Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

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

Tonight protests on college campuses over the Israel Hamas war escalating to new highs. Columbia University threatening to expel students after dozens of demonstrators stormed and occupied a historic building on campus. The last day of classes canceled at UNC Chapel Hill as police clash with protesters. Brown University reaching an agreement with students to disband their encampment. President Biden wane in as protests persist. Also tonight key witnesses testifying former President Trump's hush money trial. The attorney who represented adult film star Stormy Daniels divulging how the hush money payments came together. New video showing the tense moments during that deadly standoff with U.S. Marshals, what were learning about the four

law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, and the clues investigators discovered at the scene as they pieced together the chaotic moments. The clock is ticking as Florida's six-week abortion ban is just hours away from going into effect. clinic scrambling. Some seem nearly triple the number of patients in a day. Biden's blunt move, the Biden administration pushing to ease restrictions on marijuana, the historic step that would reclassify the drug, putting it on the same level as Tylenol instead of heroin. Why some are saying this could have dangerous implications. A toddler said she heard monsters in her room. Turns out she wasn't lying.

Her mother discovering the real scare was a terrifying colony of 50,000 bees. in her daughter's bedroom wall, what mom told us about the nightmare infestation. And rescue on the court, two off-duty nurses jumping into action after a basketball player collapses and stops breathing. Top story starts right now. Good evening. Tonight, Columbia University has had enough, threatening to expel pro-Palestinian demonstrators who took over an administrative building.

It comes as clashes over the war in Gaza continue to escalate on campuses across the U.S. You can see over here, Colombia, the epicenter of these recent demonstrations really is no stranger to political unrest. On this exact day, back in 1968, students occupied Hamilton Hall, protesting the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Flash forward to last night, students storming and occupying that same building. Though their fights are different, the images draw glaring parallels, 56 years later. Overnight, dozens of protesters broke windows as they stormed the building using furniture to barricade the entrance. The university urging students to stay off campus.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams saying the protests at Columbia has been, quote, co-opted by professional outside agitators. At UNC Chapel Hill, dozens of students arrested after they broke through barriers attempting to keep them out of an encampment. The school forced to cancel classes on their final day of the semester. University is grappling with the situation just days and weeks out from college graduations. Tonight, so many seniors facing uncertainty about their ceremonies. And overseas, ceasefire talks appear to be gaining steam. The White House pressing Hamas to accept the deal currently being brokered by negotiators. But today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to invade Rafa with or without a hostage deal.

We start tonight with NBC's Aaron McLaughlin and the latest at Columbia University. Tonight tensions at Columbia University reaching a new high, with the school threatening expulsion. After pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the historic Hamilton Hall overnight, renaming the building Hins Hall after a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza. Palestine is almost three. Student journalist Joseph Zulwaga was on the scene. I think when one of the protesters broke one of the windows, I think that's when it's setting

for all of us that history was really unfolding for our eyes. In a statement today, the university said this is about responding to the actions of the protesters, not their cause. While the protesters pointed to the historic occupations of the hall and reiterated their key demand that the university divest from Israel, which Columbia says it won't do. Physics student Charles Beck says he was pushed away when he tried to stop the protesters. I certainly was a little afraid, but I also just felt, like it was important that someone

do something. I would not describe last night's protest is peaceful at all. Today the student protesters fortifying their position inside the hall, hoisting supplies to the top. Columbia University has so far refrained from calling back the police. But that's not the case at UT Austin with protesters back on campus

today following yesterday's clashes which resulted in 79 arrests. At Tulane University, protesters clashed with police on horseback. And at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, tense moments. Nationwide, more than 1,200 have been arrested so far, as the calls for universities to divest from Israel grow louder. We deserve to know where our money is going, where our resources are going.

We deserve to know what our university is invested in. Today, the White House writing, the protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful. It is wrong. While House Speaker Mike Johnson called on campuses to crack down. This is universities across the country struggle to balance free speech and hate speech. A lot of people like that I went to classes with and dinners with that are chanting for the erasure of the jurisdiction and the death of my family. So I do feel a little heartbroken by this.

Columbia professor Reinhold Martin was locking arms on Monday with fellow faculty members to protect student protesters. The divestment question has been on the table for a very long time, and not only with respect to the conflict in Palestine. To me, it's a legitimate tool. All right, Aaron joins us tonight from Columbia University's campus. Aaron, the New York City mayor and the NYPD had a press conference not too long ago. What do they say about the situation at Hamilton Hall, and is there a timeline to have people removed? Well, so far, no timeline has been made public, at least, Tom. Mayor Eric Adams saying that he believes that external actors are influencing the student protesters inside of the campus.

When the police during that press conference were pressed on the number of those actors, they said they do not have a number at this point. Complicating the matter is that some of the surveillance footage has been actually covered inside of the university itself. But Mayor Eric Adams urging all parents of students to call their children, urging them to leave the campus immediately for their own safety. though, so far the university has not called and asked the police for their help, which is required, given that Columbia University is private property, Tom. Aaron, going back to that student who was in your story, Charlie, who said he was pushed away by protesters, it seemed like he was alluding to feeling like he should do something because of what was going on, almost as if the protesters were committing something criminal.

