College parties and late today why one Major University shut down inperson classes just days after reopening. Plus could a new saliva test just approved by the f. D. A. Be the key to getting rapid results . Our new series the new normal, back to school, a look at schools in one hot zone where the question remains should children be required to wear a mask in class . Dangerous heat, thousands evacuated amid raging wildfires out west as 40 Million People face the worst heat in years, now threatening californias power grid. What residents are doing to escape an energy emergency. Will Lori Loughlin get prison time . Federal prosecutors today say she should, calling her fully complicit in the College Cheating scandal. Will the judge agree . And the ballet star who battled stereotypes on stage and is now blazing new trails. This is the cbs evening news with Norah Odonnell. Reporting from the nations capitol. Odonnell good evening to our viewers in the west and thank you for joining us. Were going to begin with the first night of the Democratic National convention and what will be an unorthodox political event brought on by an unprecedented pandemic. The Coronavirus Crisis has not only changed how tonights speeches will be given, but what they will focus on. Over the next four nights democrats will appear virtually without the pomp and circumstance were used to seeing, where they will argue that joe biden and Kamala Harris are uniquely qualified to take on President Trump and the pandemic. Tonight which will feature a speech by former First Lady Michelle Obama comes just as a new cbs news Battleground Tracker poll shows joe biden leading the president among likely voters. Not only who will vote this november but how they will cast their ballot will also be front and center tonight. Today democrats accused the president s handpicked postmaster general of trying to slow down mail delivery and at the same time more americans than ever are expected to vote by mail. Tonight the speaker of the house is calling it sabotage. Congress is calling on the head of the Postal Service to testify next week, and some democrats are asking the f. B. I. To investigate. And as we come on the air tonight there is also breaking news about the pandemic. The university of North Carolina says its sending its students back home and going virtual just weeks after reopening. 130 students there have tested positive for coronavirus in the last week. Amid growing alarm nationwide that College Students are being social without distancing and leading to skyrocketing infections. There is a lot of new reporting to get to tonight and our team of correspondents has all of the latest news. Cbs ed okeefe will lead off our coverage with a preview of the big night ahead. Good evening, ed. Reporter norah, tonight democrats are supposed to be gathering for the first night of their convention in the battleground state of wisconsin. Instead they will beipatg virtu. Youll hear from Party Leaders all across the country. Instead of thousands of cheering democrats, balloon drops and rousing speeches, democrats will kick things off virtually tonight showcasing one of its biggest stars, michelle obama. I know joe. Reporter in prerecorded remarks the former first lady said biden has what it takes. He will make smart plans and manage a good team. And he will govern as someone who has lived a life that the rest of us can recognize. Reporter bidens top primary rival bernie sanders, who Campaign Aides hope can convince skeptical progressives, will also speak, as will four republicans set to encourage other g. O. P. Voters to switch sides and defeat the president. The president wanted to exploit reporter biden got a boost today when republican miles taylor, a former Senior Trump Administration official, endorsed him and excused mr. Trump of using his office for political purposes including trying to cut wildfire relief funding for california because voters there opposed him in 2016. A lot of times things he wanted to do, not only were impossible, but in many cases illegal. Reporter biden leads the president in most National Polls but the latest cbs news Battleground Tracker shows democrats still lag republicans when it comes to enthusiasm about voting, something the party hopes to address this week. They are relying on female prime time tv stars including eva longoria and Julia Louisdreyfus to emcee each night of the convention. Biden himself sat down with rapper cardi b. , a former sanders supporter, in hopes of convincing millions of her fans to get out and vote. Your generation and the Young Millenials beyond that, they can own this. They can own this outcome. Reporter President Trump will counter each day of the Democratic Convention with his own political events. He barnstormed through minnesota and wisconsin today. Nobody is going to want to cover sleepy joe. Well end up with one very boring socialist country that will go to hell. Odonnell and ed joins us now with more on that question, how is the Democratic Party hoping to address that Enthusiasm Gap that exists . Reporter norah, tonight at least they will be relying on the former first lady and senator sanders, both of whom are expected to talk about bidens character. The former first lady expected to