Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, June 23, 2023

Episode Date: June 24, 2023

Tornadoes rip through Colorado as a dangerous storm system moves east, new questions emerge about whether the tragedy of that doomed Titanic submersible could have been prevented, at least 30 migrants feared dead after their boat capsized en route to the Canary Islands, a 14-year-old is killed while subway surfing in New York City, and the California community seeing a rise in bear sightings this summer.

Tonight, a severe weather system on the move. Millions of Americans under alert. Heavy winds, damaging hail, and blinding rain battering Colorado for days. A large, destructive tornado tearing across the outskirts of Denver, leaving a six-mile trail of destruction. More than 500 reports of severe weather across the country this week. The South and Midwest now in the bullseye. We'll preview the dangerous weekend ahead.

Mounting questions tonight about that sub that imploded on a majority of. to tour the Titanic wreckage, killing everyone on board. Experts critical of the material used to build the chamber, an uncertified and cheaper type of carbon fiber, and the push tonight for governments to step in and regulate this type of dangerous deep sea tourism. Another tragedy at sea tonight as well. Dozens of migrants feared dead after two boats

made the treacherous journey from West Africa to Europe, but they sank on the way. This coming just a week after one of the worst boat accidents in Greece's history. The growing calls tonight for European countries to act faster to save lives. Subway surfer warning. Videos showing teams riding on top of the New York City subway racked up millions of views on TikTok. But tonight, city officials renew their calls to have that content banned after a 14-year-old was killed attempting the dangerous stunt.

How TikTok is responding tonight. Plus, dramatic video out of Long Island showing an out-of-control car slamming into two homes. What we're hearing about injuries sustained inside those houses and inside that Mercedes. And bear scares, on the rise in one California community, how residents there are dealing with these unwanted intruders, and what experts say you should do if you find yourself face-to-face with a black bear. Top story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Jake Ward, and I'm honored to once again be in for Tom Yamas tonight.

We begin top story on this Friday with the wild weather conditions here on the western side of the country. Tornadoes, hail, and floods, devastating parts of Colorado, and that system is now on the move. A man driving through Highlands Ranch, Colorado, captured the sheer strength of the wind on the outer edges of a supercell tornado that ripped through the Denver area. That storm packing large and destructive hail. You can see it in this footage. It almost looks like snow coating the streets. is now moving east. Seven million people under alert heading into tonight with the possibility of tornadoes and strong storms from the Dakotas all the way down through Texas. A state

already reeling, by the way, from a relentless onslaught of severe weather this week. Residents in Matador, Texas, still combing through the wreckage of a powerful tornado that struck on Wednesday. Four people killed and those who survived left with nearly nothing. Miguel Almaguer is on the ground in that devastated Texas town tonight, and he leads us off. Tonight, pelting hail, flash flooding, and the threat of even more tornadoes are in the forecast. After more than 500 reports of severe weather this week, a supercell tornado carved a six-mile path of destruction outside Denver. I just saw this wall coming at me this way. With more dangerous weather on tap in Matador, Texas, many are grateful to have survived what just passed.

If you weren't in that basement, would you have survived? I don't think so. Neighbors dug Anthony Boyd out of his basement after a powerful tornado leveled home after home, including the one Mike Fowler built with his family. What's it like to see it now? That's not describable. After a night of mayhem here comes days of misery. Tens of millions are sweltering across the southern plains as the heat index is forecasted to rise up to 120 degrees.

And over the next few days, cities like Dallas and Houston will be cooking. But back in Matador... I should have. Tim and Dina Washington focus on what they have instead of what's been lost. The home where they celebrated 50 years of marriage was torn apart while they were inside. If we'd have been anywhere else in that house, we would not have survived. With four lives lost here, the stories of survival are only matched by the unwavering resilience of this community. But just as families began to pick up the pieces, more dangerous

weather is on the way. Jake? Miguel Al McGuire for us in Texas. Miguel, thank you. And we are tracking the severe storms as they continue into the first weekend of summer. Let's get right to Bill Karen's. Bill literally hundreds of reports of severe weather this week. I do not understand how you keep track of it all. What are you watching now? Jake, it'd be nice if we actually had some bad weather that didn't hit someone. You know, that's common, right? We get tornadoes. You know, June's, you know, our third most popular tornado month. But just this week, we've had a lot that have hit populated areas or towns or homes. And we've had a lot of lives lost this week.

So here's where we are tonight. We have one tornado watch. We had one significant tornado north of Casper, but it was out in an open field. Didn't do any damage. It just looked beautiful, and that was it. That's the way we like them. We've also had some strong thunderstorms in areas coming out of Colorado into North Texas. And this, by the way, is going to head towards that area in Matador.

