Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, October 5, 2026

Episode Date: October 6, 2026

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, tensions boiling over on Cornell's campus, outraged students protesting across campus, thousands marching on the Ivy League school over the handling of rape allegations, plus the glass door shattered and graffiti sprayed across the building, and the encounter caught on camera, a woman confronting one of the fraternity members, accused of assault as NBC News learns more about the punishments handed down to those allegedly involved. Horrifying school bus crashed in Florida, 10th grader killed. Video of the mangled bus flipped onto its roof, a Jeep on fire. dozens of kids on board injured. What set off that crash?

Plague outbreak fears, the mystery death at a Russian medical lab that studied the deadly disease. Officials in the town, now in hazmat suits, how U.S. officials are tracking it. New details about the fly Dubai attacker. His alleged plot to fly the plane into Tel Aviv's airport, how he used an emergency axe to attack the other pilot who fought for his life. Body cam video showing an officer throwing a college student to the ground. after police say she tried to stop and arrest, why both sides say this viral video

doesn't show the whole story. Olivia Dean, accused of copying Bill Withers hit just the two of us in a new song will break down the lawsuit and play both tracks, so you can decide for yourself. Plus, the Dary and Rescue Mission for a Lost Hunter, the moment he was found thousands of feet down a steep ravine

and hoisted back to safety. And Steve Kornacki, in the House, ready to break down the new NBC News poll, the key demographic shifting away from President Trump, and the Republican Party just weeks from the midterms. Top story starts right now. And good evening, as we come on the air, anger reaching a fever pitch at Cornell University as the rape allegations draw national attention and cast a shadow over the Ivy League campus.

Right now, thousands of students were protesting and demanding action in the wake of those sexual assault accusations involving seven fraternity members. Some arguing the school protected its own reputation over student safety when the allegations first surface back in 2024. New images from overnight show a building on campus vandalized. You can see the glass there shattered in graffiti writings condemning the university. That outrage spilling into the hallways, new video of one of the men at the center of the scandal confronted by a fellow student.

I'm just disgusted by you. I've been to let you know personally. I'm ashamed to be on the same campus as you. His lawyer telling NBC News his client is being condemned before the evidence has been fully heard. It comes as we learn new details about the punishments that were handed down. Two of the men involved were expelled, another two suspended. One man graduated and was barred from campus, and two others received lighter punishments, which included writing an essay.

Now the criminal investigation is in the hands of a special prosecutor, Letitia James, who will reexamine the case involving Jane Doehan. We'll ultimately decide whether or not to bring charges. Maggie Vespa begins our coverage from Cornell's campus. Tonight, outrage on Cornell's campus, as students' primary. protests the university's handling of 2024 sexual assault allegations. We are talking easily a thousand students here on Cornell's campus. The anger here is palpable. There's no way that students on Cornell campus can continue to trust them to protect us

when they keep failing to do so. Overnight, this university building vandalized, a glass door broken, and graffiti splashed across the front, reading at Cornell rapists are protected and protesters are expelled. Are you not, like, embarrassed to be here? It comes as new video shows a woman confronting Jillio Lopes on campus, one of the seven Chi Phi fraternity members accused of sexual assault by Jane Doe, who is now suing the university. I'm not going to talk about all this right now. You never will because you're a disgusting person. In the civil suit, Jane Doe accuses Lopes of having sex with her without her consent.

Lopes, through his attorney, maintaining it was consensual. And tonight, Jane Doe's attorney telling us she's receiving death threats on Instagram. including this one saying one more dead, leftist white expletive wouldn't hurt the world. NBC News also learning more about the punishments Cornell handed down to the seven men, some of whom were accused of rape, some of lesser offenses. A source who's seen the written decision telling NBC News two of the accused men were expelled. Two more suspended. One who had already graduated was barred from campus for three years,

with the last two given lighter punishments, including studying sexual harassment and writing reflection papers. Lopes's attorney now challenging the special prosecutor investigating the case. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had posted on social media before she was appointed, what this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I will not comment on a Facebook post. You are calling now on the Attorney General to step aside from her role as special prosecutor in this case. Absolutely. The concern is not political.

The concern is about the integrity of the process. All right, Maggie Vespa joins us tonight live. Maggie, what are protesters and you were there in the middle of the protests demanding? Right. Tom, they have a slew of demands. I mean, some of them told us they want the university to expel and or revoke the degrees of the seven accused Kifi members. Multiple people in the crowd told us they want Greek houses on campus abolished. Some said they want university administrators to resign.

I mean, the biggest through line that we heard from everybody. there is they just want to feel safer on campus. And as we unpack what happened in 2024, how campus police handled the investigation, how the DA handled the investigation. They say they just don't feel secure here at Cornell anymore, Tom. All right, Maggie Vespa, we're going to turn out to another major headline. A horrific school bus crash in Florida. Two people killed, including a high school student after the collision left the bus flipped completely upside down. More than 30 kids were on board. Our Aaron Gilchrest is there. horrifying scenes on a Florida road, a school bus flipped on its top, a Jeep it collided with on fire right next to it.

