Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, January 8, 2024

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

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.

Tonight, states of emergency as a deadly winter storm marches east with blizzard conditions and possible tornadoes. The system barreling through the middle of the country at this hour, bringing heavy snow, rain and high winds, making travel extremely dangerous. Residents in Amarillo, Texas, asked to shelter in place. 135 million Americans on alert for high winds that could knock power out amid freezing temperatures. We're also keeping a close eye on the Gulf Coast. Residents from Texas to Florida could see those potentially life-threatening nocturnal tornadoes. And now the Northeast bracing for widespread flooding as they clean up from this weekend storm. Bill Karen standing by. Also breaking tonight the explosion at a hotel in downtown Fort Worth. Aerial footage shows windows blown out on the building's first two floors. Nearly a dozen people rushed to the hospital. What may have caused this blast? The danger in the air, the investigation into how part of an Alaska airline's plane blew off mid-flight. The door plug from the 737 Max 9 recovered today in a person's backyard. The other major U.S. airline now reporting it also found loose bolts.

Who's in command? Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hospitalized for more than a week, but no one, including the president or his own staff, knew for days. So what happened? And who's in charge of our military? We're live at the Pentagon with new reporting. Countdown to Iowa with just one week left until the Iowa caucus, GOP presidential hopefuls making their final pitch to voters. But frontrunner, former President Trump, not expecting the Hawkeye state until this weekend. Governor Ron DeSantis ramping up his attacks against his opponents. Meanwhile, Nikki Haley forced to cancel an event this weekend. What she says is the reason. And wait until you hear the forecast. on Caucus Day. Plus, we'll show you the incredible rescue, the driver ending up at the bottom of a cliff

and then trapped in her car with no cell service in frigid temperatures, how she was finally rescued after five days. And meet the super commuter, a man who tried living in Columbus, Ohio, but working in person in New York City to save money and live the life he wants. So does he love it or is he ready to leave it? His tips on how everyone can save on hotels and flights. Top story starts right now. And good evening. We begin with that massive winter storm on the move as we come on the air. Nearly half the country under some type of weather alert. Take a look at this. It's a video out of Oakley, Kansas. Whiteout conditions causing a nightmare on the roads there in Amarillo, Texas.

Texas residents told to shelter in place. Major roadways closed and officials responding to stranded drivers. But as you can see, the storm is now moving east and snow is not the only major concern. 14 million people from Texas to Florida at risk for hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. That would be striking at night, making them even more dangerous. And tomorrow, downpour is expected all along the east coast with major flooding risks from the mid-Atlantic, to New England in areas that just got hit with snow. New Jersey has already declared a state of emergency. You see people here getting those sandbags. Travel advisories launched in New York. Bill Cairns will time it all out for us in just a moment. But we want to begin tonight with Kathy

Park, live in Massachusetts. There's completely zero visibility. Tonight, a dangerous blizzard intensifying over the Great Plains, dumping heavy snow from New Mexico to Iowa, making travel next to impossible. even stranding semis. In Nebraska, conditions quickly deteriorating, with visibility reduced to less than a mile. As a storm advances toward the Midwest, two inches of snow could fall per hour,

with wind speeds nearing hurricane force levels. Oh my God. To the south, much of the Gulf Coast on high alert for tornadoes, schools in the danger zone closing early ahead of the threat. Fort Lauderdale, recovering from a weekend tornado touching down and traveling for over a mile. Houston racing for heavy winds ahead of the college football championships tonight. Meanwhile, the Northeast is digging out from its first major winter storm of the year. What do you think about all the snow that we got? Oh, that's too

much. Worcester, Massachusetts buried in over a foot of snow. Parts of Pennsylvania is seeing 15 inches and now heavy rain threatening the region. New Jersey declaring a state of emergency ahead of the storm. This is one I would strongly, strongly, strongly encourage folks to not underestimate. All right, Kathy Park joins us now live from Worcester, Massachusetts. We see that snow pile there just behind you, Kathy. We understand these storms have now turned fatal with at least one person dead. Tom, that's exactly right. We are learning that early this morning, according to the Dawson County Sheriff's Office in Nebraska, a car, a driver was traveling along Highway 30, lost control, and then crossed into the wrong lane, crashing into another car.

One person was killed, and officials are saying that the weather played a factor in this crash. Meanwhile, here in Worcester and throughout New England, flooding is a big concern by midweek. Several inches of rain is expected in this region, Tuesday night, into Wednesday. Tom? OK, Kathy Park, leading us off tonight for more on these dangerous storm threats. NBC news meteorologist Bill Carrens joins me now live in studio. walk us through this and what areas are you most concerned about well we'll start tonight with the tornado threat because that's life-threatening can destroy a town

that's going to happen during the overnight hour so make sure you pay attention have your phone on having any emergency device that you have weather radio that's from the Houston area all the way to New Orleans so this is that line of storms that will move through through the night it'll be with us right during the day tomorrow too we've only had one confirmed tornado so far but through the night this area is the best chance. Right along I tenant. It doesn't even go up that far into Alabama or Mississippi. It's right along the Florida Panahan Mobile Biloxi Bay St. Louis area. And then tomorrow we take it up through the Carolinas. Then the flooding. We already have a flash flood warning, a couple of them

