This is today. Smash and grab dozens of people breaking into multiple stores, stealing merchandise and vandalizing property. These are people that took advantage of an opportunity. And again, you know, looking to destroy our city. This just hours after target announced it will close stores in several states because of a rise in theft and violence cities across the nation dealing with a spike in retail crime well have the very latest. Breaking overnight heading home the american soldier held in north korea for over two months set to be expelled the details just in this morning. Shutdown showdown lawmakers taking the country once again to the brink and no deal in sight. Were live in capitol hill. Back to work Union Leaders declare their months long strike is over. Hollywood writers told they can return but in detroit no end in sight the president on the picket line and donald trump to address Union Workers today. How politics is affecting the strike and the president ial race straight ahead. Urgent Manhunt Police in baltimore intensifying the search of a suspect in the brutal murder of a young tech ceo. He will do anything he can to cause harm. Well have the very latest. Plus, travis kelce breaking his silence this morning. Yeah. We have to talk about it my personal life thats not so personal. What the nfl star is finally revealing. And theyre great. The toledo zoo celebrating the arrival of adorable twin Siberian Tiger cubs. Were there live to celebrate on september 27th, 2023. From nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Hi, everybody good morning off this morning, craig here we want to start welcome to today. Nice to have you with us on a wednesday morning. We have hoda off this week or this morning we have craig here we want to start with violent scenes out of philadelphia tonight. Masked looters ransacking several stores. More than 20 arrests have been made so far but dozens more are believed to have gotten away it comes as retailers from coast to coast are battling crime waves like this. As a matter of fact, target Just Announced yesterday it will shutdown nine Retail Locations in less than a month because of violence, theft and safety concerns Miguel Almaguer joins us with the latest on all of it. Good morning. Thieves are ransacking stores with innocent shoppers standing right there in the middle of the chaos. Retailers like target say they are shutting down because of this very crime. Overnight, Philadelphia Police responding to a chaotic scene. Large crowds of young people Looting Stores and damaging property Authorities Say they hit multiple locations, including a lulu lemon, foot locker and apple store. Police making more than 20 arrests, but dozens likely got away these kind of smash and grab crimes have become all too common, forcing a growing number of retailers to combat the thefts this morning, one of them, target, is taking drastic action the Company Announcing it will shut down nine stores by the end of october three in San Francisco and portland, two in seattle and one in new york city the company blaming the closures on theft and organized retail crime threatening the safety of our team and guests. This is crazy theyre locking up the toothpaste. Reporter the move comes after videos from inside target stores went viral, showing every day items locked behind security class, frustrating shoppers. Since when did my local target start locking everything up reporter those locked cases just one of the ways the retailer says it tried to deal with shoplifting saying, despite our efforts, we continue to face fundamental challenges to operating these stores target is not alone. In 2021, walgreens closed five locations in San Francisco over shoplifting fears. While walmart and nordstrom have also closed some locations, neither blamed crime still in a newly released survey conducted by the National Retail federation, 88 of responding retailers said shoplifters have become more aggressive and 28 say they had to close some locations due to crime. Retailers are experiencing unprecedented levels of theft, crime and violence in their stores. Now, as another major retailer shuts down stores, retail crime threatens to knock the industry off target. The National Retail federation says stores have lost a total of more than 100 billion in inventory thats been damaged, misplaced or stolen experts say if more isnt done, consumers could pay more and more stores could be shutdown. All of this especially concerning ahead of the Holiday Season savannah thank you. To washington now where there has been some progress overnight in that race to avoid a costly Government Shutdown impacting tens of millions of americans. But many roadblocks still remain ryan nobles joins us now from d. C. Where marine families are preparing for what could be to come ryan, good morning to you. Reporter youre right. There was small progress both the Republican House and the Democratic Senate took steps toward passing their own version of a shortterm spending bill. But that grand deal that both sides could agree on that would avoid a Government Shutdown remains elusive. That means that active duty members of the military that served at installations like this one behind me could be without a paycheck as soon as this weekend this morning, the Government Shutdown standoff at a standstill. The house will continue to act and need to make this happen. Late tuesday, speaker Kevin Mccarthy and House Republicans advancing Appropriations Bills that have no hope of passing the Senate Mccarthy promising the next step would be their version of a shortterm funding bill. We will