NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Friday, March 14, 2025

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

Massive dust storms cause fatal crashes in Texas; American Airlines plane catches fire in Denver; Trump makes rare presidential appearance at Justice Department; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, the deadly dust storm whipping across Texas, the wall of high winds causing fatal crashes and tipping over semi-truck after semi-truck. Vehicles piling up on the highway, the dangerous trail of wreckage, plus dangerous wildfires ripping through homes, plus the powerful storm system putting 113 million at risk, the alerts for overnight tornadoes and baseball-sized hail. The fire aboard an American Airlines plane. The distress call from the cockpit, passengers evacuating onto the wing and running for their lives through the smoke. A key witness talking to authorities about that missing student on

spring break. He may have been the last person to see her. Jessie Kirsch is in the Dominican Republic with the latest tonight. Another Columbia University student protester arrested by federal agents and newly released video of the arrest of protest leader Mahmoud Khalil. Markets bouncing back after a wild week in response to President Trump's trade war. The president making a rare speech in the Department of Justice, going after the prosecutors who charged him. The SpaceX crew ready for liftoff again on a mission to bring home astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams. And the good news, the music and hope coming back to kids impacted by those L.A. wildfires. This is NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.

Good evening and welcome as we enter a volatile weekend of severe weather across the country. Starting in Texas tonight, where fierce winds have created perilous conditions on the road, particularly for 18- wheelers that have proven to be no match for severe dust storms. These images coming out of Amarillo, where truck after truck succumb to the conditions, drivers losing control, their rigs tumbling onto their sides, the strong wind triggering fire alerts in Texas and Oklahoma. 25 million people facing a fire risk tonight in all 113 million living under threats of severe weather, including the potential for strong tornadoes, especially in an area stretching from St. Louis to Memphis. Forecasters predicting a multi-day threat of

extreme weather. We'll get the latest forecast in just a moment, but let's start in Texas with Priscilla Thompson. There it goes. Tonight, the stunning power of this storm seen on a highway near Amarillo, Texas. There goes another one. Massive wind gusts knocking over tractor trailers, one after another after another. Here, police stopped to try and assist. Texas Department of Public Safety says there were at least three fatal crashes among two dozen across West Texas. Here, panicked drivers trapped in a sea of brown dust.

Do not come out of your homes. The powerful storm sparking apocalyptic scenes, reducing visibility to zero across several major interstates, officials say, causing this mess of mangled cars and overturned trucks. An ambulance seen here crushed after a collision. And this pile up on I-27, which was shut down. The blinding conditions fueled by more than 80 mile per hour winds. Karina Garcia was in the middle of it all. There was even rocks flying around because one of them actually hit my windshield. And those destructive winds also fueling fires, including in Lake Tanglewood, Texas.

This blaze just steps from homes and businesses. Tonight, others forcing evacuations in several counties across Texas and Oklahoma. Priscilla, what a wild scene. This isn't over for Texas yet. That's right, Lester. Amarillo's mayor has declared a local state of disaster there. And tonight, there are more than 175,000 people across Texas and Oklahoma without power due to these storms. Lester. Priscilla Thompson starting us off tonight. And this evening kicks off a weekend of potential severe weather from Minnesota to Mississippi. Meteorologist Bill Cairns is tracking it all for us tonight.

Good evening. Lester, this historic storm is on the move. And now we're going to get into the severe side of it. We're very concerned with a tornado outbreak, not just tonight, but right during the day on Saturday also. So we have our first tornado watch, one of many. We'll watch these strong storms through Missouri, including the St. Louis area. Tornado threat late tonight for areas like Memphis all the way down through Mississippi. And then tomorrow, not only could we have tornadoes, we may even have strong long track tornadoes. Those are the ones that stay on the ground for many, many miles and are extremely,

extremely dangerous. We're worried about areas from Jackson, Mississippi, all the way through areas of central Alabama. Make sure you have your family safety plan in place in case a big storm heads your way. Then on Sunday, this whole mess makes its way to the East Coast, mostly a wind damage threat as it makes its way to I-95. All right, Bill Karens, thank you. In Denver, an American Airlines 737 was consumed by flames with passengers pouring out of emergency exits minutes after the plane was forced to make an emergency landing. Steve Patterson is in Denver tonight, so many travelers are already rattled over a string of air travel mishaps. It was a harrowing scene. Panicked passengers fleeing onto the wings of an American Airlines plane.

