m tom llamas, stay right there, more news on the way. e on the way. e . breaking overnight. port workers from new england and texas walk offer t the job the first time in nearly a century. the devastating imbactepact it

have on the economy. the southeast grappling with hurricane helene'se helene'y. we're on the ground with the recovery efforts. the storm potentially reshaping the race for the white house. the reaction from candidates, plus a preview of tonight's showdown between the vice presidential hopefuls. and we are remembering two legends of the big leagues. the tributes pouring in for dikembe dikembe mutombo and pete rose. it's tuesday, october 1st. "early today" starts right now. good morning. glad you're with me. i'm frances rivera. we begin with breaking news. port workers from new england to texas are officially on strike this morning. the u.n. and pnion and port wor

failed to reach an agreement on a contract. it could sepotentially cost $3.5 billion a week. it is the union's first strike since 1977. approximately 50,000 workers walke w walked off the job at midnight. it is stranding everything from cars, fruits and electronics to apparel, shoes and thousands of other imports. turning now to the ongoing tragedy unfolding in the southeast. at least 125 people have been killed across six states, from hurricane helene and its aftermath. hundreds are still missing. power is slowly being restored to some areas, but there are still more than 1.6 million in the dark from florida to ohio. thousands of federal personnel are in storm-ravaged states to assist with recovery efforts.

nbc's jay gray is in boone, north carolina with the latest on the catastrophic damage there. >> reporter: we want to give you a first-hand look at some of the sd devastation helene left behind. you can see power cables down. they are not operating. you can see how it happened. water filled this entire area. it was under water in a matter of 30 minutes. the power pole was knocked down. this entire community caked in mud right now. you can see that water high enough to lift that suv, throw it into this tree. and we've talked to a lot of people here. there are hundreds missing, and a very real concern about what that may mean long term. >> homes are gone. and, and that's, that's a big, a big concern for us. where are those people? we have 30 confirmed fatalities at this time, and we expect that to really increase over the coming days, which is just the

most tragic piece of this is the loss of our friends, our families and our loved ones. >> reporter: now emergency officials do say some of those missing just don't have the ability to communicate with anyone. all the cell service is down. no power for more than 2 million. we know that more than 100 have died as a result of this storm. and more than a third of those in the carolinas. they are choppering some essential supplies into those areas that are still too devastated to get into, either on the ground or by water. and they say they'll continue that for as long as necessary. as for restoring the power in places like this, what we're hearing is not days but perhaps a week or more. that's the latest from here in boone, north carolina. i'm jay gray. now back to you. >> jay, thank you. and president biden is set to visit north carolina tomorrow to survey the damage from hurricane helene. the president will receive a briefing by the emergency operations center in raleigh before taking an aerial tour of asheville.

the president said he will survey the damage through the air as to not interrupt emergency response operations on the ground. this as mr. trump slammed mr. biden and kamala harris for not visiting the damaged areas. nbc's garrett haake has more on how the hurricane has impacted the presidential race. >> reporter: former president trump visiting the storm zone in valdosta, georgia, coming from franklin graham's aid group, bringing trucks loaded with supplies and fuel. >> we're here today to stand in complete solidarity with the people of georgia. >> reporter: and hammering vice president harris for not being there herself. >> the vice president, she's out someplace campaigning, looking for money. >> reporter: the quality of the federal storm response could have a major political impact on the vice president, who's hoping to repeat bripresident biden's narrow 2020 win. harris was briefed aboard air force 2, meeting with fema officials. >> we will do everything in our power to help communities

respond and recover. i plan to be on the ground as soon as possible. but as soon as possible without disrupting any emergency response operations. >> reporter: trump also accusing the white house and democratic governor in hard-hit north carolina of, quote, going out of their way to not help people in republican areas. without providing evidence. >> just take a look. >> reporter: it comes as the candidates' running mates prepare to meet for the first time after largely going after the person at the top of the other ticket. >> they do not share our values. look. it's not even about policy. it's about sharing our our values. >> man, what a nightmare the american southern border is, thanks to kamala harris' policies. >> reporter: perhaps the final candidate showdown with harris having accepted a late october debate, trump saying it's too close to the election. >> and, as you say here in las vegas, i'm all in. i'm all in.