move a continuing resolution, bring a rule to the floor to secure our border and keep government open. President biden calling mccarthy out during the debt ceiling negotiations writing, we shook hands. Now theyre reneging on the deal. What good is speaker mccarthys word if he will promise something and then he will reverse his stance . Reporter meanwhile, Senate Democrats introducing their own version. One that includes new funding for ukraine and disaster relief, which House Republicans will likely not pass. While the two sides bicker over the numbers, this Army Specialist worries how she is going to pay her bills our life does not stop during that time. We have bills. We have kids and we dont have another source of income. Reporter in past Government Shutdowns, Service Members like velasquez were given specific carveouts to make sure their pay was interrupted. This sergeant has a daughter to care for and is scheduled to be deployed this thursday without any guarantee that when he leaves his paychecks will still be coming. If you are going to work, ie military membe feel like you should get paid. Reporter so all of these military members, government workers, theyre without the stability that theyre accustomed to. The issue this time around is if there is a Government Shutdown, there is no guarantee when congress will get its act together, leaving that uncertainty for the millions of americans that count on Government Services for critical support. Savannah . All right, ryan, thank you. We want to turn to kristen welker, moderator of meet the press. Im sure a lot of folks who dont speak fluent washington are wondering, how did we get here again . Now it looks like there is a looming shutdown and really no deal in sight. Reporter thats right, savannah. Sources on capitol hill overnight tell me a shutdown seems all but unavoidable at this point. Given that republicans have control of the house, gop sources say theyre bracing to bear the brunt of any shutdown. To your first point, how did we get here . Okay. A small group of hard line republicans are demanding deep spending cuts, blocking more aid to ukraine. They want to tighten border security. Republicans feel like they have Public Opinion on their side there, but many of those issues are nonstarter for democrats. So we could see a messaging war start to unfold. Adding fuel to this fire, you have former President Trump on the sidelines encouraging far right conservatives to shutdown the government if they dont get their demands met. So still a standoff. Speaking of trump, another item in the news, a new york judge ruling in a civil case that the former president committed fraud. This has to do with his business empire, setting the stage for a trial. There is the latest there . This is a civil trial, not a criminal case. Right, an important case. President trump and his company for found liable for fraud. The judge also canceled some of mr. Trumps business. That could limit his ability to do business in the state. This basically paves the way for that civil, and we want to stress this is a civil trial, to Begin Next Week in the state attorney generals case. Overnight, mr. Trump, who is planning to appeal called this a politically motivated witch hunt, savannah. Meanwhile, he seems to be running away with the republican nomination. There is a debate tonight, but he wont be there. What are you looking for . Governor ron desantis, trumps nearest rivals, has seen his poll numbers start to drop since the first debate where he stayed on the sidelines during some of those fights. Do we see him get into the fray more this time around . Nikki haley is gaining momentum. Our latest nbc news poll show she has the largest general election lead over President Biden. How does she capitalize on that tonight . Heres the bottom line, savannah. Even if one of these candidates has a breakout moment, it is not clear it will make a difference. Trump has the commanding lead, and he will not be there, of course, as he will be going to michigan talking to auto workers today, savannah. Thank you very much. Breaking news from north korea. Just this morning, we learned a decision has been made to expel the american soldier who crossed over the border in july and has been detained there ever since. Janis Mackey Frayer joins us live with more. Reporter craig, there is news that travis king is now in u. S. Custody, and the government in sweden has an embassy there, and china, and earlier today state media in north korea, kc tphfpl a reported that north korea decided to excel him. He willingly crossed the border in july after leaving a guided tour of the joint security area which divides north korea and south korea where he was just released from a detention facility on assault charges. Before he crossed the border, he was considered a civilian. It went the u. S. Did not designate private second class king as a prisoner of war. What happens next still is not clear. Travis king is likely to return to the u. S. , and he could face disciplinary action, but his family will be thrilled to hav him home. We move to the United Auto Workers strike. For the first time, a sitting president joining a union picket line and telling members they deserve a significant raise. Donald trump is also set to address striking workers. Hes traveling to gm today. Maggie, good morning. Reporter yeah. The enormity of that visit definitely not lost on members here. One worker telling me the president s comments are amazing. She hopes the American People will listen. That said, members here also realize former President Trump will bring a spotlight of