in and around the southern Louisiana outside of New Orleans. Tomorrow, that flood threat was right up the mid-Atlantic. 79 million people in this. The areas that just saw the snowstorm, almost all that snow is going to melt. We're going to get a tremendous amount of rain tomorrow night at this time in areas of New Jersey and southern New England. Along with that snowmelt, we're going to have some pretty serious flooding of the rivers, plus at the high tide, coastal flooding on top of that with beach erosion. The power outages, it wouldn't surprise me if we get into the millions with this storm. This is like a winter hurricane. The max wind gusts throughout almost everywhere east of the Rockies is going to be from 30 to 60 mile per hour

winds, and that's going to cause a lot of down trees. That's going to cause power outages. Here's the power outage forecast just in the northeast. Anywhere in the air air air. Anywhere, orange is scattered where you see the red. And on top of all of this, you already mentioned it. We have this blizzard ongoing. Tom, we have people trapped in western Kansas waiting to be rescued in their vehicles, and the emergency responders can't get there right now. I mean, this is just one of the most high-impact storms we've had in a long time. Besides a hurricane making landfall, this is probably second to worst. Bill, I think you said it best, a winter hurricane. I know it's going to be a busy week for you and the weather team. We're going to stay on top of this throughout the broadcast

as well. Bill, thank you for that. We want to turn to some other breaking news tonight. an explosion at a hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, injuring at least 11 people, forcing nearby businesses to shut down. You can see it right here as emergency crews investigate and try to secure the scene. For more on these late-breaking details, I'm joined live by NBC's Dana Griffin. Dana, what's the latest, and do we know yet what caused this massive explosion? Hey, Tom, so this happened around 3.30 p.m. local time. The fire department says that this was an explosion. They've also noted that there is a smell of, gas still in that area. It's unclear if this was an explosion. And then the gas leak happened

afterward or if this happened before. That is something that they are looking into. Right now, they have cordoned off the area. They are asking people to stay away from this hotel. But as you can see, there is at least two floors. At first and second floor, windows are blown out, sending glass and debris into the street. So right now, they are still investigating this cause. It's still unclear exactly how many people were inside that hotel, Tom, at the time of this explosion. And Dana, we're hearing early reports of about 11 people that were rushed to the hospital. Do we have any other further reporting on that? Yeah, so 11 people total were injured. There was one person missing. That person has been found.

They say nine people were taken to the hospital. One is considered in critical condition. Two are considered serious condition. The rest of the injuries are considered minor. But obviously, still a very traumatic thing for a lot of people. Several witnesses said that they felt that jolt when that explosion happened. So hopefully there are no additional injuries. Tom? Yeah, a wild scene there in Fort Worth. Okay, Dana Griffin first. Dana, we thank you for that. Now to the investigation to that frightening incident on board an Alaska Airlines flight over the weekend. A door plug blew off the plane at 60,000, 16,000 feet. NTSP officials have recovered that fallen apart from someone's backyard. Tom Costello has the latest on this investigation.

Breaking tonight, United Airlines reports it has found loose bolts and some of its 737 max-9 door plugs as both United and Alaska Airlines conduct FAA ordered inspections on all max-nines in the U.S. Earlier today, the NTSB recovered the missing 63-pound door plug that blew out of the side of that Alaska Airlines Max-9 Friday night, landing in a teacher's backyard. The plug will undergo a close inspection at the NTSB lab in Washington, as investigators look at how and why the plane suffered a decompression explosion at 16,000 feet. Alaska, 1282, we just suppressors. We needed to send out to 10,000. While no one was seated in the nearest seats, those seats were left twisted and bent. The headrests and cushions sucked out of the plane, along with clothing and cell phones. Nicholas Hoke was on board the park. plane. I was starting to text my my girlfriend, my mom, my other loved ones, and didn't know if I was going to make it on the other side. It was a lot of intense emotions for sure. The door plug that failed is held in place by bolts and pins used to seal an extra emergency exit if airlines don't need it. The NTSB says on three previous flights, pressurization warning lights lit up in the same plane.

Yet Alaska only restricted the plane from flying over water to Hawaii until technicians could evaluate the problem. It's early, but should Alaska have grounded the plane back then? Certainly it should have been a warning sign to them, just on safety overall. But I think, you know, in this case, what Alaska will say is that they took measures to ensure safety. we have to see whether those actions were responsive or not enough. The plane's fuselage is made for Boeing by Wichita-based Spirit Aerosystems. Today's Spirit said our primary focus is the quality and product integrity of the aircraft structures we deliver. Boeing today issued inspection guidelines for every airline that flies the

max-9. As the FAA reiterated, the Max-9s will remain grounded until airlines complete enhanced inspections, which include both left and right cabin door exit plugs. That takes four to eight hours each. Corrective actions must be completed before any plane returns to service. Meanwhile, Boeing's CEO has called a company-wide Tuesday meeting to focus on safety. This max-9 emergency comes after two fatal max-8 crashes

that grounded the plane, loose bolts on the max rudder system, production and quality control delays with the max-8, the 787, military planes, Boeing's space program. Even an incident like this that doesn't involve any injuries or fatalities does serve to undermine to some degree the confidence in Boeing's ability to manufacture a safe aircraft. Alaska and United have canceled more than 300 flights again today. They'll continue canceling flights tomorrow. By the way, also the black boxes have a problem. The cockpit voice recorder is on a two-hour loop before it's erased and recorded over. And that's what happened.

