NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Thursday, May 7, 2026

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

New positive cases from Hantavirus cruise ship; Multiple passengers from cruise ship back in U.S.; Tornadoes rip through Mississippi; 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.

Breaking news tonight, American passengers from that cruise ship played by a deadly virus are now back in the U.S. Are they quarantining here as health officials around the globe raced to contain the spread? Those sick passengers evacuated. Now five have tested positive for the deadly disease. Plus a flight attendant hospitalized with possible symptoms. Could she have contracted the virus from a plane passenger just off the ship? And we talked to an American doctor trapped on board. Plus, the Americans now being monitored across five states for the virus. We press health officials.

Are they quarantining here? What you need to know about how this virus spreads? Hundreds of homes destroyed twisters tearing across Mississippi. Neighborhoods left unrecognizable. This woman wrote out the storm in her bathroom when it was all over. Her home was gone. Also breaking tonight, new U.S. strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz. will it throw off any progress on a possible peace deal?

The high-stakes meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Pope, after the president's repeated attacks on the pontiff, was any progress made at the Vatican. Our new reporting on Jeffrey Epstein's purported suicide note, what a handwriting expert says the note reveals, will it finally tamper down conspiracies about the convicted sex offenders' death? Plus, the jet skier hitting a whale just as it surfaces, sending him flying what happened next. And there's good news tonight, the cross-town rivals

who now share a life-saving bond after a stranger stepped up to the plate to help. Their heartwarming reunion on the mound. Nightly News starts right now. This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. And good evening. We begin tonight with the deadly outbreak on that cruise ship half a world away, now sparking fears right here in the U.S. The outbreak is responsible for three deaths already, and now there's a global race to contain it, extending all the way to America. At least seven passengers who were on that ship and departed before the outbreak was fully understood are now back here in these five states, Virginia, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and California.

Health departments in all those states say those passengers are not showing any symptoms, but it's unclear how most of them are being monitored or if they're even being quarantined. And after that risky operation to evacuate the sick passengers, you see everyone there wearing hazmat suits. We now know that many of those showing symptoms are in fact positive for the virus. And look at this. This is where many of the passengers traveled to after leaving the ship early. And we now know one flight attendant on one of those flights is showing possible symptoms tonight. We have two reports, starting with Danielle Hamamjan, where the ship is heading to in the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa. Tonight, as the ship at the center of the deadly Hanta virus outbreak sails towards the Canary Islands,

the World Health Organization confirming five of the eight suspected cases have tested positive. The patients are being treated in hospitals in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and South Africa. Experts want to reassure the public, though, the risk of infection is low. This is not coronavirus. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic. on board the ship, Dr. Stephen Cornfeld, who spoke with NBC affiliate KTVZ in Oregon. He says when the ship's doctor became ill, he had to step in. That things deteriorated than more people got sick and got seriously ill. I ended up just taking over and trying to keep everybody going.

Dr. Cornfeld says after three people who'd been on the ship died and others had to be evacuated, Those who remain are now okay. Fortunately, nobody else has got sick in the last six to seven days. We now have two World Health Organization epidemiologists on the boat. We have two Dutch infectious disease people on the boat. So there's a lot of medical coverage now. All part of a global race to stop the virus from spreading beyond that ship. Dutch authorities today announced that a flight attendant has been hospitalized with possible symptoms.

She was on the same flight as one of the cruise passengers with Haanta virus. That patient was removed before takeoff and later died, according to Dutch media. What's unknown, the extent of the interaction between that flight attendant and the passenger. Those still on the ship finding relief to be moving forward. Dr. Cornfeld, among the 17 Americans on board, says he's been in touch with the State Department but is awaiting details on getting back to the U.S. I assume in a couple of days there'll be a plan. So that plan is quite variable.

