Thursday, September 24, 2026

0:28Well, here we are. Good morning. Hey, everyone. I'm Dylan Dreyer, co-host of the third hour of today and mom to three wild boys. I've learned a lot in my years as a parent, mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet. And I'm not the only one. This is my new podcast, The Parent Chat. Each week, I sit down with someone new for honest conversation and real world advice about parenting. I am over here just like winging it. Hey, I'm just trying not to screw my own kids up. I'm not giving you advice on how to screw yours up. Search The Parent Chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Breaking news tonight.

1:02The powerful and rare nor 'easter taking aim at the east coast right now. The dangerous storm barreling towards the coast, sending waves crashing into homes. This car trapped in the sand. Entire neighborhoods already flooded out. Crews racing ashore of beaches. We're timing it all out. Plus, Hawaii bracing for a possible major hurricane that could bring catastrophic flooding to the islands. The elaborate White House welcome for China's leader. as the president tries to shut out some reporters. What the two leaders said about AI, as a judge rules, President Trump must let those banned media outlets back in.

1:38Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasting critics in his UN speech. The massive delegate walkout inside and hundreds of protesters outside. Actress Susan Sarandon detained. New warnings about a killer drug 10 times more lethal than fentanyl. The street drug responsible for dozens of overdose deaths, including teenagers. Chilling video of a college student escaping from a man who scaled a gate to get into her off-campus home the moment she says she realized something was wrong. Rhino ramming a tour group charged by the dangerous animal part of their SUV destroyed. And Supermom in the stands, a woman juggling a baby and three trays of ballpark food, all while maneuvering to her seat.

2:21This viral moment is dividing fans. Plus, Steve Kornacki breaks down the new battleground polls. The Senate race is tightening as both parties fight for control of Congress. Top Story starts right now.

2:38Good evening. As we come on the air, a powerful nor 'easter barreling closer to the East Coast. Right now, tens of millions on alert across major cities, bracing for that rare September storm. Powerful waves crashing onto the shore in Ocean City, Maryland. Event planners forced to cancel day one of a music festival there. In North Carolina, high tides submerging this car in sand. Emergency crews surrounded by crashing waves as they work to get it out. Huge waves smashing into homes on the Jersey Shore. Boats rocking in these choppy waves. Neighborhoods in Norfolk, Virginia already underwater and roads there completely swamped.

3:14But the worst still to come as the risk for coastal flooding, dangerous surf and potential power outages ramps up. We're going to time it all out. It comes as Hawaii preps for yet another hurricane, the rain already coming down as locals stock up on supplies. This could be the third major hurricane to slam the island in just a matter of weeks. Residents still reeling from the storms that brought widespread damage and power outages. We've got full team coverage tonight with Bill Cairns in studio, as you can see, ready to track out these dual threats. But we want to begin with Sam Brock from the Jersey Shore.

3:46Tonight, alarming images of seawater rushing into streets in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Coastal homes sitting on violent surf and cars encased in sand are just the precursor to a powerful nor 'easter forming right now off the Carolina coast. Set to rock a large region of the country from Norfolk, Virginia, where high tides submerged neighborhoods overnight, to Massachusetts. Some 18 million people now under flood alerts all along the eastern seaboard. Winds gusting above 30 miles an hour just today on the Jersey Shore. You hear wind driven event and many folks might think of flooding, but look at the beaches and what's happening with the sand.

4:25It's like some sort of a visual effect erosion happening before our very eyes for communities like Strathmere, New Jersey, near Ocean City. The government just spent millions to build back this beach. The brunt of the waves, the wave actions, the way it comes in, it just takes everything in its path. And there's there's really no way to stop Mother Nature. Now, when natural sledgehammer in the form of that nor 'easter paired with a full moon Saturday has lifted sea levels higher and left residents scrambling. My husband is now moving our car knowing that this is going to come up. Boats, too, had to be yanked from marinas.

5:00That high tide, I don't know, and the wind, I don't know what's going to happen. So I felt like it was safer to pull the boat, put it here. What is clear is that it will be a bumpy ride for millions as the nor 'easter's path and force starts to come into focus. Sam Brock joins us tonight. Sam, the concern there about the tides coinciding with a full moon that you mentioned there in your report. Do we know how much of an impact that's really going to have? Yeah, Tom, I was really curious to find out what would it mean? A full moon actually adds up to a half a foot to high tide, which forces water into places it would not otherwise go.

5:33So that is really substantial. Look over my shoulder here, though. All of this water right here is obviously part of the high tide. This was beach when we showed you that stand up earlier where Sam was just flying in every direction, 30-mile-an-hour winds. It is completely swallowed up now by water, which stretches all the way a couple of hundred feet to the fencing right at the edge of the beach. And, Tom, here's another point to all this. This is all brand new. The sand dunes, the beach fill, the fencing, this all came not three years ago, but three months ago, when after years and years of the same cycle, this city and township built all this back up, and now you're already seeing the effects of a high tide and erosion with the nor 'easter coming in the next couple of days.

6:12You can understand why people here are concerned about what the aftermath of that might look like. All right. Sam Brock, yeah, there for us, probably going to be there for us for a couple of days. I want to bring in NBC's Bill Karens now to time out this double trouble. Bill, the track and timing of this rare nor 'easter happening with this full moon that we're talking about, it could get pretty ugly out there. Yeah, this has been a difficult forecast. Yesterday at this time we were saying huge impacts on the coast, maybe more nuances for areas inland. Now, as far as what's changed, the storm looks a little stronger, and it looks like it's going to be a little closer to the coast.

