a hip-hop legend behind bars. sean combs a hip-hop legend behind bars. sean combs is denied bail after pleading not guilty to major charges tuesday including sex trafficking and racketeering. we'll have more on what comes next for deadiddy. former president trump is bax on th back on the campaign trail. and are you fed up with the federal reserve? change may finally be coming. the nation's central bank is expected to cut interest rates for the first time since 2020. we're live with the cnbc reporter with a full preview. the creators of one pop smash are aiming a legal wrecking ball at another one. find out why miley cyrus may be going to court over a number one hit. and meet a wrestler whose strength is only matched by his hair and heart. this rhode island teen gave away his legendary locks.

it's wednesday, september 18th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm frances rivera. we begin with a deeply-troubling allegation against sean diddy combs. prosecutors accuse the music mogul of building a criminal empire and abusing women for years. combs will be back in court today for an appeal hearing after he was denied bail. nbc's chloe melas has more on the case. but first, a warning. some of the details of the report are graphic. >> reporter: sean "diddy" combs behind bars. a federal judge denying the music mogul bail following his arrest and indictment, as federal prosecutors allege combs is dangerous and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community. in court, combs pleading not guilty to federal counts, including sex trafficking and racketeering. >> sean combs led and participated in criminal activities, including sex

trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and the obstruction of justice. >> reporter: in an indictment, federal prosecutors say, since 2008, combs abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct. >> as alleged, when combs didn't get his way, he was violent. and he subjected victims to physical, emotional and verbal abuse. >> reporter: combs was arrested in a new york city hotel and it was six months after federal authorities raided the grammy winner's home in los angeles and miami, revealing what they say they found. firearms, including three defaced. >> repar-15s. >> freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time. involved multiple commercial sex workers and often involved a variety of narcotics, such as ketamine, ecstasy and ghb. which combs distributed to the

victims to keep them obedient and compliant. >> mr. combs is a fighter. he's going to fight this to the end. he's innocent. >> reporter: today's federal case following a string of civil suits, including one filed last week by a member of the girl group danity cane. as well as a lawsuit by cassie. a civil suit accusing combs of raping and physically abusing her. the terms of their 2023 settlement were not disclosed. an attorney for combs telling the judge that mr. combs is not a perfect person. these toxic relationships were mutual. and isn't sex trafficking is everyone wants to be there. let's turn now to the race for the white house. former president trump returning to the campaign trail for the

first time since facing a second apparent assassination attempt. speakingovernight at a town hall in flint, michigan. nbc's brie jackson joins us now. good morning, brie. did the former president address the latest threat made against his life? >> reporter: good morning, frances, yes. so mr. trump continued to praise the actions of the secret service. and he also mentioned how nice president biden and vice president harris were when they called to check on him. at this michigan town hall, the former president also spoke about putting tariffs on imported cars, which is a type of plan that he implied could put him in danger. >> i'm putting a 200% tariff on, which means they're unsellable. unsellable in the united states. and then, you wonder why i get shot at? right? you know, only consequential presidents get shot at. >> reporter: mr. trump has also been placing blame on the rhetoric used by democrats. but vice president harris is

accusing the trump campaign of using dangerous rhetoric of their own. she gave her most extensive response yet to the false claims being made about immigrants in springfield, ohio. >> it's a crying shame. i mean, my heart breaks for this community. when you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to understand at a very deep level how much your words have meaning. >> reporter: springfield, ohio has responded to dozens of bomb threats ever since mr. trump and his running mate made false claims about pets being eaten. now the city's manager is urging the republican nominee not to visit, saying it would be an extreme strain on their resources. now, a source familiar with the planning told nbc news that the former president wants to visit springfield soon. frances? >> brie, thank you. the fbi is investigating several suspicious packages and letters sent to election

officials in at least eight states with the a.p. reporting at least 15 states. some of the packages contained white powder. a senior law enforcement official tells nbc news none of the material was found to be whose hazardous. it did disrupt ballot counting with early voting under way in some states. turning to the middle east where pagers belonging to hezbollah members exploded across lebanon tuesday. and we want to warn you, some of the images you are about to see may be disturbing. at least nine people were killed, including several children. nearly 3,000 others were injured. the iran-backed militant group calling it a coordinated attack by israel. for the latest, let's bring in nbc's claudio lavanga. israel has not confirmed if it was behind what appears to be an unprecedented attack. >> reporter: that's right, frances. good morning. well, both hezbollah and the lebanese foreign minister are blaming israel, without providing evidence. but israel so far has neither

confirmed nor denied that it was behind the attack. and it does not respond to our request for comment. but, apart from who did it, the other question that remains unanswered is how is it possible that all of these pagers, hundreds of them, exploded at the same time or were made to explode at the same time. especially considering that hezbollah said that they gave up using cell phones, because they thought they would be too easy to track and monitor by israel and decided to turn to pagers instead, because they're considered to be safer. now the former cia director, john brennan, said he believes that all of these pagers had small explosives inside, and some, and at some stage, they were intercepted and swapped for the ones that hezbollah thought were safe. he also added that he believes that all suspicions have to rest on israel for being the responsible party, and he also believes israel carried out this

ata attack to show hezbollah that it can carry out attacks inside lebanon. the son of a parliament member was killed. and after the attack, not surprisingly, hezbollah promised to retaliate against israel. back here at home, families are demanding accountability for six construction workers killed in the baltimore bridge collapse last march. the families of three workers are suing the owner of the cargo ship that struck the bridge. >> translator: justice means that no son has to miss their father. no wife has to navigate this world alone. and no grandchild has to know their grandfather through a distant picture.

