NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Friday, October 10, 2025

Episode Date: October 11, 2025

Gazans return as Israeli troops pull back; Tesla’s full self-driving software under investigation; Rural county in California to lose its only hospital; and more on tonight’s broadcast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, the deadly blast at a Tennessee explosives plant. The factory blowing up, nearly 20 workers could possibly be dead. Smoke and debris filling the sky. The blast heard from miles away. Families desperately hoping for survivors, what went wrong? State of emergency, the East Coast bracing for a dangerous nor'easter. Parts of the South already flooded where it's now set to hit. The Trump administration announcing those shutdown layoffs,

have begun. President Trump following through on his threat to fire thousands of federal workers and those still with a job today getting a smaller paycheck. The striking images caravans of Palestinians flooding back into northern Gaza as Israeli forces pull back as part of that peace deal. Top American officials with Netanyahu in Israel today as the countdown to Hamas freeing the hostages begins. Malania's mission, the First Lady, revealing she's been communicating with Vladimir Putin for months, the children she's trying to save. 9-1-1 calls coming in for this house on fire, but get this, it's an illusion. Are Halloween decorations going too far? Imagine looking up at the sky and seeing this, the NASA

equipment that fell onto a Texas farm. See Nightly News with Tom Yamas. And good evening. A massive. deadly explosion has rocked a Tennessee community. An explosives factory, they're blowing up, sending smoke pouring into the sky. At this hour, 19 people are unaccounted for, with officials confirming there have been fatalities. And check this out. Listen closely. You can clearly hear the blast caught on camera, and this was 12 miles away. It happened at accurate energetic systems. in McEwen, Tennessee, about 50 miles west of Nashville. It's not the first incident at this location.

There was an explosion at a different company there back in 2014. Tonight, families are gathering in the parking lot, desperately waiting for word as questions amount about what went wrong inside of that factory. Kathy Park is on the ground there tonight. She starts us off. You could hear the explosion from this house 12 miles away. Tonight, multiple people. still unaccounted for after the blast and explosives plant in Tennessee.

There are fatalities. The sheriff emotional, calling it the worst disaster he's ever seen. So at this time, we have been able to confirm that we do have 19 souls that we're looking for. It happened just before 8th this morning at accurate energetic systems. debris scattered everywhere with flames on the ground and smoke in the air over burned out vehicles. Can I describe the building? There's nothing to describe. It's gone. It's not the first emergency on this site. Back in 2014, according to our affiliate WSMV, one person died and four others were injured after an explosion occurred where shotgun ammunition was stored by a different company. Authorities still investigating the cause of this explosion.

Do I see a short-term explanation? No. Do I see us being here for many days? Yes. Their priority for now, assisting the families of those missing. That's where our thoughts and prayers need to go right now. And we've just got to take one day at a time or one hour at a time. Kathy Park joins us now just outside the scene of that disaster. Kathy, from the images, it looks. terrible out there. They say 19 people are unaccounted for. Is there any sign of hope? Well, Tom, officials say that this is still a search and rescue operation. They plan on working throughout the night. And we also learned that this blast was just so massive. It was just so big debris was actually found offsite. Tom. Kathy Park, live on the scene tonight

for us. Kathy, we thank you. Now to the state of emergency as a major nor'easter. Take a look at it here, barreling up the East Coast. Already we're seen flash flooding in Hallandale Beach in South Florida. Plus, up along the Carolina coast, parts of a flood-prone Charleston area swamp there. And this storm is just getting started. Meteorologist Bill Cairns is here, and Bill. It's going to be a nasty weekend for millions, and it could get dangerous. And a long-duration event. That's going to be the legacy of this storm. So it's just beginning here off the Florida coast and up into the Carolinas. Minor impacts with this storm with the wind and waves as we go throughout your Saturday. Wind gusting, you know, approaching 40, maybe 45 miles

power on the outer banks, a lot of waves from beach erosion, dune problems. But the real issues begin Sunday. Look at these wind gusts on the Jersey shore all the way through Long Island. When we get to that 50 to 60 mile power range leaves on the trees, we're going to get isolated the scattered power out is. But on top of that, this long duration event for 24 to 36 hours with those winds hitting the coast, the Delmarver region, all the way from Atlantic City southwards, maybe one or two high tide cycles in the major category. So we expect significant problems with that. And on top of everything, it's just going to be ugly for a couple of days in a row. A lot of rain, a lot of wind, and a lot of people spending the weekend indoors.

