Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, February 7, 2025

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

Breaking news as we come on the air, it appears that missing plane in Alaska has crashed. Moments ago, authorities announcing they have found what they believe is the wreckage of a bearing aircraft that disappeared from radar with 10 people on board. The late breaking details on what was found inside that crashed plane. Also breaking tonight, President Trump saying on Truth Social that he is immediately revoking the security clearance for former President Biden. Trump writing, quote, Joe, you're fired. And it comes as President Trump is pressed on what's off limits to Elon Musk as his Doge team now takes aim at the education apartment.

Time magazine's new cover showing Elon Musk at the Resolute Desk, how Trump is responding. Shocking news from New Orleans, a woman arrested after a sports reporter was discovered dead while covering the Super Bowl. Police say she was seen leaving his hotel room, what we're learning. The nonstop storms targeting the northern tier of the country, heavy snow and crippling ice to blast more than 70 million Americans over and over again, Bill Karen standing by. And what a catch, the largest shark ever tagged by researchers spotted again off the coast of Florida. Betting big on the Super Bowl, will a touchdown or a Taylor Swift live shot happen first? What about the Gatorade color splashed on the winning coach? We're breaking down this year's biggest wagers and the caveat for those who take home some money.

Plus, the alarming news study on the risks of heavy marijuana use. Top story. It starts right now. And good evening. We are following breaking news as we come on the air, the Coast Guard saying they have located an aircraft matching the description of the small plane that disappeared over the Bering Sea in Alaska. This image, you can see it here, just posted of the wreckage. Again, it's not officially confirmed this is the same plane. We know the Bering plane was carrying 10 people, including the pilot, when it dropped off of radar. The flight was traveling from the small village of Unalaklet, around 2.30 local time, 2.39 local. It was heading to the city of Nome when roughly 40 minutes into the flight, it vanished.

In a moment, you'll hear the panicked audio from air traffic control. Unfortunately, Alaska is known for its aviation disasters. Air travel is the main source of transportation to 80% of Alaska's villages. According to the CDC from 1990 to 2015, of all the aviation accidents in the U.S., more than a third of those occurred in Alaska. The plane's disappearance is the third major aviation incident in the U.S. in just eight days, right? It comes after the American Airlines flight and the U.S. Army helicopter collided, killing everyone on both the health. helicopter in the plane. NBC News aviation correspondent Tom Costello joins us tonight with the breaking news. Yeah, Tom, this news is breaking as we come on the air. The Coast Guard reporting

that they have just identified what appears to be the remains of this plane, 34 miles southeast of Nome, Alaska in what looks like a snowy, icy field. Three people on board were discovered and they're deceased. No word on the other seven who were on board. In the vast expanse of the Bering Sea off Alaska, around the clock search for a small commuter plane headed north. Low altitude alert, Bering Air 445, check your altitude immediately. It was 3.18 p.m. Thursday when Bering Air Flight 445 suddenly went off radar roughly 12 miles offshore. No emergency locator transmissions from the plane. At noon today, the Coast Guard announced search teams have spotted something.

time there has been some sort of item of interest that has been identified by another aircraft. The Cessna Grand Caravan was flying to Nome, Alaska with nine passengers and a single pilot. The Nome Fire Department posting that the pilot told controllers he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared. Time lapse video shows to conditions snow, ice, and 50 mile per hour winds. There's zero visibility. Basically, you can't see anything from. the air or the ground. Aviation experts say the pilot could have become disoriented in bad weather

or hit severe icing conditions. This aircraft experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed. Today the FBI joined the search using technology to detect cell signals. Alaska Governor Dunleavy writing he and his wife are heartbroken by the disappearance of the bearing air flight over Norton Sound. It comes after a string of aviation disasters. That American Eagle Regional Jet and an Army Black Hawk Chopper collided in Washington, 67 dead, and a MEDAVAC jet crashed in Northeast Philadelphia a week ago, seven dead. The NTSB and FAA investigating all of the incidents.

The Alaska State Patrol also reporting that everybody on board was an adult. of Ken have, in fact, already been notified. Tom? Yeah, and still unclear what happened to those seven other victims. All right, Tom, we thank you for that. We also are following breaking news out of New Orleans and the Super Bowl. Police announcing arrest has been made after a young sports reporter was found dead in his hotel room. The 27-year-old was in the city to cover the Super Bowl for Kansas City's Telemundo Station. NBC Sam Brock has the late details. 27-year-old sports reporter and anchor Adon Manzano was found unresponsive in a hotel room according to police and later pronounced dead, though the cause of his death is still unknown.

A woman, Danette Colbert, is currently behind bars after authorities say they tracked her on surveillance video entering his hotel room early Wednesday morning. A short time later, the female left and it came back, and then by 6 a.m. she left and never returned. Law enforcement located Colbert in New Orleans late last night, then obtained a warrant for her residence, where they found Manzano's credit card, his cell phone, narcotics, and and a firearm, though they don't believe it's related to this case. Criminal history does include two instances where she drugged a victim. For now, she's being charged with property crimes, though police say that could change.

