This truck was literally parked up here, and it's already moved all the way over there. This is terrible. An emotional night leading to scenes of absolute destruction today after the strongest storm to slam Florida's Gulf Coast ever. But Hurricane Helene didn't stop there as it cut a path of devastation across four states, killing at least 42 two people. I'm Gordie Schwartz, and this is Stay Tuned Now. It's a hurricane that brought flash floods, monster storm surge and tornadoes. It's left billions of dollars in wreckage in towns from Florida to the Carolinas to Tennessee, and leaving millions tonight without power. Things are so bad in Florida. Officials there are saying Helene caused more damage than the last two hurricanes combined. Helene making landfall last night in Florida's Big Bend as a category 4 hurricane, packing winds of up to 140 miles an hour with a storm surge that reached more than 15 feet in some parts. In the town of Steinhachi, water got so high, it buried some homes up to their roofs. People there say this is the worst they've ever seen. I was in shock. This is the worst I've ever seen here. I'm glad I left, but I'm glad I still have a house left.

I got something to work on. There have been hundreds of rescues across the Southeast. The Coast Guard even jumped in to save a man and his dog who got stuck on a boat off of Sanibel Island Florida. Another dramatic scene, the moment when crews came across a house on fire while searching for people stranded inside their homes. Anybody in your house? Flood emergencies are also stretching out to parts of North Carolina and Georgia and Tennessee, where things got so critical earlier. Nearly 60 people had to be rescued off the roof of a helicopter surrounded by floodwaters, including patients there. A lot to cover tonight, so let's start with NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens, who is tracking Helene as it continues to move north. Hey there, Bill. Gordie, this is 100% a storm to remember. One for the history books, the huge size of this storm and the storm surge, the intense winds at landfall, and then all of the rain with this system has just been incredible. Not many storms like this one. And even this evening, Elaine, look how big it is. We got rain falling in areas of Arkansas and Missouri all the way towards Delaware and everywhere in between.

Now, it has combined with another storm. That's why it's no longer It's purely a tropical system. Right now, we're calling it the remnant or post tropical Helene. And it's going to linger here over the Ohio Valley as we go throughout the upcoming weekend. The winds are not going to cause any more issues. The winds are light enough everywhere. It does not like, in most 20 miles per hour as a 32 in Huntsville. The winds are finally coming down at the Coast. Norfolk is about 35. That's one of the higher winds, but we're not knocking power out anymore. And my friends in South Carolina, the winds were much stronger than even they were expecting. A significant number of the percentage of power outages are from South Carolina instead of more than Florida and Georgia at some point during the day. So this has been really the biggest story in the last 24 hours ever since we had the storm surge go away, was the flooding in the mountains of Tennessee, Virginia, and especially all of Western North Carolina. We still have some flash flood emergencies out there. That means there's people trapped, there's water through towns, there's bridges, there's roads washed away, cell services down.

It's about as ugly as it's been as anyone can remember with any storm that's come through that region of the country. It's not going to rain much in the way, additional from Asheville to Greenville, Atlanta, which you are for wetdest two days ever in your history. That's why you had such horrific flooding around you earlier today. And that water is finally receding. But additional rainfall, mostly going to be a problem out here through Western portions of Kentucky, a little bit there in Southern Indiana, and also maybe a little bit in Western Tennessee. The storm lingers. This is as we go through Saturday night. Now, this is light rain. The yellow is where it's a little darker, and it's just going to sit here and spin, and that's going to continue as we go throughout the weekend. So it's not going to clear up for these regions, but it's not really going to be windy enough or rain enough for any additional problem. We could also see some isolated tornadoes. We have two slivers of tornadoes Tornado watches left here, but we haven't seen any big... We haven't had a big tornado outbreak from this. And I'll leave you with this, Gadi, because we are at the peak of the hurricane season.

We all paid so much close attention to what was left to Faleen. We have Hurricane Isaac out in the Atlantic, not going to hurt But we have another area to watch down here. In the days ahead, there is a chance that we could have something else next week trying to develop almost in the exact same place this storm did. But fingers crossed that this one won't. Back to you. N news now, anchor Tom Yamis is in Keaton Beach, Florida, one of the areas hardest hit by this storm. Tom, just looking behind you, I mean, there's a picture of resilience and destruction, right? What are you seeing? Yeah, Sagadi, what you're seeing behind me There's a fishing boat. It's a shrimper, actually, that was tossed onto a home. There was another home right next to it that was lifted from some part here in Keaton Beach and tossed over here. You can see that. And then while people were coming back this morning, we've been here all day, someone put up that American flag, and You're right. It is a sign of resilience here. This community loves being here, and they've been through a lot lately.

I've spoken to residents throughout the area. They've been hit with back to back to back to hurricanes now, and that's a problem because their insurance rates skyrocketed over the last hurricane. A lot of the people here didn't renew their insurance, and now their homes are gone, and they have no way to rebuild. It's incredibly sad. I asked the community, I asked a lot of people here, I said, You guys live here. You've been hit with back to back hurricanes. Why do you come back? They said, This is where we live. This is what we love. We love being on the water. We love fishing. We love boating. Generations of families have been here, and they love this area, and that's why they want to live here. And yet you look at the pictures now, and a lot of it is gone. World Food Kitchen was here earlier today with a helicopter, just to give you an idea of how bad the area is and how hard it is to get in here, handing out sandwiches from a helicopter, if you can even believe that. But that's what was happening. You can see boats thrown everywhere.