can't listen to the crew conversations, computer warnings, the air rushing through the cabin. It's a very big reason, Tom, why investigators have called for 25-hour recordings, not two hours. Back to you. Tom Kassal, with a lot of reporting there. Tom, we thank you for that. We want to head overseas now to what Israel is calling a new phase of its war against Hamas. As military leaders signal plans to scale back attacks, Arraf Sanchez went inside Gaza with Israeli troops and has a firsthand look at what they are calling.

the largest rocket-making facility uncovered so far. Tonight, Secretary Blinken touching down in Israel on a high-stakes diplomatic trip aimed at stopping the war in Gaza, spreading across the Middle East. I will press on the absolute imperative to do more to protect civilians. But hours before his arrival, fighting escalating between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group saying one of its commanders killed by a strike in southern Lebanon. Israel not officially taking responsibility, but the air raid appears to be a response to a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli radar system over the weekend. Blinken also hoping to ease the spiraling humanitarian

crisis in Gaza, where nearly two million people have been driven from their homes, and food is desperately scarce. Israel's military indicating it may be scaling back its attacks after weeks, of U.S. pressure, telling the New York Times, the war shifted a stage. Earlier today, we headed into Gaza with Israeli troops. The sounds of battle still raging. You can hear that fighting going on right now. We arrived in an area of the Central Strip that Israel says is the hidden source of many of Hamas's rockets.

The Israeli military says it blasted through this door at a farmhouse, and it discovered in this basement a tunnel. which it says, if you follow far enough, will take you to a Hamas rocket and missile manufacturing facility. The military would not take us into the tunnels, saying there were dangerous explosives inside, but says this is the largest Hamas weapons production site discovered so far.

We do not understand the size and the extent of these terror factory. A series of interconnected production hubs, below and above grounds, including what was once a factory for steel Kaysen, Now allegedly used by Hamas to make mortars based on American designs. It's called, yeah, mortar shell. And in a nearby warehouse, what the IDF says are Hamas's crown jewels. A hundred kilometer rockets, the rockets that were firing to Tel Aviv.

Some of those rockets lighting up the skies again tonight. Each wail of the siren, a reminder that Hamas is far from defeated. Many Israelis are asking, how is it three months into this war? is still able to fire rockets on Israeli cities. Hamas is keeping a small amount of rockets to maintain his economy of war. But you're now seeing since the beginning of the war, the number have dropped. We saw no Palestinian civilians. But a few miles away, thousands mourning two Ghazan journalists killed by an Israeli strike.

One of them, Hamza al-Dadua, the son of Al-Jazeera's bureau chief, Wahel al-Dadua, the veteran journalist holding his remaining family close, having already lost his wife, two children, and a grandchild in an earlier strike. Israel initially claimed Hamza was in a car with a terrorist flying a drone. Now suggesting their journalist drone may have led to them being mistakenly targeted. Using a drone in a war zone, it's a problem. It looks like the terrorists because what we see with Hamas, that Hamas uses drones. Another bloody reminder that in Gaza, no way.

one is safe. Simply terrible for that family there in Gaza. Raft Sanchez joins us tonight from Tel Aviv. Raf, we've now seen two major Israeli air strikes into Lebanon, hitting high value targets in the last week. First, the attack that killed a senior Hamas official in Beirut, and now this attack that you mentioned killing a senior Hezbollah commander. What is Lebanon saying about these strikes? I mean, is the footprint of the Israeli invasion now expanding? Well, Tom, the Lebanese government is basically powerless to stop this escalation between Israel and Hezbollah. The Lebanese government has far less firepower than Hezbollah. And we heard the foreign minister basically saying,

Hezbollah will decide whether it's going to retaliate at what scale, and Lebanon will basically find out alongside with them. In terms of the Lebanese people, there is a lot of concern. There's strong anti-Israel feeling in Lebanon, given Israel's blood, history in that country and at the same time with the dire economic crisis that Lebanese have been going through in recent years. The feeling is the last thing they need is a full-scale war. Tom. Ralph Sanchez from Tel Aviv tonight, Raf, we thank you for that. We want to turn now to the torrent of backlash facing defense secretary Lloyd Austin after he spent four days in the

ICU without seeming to notify the Pentagon. President Biden today not answering questions about his confidence in Austin. The Pentagon correspondent Courtney Cuby has this story. Tonight, the White House says President Biden has complete confidence in his defense secretary Lloyd Austin. Even after revelations, Austin was hospitalized in intensive care for several days and was unable to perform his job and hit it from the commander-in-chief. The president not answering questions today. He's still confident in Secretary Austin, sir. It began Monday, January 1st, when the Pentagon says Austin was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance for complications following a recent elective

medical procedure. Two senior administration officials say he spent at least four days in the ICU, but no one told the White House, nor Austin's deputy Kathleen Hicks, until Thursday, January 4th. The Pentagon says Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico, was given certain operational responsibilities on Tuesday, but was not told why. The Pentagon waited until Friday to tell the public about Austin's absence. Tonight, the Pentagon refusing to describe his medical issue, citing privacy. The Defense Secretary is a critical member of the President's National Security Council, which can be called upon at a moment's notice during an urgent military crisis, like an imminent attack. In Austin's mystery absence happening during a time of rising mid-east tensions,

