Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, January 23, 2026

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, the catastrophic winter storm charging across the country right now. 180 million bracing for life-threatening snow, ice, and freezing rain as temperatures begin to plunge. Rare snow starting now in Texas, drivers spinning out in the Midwest, trucks jackknife, 16 states declaring states of emergency. Workers racing to sand at salt roads, plus chaos at grocery stores, shelves cleaned out, lines wrapped around blocks. Will the power grids hold the urgent warning that? Outages could last for days. Our reporters are spread out across the storm zone. The former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin captured after years on the run,

how officials closed in on one of the FBI's most wanted. Massive protests erupting in Minneapolis, plus our reporter presses the Border Patrol commander on how that five-year-old ended up in ICE custody. His response tonight. A two-year-old in the backseat of a car when a crook jumps in and takes off the video of the mother frantically trying to find her son, and the dramatic moment when officers find that little boy. A deputy and a bystander rushing in to save a mailman

as his truck is engulfed in flames. And daring skyscraper stunt meet the climber preparing to scale one of the world's tallest buildings without any ropes on live TV. Plus the record deal for women's soccer, Trinity Rodman, signing the biggest contract ever for the sport, will tell you how much. Top story starts right now. And good evening we come on the air tonight

as this massive life-threatening storm begins its dangerous. trek across the country. Feet of snow, crippling ice and freezing rain, threatening 180 million Americans. It's incredible. Right now, snow is beginning to fall across parts of Texas, testing communities that rarely see this kind of weather. Parts of the Midwest dealing with blinding snow and moors on the way. The system already making driving extremely dangerous. Look at this. High winds in Iowa nearly flipping the semi. And this tractor trailer jackknifed in Indiana. You can see what happened there. The full scope, of the storm coming into view impacting more than two-thirds of the country with at least 16 states

issuing emergency declarations. Storm fears triggering a run on the essentials, long lines and empty shelves as chaotic scenes unfold at stores across the country. Groceries selling out of bread and milk and eggs as people prepare to hunker down. The storm also wreaking havoc on air travel, nearly 3,000 flights already canceled for tomorrow. And at this hour, airlines waving change fees for affected cities as the storm threatens major hubs all across the country. And the big fear tonight will the power stay on through the storm? Cruise from coast to coast working in freezing temps to keep the grid running. The stark power warning from power companies that half an inch of ice can add 500 pounds of weight to power lines, causing them to snap.

Our team of reporters, you see them here in meteorologists covering it all, fanned out across the country to get to the latest updates. And as this storm continues to close in. But we begin tonight with Emily Aketa, who leads us off from New York, a city bracing for impact. Tonight, a triple threat of blinding snow, life-threatening cold, and ice. Chaos already unfolding on roads across the country. High winds in Iowa nearly flipping this semi-truck. And drivers facing near zero visibility as lake affects snow in Michigan turns highways into white walls. Police in Indiana warning of slide-offs on the road after this vehicle got stuck.

in the deep snow. And the bitter cold tonight, punishing. With wind chills plummeting to minus 31 degrees in Chicago. And in Duluth, a staggering minus 51. But for power crews, the work never stops. I got about five layers of cold done. It is pretty cold. It's probably zero degrees right now. And this isn't just a cold snap. Below freezing temperatures could last for the next 10 days, coupled with more than a foot of snow in parts of the northeast. The dangers that we're talking about now is not just the potential of an enormous storm with a significant amount of snowfall. It is the aftermath. That fear triggering a run on the essentials.

This is my second day trying to get gas. We are out of kerosene heaters until tomorrow. From the nation's capital to the south where shelves are being stripped bare. There are out eggs, there's no bacon, there's no butter. Ryan Chandler is in Texas where ice is the biggest threat. This Dallas hardware store is all out of propane, sand, rock salt. Customers rushing to prepare in the last hours before the freeze hits. Inside the largest power plan in Texas, preps for a winter storm have been underway for months.

Priscilla Thompson is there. Operators in this control room are monitoring supply 24-7 using these panels to get power to the grid. And if there's a problem, they pick up this red phone and alert the state. In Georgia, there hasn't been an ice warning this season. severe in 12 years. Kathy Park is in Tennessee at a transportation nerve center. Here in Memphis, this hub powered by more than 100 traffic cameras will allow dispatchers identify wrecks and roadblocks in real time. Then they'll be able to deploy the essential resources held motorists and emergency crews right away. There have been at least 16 states

of emergency declared so far as governor's issue an urgent plea, stay home and off the roads. Our greatest concerns remain unsafe travel and power outages that could last for days. Now workers scrambling to trim trees and mobilize equipment, hoping the infrastructure holds against the weight of this massive storm. All right, Emily, it kind of joins us tonight from New York City. Emily, we saw that there in your report about the grocery stores. This is happening all over the country, including right where you are. Yeah, Tom, that's absolutely right. We are just now seeing a break from lines that had spilled outside. of this grocery store. But I want to show you what's happening on the inside because you take a look and you're going to see shelf after shelf bear workers struggling to keep up with restocking the produce

there and scenes like this seen across the country that harkened back to some of that panic buying we witnessed during the pandemic as millions of people tried to prepare for a potentially historic storm. One employee inside tells me she has never seen Trader Joe's this busy town. Yeah, people scrambling to get the essentials. All right, we thank you for that, Emily. I want to get right over to NBC News meteorologist Bill Caron's. Bill, this is a monster storm. It's already firing up in the planes. Walk us through the latest timing and track. Yeah, it's already time to be off the roads in areas of North Texas and southern Oklahoma. Dallas and Fort Worth, the freezing rain is knocking on the door, giving another three or four hours. And then Little Rock, another hour or two, it's beginning for you.

