Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

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

Breaking news tonight, the dangerous and rare tornadoes hitting the New York City area right now. This massive funnel cloud spotted just outside the city. Down trees cutting off highways, violent downpours, submerging neighborhoods, at least one person struck by lightning, where the severe storms are headed next. Plus tracking tropical storm bertha, bearing down on the Gulf Coast. We time it out. The school bus carrying students slamming into a building, multiple. people hospitalized. The shooting rampage terrorizing an entire neighborhood, a man with an AR-15 firing randomly. The terrifying moments caught on multiple cameras. Danger in the water drone video

capturing a monster great white shark lurking near unsuspecting young swimmers. The amazing discovery 70 years ago, a Pan Am plane crashed into the ocean thought to be lost forever until now. The moment These researchers found it. Bear break in what this Colorado man did to get this massive animal out of a car. Plus, the cost of living in Miami surpassing New York City for the first time ever. So why is living in the 305 even more expensive? We'll explain. Top story starts right now.

And good evening at this hour. Dangerous weather on the move across the northeast. A tornado watch issued across several states even in New York City. Tens of millions are at risk right now. You take a look at this massive funnel cloud swirling over Pinebrook, New Jersey, just 26 miles outside of New York City. Trencial downpours and violent winds shaking neighborhoods. Down trees bringing traffic to a standstill.

You see it right here. Other roads there are totally washed out in creating dangerous conditions for drivers. This trash can swept away in those violent floodwaters. The time lapse, if you look closely, it shows the Manhattan skyline turning nearly black, those iconic skyscrapers swallowed by storm clouds little by little. And video shows another column of clouds swirling in eastern PA. This just a new video out of Kentucky showing a likely tornado tearing through a field in Owen County. You can see debris flying and lightning lighting up the sky.

And right now communities down south are bracing for something else. Tropical storm Bertha, which is gaining strength in the Gulf, waves already picking up some steam as people stock up on sandbags are George Salis on the ground in New Orleans talking to people there. Bill Karen standing by with the latest track and the timing, how soon we could see the storm make landfall as tropical storm watches and warnings are extended this hour. That's the track. We first want to begin with Erin McLaughlin in the storm zone for us. Tonight, this video appears to show a massive funnel cloud in New Jersey just outside New York City, round after round of severe weather bearing down on millions across the

northeast. This time lapse showing the storm rolling through Manhattan with multiple tornado warnings west of the Big Apple and at least two reports of twisters in Morris County, New Jersey. This is a time to see cover in a secure place. Man, it's shut through. The storm taking out trees and blocking lanes of traffic. Look what it did. Look at the trees. Floodwater swamping streets in Bergen County and torrential downpours across the tri-state area. flooding as far south as Maryland. Drivers navigating flooded streets in Ocean City. And in the south, tropical storm Bertha looming in the Gulf.

Double red flags in Panama City Beach, Florida warning beachgoers to stay out of the water. Bertha bringing dangerous rip currents and waves up to 11 feet. Meanwhile in the west, monsoon rains inundating Prescott, Arizona. And in western Colorado, heavy rain sending mud and debris. onto Interstate 70, shutting it down. Tom, I spoke to a man who said he was driving down this road when all of a sudden a wall of water just came gushing down. Video shows his car trapped.

He said the water was all the way up to that tree. Thankfully, he's okay, and his car has been towed. But it's a powerful demonstration of just how dangerous and fast these floods can be. Tom. You can never drive into those puddles when this happens at flooding. All right, thanks, Aaron. And as Tropical Storm berth that takes aim at the Gulf Coast, our George Solis is on the ground in New Orleans, where a tropical storm warning is in place. George emergency operations are already activated there.

