Have any idea what hell be talking about . Well, we know that the president has been trying to get out there every single day on the coronavirus pandemic lindsay. The white house trying to show that the president is engaged, hes in charge, and hes in a leadership role. As the polling continues to show that the public does not have confidence in the president s response to coronavirus. And that its really the key factor that is dragging down his reelection prospects at this point in time. But what we know from all these News Conferences the president has been holding in recent days, he goes out there intending to talk about coronavirus, and quickly the topics veer into other territory, such as this crisis over the Postal Service funding for the usps ahead of the election as well as these broader covid relief measures that both sides acknowledge at this point need to be extended. Congress needs to do something to move that forward. About the only sign of progress or life at all in those negotiations weve seen is something that we just learned about via nbcs leah caldwell, which is some conversations that have been taking place between the white house negotiators, specifically mark meadows a a group in congress thats noefrn as the Problem Solvers Caucus. This is a Bipartisan Group, they tend to be a little less ideological, a little more solution oriented. Theyve been having some discussion to see if they can make progress toward a compromise that has alluded the top leadership. Nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer have a tense relationship with the white house. Meanwhile, the democrats are making a concerted effort to demonstrate that they want answers about the problems were hearing from the post office. These efficiency measures that have been leading to some of these delays weve been seeing. Democrats continuing to push for 25 billion in Postal Service funding as well as another 3 1 2 billion for election resources as states move toward mailin voting during this pandemic. Take a listen to what Carolyn Maloney had to say today about the answers she wants from the post office. As the chair woman of the committee on oversight and we form, i have invited the postmaster general to testify before the committee on september 17th. He has replied that he will be there to answer questions. And the president for his part has had a similar topic on his mind today. Hes currently at his golf club at bedminster where he has a fundraiser tonight. Hes been tweeting quite a bit. Mostly retweets of dead people voting, massive fraud in elections, raising issues that are concerns that have not been born out by the facts that weve seen on the ground. As you mentioned, the president will have a News Conference this evening that we expect to be focused on coronavirus. But well have to see what else the president has to say when hes asked about these mailin voting issues in the post office as well. Do we know whether this Problem Solvers Caucus has the blessing of nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer in negotiating directly with the post office . I think its a safe assumption that the democratic members of that caucus wouldnt likely have been proceeded with that if they didnt have tacit approval from nancy pelosi that it was okay to be going ahead and doing those talks. Often times a caucus like this can make some headway in finding out where on technical matters theres calming ground and delivering some type of compromise that the broader leadership would get behind, because at the end of the day, very unlikely were going to see anything move through Congress Unless it has the blessing of nancy pelosi. Josh letterman in washington, thank you so much. Were still monitoring a tense seen in Stone Mountain, georgia, where earlier this afternoon, White Nationalist clash with counter protesters outside the citys Stone Mountain park, causing police to step in and try to break up the violent situation. Participants in the White Nationalist rally, many of whom carried guns and dressed in military type gear had initially planned the demonstration to be inside the citys park, it houses several confederate memorials, including a statue of robert e. Lee. Officials closed the park for the day, citing security concerns. Were going to continue to monitor this situation as it unfolds. Breaking news also from chicago where protesters have gathered for a black lives matter rally. Demonstrators plan to shut down the dan ryan expressway to protest against police brutality. Kathy park is there, she joins me now. How are things looking where you are . Organizers were anticipating a crowd of about 2,000. But based on some of the images that we have seen so far. It looks like the crowd is closer to 100. And the original plan was to start off about 6 months away from where theyre began earlying now. Theyre going to move on to the expressway, shut it down and come here to the downtown area. It looks like things have stalled for now. The other big headline is whats happening here in downtown chicago. Im here along michigan avenue, you may remember a couple days ago, there was widespread looting and over to my left is a magnificent mile, which is an iconic shopping district here in the city, if you walk just a couple blocks, you will notice that a very heavy police presence, lots of stores are boarded up. And officials need to take this city back, and they held a press conference not too long ago. Heres a little