Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, April 14, 2023

Episode Date: April 15, 2023

Supreme Court puts temporary hold on ruling that limits access to abortion pill, Air National Guardsman detained by judge on charges of leaking classified documents, "El Chapo's" sons charged with fentanyl trafficking, ex-boyfriend of missing Minnesota mom publicly speaks out, and France's top court approved President Macron's unpopular plan to raise the retirement age.

Tonight, last minute decision, the Supreme Court blocking restrictions to a key abortion pill for now. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, putting a temporary hold on a lower court ruling to suspend the FDA's approval of Miffa Pristone. That ruling was set to take effect in just a few hours, but the future of the drug, used in about half of all U.S. abortions, still unclear, as Florida becomes the latest state to impose a six-week ban on the procedure. devastation across South Florida. After historic rainfall in just seven hours, first responders rushing to more than a thousand rescues. Some communities still underwater. And Governor Ron DeSantis now facing criticism for leaving the state. Airmen charged. The Air National Guardsman accused of leaking a trove of classified documents appearing in court for the first time, now charged under the Espionage Act. The new details about how authorities took the 21-year-old into custody,

Many ask, how does this keep happening? Plus, the desperate search for a missing Minnesota mom last seen two weeks ago with her ex-boyfriend. What he's now saying about her disappearance as her heartbroken family pleads for answers. Cartel crackdown, the Department of Justice announcing a sweeping indictment targeting members of the infamous Sina Law drug cartel, including the four sons of notorious drug lord El Chapo. The drug trafficking charges they're now facing. And defying gravity, the BMX rider, showcasing an array of tricks while suspended 2,000 feet in the air. How Red Bull pulled off this skate park in the sky. Top story starts right now.

Good evening. I'm Gabe Gutierrez. We begin with that abortion pill ruling blocked hours before it was set to take effect. The Supreme Court putting a temporary hold on that Texas ruling that could have jeopardized access to the key abortion drug, Mithopristone, nationwide at midnight. Justice Samuel Alito issuing the administrative stay, which is now in effect until next Wednesday, while the High Court weighs how to proceed. The stay means patients can still get Mithopristone by mail upholding the status quo of the FDA's approval of the drug back in 2000. But the ongoing fight over the drug comes as full. Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the state's six-week abortion ban into law late last night. The move, the latest chapter in a growing battle within the Republican Party over abortion.

Some potential presidential candidates praising DeSantis, while other Republicans fear it could hurt them at the ballot box. NBC News senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett has been covering it all for us and leads us off tonight. Tonight, the U.S. Supreme Court moving quickly to block a federal judge from rolling back access to the abortion pill Miffapristone, at least for now. Justice Samuel Alito handing down an order within hours of the Justice Department's emergency appeal that had warned of chaos and profound disruption if the high court didn't step in. At issue in the case, a legal morass of complex FDA regulations over the drug that had recently been made easier to obtain. They attacked medication that for 20 years the FDA ruled as

being safe. But the advocacy groups and doctors that sued to ban the drug claim the FDA ignored safety risks. Those plaintiffs now have until Tuesday to submit their legal arguments to the justices. At the same time, access to abortion now largely cut off throughout much of the South. After the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, many women traveled to Florida for abortions. Show the bill passes. Now, the state has banned anyone from seeking an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, though the law won't go into effect right away. You just don't want women to have choice. Here we value life from conception to the casket.

Governor Ron DeSantis signing the bill with a private gathering overnight, a far cry from the jubilant celebration he put on for a 15-week ban passed last spring, highlighting a rising tension within the GOP on the issue. As some are mindful of the public polling, largely favoring abortion, other president's presidential hopefuls are leaning into their conservative base with eyes on 2024, including Senator Tim Scott, who spoke exclusively to NBC's Ali Vitale today. If I were president of the United States, I would literally sign the most conservative pro-life legislation that they can get through Congress.

But for now, the issue of abortion access rests with the Supreme Court, with the justices poised to rule next week. And Laura Jarrett joins us now. Laura, the stay was issued by conservative justice Samuel Alito. So does that tell us anything about what the court could decide next week? Well, at first glance, you might think so, given how he's decided on this issue. But it really doesn't speak to the merits of the actual case. And on that, he's likely to refer this case to the consideration of the full nine justices.

And then the Justice Department will need at least five of them to vote to keep this stay in place, essentially to keep the pause on that lower court's decision that had potentially jeopardized access to this drug. And so as of right now, what will happen is that on Tuesday, the plaintiffs that brought this case, they'll be able to submit their briefs to the court, and then the court will rule. And at that point, they could either decide to keep the case for themselves, in which you will hear oral argument at all the regular processes, or they could try to kick the case back down to the Fifth Circuit. The key to keep your eye on is whether they maintain that stay, which effectively maintains the access to that pill. Gabe.

Laura Chair, thank you. Now to power and politics. and the fight for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Republican hopefuls hitting the road, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking in Ohio, Virginia, and New Hampshire, while former President Trump and other top contenders all stumping to NRA members at the organization's annual meeting. Von Hilliard is there.