How are people preparing? New Orleans is used to storms. And this is maybe one of the first ones of the hurricane season that's going to get them awake and kind of watching the radar. Yeah, that's right, Tom. And we've been talking to so many residents who are saying they're hoping for the best, preparing for the worst here at this sand distribution site. People have been grabbing these bags provided by the parish, filling them up. loading up their vehicles just like this one here. You can see this family taking several bags. The good news here, this is all free so they can take as many as they need. Talking to families here who are saying they have been down this road before. And even though current forecasts say this may

not be the ultimate rainmaker, they know what a difference any change can can really make with these storms. And so again, these are open 24 hours. People have been filling them up saying, we want to make sure we are prepared for whatever tropical storm Bertha does. And as you mentioned, Emergency Operations Center already activated. What does that mean? Well, you have a contingency of workers already on standby, ready to be deployed. Should this storm take a turn for the worst? Roads already being closed right now.

Flood plans in place right now. And, of course, workers that are out there cleaning those ditches, making sure water recedes when it needs to, those pumps that are so crucial here. Also, man, 24-7. So when this storm hits, they are ready to tackle it by any means necessary, Tom. Okay, George Solis for us, George, we thank you for that. I want to get right to NBC News meteorologist. Bill Karin, who's tracking tropical storm bertha as well as the severe weather threat tonight.

Bill, let's start with those dangerous storms that we're seeing here all across the northeast. I'm seeing that radar behind you. It looks like it's going to be another busy night. Yeah, there's a lot of activity going on. Numerous tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, flash flood warnings, and of course we got Bertha too. So we've had two tornadoes reported in New Jersey. One who showed you the video, the new video from Owen County, Kentucky. Numerous tornado warnings.

We've got three of them now coming out of weather. West Virginia heading into northern Virginia. We've also watching one, two, three, four tornado warnings now in areas of Kentucky. So as far as the severe thorns from watches and the tornado watch, these will expire roughly about 8th, about 10 p.m. this evening. Here's those two tornado warnings in Kentucky. You know, see the one just out to the east of Bowling Green. This is London, Kentucky under a tornado warning. I'm sure your sirens are going off. Everyone's getting to their safe room. It looks like if there's a tornado with us, it's passing on the south side of town. It does say radar indicated. So we'll just hope that. that's not on the ground. As far as the flash flooding goes, this has been widespread today from Southern Connecticut, northern New Jersey, all through the New York City area, still have active flash flood warnings in northern Delaware, including Baltimore, Richmond, Elkins, West Virginia. Look at this huge section of Ohio into West Virginia, all under flash flood warnings. And this is the Appalachians. This is the mountainous areas where the water piles up in a hurry, and we can get a disaster in a hurry, too. And then numerous flash flood warnings in areas of Kentucky,

Those are the same areas that I just showed you those tornado warnings. And then, of course, the airports. Summertime thunderstorms in the Northeast. You're rolling the dice if you're going to be flying in the northeast. Airport delays 105 minutes at LaGuardia. Philly Tom is at 165. And because of that heavy rain, Baltimore, for the last three hours, has been under a ground stop.

It means no one's getting in around. So much rain tonight. Let's talk about Bertha. I know it's not the storm of the century, but it looks pretty big right now in the Gulf. Yeah, so it's a decent size storm as far as, you know, how old, south, east, and west. But the issue with this storm is that the worst of it is all over the water.

And that's great for everyone on land. We still have, you know, tropical storm warnings. It's not that far away from actually being a hurricane. The winds are at 60 miles per hour. But this is as strong as it's expected to get. It's moving to the northwest at about six miles per hour. That's going to put it somewhere in New Orleans or just south of New Orleans come this time tomorrow.

And then it's going to pass right along northern portions of the Gulf from Louisiana all the way through Galveston towards Houston. Notice the wind speeds. They die off and they weaken with the storm. So the biggest question is, you know, if the winds aren't going to be an issue, what are we going to deal with with storm surge? Tomorrow at high tide, possibly two to four feet higher than normal. So the beaches, everyone's telling, you know, the red flags are flying.

Lifeguards are saying get off the beaches. So that ruins people's vacations. And we also can get the beach erosion out there too. So it's about one or two days of, you know, really, you know, not actually canceling people's plans, but making it more difficult than it usually would be. As far as rainfall goes, New Orleans is only supposed to get an inch or two of rain, Tom.