Really, some people come and they get to their lot and there's nothing there. They can't even see their house. In other occasions, they can see their house, but it's on a different block. It's wild. I had a chance to speak to one of the residents. His name is Trey Pepper. He was He's holding back tears because his house here is the house he comes to with his family. He had just opted not to get insurance after what happened last year with another hurricane. His house had survived, so he thought he was okay, and then Helene happened. Here's what he had to say. All these people here, they just... To have no insurance, to start over and taxes. We had Adalia last year come through here, and our taxes in Taylor County tripled, doubled. Will you rebuild or will you- I don't know. I don't know. And that's a big question facing a lot of residents here and all up and down Florida's Gulf Coast. That's the story of Helene, at least in Florida. These communities on the water, these coastal communities that have been completely wiped out. The insurance rates are skyrocketing. Then you go further south into the Tampa area.

I know you've done some reporting on that already, Gadi, but the flooding there was out of control. You think about this hurricane, 16 states, a thousand miles long that have been affected, dozens of people killed, and it's still going. It may not be a hurricane, but it is still taking lives and it's still taking homes. Yeah, absolutely. Just showing some of those houses, the destruction there is unbelievable. And insurance rates, they're sky high. If you can get it, and I know a lot of people in Florida, insurance there is, Okay, well, I'm going to build my house on stilt, and that will get me through storm surge if it's 10 feet, 15 feet high. Have Have you seen that? Have you seen homes that were on stilt also blown away? Yeah. It's interesting you bring this up because that's the formula, right? They build their house on stilt. Some of them have wind insurance, but not flood insurance. That's the factor there. You build your house three, four stories in the air like you saw there, you figure there's no way a storm surge bigger than that could hit your house, and somehow it does, or it knocks the pilings out.

Here's what happens. This is what the residents told me. The insurance company comes here and they go to your kitchen, and if they're standing in your kitchen cabinet, that means it was water, not wind. That means that your insurance policy doesn't cover that unless you have flood insurance. But that's a really expensive one. Yeah, folks are coming out here and they're holding each other and they're holding their kids. They just look in awe. They just can't believe it because they've been through hurricanes before, but they're telling me never won like this. Wow. And yet the flag is still flying behind you. Tom Yamis, thank you. At NBC News Correspondent, Marissa Parna joins me from St. Petersburg, Florida. Marissa, you've been on the ground with rescue crews throughout the day. What's happened like? Well, I can tell you, Gatti, it was really eye-opening. So right now we're in St. Petersburg, and I want to show you more about what we're seeing on the around here in just a moment. But I want to show you first the video that we got from earlier this morning. This is with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office. And what you're seeing is us in the back of what's called an amphibious vehicle.

It allows them to travel not just on the roads, but most importantly, through those flooded waters. And they used this vehicle to rescue over two dozen people. And we're talking about people of all ages, pets, dogs, cats, a 97-year-old woman who needed medical attention. We spoke to one of the rescuers who worked all through the night on no sleep. Here's what he told us. We had young kids, we had pets, we had the elderly. Our unit alone probably rescued over 25 people last night. We have extra squads coming in today. So for the So for those of you who worked overnight, they're trying to get people relief so they can go get some rest, go get a meal, go do what they need to do. Such as yourself? Yes. And then get them back so we can keep making sure everything's good at home. And Gatti, I will tell you that when we got there, the water was starting to recede just in that one part. That was town and country in Hillsborough County. For those who don't know, it's about an hour northwest of where we are. Here in St. Petersburg, it's shore acres, specifically, the water was still So flooded on the streets, we couldn't pass through these roads.

In fact, there are still roads that have water on them. We're talking about almost 24 hours of impassable roads here, Gautie. They were doing water rescues as late as this afternoon. And I will point out that it's not that far away from here, on the other side of this peninsula, there are barrier islands that people still cannot access, Gautie. They still can't get on or off those barrier islands on the outskirts of this peninsula. Wow. And all those images happening in the day The night is starting to fall there. I know power is out for so many people. Any idea on when some of that power could be restored? That's a great question. And we know that wind is always a factor. The rain is always a factor. They have to be careful when they're going to restore the power to those communities. Just to paint a picture of what it looks like here, by the way, because we're here, I do want to show you this, Gautie, what crews we're working against or still working against. So I mentioned that we're in St. Petersburg. If you look at that house, you'll see a faint line, that is the water line, that's about 4 feet tall.

On me, that's chest high. Something that a lot of crews had to deal with, all kinds of crews, are fires, because a lot of these homes, for one reason or another, there can be multiple reasons that a home catches fire. You might be able to see smoke still coming out of that home right there. Luckily, the people were not inside of that home when that happened. But when it comes to crews restoring power, we know historically, Florida is pretty quick as a state to restore power after these natural social disasters. But this one might be an exception. This was a massive storm. We know that there are places like those barrier islands that I just mentioned, no one except for those emergency crews, is getting on or off. I can tell you there's a lot of places that still have cut off access for one reason or another. And those places like Treasure Island, for instance, they are probably not getting power anytime soon. In fact, we know that when it comes to water, even getting access to water is an issue for those communities, Gatti. Such an eerie night ahead after so much destruction.

