Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, August 24, 2026

Episode Date: August 25, 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 urgent battle against an out-of-control wildfire tearing across Nevada. Tens of thousands forced to flee their homes. Entire neighborhoods burned down. Hundreds of firefighters attacking the flames by air and land. Officials say a human caused it. Also breaking the Supreme Court greenlighting President Trump's plan to restrict mail-in voting. NFL owner busted. The head of the San Francisco 49ers arrested after allegedly trying to hire a prostitute

in an Ohio trailer park. New manhole mystery in New York, video of three men in overalls, climbing out of sewers right next to Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. So what's going on? The deadly freak accident, a mom and her young daughter killed by lightning,

paramedics' desperate efforts to save them as the heartbroken husband and father are now speaking out. Wild video of a dust devil swirling through a softball game, sending tense flying and kids scrambling for, cover and pedal to the metal? Not quite. Amazon's new fleet of robotaxies hitting the roads without a steering wheel or brake pedals, our expert took it for a test drive. Plus, inside the competitive world of pay-to-play youth sports, family shelling out thousands of dollars as investors cash in hasn't gone too far. Top story starts right now. Good evening. As we come on the air here,

crews are raising a container fast-moving wildfire in Nevada. Right now, tens of thousands forced out of their homes with many unsure if they'll return to anything left. New video capturing the Inferno tearing through the Reno area, and at this hour, thousands more are still in the fire's path. Video shows this one man escaping on a tractor coming within inches of those flames. And this group driving so close to the fire, they say it melted the paint on their car. Across the region, officials say dozens of homes have been destroyed. Here you can see some of the destruction with buildings burned and vehicles charred. The fire erupted over the fire erupted over the. weekend and has already scorched more than 15,000 acres that's larger than the size of Manhattan.

Hundreds of firefighters now getting support from the National Guard, helping battle the flames from the ground and the air. Tonight, crews are starting to make some progress, but the risk is far from over with more strong winds at heat, threatening to fan the flames. In a moment, we'll hear from one of the families who has lost almost everything in the fire now that this is all that's left of their home. We start tonight with Steve Patterson on the front lines. Tonight, firefighters racing to contain the flames above Reno, threatening tens of thousands. The rapidly expanding hawk fire exploding over the weekend, racing over more than 15,000 acres, destroying dozens of homes and forcing 45,000 people to evacuate.

I'm still scared to death. You don't know if the winds are going to shift and it's going to get worse. Another 40,000 told to pack and get ready to go. Every now and then, you'd hear a propane tank explode up on the hill. Mark Bordeaux from just north of downtown Reno evacuated his home Friday and has been living at the Bonanza Casino parking lot ever since. How bad was it? I could not see from my front door to the walk. Wow. And that was probably 20 feet.

And leaving, it was bumper to bumper and it was just total chaos. The Hawkfire, now known to be a human-caused fire. He's being fought by 900 fire personnel. attacking from the ground and from the air. The Nevada National Guard assisting with Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters. How dangerous is it? Extremely dangerous. It is a dry season and with that cheat grass, that fire fuels, they ignite, they go quickly

and when you add that breeze, now you have an extremely fast-moving fire. The sheriff telling us seven people injured so far, including three first responders from fire so hot it's melted paint right off of cars. Oh, feel that heat. Oh my gosh. smoke blanketing neighborhoods around Reno, where the temperature today surge past 90 degrees, with hot and dry conditions expected to continue for days. Those conditions, along with increased winds, creating a new risk for the fire to spread even further over the next 48 hours.

Steve Patterson joins us now live from outside the evacuation zone there in Reno. So Steve, official saying that this was human cause, but it's still not clear whether it was intentional or not? Tom, I pressed the sheriff on this. He says it's a matter that is under investigation and could be unsettled for quite some time. Meanwhile, we just heard in a briefing, containment jumping up to now 27%. Firefighters are making progress, but the winds are now picking up. We are surrounded by bone-dry brush. This fire danger nowhere near over. Tom. Okay, Steve Patterson, a little good news there with the containment. I want to bring meteorologist Bill Carrons. Bill, what's the outlook for the Reno era as the fire rages on? Yeah, that containment number is not

quite high enough that we couldn't see the fire rapidly pick up again, especially if we we get the windy conditions. And unfortunately, that's possible tomorrow. So let's get into the current what we're dealing with. Ever since this fire exploded Saturday. And by the way, Saturday, this fire spread six miles in about 40 to 50 mile per hour gusts. That's like, you know, spotting. And that's just insane. That's why you saw those epic pictures that you saw and why everyone had to get out. Ever since then, the winds have been lighter, especially at night. So they've really knocked out a lot of the hotspots and knocked the flames down. So we're not seeing the wild pictures or even the big smoke blooms. But when the wind picks up tomorrow, we are expecting those wind gusts

up to about 35 miles per hour. Humidity levels drop. As Steve just mentioned, the hillsides are bone dry. We're at the peak of fire season this month and next month. This is usually when we get our big ones, and they want to prevent that from happening, especially with so many populated areas. Now, the wind's going to be blowing this fire to the northwest and the northeast here away from Reno. So that's good. But we've got some other communities that we still have to worry about in the days ahead. And I don't want to forget all the other fires on it. I mean, we still have over 75 large fires burning throughout the West where in any extremely windy day, any of these can take off, too.

