sight. >> when the oil price turned red, scariest thing i've seen. >> reporter: from his diner on main street, chris has had a front row seat to oil busts before. >> to have both of these situations, the virus and oil business hit us all at one time, it's the only way i can describe it as a blood bath. >> reporter: here in oklahoma the pandemic's impact was almost immediate. the very welcome munty they grew up around pulled up oil nobody wanted and more importantly, nobody could sell. off the coast of california, an army of oil tankers have been sitting full for weeks. each one costing $100,000 a day just to wait. >> nobody is driving nobody is flying planes, and everybody is hold up in their house, no vacationers. it should have been obvious that the glut that was already there was going to get worse. >> reporter: now small producers l

here is morgan chesky. >> green flag, nascar is back. >> reporter: in darlington, south carolina it was a race like ever other that couldn't have been more different. >> i didn't think it was going to be that much different and then we won the race and it's dead silent. we miss the fans. >>> no fans in the stands, driver in a mask did yesterday feel like more than a race? >> it did. this was an opportunity for people in this nation to have some live sports again. >> reporter: progolf also returning sunday for charity. tomorrow the nfl will open practice facilities as leagues figure ways to keep players and fans safe while getting back to business. >> i think a lot of folks are in need of an uplift, something fun and having fresh live sporting events is a little bit of that. >> reporter: the sports world proving when it's done right, everyone is a winner morgan chesky, nbc news, darlington, south carolina. >>> that is "nightly news." i'm lester holt, please take care of yourself and each other good night working really hard just to really -- so i expect to open a few days after we know f

and joining us by phone from minneapolis is nbc news correspondent morgan chesky. you've been on the scene throughout the evening. at one point, maybe about 45 minutes ago, it came down from the city to get people out of the area. tell us where you are, what you saw, and what's transpired since then. >> reporter: yeah, chris. i can tell you that we have since kind of created a serious distance from that third precinct police station where we were reporting from for the better part of the evening. the city said after it had been basically taken over by protestors, we were told that there were potential explosives inside, that if ignited, would pose serious threats. so we distanced ourself from that building. when we retreated to a nearby parking lot, there was a flurry of gunfire into what we believe into the air. but either way, our security team made the decision to go ahead and put more distance between us and that very much developing scene. as we pulled away from that intersection where we were reporting tonight, i saw an arby's restaurant that had been boarded

chris jansing is in ohio, blayne alexander in atlanta and morgan chesky.ll going to start out with garrett haake. give us the scene this morning in dallas as we said, the highest death toll yesterday as well as reopening this morning. >> reporter: yeah, ayman, today is the day for texas restaurants, if they want it to be, half of texas restaurants have told the restaurant association that they will reopen. another half are going to wait it out a little longer and stay closed. things are going to look different for customers. they're subject to the 25% capacity limit. they'll be met by sur vers in masks and gloves. here at this restaurants, patrons will have their temperatures checked before their allowed to be seated. everyone involved can see, a bit of an experiment here to see if they can reopen restaurants, retail, and some other businesses in texas on a limited capacity and still keep the positive case rate flat or low. deep the hospitalization and death rates down. we will begin to see this today at lunchtime, when a number of these restaurants here i

let's go to morgan chesky in dallas, texas. >> reporter: good morning.n phase two, starting at midnight last night here in texas, and that meant that all bars, breweries, bowling alleys, they're all allowed to open up with 25% capacity allowed. we know as the numbers sit right now, texas has more than 53,000 positive cases of covid-19 and the deaths are currently sitting at 1,485. the governor wants to continue moving the state dwoforward tows a full reopening. there was a line of people outside this bar behind me last night. i'm joined by the owner. i know you've taken special consideration into reopening. you had a line wrapped around last night, what did you see with this reopen? >> we -- i saw excitement. i saw people wanting to be out. i saw people that wanted to stay safe. and one thing i noticed was some of our -- we were going around and monitoring them and so forth and make sure there weren't big crowds at a table. we have, you know, pieces of tape laid down where you're supposed to stand and you can only have one person ordering and they can't

