Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, March 11, 2024

Episode Date: March 12, 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, violent winter winds, 30 million Americans on alert, thousands of delays and more than 100 cancellations at some of the nation's busiest airports, strong gusts sending trees toppling, leaving at least one person dead, and knocking out powered thousands. The winds pushing ocean waters inland, flooding an entire New Hampshire neighborhood. We are tracking the latest. Also tonight, getting her vote, former President Trump, blasting President Biden. as general election campaigning kicks off. But there is a key demographic leaving him vulnerable, women.

The new poll showing how former President Trump stacks up against Biden. Plus, the heated exchange between an ABC anchor and South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace as she's asked about her support of Trump as a sexual assault survivor. Gangster-in-Chief, Haiti's most notorious gang leader, taking command as the nation plunges into political crisis. He's known as Barbecue. He's also a former police officer. His violent efforts to establish control vowing to fight until the prime minister resigns.

The U.S. evacuating embassy staff and ramping up security as instability rocks the region. Royal Edits, a photo meant to put rumors about Princess Kate's whereabouts to bed, further fueling conspiracies about her post-surgery absence. News organizations taking a rare step telling outlets to remove the image After noting serious discrepancies, adding to the confusion, Kate taking responsibility for the edits as the palace refuses to release the original image.

We're breaking down the inconsistencies being called into question. Plus, family foul, brawl breaking out out of women's college basketball championship spirals as several fans leap from the stands. The shocking courtside scuffle leaving a star player's brother in handcuffs. And good deed, 80 years ago, a Chinese American family found themselves with nowhere to live amid racially restrictive housing laws. Then a black couple gave them a place to rent with no one else when no one else would, how they're paying it forward all these years later. Top story starts right now. And good evening tonight, destructive and dangerous winds lashing at the Mid-Atlantic and Northern. Northeast, knocking out power and snarling travel.

Take a look at this, a rough landing in Washington as a plane teeters back and forth, fighting off strong gust as it descends. Tropical storm force winds disrupting travel at major airports in the northeast tonight, thousands of delays and more than 100 flights canceled, a majority in the New York region. In Pennsylvania, intense wind sent this. Trees crashing into a home, killing a man who lived inside. Philadelphia recorded winds topping 60 miles per hour. In New Hampshire, strong onshore winds pushing seawater ashore, flooding homes and turning streets into rivers there in Hampton Beach.

The storm knocking out power to more than 100,000 customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Bill Cairns is standing by tonight to time things out, but first we start with NBC News correspondent Aaron McLaughlin. Tonight's spring break travel is off to a bumpy start. wind everywhere was shaking almost threw up strong wind snarling air travel at airports up and down the coast so far today there's been nearly 3,500 flight delays and more than 100 cancellations i just hope we might get home one time i don't want to stay here another night after a messy weekend of wet weather and harrowing escapes that system blown out monday by gusts up to 63 miles per hour with tens of millions of americans in the northeast under wind alerts. The combination of rain-saturated soil and strong winds turned deadly overnight. In Pennsylvania, 43-year-old Scott Quickel was killed after a massive tree fell on his home. Meanwhile, across the tri-state area, the wind knocked out power for thousands. And then our nation's capital, the weather shut down monuments for a second day. It used to be that the weather of yesterday was predictive

of the weather of today, and that's no longer true. We're seeing much warmer winters, much wetter winters. The unfortunate new reality of a winter of extremes. And Tom, speaking of that winter of extremes, these strong winds are expected to die down by tomorrow morning, followed by some unseasonably warm temperatures. So some good news in the end for those spring breakers. Tom. Okay, Aaron, for more on the wild weather, though.

NBC News, meteorologist Bill Cairns, joined. me now. Bill, Aaron mentioned there we're expecting some warmer temps and even some record highs in the days ahead. Where will we see those? Yeah, that's right. It's time to move on to the next weather story because these winds are dying off quickly in the Northeast. And it has been an incredible day in the middle of the country. Everyone in the Northeast was talking about, wow, it was crazy wind in my house was shaken. Well, everyone in the middle of the country in the northern plains is talking about how unusually crazy warm it is. We're 70 degrees today. In Fargo, North Dakota, broke the record high easily. Almost 80 degrees in Nebraska today, broke the record high

in Minneapolis. Rochester, Minnesota, broke your record high by 10 degrees. And now that warmth is on the move. It's going to head through the Great Lakes. Tomorrow, Chicago is going to be near 70 degrees, 24 degrees warmer than it should be. And you get the idea. St. Louis at 73. We're going to start talking cherry blossoms soon to Washington, D.C. 70 tomorrow. And then finally, all this warmth gets into the northeast, New York City, mid-60s by Wednesday. And it's widespread. It's not just in one area either. But the weather whiplash is going to be pretty crazy because we're going to start talking about a snowstorm in areas like Denver by the time we get to Wednesday and Thursday, this could be a significant, biggest of the season snowstorm