So now we're going to go through the next about 60 to 72 hours of dealing with all of this winter precipitation. That's why we have the 179 million people from New Mexico all the way up here to Maine under some sort of alerts. The ice storm portion of the storm is most concerning for after the event, because if people don't have power and there's trees down everywhere and you can't drive on the roads because there's not enough salt in the south, then we have elderly and cold homes along with people with special needs. And so those areas are going to be from Nashville, southwards, especially northern Mississippi,

southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana to east Texas. That's the one zone that we're focusing on from the possibility of widespread power outages. The other area, not far outside of Atlanta, north Georgia, upstate of south, Carolina from Asheville to Boone heading over to Charlotte to Raleigh, big city hubs here. So we at least have the potential for not just hundreds of thousands, maybe a few million people to be without power if this storm is as we expected to perform. The snow side of it, it's going to cause you a day or two not to be able to really go far, but once the snow was removed, you should be just fine.

Those areas that could be historic Oklahoma City, it's kind of rare to get up to 12 inches of snow at Oklahoma City. That would be a top 10 all-time snowstorm. And also Louisville, very rare to get 10 to 14 inches. This could approach your all-time. Your record ever is only 16. So that's a big snowstorm right along the Ohio River. When we get in the Northeast, we get storms like this, but it's going to be brutally cold, too.

Even trying to clean it up. Upstate New York all the way through central and northern New England, easily 12 to 18 inches. New York City, it looks like right, 8 to 12. If it stays all snow, it could be more towards that 12 to 14, Tom. Yeah, we hope all those emergency management officials are prepared for this. You know, you're looking at the freezing temps to that are going to last for days, if not weeks after the system? I was trying to think back in my like 20, 25-year career

of doing this year, of any event that we had more people than this in one singular event. So just with cold weather headlines, we're up to 200 million Americans under cold advisories, cold watches, or cold warnings from Brownsville, Texas, all the way up to the Canadian border and all the way through areas of the northeast. We're all in this together.

And that cold air has arrived. It's negative 10 in Minneapolis. It's negative 8 in Chicago. Look at Wichita, Kansas, that's 7. That's what's heading south. And by the time we get to Monday mornings, the storm's just about gone everywhere. These are the temperatures. Remember, we could have hundreds of thousands, maybe a few million without power in areas like Jackson, Memphis. I mean, look at these temperatures. How do you feel for the power crews out in something like this? And then Tom,

if anyone wants a silver lining, I don't have it. This is the six to ten day forecast for the eastern half of the country. This is after, you know, the groundhog comes out. I mean, that's 10, 12 days from now. Wow. It just looks like an iceberg. Brutal winter. Okay, Bill, and we're just getting started with this storm. We thank you. Oklahoma City set to get the brunt of this storm. First, you heard Bill there. Candice sweat from our NBC Dallas, Fort Worth Station is there, and Candice's situation is going to quickly deteriorate. What are they doing to get ready? Well, you can see the trucks behind me. These are dumping trucks that dump thousands of tons of sand and salt for the trucks that are going out on the roads here in Oklahoma to ultimately keep people safe. And I want to tell you, I can already tell that the situation here is starting to deteriorate in terms of the weather.

We're starting to see the beginning of precipitation come down. And I can tell you, once it is in full force, the next 72 hours are expected to be very, very rough, perhaps getting up to 10 inches of snow here in Oklahoma City. We've spent some time also at the Department of Emergency Management. They have crews on standby, same as we're seeing here, ready to go. Again, that precipitation is starting to come down now, so we're starting to see a lot of movement out here at the Department of Transportation. They have those sand trucks ready. They have the plows ready, and we will monitor this situation as it continues over the weekend. Tom. Okay, Candace, we thank you for that. The storm already wreaking havoc on air travel. Flight cancellations climbing at the Sauer, even across the East Coast, which won't see impacts until later this weekend. NBC's George's release is at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. George, tell us what you're seeing there on those boards. Yeah, Tom, so we've been here all day talking to travelers,

many of them trying to get a head start before this storm grounds all of the flights. You mentioned the big board here in cancellations. When we got here, there was still a little bit of business as usual. But now I can tell you, I'm seeing a lot more cancellations, a lot more red. Memphis, some flights to Oklahoma City. We're also seeing some more flights out of Texas in the Dallas area, specifically, which is to be expected as this storm begins to move. Already, we're already seeing the expected cancellation rate really starting to ramp up.

5,000 is what's projected by the end of the weekend. Travel app Hopper, get this, saying about 15,000 delays by the time the weekend rolls through. So a lot of people, of course, very concerned about this storm. I spoke to some people here as well who are cutting vacation shorts, waiting for loved ones to get in, because they know once this event starts, a lot of these delays and cancellations are certainly going to be a big problem for any trying to get home or trying to get from point A to point B, Tom. All right, George Salis, for us at the airport, it's going to be a travel mess. George, thank you.

Also, tonight, the other big story we're following the former Olympic snowboarder, who the FBI describes as one of the world's most notorious drug smugglers is now in custody. Ryan Wedding, arrested in Mexico on murder and drug trafficking charges. It's capping off a year's long search. Here's Kelly O'Donnell with the details. From world acclaim at the Olympic Games. Canadian rider Ryan Wedding. To the FBI's 10 most wanted list, now captured and shackled.

The manhunt for Ryan Wedding is over. He is a modern day El Chapo. He is a modern day Pablo Escobar. And he thought he could evade justice. No longer the daring athlete snowboarding the slopes for Canada. The 44-year-old surrendered in Mexico City Thursday night. Authorities say wedding built a vast criminal. drug trafficking enterprise that pumped 60 metric tons of cocaine into the U.S.