let's go back to morgan chesky. morgan, very different scene than i saw you at an hour ago. tell me what's been going on where you are, in minneapolis. >> well, we just had to reposition because state police, in conjunction with minneapolis pd, is starting to enforce very strict perimeter. and they are actually enforcing that curfew tonight that went into effect at 8:00 p.m. central standard time. and we are just on the other side of a bridge to give authorities a wide because just beyond this bridge, we are seeing dozens of cruisers start to advance on any remaining crowd that's in place. ace. still fresh... ♪ unstopables in-wash scent booster ♪ downy unstopables -excuse me. uh... do you mind...being a mo-tour? -what could be better than being a mo-tour? the real question is... do you mind not being a mo-tour? -i do. for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. the first and only full prescription strength non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel available over-the-counter. new voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. voltaren. the joy of movement. new volta

morgan chesky and i were on two parts of it. these were peaceful protests. the police, without warning -- we've got police coming toward us again, which makes me a little nervous right now. miguel, let's get ready to move. without any provocation and warning, opened fire. let's move back here and started firing into the crowd. in fact, as you know, chris, you mentioned earlier that i had my tear gas mask. i've had this with me the whole time. i didn't even have enough time to put the mask on. miguel, let's get a shot as the police come down here to see what they're up to. that's the story, christine. let's just watch what's happening here. this is what they've been doing. they've been moving around the city and then just suddenly stopping and getting out of their vehicles. that's fire. all right. so this is a different story. one of the problems is -- and i can see a fire. i can see a fire burning over to our left in the direction that the fire trucks are going in. you can see now this is a national guard escort. this is part of the problem, that the fires,

the fire you saw about an hour ago that morgan chesky was able, they weren't able to get their engines in there. from was a small presence, but they weren't able to fight the fire until the protesters left. by that time, the building had mostly been gutted. so that is a major concern. and, again, i'm going to point behind me there. miguel is going to focus on there's a fire on the other side. we can't get there, and i don't know what's burning, but it appears to be adjacent to the police station, if not the police station. it might be across the road. i can't get a good sense of it from where i am. this is a very dynamic crowd, so we're cautious about the way we move through i to not antagonize anyone. but it does appear that the protesters are looking to squeeze the police out of this building and take control of it because they've got fires on both sides of the third precinct. the third side of it, by the way, there's two sides exposed. this side is the parking lot. that's already been breached. the fourth side is an alley. and beside the alley is a fire station. the fire station has

morgan chesky with that report. morgan, thank you, and we'll be right back.his time of social distancing, there is one thing we can all do together: complete the 2020 census. your responses are critical to plan for the next 10 years of health care, education, and more. go online to 2020census.gov and help shape america's future. go online to 2020census.gov if you have a garden you know, weeds are low down little scoundrels. draw the line with roundup. the sure shot wand extends with a protective shield to target weeds precisely and kill them right down to the root. roundup brand. trusted for over 40 years. 100% online car buying. carvana's had a lot of firsts. car vending machines. and now, putting you in control of your financing. at carvana, get personalized terms, browse for cars that fit your budget, then customize your down payment and monthly payment. and these aren't made-up numbers. it's what you'll really pay, right down to the penny. whether you're shopping or just looking. it only takes a few seconds, and it won't affect your credit score. finally!

nbc's morgan chesky joins us from the small town of thackerville. ackerville is in south central, oklahoma. walk us through how these casinos are going to pull it off, morgan. what are they going to be doing to keep people safe? >> reporter: craig, good morning. small town with a massive casino. we're in front of windstar world casino. they're rolling out the phased approach here, 25% capacity. that may not sound like a lot. listen to some of the numbers here. on an average day they can accommodate 25,000 guests here. today as a result of the virus, they're capping that number at about 6,200. people were here bright and early, lining up outside to have a chance to head inside. everyone who did cross the threshold had to have a temperature check before they went inside. in the meantime, they've got 4,000 employees here. this is the eighth largest employer in the state of oklahoma. all those employees i'm told were tested. they'll continue to be tested randomly for the next two weeks. on top of that, they also have to do daily temperature checks. a lot

