By Dan Donahue, NBC Nightly News
Good Monday afternoon. New York City schools have fully reopened for the first time in 18 months, Tropical Storm Nicholas is taking aim at the Texas coast, and an armed man was arrested on Capitol Hill at a time when D.C. is on high alert.
Here is what’s in our Nightly Rundown.
New York City students return to school with new Covid rules
New York City, the nation’s largest school district, welcomed about a million children back for full time, in-person learning today.
Most of those students haven’t been in the classroom since the pandemic first hit in March 2020. Many families chose all-remote learning during that time, but that option is no longer available for New York City students, despite the surge in Covid cases among kids.
Masks are required for all students and staff, and teachers face a vaccine mandate requiring them to get their first shot by Sept. 27.
The city also ended remote work for nearly all of its 300,000 municipal employees, requiring them to return in person to their workplaces.
As of today, the city will also begin fining business like restaurants, gyms and movie theaters that don’t ask for proof of vaccination from customers.
More Covid headlines:
- Two top FDA experts are among those opposing the Biden administration’s booster shot plan, saying the average person doesn’t yet need a third dose, in a report out today.
- Dr. Anthony Fauci said it could take “many, many” more vaccine mandates to get the pandemic under control.
- Veronica Wolski, a vocal anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, has died. Wolski caused a firestorm after she contracted Covid and demanded that doctors give her ivermectin, a horse parasite medication that has not been approved to treat the disease.
- A New York hospital is so short-staffed due to some employees’ refusal to get vaccinated, it’s put a “pause” on delivering babies.
- A man who was freed from death row after he was exonerated of a murder he did not commit has died of Covid.
- The Met Gala returns this evening at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, after being canceled last year due to the pandemic.
Hurricane watches in effect as Tropical Storm Nicholas targets Texas
Tropical Storm Nicholas is closing in on the Texas Coast, where it’s expected to make landfall this evening or very early Tuesday morning.
Hurricane watches and tropical storm warnings are up along the Texas coast, where Nicholas moving erratically northward just offshore, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is expected to bring flash flooding, dangerous storm surge, and gusty winds along portions of the southern and middle Texas coasts today.
As of the NHC’s latest update, Nicholas is about 70 miles south-southeast of Port Aransas, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.
Nicholas is the 14th named storm of the 2021 hurricane season.
Biden campaigns with Newsom on eve of California recall
President Biden will appear this evening at a rally for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, hours before the polls open in California’s high-stakes recall election.
It’s the first time in nearly two decades that Californians are deciding whether to remove their governor from office.
Biden’s appearance tonight in Long Beach with Newsom comes after the governor campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris last week.
Republican Larry Elder, a conservative talk show host, is leading contender in the polls to replace Newsom if the recall is successful.
Capitol Police arrest man with weapons near DNC headquarters
A man was arrested near the Democratic National Committee headquarters, carrying weapons including a bayonet and a machete in a truck scrawled with racist symbols, U.S. Capitol Police said.
The driver, 44-year-old Donald Craighead of Oceanside, California, said he was “on patrol” and spoke about “white supremacist ideology,” police said.
The vehicle had “a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it,” according to police.
Capitol Police said they don’t yet know whether Craighead “was planning to attend any upcoming demonstrations or if he has ties to any previous cases in the area.”
Police are planning to reinstall fencing around the Capitol ahead of a rally on Saturday in support of those arrested for the Jan. 6 riot.
What else we’re watching:
- North Korea successfully tested a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, state media said.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken is testifying on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan before a House committee this afternoon.
- A hearing is scheduled in the sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew this afternoon.
- Superstar gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman will testify this week at a U.S. Senate hearing on the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Larry Nassar.
Watch us this evening at 6:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. CT on NBC, or check your local NBC station listing. After the broadcast, access Nightly News video on NBCNightlyNews.com or the NBC News app.