Is that how some students feel there on campus? You know, Charlie was really upset by what unfolded in the overnight hour. He feels that this protest has diminished the university's reputation, a university that he says he worked extremely hard to get into. He is a fourth-year student. He's expected to graduate. His parents are due to fly from California to New York for his commencement. That commencement now in question, he says he doesn't get a high school graduation because

of COVID. So he's extremely upset. That is one viewpoint. There are other students here on campus that support the protests, support the and the protest movement, Tom. Okay, Aaron McLaughlin for us. Aaron, we appreciate all that. For more on Columbia University and the protests on campus, we're joined tonight by Issa Farfan. She's a student journalist who also is a former intern for Top Story and is a senior at Barnard

College, which is affiliated with Columbia University. So, Issa, I want to start. You know, you were at Hamilton Hall last night. You were covering this for NBC News and as a student journalist. What was that like and what did you witness? Hi, Tom. Yeah. Last night I got on scene at around 1230, and I saw broken windows, and there was a human chain formed in front of Hamilton Hall, which is a building I've had several classes in. They're really tiny classrooms. I didn't know what happened at first. It was relatively calm, and then students came in with trash cans and benches from outside and began to push open the doors. And the human chain was sort of moving with. them to protect the people inside, and you could see lights going on. And student organizers putting flags out of the windows.

They put up a sign saying Hins Hall after the six-year-old killed in Gaza. And then after that, there was singing. There was a moment of chaos. There was a moment of mobilization. And then it went to singing, and I was there until 4 a. It was a lot of singing, chanting. They were hymns from the civil rights movement. that students were singing.

So we're looking at video that you actually shot, I believe, on your iPhone as you were covering this. You're a student there as well. I know you were there as a journalist, so I'm going to keep the questions to what you saw and what you witnessed. From the other students you've talked to, some who I'm sure are your friends as well,

what are the concerns on campus? And do you think a majority of students, and I know this is a tough question, but do you think a majority of students support what's happening there? I think students who remember, remain on campus now and in my circles and who I've spoken to are sympathetic in some ways to the student protest movement.

The degrees to that vary, especially now that there's been an escalation and now broken windows and more physically evident protesting than there was before. The encampment was relatively calm, and this is way more eventful. But I think even graduating seniors, I'm supposed to graduate. My whole family is flying out from California. seniors are, of course, disappointed. We are the class that graduated high school from our cars during the pandemic. But there seems to be a consensus that this issue is a lot larger than our graduation. And so students are not mad at the protesters for, you know, questions about

graduation coming up. And they remain more upset at the administration and how they've handled the protests rather than the protesters themselves. Issa, you know, I know you were out there yesterday. The mayor and the NYPDs implied that they believe there are outside actors who are agitating this. But I spoke to you earlier today from your experience, what you saw were students, correct? Yes. Campus has been almost under a complete ID-only lockdown since April 17th. It is really hard for non-affiliates to get in. I don't doubt that there are students from other affiliate schools that aren't necessarily Columbia College students, including Barnard and the Union

Theological Seminary. But I do not think it is possible that many outsiders are in, and I find it highly unlikely that that is, you know, a common case. Issa, you know, some students that we have had on this show have described the protest as anti-Semitic. We just saw a video you shot that had a banner unfold that said Intifada. Of course, in the Intifada's, many Jews have been killed. What types of messages were you hearing being chanted or said? and could you describe it the feeling of anti-Semitism there outside the halls, or is it sort of very complicated and too hard to just sort of frame in a soundbite?

Yeah, you know, that's a really complicated question, but I observed many students I know who are Jewish that were part of the human chain and the chance for intifada to my understanding are calls for revolution. and I don't think that anything I heard last night was blatantly anti-Semitic. There was no environment of attention towards one group of people. It was, of course, tense and very uncomfortable, but that is different from feeling unsafe.

To my knowledge, no one has reported to me that they felt that there was anything that happened last night that was anti-Semitic. Yeah. Thank you. How do you think this ends? Even if Columbia divest, which it doesn't sound like they are, But even if they divest, Israel will continue its assault into Gaza, its response after the terror attack by Hamas. So what do you think the ultimate goal is here?

And how does this end? Yeah, I mean, students have been very clear with the chance, divest, disclose their financial investment. And yes, if the university does not divest or disclose, the war may still happen. That's very likely. But students don't want their money. money to be going towards a war that they cannot consciously support, that they have

no moral standing. They want to pay for an education. They don't want to pay for a war. That's the sentiment I'm hearing on the ground. Issa Farfan, we thank you for your reporting. We thank you for joining Top Story and for all of your hard work here on the show, and I hope you get to have a graduation with your family. We want to turn now to the latest on

those four law enforcement officers shot and killed in North Carolina. Their community remembering them as dedicated public servants. Killed in what is now deadliest incident for police in nearly 10 years. Sam Brock is in Charlotte for us tonight. In the aftermath of bullets flying and officers running into the line of fire, there's a cavernous hole in Charlotte tonight.

With the death toll now up to four, Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks, Department of Correction Veterans, Sam Polochi and Alden Elliott, and Officer of the Month, Joshua Iyer. He was out getting illegal guns off the street. and it's going to be sorely missed. This tragedy, now the deadliest for police from gunfire in almost a decade. It's just been very tough and knowing that you have families that are hurting right now. Law enforcement says this man, Terry Hughes Jr., with a lengthy criminal record,

gunned down the officers as they approached serving a warrant before he was shot in the yard of this house. Investigators recovered an AR-15, a handgun, and more. more than a hundred shell casings after a furious confrontation. How does a convicted felon acquire a high-powered assault rifle? You know, I think you can ask anybody on the streets. You can have these laws on the books, but if someone wants to possess a firearm, they can certainly get one. Now, after a spate of recent attacks on officers, another reminder of what these public servants stand for.