Yeah, and then, Bill, while we have you here, I know you're tracking some record-setting heat about to hit some major cities. Yeah, our friends in Oklahoma and Texas have had enough. We're still looking at temperature. This is now. I mean, it's 107 currently in Dallas. Yesterday it was 109. I mean, that's rivaling what we're doing here in Vegas and Phoenix.

So, yeah, this has been an extremely hot stretch from Oklahoma down through Texas. Excessive heat warnings continue for tomorrow. I mean, it's going to get a little bit better for the 60 million people, but not a lot. We're only going to knock a couple degrees off of this. So this is the forecast tomorrow, 106 in Dallas. I know it's not humid, but, I mean, you feel like you're living in Phoenix right now. It is humid, New Orleans down through Florida. And it's kind of more typical, just a little bit warmer than it should be.

We would just like to cool people down and give them a break. Last night in Dallas, the low temperature was 86 degrees. I mean, that's about as warm as it gets. And you notice that, Tom, we're staying near 100 in Dallas right through Saturday. Going to be rough there in Texas. Okay, Bill, thank you. I want to bring in Carrie and Andrew Kiefer right now who lost their home in the Reno area in those wildfires. I thank you for joining us tonight.

It's such an unimaginable situation. How are you and your four kids doing tonight? Just the best we can. A little traumatized and just trying to get through it. But we're thankful everybody made it out alive. Yeah. Where are you guys living right now? In a hotel, at Boomtown.

Oh, at one of the casinos? Yeah. So walk us through the moments you found out that the fire had broken out and when you realized the flames had reached your neighborhood. Well, we didn't know until we actually pulled up to our neighborhood. We were at our son's football game. And while we were driving him there, and we had seen the fire on the other side of the verdict,

we saw the smoke and stuff. But it was our son's first football game. We didn't want to miss it. We drove him there. And we were watching the watch duty app the whole time. And it was just on yellow get set. And it was showing like where the fire had burned. And we're like, oh, it's not even at the top of Pea Vine yet.

So, you know, we're fine. We'll just keep watching to see if it reaches the top of Peabine, will head home, but it never did that. So at 4 o'clock as game ended and we started driving home and it was still in yellow gets set, but we were coming up Virginia Street and we turned or coming up Lemon Valley, we turned under Virginia and then the whole mountain was just in flames. And that's when we were like, oh my gosh, like we got to go. But the roads were already blocked off.

And we had to show our ID to get through. and we were like, our dog is in there. Our dog's at our house, so the cops led us through. And we went up, and I just ran into my house. We tried to get everything that we could. I told her to grab pictures and things we can't replace. And I went and hooked up to a sailboat, and that's about all I had time to grab.

Yeah, we at least got our sailboat out. And I just was like ripping pictures off the wall, family pictures, wedding photos. I grabbed my mom's ashes and we left. But once we went outside, I was like snowing ashes on us, and the smoke was so thick like you could barely see in front of you. And we start coughing. My kids were like crying.

It was really scary. Yeah, speaking of your kids, how are they doing? And how did you guys sort of explain this one to them? Well, they were there with us, our 8-year-olds and our 12-year-olds, so they were like totally panicking. And my oldest daughter is actually the one that told us that our house did burn down. But I don't know they're handling it just like anybody would, I guess. They just think we're on vacation.

Yeah, maybe that might be sort of a good distraction. How did your oldest know that the home had burned down? My daughter's boyfriend's dad is a firefighter, and we were asking him for updates, and he told us that it was burned down. I'm so sorry for that. What is it that your family and the community needs right there right now in Reno?

Just support, donation. We're getting so much support. I can't thank everybody enough on Facebook and all the donations. It's overwhelming. It's heartwarming. Yeah. It's amazing, like, how much the community has come together

to help. I see every donation and it just brings a tear to my eye. I love this community and they're coming together for us. You think firefighters are going to be able to get a handle on this one? I hope so. So my brother is actually a wildland firefighter and he was saying like they tried everything they could even if they were to drop retardant water. Our houses were like we were in front of the head of the fire. And he's like, that's the hottest part. And with the wind, that 40 miles per hour, it was just coming so fast. Like, they had no time for anything. So. Carrie and Andrew Kiefer, I'm so sorry you guys are going through that with your kids right now. I'm glad that you guys have shelter in your stain somewhere. And hopefully you get through this.

And we're going to keep covering the story until they put that fire out. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. Okay. We're going to turn now to Washington where we're following several breaking headlines, including the Supreme Court handing a win to the President on his quest to restrict mail-in voting, and economic wars ramping up on two fronts. Garrett Hague joins us tonight from the White House. And Garrett, this mail-in ballot win for the President could be short-lived. Yeah, that's right, Tom. There are more legal challenges ahead for this executive order and not much time to actually implement it before the midterm voting gets underway. But for tonight, at least, a divided Supreme Court is allowing the administration to order the Postal Service to only do. deliver mail-in ballots to those on federal lists of eligible voters, all as the White House ramps up its economic pressure on Iran.