Manzano was profiled by a Kansas City station about a year ago talking about covering the Super Bowl. I used to dream about it, but I never expected that he was going to come that soon. The young Telemundo journalist and father lost his wife in a car accident last year. He was raising their daughter alone. His Kansas City station posting in part on its website, Adon was a true professional and a rising star who exemplified excellence in his work. Even the local soccer team paying tribute saying he covered sporting KC and all sports in Kansas City with class and passion. Now questions mounting amidst a devastating development rocking the sports world and beyond. Sam Brock joins us now live in studio. Sam, what more do we know about the suspect?

You said she'd been arrested for this kind of thing before? According to police, she was, Tom, a career criminal that investigators and detectives in New Orleans had stopped her repeatedly and knew about the fact that she was defrauding and scheming to defraud people in very much the same way. They also said there's at least two examples of her drugging victims previously, one in 2022 in Nevada, one in Jefferson Parish, so in the New Orleans area within the last couple of years. Whether that is partly what happened here, we're going to find out, police say within the next 24 to 48 hours, they will know more about whether or not there was a drug-related aspect to all this. still conducting their investigation. And you feel for this young man, right? He lost his wife and he was somehow was able to pick up the pieces, went to the Super Bowl to report, and now he passed away. You can't imagine a circumstance under which someone would experience tragedy on this level or a family multiple times over, and that's what happened here. So he lost his wife

within the last year or so in a car accident, was raising his two-year-old daughter on his own with a help of family, and it was sort of just trying to achieve his dream, finally got to the Super Bowl, moved from Mexico City to Kansas back in 2018, was here living his dream, and this happened. That's terrible. Okay, Sam, we thank you for covering that for us. We do want to turn now to some other stories that were following, including the weather, which is going to be extreme in some situations,

communities in Tennessee and Kentucky, cleaning up after several dangerous tornadoes swept through overnight. Those twisters killing at least two people, ripping apart homes and downing massive trees. This has 80 million people nationwide brace for heavy snow, freezing rain and dangerous ice in the days, and really the week ahead. Kathy Park has the latest. Tonight, parts of the south were covering from terrifying tornadoes, some shredding homes apart

overnight. There's a tornado right over here. In Tennessee and Kentucky, six confirmed tornadoes, with an EF2 touching down east of Knoxville, killing two and injuring several others, including Richard Williams. He managed to survive, but barely. It just lifted the house. it just slung me everywhere he told us his ex-wife and his 22-year-old daughter lived next door and didn't survive the loved ones are the worst

everything else is material nearby this family took cover with just moments to spare we get in the tub the house is rattling deafening noise so three of you were hunkered down in that one tub yes my son I was on top of my son my My husband was on top of me. The extreme weather setting off tornado warnings across the state. Even putting this high school basketball game on pause. We are going to have a tornado delay. Other states also slammed by severe weather this week.

In West Virginia, heavy downpours flooded roads and stranded drivers. Look at. Coming right down off the mountain. While up north, a dangerous dose of snow and ice with more on the way. And back here in Tennessee for February, it is rare to see three tornadoes in one day when typically the state sees three tornadoes for the entire month. Officials confirming that everyone has been accounted for and the death toll likely won't climb. Tom? Yeah, those are some terribly sad interviews there as well, Kathy, those people you met in the tornado.

For more on the forecast, NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens joins us tonight. Bill, we are tracking that string of winter storms. Walk our viewers through what we could expect. Yeah, we'll take it through the first two and then we'll deal with the next. next week when it gets here. So fast-moving jet stream means fast-moving storms. That means we're not going to have big, huge monster storms, but we're just going to have one after another. So we have one, which is the red, and then the two is on Tuesday. Number three storm is going to be on Thursday, and then number four storm will probably be next weekend. So yes, and they're all a little different

positions, so they're all going to bring a little different flavor to them. So the first storm that we're dealing with this weekend. This is going to begin tomorrow morning with snow in the Northern Plains. Minneapolis, you're going to have a snow day on your Saturday heading into Wisconsin, and And then it looks like Saturday night is when the worst of it gets up into the northeast New England, and that's when the storm's a little bit stronger. So the blue shows you the snow, the pink. Watch out more icy conditions, northern Ohio Valley, north of I-70 as we go through Saturday. And then Saturday night, stay off the roads, New York City, into Connecticut, like 8 p.m.

the midnight. We could get like 1 to 2 inches per hour. Even the main roads won't be able to keep up with the plows and the salt. So it's going to be very treacherous late Saturday night. Total about 4 to 6 inches, Minneapolis. It looks like New York City right around 2 to 4 inches, but locally up to 8 inches. Central and Southern New England gets the bullseye of this weekend storm. And then the next one is going to be Tuesday into Wednesday.

This does not look to be a powerful storm, but it's kind of large. It's going to have a big footprint of light snow from Kansas City to St. Louis and then eventually Washington, D.C. to Philly to New York. This doesn't look like to be like a huge big blockbuster storm, Tom. But the timing, obviously, during the middle of a work week and school week, will make it difficult for a lot of people all the way from the Midwest, towards the East Coast. And as I mentioned, there's more right behind that. Yeah, those snow days are adding up as many parents out there know. All right, Bill, we appreciate

it. We also have some breaking news from the White House. Late today, President Trump sharing on Truth Social that he will be immediately revoking the security clearances of former President Biden. And tonight, Trump facing more criticism for how much of a role Elon Musk is playing in the government. Senior White House correspondent, Garrett Haak, has it all tonight. Tonight, President Trump with the Japanese Prime Minister, as his administration intensifies its effort to carry out his campaign promise to slash federal government spending. Elon is doing a great job. He's finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste.