with U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria attacked at least 14 times during his hospitalization, and Houthi rebels continuing to target ships in the war. Red Sea. Republicans say Austin broke the law and needs to go. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, writing, failed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin should be fired immediately for improper professional conduct and dereliction of duty. It raises questions about Joe Biden's competence and whether he's really in charge at the White House. This is a shocking breakdown in the chain of command. Tonight, Austin is still in the hospital. This weekend, writing, I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I take full responsibility

for my decisions about disclosure. Okay, Courtney Kubey joins us now live from the Pentagon. And Courtney, I know you have some new reporting for us? Yeah, that's right. So we know that Secretary Austin is still in the hospital. He's out at ICU. He's been out now for some time. But we still don't know, according to a statement released from the press secretary and major general Pat Ryder, we still don't know when Secretary Austin could be released. They're not putting any time frame on it. He is, according to General Ryder, in good spirits. His condition is good. But again, we still have no details about what the original elective medical procedure was that started all of this, or what the secretary's condition is right now. And Tom, why that's so

critical is we have no sense right now if this is something that could impact the secretary and his, and continuing to do his job here and carry out his responsibilities, things like travel. We don't know if that could still be affected for weeks or even months to come. Yeah, there's still a lot of questions. I think what's most troubling is the first part of your story, which you reported, essentially saying that the president of the United States says he still has full confidence in the Secretary of Defense, even though the White House was left in the dark about his condition for days. What is your understanding what's at play here and how the White House could say, how could both

those things be true. Yeah, and it's not just that the Pentagon didn't notify the White House, but when Secretary Austin's condition worsened, about a day after he got to Walter Reed, so January 2nd, there's a normal procedure where his deputy, Kathleen Hicks, is notified that she's going to assume some of the responsibilities. She was not notified why, and she was on vacation in Puerto Rico at the time. Once she was told two days later that she was going to be, she was assuming these responsibilities because he was in ICU at the hospital, she immediately started making plans to return to D.C. She understood the urgency of the situation. So that just underscores how not letting anyone know for days, there really was an urgent situation here. So back to your

question. President Biden has said he will not fire Secretary Austin through his press secretary Secretary Austin has said he does not plan to resign. But the reality here, Tom, is if this situation continues to be a firestorm like it is right now for days or even weeks, if there are hearings on the hill and there continue to be calls for him to resign, the White House may have to reexamine the situation. Yeah, I totally agree with you on that point. And I think we're just starting to learn everything that's involved with this case as well. All right, Courtney, Courtney, thank you for all that reporting. We want to turn to politics now in the race to finish in Iowa, where the GOP field is now just one week out from the first of the nation caucus. Former President Trump under fire from his Republican rivals and President Biden. Garrett Haig has more on how Hawkeye State voters are reacting. Tonight, one week until Iowa formally kicks off the 2024 presidential campaign, Republican candidates targeting the overwhelming favorite frontrunner Donald Trump. He was really good at breaking things.

He just wasn't good at fixing them. Today, President Biden also taking aim, slamming Mr. Trump and his supporters for downplaying January 6th. The Magu Republicans, led by a defeated president, is trying to steal history now, telling us that violent mob was, and I quote, a peaceful protest. Mr. Trump recently attacking President Biden, saying the president is trying to distract from his record by fearmongering over January 6th, falsely labeling those convicted of crimes. connected to the attack as hostages. They ought to release the J6 hostages. They've suffered or not. The Republican frontrunner preparing to attend a court hearing

in his election interference case tomorrow. Mr. Trump accusing the president of weaponizing the DOJ against him, a view rallying both his supporters here. When they are indicting him, we are being indicted. And even voters like Melissa Nobles, who plans to support a different Republican candidate. So you think it's all purely political? Oh, it's just to keep him out of, from running.

And that's crap. I mean, I may not like the guy, may never voted for him, but he has the right to run. And with that, Garrett Hake joins us tonight from the campaign trail in Des Moines, Iowa. Gary, we know we can see it there. The weather is already starting to affect the campaign this week. Snow coming down in Iowa today, hampering some campaign travel. And I understand we're also getting an early look at the forecast for the caucus day next Monday. What do we know so far? Yeah, Tom, the weather is always a factor in Iowa,

it seems, and today was no exception. We had one candidate event for Nikki Haley this morning and a surrogate event tonight for Donald Trump canceled because of this storm. We're expecting six to 10 inches here in Des Moines overnight, so we could see more complications tomorrow. Caucus Day itself negative 13 degrees is the low, but the high could get all the way up to four, so it may be kind of ball me. All kidding aside, the cold could affect turnout. It's always a guessing game, who benefits and who loses in that scenario. Just another factor for these campaigns to take into account as we get a little bit closer, Tom. That's going to be a long day for the candidates, the voters, and all the reporters. All right, Gary, thank you for that. For more on the state of

the race in Iowa, let's check in with our team of campaign embeds following all the major candidates over every mile across the battleground states and especially in Iowa. We begin tonight with our embed on the Trump campaign. Hey there, Tom. Jake Traylor here covering the Trump campaign for NBC News. I'm in Urbandale, Iowa at Trump's state campaign headquarters. As a community not too far from where I'm standing, mourns the loss of a sixth grade student in a school shooting last Thursday.

