NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Sunday, May 31, 2026

Episode Date: June 1, 2026

Curfew in place to crack down on clashes outside immigration facility; Security scares prompt diversions on two United flights; Urgent search for suspect in deputy’s killing; 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, protest crackdown as demonstrations escalate outside an ice facility in New Jersey. Protesters using traffic barrels as shields, setting tires on fire, officers deploying tear gas, and a curfew now in place to get the situation under control. We're live at the scene with the new developments tonight. Airlines scare, a United flight, forced to turn around over a bomb scare. It's going to be researching back to the door at this time. The warning from the captain in midair and the massive. emergency response on the ground as the plane touchdown. Developing now the manhunt for a suspect

accused of killing a sheriff's deputy considered armed and dangerous. The new photo police are circulating tonight. Intense storms battering millions. Hale blanketing the ground, tornadoes touching down in multiple spots. We are tracking it all. Campaign controversy in one of the most high-profile Senate races in the country, the Democratic candidates explicit texts and what his wife is now saying. Chaos in France, hundreds arrested in violent classes in Paris as fans celebrate a big soccer championship win, a major cancer breakthrough that could double the survival rate for one of the deadliest cancers. The NBA finals now set with the Spurs and the Knicks set to face off, but who will be able to afford to see it in person? This is NBC Nightly News with Howling.

Jackson. Good evening. We begin tonight with a new curfew set to go into effect just hours from now outside a New Jersey immigration facility that has become a national flashpoint. This is what it looked like overnight. Protests escalating into violent confrontations. You see officers with riot shields clashing with protesters using those traffic barrels as their own kinds of shields. Here you can see officers lined up deploying tear gas into the crowd. And today the governors calling for calm and sharing new developments after demonstrations. demanding better conditions for the detainees held inside. Our Valerie Castro is there. Tonight, authorities cracking down outside a New Jersey immigration center after protests against conditions at the facility spiraled out of control for a second straight night. The mayor of Newark implementing a new protest curfew near Delaney Hall between 9 p.m. and 6 a. After demonstrators tried to push past metal barricades around a designated peaceful protest zone. Off the fence.

Off the fence. Go! Dance. The violence escalating with the crowd grabbing makeshift shields, facing off against police into the late hours, fighting through tear gas, even burning a pile of tires. Stop it. Stop it.

Governor Mikey Cheryl condemning the clashes. They take the focus away from people inside Delaney Hall and their families, and they raise the temperature with ice. And announcing the Department of Homeland Security, agreed to bring back family visitation for detainees there beginning today. Is that a step in the right direction? Absolutely. The family members need to see that their people, their loved ones are safe, the unrest,

now 10 days in, sparked by reports of a hunger strike inside the 1,000-bed facility, with detainees complaining of unsanitary conditions and spoiled food. Shut down the lady! DHS denies those allegations. I just think that any human. human being deserves to be treated somewhat respectfully. While lawmakers visiting the site today, calling for it to be shut down. Valerie is joining us now live in Newark.

And Valerie, some new security measures are in place to try and keep people farther away from the facility. Yeah, Hallie, tonight you can see this new roadblock that is now in place in Delaney Hall is so far down the road. We can't even see it from here. But protesters maintaining their presence will see if they abide by that curfew tonight. So far, at least 15 people have been arrested over the long. last 10 days. Hallie.

Valerie Castro, live for us in New Jersey. Thank you. We are following new developments in a mid-air scare that forced a transatlantic flight to turn around with a big police presence when it landed because of the startling name of a Bluetooth device. Camilla Bernal explains. It's got to be researching back to Newark at this time. A possible security threat mid-air on a united flight from Newark to Spain, causing it to turn around. Because of the foolishness of sweat versus. that wants to make a joke and it's not funny.

The problem, a passenger's Bluetooth device, which a source tells NBC News, was named Bomb. Someone had a Bluetooth speaker, and they named a certain four-letter words. I was so frustrated. Jordan Moore was on the flight Saturday. She says they had to deplane and be rescreened, take off delayed almost 12 hours. It was kind of back and forth between, like,

is somebody playing a sick, selfish prank, or are we actually concerned? And it comes just hours after another emergency diversion on a different United flight from Chicago to Minneapolis. We might have to close the airfield due to potential hijacks. An unruly passenger trying to breach the cockpit multiple times, according to authorities. The sheriff's office says the 75-year-old man was subdued by FBI agents on board

and appeared to be in a mental health crisis. Two startling incidents. Security is number one priority at United. Leaving some passengers worry about safety in the skies. We want to make sure we're safe and like guaranteed that comfort before we take off. Camila Bernal, NBC News. To the urgent manhunt in Virginia tonight with the FBI joining the search for a man on the run, accused of killing a sheriff's deputy. Aaron Gilchrist has the latest on that.