Oh, my God. Panic passengers fleeing onto the wings of an American Airlines plane. The engine fully engulfed in flames, black smoke billowing around families waiting to be rescued. Ground crews scrambling to the scene, evacuating passengers with slides. No, no, no, no, no, no. The Boeing 737-800 departed from Colorado Springs just before 5 p.m. Thursday, quickly diverting to Denver after the FAA says the crew reported engine vibrations. There was a loud thud and a lot of vibration shortly after takeoff. Ingrid and Frank Hibbets were on board with their two daughters, split up on different ends of the plane. They recalled the moment the engine caught fire while taxiing and their terror inside as smoke filled the cabin.

First, I thought, I hope they can extinguish this fire and I hope I get out of this plane in time and I hope the plane doesn't blow up. American Airlines says the 172 passengers and six crew were safely deplaned. Twelve people were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries, according to local fire officials. It's the latest in a string of recent airline incidents raising questions about air safety from a crash landing upside down in Toronto last month, where everyone survived, to the plane that collided with a helicopter over the Potomac, leaving 67 dead. Commercial aviation in this country is still incredibly safe. I would not hesitate to fly, but I do understand the public's nervousness about this. But I must

tell you that there's the good news story about this Denver event is that the system worked. Tonight, everyone on board, thankfully, be back on solid ground and reunited. As soon as we all were together in the terminal, yeah, great big hug because it was quite the relief. And Steve, you noted there were some who were injured. What are their conditions? Lester, some good news tonight. All 12 of those injured treated and released from the hospital. This This while American Airlines is now praising the crew for following protocols and landing. And we now know the FAA and NTSB opening investigations. Lester.

Steve Patterson in Denver. Thank you. More than eight days after a college student vanished on spring break, the parents of a key witness claim their son has been detained. All of it as NBC News has obtained the transcript of his interview with authorities. Jesse Kirsch reports. Tonight, the Iowa man at the center of the search for Sudeikia Kunanki defended by his family, who claim he's been detained in the Dominican Republic. Joshua Reby's parents, through their

attorneys, allege he has been detained under irregular conditions and subjected to extensive questioning without the presence of official translators or legal counsel until Wednesday. The 22-year-old college senior has allegedly remained in his hotel room under police surveillance. For days, Kunonke's hometown sheriff in Virginia has called Reby a person of interest. The Dominican Republic's national police say they don't use that term, adding no one is considered a suspect. His family says he has

been repeatedly taken to the police station and interrogated for long hours. NBC News exclusively obtaining this photo from an interview Reby gave Dominican investigators on Wednesday. NBC has also obtained an interview transcript, which we translated from Spanish. As she walked in the water, I never saw her again. Reby recalling he met Kunonke just before she vanished from this Punta Cana beach on March 6th. The two part of a group taking shots of pink tequila. Then they went to the beach, winding up in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little before a big wave crashed, sweeping them out to sea. I tried to make sure she could breathe every moment,

but that didn't allow me to breathe all the time. And I swallowed a lot of water, he recalled. Reby says he eventually got Kunonke to shore, but they were still in knee-deep water. I asked if she was okay. I didn't hear her answer because I started vomiting all the seawater I'd swallowed. After vomiting, I looked around and didn't see anyone. I thought she'd grabbed her things and left. I felt really bad and tired.

