♪ ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs >> o'donnell: coronavirus cases increasing in 40 states. tonight more than half the country now imposing mandatory mask orders. florida sets another record for its deadliest day and look at these testing lines in los angeles. the two things america needs to do now to stop the spread without a national shutdown according to the nation's top health officials. overwhelmed hospitals in texas. one doctor who treated wounded soldiers in iraq says he's never seen anything like this. >> it's very different when the person that you are putting in a body bag is your next door neighbor. >> o'donnell: russia's stealing vaccine research, u.s. intelligence warning russian

cyberspies are trying to hack valuable information. it's the same group accused of interfering in the 2016 presidential election. breaking news, "the washington post" reports more than a dozen women alleged sexual harassment and verbal abuse by former employees of the washington redskins. tonight their allegations. campaign shakeup. the president demotes his campaign manager as two new polls show him trailing joe biden by double digits. urgent need, the red cross puts out a nationwide call for blood donors. we'll show you how easy it is to save a life. finally tonight, a seven-year- old who is showing you are never too young to start changing the world. >> this is the cbs evening news with norah o'donnell reporting from the nation's capitol. >> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west and thank you for joining us. we are going to begin with breaking news.

tonight two of the country's largest states, texas and florida, along with south carolina and idaho, are reporting their biggest single day death tolls since the pandemic began. the number of new infections of covid-19 are growing exponentially too, and in nearly every corner of the u.s. that is leading two members of the president's coronavirus task force to call for states to shut down bars and for all americans to wear masks. but without any official guidance from the white house about those recommendations, governors and major retailers are taking matters into their own hands. tonight colorado and arkansas are joining a growing list of states mandating masks in public. at least 28 states plus the district of columbia now require them. and today target, cvs and publix grocery stores are also saying they are rolling out rules telling customers to wear masks too. as we come on the air tonight more than 138,000 people have been killed by the virus here in the u.s. and we hit this milestone: more than three and a

half million confirmed cases nationwide. if fighting the virus weren't enough, the national security agency says researchers working to find vaccines are also fighting off russian hackers. spy agencies in the u.s., canada, and great britain say the same russian groups that attacked the 2016 election are now actively trying to steal data from scientists working on a cure for covid-19. as you can tell there is a lot of reporting to get to tonight. our team of correspondents is standing by with new information. janet shamlian is going to lead off our coverage tonight from houston. good evening, janet. >> reporter: norah, texas recorded its highest death toll today since the pandemic started, 129. tonight testing centers like this one are jammed and we are hearing sobering stories from the crisis in emergency rooms. dwindling ventilators, few beds and doctors burying friends. in the overwhelmed rio grande valley, covid patients are spilling into the hallways.

and a conference room is a temporary morgue. >> i know people hear the stories over and over, but it is very different when the person that are you putting in a body bag is your next door neighbor for 50 years, your mom's best friend. >> reporter: dr. ivan melendez says it is almost too much to bear. >> you are walk into warehouses of people where you have 40, 45 people that are on stretchers on life-support, on ventilators, prone, exposed. >> reporter: the situation so dire four texas counties ordered refrigerated trucks to help store bodies. tonight a top white house health official says closing indoor bars and wearing masks will help shut down the virus. >> it's very, very important to really close indoor bars. we know that 50, 60, 70% in some areas are traced to a single bar. >> reporter: florida set a new fatality record today, 156 deaths. at a wal-mart there the divisiveness over face coverings as an unmasked man pulled a gun

on another shopper. >> you have to wear a mask. >> reporter: tempers also boiling over at this california grocery where a man without a mask was pepper sprayed while arguing with another customer. more than half of all states have mask mandates. in georgia the governor filed a lawsuit tonight seeking to block atlanta's mask mandate. more retail requiring them. cvs, target and publix today joining wal-mart, kroger and best buy. in south texas so many patients, a hotel has been converted to a hospital. dr. melendez says it's grim. and for those who don't believe it... >> come with me, spend the day, help me talk to 37 people's families that died that day. >> reporter: the front lines: an increasingly dark place to be. janet shamlian, cbs news, houston. >> reporter: this is mark strassmann in charleston, south carolina. a hot spot for tourists and covid. masking is mandatory citywide.

over the last week the viral spread here is on fire. >> i mean, why would i be scared of it, it is like the flu, you know, so everyone is going to get infected. >> reporter: we met david and blaze jorkinson, covid skeptics, shopping downtown. their vacationing from phoenix, an even hotter spot for the virus. >> i mean we haven't changed our lives a the all for this, so, other than these things walking into stores. >> reporter: bikers paraded six feet apart rolling into myrtle beach. hundreds now gather for its annual bike week. it was postponed once for the virus, but not twice. over the last two weeks south carolina recorded almost 25,000 new cases and 400 new hospitalizations, up 35%. >> we are holding patients in the emergency department and caring for them there instead of on the floors because we didn't have a place to put them. >> reporter: back in downtown charleston some tourists walked bare faced, shoulder to shoulder. they are in the same zip code with the states' worst covid outbreak.

