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(NEW YORK) — As Hurricane Helene makes its way toward the northern Gulf of Mexico and possibly through Atlanta, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is turning to an unlikely partner in disaster preparations: the National Football League.

The federal agency and the NFL are teaming up to allow for NFL stadiums to be used as “mission ready locations” during major disaster events, FEMA said in a news release.

“During large-scale emergencies, like the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, or tornados, we’ve seen how large music, sports and entertainment venues can serve as a safe space for communities,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said.

Criswell called the partnership with the NFL “groundbreaking” and will make communities “more resilient.”

The then-New Orleans Superdome was used as a place where people were camped out for days during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

FEMA says NFL stadiums are an ideal venue because of their location and access for all people. FEMA says 73% of NFL stadiums are accessible by public transportation.

The stadiums that will become Mission Ready Venues are: MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home of New York’s Jets and Giants: Lumen Field in Seattle, home of the Seahawks; Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers; Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, home of the Buccaneers. SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, home of the Rams and the Chargers, is under review.

“Stadiums are valuable community assets that are often used in times of disasters,” said NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier, who was also the former Chief of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department. “This designation reflects the role that many stadiums play, not only on Sundays, but especially in times of need. We are proud to work with FEMA and first responders at the local and state level to ensure disaster response agencies have the information and tools they need to help a community recover when disaster strikes.”

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(WASHINGTON) — A Russian fighter jet crossed the path of an American F-16 last week coming within 50 feet of the nose of the American jet, said North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which said the Russian pilot’s action “endangered all.”

NORAD released dramatic video on Monday that showed just how close the Russian fighter flew ahead of the American aircraft at a high rate of speed.

The close encounter occurred on Sept. 23 during a flurry of activity by Russian aircraft that over the span of several days had flown through the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) off of Alaska. The Alaska ADIZ is international airspace that stretches 150 miles from the Alaska coastline, but the U.S. requires that any aircraft transiting through it must identify themselves or be intercepted by NORAD aircraft.

On that day, two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets were sent to intercept two Russian Tu-95 bombers and the two Su-35 fighter jets that were escorting them.

The video released by NORAD was taken from a camera mounted in the canopy of the F-16 aircraft providing a view of what the pilot was seeing as the fighter flew near one of the Russian bombers.

Suddenly one of the Russian jets entered the field of view at a high rate of speed coming at what NORAD said was within 50 feet of the American plane’s nose rolling to one side as it flew past.

The video then showed the F-16’s nose wobbling from left to right, either as the American fighter pilot flew through the Russian aircraft’s wake or the pilot maintained control of the aircraft after the close encounter.

“The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all – not what you’d see in a professional air force,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, NORAD’s top commander, in a comment posted on X.

A NORAD statement about the intercept that day did not provide any indication that NORAD aircraft had intercepted the Russian planes only detailing that it had “detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).”

“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” said the release. “This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”

The close encounter capped two weeks of incidents where NORAD said it had detected and tracked the aircraft as they flew through the ADIZ.

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(WASHINGTON) — A text messaging service said Friday that it discovered “one or more” of its users allegedly sent out racist text messages to phone numbers across the country and that the service quickly shut down the accounts.

A representative from TextNow, a mobile provider that allows people to create phone numbers for free, told ABC News that the company was cooperating with law enforcement and condemned the vile messages that were sent to users this week.

The texts, which tell the user they’re going to be taken to a plantation to “pick cotton,” have been reported in at least 14 states and primarily appeared to target Black users from teenagers to adults, according to investigators in several states.

The messages address the recipients by name.

The TextNow representative said once the accounts that were allegedly behind the texts were reported, their teams disabled the accounts in less than an hour.

“As part of our investigation into these messages, we learned they have been sent through multiple carriers across the US and we are working with partners and law enforcement cooperatively to investigate this attack,” the representative said in a statement.

“We do not tolerate or condone the use of our service to send messages that are intended to harass or spam others and will work with the authorities to prevent these individuals from doing so in the future,” the representative added.

One text message reviewed by ABC News read, “You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12 pm sharp with your belongings. Our executive slaves will come get you in a brown van. Be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter the plantation. You are in plantation group W.”

As of Friday, the texts were reported by authorities in California, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and New York.

Local and federal investigators, including the FBI, said they were looking into the messages and urged anyone who received them to contact the authorities. The probes are ongoing.

A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that it has not been determined if the source of the racist texts is domestic or foreign, but efforts are underway to determine the origins of the sources.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video statement posted on X Friday that “some” of the racist text messages “can be traced back to a VPN in Poland.”

“At this time, they have found no original source – meaning they could have originated from any bad actor state in the region or the world. We will continue to investigate,” Murrill said.

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson condemned the texts and said that many in the Black community are already on edge because of what he sad was a rise in racist rhetoric during the election season.

“These messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday’s election results,” Johnson said.

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Abby Cruz, Luke Barr, Pierre Thomas and Emmanuelle Saliba contributed to this report.

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