I laid down on a beach chair and fell asleep. Reby telling investigators he was surprised to learn Kunonke never returned to her room. But when asked if he went to authorities or the hotel, he responded, my lawyers advised me not to answer that question, and I agree with them. Revy's parents also say he is dismayed by the disappearance, adding they expressed solidarity with Kunonke's family. Meanwhile, Dominican authorities have not responded to our requests for comment. Lester. All right, Jesse, thank you for that. More protests erupting at Columbia University as federal officials arrest another student days after activists and protest leader Mahmoud Khalil was detained and set to face deportation. Here's Emily Akeda. ramping up. Immigration agents taking a second student involved in the Columbia University

demonstrations into custody. The Department of Homeland Security says Lekha Kordia, a Palestinian from West Bank, was arrested for overstaying her expired F1 student visa, adding that she had also been arrested last spring for her involvement in pro-Hamas protests. Another student had her visa revoked and then used the CBP Home app to self-deport. Today's announcement further fueling protests, calling for the release of recent Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil. His legal team today releasing this blurred video of his arrest filmed by his wife from the weekend

and describing in new court documents how Khalil felt as though he was being kidnapped. I mean, it's the McCarthy error 10 times over. It's just it's just horrible. The DHS says the 30 year old green card holder led activities aligned to Hamas. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning today. We will continue to look for people that we would never have allowed into this country on student visas. Had we known they were going to do what they've done. But now that they've done it, we're going to get rid of them.

While protesters line its gates, Columbia University is among dozens of schools facing mounting financial pressure to follow demands of the Trump administration. Earlier this week, the National Institutes of Health said it's terminating more than $250 million in funding to Colombia in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students. Dr. Umaredi's clinical trial examining maternal mortality has been halted as a result. You know, that's it. We can't study it and we can't do anything about improving deaths during the postpartum period. But that's when the majority of deaths are occurring now in the U.S. And today, in a continued battle against DEI, the U.S. Department of Education announcing investigations into more than 50 schools for alleged racial preferences in education

programs and scholarships. OK, Emily, thank you. On Wall Street, a rally today after one of the worst weeks in years, the Dow up more than 674 points today. It was the best day of the year so far for both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Now to President Trump's rare visit to the Justice Department, touting progress on the border while going after prosecutors who charged him. All as efforts to avert a government shutdown sparked deep divisions among Democrats. Kelly O'Donnell now with late details. Tonight, President Trump with a rare visit to the Department of Justice, going against long-held White House practice

to keep distance from the DOJ to preserve its independence. But for Mr. Trump, wielding his influence is his mission. We're turning the page on four long years of corruption, weaponization, and surrender to violent criminals. His campaign-style speech praised his former defense lawyers, now in senior DOJ roles, and repeated familiar accusations about the purge of career prosecutors linked to January 6th cases and investigations of Mr. Trump. We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. Today, the president called for a focus on gangs, drugs and violent crime.

We've launched an all out war on fentanyl traffickers and it's a war that we're going to win. While the president sought unity at DOJ, deep divisions spilled out in public among congressional Democrats. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer stunned his party by reluctantly backing a GOP funding bill to prevent a government shutdown at midnight. If government were to shut down, Doge has a plan in place to exploit the crisis for maximum destruction. Prominent House Democrats rejected Schumer's lead. I think it is a huge slap in the face, and I think that there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as currently planned. We strongly oppose the reckless Republican spending bill, period,

full stop. The president stoked the fire by posting that Schumer showed guts and courage. Despite Democratic friction, Schumer delivered enough votes to keep the government open. And Kelly, they just held that vote in the Senate and passed the bill to avert a government shutdown. That's right. So the lights stay on. The government keeps running for another six months. The president reacted, saying he's impressed by Schumer's effort, while the top Democrats said he believes he has the confidence of fellow Democrats, despite today's drama. Lester. All right, Kelly O'Donnell, thanks. In 60 seconds, Liftoff will have the latest on that SpaceX mission that will let those delayed astronauts come home. We're back with NASA and SpaceX Liftoff.

