Top Story with Tom Llamas - Thursday, March 19, 2026

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

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

Tonight, the major escalation in attacks on energy facilities in the Middle East, sending oil prices soaring. And this just in, the Pentagon racing to deploy thousands of additional Marines to the region. Stunning new images from inside Iran. Flames erupting from one of the largest gas fields in the world after an Israeli attack. President Donald Trump warning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quote, Don't do it again. And this terrifying moment, a missile slams into the ground just, feet from a journalist on the front lines. Plus, Iranian missiles raining down on the Saudi

capital. Our correspondent is there. Growing misery at America's airports. A violent attack on exhausted TSA officers at LAX, security lines snaking downstairs and the major airport now closing half of its checkpoints. Our exclusive new reporting on allegations of corruption inside the Department of Homeland Security, contractors say the White House that White House officials asked them to pay Cory Lewandowski, how the White House is responding. The heartbreaking update in the search for that missing college student in Spain. Divers pulling his body from the sea. What we're learning about his final moments.

Dolores Huerta sitting down for her first interview since accusing labor rights activists Cesar Chavez of sexual assault. We talked to the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist she spoke to. ABC pulling the plug on The Bachelorette just days before the premiere. as disturbing new videos emerge of reality star Taylor Frankie Paul. A Florida Sheriff Office now going viral for its unique approach to controlling spring break chaos. Plus, what a surprising new study suggests about alcohol. Can wine extend your life?

Top story starts right now. And good evening. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom. We begin tonight with breaking news. Two sources familiar with the decision telling NBC News, the U.S. is accelerating its deployment of troops to the Middle East, with thousands more Marines and sailors set to deploy in the coming days. It comes amid a major escalation in attacks on oil facilities in the region. New video showing that Iranian gas field up in flames after Israeli strikes. We are also seeing new images of Iran firing back, hitting an Israeli oil refinery.

Iranian officials saying these strikes show only a fraction of their power. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar also reporting attacks on their oil infrastructure, as the threat of a widening war has summoned the region warning, we are close to a point of no return. It comes amid new strikes by the U.S. against Iranian naval targets in the Strait of Armoos, and Israeli forces releasing this video of apparent strikes on Iranian assets in the Caspian Sea. And watch this terrifying moment captured on Russian state TV in Israeli missile slamming into the ground just feet from a journalist in Lebanon. The IDF says they issued a warning, prior to this strike as their offensive against Hezbollah intensifies.

The ripple effects felt here at home. The average price of gas is up 90 cents since the start of the war. Jet fuel prices are up 70 percent, causing airfare costs to skyrocket. And mortgage rates, those jump to the highest levels in more than three months. We'll have more on the impact here at home, but I want to get right to Keir Simmons on that breaking news. Here thousands more U.S. sailors and Marines heading to the region. That's right, Alison, those two sources familiar with the decision telling NBC news that 2,200 US Marines will head to this region in the coming days, that is, earlier than expected, as

the war here continues to escalate. Tonight, new images of Iranian gas installations consumed by fire after an Israeli strike, which, along with Iranian strikes on energy targets, have sent oil and gas prices surging. President Trump saying he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling him not to do it again. I told him, don't do that. And he won't do that. We didn't discuss. You know, we do, we're independent, we get along great.

Tonight, Netanyahu responding. Israel acted alone against the Slovia gas compound. Fact number two, President Trump asks us to hold off on future attacks, and we're holding out. And tonight, a USF-35 jet making an emergency landing after suspected enemy fire, according to an official familiar with the incident. Sencom saying the aircraft landed safely and the pilot is in stable condition. All is Iran unleashing more attacks on its neighbors. Debris from interceptions igniting this oil installation, Saudi Arabia said. This shelter-in-place alarm on people's phones is suddenly much more frequent here.

the ever-expanding impact of this war. The Saudi Foreign Minister condemning Iran's attacks. What possible military purpose can you have for attacking a refinery in a non-combatant? Can Saudi Arabia now ever envisage an Iran that is able to threaten it with missiles and drones and is able to determine the oil price by effectively closing the Straits of Hormuz? What little trust there was before has completely been shattered. All is the Pentagon saying, It's decimating Iran's ability to attack, with Iranian missile and drone strikes down 90%.

They would shoot a lot more if they could, but they can't. And Kierre Simmons is back with us. Kier, the Israeli Prime Minister is also making headlines with some comments about the timeline here, correct? That's right, Alison. Prime Minister Netanyahu is saying that Iran can no longer enrich uranium and cannot manufacture ballistic missiles. Netanyahu is saying the war will be over sooner than people think. of Edison, here in Saudi Arabia, the missiles and drones continue to come. Alison. NBC's chief international correspondent, Keir Simmons in Riyadh. Thank you and stay safe.