even if my opponent is ready to fold. >> and our thanks to garrett for that report. verizon says its network problems are resolved after experiencing a technical issue that led to hundreds of thousands of reported outages. in a statement on x, verizon advised those still experiencing issues to restart their devices. the fcc says it's monitoring the situation, which comes after incidents affecting at&t and mike so microsoft users earlier this year. it's october but the heat isn't letting up out west. michelle, good morning. when are they going to get that break? >> not in the near future. these temperatures are going to hold on throughout the workweek. and we are looking at temperatures well above normal for this time of year. 10 to 20 degrees above normal. and yes, october 1st. 32 million people impacted into the west to the southwest under heat alerts. heat advisories, heat warnings. that's in the hot pink. yuma, phoenix, places like san

francisco will see warm temperatures as well. look at some of these numbers. we're going to soar into the triple digits once again. we're going to see it once again today. las vegas 102. the record there is 103. another day of challenging those records. bakersfield, 100 degrees. into the southwest, tucson looking at 104. the record there is 103. here's tomorrow. we're looking at temperatures equally as hot. las vegas 102. 93 in winslow. 108 in phoenix. the record there is 107. look at the rest of the workweek. temperatur northeast. philadelphia, 73. 69 in d.c. all right, that's your tuesday forecast. >> okay. we'll see you in a bit.

thank you so much. former president jimmy carter is 100 years old today. the centenarian celebration will be extra special in plains, georgia where carter was born and where he's lived since leaving the white house. the navy will perform a jet fly o flyover in his honor. he is the first president to reach 100 years of age. coming back, the activist who served nearly 27 years. t who served nearly 27 years. zyrtec allergy relief works fast and lasts a full 24 hours so dave can be the... deliverer of dance. ok, dave! let's be more than our allergies. zeize the day with zyrtec.

can your pad flex with you without shifting? always flexfoam can. it's the only pad made with a flexible foam core with wings that fit securely for up to zero bunching and zero leaks. can your pad do that? see what foam can do for you. can neuriva support your brain health? mary. janet. hey! eddie. no! fraser. frank. frank. fred. how are you? support up to seven brain health indicators, including memory. when you need to remember, remember neuriva. now to a story both heartbreaking and uplifting. activist john adrian velasquez spent nearly 27 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. now he has been exonerated for the murder of a retired nypd officer. and our lester holt spoke with velasquez after the hearing that cleared his name. >> reporter: it would be

impossible to return to john adrian velasquez all that has been taken from him. but, in a manhattan courtroom, a judge finally gave him back his good name. his decades-long cries for justice after being wrongfully convicted of killing a retired police officer coming down to a four-minute-long proceeding. >> the people do not believe they are in a position to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. >> reporter: without fanfare or apology, the judge formally accepting the conclusion of a manhattan district attorney's internal investigation, the same office that once helped put him in prison, that j.j. velasquez, as he is known, is an innocent man. >> i am granting that application. so this matter is dismissed. [ applause ] >> reporter: j.j.'s family and friends following him to a nearby park where he sat down with me for the first time

untethered to the criminal justice system. your name, you got your name back. i think people maybe don't appreciate how important that is. >> absolutely. i mean, when we're born, our name becomes our identity. so, when we're taken through the system, they strip you of your identity. they put you in a shower, butt naked, hose you down like a slave. and then they give you a number and brand you. and that wasn't who i was. and i've been fighting for 27 years to tell them that my name is john adrian "jj" velasquez. >> reporter: velasquez has been physically free since 2021 when then-new york governor andrew cuomo commuted his sentence, granting him parole but leaving him stained with the mark of a convicted felon. >> i had curfew. i couldn't travel out of the state without permission. if i wanted to go on a date, i needed permission. >> reporter: also there to witness his exoneration, "dateline" producer, dan slepian, whose dogged 22-year

pursuit of the truth in jj's case began with the series of prison letters he received from jj. >> i can go on and on about this miscarriage of justice. >> reporter: what did that mean to you to have someone listen to you? >> well, besides my mother, dan's my hero. everybody knows that. if it wasn't for dan, i'd still be sitting in the cage. >> reporter: well, dan, every time we've talked about this story, you said you're not advocating for jj. you're advocating for the truth. did the truth prevail today? >> yeah, the truth finally did prevail today. but thankfully, everybody knew the truth for a very, very long time. and it took a long time for the court to finally recognize it. >> reporter: the d.a.'s review of j. jfrj.'s conviction looked several factors, including recanted eyewitness testimony. j.j.'s one of several wrongful convictions uncovered by slepian in the book "the sing sing

files". you feel like you left a lot of innocent guys behind? >> i know i left a lot of innocent people behind. >> reporter: it's that common? >> it's very common. >> reporter: working on their behalf, j.j.'s mission, as he moves forward and catches his breath for the first time in a very long time. does the world feel a little different now? >> definitely does. i can feel the air is like cleaner for me. and i just like, i feel different. and our thanks to lester for that report. still to come, saying good-bye to two sports legends. we remember the lives of the basketball and baseball icons who changed the game on and off the field. ged the game on and o the field. light. ♪ ♪ a certain kind of light ♪ ♪ that always shines on me. ♪ ♪ there's a way ♪ ♪ everybody say. ♪ ♪ oh... ♪ ♪ you must know what it's like. ♪ ♪ baby, you must know what it's like ♪ ♪ to love somebody. ♪