He is also accused of conspiring to kill a witness. Wedding murdered one of the witnesses in his cases thinking that it would prevent him from being brought to justice, and that did not work. The FBI confiscated parts of his fortune, including high-end collectibles. We seized the Mercedes-Benz estimated over $15 million. We seized dozens of motorcycles work. approximately $40 million and other valuable artwork and jewelry. Wedding had used aliases including giant and El Hefe. Authority suspected he altered his appearance while

hiding out in Mexico for a decade. In November the Justice Department increased the reward to $15 million but declined to say if a payout is due. To go down to Mexico to find a guy who's been on the lamb for multiple years for some of the most egregious crimes on planet Earth takes an interagency-wide effort. All right, Kelly O'Donnell joins us tonight live from D.C. Kelly, you know, this guy, like they said, they compare him to El Chapo and Pablo Escobar, a modern-day drug lord, allegedly. What's next for him? Well, after a weekend in custody, Monday afternoon, he will appear in federal court in Los Angeles, and this will be the first appearance, and he will face multiple

charges related to what officials call a billion-dollar-a-year cocaine operation. It was also notable today, Tom, that the FBI made a point to acknowledge the work of Mexican law enforcement. This has been a cooperative apprehension and long search between his home country of Canada, of course, the efforts of law enforcement in the United States, and then that critical piece in Mexico where he had been hiding for so long. Tom? Okay, Kelly O'Donnell for us, Kelly, thank you. In Minneapolis tonight, massive protests against ICE immigration enforcement. Part of an economic boycott in the state, as we're getting new images from that controversial incident when a five-year-old ended up in ice custody. Here's Maggie Vespa.

Tonight, despite the brutal cold, a massive crowd of anti-ice protesters flooding downtown Minneapolis. It's part of today's statewide boycott on work, school, and shopping. What is wrong with you? What is, what is wrong with you? That you would do that to a child. This as we learn new details about the case of five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, new video showing ICE officers escorting the preschooler into a black SUV. DHS says officers were targeting the father who was here illegally and had a deportation order, though a family attorney says he came lawfully and had applied for asylum. DHS tonight saying it has no record of an asylum claim, adding Arias ran from officers

abandoning his son and Liam's mother refused to take custody. Over those past four years, hundreds of thousands of thousands of. Thousands of children were trafficked across that border were definitely the experts at dealing with children, unfortunately. We pressed Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who stressed Liam and his father are together in a federal facility. We still have people saying that they're outraged at the idea of little kids being held in custody at all. So what do you say to those people and what kinds of conditions are young children being held in? As far as that family, that family, has not been separated. That child is in the least restrictive setting possible.

Tonight a Texas congressman releasing video of the ice facility where they're being held showing libraries, schools and basketball courts. All as a Minneapolis city councilman now says this two-year-old named Chloe is in ICE custody after her father was arrested as the pair were driving home from the grocery store. DHS responding to this new case tonight saying Chloe's father, Elvis Tepan Echevaria was in the U.S. illegally having committed felony reentry. They also say that the toddler's mother refused to take custody and that Chloe is now with her father at a federal facility. Tom. Okay, Maggie Vespa for us, we're going to be back in a moment here.

With the investigation into that shooting of an Indiana judge and his wife, five suspects now in custody, how officers tracked them down. Plus, the urgent search for a suspect accused of stealing a car with a little boy still inside. we have the video of the boys rescue. Plus a cruise ship, get this stuck in the ice near Antarctica. How they finally got pulled to safety. That's ahead on top story. We're back now with the arrest after an Indiana judge and his wife were shot in their home. Five suspects are now in custody and one was just days away from appearing before that same judge on other charges.

NBC San Brock has more. Tonight, five suspects are under arrest in connection with the shooting of Indiana judge Stephen Meyer and his wife Kimberly. The ambush taking place Sunday with an attack right of the judge's home from his doorstep. Someone advised we have your dog and a shot came through the door. Three of the suspects are charged with attempted murder and two with lesser offenses. Investigators identifying Raylan Ferguson as the shooter and Thomas Moss, who according to court records, is a high-ranking member of the Phantom Motorcycle Gang. Moss was set to appear before Judge Meyer two days after Sunday's shooting

for charges that included domestic battery and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. His attorney in that case telling NBC News he doesn't represent Moss for these new charges. Using surveillance footage from both the Myers home and a neighbor, police say officers observed a male who was wearing a black and gray hooded flannel, black sunglasses, and appeared to have a white face mask. They say the shooter used a short barreled shotgun with an obliterated model and serial number, which in Indiana State Lab was able to partially restore, leading them to another suspect. Investigators also He also swabbed DNA from a white silicone face mask found near the scene to identify the alleged shooter whose attorney was not immediately reached for comment.

Authorities say Judge Meyer suffered an injured arm and his wife an injured hip in this attack. Judge Meyer is still recovering and noting in a statement that this horrific violence will not shake my belief in the importance of peacefully resolving disputes. Sam Brock, NBC News. We're also tracking some terrifying moments in Colorado after a mother's car was stolen with her two. year old inside. Body cam video capturing the moment that boy was found crying for his mother. Here's Liz Croix with the video and the story. Hi, it's okay. Tonight, authorities searching for the man who Colorado Springs Police say stole this SUV and kidnapped this little boy sitting alone inside. Hi, buddy. It's okay. It's okay. I'm with the police department. In the heart wrenching body

camera video, released and blurred by police, you can see an officer trying to comfort two-year-old Giovanni, who was crying and calling out for his mom. We're going to get your mama, okay? Police say the car was stolen about two hours earlier after it was left running. Ring camera footage capturing the moment the suspect took off in the black Kia, followed by Giovanni's desperate mother running down the street pleading for help. Police issuing an amber alert, eventually locating the car. car with the help of license plate recognition technology abandoned some five miles away.