Hopefully no tornadoes, but they could get some heavy rain. rain and also maybe some small hail. And this is the Dallas area here. Dallas was spared, but just to your east, driving on 30 or heading out here on Interstate 20, a large thunderstorms already produced significant hail, and that will continue to drift southwards. Then as we head into your weekend, we're shifting it. We're getting out of Texas, and we're taking our severe threat in day areas that haven't had a lot of severe weather. Actually, haven't even had a lot of rain lately. We're going to Des Moines to Columbia, up to Davenport. And then by the time we get to Sunday, we go into the Ohio Valley, much of Tennessee, all of Kentucky, southern Indiana and Ohio

will be the areas at greatest risk. And then, of course, it's still extremely hot. Sixth day in a row. Del Rio broke the record high. Jake, this isn't what we want to see. Look at this. Dallas, 105 on Sunday. Areas out west of there up to 110. Bill Cairns, with always such fascinating context, thank you so much for keeping track with for us. Now to the other major headline we have been following for days. that once-in-a-lifetime adventure to see the Titanic, which turned tragic near the wreckage of the sunken ship. Difficult questions are emerging about the safety of the submersible and how the deaths of those five passengers might have been avoided.

NBC's Tom Costello has late new information on the search for answers. Tonight, Canada's Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into Titan's apparent implosion on Sunday. The U.S. Coast Guard and NTSB expected to join soon. Outside experts are focused on the mini-sub's uncertified, cheaper carbon fiber shell, never before used in deep-sea submersibles. Titanic movie director and ocean explorer James Cameron says that decision may have proved fatal. You know, sometimes people get go fever, but you shouldn't be using an experimental vehicle for paying passengers that aren't themselves deep ocean engineers. In 2018, Ocean Gate founder Stockton Rush submitted this patent application. disclosing that the carbon fiber was for use in extreme conditions,

such as high pressure conditions, high or low temperature conditions. I'd like to be remembered as an innovator. I think it was General MacArthur said you're remembered for the rules you break. But dozens of submersible experts, including mechanical engineer Bart Kemper, appealed to rush to seek an outside engineering review. He declined. He felt that it would take too long for his innovations to be approved. by outsiders. But an original co-founder of Ocean Gate insists Rush was focused on safety.

He was very well aware of the risks of operating at these deep depths, and he was very committed to safety. The Ocean Gate sub made 13 successful trips to Titanic, nearly 13,000 feet down before Sunday's disaster killed all five men on board. The question for investigators, did those dives weaken the carbon fiber shell? The Navy only used. is carbon steel for its subs operating much closer to the surface. So they're operating at 10 times as deep, 10 times the pressure. We were, we are super scared of the pressure. It's like crushing a can of Coca-Cola, let's say.

The ends of it are going to get warped. And when they warp, those bolts are going to come free. In 2021, David Wad rode the sub all the way to Titanic. I knew when I went down, if something happened to the submersible, That was it. Under an international treaty, tourists are allowed to visit the Titanic site. But tonight, new questions about whether submersibles need government oversight. So there are standards, there are industry standards, and they were not adhering to them. Tom Castilla joins us now from Boston. Tom, I mean, we're talking about incredible deaths, open ocean.

What could come next in terms of potential recovery efforts for remnants of the Titan? Yeah, I've talked to a lot of experts who are doubtful that there are any. human remains that could be recovered, but getting a hold of the remains of the sub could be critical to the investigation, to do a forensics on that show that we discussed. That's going to be a decision that's going to be made by the Canadian and the U.S. authorities, and it may come down to who pays for it. Our government's going to pay for this? Will it be the private sector? It will not be cheap. By the way, the latest update from the search zone is that an ROV continues to search the bottom of the ocean floor documenting every piece of debris down there.

and it could be on the ocean floor for another week or so, Jake. For more on what we are learning at this hour, I want to bring in ocean explorer Tim Taylor. He is also the CEO of Tiburon subsea. Tim, the Navy knew there was this sound, which they did not publicly reveal until yesterday. I want to play a little bit of what Director James Cameron said about that. Have a listen.

Search, search, search. Four days of search. They're searching everywhere. They were running around with their hair on fire. The sub was right where they were. it was. It was literally on the sea floor below its last known position, which is the first place you look in a search is the last known position. You don't go running around all over the landscape with planes and trains and automobiles searching, right? It was right where it was

when it imploded. And I knew that's where they were going to find it. So, Tim, I mean, what is the logic, do you think of having held back that the Navy had heard this noise on Sunday? And do you think the search should have been more targeted, as James Cameron seems to be suggesting there. I felt the exact same way James did. And thank God we have a voice like James Cameron in this industry that people can listen to it because he knows it so well and he can speak to it. But we all agree with him. Many of us felt the same way that he did with less facts. He seems to have some insight tracked on the Navy recordings on the sound. But what I will say is that James his looking in the last known place, they did not have the equipment to do it.