Would you do this again, knowing your fate yesterday, would you do it again? They would be a boisterous, yes. Sam Brock, NBC News, Charlotte. All right, we thank Sam for that. Now to the big headlines at a former President Trump's hush money trial. The judge slamming Trump with a $9,000 fine for violating his gag order as the prosecution called Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall's former attorney to the stand. NBC senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett has the details.

Tonight, former President Trump hit with a $9,000 fine at his hush money trial, with the judge finding multiple viable. of the gag order, prohibiting Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, now threatening to throw him behind bars, saying jail may be a necessary punishment in the future. Mr. Trump's attorneys had argued it's unfair to hold him accountable for reposting criticism others have voiced, and that certain witnesses like Michael Cohen frequently attack Mr. Trump. The presumptive Republican nominee later deleting the nine posts about Cohen and Stormy Daniels that landed him in hot water. is not only unique, it's totally unconstitutional.

I'm the Republican candidate for President of the United States. There's no crime. There's no anything here. The former president joined in court today by son Eric, the first family member to attend. The prosecution calling Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Daniels and Karen McDougal, two women who say they had sex with Mr. Trump, which he has denied. Mr. Trump is charged with a low-level felony, falsifying business records over his reimbursements to Cohen, who allegedly made the hush money payments.

Davidson testifying that after the release of that damaging Access Hollywood tape, interest in what Daniels had to say reached a crescendo. But Davidson only testified about dealings with Cohen, not offering evidence of Mr. Trump's knowledge of the plans. All right, Laura, joins us tonight from outside that courthouse in lower Manhattan. And so, Laura, what did we learn from Keith Davidson as far as the prosecution strategy and bringing him on the stand? Tom, I think that strategy today was to have somebody who could explain exactly how this whole idea of the hush money payments to Stormade Daniels, as prosecutors allege happened, how it all actually came about, right? We had David Pecker to sort of put Mr. Trump in the middle of the orchestrated plot, whereas Keith Davidson is not talking about anything that has to do with Mr. Trump.

He's talking about his dealings with Michael Cohen, because, of course, Cohen was his former fixer. He's the one who actually makes the payment. So Davidson is there to describe how all that came about, almost a scene-setter, if you will, of things to come, Tom. And then, you know, I want to ask you, what do you think the defense is going to do with Keith Davidson? Any idea? I think they're going to point out that you never had a conversation with the former president. He never instructed you to do so-and-so. He never told you that he was trying to do this to bury something ahead of the election.

He never told you that he plans to falsify his business records. All of that type of lines of questioning on cross-examination, Tom, I think is going to try to expose that he doesn't actually get to speak to the core issue, which is the falsification of the business records, not the hush money payments, not all of the scandalous text messages that we saw today. It has to do with the alleged crime, and it's going to be interesting to see if they can really flesh that out on cross. All right, Laura Jarrett for us tonight. Laura, we thank you for that. In Florida, the pressure is on for some women and health care providers. The state's new six-week ban coming in less than 24 hours, and those seeking an abortion will need to travel as far as North Carolina for the procedure. Now the state facing an overwhelming rush of last-minute appointments before that law takes effect.

Are Marissa Para's in Jacksonville speaking with both critics and supporters? Tonight, abortion clinics in Florida stretched to the limit, squeezing in double, even triple the usual number of patients, before the state's six-week abortion ban takes effect tomorrow. A lot of patients will come in for their consult and be told, that we can't see them. Kelly Flynn runs a clinic in Jacksonville. Are you prepared for that moment when you have to tell the patients

you can't drink them? You don't. You can't prepare for that. She says a third of their patients come from outside Florida. That's because the surrounding states have some of the strictest abortion laws in the country.

Come tomorrow, the closest driveable options for care after six weeks will be North Carolina and Virginia. Yesterday we had two patients that came in from Mississippi and Louisiana. So they came here in a rush. ahead of that deadline. That's correct. And there's a lot of patients that really don't know and don't understand the politics around this. They don't understand that there is this six-week ban

when most people don't even realize that they're pregnant at six weeks. We're looking at the southeast completely like it's an abortion desert now. State rep Mike Beltran was one of the band's sponsors. We're a conservative state. We should not be allowing abortions, and we certainly shouldn't be providing abortion tourism for other states in the South. What do you say to the women who are pregnant and don't want to be or they're pregnant and they simply do not see a world or a path forward where they can take care of their child? We've done a lot of things for prenatal care. We've done things to benefit new mothers.

We've done things to benefit the newborns and the infants and the toddlers. You absolutely need to be a compassionate conservative and you need to provide women and children with the tools that they need to thrive and adoption and other options we're providing women the resources. He points out the law has exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking up to 15 weeks and for the life of the mother and fatal fetal abnormalities. When they are born, how are they going to be taken care of? Cassie is four weeks pregnant.

She didn't want us to share her last name, but told us she can't afford another baby, so she started the process of ending her pregnancy. We are in an RV and we need to have a house in order to have another baby. We already have one little baby is one and a half and we just don't have the room right now. What is it that you think that they don't understand that you wish that they did? I wish that they understood that there's more to having a baby than just birthing it. But you're also raising them and caring for them and nurturing them throughout life and a very high. hard life, not an easy one.