Marissa Para, thank you. And up in North Carolina, much of the worst of the damage from Helene has centered on the city of Asheville, where a curfew has been in place since 7:30 this evening. Parts of Asheville are completely submerged, and we're hearing there is no cell phone service in most of that area. In fact, NBC news correspondent George Solis and his crew can't get a steady signal out from there right now. But he did manage to file this report during a brief window of connectivity. Take a look. Take a look at the historic Biltmore Village. You can see it is completely underwater right now. We were actually on a bridge that overlooked this entire community, and we were told by law enforcement that we needed to vacate immediately because there are actually propane tanks that were floating around, some of them trapped under the bridge. The imminent threat of possible explosion so severe, they had to make sure everyone was evacuated. Here we are at a safe distance. But again, the damage here, remarkable. This is part of that catastrophic flooding that was expected with not Not only the amount of rain that they saw over the last several days, but the impacts of Helene.

This is catastrophic. And again, as we look around here, I can see street signs that are underwater. There's a gas station here right behind me that is also underwater. The pump's barely visible. It's again adding insult to injury after the days of rain that we saw here in the Western Carolinas. There are still rampant power outages. The only silver lining, if you will, is that the rain has stopped. But we know some of those water levels are still rising. Some homeowners impacted. And again, the full assessment of this is going to take some time right now. But as we have heard, the governor did declare that state of emergency. There are also local states of emergency. The assessment of the damage only just beginning. Back to you. George Selys out there in Nashville. Let's turn now our focus to Georgia, where NBC news correspondent Priscilla Thompson is in a place that has seen some catastrophic damage. Priscilla, can you tell us the situation where you're at right now? It looks very dark. I imagine power is out, right? Yeah, Gatti. Power is absolutely out for almost everyone in this county. But this is a city with a lot of trees.

And I will tell you that hurricane force winds and trees do not mix. And so this is what we're seeing through all the neighborhoods that we're going in, massive trees that have been just completely uprooted, many of them crashing into people's homes. We've seen homes with three trees in them. I spoke to one couple, Bill and Katherine, who said 15 trees fell in their yard, several of them falling into their home. And they described being inside their home and hearing what sounded like a freight train as the wind was howling and those trees began coming down. And so they sheltered inside of their hallway away. But what's more, they had just finished fixing the backside of their house from Hurricane Adalia a little over a year ago, which knocked trees into the back of their house. And now they're dealing with that again at the front of their house. Take a listen to how they described it. Well, the last time when our day came through, we spent about $125,000 plus all of our personal, which we have yet to get paid for. What goes through your head when you think about all of this?

I'd like to pack up and move. And so it is exactly the same thing that Tom was hearing in Florida. People who are saying they don't know how much longer they can deal with these back-to-back storms with paying those insurance premiums when they're having to pay out these massive six-figure amounts to try to fix their homes as these storms just continue coming. Gatti? Priscilla, we saw President Biden approve federal assistance to Georgia as well as some other states. Realistically, though, how soon before people can see some of that? Well, that is the big question because that aid is expected to help supplement some of the state and local efforts. And so we're working to better understand what exactly that timeline is going to look like. But one thing that I noticed here, a lot of times when we cover these types of natural disasters, you will immediately see nonprofits coming in with trucks serving food, barbecues doing what they can to help with cleanup. And what's interesting is that I have not seen that here in Valdosta today. And we heard the governor earlier saying that it has been really hard for people to get here, even for the crews that are trying to clear the roads and get the power restored to actually get here to help this community.

So certainly those funds are needed and needed quickly when you look around at all of the damage here. Gadi? Very telling there. Priscilla out in Loundis County, Georgia. Priscilla, thank you. And MBC news correspondent Priya Shreither joins us now from Atlanta, where flash flood emergencies were issued earlier today. Priya, that's water very high behind you. What's the situation like in Atlanta? Again, this is Georgia. This is not Florida. You were quite a ways away from where this made landfall, right? That's right, Gaudi. Well, this was the first ever flash flood emergency here here in Atlanta. We've heard of flash flood warnings and flash flood watches, but this was the first ever flash flood emergency. And the consequence of that is what you can see behind me here. This neighborhood was completely submerged throughout the day. Now the water has significantly receded. But you can actually see on that brick wall on the garage in that home behind me here, just how high that water got. It basically submerged their entire garage level. Now, this community is accustomed to some flooding. They experienced that back in 2009. And that's why a lot of these homes are raised up like they are about nine feet off the ground.

However, this house to my right over here is not raised up. And the people in this home told me that they were frantically spending much of the night trying to get a lot of their furniture up to the second floor. And many of these families were just telling me stories of how they spent the night on their second floor waiting for that water to come down so that they could go downstairs. And now, just for the first time, 24 Four hours after this all started, people are finally coming out of their homes. Swiftwater rescues were occurring down the road from me here. Dozens of them happening today. We saw a very dramatic video of a woman with her young baby being rescued, and fire crews were going door to door overnight, knocking on doors, trying to evacuate people and get them out of their homes. Another big problem, Gautie, that we're seeing basically everywhere in Atlanta and across the state of Georgia are those downed trees because of the high winds that we were experiencing here. That's caused about a million people across the state, Gautie, to lose power. Wow. And with so much standing water there, are there still Swiftwater rescues happening?

