NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Thursday, January 16, 2025

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

Source: Israel's cabinet to vote on ceasefire deal on Friday; Growing concern about mudslides after Southern California wildfires; White House won't implement law if TikTok ban goes into effect, officials say; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, the potential setback in the announced ceasefire deal in Gaza as new strikes there leave dozens dead. Israel launching new attacks on Gaza and delaying a key cabinet vote to ratify the ceasefire, accusing Hamas of provoking a last-minute crisis. The militant group saying it is still committed to the deal to end 15 months of fighting and to release dozens of hostages, including Americans. Our Richard Engel is in Jerusalem. Also tonight, the new concerns in California's fire zone, mud and debris slides.

One home that survived the flames split in half. And the new lawsuits. Who's accountable for these deadly blazes? The brutal cold blasts we're tracking set to impact more than 300 million Americans. The major news on TikTok, days before the U.S. is set to ban the Chinese-owned app. The sudden pause by the Biden administration, what it means for users. Just in, Elon Musk's SpaceX losing its multi-billion dollar Starship after its unmanned launch. The new round of confirmation hearings

for President-elect Trump's Cabinet picks, the warning from his choice for Treasury Secretary, and the tributes pouring in for the beloved Hall of Fame baseball announcer and actor Bob Uecker. This is NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. Good evening and welcome. It looks like it will be a while before the world can let out its breath as the first delicate steps in the path to a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza have already hit rocky ground.

Today, less than 24 hours after an Israel-Hamas truce was struck, Israel's cabinet delayed a critical vote on the pact, accusing Hamas of creating a crisis. For its part, Israel launching a new round of deadly strikes targeting Hamas in Gaza. Hamas says it's committed to the ceasefire and to releasing 33 of its hostages in the deal's first phase, including two Americans. During a six-week truce beginning Sunday, Israel has agreed to pull back its troops from Gaza and release a number of Palestinian prisoners held in its jails.

Tonight, despite the renewed attacks, the U.S. expressing confidence that the agreement will hold while hostage families worry about the lengthy timeline of bringing their loved ones home. Richard Engel reports tonight from Israel. This boy tries to dig himself out after Israel began bombing Gaza again. He was rescued alive amid fears a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas could collapse before it even begins. The director of Gaza's field hospitals told NBC News more than 100 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed since the agreement was announced last night. The Israeli military says it's striking Hamas members and weapons facilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today

postponed a government meeting expected to ratify the ceasefire, blaming Hamas for adding new conditions. Hamas denies it. The delays and continuing airstrikes are terrifying both Gazans and the families of Israeli hostages. It's a nightmare sometimes. In Tel Aviv tonight, I spoke with Eli David. His 24-year-old brother, Aviatar, is not expected to be released in the first phase of the deal, which lasts six weeks. Eli says the deal is too complex and could fall apart. I think it is a very bad deal, but we cannot go against it because it saves lives. Innocent people, which are being held underground inside terror tunnels,

may be tortured, and they will be coming back to the families. You know that your brother isn't supposed to be part of this first group. Yeah. So hopefully when we do see those initial hostages coming out, how are you expecting to feel? Happy, sad, jealous, all of these things? I will be happy, for sure,

but also for sure, I will be jealous and I will be more and more afraid because if it will continue, I mean, 42 days are many days that hostages can be executed, for example. In Gaza, Zeynep Tanbura, who's responsible for 24 displaced children, worries the war will never end.

You see, the conditions are horrible. They said ceasefire. It's nonsense. All night they were bombing here, she says. The agreement would allow in desperately needed humanitarian aid. Living in a tent with little access to food, water and medicine, she says she can't survive like this for much longer. So, Richard, let me ask you, where do things stand tonight, given the circumstances? Well, it is still a go. An Israeli official tells us that the Israeli cabinet is expected to meet tomorrow, that they will likely ratify this deal to begin on Sunday, which is when we could see the

first hostages coming out of Gaza. Lester. All right. Richard Engel in Jerusalem tonight. Thank you. In California, there's a new concern in areas wiped out by the deadly wildfires, the threat of mudslides when rains finally do come, as tens of thousands still have not been allowed to return to their homes. Morgan Chesky now with the latest.

Tonight, a new danger emerging across a fire-stricken city. This Palisades home split in half after officials say a water leak caused a scorched hillside to give way. No one was hurt, but the still smoldering scene piling on anxiety ahead of any future rain. If you were in a fire evacuation zone, is there a likely chance you'll be evacuated come rainy season from mudslides? There is a very likely chance. We're going to have to tell homeowners to remain alert. Teams still facing 36 square miles of door-to-door inspections before more than 80,000 evacuated residents can safely return to their neighborhoods. They're shutting off the natural gas.

