Hi from CNN, this is Madeleine Thompson with five things you need to know for Thursday, September 26th. Hurricane Helene has rapidly intensified into a Category three major hurricane and is expected to make landfall around Tallahassee, Florida, later tonight. The administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency updated President Joe Biden at the White House this afternoon and then spoke at a press briefing there. Here's Deanne Criswell.

Remember that you may only need to go 10 or 15 miles inland to get away from the threat of the storm surge itself, because water is the number one reason that we see people lose their lives in these storms.

Helene's impact is expected to be fairly sprawling, and Biden has approved disaster declarations for Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Record breaking flooding is in the forecast for the Asheville, North Carolina area. Meteorologists at the National Weather Service are calling it, quote, one of the most significant weather events in the modern history of this region. Atlanta, Georgia is at a rare four out of four risk of flooding rainfall.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made the rounds in Washington today after speaking to the U.N. General Assembly yesterday. In a meeting with U.S. senators he was emphatic that Ukraine needs additional allowances to strike deeper into Russia to neutralize military targets. That's something many on Capitol Hill have voiced support for. Zelensky also met separately with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who pledged continued support for Ukraine in remarks at the White House.

Isolation is not insulation. So then the United States supports Ukraine. Not out of charity, but because it is in our strategic interest.

Federal investigators say police in a small majority black Mississippi city discriminate against black people, use excessive force and retaliate against critics. The Justice Department put out a scathing report today describing a, quote, persistent pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct by the Lexington Police Department. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke detailed the findings on a call with reporters. She said investigators use tasers like a cattle prod to punish people. In one case, she said, a black man was shocked 18 times until he was unable to speak or walk.

It's time for this to end. To the people of Lexington, I want you to know that we heard you.

A Lexington police staff member who answered a call today seeking comment said the police chief wasn't immediately available for an interview and declined to comment on the department's behalf.

'The pro-Trump cable channel Newsmax has settled a major 2020 election defamation lawsuit with voting technology company Smartmatic. It was a last minute agreement before trial, which was scheduled to start on Monday. The terms of the settlement weren't immediately known, but CNN has reached out to Smartmatic for comment. The company alleged that Newsmax knowingly aired false claims that Smartmatic voting machines in the 2020 presidential election were rigged against former President Donald Trump. Newsmax had denied defaming anyone and argued that its actions in 2020 were protected by the First Amendment because it was covering newsworthy attempts to contest the results. It's just the latest in a string of 2020 election defamation cases to reach an out of court agreement. Coming up, an outsized rate of suicide attempts among transgender young people.

'A new study underscores the potentially deadly consequences of anti-trans bills that become law. CNN's Jen Christensen breaks it down.

'The research, published Thursday in Nature Human Behavior surveyed more than 61,000 people who identify as transgender or non-binary. The research found that when anti-transgender legislation becomes state law, suicide attempts among young people in the community rise in those states with increases of up to 72%. Researchers can't pinpoint why, but they write that anti-transgender laws may signal a broader societal rejection of their identities, communicating that their identities and bodies are neither valid nor worthy of protection.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, dial 988 to connect with a trained counselor or visit the 988 Lifeline website. That's it for now. We'll be back tomorrow at 6 a.m. Eastern.