Tonight, as the war with Iran approaches the six-month mark, the Trump administration rolling out a new pressure campaign designed to force the Iranian regime back to the negotiating table, launching what the president has called an economic D-Day for Iran, slapping sanctions on 60 foreign entities, and threatening to cut off Iran's trading partners from the global financial system unless they stop doing business with Iran. The actions of Treasury and other agencies will tighten the noose and block every potential source of revenue that funds the IRGC and the evil Iranian regime. Before the war, as much as 90 percent of Iran's oil was sold to China.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked if the U.S. would risk sanctioning Chinese banks. We want to make clear to hear today that no one is above the reach of the United. of U.S. sanctions. But Bessent offered no timeline for action on China. That effort to wind down one war comes as the White House is ramping up a new trade war with Canada. The president levying new 50 percent tariffs on roughly 5 percent of Canadian exports Saturday with trade talk scrapped. Products now set to cost Americans more include ice skates, refrigerators, auto parts, even plywood. We need to send a message loud and clear to the Prime Minister of Canada. Stop taking advantage of America.

It's over. We expect fairness in our trade policy. But this auto body shop in Colorado concerned with spiking costs. And just, you know, put that on a customer's car and say, hey, this is $300 more because of tariff pricing. And now one official in Canada threatening to cut off electricity exports to the U.S. saying President Trump, quote, better have a pack of batteries. With that, Garrett joins us again from the White House. Garrett, the president says there are more tariffs coming? Yeah, Tom, this is all going to get messier and more expensive for Americans before it gets cleared up.

The Canadians are set to announce their retaliatory tariffs tomorrow, and the president has already posted on Truth Social that if there's not some kind of deal by January 1st, he's going to roll out even more heavy tariffs on auto parts and on cars and on steel. That's something that a lot of people don't realize how many American cars, cars they think of as U.S. built, have a significant. mix of Canadian parts are made in part across the border in Canada. That will make every car, everything associated with owning or driving a car significantly more expensive. Now, that's a long way off till January. Lots of room for conversation, but tonight nobody looks like they're ready to blink first. Tom? Okay, Garrett, thank you. We're going to turn out of the arrest of 49ers owner Jed York in a prostitution sting operation. Police arresting him at an Ohio trailer park after investigators say he responded to an undercover ad. Maggie Vespa has the latest.

Tonight, just before the NFL season kicks off a stunning turn of events off the field for the San Francisco 49ers. That's 49ers principal owner, Jed York, pleading no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct in Ohio. The married father of two who court records show filed for divorce earlier this year, originally arrested on one count of engaging in prostitution. Prosecutors amending the charges, according to court documents. The documents state York responded to an undercover ad placed on a known prostitution website by a local human trafficking task force, arranging to meet a woman at this East Palestinian Ohio trailer park Sunday and pay her $140 in exchange for sex. York also pleading no contest to possessing criminal tools referring to his cell phone,

which investigators say he used to arrange the meeting. As part of his plea, York was sentenced to. to one day in jail, given credit for time served, in order to pay more than $1,100 in fines. No response from York's attorney. Now, focus turns to how the NFL might respond. The league only saying they're aware of the matter which will be reviewed under the personal conduct policy.

The 49ers noting the matter's been resolved, declining to comment. York's from Ohio. His grandfather bought the 49ers nearly 40 years ago, the franchise hosting the Super Bowl earlier this year. What really matters is the lasting impact that you create, the hope that you create. Maggie Vespa joins us now. Maggie, the NFL season starts in two weeks. What could the NFL do here? Well, Tom, it's unclear at this point that policy that we talked about is a six-page document that frankly doesn't put any kind of limits or specific requirements on penalties in situations like this.

It just lists kind of possibilities that the league can reach for. So things like paid administrative leave. Now, it's worth noting, again, that's the policy that the league pointed to. laws beyond that give the commissioner more power, things like implementing a fine of up to half a million dollars, or if votes among other team owners are there, even a higher fine or potentially forcing an owner to sell. It's worth noting that has never happened in league history. But again, anything's possible here. And as you point out, the clock is ticking with kickoff just over two weeks away. Tom. All right, Maggie, Vespa for us. Maggie, thank you. We're going to turn out to Gary, Indiana, where a desperate situation is growing dire. Nearly two weeks.

Two weeks after destructive storms, thousands remain without electricity, leaving them unable to refrigerate food, cooler homes, and in some cases, use crucial medical equipment. Shaquille Brewster is on the ground there. In Gary, Indiana tonight, fear and outrage boiling over. I'm in a blackout, one of the worst ever for Indiana. There's no gas, no power, nowhere to go. As thousands are still in the dark, nearly two weeks after devastating storms and tornadoes tore through Indiana. This is day 13. Day 13 without power.

It certainly is. 73-year-old Joetta Walker has lived in Gary her entire life. I feel hurt because I feel like they could do better than this. She's lost more than $700 worth of food and has been relying on drop-offs from family. Most concerning, she can't use her breathing machine. What has been the impact of you not being able to use this? It's making it very difficult for me to rest at night because the whole thing is you don't get up oxygen. Indiana Governor Mike Braun today demanding an investigation into local utility company

Nipsco raising questions about its preparation for and response to the severe weather. Nipsco telling NBC News, crews are working 24 hours a day to repair and rebuild infrastructure damaged by this historic storm. This is the kind of work that's been taking place here in Gary the past couple of weeks. Crews having to reinstall and repair lines through what you see are incredibly tough conditions. Gary's mayor, Eddie Melton, says the ongoing crisis in his predominantly black city is unacceptable. Is race a factor here? I think race could be a factor in terms of black communities, brown communities are often overlooked in tragic situations.