Now saying he'll direct Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to look for wasteful spending at the Department of Education and the Pentagon. Is there anything you've told Elon Musk he cannot touch? Well, we haven't discussed that much. tell him to go here, go there, he does it. We have very smart people going in. So I've instructed him go into education, go into military, go into other things as we go along. The bulk of federal spending is Social Security, Medicare, programs like that. Would you like to see him look at those programs as well? Well, they don't really have to be looked at by him. They can be looked at by

us. Social Security will not be touched. It'll only be strengthened. We have illegal immigrants on Social Security, and we're going to find out who they are and take them out. the Department of Education. What do you do here? Security responsibility. Get out of the way. Stopped from entering the building by a security guard. Donald Trump and Elon Musk must not and will not destroy the Department of Education on a whim.

Another Trump cost-cutting effort, that buyout for all federal workers has now been accepted by more than 65,000 employees, according to a White House official, though a judge has temporarily paused the program. And tonight, signs are coming down at the U.S. agency. for international development, which doles out foreign aid. As a federal judge late today, pressed pause on the administration's plan to place thousands of workers on administrative leave. That move would have left as few as 611 essential employees left. The White House says out of 10,000 just two weeks ago. When you look at USAID, that's a fraud. The Trump administration blasting the agency for what it calls wasteful spending, pointing to $2 million given to an organization for

gender-affirming health care in Guatemala and $13 million to put on a Sesame Street production in Iraq. It's perfectly appropriate to hit the pause button. If the Democrats want to be the guardians of permanent Washington in the abuse of taxpayer dollars, bring it on. Though Musk has also made many false claims about the USAID budget, and Democrats are slamming the cuts. Getting rid of AID makes us all less safe. It is also downright illegal. USAID supporters noting the agency provides food aid to 28 million children per year worldwide suffering from malnutrition and treats more than 5.5 million children every year with pneumonia. It's $40 billion budget less than 1% of federal spending overall. The agency previously praised by the First Lady. We want to show the

world that we care and I partnered and I'm working with the USAID. I'm not only lost my job. I've lost my life's work. Rose Zelliger is a USAID contractor furloughed last week. We are grieving for the thousands of people around the world who are dying as a result of these callous actions. Meanwhile, the president was also asked about that newly compiled list of all FBI agents involved in investigating January 6th cases, and if he's planning to fire them. No, but I'll fire some of them because some of them were corrupt. I have no doubt about that. Gary joins us live tonight again from the White House.

I know there's some other breaking news that you have tonight involving President Biden's security clearance. What do we know? Yeah, this is pretty extraordinary, Tom. Just a short time ago, the president posting on social media that he was revoking President Biden's security clearance and canceling his access to daily intelligence briefings saying that it was Biden who set the precedent to do this back in 2021 when he canceled then private citizen Trump's, former president Trump's, intel briefings and security clearances. really just the latest in a series of retaliatory steps that President Trump has taken against perceived political enemies. He's canceled security clearances for dozens of former intelligence officials, pulled portraits of military officials who he didn't like. It's interesting to see that he didn't do this kind of during the week when he was here in Washington and when he was in front of reporters,

but waited until basically he landed back in Florida tonight to make this announcement. And then there's an image that is circulating throughout social media and the mainstream media. as well tonight. It shows Elon Musk there behind the resolute desk. Talk to us about this, and has the president weighed in. It is an interesting image, and the president tried to laugh it off today when he was asked about it in the Oval Office, basically saying sarcastically, oh, is Time magazine still in print? Tom, I can tell you very much that the president knows that Time Magazine is still in print. He has both real and fake covers of Time Magazine with him on it displayed around Mar-a-Lago. He cares deeply about the way these things are coming.

covered in the mainstream press. You'll remember during the first Trump administration, how much the stories about Steve Bannon being a figure behind the scenes, you know, allegedly pulling the strings in the Trump administration, got under President Trump's skin. He's tried to laugh off similar stories about Elon Musk to date now three weeks in. But we'll see if that, you know, becomes more of a story in the future as, you know, past incidences have suggested that it may. Yeah, you can't steal a spotlight from the president. That is for sure. Okay. We always appreciate your reporting. Garrett, thank you. When we come back, new details on the bird flu outbreak. All live poultry markets in New York City and surrounding suburbs shut down. The new cases reported as the virus fuels and egg shortages, it's driving up prices for Americans. Plus, new body cam footage from inside those deadly wildfires in L.A. with firefighters faced as they arrived on the scene. And researchers spotting what's believed to be the largest shark ever tagged, the U.S. waters where that great white was spotted. Stay with us. We're back now with new details on the L.A. wildfires that ripped through the city a month ago.

New body cam footage showing the harrowing moments first responders arrived on the scene in Altadena, as new details reveal what may have caused the fatal fires. Here's NBC's Liz Croix. Tonight, body camera footage showing a glimpse into the harrowing evacuations as the Eaton fire exploded in Altadena. Police officers going door to door telling people to get out. Police department evacuate immediately. Officers rushing into this nursing home, rescuing several elderly patients before it went up in flames. Buildings on fire, man. We got to go. Yeah, go. One by one, rolling them out or picking them up.

