Judy Woodruff:
Meanwhile, the Texas Supreme Court moved late Sunday to temporarily block a mask mandate that was issued in two of its largest counties. Infections have skyrocketed in the state in recent weeks.
The Biden administration is permanently boosting food stamp benefits by 25 percent over pre-pandemic levels. That's the largest single increase in the history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps provide healthy food for low-income families. The new increase goes into effect in October for all 42 million SNAP beneficiaries.
Nearly 15,000 structures in Northern California are still under threat tonight by the Dixie Fire. More than 6,000 firefighters are working to contain the month-old inferno, which is 31 percent contained. It's one of about 100 wildfires burning in more than a dozen Western states fueled by hot, dry, gusty weather.
For the first time ever, U.S. officials have declared a water shortage from the Colorado River, amid an historic drought. The waterway serves around 40 million people in the West. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation warned that record low water levels at the river's Lake Mead Reservoir will trigger water allocation cuts to Arizona and Nevada and Mexico beginning — or New Mexico — beginning in October.
Stocks were mixed on Wall Street today, as investors awaited major retail earnings reports this week. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 110 points to close at 35625, a record closing high. The Nasdaq fell 29 points. And the S&P 500 added 12 to also notch a record high.
And federal regulators are investigating Tesla's automated driving system after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles at crash scenes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identified 11 such crashes since 2018. One person died and 17 others were injured. The probe covers some 765,000 Tesla vehicles from model years 2014 to 2021.