Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

Tonight, President Trump's massive rally to mark 100 days in office as he dials back some of his auto tariffs. Thousands of supporters waiting hours to see the president as he shakes off sinking poll numbers. How the partial reversal on auto tariffs could impact you and why he and Jeff Bezos spoke today about a reported change in Amazon's pricing. Tornadoes touching down across the Midwest in the past 24 hours, the region pounded by hail and strong. wins and the storms aren't over yet. We're tracking it all. NBC News exclusive. Our reporter at Ground Zero for the measles outbreak in Texas with the man helping to lead the CDC's efforts to stop the disease. Does he think his boss, Robert Kennedy Jr's views on vaccines are making his job harder? Star Witness takes the stand in the Karen Reed murder trial. A friend of the man

Reid allegedly killed testifies and today more questions about a Google search for how long. to die in the cold. Hidden cameras planted at homes without the owners knowing why police believe these camouflaged cameras are how crooks can tell when you've left your house. Offscreen coaching. New questions tonight surrounding Bill Belichick's girlfriend. The email from him, she just made public after she interrupted a TV interview he was doing. And kangaroo chaos on an Alabama highway, the runaway causing at least one car accident, how they finally caught up to it. Plus, the surge in surcharges, why so many businesses are now hitting customers with extra fees for everything from tariffs to eggs. Top story starts right now.

Good evening. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom Yamis. Breaking tonight, President Trump marking his 100 days in office with a rally in Michigan. His largest political event since making his return to the White House. The milestone market, a whirlwind of a second term thus far, which has not only reshaped the presidency, but the country. Trump in Warren, Michigan this evening, touting his first few months in office to a crowd full of supporters, focusing on his efforts to hit the ground running to enact his agenda. It comes as the president battles sinking approval ratings pushed the historic lows. An average of 16 of the most recent national polls puts President Trump with 43% approving of the job he's doing

and 54% disapproving. Some of that sentiment stemming from the president's onslaught of executive orders and actions from a trade war sparked by tariffs to the immigration crackdown to his handling of wars overseas to slashing the federal workforce. And late this afternoon, the president announcing a plan to ease auto tariffs, the timing not going unnoticed as he spends tonight in a state that is home to several major automakers. NBC's Vaughn Hilliard is live for us in Michigan tonight. the president's rally. Von, walk us through what you were seeing and hearing on the ground

right now. What has the president said in his address so far? Right. Actually, leading up to this rally here today, his first, we should note, since his inauguration, more than three months ago, Ellison, were some acknowledgment from some of his most ardent supporters that the stock market has hurt their own financial situation and that they are concerned about consumer goods being more expensive. in the weeks and months ahead, at the same time. They have said that they have faith that the president will turn the economy around and that it will go in a different direction.

And what we have heard from the president here is a doubling down of the tariff policies that he has implemented so far telling this crowd here in these first minutes of this rally that taking it to China and taking it to other countries, including Canada, is in the best interest of the American people long term. Of course, we're talking about tariffs on Chinese good company and doing this. at 145 percent, creating an effective embargo here between the two countries. But this is a place that catapulted him to an election victory just six months ago. He lost it in 2020, won it in 2024.

And we heard him here suggest that the border is the safest that it's ever been in the United States. Of course, there is a lot of discrepancy in the statistics here. But he has shepherded a deportation program, Ellison, one that he says that he wants to expand. but lamented that judges, federal judges, have gotten in the way, placing injunctions on several of his efforts, including on his use of the Alien Enemies Act. And there was a video that was actually de-played up here. The president introduced Ellison that for about two to three minutes, there was visual depictions of immigrants that the U.S. had sent to that Seacot mega-prison in El Salvador, a place where there's human rights, history of human rights abuses. Yet the president has suggested that individuals suspected of being gang members should continue to be sent there, despite questions about due process and the extent to which some of the individuals who have been sent are, in fact, gang members.

The president of the United States, though, again, doubling down on the policies of his first 100 days and saying that he will continue to press those types of policies here moving forward, including, as he said, the firing of, quote, deep state bureaucrats. This is a president who is number one defiant about his past and looking forward for the future, saying that he is proud of what its administration, the policies that's implemented so far. NBC's Von Hilliard with the traveling with the president in Michigan there. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. The White House is also getting into a tariff standoff with Amazon today after media reports that the company might post on its website how much tariffs are raising prices on the items that they sell. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt blasting the move at a briefing this morning. This is a hostile and political act by Amazon.

Why did Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years? In response, Amazon quickly announced the idea never left the planning stage and what's not approved. And here's President Trump detailing a call he had with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at the White House this afternoon. Great. Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly. And he did the right thing. And it's a good guy. NBC's senior business correspondent, Christine Romans, is with us in studio to break this down. Christine, walk us through sort of what happened here. I mean, the White House reacted so quickly to this, despite it being fully verified. We have seen some other Chinese manufacturers put these types of warning labels on,

but ultimately break down how this was viewed in the business sense. I mean, it was really remarkable to see, you know, this massive retailer. And by the way, founded by one of the world's most richest men and the most powerful men in the world, Donald Trump, in an argument about whether tariff prices should be clear for consumers to see on the Amazon website. Now, what Amazon says, this was never about your Amazon app that you use showing extra prices.