I know the officers in their mind were thinking, I hope Giovanni's inside. I hope Giovanni's inside. And then when they were able to find him, it was a relief for all of us. Tonight the suspect's still on the loose, but Giovanni, safe and back home with his family, who are thanking police for their quick response. What was that moment like when he was reunited with his mother? I don't know that I can describe that moment with words adequate. it's what we do this job for. Police calling this the best possible outcome for what would be any parents' nightmare scenario. Lyskroits, NBC News.

All right, still ahead here on Top Story tonight, a key hearing for alleged killer Luigi Mangione, the latest from the courtroom, and the date now set for his federal murder trial. Plus, the dramatic rescue after a mail truck erupts into flames. We'll show you that video. But first, Top Story's top moment, as most of the U.S. braces for this weekend, winter storm. The intense cold is already setting in. And in the windy city, NBC Chicago anchor, Stefan Holt put those freezing temps to the test. Take a look. So here's what he did there. If you don't understand, he put his jeans out, little water

completely frozen. If you didn't think it was that cold, those jeans literally turned into a hammer. I'm not sure if he put them on after. Stay with us. More top story on the way. Okay, we're back now with our coverage of this monster winter storm. marching across the country. The storm beginning to fire up in the plains. You can see that snow coming down in the Texas panhandle. More than half the country, 180 million people under winter alerts tonight. I want to bring in Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt. His city expected to get slammed with nearly a foot of snow over the weekend. It could be a record, according to our meteorologist, maybe even 14 inches. Mayor, I want to thank you for joining us. I know you're incredibly busy,

so we appreciate the time. Oklahoma City rarely gets snow and ice from what I understand. What are your biggest concerns as this storm ramps up and is your city prepared? Well, I think what makes this storm particularly threatening for us is there's kind of three different elements of a major winter weather event in Oklahoma City that could occur. There's heavy snow, there's ice, and there's extremely low temperatures. And this one still threatens all three, you know, and we'll see how it goes. But, you know, heavy snow obviously affects our transportation, it affects our roads. Extremely low temperatures can seriously affect

our water system. I mean, we've had some incidents in recent years where, you know, we were chasing hundreds of water main breaks across the city, and not to mention the effect it was having on people's personal pipes in their homes. And then, of course, obviously, ice under the right

conditions can bring down, you know, power lines all across the city, and we've also had incidents where, you know, people have been out of power, for several days, if not weeks, in some cases. So one of those things, I think we can stomach, but obviously two or three is when you have an experience that you're talking about for years to come.

And obviously, we hope that's not what happens, but we're kind of prepared for it, because that's what we're hearing. You know, any of that is possible right now. What are you telling your residents in case any of them are watching Top Story tonight? Well, I think, obviously, stay home if you can. If you do have to get out over the next few days,

and the snow is as heavy as it's been predicted. Use our snow routes. So we're 620 square miles in Oklahoma City. We got 9,000 lane miles, and we got 32 plows, because as you said in your intro, we don't have this type of event very often. So we focus on our snow routes,

and we encourage our residents to look them up online and plan their journeys around those arterial snow routes if they have to get out. You know, we're telling people, of course, for the low temperatures to, you know, run your, run your faucets. I mean, drip your faucets on the exterior facing walls, open those cabinets, just those basic precautions that maybe sometimes we forget to take unless we're reminded. And of course, we're doing our part out in the community. And, you know, today was actually our point

and time count. So we had a great opportunity to reach out to people experiencing homelessness and make sure they get into shelters because that's really important, obviously, as well. and, you know, we don't control the utility here, the power utility, but I know they're probably making precautions as well in case they've got to repair a lot of lines. But I think for our residents, right now, it's stay home, stay safe, stay warm, and thank you to our city employees that are out there, giving us that opportunity to stay home.

All right, Mayor Holt, we thank you for joining us on such a busy night for you. Good luck to you and your city. I hope you guys stay safe. Here in the Northeast, grocery stores are getting slammed with people's stocking. up as the storm close in. Joining me now is Chekney Beckford with NBC, New York. Chekky, you've been out all day talking to people in Clifton, New Jersey. What are they telling you? Hey, Tom, well, they're telling me they're having difficulty finding some of the things they're looking for. Some tell me they've been to several stores looking for items such as bread

or milk and some of those shelves and some of those stores have been empty. This one here, the stop and shop in Clifton has pretty much everything we've seen. They're a little bit low on meat, but they tell us they're getting another shipment this evening. But as you can imagine, These are the things people are looking for. Meat, bread, milk, sort of the stocked up items that you think of, that they wanted their homes to make sure they have not only during the storm, but after for the week after that we hear, or we know is supposed to be in the 20 degrees for the high.

So people aren't really going to be able to make it out too much to get out there and to get those necessities that they need. People also telling us that, you know, they're hearing anecdotally from other people that they're having difficulty finding the items they're looking for. They're seeing social media of people basically clearing out, shelves in supermarkets and stop in a Costco's. And that's making them nervous and that's making them want to get out and get those items themselves. And they know that tomorrow's going to be a day when a lot of people are off and people are going to go shopping. So they're trying to beat the crowds.