So all they could do for five days is surface flight planes, get boats out there. They did what they could. And those were less likely places they were going to be, but for some chance, if the odds were that they did make it to the surface and drop weights or whatever happened, they still had to run those searches. And, you know, I don't want a Monday morning quarterback to Coast Guard. It's easy to steer to fly the planes and get those searches underway and then try to get equipment on location. I mean, I started asking questions the first day of why they didn't have an ROB on the operational boat for this. They could have IDed and found either save them or found that they couldn't save them that same day if they were equipped properly with the rescue equipment. on, or at least recovery equipment or inspection equipment on board the mothership.

My equipment, we do all that all the time. We have big robots that we launch. If we lose them, we can go get them with an ROB. So it's not uncommon, and it is, especially with passengers you're carrying vessels when you've got people involved, we can lose our equipment. It's a loss of equipment and not a loss of life. It is interesting that that choreography was not followed in this case. And what is your take, Tim, on the construction of this vessel?

I mean, Tom, you heard there mention that this was in part made from carbon fiber. The Navy only uses carbon steel. Do you feel that the design of this means that it was just a disaster waiting to happen? Oh, yeah. We have carbon fiber, small carbon fiber systems, but they're tested. They're not run to the limits. It's not that you can use carbon fiber in certain cylindrical construction, but for proper uses. This is so big, and they've stretched it to the limits, and it is not designed to keep pressure out.

It's designed, the copper fiber is best designed to keep pressure like a cylinder or scuba tank can be made out of all. But even if you're a scuba diver, you have to have your scuba tanks pressure tested every five years. There are rules and regulations around just the scuba tank. Your fire extinguisher has those rules. These rules are in place, but they won't follow. And I don't want to be insensitive in asking this question, but I do want your impression on this. I mean, is there any scientific value to a trip like this, or is this just a very dangerous outing for very rich people to go gawk at a mass grave under the water? That's a good question.

And science is essentially collecting data. So everything is data. But are they blazing new territory? Probably not. Can it be done with robotics? Probably. Human exploration is always going to be what we're made up of. We want to see what's over the rising.

We want to see what's around the corner. That's insatiable. There just seems to be a lot of opportunities for wealthy people or tourist-type opportunities for people to fulfill that need, and you've got to be careful as a buyer beware maybe or certify it. You can't get in a cab in Manhattan without looking at the certificates that the cab has been inspected and the driver's license. That's all I really have to say about that.

Buyer beware, indeed. Tim Taylor, thank you so much for being with us. Next to the new concerns about air travel staffing shortages, as the travel season heats up. Now, beyond the people who work on board the planes, a report released today says that air traffic control facilities face serious staffing challenges and claims that the FAA has made limited efforts to address that shortage. NBC national correspondent Gabe Gutierrez says more on what you need to know during this busy summer travel season. With airlines expecting record summer air travel tonight, a new audit from the Transportation Department's Inspector General

says critical U.S. air traffic control facilities face staffing challenges, and the FAA lacks a plan to address them. It paints a picture of an air traffic control system that's inadequately staffed and doesn't have enough trained controllers to move the amount of traffic that's occurring right now in the United States. The scathing report says more than three quarters of critical air traffic control facilities are staffed below the FAA's threshold of 85%. At some facilities, the report says, controllers are working mandatory overtime and six-day work weeks to cover staff shortages.

Of the FAA's more than 13,000 employees, 26% are trainees. The audit comes after a year of close calls. From JFK Airport in New York, Delta 1943, cancel takeoff plans. To Austin, Texas, where a FedEx plane was cleared to land just as a Southwest plane was departing. The two planes coming within just 100 feet of each other. In May, the Transportation Department sought $117 million to hire 1,800 air traffic controllers next year,

in addition to $1,500 being hired this year. But the audit says COVID led to training pauses, significantly increasing controller certification times. NBC national correspondent Gabe Gutierrez joins us now from Reagan National Airport. Gabe, what is the FAA saying about this scathing audit? Well, Jake, the FAA recently submitted a plan to Congress to beef up controller staffing, and it's also adding a new computer system to track scheduling. But there's also another concern that Transportation Secretary is warning of potential flight delays if airlines don't update their equipment before a July 1st deadline to prevent interference from 5G wireless signals.

Jake? Gabe Gutier's for us tonight. Thank you so much, Gabe. Now to a major development in one of the largest class action. in U.S. history. Manufacturing giant 3M agreeing to pay $10.3 billion to cities across the country over claims they contaminated water supplies with harmful chemicals. Maggie Vespa has the details. Tonight, an odorless, tasteless threat detected in drinking water across the U.S., now the center of a massive settlement. Minnesota-based manufacturing plant 3M agreeing to pay

