♪ ♪ good day, everyone, i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. it is high noon here at the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. here's what's happening. donald trump's camp facing new questions today about his outreach to minority voters. >> trump has been running for president, though, kellyanne, since june of 2015. that's 14 months. question, how many times has he gone into an american inner city and held an event for a largely black audience? >> that answer ahead.

and while donald trump is still on the attack, some members of his own party are tired of the back and forth on the campaign trail. >> i wish that both of our candidates would tone it down and start focusing on policy. >> turning red states blue. democratic presidential nominee gives his take. vice president, i should say. an arrest in the chicago murder of dwyane wade's cousin. we'll tell you what we know ahead. donald trump's campaign responding to critics who are calling on the nominee to start taking his pitch to the communities where african-american voters live. >> trump has been running for president, though, kellyanne, since june of 2015. that's 14 months. question, how many times has he gone into an american inner city and held an event for a largely black audience? >> i don'tnow the answer, but i can tell you -- >> would you be surprised if the answer is none, never? >> no, i would not be surprised.

i will tell you, chris, and i pledge to you and everybody who's watching that those events are actually being planned and we're very excited about them. >> also new today, reaction on governor mike pence on the level of discourse surrounding the race. >> the fact that you see democrats and hillary clinton and hillary clinton and her running mate rolling out the same old playbook of racial divisiveness sounds a little bit to me like an act of desperation. look, the american people are sick and tired of politicians who seek to divide the people of this country, to unite their supporters. >> donald trump called hillary clinton a bigot. >> donald trump has been reaching out -- >> he just accused her of dividing people. he accused her of being a bigot. >> look, and that was on the day that hillary clinton literally condemned not just donald trump by the same terms, but also millions of americans who long

for a better future. >> and as trump ramps up his pitch to african-american voters, a front page "new york times" report today is revisiting a 1973 lawsuit filed by the justice department. officials accused him and his father of turning away potential black tenants in new york city. there is no evidence trump set rental paul cease at his father's properties but he did work there. the case ended in a consent degree. at the time trump called the government's allegations absolutely ridiculous. meantime, tim kaine is clarifying what he meant when he compared donald trump's rhetoric to kkk values. he's what he told voters yesterday. >>. [ no audio ] >> i'm sorry about that audio, we'll get that for you. meantime the candidates are off the campaign trail today. later trump and clinton will

address veterans in nacincinnat ohio. let's head to des moines, iowa, where jacob rascon is following the trump campaign today. good day to you, jacob. i know you were there at trump's speech yesterday, so tell me how he was received. >> reporter: it was received very well. we're talking about a group of voters that are lifelong republican voters for the most part, a small crowd of several hundred. they came there to see senator joni ernst and donald trump. to hear that speech, and it was another one of those speeches just like the last week and a half that was scripted. he was very focused on what to do for iowa specifically and then giving that direct appeal to african-american voters. there's been a lot of talk, as you heard in your intro, about him not going into those areas where most that are majority or even a good percentage of minority voters. you heard his campaign manager talk there about how she wants to do that, how that's in the works. how when she came on, those

visits that he's making now, they were already on the books. so now the campaign says they will focus on actually going into urban areas and taking that message there. as far as the reaction from actual voters, i was surprised personally that a lot of the voters even those who said they really wanted to vote for trump, really wanted to see a softer tone even than what he's been giving. they really are worried that if he doesn't tone it down he won't be able to make up ground in the polls. i also talked to senator joni ernst about the campaign rhetoric that's been heating up in the last several days. here is her response. >> people are talking about trump and his comments, but we need to focus, hillary rodham clinton has said some pretty ugly things too. i don't like this in campaigns. i wish that both of our candidates would tone it down and start focusing on policy and issues. that's my advice to both of them, because it's coming not just from one side but it's coming from both sides and it just needs to stop.

we need to focus on what's good for america. >> reporter: so today the trump campaign is out with a new web ad on offense against hillary clinton and then the entire trump team or many of them at least on the sunday shows, a lot of them on defense about trump on immigration trying to clarify and make sure that he's not painted as a -- as a softening. he wants to be the tough candidate. the team is out there trying to make that pitch. >> and what's ahead for the trump camp this week? >> reporter: this week in fact there are only a couple of events so far that we know of. he's going to washington on tuesday. he has sunday and monday off as far as public events and then he heads to arizona. arizona, the last time he was there, notably there were a lot of protests. immigration a big topic there. he's expected to address immigration, though not yet we understand give a policy peach on that. the trump campaign says he will give a policy speech on immigration in the next week and a half or so. so we'll look for that.