Now to the White House, where despite those additional troops heading to the region, President Trump says he has no plans to put U.S. troops on the ground. Here's NBC's Gabe Gutierrez. Tonight, President Trump dismissing the possibility of any American boots on the ground inside Iran. No, I'm not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you, but I'm not putting troops. He's also confirming the Pentagon's asking Congress for another $200 billion. It's a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top. That funding request could face skepticism on Capitol Hill as the war's economic impacts ripple across the U.S.

Everything's just going up and up and up and up. The average price of gas has climbed about 90 cents a gallon over the last few weeks. over the last few weeks. I thought it would be worse, much worse, actually. I thought there was a chance it could be much worse. It's not bad, and it's going to be over with pretty soon. Polls showed most Republicans support the president's decision to attack Iran, but clearly some don't, as this voter in Pennsylvania told NBC's John Allen.

If you could say something to President Trump, he was going to hear you right now, what would it be? You're a worthless pile of shit. And you voted for him? How many times? Three times. That was my. bad, apparently I'm an idiot. Still, the administration is defending the war. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson saying today there have been defections within Iran's leadership, though he did not

offer specifics. The regime will probably collapse within itself. During a meeting today with Japan's Prime Minister in the Oval Office, a Japanese reporter asked the president why he did not give advance warning to allies before attacking Iran. And we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted Surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay? Right? And with that, Gabe Gutierrez joins us now from the White House. So Gabe the Trump administration also announcing some new efforts to reduce energy prices. Yes, Allison. The Treasury Secretary said today that the U.S. made lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is already in transit amid those surging energy prices. He also said that move could free up 140 million barrels of oil. Separately, the energy secretary said the administration will not restrict U.S. exports of oil or natural gas.

Elsie? Gabe Gutierrez, thank you. I want to bring in our experts on this now. John Killeda founding partner of Again Capital and Colonel Steve Warren, NBC News Military Analyst. Thank you both so much for being with us this evening. Colonel Steve, let's start with you because there has been a lot of talk about why the United States. got into this war in the first place, right? Questions and conflicting messages on whether or not it was regime change, Iran's possible nuclear capabilities, oil control. Now with Israel targeting Iranian oil fields,

what do you make of that? Has the strategy of this war changed? And has the U.S. lost control of the narrative here? Yeah, the narrative is a tricky one. I think, you know, we heard the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff this morning in a Pentagon press conference. And we heard directly from him where he kind of reaffirmed the military strategy here, which is to essentially, in a nutshell, eliminate Iran's ability to project power outside of their own borders, which means destroy all their missiles, destroy their capability to build new missiles, sink their navy, and, of course, go after their nuclear weapons. And so I think the military remains focused on those fairly cleanly defined objectives. What we're still need to see is how those military objectives feed into a larger national security set of objective. As you very smartly pointed out, Ellison, you know, is it about oil? Is it about regime change? Is it about something else?

These things haven't yet become clear to us. But what is clear is that General Kane, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is very much focused on his military tasks. Colonel, I want to also show our viewers a map of some of the... the reported strikes. This is according to the foreign ministries of these countries, but looking at this map and all of the countries involved to you. I mean, does it feel like the war is widening and widening beyond is something that's imminent? You know, we've trained for war against Iran for more than 30 years. And in every single training exercise, in every opportunity the military has to discuss war with Iran, the very first thing.

thing that comes up is that it will rapidly widen into a regional conflict. And that is exactly what this map shows, a regional conflict. It's already happened, Ellison. This is now a regional conflict. If you'd wondered what it looks like, this is it. And so now what we have to do is try to bring it to a rapid close before it continues to spread anymore. John, let's bring you in here and talk a little bit about the pocketbook impact, right? With these escalating strikes on oil infrastructure in a growing number of countries, oil prices, they have skyrocketed. How damaging have the last several days, and this war thus far, been to the energy industry? Well, it's been incredibly damaging.

The pricing, we're not feeling it as much here in the United States, but out in Asia, they're really feeling it. diesel prices there are at a record. Jet fuel prices there are at a record. We're hearing about spot shortages now in Japan developing in lesser countries, too, like Vietnam and Malaysia. There is terrific concern. I will say the administration is certainly laser focused on this. They have pulled out every tool out of the bag here to try to combat the rise in prices, and it has been somewhat effective. We'll keep in U.S. WTI prices below $100 a barrel still. between the Venezuelan sanction relief and now the potential for Iranian sanction relief on the barrels that are on ships already, that's a good chunk of supply to the U.S. and to the global market that's helping to ease things. So for now, we're getting through that. I will tell you, though, that the cumulative shut-in or production that's gone offline exceeds 10 million barrels a day. And that's not, that's a number that's going to be hard to crack to the downside until there's a return to normalcy and that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened to, to navigation. So as a result, we are going to continue to see higher prices because the market digests these moves, like the, the, the move to potentially reduce the sanctions on the Iranian barrels on sea.