The vehicle versus a school bus. School bus has flipped over at this time. This bus overturned on this two-lane road in Winterhaven before sunrise this morning. An oncoming sedan crossed the center line and struck a rear tire of the bus, sending it into a tailspin, according to authorities. What we see on the video is clearly this white car for unknown reasons. drifted over the center line. The sheriff says the bus then hit a jeep head on before it flipped and landed upside down in this ditch. Video shows the Jeep on fire as people stand on the side of the road. On that bus, the driver, her nine-year-old daughter and 37 high school students headed to school.

It was really hard for them to, you know, be there and watch their friends like that. The crash killing a high school sophomore and an occupant from the Jeep. It was a terrible tragic morning. morning. We had a beautiful 10th grade girl lose her life. The victims were rushed to several hospitals. The school district today decided to continue with classes and is asking for prayers as the school community deals with this sudden tragic loss. Aaron, those images are just so sad to see. Aaron Gilchrist, who joins us now from outside the hospital in Lakeland, Florida. Aaron, one person is still in critical condition where you are? Right, Tom. And we know that one person was

brought here to the Lakeland Regional Hospital. The authorities who are investigating this crash have made the point that it is astonishing that there weren't more people who were critically injured or killed in this crash. When you think about the fact that there were more than 40 people across those four vehicles involved in this accident early this morning, we understand that most of the other people who were injured have been treated and released from several hospitals around this region. We also understand from investigators that the person who initially hit that school bus early this morning is cooperating with the investigation. We believe that person was injured as well. And at this point, our understanding, Tom, is that that person has not been charged with any crime

so far. The investigation, of course, continues. Tom. Yeah, still very early. Okay, Aaron, thank you. We're also following an alarming story out of Russia tonight. A woman who worked at a lab there that studied the plague dying under mysterious circumstances. 200 people are now under medical observation. And tonight, the U.S. says it's closely monitoring the situation. And, Thompson reports. Tonight, workers in hazmat suits in the town where the lab employee died. Russian officials say the cause of death for the 28-year-old woman last week was pneumonia of unknown origin.

She worked at the Anti-Plaug Institute of Siberia, which deals with the deadly bacteria. The U.S. State Department now saying they're aware of reports of a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague in the area. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking earlier. I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it is cost for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on it, and we're doing that. At least one hospital is under quarantine and nearly 200 people under medical observation, according to Russian officials. The lack of reliable information tonight concerns some medical experts, including Dr. Ashish Jha. What kind of information are you looking for?

Well, we know Russia's had a longstanding biological weapons program. We know that they have been expanding that program. I am first and foremost interested in was this lab, part of that bioweapons program. Pneumonic Plague is caused by the same bacteria as bubonic plague. It's spread by respiratory droplets in the air from coughing or sneezing. You can develop symptoms as soon as 24 hours. So how contagious is it? Well, because it's a bacteria.

Infectious disease experts say it's not nearly as contagious as COVID or the flu or measles. all viruses. This bacteria does not spread easily, and because of that, tonight, there is no fear of a global pandemic. Tom? And thank you. I want to bring in Dr. Amish Adagia, who specializes in infectious disease, bioterrorism, and emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins. He's been a guest on top story before. Doctor, thanks for joining us. Can you explain for our viewers what exactly the pneumonic plague is? So the pneumonic plague is a form of plague. where the plague bacillus, which is called Yersinia pestis, infects your lungs, and it causes a pneumonia. And it can be quite a severe pneumonia, and you can cough up those droplets, and you can spread it to other individuals.

Thankfully, we don't live in the 14th century. We live in the 21st century, where we have antibiotics that can promptly treat plague once it's recognized. And this isn't something that's unheard of. We have maybe a dozen or so plague cases that occur every year in the United States. Okay, what do you think happened here, right? Because, I mean, we're getting the information out of Russia. You've seen people walk around in hazmat suits. You have a lab worker who's dead. There's a lot of lack. There's a huge lack of transparency here. What we know is that this is a lab worker who died. They say she didn't die from anything that she worked with. They're calling it a pneumonia of unknown origin.

And they're not behaving as if it's plague because plague isn't that contagious. Plague is something where there is sort of a standard operative. procedure if someone is exposed. You give them prophylactic antibiotics and they don't get sick. She died. So something went wrong. In the way that they're kind of putting in these anti-epidemic measures is what they're calling them, where they're looking at all of these contacts and monitoring them and all these hazmat suits, that doesn't fit with plague. That makes me think that there's something else going on, and this is why the Russian government needs to be more transparent, because we do know that they have clandestine biological weapons production facilities and labs,

and they did this for decades and decades and decades, and they had accidents like this. So this is really important to really bring, you know, the force of the world to get them to be transparent about what's happened there. And they are a country at war. This is sort of more terrifying than what we initially thought. And I know you're just sort of going off what you think and your expertise, and there's still a lot we don't know. So explain this to me. How would the person who works at the lab get infected with this? Is it like a vial breaking? I mean, how does this work?