Not at this hour, Gautie. That's the fortunate thing. It appears as though everyone was able to get to safety, and now many people are finally able to get back into their homes to really assess the extent of the damage right now. So really, the priority right now is for those 10,000 linemen from Georgia Power who are on standby now that the weather event has moved away from us to restore power, and also the 1,000 Georgia Guardsmen that were mobilized by Governor Kemp to really go through the streets across the state to clear out debris, Gadi. Power can't be restored soon enough. Priya Schreither. Thank you. Don't go anywhere. We are just getting started. Coming up, Israel takes aim at Hezbollah's headquarters. What we know about the targets being hit right now as Israel's Prime Minister delivers a strong message at the UN about the growing conflict. Our Richard Ingle is on the ground. But first, New York City's mayor faces a judge's scenes of the courtroom as Eric Adams pleads not guilty to a slate of federal charges. His legal road ahead as he faces calls to step down. And later this hour, we're going back to school.

Part two of our look at how AI is teaching students at a Texas school. This time, the high school courses being turned over to artificial intelligence. That's tonight's The Future of Everything. Where do you see the future of education in 10 years? I believe that in 10 years, every student will have the ability to learn everything they need to know via an iPad. Hey, welcome back. And here's some of the headlines that we're watching tonight. Oscar-winning actor Maggie Smith died peacefully this morning in the hospital, according to her family. Smith's career spanned nearly seven decades, and she may be best known for her roles in Harry Potter and Doulton Abbey. She was 89 years old. Kentucky's governor is calling for the sheriff, accused of fatally shooting a judge to resign by the end of the week. If the sheriff does not comply, the governor says he will move forward with a removal proceeding that allows governors to fire peace officers for neglect. The Ledger County Sheriff's office could not be reached for comment. Five people were killed in a four-vehicle car crash in central Utah. Officials say the driver of an SUV overshot the acceleration lane Thursday Tuesday and merged right into the path of a semi-truck.

The truck then lost control and hit another car, causing a chain reaction. The driver of the SUV was checked out at the hospital with minor injuries. And a looming strike ahead. Employees from shipping and terminal companies said they filed unfair laborer practice lawsuit against the International Longshoremen Association. The union called the complaint, A publicity stunt, and they do not agree with their wage increase offer. A strike by the ILA could shut down some of the busiest ports in the country, causing weeks of supply chain delays. And an Arkansas couple who has been arrested on charges of attempting to sell their two-month-old baby for a six-pack of beer at a campground or in court. Officials say the couple let a man watch their baby for the night for some beer, and then later tried to trade the baby to another man at the campground in exchange for $1,000. Both are facing felony charges for endangering the welfare of a miner. We are 39 nine days away from election day. In today's focus, the Southern border. Vice President Kamala Harris is on stage in Douglas, Arizona, right now, after she spent the afternoon at the border. That's her first trip there in three years, something Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked her on.

Harris, moments ago, accepting that the immigration system needs reform, but blaming Trump squarely for sinking a major border deal in Congress earlier this year. It was the strongest border security bill we have seen in decades. It was endorsed by the Border Patrol Union, and it should be in effect today, producing results in real-time right now for our country policy. But Donald Trump tanked it. Now, Trump, who was out on the trail in Michigan today, responded to the vice President's border visit and her attack, preemptively claiming he did not stop the deal in question here. The senators did. She went to the border today. She wants to see if she could salvage, make up some lies, like she said about the border bill that Trump stopped. Let me tell you, number one, I didn't stop it. The Senator stopped it. But that's the worst bill ever drawn. It's a waste of paper. Now, let's bring in the NBC's Gabe Gutier as from Douglas, Arizona, to break all of it down. Gabe, let's start with this border deal in question here. What was in that deal and how did it get torpedoed? Hi there, Gatti. Well, this was back from earlier this year.

It was back at the time when Congress was debating a foreign aid bill as well as a border security bill. And what ended up happening was that Donald Trump talked to House Republicans, urge them not to support this deal. And House Speaker Mike Johnson, he said that it didn't go far enough. And basically, Republicans blocked it. Now, since then, Democrats have been changing their messaging on immigration. They've seen an opportunity. It really changed the way they talk about the entire issue. And since Kamala Harris took over the top of the Democratic ticket, she has been selling her bona fides when it comes to immigration, touting her record as a prosecutor in California. And it all dates back to this bipartisan border deal earlier this year. Now, today, for the first time, former President Trump seemed to distance himself from killing that bill, blaming it on lawmakers. He said the senators did it. It was negotiated in the Senate, but it was the House members that first rejected it. Then senators voted it down as well. So today, for the first time, Gatti, former President Trump tried to blame lawmakers for killing that bipartisan border deal as this immigration debate ramps up just a few weeks from this election, Gatti.

