Will he consider another debate before the election? also tonight, missiles, rockets and artillery shells fly over the israellebanon border. Reporter: i'm chris livesay in tel aviv where tensions are boiling over a possible fellblown war with hezbollah. Plus, this california store's answer to retail theft. Reporter: i'm in los angeles where a store is locking up nearly all of its products as a surge in crime hits stores nationwide. Powering up. Why the a. I. Boon is giving the 3 mile island nuclear power plant new life. On the last day of summer, snow in the forecast. We will tell you where. Later, taking the lid off the upper ware. This is tupperware. Why the party was good until it was over. tupperware tupperware really locks it in captioning funded by cbs this is the cbs weekend news from new york. Good evening. I'm nancy chen. Tonight formerpresident donald trump is weighing in on the prospects of a second debate showdown with vice president kamala harris. It happened as trump rallied with supporters in the battleground state of north carolina. Three states have already started early voting in person as of this weekend. 13 other states have begun sending out at least some mailin ballots, including north carolina. Cbs's nikole killion is in wilmington and leads us off tonight. Nikole. Reporter: good evening, nancy. Formerpresident donald trump poured cold water on the prospects of another debate, saying it is too late in the process to hold one. Formerpresident trump rallied in north carolina where he quickly refused to participate in a second presidential debate with vice president kamala harris. But now she wants to do a debate right before the election with cnn because she's losing badly, but it is like a fighter who goes into the ring and gets knocked out. The first thing he says is, i want a rematch. Reporter: it was the former president's seventh trip to the tarheel state and his first outdoor rally since another apparent assassination attempt at his florida golf club almost a week ago. Law enforcement perched nearby as trump hoisted his grandchildren behind bulletproof glass. Make america great again. Reporter: during his roughly onehour speech, the former president made no mention of embattled lieutenant governor mark robinson, who he has endorsed for governor. The gop candidate allegedly called himself a black nazi and reportedly made other inflammatory comments on a pornographic website more than a decade ago. Do you think it hurts the former president's chances here in this state? i don't think anything could hurt his chance right now because i think that there's been so many worse things that have happened to him. Mark robinson is the right guy at the right time and so is donald trump. Reporter: in pennsylvania, governor tim walz and the harris campaign seized on the controversy. We have folks running as republicans for governor that are proud to refer to themselves as nazis. Reporter: with less than two months to go before the election, both candidates enter this final stretch with more cash. According to the harris campaign and the democratic national committee, they pulled in approximately $257 million last month. That's nearly triple compared to what trump raised and the rnc at $85 million. Nancy. Nikole killion, thank you. Today israel said fighter jets took aim at hezbollah targets across southern lebanon. The barrage follows a week of violence and exchange of fire, fuelling fears of a rapidly escalating regional conflict. Cbs's chris livesay has the latest. Reporter: good evening. It has been a week of crippling blows for hezbollah. First, it was the exploding pagers and walkietalkies. Then the killing of a top commander. Israel says it is shifting its military focus towards hezbollah and away from hamas, but gaza remains deadly. In beirut, first responders combed through the chaos to find survivors yesterday. The target, hezbollah commander ibrahim akil wanted by the u. S. For his role in two bombings in 1983 that killed more than 300 people at the u. S. Embassy in beirut and u. S. Marine corps barracks. This morning hezbollah announced it was mourning more than a dozen other militants killed in the blast. It is the latest in an escalation between israel and p hezbollah. After exploding beepers and walkietalkies killed dozens and injured thousands. Police. Reporter: an escalation we witnessed from israel's northern border with lebanon. So is that iron dome intercepting those rockets? yes. There. Reporter: all right. So those are rockets being intercepted by israel, rockets flying from just over there on the lebanese side of the border from hezbollah into israel. It appears they're being intercepted by israel's iron dome defenses. This is the village with a population of 450, but with hezbollah territory just a few hundred yards away, he and his family are among the handful of residents left. You see, nobody. Reporter: it is a ghost town. Ghost town. Reporter: the rest have joined the almost 70,000 israelis forced to flee the northern border. This week the military made bringing them home an official aim of the war and hit back today, targeting southern lebanon with waves of airstrikes and artillery. But israel hasn't forgotten about gaza. Today the hamasrun health ministry said at least 22 people died after a strike on a u. N. School, half of them children. A pregnant woman was reportedly among those killed. Israel said the school had been turned into a hamas command center. U. S. National security adviser jake sullivan called the killing of that top hezbollah commander, quote, a good outcome, nancy, noting aqil had american blood on his hands but he called the escalation between israel and hezbollah worrying. Kris live say, thank you. To another military front, ukrainian forces taking aim overnight at a russian weapons depot inside russia. The massive explosion destroyed thousands of tons of ammunition including some provided by north korea. The attack comes as ukrainian president zelenskyy is due to meet with president biden at the white house next week to present his victory plan. Tonight president biden is holding his final indopacific summit, meeting with the leaders of australia, india and japan in wilmington, delaware. He was recorded making offthecuff comments about relations with china. Cbs's natalie brand is there. Reporter: nancy, president biden making diplomacy personal by inviting the leaders of australia, india and japan to his home here in delaware for a summit at