That's the story that we heard, that this was a test tube that broke. But it might be that someone is working with a pathogen. They're trying to culture it. They're working with it on plates. Maybe they have a breach in their personal protective equipment, their masks. Maybe there's some kind of breach in the air filtration that occurs. There's lots of different ways that there can be a biosafety lapse. But the thing is, labs like this usually have massive amounts of procedures and layered ability to kind of protect their workers and anybody else from getting infected from the pathogens.

That's part of a biosafety culture that these labs usually have. So the fact that that broke down is raising questions. But then they're saying whatever she was infected with wasn't something she worked with. So that again gives you another question mark. So this is all just a lot of opacity from the Russian government. And I think it doesn't serve anybody well because it leaves an information vacuum. That's being filled with lots of different things. And this could be ended very quickly if they actually would say what they know, what they don't know, what they're trying to find out.

Very strange indeed. I do want to ask you, is there a fear here, right, that if the person traveled or if they gave it to somebody else and that person traveled, could this go global? Could it cross borders? I don't know that we have enough information to even say what it is, or if it's communicable from person to person. It's interesting that they're monitoring all of these contacts, but any time there's a pathogen, one of the things we look for is, is it able to move from person to person efficiently? Then if something like that is what's at stake, if it is an efficient pathogen that moves

from person to person and it's doing it in a rapid manner, then yes, that raises the stakes. But at this point, we have no information at all, so it's all really just speculation. Okay, doctor, again, thanks for coming on Top Story to explaining this. Have a feeling we may be talking more about this in the days ahead. Back here at home, the former American Idol contestant convicted of murdering his wife, weeping today in court, maintaining his innocence even as his sentence was handed down. His wife's family reading letters from her two young daughters asking, how could you do this?

Here's Shaquille Brewster. Tonight, former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn sobbing in court. Your actions, Mr. Flynn, were abhorred. An Ohio judge handing down the maximum sentence, life in prison without parole, for murdering his wife Ashley in February while he was having an affair, then staging a home invasion to mislead investigators. Dear Caleb, this is your daughter, Alyssa. Flynn breaking down as Ashley's family read the victim impact statements written by his

10 and 12-year-old daughters. How could you do such a thing? I looked up to you. I loved you with all my heart. The least you could do is tell everyone you did it. But in his most extensive public remarks since his February arrest, I take complete accountability and responsibility for my words and my decisions. And again, I'm so sorry.

The former music pastor still maintaining his innocence. I am not quite when I say I did not show my wife. Last week, a jury spent. just over two hours deliberating, convicting Flynn of aggravated murder and eight other counts. Tonight, Caleb Flynn leaving the courtroom in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, the family of the wife he murdered, turning their backs with one final message from his daughter. And by the way, I don't plan on coming to see you. And Tom, the judge did have the option to sentence Flynn, the possibility of getting parole

after 20 or 25, even to 30 years. You heard in some of her statements in court there calling his actions abhorrent that she decided not to give him that possibility. We do know that Flynn's attorneys even reiterated in some of the court documents that they do plan on appealing last week's verdict, but that will be a really long process.

Tom. All right, Jack, thank you. We have new reporting tonight on why the U.S. decided to pull all of its bombers out of a critical air base in the U.K. President Trump now saying he was in response, to quote threats. NBC's Courtney QB covers the Pentagon first. And Courtney, you have new reporting on what that threat could have been. President Trump confirming the U.S. pulled all of its bombers

out of a military base in England in response to what he called were some threats. Now, when asked by reporters who made those threats, he replied they would be linked to Iran. But he would not go any further than that. But we are learning late today from two U.S. officials that, in fact, all of the U.S. Air Force bombers were moved in part because of reports of a threat of a possible Iranian drone attack against the base and against those aircraft specifically. About a dozen U.S. B-1 bombers were moved out over the weekend, and the process was rushed, according to two Pentagon officials who we spoke with. Now, all this comes after British authorities arrested six people in connection with a potential

terror plot to target that same British air base. RAF Fairford. Now, they've all been released on bail. Iran has continued to deny any involvement in that terror plot. Now, meanwhile, questions continue to amount over whether President Trump will launch any strikes against Iran. Tom, President Trump continues to say that Iran could suffer from annihilation in the coming weeks, but it's not really clear whether he will actually carry out any of those threats. Tom? Courtney Cueby for us. Courtney, thank you. We are turning out to chilling new details in that attack

on board on Israel-bound fly, Dubai flight. Tonight, we're learning for the first time what the co-pilot's real target may have been, and the hero pilot revealing how he fought for his life while being attacked with an axe. Here's Keir Simmons. Tonight, disturbing new details of the terror attack foiled by heroic passengers and a brave flight captain. A Middle East official telling NBC news,

co-pilot who tried to down a fly-du-by flight full of Israeli passengers was planning a 9-11 style attack. The official says the co-pilot, identified by multiple sources as Hamam al-Hamami, has told investigators he wanted to evade Israel's defenses, then crash into the airport or another building in Tel Aviv. Captain Schmidt-Mashar says the terror began when the co-pilot started stabbing him, speaking to Israel's Prime Minister from his hospital bed. Captain Machar says his colleague told him he was going to pray and step behind him.