Trump is facing criticism for his cavalier comments, advising Iowans it was something they would have to get over. And that, Tom, just one week out from the first in the nation voting here in Iowa. In this buildup for the caucus, candidates are known for Chris Crossings. the state and a final push for support. But that's not the strategy that we're seeing from Trump. He will host official campaign events on just two days before voting takes place, leaning on surrogates with familiar names like his son, Eric Trump. Now, I spoke with Eric a couple days ago, and he told me point blank. In 2016, the campaign did not know what they were

doing, but that they're singing a different tune eight years later. The Trump campaign says they have a robust and improved infrastructure that uniquely targets first-time caucus goers. But Tom, one thing crucial to an organized ground game is a candidate who's actually in the state. But still, consistent polling indicates absence or not, Trump has a dominant lead. For reporting on a candidate trying to close that gap in the final week, I'll toss it over to my friend, Alec Hernandez. I'm Alec Hernandez here in West Des Moines, Iowa, where notably Ron DeSantis is not. He is back in Florida today where he's getting ready to deliver the state of the state address tomorrow as a part of his day job, ahead of the opening of the state legislature in Tallahassee before jetting back to Iowa in this final push ahead of the caucuses.

Now, in his absence, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis and Texas Congressman Chip Roy are out on the trail making their case to voters why her husband should be the next president of the United States. And in these closing days of the first phase of the campaign, what we've been hearing from DeSantis on the campaign trail is a contrasting message between himself and his fellow candidates. One of his go-to lines now on the stump these days is that Donald Trump is running on his own issues. Nikki Haley, in his words, is running on her donor's issues. And the governor is running on the issues of Iowans and everyday Americans. And that pitch is at the core of a new campaign ad that DeSantis campaign hit the airwaves with today here in the Hawkeye State. Take a listen to a little bit of that. Here's what Wall Street funded Nikki.

Hayley just said in New Hampshire. You know Iowa starts it. You know that you correct it. Haley disparages the caucuses. And insults you. Now, we've just got a couple of days left of campaigning here ahead of the Iowa caucuses. And I'm going to throw it to Greg Hyatt, who's been covering the Nikki Haley campaign. I'm Greg Hyatt, reporting outside the Iowa Event Center where former UN ambassador

Nikki Haley is participating in a primetime town hall this evening. With just one week left until the Iowa caucus, the former UN ambassador is sharpening her attacks against her GOP rivals, including former President Trump and Florida Governor Ron Descentes stating that the ads that are currently airing in the state against her are quote lies. Inclement weather is already making its presence known here in Iowa with Governor Haley forced to cancel an event earlier this morning. This comes as Vivekramuswamy posted on X that the reason why that event was canceled was due to people not showing up, but the reason why is Governor Haley was not able to travel from Des Moines due to the inclement weather that is

ongoing. She'll return to the campaign trail officially tomorrow hosting a town hall event and she's expected to remain in the state through the 15th when voters caucus. Tom, back to you. All right, we thank all of our campaign embeds doing a lot of great work out there. Still ahead tonight, the shocking robbery near L.A. L.A., a car ramming through a family-run business than more than a dozen people ransacked the store, even ripping the cash register out what was happening nearby that police believe may have been connected. Plus, the catamaran engulfed in flames in South Florida, how the boat operator and their dog narrowly escaped. And the driver plunging off a California cliff while trying to avoid a deer,

The moment she was finally rescued after she was trapped inside the wreckage. Forget this, five days. Stay with us. Okay, we're back now with the shocking video showing the moment dozens of thieves ransacked a family's food store in Los Angeles. First, crashing a car into the building, allowing dozens to enter the store. And days later, the owners are reopening their business, but they say they've lost tens of thousands of dollars and get this not one person has been arrested yet stephen romew has the details chaos at a california convenience video showing the moment a kia SUV slammed through the entrance last week

destroying it before dozens of people rushed inside the last three days have been so hectic you know i've been i've been sleeping here just because we don't have a way to really secure the building some with their faces covered seen jumping on the counters take making stuff off the shelves, even ripping the cash register out. It caused more than $70,000 worth of damage to the family-owned Ruben's Bakery and Mexican food store in the city of Compton. It was horrendous. It was, we felt, I felt angry. You know, I was upset. Law enforcement saying everything from equipment, food, even scratch-off lottery tickets were stolen. We have meat scales, meat itself, like items from the business, as far as groceries.

This all unfolded at 3 a.m. according to the sheriff's department, as a so-called street takeover was taking place less than a mile away. I've been caught in one. I've heard them, and they're just, it's no good. That's when crowds illegally take over busy intersections, blocking traffic to show off cars, race, and perform dangerous stunts. All before law enforcement can arrive to shut it down. They're blocking the traffic, and it's just a bunch of little kids, you know, I guess, I'm not. for years the city of Compton has tried to address these takeovers to avoid deaths serious injuries and other crimes like this burglary last week we're looking at everything that we can working with the shelf department in order for us to try to make sure that we can curtail this Ruben says his family has kept the bakery going for nearly 48 years this weekend they were able to reopen he says thanks to the help from friends family and the community but as of tonight no arrests have been made. I could maybe wish that it didn't happen, but I just wanted to be back to how we were, just a small business, serving the community, and, you know, helping out our neighbors.