No matter what, there were a lot of phone calls going back and forth at time. Harris, right now, she is trailing Trump in recent polls when it comes to securing the border, but she's leading when it comes to humane treatment of immigrants. Both of those are telling, but border security seems to be one of those things that Trump is hoping actually drives people to the polls in droves. You were just talking about Harris making a play there to seem tougher on the border. How exactly is she doing that? Well, look, Gatti, immigration is central to Donald Trump's political identity. Ever since it started running for President back in 2015, he still has a wide lead over Vice President Harris when it comes to polling. A recent NBC news poll showed that she was 21 points behind him when it came to securing the border. But, Gatti, this is critical. Back in January, an NBC news poll found that President Biden trailed Trump by 35 points. So 35 points to now just 21 points. Yes, She's losing when it comes to immigration, but she's losing by less. And that could be critical in a swing state like Arizona, because if Democrats can cut into the margins of Republicans just even a little bit, it could make a huge difference in this state.

Got it. Yeah, we'll see in November. Gabe Gutierrez. Thank you. As we mentioned, former President Donald Trump is in Michigan today. He just wrapped up a town hall in war in Michigan, talking economy, immigration, and more. But before he headed to Michigan, the former President also met with Ukrainian President, Zelenskyy, at the Trump Tower in New York. Meeting that happened after a lot of back and forth, considering Trump's critical stance of the war in Ukraine. Trump saying that if elected, he will end the war with a deal that's good for both sides. We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. If we win, I think we're going to get it resolved very quickly, very work. I really think we're going to go- I don't think we have more good relations. Oh, I see. But it takes two to 10 goes. Nbc's Gareth Hake has more on all of that. Hey there, Gareth. Hey, Gatti. This is a day of a little bit of domestic, a little bit of international politics for Donald Trump. A day that started with that meeting with Vladimir Zelenskyy in New York City, a meeting that Zelenskyy very much pushed for, but they put Trump in a bit of an awkward spot as he has never really committed to any end of the war in Ukraine that favors Ukraine.

Zelenskyy tried to make that spot a little bit more awkward with their on-camera comments today, suggesting that Trump had said to him that Ukraine must win, Putin must lose. That's not something that Trump has ever said himself. The transition, if you will, today, Trump a hammer harming Kamala Harris over her trip to the border, suggesting that if she wanted to do something about the border, she basically just needed to walk down the hall and talk to President Biden about it. Everything she was saying at the border was misrepresented because she has been vice President for three and a half for years. And then, of course, we're here in Michigan, where Donald Trump always wants to talk about manufacturing, wants to talk about automobiles. And with Donald Trump, that means talking about tariffs. He continues to hammer home the idea that we need more tariffs on more foreign imports, not just on cars, but on everything in this economy. That is often a popular message in places like Michigan, as it has been from Trump supporters who I've talked to today. But the Harris campaign will argue, as they have all along, that it amounts to a tax increase of a different sort on the American consumer.

If that's the debate we're having down this home stretch, Trump campaign would feel very good about this. They still lead nationally on which candidate is better favored by voters to handle the economy. So that's comfortable turf for them, and that's what Donald Trump wants to be talking about here in Michigan today. On the first day, voters can actually pick up their absentee ballots and turn them in and vote. Got it? Garret Hake. Thank you. And the mayor of the biggest city in the country, New York City's Eric Adams, is is in court today over corruption charges. He pled not guilty to five federal charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery, making him the first sitting New York City mayor to face criminal charges. Now, he's accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions and donations from wealthy Turkish businessmen in exchange for political favors, something he has repeatedly denied. Adams is also facing calls to step down, but he has been defiant and outside the courthouse, his lawyer said this. There are no emails, text messages, or any corroboration whatsoever that the mayor knew about anything having to do with these campaign donations. The entire body of evidence is one staffer.

One staffer that says there was a conversation. What you have not learned is that that staffer has lied, and the government is in possession of that lie. Let's bring in the NBC News legal analyst, Danny Sovalos. Danny, speaking of evidence, here today. Investigator sees the phone of Adams' top advisor. So this seems like a very wide-ranging investigation. Can you break down the charges and the evidence so far that we've seen in the case? Yes, the counts are actually quite varied. I mean, you have federal election charges which relate to soliciting donations from a foreign national. And federal law prohibits foreign nationals from donating not just to federal campaigns, but state and local campaigns. And of course, the New York mayoral campaign is a local campaign. In addition, you have federal bribery charges. Not all federal laws touch or affect local candidates for office. This particular statute does. It's called the federal programs bribery because the jurisdictional hook for the federal government is that it has to be a program that accepts more than $10,000 in federal aid. That, of course, is the city of New York, all kinds of things in New York except that minimum threshold.

Then, of course, you have just straight up fraud based on New York's, I guess you would say, donation matching program that they alleged the mayor abused. That's where you get that multiplier of $10 million. That's a very serious count for the mayor to deal with. These are all a variety of charges, but they all fall generally under the category of either election crimes or corruption charges. Danny, this is a question I've been wanting to ask you since yesterday, but what's going on with all this drama with the mayor's phone and his alleged forgotten password? Yeah, so I mean, a lot of times, I'm not saying this is the mayor doing this, but a lot of times when criminal defendants or targets are asked questions and they say things just off the cuff, they don't make a lot of sense. That's an answer that doesn't make a lot of sense with the mayor. But the bottom line is this. One One of the biggest threats to a criminal defense attorney is when a client engages in self-help, when they start thinking they can try to outsmart the government or agents or the police. I'm not saying necessarily that's what Mayor Adams is doing, but what you're seeing is a lot of statements, both in the evidence, in the indictment, and now post-indictment, that sound a little strange.