I got you, there you go. Let's take them out. Hello? At a nearby elderly home, oh hi! This footage showing deputies discovering a 100-year-old woman, a little. inside. I've been trying to find a way out. Let's get you out here. But don't lose me. I promise I won't lose you. Don't worry. These dramatic videos highlighting the terrifying initial hours of the Los Angeles fires, which sparked one month ago today, killing 29 people and destroying thousands of homes. As investigators still look into the cause, SoCal Edison is now acknowledging in a new filing that videos like these appearing to show flames at the base of one of their transmission lines suggests a possible link between their equipment and the start of the

Eaton fire. But the utility also saying they still have an identified evidence to confirm their responsible. All right, Liz Kreutz joins top story tonight. Liz, we heard there about the Eaton fire. Talk to us about the Pacific Palisades fire and if we know a cause there yet. Yeah, Tom, no cause for either of those fires at this point. And it could take months before we really get those answers and some clarity. As far as the Palisades fire, the ATF continues to lead that investigation, and they're continuing to look into a variety of potential causes, including potential arson, and also whether it was that small brush fire that had ignited on New Year's Day near the Pacific Palisades, whether, in fact, although authorities had thought

that had been put out, whether it actually reignited and then spread because of those strong winds. Might have been still smoldering. Okay, we do want to talk about other things as we look at all that destruction there still in Los Angeles, right? The next step for residents and city leaders is the rebuilding effort, which will be a huge undertaking. And a lot of big. big names, big wallets are throwing their hats in the ring. Stay with us for a moment, Liz, while we walk our viewers through the major players involved here, because we think this is important. We have five sort of teams of people, if you will, right? First, there's Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has tapped Steve Soberoff as the chief recovery officer for her efforts. Soberoff, we should note,

of course, is NBC News correspondent, our good friend Jacob Soberoff's father. He's also a well-known real estate developer. Next is billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who ran against Mayor Bass in 2022, has launched a group he calls Steadfast L.A., among the high-profile business leaders joining him, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos. Okay, we've also got a team from Patrick Sunshong. He's the owner of the L.A. Times, who's putting together a leadership council to rebuild L.A. And at the state level, California Governor Gavin Newsom launching the L.A. Rises Commission with NBA legend Magic Johnson, the chairman of the Dodgers, who's also the chairman of the Dodgers,

and the organizer of the 2028 Olympic Games. So finally, on the federal level, President Trump has chosen his envoy for special missions, Richard Grinnell, to lead his rebuilding effort. He's a Republican diplomat who just got back from Venezuela. So, Liz, this is truly the Mount Rush more of highly influential leaders in business, politics, media, sport. I mean, there's all types of people here. But is this going to lead to a power struggle and essentially nothing getting done?

Yeah, I mean, Tom, when you lay it out the way that you just did, it's hard to imagine there's not going to be a power struggle here publicly when these groups have been asked about all these different groups. They're all sort of saying, oh, the more the merrier, we welcome everybody, public and private interests, all of that is good. And that may be, and I think a lot of residents probably feel like good. The more help we can get, the better. But there's a few things going on here. One is just the fact that L.A. County is massive. There's some 90 cities here, and so there's no one clear person that would lead this charge. L.A. Mayor Bass represents the Pacific Palisades area, but doesn't fully represent Malibu and does not represent Altadena.

So because of that, it opens the door to allowing all these different groups to come in. And there's also been a lot of skepticism, as you know, from covering it from some of the residents who have been critical of the elected officials, critical of Mayor Bass here. And so that's opened the door as well. And there's all these competing interests, political interests as well. Rick Caruso, who did run against Mayor Bass, has been one of the most outspoken critics of her. And it seems that as he's doing this sort of public initiative here, that he potentially has his own interest to run again for mayor here in L.A. or potentially even for governor, Tom. Yeah, a lot of politics here. Okay, Liz, we know you'll be covering it.

we return the new warning about the risk of marijuana use. Have you heard about this? Researchers discovering severe cannabis addiction is tied to a higher risk of death. What else we're learning about the serious health risks? Stay with us. Okay, we are back now with Top Stories News Feed in the latest on the ongoing bird flu outbreak. All live poultry markets in New York City and nearby suburbs order to close. after seven new cases of the virus were detected. The new cases discovered during routine inspections of the markets.

Governor Hockel saying there's no elevated health risk to the public, but it comes as bird flu contributes to an egg shortage and soaring egg prices. Look at that. The USDA now predicting egg prices will rise another whopping 20% this year. Okay, an update tonight on our reporting on the dangerous trend of nitrous oxide used

as a recreational drug. The family of a Florida woman now suing to halt sales of addictive nitrous oxide gas canisters. The lawsuit alleging Margaret Caldwell died last November due to a year's long addiction to the products. The colorful tanks with candy-like flavors can be sold at gas stations. Her family accusing the companies behind them

of using a loophole to sell them and says they are causing a, quote, national health crisis. Okay, just two days before the Super Bowl and illness spreading through the Philadelphia Eagles roster. Wright tackled Lane Johnson confirming four to five players fell sick since the Eagles left for New Orleans. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter was marked sick on the team's injury report. Cornerback Keionne Mitchell reportedly also having laryngitis.