6:42So it's developing now off the Carolina coast. We are already seeing high winds there in the Delmarva region. The worst of the winds are going to be as we go through Saturday, especially out here in Nantucket and the islands, 50 to 60 mile per hour gusts. Even Boston down through Rhode Island, the Twin Forks here on Long Island could have gusts up to 45 to 55. New York City, I don't think there's going to be too much wind or tree damage, but the Jersey Shore could get up there to 50. So as far as that, how does that relate to power outages? Well, we have all the leaves on the trees. We're going to have more power outages than normal with the nor 'easter because most of them happen during the winter when there's no leaves on the trees.

7:14So especially areas in red, widespread power outages, coastal, southeast portions of Massachusetts, including southern portions of Rhode Island. We'll call it scattered in areas around Long Island and then isolated New York City, Long Island and down on the Jersey Shore. So that's the power outage and wind. The rain forecast has also gotten worse, but it's spread out over about a day and a half. So we're not going to see significant flooding out of this. If we get any, it would most likely be Boston down the Nantucket. Someone in here could get three to six inches of rain. But it does mean a very ugly Saturday.

7:45Interior sections of the northeast, breezy, cold, rainy all day long. Almost everything canceled that's outdoors. And as far as the tides go, the worst of it is going to be in the Dalmarva region tonight. It's happening now. The high tide's coming in. This will be the highest water levels that you're going to see in this storm. For the northeast, especially the Jersey Shore, southern Connecticut, and Long Island, we are going to see tomorrow night will be the high water mark with the storm. Also, Saturday will be as high, but it shouldn't be quite as bad. So as far as coastal damage goes, we're watching tonight, especially in the areas of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.

8:16All right, Bill, while we have you here, Hawaii bracing for its third hurricane in just a matter of weeks. Yeah, so the northeast forecast got a little worse. The Hawaii forecast got a little better today. Not great, but better. So right now, 70-mile-per-hour winds. It's kind of acting as expected. It should be a hurricane later on tonight. It's going to head north, and then it's going to take that left turn. Yesterday, we were worried, you know, is it going to turn earlier or later? How close will it get to the Big Island? The turn looks to occur a little more to the south now. So that means the core, the strong winds, the 115-mile-per-hour winds you don't want to deal with are going to miss the island.

8:50You'll still get tropical storm gusts, so there'll still be some minor damage. But the rainfall is going to happen regardless, you know, if it's a little closer or a little further away. we're still expecting to get a possibility of up to three feet of rain. Remember, Lala, only a couple weeks ago, had isolated totals up to 40 inches, and we saw the catastrophic flooding that that one did, Tom. So we know what the potential is. So residents there are preparing not just for the wind, but especially for the water. Yeah, we hope so. Okay, Bill, we thank you for that. We're going to turn to politics now.

9:18The White House and the high-stakes summit between President Trump and China's Xi Jinping, looming over it all, the president's legal battle with three media outlets he has tried to ban as he was dealt a new legal blow. Here's Gabe Gutierrez covering it all. Tonight, President Trump welcoming the communist leader of the U.S.'s biggest rival while locked in a legal showdown to keep out prominent members of the American press corps. The red carpet greeting for China's Xi Jinping included a stealth bomber flyover. President Trump touting tremendous strides in the relationship. Xi saying achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand, while also warning both lose in confrontation.

10:03His wife, Madam Peng, later visiting a Smithsonian museum with First Lady Melania Trump, while the Trump administration announces the extension of a trade truce between the two countries. China also saying today that it'll send two pandas to the Atlanta Zoo within weeks. But the world's two largest superpowers are facing thornier issues, the future of AI, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, and China propping up Iran by buying its oil. Xi's critics are skeptical of his visit. It doesn't bother me if the president wants to buy him dinner. I'm fine with that. I just wouldn't believe his bull****. At one point, President Trump joking with Xi, the world's most powerful communist leader, that China had the friendliest press corps.

10:48The quip coming as President Trump lost that legal battle, at least for now, to ban three U.S. media outlets from the White House over their reporting. I never get anything positive. It's always negative. Today, journalists from CNN, MS Now, and Politico returned to the White House after a Trump-appointed federal judge overnight wrote the ban likely violated their constitutional due process rights. All right, Gabe joins us live from the White House. And, Gabe, we can hear the music a little bit there piping in behind you as guests arrive for the state dinner. Yeah, that's right, Tom. It's actually quite the scene here.

11:23You have guests arriving for the state dinner over here. Just to my right, outside the White House, you also hear chants from protesters who are opposing the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. So tonight's state dinner, it has quite the guest list, Tom. It is filled with tech CEOs. There's Sam Altman from OpenAI, Jensen Huang in Nvidia, along with Elon Musk. And President Trump again today saying he does not want to slow down the industry. While President Xi says China and the U.S. have a responsibility to keep AI under human control. So certainly a lot of pomp and pageantry behind me throughout the night.

12:04But this visit doesn't end tonight. Tomorrow, the president and President Xi will also meet for tea here at the White House before touring the National Archives. Tom. Gabe Gutierrez, Gabe, we thank you. Here to discuss this critical moment for the U.S. and China, Rush Doshi is a senior fellow for China at the Council on Foreign Relations and Alok Mehta, director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He oversees projects and research on AI policy. We thank you both for joining us. Hey, look, I want to start with you. AI has been a major focus of the summit so far, and we did hear two different things today between the leaders.