>> jacob rascon there in des moines. thank you so much. let's go from trump now to the clinton campaign. nbc's kelly o'donnell is joining me from our washington bureau. with a good sunday to you, kelly. we are also hearing this morning from donna brazile, the interim head of the dnc, on this new rash of criticism that clinton is getting over the family foundation. what is her take on this controversy? reporter: well, when you look at donna brazile and other top surrogates for hillary clinton, they're talking about a few key points. they argue that the discussion of the clinton foundation should always include the good works that that foundation has done, and there's no real dispute about that. but they also say when you look at her work during her time as secretary of state and the access that any outsiders might have had, so not government officials, not foreign ministers from around the world, which would be a part of her normal course of business, they say that the reporting on her meetings has been lopsided, that it didn't take into account the full scope of her calendar. now, one of the issues with that, of course, is that the

associated press which first reported on her meetings had to sue in order to obtain some of the records and the state department says that the full calendar for her time during which she served as secretary of state will not be made public prior to the election. so it's a bit of a game where people have to sort of guess at what was going on with just limited facts. but donna brazile, who is the interim chief of the dnc and has been a long-time democratic operative and always good at being a surrogate, said that there's a real imbalance in how voters and critics and pundits look at when republicans get together and when democrats do. here's a bit of what donna brazile had to say. >> when republicans meet with their donors, with their supporters, their activists, they call it a meeting. when democrats do that, they call it a conflict. it's not pay to play unless someone gave someone 50 cents to say i need a meeting, no. if because you were able to get in and see someone boy making a

request, be it -- we saw nobel prize winners wanting to meet with the secretary of state. we saw heads of state. and there was a lot of people who wanted to meet. the secretary of state, the former secretary of state met with literally thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of individuals. >> and so far there has been no evidence of a specific quid pro quo for a donor from the clinton foundation asking for and receiving some kind of special access or favor. there are instances where doug band, who worked for the clinton foundation, was reaching out to insiders in hillary clinton's world to raise some questions or ask for some things, but there's no clear evidence that that ever actually took place. and some of this, alex, as you know is the nature of what an e-mail trail and a calendar can do for a very long time, people of influence have sought to use their friends or allies to get things. in this context when you're running for president, this is being highly scrutinized and

there are democrats who are saying nothing inappropriate took place and there are critics and republicans who say this needs a closer look. alex. >> well, to be fair, i think it is a system that exists certainly beyond the political world, business, entertainment, you've got it. all right, thank you very much, kelly o'donnell. let's bring in jeremy peters, reporter at "the new york times" and an msnbc contributor. let's get right to it. as donald trump is heading out to arizona this week, he is just barely leading there in the polls, but arizona has only voted for a democratic presidential candidate once since 1976, so why is the race so close there? >> it's close because of a couple of factors, alex. one, you have what's kind of already very well known and that's the growth in the hispanic population. this is a population that is by no means very open to voting for donald trump, given his talk of building walls and deporting people. now, on the other hand what you have is a disillusioned white population. you have a number of younger

affluent, better educated white people who have moved to cities like phoenix from elsewhere, from san francisco, los angeles, looking for a lower cost of living and a better quality of life. and these people are not by and large trump voters. so what you have is kind of the confluence of these two demographic forces that's looking like it could be very bad for trump. >> so what do you think this overall means for the gop? i mean how do they make adjustments? what do they do? >> well, what they need to do is what they laid out in 2013 when they published that autopsy and said that they need to do a better job of talking to minority voters, talking to women, talking to young voters, and they have to stop talking only to themselves. now, when i was in arizona earlier this week, i talked to a lot of people about this. an i was not so much surprised to hear that trump is encountering a lot of