In November, Floridians will vote on a proposed ballot amendment that would protect abortion rights until roughly 24 weeks, but Cassie worries what will happen to other women making difficult choices in the meantime. By the end of this week, there might be women who are just two weeks further along than you, and they wouldn't be able to get the same procedure. I would really feel for them because it's just not right. Marissa Parra joins us tonight from Jacksonville. So, Marissa, as you reported there, the law changes, and then voters will get there, say, in November.

You still have about six months before then. Has the state said how they will enforce the new rules, especially with, as you just reported, the influx of patients that are trying to get appointments and even coming in from out of state? That's a great question. And abortion care clinics, like the one behind me, have said that they're curious to see how that will be enforced, Tom. But every single abortion clinic I've talked to has said they do. do not want to find out directly, because the language of this new bill that officially goes into effect tomorrow, the language is such that anyone who doesn't follow this new six-week ban, anyone involved in that, will be committing a felony and will be charged as such, Tom.

Marissa, Parra for us from Jacksonville. Marissa, thank you. Also, as we mentioned last night, right now we are still tracking active and dangerous weather systems out there. This new video is showing a tornado touching down late today in Westmoreland, Kansas. 60 miles northwest of Topeka. So far, no reports of any damage or injuries just yet. But the new twist are coming just days after that deadly string of tornadoes across the Midwest

that left this, a massive trail of destruction in their wake. Millions now under threat of more severe weather in that same region. So let's bring in NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens. Bill, not much relief coming for this area in the Midwest. What are you seeing right now? We've had at least four tornadoes. We have an active tornado warning that's on the north side of Topeka, Kansas. I'll show you in a second.

But first, with our four tornadoes, they've been in areas of Kansas. That Westmoreland, the one we just showed you the picture of, I have seen pictures of homes that have been destroyed. At least two homes completely obliterated. They're doing active search and rescue in that region. No reports of any injuries or fatalities. It's a little small town in Westmoreland. It's just in the north of Manhattan, Kansas.

That's where the University of Kansas State is located. That's fine. But it's that little small town at Westmoreland that has been hit. So we know there has been new destruction this evening. Now, let me get to that active tornado warning. This is a nasty looking storm right over the top of Topeka, Kansas. The tornado sirens are going off. Everyone is in their shelters on the north side of town in North Topeka up towards Rock Creek.

And a lot of lightning. About two and a half inch hail also with this. That's baseballs falling from the sky with the chance of a tornado. So we'll watch this. This is about to go over a very populated section here of Interstate 70s. It heads from Topeka towards Lawrence, Kansas, which is where the University of Kansas is located in the next hour or two. And this tornado warning will continue until 645 local. time again does not include downtown Topeka that's to the north side here of town so we have

these tornado watches that are up until 10 o'clock this evening for areas of iowa 11 o'clock this evening for wichita all the way up towards kansas city and then we'll track these storms this evening well after dark into areas of central missouri this is the area at risk we just talked about and then tomorrow we're going to do this again but tomorrow it looks to be little more to the south tom mostly focusing on oklahoma areas of kansas and also west texas all right bill karence we're to stay tracking all of that. Still ahead tonight, we're following a developing story out of USC. A university shuttle bus colliding with a packed train near campus, nearly 20 people taken to the hospital. The investigation now underway. Plus, the TikTok videos that are all the buzz, a three-year-old in

North Carolina complaining of a monster in her closet, it turned out to be 50,000 bees behind a wall. We speak to that family and the beekeeper about how this real-life nightmare happens. Stay with us. We are back now with a real-life nightmare for one North Carolina family. They're three-year-old, unable to sleep for months because of what she believed were monsters in the wall. But a call to a local beekeeper revealed she was not making up the scary sounds she was hearing. NBC's Elwyn Lopez has the viral story. For one North Carolina, three-year-old, her closet was a constant source of terror. So about eight months ago, she started to say that she heard monsters in her wall.

We asked her to point, and she pointed right to her closet. Mom Ashley class initially riding it off as bedtime fears. But when they found some honeybees in the attic of their 100-year-old farmhouse, they called in a beekeeper, a thermal camera revealing that monster is kind of real. I kid you not, it lit up like Christmas on the wall right next to my daughter's closet. When I first thought it was like a man in the wall, I was really. startled that what what is that that whole cavity was full and it's full all the way to the ceiling behind that wall more than 50,000 bees and hundreds of pounds of honeycomb

and it was like an apocalypse is all I could think about is just all these bees started lying out something that even shocked beekeeper Curtis Collins is basically twice the size of any other hive that I've removed Ashley sharing her real life nightmare on TikTok. Okay today is day 10 of all this bee stuff. Her videos garnering more than 9 million views. There's just bees everywhere. They're like little landmines because they can still sting you in debt. Curtis busting through the walls, trying to remove the hive with three extractions over several days.

There's honey all over the ceiling. Sticky situation not only gross, but the damage estimated at over $20,000. Was there anything to do to prevent something like this from happening in your house? You know, insurance is not covering any of it because they say it's preventable with pests. Collins believes the bees initially gone in through this small hole in the attic and had been there for months. What do you think? Is that crazy? Is that the noise you were hearing in your wall? Mm-hmm. Okay. That's the noise the monsters were making?