I bring greetings from the free state of Florida. The 2024 race for the White House, heating up on the Republican side with Florida governor, Ron DeSantis traveling the country. Hello, Liberty University. DeSantis yet to announce his own presidential bid in speaking in front of 10,000 students in Virginia at the conservative Liberty University.

We have made Florida the state where woke goes to die. Though not yet in the race, the arrows of Trump's allies are squarely directed at DeSantis. Trump's son, Don Jr., calling out DeSantis for his book tour stop in Ohio, despite Fort Lauderdale's torrential rains, tweeting, quote, Fort Lauderdale is underwater and DeSantis is campaigning in Ohio right now instead of taking care of the people suffering in his state.

The governor himself, when I was asked whether he had called me, to be truthful, he did not personally call me. DeSantis stopped in Florida to sign an abortion bill before heading back off to New Hampshire today. And the super PAC aligned with Mr. Trump launching a new TV ad on Friday. Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his. pudding fingers off our money. Referencing a Daily Beast article in which an unnamed former staffer suggested that DeSantis

had eaten chocolate pudding with his fingers in 2019. DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements. DeSantis has pushed aside the story. When they go at you, sometimes they have like really good ammunition. Like you're a crook, you stood this, you did that. For me, they're talking about pudding. Like, is that really the best you got? Okay, bring it on.

Trump's attention turning toward the NRA convention on Friday afternoon. Let's be very clear. The issue is not too many guns. The issue is too many thugs, hoodlums, and savage criminals on our street. That's really what the issue is. Tens of thousands descending on the annual expo. Well, I'm all in for Trump. All in for Trump.

Yes. Are you definite Trump? No. I'm not definite Trump. Another Republican, though? Yes. That I can say. I'm for the party, but I got to hear what everybody.

everybody has to say. Of course, DeSantis, not the only Republican taking on Trump. Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, both traveling to early primary states this week. Speaking here virtually, along with DeSantis, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, and 2024 candidate Asa Hutchinson also took the stage. So did Mike Pence, who was booed in his home state of Indiana when he walked to the podium. I love you too. And Vaughan Hillier joins us now from that NRA convention in Indianapolis. And Vaughn, we just heard the crowd booing Mike Pence right there.

Trump spoke after Pence, what he said. Right. He kind of propped up the crowd to replay that moment that happened just an hour prior. And he said, quote, I heard it was a tough reception. You know, for Donald Trump, this is somebody who is in the middle of this Republican primary battle. and despite Mike Pence being his former vice president in the White House for four years, he takes delight in seeing his Republican rivals who are trying to take him down be beat up a little bit. And that crowd, it was telling that here in his home state of Indiana, that even there was a smattering of booze from a crowd that was supposed to be from here from his home state.

Quite the lineup of presidential hopefuls there, Vaughn. And Vaughn, we just got some breaking news, actually, about another rumor. presidential hopeful. What do we know? Yeah, this is notable. The former Secretary of State in the Trump administration, Mike Pompeo, just in the last few minutes, announcing that he will not run for the Republican nomination here in 2024. He will not join what is already a crowded field.

He had been making trips around the country, multiple trips to Iowa, playing the field to see whether he could potentially jump into this race or not. He was in Ukraine just two weeks ago. But he's saying that it was a private decision of his family to step away from this time. Of course, he would have been potentially facing several former cabinet members, including his own former boss, Donald Trump. It would have been quite a matchup, but he's going to step aside. Von Hilliard with the breaking news. Mike Pompeel, not running. Vaughn, thank you. We're also following that historic flood emergency in southeast

Florida. The region swamped by more than two feet of rain and some communities are still underwater. Authorities fielding more than a thousand calls for help during the disaster. Sam Brock is there for us. After life-altering levels of rainfall, Fort Lauderdale streets are still filled with parents treading through water and clutching loved ones closely. I mean, here, 22 years, so as the first time, I see this happen. The city counted more than 1,100 people who called for help. This is a disaster akin to a hurricane strike. I was scared for the family and everything else.

Luis Alvarez says the torrential turn of events ruined two cars and trapped him inside his house for two days. Water come up to first step, second step, third step, and it kept going halfway. Signs of distress everywhere. We are a day and a half removed now from the main event here in Fort Lauderdale. There are still people waiting through water in the streets. That's how bad it is. The historic level of rain, 26 inches and seven hours, left cars littered across the city and shut down the airport since Wednesday until finally reopening this morning.

Elsewhere, a record heat wave sweeping across the nation, 113 million people experiencing temperatures 15 degrees above average. New York even hitting 90 degrees for a second day in a row. The incoming showers should provide relief, while in Florida relief came in a different form. Stephen Finnegan, visiting from Ireland with his wife and two-year-old son, was trapped in rushing waters, then rescued by random strangers. Thankful for good people.

It'd make you question your own kindness. Lives saved by a flood of compassion. And Sam Brock joins us now live from Fort Lauderdale. Sam, remarkable to see all that water still there behind you. And you're with the fire department, right? Rescue operations are still continuing there tonight. They are. This is kind of a bird's eye view tonight, Gabe, as to what they're doing.

