with us. i'm frances rivera. p

on that story. we thank you for watching "top story." stay right there, more news on the way. break overnight. long shore men heading back to work. the u.s. helping flying people out of lebanon. we're live with israel's latest calls to evacuate the suburbs of beirut. former memphis officers now convicted in the beating death of tyre nichols. how long they face behind bars. the fight to save a man on death row convicted in shaken baby death. why the officer who arrested him now says he believes he jailed an innocent man. and how an iowa biker community turned one little boy's birthday into a spontaneous motorcycle rally. it's friday, october 4th. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm frances rivera. we begin this friday with breaking news. dockworkers along the east and

gulf coasts are heading back to work after reaching a tentative agreement on wages. the u.s. maritime alliance and the work s the international long shore mens association agreed to stop the work stop and. t ports have been shut down, raising fears of supply chain issues. president biden praised both sides for getting a tentative deal done that reopens the ports. the u.s. has organized a second flight out of lebanon for americans, the state department says. up to 250 citizens and immediate family members have fled the war-torn country on special charted airplanes. the state department spokesman said the u.s. would continue to evacuate americans by air. all this as israel expands its

ground operations in the south of lebanon and bombing of the capital city, beirut. let's go to claudio lavanga. what's the latest? >> reporter: good morning, frances. well, the lebanese authorities say that on thursday, at least 37 people, more people, were killed. and at least 151 more people were, at least 151 more people were wounded after this new wave of airstrikes carried out by israel on the south of lebanon and also on some of the suburbs of the capital beirut. and this brings the overall death toll of the number of people who were killed in lebanon since the beginning of this conflict to almost 2,000. now the idf on thursday, even once again sent out evacuation warning for residents of certain suburbs of the capital, beirut, in anticipation of more overnight bombing. we even saw a video published by reuters that appears to show explosions near the airport of

beirut, just as a middle east airlines flight was about to land. now they move south to the line where fierce fighting continues. but for the first time, two soldiers belonging to the regular lebanese army were killed by israeli forces, one at its outpost on the border and the other one while he was helping people evacuate from a border town there. but lebanon was not the only place that israel attacked on thursday. also israel carried out airstrikes on the west bank, killing at least 18 people there, according to the authorities. the idf didn't specify what it was targeting. but at least according to a member of the palestinian national initiative, the airstrike hit in a refugee camp. three former memphis police officers were convicted of witness tampering in the tyre nichols federal case. nichols was brutally beaten by five officers after a traffic

stop in january of last year. he died days later. the defendants now face up to 20 years in prison. none of them were found guilty of the more serious count of excessive force and failure to intervene, which could have resulted in life in prison. two other ex-cops in the case have already taken plea deals. one of them admitted nichols was, quote, helpless when they beat him. a busy day ahead on the campaign trail with just over a month until the election. former president trump is visiting georgia and north carolina to tour the devastation left behind by hurricane helene. while vice president harris is heading to michigan, a day after campaigning with a prominent republican. here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: she was once one of the most conservative members of congress, but liz cheney is standing alongside vice president harris. >> this year i am proudly casting my vote for vice president kamala harris. >> reporter: the vice president campaigning in rippon, wisconsin, the birthplace of the

republican party back in 1854. >> the former president is, is really becoming quite desperate, and perhaps it's because he wants to distract from the fact that he has offered no plan for the american people. >> reporter: meanwhile, former president slamming the release of new evidence by the judge in the case with jack smith, allegedly saying that trump responded "so what" when mike pence was in danger. >> it's nothing new in there. >> reporter: here in battleground, wisconsin, people are deeply skeptical of cheney. do you think she speaks for the republican party? >> no. >> reporter: but jerry eiler now backs kamala harris.

>> i'm totally disillusioned with the way the maga group has gone and all the people who stand there and pretend his lies are truth. >> and our thanks to gabe for that report. turning to the tragic aftermath of hurricane helene. the death toll has risen again, now totaling at least 215 lives lost. nearly half of them in north carolina. hundreds are still missing, and hope is fading, as crews work to find survivors. more than 700,000 remain without power this morning. on thursday, president biden toured damage in georgia and florida. georgia mcarthur from tampa spoke with a florida resident who watched from a ring camera as the powerful storm surge crashed through her home. >> reporter: ring camera video shows the astonishing force of hurricane helene's storm surge. >> the camera that the video is filming on was positioned over here. >> reporter: casey and her huske husband decided to evacuate but were able to watch the storm in real time.