resistance, a lot of skepticism. was mostly kind of a disillusionment with both sides. you didn't hear a lot of enthusiasm for the democrats, but you certainly didn't hear enthusiasm for trump either. so i think what you could have on a really bad election night for trump is that he ends up losing a state like arizona. now, that would be extraordinary, because as you said this is a state that has not gone republican -- sorry, has not gone democrat since bill clinton in 1996. it's been a democratic fantasy quite some time. they always talk about arizona being on the cusp. but it feels more real there than ever. >> i've got to say i think that lack of enthusiasm you're describing, that's not unique to arizona, that's for sure. talk about donald trump's recent shift on immigration, and is that tied to a struggle in the polls, particularly out west? do you think voters are going to buy it? what's going to come from this? >> that's a good question. i think there is a split. i think there are some trump supporters, some diehards, who

are very -- they're waiting to see what he says. they're a little nervous, frankly, when you talk to them about why is he -- does he seem to be kind of dialing back the rhetoric on the -- his signature issue, the issue that has rallied so many conservative voters to his side. you know, on the other hand, i think there is a sense that people -- his supporters believe that he's doing what he needs to do to get elected so that they're then a little bit more comfortable if he softens his stance a little bit. but i have to say, alex, there's a real concern among republicans in arizona that what happened in california in the '90s happens there, and that's that the republican-led tough anti-immigration policies end up alienating a generation of voters and taking the state off the map for their party for a generation. >> as we've been saying, hillary clinton has pulled ahead in both

the national polls, also in key swing states, but is the race really hers to lose? how much could things change between now and november 8th? >> if i had to guess -- i guess i should preface that by saying if there's one thing the media has been really bad at is guessing how things will turn out. it's probably going to be a lot closer than it looks now, just given the national tendency of things to tighten as we get into september, october. we don't know what's going to happen in the debates. what happens if donald trump shows up at the debate like mitt romney did in 2012 and is a completely different character from the one that hillary clinton has prepped for. that is the big wild card here are these debates. woe just don't know how those are going to play out. >> why do you think that general landslides just don't happen anymore? >> for a number of reasons. the primary one being that the public is just so divided. the number of people who say

that they are at the polls of their political parties has quadrupled since 2004. i mean think about that. that's astonishing. that just shows you how dug in people are. people are surrounding themselves more and more with like-minded friends and colleagues. while you may see a 55-45 race or something like that, what you're not going to see is the winner of the popular vote winning with 60% or something like that, because that just doesn't happen anymore. and with third-party candidates on the ballot too, you could be looking at right now if polls hold, the third party candidates getting 15% of the vote. and that could end up denying hillary clinton a 50% threshold. and that would really be something. remember, her husband didn't get that. >> now, see there you've gone and opened up a whole other set of circumstances i want to talk about but i don't have the time, so that means you'll have to come back.

>> next week. >> sounds good. now some breaking news out of chicago. an arrest in the shooting death of dwyane wade's cousin. morgan has more for us. >> there have been late-breaking developments. two men are now in police custody in connection with the death of 32-year-old nikea aldridge. they are brothers. they have each been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder. remember, she was walking with her baby. she was just pushing the stroller on chicago's south side and that was after registering her other kids at school. this all happened in broad daylight. she was caught in the crossfire. she was shot once in the head, once in the arm. now, dwyane wade's mother, she spoke out for the family with aldridge's mother leaning on her side. take a listen. >> this is actually the second child she has lost to gun violence, so it's really a heavy thing with her right now.