$10.3 billion over 13 years to close to 300 cities and counties. where potentially harmful compounds called Phaas were found in water supplies. Phafas are also known as forever chemicals because they don't break down naturally. For decades, they've been staples in everyday products like non-stick cookware, waterproof fabric, and lawsuits highlight firefighting foam. They sold the product with an instruction that you should be training with it. And so every month, these airports and fire training facilities would intentionally set a plane, an old plane or a car on fire, and they'd practice putting it out. That foam would be seep into the

ground and it would get into the groundwater. Plaintiffs claim 3M's is the largest drinking water settlement in U.S. history, topped by payouts for lawsuits including Big Tobacco, the BP oil spill, and the Volkswagen emission scandal. 3M. saying the settlement is not an admission of liability, calling it an important step forward and vowing to stop manufacturing all PIFAs by the end of 2025. This year, the Biden administration imposed stricter drinking water standards after the CDC said PFAs were linked to health problems, including certain cancers. People at home can take multiple steps to protect themselves. So there's the potential to filter their water or switch to bottled water, limiting the amount of stain repellents or water repellent products that we're using. These Teflon

coated products, we can phase out their use. Maggie Vesper joins us now from New York. So Maggie, this is obviously a huge payout. Do these cities have a plan for what they're going to use the money for? Yeah, so essentially, Jake, these settlements, which by the way, still have to be approved by a judge, are designed to let cities and counties essentially use the money to detect PFAS in their drinking water and then try to remove those chemicals. But it's really worth noting. Attorneys admit that process could take years, and it also vary from city to city. So they say it's definitely worth reaching out to your local officials and your local utility providers to get questions on how safe your drinking water is and when these chemicals might be removed. Jake.

Maggie Vespa on an historic case, Maggie, thank you. Next tonight, we head overseas where at least 30 migrants trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands are feared dead. It is sparking outrage among activist groups, and it comes on the heels of that Greek migrant boat disaster where more than 700 people lost their lives. That rescue operation also facing scrutiny by international leaders who want justice for victims. NBC's Matt Bradley reports. Tonight, dozens of migrants are missing and fear dead. A heartbreaking reminder of the dangerous journey thousands are risking to get to Europe. Officials in Spain say at least 227 people were rescued off the coast of the Canary Islands

Thursday. But the news of people saved comes just a day after local migrant activists said more than 30 migrants were feared dead. They believe a dinghy holding at least 60 people sank on the same route earlier this week. Ombudsman now investigating the latest sinking after migrant support groups criticized Spain and Morocco for not taking quicker action in saving those on the boat. Spanish officials saying they followed the proper protocols and that Morocco didn't ask for assistance in the, quote, overlapping zone of waters that sit between the two countries.

Moroccan search and rescue did not respond to our request for comment. The controversy is just the latest in a rush of migrants trying to reach Europe. Spanish government data shows more than 5,900 people arrived in the Canary Islands between January and mid-June this year. The islands off the coast of West Africa have become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Spain as they flee poverty and violence in their home countries. At least 559 people died trying to reach the Canary Islands in 2022, according to the UN. Meanwhile in Greece, a nation still reeling from one of the deadliest maritime tragedies in the Mediterranean after a fishing boat carrying over 700 people sank last week.

Nearly half of those on board the ship were Pakistani migrants, that nation's interior minister, vowing to arrest and prosecute the human smugglers who orchestrated the dangerous voyage. And Jake, as more and more people make that perilous journey, many of them escaping brutal conflicts at home. Here's another startling statistic from the Spanish Maritime Rescue Society. They say that since 2020, they've rescued about 10,000 people right in that area between Morocco and the Canary Islands. Jake? Matt Bradley with important context for us. Matt, thank you. Still ahead tonight, an urgent warning from officials in New York City. Videos on TikTok showing teenagers riding on top of the subway, getting millions of views online,

why the mayor is calling for that type of post to be banned after a deadly accident. Plus, a fire raging at an oil tank battery in Oklahoma, what officials believe sparked that blaze. And saved by drone, we'll show you how police in Arizona tracked down an elderly man who got lost in the dead. desert in the dark. Stay with us. Top Story is just getting started. We're back now with a teenager killed while subway surfing in New York City. It's part of a dangerous trend catching fire online, viral videos showing kids walking and dancing on top of moving trains. New York City officials delivering a harsh warning about these risky stunts. Valerie Castro has the details.

Tonight, tragedy on the tracks in New York City. Subway surfers like the ones in these viral videos facing deadly consequences. There be any one of our kids, man. A 14-year-old boy killed, another critically injured, officials say, while subway surfing on top of a train in Brooklyn Thursday afternoon. Police saying the teens were knocked off the roof of the train when it went into an underground tunnel. First responders saying they found the pair under that train moments later. One pronounced dead at the scene, the other rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

God bless them. God bless the parents, the mom and the kids, and keep them in our prayers. In response, New York City Mayor Eric Adams issuing a stark warning. Subway surfing kills. It kills. Thursday's death, the latest in a string of teenagers killed while subway surfing in recent months. In February, 15-year-old Zachary Nazario lost his life while subway surfing on a train crossing the Williamsburg Bridge. He was amazing, an amazing son. City officials sounding the alarm. Subway surfing is not only illegal, it is super reckless, extremely dangerous, and people die doing so.