But you'll see that as we can look past that, and there's no. sign of things easing in the strait in particular, the prices are going to march inexorably higher. And, John, it isn't just gas prices, right? We mentioned earlier. We're seeing airfare costs skyrocket, mortgage rates jumping to the highest levels in more than three months. And when we're talking about fuel broadly, it is crucial to basically everything in this country and the rest of the world. How much worse does this get if this war keeps going? So I have pretty much circled, you know, March 31st, beginning of April here. And I'll defer to the colonel, but we need this straight of Hormuz to be opened.

It's become those of us in the oil market, we thought that Strait of Hormuz would be the top priority. But obviously, there's other military targets that had to be dealt with, and we've been told that now. But it's my understanding, at least, that the straight reopening is the next sort of step here over the next couple of weeks. When I hear, you know, Benjamin Netanyahu is saying that the war will be over sooner than we thought, A big part of the war being over for us in the market is the straight being reopened and a return of flows of crude oil and other key commodities to the rest of the world. We get that. We're out of the woods. We don't get that by, say, April 1st. The woods are going to get very thick, heavy, and dark. All right. John Kilduff, Colonel Steve Warren, thank you both for your time and insights. We really appreciate it. And back here at home, those long TSA lines around the country growing even longer tonight.

As TSA officers continue to work without pay, some calling out to work second jobs. Here's Tom Costello. Just as the next wave of spring break travelers hits the nation's airports, key TSA checkpoints are in gridlock and meltdown. Hours long lines at Philly with half the terminal checkpoints closed. Nationwide, the TSA says roughly 10% of its officers are calling out every day, working second jobs to make ends meet. 38% call out in Atlanta with 90-minute TSA lines. It's so bad and this is the long line. 38% call out in Houston, too, with two-hour delays.

Adding to the stress assaults on TSA officers. In Dallas, a 33-year-old man arrested for punching two TSOs and a police officer facing up to 20 years in prison. The U.S. attorney warning violent conduct perpetrated against TSA and law enforcement officers will never be tolerated. Meanwhile, no progress in bipartisan talks on Capitol Hill to end the partial shutdown. Do you see me? Do you see that I'm showing up every day? TSA officer Heaven Jones has three children to feed. A lot of stress on my family, deciding whether pay for groceries, gas, all different types of bills. At airports nationwide, airlines and food banks are feeding

TSA staffers. The Trump administration warns if the shutdown and TSA callouts continue. You're You're going to see small airports, I believe, shut down. You're going to see extensive lines. And air travel is going to almost come to a grid hole. Stop. Tonight, the president of the union representing the TSA is blasting members of Congress who have left town without coming to any agreement on how to fund homeland security and specifically TSA.

And today we saw these members of Congress walking right through that checkpoint to leave town, going through the TSA checkpoint, and passed a very opposite. who are going to continue to work without a paycheck. Ellison? Tom Costello, thank you. And devastating news in the search for the American college student missing in Barcelona. Police now say they have recovered his body in the water off the beach where he was last seen. Molly Hunter is there tonight. Tonight, after a frantic three-day search, police recovered the body of 20-year-old Jimmy Gracie

from the water off this popular Barcelona beach. His friends tell NBC News, this is where they last saw. by him partying at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning and nothing seems suspicious. Since then, they've been putting up posters in hopes someone may have seen him. This is Shoko. It is super popular with young tourists who come here to Barcelona. And I just want to show you how close it is to the beach and to the water here. Scoob divers, boats and helicopters have been scouring the area desperately searching for clues. We're on the beach now about 300 feet from where Shoko is. and police tell NBC News that Jimmy Gracie's body was recovered just off the coast this afternoon.

The Chicago area native, a junior at the University of Alabama, traveled to Barcelona for spring break to visit friends studying abroad. Gracie's aunt, Beth Marin O'Reilly, spoke to NBC News last night. I think everybody would want a brother or a nephew like Jimmy. He's a great kid. He's responsible. He's a leader. Today, members of Gracie's fraternity, Theta Kai, rallied together. The president of Grace's. The president of the chapter who's also in Barcelona described Gracie as a beloved brother and a man of upstanding character. And Allison, you can see behind me, that is the beach. It gets really crowded around midnight. A lot of young tourists, particularly American college students who are studying abroad. And that club Shoko is where Jimmy Gracie and his friends were partying Monday night.

Now you can see it's right on the water. The beach goes right up to the water. And there's actually a little jetty right there with some rocks. Right over there is where police recovered the body earlier today. And after the police recovered the body before it was identified, Jimmy Gracie's family released a statement. They said they were grateful for the kindness and concern that has been shown for our family during this difficult time. And they added thanking people for holding their family in their thoughts and prayers. Really devastating news for that family tonight, Alison. Molly Hunter in Barcelona, thank you.