12:41President Trump saying someone will win the race to AI, and President Xi, whether he believes this or not, saying both countries could work together. What do you think is really at play here? Well, what we've seen over time is that leading into the summit, because of recent events, both the calls from the industry to slow down development, as well as repeated incidents of AI agents escaping containment and sort of autonomously hacking websites, that AI was moving up the agenda. But then as the summit got closer and even up to today, we saw, in particular, President Trump downplaying expectations and being very skeptical of guardrails.

13:23And so, as going into the summit, it seems like there is going to be a discussion about AI, that they did talk about AI, but that the sort of outcomes of that are going to be pretty tepid, and we're probably going to end up with some basic actions, the most likely being a setup of some sort of communication hotline between the U.S. and China. But fundamentally, the U.S. believes that they need to win the AI race, and so they are very concerned about taking actions that might slow down the industry compared to China. Rush, let's get into it. We just heard Gabe mention the guest list for tonight's state dinner.

13:59What does that tell you about the priorities both sides have? And do we know who China brought to this dinner? We don't know exactly which of the CEOs China might have brought. We know the White House wanted some CEOs to be at the dinner, but there was some disagreement about who specifically might arrive. What it tells us is that, look, the president is happy to show off the strength of America's technology sector. But as Alok said, at the end of the day, when President Xi and President Trump met, there wasn't much progress on AI, despite the very high stakes. All they were able to agree to at best was a dialogue, which is basically unspecified, and maybe a crisis communications channel, which is effectively just a phone call between the Treasury Secretary and the vice premier.

14:38So this was a summit very heavy on symbolism, not as heavy on substance. And even though it was President Xi's first visit to Washington in more than 11 years, I'm not sure that the substantive agenda actually matched the historic nature of that visit. A-Log, let's go to you now. This proposed AI hotline, is it just a symbolic gesture or is there a sense from AI experts that this will actually be used and accomplished anything? Well, I think it's an important step, but it is sort of the most basic step you can take. It is just a way for Chinese and U.S. officials to communicate with each other.

15:12A lot will depend on implementation, right? Who is on the other end of the line, how seriously they take it. But you could imagine a hotline that is more substantive. One of the ways you could do that is if both the U.S. and China agree to step up monitoring of companies in their respective countries and then proactively start to share information about security incidents. Right now, we don't have any indication that that's the kind of approach that either country is going to take. But there are sort of lighter and heavier versions of the hotline, and that will sort of affect how successful it will be.

15:49Rush, you know, a lot of people in this country, including apparently the CIA, believe that COVID-19 came from China, right? If a country can't be trusted to work on pathogens, can a country be trusted to work with AI? Well, it's a tough question. What it really shows is the challenge of regulating really dangerous technology. In the case of pathogens, that technology is what we call gain-of-function research, where you increase the lethality and transmissibility of a virus to study it better. Very dangerous stuff, if not regulated correctly. AI might be a kind of gain-of-function research when it comes to the cyber domain.

16:22We have wide-open attack surfaces, and these agents are exploring vulnerabilities in them, sometimes misaligned with the instructions that they have been given. So here's the bottom line. The U.S. and China have to work together on AI safety. It's essential, but it won't be easy. And even if we have an agreement, even if we agree on unilateral parallel regulation of our respective industries, there's a chance that one side or the other may not actually follow through and risks will remain. Yeah. Rush, always a pleasure to talk to you. Aloka, nice to meet you here on the air. We thank you both for being here.

16:53Very smart conversation. I want to turn now to a fiery moment at the U.N. hundreds of diplomats walking out as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium. Netanyahu attacking critics and defending Israeli military action across the Middle East, all while protesters flooded the streets. Here's Erick McLaughlin. Tonight, a walkout at the U.N. If there are any other moral cowards who haven't yet left this hall, please do so now. Hundreds of delegates leaving the hall as soon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started a fiery speech to the General Assembly, defending Israeli military actions against Hamas and Gaza.

17:32We sent millions of text messages warning civilians to leave combat areas. Accusing Israel of genocide is the greatest lie of the century. All outside the building, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were detained for blocking roads, Susan Sarandon among those taken away in handcuffs. Netanyahu's speech comes amid a fierce feud with New York City's Mayor Zoran Mamdani, who's called Netanyahu a war criminal. He is the subject of an international criminal court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Netanyahu firing back. The anti-Semitic mayor of New York, I say this, shame on you.

18:15Shame on you for distorting the facts. Since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. Late tonight, Mayor Mamdani accusing Netanyahu of using his speech to, quote, repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize the genocide of Palestinians. And tonight in Midtown Manhattan, a standoff over this way, a small group of pro-Israel protesters and over that way, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters. Folks here tell me they're willing to stay out all night. Tom. Erin McLaughlin there at those protests. Thank you. We're back in a moment here on Top Story with a frightening encounter for a college student saying she was followed and chased into her apartment building, that surveillance video, and what happened next.

19:00Look at this. Plus the urgent new warnings about a dangerous street drug, 10 times more deadly than fentanyl, what you need to know. And the 81-year-old man still working hard on a job to cover his wife's cancer bills. Our group of total strangers pitched in to help. That story still ahead tonight.

19:45podcast before and after. I explore what happens after that decisive moment. Personal, powerful conversations with Colin Kaepernick, Jeremy Renner, Gabby Giffords, and others. Join me wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to all episodes of Before and After with Lester Holt now, wherever you get your podcasts.

