New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at a press conference on Wednesday that schools will not fully reopen in fall, and will instead adopt a hybrid model that will limit in-person attendance to just one to three days a week.

Why it matters: New York City, once the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, is home to the nation's largest public school district — totaling 1,800 schools and 1.1 million students, according to the New York Times. The partial reopening plan could prevent hundreds of thousands of parents from fully returning to work.

1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 10:30 a.m. ET: 11,863,477 — Total deaths: 544,949 — Total recoveries — 6,483,402 — Map.
2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 10:30 a.m. ET: 2,996,679 — Total deaths: 131,486 — Total recoveries: 936,476 — Total tested: 36,878,106 — Map.
3. Public health: Deaths are rising in hotspots — Déjà vu sets in as testing issues rise and PPE dwindles.
4. Travel: How the pandemic changed mobility habits, by state.
5. Education: Harvard and MIT sue Trump administration over rule barring foreign students from online classes.
6. 🎧 Podcast: A misinformation "infodemic" is here.

Harvard and MIT on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to block federal guidance that would largely bar foreign college students from taking classes if their universities move classes entirely online in the fall.

The big picture: Colleges, which often rely heavily on tuition from international students, face a unique challenge to safely get students back to class during the coronavirus pandemic. Some elite institutions, like Harvard, have already made the decision to go virtual.

The head of House Democrats' climate change panel has a simple reason why their wide-ranging plan includes nuclear power despite misgivings in some corner of the left.

What they're saying: “That’s what the scientists advised as we listened across the spectrum, that’s where we landed — that nuclear power needs to be part of the portfolio going forward,” Rep. Kathy Castor said on the new episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast.

The Cook Political Report on Wednesday updated its Electoral College forecast to give Joe Biden a decisive edge in the presidential contest, suggesting that November could bring more of "a Democratic tsunami than simply a blue wave."

Why it matters: Cook's forecast, which says 279 electoral votes are at least leaning toward the former vice president, ponders that Trump may be "close to the point of no return," with some analysts the group spoke to wondering if the president now faces "a permanent loss of trust and faith of the majority of voters."

The three topics generating the most intense interest online are the coronavirus, racial injustice and foreign policy, according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios — and all are issues that are working against President Trump right now.

Why it matters: Storylines in Trump's populist sweet spot that carried the news cycle for much of his presidency — immigration, trade, a strong economy — have fallen away during the pandemic.

Entrepreneurship or starting a business has often been heralded as a way to reduce the U.S. racial wealth gap. However, Black Americans' attempts at entrepreneurship are often foiled by an initial lack of capital and an inability to obtain financing, especially through government programs.

The big picure: This was most recently evidenced when Black-owned small businesses were largely shut out of financing from the SBA's Payroll Protection Program.

Chief Justice John Roberts was hospitalized overnight after a fall on June 21, a Supreme Court spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Post on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Speculation regarding justices' health — given their lifetime appointments — always runs rampant, and this incident may have not been made public if the Post hadn't "received a tip."

The three topics generating the most intense interest online are the coronavirus, racial injustice and foreign policy, according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios — and all are issues that are working against President Trump right now.

Why it matters: Storylines in Trump's populist sweet spot that carried the news cycle for much of his presidency — immigration, trade, a strong economy — have fallen away during the pandemic.

New Jersey held its primary election on Tuesday, wherein most voters were expected to cast ballots by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The big picture: Though former Vice President Joe Biden and President Trump both secured enough delegates to win their respective nominations, there are down-ballot primaries to keep an eye on.