So the rain's not the real issue with the story. We'll see what the high tide does tomorrow, and then hopefully we'll be done with the storm in a couple of days and get a break. Bill, before you go, and I know you don't cover airlines for us, but you do cover weather. We're going to have sort of this double whammy, right? All these delays and cancellations you were talking about

in the northeast along the eastern seaboard. I wonder now with this storm as well in the south. I mean, could this be a perfect storm for travel trouble over the next week? There'll be squalls. I think if you're flying in and out of, say, New Orleans tomorrow, we could have some minor problems. Houston, that would be as we go through Friday, but nothing, even close to what we're dealing with today. Okay, great. That's good to note. Bill Kerens, we thank you for that. We want to turn out a developing story at a Baltimore, a school bus. Wait till you see this image plowing into a building with kids on board. You can see the back of the bus sticking out of the building there. The fire department says two adults and two children were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Joining us now from Maryland is Kyrie Stewart from our Baltimore affiliate WBAL.

Kyrie, thanks for joining our coverage live here. Do we know who was on the bus and the condition tonight? And how did this happen? Lots of questions surrounding all of this. They didn't say exactly how many people were on this bus. I'm going to step out of the way and just show you how things look from the ground right here. But as you mentioned, we know that two adults and one child were taken to the hospital. Eight people in all were evaluated here at the scene,

but they decided not to go to the hospital. But just take a look at this right here. You know, right now they're just trying to figure out how to get that bus out of the building. We were told not too long ago that they were waiting on an engineer to come here to figure out whether or not the building is structurally sound. And I think that's the really big question right now

that they're trying to determine because over here to the left, we can see that they have two tow trucks that are parked here and ready for when they want to pull that bus out of the building. But right now they're just standing around and they're just trying to figure out whether or not it's safe to do so without that building coming down. Because if you look at the top of the bus, it's hitting the ceiling right there.

So that's really the big question with all of this. But we're told this all happened around 2.25 this afternoon. We're told that this bus was coming from the Maryland School for the Blind. In fact, some of the officials were out here. The administrators of the school were out here shortly after that crash happened. And they were pretty much just on site making sure that everything was okay. Now, we're told that the injuries, the injuries to those people, that were taken to the hospital, that they are minor injuries.

Thank goodness, because this could have been a lot worse. And then officials also told me, too, that this building was occupied when it happened. Now, I wasn't able to speak to someone who was inside the building when it happened, but we did talk to a woman who was next door, and she said that she was inside her shop, she had her three-year-old with her, and she just heard a loud boom, you know, and she said she heard that a couple of times, and when she came out, she pretty much just saw the scene.

She saw emergency crews arrive here. She saw ambulances arrive as well. and she said that this was unlike anything that she has really ever seen in this area. So right now, again, the big question is one, is this building structurally sound? You know, that's what they're trying to, you know, figure out before they pull this bus out. And two, the cause of this crash. And what's really interesting about this is that only maybe two or three weeks ago, I cover this time, two or three weeks ago, we had a similar incident that happened not too far from here.

It's in the same county, Baltimore County. That incident involved a city bus, you know, at MTV. bus that went into a building. And that was a lot worse. We had around 30 people, a little over 30 people that were injured, that was injured in that. So it just really goes to show just how crazy, you know, these scenes are. But again, all of this is under investigation. And hopefully they figure out what led to this. But the big thing, Tom, the big thing is that no one died in all of this. Yeah, that is very big. Okay, Kyrie, we thank you for that report. Great stuff. We thank you for that. Next tonight, we're learning hundreds of non-citizens in New Jersey. We're able to

passed ballots in recent elections. The governor there says a DMV software error is to blame, leading to 6,000 non-citizens being registered to vote. NBC's Ryan Nobles joins us tonight from Washington. Ryan, what happened here and how many votes were actually cast? Well, as you point out, Tom, Governor Mikey Sherrill said that it was a DMV software error. That led to 6,000 non-citizens being registered to vote. It happened when they signed up for driver's licenses or identification cards.