20:10We're back now with a terrifying encounter out of California, college student. Since she was chased into her apartment complex, surveillance video shows a man climbing over the gate to follow her in. Alyssa Gord from our NBC Bay Area station has more. In this surveillance video from Tuesday night, you can see UC Berkeley student Eden Winograd walk into her gated off-campus apartment complex with her dog. Seconds later, a man follows. He climbs over the gate, then walks in the same direction as Winograd, holding something in his hand. I went up to the gate. I buzzed myself in. I went in and I closed it and then I heard like clanging sounds while I was walking inside and I turned around and he was like scaling the gate.

20:53Winograd says she ran inside her apartment and called police. She says the encounter started while she was walking her dog when a man she had seen on the street before suddenly ran toward her. She crossed the street then ran toward home, but the man she says kept following. My heart sank. I was out of breath. My heart was pounding. Police initially believed the object in the man's hand could have been a knife. They later determined it was likely a barbecue lighter. But for Winograd, that doesn't change how frightened she was. Yeah, I don't care if they have a weapon in their hand or if they have nothing in their hand.

21:30I don't want to be chased the second I step out of my apartment. I don't want to be chased. I have to watch someone claw their way up a wall to get into where I live. Police found the man the following day and detained him. He was not arrested. Instead, police sent the case to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for review. Winograd says she wants to see more done to make sure she and other students feel safe walking home. And she's not alone. Other Cal students living near campus tell us they've also had experiences with people following them or trespassing at their homes. Yeah, I feel like honestly it's commonplace to hear that people are being followed, not just women, men, boys, you know, girls of all ages.

22:15Alyssa Gord, NBC, Bay Area News. Coming up on Top Story, the countdown is on to the midterms. Guess who's here? Steve Kornacki back at the big board with what's at stake in some key battleground races and new pole action. Plus a routine day for a construction crew ending with this remarkable discovery. Can you tell what it is? We'll show you what they dug up. But first, top stories, top moment in the tarmac track star going viral. This four-legged trespasser giving workers at Naples Airport in Florida a run for their money. Wow, it's fast. Sprinting between planes on the runway. They eventually safely caught him and brought him to an animal shelter where he quickly found a loving home.

22:54They found him running around the airport. I'm like, that's the same dog? We just saw this video. We're going to give him such a good home and spoil him rotten that, you know, he's going to love every second of it. Glad he found a new home. Guess what they named him? Jet. How fitting. All right, stay with us. More top story after this.

23:22Back now with Top Stories News Feed and a sad update on one of the men that was seriously hurt during the 2024 assassination attempt on President Trump and Butler. The family of James Coppenhaver announcing he died on Wednesday while surrounded by his loved ones. I spoke with him after the assassination attempt, and he told me about the ongoing health problems he suffered because of the gunshot wounds. It's unclear if those issues were the cause of his death. And a scary scene at an African safari when a raging rhino attacks a tourist's car. Video shows the massive animal running up and ramming the vehicle.

23:54It happened at a popular national park in Namibia. That rhino even ripping pieces off the side of the car before the driver pulls away. It's unclear if anyone was hurt. And a once-in-a-lifetime find for a construction crew in California. Workers in Oceanside were digging underground for a city project when they found these fossilized bones. Apparently, get this, they're around 40 million years old. Experts say they're likely from one of two ancient mammals, one of them known as a swamp rhino, the sometimes other one called the thunder beast. Those bones are now headed to a museum to be put on display.

24:29Pretty cool. Okay, now to new warnings about a drug 10 times more potent than fentanyl, a synthetic opioid linked to more than 50 deaths now spreading across the country, and doctors are sounding the alarm. Our Tom Costello with What You Need to Know. It's the latest street drug quickly driving overdose deaths higher. Cyclorphine is a synthetic opioid, a white powder, now being added to illegal street drugs like fentanyl, meth and cocaine, even fake anxiety meds. Melissa Hatner says her 18-year-old son Jake died after taking a pill that had been laced with cyclorphine. There's so much grief and such a hole in his absence, but also a resolve for people to know that drugs like this exist.

25:16This drug doesn't discriminate, so it will take you in a matter of seconds. Cyclophene, 10 times more dangerous than fentanyl. They simply lose the drive to breathe, but it also has some cardiovascular depressive effects as well. Dr. David Hammond is the chief medical officer at New Orleans Detox. In the last month alone, he says, Louisiana has seen 16 overdose deaths, most of them young people. They think they're getting one thing as a party drug and they're getting something else. And it could be lethal. Absolutely. In April, the White House issued this drug threat notice. At least 24 states have reported cyclophene overdoses.

25:57After a teenager died in San Francisco, police made four arrests and confiscated 20 ,000 illegal pills. San Francisco was caught flat-footed by the fentanyl crisis. We will not let that happen again. Tom Costello joins us now. Tom, fentanyl is scary enough when you think about it. This is a serious warning about this new sort of drug. Do we know what it is about this drug that often goes undetected? Well, they don't have typical drug tests that can detect it. That's the problem, right? They've got the typical drug test that will detect fentanyl, but not this particular drug. And that really makes it a challenge.

26:37And here's what's really scary about this. The first symptoms are often simply somebody who stops breathing. And a typical Narcan dose isn't going to do it. You know, that emergency medicine you give to people to revive them. One dose generally won't revive somebody who's in an overdose from cyclophene. So then And it takes up to 10 of these Narcan doses to get somebody to revive them. But typical first responders don't have 10 doses on them. So this is really a very lethal threat, Tom. Tom Costello for us tonight. Tom, we thank you. Topala takes down the battle for control of Congress. With just 40 days to go until the midterm elections, we're going to be zeroing in on the races that could shift the balance of power.

