For Vice President Harris, tonight's debate against former President Trump is a high-risk, high-reward moment that will test whether her re-introduction to voters can carry her to the White House, Axios' Alex Thompson writes.

• Why it matters: Most voters already know how they feel about Trump. Fewer know how they feel about Harris.

💡 What we're hearing: The No. 1 thing Harris will try to do is to talk in the future tense — to be the candidate of change, of turning the page. She'll emphasize her values, and be very direct in saying she's the candidate who's more future-oriented. Though she's been vice president for 3½ years, she'll aim to cast herself as a candidate of change — and portray the former president as a divisive voice of the past.

• The No. 1 thing Trump's team hopes he'll do is avoid racist or misogynistic asides, and give moderate/suburbanites who care about the economy and the border a "permission slip" to vote for him. A go-to line: "Why didn't you already do that during your four years in office? Why didn't you convince Joe Biden, or stand up to Joe Biden, to get these things done?"

🔎 Between the lines: To beat Trump on Nov. 5, Harris needs independents, anti-Trump Republicans, older white voters, and Latinos and African Americans.

• In the debate, she'll try to show that she's not the "dangerously liberal" candidate that Trump calls her — but is the more moderate, seasoned version of herself that she's been selling in her brief campaign.

The pressure on Harris, 59, is partly of her making.

• She's avoided unscripted moments and given few interviews during her short campaign since her abrupt ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket in July.
• The debate (moderated by ABC News' David Muir and Linsey Davis) will be the first impression many voters get of Harris as a potential president — and she may not get a second chance before such a large audience.

👓 There could be tricky stage optics. Trump says he's 6 foot 3; Harris says she's 5 foot 4.

• In 1988, former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis (5 foot 9) was worried about his short stature being obvious behind the podium and requested a boost, recalled Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates.
• "We built something like a pitcher's mound behind Dukakis' podium for him to step on," he told Axios.

Stunning fact: Presidential candidates haven't shaken hands since the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

• Share this story ... How to watch, by Axios' Kelly Tyko.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan tells Axios' Courtenay Brown and Mike Allen that the ideal time for political leaders to address the nation's ballooning budget deficits is now — while the economy is on solid footing.

Why it matters: "We need our eyes and stomach aligned as a country," Moynihan tells Axios. "We've got to balance the budget like anybody, any company, any person, any household."

• "We're in relatively good times, and have been," he adds. "Policy choices have to be made — revenue-side issues, like taxation, to spending-side issues, and the efficiency of the government itself. All of those things have to be on the table."
• Keep reading.

💵 New this morning: Bank of America will raise its minimum wage to $24, the latest corporate giant to raise the floor on pay to attract and keep workers.

• The $1 increase is part of a previous pledge to have company-wide hourly pay of at least $25 in 2025.

Why it matters: Bank of America was early among its banking peers to raise pay for its lowest-paid workers.

The pay bump is part of a previous pledge to have company-wide hourly pay of at least $25 in 2025.

• The $1 minimum wage increase, effective in October, applies to workers across BofA's consumer business — bank tellers, call center workers and more.

🕶️ What to watch: "There have been a lot of companies that have pushed way beyond what federal, state law requires," Moynihan tells Courtenay and Mike.

• "As a practical matter, there's a minimum wage driven by the market, which is much higher than the mandated levels by far."

Go deeper ... Read the announcement.

Fall is getting hotter across the continental U.S., Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick and Kavya Beheraj write from a new analysis by Climate Central.

• Why it matters: Warmer autumns mean more demand for cooling (and thus higher energy use), longer wildfire seasons, big changes for farmers and gardeners, etc.

🧮 By the numbers: Fall temperatures rose 2.5°F on average between 1970 and 2023 across 234 locations analyzed in the report.

• Reno, Nev., (+7.7°F), El Paso, Texas, (+6.1°F) and Las Vegas (+6.1°F) saw the biggest increases in average fall temperature among U.S. cities.

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"The Money Game" — a new docuseries co-produced by Axios Entertainment on the impact of name, image, and likeness (NIL) on college sports — premieres today on Prime Video.