for the front range. And then by the time we get to Thursday, severe weather returns to the southern plane. So we just got done with this big, huge storm on the East Coast. Now we're going to start talking about the next big weather event as the middle of the week approaches. Okay, Bill, we thank you for that. Next tonight to the 2024 presidential race. A new clash over Social Security, President Biden accusing Donald Trump of suggesting he'd make cuts to the entitlement programs. The Trump campaign firing back tonight, saying, Mr. Trump never said that. NBC's Garrett Hake has that story for us tonight. President Biden ramping up his re-election campaign tonight, attacking Donald Trump in

Battleground, New Hampshire. Donald Trump said cuts the Social Security, Medicare are on the table again. I'm never going to allow that to happen. Hitting the former president after he responded to a reporter who suggested something needed to be done about entitlements. There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting, and in terms of also, uh, The theft and the bad management of entitlements, I don't, you know, necessarily agree with the statement. The Trump campaign saying he was not talking about cutting benefits but cutting waste. Mr. Trump just last week posting Republicans have no plans to cut Social Security. The president today laying out his budget in a show of second-term priorities.

The largely symbolic plan would boost spending to $7.3 trillion while raising taxes on the wealthy in corporations. The president calls for restoring the full-churchase. child tax credit and proposes national paid leave. It's just about basic fairness, just basic decency. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump in Battleground, Georgia, blasting President Biden for saying he regretted using the word illegal to describe the alleged killer of Georgia nursing student Lincoln Riley. Police say the suspect was a Venezuelan migrant who crossed the border illegally two years ago. Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. And I shouldn't have used illegal.

It's undocumented. So you regret using that word? Yes. Mr. Trump met with Lake and Riley's family before his Georgia rally. He was illegal, and I say he was an illegal alien. He shouldn't have been in our country, and he never would have been under the Trump policy. All right, Garrett Higg joins us tonight. Garrett, I want to put up on the screen now some poll numbers from a recent ABC News poll that was conducted just after the state of the union.

It shows former President Trump leading when it comes to who would. do a better job leading the U.S. and also leading on some key issues with the exception of abortion. There's still about seven to eight months to go in this campaign, Garrett. Do we know how the former president plans to campaign? We know he was sort of laid back, if you will, during the primaries. Is he going to ramp it up or should voters expect that pace? I think he's going to ramp it up eventually, Tom, but not in any big hurry. I mean, this is traditionally a period in which the candidates take to focus on fundraising and on building out their campaigns, and nobody needs that more in the modern political era than

Donald Trump, whose campaign has been dragged down by his legal costs, the turmoil at the RNC. They just installed new leadership last week. He wants to go more. He wants to do some of these big rallies as we get more into the general election. But right now, they have to restock that war chest. This is going to be a very short campaign against the Biden operation, who, for all of their other problems, has not had any trouble raising money and turning around and spending it. Garrett Hake for us tonight. Garrett, we thank you for that. As the former president ramps up his attacks on Biden. He's struggling with a demographic that could be decisive in November. Women. Female voters still breaking for Biden in recent polls as Trump faces new fallout in his civil

sexual assault and defamation case against E. Jean Carroll. Von Hilliard has the latest. God bless you all. Tonight, former President Donald Trump lashing out once again at E. Jean Carroll, a jury found he sexually assaulted her in a department store, then repeatedly defamed her about the allegations. Trump blasting the author in a phone interview with CNBC. Ms. Bergdorf-Goodman, a person I never, I never met, I have no idea who she is. I was given a false accusation and had a post a $91 million bond on a false accusation. This weekend, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who has endorsed Trump getting into a heated exchange about the case with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos after he showed her video of her 2019 testimony about

her own rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with a testimony we just saw? I'm not going to sit here on your show and be asked a question meant to shame me about another potential rape victim. I'm not going to do that. It's actually not about shaming you. It's a question about Donald Trump. No, you are shaming me. You've endorsed Donald Trump for president. Right. Donald Trump has been found liable for rape by a jury. Donald Trump has been found liable for defaming the victim of that rape by a jury. It's been affirmed by a judge. It was not a criminal court case number one, number two, I live with shame. And you're asking me a question about my political choices trying to shame me as a rape victim. And I find it disgusting. Despite the former president's

recent success in the polls against Joe Biden, his numbers with women continue to struggle. A Quinnipiac survey found Trump's support among female registered voters has dropped 5% since December to just 36 points, trailing President Biden among women by double digits. Reproductive rights, including IVF and abortion, putting Trump and Republicans on defense in the 2024 race in the wake of that controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling that endangered IVF procedures, Trump quickly clarifying he supports the treatment. I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious little beautiful baby. I support it. But abortion still looming large over the campaign. In his state of the union address, President Biden, predicting the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade will bring Democrats a win in November. It's a decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court majority wrote the following, and with all due respect, justices.