I'm not saying that's his defense counsel. He's gone out and gotten himself one of the best criminal defense attorneys around, and I have no relationship with him. That's just from observation and reputation. He's aggressive, but he wins. I mean, that can be said about him. So he's got good counsel, although I have to say, I respectfully disagree with his characterization, as you just heard in that sound bite, that there's only one person essentially testifying or providing evidence against him. You just need to read the indictment, and you can tell that there are a lot of people, not named by name, but by pseudonym, that somehow probably provided evidence. It may even be cooperating with the government against the mayor. Yeah, fascinating case. Danny Sivalos, thank you. And inside the alleged plan to, quote, erode confidence ahead of the presidential election, the US Department of Justice charging three men from Iran. What's being revealed about the alleged plot to hack the Trump campaign? But first, you got to see this. It's a game of Simon says like nothing you've seen before. Some it's his head, some it's his hip, some it's his head, some it's his tap, some Intense game of Simon says, right?

It was all part of Ludwig streamer games, a two-day competition this week between some of the Internet's favorite creators and streamers, put it together by Red Bull. And what's better than a test of athletic ability than a good old game of Simon says? I guess that right there. We'll be right back. I mean, Simon says we'll be right back. Hey, welcome back. Let's take a quick look around the world. Social media giant Metta was hit with more than $100 million fine today, dating back to a 2019 breach that exposed hundreds of millions of Facebook passwords. The fine came from Metta's European Union privacy regulator. The Watchdog started the investigation shortly after the breach, and Metta says there's no evidence that these passwords were abused or accessed improperly. And a Japanese man, believed to be the world's longest-serving death row inmate, has been exonerated after nearly 50 years in prison for a quadruple murder. Iwau Hakamata was cleared of all charges yesterday. A Japanese court says his conviction was based on fabricated evidence. Hakamata says he only confessed after being interrogated for 20 days and beat with sticks by police. Dozens of people are dead in India, most of them children after a religious celebration there went horribly wrong.

As part of the three-day festival, the women and children went into rivers for a cleansing ritual, but heavy monsoon rains, raised the water levels to unexpected levels, and many people drowned. And Houthi rebels in Yemen say they targeted three US warships in the Red Sea using missiles and drones. They also say they attacked Israel. The Israeli military says it has intercepted a missile that was fired from Yemen today. And the Houthis, who aligned themselves with Iran, have promised to continue their attacks on Israel until its attack on Lebanon and Gaza come to an end. And fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues to escalate tonight. New airstrikes by Israel inside Lebanon happening right now as well that the Israeli military says target Hezbollah's central headquarters. Now, this is an attempt to kill one of the militant groups' leaders. Those strikes coming after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a defiant speech at the UN, promising that Israel will not stand down. Nbc's Richard Ingle has more from Lebanon. The Israeli airstrikes were so powerful, they shook all of Beirut. An Israeli official tells BBC News the target was the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a headquarters underground.

Hezbollah quickly said the attack was a failure. Iran, which backs Hezbollah, said Nasrallah is safe, but neither offered any proof. I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran. If you strike us, we will strike you. This strike came just one hour after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a fiery speech at the UN, promised an open war on Hezbollah. Which has been attacking Northern Israel with rockets and drones since the Hamas Massacre on October seventh. As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely. And that's exactly what we're doing. Israel has recently dealt a series of heavy blows to Hezbollah, booby-trapping its communications, killing senior commanders, and bombing suspected weapon sites. I visited one earlier today. Hezbollah says this was a motorcycle repair factory and a fuel storage location. It was directly hit by two Israeli airstrikes. It completely destroyed the area. You can Still smell the burning fuel. It is still smoking. Seens like this are spreading now all across Lebanon as Israeli airstrikes in the south and in the east and in Beirut are intensifying.

Nasrallah's death would be a major setback for Hezbollah, decapitating the group which is a sworn enemy of Israel and the United States, and which has many rivals inside Lebanon. Israeli officials say it's too early to tell if Nasrallah was killed. And tonight, Israel has begun a new round of airstrikes here in Beirut. Richard Ingle, tonight in Beirut. Thank you so much, Richard. And today, the Justice Department charged three Iranians over allegedly hacking into the Trump campaign. Take a quick listen. The operation targeted the email accounts of current and former American public officials, journalists, and most recently, individuals associated with US political campaigns. Mbc's Justice and Intelligence Correspondent, Ken Dilanian, joins us with the latest. Ghaadi, the Justice Department today charged three Iranians it describes as government hackers with a plot to stoke discord and erode confidence ahead of the US election. In a 37-page indictment, prosecutors described a wide-ranging hacking campaign, alleging that the men targeted Trump campaign officials' emails, stealing internal documents, including debate prep, and shopping them to the news media and the Biden-Harris campaign. The indictment says these men previously targeted a former Deputy FBI director and some American journalists. Now, attorney general Merrick Garland said that the evidence uncovered by the FBI made clear that this Iranian operation was attempting to undermine former President Trump's campaign in advance of the election.