And we are back in a moment with the shocking move to cancel the upcoming season of The Bachelorette. The allegations against the show's star in the disturbing new video that, may have sealed her fate. Plus, the break-in a 15-year-old cold case, a real estate agent gunned down while holding an open house the arrest that was just made. Stay with us. We're back now with a bombshell decision. ABC canceling the upcoming season of The Bachelorette just days before it was set to premiere. The decision coming after the star of this season was captured on camera in a disturbing domestic violence dispute. NBC's Liz Croix has more. Tonight, ABC polling its upcoming highly promoted season of The Bachelorette after this new video emerged obtained by TMZ showing the show's star Taylor Frankie Paul in a domestic violence dispute with her former partner.

Your daughter is right here. In the video from 2023, you can see the secret lives of Mormon wives star throwing bar stools at her then boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, all in front of her five-year-old daughter, heard crying. Oh, my. In a statement tonight, ABC and Hulu's parent company, Disney, says we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family. A rep for Paul responding, saying in part, Taylor is very grateful for ABC support and that Taylor is finally gaining the strength to face her accuser and taking steps to ensure that

she and her children are protected from any further harm. I'm ready to find my person. The video emerged just days ahead of what would have been the Bachelorette's 22nd season, but the network faced growing pressure. After earlier this week, Utah Police confirmed another ongoing domestic assault investigation involving Paul and Mortensen from last month. On Wednesday, Paul spoke out on GMA. I'm a person that will always speak my truth, and that's what I'm known for.

Paul, the founder of Mom Talk, has publicly addressed the 2023 domestic violent incident as recently as last year. I never, the charges were all dropped. I never had hurt my daughter. Court documents show a judge dismissed several of the charges, including domestic violence in the presence of a child and child abuse. But Cho Paul did take a plea deal for aggravated assault. Tonight, a rep for her slammed the release of the video saying it omits context and says Paul is preparing to own and share her story. And Liz Croyd's joins us now from Los Angeles. Liz, do we know how this is impacting the other show that Paul stars in, the secret

lives of Mormon wives. Well, Ellison, we do know that three sources close to the matter tell NBC news that the secret lives of Mormon wives is currently on pause. They have halted production, but that actually came in response to the reports that surfaced about the domestic violence incident from last month. We don't have details on that incident, but just days ago, Cinevan, a sponsor of The Bachelorette, actually cut ties with the show, saying the show no longer aligns with its value in light of that video, not that video, but of that incident that came to light. All of this, Ellison, is part of the growing pressure that ABC was facing ahead of what would have been Sunday's premiere.

Allison. NBC's Liz Kreutz in L.A. Thank you so much. From around this, let's bring in Dominic Patton, executive editor at Dateline. Dominic, let's talk about sort of just the ABC side of things here. How unprecedented is this move to cancel this season? Well, for one thing, I am the executive editor of Deadline. Deadline. Excuse me. I apologize. I know.

If Dateline wants an executive editor, I'm around. This is tremendously unprecedented because this is going to cost them a lot of money. As you guys just mentioned, already they've lost one sponsor, now they've lost a whole show. They don't even have anything to put on the air, as far as we know right now, for Sunday night. We'll probably see a special, but certainly things are going to happen. This also, it should be noted, is on the first full day of the new Disney CEO's reign. So this is already a problem that they've got to deal with. Add to that was anybody's surprise.

If we look at the history of reality TV, of unscripted TV, there are lawsuits, incidents, misconducts galore at NBC's parent company Comcasts, at Disney. All over the map we're seeing these happen. There have been codes of conduct introduced and what have you, allegations of booze, of intimidation, et cetera, et cetera. So this is unfortunately very common in this particular genre. Domenik, what is the bottom line here in terms of money, how much money does. Does this cost ABC? And in terms of possibly filling the spot for the Bachelorette, do we know what could go there? Right now, we do not. What they're going to probably do is we guess is there's going to be a special thrown on on Sunday night for the premier slot because they've got to get something up. Long term, no idea. In terms of money, we could be looking at millions and millions. No sponsors. Sponsors who've already jumped on board are going to probably want their money back or at least some sort of compensation. They're going to have to scramble. And this, remember, is one of their biggest friend.

It's been problematic before, the Bachelor and Bachelorette franchises, but this is a real moneymaker for them. Because when broadcast television comes down to it, it is live sports and it is unscripted television. And even with the ratings declining over the years from what they were in their highs just about 10 years ago, this was still a big show. And it is now an empty slot mirrored in scandal. Dominic Patton, executive editor of Deadline. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. And still to come on top story, the Grammy. nominated rapper sued over music videos where he mocked deputies for raiding his home. Why the jury took his side. Stay with us. And we are back with an NBC News exclusive report. New allegations

of corruption inside the Department of Homeland Security. At the center, Corey Lewandowski, a close ally of the president. NBC's Julie Ainsley has more. Tonight, Corey Lewandowski, Facing allegations he solicited payment in exchange for securing contracts at DHS, according to multiple industry sources and government officials. In one incident, Lewandowski, a longtime Trump ally and powerful aid to outgoing DHS secretary Christy Noem told the CEO of Geo Group, the nation's largest donor of immigrant detention centers. He wanted to be paid for securing new contracts for the company. Two industry sources told NBC News. GEO Group refused. And a major development tonight on the controversy around this ad.