I really don't know what it will be. So many questions. Danielle, joins us now live from the Canary Islands. Danielle, we now know that cruise ship company says the boat is expected to arrive right where you are on Sunday. How will they get people off the ship? Yeah, Tom, the ship will anchor nearby. and from there to the port to the airport,

they'll be completely isolated from the rest of the public. But even with those precautions in place, there have been protests across the Canary Islands, as well as opposition by political leaders to this decision by the Spanish government. Tom. So much uncertainty out there. All right, Danielle, we thank you.

At least seven passengers from that ship are now back here at home in the U.S., having left the vessel before the virus outbreak was known about. Are there plans for them to quarantine? Camilla Bernal has that part of the story. Tonight confirmation from five states that passengers who were aboard the cruise ship with the deadly haunt of virus outbreak are back in the U.S. One person in Virginia, two in Georgia, two in Texas, another in Arizona, and an undisclosed number of people in California. Health departments in all of these states telling NBC News that the former passengers whose identities are being withheld are not showing any symptoms.

Texas explaining that the passengers have agreed to monitor themselves for symptoms with daily temperature checks. The other states declining to share how the passengers are being monitored. We asked each state if those passengers are quarantining, four would not answer that question. Arizona saying the person there is not isolating. Should the passengers back in the U.S. be quarantining? Yes, at least for the duration of the six weeks since a known exposure. John's Hopkins microbiologist Sabra Klein says that's how long it could take for symptoms to show up if a passenger was exposed and contracted haunt a virus. The confirmed Andy's strain of the virus is usually transmitted through rodents.

But in the rare cases of human-to-human transmission, Klein says there must be a high level of virus and very close contact. In order for human-to-human transmission to occur, this requires intimate contact, like sharing a bed, like sharing utensils. Unlike COVID, she says, hauntavirus is not readily transmissible. People in the United States do not need to be worried. This is not another pandemic. This will never have pandemic potential. And with that, Camilla joins us now. But Camilla, the big question, is the federal government doing anything to track possible exposure in the U.S.?

Yeah, Tom, so we now know the CDC has activated. It's Emergency Operations Center in Atlanta. It's a level three activation, which is the lowest. So it's not an all-hands-on-dex. situation, but it does help activate experts and coordinate point people for the response, and they'll be operating 24 hours a day. Tom? So they're monitoring it. All right. Camila, thank you. Now to Mississippi, where hundreds of homes were destroyed after a string of tornadoes tore across that state. Residents describing the terrifying moments they had to take cover, some in their own

bathrooms. Erin Gilchrest reports from the storm. Tonight in Mississippi, neighborhoods left unrecognizable. Around 400 homes damaged. Multiple tornadoes reported ripping through the state leaving miles of destruction. Car windows blown out, trees blocking roads, homes moved off their foundation. Sirens blaring last night as residents took shelter. Oh, shoot. Lightning apparently striking this house, sending it up in flames. Some residents trapped during the storm with more than 15,000 without power across five counties.

Authorities say there were at least 17 injuries but no deaths. parts of Bougatjita demolished. Judy Paiet says she and her husband hid inside their shower, the only part of their house to survive the storm. And all of a sudden, the house was rumbling and shaken. In Purvis, just before service was about to start, the dangerous weather tearing apart this church, the congregation huddling in the hallway.

We just started praying, and people started singing, and I was over here by the wall, and this wall was just moving back and forth. It all comes after ferocious wind and heavy rain slammed Florida and Alabama, completely flooding roads. My car's flowing right up. Communities now coming together and beginning to clean up. All I can feel right now is just honestly thankful. Just thankful for life.

Incredible that she survived, but everything is gone there. Aaron Gilchrest joins us now live. And Aaron, most of the trailers in that park where you are tonight, they're gone. Just a breathtaking amount of devastation here, Tom. You can see this refrigerator that's been tossed outside. You look over here, all 30 trailers in this trailer park, either damaged or just obliterated. I talked to one county supervisor who said similar scenes have been playing out over what he believes was a 20-mile track that a tornado took through here from one end of the county all the way to the other.

