Hurricane Helene moves through Georgia after making landfall in Florida. Kamala Harris visits the southern border in Arizona. And criticize the explosion of a “Bridgerton”-inspired ball that was instead a chaotic mess.

This is what you should know today.

Helene is moving inland after making landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane

Hurricane Helene weakened overnight as it passed through Georgia, hours after making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm. The National Hurricane Center said the storm churned ashore about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida, around 11:10 p.m., with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. At 1 a.m., the hurricane’s eyewall was moving toward Georgia. By 2 a.m., maximum sustained winds had dropped to 90 mph, making it a Category 1 storm.

Life-threatening storm surges, winds and rain remained a threat, the National Hurricane Center said. As of early Friday, more than 3 million customers were without power in Florida and Georgia combined.

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A driver was killed after a sign fell on his car in Tampa, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Two people died in Wheeler County, Georgia, when an apparent tornado toppled a mobile home, an official said.

Follow our live blog for the latest updates.

Harris goes to the border

In her first trip to the southern border since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris will speak about immigration – an issue for which Republicans have repeatedly criticized her. While in Douglas, Arizona, Harris will call for tougher security measures such as fentanyl detection devices and more border patrol agents, while urging the Chinese government to crack down on companies that produce the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl.

Republicans have called Harris the “border czar” and questioned why she hasn’t made enough progress in securing the border in her four years as vice president. Harris has since attacked Trump over his efforts to block a bipartisan border funding deal earlier this year. Her criticism of Trump, as well as recent ads touting her successes in prosecuting transnational gangs and drug traffickers as California’s attorney general, represent a notable attempt at rebranding, just weeks before Election Day. Read the full story.

More 2024 election coverage:

• Harris’ team is considering keeping some Biden Cabinet officials in place if she wins the presidency and Democrats lose the Senate. Here’s why.
• Trump said he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today in New York.
• For young men who grew up in the Trump era, The 2024 election is about a big deal.
• The actions of a single Nebraska state senator may have helped Harris secures her first electoral vote before a single ballot was cast.

Alabama’s second nitrogen gas execution

Yesterday, an Alabama inmate was executed using nitrogen gas, marking the second time in the state – and the country – that the controversial method has been used. The planned execution of Alan Eugene Miller by lethal injection was canceled two years ago when prison officials struggled for more than an hour to gain access to a vein.

Miller, 59, was a former delivery driver who was convicted of a workplace shooting in 2000. In a final statement, he said: “I did nothing to be in here.” His death capped a particularly intense execution period across the country, with five executions taking place in the last seven days. Read the full story.

Politics in brief

Charges against Adams: New York Mayor Eric Adams should be brought to justice today for bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and solicitation of donations from a foreigner. A 57-page federal indictment accuses Adams of free airline tickets and luxury hotel stays worth more than $100,000 in a nearly decade-long conspiracy by wealthy Turkish nationals and at least one government official.

Assassination plot: The Biden administration is offers up to $20 million for information about a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who is accused of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton.

Consequences of the 2020 election: Smartmantic and Newsmax reached an agreement in the election technology company’s election defamation lawsuit against the right-wing news agency, avoiding a trial that was scheduled for Monday.

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read all about it

• A Texas state legislator promises to ban the use of unclaimed bodies for research purposes in response to an NBC News investigation that found a local medical program obtained and examined hundreds of human samples without the families’ permission.
• Anna “Delvey” Sorokin commented after her abrupt exit from “Dancing With the Stars” and accused the show of “exploiting me to get attention.”
• Southwest Airlines executives outlined a three-year vision to increase profitsincluding assigned seating, international partnerships and night flights.
• Hoda Kotb, a beloved main character on NBC News’ “TODAY” for nearly two decades, announced that she was stepping down as co-host Early next year.

Personnel selection: This “Bridgerton”-inspired ball was a chaotic mess

The Detroit Bridgerton Themed Ball, which is not affiliated with the Netflix show, was intended to transport attendees to the Regency era with live music, dancing, food and drink. Instead, event-goers were greeted with a single violinist, an exotic dancer and allegedly undercooked meals. Online, people compared it to other chaotic, failed events like The Willy Wonka Experience and Fyre Fest. We spoke to participants in the unfortunate eventwhich are calling on organizers to issue refunds. — Daysia TolentinoCulture and trend reporter

NBC Select: Online shopping, simplified

Wayfair is bringing back October Way Day – and NBC Select has all the details. These reporters also tested five pairs of Hoka hiking boots over three months (and thousands of steps). Here’s what they found.

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