The team says no players are expected to miss the big game over the illness. And we're going to have more in the Super Bowl later in the show. Researchers tracking what's believed to be the largest shark ever tagged off the coast of Jacksonville. Nicknamed Contender. Look at that guy. The massive male great white shark is 14 feet long, weighs more than 1,600 pounds. The research group Osech tracked down the shark last month off Florida's northern coast. Researchers attached to tracking device and took biological samples,

helping to contribute to shark conservation and research. Okay, we want to turn out a top story's health check and a new study warning about the death risk of heavy marijuana use. Researchers in Ontario conducting one of the largest studies on cannabis addiction, finding that people dependent on the drug are nearly three times, more likely to die than those without an addiction. Even increasing the rate of suicide, get this by 10 times. The new study raising alarms as an estimated 3 million Americans say they suffer from what's called cannabis use disorder. To break all this down, I'm joined tonight by Dr. Laura

Beirut. She's a psychiatrist at Washington University School of Medicine. She also wrote a follow-up to this study published yesterday calling cannabis addiction a growing public health threat. Dr. Byrout, thank you so much for joining us. A lot of people are going to to be watching this and thinking marijuana isn't addictive, right? But this research suggests not only is it addictive, but that addiction can be deadly. Can you walk us through what the study found? The study found that people who present to a hospital with cannabis use disorder have increased risk of death over the next five years. And this increased risk of death is over three times. And that's even after adjusting for all the potential confounding factors. So how do you know

If you know if someone's addicted to marijuana, you know, I mean, there's a phrase, a term used, you know, that someone is a burnout, say, right, that they use a lot of marijuana. How do you know someone is recreationally using too much marijuana versus they have a serious problem and they need to get help? It's the same way that we think about people having problems with alcohol. So there's a standard type of diagnostic procedure and individuals use more. They use more to get the same effect. They have difficulty with withdrawal. They have craving. And they use despite medical problems, problems with their relationships and problems with work. Marijuana is easier to get now than it has ever been because so many states have legalized marijuana. Is that contributing to this

problem? Yes, it is. So there are three things that we really know. One is cannabis use is on the rise. The second thing is cannabis is addictive. And now this study is really important because it It adds the component that people with severe cannabis use disorder have increased risk of death. When we talk about the addiction here, right? Is it an addiction similar to smoking or alcoholism where people need to wake up and they need that hit of nicotine or they need that drink? Is it like that or is it habitual? Is it different?

No, it's the same. We could think of the different substances, though, have different addictive qualities. So nicotine and heroin, we think of as the most addictive types of substances. Alcohol is also addictive, but it's less addictive than heroin and nicotine. And cannabis is really in the range of alcohol. Got it. And then I know there's another study that coincides with this linking marijuana used to what I'm reading here, psychosis and schizophrenia. What do we know about that connection?

What we know is that people who use cannabis, if they have a genetic, predisposition to schizophrenia. They have a younger age of onset of the schizophrenia. And it also now looks like it's pushing people over into schizophrenia that may not have developed schizophrenia if they didn't use cannabis. You know, doctors, some people may be really confused because they watch the news, they read the news, and in the push for the legalization of marijuana, people were saying that there are health benefits to marijuana, right? It can help people relax, people won't smoke. And I'm paraphrasing here, but they were making a lot of comparisons to alcohol and drunk driving and things like that. Was that all hogwash? Are there any health benefits to marijuana? Or was that

sort of deception to pass these laws to legalize the drug? Well, the benefits of cannabis, I would say, are modest at best. And if we think about it, they were the benefits talked about with alcohol several years ago. When people were saying, oh, a little bit of alcohol is good for you, reduces heart disease, everyone should have a glass of red wine. And now we know that that's really not the case and that alcohol really is causing more problems. What we're doing is we're in this public health period

where we need to look at the science. And what the science is telling us is cannabis is addictive and cannabis has adverse health consequences. You think this is going to hinder the legalization process because not every state, it's not legal, federally. there are still issues with marijuana use and the bind of marijuana. Do you think this is going to hinder some of those laws? You know, that's a political question.

And, you know, I think we should just be looking at the science of what's happening with this. And I'm hoping that our policymakers watch the science. There's no doubt in my mind that increased cannabis use is going to lead to increase adverse consequences and increased death. Dr. Byroo, we thank you for talking to Top Story tonight. We learned a lot, and we appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you very much.

Coming up, we're going to switch gears to a lighter topic and talk about the Super Bowl. Nearly 68 million Americans are expected to bet on the big game this year. So what are the most popular bets? Who's the favorite to win? And can you put your money on Taylor Swift making news? We're breaking down the numbers and also a lot of the risks, of course, including the taxes you could owe if you win big. Stay with us. All right, we are back now with the countdown to the big game.