And Aaron, police are warning that this suspect is to be considered. armed and dangerous. Armed and extremely dangerous, police say, Halley. We're talking about an active manhunt across two states right now for Michael Timothy Puckett, 55 years old. He is an accused cop killer and has been on the run since Friday night. Police are putting out a new image of him. This was captured by a wildlife camera just before 7 o'clock this morning in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

This all started Friday night when deputies went to a home across the state line in Carroll County, They went there for a welfare check. Officials say Puckett opened fire on those two deputies. One of them, Logan Ut was killed. The other, we're told, is in stable condition. The people who live along the North Carolina-Virginia border right now being told to lock their homes, their garages, and to check their outdoor cameras for any images of Puckett

that may help law enforcement track him. Hallie? Aaron Gilchrist, thank you for that. Millions of people are on alert tonight for intense storms. After hail, like what you're about to see, battered parts of Nebraska over the weekend, the National Weather Service, reporting at least eight tornadoes in the region, and the threat is not over yet. There's the possibility of more twisters overnight. Also, tonight a growing political controversy involving the Democrat running

for one of the most closely watched Senate seats in the country, whose wife is now responding after reports he sent sexually explicit texts to several women. Here's Julie Sirkin. Tonight, the wife of embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is speaking out. I just really wanted to make sure that everyone knows that Graham and I have a great marriage. Amy Gertner's marriage with the likely Democratic nominee now scrutinized after Plattner's former campaign manager, Genevieve McDonald, said at the start of Plattner's insurgent Senate bid, Gertner told her, her husband had sent sexually explicit text to other women and that she feared it could eventually hurt his campaign, according to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. I find it really shameful that there's a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on. The texts are the latest in a string of controversies for the veteran and oyster farmer, hoping to defeat incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins in November. Yeah, I have concerns.

guy has questions to answer. NBC also confirming Plattner once used the messaging app Kik. His profile features a suggestive shirtless mirror selfie, a spokesperson saying he deleted the app and hasn't been active on the account in years. Plattner also faced backlash last fall over this tattoo on his chest, a skull and crossbones emblem historically linked to Nazi symbolism, which Plattner says he didn't know at the time. I am not a secret Nazi. He later covered the tattoo with a different one. Years ago, Platner also posted online, criticizing police, suggesting victims of rape should, quote, take some responsibility for themselves and allegedly using anti-gay slurs. I'm deeply sorry. Democratic leaders see Maine as one of their best opportunities to take control of the Senate.

Julie is joining us now. And Julie, because this race is such a top target for Democrats come the midterms, it's been closely watched for months. Very closely, Halley. And Plattner so far is not losing support among his voters. A new poll conducted before these latest revelations actually show Platner surging ahead of Susan Collins by nine points. Holly? Julie Sirkin at the White House, thank you. A police officer in North Carolina has been fired after disturbing new video showing him dragging a woman during an attempted arrest.

And then you see here repeatedly punching her in the head. Local police say they have turned their investigation over to state officials. Overseas now rescue teams are ramping up their search to find two men still missing in that flooded cave in South. East Asia. That's after five people have been taken out alive over the last several days in Laos. You can see some of those rescues here. It is now a race against time to find the remaining men, but rain today kept rescuers from going in to search for them. To the latest now on the U.S. war against Iran and both sides digging in, even as a potential peace deal hangs in the balance. Danielle Hamamchin has war. As the world waits for any signs of progress between the U.S. and Iran,

Tonight, the Iranian foreign minister telling state media the talks between the two countries are still ongoing. This just days after President Trump met with top advisors in the situation room. It was, he said, to make a final determination about the deal. According to a senior administration official, that meeting involved President Trump continuing to refine the deal and that the White House now expects it could take days to hear back. Today, Iran's top negotiators saying they would have to seek concrete gains before fulfilling their end of a deal with the U.S. On his list of demands, Trump wants Iran to never have a nuclear weapon,

he wants the strait of Hormuz reopened, and any mines in the crucial waterway destroyed. A key demand from Tehran, money, billions of dollars in frozen funds that he wants back some of it up front. In an interview on Fox News recorded on Thursday with his daughter-in-law, Trump said this. So we're getting what we want slowly, very tough negotiators. It takes a long time. I'm in no hurry. I'd like to say I'm in a hurry because, you know, gasoline prices are going to come tumbling down. But if you're going to be in a hurry, you're not going to make a good deal. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israeli forces pushing even further north into Lebanese territory. It marks Israel's deepest ground incursion in that country. country in 26 years, an escalation that could potentially derail talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Danielle Hamimj in NBC News, London. Thousands of police officers are being deployed in Paris tonight after hundreds of arrests overnight when championship soccer celebrations devolved into chaos. Tonight, French officials bracing for the possibility of more chaos. After scenes like these overnight. Clashes after France's top soccer club, Paris Saint-Gne or PSG, won Europe's biggest sports prize against England's arsenal. Piles of bikes set on fire in the streets. Police shooting off tear gas to break up the crowds.

