a candidate for governor coming under fire. north carolina's republican nominee facing calls to drop out after reports of inflammatory posts from more than a decade ago. his fierce denial and vow to stay in the race. targeted strikes in lebanon.

israel ramps up its attacks on hezbollah as the country reels from this week's wireless device explosions. we're live with what it means for the tense situation in the middle east. incognito mode may not be enough on the massive amounts of data collected by our sfavorite social media apps. shohei ohtani rewrites baseball's record books. we'll have a full recap. and not all heroes wear capes. but sometimes they live there. meet the women banding together to keep cape cod kleiclean for tourists and residents. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm frances rivera. we begin with a scandal rocking the north carolina race for governor. a new report from cnn links the republican nominee, mark robinson, to inflammatory online

comments fi comments posted over a decade ago. he's calling it tabloid trash and vowing to stay in the race. here's laura jarrett. >> reporter: republican candidate mark robinson vowing to stay in the race for governor in north carolina. vehemently denying an explosive new report, purporting to show dozens of his disturbing comments online. >> they want to focus on salacious tabloid lies. we're not going to let them do that. we are staying in this race. we are in it to it. >> reporter: the current lieutenant governor facing a swirl of speculation about the fate offist c his campaign afte revealed comments posted more than a decade ago. nbc news has not verified the authenticity of the posts, referring to himself as a black nazi and expressing support for reinstating slavery, writing, slavery is not bad. some people need to be slaves.

i wish they would bring it back. i would certainly buy a few. cnn also reporting robinson, who publicly supports a six-week ban on abortion with exceptions wrote that he did not care if a celebrity got an abortion, writing, quote, i don't care. i just want to see the sex tape. cnn says the comments were all made under the same user name and that robinson used it elsewhere on the internet, including product reviews on amazon. but robinson blachtisting it as tabloid trash. >> let me reassure you. the things that you see in that story, those are not the words of mark robinson. you know my words. you know my character, and you know that i have been completely transparent in this race and before. >> reporter: no stranger to polarizing comments, robinson has come under scrutiny in the past for calling the holocaust "hogwash", which he later said was a poorly-worded remark that wasn't anti-semitic. >> come november, i plan on

being the first black governor of north carolina. >> reporter: he's a social conservative who's been endorsed by former president trump. >> this is martin luther king on steroids, okay? >> reporter: north carolina, a battleground state in the presidential race, but a tough one for democrats who haven't won it since 2008. >> our thanks to laura for that report. new this morning, a small town sheriff in kentucky is being accused of a deadly courthouse shooting. state police say letdcher count sheriff mickey stein is expected to be charged with murder. kevin mullins was in his district office when he was shot multiple times. they're still working to get answers about a possible motive. but they say the shooting happened after an argument with the sheriff. kentucky's attorney general has promised a full investigation. a new batch of national polls show as incredibly tight race for the white house. the latest snapshot of the race suggests vice president harris is in her strongest position

yet, but nearly all the results are within the margin of error. brie jackson joins us now. good morning, brie. the vice president hopes to get a big boost from one of her celebrity supporters last night. >> reporter: that's right, she did. the vice president was in detroit last night for a live streamed town hall event with oprah winfrey. this event, it felt a lot more like an episode of oprah's talk show than it did an actual political event. there were a few hundred people there in person. but many more joined over zoom, including celebrities like chris rock, meryl streep and julia roberts. at one point during a talk about gun violence, oprah said she was surprised to learn that harris is a gun owner. >> it was so powerful at the convention when you, when you said you have guns, no, at the debate. >> i'm a gun only. tim owner. >> i did not know that.

>> probably should not have said that. will have to deal with that later. >> reporter: meanwhile, former president trump was in washington, d.c., speaking at events aimed at supporting israel and fighting anti-semitism. >> i believe that israel will be wined off the face of the earth if i don't win. and that's a big statement. that's a horrible statement to make. and it's just the way i feel. a lot of people in this room agree with me. >> reporter: and today, vice president harris has events planned in georgia and wisconsin, while former president trump has a rally in north carolina on saturday. frances? >> brie jackson for us, thank you. tensions could be reaching a boiling point between israel and lebanon. israel attacked hezbollah targets in the south with airstrikes and artillery one day after a series of explosions in wireless devices killed dozens and injured thousands in

lebanon. those attacks were widely attributed to israel. and the head of hezbollah has called them an act of war. for the latest, let's turn to claudio lavanga. what do we know? >> reporter: good morning, frances. according to the lebanese national news agency on thursday, israel carried out about 52 air raids in a wooden awooded area. and they hit about 100 hezbollah launchers and other infrastructural sites that they said were ready to, they were ready to used to fire towards the israeli territory in the immediate future. now, as you mentioned, this attack took place just as the leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah was speaking to the nation through a televised address and called the explosions that we saw, the pagers and the walkie-talkies on wednesday and thursday, he called them an act of war and an

unprecedented terrorist attack and vowed that israel will not be able to repopulate its northern area close to the border with lebanon that has been evacuated since the tension has been rising as long as the war in gaza continues. now, in the meantime, senior officials told nbc news that the timing and manner of the explosions that took place was not part of a strategic decision but mainly it was mostly a use it or lose it, because they had to use it at that point while they still could, essentially. and today we expect the united nations security council to hold an emergency session in which the lebanese foreign minister is also expected to attend, frances. >> claudio lavanga, thank you. after that dramatic pipeline fire in the houston area, texas police say they've discovered a body inside the suv that allegedly struck the pipeline sfa sf sparking the fire. a criminal investigation has been opened. police say identifying the body could take a long time.