because we don't understand it, but we're not going to ask god why. but one thing she did say, she was just glad her daughter was saved and sanctified and that meant more than anything to her in the world. >> why. that is the question we keep hearing in chicago. the residents say this just keeps happening over and over and over again. just to give you a sense of how big this problem is in chicago, since that shooting, there have been reports of more than 20 injured and three killed by gun violence. that's just this weekend, alex. in the meantime, there are two prayer vigils bowieing held tod one at the church of dwyane wade's mother and there is a news conference at the bottom of this hour and we'll monitor that and bring you the latest information. >> these numbers are frightening. they're insane. they just don't make any sense. >> it's hard and it's heart-breaking, especially given that half of the shooting victims just this year are kids, they're children under the age

of 16. >> morgan radford, thank you so much. next up, we'll talk to the trump campaign about a new report on how trump and his team are preparing for debates against hillary clinton. when heartburn comes creeping up on you. fight back with relief so smooth and fast. tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. tum-tum-tum-tum-tums smoothies, only from tums. she said i should think of my teeth like an apple. my hygienist said the most random thing. it could be great on the outside...

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the trump campaign today is dealing with a number of issues from a tweet sent after the shooting of a young woman in chicago to a report in "the new york times" about an old lawsuit involving the trump family. let's bring in boris epstyn. all day yesterday, your candidate wrapped up in controversy about this tweet that he put out there in the wake of the tragic shooting of dwyane wade's cousin. the first tweet was dwyane wade's cousin was shot and killed walking her baby in

chicago. just what i was saying, african-americans will vote trump. a few hours later that was followed up by the second tweet offering some condolences to the family. he really got in it for people saying he lacked sensitivity. >> i like calling him my president, i'm a big fan of that. >> i'm sorry, your candidate. >> i don't mean to correct you. first of all, deepest condolences and sympathy for the family, from the trump campaign, from myself -- >> why didn't that come first? >> it's not about the tweet. >> it is in this part of the conversation it is. why didn't it come first. why would he put out something that exhibits a lack of sensitivity. >> let's talk about the real issues. of course he's saying of course there's sympathy and condolences and he did tweet that out. >> after getting a lot of criticism. >> it's a twitter world, it's a new world. but of course he, the campaign and everyone associated has a world's amount of sympathy with

nykea aldridge's family. it's a terrible death. what's also terrible is there have been 455 as of this morning, 456, 457 deaths in chicago this year. that's more deaths than afghanistan by coalition forces since the beginning of 2013, alex. so it's a war zone. chicago is a war zone. >> no doubt. >> and that's what donald trump is talking about. the democrats have had their shot. rahm emanuel, the democrat mayor has been there since 2011. it has been an utter failure. they have very tough, very strict gun laws. that's not the answer. the answer is the economy. it's chicago, it's milwaukee, it's detroit. we need to fix the inner cities of this country, make sure those people are safe, they have a future, they have jobs. only will that revitalize inner cities of america and that's what donald trump is saying. >> absolute agreement there on what needs to be fixed, no doubt about it. but donna before zrazilebrazile the issue of mr. trump's african-american outreach. let's listen to part of what she

said. >> donald trump has not held an event in the black community, he has not gone to a black church, as hillary clinton has done. he's not gone to historical black colleges, hillary clinton. he's not met with the mothers of children who have been slain and killed from violence in this country, as hillary clinton has done. >> is that a fair criticism? why should people believe what he's saying if he doesn't even go to the communities and talk to them directly? hillary clinton, let's say she goes practically every week to a black church. >> well, but she doesn't do press conferences and answer actual questions. >> donald trump answers actual questions? >> he holds press conferences. >> with facts and figures. >> absolutely. facts like changing the tax rate, the corporate tax rate to 15% to make sure that businesses can go into inner cities. now, we're not here to play political football with actual families, with mothers of folks who were killed. we're here to fix the issue and donald trump will be going to the inner cities as soon as this week he's going to detroit. i don't know what talking point