Crew 10 making their way to the International Space Station, which will allow astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams to come home after their 10-day mission turned into a nine-month stay. Tom Costello is at the Kennedy Space Center. Tom, what's the latest? Picture-perfect launch here from the Kennedy Space Center at 7.03 p.m. Eastern time under magnificent weather conditions here. They needed to get off today because the weather is likely to get bad over the weekend. Crew 10 now on their way to the International Space Station. Two Americans on board, one Japanese astronaut, one Russian cosmonaut. It's a 28-hour journey to the station, probably docking tomorrow at about 11 p.m. Eastern time.

And then in the early Sunday morning hours, they will actually open up and float into the space station. And that's the moment when those four astronauts on Crew 10 join Crew 9 on the station. After a few days of handoff operations, Crew 9 will be allowed to then get into their spaceship, already docked at the station, and begin their journey back to Earth, including, as you mentioned, Butch and Sonny. The idea right now is that they would probably leave midweek, splashing down, maybe Thursday, either in the Gulf or the Atlantic, and their nine-month-plus ordeal would finally be over. Lester? All right,

Tom, thank you. Still ahead tonight, from chips to chocolate, why so many are cutting back on those popular convenience store snacks. We're back now with how your neighborhood convenience store may be changing. A dip in sales nationwide now forcing the industry to compete for customers in a new way. Here's Morgan Chesky in our series, The Price You Pay. They promise customers a one-stop shop. But convenience stores in the business of making things easy are finding profits harder to come by. It's a total before 54, please.

At his Los Angeles 7-Eleven, owner Jesse Singh is pushing new deals. They're running out of money. What's that doing to sales? Some people are really pretty picky about their stuff. They have already in mind what they're going to get in the store. So they just pick that up and leave. Nationwide stats show convenience store sales falling 4% over the past year. Research firms are kind of finding popular snacks down 6%.

Refrigerated items, nearly 7%. The younger me would grab, like, everything, like whether it's spicy, sweet, salty, sour. But the older I get, the more that I realize I'm just more cognizant of like how it makes me feel. And it's not just health conscious consumers. Food industry analysts say an uncertain economy is also forcing stores to offer more than prepackaged treats. As consumer taste changes, so is store strategy. Many are now taking on fast food giants by offering hot menu items, often at significant deals. The National Association of Convenience Stores says hot food demand is surging, making up nearly 30 percent of all sales.

Everything is dollar behind you. Back at a store, Sing has deals front and center, taking no chances in a changing industry. Morgan Chesky, NBC News, Los Angeles. And coming up as we continue tonight, good news about the folks bringing music and hope back to fire-ravaged Southern California. Finally, there is good news tonight in Los Angeles. A surprise that is helping students in one community hit hard by those wildfires come back to life and hitting all the right notes. Here's Gotti Schwartz. In a cacophony of destruction, the L.A. fire stole so much. And among the ashes, the auditorium at Elliott Arts Magnet School, its instruments lost, its music students left

silenced. I played so many shows there. My dad went to that school. My grandma. That school has like been in my family. 13-year-old Maddox Earnhardt lost his school and his home. It was an explosion, like a flash. I was worried. So I packed up stuff that I care about, like clothes, my guitars. Your guitar. This guitar and pick some of the few items he saved from the flames. I've been so connected to music. I haven't really been able to let go of it. I love playing it. I love listening to it.

Now, after his class relocated to a different school. Guitar Center has a big surprise for you today. Gifts from the Guitar Center Music Foundation. Even a dozen guitars, amps, and even a drum set for this rock and roll band class. What do you think? I like it. Helping these young musicians find their rhythm again. I just want to learn more scales. They're my favorite songs. Those are beautiful new guitars. The fire's not going to stop you from learning. Mm-mm.

A harmony found and healing in music. I know it doesn't feel like Elliot in this school, but when you are all playing, does it sound like Elliot? Yeah, it does. Heavy metal riffs that might just be the soundtrack of rebuilding. Dottie Schwartz, NBC News, Los Angeles. And that is nightly news for this Friday. Thank you for watching.

I'm Lester Holt. Please take care of yourself and each other. Good night.