THE BIG STORY

Three stories you should read about Kamala Harris

👉 First: “You do not understand how much this means for us.” Sen. Kamala Harris is the first Black woman on the presidential ticket for any major party. For the Black women who lead the Democratic party — who are its institutional backbone — Joe Biden selecting Harris as his running mate is an overwhelming victory.

👉 Then: “I know how much Beau respected Kamala and her work. And that mattered a lot to me...as I made this decision.” Biden and Harris held their first event together, a press conference in Wilmington, Delaware. Harris’s close friendship with Biden’s late son, Beau, was central to their first joint appearance.

👉 Then: “I must accept my burden, and collect this idiot.” That’s Scaachi Koul on Dinesh D’Souza. D’Souza is a right-wing commentator known for years of attacking Obama. He went on Fox News to say Kamala Harris shouldn’t be considered “African American.” Koul digs into D’Souza’s history of anti-Blackness.

Olivier Douliery / Getty Images

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Teachers at the Georgia school district that went viral for crowded hallway photos are afraid for their health

We’ve been reporting on the Paulding County School District in Dallas, Georgia, where students posted photos of crowded hallways that went viral. The district told students they could be expelled if they didn’t come to school — even if they were afraid to come.

I regret to inform you: the tension has only increased. More than 1,200 people tuned in to a livestream of the district’s first board meeting of the year, and although masks weren’t officially on the agenda, they dominated the discussion.

“Today I had six students out of 80 who wore a mask,” one teacher said. The contentious board meeting featured people with masks and those without them yelling at each other.

SNAPSHOTS

Three men have been charged with trying to threaten or bribe R. Kelly’s alleged victims. Federal prosecutors said the three men separately tried to intimidate or influence the testimony of women named as victims in the federal racketeering case in New York against R. Kelly.

As Puerto Rico battles hurricane season, HIV-positive folks brace for the worst. With the coronavirus spreading and natural disasters intensifying, HIV-positive Puerto Ricans are having to decide to flee — or stay and fight for their lives.

Everything you need to know about why so many Instagram influencers are posting about the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. Thousands of influencers participate in a massive competition, sharing their picks with audiences in the hopes that their followers will shop their links, which give them a commission.

Next month’s BuzzFeed Book Club pick is Diane Cooke’s dystopian cli-fi The New Wilderness. You can read an excerpt right here, and read along with the book club!

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

These pictures of the “world’s first socially distant concert” may be the new reality

In an arena in Newcastle, England, Sam Fender held a massive outdoor concert. Promoters called it “the world’s first socially distant gig.” And it looked...kind of better than regular concerts?

The show was held in front of a crowd separated out in “pods” — up to five people per pod, and a total of 500 pods in the venue. To a lot of people, it looked like the ideal concert: no sweaty people, no pushy crowd, no one shouting in your ear. If this is the future, the future is not half bad. Anyway, here is what it looked like:

OUTSIDE THE BOX

One New York couple is getting creative with their romance amid the coronavirus

The life of lockdown and quarantine can take a toll on relationships. So Dean Gaskin and his wife Jasmin figured out a way to keep the romance burning — by setting up their own private pop-up dining experiences in some very public places across New York.

“We don't want to do outdoor dining with other people around. We're not there yet. So we just do it among ourselves,” says Dean. Armed with a cheap table and chair set from Home Depot and table setters from the dollar store, the couple find their own joy across the city.

Here’s what it looks like:

Wishing you a string of little victories this morning,

Elamin