It was about the Amazon haul. It's their, it's their, there, there, reaction to Sheehan and Timu. This little tab on there would have shown maybe some of these extra prices, but that was discussed among the team, Amazon says, and it was decided that they weren't going to do that. You mentioned Timu and Sheen, because we have already seen them sort of try to do a variation of this from your sources in the retail community. Are we going to be seeing more of actions like this moving forward, like Timu and Sheen? Yeah, I think so. I mean, you've got these big, especially on products that are coming in from China. If you look at it this way,

And if you buy, say, a $100 thing, say a comforter, $100 comforter that comes in from China, that $100 comforter has $145 tariff on it. So it's $245. And so what I think you'll see is some of these retailers trying to explain why the price is higher or pass on part of the import charge onto consumers. They'll have to eat some of it. That's likely to. Or there might be some products that simply are going to be more difficult to get. But it's really remarkable, just how big these tariffs are with China and how they will probably start to change sort of your shopping experience. And before we let you go, can we ask you to bring us up to speed on where things are with auto tariffs? Are the waiver is going to actually have an impact that people will see and feel?

So this is just the again and on again, off again, two steps forward, one step back in terms of the tariff implementation strategy. The White House softening, looks like softening these tariffs due to concerns among the American auto industry, that these tariffs were going to make it more difficult for them to hire, more difficult for them to invest. There's a lot of confusion about how it will roll out, but at least it's taking the worst of the sting, the worst of the sting, but not all of the sting off of American automakers from these tariffs. All right. NBC's Christine Romans, thank you. Severe weather today causing massive destruction and putting 48 million people across the country on alert. A tornado touching down in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and in southern Missouri,

extreme winds and heavy rainfall ripping up roofs, springing down trees, and causing some major power outages for hundreds of thousands of people. We get the latest from NBC's George Solis. Tonight in Missouri, extreme winds leaving behind a trail of destruction. Holy shton. In Potosi, the risk so severe, this elementary school had to evacuate 600 students to a storm shelter. I could not see probably 100 feet out my door over there when that storm came through. Outside Springfield, this video showing part of a roof that was torn to pieces, debris and tree snapped in two in the thick of heavy rainfall. Time-lapse video showing how quickly the storm moved in. The power line here snapped in half and it's just hanging across the

sidewalk. The powerful winds uprooting trees in several neighborhoods, many falling on homes and roads. Nearly 50,000 reported without power. I just kept praying that it wouldn't get as bad as it finally got. Our neighbors have a lot of damage, but they're all alive. The rash of extreme weather, also producing hail the size of tennis balls in Oklahoma. Tonight, into tomorrow morning, $48 million under the threat of more severe weather. George joins us now from Oklahoma City. George, talk to us about what you're seeing there right now, what's happening on the ground, and what's the latest on the conditions there?

Yeah, Alison, we couldn't have timed it any better. That rain's starting to fall right now here in Oklahoma City. That part of that same system that could bring even more flooding and thunder. thunderstorms here over the next couple of hours. And that is a big concern for the residents here as flash flooding potential increases with more of this rainfall. And again, it's been sort of at a clip most of the day. And now it is actually starting to come down pretty significantly. So we're going to seek cover here shortly. But again, this is the concern here throughout the night. And again, that concern and that potential for flash flooding just increasing now with

this rainfall now falling, Ellison. George Salis in Oklahoma City. Thank you. You and your team. Stay safe. Let's get right to NBC's meteorologist Bill Karens, who is tracking these storms. Bill, where are the areas you're really watching? Alison, it's been all about Pennsylvania. We have almost half a million people in Pennsylvania without power right now because of this line of thunderstorms that rocketed through the Pittsburgh area. In Pittsburgh itself, there's like 200,000 people without power.

So we have a severe thunderstorm watch from Oklahoma City southwards down the San Angelo. We have a cluster of storms that's causing problems now in Cincinnati. and then this line of storms that race through the Pittsburgh area. So these are the storm reports. So if you have a bad thunderstorm, go through your area, you can report it to the National Weather Service. And then that data comes into our maps here. And it plots a little icon where all of the wind damage reports are shown in blue.

We've had over 162 of them. In a majority, we're with this one complex of storms from Indiana through Ohio and now into Pennsylvania, that's where roughly almost, you know, three quarters of our power outages this evening from this area. And this is that line that just rocketed through Altoona. But you still notice the magenta on it here. It's still holding steady as it goes into central PA. So we still have additional people that have to deal with that storm.

