Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Monday, August 24, 2020:
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
TONIGHT: Behind in the polls, the Republican Party will try to jumpstart President Trump’s reelection campaign this week, and the president himself will be the main attraction. Trump is expected to speak in primetime every night of the RNC, with a former Celebrity Apprentice producer working behind the scenes and members of the Trump family making up half the featured speakers. Tonight, speakers include: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott and Donald Trump Jr. giving the keynote. NPR
CONWAY OUT: Ahead of the convention, Kellyanne Conway announced that she’s leaving the White House at the end of the month for family reasons. Conway has been one of the president’s closest and longest-serving advisers, while her husband and daughter have been some of his fiercest critics. WASH POST
COVID-19: PLASMA APPROVAL: President Trump announced that the FDA would issue an emergency use authorization for convalescent blood plasma in treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The treatment had already been approved on a “compassionate use basis,” and the FDA was planning an emergency approval before Dr. Fauci and others urged it to pull back and gather more data. The president asked patients who have recovered to donate their plasma. Trump’s announcement came after he accused the FDA, without evidence, of being part of the “deep state” and intentionally slowing down approvals until after the election. BI
ONE-TWO PUNCH: The Gulf Coast is preparing for the extremely rare event of back-to-back tropical landfalls. Marco was downgraded overnight to a tropical storm and is tracking toward the coast of Louisiana, where it will make landfall tonight. Tropical Storm Laura is directly behind Marco -- and has the potential to be a bigger problem as the system is expected to strengthen significantly as it approaches the warmer Gulf waters. Laura’s path is less certain, but she’s tracking more westward, with Houston and the Louisiana coast in the cone. FORECAST
CALIFORNIA FIRES: The second- and third-largest fires in California history are still growing to the north and south of San Francisco. Firefighters will be hindered this week by thunderstorms that are expected to bring the worst possible combination of gusty winds, dry lightning and little rain. Progress was made over the weekend thanks to favorable weather conditions, but the next few days look grim. This month, 1.3 million acres have already burned -- about five times the acreage lost in all of 2019. Smoke from the fires has reached as far as Kansas. SFGATE
HERO FIREFIGHTER: A veteran Detroit firefighter lost his life when he jumped into the Detroit River to save three girls who were drowning. Sgt. Sivad Johnson, 48, was off duty when he heard the young girls screaming for help and raced toward the water. Authorities believe he was sucked under by a rip current. All three girls were safely rescued. DETROIT NEWS
BLACKBERRY: RESURRECTION: A new BlackBerry smartphone is in development, on schedule for a release in the first half of 2021. The handset will come with a physical keyboard, 5G capability and run on Android. TECHRADAR
NBA PLAYOFFS: The NBA postseason in the bubble is heating up. In the East, the Celtics and Raptors have advanced after sweeping the 76ers and Nets, respectively. The Heat look to do away with the Pacers today. In the West, Luka Doncic of the Mavericks is having a breakout performance in his first-ever playoff series. The 21-year-old from Slovenia scored the winning three-pointer in OT to even the series with the Clippers in one of the bubble’s most exciting moments yet: WATCH
BATMAN TEASER: Warner Bros. and DC Comics held their first ever virtual fan convention over the weekend, which included new trailers for Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and the first look at Robert Pattinson as the new Batman: WATCH
SPOTTED...the new White House Rose Garden, unveiled by First Lady Melania Trump after a redesign and renovation: SEE IT
LEFTOVERS: FITTING END TO THE YEAR: An asteroid is set to pass just by Earth on November 2, the day before the presidential election. Fortunately for us, the space rock is just 6.5 feet long, and poses no threat even if it were to hit us head-on -- which it has about a 1 in 250 chance of doing, according to NASA. The asteroid is small enough that it would break just up in our atmosphere. INDEPENDENT
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