They're cutting the electrical lines, so there's nothing that you can touch and get electrocuted if it was re-energized by accident. Los Angeles Water and Power crews testing hydrants to find the source of that ongoing water leak. The department now the target of a civil lawsuit over a reservoir that was offline for maintenance. Some Palisades fire victims alleging a 117 million gallon water storage complex was empty, leaving fire crews little to no water to fight the Palisades fire. Dan Grigsby lost his home of 37 years. What do you hope to accomplish with this lawsuit? Accountability, I would say, and make sure it absolutely never happens again.

LA's water system already under investigation after crews reported shortages on both the Palisades and Eaton fires. Out of every fire hydrant you've seen, what have you found? Right now, we're finding most of them are down or low pressure. If you had a hydrant for this building? If we had a hydrant for this building, we might have been able to save the back house. Last year, Martin Adams retired from leading Los Angeles Water and Power. What would you tell those homeowners who saw that water go dry in a time of need?

The one thing that is important to understand up front is that there's no water system in the world that could provide the kind of water demand that was required in this fire. And tonight, officials say there are now more than 5,000 firefighters that have converged to join this firefight. Their key mission, putting out those hotspots and driving up those containment numbers. Lester. All right, Morgan, thank you. A heads up tonight about a deep freeze. Much of the country about to look like this as temperatures plunge going into the weekend. They'll feel it first from the northern Rockies to the southern plains, then across the nation on Sunday.

More than 300 million Americans will experience below-average temperatures by Monday. We'll turn out of the breaking news out of Texas, Elon Musk's SpaceX losing contact with its massive multi-billion dollar starship on its unmanned seventh test launch. Tom Costello joins us now with more. Tom, what have you learned? It happened at about 5.30 p.m. Eastern time, Lester, and Starship was off the pad very quickly. Everything looked like it was going just great. And a few minutes after liftoff, in fact, the booster rocket came back down to the pad, just as SpaceX has planned and demonstrated that they can do in

that incredible move. However, at about the same time, Starship, the spaceship, apparently disappeared. SpaceX says that they lost telemetry. We have video from the Turks and Caicos islands of what may be Starship breaking up over the islands. So now SpaceX says that they will try to understand the root cause of what happened as it apparently disassembled, in the words of SpaceX, broke apart over the islands there. This is a rocket they want to use someday to go to the moon and maybe even Mars. Lester? Pretty dramatic pictures there. Tom, thank you.

Tonight, a stunning about face over TikTok. For months, there was rare agreement in Washington that it should be banned if its Chinese owner didn't sell it. But now the White House and others who opposed it are trying to keep it alive. Here's Savannah Sellers. Tonight, a major reversal concerning one of America's most popular apps. The White House saying they will not implement the ban on TikTok set to go into effect this Sunday, according to two administration officials. I really feel like this is happening because of us.

The fight isn't over. It's just going to be extended. The battle over the future of the app has gone all the way to the Supreme Court. But now the administration says it won't enforce massive fines on the companies who provide users access to TikTok. It's a stark shift from when the law was passed with massive bipartisan support, the president signing it into law. It feels like we're losing, like, a community. Now, sources say Democratic lawmakers called the White House asking for intervention. And President-elect Trump, who once opposed the app, has signaled he'll intervene.

I'm going to save TikTok. But national security officials still warn that TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance could steal American user data or manipulate content shown in the app, which TikTok denies. Then FBI Director Christopher Wray had this warning, speaking with Lester last year. We have to sort of step back and say, who is TikTok? And ultimately, it all boils down to the hand, which is a matter of Chinese law, of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party. It all comes just days before Mr. Trump's inauguration. According to three sources, TikTok CEO Shou Chu is expected to attend, along with the world's three richest men,

tech titan Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. Just last night, President Biden took aim at big tech and what he called the dangerous concentration of power among a select few. I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. And Savannah, Savannah, back to TikTok. We're still waiting to hear from the Supreme Court as to whether it upholds the law in the first place. That's right, Lester. And in fact, the Supreme Court just announced they will have rulings tomorrow.

That last minute notice suggests there's a good chance we get that TikTok ruling since that Sunday deadline is quickly approaching. We know you'll stay on it. Thank you. Also tonight, more high stakes confirmation hearings for President-elect Trump's cabinet. Garrett Haig joins us. And Garrett, his choice for Treasury Secretary was pressed about Trump's economic plans. Yeah, that's right, Lester. Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Besant, a billionaire hedge fund manager, defended the president-elect's views on tariffs and focused on the importance of extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of this year, saying that if they're not renewed, it will cause a, quote, economic calamity and a tax increase on the middle class. He also said he does not support raising the minimum wage. Besson is expected to be confirmed with bipartisan

support. And in fact, Republicans are increasingly optimistic they'll get all of the president-elect's nominees so far confirmed with the first votes likely to come on Inauguration Day itself. Lester. Okay, Garrett Haig, thank you. In 60 seconds, can an insurance plan meant to be a last resort option for people in California handle the burden of thousands of wildfire claims? Our investigation is next. The damage from the California wildfires is just beginning to be tallied, but there is already growing concern about an insurer known as the state's last resort may run out of money.