Here's the Cincinnati area. Right now, stay indoors in the next half hour. Lightning, torrential rain right over the top of you. You are under a severe thunderstorm warning. And we did have one tornado warning in the Finger Lakes region of western and central New York, kind of rare for you. Radar indicated that threat is now ending. So you'll be safe to come back outside in about another 15 or 20 minutes.

And we're not done yet. where George is located southwards of Dallas, Fort Worth. Additional thunderstorms tonight, especially tomorrow afternoon. And when you get round after round of storms, the ground just can't hold it. Saturated. It's easy to get flash flooding. And that's our concern from Fort Smith all the way down through the Red River, right along the Texas Oklahoma border. And Ellis, an additional rainfall could be somewhere in the neighborhood of two to five inches. So again, in Pennsylvania, it's not pretty, Alice. And when you have a half a million people without power, that's a long night. And a lot of people wondering when it's going to, when it's

come back on. All right. Bill Cairns, we will keep an eye on the power outage situation there as well. Thank you. We appreciate it. In a Massachusetts courtroom today, dramatic testimony in the retrial of Karen Reed, the woman charged in the 22 death of her police officer boyfriend. Her lawyer argues she is being framed by other cops. A key witness from Reed's first trial, taking the stand again to recall the morning his body was found. NBC's Emily Aketa has more. In the second week of Karen Reed's retrial in the the death of her boyfriend, a highly anticipated witness taking the stand. I was literally just stunned. I mean, there he was.

Jennifer McCabe, growing emotional, recalling the morning her friend John O'Keefe's body, was found. I had told her, Karen, I saw you guys outside of my sister's house. And then she told me she didn't remember being there. And then she went on to say, she started saying, could I have hit him? Did I hit him? Prosecutors allege Reid hit O'Keefe with her SUV after a drunken argument and left him to die in the cold while her legal team says Reed's being framed and something went wrong after O'Keefe entered the house. The data is the data.

A digital forensic specialist testifying it's unlikely O'Keefe ever went inside based on his phone's location data and battery temperature, which continuously dropped overnight. But in his cross-examination today, the expert acknowledged the phone battery tested in his account. experiments lost heat significantly faster. Is it correct to say that there was a much more dramatic drop in temperature in your test scenario one? Yes. Internet sleuths across the country hanging on every detail in the case, as reads murder trial redo ramps up. How do you feel? I feel great.

Jennifer McCabe also played a key role in the first trial. She famously looked up how long it takes to die in the cold. The morning of Keith's body was found. Now, the prosecution and defense disagree on the exact timing of that. Something we almost certainly will hear more about when McCabe returns to the stand tomorrow. Alison. Emily Aketa, thank you. I want to bring an NBC News legal analyst Danny Savalos, who has been following this retrial for us as well.

Okay, Danny, let's talk a little more about Jennifer McCabe, because she is considered to be a key witness here for the prosecution in particular. In addition to what we heard from Emily in her report there, McCabe also. described searching for O'Keefe with Karen Reed and then finding him. Talk to us about how she recounted that. So there's a huge witness for the prosecution. Here are the big points that she brings to the prosecution's case. Number one, they were all together in a celebratory mood. There was no fighting. There was no arguing. That helps defeat the defense's theory that there was some kind of dispute once O'Keefe went into the house and that everybody in the house covered it up. Also, to add, McCabe says she didn't know everybody at this get-together all that well.

So to me, that makes it a little less likely that even if there was some fatal fight or the dog attacked O'Keefe, that everybody there who didn't really even know each other that well would have come up with a conspiracy. And then, of course, she lays down the timeline for searching for O'Keefe and how Karen Reed jumped out of the car and was the first to see O'Keefe's body by the side of the road when the other ones, the other witnesses really couldn't see much. due to the darkness and the snow. So there was a lot of back and forth in the first trial. It's certainly come up in this one in terms of a text message that, or a Google search, rather, that Jennifer McCabe sent saying, how long does it take to die in the cold? Search that on Google.

At a different point, the defense had said this was done so much earlier than we believe his time of death is. 2.27. Right? Walk us through that. And has that been resolved based on what Emily was reporting there about the temperature with the cell phone and how they went through it in this? This was a huge piece of evidence for the defense. Their theory was that if McCabe was searching at 227 a.m. for how long to die in the cold,

or more precisely, hoss long to die in the cold because she mistyped it. And then she searched again at 6 a.m., that made sense because they're standing by John's body. But if she searched at 2 a.m., that means she was aware that John was out there. That goes to the defense's theory. And what we saw in the last day or two is that the prosecution may have effectively shot down that theory for the defense based not only on their technical expert, but McCabe's testimony. Because McCabe has always denied she searched at 2 a.m. And what we learned from the prosecution's expert, I didn't know this, but apparently if you open