This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday, and fans across the country are gearing up for a great game. The Philadelphia Eagles taking on the Kansas City Chiefs who are looking to become the first team ever to win three championships in a row. And this year, the betting on football's biggest night could also make history. Look at this. Nearly 68 million Americans are expected to bet on the big game, a Super Bowl record, spending a projected $23.1. billion dollars that's up seven billion yes billion since just last year so tonight top story has all your inclusive god to betting the super bowl i don't know about everything our friend brian chung is here to break down all the numbers he's the only journalist here who can do math so brian we appreciate that i mean look seven billion dollars that sheets out to me that's just stunning

but it shows you how easy the apps are and how many how much people are betting so what are the big bets for this game what are they looking like yeah it's just a download away right so that's the reason why. For a lot of people, this might even be the first time betting. But look, when it comes to the big lines, of course, it's about betting on the team that might win it all. So when you look at the Chiefs, they are the favorites to win this, a 120, which, by the way, I shouldn't mention just to kind of explain what these lines mean. Yeah, yeah, please do. You would have to put $120 in to win $100 net. So to get your $120 back plus $100, which means that for the Mahomes rushing for 25 yards, again, the quarterback for the NC's. So you bet $120, they win,

you get $100. On top of that, right? So for 171, you'd have to put $171 in to get $100 on top of that, which means if you see a plus sign in front of it, like Saquan Barclay scoring the first touchdown. Again, has to be the first touchdown. Plus 450 means that if you put $100 down, you would get $450 back on top of that. So the odds, if you could put that back up, right? So the bookmakers, Vegas, they think Saquan is not going to make the first touchdown.

Essentially, that's what this tells us. Because there's so many players on the field, too. First touchdown is a really, really difficult one to hit, but Sequan Barclay is obviously star. I just put $10,000 on that bet. That was a mistake. Yikes. All right, so talk about the prop bets, because this is how people sometimes have some fun and explain those.

Yeah, and especially for those that maybe aren't into the nuances of football themselves. You could bet on things like, for example, the gatorade that they're going to pour on the coach. So let's say, you can bet on the color. So, by the way, the favorite is yellow green, allegedly. I don't know that. I guess that's a popular Gatorade flavor. Also, who will appear with Kendrick Lamar, the rapper, who's going to be performing during the halftime show? Odds favorite are his cousin, Baby Keam.

And then this is a really fun one time. Well, Travis Kelsey proposed to Taylor Swift. I look this up because, again, I'm the numbers guy. The odds line actually got less favorable for betting this year compared to last year when the Kansas City Chiefs were also in the Super Bowl plus $9.50 last year, only plus $750 now. I'm going to give a little advice here. Let's go back to that last graphic, Brad. I'm going to show you this is my knowledge here. I don't think it's going to be red Gatorade because if Kansas City wins red, it's just I don't think it's going to look good.

I could be wrong, but I don't think so it's going to be red. What, you see orange in there? You see orange in there, but maybe that's, but will they do it again? I don't know. I don't know. And here on the, on the, uh, Kendrick Lamar, it's not going to be Lil Wayne. A lot of people are betting Little Wayne because it's Nola, but Little Wayne's with Drake. He's with Drake.

And they are beefing big time. I think not like us will absolutely be played. Yeah. All right. So anyways, that's your advice. We have no idea if it's right, but that's our take. Finally, talk to us about, I mean, and we're going to losing people's money here. But if you want to sort of group your bets together, right?

Parlay. That's what you call it, right? And now, parlay is the way that you can really maximize your winnings. Because let's say, for example, you put four, or your losses. Yeah, you could put four separate bets, right? I want to bet on Kansas City Chiefs winning. I want the Gatorade to be red, for example. Now, as separate bets, you'll win, you know, whatever the odds are.

But if you've grouped them together and both of those things hit, quote, unquote, hit, well, then you would get even more payout than if you had them as separate bets. So that's why for a lot of people that are watching the Super Bowl, I'm sitting down on my couch anyway, watching the whole thing. I might as well put it all on one ticket, try to increase the bet for the problem, Tom. Those are the hardest to win. If one of those legs goes plus, the whole thing goes. It's just like trying to pick the three winners in college football.

It's Saturday. It's impossible. What happens if you do win big, right? My 10K on Barclay getting that first touchdown, I win big. Do I have to pay taxes on that? You're asking about taxes? We're having a fun segment here, Tom. But you got it.

What if you win big? You come a parlay. So here we go. You have on line 8 form, 1040, Schedule 1. You will have to report your earnings on there. You're going to get a 1099 form from your online sports betting app from Draftings, How much you win? How much is the number, is it anything? Is it anything? If you win anything? I mean, it's basically anything. Yeah. When it comes to the reporting, it's all automated if you're using these sports betting apps. So you will get a form, which means that, you know, if you do hit it big. I know our colleague, Sam Brock was looking at hit hammering the over on A.J. Brown reception yards.

Okay. If you win, just remember, it's for 2024. So you wouldn't report that until next tax season next year. So anything that you're reporting this tax season would be for earnings from last year. So just, I got you. I got you. And if I lose it all, can I wash your car on Monday? Can you give me a few bucks? I'll keep we can talk thank you Brian Sean appreciate it man always great to have you yeah man and happy Super Bowl Sunday thank you too all right and as we're covering so many aspects of the Super Bowl tonight we are also using our whole top story studio to do it so we know football and betting go hand in hand but what about football and fashion I know don't don't roll your eyes just yet in recent years players who dominate on the gridiron they're also pushing the limits of fashion off the field donning signature looks on their way into the locker room I'm sure