more on what the Police Superintendent had to say about moving forward. Take a listen. The men and women of the Chicago Police department will do everything we can to protect the safety and First Amendment rights of peaceful protesters. What happened last week downtown and on the west side had nothing to do with protests or peace. Lindsay, just to ensure that the city remains calm and peaceful this weekend, police have stepped up their preference. But also put in place several measures like lifting up these bridges to limit the movement. Theyve also said 1,000 officers will be here in the downtown area if needed. Kathy park in chicago, thank you so much. In a stunning reversal, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is expected to issue an executive order allowing some cities and municipalities to impose their own mask mandate. This comes days after kemp dropped a lawsuit against keshia lancebottoms challenging their citywide mask requirement. The new order will only be allowed of local businessess consent. The governor has been widely criticized for his efforts to stop mask mandates in the past, as georgias coronavirus outbreak has become one of the worst in the nation. In florida, one citys mask debate has taken a more contentious turn. Earlier this week, billy woods officially banned his deputies from wearing face masks, even as floridas Coronavirus Infections approach 570,000. Joining us now is chris pallone. Sheriff wood told employees theres no conclusive evidence that masks curb coronavirus, a statement we know to be false. Masks do indeed curb the violence. What is city leadership said about the sheriffs decision . Obviously, this is yet another thing in the age of the coronavirus pandemic that has been taken from a health discussion, and then injected with politics. All of this happening this week as the Marion County sheriff billy woods issued not only saying that his deputies didnt have to wear masks, but they cant wear masks, except for a few simple exceptions like being in court or being in a hospital or a school. His deputies and some 900 employees are barred from wearing masks. All of this is happening as the city of ocala, which is where the Sheriffs Office is located passed a mask ordinance on businesses here. They tried it once, and the mayor vetoed it, and then they overrode that veto by a 41 vote, putting in a very simple mask ordinance. A third time violation would only carry a 25 fine. We dont know exactly, other than what the sheriff has put in that memo to his employees, we dont know exactly his reasoning, hes declined nbcs request for an interview. However, Kerry Sanders did speak with the ocala mayor, to find out why he originally vetoed the mask ordinance here. I dont oppose wearing masks. But just the government mandating that you, you, you have to wear a mask, you can have a protest and be out there with no mask. And you can be shoulder to shoulder, but you cant go to church. That doesnt make any sense. Mines a constitutional decision like ive just described and a freedom decision. Is it a health issue . Absolutely. Sheriff woods has backed down a little bit on one aspect of it, in the past, when he first issued this, he said people going into the Sheriffs Office had to take their masks off and leave them off while they waited in the sheriffs off lobby. They changed that to, they just have to take the mask off a moment so security cameras can get a picture of their face. California has surpassed 600,000 coronavirus cases. The state tops 11,000 fatalities from the virus. Now ranking third in the country behind new york and new jersey for the highest death toll. Scott cohn is in san jose, california with the latest. The state is avera 1. ,0 37,000 cases a day with a Positivity Rate of 2. 4 . Can you put that into context for us . The Positivity Rate is coming down. And were dealing with this backlog of tests we were talking about a week ago because of a Software Problem with the states reporting system. That is generally clearing out, but playing some games with the numbers at this point. Officials are saying that the rate of hospitalization is coming down. That is certainly important. And certainly would come as a relief to the thousands of Health Care Workers in the state who have been dealing with this pandemic since january. Youre working so hard to help get these patients better and help keep families updated. And the stress of all of that and trying to protect yourself, and trying to keep your family safe, i think it just takes a toll on you. As a nurse or doctor or health care worker, because you just sort of feel sort of at the mercy of the Community Around you. In the meantime, there is a lot of focus on testing. This is a socalled popup testing site here in san jose. People lined up early to get wristbands and have been coming out throughout the day for appointments to get tested for covid. The processing about 1,000 tests at this site alone per day. Lindsay. Hopefully a good sign with those hospitalizations going down. Scott, while i have you, on top of these record breaking caseloads, theres an intense heat wave throughout california. Thats triggered rolling blackouts. Because of the high power demand. What can you tell us about that . Theyve issued the state grid operator issued a states alert. First time theyve done that in years. And what that means is, that everyone is being asked to conserve, but there also have been some of these rotating blackouts