But we were hearing this from people. Even yesterday, people were starting to go out and try to get some of those items. In addition to food items, people are trying to find ice melt. They tell us they're trying to find, you know, rock salt. And they're having difficulty doing that. We were at a Home Depot yesterday in Patterson, where there was a limit of 10 bags of. of rock salt per person and the shelves were basically almost empty. So the rush is on right now. People know that after the storm, the temperatures are going to remain low and the roads are going to be icy, so it might be hard to get out and get the items that they need. So that's why they're making that rush as we speak. Take a listen to some of the people that we talk to here in

the supermarket. Because of the storm that's getting ready to happen, everybody is just going crazy with shopping. So I'm like, let me be prepared. We don't know if we're going to have a power out or whatever and so it's easy and it's convenient so that's why I'm sucking up on the frozen stuff so some of the main items again people are looking for they're looking for those frozen items frozen pizzas and and frozen dinners and a lot of meats and also bread as you can imagine tom yeah it looked like a lot of frozen pizzas to go around in that grocery store chequee we thank you so good so much great to see you as well turning out at top stories news feed we start with a key hearing today for luigi mangi A judge announcing his federal murder trial is now set to begin in September, but the schedule will ultimately depend on whether prosecutors are allowed to seek the death penalty.

Mangione is accused of shooting and killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He is pleaded not guilty. Dramatic new body cam video from a fiery crash in Washington State. You can see that mail truck as it burst into flames after colliding with another car. We're told the sheriff's deputy pulled the mailman out with another person working to put out the fire. Police say the mailman was seriously hurting that someone in the other car was also injured. An Australian cruise ship rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard vessel after it got stuck in ice off the coast of Antarctica. Look at this.

Video showing it carving a path through the ice obviously sped up here so it can reach the cruise ship and help it break free than escorting it to open water. That rescue happening occurred as the Coast Guard's polar star vessel marks its 50th year of service. Glad we mentioned that. An American soccer star, Trinity Rodman, is now the sports's highest paid female player in the world. Rodman plays for the U.S. women's national team, but she just signed a new three-year contract with her club, the Washington Spirit. ESPN reports the deal is worth more than $2 million a year. In case you were wondering, Rodman is the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer, Dennis Rodman. Okay, coming up, crazy story, the daring climb up, one of the tallest buildings in the world.

No ropes, no harnesses, just his bare hands. A look at the death-defined stunt moments away. Stay with us. We're back now with newly released images from the Peruvian Amazon, appearing to show a remote tribe not often caught on camera. The video captured by American conservationist and author Paul Rosalie and his team. He's out with a new book. Here it is Jungle Keeper. In the video released by Rosalie this week, you can see members of that uncontacted tribe emerging from the forest along a riverbank in the Amazon. Paul is here on Top Story tonight. He joins us. Paul, so we're seeing this video, and you just kind of sort of, I guess, see this tribe.

What did you guys think when you came upon them? Well, we were called by the indigenous community that we're working with as junglekeepers. We're trying to protect the Amazon rainforest. And so part of protecting the trees and wildlife is working with these indigenous communities. And they said, there's a tribe coming out of the forest. And they said, as directors, we would like you to see what we're dealing with. And so as these people came out of the forest, we were face to face with people that these aren't, I asked the anthropologists, said, are they stone age people?

He said, they're pre-stone age. He said, they only have bamboo. They live naked in the forest. This is very similar to being able to see through a time machine. These are people that have been living in the Amazon for a thousand years. Explain to me how the people you were with, were they indigenous people to the region that are sort of guides for you? Spotted them, or is there a contact between this group and the tribe? There's limited contact.

The indigenous groups that live far out in the remote Amazon rainforest, they know that these tribes are out there. Got it. contacted tribes or remain that way because they don't want contact with the outside world. But what was interesting in this instance was that they started coming towards the village and the local tracker started where they sort of knew it was going to take place. What did you think? I mean, you've probably seen a lot of this is your life and you've lived in the jungle. I mean, what do you think? Well, I mean, you hear a lot of violent encounters.

They've been through their violent history of the rubber boom when the industrial revolution, the rubber barons went down there and created all kinds of atrocities in the Amazon. So the uncontacted tribes have been trying to stay away from the world for centuries. And so these people are not hesitant to be violent first if they need to be, to protect themselves. Because they still have the scars from those days. And they don't forget. And they see someone like you who doesn't look like them, but maybe has been told or passed down to them that these were the types of people that did this. Well, to them, all the outside world is the same people.

So we as directors were standing with our local indigenous partners, and it was sort of shirts versus skins. It was a thousand years between us, and the tribes were raising their hands and asking, they're saying, no moly. They're saying, we're the brothers. There's a boat there, and it's full of, it looks like bananas or plantains. I'm not sure. What exactly happened there? What was that a peace offering? Yep.

The tribe came out and they started communicating, and it's not a direct translation between the local indigenous. It's a language, though, that can be somehow interpreted. It's a rough estimation. And so the anthropologist was trying to communicate with them, and he said, what can we offer you? Nomole, brothers. And they said, the first thing is plantains. We want food. And what you can see in the video is that as they rush across the river, they're all grabbing those plantains because living a nomadic lifestyle in the rainforest, food is scarce.

And so they don't have agriculture. And so when they get access to calories, they're all taking them. And then the negotiations began of, what do you really want? And you know what they wanted to know? What? Why do all of you outsiders cut down our trees? They ask that. They ask that.

Okay. These people's entire world depends on there being deep, remote, intact, rainforest that's filled with wildlife for them to live. They're one of the last truly intact indigenous cultures. And so the work we're doing to protect this forest, we're trying to establish a national park that's 300,000 acres. We're working with the Peruvian government and indigenous leaders to do this. And along with the environmental implications of this, we'd also have the chance to save this entire tribe of people that has no idea that there's anywhere on earth that doesn't look like the jungle. The interaction from the video looks peaceful, right, from what the clips I've been shown,

but he took a violent turn. What happened? The, this is the thing. We had a very peaceful interaction with them. We showed our hands to them. We said, no moly. They said no mole. We exchanged bananas and rope. And we told them go in peace. They waved to us, and they walked back off into the jungle. The following day, though, we had left, and our indigenous friends, they have to go fishing to get food.