As of this afternoon, nearly 10,000 NipSco customers in northwest Indiana are still without power. The lights just turning back on for Cheney Weber and her two granddaughters. I feel like we still came last, so I feel like we're at the bottom. before everybody else. Shaq joins us tonight from Gary and Shaq, you're in a neighborhood that just got its power back. Tom, within the past couple of minutes here, I'll tell you, Ms. Joetta, who you saw at the beginning of that story,

she's further down this block. She now has her power back. She can now, again, use that breathing machine. The rest of her neighbors now have their power here as well. I'll tell you, some people actually came out into the street and were dancing, literally dancing in the streets when that power was restored. You see, there's still some cleanup that would do as well.

You see some of the branches that are here. Now, Nipsco, the power company that we've been talking about, they say that power should be restored to everyone, Tom, by tomorrow night. It will end what has been a long two weeks for folks here in Gary, Indiana, and in the northwestern part of the state, Tom. Good that they're getting their power back, at least in that area. We thank you so much for that. Now to a tragic story out of Florida.

Officials say a mother and her two-year-old daughter died after being struck by lightning. The family says they had just arrived to a relative's house for dinner. When the weather got bad, they tried to rush inside but didn't make it. Neighbors say the strike was so powerful. It shook their homes. They leave behind the toddler's twin sister and father. For more, I want to bring in Ryan Chandler. Ryan, this is so sad.

What is the father saying tonight? What more do we know about with what happened? Tom, an incomprehensible situation for all involved. We are hearing from the father who spoke with our Miami affiliate. Cameron Glasgow, remembering his wife, Kenya, with whom he was about to celebrate his fourth wedding anniversary and says he's trying to stay strong now for that twin sister that he says his daughter Kennedy now leaves behind let's listen we would have been four years married November 21st so it's extremely hard but I'll be okay because I have to be because I have

another beautiful daughter that's inside there but for her to lose her twin sister who words can't describe that feeling because I know she can't even fathom it right now that she lost her best friend. Yeah, Tom, the Margate Police Department says they extend their deepest condolences to everyone involved here. The National Weather Service says these are the third and fourth lightning fatalities in Florida so far this year, though they're still investigating what exactly happened here, Tom. Yeah, Margate, so this is Broward County there, just a little north of Miami.

Do we know more about the situation of what exactly happened? I know we set it up a little bit. They essentially were just trying to run inside when they were struck. So they just arrived at their aunt's house, Cameron said, and the weather turned for the worst. They were trying to rush inside, but two of them never made it in, Tom. Interestingly, though, it seems to be part of the same storm system where there was a second lightning strike within minutes of this one in just about 30 minutes away. This one happened in Boiton Beach, Florida, where police say a teenager was found with evidence of a lightning strike. He was transported to the

hospital in critical condition. But by all indicators tonight is expected to survive. Tom. All right, Ryan Chandler for us. Still ahead on top story, the growing mystery under the streets of New York. New video of men wearing headlamps climbing out of the sewers in one of the busiest areas of the city. And police ride share pursued why cops chasing down a suspect hopped into an Uber for an assist. We'll speak with that driver. And record robot run, the humanoid chasing down one of the most iconic records on the track running faster than Usain Bolt. Stay with us. We're back now with the growing mystery below New York City. New video capturing groups of people climbing out of manholes,

this time right next to one of the busiest travel hubs in the country, prompting concerns over security. Sam Brock has the latest on what they're doing down there. Tonight, a mystery under the streets of New York only intensifying after these three men were captured on video climbing out of the New York City sewer system just after four o'clock in the morning, according to NYPD, wearing overalls using what appears to be headlamps. This is the manhole. This is the manhole. cover just feet away from the busiest transit hub in the western hemisphere, Penn Station underneath Madison Square Garden, where some 600,000 people pass through every single day. Darren Portcher is a former lieutenant for the city's police department.

Are you concerned by the images that you're seeing? I'm very concerned. This is reactive and it's not proactive. I highly encourage a proactive mechanism inside of the sewer system that would detect as soon as an individual is there. Law enforcement saying the NYPD is aware of the incident. There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing. With the city's Department of Environmental Protection adding that they've inspected the sewers at the location and our infrastructure is safe. This latest sewer incursion comes on the heels of a similar scene in Queens, New York a couple months ago, as well as multiple instances in Brooklyn with early morning divers pouring out from underground. As this investigation unfolds, the city is warning any would-be scavengers that entering the sewer system is both illicit.

legal and extremely dangerous. And Tom, Lieutenant Porcher told us manhole covers like this weight a couple of hundred pounds. It's not like someone could just come and lift it up. It requires a tool. As for the NYPD tonight, they said that they do have two people arrested from one of these incidents in Brooklyn that dates back months. They've been arrested for criminal trespassing, but Tom, police so far have not specified what any of these defendants are actually looking for.

Let me send it back to you. It's still so strange. Okay, Sam, thank you. Top Story, the unexpected dust devil sweeping through a softball game, tearing apart tense and wreaking havoc with families. Plus, the lifeguard on vacation jumping into action to rescue his own family will tell you about the incredible save. But first, Top Story's top moment and the philanthropist and businessman, ringing in 60 years of life with thousands of strangers. Joseph Healy celebrated his birthday every 10 years by throwing a free concert with a big name star.