Mm-hmm. Okay. We're going to get, we got those monsters. Bye monsters. Get out of here. Now that the so-called monsters are gone, Curtis the Beacon. has a brand new title. She looked straight at him and said he's not a beekeeper. He's a monster hunter. And Curtis was so excited. I think he was sitting high for the rest of the day. It's all a process to try and save the bees and keep them keep that hive going. This family of five now hoping they can finally get some zes without the bees. So that's good that we saved all of those

bees, but I'm ready for them to be evicted. They were not invited in the first place. Right. And Tom, this is highly unusual. That beekeeper tells me that the bees were able to get in and create so much space because they didn't have insulated walls in this 100-year-old home. They say that this was about 8 to 9 feet tall, and it took about eight months for those bees to create all of this. Tom. Okay, Ellen, thank you.

When we come back, hijacked ambulance dash cam footage showing the moment a man jumps out of the window of a home and steals an ambulance the crash that ended this wild scene. Back now with Top Stories News Feed, and we begin with the campus bus crashing into a train near USC. This video shared on Citizen App, showing the aftermath of the collision,

fire crews helping passengers out of the pack train. Police paying, excuse me, police saying 18 people were taken to the hospital, two in serious condition. About 40 people were trained. treated for minor injuries at the scene. The cause of the crash is under investigation. A man caught on camera stealing an ambulance in West Virginia. Dash cam footage showing the moment he jumps from the window of a recovery home

where medics were responding to a call, climbs into the ambulance, then speeds away. After several minutes, he abandons the ambulance outside a house, allowing it to roll backwards into a wall. No one was hurt. The suspect was arrested. At Walmart, closing its health care clinics and telehealth service, is due to escalating costs. The clinics which are currently located across six states offer annual checkups and dental appointments for as low as $30.

Now all 51 of them will close within the next 90 days, the retailer blaming the decision on a challenging increased operating cost. We want to turn out of some major health news. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force lowering the recommended age for women to start getting screened for breast cancer from 50 to 40.

The move coming as the rates of breast cancer women in their 40s has been on the rise in recent years. NBC ZANN Thompson has this report. In the world of breast cancer, two things are true. Mammograms can hurt, and the guidelines for getting them can be confusing. Tonight, another change. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts, now recommends women, starting at age 40, get mammograms every other year until 74.

It previously said screening should start no longer. later than age 50. Why the change to start biennial screening at 40? The latest science clearly shows that starting at age 40 can save more lives for breast cancer and in fact can save up to nearly 20% more lives from this disease. Yet there is no agreement among experts. The American Cancer Society says mammograms are optional for women 40 to 44. And the American College of Radiology recommends them every year,

starting at 40. The guidelines are very confusing. Dr. Marlene Myers, a breast oncologist, is frustrated. We don't know the absolute correct indications for screening, but it's absolutely worth a conversation with your primary care doctor or with your gynecologist to say what is right for me to discuss what your options are. Ann Thompson, NBC News, New York. Okay, for more on what this means for millions of women. I want to bring in NBC News medical contributor, Dr. Natalie Azar.

Dr. Azar, thanks for being here on top story tonight. Let's start with this. I mean, because I think there's going to be a lot of whiplash for women across America. Why are they moving back from 50 to 40? Yeah, so basically they cite two main reasons for this. And one is that we know that cancer rates have been increasing pretty significantly in women in their 40s. Between 2015 and 2019, the rate increased by about 2% per year. And we know that earlier mammograms will save.

more lives. They actually estimate or calculate that about 8,000 lives a year could be saved. And just sort of big picture, you mentioned, you know, they've sort of like the, they've come into the consensus with other medical groups. And I think that that's really the take-home message for women, too, is that this is a more streamlined recommendation in line with other recommendations. So people shouldn't be as confused, hopefully, as they were before this. Yeah, and we just saw an Anne's piece that even doctors are frustrated with this as well. Do we know why younger women are being diagnosed with breast cancer? No, not necessarily.

I mean, there are so many different things that are being thrown out there. I think a lot of it obviously has to do with our environment and certain exposures. Some of it, of course, could be increased detection because a lot of other groups like, for example, the American Cancer Society has been recommending for a number of years that we start screening earlier. But we know that it's on the rise. It's on the rise for a lot of other different cancers, colorectal cancer as well. So I think we all are probably going to blame or invoke environment. but we really don't know why.

And then what about how often women should get screened every two years, every year? So I just, I'm not a doctor, obviously, but I would think if you can, you'd want to get screened every year, but maybe I'm wrong. Right. Well, one of the biggest criticisms of screening yearly, at least based on, or at least according to the United States Prevented Services Task Force, is that you could get some, you know, what we call false positives, which means that you're seeing something on a screening mammogram that looks abnormal and the woman undergoes a breast biopsy.

unnecessarily and ultimately finds out that they don't have breast cancer. And that's sort of been the biggest pushback according to them for doing it annually. But like I said, the American Cancer Society recommends annual. The American College of Radiology recommends annual. And they basically say that the benefit of detecting a cancer earlier far outweighs that potential harm of undergoing two frequent biopsies or something like that. One of the other big criticisms about their recommendations, actually, Tom, is that they didn't include breast density. And that's a big deal because we know now that pretty soon radiologists are going to actually have to comment on breast density when they write their report. And that's something women are just born with?