over the last 24 hours. The thinking seems to be that they may be able to get through this weekend without more blackouts. But the heat is supposed to continue into next week. So we could see more of that. Some of this is the way of life in california. We get the Public Safety shutoff from wildfire season kicks up. That is likely to happen relatively soon. But this is something different. Its a heat wave here, as i said, it is expected to continue into next week. Scott cohn in san jose, thanks very much, stay cool. Reaction to the administrations war on the Postal Service. Plus, a closer look at the democratic ticket. Ill talk to someone who knows harris well, who endorsed new Vice President pick Kamala Harris for president. On Campus Living in the time of covid19. How colleges and universities are welcoming back students. Dont you just love the look on the kids faces. Yea, that look of pure terror. No, no, the smile. And that second right before the first tear comes. What . pizza on a bagelwe can all agree with that. Do you want a hug . Your business has an easy choice. Tmobile for business, the largest 5g network. Awardwinning customer satisfaction. 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The president s new war on the post office is garnering criticism from both sides of the aisle this week. President obama called the president s actions unheard of saying trump was kneecapping the Postal Service. What weve never seen before is a president say, im going to try to actively kneecap the Postal Service to encourage voting. And i will be explicit about the reason im doing it. Thats sort of unheard of, right . Republican senator mitt romney this week also struck down the claims that voting by mail increases fraud. When politicians attack a judicial system, attack a voting system, attack a free press, these things threaten the Foundation Upon which not only our own democracy rests, but democracies around the world rest. Joining me now, annette barragon. Youve been vocal on how these changes to the post office can hurt people. What can congress do about this . We know there was money in a heros act which is still mccon. Does this pressure democrats to come to a compromise on covid relief negotiations . Well, democrats have been at the table. Speaker pelosi had been clear, but we cant leave the post office behind. And we cant allow this president to continue to sabotage not just the post office, but peoples lives. This is about our democracy, this is about peoples livelihoods as you mentioned, people rely poen their medicine. Theyre relying upon their paychecks and the delivery of their mail, so House Democrats three months ago passed legislation that would put 25 billion toward the post office which is critically needed. Now, republicans are not taking this seriously enough, and frankly one of the things we have to do, continue to shine a light on this, but Congress Needs to have hearings on this, they continue to shine a lot on what is going on, and we need to continue to press on the negotiating table to get this done. One of the things that would be helpful is, many people across the country, especially in red parts of the country to call their members, call their senators, and put the pressure on. We hope that pressure will get republicans to move, this is about the democracy of our country. In is not a partisan issue at all. What do you make of the bipartisan meeting that happened today, the Bipartisan Group of house lawmakers. Josh letterman referred to them as the problem solving caucus. Have you heard whether anything moved in the talks today . I have not heard anything about any movement, but let me tell you, we have the chief negotiator, nancy pelosi, our speaker whos been doing this for decades, whos taking feedback from members of congress across the board. I have faith that shes going to get this done. But we have to keep up the pressure because again our democracy is at stake, its so critically important. People have the ability to get their mail, to get their medicine and to get their ballot. And its a shame. Its quite a disgrace that this president is outright in public saying that his objective is to slow down mail in ballots and votes. He is a danger to our democracy. I want to ask you about the attacks on Kamala Harris, on her right to be on the ticket right now. You were raised by immigrant parents from mexico. You were raised in california. Are these attacks personal . The president doesnt know what else to do other than attack women, immigrants, people of color and hes at it again with senator harris. But im so proud that we have a strong woman, the daughter of immigrants, who is going to be a voice at the table and for this country thats going to not just be a stark contrast, but its going to help bring back this country into having conversations we need to have. And to making sure we are addressing things like Racial Injustice and immigrant justice. And environmental justice. Im proud of his progressive record. And we have to make sure this eelection that we get the message out to people that we dont get distracted by these personal and racist attacks, because thats what this president is going to try to do. Hes doing it already, and we have to continue to push back. Would you want to be considered to replace her senate seat . California . Its an honor to have my name in the mix. But right now, our focus is to get joe biden Kamala Harris elected into the white house, s