his former high school. This is an alliance that president biden has elevated since taking office as his administration has prioritized security in the indopacific, important to countering china's aggression and influence in the region. Now, while national security advisor jake sullivan told reporters today this partnership is not directed at one country in particular, the president during comments caught by a hot mic almost immediately began talking about china. China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it is true in the south china say, the east china sea, south asia and the taiwan straits. It is true across the scope of our relationship including on economic and technology issues. At the same time we believe intense competition requires intense diplomacy. Reporter: the president also heard saying that diplomacy and engagement with china is important for preventing conflict, something he stressed before. Nancy. Natalie brand, thank you. South carolina executed inmate freddie owens last night, marking the state's first execution in 13 years. Protesters gathered at a fence outside the corrections facility. 46yearold owens was convicted in the 1997 killing of a convenience store clerk. Shoplifting is on the rise across the country, and more and more businesses are taking tougher measures to deter thieves. Cbs's ee lise preston is in los angeles and reports at least one store is going to the extreme. Reporter: nancy, the rippling impact of crime is changing how customers shop here, but this store is one of thousands across the country strained by a growing problem. Locked up and off limits. Paper goods and potato chips now joining bigticket items behind plexiglass at this los angeles area rite aid. I was like why is it locked up like that? reporter: the common drugstore taking a dramatic step to combat shoplifting. Nearly everything in the store is restricted, so anyone looking to purchase items must call an employee to open up a case. It is sad that things are this way now. Reporter: in a statement to cbs news, rite aid said they are testing a range of product protection solutions as they are seeing a higher level of brazen shoplifting. The issue that is front and center in the consciousness of so many californians. Reporter: the state's governor recently created an organized retail crime task force. So far this year it has made over 1,000 arrests. California's campaign against shoplifters is just a snapshot of a struggle nationwide. 15 states have created task forces and a bill in congress is calling for the department of homeland security to establish a centralized nationalized effort. The growing problem costs businesses more than $122 billion in 2022, and forbes survey shows the majority of small businesses have been forced to raise prices. Crimes delivering a blow to consumers' pockets. Retail theft is also to blame for stores changing their hours and what they carry in stock. Nancy, in the most extreme cases about a third of the nation's major retailers have shut down stores because of theft. Elise preston, thank you. To the wefather on this las day of summer. There's a chill in the air, at least in martz of the west. Let's check in with meteorologist andrew kozak. Good evening, nancy. The season starting to change as it officially will tomorrow morning. We are looking at snow starting to come in for colorado, west of denver. Going to be particularly important to pay attention to the forecast if you are traveling along i70. Winter weather advisory in effect with snowfall especially above 8,000 to 9,000 feet, likely 3 to 6 inches of snow. The highest of high elevations could get between 6 and 8 inches of snow by midday on sunday. A cold front slicing through the mid section of the country giving areas like st. Louis, missouri, oklahoma and texas a chance for severe weather, and meantime record heat in the southeast. We officially turn to fall 8:43 a. M. Eastern time. Nancy. Thank you. The arrival of autumn means the beer flowing in munich. Today is the official start of oktoberfest. Some 6 million beer lovers are expected to visit the city for the festival, which runs until october 6th. Straight ahead on the cbs weekend news, why our demand for energy is prompting 3 mile island to start back up. Also, how volcanic eruptions are inspiring a new way to combat global warming. Plus, the biggest airborne operation of world war ii. there's a new plan to power up a reactor at the site of this country's worst commercial nuclear disaster. A partial meltdown happened in 1979 at pennsylvania's 3 mile island nuclear plant. Here is cbs's michael george. It was the first step in a nuclear nightmare. Reporter: march 28, 1979, on the cbs evening news walter cronkite broke the news to the nation. There was a partial meltdown at the 3 mile island nuclear plant. It is probably the worst nuclear reactor accident to date. Reporter: 45 years later, it remains the worst commercial nuclear disaster in u. S. History, damaging the industry for decades. The remaining functional reactor at the site was last used five years ago. Losing money. Yesterday the plant's current owner, constellation energy, announced it will spend $1. 6 billion to restart that reactor. It is part of a 20year deal to provide power to microsoft data centers. Those centers power the company's growing artificial intelligence programs. Constellation says the plant meets the growing demand for clean, zero carbon energy and will create thousands of jobs, saying in a statement, this plant was among the safest and most reliable nuclear plants on the grid, and we look forward to bringing it back. Nuclear power has a great safety record. Reporter: nuclear energy expert professor anna erickson says demand for energy is exploding, in part due to a. I. A. I. Requires energy that is 24/7, and the nuclear power is one of the best sources to provide that consistent need for energy. Reporter: the reactor isn't expected to be online until 2028, and it first has to earn approval from the u. S. Nuclear regulatory commission. Nancy. Michael george, thank you. Still ahead on the cbs weekend news, the tiny california startup working to control the climate. europe just had its hottest summer on record according to climate scientists, august the hottest month. In tonight's weekend journal cbs's anne makovec reports a california startup is on course to reverse the warmup but it is risky. Reporter: high up in the hills near silicon valley, a controversial mission in