Tom? Aaron, Gilcrest, in that storm zone. Aaron, thank you. This just in tonight, the U.S. is striking new Iranian targets as it waits for Iran's response the latest peace proposal to end this war. Let's get to Richard Engel. He's in Jerusalem live for us tonight. And Richard, what do we know about the latest in this round of strikes? Well, there has been an escalation of violence and U.S. military officials tell NBC News that Iran started this, that U.S. Navy warships were operating in the Strait of Hormuz when suddenly they were attacked

by Iranian drones, small boats, and missiles. The ships were not damaged, but the U.S. quickly responded. stopping the drones, destroying the drones, destroying the boats, and also attacking the sites that launched them, command and control sites. Now, Iran has it flipped around. Iran insists that it was the United States that attacked first and that this is a violation of the ceasefire. U.S. Central Command put out a statement saying that it does not seek escalation. Richard Engel for us, Richard, thank you to the Vatican now in that key meeting between the Pope and Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid the war of words between the American pontiff and President Trump. Here's Garrett Haig. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tonight, greeting Pope Leo at the

Vatican with a gift. What to get someone who has everything. America's top diplomat now on a delicate mission to the first American pontiff after a frosty back and forth last month between President Trump and the Pope over Iran. After the Pope criticized the war, blaming it on a quote, delusion of omnipotence. He's a man that doesn't think that we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world. I'm not a fan of Pope Leon. I have no fear of the other administration, nor are speaking out and now Liam's on the gospel. The Pope can say what he want, and I want him to say what he want, but I can disagree. The Pope describing it all as a misunderstanding over his calls for peace,

while also opposing all nuclear weapons. It was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not my interest at all. The president asked yesterday for his message for the Pope. Whether I make him happy or I don't make him happy, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. In Italian, the pontiff responding that for years, the church has spoken out against nuclear weapons.

And his gift for Rubio today, a pen made from olive wood. I love being, of course, plant a peace. And in another high-stakes meeting, Secretary Rubio meets with the Italian Prime Minister tomorrow. Tom. And a big congratulations to our Garrett Hake. Now our chief White House correspondent, well-deserved. Okay, now to that high-profile clash at the mayor's debate in L.A. that featured former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who's running against current mayor Karen Bass,

who he says failed during the Palisades fire that burned down his home. Here's Dana Griffin. who Mayor Karen Bass Tonight, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, touting momentum. I would have like three more hours. We got a lot of failures to talk about that these people have,

so we should run it back, part two. After a fiery face-off in an L.A. mayor's debate between Pratt, incumbent Karen Bass, and councilwoman Nithia Rahman. This is a MAGA Republicans idea of what Los Angeles looks like. Pratt, famous for reality show, The Hills. What I wanted to do and say to you, dear?

I didn't. Now running for mayor after he and wife Heidi Montag lost their home in the deadly palisades fire. This is where Mayor Bass lives. This is where I live. They let my home burn down. Going after Bass, who's faced fierce criticism for her leadership

during the fires. He talked about the winds. That is just completely inaccurate. If that were accurate, then the planes would have been able to fly. And so the winds reached close to 100 miles an hour. She's an incredible liar. Everyone on their phones, Google it. 40 weather stations in the Pacific Palisades. It never went above 40 miles from. Bass apologizing for being out of the country when the fires broke out.

Worst moments of my life to not be here when my city needed me. But I think that I deserve a second term and I'm going to fight for that because we have made significant progress in a variety of areas. The candidates also clashing over homelessness. We can find some of these people she's going to offer treatment for. She's going to get stabbed in the neck. These people do not want a bed. As Mayor Bass and Spencer Pratt attack me, because they want to run against each other. Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together. I blame this person for burning my house.

This was the last scheduled debate before the June primary in less than a month. Tom? Okay, Dana. And when we return in 60 seconds, our new report, reporting on the purported Jeffrey Epstein's suicide letter, we have a handwriting expert analyze it for us, what she says it reveals. That's next. We're back now with the release of that possible suicide note from Jeffrey Epstein.