Breast density is something that you are born with, absolutely. And not only can it sometimes camouflage of breast cancer, it independently increases the risk of breast cancer. And so a lot of experts were hoping that the task force would actually go further, not only say do it yearly, but also make a comment about breast cancer. density. You know, I know you're a practicing physician, so you probably deal with this all the time, but when there's sort of a new regulation and then the insurance companies have to catch up, do they catch up immediately or does it take them time? Right. So what's actually kind of good is that even though the task force has been slow to change their recommendation to 40 and slow even now not to recommend annual, most commercial insurance companies will still approve an annual mammogram.

But this is why it's important even that they did go down to 40, especially for racial and ethnic minorities, for premenopausal women, because of insurance companies saying, well, the task force says they should do it. They kind of are obliged. The Affordable Care Act has to cover what we call a grade B or better recommendation, which this is. So it should enhance insurance coverage for a lot of women. That kind of goes hand in hand, what the task force says and what the insurance company

covers, so that's definitely a good thing. But like I said, I think more experts were hoping for yearly, and they were hoping for comments on breast density, which we didn't get. The task force says there's not enough information or evidence to make a recommendation for that yet. Dr. Natalie Azar, we thank you for being here tonight. Okay, we want to turn out a global watch and a check of what else is happening around the world. We start with a deadly sword attack in the UK. New video shows a man carrying and waving the weapon around in a London, neighborhood. After attacking people in the area, a 14-year-old boy was killed, and at least five people were hurt, including two police officers. The suspect was eventually tased by

police and arrested. An investigation is now underway, but police do not believe it was an act of terror. Okay, Mexico, taking Ecuador to the International Court of Justice after Ecuadorian officials stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito earlier this month. You may remember we reported on this on top story. Mexico saying there was no legal defense for the incident, which resulted in the arrest of a former Ecuadorian vice president. Mexico is asking the UN's top court to provide full protection to its diplomatic areas and for Ecuador's UN membership to be revoked. Yesterday, Ecuador argued Mexico violated international law by granting asylum to a convicted criminal. And thousands of passengers stranded across Australia after a budget airline canceled

all, yes, all of their flights. The Australian airline Bonza, or Bonza, announcing it was temporarily suspending all flight services effective immediately. The country's transportation minister saying they are working with other carriers to try and get passengers to their destinations. The low-cost airline launched in January of 2023, but there have been recent reports, obviously, of financial troubles. Okay, now back to Mexico where a Catholic bishop was found alive. He's now been hospitalized after he was abducted over the weekend. Or earlier this year, the Monsignor had organized peace talks between rival cartels and had since received threats. Police now saying he was likely the victim of an express kidnapping.

NBC's Maura Barrett has the latest. A retired Catholic bishop who has long fought cartel violence found safe after church officials reported him kidnapped over the weekend. Footage released by authorities showing Bishop Salvador Rangel in a hospital bed surrounded by State of Morelis officials. Police did not specify how he had been found or his condition. Police describing the abduction as an express kidnapping, likely by low-level criminals. Rangel was a bishop of a notoriously violent diocese in the southern state of Guerrero that has been plagued with crime.

In particular, turf wars between cartels. Rangel sought to end bloodshed between gangs by offering to hold peace talks between rival groups in the region. Most recently, in February, a move endorsed by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. integrantes of all the Iglesias participate, help in the pacification

of the country. But since then, receiving threats and over the weekend going missing in the neighboring state of Morelos just north of Guerrero.

Church officials originally pleading for Rangel's captors to allow him to take his medications as an act of humanity. This incident, once again, thrusting the issue of security

to the forefront. Ahead of next month's presidential election. Tonight, Rangel is being treated in the hospital. He's previously said that trucees like the ones that he works on with gangs can often be fragile because of broken agreements. As of now, police say it's unclear who held him captive. Tom? Maura Barrett for us tonight. Maura, thank you. Coming up, Biden's blunt move, the Biden administration planning to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule 3 drug, putting it on the same category as Tylenol with coating. What this could mean for marijuana restrictions,

nationwide, and could it open more doors for medical research? Why, some are saying this is purely political with dangerous consequences. That discussion coming up. We're back now with a major policy change from the Biden administration on marijuana. The new proposal would downgrade the drug's classification, making it easier to study for medical uses, and possibly changing the way crimes around the substance are charged. Blaine Alexander has the latest. For more than 50 years, marijuana has been listed among the world's most dangerous drugs,

classified alongside the likes of heroin or ecstasy. But tonight, in a major shift, according to sources with knowledge of the decision, the Biden administration is looking to reclassify the drug to Schedule 3, like ketamine or testosterone or Tylenol with codeine, which would allow marijuana to be more easily studied for medical benefits. The change would not legalize recreational marijuana. the possession and distribution of which is still a federal crime, but would recognize it as a drug less likely to lead to addiction.

