the hurricane threat from helene. the powerful tropical storm rapidly gathering strength as it barrels towards florida. our meteorologist angie lassman is tracking when it could make

landfall. one last rallying cry before the united nations. we're live with president biden's renewed calls for peace and his warning as war rages in ukraine and the middle east. breaking overnight. the man arrested near former president trump's florida golf course officially charged with attempted assassination. the new details from the indictment. from crypto queen to prison time. the ex-girlfriend of the ftx founder, sam bankman-fried, learns her fate after her turn as star witness in the case. a plunge in consumer confidence. why americans are feeling worse about the economy than in the paths past three years. lady gaga shows her joker face, revealing her first new album in four years dropping this friday. how ties her star turn in the joker movie.

"early today" starts right now. good morning, glad to you can be with me. florida is on high alert as topical storm helene churns in the caribbean. it's prompting hurricane and storm surge warnings across gulf coast. it could reach the region thursday, potentially becoming a category 3 hurricane with winds up to 129 miles per hour. president biden has declared a federal state of emergency for florida and alabama to support first responders. georgia's governor has also declared a state of emergency. for the latest on helene's path, let's bring in meteorologist angie lassman. what can residents there expect? >> good morning, frances. residents can expect strong winds, the storm surge and heavy rainfall. that's down the line as we get into thursday. notice all the alerts ahead of this system, particularly the big bend area. this is an expansive storm.

the impacts will be far reaching. tropical storm helene, moving northwest at 10 miles per hour. once it enters gulf waters, we're likely to see it rapidly intensify becoming a category 1 hurricane, and potentially before landfall, a cat 3 hurricane approaching the big bend area before it brings the rain threat across the southeast as it weakens. here's that wind field, notice it extends 400 miles out from the center of it. so the downed power lines, wind damage, that's all going to be felt across much of the state of florida as the system works to the north. the flash flood threat will be there as well. we'll see multiple inches of rain extending into the carolinas as well. this will be something we deal with through the next couple of days. that storm surge will be an issue with high ends up to 15 feet. >> that will be very important, the next 48 hours and beyond. thanks, angie. new this morning, a missouri man has been executed by lethal

injection after the supreme court and the governor rejected attempts by the prosecutor's office and the defense to halt the execution. the innocence group said that missouri executed an innocent man. he was convicted for the murder of a female reporter in st. louis. he has always maintained his innocence. using testing not available at the time of the trial, experts say his dna was not on the murder weapon. protesters rallied outside the state capital in a bid to stop the execution. but he was put to death at to 6:10 p.m. local time. u.s. officials tell the ap that the u.s. will send $375 million in military aid, including medium-range cluster bombs and armored vehicles to ukraine. president biden called on the world to continue to give

support to ukraine. >> reporter: that's right. gove good morning, frances. president biden spoke before the group for the last time as president. he reminded our allies that, when the world acts together, we are stronger than we think. >> there will always be forces that pull our countries apart. and the world apart. aggression. extremism, chaos and cynicism. the desire to retreat from the world and go it alone, our task is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than those that are pulling us apart. >> reporter: in just a few hours, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy will address the general assembly. yesterday he spoke before the u.n. security council where he said russia can only be forced into peace. this week, zelenskyy's expected

to meet with president biden and vice president harris. he will present to them what he calls his victory plan. ukrainian officials said that zelenskyy also planned to meet with former president trump . atra at a rally yesterday, trump criticized the idea. president biden called for an end to the conflict in the middle east as fears grow of a full-blown war between hezbollah and israel. >> full-scale war is not in anyone's interest, even as the situation has escalated. a diplomatic solution is still possible. >> re the death toll in lebanon has risen to 550 as israel continues to bombard the country's south. hezbollah is retaliating with

rockets into israel. but so far, there have been no deaths reported. the european union said it's getting close to a full-fledged war. israel's military says it will accelerate its military offensive against the iran-backed militant group to stop the rocket fire. the man who allegedly hid and waited with a rifle outside donald trump's golf course is facing new charges. ryan routh has officially been charged with attempted assassination. the indictment include us charges of assaulting a federal officer. routh was already charged with multiple firearms offenses. he faces a max number sentence of life in prison if convicted. merrick garland says the department of justice will use every available tool to hold ryan routh accountable.