Look, in terms of life-threatening situations, folks here say that that's largely abated at this point. But there's still so many people right now that are either trapped in their homes, can't get to family members or are stranded on top of cars or need just supplies, medicine, other basics. or what they're doing right now, and this is both Fort Lauderdale Fire, and also the Dirty South Rescue Group, which is together working on this, reaching out to all of these folks through these high water vehicles, and you can just see over my shoulder right now how flooded this still is. We're talking four or five feet beneath me to reach this elderly population largely

to find out if they're okay, do they need to be reunited with their loved ones? And this will go on, I would imagine, Gabe, for the next couple of days, until all of this water finally receipts. Incredible pictures there, Sam. Hopefully that water receipts soon. Sam Brock in Fort Lauderdale for us. Thank you. And for more on that record-breaking heat that Sam mentioned, NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens joins me now. So, Bill, what is the latest on the temperatures?

Head-scratching day. So if I was to ask you, where do you think the warmest temperature in the entire country was today? I could give you probably like 40 guesses, and you would never say Connecticut. But Windsor-Lock's Connecticut was 95 to 96 degrees today. And that's the hottest spot. That's hotter than Death Valley. That was hotter than Phoenix. That was hotter than anywhere in Florida or Louisiana.

and Texas. Pretty incredible stuff. All record highs. Almost every single city in New England broke a record high. There's that 91 in New York. Even Albany was at 89 degrees. Scranton was 90 degrees. I mean, it was just off the charts warm. So when is it going to cool down? So it's going to go back a couple degrees, but still well above average, even in through your Saturday, still near 80 in Indianapolis. Buffalo still in here 78. But near the ocean, we'll get a little breeze coming off the water. So Boston, Providence, Hartford, New York, down along the Mid-Atlantic. noticeably cooler. Not as cool as it should be for middle of April, but cooler. And then one more relatively mild day on Sunday, and then finally we'll clear everything out. The other thing we have to

watch, severe weather. We're returning to typical April values. We're central portions of Kansas. We do have a chance of some isolated severe storms tomorrow, a larger threat for Missouri to Little Rock. Even St. Louis, large hail is the threat with that. So as far as the weekend forecast goes, that's the thing to watch, severe storms in the middle of the country. Thankfully, though, for our friends in Fort Lauderdale, you have a relatively dry week. weekend ahead. You need it. That is some small bit of good news, Bill. Thank you. Now to the arrest in the leak of classified documents, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsmen appearing in court today charged under the espionage act. But his friends now say the airman

did not intend to be a whistleblower. NBC's Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent, Andrew Mitchell, has the latest. Jack Tashara, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman in federal court. The alleged source of that massive intelligence leak, facing multiple charges under the Espionage Act of possessing and sharing classified documents. His family there for support, his father heard saying, I love you, Jack. He replying, I love you, too, as he stood accused of one of the largest leaks of top secrets in years.

A day after he was on his back porch when an FBI tactical squad surrounded his home, ordering the gun enthusiast out with his hands up, accelerating the arrest after media reports named him. Investigators say to Chera started sharing classified information with online male friends, many of them teenagers. In a private chat group, he named Thug Shaker Central on Discord as early as December 2022. Becoming concerned, he might be discovered transcribing documents at work. He started taking them home to photograph and began posting them in January.

Eric Toller of Bellingat was the first to publicly identify Tashara. Was he trying to show off to these younger guys? especially the teenagers. Yeah, I mean, I think that's probably the motivation. You know, when you hear some hot gossip about your friends or someone you know, you have this, it's like a, it's burning inside it. You want to tell someone as fast as you can, right? Everyone's had that happen to them, except for his hot gossip was classified documents.

Members of the chat group say Tachara was not a whistleblower, did not intend for the secrets to go beyond their small group. It's from a patriotic, deeply religious family. Neighbors were shocked. I heard the name, and I was like, you kidding me? I know this guy. Good kid, had a good head on the shoulders, wanted to join the military. Just the fact that he would have access to it, surprises me.

Surprising indeed, and Andrea Mitchell joins us now. Andrea, from the timeline in the affidavit, it seems like the feds were behind the New York Times and the Washington Post in identifying this suspect. Well, the feds deny that. They say they were on to him already. But when you look at the timeline, the Washington Post went up with a story on him on Wednesday night, the 12th. The New York Times named him on Thursday morning the 13th, and that did accelerate the arrest. So at that point, an FBI tactical squad went to his house and surrounded it to arrest him. They may have had other plans to arrest him and keep surveilling him and going to his base, in fact, and picking it up there.

But, in fact, they did accelerate the arrest. They said they were on him. Actually, Bellingat was the first. They had looked on Discord. They were onto him on the online chat. The Washington Post was next. The Times was the last to get on it. Andrew Mitchell, thank you for more on the damage done by this leak.