Stephen Rommel joins us now live in studio. Stephen, it's great to see that video of them reopening and the place back to operating as usual. But the video of the break-in and the takeover, it just gets you so upset. Why aren't there any arrests? How can police not figure this out? Yeah, some of the people in that video actually had masks on, so police pointing to that. But they also say they need help from the public to try to find these people and get them under charges or to face backlash for what they're actually dealing with. They are also trying to address this by citing people who spectate at these takeovers to give them $1,000 tickets because they are participating in it too.

They think this could cut down on some of that crime. But so many people, as we saw on that piece, is so frustrated by this, Tom. All right, Stephen Ramos, Steve, thanks for bringing us to that story. When we come back learning his fate, the man who attacked a Las Vegas judge last week, you remember, the high jumper? Well, this time, take a look. Back in court with a face mask, shackled and his hands covered, the delayed prison sentence, that same judge, just handed down. Welcome back. We are back now with Top Stories News Feed, and the man who attacked a Las Vegas judge, back in court today. The suspect appearing before that same judge in shackles. Look at this,

with a mask over his face and orange mittens on his hands. He was also surrounded by multiple officers. You may remember him from last week when he went airborne. He was caught on camera, lunging over a judge's bench knocking her to the ground. That judge sentencing him today to four years in prison for a battery charge from a previous crime. Breaking news out of Washington right Now, the Secret Service tells us someone crashed a car into a security fence at the White House complex. It happened on the Treasury building side. Secret Service has detained the driver. Luckily, there are no reports of injuries and investigation is now ongoing.

And a Florida man, lucky to be alive after his catamaran caught fire. Take a look. New video shows the boat completely engulfed in flames just north of West Palm Beach. Officials say the boat operator managed to jump off with his dog and make it to shore just before the fire consumed the vessel. Luckily, no one was hurt here. Okay, we want to turn out to a miraculous helicopter rescue in Southern California. A woman surviving for five days while trapped in her car amid freezing temperatures. The heroic moment authorities came to her.

NBC's Rahima Ellis has that story. Tonight, a miracle rescue. They have one confirmed patient over the side, conscious. The patient has been over the side since Wednesday. BDC and ANF personnel on scene making oxygen. to the patient will need to extract by copter. A woman trapped in her car for five days in frigid temperatures with no cell phone service. It's been extremely cold and wet, as we're all aware, with the rain and the colder temperatures

in the month of January. It happened in a remote section of Angeles National Forest near Mount Baldy. The woman told firefighters she swerved to avoid a deer in the road. Her Ford Ranger plummeting more than 200 feet. She spent five days and four terrifying. nights trapped in her car. Then a hiker spotted the wreck and flagged down firefighters who were on a separate rescue call in the area. She's lucky that somebody was going for a hike and found her. And lucky to have survived and appears to have escaped the ordeal only slightly injured.

Based on everything is going to be, you know, elements, you know, hypothermic possibly dehydrated, malnourished and possible leg injury. Officials offered. this incident as a warning about driving during these treacherous winter months. Driving too fast for her current conditions and not being familiar with the roadway is a big factor in a lot of the accidents, but her surviving it not only just the accident, but also the elements is a New Year's miracle. Rahima Ellis, NBC News. OK, now at Top Stories, Global Watch and a check of what else is happening around the world.

A judge in Haiti issuing an arrest warrant for former heads of state over corrupt. The warrant naming 30 high-ranking government officials, including two former presidents and four former prime ministers. They're accused of misappropriating funds or equipment for a government agency that builds roads and clears rubble, especially after natural disasters like earthquakes. Okay, five people have been rescued from a cave in Slovenia after being trapped since Saturday. Video shows rescuers pulling a man through neck deep water. Wow, look at that. To get him out today, officials say a family of three and two guides became. trapped in the cave after heavy rainfall raised water levels too much. Rescuers managed to bring in food and heating, and Saturday night, the group had been

touring underground lakes in the area before getting stuck. And the Prime Minister of France resigning today ahead of an expected government overhaul. Elizabeth Bourne saying President Emmanuel Macron asked her to step down. Macron is expected to make major changes to his cabinet in 2024, a year France is set to hold at least two international events, including the Olympics. His current government facing major backlash over the passing of a controversial new immigration law, and last year was met with widespread protest over pension reform. Okay, when we come back, how far would you be willing to commute to save money on rent?

Well, one Wall Street Journal reporter works in New York City, but lives in Columbus, Ohio. We'll talk to him about making the choice to become a so-called super commuter, and the tips and tricks he's learned along the way when it comes to travel that may help you save big bucks. Save with us. All right, back now with a story that caught our eye in the Wall Street Journal. Chip Cutter, a reporter for the journal detailing his life as a so-called super commuter. Here's what he does. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, but works in New York City.

So how does he do it? He flies constantly and lives in a hotel three times a week. He thought he would be saving money on New York rent and seeing his family more, but it didn't exactly turn out as he planned. But he learned a lot, and that's why he's joining us tonight. Chip, thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having me. It's such an incredible sort of life. You have to work in person in New York City, but you want to live in Ohio.

