raphael warnock was just obviously a tremendously and profound person. i spent some time with him on the trail in georgia in the last election and you never lost sight of the fact that he was john lewis s pastor irreverent. he is a force of nature. thanks to you at home for joining us. when hurricane ian came ashore last afternoon, we knew it was one of the strongest storm to ever hit florida, or ever hit the united states period. and after a terrifying night in southwest florida, they like brought harrowing evidence of the destruction in storm like that brings. this is fort myers beach, one of the barrier islands that ian slammed into as a nearly category five storm. before the her again, it was a popular beach destination for resorts and restaurants. as you can see, much of it has been leveled. one local resident told local paper quote fort myers beach is gone. this is the causeway leading to sanibel island just west of the fort myers beach. it s the only road to that isl
our thoughts remain with those impacted by hurricane ian. for those who need help, please ask for it. and if you can give help, please, give it. on that note, i wish you all a very good and safe night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late with us. i will see you at the end of tomorrow. when hurricane ian came ashore yesterday afternoon and what was one of the stronger storms to ever hit the united states, period, and after a terrifying night in southwest florida daylight today brought harrowing evidence of the destruction of a storm like that brings. this is fort myers beach, one of the barrier ion islands that in slammed into as a near category five storm. for the hurricane it was a popular beach destination full of resorts and restaurants. as you can, see much of it has been leveled. when local resident told his local tape paper, quote, fort myers beach is gone. this is the causeway leading to sandoval island, just west of
ashore yesterday afternoon, we were knew it was one of the strongest storms to hit the united states. day tligt day brought harrowing evidence of the destruction a storm like that brings. this is ft. myers beach, one of the barrier u lands that ian slammed into as a category five storm. before the hurricane, it was a popular beach defendant naugs destination. much of it is leveled. one local resident told the local paper, ft. myers beach is gone. this is the causeway leading to sanibel island to the west of for the murz beach. it s the only road to that island. it impassable. all the bridges to pine island also failed. this evening nbc nightly news anchor spoke with the mayor of sanibel for her concern about the people that didn t evacuate before the storm and maybe trapped there. we have significant numbers of people contact us, people they knew that were on the island. we ve been logging those meticulously and getting those out to our first responders. we had about 200
minister and a wake-up call for america s schools, how far behind kids have actually fallen during this pandemic. this is what we re watching at this hour. thank you for being here. i m kate bolduan. it is 15 days to election day and the numbers show there has been a surge in early voting so far. already 7.3 million americans in 39 states have cast their ballot. another state, florida, is kicking off early voting as we speak. today. that state is also set for a very big debate tonight between ron desantis and his democratic challenger charlie crist. this is the first and only debate of the campaign. so let s get started in florida. cnn steve canner is in florida. what are people expecting with this big debate tonight. the takes tonight could not be higher. 1.2 million people have already voted by mail in florida. that is almost half as many as we saw four years ago for the entire election or as you said early voting starts today and this is the only debate so the states
supremacist violence is the greatest domestic troor threat today. speaking of threats, former president trump took an ominous term when asked what happened if he is indicted for mishandling classified documents. and a marathon negotiation session prevented a rail strike. it left some of those workers wondering what exactly they have gained from the deal. good morning. welcome to way too early. on this friday. september 16th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. a federal judge has appointed a special master, or third party, to review the documents that the fbi seized from former president donald trump s mar-a-lago home and club in palm beach, florida. judge cannon named raymond deery as the special master. he is a senior u.s. district judge for the eastern district of new york. trump s attorney s proposed him and the other side submitted they re professional. judge cannon specifically laid out the special masters duties including a privileged revie