seeing this, the conversions of fashion and sports, prompting the NFL to create, get this a new position this season, hiring its first ever fashion editor. 31-year-old Kyle Smith stepping into the role last fall, working with the players to find their helmet-off looks. Smith sat down with Top Story earlier today and told us he never imagined working for the NFL, and as a kid, he was more interested in reading Vogue and sketching out fashion looks than playing sports. But this weekend, he'll be at the center of the sports universe co-hosting the first ever Super Bowl red carpet, along with New Orleans State's defensive end, Cam Jordan, and Supermodel Olivia Colbull. You can watch it all on Tooby starting

at 3.30 Eastern this Sunday. They'll be breaking down all of the biggest players and celebrity arrivals. But before that, Smith joined us for a little top story red carpet of our own, giving us his takes on a few of the NFL's biggest names and their fashion. Let's take a listen. Joe Burrow, he's got a great sense of style. I might be a little biased because I do dress him and help him with his outfits. But I love that he loves to experiment. He's always willing to try things on. But he also says no to me a lot, which just to me says he really understands who he is

and how he wants to use fashion to express himself. Travis Kelsey, I love that he doesn't have a stylist. and you can really tell, and I feel like sometimes when someone has a stylist, there's this very, like, clean look that's happening. Sometimes with Travis, you're like, oh, I have never expected to put that together. Jalen Hertz is so cool. Oh, my gosh. I love watching his tunnel fits every week.

He's so well put together. You can tell he's really thinking about fashion, or maybe he's not. It just comes so naturally to him. Patrick Mahomes, his style, I think, has been the most consistent over the years in the few years that I've been following fashion in the league, but then also specifically him. He just, you know, he comes in ready for his game.

You can tell he just feels so confident in the clothes that he's wearing. Sequin Barclay, his fit. gets every week slay me. He has an amazing stylist named Josh McPherson that helps that helps Sequin, you know, put together these looks that every week they feel different, but they also feel so much like Sequin.

DeAndre Hopkins, this is his first year on the Chiefs, and I think he really blends in well, because the Chiefs are a very well-dressed team. So I'm really excited to see what he wears this, the Super Bowl, and I know it's a very meaningful outfit, is what I've been told. All right, we're all excited to see how the Chiefs and the Eagles turn up this weekend, and we want to thank Kyle Smith, the NFL's first fashion editor for sharing those opinions with us. Coming up next, if the Super Bowl isn't your thing, there's plenty of other options to binge watch.

Amy Schumer's latest movie hits Netflix, plus a new docu-series tells the untold stories of Girls Gone Wild. And Lady Gaga has a new video out after that surprise. release during the Grammys. It's all next. Welcome back. It is Friday, which means it is time for bingeworthy. Our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. And tonight we're joined by Nigel Smith. He's the senior movie news editor for people. Nigel, thanks for being here tonight. Thank you for having me. So we're starting with Paradise on Hulu, which I'm really excited about. I want to show a quick clip and then we'll talk about it after, but the trailer's amazing. Let's look.

Call it in. Our people only now. Very important people are very upset. They've got questions. You were the last person to see the president alive. Did you kill him? No. Sterling K. Brown back in the house, conspiracies.

This looks awesome. It looks awesome. And it actually reunites him with the creator of This Is Us. The show that kind of put him on the map. Dan Fogelman. And it's the first time that they're working on an action thriller series. So I'm really, really excited to see how this lands on Hulu. Fans, and both are really excited to watch it. He just had an Oscar nomination a couple of years back for American fiction. So he's kind of at the height of his career right now. And he plays this operative who finds himself at the center of an investigation of the into the murder of the president.

And the president is played by a much younger actor that we're accustomed to seeing in the presidency. And that's James Marsden from the X-Men movies, Enchanted. And jury duty. And jury duty. There you go. Hard to take him serious, but he's a great actor. And there's a conspiracy behind all this is what it appears like from the trailer. Exactly.

And I heard that in the pilot episode, a huge twist abounds, and it kind of sets forth the entire plot into motion. All right, Nigel, next up, we have another series. This one based on a true story. I don't know anything about this, but some of our viewers might. It's on Netflix. It's called the Apple Cider... Apple cider vinegar.

That's it. Watch it and we'll talk about it after. My doctor said, you have brain cancer. Here's a bloggy, my life. She's just like you. It feels all right. You do look incredibly well. I've never felt better.

I have to find the right way for me. I just got each other. Loved the session. Four body goosebumps. Thanks for coming. Bell. Bell keeps in. The brain cancer.

Right. So, Nigel, walk us through this one. I don't know anything about Apple, Vinegar, Cider, Scyt Vigna. And is it a documentary? Is it a show? Like, what's this about? So it's a show, and Netflix has pegged this as a true-ish show. So it's based on a real-life story. It's kind of reminiscent.

Do you remember that Netflix series that was so popular, Inventing Anna? Yes. Yeah, so that was based on a true story as well. But that was also about a pathological liar, just like this one. This is based on the Australian liar, Belgin. who was an influencer and she lied that she had terminal cancer and she gained influencers by saying that she cured her cancer through holistic practices and a healthy diet and she was investigated by Australian journalists and it was

all found out to be a sham did you say journalist I'm into this yeah right exactly that sounds it actually sounds really good I had no idea what this was about that sounds yeah that was serious so was the one before that let's laugh a little with it like Amy Schumer let's watch this next clip Looking good, mama. Oh, hey. Have you ever felt like you were so close to having it all? I think that there was one little secret.