All of a sudden, he started to get hit with an axe. My vision was almost like nothing. He tried to open the door once, but the attacker closed it, and he somehow managed to twist the knob open again. I gave everything that I had and just went for the door and opened the door. People familiar with the matter telling the Wall Street Journal, al-Hamami had been banned from flying in his home country, Oman, over his radical views. And an Israeli official tells NBC news he had posted on social media about killing Jews.

That person should not have been flying an airline. Here in Israel, questions are swirling over how he was allowed to fly here, while multiple officials tell NBC News they do believe he planned the attack alone. Tom? care, thank you. Now to the growing pressures on Republicans back here at home, heading into the midterms. Tonight, Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate locked in a tight Senate race in Texas, appearing to aim criticism at the White House over campaign strategy. Brian Noble says this one. Tonight, with Republicans under pressure before the midterms, new campaign criticism apparently aimed

at the White House from a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate in the key state of Texas. Politico, citing two people at the event, reporting Ken, Ken Packer's. Paxton privately told donors last month his campaign is being run from D.C. instead of the Lone Star State. I don't control message or what we're doing, he said. His campaign telling political, Paxton was referring to outside super PACs. And Paxton recently blasted the president's midterm convention. When we did that convention, we were trials our members. Where the president went after his looks.

And I don't like the way, Ken, dresses. I don't really like the way he looks. But you know what I do like? He was the greatest. Attorney General in the history of Texas. It comes as some Republicans criticize President Trump's message on the economy. The top issue in the midterms just weeks away. Telling them not to believe their own lying checkbooks is not going to work.

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy says he thinks the midterms will be close. While tonight mixed messages from President Trump on mail-in ballots. Mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt. Now urging Republicans to send them in, but still slamming them as corrupt. though they've not been linked to widespread fraud. Vote by mail or vote in person. I'd rather have a vote in person, but they can vote by mail if they want.

And tonight, a growing challenge for Republicans. Latino voters, who are key to President Trump's 2024 victory, 74% in our poll saying they disapprove of his economic policies, including here in South Texas. Two words, buyers are more. But in Nebraska, some Latino voters backing Republicans. This voters' message to President Trump,

Keep doing what you're doing and don't let them stop you. Ryan Nobles joins us now. Ryan, late today, the president reiterating that controversial promise to pay Americans $5,000 if Republicans win the House and Senate. Yeah, that's right, Tom. The president posting a more than two-minute video on his social media page tonight, once again, telling voters that if Republicans win both the House and the Senate, that he plans to send a check to every single adult in America for $5,000. Now, what the president leaves out in this video is exactly how he's going to pay for it. He provides some vague notion about the amount of money being brought in by tariffs, talks about the country doing well economically overall, but doesn't specifically say where the money is coming from. He also leaves out the fact that any sort of expenditure like that would need some level of

congressional approval. And even if Republicans win both the House and Senate, it's unlikely that they'll have a 60-vote ability to pass that in the Senate, which would require. something along these lines to be passed. Keep in mind, Tom, that this would cost more than $1.3 trillion to send every adult in America a $5,000 check. So even though the president is promising this and tying it to the election results, which has its own ethical questions tied to it, the reality of it actually happening seems very unlikely. Tom. Ryan, thank you. To break down the state of play a month out from the midterms, I want to bring in our good

friend Steve Kornacki at the Big Board. Steve, let's dive. a little deeper into that NBC News Telemundo poll. As we know, Latino voters are not a monolith, and spoiler alert, the president is down with pretty much every group out there. But talk to us about the gender gap when it comes to approval of the president. Yeah, that's right. He's down more with some groups than with other groups. So take a look here. This is sort of the feelings question. You have a positive or negative view of Donald Trump here. Again, this is among Hispanic voters. The gender gap, as you say, look, it's 30 points underwater, really 31 points underwater with Hispanic men. With women, though, 51 points underwater. And I got to say, when it comes to

this question, positive negative view, even in 2024, when Donald Trump did very well with Hispanic voters, personally, he wasn't that popular with them. It's just that really the floor has kind of fallen out for him, especially with women voters. And you see this, too, when you talk about the congressional, the generic ballot here. Again, you see a gender gap here, which party you want to vote for to control Congress. The Democrats leading both with men and women, Only a 16-point margin for the Democrats with men, though. With women, it's double that. It's more than 30 points.