Women are not without electoral power, excuse me, electoral or political power, you're about to realize just how much you get variety out there. The issue remaining a top liability for Trump in the general. In a new ABC News Ipsis poll out this weekend, Trump leads Biden on almost all the major issues. But on abortion, Biden takes a lead by 12 points. Now former RNC chair, Ronna McDaniel, delivering this message to party activists on Friday before stepping down from her post. We cannot put our head in the sands and ignore abortion and the Dobbs decision. Okay, with that, Vaughn Hillier joins us now live on set here at top. story. Von, I want to put up on the screen the last two elections when it comes to female voters

and the candidates here. So Hillary Clinton won in 2016 and then Biden won in 2020. Biden actually expanded Clinton's margin with women leading Trump, as you can see, they're by 15 points. And now these same issues are coming up. Again, I would argue almost, I mean, 2016, they were pretty high profile, but now very high profile as well, once again. In Trump world, do they realize they have this problem? Are they doing anything to fix it? Absolutely. I mean, not only was there an expansion in that number from 2016 to 2020, the Dobbs decision came after the 2020 election here. And we have seen Republicans lose in the 2022 midterms

and also when abortion is on the map. Republicans have struggled. And that's where Donald Trump has been quite explicit saying that Republicans, including himself, should take the issue head on, outwardly suggesting that there should be exceptions in the instances of incest, rape, and the life of the mother, and suggesting that state should find somewhere of common ground,

whether it be 15 weeks, 16, weeks, something that a consensus of the public can get behind. Along this conversation, I was speaking to Jason Miller last week during Super Tuesday. He said the list of potential running mates has expanded for former President Trump. Who are some of the women who you think are now on this list for the former president to possibly run with him in 2024? Right. It's a list that is getting lengthy.

Of course, you've got South Dakota Governor Kristy Knoem, who has been a strong ally of Donald Trump. You have Elise Stefanik, who is a U.S. House member from upstate New York. Donald Trump has suggested that New York could be in play, so it could be appealing for him to come on bringing on a defender like Elise Tophonic. You've got, of course, Marjorie Taylor Green down in Georgia, who Donald Trump has never questioned the loyalty of. In South Carolina, the night of that primary, she was on stage with him and said, I have no better defender than Marjorie Taylor Green. Those are just a few of the names. But for Donald Trump, this is a list that is growing and one that he doesn't mind playing with, as all of these Republicans are looking for vying for his support.

You think Governor Hugabe Sanders is on that list, too? She would, of course, be on that list, too. Of course, she defended him in that White House and, of course, a popular governor in Arkansas. All right. Von Hillier, we appreciate your reporting, man. Thank you. We want to turn now to the escalating chaos in Haiti.

As we've been reporting here in Top Story, days of intense gang violence have paralyzed the island, shutting down ports, police stations, and government buildings. Now, the notorious gang boss leading the rebellion, he's known as Barbecue, that's his name. He's threatening more violence if the current prime minister doesn't step down. NBC's Marissa Para has more on the ruthless gang leaders rise to power

and what it means for Haiti's future. Tonight, the future of democracy in Haiti at its tipping point, has the country now overrun by gang leaders teeters on the edge of political chaos. The out-of-control violence escalating over the last week when the same gangs who once fought each other then banded together, attacking airports, police stations, the presidential palace, even prisons, releasing thousands of inmates into the streets. The island nation spiraling into a state of emergency,

prompting leaders of a Caribbean nation to hold an emergency meeting over the crisis. The man at the center of it all, G9 gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, also known as barbecue, one of Haiti's most notorious and ruthless gang leaders. Now, one of the most powerful men in the country. threatening consequences if Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henri doesn't answer calls to resign. Henri has been marooned in Puerto Rico since last week, unable to land due to threats at the airport. The Haitian gang boss rising to power, once an officer in the Haitian National Police Force, now the face of the rebellion against the government, likening himself to figures like Robin Hood,

Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Fidel Castro. It's clear that he has a messianic vision of his role in Haiti. He presents himself as such. And he so far has the means and he's prepared to use them. Haiti has been rattled by devastation. From the catastrophic earthquake of 2010 to the assassination of President Jovenelle-Mois 11 years later, political and social instability in Haiti has created a power vacuum, opening the doors for barbecue's influence to skyrocket.