Why? Well, I wanted to sort of be closer to my family there. I'm able to drive to see my parents. I can take a midweek walk with my sister. It's all pretty nice. The apartment is more than, you know, it's half the cost of an apartment in New York. New York City. So I kind of wondered, could I straddle these two worlds? Could I be in Columbus and then work in New York using everything I've learned over the years about using points and

maximizing, you know, credit card bonuses and all that kind of stuff? And it's been a little more complicated than I might have thought. It wasn't as glamorous as you thought, right? Because when you did the math, you said, I'll save this money. I can use it to stay in hotels plus the points, but it didn't exactly work that way. Didn't work out. I mean, I have these visions of staying in this gorgeous hotel in Lower Manhattan and a beautiful historic atry. I'd wake up to a nice free breakfast, go off to work. And, of course, we all know, like, deadlines come up, something happens in the news business. All of a sudden, you might need to stay an extra night, another two nights.

And you also, I didn't want to say no to friends who invited me to a birthday party, to someone who was in town for all in one night. And so I ended up being here four or five nights a week. And so the math quickly stopped working. At the same time, though, there was a sense of adventure to this, of trying to kind of constantly be flying every week, getting up at 4.15 a.m. Yeah. Talk to me about that. typical day for you. Yeah, so I got it down to a science where I wake up at 4.15. On Monday. On Monday,

I'd get a flight at about 6 a.m. from Columbus, Ohio. The airport is glorious. There's almost never a line. And so you then, I could sometimes get it down to three hours where you, door to door, from leaving my apartment to arriving to the newsroom or the journal, three hours. That's, of everything goes right, and it oftentimes didn't because of delays or weather or whatever it might be. But it's not bad. Three hours is doable. And then you're jumping around different. Hotels? Jumping around different hotels, sometimes a different hotel every single week, depending on what was the best price. I would oftentimes hotel surf, sort of property surf, depending on what was the best price that week. Obviously, sometimes staying with friends and family

members too. But sometimes changing hotels midweek, right? Weeks. Sometimes you'd stay at a Hampton one night, a budget hotel later in the week. Hyatt out in Jamaica, Queens ended up being a place. They stayed a lot only because it was a lot cheaper. But you can make this work. It is possible. It just takes some creativity. So you travel to so much. Give us some tips, right? When's the best time do you think to book a flight or a hotel? Yeah, I would try. I actually found booking later ended up helping me, so not booking too far in advance for flights in particular, because oftentimes now with no change fees on flights, you can reprice a flight multiple times. So if the price goes down, you can benefit from that.

So I would try not to go too far in advance. With hotels, what I found is that sometimes hotels, particularly in New York City, they do the same kind of dynamic pricing that you might see in the airline industry. So the prices might change a half dozen times in a single day. And so there were nights when I was waiting until 10 p.m. to actually pull the trigger and book a hotel. And why 10 p.m? Well, I just watched the price just go down, maybe $10, another $20, $30. You can see that almost in real time. I could see in a real time just looking at some of these hotel apps, the apps that the hotels run themselves. And so then I'd finally just book a room after dinner and go off to the hotel. Any good tips on points if people are trying to use points? Yes. You need to sort of understand

the value of points, whether it makes sense to use cash. to book a trip or to use miles. I think sometimes people oftentimes waste their points. They should treat it sort of like cash, treat it as a currency. You need to know the value of it and try to make good decisions that way. And so you calculate basically this many points equal this fair, and you could kind of figure out, wow, this is way more points. That's exactly right.

And there's, of course, a million frequent flyer blogs out there, mileage blogs to help people make sense of this. I read a lot of those, and I do find some of them to be helpful, but you kind of, you need to know the rules. You feel like you have to stick with one airline and one hotel to build those points? Absolutely. That's the key. For me, it was American Airlines and Hyatt. So I had 135 nights in a Hyatt last year. Wow. And that really helps. You end up starting to get some perks along the way. The hotel staff recognizes you. I'd go to some hotels. They wouldn't even ask for my ID in the mornings. They just sort of knew me and knew who I was. You know, you've stayed in such a variety of hotels. Is there anything to be said about hotel ratings? Do you trust them?

I actually don't trust them as much. I mean, I try to just read as many as possible in a trip advisor review, for example. You're looking for the outliers. I mean, are there, if there's just an occasional person who says the hotel is noisy or frustrating, okay, maybe not an issue. But if there's a lot of people who are consistently saying you can't get a good night's sleep of this property, I might be a little bit nervous. For me, staying at some of these places so often, you kind of learn locations in a hotel, too. So I would say, I'd like a room ending in five, please, because that was the room that overlooked like an interior courtyard. That was a lot quieter. You would look up and figure that out. You kind of figure that out.

Some of the hotel chains, they provide a floor map before you even check in. you can kind of get a better sense of what might be. Before we go, because we're running out of time, did you save money, and are you going to stay being a super commuter? So didn't end up saving money. It kind of blew my budget by about 15%. But it was pretty, it was, there was an adventure, it was fun, and hotel rates look cheap again.

So I'm not convinced. I think I might be able to do this a few months longer. Okay, so you're going to stay doing it. I think so, a little bit. Chip Cutter, maybe the greatest name of news. We thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate you sharing. Coming up next, the Golden Globes.