The special guest this time, Maroon 5. Take a listen. Roon 5 there. It's not every day you get to see a pop icon for free. Healy had a word of advice for those who showed up. Maybe tomorrow and the next day and the next you do something kind. The whole world is going to be a better place. All right.

Concordos say they can't wait to see who plays for this big 70. All right. Stay with this. More top story just ahead. Back down with power and politics and new buzz tonight over whether Democrats have boosted their chances of winning back the Senate. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reporting that Democrats have open paths to flipping the four seats they need for Senate control in November. Here to break it down,

our own Steve Cornycki is back at the big board. Steve, so great to see you tonight. Look, we've been hearing from the Republican strategists here on Top Story, right? They come on. They seem to be giddy at some of these progressives, right? What's the fact check here? And where is sort of the state of play right now? Yeah, it's interesting, Tom. The national political climate, certainly with Donald Trump's low popularity, gives the Democrats some wind at their back, because they try to make that net gain of four seats. Does get a little bit tricky, though, when you start to break it down to the specific. So look at it in two phases here. First of all, Democrats, we say they need a net gain of four seats to get the Senate. The first

thing they have to do is not lose any ground. And that's the risk they have in Michigan, New Hampshire, and Georgia. Those are three Democratic seats that are up this year that, to varying degrees, could be in trouble. And I think that question is particularly acute in Michigan, where Democrats nominated Abdul El-Said, you know, very far to the left in the prime. there, a state that Trump won twice. I think there's some real questions now about whether Democrats can hold Michigan. If they lose it, then they would need a net gain of five seats. That math is daunting because keep in mind, here's where the Democrats are trying to make their gains. Once you get beyond those Democratic-held seats, we just showed you. Here are six Republican

held seats that Democrats are trying to win. Now, you look at it this way. They think that Maine, Susan Collins, the longtime incumbent there, it's a state that did not vote for Trump any of the times he ran for president. Democrats think their best chance of flipping is right there in Maine, followed by North Carolina. Now, it's arguable in either case, but if they do get those two, they're still going to need at least two others from Ohio, Iowa, Texas, and Alaska. And those four states all have something in common. Check this out. Not only are those Trump states, those are double-digit Trump states. So if Democrats are going to get back the Senate, at the very least, they're going to need to win two of these four. If they lost Michigan,

they'd need to win at least three of these four. So Democrats are excited about some of the candidates, some of the dynamics in those races, but overall, that is a tough thing to do in this day in age in politics, win multiple seats in states that your party lost by double digits in the White House. That's what Democrats are doing. You put into a real good perspective there. Tomorrow, another election night, including the Republican Senate primary in South Carolina, where now Senator Darlene Graham wants to keep her late brother's seat. Republicans, including the president, doubling down to support her after she answered a debate question about Taiwan by essentially saying, quote, national security, not my thing. So Republicans come into her defense.

Here's some of what South Carolina Congressman William Timmons had to say. Listen to this one. Darling has to balance her checkbook every week. She knows what it's like going through food lion checkout and wondering if she's, She has enough for everything. This is silly for us to talk about the South China Sea and Taiwan. The position is very simple. She needs to support the president and she needs to support the military.

And she'll learn the rest as she goes. I don't know about all that. The economy is still obviously very top of mind, but she's replacing her brother who a lot of people knew as sort of a foreign policy wonk, if you will. Do the polls match that? And what does the data show about Darlene Graham? There's a lot of suspense for this one time. Remember, this is a runoff in the preliminary Graham finished first.

Only a third of the vote. She's going to run against Ralph Norman in the runoff. He came in second. Here's where it's going to be decided. It's this part of the state right here, Myrtle Beach, this northeast area. There was a third candidate here, Russell Fry. He's the local congressman.

He ran big in this part of the state. He has endorsed Darlene Graham, and Donald Trump came into campaign for Darlene Graham right here in Myrtle Beach in this district. If Trump and Fry are able to pull those voters over to Graham, she'll be fine. But if there is some backlash over her candidacy here and she doesn't put up big numbers here, she's going to be in trouble. So I think this is the region to watch tomorrow night around Myrtle Beach. Okay, we will hopefully know. Well, thank you so much for that, Steve. We're going to turn out of Top Stories News Feed.

We're going to start with some dangerous storm sweeping across Europe. Here you can see a giant tornado spinning in southern France, one of the twisters there knocking down trees and ripping apart buildings. And at an airport in Italy, powerful winds flipped over small planes, no reports of any injuries. but according to local media, the storm tore off a terminal's roof, forcing the airport to shut down for a while. In Central Alabama, a so-called Dust Devil swirling through a youth softball game. Look at this. I want to go and run into it.

Yes, we will. Oh, my goodness. That is scary. That powerful column of dust causing chaos as it spun across the field, sending tense flying through the air. The woman who filmed it said the whole thing lasted about 40 seconds, that the teams were about to start playing again shortly after. And from the robots are taking over files,

check out this humanoid name Lightning, turning in the fastest 100 meter dash in history, beating Usain Bolt's world record. But instead of posing like a bolt, he just smashes it to the wall. This happened at the World Robot Games. Not all of them found eternal glory like this weightlifting robot. Pretty good technique, but then, look at that,

just trips over his own, yeah, his own barbell. That's terrible. All right. We're going to move on now next tonight to almost every police chase in Hollywood starts the same way. A police commandeer car and tell the driver, follow that man. Well, it sometimes happens in real life, too. Uber driver has the video to prove it, and he's sharing it with our Priscilla Thompson.