All right, Bill Cairns, we thank you for that. We are also tracking breaking news tonight out of the White House. The president just announcing 100% additional tariffs on China. New trade tensions with China led to this year, one of the toughest days on Wall Street in months rocking 401Ks after what's been a historic run for markets. The president also threatening at one point to cancel a major meeting with China's leader. Kelly O'Donnell joins me now Kelly, this escalated just moments ago. Very quickly, Tom. The president is blasting China for what he calls a very strange, surprising announcement

where China threatened to limit sales of critical minerals and many Chinese products. President Trump counterpunched threatening an extra 100% tariff on top of current taxes. So what does it mean for consumers? This could rattle supply chains. That can drive prices up on items as varied as washing machines to clothing. Now, we know the president values personal relationships, and he's run hot and cold with President Xi. He said a short time ago, he'll still go to a summit in Asia in a couple of weeks, but his meeting with Xi, that's leverage he can use. Tom?

All right, Kelly O'Donnell for us, Kelly, we thank you. Now to the government shutdown and the Trump administration saying they've followed through with threatened layoffs across several federal agencies. Gabe Gutierrez has new reporting from the White House. Gabe, how many federal workers are we talking about, and we should be clear here for our viewers, right now. Now, all of this information is coming from the administration. Yes, Tom, the budget director first announced the layoffs earlier today, and a White House official now says thousands of federal workers will be impacted across a slew of agencies. Now, during previous partial federal government shutdowns, workers were furloughed temporarily and

later received back pay. Well, this time, the president says some of the cuts will be permanent and will target programs favored by Democrats. The White House says they're having to make the move because Democrats keep blocking a GOP funding bill that would reopen the government, but Democrats argue they want to extend hundreds of billions of dollars in health care spending first. Well, tonight, unions for federal workers are questioning whether the layoffs are legal. Tom? All of this as the shutdown continues. All right, Gabe, we thank you. Now to those major developments in the Mideast, as President

Trump's peace deal goes into effect, Israeli soldiers are pulling out of parts of Gaza as tens of thousands of Palestinians are returning home. Here's Richard Engel. As Israeli troops pulled back from towns and cities in Gaza, Palestinians began walking to see what, if anything, is left of their homes. Atta Darwish walked with his two grandchildren for four hours, taking them to see if their homes survived the war and to see the grave of their father, killed in an Israeli strike. We're happy to go back to our area, and we hope the ceasefire will last.

We are tired of being homeless, he said. Further south, Mohamed Sharab discovered his hardware stores and home are now rubble. We have nothing left to live for, he said. The director of Gaza's largest hospital told NBC News more than 100 bodies were found under rubble just today. In Israel, Trump advisors Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkoff meeting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israeli military pressure on Hamas was key to the peace deal. You've got the bigger army. You were making inroads, and that's what led to this deal.

With the ceasefire holding, Hamas now has until Monday to hand over its hostages, 20 believed to be alive and 28 bodies. At a hospital outside Tel Aviv, they're running drills with actors, so they're ready when the hostages arrive. The main issues that we're preparing to is, of course, malnutrition. Do you think that these hostages will recover, that they'll return to good health? I'm sure that they will do step by step and recover and come back to life.

Richard joins us now live, Richard, we're getting somewhat of a timeline now. We expect Hamas to free its hostages by Monday. So, Tom, the ceasefire went into effect today at noon local time. That means the hostages must come out by noon on Monday, which could be the the exact time, or very close to the same time when President Trump is addressing Israel's parliament here in Jerusalem. Tom. Okay, Richard Engel for us. Richard, we thank you. A major update tonight to our NBC News investigation into Tesla's full self-driving technology. You may remember this report. Federal regulators say they are now investigating driver

complaints that their Teslas don't always stop at red lights or railroad crossings. Here's NBC's Tom Costello. It was a close call caught on NBC cameras. Well, there you go. Sheesh. What the heck? Italo Fregoli slamming on the brakes after his Tesla in semi-autonomous mode failed to stop when railroad crossing arms were coming down. Sheesh.

What the heck? And NBC News investigation found other cases of Tesla's going through the crossing arms, even driving onto the tracks and under a train. Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's investigating the scope, frequency, and potential safety consequences of full self-driving software, executing driving maneuvers that constitute traffic safety violations, citing dozens of complaints of Tesla's NFSD, failing to remain stopped at traffic lights, driving on the wrong side of the road, and failing to stop for railroad crossing arms, in some cases with little notice to a driver or opportunity to intervene. This was a close call. Yeah, it was. It was. Nearly 3 million Teslas with full self-driving software are part of the review. But researchers caution,

these are systems that are designed as driver assistance features. They need to be supervised, managed, and driven by a human. Tesla has not responded to our request for comment, but it has warned drivers that despite the name, the cars are not fully autonomous and drivers must oversee the vehicle's operation at all times. Tom? Okay, Tom. Thanks for that. Tonight in our series, the cost of denial, millions of Americans are at risk