Stephanie Shepard served nine years for conspiracy to distribute. What does this mean for incarceration rates in America? Hopefully it means a step closer to lowering those rates and also releasing those who are serving heinous sentences for cannabis. Public opinion has shifted dramatically in the last 20, years from 34% of Americans who believe marijuana should be legal to 70%. Nearly half of states have legalized marijuana for recreational use. But tonight, one opposition group says the cannabis industry has lobbied heavily to sell demonstrably harmful products and calls out the Biden administration

for a, quote, thinly veiled attempt to reverse polling trends. No one should be jailed. President Biden has already pardoned thousands of marijuana offenders and the move could go. learner political support this election year, particularly among young and black voters. The proposed change still has to go through a public comment period and would not become official for at least 60 days. Blaine Alexander, NBC News. For more on this potential marijuana policy change, I want to bring in tonight Kevin Sabat. He's a former advisor to the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations on drug policy, and the president

and CEO of smart approaches to marijuana, a nonprofit working to educate. the public on marijuana use. Kevin, thanks for joining Top Story tonight. Let's get right to it. You do not think this is a good idea. Why? No, it's not. Listen, while it wouldn't legalize marijuana, which I think would be even worse idea, this isn't a good idea because it's going to supersize the marijuana industry. It's going to turn them into big tobacco, which, you know, we all know how that movie ended. It's going to give them tax breaks, so they'll be able to commercialize and promote their products. And their products today are super strength, highly potent THC, the edibles, the cookies, the candies, the concentrates that can be up to 99% potent genetically

bred marijuana. So I don't think this is a good idea for public health. It also reeks of electoral politics. You know, well, I'm going to ask you about that in a second, but in Blaine's report, which we just saw there, she reports that in the last 20 years, the public sort of sentiment on marijuana has shifted in America, going from 34% of Americans who believe marijuana should be legal to now 70%, and you have nearly half the states who have legalized it. Isn't this sort of the momentum where marijuana is going in America? Well, there's no doubt the industry has done a great job at tricking people into believing something that the science says is completely the opposite. When you look at what marijuana is doing for psychosis, for example, schizophrenia, increasing it by five times a likelihood, according to the Lancet Medical Journal, the most prominent one in the world.

When you look at IQ loss, eight points, when you look at testosterone issues with reproductive issues, cardiovascular, heart, lung. I mean, smoking anything is not good for you. Inhaling something with hundreds of hydrocarbons and carcinogens is just not a good idea. You would have thought we would have learned our lesson with tobacco, but it seems like we need to learn again. And then, but along those lines, I mean, should alcohol also be illegal? Well, I mean, alcohol, you know, is not legal because it's good for you, right? Tom, alcohol is legal because it's been around Western civilization used by 80% of, you know, Western civilization for the last 5,000 years. That's why it's legal. And by the way,

we have considerable damage from alcohol. Don't get me wrong. I mean, alcohol is the number one drug of abuse for violence and even incarceration. But, you know, if your headlights are broken, you don't try and break your tail lights just to be consistent. We should learn from the alcohol example and not normalize and commercialize today's highly potent marijuana. And you believe marijuana is a gateway drug, right? Not only is it bad by itself, but it could also lead to other bad choices? Well, it can. I mean, we see that people, if you use marijuana, you're much more likely to use other drugs.

You know, if you, but obviously, if you use marijuana, it doesn't mean you're definitely going to use other drugs. But again, if you look at people who use cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, 98% of them started with alcohol and marijuana, the two most widely accepted and available drugs. So, yeah, it's also not a good idea on that. But I think on its own, this is a different drug than it used to be. It's not Woodstock Wheat. I don't think you should go to prison.

I don't think you should go to jail. Don't get me wrong. I don't think you should be criminalized. But why do we need to go to the other extreme and commercialize it? So that's my next question. Why do you think President Biden wants to do this? Unfortunately, I think it's electoral politics. I mean, I think President Biden knows that this isn't good, actually.

I think deep down he knows that. I mean, he, frankly, is the founder of the Office of Drug Policy that established the drugs arm. He's the reason we have that. So back in the early 80s, against Ronald Reagan's wishes, believe it or not, he wanted a drug czar. So I don't think, I think he probably sees this as somewhat of a compromise maybe between legalization and sort of doing nothing. And I think this is really driven by a lot of his advisors who think this is going to get young people out to vote. But, you know, the recent IOP Harvard poll that you all have referred to many times that many people are talking about surveying young people's attitudes,

marijuana doesn't even register in terms of a top 15 reason why they wouldn't even get out to vote. So I actually think this is even wrong on the politics. Yeah, you know, I do want to ask you that you mentioned about alcohol being around for so long. I mean, marijuana has been around for so long, right? Oh, yeah. And you have so many crimes. You have DEA agents who spend countless hours stopping marijuana smugglers as well. It's clearly in the country.

It's being grown. It's legalized. Wouldn't it be better to sort of make laws, cater laws that could get it maybe under control and help the country in some way? Or do you see that as just completely impossible? We've tried that for, I think it's a possible, Tom. We've tried that for over 10 years in Colorado and California. What's happened?

We have an underground black market bigger than before legalization. Because when you increase the demand, you increase the ability, you know, you increase the ability for the black market and black market actors. We have Chinese national smugglers connected to the Chinese Communist Party that are now part of the marijuana industry in this country, growing in illegal states. So, you know, I don't think that that is the answer. I'm not saying we should be arresting people, throwing them, in prison. By the way, this new scheduling decision does nothing to get anybody out of prison.