up a Google search, a window at a particular time, 2 a.m., leave it open, even minimize the tab, then go back to that same tab and search at 6 a.m. The search data will show the earliest time the window was open. Now, could she still have done that search at 2.30 in the morning? But if I'm the jury, the prosecution has just explained away a major inconsistency that formed the crux of the defense. All right, and we'll see how the defense handles it on cross-examination in the coming days. Danny Savalos, thank you. We are back in a moment with the warning for homeowners, how criminals are secretly planting camouflaged cameras outside of homes so they know when the owners have left, what you need to know. NBC News exclusive, our correspondent on the ground in Texas with the head of the CDC Task Force,

and measles, what he's doing now to stop the spread. And new twist in the saga of Bill Belichick and his girlfriend, the email from him, she's now made public. We're back now with a warning for homeowners across the country. Police say some thieves are hiding camouflaged cameras inside bushes and shrubs, pointing them at your home to learn your daily schedule, your daily routine. and to try and find the best time to break in. NBC, Steve Patterson, has this story and some tips to protect your home. Tonight, police warning of a potential hidden danger in yards across the country, small cameras covered in camouflage, hidden in the shrubs, and trained on possible targets.

I felt violated. It gave me the chills. Homeowner George Nguyen telling our NBC News Los Angeles station, he was shocked to find a camera covered in mesh and fake grass in his bushes. one night while watering his plants. I put my finger over the lens and took it over to the wall of my house and had it face the wall and contacted the police right away. He says his ring camera captured someone suspicious walking by his house before the hidden camera was found. Police in nearby Arcadia warning residents cameras like that one are likely being used to case out possible burglary targets. Typically residential burglars will use these types of devices to see when residents are leaving for work, coming home from work.

when you leave to pick up your children from school, when you come back and gives them time frames as to when they may target your home. President Chris Seymour outwalking his dog when he stumbled across this camera contraption. For whatever reason, kind of grabbed it, looked at it when I flipped it over, I could clearly see there was a camera lens on the box. Just a few neighborhoods over, a similar device discovered pointed at a home where thieves tried to break in and similar reports from across the country. A camera found in a carefully manicured lawn outside of New York City in Scarsdale, leaving this community rattled.

It's just terrible, yeah, because people work hard for their stuff. It makes me hypervigilant, for sure. But home safety experts say there are a few steps you can take to protect your property. The number one way of protecting yourself against this is almost to fight fire with fire in a way. Set up your own cameras around your perimeter, and a lot of home security cameras nowadays have motion detection. So you'll be notified on your smartphone, right, if someone's in the area creeping around trying to set up a camera. One family outside Boston, along with police, taking things a step further after discovering a hidden camera. The fact they planted a camera to stock us is just, you know, the level of planning is unbelievable.

They say after they were burglarized once, caught on this video recording after the suspect tripped alarms, They contacted police, who later staked out their house while the family faked a vacation, leading to the arrest of four suspects. But for those less theatrical, experts say the best defense might just be being a good neighbor. Get to know your neighbors. You know, look out for one another. If you notice something off, investigate it, and then get in touch to the police. And Steve Patterson joins us now from Los Angeles.

Steve, do police think some of the suspects planting these cameras might be part of some sort of larger crime ring? Yeah, Alison, some in law enforcement are saying the South American criminal rings are actually coming into the United States, specifically to burglarized houses, using exactly these techniques. They're calling me burglary tourism. And just last year, four men from Columbia were arrested in California under suspicion of doing just this.

Alison? Steve Patterson in Los Angeles. Thank you. When we return in just a moment, the dramatic new video showing an airline passenger breaking into a cockpit. What happened next? And the surge in surcharges, the extra fees being slapped on more and more bills, is there anything you can do about them? In Illinois tonight, a devastated community is looking for answers after a car crashed into an after-school camp killing four children, the youngest, just seven years old. The cause of the crash is

Still under investigation, but police say they do not believe it was a targeted attack. NBC's Maggie Vespa reports. Oh, no. Tonight, new details in a small town's senseless tragedy. I had a car run through a building, and they're saying there's quite a few people injured. The building can see children. Police identifying 44-year-old Marianne Acres as the driver who plowed a car through the why not after-school camp Monday afternoon in Chatham, Illinois, south of Springfield. They say four students were killed, including seven-year-old Alma Bunner Kempi.

Yay! Her mom calling Alma a ray of sunshine who loved playing soccer, basketball, and doing gymnastics. While eight-year-old Ainsley Grace Johnson's dad telling NBC News, her nickname was Squirt. She was larger than life and will forever leave a void in our broken hearts. State police say six more kids were injured, one still in critical condition. Look at these tire tracks here. According to police, Acres left the road, drove through this massive field across the street here and then crashed clear through the camp just behind me. The back of the building had been blown out. There was insulation, debris everywhere.

Taylor Godwin lives next door and saw the aftermath. I turned to the left, and unfortunately, there was a dead child. So... You saw a dead child? Yes. Every single one of those families now has said goodbye to their kid for the last time. entire life just gone. Police say it does not appear to be a targeted attack and that Acres is not in custody as the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

They're awaiting toxicology results. Until 2022, she was a food service employee at the local school district. NBC News has reached out to Acres but has not yet heard back. Maggie joins us now from Chatham, Illinois. Maggie, the big question here is why did this happen? And you mentioned the driver in this incident is not under arrest or in police custody, but their investigation into the cause is ongoing. At this point, do we know what sort of evidence police are looking at?

