RNN October 8th 2026

Emergency officials across the Gulf Coast are urging residents to rush storm preparations to completion as Hurricane Isaias continues to rapidly intensify.

National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan warns of dangerous impacts ahead of expected weekend landfall.

We are expecting Isaias to strengthen rather quickly, if not rapidly, through the next couple of days, becoming a hurricane by Thursday morning as it moves northeastward across the southern Gulf.

And then we're expecting a faster forward motion toward the north and northeast, which will bring the center of Isaias to the northern Gulf Coast late Friday night and into early Saturday morning, expecting the system to be at or near major hurricane intensity as we go through the day on Friday.

So we're expecting multiple dangerous, life-threatening impacts along portions of the northern Gulf Coast beginning Friday and continuing into the weekend.

Meanwhile, a Texas man has become the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year and the nation's first execution since Krista Pike's failed lethal injection in Tennessee.

Michael Grachek reports.

Texas authorities have executed convicted killer Jamal Howard, who was condemned for the 2000 shooting death and robbery of a convenience store clerk in Sillsby, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Houston.

It's the nation's first execution since the failed attempt at an execution using the same drug, pentobarbital, in Tennessee a week ago.

Unlike Tennessee, the one here in Texas went off without a hitch.

Howard profusely apologized and sought forgiveness from relatives of his victim.

He also expressed love and thanked members of his own family who were watching through a window a few feet from him.

The execution took place after numerous appeals, both in state and federal courts, including one appeal that challenged the efficacy of the pentobarbital that the state of Texas is using.

All the appeals failed and Howard was put to death.

And elsewhere, voters in Michigan are gearing up for their first major showdown in one of the country's most-watched Senate races.

Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Saeed are set to face off in their debut debate tonight in Grand Rapids following weeks of heavy campaign sparring.

The high-stakes matchup comes as both candidates battle for the open seat ahead of the November election.

Here in Florida, SpaceX is teaming up with Florida Gas Transmission to build a 32-mile natural gas pipeline in Brevard County.

The project will supply propellant directly for Starship launches at Cape Canaveral, cutting out hundreds of fuel trucks per launch, and paving the way for a much faster launch schedule by August 2027.