>> at that moment we realized, oh, my god, the door is gone. then you see the waves coming into the house. and we probably, we watched it for about an hour. and then at 9:30 at night we lost internet connection. >> reporter: how strong would you say that surge was, just looking at the video? >> i, i think it was pretty intense. i mean, the force was so strong, it ripped up this tile. >> reporter: as the water pounded their home, it became clear just how much was at stake, with pieces of their lives literally pulling apart. >> the water comes in, and it's almost like with every single wave, it's trying to wash away a memory. >> reporter: but despite the heart-breaking loss and uncertainty. >> we love it here. you know. i mean, it's hard to believe this is the same ocean that, you know, came through the house. it's beautiful, and it's devastating. so we want to stay, and what that looks like we're not entirely sure yet.

>> and our thanks to georgia mcarthur for that story. let's get now more on that october heat wave. nbc meteorologist angie lassman joins us. >> it's been an incredible stretch of heat into the southwest of the united states. we've still got these heat alerts up. and that stretch of heat is continue here for really the next couple of days. we've got 29 million people stretching from arizona up into parts of california and another run at record highs today. las vegas ends up at 102. phoenix set to hit 109 degrees, blowing that 105 record currently set for today. and the heat will move a little further to the east as we get into tomorrow. amarillo, potentially tying a record. wichita will take a bit of a run at it. and even across the east, temperatures are running above normal. little rock expected to hit 90 degrees sunday. we'll finally start to see some of those temperatures coming back down to the mid-80s by monday and tuesday. but still warm temperatures lasting here as we get into the

next couple of days. meanwhile, we've got an area we're watching in the gulf of mexico for potential tropica in . we'll head to the triple digits for phoenix and tucson. upper 80s expected in el paso. 83 in charleston today. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. >> thank you so much, angie. coming up, another setback for the biden administration's student loan forgiveness student loan forgiveness program. that can't retain moisture. new pantene miracle rescue deep conditioner, with first-of-its-kind melting pro-v pearls... locks in moisture to repair 6 months of damage an in one wash, without weigh down.

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crime many, including the detect w detective who arrested him believe never happened. >> reporter: robert roberson has spent more than two decades on texas' death row, convicted of fatally shaking his 2-year-old daughter nikki in 2002. did you harm your daughter nikki? >> no, sir, i did not harm my daughter. >> reporter: robber said said he woke up one night to find nikki had fallen out of bed. hours later, she was unconscious, her lips blue. he rushed her to the hospital. you told the medical staff that she had fallen. >> yes, sir. they didn't believe may story. >> reporter: the detective was called to the hospital. >> they were frantically working on this child trying to figure out what was going on with her. and somewhere in there, shaken baby came into the vernacular. >> reporter: the medical staff said that nikki showed signs of abuse and believed she had been

shaken to death. then there was roberson's curious demeanor. >> he wasn't upset. he kind of had a flat affect. >> reporter: that was a concern? >> it struck us as odd. >> reporter: nikki was pronounced dead, her father charged with her death. and a year later he was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die. roberson's current attorney believes nikki was misdiagnosed and that after detecting bleeding on her eyes and brain which was also swollen, together known as the triad, the doctdoctors looked no further for a cause. >> back then it was seen as almost a magical formula. you don't need to look at anything else. you can assume abuse occurred in the form of violent shaking. >> reporter: if not shaken baby, what killed nikki? >> there was this tragic death

of a chronically ill child. the doctors missed the fact she had a severe, life-threatening pneumonia. >> reporter: at trial, roberson's jury never heard the full extent of nick kki's chron health victory. nearly 40 doctor visits over her short life and a feevver of 104 days before she died. >> it pushed her over the edge by suppressing her ability to breathe. >> reporter: something the police never looked into. did you have a chance to look into her medical history before arresting robert? >> no, we did not look into her medical history. again, we were chasing an abuse case. >> reporter: the pediatrician who was not involved in the case saysbu requires a thorough investigation. >> when making the diagnosis of abusive head trauma, no one can make this diagnosis in the absence of a lot of other

