NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Thursday, February 22, 2024

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Wide disruption after AT&T cell phone outage; More medical facilities suspend IVF treatment after Alabama embryo ruling; Biden meets with Navalny's widow, praises the Russian opposition leader; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, the massive cell phone outage impacting AT&T customers nationwide. An untold number, unable to call, text, or access the internet for hours. 911 emergency services also impacted. The company says it's fully restored, but the FBI investigating what caused it. Also tonight, the growing fallout over that Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children. Two more clinics in the state now pausing IVF treatments. growing fallout over that Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children. Two more clinics in the state now pausing IVF treatments. And what President Biden is now saying about the decision.

Plus, the president meeting with the widow and daughter of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. His emotional message to that. It comes as Navalny's mother says she was finally allowed to see his body, but that Russian officials were trying to blackmail her into secret funeral. The trial of the rust armorer who loaded Alec Baldwin's gun, the photo, prosecutors say proves she makes live bullets with dummy rounds on set. Terrifying moments on an Alaska Airlines flight. The passenger accused of stabbing a fellow flyer with a makeshift weapon. The Israeli hostage freed after 51 days in captivity.

Speaking out, her fight to free her American husband still in captivity. And just in, history in space. The first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years. This is NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. Good evening and welcome everyone. Today, an untold number of Americans got an uneasy reminder of how reliant we are on our devices. Tonight, after an hour's long and what appeared to be a widespread outage, AT&T says it has restored cell service to all of its impacted customers, many of whom woke up this morning to phones that were taking or making calls or texts. The carrier has not said

how many people were affected, but several cities reported issues for callers trying to get through to 911 centers. According to the tracking site Down Detector, user reports began spiking around 4 a.m. Eastern. Seven hours later, AT&T reporting that three quarters of its network had been restored. Tonight, the search for a cause being watched closely by the nation's cybersecurity agency. Liz Kreutz now with the very latest. Tonight, still no explanation for the massive nationwide cell phone outage. AT&T, one of the largest wireless carriers in the country, going down early this morning for some customers, unable to send or receive any calls or texts.

As soon as I woke up this morning, it was gone. The outage lasting for hours. Didn't have any service. I need to make some phone calls. The company saying wireless service is now fully restored. but the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are investigating. The Bureau saying should we learn of any malicious activity, we will respond accordingly. I think a lot of people right now are asking how does something like this happen? Unfortunately, the technologies that we use are becoming increasingly complicated. This highlights the dependencies we have on very complex systems. Some emergency departments urging people not to call 911 unnecessarily.

Massachusetts State Police saying they were flooded with calls that clogged their system as people tried to test their phones. Lexington 911, where's your emergency? This Kentucky 911 dispatch center had normal call volume this morning, but says today's outage is a good reminder to have alternate modes of communication. It's not a bad idea to have a landline available. The outage impacting people from coast to coast. My messages weren't sending, like I wasn't getting anything. Today's my birthday, so I want to call my mom and stuff.

In Los Angeles, Uber driver Time Johnson feeling a difference during the morning commute. What have you noticed? It's just been really, really slow. So I'm thinking it may be the outages because people can't order their Ubers. Security experts saying the situation reveals potential vulnerabilities. I think it does show, though, that we need to really be thoughtful about as we adopt these technologies, as we become dependent upon them, that there are fail-safes, that there are rollovers. A stark reminder as our reliance on technology only grows. Liz, what has AT&T said about what happened? Well, Lester, the company says they're still investigating. They have not given a cause for

the outage. There is no indication, though, that this was a cyber attack. Several federal agencies, including the FCC, now are working with AT&T to try to figure out what happened. Lester. All right. Liz Croyd starting us off. Thank you. In Alabama, more clinics are pausing IVF treatments after that state Supreme Court ruling on frozen embryos. Tonight, Laura Jarrett checks in with some of the patients we've been following who are now left in limbo. IVF patients in Alabama tonight devastated, furious, and scrambling as more fertility clinics abruptly stop IVF procedures. Gabby Goidel has spent $20,000 on fertility treatments. Three miscarriages later, she's hoping to create embryos with her husband, Spencer, as soon as possible. I'll take my six rounds of shots