And what it means for the intelligence community, I want to bring in former CIA officer Mark Polymeropoulos. He's also in NBC News, National Security and Intelligence analysts. So, Mark, in the last 15 years, we've had other major leaks, of course, notably from Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning were no lessons learned there. Well, sure, there's always lessons learned, and there are always things that can be put into place to try to mitigate, you know, some of these security issues. But you have to remember, in the end, you know, these individuals who gain top secret clearances go through background checks, and inevitably there's a level of trust that we put in someone. And so while we can put in a lot of mechanisms, and I think you'll see more than that now, certainly congressional calls to do so, remember, you know, humans are frail, and some people.

Sometimes bad apples get through. I think we really have to take a look at the background investigation of this individual as well as, you know, what his fellow colleagues were saying about him over the last year or two because something certainly went wrong. And I think that's where a lot of the focus will be what happened in the recruitment and the onboarding and, of course, the current access is to this individual. And, Mark, you mentioned those mechanisms that could be put in place. Well, these documents were initially leaked to a private Discord chat.

Do you think that the Pentagon realistically has the capability and the resources to keep tabs on those fringe corners of the Internet? So that's a tremendous question because, you know, look, I spent 26 years at CIA, and you do give up some personal freedoms. You know, you go through things like polygraph exams and background investigations and, you know, you have financial disclosure requirements. But when it comes to doing things such as not only monitoring your social media, which can be done, but then actually monitoring the private chat rooms you get into, you start going between these security practices and privacy concerns. And I think there's going to be a lot of Americans really on both sides of the spectrum who are going to blanch at that. And so, you know, there's not much you can do other than provide warnings, you know, talk about the sanctions that someone would get. but ultimately it goes back to hiring into those that we believe we can trust.

And, you know, every once in a while, someone does get through. Don't forget, this individual, it looks like, had these clearances. He was young, but he was in a legitimate intelligence unit. He might have had actually the need to know some of this information. We're not sure yet. But ultimately, it's a matter of trust, and he certainly violated it. Mark, thank you. Turning now to the Department of Justice announcing today charges against El Chapo's Cina law

drug cartel, the largest and most influential violent fentanyl trafficking operation in the world. Now, among those caught up in the cartel crackdown, the sons of the infamous El Chapo. Julia Ainsley reports. Tonight, the Justice Department charging 28 individuals, including members of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel and sons of the notorious drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, and a sprawling fentanyal traffic investigation. Today, the Justice Department is announcing significant enforcement actions against the largest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.

The indictments targeting every part of the fentanyl supply chain from Chinese chemical companies to a broker in Guatemala and a weapons dealer in the U.S. Among those charged, four of El Chapo's children, Ivan Guzman Salazar, Alfredo Guzman Salazar, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez. Also known as the Chapitos, they're thought to have taken up operations of the cartel after their father's arrest. Attorney General Merrick Garland going on record with allegations of some of the cartels more brutal tactics. They have fed some of their victims dead and alive to tigers belonging to the Chapitos. The charges unsealed in the Southern District of New York, the Northern District of Illinois, and the District of Columbia include fentanyl trafficking, weapons, and money laundering charges.

But even as the American government makes progress on one end, a power vacuum left by El Chapo's arrest made room for the rise of a new cartel. Cartel Halisco Nueva Gennaracion or the C.J. NG. led by Namicio Ruben Osogrera-Servantes, known as El Mencho's cartel has earned a particularly brutal reputation. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez traveled to Halisco just as the cartel began to assert its dominance and spoke to this man who says his son was killed. by the C.J&G and his ranch taken over for meth production. You say the government doesn't do anything about it. They say that goviano. No, he says the government can't handle them. And in effort to change that, the Biden administration also announcing its increasing cooperation with Mexico's federal government. Together, we renewed our commitment to working closely in the fight against fentanyl and firearms trafficking. A commitment that will be necessary since three of the four Chapitos

charged are still at large. And Julia Ainsley joins us now from D.C. And Julia, how is this cooperation agreement between the U.S. and Mexico going to work? Well, Gabe, you know yourself. You made a cameo there in that piece. Just how incredibly violent, what an uphill battle there is to climb between Mexican officials and the U.S. officials. We know that Mexican officials were here yesterday meeting with the Biden administration.

They're trying to work out this deal where Mexico would share more information. on fentanyl where it's manufactured, and the forensic accounting is what I'm told exactly how this money is being shared throughout these cartels to help the U.S. try to do more cooperation to stop fentanyl before it crosses the border. But on the other hand, in all of these conversations, Mexico has a sticking point. They say if fentanyl from Mexico is killing Americans, we are pointing to American guns coming southbound killing Mexicans. And so ATF here in the U.S. as alcohol, tobacco, and firearms has committed to doing more to track illegal gun trafficking headed southbound. But really, Gabe, the proof will be in the pudding to see how much the

government is really able to give the Mexican government to the U.S. government in terms of intelligence sharing. As you know, three of the four Chapitos are still at large. Yeah, that's right, Julia. As you know, a lot of tension in that political relationship for a very long time. Julia Aisley, thank you. And still ahead tonight, the desperate search, a mother in Minnesota, Last seen two weeks ago with her ex-boyfriend, what her sister told top story about the search and the latest statement made by that ex. Plus, the new video showing a semi-truck dangling off a five-story overpass in Pittsburgh. What were learning about the driver and what caused them to nearly go off that highway. And banning TikTok?

