Good morning, NBC News readers.
Democrats marked Day 2 of their national convention with a "Celebration" of Joe Biden's nomination, major revelations from the bombshell Senate intelligence report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and more universities are taking a pause on in-person classes as COVID-19 continues to course through campuses.
Here's what we're watching this Wednesday morning.
Democrats officially nominate Joe Biden for president
Joe Biden officially became the Democratic Party's presidential nominee Tuesday night after a roll call of the state delegations and speeches by former President Bill Clinton and others at the second night of the nearly all-virtual Democratic National Convention.
Biden will accept the nomination with a speech Thursday in Wilmington, Delaware, but the formal party business of his nomination was taken care of Tuesday after a series of speeches by party luminaries.
Many of the speakers, former President Jimmy Carter and Cindy McCain, the widow of former Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, focused on the strength of Biden's character as a sign of his fitness for office.
Jill Biden emphasized her husband's experience with personal tragedy as an example of how he can help heal the country as it recovers from the challenges wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
"How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole. With love and understanding — and with small acts of compassion. With bravery. With unwavering faith," she said.
Others, from former President Bill Clinton, to former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Colin Powell, eviscerated President Donald Trump's leadership.
"At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it's a storm center. There's only chaos," Clinton said. "If you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching TV and zapping people on social media, he’s your man," he added.
- Recap: Check out 10 of the most notable moments from Night 2 of the DNC.
- Check out updates from the night's event for more on the key speeches and analysis.
- Tune in to NBC News at 10 p.m. ET tonight for special coverage of Night 3 of the DNC. MSNBC and NBCNews.com will also have live coverage.
New revelations in the bombshell Senate intel report on 2016 Russian interference
In a nearly 1,000-page bipartisan report released Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee painted a stark portrait of how the Trump campaign embraced Russia’s intelligence operation to interfere in the 2016 election.
The report, the product of more than 200 witness interviews and nearly a million documents, is the most detailed account to date of the Trump campaign's eagerness to accept help from a foreign adversary in 2016.
It also contains some important new revelations — such as calling Konstantin Kilimnik, a close associate of then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a "Russian intelligence officer."
The Senate committee — which included some key Trump allies — also determined that Trump knew his campaign was communicating about Wikileaks, even though he told Mueller he didn’t recall that.
Postmaster general suspends changes to Postal Service to 'avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail'
The U.S. Postal Service will suspend any policy or operational changes until after the presidential election, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Tuesday.
Critics claimed that DeJoy was hindering the agency's ability to accommodate an expected surge in mail-in voting, which he denied.
DeJoy, a close ally of President Donald Trump and a longtime Republican donor who was appointed in May, said that he had come to the federal agency to make changes that would allow for "its long-term sustainability" but that he intended to delay the efforts as scrutiny of the practices has grown.
'They put us all in danger': UNC students outraged after quick shift to virtual learning
The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, which disregarded concerns from faculty members, staff workers, student leaders, and local county health officials to become one of the largest campuses in the country to reopen for students amid the coronavirus pandemic, announced Monday that it was shifting to fully remote learning after reporting 135 new COVID-19 cases and four clusters.
Many students told NBC News that the university’s attempt to scramble together an "off-ramp" plan have left them feeling outraged and disrespected.
"Why did we wait until everybody’s lives were in jeopardy?" said Nikhil Rao, a student government senior adviser. "They put us all in danger."
And UNC is not alone. Just eight days into the semester, Notre Dame suspended in-person classes on Tuesday after 146 students and a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus. And Michigan State University on Tuesday ordered undergrads to stay home for the rest of the fall "effective immediately."
"The virus is a formidable foe," Notre Dame University President Father John Jenkins said in a news release. "For the past week, it has been winning."
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Plus
- The S&P 500 closed at a record high Tuesday, erasing all losses since the pandemic hit. But Main Street is still suffering and the unemployment rate is at 10.2 percent.
- "Neither free nor fair": European leaders threaten sanctions over the crisis following the contested election in Belarus.
- Mali’s president announced his resignation late Tuesday after an armed mutiny at his home.
THINK about it
Stop shaming college kids for not social distancing. It's harder than you think, Suzan Song, the director of the division of child, adolescent & family psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center, writes in an opinion piece.
Quote of the day
"I like seeing democracy... It doesn't seem like it's too much democracy there in Belarus."
— President Donald Trump speaking to reporters about the crisis in Belarus on Tuesday said he will speak to Russia about it "at the appropriate time."
One fun thing
Political conventions are designed around showcasing a party nominee. But many times, it’s the other speakers that make history.
NBC News National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki walks through the most memorable moments of past Democratic National Conventions.
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Thanks, Petra