donna brazile will use then. the democrats have absolutely failed the inner cities. it's not about going and meeting with people, it's about fixing what's wrong. have all these meetings by hillary clinton and democrats saved the lives of over 450 people in chicago this year? they obviously have not. so it's not about the meetings, it's about fixing the problem. again, we are not here to politicize these deaths. we are not here to play political football with them. we're here to fix the issue and that's what donald trump will do. >> today's "washington post," as you know, boris, as a unique approach by the trump campaign when it comes to debate preparation. is this the case, does the campaign need to be a bit more vigorous in its approach. >> the campaign is very vigorous in its approach to the 71 days of the campaign. hillary clinton has not been out there with 270 days answering actual questions so she is totally unprepared. no matter what she's doing in her debate prep, it's still a bubble. i know that from experience with

mccain and romney. debate prep can never substitute for press conferences. she's coming in wholly unprepared. donald trump will destroy her in those debates and show the american people he is the only one prepared to be president. >> we will see it, come september 26th. thank you so much. we keep hearing from the candidates. what do voters really want to hear? some answers at the bottom of the hour. she spent summer binge-watching. soon, she'll be binge-studying.

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that to you. a big story we're following at this hour, a tropical system promising to bring lots of rain to south florida. joining me now, raphael miranda. we've been keeping an eye on this since yesterday. what's the latest? >> we have another system, a new tropical depression. the situation really changing hour by hour. it's so incredibly busy in the tropics right now. first, i want to show you the big picture, a lot going on. this is hurricane gaston, a category 2 hurricane. this is going to stay out to sea but close enough to give us rip current risks. we're seeing that today around the northeast and we'll see even more as the days go on. of course we're always talking about this one, it's been very poorly organized over the past few days. not much has changed with invest 99-l. it's still poorly organized showing signs of looking a little better and it's moving into an area that's more conducive to development, less shear and warmer water temperatures in the gulf of mexico. this has still a 60% chance of

developing into something more organized over the next five days, so this one will have to be watched very closely. taking a look at the computer models, a lot of spread, a lot of divergence in the models here over the next five days, so really the entire gulf coast needs to be on alert, on lookout for this storm. plenty of uncertainty in the track and also the intensity. we'll keep watching it for you. now, this is the new kid on the block, tropical depression 8. we started watching it really intensity yesterday. has really become well organized. winds up to 35 miles per hour. this could become tropical storm hermine before the other storm does move into the west around 9 miles per hour. and look how close the models are taking this to the carolinas. this is quick mover too. this is by the middle of the week, expected to approach the coast. we'll be watching that very closely. expect it to slowly strengthen and the carolinas will be watching that. very heavy rain across south florida continues to be a problem so a very dynamic situation, alex, and plenty of changes coming over the next couple of days for sure.

>> a couple of named storms certainly brewing. thanks so much. with 72 days until the election and about ten weeks until election day, undecided voters are giving us a sense of what is holding them back. here's what we heard during a wisconsin focus group. >> some of the things that donald trump has done and said just makes it impossible for me to vote for him. >> i'm tired of the circus. i just want to see the meat and potatoes of it all. i think i'll make more of a solid decision once i watch the debates. >> i'm just hoping for actual discussions about political topics and not so much of the mud slinger bitter eer dirty p that's been going on between these two over the past couple of months. joining me, elise jordan, former advisor to the rand paul 2016 campaign. and joining me, former vermont governor, howard dean, a contributor with msnbc and former dnc chairman and a welcome to you both. this is a sunday regular

routine. i'm glad for that. governor, i'm going to start with you. part of this mud slinging that was mentioned right there during the focus group, it is racially charged exchanges between the nominees. they're throwing around phrases like bigot, kkk values. would you concede that clinton and kaine are going a little too far with their choice of words? >> no. i mean the problem -- the interesting focus group, because when you do sling tough stuff, everybody gets dirty. they say don't get in a mud wrestling contest with a pig because everybody gets dirty and the pig likes it, the pig in this case being donald trump. but the truth is the truth. he is dawdling with racism, he's reached out on immigration to people who hate immigrants, muslims to people who hate muslims, et cetera, et cetera. so, you know, it's tough language, but it is true. >> how about you, elise, would