police are investigating shots fired at a harris-walz campaign office in tempe, arizona. the windows were shotwith what appear to be a bb or pellet gun last week. police are taking extra measures to ensure the safety of staff and others in the area. in the hot seat on capitol hill, the ceo of the company that makes the popular diabetes and weight loss drugs, ozempic and wegovy. lawmakers, including bernie sanders, grilling the danish company's ceo on why americans are paying more than other countries. >> stop ripping us off. the outrageously high price of these drugs to bankrupt medicare a and radically increase premiums. >> >> novo nordisk's response? >> we don't decide the price for

patients. that's set by insurance companies. >> the hearing ended without a commitment from novo nordisk to lower pricing. a front is moving across the country this morning. angie lassman is back, tracking the temperatures in addition to the hurricane threat. good morning, again. >> we for sure are watching this front as it brings the potential for flooding across much of the east today. that's ahead of what we're expecting as we go through the next couple diays because of helene. we've got record highs on tap potentially through the afternoon hours today across parts of the southwest. here's just a look at those temperatures. 108 in phoenix. we'll see a high of 78, denver into the upper 80s. this will continue into tomorrow. 9 90s for albu he forecast for

washington, d.c. columbus ends up at the upper 70s. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. >> okay, thank you, angie. "early today" is back in a minute with what's dragging down consumer confidence in the economy. and the woman who helped orchestrate a multi-billion-dollar scheme learns her fate. ion-dollar sche learns her fate.

ah mornings! the golden hour of cold and flu symptoms! i'm feeling better. cough? congestion? all in one and done with mucinex kickstart. aaaaaaaaaaaaa- hated that. headache? better. aaaaaaaaaaaaa- fever? body pain? better now. aaaaaaaaaaaaa- mucinex kickstart gives all-in-one and done relief with a morning jolt of instant cooling sensation. it's not cold and flu season. it's comeback season. the dorj is tackling anothe major anti-trust case. but first, americans are feel more nervous about the economy now than they have in over three years. arabile gumede is here with those details. good morning, arabile. >> yeah, good morning, frances. look, it's certainly the case

here that you see consumers worried a little bit more about jobs as well as business conditions. we're trying to ask the question around whether inflation has been tackled efficiently, whether you're going to see consumers spend as much as they have. you see consumer numbers dropping down to the lowest since august 2021. so a significant draw down there of 98.7. the market was looking to go to 104. that gives you a sense of how big the discrepancy was between the two. and the jobs, business conditions there. all the components, all five of the components that make up this business confidence survey, actually, were all off as well. that gives you a sense that consumers perhaps not necessarily feeling too good when it comes to this data. it is an important piece of data, because the consumer spending is what drives a lot of the u.s. gdp as well. just very quickly, as an aside as well, the doj dealing with another case.

this time it's visa, the biggest payment network, they decided to s sue visa because they believe they've held a monopoly. the company is allowed to charge over $7 billion in fees each year for processing transactions. and the doj believes that that price is a little bit too exorbitant. we'll see how this goes, the confirmation of them tackling visa at present. >> arabile gumede for us. thank you. here in new york, sean "diddy" combs is now housed in the same section of the brooklyn jail that sam bankman-fried stayed in. the rap mogul and disgraced crypto entrepreneur are in an area reserved for detainees who need special protection. it comes on the same day that

t bankman-fried's girlfriend was sentenced. >> reporter: she was ordered to for fit $ forfeit $11 billion. ellison helped put sam bankman-fried behind bars, showing little emotion as she left the new york city courtroom. but, inside, issuing a tearful apology, saying, i can't even imagine the pain i caused. the sentencing comes months after ellison pleaded guilty to fraud and became the prosecution's lynch pin testimony against bankman-fried, the disgraced ftx founder for which she ran alameda. at its peak, ftx was valued at $32 billion. its name emblazoned on the miami heat's basketball arena, and huge stars appearing in its ads, from tom brady. >> what's up, guys?