But just days later, a 14-year-old killed when he fell between two subway cars in the Bronx. Social media videos like these may be to blame for the growing. trend. Viral videos viewed by millions showing people sitting, walking, even dancing on top of moving trains. The results are jaw-dropping. The MTA says incidents of people riding outside subway trains have skyrocketed in recent years, rising 350 percent from 2021 to 2022. And transit officials tracked more than 100 additional incidents in just the first two months of this year alone. Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, blasting social media companies for allowing the videos on their platforms. I am calling today for TikTok to ban these videos immediately and take them down.

In a statement to NBC, New York, TikTok said, quote, this dangerous activity predates our platform and we strictly remove such content if we see it on TikTok. Meadow, which owns Facebook and Instagram, declined to comment for this report, Twitter, as well as Google, which owns YouTube, did not respond to our request for comment, but YouTube taking down one video after NBC News asked them about it. The disturbing trend, leaving families devastated. I would never see him graduate from college, get married, have kids of its own. Now shattered communities left to reckon with the pain that is becoming all too familiar. All for a ride. Oh, for a fun ride. And Jake, it's still under investigation if these boys were filming or streaming live during this incident, still

an alarming rise in these tragedies that hopefully authorities can get a handle on. Jake? Valerie Castro Forest in New York, Valerie, thank you. Coming up, a car care careening out of control, a ring camera, catching it on camera, flying through the air in a neighborhood, smashing into homes. We'll tell you the latest on that damage. That's next. Now with Top Stories News Feed, and we begin with a major decision by the Supreme Court on immigration.

The Justice is voting 8 to one to revive a Biden administration policy which instructed homeland security to focus on arresting recent border crossers, rather than undocumented immigrants who've lived in the country for years. That policy had been challenged by lawyers in both Texas and Louisiana, who argued the plan violated federal law. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito was the only dissenting vote. control car doing major damage to two homes on Long Island. Ring camera footage showing a speeding Mercedes soaring through the air, smashing into a utility pole. You see it there before hurtling into two homes. The car leaving a massive hole in one of those homes. Luckily, no one inside was hurt. The driver and passenger were injured, but they are expected to recover. Officials in Oklahoma

revealing the source of a tank battery fire, video taken just outside of Oklahoma City, shows the system of oil tanks engulfed in flames, smoke filling the air. Officials believe the blaze was sparked by a lightning strike, no injuries have been reported, and Arizona police using drones to find a man with dementia who got lost in the desert. Police searching in the dark with flashlights were unable to find the 70-year-old, and that's when they turned to a drone with advanced imaging technology. That drone was able to pinpoint his location. The man has since been treated for his injuries and reunited with his family.

Now, at the one-year mark of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there is still heated political debate over the issue. Ohio is at the forefront of a legal battle over abortion access in the state. Dasha Burns has the details. We are trying to give reproductive rights put on the balance. The battle over abortion rights taking center stage in Ohio. I want to make this a constitutional amendment in our Ohio Constitution that women do have these reproductive traces. abortion rights activists hoping to get an amendment on the ballot in November that would enshrine abortion access in the state constitution last year Michigan and Kansas both held statewide votes that ultimately protected abortion rights how high are the stakes in Ohio the stakes are incredibly high but first activists will have to get through Republican legislators who are working to make it harder to amend the state constitution they scheduled an August special election on the ballot whether to raise the threshold to amend the state's constitution from a simple majority, more than 50%,

to a supermajority, 60%. They move drawing protests from those who say the August special election is directly aimed at the effort to add abortion rights to the Constitution, something Secretary of State Frank LaRose acknowledged at a Republican event in May. This is 100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our Constitution. Republican Representative Brian Stewart, who championed the August special election, insists it's fair. If this is such an important issue, why put it on the ballot in a special election in August of an off year when you know the voter turnout is going to be extremely low? Well, I don't know the turnout is going to be extremely low.

You can look historically. That's how it's been in every August election. We have not had a statewide special election in a very long time. We are going to have a statewide special election in every single community. You're going to have robust campaigns on each side. Anybody who wakes up on August 9th and says, oh, golly, I didn't know there was election, has their head buried pretty far in the sand. The difference between a simple majority and a supermajority could be crucial. 59% of Ohioans support an amendment to make abortion a fundamental right.

And in states that have voted to protect abortion access, pro-abortion rights movements won by, just shy of 60%. A margin other states will be keeping an eye on as they work to pass their own ballot initiatives. Ohio is the place that this battle is happening right now this year, but this is happening all across the country.

It's going to be in so many more states next year during that election cycle. A fight with an ever-moving front line. Dasha Burns, NBC News, Columbus, Ohio. For more on the abortion battle and what it means for the 2024 election, I want to bring in John Allen, NBC News, senior national politics reporter.