But for the freedom only America provides. NBC News confirming the DHS Inspector General is now investigating the awarding of this $220 million campaign. President Trump recently asked AIDS whether Lewandowski profited personally from the campaign. With one senior White House official telling NBC News, he remarked to advisors, Corey made out of on that one. And Julia joins us now from Washington. As you reported this out, you uncovered another example, I understand, of possible pay-to-play involving Corey Lewandowski.

What can you tell us? Yeah, that's right, Ellis. And you just heard about a direct solicitation for payment where Corey was in front of a CEO of Geo Group. That's according to our sources, though Lewandowski denies that. We have another example of an indirect solicitation. This one involving a company called Salas Worldwide Solutions who had previously been awarded a $1 billion contract by DHS earlier in the year. And in September, we understand that a representative from Salas reached out to a marketing firm asking if they would like to be a subcontractor on two large contracts, totaling $20 million and then $40 million.

But the catch was that the subcontract would have to hire a consultant who would manage the relationship. When the marketing firm asked what they meant by that, they said that the consulting firm would be hired, would be an LLC that this person would have to hire that would indirectly take those funds and pay Corey Lewandowski. That, of course, is another thing that Salas has denied as well as Corey Lewandowski. But at this point, we are hearing from White House officials, and especially one senior White House officials saying they are aware of the allegations of pay to play, and another White House officials saying they've received dozens of complaints from at least four companies about Corey Lewandowski's role in the contracting process. All of this, Ellison, as there continues to be an IG investigation into that ad campaign,

and Democrats in the House are calling for more investigations to what is happening with contracts, even as Secretary Kristi Nome leaves the Department of Homeland Security. Julia Ainsley, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Not at Top Stories News Feed, starting with the former reality show star accused of molesting a minor. Authorities say Joseph Garrett Dugger, who starred on the TLC show 19 kids and counting, was arrested after being accused of molesting a nine-year-old girl. Police say it happened six years ago during a vacation in Florida. The reality show was canceled after the oldest son,

Josh Dugger allegedly molested several children, including some of his sisters. He was sentenced to federal prison back in 2022 for receiving and possessing child sex abuse images. We've reached out to the Dugger family and TLC, but have not heard back yet. And in Hawaii, opening statements started today in the trial of a Maui doctor accused of trying to kill his wife while they were on a hike last year. Prosecutors say Gerhard Kohnit pushed his wife toward the edge of a cliff before attempting to jab her with a syringe and then bashing her head with Iraq.

The defense argues that the incident looked worse than it was, that Koenig never intended to kill his wife. And a massive fire erupting near Houston, take a look at this. Those big booms and sparks that you can see, those are actually fireworks. Officials say the flames broke out inside an RV before spreading to some boxes of nearby fireworks. It's unclear exactly how it happened, but luckily, we're told no one was hurt. And now to a major break in a 15-year-old cold case. involving a realtor murdered during an open house in Iowa. NBC's Aaron McLaughlin on the person who has just been arrested.

For nearly 15 years, the murder of Ashley Oakland remained a mystery. The 27-year-old realtor was shot twice during a 2011 open house in West Des Moines, Iowa. News Channel 8th searched for answers and covers exclusive new information about the woman who found the body of Ashley Oakland. The case sparked national attention, but had gone cold. Ashley's story has kept many of us awake at night, revisiting the details over and over in our minds. That is until this week. Authorities announced the arrest of 53-year-old Kristen Ramsey, charged with murder in the first degree following a Dallas County grand jury indictment. At the time Oakland was murdered, Ramsey worked for a company that, according to the Des Moines Register,

developed the townhome where Oakland was shot dead. Months later, Ramsey started a job at Midland Title and escrow. part of Iowa Realty, the same company that had employed Oakland. Iowa Realty today saying Ramsey was still an employee at the time of her arrest, adding, we are understandably stunned. The motive in Ramsey's connection to Oakland, unclear. On April 9th, 2011 officials say Oakland had been working an open house in a West Des Moines townhouse development when she was shot inside a model home. At this week's press conference, her brother and sister expressed their relief and gratitude.

Today is a day, my family has thought about very often or the last 14 years. Thank you for your countless hours helping on Ashley's case. Ramsey has yet to enter a plea. Her attorneys declined our interview request. Her court appearance is scheduled for April. Ellison. And tonight we are hearing from Dolores Huerta, the prominent labor leader who came forward yesterday on social media, accusing her longtime collaborator, the late Cesar Chavez of sexual abuse.

Those allegations posted shortly after the release of this New York Times, investigative report detailing separate allegations against Chavez involving two minors. We're just speaking out in an interview on the public radio show and podcast Latino USA about two forced sexual encounters with Chavez, which she says resulted in pregnancies. I was kind of trapped, you might say, and I was not expecting those incidents to happen. I felt I was alone. I didn't really have anybody close by that I could call for help or reached out to. And the way he set that up, it was to make sure that we were isolated pretty much, you know.