The very conditions of poverty and extreme poverty in the slums, to some extent, nurture that kind of gang violence. The origin of his nickname Barbecue is up for debate. Sherrizzier says it was his mother's job as a fried chicken vendor that got him his alias. Others claim it comes from his alleged involvement in the 2018 Port-au-Prince massacre that left more than 70 people dead. Many burned beyond recognition. The international community, ramping up efforts to provide. nationwide pandemonium. As President Biden approved a military operation to airlift some of the embassy staff from Haiti over the weekend. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken,

meeting with world leaders at that emergency meeting in Jamaica today. The calls for action growing more urgent. The United Nations reports at least 15,000 people left displaced by the violence in just one week. Marissa Paro joins us now live from Miami tonight. And Marissa, as you mentioned there, there was that high-level summit today with world leaders, including the U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, who just wrapped up his comments minutes ago. Do we have any idea of what was discussed? Well, we know the State Department said earlier that leaders from Caribbean nations, as well as other countries, of course, including the United States, part of what they're trying to find a consensus on today is a plan that would help to not

only bring political transitions, but also to support free and fair elections within Haiti. But Tom, I'll also add that we know Secretary Blinken has been meeting with the United Nations for the humanitarian side of this. The U.N. really stressing the need to be able to bring in necessities, life necessities, like treatment for things like gunshot wounds and medicine to the people who remained stranded there. Tom. Okay, Marissa Parra for us.

Marissa, we thank you for that. Still ahead, the hunt for a road rage driver in Florida. Dash cam video showing the moment that driver appears to deliberately slam into a motorcycle rider, how that rider is doing tonight as they search for a suspect. Plus, a powerful Oscar speech, a Ukrainian director, best documentary for his Chronicle of the War in Ukraine, the emotional moment he says he wishes he never made the film. And an altered photo of Kate Middleton adding fuel to the rise over rumors of her whereabouts, what the princess said in her public apology, after several

news agencies took the photo down. Top story, just getting started on this Monday. In the UK, they celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday, and it's one Princess Kate will never forget. She released this photo showing her with her kids, but editors and fans online soon realizing the image was doctored. The princess forced to issue an apology as speculation swirls about her health and why she edited the photo. NBC foreign correspondent Molly Hunter has more. Tonight, yet another new photo of Kate, the Princess of Wales, but this one snapped by a UK photo agency, her face barely visible in a car, alongside husband prince william he's been out at multiple public events today but not addressing the spiraling

p r crisis back at home kensington palace now apologizing for the confusion caused by this undated photograph posted yesterday the first official photos since her abdominal surgery back in january meant to be a sweet gesture on uk mother's day along with a message from kate thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months. The top stories this hour. But that's not what made the headlines. Just hours after posting it, multiple news agencies recalled the photo after concerns of potential manipulation.

The AP says it appears that the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP's photo standards, adding the photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte's left hand seen right here. And the edge of Charlotte's hair appears to blur unnaturally, and you can see the corner of her skirt appears oddly straight. Kate's hair and zipper appear misaligned, and the edges of these tiles appear repeated. The primary reason for releasing this photograph was for Kate and William to say nothing to see. People can stop worrying. In fact, it had the opposite effect.

It's made people more concerned than they were before. and more suspicious. And then this morning, the palace apology with a confusing explanation. Signed C for Catherine, the princess wrote, like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I think the best thing to be done now would be if Kate and William released the original photograph, warts and all with no amendments and no changes made so that we, the public, could see that

the changes weren't that bigger deal. But of course, that depends on those changes being quite minor. Now, Tom, you just heard from Daisy if those adjustments are actually minor, which is what a palace source tells us, you think they would just release it. Well, we've gone back to Kensington Palace to ask specifically about those adjustments. We've also asked about that original photo and a palace source says they have no plans to release it. Tom. Molly Hunter for us tonight. Molly, we thank you for that. For more on the photo posted by Princess Kate. And what it means for the royal family, I want to bring in Patrick Whitty. He's a photo editor who's been featured in New York Times and National Geographic. And Katie Nicol, NBC News Royal contributor and a royal editor for Vanity Fair. I thank you both for being here tonight. Patrick, I'm going to start with you to the naked eye, really, the first time people saw this photo. They really didn't see anything wrong with this initially. But from a professional photo editor perspective, The editing seems to be glaring. How do you think this could get so widely distributed?