talk about what she saw over his eight years as Vice President to her husband, and sanders is expected to talk about bidens open mindedness and willingness to embrace more progressive ideas. That appearance with cardi b. And interviews that Kamala Harris gave over the weekend to womens publications are all designed to motivate younger, minority and female voters that the party know they will need in order to win in november. Odonnell ed okeefe, thank you. And a programming note, we will have live coverage of the Convention Starting tonight at 7 00 pacific. Hope you will join us tonight and all week. The Postal Service is warning all 50 states and the district of columbia that it cant ensure that mail had be in ballots will be delivered in time to be counted this november. And that is why Speaker Pelosi is calling the house back on a saturday to try and fix it. Cbs nancy cordes reports. Reporter facing protests and mounting lawsuits, postmaster general louis dejoy agreed today to go before Congress Next week. Democrats want to grill him about the removal of collections around the country. Theyre dismantling the post office before our eyes and this is the way fascists do things. Reporter postal officials insist they have simply been making adjustments due to declining mail volumes but, they say, given the recent customer concerns, they will postpone removing boxes for a period of 90 days. That was not good enough for House Speaker nancy pelosi who wants to pass a bill this weekend blocking any change that would prevent the Postal Service from meeting its service standards. I am very scared of that mail system. Reporter like millions of americans, Jacqueline Coleman of maryland is now trying to figure out what to do. She normally votes at the school around the corner, but has diabetes and in a pandemic wants to play it safe. I am hoping and praying that we will be able to vote by mail and our votes will be counted. Reporter are you worried they wont be . Yes, very worried. Reporter today two House Democrats sent a letter urging the f. B. I. To look into whether postmaster general dejoy, a major trump donor, deliberately slowed the passage of mail to affect mailin balloting. I have encouraged everybody speed up the mail, not slow the mail. Reporter President Trump has made it clear he is suspicious of mailin voting, but the senates republican leader Mitch Mcconnell said today he does not share that view. He thinks the Postal Service should get a cash infusion of 10 billion from congress. Democrats want it to be 25 billion. Norah . Odonnell nancy cordes on capitol hill, thank you nancy. We turn now to the coronavirus pandemic and the nations staggering new death toll. Tonight the u. S. Has surpassed 170,000 deaths from covid and is closing in on 5. 5 million cases. This was the first day at school in some parts of the country. And tonight an outbreak at one Major University, u. N. C. Chapel hill, is forcing all 19,000 undergraduate students to go entirely to remote learning. Heres cbs mireya villarreal. Reporter if this were a test of whether students could adhere to masks and social distancing requirements, it is clear many would fail. With scenes like this at the university of North Carolina chapel hill i mean there is still parties goinon, there is still people not wearing masks. Reporter it led to a blunt editorial in todays student newspaper. We all saw this coming, it read. Were angry and were scared. Late today the university moved all of its undergrad Classes Online after 130 students tested positive in the last week. And a warning about younger kids who are returning to school. We certainly see that there can be more Severe Damage done to the heart. Reporter dr. Nicholas rister is a pediatric Infectious Disease specialist in fort worth. They are being very social. They are not distancing. Is there a chance there could be another spike . I worry that we will see an increase especially in those population, because theyre just not going to effectively social distance in many cases. Reporter today White House Task force member dr. Deborah birx told a round table in arkansas that the u. S. Should have responded like European Countries who were hit hard, hunkered down and recovered. I wish that when we went into lockdown we looked like italy. But when italy locked down, i mean, people werent allowed out of their houses. Reporter but a new covid test could be a gamechanger. Researchers at Yale University have received f. D. A. Approval for a saliva test far less intrusive than the nasal swabs with results in less than three hours and an accuracy rate of 94 . applause a cheerful moment in new york as 33yearold Tito Velasquez left the hospital today. He arrived in april near death, barely breathing, suffering a stroke and blood infection while admitted. Doctors calling his survival nothing short of miraculous. The university of notre dame is also reporting a spike, at least 58 cases since they started school earlier this month. Here in fort worth, at t. C. U. , School Started today and everyone is required to wear a mask on campus. So far they have only reported 14 cases involving students and staff. Olving student odonnell mireya villarreal, thank you. Schools in georgia were among the first to reopen