of losing critical access to health care in their communities. Liz Kreutz looks at one county in California about to lose its only hospital. Inside this hospital in Glen County, California, fear from patients about what comes next. It is going to be tough on the community because, you know, what are you going to do without a hospital? Bobby Goodwin was born in the very hospital where he's now recovering from a broken hip. But later this month, Glenn Medical Center, the only hospital in this rural county, will close. Staff, like Director of Nurses, Brittany Mundy, will lose their jobs, but warned the consequences will be far more dire. It might sound dramatic to say, like, oh, people are going to die, but it's true, people literally are going to die because if you have a

heart attack or a stroke and you're 40 minutes away from a hospital, it might be too late. For more than 20 years, the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, CMS, had classified this hospital as critical access, meaning it received millions of dollars in federal funding to help ensure access to health care in underserved areas. But earlier this year, the hospital learned that status was being revoked. Without the federal funds, it can't afford to stay open. Was everyone's like mouths on the floor when they got that letter? Yes. They're like, why is it changing 24 years later? The reason for the change? Two miles. Critical Access hospitals must be the only hospital within 35 miles. During a review of Glenn Medical Center's

eligibility, CMS noted there's another hospital 33 miles away in a neighboring county. That calculation based on this two-lane backroad to get there. But locals tell us they never go this way. They say they always get stuck behind trucks and tractor trailers and they say that this route consistently floods in the winter when it rains. Some people can't afford to drive. Like they they don't have the gas money. But CMS tells NBC News that because of the law, it's not able to factor in things like weather or road conditions. Patients like Arturo Perez are already feeling the pain.

He dislocated his knee over the summer and needs an MRI. Yes, and it's just everyday thinking if I need surgery or not. With Glenn Medical, no longer available, the next nearest hospital is now 40 minutes away. And when Arturo's mother, Jamie, tried to make an appointment there, she says the wait time was five weeks. It feels like people don't care. It feels like the people in power are not caring about the low guys. You know, they're in places where they have access to care that now all the people in this community don't.

And Tom, this community is not alone. Advocacy groups say that nationwide, more than 700 rural hospitals are currently at risk of closing due to financial strain and potential cuts to Medicaid. That accounts for about a third of all rural hospitals across the country. Tom. 700 hospitals. All right, Liz Croyd's for us tonight. Liz, we thank you. When we return in just a moment, take a look at this house, seemingly on fire, right? Some who see it are calling 911. It turns out it's just a Halloween display, why some decorations are going too far this year.

We'll explain. We're back now with the Halloween displays around the country that some say are crossing the line from creepy to controversial. Here's George Solis. In South Carolina, this frightening scene appears all too real. Flames, tearing. through both stories of this suburban house outside Greenville. But the message from the home's owners, please stop calling 911. It's all lighting. Each window has its own little setup. It's just the latest, over-the-top Halloween decoration from Sam Lee and his fiance, Amanda Penn,

all smoke and lighting. The display, they say, is a hit with most neighbors. We do have a 1% that, you know, don't like it. And that's understandable. They're entitled to their opinion. but we do it for the community. If this is too far, what's not too far? What's the line?

And who's to say what that is? The couple gave the fire department a heads up about their elaborate display, but that hasn't stopped the calls from coming in. Does this in any way take away from resources in a smaller fire department? No. Granted, we're lucky. We're a block and a half from where the house is at our main station. So regardless, if somebody calls, we're going to go.

But authorities are cracking down on other displays. In Stan, Kentucky, a 58-year-old man was arrested and faces charges for these fake body bags depicting local politicians in his front yard. And in Alabama, controversy over this display from the wife of Mobile County Sheriff. This is a very sad situation. Skeletons dress in Cedopas and sombreros being chased over a fence by other skeletons dressed as ice agents. The sheriff's wife, Michelle Alfonso Birch, calling to display tongue-in-cheek, as this year even Halloween displays are fueling the flames of the country's political divide.

George Solis, NBC News. It's not a bird or a plane, but it is the size of a car, and it crashed down from the sky onto a Texas farm. So what is it? That's next. We are back down with a rare announcement from Melania Trump, the first lady saying she has been working with Vladimir Putin to reunite Ukrainian children believed to have been kidnapped into Russia during the war.

She said Putin signaled he's open to engaging directly after she sent a letter to him in August. She also said eight children have been reunited with their families. And take a look at this massive car-sized piece of NASA gear that crashed landed on a farm in West Texas. It's actually a piece of research equipment from NASA that, according to the Texas couple who found it, it wound up landing on their neighbor's farm and they found out that NASA was looking for it. All right. That's nightly news for this Friday. I'm Tom Yamas. Thanks so much for watching tonight. And always, we're here for you. Good night.