important information. >> reporter: and neither police nor the jury knew roberson had autism, explaining his perceived lack of emotion. he wasn't diagnosised until 2018. now wharton believes he helped send an innocent man to die. why are you here? >> because i owe robert nothing less. it's my responsibility to help give him a voice. to help him be heard, because he is an innocent man. >> reporter: thousands are fighting to save his life, including a large bipartisan group of texas lawmakers. some even praying with him on death row. all of roberson's appeals so far have been denied, unless the courts or texas governor greg abbott step in, roberson will be executed on october 17th. >> i know the part of robert that i hear in my head is that child like commitment to hope

and that he would say that i can't give up hope. >> reporter: can his life be saved at this point? >> gosh, i pray it can. if we can't save someone like robert, who is so clearly innocent, then truly, we, we're lost. >> reporter: if you could speak to the governor directly, you know, from the heart, what would you tell him? >> governor abbott, i did not do this. and i'm just hoping and praying that you do the right thing. >> reporter: how are you preparing for your own death, your own execution? >> i'm at peace if it, if it happens. but i'm not ready, because i don't think i should be executed when i'm innocent. >> our thanks to lester for that report. still to come, a pup takes a

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combine these two together. >> they're both so funny. now to a revelation that made slim shady just lose it. eminem released the video for his song "temporary". the video features clips of his daughter haley. and it ends with haley giving marshall a custom detroit lions jersey that reads grandpa on the back along with an ultrasound video. he is visually emotional. i saw this yesterday. had a little tear in my eye. >> it's so cute. >> especially over all the years, all the milestones that eminem has put out there. this one, so great to see. when we come back, jeff bezos is no longer the second richest person in the world. richest person in the world. and detail with rapid relief at 4 weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflammation.

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a birthday party for a young a birthday party for a young boy in northwest iowa got revved up when a group of pibikers joid in on the fun. taylor deckert has the story. >> reporter: it was a birthday party turned motorcycle rally for one iowa boy. >> i was excited, happy, calm, because -- >> you were not calm. >> reporter: dallas grave turned 11 at the end of september and wasn't able to have a typical birthday party with friends. >> and every year, i have gone big, big for their birthdays. this year was missing too much work, i couldn't do it. he absolutely loves motorcycles. >> reporter: so mom called on the motorcycle community to see if a few would show up on saturday as a surprise. >> we got hundreds. >> i was excited, because of how many there were. i've never seen so many motorcycles in one place,

especially at my house. >> we talked to each other, hey, let's see what we can get together. and so many people were, that came down, it was unbelievable. >> it was insane the response we got. right away, as soon as we shared it, we had 50, 60, 70 people, they wanted to ride with us. >> reporter: filling the streets with bikes and people, all to put a smile on dallas' face. >> it was just great to see his reaction, see his face. i'm sure our smiles had to be as big. >> everybody was revving their bikes up. >> reporter: it serves as a message the bikers have his back. >> a ride for bullies. unfortunately, he's been bullied most of his life by kids his age. >> reporter: dallas is now covered head to toe with motorcycle gear. and he has a special message to all his new friends. >> thank you all, and i really think are you part of my family now, and i will like you for the rest of my life. >> the little kid asks you to do

a burnout, you can't say no. >> that is one cool biker kid. and she may have been bounced from the playoffs, but caitlin clark got a pretty good consolation prize. the women's hops phenom was named wnba rookie of the year, in a near-unanimous vote. clark lived up to her expectations as this year's top draft pick. she brought her indiana fever to the post season and smashed several records in the process, including assists and three pointers by a rookie. all right, still ahead on "today", al roker is ending a hand to the community of asheville, north carolina, after the city was devastated by hurricane helene. he will be live on the ground, getting food and water to those needing help the most and sharing their stories. thanks so muchor f