BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Urban League Twin Cities is offering a chance to connect with local leaders, support a good cause and get dressed up fancy – a Unity Ball. 

The time-honored community group advocates for African descendants to access employment, education and wealth accumulation opportunities in the area. 

As for the ball, the event will be held at the JW Marriott at the Mall of America in Bloomington. Proceeds will go to fund the Urban League’s programs and advocacy. 

Tickets are $250 and can be purchased at this link. For those interested in sponsoring the event, there are a variety of donation options ranging from $1,000 to $25,000. 

As of Sept. 27, the Unity Ball had raised $19,600. 

NEW YORK — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio are meeting Tuesday for their first and only scheduled vice presidential debate.

Walz, who is Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, and Vance, who is on the Republican ticket with former President Donald Trump, will make the case for their respective candidates five weeks before Election Day. They have been crisscrossing the country to introduce themselves to voters, paying special attention to the handful of battleground states that will determine the winner.

Here’s how to watch the debate:

The 90-minute debate will start at 9 p.m. EDT on Oct. 1. It’s being moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan of CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

CBS News is airing on its broadcast network live and will livestream it on all platforms where CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+ are available. It’s also being made available for simulcast, and other networks will likely air it.

The vice-presidential debate is taking place in New York City.

Often the scene of fundraising events for candidates in both parties, New York has been considered a reliably Democratic state in the general election. But Trump, a native New Yorker, has insisted he has a chance to put it in the Republican column this year, despite losing the state in his two earlier bids for the presidency, and has held events in the South Bronx and on Long Island.

Harris, meanwhile, has announced she’s skipping this year’s Al Smith dinner, a Catholic Charities benefit event held in New York City that is typically used to promote collegiality and good humor. Rather than attend the Oct. 17 gala — at which Trump will now be the sole featured speaker – Harris’ campaign said she would stump in an important battleground state instead.  

Walz and Vance will meet for the first time in person on the biggest stage of their political careers. Both have been engaged in preparations for the debate with stand-ins used for their opponents.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been playing the role of Vance in the Walz debate prep, which has been taking place at a downtown Minneapolis hotel, according to a person familiar with the preparations. The person said Buttigieg was chosen because he’s a sharp communicator, and the campaign believes that Vance will be a formidable opponent.

On the Republican side, a person familiar with Vance’s preparations said GOP Rep. Tom Emmer — who, like Walz, hails from Minnesota — will be standing in for the Democrat in a similar fashion. The people speaking about both candidates’ plans spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door preparations.

CBS is expected to release more information about the debate rules in the coming days.

No additional presidential or vice presidential debates are scheduled, but that could always change.

After Harris and Trump’s presidential debate on Sept. 10, Harris said she’d be open to debating the former president again. She said she would “gladly” accept an Oct. 23 invitation from CNN and hoped Trump would do the same.

Trump, however, has said that date, less than two weeks ahead of the November election, would be “too late.” Early voting is already underway in several states.

But that proposed timeline would be roughly in line with the last two presidential cycles. Trump’s last debate with President Joe Biden in 2020 was on Oct. 22, and the third and final debate he had with Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 occurred on Oct. 19.

Presidential nominees typically debate each other more than once per cycle, but this year is different in several ways. Debates are being orchestrated on an ad hoc basis by host networks, as opposed to the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, through which debate rules were previously negotiated privately. 

Trump and Biden debated each other once this year, but Biden’s disastrous performance in that June meeting is one of the factors that led to his decision to shutter his reelection bid, making way for Harris to become the Democrats’ nominee.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A county in Florida’s Big Bend area told its residents who did not evacuate for Hurricane Helene to write their name and birthday on their body with a permanent marker. 

The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office emergency management division posted the advice on social media Thursday. 

“If you or someone you know chose not to evacuate, PLEASE write your, name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in A PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” the post read. 

At a Thursday night briefing in Tallahassee, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to the advice given by the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. The governor said Florida state policy does not ask people to write on their bodies, but he also reminded residents that, as of around 6 p.m., they still have time to leave the area. 

“Our state policy is not saying people have to use marker to do whatever,” he said. “If you do hunker down, I don’t think you’re going to have the local sheriff’s department. I don’t think you’re going to see state resources brought to there for the rescue until it’s safe to do so.”

DeSantis said residents who chose not to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Helene’s landfall will likely face wait times if and when emergency responders are needed.

The National Hurricane Center is calling Hurricane Helene an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane. As of 6:20 p.m. on Thursday, the NHC reports Helene’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 130 mph.

“It’s a very real possibility that this storm will make landfall in Taylor County,” DeSantis said.

Even 10 feet of water rise could have “really serious consequences” to the county, he added.