tonight. But her clinic, Alabama Fertility, informed her this morning it was putting all new IVF treatments on hold. I just broke down into tears. I really was inconsolable. We just started calling every clinic that we could think of. I'm not stopping this cycle. I've already been through too many shots, already invested too much time and energy. So she's packed her bags, jumping on a plane to Texas tonight, now scheduled to complete her fertility treatment at a different clinic there, while Megan Cole and her husband Walker received word late last night that the embryo transfer scheduled for her surrogate this Friday couldn't move forward. It was just completely crushing.

Now she says the clinic won't release their seven frozen embryos for use elsewhere. We are not allowed to transport them out of Alabama right now. Basically everything is shut down. So even though these are apparently my children, I don't have access to them. How much money do you think you spent? It's close to $250,000. IVF now accounts for roughly 2% of births in the U.S., but the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling, creating legal liability for destroying embryos in the state, has left the medical community in limbo. One of the worst things is how many questions it leaves unanswered. Leaving clinics with a difficult decision.

Tonight, Mobile Infirmary says it has no choice but to pause all IVF, while Fertility Institute of North Alabama says, we're still going to perform IVF as we always have. Please do not panic. So what's really driving the legal concerns among the clinics? Lester, this is all about trying to avoid civil lawsuits. Now, the clinics all have a different tolerance of risk, some obviously willing to go forward, but some are telling us, say, a frozen embryo doesn't thaw properly. That's a destruction and that could potentially put them on the hook for massive civil damages. Okay, Laura, thank you.

And this ruling in Alabama has deepened reproductive rights as a key political issue this election season. Dasha Burns has that part of the story for us. Tonight, the fallout from the Alabama Supreme Court decision extending to politics, with some Republicans attempting to walk a fine line on reproductive rights. On Wednesday, Nikki Haley asked about the Alabama decision by NBC News' Ali Vitale. The Supreme Court there said that embryos created through IVF are considered children and are offered those same protections. Do you agree? I mean, I think, I mean, embryos to me are babies.

Later, appearing to walk back those comments. I guess my question is, you then disagree with the Alabama Supreme Court, right? Yeah, but I think that the court was doing it based on the law. We don't want fertility treatments to shut down. Reproductive rights have become a thorny issue for Republicans since the fall of Roe v. Wade. With the vast majority of Americans supporting access to IVF, a survey from Republican stalwart Kellyanne Conway's firm showed 78 percent support even among those who identify as pro-life advocates. Today at CPAC, an annual gathering of conservatives, women we spoke to were in full

support of IVF. Why would they stop doing that for people that are having difficulties becoming pregnant? That's disturbing to me. And I'm no abortion. I'm pro-life. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville also reacting. Do you agree with the Supreme Court decision or not? I'd have to look at what they're agreeing to and not agreeing to. I haven't seen that. Democrats, meanwhile, seizing on fears about the future of reproductive rights. President Biden posting to X, make no mistake, this is a direct result of Donald Trump ending Roe v. Wade. On the one hand, the proponents are saying that an individual doesn't have a right to end an unwanted pregnancy. And on the other

hand, the individual does not have a right to start a family. Dasha Burns, NBC News, National Harbor, Maryland. President Biden met today with a widow and daughter of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose death has sparked international outrage. It comes as the U.S. prepares to announce new sanctions against Russia. Here's Gabe Gutierrez. Tonight, an embraced scene around the world. In San Francisco, President Biden expressing condolences to Yulia Navalny, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as his daughter, Dasha. He was a man of incredible courage, and it's amazing how his wife and daughter are emulating that. Though he referred to Navalny's widow Yulia by a different name.