>> people die of stuff all the time. i don't know why i would change my life to be afraid of this. there is plenty of stuff to be afraid of. this is certainly not one of them. >> reporter: over the last 24 hours south carolina recorded 72 covid deaths, that is a state record. city officials here told us that crowds in charleston are about half the size of a typical july. but norah, when even some of those people believe that covid is mostly hype, that is a potential problem. >> o'donnell: no doubt. mark strassmann, thank you. tonight intelligence agencies from the u.s., canada and britain say russian hackers are at it again. this time the russians are accused of trying to steal research on covid vaccines. here's cbs's charlie d'agata. >> reporter: "despicable" is how the british government put it, lashing out at russian spies for trying to steal vital covid vaccine research. >> at a time when the world is coming together, trying to find a vaccine, there are so people around the world can benefit of, the russian government engaged

in that endeavor. >> reporter: an endeavor blamed on the russian government itself targeting labs and medical facilities in the u.k., the united states and canada. state-backed hackers known as a.p.t.-29 for advanced persistent threat. tell me more about a.p.t.-29. >> a.p.t.-29 has been around a long time, sometimes it has other names, fancy bear, cozy bear. it's been responsible for attacks right across the west. >> reporter: a series of attacks that include hacking into the d.n.c. and stealing emails ahead of the 2016 election. now it's targets are thought to include covid vaccine frontrunners like oxford cineersity and moderna's lab in frontrunners like oxford the u.s. investigators here won't say if any information was stolen, but no damage has been done. >> we are used to the russians attacking just about anything they can get their hands on to cause disruptions, but this feels like it's crossing an ethical line. >> reporter: that may not matter

in a country suffering from one of the worst covid outbreaks in the world, norah. but tonight the kremlin has denied any wrongdoing. instead insisting they're getting close to developing a vaccine of their own. >> o'donnell: we'll see. charlie d'agata, thank you. the pandemic continues to take a punishing toll on american workers. more than 51 million have filed for unemployment since march, with 1.3 millio doing so in the last week alone. and the economic pain could linger. airlines are now warning of big layoffs when congressional aid ends this fall. here's cbs's kris van cleave. >> reporter: for susannah carr becoming a united airlines flight attendant was a dream come true. six years later she is among nearly 36,000 united employees facing a possible furlough in october. >> i actually was finishing working a flight, we landed to that email, so that was a big shock. >> reporter: what was that moment like when you were reading that email? >> it was a punch to the stomach.

>> reporter: passenger traffic is down about 80%, costing airlines roughly $6 billion this month alone. now american airlines says it could furlough 25,000, roughly 29% of its main line workforce. more than 17,000 delta employees have taken exit packages, but the airline is still over- staffed including roughly 2,500 excess pilots. southwest c.e.o. gary kelley told employees monday if passenger traffic doesn't triple by the end of the year, he cannot rule out the airline's first ever layoffs. j.p. morgan chase analyst jamie baker. do you expect to see layoffs? >> we fear that october 1 is going to be one of the darkest days for airline labor really since the dawn of commercial flight. it is going to be very, very painful for a lot of people. >> reporter: it is already painful for susannah carr. >> to no longer be able to fly, to experience this, to be with the people that have become like family, i would absolutely, i would be heartbroken. >> reporter: airline unions want government payroll support extended until march to keep carr, and so many others,

flying. kris van cleave, cbs news, washington. >> o'donnell: tonight mary trump is lobbing bombshell accusations. president trump is accused of using racial and anti-semitic slurs. the new charges come as the g esidents is shaking up the top of his reelection campaign over frustrations about the size of his rallies and poll numbers. cbs' paula reid reports tonight from the white house. >> reporter: president trump's niece, mary trump, who recently published a tell-all book says in a new interview she heard him use racial slurs in the past. >> oh, yes, of course, i did. and i don't think that should surprise anybody, given how virulently racist he is today. >> reporter: white house chief of staff mark meadows responded tonight. >> and, so, based on the history i've seen, up close and personal when no one else was in the room and it was just the two of us, i've never experienced that. >> we've done a great job.

>> reporter: despite boasting to the contrary, the perception that the virus is raging has cost the president. cost the president. two polls out yesterday show joe biden leading by double digits. biden's momentum prompted mr. trump to oust campaign manager brad parscale who he blamed for the poorly attended rally in tulsa last month. >> it's all about him and getting him re-elected in 2020. >> reporter: parscale was criticized by some colleagues for profiting off the campaign. he owned multiple homes and a 32 foot boat. his company was paid more than $35 million in the last three years and paid the president's daughter-in-law laura trump and donald trump junior's girlfriend kimberly guilfoyle approximately $15,000 a month. the president's new campaign chief will be bill stephian, the former white house political director, who will have his work cut out for him. the president is known to rismiss any negative polling and him, he is known to dismiss any resists any strategy. norah. >> o'donnell: paula reid at the white house, thank you.