I think, just like you said, at first glance, it's a lovely photo. It's a great family picture. It's really cute. Everybody looks great. And at that point, you start to sort of zoom in on things, and you take a closer look, and you look around, you start looking at edges and details, and the picture just starts to fall apart, and it's a total disaster. Patrick, you know, you're obviously a professional,

but you could see this right away, or you had to sort of zoom in, as you say? No, I probably would have just swiped on by and not really paid it any attention. However, if I were working at a wire agency and I was going to distribute this to millions of clients and millions of people, I would take a closer look at it. It has to be scrutinized since it's a handout photo.

So you can't just blindly release photos out without taking a closer look. And when you do take a closer look, it does become really obvious that there's a lot of problems with the picture. So, Katie, do we know why the Royals do this? Listen, we all use filters, right, when we're editing photos ourselves. But this seemed to take on a different level, like moving hands and hair. Any idea why they had to do this? Well, the Palace is saying that they were minor adjustments.

And you're quite right. I mean, who puts an image out on social media without putting a filter on it, without making a tweak? You know, we're in this image of absolute perfection. in the digital age. And I think, you know, even going back centuries, royal portraits, royal pictures, what often airbrushed, they were made to look better, often because he had an old king or queen on the throne. So this is nothing new. And I think it's really the level of enhancement that has gone on. And clearly, for those five or six international picture agencies that made a, well, pretty unusual decision to pull a royal portrait from its database and stop distributing it.

They obviously felt that there was quite severe digital manipulation. Now, this rattled on for the best part of 24 hours before eventually the princess took to Twitter to issue a statement explaining that she had used some digital editing, that she does do that as an amateur photographer, and to apologize for any confusion. But because we haven't seen the original image, knowing just how digitally edited this image has been, leaves us back into that very dangerous sphere of speculation. And Katie, that leads me to my next question because, Patrick, you posted on X, formerly Twitter, the edits you saw in this photo, and I'm going to put it up on the screen for our viewers.

You found way more edits than even that's out there in some of the publications right now, and some of the news sites. This is just from zooming in, you notice sort of these discrepancies? Yeah. I think if you look at a high-res file, you start to see these discrepancies. And there's a couple of spots right away that stood out to me as problematic. One is Princess Charlotte's left hand. It's right at her sleep, it just starts to disappear. And it's pretty glaring. And once you point it out, it becomes more obvious that something's wrong with the picture. The other part that's even more troubling for me is on Princess zipper, as it goes down, it abruptly ends and then starts at another position, which clearly means something has been put on top of it. Yeah, and not that, right, Patrick, thanks for pointing those out. And the reason why we're spending so much time in this is obviously the royal family.

There's so much curiosity. But, Katie, when we look at those edits now, I mean, you are going to a much different level. I mean, I don't even know if you can call that amateur anymore. I guess maybe amateur because the mistakes were discovered, but that's a lot of editing. And for what purpose? Well, that's the big question, isn't it? As I said, just how much editing has gone into the image

and because we haven't seen the original, we simply don't know. Now, I've had guidance from Kensington Palace today saying that they were minor adjustments. So we're not talking superimposing Catherine into the image, which is what's been speculated online because she's allegedly not well enough to be in a picture. Katie, yeah, that is the question that we have to sort of put to rest.

I mean, we don't think this picture was just created by AI, right? No, I don't believe it was created by AI. I think it was some amateur sort of enhancement. Obviously, Catherine's, you know, I don't know what she uses, what technology she uses, but look, she's a good photographer. We've become very used to her taking photographs of her children, so she's going to know how to do those touch-ups. She's going to know how to do those edits.

So this is kind of her hobby. See, I didn't know this. She loves taking photos, and then she has a lot of experience, I guess, editing photos. We do think she's the one who made these edits. Well, yeah, we understand. She has said that she was the one that made those edits, and as an amateur photographer, she does do a bit of digital retouching. I think the issue here is that in the context of the big hashtag, where is Kate,

which has dominated social media for over the past week, ever since William pulled out of his Godfather's memorial service, I think this story has almost taken on a life of its own because it feeds into that frenzy of speculation about her whereabouts. A woman who is one of the most photographed women in the world who hasn't been seen in public since Christmas Day. I mean, I think people also have to just remind themselves that she may be royal and extraordinary as that is, but she is a young mother of three people who is recovering from a very serious surgery and have made it very clear that she was going to stay out of the spotlight, Like, possibly, possibly, the biggest mistake here was actually issuing a photograph at all if she wasn't ready to do that. Well, Katie, I was going to ask you, does this hurt her credibility moving forward after the where is Kate?

