his refusal to take an independent cognitive test, and what he says about the democratic lawmakers who say he can t win. i don t think those critics know what they re talking about. the fallout today. plus the key meeting among democratic leaders set for tomorrow. and tropical storm beryl churning towards texas set to hit as a hurricane. communities there bracing for impact. we re preparing for the worst, praying and hoping for the least amount of rain. that after beryl left massive destruction in its wake across the caribbean. we are tracking its path. and new evacuation warnings as another california wildfire explodes in size. dramatic video. an injured firefighter airlifted to safety, plus the brutal heat wave baking the west. high temperatures soaring into the 120s. and amtrak shuts down train service between boston and new york ahead one of the busiest travel days of the year. and tragedy in the nfl. the rookie just drafted killed in a car crash overnight.
hello, everyone. i m alisyn camerota. welcome on this holiday. america s doctors and nurses are short staffed, working overtime and begging for help. about 80% of icu beds across the country are full right now, a third of them with covid patients. it s gotten so bad in kentucky, the governor is sending in the national guard. our situation is dire. we are setting case records. we have a record number of kentuckians in the hospital, in the icu battling for their lives. we have a record number of families praying for their loved ones on a ventilator, needing that assistance to breathe. new cases are spiking. the seven-day average is 300% higher than it was last labor day. this as the white house planned to roll out booster shots that maybe by changing. let s bring in elizabeth cohen. so, elizabeth, what is the update on boosters? this roll outmay start on september 20th, for many americans, but not necessarily for everyone. before i go into details, i want to give the
sequoias sustain climate change, drought, and wildfires? welcome to a special edition of the lead. i m erica hill in for jake tapper. we start today with our health lead. new concerns on this labor day that the long holiday weekend could worsen the coronavirus surge in the u.s. despite travel warnings from the cdc, millions hit the roads, rails, and skies for a getaway. college football is back with tens of thousands of mostly maskless fans packed into stadiums and some of the last districts to return to school are back tomorrow for in-person learning, including many in the northeast. top health officials worry this can put even more strain on hospitals which are already running out of icu beds in parts of the country. reporter: summer is over. this week in the northeast, many schools start back, but ominous signs from the south. kentucky schools opened already, and already one in five districts have closed at some point due to case counts, quarantines, or just lack o
hello and welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. topping our world lead this hour, president biden grappling with the fallout from the way the u.s. withdrew from afghanistan. a senior state department official telling cnn that the majority of afghans who worked for the u.s. and applied for those special immigrant visas or sivs, well, they were likely left behind. pentagon officials saying that the siv program was never meant to be used in a hurried evacuation. the siv program is obviously not designed to accommodate what we just did in evacuating over 100,000 people. and so perhaps this program should be looked at going forward. it is designed to be a slow process. indeed it has been a historically slow process, one that a former trump administration official claims that the trump administration, quote, sabotaged. but that said, president biden took office in january, and his administration failed to expedite the process to get these afghan allies out, despite months of
america s pandemic progress and honoring the lives lost to the virus as he holds the largest rr the pontiff greeting worshippers before. what we know about his condition. the massive ransomware attack crippling more than 1,000 companies around the world and coming just weeks after the department of homeland security warned of increased cyber attacks. the investigation tonight into who may be behind it. and the warning this holiday. the new video showing fireworks accidentally set off near a packed beach. the message from officials tonight on how to celebrate safely. this sday. i m linsey davis. as we come on the air for the west coast for this fourth of july, americans are celebrating what could be a turning point in the pandemic. but we begin with the breaking news out of surfside. officials announcing their plans to demolish what remains of the tower in the next few hours. search and rescue efforts paused ahead of the demolition and officials say they hope to resume as