Montana lawmakers just passing a bill that would block residents in the state from downloading the popular app. So is it expected to become law? The action the app is now taking. Stay with us. We're back with new details and the murder of a cash app founder Bob Lee, a suspect in court for the first time today. And now new court documents allege the men were arguing about the suspect's sister. Miguel Almaguer has the latest.

Inside a San Francisco courtroom today, murder suspect Nima Momeni ordered held without bond as new court documents tie the IT consultant to tech titan Bob Lee the night of his murder. Police say cameras at Millennium Tower show both men leaving the luxury high rise in a BMW like this, driving to a dark and secluded area after 2 a.m. After standing on the sidewalk, the subject appears to move suddenly toward the other subject. Lee staggers away, the BMW leaves at a high rate of speed. We are trying to piece together moments in time across many, many hours of that night. Any evidence that shows Mr. Lee, Mr. Momeni, apart or together are relevant. Stabbed three times, including in the heart, video obtained by Daily Mail.com, shows Lee trying to flag down help.

Police say the evidence points to a confrontation over the suspect's sister, Khazar Momeni, who came to court today with her husband. Kazar Momeni lives at the millennium, where police say Lee spent an hour and a half the night of his murder. There was a conversation between Mr. Lee and Mr. Momeni regarding Mr. Momeni's sister and some concerns, it sounds like. Tonight, police now have a blood spattered kitchen knife. The suspect's attorney says the facts will come out.

Miguel Almegare, NBC News, San Francisco. Cisco. And now to an update in the case of missing 26-year-old Madeline Kingsbury. Her ex-boyfriend, a police say, is the last person to see her alive, now publicly speaking out for the first time since her disappearance two weeks ago. Valerie Castro spoke to Madeline's sister about her disappearance and the ongoing search efforts. Tonight, a missing mother of two in Minnesota, thousands searching for any sign of her, while her ex-boyfriend, officials say the last person to see her alive, finally breaking his public silence, saying he had nothing to do with her disappearance. Her family desperate for answers. It's so unlike her, there's like zero chance that she would

have just walked away. The longer that this goes on, we're like, gosh, like where the heck could she be? Police saying there's certain 26-year-old Madeline Kingsbury is in danger. We believe Maddie's disappearance is involuntary, suspicious, and we are all concerned for her safety. Adam Fravel, the father of her children, telling police, he and Kingsbury dropped their children off at daycare the morning of March 31st before returning home. Fravo later left for a period of about three and a half hours in Kingsbury's minivan, telling police that when he returned, she was nowhere to be found. Inside the residence investigators located Maddie's phone, the jacket she had been wearing earlier in the morning along with her wallet and

ID. Fravel's attorney saying his client is not involved in the disappearance after community speculation about his seeming lack of involvement in the search. Obviously, he's missing the mother of his two children. Fravel releasing a statement saying he stayed out of the public eye on the advice of law enforcement due to safety concerns, adding his quote, silence has been inferred by many as a sign of apathy or worse. A public safety official telling NBC News, quote, I am not aware of any law enforcement advising Mr. Fravel not to attend news conferences or search for Madeline. Adam has been consistent with law enforcement from the first time he sat down with him that he didn't have anything to do with Maddie's disappearance. Police have not named Fravel or anybody as a person of interest in the case.

Their children, ages five and two, now in the care of child protection workers. Court records show Fravel does not have custodial rights to the children. They were taken from his care since Kingsbury's disappearance. the petition citing in part the possibility of, quote, exposure to criminal activity in the children's home. Fravel's attorney says he's now fighting that court order while Kingsbury's family continues their search. Is there anything you'd like to say to whoever might be responsible for her disappearance? We feel like something like this doesn't stay hidden forever, you know, all the, all the details and all the truths in there. So we would just, you know, ask this person or

persons to just come forward and tell somebody where she's at or what happened to her. You know, it's cruel to put anybody through something like this. So we just, yeah, we just want to know where she's at. And the Kingsbury family says the fight to find Madeline is not over, but as you can imagine, they are traumatized, saying in a statement they continue to advocate and search for Madeline, sleep if it comes is fleeting. Police say they are not planning any other large-scale searches with the public. Gabe? Valerie, thank you.

And when we come back, the deadly home explosion. A home leveled in a blast in Massachusetts, at least one person pulled from the rubble. The details next. Back now with Top Stories News Feed. with a deadly home explosion in Massachusetts. Authorities say a two-and-a-half-story home was leveled in a fiery blast. Crews working through the morning to put out the flames.