So they went out on the boat, and they spooked the tribe. The tribe was still there, and they didn't realize it. And Arrow started flying. And our friend George, who had been keeping. the previous day's interactions peaceful as he was driving one of their seven-foot arrows went in through his back and came in above the scapula. A seven-foot arrow? How was that even fire? That sounds massive. They're seven-foot arrows on six-foot bows, and they're made out of very light material.

They fly incredibly far, and they're just the tip of the arrows this big. What happened to your friend? He almost died. We helped him get helicopter evacked out of the jungle. They were able to save his life. I mean, it did collapse his right lung. And so the relationship between the relationship between the helicopter evacted out of the jungle. the relationship between the indigenous communities.

What's your understanding of why that happened, though? I know you understand you said you spook them, but what's your understanding of why that happened? It's really hard to know. These people, this is not the first time that peaceful interactions with the uncontacted tribes have turned lethal. Yeah. There's people on social media. I know you've probably seen this. People who are influencers, people who just do this for clicks on YouTube.

The same thing you did, I'm not saying the same thing you did. The videos look similar in the sense that they go out to try to find these tribes and try to contact them for clips. After having this experience, what do you say to those people that are not, you know, conservationists like yourself? Or anthropologists, to be honest with you. I mean, the last thing in the world, these tribes or anyone needs, is random people trying to make contact with uncontacted peoples. These are sensitive tribes that have no defense to the outside world pathogens.

A common cold could wipe out an entire tribe. It's happened. Or you get what happened in this. I think it was the Sentinel Islands, where somebody went with a Bible and tried to contact them, and they shot them so full arrows, he looked like a porcupine. We don't need that. There's laws in Peru, too, right? You're not supposed to be able to do this unless it's regulated by the government, right?

To try to reach out to these tribes at times. For like a YouTuber to do it, absolutely. We are on the ground. We follow the indigenous professional conservationists and anthropologists. It just so happened that we had professional photographers with us on this day for this historic event. That's just never happened before because this happens days from civilization. I'm being told your team, you guys took the video more than a year ago, but you're releasing it now. We first of all had to check with anthropologists and ethicists to make sure that a that everything we had been done was in best practices by the book

It was clear that the tribe had come out and contacted us while we were doing our job It's not like we went out and tried to contact the tribe the other thing was you have to think you know there are a lot of people out there who are gonna romanticize this and say These tribes are the last free people we have to go find them I want to go live out in the Amazon I want to go find them and we don't want that So we had to get to the point where we are protecting this ecological corridor. In order to protect these people, we have to tell their story to the world. They can't do it. They can't come on the show. But we can.

And we've already spent 20 years building that proof of concept. We know that we can save this watershed, this ecosystem, the wildlife, and the indigenous cultures that live there. For our viewers out there that aren't familiar, they call the Amazon the lungs of planet Earth. Why is this so important to you? Why are you out there in Peru doing this? Because in the entire planet, the Amazon is like the crowned. of the natural world. It is the lungs of the planet. Undiscovered medicines, as well as a refuge for reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals, numerous indigenous cultures. In terms of climate,

stability, and health of our global society, the Amazon is one of the most important things we have. All right. Paul, we thank you for being here. We thank you for sharing that video. And good luck. The book is out. Is it about this whole effort? The book is about how I left home from a kid born in Brooklyn, how I went to the Amazon rainforest, met the locals, and how we actually found a way to save the Amazon rainforest and change the narrative of conservation. Do you miss cheesecake? I miss piranhas. You miss piranhas, all right.

Then you're definitely more home than Brooklyn. Paul, pleasure to meet you and good luck with everything. Thank you. We're going to turn out to Top Stories Global Watch. We start in Abu Dhabi, where Russia and Ukraine are holding new peace talks alongside top U.S. negotiators. This marks the first trilateral meeting since the war broke out nearly four years ago. A White House official telling NBC news the talks were, quote, productive, but both sides are still at odds over the future

of territory in eastern Ukraine, which has been a key sticking point throughout those negotiations. Prosecutors in Spain announcing they're dropping an investigation to singer Julio Iglesias. You'll remember he's accused of sexually abusing two former employees in 2021 at his homes in the DR and the Bahamas. But today, Spanish officials said they have no legal authority to look at those allegations since they reportedly happened overseas. Iglesias has denied the accusations calling them absolutely false. We head to Rome now, crowds gathering there today to say their goodbye to legendary designer Valentino Goravani. Celebrities from around the world joining the public to pay their respects at his funeral,

including fashion designers Donatella Versace and Tom Ford, as well as Hollywood star, Ann Hathaway. Valentino died at his home this week. He was 93 years old. And you may remember Alex Honnold from the documentary Free Solo following his daring climb of El Capitan. Now he's at it again, scaling Taipei 101, one of the tallest skyscraper. in the world without ropes, harnesses without anything. The daunting world record attempt playing out live on Netflix. Here's Steve Patterson with the details. No ropes, no gear, just me in the building.

You heard him right, and yes, it is just as crazy as it sounds. One man, two hands, climbing 1,600 feet straight up, all to summit one of the tallest buildings in the world. And Netflix says, with absolutely no safety gear. If you fall, you're going to die. The goat of free climbing, American Alex Honnold, taking on Taipei 101. If you look at a building like Type 101, you're just like, dude, it's so big. The climb originally scheduled live for tonight is now delayed.