So young men sometimes a group that votes heavily for President Trump, what's the shift you're seeing with young Hispanic men? Yeah, and that was a big part of that surge that Trump had in 2024. So again, talk about that positive negative here. And look at this. This is the younger side here. This is men under 50, and this is men over 50. And look, over 50, Trump is basically even.

You're almost as positive as negative. go under 50 falls off a cliff. Look at that 70% negative men under 50. And again, he's just looking back here two years ago to 2024. As I say, he wasn't that popular two years ago with the other group. But again, look at that young men number two years ago. It was 3547, now 2470. Yeah, and then Steve, this weekend at top Republican Super PAC pulled money out of the Senate battle in North Carolina. And new polling showed hope for Democrats and five other Senate races. What are you seeing with all the polls right now? Take a look. New York Times. Siena polls, they put a bunch of them out. We can put them up on one screen for you here.

You have five key battleground states. Now, what's interesting, you see Alaska, Texas, Ohio, to varying degrees you're seeing the Democrats lead at least in this New York Times Sienna poll. The significance there, each one of those would be a flip. They're all currently held by Republicans. So if this were to happen, it's a huge if, but if this were to happen, just to tell you the significance of it, that would be three Democratic flips. And then you just mentioned Democrats pulling out of of North Carolina. That's also a Republican-held seat. Excuse me, Republicans pulling out. Republican-held seat, that would be a flip, too. So if you had Carolina and those three, that would be four flips. The Democrats need four flips if they're going to get control of the Senate.

It's going to be a very long and maybe exciting night on midterms. All right, Steve Kornacki, we're a month away. We thank you for that. Got it. Okay, we're back in a moment. New details about the California woman arrested at LAX. Did you hear about this? She's a accused of being a spy for China, what the FBI is revealing tonight. And an update on that failed execution in Tennessee, Jesse Kirsch has been watching this one, the latest on the woman's condition and why the state's prison chief is now stepping down. And the miraculous catchover sees a shop owner, look at this, grabbing a little boy at the last second after he fell from a balcony. We'll show you more of that video and tell you what happened. Stay with us.

We're back down with a striking arrest at LAX, a California woman, taken into custody by the FBI, accused of spined for the Chinese government. Dana Griffin joins us live from L.A. tonight. Dana, what do we know about this arrest and why was this woman detained? Yes, so Tom, according to video posted by the federal prosecutor here in California, it shows 34-year-old realtor Juan Ying Zheng, aka Heather. She's being escorted in handcuffs, and police say she was just moments away from boarding a flight from L-AX to China.

According to the affidavit, police say, or federal prosecutors say, and another individual traveled to Seattle last year at the direction of officials from the People's Republic of China, sending photos, videos, and license plate information of the Taiwanese president's son and his family who were all U.S. residents. Security cameras capturing the pair waiting outside the family's home in a rented SUV. And when they returned, the pair quickly sat up and they held their phones out as if they were taking photos and videos of the family. That's according to prosecutors. And another image shows Jung actually ducking down in that SUV to avoid being seen. The complaint says even FBI director, Cash Patel, tweeting out that foreign adversaries take note,

America is not your playground. And then, Dana, what is Taiwan saying? So Taiwan is condemning the conduct. They go on to say that this is a typical case of transnational repression. And we're also hearing from Beijing. They are dismissing these allegations. saying that it's hype meant to vilify and smear China. Now, the affidavit also goes on to say

the information collected by this alleged spy could give leverage over Taiwan's president during a potential conflict. As we all know, China considers the self-governing country its own territory. Now, Jung is expected to appear before a federal judge. We are waiting to hear back from our producer in court. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison.

Wow. Okay. Dana, we thank you. for that. Still to come tonight here on Top Story, we have a lot going on. The violent police encounter, an officer seen hitting a college student and shoving her to the ground while she's now facing charges. Plus, the nighttime rescue, crews saving a man who got lost and hurt during a hunting trip, how they got him out of live. But first, Top Story's top moment in the tight competition taking place in the heart of Philadelphia. We're talking about the city's first

parallel parking championship. Hundreds of backseat drivers lining the streets, revving up the 15 competitors all hoping to maneuver into the top spot. One contest allowing drivers just 18 inches of clearance without a backup camera. And whoever had the fewest moves reigned champion. Take a look. Go, keep doing. One shot. One shot, Marr holding up a piece of the curb, taking home the grand prize of 76 bucks, the cost of parking of a parking fine in Philly. I think I could do that. I'm a good parallel parker. I didn't seem that tough. But I wasn't in the competition.

