hello and thanks for staying up with us. i'm matt pieper in new york, and here are the top stories on "cbs

news roundup." gunmen are still on the run after a brazen mass shooting in birmingham, alabama. fighting intensifies in the middle east, with hezbollah declaring it's now in an open-ended battle with israel. and vice president kamala harris leads former president donald trump in nationwide polling while they remain neck and neck in battleground states. police are on the hunt for gunmen who opened fire in the nation's latest mass shooting. at least four people were killed and dozens wounded, some in critical condition, in birmingham, alabama saturday night. police say it was a targeted attack using handguns converted into fully automatic weapons. it happened in a neighborhood filled with restaurants and bars often crowded on weekend nights. cbs's cristian benavides is there. >> reporter: the gunfire erupted on a birmingham street in a neighborhood of restaurants and bars near the city's university. >> sounded like about 12 shots of a burst round gun went off. it sounded like three rounds at once and we heard dot, dot, dot,

dot and then we saw a bunch of cops. >> reporter: police say it was i atargeted attack involving multiple shooters. dozens of people caught in the crossfire. >> that's 21 people whose lives were forever changed. that's 21 families that were -- some were destroyed and some were just altered. >> reporter: more than 100 shell casings were recovered from the scene. investigators say it points to a weapon capable of automatic fire. the mayor saying his city is suffering. >> gun violence is an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country. and unfortunately, the city of birmingham finds itself unfortunately at the tip of that spear. >> reporter: officials say there have been at least 105 homicides in the city so far this year. police now seeking help to identify the shooters. >> the public's assistance is where it's really going to come down to at the end of the day. that's the biggest piece that will expedite this investigation. >> reporter: police said the is believed to be among the ing-

dead. they also said that they believe that at least one of the shooters had an illegal switch on his weapon, allowing it to be used as a fully automatic. cristian benavides, cbs news, birmingham, alabama. the white house says it remains hopeful the long-simmering dispute between israel and hezbollah in lebanon will not explode into an all-out war. but this weekend both sides exchanged heavy fire across the border, with israeli warplanes carrying out the most intense bombardment of southern lebanon in almost a year of conflict. and now new rhetoric and violence is making it less likely that wider bloodshed can be avoided. cbs's chris livesay reports from tel aviv. >> reporter: a barrage of hezbollah rockets and drones shattered the silence over northern israel. all of it in response to this. an israeli strike on friday in southern beirut that killed top

hezbollah commander ibrahim aqil. given a hero's burial today in the same hezbollah stronghold where he died. ♪ the israeli military says the war's center of gravity is now moving north, away from hamas and towards hezbollah, where ongoing clashes have forced nearly 70,000 israelis to flee. "we will safely return the residents to their homes," israel's army chief of staff said today. "if hezbollah did not understand this, it will receive a blow and another blow until it understands." but israel hasn't forgotten about hamas and gaza. a school where hundreds of people were sheltering was struck west of gaza city. this just a day after the hamas-run health ministry said a strike on another school left at least 22 dead. half of them children. one of them a pregnant woman. israel said the school had been

turned into a hamas command center. and in the occupied west bank during a live broadcast israeli forces shut down the ramallah bureau of al jazeera as a journalist read the warrant. so far israel has not claimed responsibility for those exploding beepers and walkie-talkies. but today prime minister benjamin netanyahu did say that israel dealt hezbollah, quote, a sequence of blows it could not imagine. chris livesay, cbs news, tel aviv. there's only six weeks remaining until election day, and voting is already under way in a handful of states. a new cbs news poll shows vice president harris gaining momentum nationally over former president trump, but it's a different story in the battleground states. cbs's skyler henry has more from the white house. >> reporter: former president trump isn't wavering on his stance on reproductive rights, speaking to supporters in the battleground state of north carolina saturday. >> women will be happy, healthy, confident and free.

you will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be, with the states. >> reporter: it's an issue his opponent, vice president kamala harris, has pounced on, considering trump appoint the three supreme court justices part of the conservative majority that overturned roe v. wade. >> these hypocrites want to start talking about this is in the best interest of women and children? well, where you been? where you been? >> reporter: a new cbs news poll shows 52% of likely voters say abortion will be a major factor in their vote for president, though 88% say the economy holds the most weight. the vice president is narrowing her deficit with trump among those concerned about the economy, though 59% still think it's bad. the poll also found americans' position on immigration sharply divided. >> i don't care who we are. live in a city of 4,000 people and you bring in 2500 migrants overnight into one place there are going to be problems.