Yeah, so, Alison, those toxicology results really appear to be key. Again, those are pending, and we don't have a timeline right now as to when police expect to get those. But they highlighted those on their own in a press release, saying that they were waiting to see the results of that test. That being said, they didn't elaborate on why they think that might be. key. So it could just be standard procedure in a case like this. That's very possible. We also saw on Facebook, organizers of the Why Not Camp wrote that local security cameras caught acres driving through that field that you saw me walking in. It's just over here. So that video could be really key as well. But right now, they're kind of leaving a lot of questions, seemingly,

at least for now, intentionally unanswered while they sit through that evidence and decide whether or not charges are necessary in this case, Alison. NBC's Maggie Vespah. Thank you. We appreciate it. In Top Stories News Feed tonight, American Airlines crew members restraining a female passenger from entering the cockpit. Look at this video. You can see them holding her back before she is brought down to the floor. She has then taken back to her seat and another passenger starts yelling at her. It all happened Thursday on a flight from Brazil to New York. According to local media reports, the woman was upset that the flight took off later than planned.

The plane landed in New York. Law enforcement was waiting. Right now, it's unclear whether or not that woman will face charges. British prosecutors say no charges will be filed in the death of ice hockey player Adam Johnson. Johnson, who is from Minnesota and previously played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, died during a game in England in 2023 after colliding with a fellow player, Matt Petgrave. In the collision, Johnson's neck was sliced with the blade of escape. Police made an arrest two weeks later, but they did not publicly identify the person arrested. It was Petgrave, who ultimately said publicly that he was the subject of an investigation after launching a crowdfunding appeal for legal fees. Video showing crews working to bring an unmanned boat under

control in Sarasota, Florida. That's about an hour south of Tampa. The Sarasota Police Department's Marine Unit responded to a call of a boater in distress. After multiple attempts, officials say a towing service slowed the boat down and it allowed a lieutenant to jump in and get control of the boat. The operator of that boat reportedly told officers a large vessel cut in front of him and he was thrown out of his boat. He had minor injuries, but the boat is said to be undamaged. This is not something you typically see cruising down the interstate in Alabama, but take a look for yourself. A kangaroo just hopping along the road today near Montgomery, Alabama? It's kind of cute, but police say it actually caused major issues and they responded to at least they believe two

car crashes. In this video, you can see the kangaroo hopping on the hood of a yellow car. Now, when was injured, a kangaroo is also safe. The local sheriff going on Facebook live to show the moment officers captured the animal and tranquilized it. You can see it being carried out of the bushes. It was ultimately taken back to its owner. As the sheriff said, quote, we see a little bit of everything here. Next tonight to an NBC News exclusive, our team traveling to the epicenter of the measles outbreak in West Texas, speaking to the CDC deputy director tasked with fighting the outbreak, which is spreading largely among children and the unvaccinated. The total number of cases nationwide skyrocketing now to more than 900.

Here's NBC News medical reporter Erica Edwards in Texas. Tonight, the measles outbreak in the U.S. on the rise, with more than 900 cases and three deaths across the country. 30 states reporting cases with 663 in Texas alone, the majority in children. They're offering two kinds of testing here. The epicenter still West Texas, where the CDC has deployed its measles, This is a serious situation. This outbreak is the biggest we've seen in the last 25 years. Jonathan Yoder, Deputy Director of Infectious Disease Readiness at the CDC, helping to lead the effort to stop the spread.

Is this outbreak under control? We're still having cases, and that's not where we want to be. So, no, there's still work to do to bring this outbreak fully under control. Measles is the most contagious virus known in the world, but almost totally prevented by the MMR vaccine. A large portion of the unvaccinated population in Gaines County is part of the Mennonite community. The Mennonites love their children. They love them, they love their community, and they're very committed to creating a healthy community. Yoder says he grew up Mennonite himself and hopes his shared history will help him connect with families here.

I think it's helpful. I think it's always helpful to come from a place of some understanding, to have some lived experience that relates as a starting point. But I think it's also dangerous if you then presume that you know. Are you changing anyone's minds about vaccines? I think there are some minds that are changing. But again, attitudes, beliefs are formed over time, and it's not realistic that those change in a very short period of time. But the community also listens closely to the teachings of a Texas doctor named Ben Edwards,

who's been giving vitamin A and cod liver oil to people in Gaines County sick with measles. The treatments are unproven and controversial. Are you meeting with Dr. Ben Edwards at all? We don't have a regular conversation with Dr. Ben Edwards. What is the reason for that? Because he's a major player, medical practitioner here in this community. My understanding of what Dr. Edwards is, you know, his focus is on treatment. And if there's an ongoing conversation that Ben Edwards would like to have,

we would be very open to listening to that. Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., met with Edwards, met with Edwards during his recent visit to the county, praising him as an extraordinary healer. We asked Yoder about this trip and his boss's impact on the CDC multiple times. I don't know that I'm the best judge to say the mood is shifted. There was a second child that died of measles, and that's a pretty serious event. And so I think any attribution you'd have to think through is it really because you've now had a second death for measles, which is really tragic. It seems like he has certainly not been urging vaccination to control this outbreak.