All right, stay with us. We're back later, right after this. All right, we're back down with new details in that botched execution in Tennessee. Death row inmate, Krista Pike, still alive days after two failed lethal injections. And now the embattled prison chief overseeing that execution is stepping down

amid concerns over how this was all handled. Jesse Kirsch is following this one for us. Jesse, what do we know about Pike's condition at this hour? Tom, the latest information we had from her team, and I checked in with them again earlier today, was that she remained unconscious in the hospital, was being helped by a ventilator, and was being guarded around the clock. And this speaks to the predicament not just for her medical future, but for her legal team trying to figure out what comes next. Her lawyer, who I spoke with over the

weekend, told me that some of those decisions are going to be based on how she is, if and when she wakes up from her current unconscious state. Here's part of my conversation with her attorney. And she was sincerely ready to go. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when she comes out of this and realizes what happened and what results may be permanent, you know, if there's any permanent damage. So there is at least one appeal that her team had before an appeals court, a federal appeals court, before the attempted execution. And after this failed attempt, Tom, her team reiterated to the court that they expected that appeal to be considered valid and ongoing. And then, Jesse, while we have you here, the Tennessee Prison Commissioner is resigning.

I think this happened over the weekend. What did he say about stepping down? Yes, so this came as an announcement from the governor's office. They said that he offered his resignation and that he would be stepping down sometime this month. They didn't specify effective immediately what day it might come. But the reason that this man, Frank Strata, and you see him there on screen, is under scrutiny. Of course, there's a lot of attention on the Tennessee Department of Correction and how they handled this incident. But Strata used to work in Arizona.

He was a deputy there. He was not the top official, but he worked in the department in Arizona that handled executions there. And there were some issues during his tenure there. but despite those issues and him being involved in that organization, the governor in Tennessee still brought him to that state, and that came in the midst of Tennessee having its own issues back in 2022 into 2023. So there are questions about if this individual should have been brought here to begin with and if what role he might have played in the series of events that have unfolded here. This is the second failed execution attempt in Tennessee this year, but now Tom, we know

he will not be a part of this organization or leading this organization in the months ahead. But again, exactly when he will no longer be in that role is unclear at this point. All right, Jesse Curious for us. Jesse, thank you. And now to the viral video showing officers in Tempe throwing a college student to the ground. Her attorney speaking out tonight about the new charges that she's facing and a warning, some of the videos may be disturbing. Here's Andres Gutierrez. Video shows the moment an officer shoved's 21-year-old Aaron Bonner.

after police say she interfered during a tense scene outside a bar in Tempe, Arizona this July. The now viral video, some of which were blurred by police showing Bonner and an officer appearing to struggle after she's taken to the ground. Moments later, the officer strikes her. Instead of de-escalated the situation, he escalated by pushing her to the ground, jumping on top of her and punching her in the face. All right, take a seat. Officers initially booked Bonner on felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges.

But the Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined to prosecute, saying there was, quote, no reasonable likelihood of conviction. Now more than two months later, the City of Tempe prosecutor's office has charged Bonner with two misdemeanors. What's going to be critical here is what the officer reasonably perceived as a threat to him or his fellow officers to just, by that level of force. The Tempe Police Department says it's investigating the incident. The police union says Bonner ignored commands to get back, then hit and scratch the officer as he tried to restrain her. In Bonner's mugshot right after the altercation, she appears to have one black eye. Her attorney says these photos show two black eyes that were taken two days later, pointing to delayed bruising. Bonner's attorney also accuses the officer of inappropriately touching her

during the struggle. The police union says the officer never groped her. The police department declined our request for an interview, but said in a statement that the actions of everyone involved are under review. Honor is expected to appear in court on November 4th. Tom? All right, our thanks to Andres Gutierrez for that one. Now to Top Stories News Feed, we start with new video out of Ukraine, showing a fiery attack on a bridge in the capital of Kiev. Watch as this Russian drone slams into the side of the bridge, setting off that huge explosion right in front of a group of cars. No official word on any injuries, but the local mayor says it's the second attack on that bridge in the past few days. In Egypt, the shop owner was in the right place at the

right moment. Here's why. Saving this young boy that somehow fell from a second-story balcony. You see it here in the surveillance video. The child appearing to get caught on some clothes lines for a second before the man makes that life-saving catch. Local media there now hailing him as a hero. And back here at home, a hunter rescued in Georgia after getting lost and seriously hurt deep in the woods. Here you can see a helicopter crew lifting the man to safety. Search teams on the ground reached him first, but because he was trapped in a steep ravine during severe weather, they had a call in the chopper. Officials say he was in critical condition and is now at the hospital. Coming up here on Top Story, the new legal battle rocking the music world. Did pop star Olivia Dean rip

off when of Bill Withers' biggest hits will play the song side by side so you can be the judge and break it all down with an expert who you've probably seen on social media. Stay with us. What a song and what a voice. That, of course, was the unforgettable Bill Withers, with his Grammy-winning hit Just the Two of Us. Now, Rising Star, Olivia Dean, has been accused of copying that song in the closing track of her latest album.

Take a listen for yourself. Here's Withers once again. And here's Olivia Dean. I've seen it. from coincidence, independent creation or reliance on common musical elements. We should note Olivia Dean and her co-writers. They're not named as defendants. We've reached out for comment but have not heard back.