>> reporter: trump wins with 83% of voters who believe immigrants commit more crimes and 80% of those who think immigrants take jobs from citizens. harris wins with 65% of voters who think immigrants fill jobs americans won't do and 74% of those who say they're part of what makes america special. >> it's neck and neck, and we just need to get the vote out in the states that matter, to be able to make sure that we can move forward rather than backward as a country. >> reporter: a majority of registered voters say they also feel as if the tone and tenor surrounding politics in the country has only gotten worse. they also say they feel as if the threat of political violence will increase regardless of which side wins the election. skyler henry, cbs news, the white house. and cbs news will host the only vice presidential debate between senator j.d. vance and governor tim walz. it's on tuesday october 1st here in new york. watch our live coverage of the debate moderated by norah o'donnell and margaret brenn on

cbs and streaming on cbs news 24/7 and on paramount plus. starting in 2026 grocery stores across california will no longer be offering shoppers the choice between paper or plastic. the governor signed a new law on sunday mandating that stores only offer paper bags. single-use plastic bags were outlawed in california back in 2014, but the new ordinance targets those heavy-duty reusable bags. straight ahead here on "cbs news roundup," with more intense strikes between israel and hezbollah across the lebanese border, we'll hear from analysts who fear a wider war in the who fear a wider war in the region cou it takes courage to navigate the unknown, instincts to detect and prevent threats in real time, and discipline to rise to the occasion every day. it takes the strength to stand up for what is right, the ambition to go beyond the comfort zone. some aren't up to the challenge... but we are.

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so intense that a u.n. spokesman in lebanon said the region stands on the brink of an imminent catastrophe. israel unleashed missile strikes into the heart of lebanon, and hezbollah sent squadrons of drones deep into israeli territory. the conflict entered a dangerous new stage after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by hezbollah fighters exploded, killing dozens of people and wounding thousands. some military observers call that a terrorist act. lee cowan reports. >> reporter: if there really are any rules of war, what happened in lebanon this past week has surely rewritten the playbook. on tuesday thousands of pagers, those low-tech devices that were high-tech for many of us back in the '90s, exploded in the hands and pockets of suspected members of hezbollah and on those around them. 24 hours later the iran-backed terror group was hit again. only this time it was

booby-trapped walkie-talkies. >> it's very surprising. it's very bold. it's wow. >> reporter: israel has not officially claimed responsibility, although matthew levitt has little doubt. hezbollah, he says, poses a threat much bigger than hamas ever could. >> they have what they believe is a directive from god, and they're going to follow through if they have the capabilities. >> reporter: he's a former fbi counterterrorism analyst now at the washington institute, who's written extensively about hezbollah and its ties to iran. >> tactically, what israel has done has been brilliant. they have severely degraded hezbollah's capabilities. they've severely degraded hezbollah's ability to respond to israeli things. they're really hoping that strategically hezbollah gets the message. stop firing rockets into our country. >> reporter: hezbollah's been firing those rockets on nearly a daily basis, ever since it joined in solidarity with hamas in the wake of the deedly october 7th attacks. the 11-month barrage has forced

more than 70,000 israelis to abandon their homes and businesses. >> they have been very, very clear that they will forcibly move hezbollah from the border because one way or another they've got to reclaim their territory, get their people back into their homes. that's not a surprise. >> reporter: it's not the first time israel has targeted communication devices. in 1972 as part of its revenge on the palestine liberation organization's massacre of 11 of its athletes at the munich olympics eight palestinian commandos burst into the israeli team's quarters, israeli operatives planted explosives in the basement telephone of a palestinian diplomat in france. as dramatized in the movie "munich," it was his last phone call. decades later in 1996 israel's internal security agency targeted a hamas operative with an explosive detonated in his telephone as well. >> it's old school, old style

tradecraft. >> reporter: still, exploding pagers and walkie-talkies on the scale that we saw this past week, killing dozens and injuring thousands including children, some viewed as a deception one step too far. the united nations labeled the operation a violation of international law. and it's raised some eyebrows here at home too. >> the ability to be able to place an explosive in technology that is very prevalent these days and turn it into a war of terror really, a war of terror, this is something new. >> is it terrorism? >> i don't think there's any question that it's a form of terrorism. >> reporter: former defense secretary and former director of the cia leon panetta mincing no words in what he fears may be the result of letting this particular genie out of the bottle. >> this is going right into the supply chain. right into the supply chain.

and when you have terror going into the supply chain, it makes people ask the question what the hell is next? >> it sounds like you're genuinely worried. >> i am. i am. this is a tactic that has repercussions. and we really don't know what those repercussions are going to be. >> reporter: at the very least he's worried israel's tactical decision has made the prospect of a wider war in the region closer than it's ever been. >> the forces of war are largely in control right now of what's going on. >> do you think there should be condemnation for it? should other nations step in, including us? >> i think it's going to be very important for the nations of the world to have a serious discussion about whether or not this is in an area that everybody has to focus on because if they don't try to

deal with it now, mark my word, it is the battlefield of the future. >> that was lee cowan reporting. "cbs news roundup" will be right back.