Parental guidance is suggested. Honnold is legendary for answering the call of very tall things. He's the star of the 2018 Oscar-winning documentary, Free Solo, profiling his pioneering free climb ascent of Yonald. Ossemitz al Capitan. At the time, our own Gotti Schwartz asked if he would maybe finally put down the chalk. This has always been my biggest dream. And now that I've sort of achieved that, I'm like, maybe I'm good. Maybe I don't need to keep charging ahead. Turns out Honnold was far from done, saying he's been training for months. Despite now being a father, Arnold says he's ready

to take on that spire of steel and concrete. It will be the biggest urban free solo climb ever. But until he kisses the clouds, consider our collective breath on hold. Steve Patterson, NBC News. When we come back a look at everything worth binge watching and listening to this weekend, Sophie Turner stars in a new thriller about the heist of the century. Drops of God returns for his second season after scoring 100% on rotten tomatoes, plus the latest singles from Harry Styles and Bonie Vair with maybe the best album of 2025. That's next.

Hey, welcome back. It is Friday, which means it's time. for binge worthy, our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. And tonight we're joined by pop culture expert and entertainment journalists, also all-around, great guy. Brian Balthasar. Brian, good to see you, man. You too.

Okay, we're going to start with one that a lot of people are talking about. It's on Hulu right now. It's called The Beauty. It is from Ryan Murphy. So if you like the stuff that he makes, you're probably going to like this. Plus, it stars Ashton Cutcher. Yeah. Haven't seen him in a minute.

Yeah. All right, let's watch it. Is this real life? One simple injection. to become a beauty. Are there side effects? This is the closest to the fountain of youth any man is ever going to get, which of course

comes with problems. The beauty has been mutating out in a while. We go to market in six months. Fix the bucks. All right, if it is Ryan Murphy, you know they're spending big bucks on the cast, and we'll see it right there, Bella Hadid, along with Anthony Ramos. All of them are in this.

A lot of them. It's interesting though, this is kind of like the substance was for Demi Moore. It felt like that little bit. Set it up because I didn't really set it up. You get a little bit from the trailer, but it's a shot that changes your life. Right. And are there side effects, Tom? Yes, yes, there are.

There are terrible, terrible side effects. And it's all about him trying to get those out of the way before it kind of releases wide. But then it becomes transmitted sexually as well. So at first, it's very timely, too, as we're living in this world of people taking Ozempic that some are- GLP-1s, of course. There's the connection.

Exactly. So it's like, what are you willing to cope with to be beautiful? But this is, the side effect to this is rather severe. Is it a horror sort of series? It's a dark comedy with horror elements. But I don't think if the first episode, you will learn the side effect is impactful to say the least. And so there's a little bit of kind of fun, kind of gross out humor, gore humor. Yeah. Ashton Coucher, tech investor. Yeah. Jiu-jitsu enthusiast just got his black belt. Congrats, Ashton. So he's back. I mean, how is he? I mean, action's hysterical. He's a very talented guy. I think this is actually a great role for him. He really owns this role of this kind of, I think he really owns it really well. And this story is if you're into Ryan Murphy, this is going to be one in life. Okay, you got me, sold me. When the snow's coming down, we'll be watching this creepy show.

Okay, next up is Steele. This one is on Prime. We have a clip of this. Let's watch. These people will be dead. Get it. That wasn't a thief trying to pick you up back there. Was there my five? There's another bloody lawyer. I need to know who they are. We need to take it out now.

So for our viewers here on Top Story that are close to retirement, that have been just stashed away all that money in a 401k or a pension, you don't want to watch this one. It's basically about some thieves that steal pensions in the UK. Great concept to freak you out. Take it from there. And so what's interesting about this is we talk about bingeware that you can never binge anything anymore. They're like slowly dripping them out.

This you can watch the whole. season this weekend. It's all the episodes. Wait, what do you mean? I'm confused. Because, you know, now networks are getting in the habit of like, we're dropping one or two episodes. You can't binge anymore, right? Right, right. This one has dropped all the episodes. There's a central character in this financial center that is at the epicenter of did she or did she not have something to do with this. And it is like a hundred billion dollars in investments stolen. So it's a edge of your seat thriller. And worth it to binge? Yeah. Okay, okay, good. Brian Bothazar, two thumbs up. Brian, do you drink wine? Do you enjoy a nice tea?

I'm drinking it now. You're drinking it now. We could tell. No. So this next one up is a little weird. If you like wine, if you like kind of thrillers, it's called Drops of God. It's actually the second season. But it's been a while. I think it's been like a few years before the first season. So you have time to catch up.

Anyways, it's about the greatest glass of wine, the greatest wine. But nobody can figure out who made it. Let's watch. The wine you're looking for doesn't belong to us. It belongs to God. Time the eyes. The van's like the music. You connect with your emotions.

You took it from me. You're selfish, just like our father. You have real idea. We should say the fine director, Brett Holi, of this great show, top story, a cinematographer in his own right, he gives it two thumbs up as well. He really likes it.

The season one won an international Emmy. It is, Incredible story. These two adversaries, one was the father, the daughter of the guy who, like, willed all this wine. One of them had they had to determine. It's a complex story of how they got all these bottles of wine. And now season two, they're trying to figure out the origin of this next bottle of wine. And we found out that the adversaries from season one are actually related? Uh-oh. Let me ask you a question. Maybe you don't know the answer to this. I'm going to put you on the spot here. Why did it take so long to come out with season two? I always wonder about these shows. Sometimes they're so successful and it just takes forever. Because they're just hard to produce, hard to make. It has a lot to do sometimes with schedules of the performers and timing of when it's released.