Neighbors pulled a woman from the debris and she's now in stable condition at the hospital. However, her 79-year-old mother died. An investigation into the cause of the explosion is underway. An update tonight in the January shooting of a Virginia teacher by a six-year-old student. Police formally arresting the student's mother, Deja Taylor, after she surrendered to authorities at the local jail. This coming after Monday's announcement, she's facing charges of felony, child neglect, and a misdemeanor count of endangering a child by failing to properly store her gun. Police say the student used his mother's gun in the shooting. And a dramatic scene over Interstate 70 outside Pittsburgh, chopper video showing a semi-truck dangling off a five-story high high.

highway overpass his crews worked to pull it back onto the road. The crash dumping thousands of pounds of cardboard onto the ground below. The driver walked away from the collision with just scratches, but state police saying he will be cited for failure to control the truck along the curve. Montana lawmakers taking the further steps yet by a state government to restrict TikTok. The Montana House of Representatives passing a bill banning downloads of the popular app. That bill now on the governor's desk, and he is expected to sign it. The legislation does not ban use of TikTok for people who already have it downloaded. All this is federal lawmakers and even the Biden administration raise concerns about TikTok's parent company and its potential ties to the

Chinese government. TikTok is vowing to try and prevent the bill from becoming law. And staying in tech news and the latest features being rolled out by Twitter, users who pay for a subscription to Twitter Blue can now tweet up to 10,000 characters. That's a major shift from the 280 character limit users have had for years. Subscribers can also tweet using bold and italic text formatting. Twitter expanding monetization as well. Users will now be able to pay for subscriber-only content from their favorite creators. And we turn now to the Americas.

And the latest on the children who were separated from their parents, the U.S. southern border. Officially, it's believed more than 5,000 children were intentionally separated during the Trump administration under the controversial zero-tolerance policy. But advocates now say that number is higher and includes children who were actually born in the U.S.N.C.'s Jacob Sobrough spoke with one of them. It was something horrible. Like, we can't, I couldn't explain how he was feeling and I was feeling. It's the moment that haunted Juan Damien Tomas, for years. And so they said to you, what? We were going to get separated? After fleeing their home

in Mexico, he and his father crossed the U.S. southern border in November 2018, hoping to declare asylum when they were picked up by the Border Patrol. He was just 14 years old. Juan Damian says his father was sent to jail in Colorado for three months before being deported. In the meantime, for Juan Damien, a heartbreaking choice. I have three options, actually. I have the faster care, foster care. A group home will be adopted. There were none of options to be my my dad. Like thousands of other kids, Juan Damian was separated from his family at the Southern border as part of the Trump administration's controversial zero-tolerance policy. He chose the group home where he could be with other kids his age. Everyone was crying.

He was at all my age. They were like 16, 15. There was some like around eight years old. There was a lot of kids there. Then one final goodbye to his dad. He was crying the whole time, and I didn't want to cry because I don't want to make him more sad about it. And I'll tell him, like, I'll try my best to be good and everything. And I tell him to not worry about me. Like, I'm going to see him one day either way. One day, one day I'll see him. Because I'm seeing him now about five years now.

You haven't seen him since that moment. But Juan Damien is not undocumented. He's a U.S. citizen born in Alabama to parents who crossed the border illegally. Advocates say Juan Damian is one of hundreds of American kids who were also separated from their parents beyond the roughly 5,500 foreign-born children previously reported, some of whom we saw firsthand at the time. People in here are locked up in cages, essentially what looked like animal kennels. I don't know any other way to describe it. To this day, the exact number of American kids is still unknown. We don't know how many we're living in all of the border areas of California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico. Is it possible that they weren't keeping track at all?

That is very possible. Paige Chan is the executive director of Together and Free, a nonprofit that hopes to track down and provide relief to what they say could be a thousand U.S. citizen children separated from their parents by the Trump administration. The Biden administration has reunited over 600 foreign-born children with their families and is still worth. working to reunite hundreds more. Chan says that number should be higher, but American kids aren't yet eligible for the same type of help. This finite group that you've discovered, U.S. citizen children with non-citizen parents are not eligible to be reunited right now.

Yes, only because no one even knew that these families were being separated. Juan Damien lived in three different group homes in Arizona before attending high school in Los Angeles. He's now 20 working at Burger King and has enrolled in community college. He hopes a federal court will order the Biden administration to provide relief to him and other U.S. citizen children separated from their parents by the Trump administration and helped bring him one step closer to his dream. His family reunited, living together with him in the city of Angels. I don't think many people would be able to do what you're doing right now to share your story. How do you do it?

Well, I do it from my family. Actually, I do it from my love from my family because I know this, I just, if they're not here, I still feel their love. They never give up on me. Either way, they're not here. And it doesn't sound like you're giving up on them either. No, I never ain't going to give up on them. Jacob Soberoff, NBC News. And when we come back, France's pension ruling,

the country's high court approving a controversial increase to the national retirement age after weeks of violent protest. How the nation is reacting next. To cover the news, you have to be in it. We'll take you to the front lines of the story, bringing your news feed to live. Streaming live every night. It's your news playlist. Top Story with Tom Yamas, weeknights at 7 on NBC News Now.