. >>> joining us with the latest from the streets of minneapolis is morgan chesky. morgan, what's the situation there now? >> reporter: lawrence, we're going into a friday night unlike any we've seen before. we hope it not a carbon copy of the past two nights with so much destruction in the ten-block square area but yet to be seen. we're just around the corner from the third precinct police station that was taken over last night by protesters and we would have been right in front of it however five minute ace ccs ago a bufferer between us and the building because people were running out saying they lit a fire in the interior. others walking out with anything from lysol wipes to legar books taking sae ing souvenirs. the group has yet to return to the area. they marched athlete a mile from where i'm standing towards another part of the city after tear gas was deployed on them. in the meantime here we're sure rounded by burned buildings. it has become a free for all, lawrence. we have been waiting to see for any sign of minneapolis police or the national guard or those

morgan chesky with the solution there. morgan, thank you. >>> let's bring in our doctor on duty, dr. jennifer pena, a former white house physician in the obama administration, also vice president of and mike pence's physician as well. let's start with the draft document obtained by "the new york times," confirmed by nbc news. it estimates that the death toll could reach 3,000 lives lost a day. we should note it's a private draft. it wasn't publicly released. what do you make of that, especially as we see so many states start to reopen and try and resume business as usual? >> hi, craig, thank you for having me back. obviously, yes, as we now know from the document, there is a projection that the death toll is going to start to rise significantly estimating up to 3,000 deaths a day. already we're seeing close to 2,000 or 1,700 per day which is not a number to be taken lightly. certainly 3,000 is a flabbergasting number. obviously the biggest concern here is how is that number affected by the reopening of the economy and this

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and nbc's morgan chesky was there. >> reporter: this morning the race is on to bring back sports.ascar setting the pace, fulling off its post-covid return sunday, in south carolina. >> i didn't think it was going to be that much different then we won the race and it's dead silent out here. we miss the fans. >> reporter: no fans in the stands. but on tv millions watched drivers mask up. their put crews slightly smaller. the first race back different. but welcomed. >> reporter: is it tough to be so close and yet not be able to go in? >> not really. i think they're doing the right thing by not allowing us to go in. >> reporter: ronald nunez one of the fans who decided to drive down anyway. the tradition he sets up the camper while dad mans the grill. >> if we can't see it inside we'll watch it on tv and we'll hear it and smell it. that's why we're here. >> reporter: progolf back as well. in florida a charity match for health care workers brought out the sport's biggest names, the president himself phoning in to call it a good start. >> we're getting it back and it's going to be fast.

nbc's morgan chesky is outside the texas state penitentiary in texas. ck is in miami beach for us. morgan, these numbers of prisoners testing positive, they're hard to get a hold of. prisoners are excluded from state case counts. why is that? >> reporter: that's a great point. it deals with the fact that you're dealing with a game of telephone. the texas department of criminal justice, they report their numbers daily to the texas state health department at which point that health department passes those positive numbers down to the counties. it's then that the county's discretion on whether or not they want to include inmate numbers in their covid-19 case counts that are released. so that's -- it leaves it to local leaders on whether or not they want to include that and release that information. that's one of the issues that makes it murky and each state has different rules when it comes to who can include those numbers and who can't. in the meantime, a third of all texas inmates are under lockdown because of the persistence of this virus behind prison w

morgan chesky and i were on two parts of it. these were peaceful protests. the police without warning -- we've got people coming toward us again which makes me nervous right now -- miguel, let's move. without any provocation and warning opened fire -- let's move back here -- and started firing into the crowd. as you know you mentioned earlier i had my tear gas mask. i didn't have enough time to police come down here to see what they're up to. that's the story, christine. let's just watch what's happening here. thois is what they've been doing. they've been moving around the city and suddenly stopping and get out of their vehicles. that's fire. all right, so this is a different story. one of the problems is and i can see a fire burning over to our left in the direction that the fire trucks are going in. you can see now this is national guard escort. this is part of the problem that the fires as they've been started have not been able to have been put out because the fire trucks can't get in there to put the fires out. so we've got another vehicle coming this