Joining us now to break this all down is Blake Robin. He's better known as luxury. He's a music producer and co-host of the popular One Song podcast. He also has a great Instagram handle. You guys should all follow him. Blake, I'm a big fan of yours. I've lost so much time. Maybe I haven't lost time.

Maybe I've been educated. from your feed on Instagram. You guys do amazing work. I really enjoy what you do as somebody who's an audiophile. Thanks for coming on Top Story. You are a music expert. What is your take? Do these songs sound the same?

So I think there's some similarities that we all heard, especially in those first two bars, in the Olivia Dean song. And if you want to break it down, what's important, first of all, what I want to frame is that music, copyright cases in recent years have been, I think, egregiously in favor, in the case from blurred lines until Ed Girin, we've been living in an era where a lot of things

have been sued that I don't think have been sued. And I think we might be talking about Stella Lefty. That's another situation where I think things have gone too far. In this case, I do hear some similarities, but I want to break down with you what they are, and maybe we can decide together just how much of a similarity it is. And compare that to just how much is different, because that's my number one thing that I think gets lost in these conversations. Blake, do your thing and show our viewers what you do, because this is the most fascinating thing about what you do. Well, I would say that it starts with the melody, and from a standpoint of copyright law, what matters most, what has mattered most historically, is melody. So you've got to put aside lyrics, you've got to put aside anything that isn't melody.

And in this case, what we just heard, the first two bars of the Bill Withers, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. is pretty darn similar, close enough to being similar that I would say that they are pretty exactly similar with the I've seen it melody. Now, what's important to point out is that that is two bars that happens twice in the Olivia Dean song. And we do have about 15 or 16 notes that are pretty similar but not identical. A few of the rhythms are different. But what I want to point out is that that's about 10% of her song. The other 90% is not the same. And also within that melody, the lyrics are different. It's a different storytelling. And the reason why I want to bring this up is because it really has culturally become this moment where people claim ripoff, people claim plagiarism, people claim interpolation for that matter. Interpolation. I had to do that. Yeah. When in fact, what I think legally speaking is actually open to interpretation is the degree to which we think something is so similar to the other thing that we can't tell them apart. I don't have a problem telling these songs apart. I hear the similarity.

THE POMETING THE MELLOES SIGS songs. And as an Olivia Dean listener today, some teenager might buy that, hear that there's a song that it's based on, and go check that out. Go check out the Bill Wither's song that they may not have ever heard before. Well, that leads me to my next question, right?

Legal experts say Withers label will have to prove Dean's team listen to just the two of us before writing their song. But who hasn't, right? It has more than 950 million streams on Spotify alone, I think. So from a producer standpoint, where does an artist cross the line between inspiration and infringement, right? Because we are always influenced by those that we look up to

and listen to at a young age. Totally. I think the important message to everyone out there in TikTok land, especially because this, I mentioned Stella Lefti, because these cases, I personally think, have gotten to the situation that they're in, where publishers are suing or talking to other publishers, and credits are changing hands, because there is fear that the mob will come

and en masse say, wait a second, these songs sound alike, And of course they do, but do they sound alike illegally? And that's where I think the question needs to be great. So you ask the question about... And you're setting up that song. We're going to run that song at the end of this segment as well, because I want to break that one down with you because so many people now are talking about that as well. Let's run through a few of you will of the classics, right?

Where artists have been accused of copying maybe. The most famous example, Vanilla Ice, accused of copying David Bowie, and Queens under pressure with his hit Ice Ice Baby. Listen. Ice, Ice, Big pressure pushing down Bill I is famously making the case for why the two songs are different.

Let's watch. It's the same baseline. Like it goes, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. That's the way there's ghosts. I go, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. So it's the ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. It's the... Classic moment in pop culture history right there,

right there, that ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. They settled out of court. Did you hear a difference at all? They're the same. I mean, of course, and what he's pointing out, first of all, it should be noted in Vanilla Ices defense. Like, I'm serious about this. It's 1990, the rules about sampling are not established.

In fact, you'll often hear people like Westliff will say, this is the Wild Wild Wild West in the late 80s into 1990 when that song came out. Of course, there's a belief, there's an understanding that what they're doing perhaps is maybe going to require some payment or some copyright sharing. But back in 1990, there wasn't what we know now to be the case. All the cases that have come before hadn't happened yet. There hadn't been grand upright. There hadn't been all of these, you know, the turtles suing de la Sol. So in fairness, to Robbie Van Winkle, aka Van Winkle,

but they are the same that does feel infringy to me. And I think that was probably handled fairly. Blake, another famous one here that maybe people didn't know about. Lady Gaga's this way, which some people say sounds a whole like Madonna's expressed yourself. Take a listen. Blake, this one never litigated and Madonna has even performed a mashup of these two songs. What do you think? Could this be considered a copy? Absolutely not. What I think you're hearing here is what I like to call. Oh, yeah. No, no, no, no. I can break it down for you. This is to me, to my ears, you know, personal opinion matters a little bit. But I call this an evocation combination, meaning one song is certainly evoking the other song. It's very likely or, you know, possible.