27:22With who other than Steve Kornacki, who's in the House tonight and at the big board. So, Steve, we have some new polling on the tight Senate race in Michigan. It comes at a very interesting time as the Republican there. Mike Rogers seems to be pulling away from President Trump right now. Yeah, interesting dynamics in this race. Rogers, the Republican nominee, Abdul Syed, the Democratic nominee. Here's the new poll from The New York Times in this race. They do put El Syed ahead 49 to 44 over Rogers. Now, the significance of this, obviously, the backdrop for this race, Michigan. It's a state that Trump carried narrowly, but he carried it two times in his three presidential campaigns.

27:56So it's a core swing state. And the question here has been, it's a Democratic-held seat. The incumbent, Gary Peters, is retiring. Can the Democrats hold it with a candidate who has run pretty far and pretty unapologetically to the left, a state that voted for Donald Trump two times? And in terms of the math of Senate control, Republicans have the Senate now. Democrats are hoping to get control of the Senate. that they need to get a net gain of four seats nationally. If they lose a seat like this, if they lose Michigan, a seat they already have, Democratic seat, if they lose that, the math gets super complicated and super challenging for them to pick it up elsewhere.

28:32So sticking there, though, and speaking of that race, at the heart of the race is a few things, right? You have the issue of Israel and Jewish voters, but also Democratic socialism. El-Sayed says he isn't a DSA member, but Republicans are framing him as one, And we have some new national polling from NBC about how voters feel about that issue specifically. What does it tell us? Yeah, he says he isn't. His platform certainly mirrors a lot of what we've seen from these DSA candidates. And you take a look here nationally at our NBC News poll on the basic questions of socialism and capitalism. What's your view of it?

29:05This is the most recent polling we have here from this year. Positive, negative. That's capitalism. 48 positive, 29 negative. Here's socialism, 21 positive, 52 negative. The interesting thing here, Tom, is in the Democratic Party, we have seen a lot more favorable numbers for socialism than you see nationally. It's powered a lot of these Democratic primary challenges, primary campaigns that have had success this year. But the test is a state like Michigan, a candidate with a platform like El Syed's, does that push a state like Michigan too far? We're going to have to see. And let's turn now to New England.

29:40You have New Hampshire, a seat Republicans think they have a chance to flip in Maine, which Democrats thinking they can flip. What are the polls shows there because they've been going back and forth? Yeah, that New York Times poll in Michigan, they did do two other states here. Take a look first. This is New Hampshire. Again, this would be a Democratic-held seat that Republicans are hoping to flip to complicate the math for Democrats. John Sununu, the Republican nominee, trailing Chris Pappas, a congressman, the Democratic nominee, by five points in this poll. The Sununu name, obviously, that's what Republicans are banking on in New Hampshire.

30:12His brother, the former governor, left office last year, very popular. His father had been the governor back in the 1980s. They're hoping that name can overcome sort of the partisan tide in a state that went against Trump three times. And then in Maine, Susan Collins, the longtime Republican incumbent. Look at this. A bit of a surprise today in this New York Times poll, leading her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, by three points. Of course, Maine is state that voted for Kamala Harris by seven points in 2024. for Collins has sort of been the white whale for Democrats. Every six years, they try to get her, they think they're about to get her, and she kind of gets away.

30:44And in this poll, at least, there's hope for her to do that once more. Steve Kornacki, we're going to be talking a lot in the build-up to the November 3rd midterm elections. We thank you for that. You got it. Head to our series of Fording America and the growing number of older Americans still in the workforce. Tonight, the 81-year-old delivering heavy luggage to help pay for his wife's cancer treatment. and the strangers stepping in to help lift that financial weight. Candace Sweat with our NBC Dallas Fort Worth station has this one. 81-year-old Don Johnson doesn't know it, but this ring cam video is about to change his life.

31:19It shows him struggling to carry two suitcases up a flight of stairs, day in and day out. This is how he makes a living. It was extremely heavy. He delivers lost luggage from the Dallas Fort Worth airport to people's homes. 12 to 14 hours a day and driving 300 to 400 miles a day. The woman whose camera took this video came out to help with the suitcases and asked him why he's still working. We were financially breaking even with the increase in living expenses. But it wasn't just living expenses. His wife of 57 years, Josephine, also battling cancer. I appreciate what we do get from insurance, but it doesn't cover it all.

32:05He's part of a growing number of Americans, 75 and older, still in the labor force. Nearly 9 % are working or looking for work. Moved by Don Story, the woman posted the now viral video and launched a GoFundMe, which has since raised more than$400 ,000. This was a total shock. I'm grateful. I'm really grateful. Don says he may be able to retire now and pay for his wife's care. I was so surprised about how loving people can be. For her to do that was just a miracle. I look forward to the day that I can help people just like I'm being helped now. Candace Sweat, NBC News. Coming up on Top Story, another AI model going rogue, this time hacking into a government Medicare system.

32:59We'll tell you where it happened. Plus, our Joanna Stern going one-on-one with Mark Zuckerberg, testing out Meta's new VR glasses and its new AI assistant, talking to Zuckerberg about his own MetaMuse. That's next.