nbc's morgan chesky is also on those streets. are you seeing what ali is seeing. >> we are just a block away from the fifth precincts. you're seeing patrol using tear gas. as you can see, a just deployed smoke canister. we had several hundred if not 1,000 people gathered in this intersection just about 20 minutes ago. and then the state police arrived, they gave the order to disburse, they gave the crowd about a half hour to leave on their own. but when they didn't leave this area, now the state police started moving up little by little, using tear gas. not everyone has that at all. you can see state police running through that gas. trying to move this crowd away. from a numbers standpoint, they have tripled the amount of law enforcement in minneapolis tonight. than they did the prior two or three. so much damage happened. and you can see people making their way away from this street right now. that building is just one of the dozens that have been burned over the past several nights. in the meantime, state police continue to mak

>> thank you so much morgan chesky. joining us now, the vice dean of public health at johns hopkins school of public health. looking at the pictures at jersey shore and dallas at the bars, are you concerned? i see a lot of people and not a whole lot of masks. >> so i'm more concerned by the pictures of the bars than the beach. i think outdoors is less of a risk. i love the interview with the person saying she's out there encouraging people to remember to stay apart, which is great that they're voluntary efforts like that. i think it's important for people to get outside a little bit. but be careful. when they're doing that, i like they remove the benches. things like that are smart things to do. the bars are a little more stressed out because the wave in the bars can make people want to shout. that can spread the virus a little bit. hand sanitizers help but your real concern is when people are breathing or coffee, it's going to propel it in a large way. and some of those outdoor patios can get quite congested. i think w

we get our report on this tonight from nbc news correspondent morgan chesky. >> reporter: poured and stored in kegs all across the country, a growing dilemma for america's brewmasters. >> as a small craft brewer, the covid-19 crisis hit us pretty hard. >> reporter: brewery owner wim bens. the shutdown gutted more than half his business overnight. >> you know, one of the things about beer and especially craft beer is that it's a perishable product. it's, you know, not unlike your loaf of bread that you'd buy at the grocery store. there is a shelf life on it. >> reporter: with craft beer lasting one to three months, almost all of the nation's 7,000 craft breweries are approaching their final pour. at wild acre brewery in fort worth, pale ales and pilsners now piling up without a soul to sip. >> that pipeline's shut off. you're just kind of stuck with what you have. >> reporter: how much do you have? >> more than we need. >> reporter: way more. and what hurts even worse is what comes next. >> when you can't take beer to market for a couple of months, that leads to unfortunately the dump

now let's go back to minneapolis where nbc news correspondent morgan chesky is on the ground. right, morgan. give us an update on what you're seeing. it seems a bit more sparse where you are. >> joy, it certainly is. we are asking ourselves where is the mass of people that departed this area at 8:00 central time. that's when that curfew went into effect. that's when the national guard rolled by in humvees, and that's when police deployed that tear gas and that smoke to try to get those people out of this area. they succeeded in that, but upon leaving the third precinct, which is just a block behind me, they continued down the road, and they've made their way across the city. we do know that the fifth precinct has been seeing a swarm of people around that area, causing issues, vandalism and looting like we've seen in this neighborhood for the past two nights. so as it stands right now, we are continuing to see a stream of people continuing to make their way through this area. fires have been lit within the past hour or two that burn unabated, and there's been no sign of police,

reporter: for communities built around oil, the rising cost of a pandemic taking a devastating toll morgan chesky, nbc news cushing, oklahoma. >>> we could be 48 hours away from history unfolding in space spacex making the final preparations in florida for the first launch of american astronauts from u.s. soil in nearly a decade tom costello has more. >> reporter: on the pad at the kennedy space center america's next generation of space flight a capsule sitting on top of a falcon nine rocket after catching rides on russian rockets for nine years, american astronauts are about to lift off from american soil on an american rocket. but for the first time in history it's up to a private company to carry two veteran nasa astronauts to the space station. doug hurry and bob. >> we had probably more than any history just in terms of >> reporter: spacex has been flying a cargo version of the rocket to the space station for years but this is the first time it will carry humans complicating the mission. the coronavirus has forced half the spacex engineers to work from home. the astronauts taking regular cov