Nearly 800 people were arrested, according to the French Interior Minister, with the clashes, leaving almost 60 officers hurt. Today, French President Emmanuel Macron, condemning the violence and thanking the responding officers for restoring order. PSG today hoisting the Champions League trophy in front of the Eiffel Tower and thousands of fans, with now more than 8,000 police officers and firefighters deployed to make sure celebrations remain peaceful. And the French president saying today officials will be uncompromising with those arrested, adding that's not what we love about the sport. Still ahead tonight, the breakthrough cancer treatment that could double some patients' survival rates

and an update in the Ebola crisis overseas with a handful of patients now recovering. Health officials making a degree of progress in the fight against the Ebola outbreak in Africa, the head of the World Health Organization presenting these nurses with certificates after they survived the virus in the DRC in all five people have recovered

after getting sick from a strain that doctors say has no vaccine and no treatment. Also tonight, the cruise ship at the center of that deadly hanta virus outbreak is set to return to sea. The M.V. Hondias has been disinfected and cleared, apparently, for its next cruise in June. And some American passengers who are on that ship, who have been isolating at the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska, could go home as soon as tomorrow for further monitoring. New tonight, a cancer breakthrough in a new study. Experts say they found a treatment for pancreatic cancer that could double patients' survival rates,

and it may be a weapon against other cancers, too. Here's Erica Edwards. Debbie Orcutt is beating the odds. Thanks to these three pills, she takes daily, an experimental drug for a dire diagnosis, stage four pancreatic cancer after chemo stopped working. You know, I knew my diagnosis was bad, so what have I got to lose? More than a year later, Orkut's cancer has stopped growing, instead shrinking by 80%.

Unprecedented success for a cancer that often kills within months. Hi, Dr. Wilpin. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Dr. Brian Wolpin led studies for the drug called Diraxon RASib. I think this is the breakthrough we've been waiting for. This is the breakthrough you've been waiting for all these years. Yes. A new study out today finding it doubled survival rates. Among 500 patients who'd already gone through chemotherapy,

those who got a second chemo drug lived on average 6.7 months, compared to more than 13 months for patients who received Diracon Rassab instead. This is a new medicine that blocks a really critical part of how pancreatic cancer grows. It targets a gene called K-RAS that works like an on-off switch, controlling how cells grow in the body. In more than 90% of pancreatic cancers, that gene mutates, causing the switch to get stuck in the on position, making cancer cells grow out of control. Diraxon-Rasib blocks the mutation, stopping it from doing more damage. The side effects, researchers say, not as toxic. is chemotherapy. Some patients can get mouth sores and a blistering rash. Clinical trial participant

and former Nebraska Senator Ben Sass telling a New York Times podcast in April that it's... Nuclear. Yeah, okay. Like burning, bubbling. Yeah. It's already fast-tracked for FDA approval, now being studied to see if they can work as well for other tumors. The mutation at targets is also a key driver in lung, colon, ovarian, and endometrial cancers. Now the floodgates open, right? And pancreas cancer may be the first for this drug, but there will then be others, I think, it may also benefit.

Despite the drug's success, patients like Debbie Orcut know it's not a cure, making the most of her precious extra time with family since her diagnosis in April 2024. It's been more than two years for you, Debbie. I know. Believe me, it's not lost on me. I just feel like God's given me another chance. You better make the most of it and do all good things. and I try. I really do try.

Erica Edwards, NBC News, Spencer, Massachusetts. Let's go. When we return, the NBA finals now set, the Spurs taking on the Knicks with ticket prices skyrocketing. We'll tell you how much next. An emotional night last night for San Antonio Spurs' superstar Victor Weminiama. After his team beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Western Conference finals, setting up a rematch decades in the making.

The Spurs will face the New York Knicks. in the NBA finals this week, the two teams last faced off in the finals back in 1999. That was the last time the NICS were even in the finals, and the end of that decades-long drought is already driving up ticket demand and prices. Here's Shikil Brewster. The excitement and pandemonium around the New York Knicks

crashing into the reality of jaw-dropping ticket prices for fans. I have a good time, but I'm priced out. The cheapest tickets on resale sites start in the thousands of dollars, the most expensive ones hitting six figures. Pricing that seat geek says is in Super Bowl territory, all to see the first NBA championship games at Madison Square Garden since 1999. This is an incredibly hungry, an incredibly desperate fan base. I think that's what these ticket prices are revealing. The company Tick Pick saying tickets for the first game in New York are more expensive than the cheapest tickets to all seven of last year's finals games combined. Don't you want average fans to be able to afford prices to the game?

The eye-popping expense part of a trend in this huge summer for sports. We know this is the extreme, but are these increased ticket prices part of a trend we're seeing across sports? Absolutely. We're seeing this in the FIFA World Cup. We're seeing it in the U.S. Open and tennis. We're obviously seeing it in the NBA playoffs. A competitive demand costing fans across sports more than ever. MSG Sports says it understands that ticket prices are high and that they're, quote, taking every possible measure

to limit brokers who are jacking up prices. Hallie? That's netly news for this Sunday, but stick around. Sunday night, baseball is up next. The Cubs versus the Cardinals. I'm Hallie Jackson. For all of us here at NBC, thanks for watching and have a great week.