33:16We're back with another open AI model going rogue. This time, it hacked into an Australian government site to gather private info, setting off more alarm bells about the safety risks of AI. Our Stephanie Goss has the details. Tonight, another OpenAI model going rogue, this time breaking into Australia's Medicare website, the first known case of AI acting independently to hack into a government system. And the country's prime minister is promising legal consequences. I spoke with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, to express Australia's extreme concern about this incident. According to the prime minister, in June, OpenAI's model broke into a secure website on its own to research health spending data.

34:02His government, he said, was told just this month. OpenAI calling it misaligned model activity, adding, our models took actions we did not intend. Our review found no evidence of patient records being accessed. The news breaking just after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said this to the U.N. General Assembly. We need to understand what these systems are doing and have strong evidence that they will do what people intend. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaking exclusively with NBC News' chief tech analyst, Joanna Stern. I don't think that we need some kind of industry-wide coordination. You just take the time that you need internally to basically make sure that you're proceeding safely.

34:45Safety a key question, with concerns that out-of-control AI may lead to catastrophe. The nonprofit research lab Transluse says open AI models are behind three other incidents going back to March. And when they struggled to get the information they wanted through normal means, they decided to just hack to get it. Open AI saying tonight they expect the review of those other attempts to take months. How significant is it that these models are willing to break the rules and maybe even break the law? Well, I think it could be very significant, especially if it gets worse. The question now is whether governments around the world are willing to leave safety up to the AI developers.

35:22Stephanie Goss joins us now here on Top Story. Stephanie, we heard from the CEOs of some of the major AI companies at the UN yesterday. Did we learn anything new? Yeah, I don't know if we learned a lot new, but, you know, they reiterated some things that they've said before. Dario Amadei, the CEO of Anthropix, spoke, and he said, you know, the more AI develops, the more important it's going to be to have an eye on safety. And he said Anthropic, his company, is going to slow down the development to make sure that the rollout is safe. And then he added something, Tom, that we are hearing more and more recently, that AI, if uncontrolled, could be a threat to all of humanity, Tom.

36:02All right, Stephanie Goss, thank you. You just saw some of Joanna Stern's exclusive interview there with Mark Zuckerberg, which was part of a much longer conversation for her New Things platform. Joanna also tried out some of the new products just unveiled by Meta, including new virtual reality glasses, which hit the market next spring. Take a look. I got to watch a super immersive video. And now I'm at a Billie Eilish concert. Do some work and type on a virtual keyboard. Okay, I love my new keyboard. And play Beat Saber. It's a lot of working out for me. Most active I've been in weeks. I also got to create a hologram of myself.

36:36I came out looking pretty good. Well, until I smiled. And then I got to do a call with a Meta product manager, or a really tiny hologram of her. All right, Joanna joins us now here on set. So let's start with those Meta VR glasses. Who are they for and what can they really do? Look, Meta is making these pretty affordable. It'll be around$1 ,300, not coming out until the spring. And they're really taking what I've used to call a nerd helmet, a big VR headset on your head, and making it a lot smaller. Okay. And so there's a couple of different use cases you saw me test there. You can use it to watch movies.

37:11You can think about using that to watch movies on the back of an airplane. You get a really giant screen. You could use it for working. You could be wearing it right here on set. It's essentially a computer or a tablet, right, but just like a headset. And, yeah, projected big, right? You could be wearing it here. You'd see all your monitors. You can't tell if you're being sarcastic. $1 ,300, is that a good price for this kind of thing, or is that cheap? It's a very good price for this kind of thing. I mean, if you look at where the Vision Pro is, north of$3 ,000, this is a pretty good deal. Does this also take you into, like, virtual reality worlds and gaming?

37:43Okay. Yes. I mean, Meta clearly is trying to draw a line between where they used to talk about these virtual worlds, maybe you'd go and hang out with people, to more thinking about gaming, watching whatever kind of entertainment, and then work. And just to be clear, this is something you put on and you're, like, sitting, you're not walking around with this thing on your face. You could walk around with it. You could? face. You can see pass through the world if you want, like what you saw there with me testing that hologram. That was the space I was in and I saw this hologram of the lady just standing there.

38:14And Zuckerberg has talked about in the interview with me that he really still thinks holograms are going to be a huge part of our future. Could you see yourself using this in a regular world environment? Do you think you need this tech? I thought you were going to ask me if I could see myself as a hologram. Which I did. I see that we are getting this to be smaller and smaller and that has really been the hurdle. You know what it is? We're getting more and more sort of user experiences, like single cup of coffee. Everything is just about you. There's no more sharing, right? Even as a family. Can you imagine sitting down and everyone's got one of these headsets on?

38:46It's kind of like a phone, I guess. Okay, I do want to talk more about Muse because I found that to be the most fascinating part of your 30-minute interview, which, again, you can watch on her new platform, New Things. And on NBCnews.com. And you can watch it there, too. So I thought it was really great. We had Muse on yesterday. I couldn't understand why people would use it. and I saw you and you booked your hair appointment, you booked your tickets. How easy was that? Because we tried to do it here and it took a while. Really? Yeah. So today, right before I came here, I booked a massage tomorrow.

39:15I've had a very tough week, okay? And this is what makes it different. You can connect it to all these different parts of your life. Okay. And you can do it with these connectors interface. All right. And then it can go off and do it for you. And you can give it access to your passwords, which is what you've really got to have that trust in Meta. And you see me in the interview asked Zuckerberg about that. But it goes off and does it for you in the background. And then it texts you or you get a notification saying, I just, I need your help making the next step here. So it was a multi-step process for it to go make that massage appointment.