So, I mean, that that's pretty much what happened. It never would have happened in the first place if I had not had this great admiration for him. And he was my employer. He was my boss, you know. And for more on her interview with Dolores Juarez, we are so fortunate to be joined by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and host of Latino USA, Maria Inajosa. Maria, thank you so much for joining us on Top Story. I want to start by just saying, for everyone watching, they should really go and listen to this podcast in its entirety. You did an extraordinary job, and you also very bravely talked about your own personal experience. Talk to me about what this interview was like for you and what you feel like you really.

learned through it. Look, if you know Dolores Huerta, and I've known her for decades, she is a symbol of strength. I mean, Dolores is about to turn 96 years old, but as I've been seeing her over the last three decades of her life, she's like strong, she's animated, she's always positive. And yesterday in the interview, it was like she was broken. You could hear in her voice, you just heard it. the deep sadness. What people need to understand is that Dolores is coming to terms with this just along with everybody else. It wasn't like she knew the extent of what Caesar Chavez was capable of doing.

So everybody's in a state of shock. She's in a state of shock. And it is hard for me to hear when she said, I asked her, I was like, was it worth it? Your silence. And she said, the movement really needed to be. So it was worth it. That really hurts. She also talked about some of the guilt it sounded like that she had of now finding out that there were others.

And then there was this moment where she said something along the lines of, I wonder if maybe if I'd spoken out sooner, it wouldn't have happened. I want to play another exchange from your interview where you asked her about that dynamic that she had with Cesar Chavez. Let's listen. Did you ever confront Caesar Chavez about his attacks on you? You know what? I never did, and I guess that's the one thing that I'm sorry about, because God knows, had I done that, maybe in some way it would have prevented other women and girls, who knows, you know. There are so many reasons why women, particularly in this country, don't feel safe, often

coming forward and saying what has happened to them. You look at statistics from government data, networks like rain, and they say two out of three who have been sexually assaulted do not report it. For her, there were layers to why she didn't talk about this, right? You touched on them about what she felt like it could do for the movement at the time. Take us through a little more of that, of the dynamics that she felt were at play here. So the first sexual assault happens, I think, in 1960. The second one happens in 1966.

Can you imagine Dolores Huerta in her mid-30s? Not famous. Yes, she was next to her. to Cesar Chavez, but she herself did not have that fame. What would have happened if she came forward at that time? I mean, one, she would have probably not been believed. She would have been maligned. I mean, Cesar Chavez clearly was a brilliant organizer, but he was also a horrific strategist,

not just in movements, but in terms of abuse of women, girls and teenage girls, right? Like he was very strategic, as Dolores said in the interview. She said, I respected him so much. much. I admired him so much. That was part of what he did. Because then you find yourself alone with him and you're like, well, I just admire him so much. Nothing's going to happen. That's the moment when he attacks. But for people who are not survivors of rape, right? And it took me until about a decade ago in therapy to understand what happened when I was 16. And so we don't want to come forward. The last thing we want to do is to say, I am a rape survivor. You don't want to say that. You don't

I want to say I have been raped. That's why I say it because I'm a public person. I've done the therapy. I have a lot of support. And I think that's what Dolores wants to do now. She's like, I want to talk about this. Let's make this an issue that is brought to the forefront. You've dedicated your entire career to reporting on the Latino community and issues that impact them.

When you think about Chavez's legacy, what this revelation means for that legacy, and also what it means just for everyone. for everyone who had admired him the work that he had done. Obviously, the movement itself, and you touched on this in your interview, it was not one person ever at any point, but he has been and is so important to so many people. This does change things. What does it mean moving forward? Well, you know, if you listen to what Dolores Chavez says, I mean, Dolores Chavez, Dolores Juerta, what Dolores Huerta says, she's like, you can't really throw the baby out with the bathwater. Like there was a movement. It changed my life, right, as a little Mexican

an immigrant kid on the south side of Chicago changed my life. I think the message is we should be careful about giving men too much power. We are living in a country right now with the same experience. I mean, as I said to my colleagues, I'm not over the Epstein files yet, and then this happens. And so not giving men unchecked power, idolatry, having more women in positions of power. And as Dolores always talks about, she talks about people power. She's like, the United Farm Workers happened not because of Caesar Chavez. It was because of the people power.

The fact that he was able to bring thousands upon thousands of the most powerless people together. But they made that change. Caesar Chavez didn't march from Delano to the capital of California by himself. He ends up with 10,000 people. That's why laws change. So let's bring it back to that essential lesson of Dolores Buerta, which is people power. And also, I have to say, I'm just really shocked at how quickly people are throwing her under the bus and blaming her. And that's exactly what she said.