How has that changed how you do your job? How has that changed the CDC's mission? I may misquote Secretary Kenny, but I do believe he said that the vaccination is the best way we'll get this under control. So he has made that point. I do think we follow the science and we do want to do the best thing for public health. The public health director in nearby Lubbock, Catherine Wells, also meeting with the CDC team on Tuesday.

biggest need from the agency? It really is people. It is individuals that have worked with measles that have seen how very infectious it is, being able to provide that technical assistance. As doctors and health officials scramble to contain an outbreak that's growing by the day. Erica Edwards joins us now from Lubbock, Texas. Fascinating reporting there, Erica. One thing that stood out was the fact that when you asked if the crisis and the outbreak was under control, He said not fully under control just yet. Based on the conversations you have had with health officials there on the ground in West Texas, is it fair to say that they are getting a handle on this outbreak?

You know, Ellison, here Lubbock, cases are actually slowing down a little bit. And get this, this is actually the first week in the entire outbreak here in West Texas, that no child is currently hospitalized with measles. So that is great news. However, health officials are keeping an eye on the first week. other parts of the state like El Paso, where cases have been ticking up in the past few weeks. Ellison. Erica Edwards, thank you.

Tonight, Harvard University is apologizing after releasing two scathing internal reports looking into anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim sentiment on campus. The probes finding anti-Semitism infecting nearly every aspect of life at the school, while almost all Muslim students surveyed, said they expected to face repercussions if they spoke out. This report comes as the Trump administration has been cracking down on Harvard for allegedly not doing enough to root out anti-Semitism, sending the school a list of reform demands that Harvard has rejected and freezing billions of dollars in federal funding to the university. But tonight, the Trump administration is also taking aim at a prominent Jewish institution, dismissing several members of the Holocaust Remembrance Council appointed by former President Biden, including former second gentleman Doug Imhoff. NBC's Rahima Ellis is with us now with more on this Harvard report. Rahima, what other top lines in terms of the findings of these reports stood out to you? And I understand we have also now heard from the president of Harvard University.

Absolutely. I think it's important to point out that this was a report that was commissioned by Harvard University over a year ago. And this is before Trump entered into his second presidency. And so Harvard was aware after those protests on campus, they had a problem. In fact, according to the report, they say something to the effect. Once the Israeli-Palestine debate became more contentious, back in 2010, according to the report, it says, quote, our Harvard community fell apart. What did it say here specifically? Listen to these numbers. It says those on campus who believe that they would face academic professional penalty for expressing political opinions, Muslims, 92%, Jews, 61%.

And get this, Christians 55% felt that they would be targeted if they expressed some kind of views on campus that were political. As you point out, the president of Harvard University says, and he was talking to even our Lester Holt, as you know, last week, saying Harvard is aware that it has a problem, and they even commissioned this report. Over 500 pages saying they're aware of a problem. The question becomes now one of how the Trump administration

might use this information, in their effort to get Trump, in their effort to get Harvard University to comply with their demands. Let's play a little bit of the interview that Harvard President Alan Garber previously did with Lester Holton. We'll talk right after. Is this really about anti-Semitism? I would say that at Harvard, we have a real problem with anti-Semitism. We take it very seriously, and we're trying to address it. There is no doubt about this very, that problem.

We don't really see the relationship to research funding at Harvard and other universities. They are two different issues. See, of course, there you had Alan Garber talking about the funding freezes from the Trump administration. Do these reports, though, are they something that could be used against Harvard in court now that they are trying to challenge those freezes? I bet you that the Trump administration attorneys most definitely will be using these reports. We are at the beginning stages of that litigation. but I should mention to you that Harvard is also facing another showdown. As of tomorrow, it is a deadline for the Harvard administration to hand over to Trump

and to the Department of Homeland Security. What they want is the records of student disciplinary records and protest participation in protests on campus. The Department of Health Homeland Security says if Harvard does not turn over those reports to them by tomorrow, they are threatening Harvard to revoke the visas of all international students entirely. This could be profound because international students make up 27% of the Harvard campus. NBC's Rahima Ellis, thank you. Now to the surprising surge of surcharges, it's happening more often. You get a receipt and see a service fee or surcharge you didn't expect.

Payment vendor Stripe says those tacked-on fees are getting added to more and more bills. NBC's Yasmin Vasugi. and on what's behind the growing trend. They're the extra fees. I see that's happening. I'm not happy about it. That have surged from occasional annoyances. It's really remarkable how different it is in just the last year.