John, thank you so much for being with us on Top Story. New NBC polling shows that 61% of all registered voters disapprove of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe, and 77% of female voters disapprove. I mean, that is three out of four women and three out of five voters in general. I mean, those are enormous numbers, John. So what does this mean for Republicans in the general election? I think it means it's bad news for Republicans of abortion is at the top of mind for voting. voters, particularly women voters. Of course, there's a whole panoply of issues that voters take into consideration, but Democrats are certainly going to be hitting this one pretty hard. And what you've seen since the Dobbs decision, since the overturning of the road protections, is states move so fast across the country, Republican-led states move so fast to put in place abortion ban. So it's not only that these protections were lifted, but in fact that the states are moving in with much more strict bans.

then I think a lot of voters had projected might happen if Roe was overturned. So you mentioned this question of whether or not it will be top of mind for voters. I mean, according to NBC exit polls after the 2022 midterm elections, the number two issue for voters was abortion. Do you think that time may be the factor here? I mean, by the time the 2024 election comes, will voters still be energized by this issue? Or will more traditional issues, you know, jobs, inflation, draw people to the polls?

It's so early in the cycle. I mean, the economy is almost always the number one issue, unless you're dealing with the situation right after a major disaster or, you know, incident of terrorism or something. The economy's typically the number one issue. But even as the number two issue, abortion was impactful, I think, in a lot of the congressional races and even some of the down-ballot races in 2022. So the onus is going to be on Democrats because obviously most of the Democratic Party is in favor of abortion rights to, put that on the ballot for voters to remind them, not only did this decision happen before the last election, but it is having ongoing consequences as a result of some of these moves by the state legislatures.

It'll be so interesting to see if it remains as white-hot an issue as it obviously has been. Now, let's turn to the Republican field. The latest poll from Emerson showing Trump still has a wide gap, a very wide gap over DeSantis. His support really unwavering, even after these two indictments, does that mean he's not going to be impacted? by that classified document case at all, do you think? It's hard to know whether there's a cumulative effect, whether there at some point is a straw that breaks the camel's back, so to speak.

But what we've seen so far is that Donald Trump is thriving in the period in which he has been indicted twice at first in Manhattan in that state case involving hush money to a porn star and then secondarily in this document's case at the federal level in the Miami district court. So what we've seen is Republicans rallying around Donald Trump. Trump. Whether that helps him in the general election or not remains to be seen. But we've also seen, interestingly, kind of at the same time, a drop-off in enthusiasm for Ron DeSantis, who's the number two Republicans. So it's not just that Trump is surviving this in terms of his polling. There's also not been, at least not been any real upward movement by DeSantis. And in some

polls, we've seen him fall. Thriving under two indictments is not a phrase I'm used to hearing. It's quite jarring when you say it that way. I'd like to avoid it personally. I know, I know, exactly. But different rules, I suppose. We're seeing a lot of attacks, of course, on Trump from Chris Christie. But the rest of the field, including his closest competitor, Ron DeSantis, are all staying pretty quiet. I mean, Trump is somebody that tends to go on the attack.

Do you think DeSantis needs to ramp up his attacks on Trump to stand a chance? I don't think there's any way for Ron DeSantis to win the Republican nomination without going straight after that Trump base, without trying to divide it and take some of it for his own. And I think that there is some wariness about attacking Trump over these particular cases because Trump has done such a good job of portraying himself to Republican-based voters as somebody who is the victim of an unfair system. Now, whether or not every voter believes that, certainly a lot of Republican-based voters believe it. And so it's a dangerous area for DeSantis.

He got burned a little bit by it during Trump's first indictment when he was slow to respond and then took kind of a swipe at Trump. And we've seen with this second indictment that DeSantis has been much more, I guess, circumspect might be the polite way to put it. Jonathan Allen, thank you so much. Coming up, a town on edge after a rash of bear sightings.

One woman coming face to face with one wall in her kitchen. What officials are telling anxious residents to do if they have a bear scare, that is next. Back now, with the neighborhood black bears caught on camera. Over the past month, an increase in sightings has put one California community on edge. Fears increasing after a man was killed by a black bear in Arizona in what officials are now calling an unprovoked attack. In one California neighborhood, some big visitors are lumbering by more frequently this summer. That's the way to go, buddy.

Black bears, native across forests in North America, now creeping in a neighborhoods like this one in Burbank, putting some residents on edge. I went into the kitchen to put something on the table. I turn around and the bear's right there. Diana Rio says she recently came face to face with the bear staring at her through her glass patio door that was cracked open. I just froze and I slowly backed up and closed the door. But that's too close for comfort.

Of course, it's humans moving into animal neighborhoods that are the real problem. A study last year found that habitat loss has contributed to a 69% loss of one. wildlife populations since 1970. California Department of Fish and Wildlife also telling residents here that bear attacks on humans are rare. We think there are about 700 to 800,000 black bears across all of North America. Fewer than one person is actually fatally injured by a black bear every year. But just last week, R.P, reporting that the neighbor was being attacked by a bear. An adult male black bear mulled 66-year-old Stephen Jackson to death in Arizona.