nbc's morgan chesky is in the home of country music this morning. that's live parmerformances, morgan, what are they going to look like as these musicians return to stages in nashville. >> reporter: they'll look significantly different. people are excited to have the chance to listen to music. we were walking alongside broadway, phase two starting for nashville, allowing live music to return. that's what is giving so many people hope. we were listening to performers. you had tables spread farther apart for social distancing. we know that when it comes to performers, you can't have more than two people on the stage at a time. that rule in and of itself going to impact a lot of acts that roll through this area. also, while bars are technically open, you can't sit at the bar. that means if you go to one of these places, you have to sit at a table. you can put your order in. the wait staff will retrieve the drink for you. in some establishments, you have to walk in wearing a mask that you can remove at your table. performers were happy to get back in fro

nbc's morgan chesky is there for us. what have you been seeing develop there? >> reporter: we've seen two very contrasting scenes day by day. and right now, a peaceful protest is just beginning to wrap up. very near that intersection where george floyd died on monday evening. you can see just how many people are packed into this area here getting wherever they can, on top of roofs, packing sidewalks and streets, to hear the message that they're trying to get out. and that is that george floyd's death should not be in vain. and they're making a very clear statement among the speeches that they are not those who were moving in under the cover of darkness and have caused so much devastation here in this city and in neighboring st. paul, chris. they say they need make it clear this is their city, this is their cause, and so that's why they're trying to make a delineation as the governor did early this morning when he said that 80% of those arrested were not even from minnesota, that this is a home-grown effort that they're trying to push forward. but frankly, they'

let's head to morgan chesky. people lined up at midnight to get into bars because they're open again. tell us about it. >> yeah, steph, a big day as they enter the phase two reopening for the economy. when the clock struck midnight, there were people wrapped around this bar in dallas called lee harveys. it has no connection to mr. oswald, but everyone wanted to show up here and take advantage of that 12:00 to 2:00 time frame for those few hours they would finally be back open. bars all over the state allowed to reopen at 25% capacity and you can see behind me that those picnic tables have been spaced out to make sure social distancing is accommodated. and this doesn't just include bars. this phase two reopening also touches on breweries, bingo halls, bowling alleys, skating rinks as well. so people are finally able to get back out and socialize to an extent. we know there is still concerns of the virus' presence here and that's why we spoke to one owner who had this to say about that back and forth when it comes

morgan chesky is our other correspondent out and about in minneapolis tonight. morgan, i've been watching your work tonight in and around you. you saw again tonight no police or national guard presence. is that still the case? >> reporter: brian, that's very much still the case. no sign of national guard no, sign of state police. and because of that, people are free to play their music as they wish in this area. i'm standing in front of the third precinct. we'll show that in just a second. but i want to show behind you where a new fire has been set by these crowds that at this point in time are free to roam around this area and do as they wish, which is what we've seen the past two nights, and that's an unfortunate reality that we are witnessing tonight. i'm going to turn the camera around this way if we can. this is what is left of the third precinct of the minneapolis police station, and you're looking at what is left of the entrance. and people have been going in and out of that entrance all night, taking whatever they can, brian. i saw one woman walk out with

nbc news' morgan chesky is at everglades national park reminds us the scenery won't be the same but don't expect the rules to be. >> reporter: for the first time in month, lovers of the great outdoors can once again enjoy the majestic beauty in person as some of our national parks reopen just in time for memorial day. at the florida everglades, campgrounds are closed. you can still take a walk on the wild side. >> we wanted to see some animals. we've already seen some am gators and egrets. it's nice to be able to come out and enjoy nature. >> reporter: they're not alone. the secret's out with many americans looking to leave quarantined households. even second lady karlin pence stopping by the smokey mountains in tennessee. >> not only are these experience good to have, but they're good for us, too. . >> are national parks safe right now? >> i think outdoor venues are preferred to places where are you inside and tight quarters with other people. >> he says his clients now more than ever are looking to explore what our nation's back yard has to offer. >> to see families, especially children