his own tonight, and the question is will the publicity of politics lead to progress in the talks with the big three. Youre doing incredibly well. And guess what . You should be doing incredibly well, too. Yeah reporter this morning, auto workers on strike against americas big three Car Companies counting the commanderinchief as a historic ally. President biden being the first sitting u. S. President to join a union picket line at this gm parts facility near detroit on tuesday. Lets keep going. You deserve what you earned. You have earned a hell of a lot more than you are getting now. Reporter what was it like to see an actual sitting president show up here and say those things . Fantastic. All right. Thank you. Its a great testament to see him come here and, you know, i think his comments were very well received. You know, him recognizing the sacrifices our members make. Reporter bidens appearance coming 24 hours before Donald Trumps own detroit stop. His campaign confirming hes skipping tonights debate to support Blue Collar Workers here. Both candidates walking perilous political tightropes. The visit blasted by uaw leadership who say theyre fighting in an economy who enriches people like trump. President biden answering a question about the uaws call for 40 raises. Reporter all of the big three who have offered 20 raises say the visits will not impact talks. Gm writing their focus is not on politics but on bargaining in good faith. Among the workers picketing with the president tuesday, mercedes wallace, a single mom of two praying the president ial spotlight leads to a fair deal. Hes letting the world know that just because you are a working class, youre still being heard. You have a voice, too. Reporter and regarding former President Trumps visit here tonight, his prime time speech, two Union Members set to take place at a nonunion body manufacturing plant north of detroit, and we are also told he will not be joining the picket lines like the president. Thank you for the update there. Lots to get to including breaking news from hollywood overnight. Writers now cleared to return to work after Board Members approved a contract agreement with studios. Chloe joins us with more details on this breaking news. Good morning, craig. After nearly five months on the picket lines that brought the tv industry to a halt, more than 11,000 writers can go back to work this morning. Details of the agreement were shared with writers late last night. The wga saying gains and protections for members were made in every single sector of the industry. This morning, the 148day Writers Strike is officially over. The wga board and council releasing a statement late tuesday saying the agreement unanimously passed and is now in the hands of the guild members. Really happy. A lot of emotions. But its also tentative because we still have to vote on it, but happy that an end seems in sight. Reporter it includes much of what writers have been waiting for. Pay increases with most members getting a 5 raise increased health and pension contributions and specific guidelines around the use of ai, including that it cannot be considered source material and cant be used to undermine a writers credit or separated rights writers taking to social media to share their relief and gratitude. One posting, thanks to every member who negotiated and every member who walked the walk the provisional threeyear agreement was reached late sunday when the wga and amptp, which represents streaming in studios, including comcast, the Parent Company of nbc universal. Tuesdays vote to move the deal through and end the strike means that late night shows and daytime talk could be back as soon as next week. Jimmy fallon reporter and fresh episodes of your favorite scripted shows could be back on track by january. We did everything we could. Reporter however, it remains to be seen if there will be actors saying tuesday, we are reviewing the wgas tentative agreement and are committed to achieving a fair and just deal for our members. We remain on strike. We will not speculate regarding scheduling or next steps. Im hoping end of october im done walking this line even though i love it. But my feet are tired. Im ready to get back to work. Reporter today thousands of writers can do just that hollywood now one big step closer to reopening. As for whats next, there is now a ratification vote for rank and file Writers Guild members that will take place later this week and last until early october so this deal could be wrapped up by halloween. We are inching closer. Remember, the actors are still on strike, so we are waiting for that to get resolved thank you. Lets get to our first check of the weather. Good to see you this morning. Quickly, were drying out here in the northeast unfortunately, thats not going to last very long. Well talk about that. Heavy rain down through florida there. There are some flood watches there. Heat continuing in texas and more wet weather into the pacific northwest. We will get to your local forecast in the next 30 seconds. You can get your dream sofa for half the price. Wayfair. Its always a big deal. Wayfair, youve got just what i need good wednesday morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Theres such a big difference in the way we started yesterday to today. It is all clear and sunny in San Francisco. Were also going to have another mild day, with highs reaching into the low 70s. You head across the bay to oakland and its going to be in the upper 70s, and then for the east bay well reach into the low 80s. Were going to have a couple of warm days in the valleys.