tonight an urgent plea for help from the red cross as the nation's blood supply is dwindle because of the pandemic. the organization's c.e.o. says it needs 13,000 people to donate every day. i met with her earlier this week and gave blood myself. >> what wonderful veins you've got. >> o'donnell: she loves my veins. it was my first time, but about 6.8 million americans donate blood every year. this year the red cross says the supply chain challenges are unprecedented. that is a lot of blood. the entire donation process takes about an hour. that was so easy. but every two seconds someone in the u.s. needs blood. >> one bag donated saves up to three lives so you are doing a good thing. >> o'donnell: the red cross gets the vast majority of its donations from blood drives. since the pandemic began 37,000 have been canceled. >> the need for blood is constant. >> o'donnell: gale mcgovern is c.e.o. of the american red cross. what does it mean for hospitals

if there is a shortage in these blood supplies? >> they can't perform life- saving surgeries. trauma patients need the blood supply, people that are receiving chemo therapy, you need lifesaving platelets, we hate it when we have to ration the blood supply for our hospitals. >> o'donnell: ration the blood supply. >> yeah, we will tell them we are running short so please forego certain elect elective surgeries. >> o'donnell: many people find the idea of donating blood a bit daunting to begin with, let alone during a pandemic. >> we are taking every single possible precaution. we have everyone wearing masks. everyone has to have their temperature taken. we have the beds socially distanced six feet away. >> o'donnell: blood is not tested for covid-19 since respiratory diseases aren't known to be transmitted by transfusions, but as a new incentive to donors, blood is now tested for covid antibodies, that may show if someone has had the virus.

some like tim davin don't need an incentive, he has donated platelets more than 20 times. why do you donate so regularly? >> my father had a rare form of blood cancer. so, when he was sick he was able to stay with us longer because other people had donated. >> o'donnell: giving the gift of life. and for more information about giving blood text me the word "donate" to 202-217-1107. in other health news, alex trebek said today he is feeling great. trebek shared the encouraging news in a health update posted to twitter. the legendary "jeopardy!" host has been battling stage four pancreatic cancer since last year. he used his time off during this pandemic to work on his memoir and grow a goatee, and with that and with that we will take "good health" for $1,000, alex. and there is still much more new ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news." new bombshell allegations, more than a dozen women who worked for the washington nfl team say they were subject to relentless sexual harassment.

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- it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. >> o'donnell: there is breaking news just coming in about washington's nfl team. 15 former female employees are speaking to "the washington post" detailing allegations of sexual harassment over a span of 13 years. the accusations involve some of the team's top executives. here's cbs' nikole killion. >> reporter: the explosive report by "the washington post" was published late this afternoon, detailing more than a decade of inappropriate behavior. it cites 15 women who allege at least five former front office employees sexually harassed and made unwanted sexual advances. some were part of owner dan snyder's inner circle. emily applegate was the only one to come forward on the record. some cited non-disclosure agreements for not coming forward publicly. one of the allegations centers around former play by play

announcer larry michael, who is accused of routinely discussing the physical appearance of femae colleagues in sexual and disparaging overtones. the club's director of player personnel, alex santos, was accused of making inappropriate remarks about their bodies and asking them if they were romantically interested in him. michael retired wednesday while santos and assistant director of pro personnel were dismissed by the team this week. the team has retained the firm of washington attorney beth wilkinson to do an independent review of the team's culture, policies and allegations of workplace misconduct. none of the women say snyder harassed them, however some of the women told the "post" that they were skeptical that snyder was unaware of the behavior. the team deferred to a statement that they gave "the washington post" which says they take issues of employee conduct seriously and will address them promptly. norah? >> o'donnell: nikole killion with those late details, thank you.

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>> o'donnell: a seven-year-old girl noticed that the books in her school and her crayon box was missing something and decided to do something about it. here is cbs' chip reid. >> reporter: seven-year-old madison wilson was watching a movie not long ago when she had oncomplaint that surprised her mother vashti wilson. >> she said there is only one brown person in the movie. >> reporter: how does it make you feel when no one looks like you? >> i feel super, super, super, super, super, super, super sad. >> reporter: sad. does it make you feel left out? >> yeah. like out of the box. >> reporter: she was also sad that her crayon box had no color that allowed her to draw herself, but she discovered that crayola is coming out with a box of 24 different skin toned crayons. did that make you happy? >> yeah. >> reporter: super, super, super happy? >> super, super, super, super, super, super happy! >> reporter: so happy that with

her mother's help she created a go fund me account to buy boxes of those crayons and give them to schools. so far she has raised $31,000. >> i'm immensely proud of her. >> reporter: with all of that success at such an early age we wondered what she wants to do when she grows up? >> i want to be a world changer. >> reporter: and it appears she's off to a super, super good start. chip reid, cbs news. >> o'donnell: and she is also purchasing books that include characters of color for her school. love her. we'll be right back. -that's how a home and auto bundle is made. [ chuckles ] so, what are some key takeaways from this commercial? did any of you hear the "bundle your home and auto" part? -i like that, just not when it comes out of her mouth. -yeah, as a mother, i wouldn't want my kids to see that. -good mom. -to see -- wait. i'm sorry. what?

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that is tonight's "cbs evening news." thanks for joining us. i'm norah o'donnell in the nation's c itol. for the sweaty faces, and the hidden smiles. the foggy glasses, and the muffled laughs. a simple piece of fabric makes a big statement:

i care. wear a mask. let's all do our part to slow the spread. breaking news.