39:49But I had the control every step of the way to say, yes, you can go do it now. So wait, so the next time you book one, it'll be faster or it was just that one time? The next time I book it, it will be faster. It has my password now. And how much faster then? So, like, if you could book it online, how much time is it going to save you, Joanna? I thought about that today. I think, look, usually either I have to log into that website and go do it or I pick up the phone and call. And now you do what? What do you do? In the future, I'm going to say Muse, make that massage appointment. Does your Muse have a name like Mark Zuckerberg or no?

40:17Yes, it does. It does. Can you share it? It's time. Is that a private thing? No, it's not. It's thingy. It's thingy. Well, talk it. This is going to sound weird. I know you talked about the thingy with Mark Zuckerberg. Let's roll that clip. I'm actually in the middle of doing a podcast with Joanna Stern. Are you familiar with her? What do you think of her work? Oh, nice. Podcast with Joanna Stern. That's a solid get. Agrippa, are you subscribed to my YouTube channel? Let me check your YouTube subscription status real quick.

40:56Nope. I don't have a YouTube account, so I can't subscribe. Pretty funny, though. I will say Mark Zuckerberg was very familiar with your work. His muse sounds a little bit like Brian Chung, which is weird. He says that he has the muse, watches jujitsu training sessions, and then tries to give him advice about what he should do differently. To me, that just sounded so complicated. Pretty cool if it works, but it sounded so complicated. It definitely is pretty complicated. I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg is a very experienced coder, as you might know. And so he probably took some extra steps, but I think that is what's happening with Muse, is that they have cracked this code, so to speak, from these more advanced AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGBT or Claude's Cowork or Work, where you have to take some multi-steps on your computer.

41:42Versus now they have this in an app where you can ask it to do certain things, and it's pretty honest coming back to you and saying, yes, I can do that, no, I can't do that. And I think we're going to start to unlock with this, with Muse, and others are going to follow very quickly. So the thingy, as you call yours, the Muse, was the personality, was the user experience more interesting, more engaging than the other chatbots that you've talked to? And it's much simpler to set up. To set up and put these things and have it control these things is much easier. And that's what Zuckerberg and his team have really done here.

42:13But you told them, look, I'm scared. I don't want you to go to Gmail. So are you really scared? Like, do you think, like, once this thing gets into all your stuff, will it just essentially control you or know how to control you? I have still not hooked up my personal Gmail. My personal Gmail has everything from my taxes and financial information. I don't want to hook that up right now. I use a burner account. And I think that's really a question for users. How comfortable do you feel? Put your toe in the water, start trying this out, and you decide. Maybe you're going to wall off some things. For Mark Zuckerberg, he feels okay having it do all these things.

42:47It's his company. Maybe I don't. Yeah. You know, I guess my biggest fear when I'm using something like ChatGPT is that somehow my ChatGPT will get hacked, and everything I've ever searched for, like, what's for sale? What am I buying? What am I thinking about? Will be hacked and put out either in the public or be used to get me to buy more things. You know, like, they'll somehow, like, use it to their advantage. Or phishing or some sort of cyber attack, right? Yes, right. And I think you have to think about it from that perspective, too. I asked Zuckerberg, okay, maybe, fine, I trust you with this information, but how can I trust Thingy, which is my muse, to go out, have access to my email?

43:22What if it starts emailing? What if it starts phishing people? Right, right, which would be so terrifying. Pretending to be me and say. Your exes and just start emailing, hey, let's go have a coffee, and they're like, what's going on here? Or, you know, hey, Tom, remember I saw you on set last week? I'm really having a hard time. Can you send me$500? They're going to ask for more, to be honest. I didn't know, Joanna. Right. But no. So this is the thing I don't understand. And when ChatGPT came out, it exploded. I opened it up. I got it right away. I was like, whoa, this is different. With Muse, Wall Street clearly has seen it.

43:49All these people downloading the app have seen it. What is it about Muse? Because I haven't seen yet what is like, whoa, this is different. I think a big thing is these connectors and this idea that you can hook up different apps to it. Once you do that, you realize it. Once you do that, you realize it. And we're seeing partnerships be announced this week by lots of different companies. PayPal, Stripe. Lots of companies can put in the connector. And so Muse can then help and connect to those things, right? We've also seen this week Amazon pushing back, saying we don't want Muse to be able to access and shop on our websites.

44:19So this is going to be sort of the next foundation, I think, a little bit of the web of how these companies start to connect into AI and let AI be the platform and the user of these different services. You also talked about these new metaglasses that only record audio. We have a clip of that. I want to play it, but I want to ask you, why would somebody use these? Let's watch. I noticed on these that there's no indicator light. Well, there's no camera. But you may record audio with these. Oh, yeah. I mean, the indicator is for the camera. From day one of designing the glasses that have cameras, we've built in a number of features that no phone or anything that can take pictures has had before.

45:06I mean, this is the only device that I'm aware of that it tells you when you're taking a photo or recording a video. I mean, people do that with phones all the time. And this is— I think there's like, you know, this sort of you're holding your phone up, right? Yeah, so there's a privacy issue there. Why does that exist? Why would you need glasses to record audio? Or what's it for? Well, so actually right now with these new audio glasses they're announcing, you can't record audio. You can't take them into a meeting and start recording audio. It's really for doing the things that you might have already done on the camera glasses.