you advise trump to reframe this dialogue? he's used the word "bigot" many times to decline hillary clinton, especially as he gets ready to address racial matters, because they are going to come up during the debates. >> well, i think it's absolutely ridiculous that he is focusing on calling hillary clinton a bigot. there's so many other attacks that he could lob. he can talk about the clinton foundation, he could talk about the unseemly appearance of pay-to-play at the state department but instead he's focusing on something that voters know isn't true. hillary clinton isn't a bigot. you have donald trump saying that he's going to do more african-american outreach, and quite frankly it's incredibly frustrating to me. i'm in memphis, tennessee, right now and donald trump w just isn't jackson, mississippi. it is a city with the second largest population of african-american citizens and he speaks to an all-white audience of 15,000 people. granted there were some african-americans there, but he's in a city that is predominantly african-american and that's not simply who he's speaking for, this phraseology

in his new strategy to try to brand hillary clinton as a bigot is simply to deflect from his own consistently racist statements this entire campaign. >> governor, you heard that one gentleman in the wisconsin focus group saying he wants to hear the meat and potatoes, wants to get to that. what do you think voters want to hear? >> well, i think they want to hear both, unfortunately, but i do think that we're lacking in the meat and potatoes and that's partly our fault. when was the last time we talked about the differences in the tax plans between hillary clinton and donald trump? that would be helpful. >> yeah. >> and i think that person on that focus group was right. i do think that's going to come out in the debates. i think if the moderators are good, and this is going to be a really tough job for whoever moderates these debates, i do think we're likely to see some public policy differences. >> do you think hillary needed to do that alt-right speech, governor? >> i don't know. let's find out -- i mean so far it looks like it was a smart

thing to do because she's calling donald trump what he is. he's a dog whistler. and you can't go on like that. but we'll see. time will tell. there will be lots of looking back and saying we should have done this or shouldn't have done that, no matter what happens. but i think it was a smart thing to do because it's true. >> picking up on what you were saying, elise, trump's campaign manager says they are going to start going into minority communities. what are you hearing from african-american leaders who are advising donald trump on how to reach out to people? >> well, you know, i think that at this point donald trump needs to be talking about what he would actually do for african-americans instead of telling them that their lives are wastelands of despair, which is what his tack has been so far. governor dean made a good point, i think, talking about how the debates are going to be such a pivotal moment. you hear about hillary clinton's debate prep and how merciless she's being in preparing and going through detailed briefing books and then you read reports of donald trump who is having

debate prep as he scans through news articles of himself. i think it's just -- it underscores the lack of seriousness that he's approaching this with and i think it really will bow a decisive moment where the american voters will have to decide what they want in a commander in chief. someone who is prepared to grapple with the serious policy issues of the day. and is donald trump going to show that he can do that. quite frankly, i doubt -- i think that's very doubtful, but we'll see. >> governor, i'm curious what you think about brian fallon's tweet that he put out regarding donald trump's ability to debate, saying he's going to be a tough debater, perhaps only because of his entertainment value. i mean he understands how to work it, if you will. what do you think? >> i think that's true. i think brian is absolutely right. he's one of the sharpest minds in politics today, and i think he's nailed it. trump blew away 16 mostly pretty well qualified people in the republican primary to be president of the united states. he blew them away by making every debate about trump. it's harder to do when you have

only one opponent on the stage. i've said this before, but the moderators are going to have their handsful of donald trump trying to focus on the issues. he doesn't know anything about the issues, doesn't care about the issues. actually his strength in the republican party had nothing to do with the issues, it had to do with his personality. and that is going to be the subtext of any debate that donald trump and hillary clinton have. >> elise, do you think that maybe brian fallon heightening expectations for donald trump, that tweet? >> oh, of course, that's definitely the strategy. just treat donald trump like he could be playing at her level because then the lower you keep expectations, that's always the best path to pursue. but i do think that what governor dean is true in that he's only -- donald trump is going to be up against one person in these debates, possibly gary johnson too. i hope that governor johnson also makes the debate stage. i think that would be a great service to the american people to get to see an alternative candidate to two candidates that have such high unfavorables of