He was just the happiest guy. He just only cared about making people happy. and living a great life for himself. Neighbor David Montano grabbed his gun and killed the bear, but it was too late. I saw, further down the hill, the bear was there, and I got his attention, and I shot him. And the bear rolled off of Stephen. Officials are calling it an unprovoked attack. I can't really address why he did, why the bear attacked.

I did not find anything unusual about this bear. Conservation officials emphasize black bears generally will leave humans alone. And if they get too close, loud noises will usually scare them away. I don't think we are likely to be from what she's saying about bear behavior. It's highly unlikely that they will come after us. A reminder, bears walking down the street are still wild. It's your world. We're just living in it, man. Now to Top Story's Global Watch and to Germany, where severe storms have shut down

critical transportation routes. New images showing strong wind and hail lashing the western part of the country. The fire service reportedly rescuing several stranded drivers. A major railway between Berlin and Hamburg closed due to extensive damage. So far, no fatalities have been reported.

And MEDA announcing it will block news content on both Facebook and Instagram in Canada. This comes after the Canadian government passed the Online News Act, which requires digital companies like META to pay domestic media organizations for their content. Meta, which has long opposed this bill, opting to remove news entirely rather than

pay those fees. A similar law is currently under consideration here in California. Coming up, what to binge this weekend. Carrie Bradshaw back for another season, the latest Marvel series, and the new music from the Barbie movie from Nikki Minaj and Ice Spice. Bingeworthy is next. We're back now with Bingeworthy, our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. car friend of Top Story joins us now. She's got a very cool job. She's a pop culture expert and the host of Shaken

and Disturbed, a true crime podcast. Darren, thanks so much for being here with us on Top Story. Let's get started. We've got the return of some popular series. First, the bear is back for season two. Here's a look. It's a facelift. It's not a gun. Bear, it is a facelift and a gun.

It's going to take six months to open. Six months? That's being... What? Confidence? cocky, crazy. Still thinking Chaos menu? Yeah, chaos menu, but thoughtful. Oh, gross. We need like a reset.

I have to say, Deere, I find this show extremely entertaining and also extremely stressful. Workplace dramas mess with me. I have to say, what do you think fans should expect from this new season will be just as stressful as it was before? Yeah, of course, it's a restaurant business. I've never been happier to be a pop culture expert and not work in a restaurant with this. Although I just want to say yes, chef, to everything that this series kind of has to offer. So excited. All episodes, 10 episodes just dropped on Hulu, FX on Hulu.

And I'm so excited to see kind of the chaos and the craziness that Karmie gets back into. Again, they want to open up the restaurant really quick. They've got investors to pay back. It's going to be crazy. But again, the food shots in this are just absolutely impeccable. I love it. It's so on edge for like a 22-minute episode. It keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time.

I'm so looking forward to this season. I agree with you completely. And next, Kerry Branshaw and friends are back for another season of Sex and the City, the Spinoff, and just like that on Max. Here's a clip of that one. I thought I was doing so well. I got through that whole first year. The way you've moved on, we're so proud of you. Life too short, not to try something new.

I'm on the precipice of doing something either really stupid or totally liberating. I don't know who you are. Is there something you're not telling me? This show, you know, it had such an extreme influence on culture when it first aired, and now it seems to be getting pretty extreme reactions from both sides now that it's back again. Tell me about that. Well, how do you explain that, and what do you think we can expect from this season? Well, I can explain it by saying it's been a long time since Sex in the City originally aired, okay?

And so now they're kind of, you know, the women in their 50s, they're dealing with divorce, they're dealing with the kids kind of leaving the coop. They're also dealing with their own sexuality here. I mean, the outfits are amazing. It's in the best city of the world. But it's one of those shows now where you're either loving it and you're hating it. But no matter what across the board, people are still going to watch it. And I think that's the draw of sex in the city and Carrie Bradshaw and these really in-depth characters and women living in New York City.

I'm obviously a big fan of this. The first two episodes already dropped on Max, and they're going to keep dropping every Thursday. All right. And we have a new romantic comedy on Netflix starring Gabrily Union. It's called The Perfect Find. Here's a clip of that one. Cheers, a new job. And there might be some of here for you tonight.

You good, sleeping beauty? Could you get any cuter? It feels all look like a college student. I like something. A little more seasoned. I'd like to introduce you to our new videographer. It's my son. You're up?

Some real, like, sort of generational challenges for everybody that we're thinking about both in the city and in this one. I mean, what are you hearing about this movie? Yeah, this is actually a really just great rom-com kind of for everyone. It's out now. Gabrielle Union and Keith Powers sort of star in this, and she plays a 40-something woman who kind of falls in love with a younger guy. And unfortunately, the younger guy just happens to be the son of her boss. So things get very complicated.

It's based on a book by Tia Williams. But there's a lot of hilarity that ensues, a lot of seriousness. I definitely, definitely would check this out. And I love Gabrielle Union. And we have a series here that we actually spoke about on last night's show. We talked about some of the controversy around AI creating the credits for secret invasion on Disney Plus. Let's have a look at that, though. Fuel.