You look so beautiful. Yeah. It's probably because I'm pregnant. You lost control of. Oh, God. How day you walk around with that fight fucking belly? What am you gonna do? All right, so we can kind of figure out the premise here, right?

premise here, right? She's not really pregnant. Nope. She's just kind of pregnant, right? So she's got a fake belly. Amy Schumer, she's in this movie and she plays a 40-something woman, teacher whose best friend becomes pregnant and she gets jealous of all the attention that her best friend played by the hilarious and scene-stealing Gillian Bell gets. So she starts wearing a baby bump around to try to get some of that attention for herself. But trouble ensues when she meets the love of her life, played by Wilfell. forte in a rare kind of dramatic turn as her love interest, and she has to keep up the lie. And some eagle-eyed viewers may notice the Sandler family. His daughters, his wife, they're in this.

Yep, yeah. Is he behind this one, too? He produced it. He's been producing so much for Netflix recently, and his kids have been acting more. And his wife actually has a cameo on this as well. Okay, that one looks really funny. I'm going to watch that one this weekend. There's also this one that has an all-star cast, and it's about the reunion of an estranged child and father. This one's called Clean Slate on Prime Video. It's a little different than the way we sold it. But watch. Hello.

Hi, this man, the lady. It's really a good time right now. My son's coming in a minute. Dad, I'm your daughter, Desiree. I've always been Desiree. We haven't spoken on a while. How long? 23 years. What happened?

This place looks exactly the same. Well, you know what they say? If they ain't broke, don't fix it. That's broke. I got to fix them. So Laverne Cox's starting to this one. Talk to us about this. Yeah, so it's actually one of Norman Lear's last projects that he worked on.

Norman Lear was on this one? He's the lead producer on this film, the show, sorry. He was working on shortly before his death a couple years back. And so it has all the hallmarks of a good Norman Lear show. It's uplifting. It's funny. It's about family. And you have George Wallace playing a car shop owner who has been estranged from his child for many, many years. The child comes back into his life. And she's now a trans woman played by Laverne Cox, who is coming from New York City and has to connect back with her roots and her family. And it's a very heartwarming, uplifting show. Clean slate. You can watch that one on Prime. Next up, this is one that I recommended because I saw it. I binged it on Peacock, the mothership. It's the behind. the scene, or I should say the backstory to how Girls Gone Wild became this sort of empire

and then all the crimes that came out of it as well. Let's watch. It blew my mind what Joe Francis was able to convince these young girls to do. If I took no for an answer, I wouldn't be where I was. Joe Francis was everywhere. He's hanging out with famous people. In the first two years, Girls Gone Wild made $20 million. Girls were already pulling their tops off and flashing the as we were pulling in. I never thought that that would come back and haunt me for 20 years. So late 90s, early 2000s, these commercials were everywhere, the videos were everywhere. The Girls Gone Wild crews were at all the spring breaks on Bourbon Street.

But what's interesting about this documentary is that they take sort of a journalistic view towards it. They interview Joe Francis. They get the whole story, or at least his side of the story, but they also do a lot of investigations. Have you seen it at all? It's really, really good. It's four or five parts, but it's incredible because the access they got, the interviews they got, and they followed up with some of those girls who appeared on the videos. They really had no idea what they were doing because they were intoxicated.

And then they've lived on the Internet, but on these videos forever. And it's really scarred a lot of them. Wow. So it's great. I know you have no follow-up questions for me, but it's great. So I'm doing both of these. But anyways, I would recommend that one, especially if you grew up during that era. Fine. Let's turn now to music. We have Lisa, Doja Cat, and Ray. This is Born Again. Good song?

It's a good song. Born again. And we also have Lady Gaga coming up, but this is a different one. Let's listen. on your playlist. It is, it is. I think it's going to be a big hit for Lisa. This is actually her fourth single from an album that hasn't even come out yet. Yeah. Which is pretty impressive. But it has Doja Cat and also Ray, and they all have such different distinctive voices, but they meld beautifully.

It's got a good beat. It's got an uplifting anthem. And the video, as you can see, is very sleek and sexy and glamorous. So I think it's going to be a hit. Yeah, the young people are loving this one. And then you got Lady Gaga. We saw a little snippet there at the Grammys, right? This video.

We'll play it again for you. Here we go. Okay, so talk to me, Nadja, you feel like you're very pumped up about this one. Show me your passion. I am, I am, yeah. What is it? Pause up. Is it vintage Lady Gaga?

Is that one? I mean, it's aiming to be. She's clearly going after the Born This Way era with this. She's in elaborate costumes. It's got a darker industrial sound to it, kind of reminiscent of her early sound. And it's her most popular single in a while, a solo single. Is it?

It's doing that song with Bruno Mars. That was a huge, winning hit. But this one's doing what better than the last single from this new album, Mayhem, which comes out in March. And folks, fans of Gaga are psyched. And what's the chorus here? It's abracadabra. Lala.

And then it kind of goes on. But it's not really worse. Anyways, Nigel, thanks for hanging out here. We appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Being here and binge-worthy. We thank you for watching Top Story all week. I'm Tom Yamison, New York.

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