It’s Monday, October 5th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - Miami-Dade schools will see the first wave of students return to physical classrooms Monday, while many teachers and parents are raising concerns on how ready schools are.
Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st graders and ESE students can come back on Monday if they chose that option. The other grades will begin coming back based on a staggered schedule. Monday's start date was decided by the school district after a letter was sent by Florida's Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran the week prior. In the letter, Corcoran said Miami-Dade and Broward County schools would have to reopen Oct. 5 or risk losing funding.
No. 2 - Former Vice President Joe Biden will hold a pair of Miami events he and his wife will be attending Monday prior to participating in an NBC News town hall the same evening.
Biden's campaign said he and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, would visit the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami at around 2:45 p.m. After their visit, the former Vice President plans on speaking in Little Havana to deliver remarks on "building back the economy better for the Hispanic community and working families." Later in the evening, NBC News will hold a town hall event with Biden at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in front of a socially distanced audience of undecided Florida voters, the network said.
No. 3 - The mayor of Miami Beach sent a letter to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Sunday urging him to reconsider the emergency order he issued last week that prevents local governments from enforcing a mask mandate.
In the letter, Mayor Dan Gelber mentioned President Donald Trump's COVID diagnosis and said that although he is praying for Trump's recovery, "the notion that we are still debating (a mask mandate) seems incomprehensible given the recent infections of the First Family, and the horrific impact the virus has had on our own residents." Gelber also attacked the credebility of the experts DeSantis relied on in order to justify his decision.
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No. 4 - Infected and contagious, President Donald Trump briefly ventured out in a motorcade on Sunday to salute cheering supporters, a move that disregarded precautions meant to contain the deadly virus that has forced his hospitalization and killed more than 209,000 Americans.
Hours earlier, Trump’s medical team reported that his blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days and that they gave him a steroid typically only recommended for the very sick. Still, the doctors said Trump’s health is improving and that he could be discharged as early as Monday. With one month until Election Day, Trump was eager to project strength despite his illness. The still-infectious president surprised supporters who had gathered outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, driving by in a black SUV with the windows rolled up. Secret Service agents inside the vehicle could be seen in masks and other protective gear.
No. 5 - Biggest moment of his career. Best game of his life. Jimmy Butler is clearly not ready to go home quite yet. With a triple-double, he joined NBA Finals lore — and the short-handed Miami Heat might have made this title matchup a series after all.
Butler finished with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, and the Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers 115-104 on Sunday night to get within 2-1 - doing so with starters Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic still unable to play because of injury. It was the third 40-point triple-double in finals history. Butler was 14 for 20 from the field and, after the Heat surrendered a double-digit lead early in the fourth, he made sure this one wouldn’t get away. Game 4 between the teams will take place Tuesday night.
No. 6 - Weathewrwise, rain chances go down slightly to start the work week in South Florida before picking up again in the coming days thanks to a potential tropical storm not forecast to strike the area. Keep your NBC 6 app handy for push alerts on any severe weather as well as First Alert Doppler 6000.