This was the moment unsuspecting Uber driver Anthony Baines was suddenly called to duty. Baines was sitting at a stop sign earlier this month. His dash cam rolling as a shirtless man raced by. with two Houston police officers in hot pursuit. One officer breaking from the chase, heading in his direction. Jumping into the Uber and telling Baines to hit the gas. Go, go, go, go. At one point, stopping to pick up another officer.

What was going through your mind? Honestly, once it felt like an action movie. They're getting away. We need your car. So I literally visualized me being that driver in that moment and just kind of was running on adrenaline. The impromptu police Uber lasted several minutes, Bain says. Which way did he go? Over here.

Houston police tell our affiliate KPRC officers were trying to detain a man accused of threatening to shoot a woman and her children and that the suspect ultimately got away. They declined to say if the officer's actions violate department policy. Is it concerning? Absolutely. I mean, once again, three people in a car, two people signed up to be put in these very situations and are getting paid to be in those situations. Dangerous situations. Dangerous situations.

Still, Bain says he's hoping for five stars for the ride. Priscilla joins us from Houston. Priscilla, this is such a wild story. Can you tell us about the driver and did he ever go back and pick up his original passenger? Yeah, Tom. Baines was actually in route to pick someone up when all of this happened, and he did still make it to pick up that rider. He said that the rider had been watching the trip play out in the app and was very confused about what was happening. But once Baines explained to him what happened, the rider was very understanding.

And in fact, they were hearing police helicopters and still seeing some of this activity as he dropped that rider off at a bar. Bain said that he probably should have gone inside and had a drink after the experience that he had. but he stayed on the road and continued to drive. So there you have it, Tom. Okay, Priscilla. Thank you for that. Now to the moment, a lifeguard jumped into action to save his own family.

Video capturing a raft carrying his father, aunt and cousin as it slammed into a catamaran. The 24-year-old being hailed a hero for the off-duty save. Our Dana Griffin has this video. Tonight, a lifeguard's heroic actions to save his own family. Watch those two rafts being towed by a speedboat in Aruba. It's engine.

revs while making a wide turn. Then one raft slams into a catamaran. Oh my God! It whipped my other family members straight directly into the boat. And the minute I saw that, I knew I had to jump out of the jump off my raft and go save them. That's lifeguard Marcelo Lorenzo, seen here jumping off the other raft and into the ocean to save his father, aunt and cousin. The 24-year-old first reaches his dad. He was unresponsive underneath the boat. That's when I grabbed him and pull him up out of the water. Then when I swim in the water, and then when I swim to the back side of the boat, I find my cousin face down unconscious in the open water. I then lifted my father onto the back of the smaller boat. That's where I found my aunt as well with

a broken arm. Turns out Lorenzo spends most days here as a lifeguard in Hollywood, Florida. That day, thousands of miles away, he relied on his training to save his family. We're out here just getting ready for the worst, and that's exactly what happened. Lorenzo tells me his dad is now in the U.S. recovering after he had to stay behind in Aruba to be cleared for travel. As for the hero lifeguard, he is back on duty and being honored this week in Florida. Tom? Coming up on top story, Amazon now racing into the Robotaxie game with a new ride that looks more like a toaster than a car. We'll hear from Joanna Stern who stepped inside and took it for a spin.

Stay with us. We're back now with the latest expansion of self-driving taxis. Amazon's Robotaxie hitting the roads in cities like Las Vegas and San Francisco, Austin, and Miami. But there's a twist. This car can't put it. pedal to the metal because there are no pedals. It's called Zooks, and it's the toaster-shaped taxi of the future. You're looking at it right now. This is what it looks like. It's one of the first self-driving cars approved to drive commercially without a steering wheel or a dashboard.

For more on the rollout, I want to bring in our chief tech correspondent, Joanna Stern. Joanna, always great to see you. You've rid in one of these, so what did you think? Well, look, have you ever been in a Waymo, Tom? Yeah. So you know in Owemo where you see this car is driving itself, but you see the steering. wheel and it looks like there's a ghost operating the steering wheel, right? It's moving around, it's doing this thing. And you're like, why does it need to do that, right? The computer, the machine is driving itself. We don't need a steering wheel. Well, here is an example of a car built from the ground up with the idea that there doesn't need to ever be a human driver in the driver seat. And so it

sort of makes sense, but it's also definitely a little nerve-wracking when you're looking at this thing and saying, really, yeah, I'm in a completely autonomous vehicle where I can never take over. And Zooks didn't fully get the green light to travel anywhere. There are some restrictions with these, right? There are definitely restrictions on these, and it's taken them a while to literally get on the road. They've been testing for a while in San Francisco in Las Vegas. They did a bigger rollout in Las Vegas this month,

and they are pretty far behind when you look their competitor. They are pretty far behind Waymo, which is their leading competitor, owned by Alphabet, Google. This is owned by Zooks is owned by Amazon. And now we have Zooks with just 100 vehicles on the road right now. Yeah. Does Amazon have a chance of sort of competing? Because as you mentioned, Waymo is so competitive

and they have so much of the market. Look, it's Amazon. I wouldn't count them out. They've got a huge infrastructure that they can build around, right? Given that Amazon vehicles really know these roads. And also given the fact that they have been working on this for quite a long time. But they are coming at this a little bit later.