Back now with Top Story's Global Watch and a new report on the number of children crossing the dangerous Darian Gap. According to UNICEF, nearly 10,000 miners have tried to cross the 37-mile lawless jungle between Colombia and Panama in the first two months of 20. That is seven times higher than the same period last year. The U.N. also says as many as 400,000 people could make the crossing this year. And a major development in France, the country's Constitutional Council approving an unpopular plan to raise the retirement age to 64. Demonstrations erupting again today in France, as we've reported the legislation has sparked mass protests across the country for three months. In Paris, authorities say at least 30 fires were started and more than 100 people were arrested today. And this next story is not for those afraid of heights.

Take a look at this. BMX writer and Red Bull writer Chris Kyle doing several tricks on a skate park that has suspended 2,000 feet in the air. A BMX bowl being flown using one of the world's largest hot air balloons. The Scottish athlete waited 11 months for the perfect. conditions to do the stunt, but he was successful in proving the sky is the limit. Wow. Well, when we come back, a look at what you can binge watch and listen to this weekend. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel returns for its fifth and final season, plus the new comedy

about jury duty and new music from the one and only Celine Dion. And we're back now with Bidgworthy, our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. And we're joined now by Ralph Ralfi Aversa. He's the host, USA Today's host, of Entertain This, and Ralfi, thanks so much for joining us. I just met you just now. Gabe, my pleasure, likewise. Yeah, you're from Niagara Falls? Yes, yeah, Western New York originally.

Big Bill's fan, to be honest. It's not that you asked, but of course I'm going to volunteer that information. Of course you are. excited to get into binge-worthy. You know, so am I. Every time. It's one of my favorite parts of the show right here. And, you know, there's a lot to get to this weekend.

We have the marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime. It's back for its fifth in final season. So here's a look at the trailer with some places that will be very familiar to us here in New York. Ah, too much talking. Boy, are you in the wrong family, kid. Not one person who's ever accomplished anything of worth in life has ever been. happy? It's two steps forward, three steps back, and I'm tired of it. This is it. So, of course, it's a huge show, huge following, great trailer, lots of familiar sights. Is this season as good

as the previous ones, or has this show jumped a shark? Well, it's so tough for every, any TV show, really, to maintain that level of greatness that Maisel had from season one throughout. But that said, you look at the amount of awards that this show has won, including, of course, Rachel Brosanan and Tony Shalube. They've each won Emmys for their roles. I've spoken with both about this upcoming series. Rachel telling me she really cherished her time with the cast and crew on set. She also said, speaking of these familiar sites throughout the city, got a little more difficult as a show got more popular for them to film throughout New York City, but they love doing so nonetheless. Tony says this is going to go out on a high note. So I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I haven't had a chance to watch the first couple episodes, which are out this weekend on Amazon Prime Video. Well, certainly a lot of anticipation for that. We have to catch it. Now, we have another series back for a final season. Barry, the comedy drama starring Bill Hader on HBO Max. Let's take a look. I think I might be in a lot of trouble. You're irredeemable. What do I do?

Hank, this is your chance. It's our chance. Bill Hater's amazing. Love that guy. But, you know, this season, the series seems to get progressively more dark. What do you make of this season? Is it going to live up to the hype? Well, it's going to get more dark. Matter of fact, talk about places that's going to, literally going to a real prison in California. That's where they shot some of the scenes. Bill Hader was telling us about some of that, and, you know, they're moving people who are in cells next door out of there so he can film scenes. He did tell us, though, that it was really satisfying writing the ending of this. So fourth and final season, didn't close the door on any spinoffs, but.

Because he directs more episodes of this one, right? Yeah, and he co-created it. He co-created the series, of course, as well. All right. Well, moving on. Next, tomorrow is the 10-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. And Netflix has a new three-part docket series called American Manhunt, the Boston Marathon bombing. That takes a look back on the events following that tragedy. Here's a clip. Everyone is now scrambling to understand what exactly happened. Here, we know what else could happen. The challenge was we didn't know what or who we were looking for. What I was facing was the most important.

intensive investigation that the Boston Police Department had ever conducted. This has the potential to be a terrorist attack, so the FBI will be happy to take the lead in this investigation. We will find out who did this. No, when I first saw this trailer coming out, it was chilling, but I could not believe that it had been 10 years already. What do you make of it? Well, yeah, obviously, when you think back 10 years ago, you remember the manhunt for the Sarnaev brothers, absolutely. And as a sports fan, we were talking about sports earlier, but on a bit of a heavier note, you remember that whole scene, you know, in Fenway Park with the Red Sox coming back to play,

and David Ortiz, Big Poppy, saying this is our, I won't repeat the word that he said, town. And just what an emotional moment that was. It really galvanized the entire country. Well, certainly that docuseries looks great. And there's another docus series, a drama series, actually, this time on Showtime. It's based on another historical event called Waco the Aftermath. Let's take it with it. Waco has done something to them. It's united them. I know.