To a seemingly regular part of every transaction. They were going to be temporary. They aren't temporary. We're still getting hit with those charges in addition to the news charges. These surcharges getting tacked on to the bottom of more and more. bills. There's now an extra fee if you order eggs at a Waffle House or Denny's. I'll just stop eating eggs here. And some retailers importing goods from China, even adding a tariff surcharge. Fees are like whack-a-mole. One goes down, another one pops up. Ted Rossman

follows credit cards and personal finance at bank rate. The bottom line here is companies are looking to raise prices without raising prices. Many seem to feel that if they tack it on as a surcharge, either the customer doesn't notice or they realize that it's for some kind of of exceptional circumstance, but at the end of the day, it's a higher cost. It's a tax on consumers. One of the most common surcharges, that 3% fee for using a credit card. Store owners saying that's because the card companies take that money from them, and they're passing it on to the customers. What are you going to do? They're being forced to do it, you feel like. Yeah, I mean, they don't have a choice, right? Many stores now building that 3% into their prices and offering you a

discount if you pay in cash. We see an increasing number of small businesses, implementing credit card surcharges, basically accounting for the fact that it costs them two or three percent to process those transactions. At New York Airport in New Jersey, some vendors even slapping what's called a 3 percent employee and retention fee on purchases. The reason airport stores in the New York area are only allowed to raise prices to 10 percent above what they'd cost outside the airport. But they can charge a surcharge. And if you've ordered food delivery lately, you've likely been surprised by how that $20 pizza cost a lot more than $20. It's easier to build this into apps for food delivery and other things, ride shares.

I think we're going to see more of it, not less. And Yasmin Vasugian joins us now on set. So, Yasmin, people are seeing these surcharges pop up in more and more places. Is there any way to sort of fight back? It's difficult. I mean, experts are saying, listen, you could shop around. You could limit where you shop, compare prices, for instance. But honestly, what I'm hearing from a lot of consumers out there is this real sense of dread, of what is to come, right?

Not knowing what's around the corner. And then really limiting discretionary spending, one individual telling me, as I was speaking to him, that we're not going to be able to take vacation this year, likely, because we won't be able to afford it. So things like that, folks are feeling as if they're not able to do the things that they once were able to do because of these price hikes and these surcharges. NBC's Yasmin Vasugian. Thank you. Thank you. We're back in a moment with Bill Belichick's girlfriend fighting back after she was criticized for interrupting a TV interview he was doing. Plus the powerful moment on Capitol Hill today. The women who made history in World War II finally being honored.

Welcome back. The girlfriend of former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is making headlines after interrupting his recent interview with CBS Sunday morning. As Belichick spoke to the interview. his girlfriend, Jordan Hudson, weighed in from the sidelines to shut down a question about how they met. Take a look. How did you guys meet? I'm not talking about this. No?

No. Hudson now taking to Instagram to defend herself, including posting a copy of an email dated April 10th, seemingly written by Belichick addressing his frustrations, promoting his new memoir. It reads in part, quote, this is about what I expected from the media. I have at times reluctantly gone along with the title, cover, and language in the book. I am not going to be the conductor of a hype train in the book promotion. We have enough hype to work with. Baker Machado, host of Front Office Sports Today, which premieres today on YouTube,

joins us now with more. Congrats on the show. And thank you so much for joining us. Walk viewers through what happened here, because a lot of us have probably seen clips. It's so viral online. It was kind of a wild moment. It absolutely was a wild, very viral moment, especially given the fact that Bill Belichick was on CBS Sunday morning to promote his new book about his coaching. The Art of Winning is the name of the book.

Yet we're talking about everything else that's not related to football in here because of what happened with Jordan Hudson. Adding to all of this, we saw that clip where she's obviously interrupting about their relationship and when they first met, we're actually hearing, and there's multiple reports from NBC's pro football talk, that this wasn't the first time that she had done this in the interview, that this was actually multiple times and that CBS aired that clip of her interrupting to sort of show that this was an issue here. TMZ is also reporting that she apparently got very flustered and angry with some of the questioning about their relationship, that she left the room for 30 minutes, and an interview wasn't allowed to continue because of that.

Apparently, there's reports that CBS tried to do a schedule, a follow-up of Bill Belichick. That apparently got canned and pushed to the side, and that's why we got the situation that we got on Sunday. Have we heard anything directly from Bill Belichick? No, and we haven't heard either from the University of North Carolina. They haven't released this statement either. And as you mentioned, Jordan has posted on Instagram saying that a statement's coming out. She hasn't released it just yet, but she's been posting old emails from Bill Belichick, basically saying that the media is looking for clickbait when it comes to his new book about their relationship and all these other things

that have nothing to do with football. OK, and as far as we know, they're still together, so presumably? If anything, they're still together. They're even bigger together, because she's sort of infiltrated so much of his world. Look, there's been intrigue with Bill Belichick because he's always been sort of quiet.