And now this, you know, I don't even want to know if we can call it a fiasco, but just the editing, the uncovering of the editing of the photo. I hope it doesn't erase the credibility because I think the Prince and Princess of Wales have worked really hard to engage with their online audience to be very authentic, to be very authentic, to be very. real. You know, they know that we live in a very, very different age, in this digital age. They've had to embrace social media. So I don't think people should start going through their reels and thinking this is AI, this is fate, this is not authentic. I think on this occasion, it was just a mishap. Possibly she's not operating at her best. She's recovering from an operation. But I don't think we're all being duped into something sinister here. Patrick, you're the photo expert here. If Kate is this sort of shutterbug, she has this

photography hobby as well. Do you think someone like that could make these edits, or does this look like it's something much more sophisticated? No, I think it's something she could easily do. It'd be tough to do from a phone, but I think if she pulled the photograph onto a computer and started, you know, doing some manipulating and some retouching, that's something easily someone could do. But I agree, I don't think it's anything sinister. I guess my biggest question is why is it necessary to do anything to the picture at all. And the only way I think they can get out of this, really, is to release all the photos that they took to make this one image. Because I do think the image is legitimate. It's just not that particular moment. I think it's a combination

of many pictures. Photo editor Patrick Whitty, Katie Nickle, excuse me, from NBC News, a royal contributor. We thank you both for your time. When we come back, a brawl at a college basketball game landing one of the players' family members in custody, we'll explain. The scuffle breaking out at the end of the SEC championship game, the charges just filed after one player's brother jumped onto the court. And a warning tonight about a popular swing for infants that can be dangerous when used for sleep. What parents need to know, that's next. We're back now with Top Stories News Feed.

we begin with the manhunt for a driver in a road rage incident in central Florida. Dash cam video from a truck driver shows a motorcycle and a car passing at a high rate of speed. The car then swerves into onto the motorcyclist, sending him flying off the road. A driver fleeing the scene immediately. The rider was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. A college basketball game between Louisiana State University and the University of South Carolina erupting into chaos. After a scuffle between two players during the championship game in Greenville, South Carolina, Team members and spectators rushed onto the court.

That brawl led to the arrest of LSU guard Flo J. Johnson's brother, who police say pushed and stepped onto an SEC employee while trying to get past the scorer's table. 24-year-old Trayron Melton is now charged with third-degree assault and battery. Sacramento health officials issuing a warning after a possible measles exposure at a local medical center. UC Davis Health says it began contacting about 300 people who were in its emergency room at the same time as a child

who was being evaluated for measles. Sacramento Public Health Department recommended that anyone possibly exposed should monitor themselves for illness. And more than 63,000 baby swings recalled over suffocation concerns. Federal regulators saying the Nova Infant Swing manufactured by Jewel Baby has an incline that isn't safe for infant sleep despite the product being marketed that way. Affected models were sold at Walmart from November 2022 to November 2023. No injuries have been reported.

All right, we're going to head overseas now to a story sending shockwaves across the UK. Charles Spencer, Princess Diana's only brother, and the godson of Queen Elizabeth, publishing a new book. It's called A Very Private School, which chronicles what he describes as years of abuse. Spencer sat down at his family's estate for his first interview about the book with our very own Cynthia McFadden, who joins us now. Cynthia, this story is, you just can't even believe it. It's really quite extraordinary.

Charles Spencer is the first to say that he grew up with enormous privilege. telling me it's important to him that it not seem he's looking for sympathy rather he hopes by coming forward with the alarming details of the abuse he's he and others suffered as children he hopes that that could help promote healing and sound an alarm we want to warn you some of what he has to say is deeply upsetting I'm not asking for any sympathy but writing this book was unbelievably difficult with screaming nightmares and depression in its weirdest forms and times when I just thought I can't do this. Charles Spencer's book of very private school chronicles the five years he spent at Madewell Hall, years in which he said he and many of his classmates suffered terrible abuse. This is not a bunch of mid-teen, late-teen kids going through a rough school. This is children being sexually, physically and emotionally abused on a daily basis, that has to affect you. You either

bottle it up and try and soldier on, or you go ahead, emotionally hobbled for the rest of your life. It took a lot of courage to write this. I don't honestly feel I had a choice. It was a book that demanded it be written. It all began this day. I was eight, being sent off to a brutal place by myself, saying goodbye to Diana, who I grew up with. Choking back tears, headed to a place he can't bear to remember, but we'll never forget. We were like prisoners. We were prey to very bad people's worst instincts. He says that the worst of those bad people was the school's headmaster, Mr. Porch. In my view, a pedophile and a sadist, and he staffed the school.

himself with either people who were going along with what he was doing or were going to be mute about it. What was going on, he says, was not just bleak, but often criminal. We sat down with Spencer, a best-selling author and historian at Alford. Home to his ancestor since 1508. It's surrounded by over 10,000 acres of farm and parkland. Inside, priceless paintings by Van Dyck and others, it is also his famous sister's burial place.