so many voters. but you look at how i don't think it's going to play as well with donald trump simply insulting and insulting and insulting for a two-hour time window. when you look at the limited amount of time he would have on a republican debate stage where his time was divided between eight or nine or, i think, ten candidates in a given two hours and this is just going -- if it's one-on-one, he's going to have to fill a full 45 minutes or so with actual discussion of policy issues. quite frankly, i don't think he's going to be able to do that. >> i agree with you, i wish gary johnson would get on the debate stage too. it would make it very interesting. elise and howard, both of you thank you very much. have a good sunday, guys. >> thank you. >> thanks. stopping the spread of zika. the fines florida residents could face if rules are not followed. when you hit 300,000 miles. or here, when you walked away without a scratch. maybe it was the day you realized your baby was not a baby anymore. every subaru is built to earn your trust. because we know what you're trusting us with.

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what powers the digital world? communication. like centurylink's broadband network that gives 35,000 fans a cutting edge game experience. or the network that keeps a leading hotel chain's guests connected at work, and at play. or the it platform that powers millions of ecards every day for one of the largest greeting card companies. businessesount on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. mounting zika concerns in south florida with more than 40 people affected by locally transmitted cases of zika. officials are worried more rain could make things even worse.

let's go to sarah dallof. sarah, what more can you tell us about this? >> reporter: hi there, alex. chances are looking less and less like miami is going to get hit with a tropical storm or hurricane this weekend, but as you can see, the weather is still moving in. we're dealing with winds here right now, with soaking rains expected to arrive later this weekend. now, ahead of those rains, officials here in miami beach have opened all storm drains so they can get that water out as quickly as possible. inspectors are also announcing that they're going to start fining people who don't dump out standing water or cover any containers that could hold standing water in their yard. it's going to be $1,000 for the first offense, $2,000 for the second. basically these officials say all of this weather is just making their job that much harder. >> the big rains are going to probably make us start all over. it's not great news for us, but the heavy rains will flush away

the larvacides and re-establish any standing water. as soon as the rains are over, we start all over removing standing water and applying larvacide. >> reporter: and there are nearly 600 cases of zika here in miami. 42 of those cases are believed to be homegrown cases, that is they were transmitted locally. alex, 75 of that total amount of cases involve pregnant women. back to you. >> wow, thank you from miami beach. five days after that devastating earthquake in italy, a possible criminal probe into what might have contributed to so much loss of life. and next hour, new research on how poverty changes your brain for the worse. i'll talk with a researcher behind this frightening "newsweek" cover story. withhe right steps,

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the quake toll. 291 people have been killed after officials revised that figure down by one. nbc's lucy kafanov is in one of the affected areas. lucy, what is the latest on the efforts to find people. let me correct myself it's 290 people now. >> reporter: ty e still searching, but, alex, it's been days since they have found anyone alive. officials are still calling it a search and rescue operation but it's very difficult to remain optimistic at this point. i want to give you a better sense of the full scale of the devastation we've seen here. we just returned from a rare inside look at the so-called red zone, one of the most dangerous epicenter areas that had been flattened. let's take a look at that video. we've received rare access into the red zone, the heart of the devastation of this earthquake. you can see here buildings that wi withstood the test of time have

completely crumbled. it looks like a post-appall tocc scene. they have explained more details about what the red zone means. we are on top of a fault line. basically, if there's any sort of powerful aftershocks and there have been many, more than 1,600 of them, this area could collapse. it's dangerous to spend too much time here. you can see cars aban onned. there was a diary, a journal somebody had left behind, a piece of a motorbike. it's unbelievable that people sent centuries, years in fact living here. if we can pan over here, absolutely incredible. i mean mattresses, personal things. no one is going to be able to return here and it's going to take billions of dollars for the government to reconstruct these areas. authorities say that they are dedicating more funds, but winter is going to be here in italy in the coming months.