We took the letter to a handwriting expert who found similarities with other Epstein writings. Here's Stephanie Gosk. Tonight, a closer look at Epstein's alleged suicide note, discovered after a failed suicide attempt in 2019. It is a treat to be able to choose one's time to see. goodbye, it says, in scrawled handwriting. Weeks later, Epstein would die by suicide, according to the medical examiner. The note, unsealed by a federal judge after the New York Times petitioned the court.

It was sealed as part of an unrelated legal case involving Epstein's cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione, who says the note fell out of a book he was reading. But the New York Times and NBC News have not authenticated the document. We asked a handwriting expert to make a comparison with another alleged Epstein note from the DOJ file. What do you make of the no fun in both notes? Well, I think that's significant syntax. The way things are written are very significant in document examination. Some of the letters are similar too, but she says it is not conclusive.

He probably did write this, but there are limitations because we don't have enough to compare. And then there is this question, What you want me to do, burst out crying, which appears almost identically in two emails released by the DOJ. But back in 2019 after Epstein's death, conspiracies swirled. And as recently as last year, Epstein's convicted associate, Galane Maxwell, said this in a prison interview with the DOJ.

I do not believe he died by suicide. Now this newly revealed message, potentially throwing water on the conspiracies and supporting the medical examiner's definitive conclusion, Jeffrey Epstein was not murdered. Tom? Stephanie, thank you. We are back in a moment.

with wild new video of a jet ski hitting a whale as it comes up from the water. Look at that. Plus the arrest after protests break out in Nashville, the brewing political battle. Next. We're back now with the intense fight over the redistricting in Tennessee. Democratic lawmakers protesting after Republicans in the state legislature passed a new congressional map in the wake of that landmark Supreme Court decision. That new map will split up the state's only Democratic district and majority black district paving the way for Republicans to gain another seat. Also tonight, take a look at this video off the coast of Vancouver. You can see the moment a man on a jet ski crashes into a whale.

The Great Whale breaches just as the boater goes by sending the jet ski flying in the air. Rescue crews say the man was hurt and taken to the hospital. The whale appears to be okay. And some good news just in time for Mother's Day. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt has announced the birth of her second child, Viviana, who was born on May 1st. Levitt is the first White House press secretary to give birth while holding that job. She will be taking a break from the briefing room during maternity leave.

All right, when we come back tonight, the stranger who stepped up to the plate to save the life of a crosstown rival. There's good news tonight. That's next. Finally, there's good news tonight. A Chicago Cubs fan throwing out the first pitch alongside a crosstown rival who helps save her life. In Chicago, sports allegiances are like religion. You're either socks or cubs. But recently, two crosstown rivals found good reason to put their differences aside.

Bridget Coles is a diehard Cubs fan who was diagnosed with kidney disease and lupus in 2017. She desperately needed a kidney transplant, taking this sign to the ballpark in 2019 as a last resort, writing, this little cubby needs a kidney. Thomas Alessio, a longtime White Sox fan, saw the picture on social media and stepped up to the play. I think especially in the world today, you should put yourself out there to help someone who's next suit. It turns out the two fans with divided loyalties were a perfect match.

And six years ago, Thomas donated his kidney to Bridget. This week, the two got together to celebrate in a special way. We'll see what this kidney can do, okay? on the mound. Bridget throwing out the first pitch at a Cubs game with Thomas right by her side, celebrating on the diamond with their medical team looking on. This is such a wonderful moment here with my donor. I'm here on the field, so the sign worked. I never thought I'd be standing here today. A hometown hero in a home run moment. I'm here because of him, so I'm thankful for him. I'll always be Cubs fan. A little, a little organ of me will be Sox fan.

And before we go tonight, a quick programming note. I'll be reporting from China all next week here on nightly news and top story covering President Trump's historic trip to Beijing. Make sure to tune in. That's nightly news for this Thursday. I'm Tom Yamas. Thanks so much for watching tonight. And always, we're here for you.

Good night.