There's so many, you know, there's like an abacus, you know, a crystal ball trying to figure out when they can shoot these to get them in time. But there's been a lot happening in the past few years with strikes, you know, director strikes, writer strikes. But this is an international one. So I don't know exactly the answer. There's so many factors that come into when something actually is. And the reason Brian can tap to answer on that question, because guess what, guys, Brian actually makes shows, right? People don't know that. People know that you make, you create, you write.

I make shows. Do everything. And they could have had this in the can for months, but they want to make, because they also calculate the release date very carefully. So sometimes they'll have something like can do it during the fall. Do it in January when people are going to be hungry for something. And if you were a studio head and you weren't happy, you'd fire them on the spot. Exactly.

Boy, we've seen that. That couldn't be more true. That's why I drink wine. All right. Brian, next up, Mel Brooks. Who doesn't love Mel Brooks? I feel like these documentaries, I feel like they're making them about everybody. Well, they are.

But they are, right? I have a good question for you after this. Mel Brooks, if you love him, you're going to love this. It's called Mel Brooks, the 99-year-old man. Let's watch. The one and only, Mel Brooks. I can't imagine making movies without having watched his movies. Placing Saddles.

Young Frankenstein. His baseball. I'm the writer, the director, the producer, and the star. Is the actor I ask for a little more money? Is the director I say, what are you crazy? You stink. I'm not going to pay that kind of money. to a lot of people who went into comedy,

they thought, that seems like the best job in the world, the Mel Brooks job. I'm glad nobody took it. All right, so I have the question I have for you, since you make a lot of these shows, do they pay all these actors? I feel these actors are in all these documentaries now, talking about their friends, talking about their mentors.

Do they get a little cut of the action or not really? Do it at the goodness of the heart? Not a cut of the action, for sure, no. But here we have people that really truly love the guy, including Rob Reiner, actually, his last interviews in this. But really, this is really, this is. This is a love letter to the industry itself sometimes, too.

And he's obviously iconic, legendary. We also have Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld. Daveyapel. I mean, come on. You have big names in there. And his story, he really paved the way for comedic movies, as we see now. This next one up, if you love the bear, you're going to love this. It's a cooking show, sort of, but it's really funny.

You're going to see some familiar faces. Let's take a look. I am an Emmy Award-winning producer. Right here, this is actually a good angle. Do you think this is going to shake me? You're trying to get me killed. What's my biggest problem? Doesn't it say gas on?

I don't have a kitchen. It's not illegal. You can just do it. What's my biggest problem? Who's your favorite chef? What are you? My crew kind of knows what they're doing. Nothing can shake me.

All right, so Maddie Matheson, you know him from the bear. He's hysterical. He's such a good actor. You're telling me he's also an incredible and successful chef for a restaurant tour. Yeah, that was his entree to this world. He's got multiple restaurants. He's actually a consultant on the day. dishes on the bear as well as a character. He's a producer of that. He is really an incredible

guy. This turns the genre of cooking shows on its ear because he's on the road. He is not what... Is it about him? Is it about cooking? It's about both. It's really as much about him as it is about cooking. Got it. Next up, there's a new guy's up and coming. You may have heard of him. He's very popular with the young people. Harry Stiles. Do you know him? A little bit. Big album. Is it his fourth album? Is it his fifth album? Well, I don't know the number, but this is the first single off of She got to me again, Aaron. She kind of gave me one of these, but went too fast. She was not sure. We think it's a fourth or fifth. It's hot. Okay. Did you listen to the song? I don't want to, I don't want to taint the waters. I did. You know, it's about the first 50 seconds are the instrumentation leading up to it. Coincidentally, this is the first single off of an upcoming album. He released it on the same day as his Louis Tomlinson's releasing his album. I know. The other one direction guy, if you guys were wondering who that is. This is bound to do well. He's got to... Barry Stiles is huge, man. He actually just had Kornacki do something for him was awesome. We did it last night. Let's listen to the song. It's a different sound for him.

Yeah. We have some hairy maniacs on the staff of Top Story who loved it. They're going to love whatever he does. He's going to do 30 shows at Madison Square Garden and a residency is there. Isn't that incredible? Yes. And in fact, he's like going for, this one has a little bit more. This tour he wants to have a little bit more intimacy because he's done MSG to the, you know,

thousands of thousands of people. But this is going to be a different approach for him. Obviously, it's going to be successful. But this is a different sound for him. And I'm notoriously bad at knowing whether something's going to be a hit. Music-wise, yeah? Usually you have a good... Wasn't that the key to your success, weren't you?

Oh, absolutely. You could see you around corners. This next one is mine. This is actually not a new song. It's been out for about a year. But it was at the top of all the list for the best albums of 2025. Bonnie Vair, a super talented guy, producer, musician,

you name it, the guy's incredible. This song, I think, is so good. I don't know how I missed it in 2025. So it is my gift to you, the viewers of Top Story. Listen. So this is day one. It is an incredible song. Just trust me.

Just start with that. the whole album, Sable Fable, I think it was the best album of 2025. It is such good new music, maybe his best album ever. And you saw some celebrities in this video as well. Yeah, the storyline is that one of the members of the band is retiring in there, and Jacob Allorty is there. You said it yourself, New Yorker is one of the magazines that said this is one of the albums to listen to. And it was six years since their last album.

So people are really appreciating this one a big way. So that's how redeeming it is to take a six-year break and come back with this. one. Do not sleep on it, even though I slept on it for a year. It is so good. Brian Balthazar. We thank you, as always. Awesome job, my friend. And we thank you for watching Top Story. Have a great weekend. If you're in the snow, be careful. I'm Tom Yamma. Stay right there. More news on the way.