And it is, again, very important to look at where they're rolling out. They're rolling out right now in Las Vegas, cities where there isn't a lot of precipitation or there isn't a lot of winter type of precipitation. So this is where these vehicles start to roll out before they can start to roll out in more complicated areas. That is very interesting that you point that out. Are we getting to a point where we will soon be hearing more about Zooks and Waymo than Uber and Lyft?

Well, we're going to hear about Uber and Lyft, but we're going to hear about them with autonomous vehicles as well. Uber specifically has been partnering with different types of autonomous vehicle companies. They've partnered before with Waymo. They are partnering now with other types of companies doing some of this on their own. We're going to see a lot of these companies, I believe, converging, where they're offering the same sort of service, right? Getting from point A to point B, but you no longer need a human driver.

You need one of these self-driving car operators. What do you think we're going to be, Joanna? Because I can remember when Uber first came out, and you kind of heard about it, and then it was like, oh, you've got to download this app, and it's so easy, and it was revolutionary when it came out, and the whole taxi cab industry was completely transformed, because of it in New York City. How far are we from that point where these autonomous vehicles are taking over everywhere? I think we're still a number of years out. We need the regulation

to also catch up. This is a kind of a patchwork of situations right now. Some states allowing this, some states not, something, obviously, as I mentioned, too, before the weather situation. So before we step into any city, you get off that airplane and you are able to get a Waymo or a Zooks in any state, it's going to be quite a bit of time. But I do want to say, I mean, I show up now in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and I'm immediately opening that Waymo app because I prefer being in a Waymo versus a human Uber driver in many situations now. And it's sort of second nature, and it is working really well. Joanna, you have a lot more experience and probably more, most of our viewers on this. Just before you go, explain why is it now so sort of natural for you

to get that Waymo? What do you like so much about the experience versus the Uber? Well, look, as a woman, there are always concerns you have about getting in an Uber driver with usually a male driver, right? Especially late at night. There's been lots of documenting cases around that. So I'll say that's one point. Second is it's really, really nice. These are nice vehicles. You know what you're getting every time. You know the experience of getting in an Uber and you just don't know what it's going to feel like. Is the window worked? Does the seatbelt work? There is a really good standard of quality here across these vehicles. And I would say just generally, you have, you have a lot of the Uber. have a more sense of privacy. You want to talk on the phone, you go to sleep in the back of the car. You really do start to trust these vehicles where you do feel comfortable taking a nap in the back. Joanna Stern, great to have you. We always love your perspective. Thanks for being here.

When we come back tonight, the rise of private leagues and youth sports, parents are now shelling out thousands to get their kids on competitive travel teams, but is the play-to-play model, the pay-to-play model doing more harm than good? Plus, after 11 years and more than 100 games lost, one of the longest losing streaks in high school football is officially over. We'll introduce you to the squad that just snapped it right after this. We're back now with the skyrocketing cost of youth sports. It's a $40 billion industry that makes nearly double the annual revenue of the NFL. You heard that right. And parents' pocketbooks are feeling the squeeze.

According to the Aspen Institute, the average cost of putting a child in sports has jumped by 46% since 2019. and those high costs are leaving some kids on the sidelines. Even former professional athletes like retired New York Yankee player, A-Rod, are taking notice. Take a listen. I have so many of my friends, Greg, today that say, Alex, if you were a kid today, if you were 10 years old, Alex Rodriguez would never make it to the big leagues. And I would say, why? Well, because you and your mother couldn't afford it.

You have to make sports more affordable. A New York Magazine article about the so-called pay-to-play childhood is dieted. into the high-intensity world of youth sports. And joining me here now in studio is Caitlin Moskatello, the writer behind that feature. Caitlin, thanks so much. I want to take a closer look, right, at how much families are paying on average. Parents are selling out more than $1,000. I think much more depending on where you live and how many kids you have in sports.

It's gotten so crazy. How do we get here? Yeah, well, there's multi-factors that go into this. So part of it is that we're seeing the decimation of our rec sports leagues. So you probably remember from growing up kind of in our day, but you could play rec sports on a town team. It was low cost and accessible. You could typically play that up until eighth grade. We're seeing the dilution of rec sports, but we're also seeing private clubs and travel teams

who are attracting families when children are younger and younger. We're seeing tryouts now in kindergarten and first grade or second grade. And something I hear from families over and over again, and these are families across the country, is that they're afraid the elevator is going to go up without their kid. And there's this feeling of if I don't start now and if we don't get it on the ground floor, the elevator is going to go up without us, and my kid will never catch up, and my kid will be left out. It's an important point, right, as we have the total cost here, of at least one travel league. And again, if you have multiple children, it can get so much more expensive.

But I think it's important to get how we got out. We got here, right? And that's because of the parents. I don't think it was the coaches. I don't think it was the kids. but it was the parents wanting their kids to become more competitive. And then the parents ultimately paying and I don't want to say destroying the rec leagues, but you're right, the competition is not as strong in those red leagues when you have all these travel teams.