>> a spokesperson for the cargo ship owner said the company will not comment on the accusations. today will be a rainy day across the mid atlantic and parts of the northeast, but warmer than usual for some of the country. angie lassman is tracking it all. hi, angie, good morning. >> good morning to you. we've got a little rain to talk about for the east coast. thunderstorms happening across parts of the middle of the country. let's start with what's going on in the northeast and the mid atlantic. you'll need an umbrella. we'll see the highest chance for the heaviest of the rain to be closer to the coast. speaking of the coast. we've got onshore winds. they're fairly strong. that means the coastal flooding will be something we have to deal with across this region as well. 8 million people under these advisories right now. and that's going to be something we'll see through the day today. watch for high tide time to include some of those waterfronts dealing with flooding. otherwise, we've got something to watch in the tropics, a potential development here.

this is going to be an area of low pressure that could possibly develop as we get into the weekend. it will be something that we watch well into next week. so we'll keep a close eye on thatr so. meanwhile, temperatures he ove in the forecast. full sunshine in little rock with a high of 97. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. good news ahead. the federal reserve is set to cut interest rates for the first time since 2020. what it means for you. plus the new features

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all eyes on the federal reserve chair jerome powell today as he's weeidely expectedo announce interest rate cuts.t b? arabi how big will that cut be? arabi ai arabile joins us. >> it's been a tale that has unwound significantly. right now, the anticipation is still not clear as to what exactly we may get from the federal reserve, because expectations after yesterday's retail sales numbers then pointed towards what was perhaps a more resilient consumer than perhaps the market was anticipating. there was an uptick in retail sales figures where a contraction was expected. the market's not getting everything at once. according to the watch tool which gives a clear sense of what one trader is looking for with regards to interest rates and where they see them going over a particular time span.

at present, we're seeing a 61% chance that you may get a 50 basis-point cut. so half a percentage point drop off. where the other 39% is for that 25-point basis cut. it won't just be about the number. it will also be about the commentary. >> highly anticipated. thank you. now to a struggle so many families have over social media. instagram's parent company, meta, rolling out new protections for kids on the app. it has features with built-in restrictions, but, will it work? savannah sellers has more. >> reporter: meta rolling out instagram teen accounts, a feature with built-in restrictions for users under 18, like default private accounts, so teens have to accept new followers. messaging restrictions and time limits, prompting breaks. meta says users under 16 will need parental permission to opt out of these settings. but, enforcing this could be a

challenge. >> we've built new technology to try to identify people who may be misrepresenting their age. >> how confident are you that you can identify a teen's age properly? >> this is one of the big challenges for industry. there's no sure-proof way to verify somebody's age. we ask for age when someone joins the platform. we use signal to ask teens to then verify this age. >> because, if a teen is able to say that they are older than they actually are, they could, in theory, escape all these protections. >> we anticipate that some of them will try to do that, which is exactly why we've built these mechanisms. >> reporter: this comes as meta's been hit with several lawsuits alleging that it is harmful to young people. meta says parent also have more control. they will see who their teens are messaging with and have access to the app. for parents who are convinced this is enough to keep their teens safe, what do you say? >> we've been consulting with parents for many, many months,

and it's our sincere hope that they find at that these answer their biggest concerns, these protections. but we will be taking continual feedback from parents. >> reporter: meta says they are also targeting that dangerous content teens are supexposed to the platform. like sexual content or self-harm. in some cases they will hide it all together. get ready for a ton of get ready for a ton of pattinson in the trailer for ! i think he needs one too. what do you think? this is not just flu protection. new movie. schedule flu and covid-19 vaccines

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we're back with the story of a rhode island teen who made a major change for the sake of helping others. from our providence affiliate, here's sam reed. >> reporter: almost every day through the doors of nathaniel green middle school, is he wrestles at this academy. >> one of my top cheerleaders. >> let's go, let's go. >> reporter: the 14-year-old was the state champ for his weight class. he says practice is a place for peace, among other things. >> i just let it all out on the mat. >> reporter: this season, things will look a little different, and when i say different, that's because up until a few weeks ago, his hair measured two feet long. >> i started growing out my hair in third grade. >> reporter: it all started with a stranger that he saw. >> a little girl, and she was at the beach. and she was going to the water, and she took her hair off, and her hair went with it. >> reporter: we all have major moments that impact us.

for him, that was it. >> you could see that she was sad and felt embarrassment, and that kind of stuck with me. >> reporter: that's when he decided to do something good. making it his mission to grow out his hair so he could donate it to someone in need. >> knowing how big a part that could play in someone's life, i took action. >> reporter: wrestling with long locks was hard, and at times, so were the remarks. >> even when i got comments like boys shouldn't have long hair and stuff like that. i decided as long as i get no see sto see somebody smile, i'm going to do it. >> seeing someone so young to have a goal like that in their mind at such a young age, that's just incredible. >> reporter: a trip to the salon sealed the deal. >> i shed a few tears. >> reporter: emilio's full head of hair is being donated to hair we share, a non-profit that makes wigs for sick kids at no charge. >> i want the person to get my hair for free.

>> reporter: he's even taking things a step further with a fundraiser in hopes of paying for the process of making one. >> to make the wigs, it costs around $900 to $1350. i want to make sure i put my all into this, because it's my hair. >> reporter: putting his all into everything he does is something his coach can attest to. >> the moment he says he wants to do something, he's going to make sure he gets it done. >> reporter: and fortunately are for the deserving boy or girl who gets to wear his hair, he knows that not only did his hair grow, but his heart did, too. >> to the person i'm giving it, to you're beautiful with or without my hair. and i hope it brings you joy and put as smile on your face. >> what a beautiful kid. thanks for watching "early today." i'm frances rivera. have a great m tom llamas in ne