So much of what you write about, I think we'll leave readers speechless. So contrary to everything we think about, the privileged life, all the money, the homes, being the godson of the queen, which you are. I told a friend of mine about this recently. And he said, I just can't believe you weren't protected, as if coming from this incredibly privileged background somehow would be a protection against pedophiles and sadists. But there is no protection against those sorts of people. Especially when secrecy is paramount. The most important code of this very flawed regime was never to tell tales.

The secrets, the 75 boys that made well ages 8 to 13 kept, were dark. week, at least half a dozen, would be whipped with a cane. And we all had showers together after sports. And you could see the blood, the split skin. How could the parents not have asked questions? I have a theory. So the old money there sort of thought, well, this is going to make my son tougher and more successful.

And then people who had made money more recently thought, well, this is what, you know, what They do, and we want to be part of this set. Abuse came from some of the teachers, too. There was one particularly violent master, and he caught me by myself in a changing room going out to play cricket, and he just grabbed me and threw me over his knee, and cricket boots have spikes on the metal spikes, and he beat me and beat me.

But what has truly haunted him was being sexually abused at the age he was in this portrait, 11. The predator, he says, a young woman, a member of the staff charged with taking care of the young boys. She would come around to my bed when others were asleep and kiss me, you know,

French kiss for ages. And it was so, if I was 17, 18, it would be a different thing, but I was 11. It was so confusing. He says kissing became more intense fondling and that she was sexually abusing several other boys

and having intercourse with at least two of them. I mean, I'm embarrassed to say it was thrilling, especially in an emotional desert. But of course, it was terrible. She pretended she was going to have to leave early to keep us all on tent hooks, really. And I remember cutting myself as a sort of... I thought, if I hurt myself enough,

then God will let her stay. When he was 12, he says, in traveling with his mother in Italy, he secretly acted out the fire. scene of the sexual abuse from the year before. I had not had sexual intercourse with the predator, and I took my pocket money, and I lost my virginity to a prostitute, and at the age of 12, and I see that as the completion of what she had done to me.

Who's the first person you ever told what had happened to you? a therapist when I was about 42. You kept this inside? Yes. And he said, whisper to me one thing you've never told anyone. And I said I was sexually abused by a woman when I was a child. He dedicates the book to Buzz.

That was the nickname I had in my family before I went to Maidwell. and that was the boy who had part of him snuffed out during those five years at the school. I wanted to reconnect with the carefree, happy little guy I was before I was sent to this place. Maidwell Hall is taking his charges seriously and told NBC News in a statement they have reached out to local authorities

charged with protecting children and they will follow their guidance on what we do from this point. We would encourage anyone with similar experiences to come forward and contact those officials or the police. Cynthia, you know, in the report, you sort of touch upon the families that didn't have a lot of money who turned a blind eye because they wanted their children to sort of go to school with these families of wealth. But what about the families that had money or that were able to do this and still turned a blind eye? Well, you know, Charles Spencer says this is just the way it was done back then. It was a sort of holdover from 150 years ago.

children were to be seen and not heard. They were not encouraged to talk to their parents. They weren't encouraged to eat with their parents. And he said, you know, it was really a class thing. This is just how it rolled. I said, did you never told your father? His mother had left the home when he was two. He said, it never occurred to me to have that kind of a conversation with my own father.

It's also sad. Cynthia, we thank you for the story, and the book is coming out very soon. Coming up next, scary moments on a flight over New Zealand. Passengers and crew sent flying to the ceiling after a quote, strong shake. At least 50 people hurt. The investigation now underway into what caused that scary moment. Okay, we are back now with Top Story's Global Watch, and we begin with devastating floods and landslides that have killed at least 26 people in northern Indonesia. The torrential rain

causing roads to buckle, washing away cars, residents digging through thick mud that damaged homes and businesses. Indonesia's disaster response agencies saying at least 39,000 people have been affected, warning the death toll could climb as rescuers reach the affected area. At least 50 people are hurt after a Latam Airlines flight dropped in mid-air. Video taken inside the plane shows the harrowing moments after the Boeing 787 experienced what the airline called a strong shake while flying from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand. Passengers and crew members reported flying into the roof of the plane of the 10 passengers and three crew members sent to the hospital. One is actually in serious condition tonight.