Yulia is going to, she's going to continue to fight. After Navalny's mysterious death, international outrage is growing. His mother says Russian authorities showed her his body, but refused to release it and blackmailed her to avoid a large memorial service. They started threatening me, she says. They say that if I don't agree to a secret funeral, they will do something with my son's body. Russia's prison service says the 47-year-old Navalny died last week in a penal colony. According to Navalny's spokesperson, his death certificate now says he died of natural causes.

The U.S. is set to announce more than 500 new sanctions against Russia tomorrow. The sanctions that we'll be announcing on Friday will be in connection both to the two-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and to Navalny's death. Last night, off-camera at a fundraiser, President Biden called Vladimir Putin a, quote, crazy SOB. Today, the Russian president, with a smile, brushed off the comment, saying he still preferred President Biden over former President Donald Trump. Putin's spokesman added Mr. Biden's vocabulary humiliates America itself and is an attempt to appear as a Hollywood cowboy. Russia has been under sanctions since it invaded Ukraine, so it's not clear how effective this latest round will be.

Lester. All right, Gabe, thank you. In a New Mexico courtroom today, opening arguments in the manslaughter trial of the woman who was in charge of the guns on the Rust movie set where the film's cinematographer was shot and killed. Chloe Malas has late details. Sloppy and unprofessional. those are the words prosecutors used to describe rust armorer hannah gutierrez reed in opening statements you will hear testimony that she routinely left guns and ammunition lying around the set unattended gutierrez reed who served as the armorer on the rust film set in 2021 charged with tampering with evidence and involuntary manslaughter after a live round of ammunition was fired from a prop gun, actor Alec Baldwin was holding during rehearsal,

killing cinematographer Helena Hutchins and injuring the director. The prospect of live ammunition landing up on a film set is incomprehensible. It's something that should never happen. Prosecutors say they will prove she was not only responsible for six rounds of live ammunition that were found on set. The box of dummies she was pulling from on the 21st is identical to the box of dummies that her father had at home. But Gutierrez reads attorney hitting back, telling jurors his client is a scapegoat, saying Alec Baldwin is to blame. You're not going to hear anything about her being in that church or firing that weapon. That was Alec Baldwin. Reed's attorney

also slamming the film's production company for hiring her as both the armorer and props assistant. She said in this email, when I'm not able to focus on my armor duties, this is when mistakes happen. The fate of Gutierrez-Reed now in the hands of a jury to decide who is at fault. I do want to leave you with one final statement that Ms. Gutierrez made when she was being interviewed on the day of the shooting. She says, I just, I don't know. I wish I would have checked it more. And so do we. Chloe Malas, NBC News. In 60 seconds, moonshot, the gut check moment as the American lunar lander returns to the moon's surface. And they've been optional since the pandemic at many colleges, but top universities are making admissions tests like

the SAT required once again. Up next. We're back now with the horrifying attack on an Alaska Airlines plane. The FBI says a passenger is charged with stabbing a fellow flyer using pens bundled with rubber bands on a flight last month. The victim left with injuries around his eye. The suspect allegedly said he planned to kill the man, apparently believing he was a cartel member following him. Also tonight, they've long been a source of aggravation for high school students. Standardized tests. In recent years, many colleges have stopped requiring them for admissions. But now, as Zincley SMWA reports, they're making a comeback. Yale University tonight is the latest school reversing course, now requiring standardized test scores for college admissions after hundreds of schools shifted to test optional in recent years.

Students are way more than just a test score. It's a test that has a lot of pressure on us. Yale saying the tests indicate a student's success at its school, pointing out they read applications holistically to paint a picture of a student's strengths. The school adding they'll also accept advanced placement or IB exam scores starting for the class entering fall 2025. Dartmouth College issuing a similar decision earlier this month after a study revealed standardized test scores were a better predictor of academic success than a high school GPA. Critics will point out that students with less resources will likely have less access to test preparation. So I think it's very important