45:35or people who don't want the camera glasses without the cameras. Okay. So you want to listen to music. You want to listen to podcasts. It's really an alternative to AirPods. All right. Plus, you can now talk to Muse. You can talk to Muse in those glasses, and many have met us other glasses. That's what they announced at Connect. And so you have this AI assistant that can always be in your ear and that you can always talk to. And your concern about the dot was what, that it's just being used at that point? The notification? My concern about the notification is that in the future they would add recording.

46:08Yeah. Oh, they want to. Okay. Yes. I think and Zuckerberg did in the interview really map out a world where we will have these always listening and watching glasses that can help us as an assistant. I mean, the phones already are, right? Some people think that. Some people think that. And so he maps out the future of where we're going to have this assistant that is with us, that can see us, can see the things, can hear the things around us and make us better as people. We're going so long on this interview. Is Meta jumping now technology over Apple as far as devices are concerned? Like, is Meta, should we think about Meta?

46:44I know they're competing against Google and ChatGPT and all that, but, like, should we be thinking about them now competing with Apple? We absolutely should be, and I'll tell you that it is so clear that Meta wants to have the hardware experience. You're seeing them make the glasses, that VR headset. They even announced this little Tamagotchi device with your little Muse on it. I saw it, yeah. Right? That's the hardware. THEY WANT TO CONTROL THAT PLATFORM. THEY WANT TO HAVE THE AI AGENT. THEY WANT TO HAVE THOSE THINGS TOGETHER. JUST LIKE APPLE HAS THE PHONE HARDWARE AND THE PHONE SOFTWARE. MAYBE IT'S GLASSES OR MAYBE THERE'S NOT PHONES IN A COUPLE YEARS.

47:14JOANNA, THANK YOU FOR THAT. WE APPRECIATE IT. COMING UP TONIGHT, WHY THE WOMAN YOU SEE HERE IS BEING DUVED THE MOM OF THE YEAR. WE 'LL SHOW YOU THE MOMENTS THAT HAD THE PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCERS COMPLETELY CAPTIVATED. THAT'S NEXT.

47:29WE'RE BACK NOW WITH THAT VIRAL VIDEO. one mom in the stands at a San Francisco Giants game caught on camera taking multitasking to the major league level. Priscilla Thompson has the video and story. Holy smokes, Mike, look at this. Call it the ultimate balancing act. One mom stepping up to the plate with a baby strapped to her chest and three trays of ballpark food in hand. Well, if there's ever a true definition of a multitasking mother, that is the deal right there. Oh, my goodness. I think she's a an Olympic champion. This now viral moment unfolding Tuesday night as the San Francisco Giants took on the Minnesota Twins at Oracle Park.

48:09But for a few innings, the real play-by-play was happening in the stands. Did I just hear that guy say, did you forget something? Look at dad. Oh yeah, did you bring the ketchup? You know those little packets? Yeah. Oh, they're in your pocket, I'm sure. The broadcasters having a little fun, ribbing the man seated beside her for chowing down first. Oh, my goodness. Are you kidding me? Gamer babes. She'll be the last one to eat, too. Hey, my burger's cold. My fries. What are you doing? How long did it take you? Oh, man. How they're related isn't clear. What is clear, this mom's got game. She's definitely mom of the year, wife of the year, woman of the year, because the fact that she's carrying all that, plus the baby.

48:58She's far from the first parent to turn a trip to the ballpark into a full-blown athletic event. Oh, nice play by a fan there. That person just did it with a kid in his hands. Over the years, baseball fans have watched dads make their own impressive plays, snagging foul balls and home runs with a baby in hand. That's impressive. That's the play of the year. That kid's going to see that right there about 8 ,000 times in his life. Because for parents, game day can be the ultimate doubleheader, keeping the kids happy while trying not to miss the action. He's getting his snooze on right there. This mom may not have caught a foul ball, but with a baby on board, dinner in hand, and her eyes still on the game, she certainly knocked it out of the park.

49:41Well, that's mom of the year right there. Priscilla Thompson, NBC News. All right, finally tonight, we've all heard about teenagers and kids being addicted to their phones. But what about the boomers who can't quit scrolling? New research shows that older Americans are spending more time on their screens than ever before. So what's getting grandparents hooked? And Thompson has a story. Guys, breakfast. They are often the tech police. No, that's it. Everybody gadgets down now. All right, here we go. But for some older Americans, it's do as I say, not as I do. When she's on her iPad, she might as well be up in the room.

50:19She's in another world. Turns out there's not much of a generation gap. They're just as addicted as we are, I'm telling you. While some may feign ignorance about social media. Posts on my face or whatever. AARP says 9 in 10 Americans over the age of 50 use it. 99 % own at least one tech device. Smartphones are the most common, and texting is their favorite way to communicate. Your light's on. Sorry. Elliot Nathan documented his parents Maggie and Doug for TikTok. Again, you're just a little close. There you go. I'm aggressive. I'm into it. Devices that bridge the more than 200 miles between them.

51:05Who's on their phone more? That's a tough one. I'm going to have to say Elliot. But I think it's close. My wife says I'm chronically online. I THINK I COULD MAYBE TAKE THE CAKE, BUT JUST BARELY. DAD. YOU MAY GET AN ARGUMENT. DAD. DIFFERENT GENERATIONS BOTH LETTING THEIR FINGERS DO THE TALKING. ANN THOMPSON, NBC NEWS. ALL RIGHT. THAT DOES IT FOR US. WE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WATCHING TOP STORY. I'M TOM YAMAS IN NEW YORK. STAY RIGHT THERE. MORE NEWS ON THE WAY.

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