Since you've been gone. Things have gotten much worse. I think I came back. Now, putting aside the pushback from Hollywood creators about the artificial intelligence making the credits here, what else are we hearing about this series? I mean, you've got to love Samuel L. Jackson. He plays Nick Fury in this. And, you know, this is about sort of these legion of scrolls that are going to take over and

invade the earth. And so he and his team really need to gather together and band together and kind of fight these scrolls that are coming out. I mean, say what you will about Marvel movies, but they do such a job of keep, such a good job of keeping things in their universe, keeping you just engage the entire time. The CGI in here, the effects are just absolutely incredible. You've got to love Samuel Lowe's attitude here.

And they're kind of saying that this could potentially be his last fight. I don't know. Anything's possible in the Marvel universe as far as I'm concerned. I don't know what it says about me that I find it somehow relaxing to watch a, you know, super paranoid science fiction plot. And yet the bear freaks me out too much to watch. But I don't know. That's a conversation for another time.

We'll get that checked out later. Yeah, we're going to look at that. So last one I watched this year, we have Polite Society, which is a movie that premiered in theaters back in April, and can now be streamed on Peacock. Here's a look. I am going to be a stunt woman. My sister Lena is the only person who believes in me.

Want to help me with a vid for my channel? Please! No! Please! She helps me with all my training. You are going to be such a great stunt woman. That was Doppler. But lately, she's been seeing this guy

who I think is a bit of a smarmy rancor. I have to say what I love about the moment we are in is the ways in which we're seeing people from backgrounds that just never got into Hollywood before. And it's just cool that this was so popular in theaters and now more people will get the opportunity to stream. What's your feeling about this one? I love this one.

I mean, not only does it bring in a really diverse cast, but it's just got amazing, incredible, strong women. It kind of combines my two favorite topics, sibling affection and parental disappointment here. This, like, stunt woman in training wants to save her sister from what looks like a really, really terrible marriage. And so it can kind of only be described as the most elaborate wedding heist of all time. But there's a lot of funny moments. It's a really good movie to watch with your family. I love it.

It was big in theaters, and I'm so happy at streaming on Peacock now. I love that part of it. I love also, yeah, the idea of my kids, my two girls are going to make a lot out of that movie. Definitely. Moving now to music, we have a new song. off the highly anticipated soundtrack from the upcoming Barbie movie. It's Nikki Minaj and Ice Spice with Barbie World. Here's listen to that.

I mean, how would you describe, like, what this is and what it represents to the, to the, you know, the little girls who were first playing with Barbie back when they were first released? You know, this weird culture jamming that we're seeing around Barbie right now is so interesting to me. It's super interesting to me. And, you know, I was, when I was growing up, I actually never played with Barbies. I almost had, like, an aversion to them. I was more of like a Transformers, creepy crawlies kind of girl. But let me just tell you in my mid-30s right now, I could not be more excited for a soundtrack for a movie as well as a movie. I love the color pink.

I want to be plastic. I want to be fantastic. I remember this Aqua song when it first came out. I love what Nikki Minaj really did with this and Ice Spice. They're just so great. All the pink placement here. This is just reinvigorating fans into the Barbie universe. And it's really, really fantastic. I mean, I just love the product placement so obviously in here. You can't help but smile and love it. It's just bubble gum all thrown at you. And I'm really looking forward to this. And the song is absolutely fantastic. I think it's so interesting that we're both sort of rebelling against it and reveling in it in the very same video, right? It's some cool stuff.

Anyway, so finally we have new music from Kelly Clarkson out with a new album named Chemistry. Here's one of the albums, songs off the album called Skip This Part. Have a listen. If I could escape all this gossip and shame all I would, what it's going to take to get me through this break is no good. I'd like to skip this part

because she's so deep when it feels like the end I mean Kelly Clarkson, right, the word longevity, right, just her ability to keep going and going in her career both as a singer and on TV. I mean, she's just sort of, it's really amazing. I mean, as I understand it, she actually performed not too far from where you are by the subway. What are you hearing about her new album?

I mean, Kelly Clarkson is the definition of a successful multi-hyphenate, but let's not forget that she really started as a singer. You know, she's been through a lot in her career. We've really watched her blossom in the past two decades or so of her life on television, and her voice is just purely immaculate. This new album chemistry is really a divorce album, and I think Skip this part is such a touching anthem, if you will, about all the struggles that she really dealt with going through divorce. I think this is going to hit home for a lot of people. It's just absolutely beautiful, and it's so touching. And I really, really love it. I think there's so many of us out there who wish we could just kind of hit the fast forward button

on a lot of the terrible parts that happened in our lives, but we just kind of have to push through. And Kelly Clarkson is certainly just a symbol of that. And I'm really looking forward to this. Darren Carp, thank you so much for fast-forging to the weekend's entertainment for us. And thank you so much for watching Top Story. For Tom Yamas, I'm Jake Ford here in San Francisco. Please stay right there. More News Now is on the way.