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| Welcome to Wednesday, Daily Briefing readers! |
| Before we get started with the biggest news of the day, let's kick it off with a quick recap of night two of the virtual Democratic National Convention. Last night included a roll call in which Joe Biden formally secured the delegates to become the party's presidential nominee and ended with a moving segment chronicling the love story that led Biden to his wife, Jill Biden, who capped off the night with a personal speech. Biden will formally accept the nomination in his convention speech Thursday evening, and tonight Biden's current running mate Kamala Harris and former boss President Barack Obama will headline the event. |
| In other election-related news, the head of the U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday he would pause operational changes at the agency until after the November election after lawmakers expressed fear the changes would hinder the collection of mail-in ballots. |
| It's N'dea and let's get this day started with more news. |
DNC: Kamala Harris talks to America as the vice-presidential choice 🗳️ |
| Voters know Kamala Harris as a senator and most recently as a former presidential candidate. But Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention, Harris will get to reintroduce herself as presumptive nominee Joe Biden's potential second-in-command . Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American person to be on a major party's ticket for vice president, will detail to Americans why she was the best choice for Biden's running mate and why their ticket is the best choice for America. In another DNC speech Wednesday, former President Barack Obama will work to energize Americans — including younger voters — to do everything they can to get Joe Biden elected. DNC speeches will be broadcast from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on all major television networks. |
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Race in America |
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UNC-Chapel Hill going online amid COVID-19 outbreaks 💻 |
| Undergraduate courses at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will go remote Wednesday after just one week of in-person classes amid the coronavirus pandemic . Chapel Hill on Monday became the first major university to pivot to online classes after reopening in person after it reported at least four clusters of outbreaks of COVID-19 in student living spaces. The school reported 130 student cases in the past week, a significant increase from the 10 cases it reported on campus in the week leading up to the start of class. Many universities that had planned on bringing students back for the fall semester have canceled or heavily modified those plans in recent weeks. Hundreds are still planning to reopen in person, citing reasons that range from students' wishes to their educational mission to the university's financial situation. |
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Coronavirus updates: The University of North Carolina isn't alone 🏫 |
| First, the University of North Carolina. Now, North Carolina State University. A day after university officials in Chapel Hill decided to pivot to online classes, the Raleigh university reported its first cluster of positive cases that included some of its own students. Also Tuesday, the University of Notre Dame said it was moving to online classes for two weeks in hopes that infections won't surge. Meanwhile, a new survey shows that parents with children who have switched to online learning say they have gone into debt paying for all of the at-home school expenses, including breakfast and lunch, during the pandemic. |
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Firefighters battle California wildfires amid triple-digit temperatures 🚒 |
| An excessive heat warning is in place Wednesday in California as firefighters across the state battle an outbreak of wildfires amid dangerous temperatures that has caused rolling blackouts for residents in some parts of the state. There were at least 20 active fires in the state as of 2 a.m. PDT Wednesday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — including the Lake Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles. The Loyalton Fire has jumped the state's border with Nevada after spawning a rare "firenado" over the weekend. The Weather Service said it may take until Friday or Saturday before excess heat watches and warnings finally ease across the West. |
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More news to know |
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Britney Spears wants to drop her father as sole guardian of her estate |
| Britney Spears and her father are scheduled to be in court Wednesday for another round in her long, twisty conservatorship case, only this time she wants to drop her father as sole guardian of her estate . According to a court document, "Britney is strongly opposed" to having her father, James "Jamie" Spears, as the sole conservator of her financial affairs. Britney, now 38, has been under a conservatorship since 2008, when her father was appointed her co-conservator along with a lawyer who later resigned. So far, Britney herself has not specifically told the court that she wants to be free of guardianship, although not all documents in probate court are open to the public. |
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Fact or fiction? ✅ |
| Get the latest work from our fact checking team in your inbox with our newest newsletter, Checking The Facts. |
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Pumpkin spice season is upon us 🎃☕ |
| Nothing quite marks the arrival of fall like Pumpkin Spice Everything, and since everything is weird and time is meaningless in 2020, Dunkin' is bustin' out the punkin' a little early this year . Wednesday marks the official start of Pumpkin Spice Season at participating Dunkin' stores nationwide. They'll be offering up all the pumpkin-flavored coffee, espresso, doughnuts and muffins you can gobble down, plus some special new drinks and treats. What about Starbucks? The coffee giant confirmed in July that they, too, will be bringing back the PSL. But when? Last year, pumpkin pandemonium returned to Starbucks in late August. So, probably soon. |
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In better news: Can't go to the zoo? Turn on the 'panda cam' 🐼 |
| Zookeepers in Washington are holding their breath as the pandemic panda pregnancy watch continues. |
| Mei Xiang, the 22-year-old matriarch of the Smithsonian's National Zoo panda program, is pregnant and could give birth any day, zoo officials say. |
| "The staff is excited and a bit impatient (in a good way) for Mei Xiang to give birth," Bryan Amaral, senior curator for animal care sciences at the zoo, wrote in an email to USA TODAY. |
| While the zoo is remaining hopeful, there are still risks to her pregnancy: Mei Xiang would be the oldest giant panda to successfully give birth in the United States, and stillbirths and miscarriages are not uncommon for pandas. |
| The National Zoo maintains two separate panda cams to keep an eye on the bears in their exhibit: Mei Xiang and her male counterpart Tian Tian. Viewers can stream them 24/7 here on the zoo's website. And here's a rundown of everything you need to know about the panda pregnancy. |
 | | Giant panda Mei Xiang eats bamboo in her pen at the National Zoo, in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016. | | Jose Luis Magana, AP | |
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