Biden Promised Federal Support for Survivors of Helene

Also, Liz Cheney is campaigning tonight with Kamala Harris. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

President Biden traveled today to Florida and Georgia, where he toured pockets of devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. He promised that the federal government would not abandon the communities that were damaged by one of the deadliest storms in American history.

Most of the 198 reported deaths — a figure that officials expect to rise — occurred far from Florida, where the storm first made landfall. Many of the hardest-hit areas were in and around western North Carolina, where residents were not prepared to evacuate.

The heavy toll of hurricanes far away from the coastline is not new. From 2013 to 2022, more than half of deaths attributed to tropical cyclones were caused by inland flooding. “Inland deaths are growing because there’s too much focus on the coast,” a former FEMA administrator said, adding that he expected more discussion about the use of mandatory evacuation orders in inland areas.

Several towns were left without food, water, phone service or gas. Supplies are now flowing into many of the most ravaged areas, but language barriers made it difficult for some Latino communities to find support.

Looking back: For years, North Carolina lawmakers have rejected building standards that experts now say could have prevented some damage.

Cheney aims to help Harris appeal to conservatives

Kamala Harris is campaigning this evening alongside Liz Cheney, the most prominent Republican to cross party lines and endorse her. They are holding an event together in Ripon, Wis., the symbolic birthplace of the Republican Party.

Cheney agrees with Harris on very little politically, aside from their distaste for Donald Trump. Her appearance with the Democratic candidate in a battleground state is an attempt to appeal to Republican and independent voters who are repelled by Trump.

On the campaign trail

The presidential election is 33 days away.

• Melania Trump, whose husband took credit for ending Roe v. Wade, signaled support for abortion rights.
• Donald Trump said he would try again to revoke the legal status of Haitian immigrants and send them back.
• Trump promised to release his medical records. He still won’t do it.

Israel expanded its evacuation orders in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military today urged the evacuation of more than 20 additional towns and villages in southern Lebanon, where its troops are fighting Hezbollah militants. The move appeared to be a sign that the ground invasion that Israeli forces began this week could be expanding.

The Israeli military said it had struck about 200 sites in Lebanon overnight. Lebanese health officials also said the death toll from an Israeli strike near the heart of Beirut had risen to at least nine people. Here’s the latest.

In related news, oil prices jumped after Biden said he was discussing an Israeli strike on Iran’s facilities.

An exodus of agents left the Secret Service unprepared

The Secret Service knew that 2024 would be a big year. There would be presidential campaigns, political conventions and a NATO summit on top of the typical threats. But the agency wasn’t ready: More agents left the service in 2022 and 2023 than at any point in decades.

We talked to dozens of former agents about the punishing hours, dilapidated facilities and lackluster leadership that prompted them to depart, leaving the agency unprepared to respond to an assassination attempt against Trump.

More top news

• Trump: A newly unsealed brief in the former president’s election case provides fresh details about allies like Stephen Bannon.
• Health: The weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound are no longer in shortage, the F.D.A. said.
• Trade: The E.U. is expected to raise tariffs on Chinese electric cars to as much as 45 percent.
• Economy: Just as U.S. consumers have gained confidence, war, weather and a port strike have created uncertainty.
• Religion: The Dallas-Fort Worth region has been going through a seemingly endless series of church scandals.
• Tech: The mother of three children with Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, has poked holes in his carefully managed image.
• Russia: A shadowy network of ships has registered in Gabon to help Moscow evade oil sanctions.
• Labor: The third-generation dockworker leading the U.S. port strike is known for his autocratic style.

TIME TO UNWIND

Can wacky cocktails save the movies?

Movie theaters have been struggling with declining attendance for decades. But this summer, AMC earned more from concessions on the weekend “Deadpool & Wolverine” was released than at any point since 2019, in large part because moviegoers were quick to buy a pair of superhero-themed cocktails.

Similar limited-edition drinks and popcorn buckets, as well as popcorn alternatives like Korean gochujang wings or chocolate-hazelnut-filled churros, have recently become ubiquitous at theaters looking to entice viewers who might otherwise have waited a few weeks to stream a film.

In theaters this weekend: The new sequel to the award-winning “Joker” is seriously un-fun.

A bartender, a firefighter and a Giuliani walk onto a fairway

The Brooklyn Open is by turns a golf competition and a block party. The event — at a city-owned course designed by one of America’s pre-eminent golf architects — is open to everyone, and attracts golfers with backgrounds as varied as their swings.

We spent the day at the course to see what it’s like to play in what one writer called a “very unusual golf tournament.”

Dinner table topics

• London’s wild era: Several of the city’s famous parks are undergoing “rewilding,” transforming once-tidy spaces into rugged expanses of biodiversity.
• Home of the renegades: New Mexico is where the outlaw artists live.
• Love for an old format: Cassettes are making a comeback, but finding a good tape deck can be hard. Listeners are finding creative (and vintage) solutions.
• Business approach: With little luck on dating apps, some singles shifted to pitch decks.

WHAT TO DO TONIGHT

Cook: Want a better scone? Try adding potatoes.

Watch: In the documentary “Blink,” parents take their kids on a world tour before they lose their sight.

Read: The writer Megan Kamalei Kakimoto recommended books that explain Hawaii.

Travel: Visiting a Disney park? We have a guide for avoiding the lines.

Soothe: Here’s what to do if your eyes feel strained.

Move: Exercise can help improve many gut issues, like I.B.S.

Hunt: Which Brooklyn home would you buy with a budget of $800,000?

Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all of our games here.

ONE LAST THING

Future astronauts could turn to rocks when hungry

NASA is preparing for a future where astronauts travel to Mars and perhaps beyond. But the deeper the space travel, the more difficult it is to pack enough freeze-dried meals to sustain the crew. So a group of engineers came up with an alternative food source that they believe is better than trying to farm: space rocks.

The astronauts wouldn’t chomp down on the asteroids. Instead, they would break the rocks down into their components and feed them to bacteria, resulting in a “biomass” with nutritional properties similar to Earth food.

Have an inventive evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

Sean Kawasaki-Culligan was our photo editor today.

We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.