morgan chesky has more >> reporter: in nashville, the sound of live music is back.er ten weeks of closures, the home of country music is beginning phase 2 of the four-phase reopening >> it feels so good, refreshing to be back down here play willi -- playing music. >> nashville and the surrounding county hit hard with more than 4800 reported coronavirus cases. the staggered reopeningnow permits limited live music performances allowed only in restaurants and bars serving food. >> i think it's the first real sign of, okay, we're recovering. >> there's still some concern. >> without question. we're concerned that a relapse, a resurgence will set us back even worse than we already are lost a billion dollars we have to do it right >> that includes no more than two musicians up on the stage at any time and no more than 25 people in the venue. the dance floors still off limits it's a first step to a city synonymous with song ♪ >> i was nervous that nobody was going to be here there's people in here and everybody seems to be having a good time. >> here on nashville's main dr

nbc's morgan chesky has this report >> green flag, nascar is back! >> reporter: the return came with a roar. the nascar race a turning point for all sports their seasons cut off by covid-19 at darlington raceway, a glimpse of the new normal. grandstands empty to keep fans safe on a typical race day, tammy robinson makes vacation money turning her front yard into a parking lot. today it's empty. >> our town is a race town that's what we are we love our fans well love the sound of the noise in the background. >> reporter: now everyone is having to adjust for those at the track, that means temperature checks skeleton pit crews to limit exposure, and drivers masking up if they're not behind the wheel. >> i think anybody that comes back first is going to be under a microscope i do, however, i'm very confident in all the things nascar has done. >> reporter: in florida, drivers of a different kind. pro golf back in action with a charity match. the sport's biggest names carrying their own bags and keeping their distance to raise money for health care workers

mayor garcetti just mentioned that the death of george floyd, morgan chesky is only ground t for us in minneapolis. morgan, what are you seeing on the ground? >> reporter: yeah, craig, we're standing just at the end of the 35 west bridge. this was the scene of a massive protest today where thousands of protesters were peacefully protesting by sitting down on this bridge. and you can see that scene has deteriorated, craig. witnesses are telling me that within the past 45 minutes, a large truck or semi-trailer drove into the crowd on the other side of those highway signs, injuring dozens of people and causing pandemonium on the bridge, at which point those hundreds of people started running towards our position where we are right now. now, we do know that upon retreating, there was a massive police response as you can see. they've gone ahead and blocked off that bridge right now, craig. and you can see this crowd remaining here on the scene. just about 25 yards apart from police officers with minneapolis p.d., and they do have tear gas and we're told they did use mason protesters to try

somewhere in this very large crowd with me is morgan chesky. morgan, where are you and what do you see? >> ali, we are just outside one of the entrances to the fifth precinct, and right now we are just about 2 minutes prior to this a city bus rolled up to this area, ali, and at least a dozen or so officers disembarked that bus and walked through this gate and into this area. and you can see this crowd has entered this area. they did not welcome those officers warmly at all. in fact, there was a lot of shouting going on. we're going to move back just a little bit from this area, move back from this area because, ali, here on that crowd on that end a new crowd has formed by the fifth presipcinct area. as you can imagine tensions are still running high. tensions are still running very high right now especially with the arrival of those police officers. we're going to keep walking slowly back here. and i do want to make an important point, ali, and that is that the footprint for law enforcement will be significantly larger tonight than wave seen in

of minneapolis we're joined with the latest on the ground there with n brbc news correspondent morgan chesky. morgan, what are you seeing? >> reporter: lawrence, we're about two blocks aboy from the police station where ali is reporting and he referenced the fire we're talking about. this is what is left of the pawnshop burning for the better part of the past half hour. unfortunately, firefighters only able to move in and try to put those flames out within the past five minutes simply due to the size of the crowd here and you can see there is still plenty of anger and hostility in southern minneapolis tonight. we know that the sound of glass is breaking just across the street and an officer building is being broken into. people walking inside of breaking open those doors and windows throwing rocks or whatever they can get their hands on outside of a few actors doing that, though, or individuals rather, everyone is slowly but surely at least appearing to disburse. lawrence, right now we'll send it back to you. >> morgan, thank you. we're going back to ali somewhere else on the streets of minn