I've said too much. We helped create the monster. We're trying to stop. So I remember watching Waco unfold a long time ago when I was a kid. Early 90s. So how does this series stack up? This is something that's been talked about for decades, so much of the culture in this country.

especially around that time, was based on Waco. What do you think of the high points here? Well, first of all, some of the actors that are involved in it, John Liguizamo, and of course we saw Michael Shannon there as well. Michael Shannon, he could act out the phone book for crying out loud, and I would tune into it, whether you're talking about the current war with Benedict Cumberbatch, and you're talking about Boardwalk Empire as well. He is absolutely incredible, and I do think that we have kind of like this thirst for these

series, these limited series, as this is, that are based on historical events, so I think this will be a must watch. Yeah, there seem to be more and more of them coming out. Now, switching gears, we have a free-vie comedy series. You can watch on Amazon Prime. It's called Jury Duty, and it follows the workings of a jury through the eyes of one juror who is unaware that the trial is actually fake and that his colleagues are actors. Let's take a look at that.

How long does this moment I take it from you? I'm a recognizable public figure. Respectfully, I don't recognize you. You're number 54? I'm so happy to be here. I'm going to be upset if I don't get on the jury. Me? Ready, guys?

Here we go. All right, so this is pretty absurd. So stream it or skip it? Well, I'm going to stream it, and here's why. When I first heard that there was a series called jury duty, I went back to the 90s film with Pauly Shore that for some reason I saw in theaters as a kid. It was amidst all the OJs. We were talking about it on said, actually, before we started the segment.

And so I think just from watching, the trailer. This show, a little different, probably a little funnier than that movie was, to be honest. So it is absurd, as you said. I'm definitely going to tune in. All right. Well, the last thing on our watch list is a movie that was popular in the theaters. And here on Top Story, you can now watch on Peacock. Cocaine Bear can now be streamed along with the... Wait a minute. What? There's a documentary on Cocaine Bear. You know it's based on a real event that happened in the mid-80s. I did not know that until just now. But you can stream this on the mothership.

Peacock, let's take a look at a clip. No, no, no, no, no, don't eat that. Don't eat that. Let's see what kind of effect that has on. A bear did cocaine. All right. I do remember watching some of the coverage on Top Story when Cocaine Bear came out.

came out. But as one of our producers, Sarah, just got on my ear and said that they did a whole report on Top Story. I missed it that night on the real story behind Cocaine Bear. So I am going to go out and I'm going to watch this documentary. But tell me, what do you make of it? Is it a movie at least right? I mean, Ray Leota is it. The late Ray Leota, you got it at least once. We gave it three out of four stars when it hit theaters and now it's on Peacock. Come on. No spoilers here. But the documentary focuses on that story behind Cocaine Bear, not the actual. bear. Yes. Did you get to see it? I have not gotten to see it yet, so I'm probably going to stream it on Peacock now that it's easy enough to do that. Yeah, there you go. And again, we gave

it a great review with Ray Leota in it as well. I mean, I will tell you that the bear doesn't do in real life what it did in the movie. I won't, you didn't want a spoiler, so I won't go any further, but there. All right. Well, moving on now to music. Selim Dion is out with a new song, the first since she revealed her neurological diagnosis. It's called Love Again. It's called Love Again. and she wrote it for a movie by the same name. Let's take a listen. You might think you need to give up, but you don't. Because you don't have to move her mountain, just keep moving.

Every move is a new emotion. And you don't have to find the answer. Just keep trying. The sun will rise again. Storms subside again This is not the end And you will love again What a powerful voice

I mean Celine Dion It's amazing, especially after a medical diagnosis What do you think, you know, what's the highlight of this song for you? Well, just the fact that she's back and she has a new song A, B, the project that it's tied to Because speaking of first for Ms. Dionne, this is her first She plays a fictionalized version of herself in this movie as well. So not only do we get a new song, but we get to see Celine on the silver screen. Looking forward to that.

Yeah, a creative genius. It's good to see her back and doing well. Finally, Post Malone is out with a new song. This one is chemical. Here's some of that. It's out of a party smoking in the car with you. Seven nation army fighting at the ball with you. Say that I'm sorry.

Tell me what I got to do. Because the chemical, it's a chemical. It's a catchy chorus right there. Is this a, you know, heading into summer? Summer song? I would say early contender for Song of the Summer. this is a first listen, no doubt about it, earworm, absolute smash. If you're an artist like Post Malone and you're getting ready to drop your fifth studio album,

which is highly anticipated, you want a song like this to start things off, and that's what it is for him. Also, fun fact, Mick Jagger credited for playing Maracas on the song. I still haven't found out if Post cleared a sample or if Mick actually went into the studio to play, but regardless, he's on the credits. Well, sounds amazing, something to listen to. into the weekend and into the summer. Ralphie Aversa, thank you so much for joining us.

The USA Today's host of Entertain This. Thanks again for joining Top Story. Appreciate it. And thank you for watching Top Story. For Tom Yamis, I'm Gabe Gutierrez in New York. Stay right there. More news now. He's on the way.