• Why it matters: We got exclusive access to top LSU athletes, including basketball stars Angel Reese and Flau'jae Johnson, Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, and gymnast Olivia Dunne.

The show, co-produced with Campfire Studios and Shaquille O'Neal, will autoplay after this week's "Thursday Night Football" game on Prime Video (Bills vs. Dolphins, 8:15 p.m. ET).

• 🎬 Watch the trailer ... Full show ... NIL explainer.

A police officer dragged Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill out of his McLaren sports car by his arm and head, then forced him face-first onto the ground after Hill put up the window of his car during a traffic stop before Sunday's game, AP reports from bodycam video released yesterday.

• The video shows the altercation with Miami-Dade County officers escalated quickly. The officers cursed at Hill, but he did not resist their physical force or strike at them. He did tell one officer: "Don't tell me what to do."
• In a CNN interview last night, the 30-year-old NFL star said he was "embarrassed" and "shell-shocked."

Video shows two motorcycle officers went after Hill after he appeared to speed past them on the roadway entering Hard Rock Stadium in light traffic — they later said they clocked him at 60 mph.

• They turned on their lights and pulled Hill over. One knocked on the driver's window and told him to put it down, which Hill did and handed him his driver's license.

"Don't knock on my window like that," Hill told the officer repeatedly.

• "I have to knock to let you know I am here," the officer told Hill while repeatedly asking why the player didn't have his seatbelt on.

"Just give me my ticket, bro, so I can go. I am going to be late. Do what you gotta do," Hill told the officer while putting his darkly tinted window back up.

• "Keep your window down," the officer told him.

Hill rolled the window down slightly and said: "Don't tell me what to do." He put the window back up.

• "If I let my window down, people walking by, driving by, they're going to notice that it's me," Hill told CNN's Kaitlan Collins. "And they're going to start taking pictures, and I didn't want to create a scene at all. Like, I just really wanted to get the ticket and then go on about my way."

The officer again told Hill to put his window back down or "I am going to get you out of the car. As a matter of fact, get out of the car."

• The officer then demanded Hill open the door. Another officer stepped up and said, "Get out of the car or I will break that ... window," using an obscenity.

"Chill, bro," Hill told the officers.

• Keep reading.

This memorable cover of The Atlantic's October issue — by Justin Metz, for an issue covering Donald Trump's anti-democratic tendencies — was inspired by old Ray Bradbury and Stephen King paperbacks.

• The magazine believes it's the first cover without a headline or typography in its 167-year history.

Mark Leibovich's article: "If nothing else, Trump has a keen eye for finding soft targets: pushovers he can bully, rules he can flout, entire political parties he can raze and remake in his image." (Gift link — no paywall).

James Earl Jones — the legendary actor whose commanding baritone voice became Darth Vader and starred in "The Lion King" — died yesterday at 93.

• Jones "established himself as one of the pioneering Black actors of his generation, amassing a bountiful and versatile career spanning over 60 years," Variety writes.

Jones — who overcame a childhood stutter — was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama ("As the World Turns").

• He won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy and an honorary Oscar. A Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.

His most famous role was as the voice of Darth Vader in "Star Wars," which took him just over an hour to record. He wasn't listed in the credits.

• Go deeper.

Clips shared by the Ukrainian military show fire raining down on Russian positions in — showing off yet another drone-borne concoction in Eastern Europe, Axios Future of Defense reporter Colin Demarest writes.

• Why it matters: Innovation is the name of the game in the Russia-Ukraine war — and this is among the latest and most terrifying weapons.

These "dragon drones" reportedly spew thermite, which torches vegetation and sizzles through metal.

• Ukrainian troops have dropped thermite bombs into hatches of abandoned Russian vehicles in the past. The result resembles a fireworks finale.

Friction point: Incendiary weapons can be indiscriminate and catastrophic.

• Human Rights Watch documented at least 82 attacks in Ukraine using such weaponry between February 2022 and April 2023.

Keep reading.