we are in the mountains, it gets cold here. for the more than 2,500 people who have lost their homes, they're facing the prospect of indefinite homelessness unless the government is able to const shelters. and of course, the bigger question folks here are asking is what they can do to prevent another disaster like this. from the firefighters we've spoken to, it's not a matter of if but when. >> so, you can see the devastating pictures there, alex. and i've got to say, we were quite lucky. just over an hour ago there was a powerful aftershock, 4.3 magnitude. we confirmed with the folks up still in pescatr del tronto nobody was injured, but it could have been a close call. >> lucy, 6.2 was the original earthquake, and that is a significant earthquake but being a girl from california -- i'm from los angeles and have lived through stronger earthquakes than that. your point that these villages, these cities existed for years and years and years, centuries, and then just a 6.2 wipes them out.

it is just a profound thing to observe. it's extraordinary. so, let's hope those aftershocks stay well below what they have been. lucy, thank you so much, and good for your bravery getting in that area. thanks. the new support for gary johnson joining the debate stage with hillary clinton and donald trump. how many american voters really care about having him there? it's the little things in life that make me smile. spending the day with my niece. i don't use super poligrip for hold, because my dentures fit well. before tse little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well fitting dentures let in food particles. just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. try super poligrip fe.

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we're optimistic that we're going to actually get into the debates. we're spending money right now in many states, in five states right now i'm at 16%. so, i'm just really optimistic. >> with the first presidential debate less than a month away, libertarian candidate gary johnson making his case today about why he should be on the stage with donald trump and hillary clinton. a new poll shows three out of five american voters want a third-party candidate there. and joining me now, jeannie zano, political science professor at iona college and a strategy adviser at applied

technonomics. thank you for joining me. i'm curious about the support and what is fueling it for getting gary johnson on the stage. what do you know about that? >> you know, i think that summit is similar to what we saw in 1980 when you had a very unpopular incumbent in jimmy carter and you had ronald reagan who many people didn't feel at the time was up to the job of being president. you saw a lot of support for a more moderate and who people thought was a more experienced anderson. and as you remember, anderson did make the debate stage, although that was a very tough call. things have changed now, and now since 2000, it's become that much tougher for a candidate, a third-party candidate, to make the debate stage because the debate commission has said you had to meet that 15% threshold. that was not in place in 1980. so the last third-party candidate to make the stage was ross perot in 1982. >> he is polling 10% in most polls, more in others. is there enough time to get up

to 15% to get on the stage. >> it is a very tough, uphill battle for him, and i think this is where voters are going to be frustrated. because as you mentioned, you have about three out of five americans who want a third-party candidate on the stage. and yet, he now only has a few weeks to go to meet that threshold. the debate commission has said there are five polls, including the nbc/"wall street journal" poll, that they will be looking at. and at that point, johnson is about 5% below where he needs for that threshold. so, he only has about three weeks to make up a huge amount of numbers there. >> well, interestingly, earlier this month, the "chicago tribune" editorial board made an argument to get johnson on the destate stage, "illusions about johnson's schanss to brick through the clutter of negativity. third-party candidates don't get traction for a reason, they don't win elections, but in a year when the public is sick of politics as usual, johnson would bring a lot of debates to the main stage that a lot of people may like." how do you think he would change the denamic and who would

benefit most, trump or clinton? >> i think he would change it enormously, because you look at what he stands for and for what the libertarian party stands for, they are fiscally conservative, obviously, but more socially liberal. and that is in line with about three out of four or five americans. so, he could change the debate enormously. moreover, he doesn't have the negativity attached to him that a donald trump and hillary clinton have, and you could expect a, you know, substantive debate from a gary johnson that you might not expect from a donald trump, for instance. >> okay. >> but that said, you know, i think it's going to be very tough for him to get on that stage, and i think it's really, really frustrating for many americans in this cycle. >> yeah. we know he'll be working hard to get there, for sure. jeanne zaino, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> the uphill battle for donald trump as he tries to woo minority voters. i'll speak with former president of the naacp, ben jealous about this next. ♪

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