witnesses say the car left the parking lot and drove through bushes and a fence before hitting an overground gas valve. the cargo ship that caused the deadly baltimore bridge collapse has departed virginia for china. it was towed to the portsmouth terminal where it has been under repair following the march 26th incident. the u.s. department of justice is seeking more than $110 million in costs due to the damage and alleged negligence of the dali's owner and operator. now, an outlook on the weekend forecast between storm potentials and cooler temperatures, here's nbc meteorologist angie lassman, who is tracking it all for us. good morning, angie. >> good morning, frances. we've also got sunshine and warmer temperatures, too. we have a mixed bag when it comes to the forecast over the next couple days heading into the weekend. thunderstorms to track across the great lakes this morning. otherwise fairly quiet. showers offshore for new england.

we'll see general thunderstorms through the day today. doesn't look like a really strong chance for thunderstorms. but indiana, that's a chance for rumbles of thunder. it is warm indeed for a good chunk of the country. even as we get into tomorrow, we're running 10, 15 degrees higher. cleveland, you'll drop down to upper 70s by the time we wrap up the weekend. low 70s for philadelphia. big picture look on the weekend. it looks like we'll see shower activity for the middle of the country. plenty of sunshine for the southeast. we'll see warm conditions last out west with plenty of sunshine as we get into sunday. showers and thunderstorms will be centered from the great lakes to parts of the plains on sunday, and as i mentioned, a little bit cooler but plenty of sunshine in the forecast across the northeast.

that's alook at the weather across the 95 in phoenix this afternoon. and that's a look at your forecast, frances. back to you. >> thanks so much, angie. a luxury yacht going up in flames at a california marina. video from a citizen app showing the vessel fully engulfed and fireworks setting off as firefighters battled the blaze. 1,000 rounds of ammunition and fireworks were on board at the time. no one was on the boat, and no one was hurt. coming up, the federal trade commission is finding vast surveillance on social media. the serious risk it poses and the serious risk it poses and what you need to know. for effortless protection.

zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. as a prosecutor, i never asked a victim or a witness: 'are you a republican or a democrat?' the only thing i ever asked them: 'are you ok?' and that's the kind of president we need right now — someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first. i intend to be a president for all americans, and focus on investing right now in you, the american people. and we can chart a new way forward. i'm kamala harris and i approve this message. when you smell the amazing scent of gain flings... time stops. (♪♪) and you realize you're in love... steve? with a laundry detergent. (♪♪) gain flings. seriously good scent. leading the news, a new report has found the united states health care system is

failing. an independent research group, the commonwealth fund, finds that out of ten developed nations, the u.s. ranked the worst in critical areas, including preventing death, access to care due to coarse and guaranteeing quality of treatment for everyone. the data shows people in the u.s. died the youngest and experienced the most avoidable deaths despite spending twice as much on health care as other nations. los angeles county has three confirmed dengue cases, despite patients not traveling to areas where the mosquito-borne illness is common. public health officials are investigating two cases of locally-acquired dengue in nearby baldwin park. most people recover from the virus within two weeks, and deaths are very rare. federal investigators are accusing social media and streaming companies of a massive campaign to collect personal information on users and even non-users. tom costello has the details. >> reporter: federal

investigators call it a vast surveillance of anyone using some of the most popular social media and streaming companies, including amazon's twitch, facebook, youtube, twitter, x, snap, tiktok, reddit, what's and a app and discord, gathering marital status and income to target ads and sell the data to third parties. >> they've amassed vast profiles on just about every american, including americans who don't use these services. >> reporter: the ftc says companies are failing too often to protect personal information, exposing users, including children and teens to a range of threats from identity theft to criminal stalking, and congress needs to create tough new privacy laws. what are these companies doing with the data they collect on all of us? >> we were quite disturbed by the fact that some of these companies did not even know all of the third parties with whom they were sharing data. >> reporter: many of the companies refuted or declined to comment on the report, though,

in the past, meta facebook ceo mark zuckerberg has defended his company. >> we give people the ability to connect with people they care about and engage with the topics they care about. >> reporter: they say consumers understand the value exchange and welcome the opportunity to have access to free or highly-subsidized content and services. but security pros say most of us simply scroll through the long user agreements when we sign up. >> it's either oopt in or you d to use the service. >> reporter: the bottom line, it may be easy to delete an account, but maybe not deleting your digital footprint. that could live forever. back to you. >> tom, thank you t. still to come, a historic performance from shohei kwohtan. and jets fans get the and jets fans get the rodgers performance.