He hasn't really talked a lot about stuff in his life and with the press and his relationship with Robert Kraft, who, by the way, is not mentioned in this book whatsoever. And obviously, the age difference has a lot to do as well. But then we sort of realize how ingrained she is in his life. We've seen emails where he's asking representatives from the University of North Carolina administrative officials to CC her on emails. The Athletic even got a copy of one of her emails where she and her signature

is referred to as the chief operating officer of Bill Belichick's production company. So if anything, she's acting more as a public relations expert for him in these interviews. And we should note there wasn't a representative from his book publisher or the university that was there during that CBS Sunday morning interview was just her and Bill Belichick. So if he's asking people to CC her on these emails, presumably he has appointed her in some capacity to work with him in this way, despite their personal relationship. Is it the people are worried she is overstepping without his consent, or are they just saying, hey, we're worried about both of them in this space? I think there's just general intrigue. And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Bill Belichick has

never talked about his personal life whatsoever. I mean, he had a previous girlfriend of 16 years before he started dating Jordan Hudson, and he never really showed very much about that other relationship until then. So this is also new. And really, we don't really even know how they really met. Yes, there's been reports out there that maybe they met on a plane, but the fact that she is coming out and asking CBS Sunday morning not to ask a question about how they met is just adding more fuel to the intrigue. And it would be one thing to ask that if you hadn't been public before, have been on red carpet, public together in the past. Exactly. And now there's a Twitter account that looks like it's connected to her

where she's retweeting fans who are criticizing Tony DuCoppel and his questioning, basically saying that private, what's happening in somebody's private life should remain private, all of this stuff. It's just adding more fuel to the intrigue here. A lot of interest. Bigot McChato, thank you for helping us understand all of it. We appreciate it. We'll be back in a moment with the unsung heroes of World War II finally being celebrated. They were the all-black, all-female unit you've probably never heard of. We have their story next. Finally, tonight, the only black female battalion to serve in World War II

rewarded with the Congressional Gold Medal today. The unit known as the 6-8-6-3-3-8 given in enormous tasks critical to keeping morale high. NBC's Ryan Nobles has the special moment decades in the making. Tonight, a long overdue recognition for the six-true. Triple-8, signed, sealed, and delivered. The long-awaited, much sought after, congressional gold medal. The 6,88th Central Postal Directory was the only black, all-female unit to serve in Europe during World War II. It's 855 members sent overseas in 1945 to clear a backlog of 17 million pieces of mail in 10 airplane hangers,

stacked floor to ceiling with canvas bags. Letters from the home front stuck in limbo at a time when morale was so critical. Letters of home were very, very important. They were lifelines that grounded the soldiers. They reminded our brave heroes of all they were fighting for that was actually waiting back at home. 80 years after their contribution to the war effort, Speaker Mike Johnson presenting the medal to the family of the unit commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Early.

I am Captain Charity Adams. Who was portrayed in the 2024 Tyler Perry movie, The Six-Tri-Aid by Carrie Washington. You in the Sixth AAA Battalion are headed to Europe. Showing the logistical nightmare that only the Black woman's Army Corps was able to resolve. When there is no male, there is low morale. The recognition coming after a long-running campaign to recognize the efforts of the battalion. Only two members are still alive, both watching the ceremony from home.

Al Roker speaking to 6-Tripple-8 veteran Lena King in 2022. We had promised that we could do it, get it done. So we had to keep our promise, you know. She, along with her sisters in uniform, were given six months to make their way through the backlog. They completed the mission in only three. The unit developed a system of sorting with three eight-hour shifts running 24-hour shifts, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I think our motivation was to feel that we were making a contribution.

We wanted to show proof that we loved our country, even if they didn't love us back, you know, all the time. King, among the majority of members of the 6th AAA no longer here to accept Congress's highest civilian honor. We forever will ensure that they will never. ever be hidden figures again. God bless you. God bless the 6th, AAA. And Ryan Nobles joins us now from Capitol Hill. Ryan, it's hard to sort of wrap our mind around how difficult it must have been to tackle the challenge this battalion was given. That is something I understand. The Speaker of the House actually addressed today as well. Yeah, Alison, he actually used his own name as a way to demonstrate how big this challenge was. He said at that time,

First name Mike was the ninth most popular name in the United States, his last name Johnson, the fifth most popular last name. They estimate that somewhere in the range of 30,000 service members had the name Mike Johnson. Now imagine being one of these ladies trying to connect those letters with the right Mike Johnson's. It was a monumental task. And they did not have the modern technology that we have today to help with that system. They actually had to use 7 million indifferent unique ID cards, physical ID cards to attach the right letter to the right soldier to get them that note from home, which, as we learned, was so important to the morale of the soldiers during this pivotal time in American history. Allison? I have chills just thinking about that

there. Ryan Nobles, thank you so much. We appreciate it. And thank you at home for watching Top Story. I'm Ellison Barber in New York for Tom Yamis. Stay right there. More news is on the way. Thank you.