Garland said there's no evidence that anyone on the Harris or Biden campaigns replied to those emails offering them stolen Trump documents. So far, only one journalist that we know of has published some of the stolen material. Garland said the message of the US government here is that the American people, not a foreign power, decide the outcome of this country's elections. The hackers are facing terrorism, fraud, and identity theft charges. They work for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the indictment. All three live in Iran, likely outside the reach of US law enforcement. And all this got is coming as US officials are battling propaganda and disinformation efforts, not just from Iran, but also from Russia and China. The US government has been trying to get the word out about this through intelligence briefings and indictments like the one today. A few weeks ago, they indicted two executives at RT, the Russian state media company, accusing them of paying millions of dollars to Americans to spread Russian propaganda. And Microsoft reported last week that a Russian troll farm was producing fake videos designed to discredit Kamala Harris. Intelligence officials, by the way, if it's not already clear, say that Russia wants Trump to win, Iran prefers Harris, and China is just trying to promote its own interests.

Justice Department officials told me this week that foreign interference is likely to get worse as election day approaches and that they'll do what they can to flag it to the American people. Gatti? And that's just what we know about. Kindalani, and thank you. Up next, more of our coverage on what's left after Haleen making a mess across the Southeast. We're going to dive deep into how climate change is fueling this extreme weather. That's coming up after the break. Hey there. Welcome back. We've got the details on the science behind Haleen's powerful strike on the South in just a moment. But first, here's some stories happening out West that we're following right now. La County public health officials confirmed the first reported death from the West Nile virus. The patient was hospitalized and later died from a neurological illness caused by the virus. Now, this brings the total of West Nile cases so far this year to 14 here in LA County in peak mosquito season. That season doesn't end until November. In UCLA's basketball, or baseball stadium, rather, the doors were locked today. Jackie Robinson Stadium is on the US Department of Veteran Affairs West Los Angeles campus, so a judge decided to lock the facility until the University comes up with a plan for this space to benefit veterans as it was originally intended.

Ucla said they were, quote, disappointed with the ruling, but they are compliant. And in their final game at the Oakland Coliseum. The A's beat the Texas Rangers in an emotional farewell to their fans. The A's are the third Oakland professional sports team to leave the city. And while their stadium is being built in their new home of Las Vegas, the athletics will play in Sacramento for three years. Back now to the big story happening across the United States, that mess left behind from what's left of Hurricane Helene. These scenes are from North Carolina and Georgia, not where the storm actually made landfall. States are away, and it seems like hurricanes are getting more and more vicious. Nbc news, National Climate reporter Chase Cain explains how Haleen is connected to climate change. Haleen intensified rapidly as it moved over super warm Gulf waters. Up to five degrees above average. Climate Central calculates that climate change made those temperatures at least 500 times more likely. But another consequence of climate change will unfold into the weekend since Helene could drop more than a foot of rain hundreds of miles from the Coast. Every Every hurricane that now exists contains more moisture than it would have without climate change.

And that means the rainfall associated is in every case stronger than it would have been. And so the flood damage from hurricanes is larger because of climate change. Freddie Otto researches how climate change influences weather. And with Helene, you can see the evidence with the amount of moisture it's holding because warmer air can hold more moisture. Precipitable water or Pwatt isn't something to hear us talk about on TV very often. But in the context of Helene and climate change, it's important. So here's what it is. Imagine you had a tube, a column of air that ran from the ground all the way up through the clouds, and it has a lot of water vapor, has a lot of moisture in it. Well, if you were able to squeeze all of that moisture out at once, precipitable water is a measure of how much rain you'd actually get down at the surface. Meteorologist Ben Noel pointed out that Helene appears to carry record-breaking amounts of moisture. Several hurricanes this year have done a similar thing, whether that was Debbie or Francine. Both of those systems actually also came with record-breaking moisture. We're seeing this pattern repeating itself.

That obviously reveals a bit of a trend here, which is toward not just a warmer, but a moisture world. That means places from Atlanta to Asheville could get two or three months' worth of rain in just a few days. You ask the question, how is climate change impacting me and the weather that I'm experiencing day to day? This is a prime example of where those effects become very tangible and very real for In New York, I'm meteorologist Chase Caine. Chase Cain, thank you. The city of Minneapolis has taken a new approach to community policing. When fireworks and youth violence became a problem among the city's Somali youth, they turned to community elders for a solution. Alex Tavit has that story. Late at night in downtown Minneapolis, Somali refugees on the Streets... We patrol. We walk... To stop crime in its tracks. We are the quiet lion in the jungle, and we are watching things. Somali Youth Link is a government-funded organization that deploys Somali elders to make sure youngsters stay out of trouble in the Twin Cities. We want to say, Hey, we're watching you. We are here to make sure you don't get into trouble.