Liz Kreutz with our report. That's our house. These were the harrowing moments the Edwards family saw their Altadena home of 30 years go up in flames. This feels like a bomb just came and exploded on our town. Everything's gone. Across town in the Pacific Palisades, the Andonian family stunned by the complete devastation of their community, too. I froze, literally. When you saw your home.

Sorry. sorry. And then the next house and the next house and the next. Two different neighborhoods, two different life stories, but similar in one way. Both families are on California's fair plan. The state created insurer of last resort that has more than doubled its number of residential policies in the past four years as private insurers have either drastically raised homeowners rates or simply dropped them. The Edwards family says they were dropped by their insurer last year and struggled to find a replacement. And they said, no, sorry, we can't cover you for your home insurance. You're too close to the fire zone. Current estimates for the Los Angeles fires show insured losses are already about $25 billion. For just the fair

plan, it's as much as about $8 billion. The challenge, according to the California Department of Insurance, the plan only has $377 million available to pay claims and about $5.75 billion in reinsurance to help cover the plan's losses. It's a scenario the fair plan's own president warned about last year. We are one event away from a large assessment. There's no other way to say it because we don't have the money on hand and we have a lot of exposure out there. In September, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued this bulletin outlining a new agreement for what might happen should the

Fair Plan ever run out of money. The memo allows the insurance companies who make up the plan to request permission to have fair plan policyholders share the costs, meaning their rates could soar. He's not doing his job. He's not protecting consumers. Democratic Congressman and former California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, critical of the deal Lara made. The reality is the commissioner has not been transparent and he's not forced the insurance companies to explain and to justify what they are doing. We talked to Commissioner Laura last week, two days after the fire started. Can the insurer of last resort sustain this? So currently right now we don't know how many policies are in the insurer of last resort that we call the fair plan.

We're going to get a better picture once the fire is contained. The fair plan also saying it is too early to determine if an assessment will be sought. And Insurance Commissioner Laura's office adding he issued clear rules to safeguard fair plans, financial stability and that policyholders would only have to cover additional costs as a last resort. For families like the Andonians and the Edwards, this all the last thing they thought they'd have to cover additional costs as a last resort. For families like the Andonians and the Edwards, this is all the last thing they thought they'd have to deal with. What's next? I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I'm very hopeful that we'll rebuild. I'm so hopeful that we're going to get through this. God's help, we're going to get through this.

Liz Kreutz, NBC News, Los Angeles. The baseball world has lost one of its funniest voices. Vaughn into the windup in his first offering. Just a bit outside. Hall of Famer Bob Euchre, the man known as Mr. Baseball and the longtime announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers, has died. Euchre played six seasons in the majors, mostly as a backup catcher and went on to a successful career as a broadcaster and a comedic actor with roles in 1989's Major League and the sitcom Mr. Belvedere. Euchre was 90.

Finally, it's the little engine that could, an invention that can save homes from wildfires. Gotti Schwartz with the good news about a man on a firefighting mission. At a home in Pasadena, there's a one-man engine-building fire brigade. There's your firefighter. Getting parts in by the hour for a contraption that is so in demand, if you stop by, you better be prepared to help. Another shipment just rolled up. David Whitman is a high school science teacher on a mission.

I want to save homes. I'm sick of seeing neighborhoods burned to the ground. Sourcing parts from all over, he's now assembling a system that taps into backyard pools. So this is the fire engine, this is the firefighter, and the pool is the hydrant. Yeah, the pools are, that's perfect.

Everyone's like, oh, it's just a pool. Not anymore, it's not. It's a neighborhood defense system. All those pools. How many times have we seen neighborhoods wiped out, literally obliterated, and there's pool after pool after pool after pool? He says he's trying to build systems so that people don't have to stay behind to protect their homes. That's phrasing 360, and the best thing about it is no one is in danger.

No one's in jeopardy. Eugene Goling says David's little engine that could saved his home in the Palisades. His son posting their tests before the fire and the aftermath. If this wasn't soaking for five hours, that the fire would have lit up and burnt everything. As for patents or whether others might copy his product? If I can educate people on how to make these things themselves, great. For now, the teacher happy to show the world what a simple solution can do. I call it evacuating in style. At least you tried. Gatti Schwartz, NBC News, Pasadena. Using his head. 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.