THE BIG BLOW:  Authorities in several states are still assessing catastrophic damage following Hurricane Helene that left at least 102 people dead and a swath of flooding and rubble from Florida’s gulf coast to Tennessee and the Carolinas. Hundreds of people had to be rescued from high water.

  “This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response,” Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina said at a news briefing yesterday.

  Today Cooper said, “communities were wiped off the map.”

  The storm made land fall on the Big Bend of Florida then went straight north through central Georgia and made a slight left hitting the intersection of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee before running out of steam in Kentucky. 

  People were killed in six states by floodwaters, falling trees, car crashes, and a tornado spun off from the hurricane. The highest toll of 37 was in South Carolina, where the deaths included two volunteer firefighters killed when a tree fell on their truck. 

  Six towns in Florida broke records for high water, including Cedar Key where the water reached eight feet, 2.4 feet over the previous record.

  Historic Asheville, North Carolina and its Biltmore Village were flooded by water that reached the tops of street signs. In some areas with roads and bridges out helicopters have been dropping food and water.

THE WAR ROOM:  The Israel Defense Forces are massing troops and armor along the border with Lebanon on Friday in preparation for a possible ground invasion that could be triggered by a Hezbollah response to the massive strike in Beirut that killed the group’s leader.

  Still hitting Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel expanded its attacks to Yemen over the weekend, striking Houthi fighters in the port city of Hodeidah in retaliation for recent Houthi missile strikes aimed in Israel. 

  Israel says it is still targeting stocks of Hezbollah weapons in Lebanon and after taking out the organization’s boss, Hassan Nasrallah, is still gunning for the top leaders. The Israeli military said yesterday that it had killed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s central council. Hezbollah confirmed that and also that Ali Karaki, another top commander, had been killed.

  U.S. Central Command revealed it struck Islamic State targets in northwestern Syria last Tuesday, targeting a senior militant, and 37 militants affiliated with an al-Qaeda-linked group.  

ORANGE ALERT: Donald Trump called vice president Kamala Harris “mentally impaired” following her visit to the southern border in Arizona in which she made promises about tougher immigration policies as president. Trump told supporters at a rally in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin that, “Joe Biden became mentally impaired; Kamala was born that way.”

  Despite an overall drop in crime and murder since he was president, Trump continues to say crime is up and illegal immigrants are responsible. He vilified illegal immigrants as “stone-cold killers” and blamed them for other societal ills. Following on his remark about Harris’s mental ability, Trump said, “And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country.” 

  Trump says he’s “the leading candidate” although the polls are so close you can’t call either candidate the leader. But the former president is laying the groundwork for claiming election fraud if he loses in November. He told a rally, “If I lose I’ll tell you what’s possible, because they cheat, it’s the only way we’re gonna lose, because they cheat, they cheat like hell.”

BY THE NUMBERS: When the political analysts on television want to drive you crazy they talk about Nebraska’s 2^nd district and how under a tortured scenario of a tie it’s single electoral college vote could tip the election.

  Nebraska splits its electoral college vote … it’s not a “winner take all” state. The NY Times reports polling that has Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in Nebraska’s 2^nd by 52 to 43 percent.

  In the critical states of Wisconsin and Michigan it’s another story. The Times poll has Harris leading 49-47 in Wisconsin and 48-47 in Michigan, both well within the margin for error but representing some slippage for Harris.

THE OBIT PAGE: Singer, songwriter, and devastatingly handsome actor Kris Kristofferson died at home in Maui at age 88. No cause was given.

 Kristofferson had been an Army helicopter pilot when he decided to try to make it as a songwriter in Nashville. He was scraping along as a janitor until Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash invited him to appear with them at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival. Kristofferson credited that with starting the career in which he wrote hit songs for many artists and appeared in 50 movies.

  His breakthrough as a songwriter came with “For the Good Times” performed by Ray Price in 1970. His “Sunday Morning Coming Down” was a No. 1 country hit for Johnny Cash later that year. 

  And Kristofferson wrote “Me and Bobby McGee” which became a No. 1 single for Janis Joplin in 1971 after she had died of a heroin overdose. “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose/Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free.”

THE SPIN RACK: California Gov. Gavin Newsom yesterday vetoed an artificial intelligence safety bill, blocking the most ambitious proposal in the nation aimed at curtailing the growth of the new technology. Newsom said that the bill focused too much on regulating the biggest AI systems without addressing potential risks and harms from the technology. — Fire and a resulting plume of chemical-infused smoke caused the evacuation of 17,000 people from Conyers, Georgia, and the shutdown of eight miles of highway.

BELOW THE FOLD: Saturday Night live returned for its 50^th season with Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris, James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, and Dana Carvey stiffly walking as President Joe Biden. “Guess what? And by the way.”

  Rudolph as Harris said, “But it’s like I say to my husband, Doug, when he leaves his phone at the Chili’s, ‘We. Are. Not. Going. Back!’” 

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