Safety for all. Minnesota's long welcomed Somali refugees after a civil war broke out in the '90s. We saw two rockets land, one in a crowded street injuring at least a dozen people. Plungeing the East African country into starvation. The face of Somalia, 4 million people face death from sickness, starvation, and war. Since then, the Somali-American population in Minnesota has risen to about 82,000 as Somalis find refuge in the land of a thousand Lakes. During the pandemic and years after... We had some altercations and some crime incidents. Incidents of Somali youth getting into trouble, including dozens arrested for shooting fireworks at police. That inspired Fariya Khalief to start Somali YouthLink to work hand in hand with local police departments. At times, they'll come to and say, Hey, I think this is a police matter. Can you deal with it? Hey, you're under arrest. Sir, you're under arrest. And vice versa. We'll go to the Somali Youth Link and say, I think this is not a police issue. This is a Somali youth issue, and we would like you to address it. What makes S YL so effective? In our culture, Somali culture, there is a respect to the elders.

A culture of respect and understanding. The city of Minneapolis US, granting the group a $300,000 contract. We've learned our lesson from the horrendous murder of George Floyd. Reforming the way the community interacts with law enforcement and protecting the refugee population in the midst of a rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric. We understand the value of immigration. And personally, growing up in that as a blue collar kid, it's wonderful. It's what America is. Alex Tabit, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community, community, community. Alex Tabit, thank you. Before we go, it is time for the future of everything. And we are taking a trip to Alpha High, where AI is teaching teenagers how artificial intelligence is guiding these students through projects you might have only dreamed about in school. No teachers in sight. No teachers. Who's teaching you stuff? Guys, AI. Ai is teaching you, huh? We are back now with part two our Future of Education series about Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom. And tonight, we are turning to the Alpha High School in Austin, where students, parents, and administrators are going all in on AI, except that is the teachers, because at this school, technically, there are none. Take a look.

There's a high school in Austin, Texas, where AI wanes supreme. So you've been learning from AI, and now you're building your own AI? Yes. Textbooks are so last century. Let us embrace AI AI and the new way of learning. That is the premise of this radical approach to education at Alpha Schools. Here, not only is the teaching of core subjects left entirely to AI. I'm El, your personal dating coach. Even passion projects about young love are infused with artificial intelligence. I have an app. Okay. Answers any question about teen dating. I want to ask my crush out to prom in front of all of her friends. Is that a good idea? It really depends on her personality. So You've created a data set using ChatGPT and your own TikTok? Yes, and my TikTok, combining the two to create this app. The AI programs they use to teach core curriculum are so personalized, they even police procrastination. It'll track my screen and it'll say, Oh, hey, she's not focused on her lessons right now. So the app is a textbook, a teacher, a quiz, and like a video game. Exactly. As for supervision, adults in the classroom are called guides, not teachers, and are supposed to focus only on motivating students, and previous teaching experience is not required.

Maybe I'm wondering how to reach out to manufacturers. Things that kids maybe aren't able to perfectly do, we still have an adult that's there to mentor us and to guide us. Are you comfortable having guides in the classroom that don't necessarily know the core curriculum that may be on the screens in front of those kids? We have the ability in this day and age to get whatever information or knowledge right at our fingertips. It's okay that our guides aren't experts in physics or math. They are experts in their students. That AI core curriculum is done for just two hours a day. And after a morning of machine learning, students work on life skills, in-person collaboration, and real-world projects. I'm building an AI-based health coach that uses your genetics to create personalized fitness and nutrition plans. I'm making my first short film. That way I can make my own film studio. I'm creating an AR board game. So when you put your phone over it, it'll pop up on your phone. And you're able to build that here? Yeah. Are you at all worried that when you go off to college, I mean, you have a lot of apps here that are helping you learn, but when you don't have those apps, that you're going to be able to translate the knowledge that you have here?

There's no content you can put in front of us that we can't go figure out without a teacher. Year, which is what college is all about. And while schools of all levels are grappling with how AI fits into the classroom, a recent Harvard study found that students using AI tutors for an Ivy League level physics course, tested better than those in traditional classes. Now, Harvard is expanding that pilot program to test machine learning on a bigger scale. And that is welcome news for Alpha founder, McKinsey Price. I believe that in 10 years, every student will have the ability to learn everything they need to know via an iPad. We believe children are limitless, and it's the guy's job, and our job as schools, to help unlock that potential. As for the end of this school day... You're going to be quizz by all your lovely peers. It culminated in this alpha exercise. I have done extensive research about social media addiction. Where students arm themselves with AI like ChatGPT to rapid fire question one of their peers. What do you think of banning it? What age groups? Why do I spend 10 hours today on TikTok?

His task to defend his research with no notes. Anybody else? Try to prove mastery of the material better than artificial intelligence. What are the long term effects of social media addiction? What you're essentially doing with social media is you're gambling for attention, for temporary bouts of dopamine and pleasure. Poetic that on this day, his research is the danger of social media, also powered by AI. You should be using social media for productive things, not destructive things. This is like the existential questions of society. Yes. We don't want to just be good for our age. We want to be best in the world. And that comes with asking questions that the best in the world are asking, and we're trying to find answers to them. Now, that comes with a lot of the use of AI. Future looking bright for those kids, AI or not. That's going to do it for us for this week. I'm Gatti Schwartz. We'll see you here Monday. But until then, stay tuned now.. Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media.