She was like, well, if we come forward, then we get blamed and attacked. So what makes us want to come forward? So I would say, just check yourselves as people are doing that. Maria Nahosa, thank you so much. We really appreciate you and your reporting. Thank you so much. And when we come back, the police cracked down in Florida, a controversial new campaign to keep spring breakers in check.

Plus, the great debate over wine, is it bad for your body or good for your health? The new study that may have just set the record straight once and for all. Stay with us. We are back now with the legal battle between the rapper Afro-Man and the deputies who raided his home. They claimed they suffered humiliation and ridicule when the rapper used video of,

of the 2022 raid in a now viral music video. But as NBC's Valerie Castro reports, the jury said otherwise. Tonight, an all-American celebration. We did it. Freedom of speech. For Grammy-nominated rapper Afro-Man, decked out in red, white, and blue. Power to the people. Claiming victory after winning the defamation case filed against him by seven sheriff's deputies from Adams County, Ohio. The rapper whose real name is Joseph Foreman, most known for his hit song because I got high. I was going to clean my room until I got high. I was going to get up and find the broom, but then I got high. Wrote a series of songs accompanied by music videos featuring real home security footage from a 22 raid at his house

in search of drugs and evidence of a kidnapping. Nothing was found and no charges were ever filed. But in the process, Afro Man says the deputies did. damaged his home and claims cash went missing. Lemon pound cake, pound cake. One song entitled Lemon Pound Cake, poking fun at one of the deputies as he walks by the dessert with a gun in his hand. Mama's Lemon Pound Cake, it takes so not made the sheriff want to put down his gun and cut him a slice. Another song, Will You Help Me Repair My Gate?

Apparently calling out the items broken during the raid. The deputies then filing a civil suit, claiming defamation and invasion of privacy, saying they were harmed by the lyrics that led to death threats, ridicule, and loss of reputation. One song even implying an extramarital affair between Afro-Man and a deputy's wife. That deputy testifying his daughter was harassed at school as a result. This is their fault, and they have the audacity to sue me. These people and you are the predators and the victim at the same time. But it took a jury less than a day to clear Afro-Man of any wrongdoing.

And Valerie Castro joins us now in studio. Valerie, the rapper really leaned into the free speech argument, right? Saying the First Amendment allowed him to use those videos as well as the likeness of the officers. And people outside of the courthouse, they really agreed, with that and were supportive, right? This really seemed to be a classic case of winning in the court of public opinion. And Afro-Man was not shy about this

case. He publicized it ahead of time. He told his supporters to come down to the courthouse. When he won, they were outside waiting for him, cheering him on. Someone brought lemon pound cake, which of course he wrote about in one of the songs. And he said, he was truly the victim on all of this, even though the deputies claimed that they were. He says, if they had not

wrongly gone into his home, that he wouldn't have written these songs, and this lawsuit would never have been filed. So he says, He won here. Freedom of Speech. All right. NBC's Valerie Castro, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Let's turn now to Florida, where spring break is already in full swing and where law enforcement is trying a new tactic to try and combat rowdy partiers. NBC's Priscilla Thompson reports on the social media posts that officials hope will keep spring breakers under control.

We're breaking up with you. The cuddle season is over, and the Sunshine State is ready to break up with spring breakers. In Walton County, Sheriff's deputies. are taking to social media to roast rowdy revelers. Posting a slew of photos, they say, show college kids being booted from rentals for bad behavior. With witty captions like, Time to go, a nod to the Louisiana State University students seen here on the curb after deputies say they were caught tossing glass bottles off a balcony. Another shows students from Ole Miss, luggage in hand. After a house party, deputies writing, evictions will leave you heading

back to the sip without your deposit and no refund. They sent Oklahoma State students packing for being rowdy, cowboy. Even starting an NCAA-style scoreboard tallying arrest for house parties, fake IDs, and drinking underage. This, the latest tactic in a wave of pushback from Florida law enforcement in spring break hotspots from Miami Beach. Miami Beach will continue its beach restrictions, DUI checkpoints, and parking limitations. To Bay County. I will take every single one of you to jail if you don't walk this way. The sheriff's office there posting body cam of spring breakers fleeing after a house party. Deputies lining them up on the sidewalk.

So whoever rented this place, whoever paid to stay here, raise your hand right now. To show that if you come here, law enforcement is present. We're going to not allow people to break the law, to disrespect our community, to disobey the rules that we have in place. The big question is, is it working? Is it a deterrent? So we're going to see. Back in Walton County, some online say the crackdown goes too far, but the Sheriff's Department disagrees. The message we're trying to send is simple, they write. If you're coming to Walton County expecting to negatively impact the quality of life for residents, you will be dealt with accordingly.