let's go back to minneapolis where nbc correspondent morgan chesky is on the ground. it seems a bit more sparse where you are. >> reporter: joy, it certainly is. we are asking ourselves where is the mass of people that departed this area at 8:00 central time? that's when that curfew went into effect. that's when the national guard rolled by in humvees and they deployed that teargas and smoke to try to get these people out of this area. they succeeded in that, but upon leaving the third precinct which is just a block behind me, they continued down the road and they've made their way across this city. we do know that the fifth precinct has been seeing a swarm of people around there. so as it stand right now, we are continuing to see a stream of people continuing to make their way through this area. fires have been lit within the past hour or two that burn unabated and there's been no sign of police, no sign of national guard. and fire department has not made any effort to come here and try to put any of these flames out at this point in time. when we were standing outsi

morgan chesky has been standing by to talk with us, and we've been getting a live hook up with him. morgan, can you hear us? >> reporter: brian, i can hear you. we are in south minneapolis right now where a crowd is gathering. just to make one thing very clear, these are the crowds we've seen gathered during the daytime in minneapolis. each sign, may justice flow down like a river, george floyd, black lives matter, i can't breathe, these are the peaceful protests, brian, that have felt like their message has been overshadowed by the damage that's been seen one night after another in the city. last night unfortunately no different than the prior two with more fires being set and more destruction coming across minneapolis. we did see a hopeful site earlier today, brian, with dozens upon dozens to clean up midtown, a neighborhood that was not hit until overnight and early this morning, but these are the kind of demonstrations we've seen during the day. they've planned a march through the city today. these are the folks as you mentioned in this area, wanting to show george floyd's messag

where we find morgan chesky who has been there throughout largely a peaceful day and into the night. ou seeing and hearing now, morgan? >> reporter: good evening that peaceful protest has since ended. minneapolis police with help of state police and national guard are in process of retaking areas that they let crowds do with what they wished past several days. wearing the gas mask because that haze is tear gas deployed to scatter a crowd of several hundred people. they're off in the distance there. they were congregated at this intersection about a block away from the third precinct where minneapolis pd, see the officers holding their position here, crowd as firmly entrenched as they were dissolved rather quickly once the tear gas was deployed. few of them have a gas mask, so having caught a whiff yesterday without this on, doesn't take much to get people moving from the area. several dozen vehicles were blocking the intersection here, when we walked up, they were waiting for police to come to this area. half dozen people were seated in front of the police cars, not moving. but as you

my colleague morgan chesky is in the everglades in south florida. morgan, specifically, what precautions are the parks taking as they open up? >> yeah, steph, good morning. parks are trying to figure that out as they go. this is such a moving target when it comes to responding to the pandemic. here at the everglades national park, they are recommending people do wear these face coverings if they're going to be out on those trails. i never thought i'd see a day where we'd have socially distant hikes but because of the popularity of these parks, especially here at the ev everglades, that's what we've come to. when you go on a trail, make sure and give a wide berth to people you pass by. in that case, not all the facilities here in this park are reopened. those common areas like restaurants, places where you can have group gatherings in parks, a lot of those are still remaining closed. ranger-led walks in popular hiking areas have also been put on hold. those will be the biggest differences. including campgrounds being shut down when they venture out to

nbc's morgan chesky is there. tell us more about these outside actors. what are authorities saying about them? >> reporter: absolutely. and bear with us. it's pretty loud here because we're walking right in the middle of a protest that just started, walking at least a mile to the site where george floyd lost his life monday evening. i believe you mentioned outside actors. that is something that both officials and the people in this very crowd have been talking about today simply because everyone wants to make a very clear line between who is who. and we know that last night the governor said that 80% of those arrested in minneapolis and st. paul were from out-of-state. and so that's why they're calling in those additional national guardsmen today, 1,000 of them to help keep the peace tonight when that 8:00 p.m. curfew goes into effect. in the meantime we have this protest that's swelled in size to at least 500 people, and they gathered a few blocks away from the fifth precinct police station, and then they started marching towards this way. we know that