this summer and at least three districts there are already seeing large outbreaks. Some parents blame the crisis on vague policies on the use of wearing protective face masks in school. Tonight cbs Mark Strassmann kicks off our weeklong series, the new normal, back to School Reporting from the hot zone of georgia. There could be several kids in our school right now who have it. Reporter seniors hope terhune and ryle meadows are covid scared. Jefferson city high is typical for georgia, masks are only recommended. Georgia, masks are the girls say maybe half the students wear one. Every single day i think that there is less and less kids wearing masks. Reporter they started a petition, mandate masks. Roughly 2,000 people signed it already. Why are the masks so important to you . I just dont understand like why everyone wouldnt want to wear one to keep other people safe. Reporter in georgias Cherokee County seniors at etowah high flashed perfect smiles, not one mask in the picture. And remember this photo . At north paulding high kids without masks jammed the hallway like a drake concert. At least 35 people here have since tested positive. But many parents oppose masks. One repeated false information at Paulding County school board meeting. We do not have enough evidence to support wearing children wearing masks, we dont have enough evidence to mandate that. Reporter georgia is red hot for covid, averaging around 43 of es 181 schooly, but only districts mandate masks for teachers and students. To say that face masks are not enforceable is a lie. Reporter state representative beth moore launched report my school. This whistleblower email account got more than 800 complaints, many from teachers. Many from teachers. Theyre being told if they dont like it they should just quit their job. Reporter meadows and terhune worry crowded hallways will spread the virus. I feel like its inevitable that its going to happen to our school. Reporter it did in Cherokee County. Through the first two weeks of school more than 1,700 students and staff were quarantined. At least 120 people tested positive. Mark strassmann, cbs news, jackson county, georgia. Odonnell in california tonight an outbreak of wildfires is threatening thousands of homes, and state power Officials Say more than three million homes could face rolling blackouts amid a smothering heatwave made worse by freak thunderstorms. Heres cbs jonathan vigliotti. Reporter extreme weather is bringing fire and even ice to the west. Arizona pummeled by hail. In northern california, a weekend Lightning Storm ignited more than 100 fires. In droughtstricken colorado massive fires claimed 125,000 acres. That is an actual tornado. Reporter and for the first time in history the National Weather service warned of fire induced tornadoes near the nevadacalifornia border, the blaze creating its own weather system. Tonight more than 40 Million People under heat warnings across ten states including death valley, california, where death valley, california, the temperature reached 130 degrees, rivaling the hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet. With 18,000 acres already destroyed, the lake fire in Los Angeles County forced thousands to evacuate. Those spared by fire couldnt escape the heat. Statewide some 300,000 californians plunged into darkness after the power was cut to save energy. Firefighters are facing triple digit heat for the rest of the week along with residents who are now being asked to reduce their Energy Consumption during the day to avoid an energy emergency. Easier said than done when the temperature where we are right now is 100 degrees. Norah. Odonnell jonathan vigliotti, thank you. Tonight a former u. S. Intelligence officer is in custody charged with spying for china. The Justice Department alleges that alexander mall was caught on a video in a sting operation last year accepting money from an f. B. I. Operative posing as a chinese spy. Federal prosecutors say mall gave classified f. B. I. Documents and Sensitive Information about c. I. A. Employees. There is still much more news ahead on tonights cbs evening news. Will a judge send tv star Lori Loughlin to jail . Why prosecutors say she deserves to spend months behind bars. Plus, have investigators solved one of the biggest murders to ever hit the Music Industry . And an n. F. L. Team makes history with a new leader hoping to make gains on the field and bring change to a troubled franchise. Ubled franchise. Odonnell actress Lori Loughlin and her designer husband face sentencing on friday in the College Admissions scandal. The government today requested two months in prison for loughlin, five months for her husband, and 400,000 in fines. The couple pleaded guilty in may to paying a half a Million Dollars to get their daughters into u. S. C. As bogus rowing recruits. Tonight there is a breakthrough in the long unsolved murder of one of hiphops early stars. Prosecutors have indicted two osn in the killing of jayson mizell, known as Jam Master Jay from the rap group run dmc. Mizell was shot in cold blood in his queens studio nearly 18 years ago. Authorities allege it resulted rsom a dispute of the sale of 10 kilos of cocaine. The n. F. L. s Washington Football Team has hired jason wright as