Yes, and parents and kids alike both notice this. So it's happening much earlier than it used to. Travel teams have been around for a long time. But what's different and what's new is the age at which children are starting these hyper-focused year-round schedules of really intense sports. Yeah, I want to pull out a piece of your work here where you talk about how parents and kids have gotten into this. And you write, in baseball, it's become popular for parents to play walk-up music when each child goes to bat, just like in the pros, which extends to an already slow game. One of the most popular songs is DJ Khalid's All I Do Is Win. Social media is awash with parents' images of stage contract signings for children as young as five, complete with balloons and a hat in their team colors.

their small hands holding the pens. Why did things become so serious? And I will say, look, the walk-up songs, I think they're funny, and they are a lot of fun. They don't extend the game that much, but the contract signing at five years old and the contract signing even older when you sign with your team, I mean, that puts pressure on the kid too, doesn't it? It does. I mean, families are investing a lot of time and a lot of money in these private travel sports leagues. And so what you see is the culture of the pros is trickle. filling down and parents are mimicking some of the behaviors that they see in the pros with children who, again, are really very young.

And I think part of that comes from, maybe, yes, a bit of it is a pull toward, oh, could my kid one day go pro? But what I was finding with parents is that they're aware of the stats and statistics. They know the odds are against them. Like roughly 2% of young athletes will play Division 1 college sports. 0.05% will play professional sports. 0.05%. So the odds really are stacked against families. So the odds are your son or daughter likely will never come across somebody in their town, in their city who goes professional.

They're like, there's a good chance they won't because it is so hard to go professional. But I also think that parents are being sold a professionalized, one source told me, very commercialized sports experience now. And it mimics what you see in the prose. So it's fancy uniforms, state-of-the-art facilities, and so culturally that trickles into other aspects of our culture. I will say the flip side of this is that the kids, some of the kids, they do love it, right? And it makes the experience. Obviously, it's elevated. They have such a great time. For the parents, some parents, they do. They want to do five, six baseball games an entire weekend.

And that is like an awesome family weekend. And that's good for them. But what you point out here is that the other major cost here is time. You talk to some parents that spend more than 10 hours a week driving their kids to an hour. from practice, and that doesn't even address how long the kids themselves are spending on the pitch or the field. And then you'll talk about the weekends and the tournaments and playing Saturdays and Sundays for some families. It's cutting into church time or family vacations because of these tournaments. Yeah, I mean, the whole family schedule can really be at the mercy then of the child's sports schedule. And it gets even more complicated. For plenty of families have more than one child who are competing in these leagues. So that means splitting up to go to separate tournaments and not spending that family time together.

But you're absolutely right. A lot of families do have good experiences within this system. And they know that sports are good. And sports are good. So like the benefits of sports have long been proven. We know that there's kids who play sports have higher self-esteem. They have better long-term health outcomes. Sports are good. And what we've done is we've taken something good. And it has. because we have morphed it and sort of twisted it into something that can actually cause real harm. Yeah, I have kids that play travel sports. They love them. They are so into them. They'll tell you that they love them. And then, you know, we do rec sports also when we can. And it's great because it's obviously a whole different experience. I want them to see both. I wish there were something in the middle. And you have, you found something in another state.

A coach who's trying to do something where it's a little different. It's not hyper competitive. It's not travel. and maybe it teaches a better lesson? Well, in Minnesota, they've really given us a model. So Minnesota Ice Hockey is a nonprofit organization that is run off of public funds. They actually have a thing in bars there where you can gamble with these little games and that money goes to this pot

which goes to fund youth hockey. What really is the core of the program is that the rinks are public and they're paid for by people in the state. And so, therefore, they're accessible to everyone. And so the coaches do go through training, but they're volunteers. And it's a real statewide investment in youth hockey. And funny enough, the results of that really speak for themselves.

There are more Division I hockey players out of Minnesota than any other state in this country. Wow, that's pretty incredible. Before we go, give our viewers one more stat. You said most kids in America stop competitive sports at 13? 70% of kids will quit sports by the age of 13. in this country. In America. In America. And so when you look at this ecosystem and you look about how much money is going into it and also look at who's making the money, it really does beg the question, all this for what and for whom? Yeah, good question. Anyways, Caitlin, great read.

It's in New York, Matt. You can check it out. We thank you for being here. And good luck with your kids and their sports. Finally, tonight, we turn to a different group of young athletes, leaving an all on the field for their high school, a football team in Huntsville, Alabama, snapping one of the country's longest losing streaks, winning its first game of the season after more than a decade of losses. You're watching something this Alabama high school football team

hasn't done in more than 10 years. Celebrate victory. The team at Columbia High School in Huntsville stepped onto the field this season with the record they were desperate to ditch. Making history, but for all the wrong reasons. 1001 straight losses. Yes, you heard that right, one of the longest high school losing streaks in the country.

The last time this team won a game was 2015, when gas cost less than two bucks. President Obama was in the White House. And Drake topped the charts with these moves. Former NFL pro Sammy Coates took over the program last year, determined to change things. adding more players to the roster and helping them focus on and off the field. When it don't happen overnight, it's a process. You know, we made some huge drives. The team catching the attention of Gatorade and NFL films who have been following their story.

We ain't just here just a coach. We're here because we love y'all. So when they took the field for the first game of the season Saturday, they were hungry for a win. Hey, sacrifice for me once on the three. Back one. It was a rocky start. They quickly gave up two touchdowns. But soon, the team stormed back.

And when the clock ran out, the Columbia Eagles were on top at last. A streak snapped and a team eager to win again. All right, that does it for us. Thanks so much for watching Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yamerson, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.