>> reporter: to larry david. >> a safe and easy way to get into crypto. >> eh, i don't think so. >> reporter: co-workers even living in a $35 million bahamas penthouse. but then came the crash when crypto prices plummeted in 2022 and a leaked document spooked investors, dragging ftx and alameda into bankruptcy. >> it does appear they are filing chapter 11. >> reporter: bankman-fried was found guilty of filtering money from investors and using it to plug holes at ftx and alameda. >> there are things i would give anything to do over again. >> reporter: after bankman-fried was dramatically arrested and extradited from the bahamas, ellison flipped on her boyfriend. the federal probation department recommended no jail time but rather supervised release. but the judge said there would be no get-out-of-jail free card.

you think some prison time would be appropriate regardless of her cooperation. >> her role in the crime was so significant that she likely could have stopped it at any time, and also just the size of the fraud, the scale matters in a white collar crime like this. and because the scale was just off the charts as a result, it appears the judge decided that some level of prison time was required. >> reporter: bankman-fried was found guilty of money laundering and fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison. time he's serving in brooklyn's infamous metropolitan detention center, where he's living in the same unit as sean "diddy" combs. he's trying to get his case re-tried. still to come, the warmup act for l g7. lady gaga trades her face. right after this. her face. right after this. you're using head & shoulders, right?

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they say you're a bad influence on me. well, guess what. >> it is no joke. we're about to get new music from lady gaga. on tuesday, the super star revealed that her new album, "harlequin" drops their friday. it's named after her role in the new joker movie and r movie ands includes a lot of old discovers. a covers >> turning now from jokers to some sinners. >> i ain't ever seen kno demons. no ghosts, no magic, till now.

>> get back inside. >> oh, boy. michael b. jordan confronts a supernatural south. it hits theaters next march. it looks spooky. i mean, i'm already sold. >> i know, right? we'll have to wait for it, though. but maybe well worth the wait. when we come back, the new list of top colleges and universities, and calling all shoppers. it is the final blue light special for this kmart. ial for . ♪ upbeat music ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ no matter what kind of teeth you gotta brush, oral-b electric cleans better with one simple touch. oral-b's dentist inspired round brush head hugs em, cleans em, and gets in between em, for 100% cleaner teeth.

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long island is set to close on october 20th after 25 years. a reduced-sized outlet store will be open in miami. josh hart tossed the ceremonial first mpitch at yanke stadium in honor of his great uncle. he received a jersey bearing number 32 and explored the monument park. we'll be right back. k.me pk. wel rhtac ah mornings! the golden hour of cold and flu symptoms! i'm feeling better. cough? congestion? all in one and done with mucinex kickstart. aaaaaaaaaaaaa- hated that. headache? better. aaaaaaaaaaaaa- fever? body pain? better now. aaaaaaaaaaaaa- mucinex kickstart gives all-in-one and done relief with a morning jolt of instant cooling sensation. it's not cold and flu season. it's comeback season.

this building ready to pop. ionescu. >> the new york liberty advanced to the wnba semi-finals with the

sweep of the atlanta dream. it was led by sabrina ionescu. to get to the finals, they'll have to face the team that bested them last year. aja wilson and the aces brought out the brooms against the seattle storm, tuesday. league mvp wilson combined with kelsey plum for the victory. it's not only the pros courting so much attention in women's basketball. here's antonia hylton. >> reporter: every wednesday go this brooklyn basketball court, dozens of women line up and start shooting hoops. this is the brainchild of alex taylor. what's the feeling, the culture you're trying to create? >> the culture i'm trying to create is just a space where women can come and feel comfortable to be themselves and to make friends and just feel a

little bit lighter. >> reporter: just as star rookies case lynn clark and angel reese have helped fuel a 170% increase in wnba viewership this season. and women's basketball participation is up nearly 44%. taylor's pickup league has exploded, too. what started in 2018 as a casual e-mail list of women now has a wait list in the hundreds. tournaments, partnerships with adidas and even inspired a similar club in tokyo. >> some girls, they do it for their mental health. for me, personally, i just lover the comradery. >> reporter: taylor says sometimes when hoop new york city shows up to a court with permits in hand, the men don't go quietly. >> we've had guys try to play us for the court. trying to just not let us -- >> reporter: play you for the court? >> play us for the court. it's so silly. but it's real. it's really helped me come into my power, having to advocate for this whole army of women that

are behind me. >> reporter: now she says there are new fans, even at her pickup games, and taylor welcomes them but also wants them to remember. >> we're not new to this. we're true to this. >> reporter: antonia hylton, nbc news, brooklyn, new york. >> i like that. truer is more important than newer. coming up on "today", a look at the new study on tipping culture and why it's raising frustrations across the kurcoun. i know you feel guilty when they flip that thing around and you're like, oh, no tip. i'm frances rivera, have a great wednesday. reat wednesday.

president biden's final address at the united nations. we're live with his renewed call for peace, as war rages in ukraine and the middle east. new ni