that if admissions officers are going to use test scores, they appropriately interpret the test scores in the context that students are coming from. Earlier research shows family income greatly impacts a student's test performance. Students from less well-resourced backgrounds may choose to not submit a test score even when the reality is that it would actually help them substantially in the admissions process. Students facing this new reality as schools shift to multiple choices for college admissions. Zinclea Samwa, NBC News. And up next, captured by Hamas and held hostage for weeks, one woman's powerful message to Benjamin Netanyahu as she waits for her husband to be freed. As the U.S. pushes for a new deal to free Hamas's hostages, one woman who was

released after being held in the tunnels of Gaza is speaking out about the horrors of Hamas and her fight to free her American husband still in captivity. Here's Molly Hunter. Tonight, U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk is in Israel meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, also meeting with American families of hostages still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, including released hostage Aviva Siegel, growing increasingly frustrated her American husband Keith has not returned. Now speaking exclusively with NBC News alongside Keith's older brother Lee. I think that Netanyahu has forgotten about Keith and forgotten to be human and bring the human people back. His priorities seem to be military and political survival.

What he needs to understand is his survival depends on getting Keith and all the other hostages home alive. Aviva and Keith were held together for most of her 51 days in captivity. Moved 13 times, always held by armed gunmen, she says, and never had enough food or water. Since returning, she's testified about sexual violence in front of the Knesset, sharing this story with us. She came and she looked at me and she said, he touched me. And that was a moment that I'll never, ever forget. And I'm worried about them. I'm worried they'll come back pregnant and it'll be too late. Too late because they will be too far along in their pregnancies.

Yeah, that they'll be too long in the pregnancy. To terminate. Yeah. They were held below ground in dark tunnels with little air. The last time she saw Keith was the night before her release. I bent down to him, I hugged him and I said, you be strong for me, I'll be strong for you, not knowing if they're going to separate us and we'll never see each other again. On November 26th, seen here in video from Hamas's militant wing,

this 62-year-old South African-Israeli says huge crowds mobbed the cars. I was sure that it would be my last minutes of my life. The only minute that I knew that I was going to Israel is when I met the first soldier. Finally, back in Israel, she's seen on the bus smiling, waving. Is there a happy memory that you think of? Is there a happy moment from before October 7th that kind of is Keith to you? You know, it'll sound a little bit strange, but I try not to think about those happy moments because I break up into tears. And it's too difficult for me to think about the happy moments.

And that's how I protect myself. Aviva hasn't been back to her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel, wearing this necklace every day. I do know that I went through a lot of things and that they are sitting here in my heart. I know that it's hard for me to sleep, that I wake up like with sort of nightmares or whatever. So I'm still in Gaza. Molly Hunter, NBC News, Jerusalem. And up next for us, the Odyssey in space. Break the news on the last minute speed bumps as an American lunar lander

returns to the moon. Finally, we want to tell you about the history just made in space. A private company announcing it has successfully completed the first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years. Here's Tom Costello. Leave it to a 14-foot robot named Odysseus to stick the first U.S. moon landing since Apollo. What we can confirm without a doubt is our equipment is on the surface of the moon. Houston-based Intuitive Machines, now the first private company to successfully land on the moon. Houston, Odysseus has found his new home. But now troubleshooting a communications issue. And liftoff. Go SpaceX, go I am one and the Odysseus lunar lander.

Odysseus launched on a SpaceX rocket just seven days ago, sending back spectacular photos of Earth as it rocketed towards the lunar South Pole. On board six NASA experiments. The ice water on the pole makes it NASA's target zone when astronauts return in just a few years. This is the South Pole of the Moon. That's correct. In a NASA simulator we saw the hostile conditions they'll have to navigate. The Sun hanging very low on the horizon. Those shadows are so long. To cut costs NASA has hired 14 private companies to run advanced experiments on the moon, though many could fail. It's really, really difficult to land on the moon. I mean, there's no air or to slow you down, so you can't use parachutes. The Odysseus lander will only have 12 to 13 days before its solar power runs out.

But tonight, just getting there is mission accomplished. Tom Costello, NBC News. Impressive. That's nightly news for this Thursday. Thank you for watching. I'm Lester Holt. Please take care of yourself and each other. Good night.