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quick throw, good move, and despite hanging onto the shirt into the end zone goes allan lazard. >> there was no achilles heel for aaron rodgers. the jets took on the patriots. rodgers turned out a lot better than his debut last year. the 40-year-old qb threw a pair of touchdowns to lazard while reese hall ran in another. they kept their offense to just a field goal. never mind how much gang green loved seeing this, right? him back and the score overall. imagine the pain, though, the patriots, though, right? >> yes, and i mean, it's been a while contisince they lost at t stadium. jets fans are very happy today, and aaron rodgers looking pretty good. >> and patriots nation just

trying to soothe the wound. the $700 million man rewrote baseball's record books on thursday. >> ohtani, in the air, the other way, back it g goes! gone! one of a kind player one of a kind season! >> dodgers' phenom shohei ohtani became the first player in mlb history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in one season. ohtani reached the mark with that two-run bomb in the differen diffeseventh inning with the marlins. i mean, he's just incredible. and after the beginning of the year that he had with all the controversy with his translator, he is just, i mean, showing up on the diamond. >> a lot of fans have a really short memory when it comes to that, especially when you're breaking these records whiek he is. when we come back, family means nobody's left behind.

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zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. here's what's making headlines this morning. jetblue airways will open its first airport lounges at new york's jfk airport. they will target high-spending travelers. they will have a premium credit to boost revenue. travel may slow the aging process. a study says positive travel experiences may enhance health and slow signs of aging because of increased physical activity, socializing and exposure to new environments. it is olivia benson's city, and we are just living in it. law and order special victims unit premiered 25 years ago today. the show's 26th season begins october 3rd. the california couple lost

their cat during a camping trip in yellowstone. and, despite desperate searches, the couple had to leave without him. six days later, thanks to a microchip, the cat was found in roseville, california, mysteriously traveling over 800 miles. "early today" will be right back "early today" will be right back after the break.it doesn't stay white for long. white? to soccer? i'm not gonna slide tackle. but now with tide oxi white, we can clean our white clothes without using bleach even works on colors. i slidd. i see that. it's got to be tide. as a prosecutor, i never asked a victim or a witness: 'are you a republican or a democrat?' the only thing i ever asked them: 'are you ok?' and that's the kind of president we need right now — someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first. i intend to be a president for all americans, and focus on investing right now in you, the american people.

and we can chart a new way forward. i'm kamala harris and i approve this message. why use 10 buckets of water when you can use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight heartburn, why take 10 antacids throughout the day when you can take 1 prilosec. for easier heartburn relief, one beats ten. prilosec otc. one pill. 24 hours. zero heartburn. we are back with the amazing story of the self-proclaimed old ladies against underwater garbage. they are between the ages of 64 and 84 and determined to clean up the waters of cape cod. stephanie gosk shares their

story. >> reporter: ladies of a certain age like to gather. they play cards, drink tea, chat. not this group. >> this is perfect. beautiful plastic bottle. >> reporter: these are the self-proclaimed old ladies against underwater garbage, olaugs for short. they are trash diving as a group for fun. what is a good day in the garbage department? >> 100 pounds. >> reporter: 100 pounds? >> reporter: 84-year-old susan bauer came up with the idea herself. >> water is magic. you're immersed in it. you're in a different world. >> reporter: a swimmer and naturalist, she was seeing too much garbage along with her beloved turtles, so she got her friends together. >> i've always loved nature. wanted to do something at my age to give back. >> it's a skill i didn't even kno know i this, finding trash.

>> reporter: they have to pass the tryouts. >> you have to swim half a mile in . # mile. >> reporter: there are snapping turtles and eels. they pull up remarkable things, car batteries, garden gnomes and a toilet bowl. but in the end, the benefit is greater than just the cleaned-up ponds. when you finish one of these days, how do you feel? >> empowered, tired. and, like i'm 10 years old. >> we realized we were a lot happier when we came out of the water than when we went into the water. >> reporter: because big garbage is big joy. >> that is success. >> reporter: stephanie gosk, nbc news, sandwich, massachusetts. >> no knitting or bridge for them. it's all about the garbage and cleaning up the cape. good for them.

coming up on "today", celebrating "friends" anniversary. >> what do you think it was about these six that just clicked? >> they trusted each other. they put them selves in each other's hands, and they took care of each other. >> and also, the first all-civilian team of astronauts to complete a spacewalk will be in studio 1a to chat about what they saw and what they experienced. a lot of perspective there, all coming up on "today". thanks for watching "early today." i'm frances rivera. have a greatriday, a f n barber

for tom llamas. stay right there. more news is on the way. the race for governor in