An investigation is now underway. And a new report revealing a secret meeting between former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro. The BBC reporting that Johnson talked about the need for free and fair elections in Venezuela, as well as support for Ukraine, and respect for neighboring country, Guyana's border. Johnson's office saying the trip was not paid for by either government. Okay, we want to turn out to an emotional moment at the Oscars. You may have seen this last night.

the director of the gripping documentary, 20 days in Maripole, becoming the first Ukrainian to win an Academy Award, using his moment on Hollywood's biggest night to send a message to Russia about the relentless war that has ravaged his country. NBC's Matt Bradley reports, and a warning we want to tell you some of the images you're about to see. They are graphic. And the Oscar goes to 20 Days in Mariport. This was the Academy Awards acceptance speech, director Ms. Slavs,

Shernov says he wished he never had to give. I wish I've never made this film. Shernov winning the first Oscar in Ukraine's history for his feature documentary 20 days in Marriopol. I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia, never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities. The director keeping the focus on Russia's war while on stage. I wish for them to release all. All the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails. His film giving a gut-wrenching first-hand account of Russia's brutal assault on the coastal city of Maripal in the early days of the war.

Someone once told me, wars don't start with explosions. They start with silence. Chernov was there amid the eerie calm as Russian tanks ruled in. This is the first time I saw him, the Russian sign of war. He had his cruel capturing the sobering human cost of the invasion, including the bombing of a maternity hospital. The film providing raw visual evidence to combat the Russian government's claim with the invasion spared civilians. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, praising the Oscar win,

tweeting, this documentary serves as a reminder of white international assistance without delays or interruptions, is so critical to Ukraine. Today, Ukraine's position eroding. Lariopal is sitting in a vast swat of Russian occupied territory. We cannot change the past. But we all together, you, I'm on you, some of the most talented people in the world. We can make sure that the history record is set straight. Now, just days after the two-year anniversary of that horrifying,

attorney-word bombing, Chernov reflecting on the power of film to help truth, prove it. Cinema forms memories, and memories form history. So thank you all, and thank you all. Thanks to Ukraine, Slavokrani. Matt Bradley, NBC News. When we come back, an inspiring story about paying it forward back here at home, a black couple renting their house to Chinese immigrants more than 80 years ago, no one else in Southern California would, giving that family a shot at their own American dream.

Tonight, how that family is now repaying the favor of a lifetime, we'll explain. Finally tonight, a powerful story first reported by our partners at NBC Asian American and NBC News Digital. Two California families are changing the conversation about home ownership and the American dream, showing us the real dream is not about owning the home, but passing it on. Elwyn Lopez shares their story. The historic Hotel Del Coronado anchors the Oceanside, California town that shares its name. It's still here. It's still here, and it's still fabulous.

A lasting symbol of a bygone era, catering to the wealthy and the well-known. It was built in the late 1800s by thousands of workers. Among them, Gus Thompson, Bollinger Gardner Kemp's great-grandfather. He started businesses of his own. And even my great-grandmother, Emma, had a cafe and bakery. Gus Thompson was born into slavery, enduring a life in the Jim Crow South for decades before moving west. Later, becoming a pioneer in California at a time when the state's black population was less than 1%. And about three blocks from the resort he helped build, Gus and his wife Emma lived here in this home with their three kids.

This is unbelievable. This has been here since the 18, the late 1800s? Correct. 1895, to be exact. For years, Coronado residents, Kevin Ashley, has been tracing the Thompson's footsteps, curating an exhibit about the city's hidden black history. And just the idea that there was a thriving African American community between 1890 and 1920. Was that shocking to you? Hugely shocking.

Next to the Thompson's home stands a small apartment building. It was once Gus's stable, where she would welcome people in, that no one else would. The library stable was the only place for several decades where an African-American could rent a bed to sleep in Coronado. Their old original house, they usually rented out to immigrants. One of them, Chinese American gardener, Lloyd Dong. He was having trouble.

There wasn't a lot available. His son, Ron, was just a toddler at the time. I get to Gus Thompson's livery stables, and he finds out that the house, next door. It's not being used by Gus anymore. The Thompson's rented the main house to the dogs when they eventually bought, an act that then defied the exclusionary housing practices and gave the dogs a foothold to start building their own American dream. So the Thompsons really gave them a chance that they wouldn't have had otherwise? Absolutely. It's a chance

the dogs have never forgotten it and the favor of their family is about to return. that SPSU has received a new $5 million gift in support of a Black Resource Center, which will now be gained. They said, we're going to sell the property, and we're going to give our proceeds to the Black Resource Center of San Diego State University in the name of Gus and Emma Thompson. What was your reaction to that? Tears.

Tears? 100%. The roots of an American dream so deep. it turned strangers into family. Now those same roots are still giving for decades to come. Paying it forward, shall we say. It's just the icing on the cake. It's just, it's a beautiful story.

And maybe it's one that the world needs to hear. And more than ever. And more than ever. We thank Elwyn and all the families involved in telling that story. And we thank you for watching Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yamison, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.

Thank you.