We're back last night with a few major changes. Did you tune in? Oppenheimer, the big winner of the night, but how did it box office rival Barbie fair? Plus, why some of the audience, including Taylor Swift, were not smiling and host Joe Coy's jokes. We'll explain. Stay with us. Finally tonight, the 81st annual Golden Globes honored the best in TV and film. The event attended by A-list celebrities was filled with groundbreaking honors and some cringeworthy moments as well. NBC entertainment correspondent Chloe Malas was there and how. has more for us welcome to the 81st annual golden globe the golden globes that kick off to

hollywood's award season back with a revamped star-studded evening after years of scandal and controversy including new award categories and a new voting body what do you want for theory alone upenheimer the big winner of the night taking home five awards including best motion picture drama up and christopher nolan winning his first ever golden globe in the best director category. As directors, we bring people together and we try and get them to give their best. The first half of the cultural phenomenon, Barbenheimer, only taking home two trophies, including the first ever cinematic and box office achievement award. A category only films that gross at least $150 million worldwide are eligible for. Thank you so much to the

Golden Globes for creating an award that celebrates movie fans. And Billy Elish, taking home the award for the film's hit song, What Was I Made For? I used to know. Host Jo Koi attempted to garner some laughs with a jab at Barbie. Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies. But that joke and most others inside the packed Beverly Hilton Hotel fell flat. I had to do that in front of me. I know it sucks.

Even nominee Taylor Swift, not amused. But those aren't the only moments everyone is buzzing about. This video of Selena Gomez whispering to Swift during a commercial break, sent fans into a frenzy. Selena was spilling the tea. There are lip readers trying to guess what Selena is saying. And the tongue-and-cheek moment when Jennifer Lawrence gave a warning that if she didn't win for her performance and no hard feelings, she'd leave. There were several history-making moments, too.

Actress Lily Gladstone's win for her role in Killers of the Flower Moon made her the first indigenous person to win a Golden Globe. This is for every little res kid, every little urban kid, every little native kid. out there who has a dream and B. Sally Wong and Stephen Young became the first Asian Americans to win in their respective categories. I'm just the recipient of a long line of compassion and love. The globe's also a big night for the small screen and streaming. Succession winning four awards for its final season, including Best Drama, Sarah Snook for Best Actress and Kieran Colkin for Best Actor in a Drama. Suck it, Pedro. Sorry. And the Bear winning Best Musical comedy. Assistance to the people who answer my emails. Could Hollywood's biggest night set the stage

for this year's Academy Awards? Oscar nominations are in just two weeks, and stars wait with baited breath. Fresh from the Golden Globes, Chloe joins us now from Los Angeles. So Chloe, going back to that last part of your piece, how will last night's awards do we think impact the Oscars? You know, Tom, the Academy Awards, those nominations are in about two weeks and, you know, we are right now entering award season. I would say in years past, the HFPA, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that was a voting body behind the globes, it didn't really predict what was going to be nominated at the Oscars. Now that there is no more HFPA because of the scandal and because Jay Penske, he owns Penske Media, he dissolves that

and there is a new board, some of the same voters as before. I do think that this has more of a pulse, the ones that won at the Golden Globes, these films, these potentially could be the ones that are the ones to look out for at the Oscars. What do I mean by that? Killers of the Flower Moon, you know, poor things. We also have Oppenheimer. These are the ones, I don't think Barbie that much, Tom, even though it was Barbenheimer and it grossed over a billion at the box office worldwide.

But those are really the ones to watch. And if you haven't seen them, you should really catch up and watch them. because, you know, Oscars, it's a big night and you're going to want to know what these movies are that they're talking about. It's always kind of fun to have seen all the films as you're watching the awards presented. I do want to ask you, because you were in the room last night, and there's been so much press about this, was Joe Coy the host? Was he that bad? Yeah. I mean, look, I love Joe Coy, so let me preface it with that.

He's a great comedian. I have followed his career for years. And it is a heavy, heavy weight to get up there. I mean, Tina Faye, Amy Poehler, they did such a great job when they used to co-host the Globes. Ricky Jervase, he went straight for the jugular every single time. He did not hold back. I think Joe was playing it safe. And even at one point at the beginning, we were all kind of looking at each other and cringing

because there was no laughter in the audience. And that sets the tone for the entire night. And he even said himself, you're not laughing at the jokes because I didn't write those, but you're laughing at the ones that I did right. So again, it's a hard gig. He's a nice guy. He probably didn't want to upset that many people. I was surprised.

He didn't really get political. You didn't hear anything about Jeffrey Epstein, that if, you know, Ricky Jervais had been hosting, probably would have been a joke about that. Really, no talk of the strikes other than saying Hollywood is back. So it just sort of felt sort of vanilla, easy. And, you know, we'll see what other things happen at the Emmys. have the Grammys coming up and those get tend to get pretty political. And same with the Academy

Awards. I mean, I don't think Jimmy Kimmel is going to do anything, you know, too intense. But yeah, overall, I think that people, they weren't that happy with Joe Koi. All right, maybe he'll get another shot in the future. Boy Malas, you on the other hand did incredible as always. We thank you for joining Top Story tonight. Please have a safe trip back to New York. And we thank all of you for watching Top Story on this Monday night. I'm Tom Yamison, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way. Thank you.