Hoping to prove the champion in this March Madness. And Priscilla Thompson joins us now. Priscilla, is this tactic actually deterring those spring breakers? Well, Ellison, it does help get the word out, is what law enforcement says, especially to their target audience with some of these viral videos that show that law enforcement is out and that they are going to be enforcing the rules. But what I heard from the Bay County Sheriff is that it's not just about the viral videos. So they posted that body cam, which also included incidents that weren't spring break related,

but they also posted a video detailing, here are the rules. Here's the information about the curfews and everything that's going on here. And here's what the consequences are going to be. And what I'm hearing is that that is just as key as the videos to stopping the bad behavior. And that's what we saw, as you remember, in Miami when they released that viral breaking up with spring break video. It also included there's going to be curfews, there's going to be expensive parking, there's going to be DUI checkpoints. And so they made it very clear to people. coming there, what the expectations were going to be. And of course, we have seen that be

successful in really turning around the situation that they were dealing with their spring breakers. Priscilla Thompson, thank you. Now the top stories, health check. And the question that's plagued happy hours around the world for so many years is wine actually good for you. Well, a new study may be providing an answer. Researchers using a UK database found that moderate wine drinkers had a 21% lower risk of dying from heart disease compared to people who never drink or drink only occasionally. So here for a reality check is NBC News medical contributor, Dr. Natalie Azar. I mean, studies like this, it spans a million headlines and all of them is like, wine, we can do it. Yeah. Give us a gut check of just broadly what your takeaway is from this

and what you think people need to know, like what's the real deal. Right. And I don't want to bust anyone's bubble, but I think it's important to just intro this topic by saying that this was a study that was reported at a cardiology conference, and it specifically is looking at all-cause mortality as well as cardiovascular deaths specifically. Because the parallel story is that alcohol is a carcinogen, and we know that it does increase the risk of cancer. So while we're going to say that this might be some nice news you can use and sort of positive in a sense, Ellison, we can't, we can't just cloak it as this is great news about alcohol. So what the study actually found is that people who consumed a moderate amount of wine

had a 21% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular causes. This was in contrast to people who didn't drink any or were occasional wine drinkers. Now, here's sort of the little kicker here. The question is, why would this be the case? Is there something inherently healthy about wine? or is it potentially the other behaviors that people are engaging in who are consuming that wine? And that's the thing that's kind of perplexed researchers for quite a while. So when we say moderate wine drinkers, one, what do we mean by moderate?

And in terms of this study, it didn't find similar things when it came to like beer or liquors. Exactly. Exactly. So the sort of like big picture here is that we're talking about not just how much you're drinking, but what you're drinking. So the definitions, remember, a serving is 12 ounces of beer, it's five ounces of wine, or one and a half ounces of spirits. For women, moderate consumption is about three quarters to one and a half servings a day. And for men, it's about one and a half to three servings a day. So we said that there was this reduced risk of cardiovascular death with wine. But what did we see without people who drank low or occasional drinking beer or spirits? They actually had a higher risk of cardiovascular death. cardiovascular disease. Back to, again, that question, are there health behaviors associated with the type of alcohol that people are drinking that might account for some of these differences? So when you look at the sample size here and just the length of this, it's like, what, 340,000

people over the course of 13 years? Does that make the findings more credible? Or are those questions you mentioned earlier? Those remain either way. So we like when a study spans a large population and a long period of time. Are there some limitations to the study? Yes. There were self-reporting, right? So we don't know exactly how much people were drinking. It didn't take into account changes in patterns of drinking over time. But it's definitely food for thought, no pun intended. You know, the idea here is that in addition to healthy behaviors,

that wine contains these polyphenols and antioxidants. But remember, you'd have to consume a lot of wine to get the health benefit of those particular compounds. Instead, you want to go for things like extroversions. orange olive oil, nuts, dark chocolate, those also contain polyphenols. I don't think you're going to find a doctor who's going to say to improve your cardiovascular health, start drinking wine. But if you're a moderate wine drinker, I think you can feel pretty happy about these results and it's probably not contributing to excess cardiovascular death in you. Interesting stuff. Dr. Natalie Azar, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And when we come back from tragedy to triumph, the high school hockey player who helped his team win the state championship overcoming an unimaginable loss. That story is next. Finally, tonight, a Rhode Island hockey team ending the season on an incredible high after tragedy rocked their rink just last month. The star senior who pushed through heartbreak to honor his family and bring home the title. Here's Tom. With the Rhode Island State Championship on the line and 30 seconds left in regulation, senior Colin Dorgan scored the biggest goal. of his life, tying it up to keep Blackstone Valley in the game. The incredible moment coming after unthinkable tragedy.

His mother, brother, and grandfather died in a mass shooting last month. Police say his father brought a gun to the game and opened fire. Just weeks later, Dorgan was back on the ice. He says it's what his mom would have wanted. The initials of his loved ones lost. on his jersey. Right here, right on my chest and on my shoulders, I think they're with me every step of the way.

And so on championship ice, a team who had already overcome so much this season gave it everything they had, battling into quadruple overtime when finally this incredible goal, delivering a win that meant so much more. In this game in the overtimes, I think I truly felt it in my heart and my soul that they're still with me. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. For Tom Yamis, I'm Ellison Barber in New York. Stay right there.

More news is on the way.