to likely that Lady Gaga was inspired by express yourself. But the similarities, I mentioned that melodically, it needs to be the same. Substantial similarity is what the accusation for the Olivia Dean Bill Withers case is. That's what it says right there in the court document. Substantial similarity, and that is defined by melody. The melodies are actually different. What you're hearing that's similar, I think, to most of our ears. These are both dance pop songs within a certain BPM, tempo, you know,

frame that's very similar. The fact of them, they're both using the mixilladian mode, meaning melodically speaking, a lot of the same notes are hit. And here's the important thing that I think a lot of us are hearing. There's a flat seventh when Madonna goes, I'm on the right track, baby. That's like a seventh, meaning it's right below the, I was born this way. That's the root. And Lady Gaga is doing a similar thing. She goes, I'm sorry, Lady Gaga is the right track baby. And Madonna's song, she says, you know, you know, you. you know you've got to. They're both hitting that note rhythmically kind of, you know, you know, right track, baby. And I think that kind of triggers a little bit of like, wait a second, it's a

dance song. I'm hearing this flat seventh. Some of those things start to add up because of genre similarity and use of scales, but nobody owns those two things. So they're different to me. Blake, this is fascinating to me. So the last one that you mentioned, right, artist Stella Lefti has drawn backlash for allegedly copy noa con stick season. Let's let's play them both. Back to Boston and energy, another sticks and I didn't it. But I just like to play the victim, I'll drink alcohol, till my friends come home for Christmas and I'll dream his state of Lefty ended up giving Khan writing credit retroactively,

but if interpolations are so common in music, why aren't artists getting them cleared ahead of time? This to me is a travesty, because the similarities are more in the realm of, again, sort of using both of the songs we've talked, about as comparison. This is less Olivia Dean Bill Withers. This is far more Madonna, Lady Gaga to me. There's what I am hearing, what we're all hearing are a lot of similar notes, and the genre is similar kind of country Americana. The tempos are relatively the same. So we're in the same vibe space, and within that major key, we're hearing melodies. It's the same

four note, the same four notes are used, I should say, but the melodies are not the same. Like if you were to lay them on top of each other, you would hear kind of a mishmash of two songs, and that's really important. We're hearing a lot of rhythmic similarities. It's kind of like da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. But they're different, and to me, the reason I say travesty is because, look, if I were the publisher on either side of this and in the negotiation, I might find something like, okay, let's 20 percent.

Let's be reasonable here. You know, first of all, the top line is 50 percent, and the music is 50. In the top line, the lyrics are different too. There's so many differences. This is so much a fragment of a longer song. I feel like this is maybe a 10% interpolation situation. But do you know how much Noah Khan gave up or owns of the Stella Lefty song? Tell us.

Noah Khan is 50% of the publishing on that song. Okay. And that to me is too much. And that matters because I don't want myself as a songwriter and other songwriters to get concerned that if we get too close to something, which first of all, these are musical building Blocs nobody could own things like scales and things like similar rhythms. It's not the same. It's simply not the same.

So the standard, I think, needs to be higher for these cases. Blake Robin, as I said, I'm a huge fan. Thank you for coming on tonight. How can people find you? I know how to find you, but tell our viewers how they can find you. Well, it's been a pleasure being on the show, Tom, and you can find me. I'm luxury with two X's, L-U-X-X-U-X-Y, on TikTok and on Instagram. And you can listen to our show one song, wherever you get your podcast.

every single week. It is a really cool show. Blake, again, thanks for your time. We appreciate it. When we come back tonight right here in the broadcast, the pregame surprise for one high school football player running onto the field and reuniting with his brother, a Navy sailor returning home after months away. That special moment right after this. Finally tonight, a big surprise for one high school football player. His brother home after months away serving his country just in time for the big game. High school football player Esteban Ortiz has no idea what was waiting for him on the other side of this banner.

That's him right there, number 50. The junior offensive lineman running out for his team's big rivalry game. And there, waiting to surprise him, one of his biggest fans, his older brother, Isaiah. Isaiah is in the Navy and has been stationed on the other side of the country for months. So this hug felt especially. meaningful. I was just feeling like unexpected joy like tears of happiness. You know, when I saw him, I kind of just broke down. Isaiah's leave was brief. He's already traveling back to where he stationed, but he knew he wanted to spend that time home with his younger brother. It was very special,

very meaningful. Once I saw him and he saw me, we both had that physical reaction and just being able to hug him and hold him after being away from for so long. It meant everything. He has my back 24-7 and I have his back no matter what. That's my brother right there. What a great moment. All right, we thank you for watching Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yammis in New York. Stay right there.

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