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for 100% cleaner teeth. the sports world is remembering an icon on and offer t off the court this morning. due kem bay mutombo died after a

battle with cancer. he is regarded as one of the best defensive players in nba history, leading the league in blocked shots three times. the congo native also served as the league's first global ambassador. in a statement, adam vsilver called mutombo larger than life. former president obama wrote about him also the from remembering a basketball icon to one of the most polarizing figures in baseball history. mlb legend pete rose died on monday at the age of 83. nb nbc's kurt gregory has more on the would-be hall-of-famer. and the exploits that kept him out of cooperstown. >> reporter: he was born in 1941 in cincinnati, ohio. the same city he'd later take by storm as "charlie hustle". the son of a former boxer and

semi-pro football player, he was a member of the juggernaut known as the big red machine. rose won back-to-back titles with cincinnati in 1975 and 1976. he'd belt in 200 hits. >> theres it. >> reporter: and on september 11, 1985, pete rose broke ty cobb's all-time hit e hit r. he owns more major league records than any or player in history, including at-bats and games played. after retiring in 1986, rose went on to manage the reds, but his days were numbered. the commissioner handed him a life-time ban from baseball after an investigation revealed

his betting on games while managing the reds. then, in 1990, less than a year after the ban, rose was sentenced to five months in a federal prison for tax evasion. still denying the betting charges, rose was denied reinstatement in 1992 and 1997. >> there are some things that are so wrong that we don't rightly forgive them. and this is a very wrong thing. >> reporter: in thinks 2004 auto biography, he would finally admit to gambling on baseball while managing the reds but said it was never against his own team. >> did you bet on baseball? >> yes, i did. and that was my mistake. >> reporter: contrition and admission fell short again for rose in 2015, when commissioner rob manford denied his appeal, citing rose's lack of change and acceptance of wrongdoing. >> i want baseball and pete rose to be friends. that's all i want, so i can say

i'm not an outsider looking in. >> reporter: in 2016, a day many thought would never come. election to the cincinnati reds hall of fame and the retiring of rose's number 14. pushing limits on the field made him a hall-of-famer. pushing them off the field kept him out. kurt gregory, nbc news. when we come back on "early today," we're dishing out the details of a new satellite tv merger. and a champagne super nova is hitting north america next summer. itting north america nex summer. start to break away from uc with tremfya... with rapid relief at 4 weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflammation. at one year, many people experienced remission... and some saw 100% visible healing of their intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and

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headlined by rapper megan three stallion at new york's icon stadium, a crowd of 5,000 fans, celebrities and athletes gathered for athlos, a track meet like no other. >> this is women's sport, the future of what's happening in our world. >> reporter: the lineup included 36 women athletes. the winner of each event adorned with a tiffany crown. >> ooh, i feel so excited. this is like a one in a lifetime moment. and i'm just grateful to be a part of the experience. >> this is just giving us women in track and field the visibility that we need. so i'm really, really happy this is happening. >> reporter: we can hear the booming crowd, you have meg thee stallion and the fastest women alexis yoe hohanian is no stra to women's sports. when i pitched athlos, it was an

instant yes. ohanian, an investor of women's sport in his own right, the founding investor in angel city football club, now ranked the most valuable women's sports team in the world. you recently said you wouldn't want your daughter, olympia, to enter into the world of women's sports if she didn't earn what she was worth >> yeah, credit to serena. i was like, hey, serena, wouldn't it be nice one day if olympia played on the national team, and without missing a beat, serena, like, nah, not unless she's paid what she's worth. and i said challenge accepted. >> reporter: female athletes earn 21 times less than their male counterparts. in track and field, that source of income is reliant on championship wins. athlos hopping to change that, every participant earning a cash prize, with the star-studded event capitalizing on the growing momentum of women's sports. with some of the biggest names

from this year's olympics hitting the athlos track. >> battle on the inside! >> reporter: gabby thomas running the 200-meter dash, placing second behind brittany brown. >> i couldn't say no to being a part of something like this. everybody's getting paid tonight. why does that matter? >> we work really hard. we're a good product and track and field is in such a good place right now where we can actually move the sport forward and drive competition. >> no matter when they finish, they're all winner, especially with that goal i

knees. it could be the final face to face in the race to the white house. we're live in washington as tim walz and jd