let's go back to minneapolis where nbc news correspondent morgan chesky is on the ground. all right, morgan, give us an update on what you're seeing. it seems a bit more sparse where you are. >> reporter: joy, it certainly is. we are asking people where is the mass of people that departed this area at 8:00 central time? that's when the curfew went into effect. that's when the national guard rolled by in humvees and that's when police deployed that tear gas and that smoke to try to get those people out of this area. they succeeded in that, but upon leaving the third precinct, which is just a block behind -- behind me, they continued down the road and they've made their way across the city. we do know that the fifth precinct has been seeing a swarm of people around that area causing issues. vandalism and looting like we've seen in this neighborhood for the past two nights. and so as it stands right now, we are continuing to see a stream of people continuing to make their way through this area. fires have been lit within the past hour or two. that burn unabated. and there has

our other morgan chesky got caught in a crew and his team tear gassed. ali velshi, you're you've seen the video, tear gassed between what was happening on the street. show you that video what they were facing. take a look at this. >> get back. get back. he's hit. he's hit. step back. i got it. whoa. watch it, guys. we got gas here. all right. back up, back up, back up. the gentleman next to us got hit. >> you see the video there. i think there will be question how police across the country are handling, how the media is trying to do their job. talking about across the country, though. obviously much quieter here in minneapolis but if you take a blood look, i mean the national guard was activated in 12 cities and the district of columbia. there were clashes and protests and violence in los angeles where it trickled out even into things like rodeo drive and melrose. we saw widespread looting across the city there. chicago, miami, new york, where there were protests active in just about every borough. police fighting with protesters on the streets there. po

morgan chesky is outside a prison in huntsville. we node this virus can spread fast in close quarters. walk us through it. >> reporter: absolutely. we're see one example after another of how the prisons can become hot spots across the country from ohio to right here in texas. texas has one largest inmate populations in the country, 135,000 inmates, and the results we're seeing brings concern. they have tested just around 1% of their population here in texas. as a result of that tests, we're seeing 70% of those tests are coming back with positive results. to be clear, that 70% number is what we're seeing in other populations that have been tested. as you mentioned, the virus is very easily spread. i had a chance to hear about the precautions that the texas department of corrections is taking to try to limit it. we do know if you are symptomatic, you're taken to the infirmary, auer kept in medical isolation until the test comes back positive or negative, but the big concern is this virus continues to spread. we know that lockdowns are

. >> nbc's morgan chesky is on the ground in minneapolis. tell us more about these outside actors. what are authorities saying about them? >> good morning. >> reporter: the outside actors have been identified by officials as some of those who were out late at night causing so much of the devastation and destruction. the governor is saying that everyone taken into custody and placed under arrest was from out of the state of minnesota. and it's with that that we're starting to see a very clear line in the sand being drawn between those bad actors that have caused so much damage in this area and the peaceful protesters that have gathered for the most part during the day in and around minneapolis for the death of george floyd to try to send their message. and after speaking with some of them, they were frustrated because they felt like their message of peaceful protest was being overshadowed by the sheer devastation we've been seeing. and speaking of the looting and vandalism, we are starting to see a new effort rise from this city today and i want to give you a look at it firsthand. t

. >> let's go to nbc's morgan chesky in minneapolis. what is expected to happen today? >> we do know a number of peaceful protests have been planned later throughout today. but we're standing in downtown minneapolis right now and it is a relative ghost town even though that curfew lifted at 6:00 a.m. this morning. we know if everywhere you look block by block, you'll see businesses looking just like this. plywood over each window. black owned. the owner putting that on a specific business in hopes of saving this should these crowds that have been so destructive during the night make their way through this area. we do know there is a clear delineation from the peaceful crowds in the afternoon and the damaging ones we've seen move through this city. block by block in the evening. we know that last night we saw a significant change in the fact of triple the footprint of law enforcement than we've seen in past days. we know that 1,000 more national guardsmen arrived yesterday. and that resource combined with the state police enforced that curfew for the first time since put