It won't stop arrests for marijuana. I mean, that's sort of the cynical part about this that I'm looking at it, is that it's touted as social justice. But in reality, the people hurt the most are going to be the people with the least number of resources, just like alcohol and tobacco. And I worry about that. Kevin, what is your solution to try to get, I mean, at least the drug enforcement and the issues of marijuana under control? Well, look, first, let's do some more research. We need to see what this super strength marijuana is even doing in the long term. We know in the short term it's causing psychosis, things like that. What is it doing in the long term? I don't think we should be arresting, throwing people in prison. Thankfully, we're not doing

that. So that's already not happening. I think we frankly, Tom, a lot of education, a lot of awareness, in a credible way, not in a scary way, not in a sort of overdramatic way, but an incredible way about what the science is saying. And frankly, when I talk to young people, even if they don't want to believe the science. I just tell them, listen, there's a big industry out there. Kevin, when you say educate, I'm just trying to understand, and I don't mean to be flip here, but I mean, people know they're going to smoke weed, they're going to eat an edible to get high. I mean, what more education do you want to give them? I don't know if you read Maureen Douts column when Colorado legalized marijuana. She had an entire edible and ended up she thought she was going to die that

night. She didn't know that was going to happen. I don't think most Americans realize that it increases psychotic episodes by fivefold, that it increases suicidality, that it It's the number one drug among youth suicide, people who die by suicide, who are young people in Colorado and other legal states. I don't think they realize it doubles your risk of a car crash because you've lost theft perception. I don't think they realize that it's causing cardiovascular incidents, major study, thousands of people just released by JAMA a few months ago on that. I just don't, I think the industry's done a great job. And again, you mentioned alcohol. I want to go back to that because I don't want to, I'm not trying to sidestep that.

It's true. Marijuana has been used for thousands of years in different cultures. never to the extent of alcohol. You can't compare it hasn't been 70% of Western civilization. So I think that that is a huge part of this. But also historically, historically, it's an unfair comparison because, I mean, like, there were times in the middle ages when it was safer to drink beer than it was to drink water

because the water was contaminated, you know? So it is not a fair comparison, but alcohol destroys lives. Alcohol has led to countless deaths and injuries and the advertisements. I mean, that's a whole, we could have a whole show about that. Part of the reason that's the case, Tom, is because it's been legal and commercialized by a for-profit industry. It's not just the alcohol. It's that, you know, tobacco is the same thing. We used tobacco for thousands of years and people weren't dying of lung cancer until we had big tobacco. I get it. But would you also argue then less regulation is better? I mean, I just want to make, want to be clear on your point.

Listen, where it's been legal, I want to see, listen, I'm all for the regulation where it's been legal. I mean, where it's been legalized like Colorado, let's get potency caps. We don't need 99% potency. Let's at least do 20%. Let's get rid of child-friendly products. Let's get warning labels. What's happening to pregnant women out there with marijuana is huge. I think we're really underestimating the current damage of marijuana because it's seen still by most people as no big deal. And the reality is it's just it's a different drug today. And so I don't have my head in the sand, but listen, this industry wants to do nothing of the sort.

They won't let warning labels pass. They won't let any of that stuff pass because it hurts their bottom line. This is about profit, Tom. It's about profit over public health. It's about dollars and cents, unfortunately. I'm so happy we had you on Top Store and we had your perspective tonight. Thank you for being here. When we come back, an emergency unfolding on a Bay Area basketball court, a man collapsing in the middle of a rec league game, two nurses who happened to be at the gym rushing in to save him the measures they took that likely saved his life. That's next.

Finally tonight, a terrifying moment caught on camera at a California basketball game. A man collapsing on the court and losing consciousness, but two of off-duty nurses, who happened to be at that rec center, jumped into action and let their training kick in. NBC's Emily Aketa has more from the pair, now being hailed as heroes. It was a race against time on this Bay Area basketball court. He just didn't look great. He wasn't really moving. Nurses Doreen Thrash and Marcus Walton were both off-duty enjoying a Sunday afternoon at a gym when a player in a rec league game suddenly collapsed, twice.

The pros knew they had just seconds to act. And so they're trying to wake him up, and I just immediately got up. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. The stakes, truly life or death. Less than 6% of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital survive, compared with about 24% in a hospital, according to a study from the Institute of Medicine. All of a sudden, he's not breathing. I don't feel a pause.

I only have one job to do at that point, and that's to, you know, get his pulse back. And so I started compressions. Thrash performing CPR, while walking. Alton called for the gym's AED or automatic external defibrillator to try and restart the heart. I pressed the button. I gave him a shop, and he jolted, and immediately eyes woke up. He's breathing, normal, and I was like, this is a miracle. Amateur videographer Noli Caldytera caught the harrowing moments on camera that now have onlookers hailing the nurses as heroes.

They are heroes because without even hesitating, they just sprung into action and let all of their training kick in to save someone else's life. Walton says it just shows the importance of getting CPR training. Go take a CPR first aid class. It's a wealth of knowledge that you can apply in a lot of situations and I mean, you can save somebody's life. It was largely techniques like the ones you learn in those classes, he says, that he used on the court. And many AEDs will actually help you offer first. first aid. You turn it on and it will just direct you, whether that's compressions or applying the, you know, defibrillator pads. It'll tell you exactly what to do. Now the two nurses just happy they were able to help that man who is now on the road to recovery beat the odds. When you have a community like we had in that gym, they all, everyone came together and helped and it was very fast and we saved a life and we saved the family. Emily Ikeda, NBC News. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. That does it for us tonight. I'm Tom Yamis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.