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of weeks. many voters say the economy is their top issue this election season. inflation is now down below 3%. but prices for many things remain high. mark strassmann reports. >> business is down. people have less discretionary income. >> reporter: in battleground georgia inflation's deflating. brad cunard owns little's food store in atlanta, part neighborhood grocery, part grill. >> have you lost customers? >> i've lost a lot of customers. yeah. >> inflation has kicked a little guy like you pretty hard. >> really hard. we've been kicked all over the curb. >> over the last five years america's food prices jumped nearly 27%. for consumers like donnie jones. >> it's us not holding our leaders accountable for making sure our economy is doable and safe for, you know, middle-class people. >> reporter: take this basket of groceries. >> so what's the damage? >> 55.24. >> five years ago that would have been $12 less?

>> yep. >> so the wine has to go if you want to stay on budget. >> absolutely. >> which is not as much fun. >> reporter: inflation's cooled, now at 2 1/2%. but since 2019 eggs up 126%. bread up 54%. milk up 30%. >> we will rapidly defeat inflation. we're going to brick young yours down. >> reporter: donald trump has offered few specifics on lowering those prices. he's pushing across-the-board tariffs, especially on chinese imports, and cutting corporate taxes. during the trump administration inflation averaged 1.9%. the biden years averaged 5.1%. >> i will take on corporate price gouging. >> reporter: kamala harris has also proposed price caps on prescription drugs. another harris proposal, offering up to $25,000 to help many first-time home buyers. critics say both their plans could worsen inflation.

brad cunard's an independent voter. he believes both candidates talk past small business people like him. >> we're supposed to be the backbone of the country. what's happened? >> have the candidates focused enough on the inflation issue? >> no. because they're busy caught up in the -- you know, the cult of personality that drives our political scene now. >> reporter: leaving inflation a worry and millions of americans hungry for answers. mark i got this $1,000 camera for only $41 on dealdash. dealdash.com, online auctions since 2009. this playstation 5 sold for only 50 cents. this ipad pro sold for less than $34. and this nintendo switch, sold for less than $20. i got this kitchenaid stand mixer for only $56. i got this bbq smoker for 26 bucks. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. at his best...ds to be he needs protection that goes beyond.

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there are concerns about possible election night chaos in the battleground state of georgia. republicans there changed the rules, and now all ballots must be counted by hand. scott macfarlane reports. >> reporter: just as vice president kamala harris arrived seeking new altitude in this battleground state, a georgia state election board controlled by former president donald trump supporters is causing turbulence. with just more than six weeks until election day three republicans who hold a majority on the board voted to change the rules for handling ballots, requiring poll workers at each precinct in georgia's 159 counties to conduct a hand count of all the ballots on election night in addition to the traditional machine count. trump ally janell king. >> what i don't want to do is set a precedent that we are okay with speed over accuracy. >> i don't see any danger in hand counting. if the complaint is that, you

know, i just don't want to stay there an extra hour, that's just not a good enough complaint for me. >> reporter: an idea opponents blistered as an attempt to slow the vote count. >> we are talking about all these last-minute changes, and it makes me questin whether members of this board are operating in good faith. >> reporter: others said it will cost millions of dollars to hire and train additional workers and sow distrust in the results and delay tabulation of final results by days or weeks. >> i brought with me 1,872 pages of paper representing what a stack of ballots could look like on a busy counting day. >> reporter: all the top republicans in the state including the governor have criticized the board's actions, accusing them of exceeding their authority and making 11th hour changes. trump, meanwhile, has lauded and thanked the board members for considering new rules. >> they're on fire. they're doing a great job. three members. >> reporter: the vice president didn't address the election board controversy at an event in

the atlanta suburbs of cobb county, instead slamming abortion services, citing the story of amber nicole thurman, a georgia woman who died because she didn't receive the appropriate abortion care in time. >> we will make sure amber is not just remembered as a statistic and that she should be alive today. >> that was scott macfarlane reporting. a legal challenge to stop the new rule could be filed later monday. you're watching "cbs news roundup."

it's mo it's monday, september 23rd, 2024. this is "cbs news mornings." escalating tensions. israel and hezbollah edge closer toward a full-scale war with both sides carrying out intense strikes. the new order from t