Now, 400 of those non-citizens actually cast ballots in New Jersey elections between 2023 and 2024, though it's unclear which elections they voted in. Now, the governor said they were registered as Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters, and there's no evidence that any elections were swayed as a result. The state now, Tom, in the process of removing all of those names from the voter rolls. And then, Ryan, has something like this ever happened before? It actually has happened quite a few times in states like Oregon and Illinois have had examples of these issues with the DMV system where someone goes in to register to get a driver's license. They wouldn't necessarily be an illegal non-citizen. They could be someone who is in this country legally but have access to a driver's license.

And many of these states have an automatic voter role where when you register to get that driver's license, then you also get registered to vote. So it's happened in many different states, but there's never been an example of this many non-citizens actually getting the opportunity to register to vote and then actually cast ballots. So it's one of the reasons that this is getting so much attention. Okay, Ryan Noble's for us in Washington. We're going to stay there also in Washington because there are new strikes tonight from both the U.S. and Iran. Top Pentagon officials facing tough questions here at home on Capitol Hill as they ask Congress for more money to fund the fighting. Gabe Gutier is covering that one. Tonight, the fighting in the Middle East spilling onto key U.S. allies.

Iran says it's targeted Amazon's data infrastructure in Bahrain, as well as radar systems in Kuwait. While the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have declared a rent-seat blockade on Saudi Arabia, all as President Trump doubles down. And we're not finished at all. Now his administration is providing a new estimate for the Iran war's cost so far, 37 and a half billion taxpayer dollars. And we cannot afford inaction.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Cain grilled on Capitol Hill. We need some hard answers and some straight talk. And interrupted several times by protesters as they asked lawmakers for an extra $67 billion in part to pay for the conflict, which began in February. Democrats blasting HexasS leadership. You, sir, are the failure. You don't have a long-term plan to actually win this war. Win the war.

The men and women are going to be able to do it, but they need to have leadership. When will you show leadership? Of course we have leadership. When will you show leadership? Why do you show some leadership and stand up for your fellow Democrats who won't fund the troops who stand and play partisan politics while you don't give us the money? Tomorrow, President Trump is sent to attend a dignified transfer ceremony for the latest American casualties, including 30-year-old Sergeant Michael Swinton, who the Pentagon says was killed,

disposing of a drone in northern Iraq. It's a great honor for me to do it. These are people that want it and they feel like I do that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The president also issuing a new threat today for a key site inside Iran. He was pressed on whether he'd strike Pickax Mountain, a fortified area near one of Iran's main nuclear facilities. The president saying the U.S. will be hitting it pretty soon and very heavily. Tom?

Gabe Gutierrez, we thank you for that. want to turn out a terrifying video out of Nevada, a man on a shooting rampage, opening fire in a neighborhood full of families with an AR-15 seemingly at random. Dana Griffin with the videos tonight. Tonight, a gunman opening fire. Unbleaching multiple rounds in this North Las Vegas neighborhood, randomly firing as he appears to roam the streets. Doorbell cameras capture the shirtless man with what police say is an AR-15. Look, as he walks down the street Sunday pointing his gun, even knocking at a front door.

He crouches down on this porch to take aim. Ryan Adams films the shooting from a window before the gunman starts firing in his direction. What the fuck? Oh, get down. Adams warns his family to take cover. We were armed and just sitting tight, you know, told him that he didn't come in. and fortunately for us that he didn't.

Couple on the. Later showing our Las Vegas station KSNV were several bullets pierced his home. We just found a bullet fragment right here on the side. And then it actually buried in the wall. Police arrived with guns drawn. The suspect on the ground before taking off running. Police say the suspect resisted their attempt

to take him into custody and once apprehended, he became unresponsive. adding they believe he was impaired. The gunman was later declared dead at a hospital. A chilling end sending terror through this quiet neighborhood. Dana Griffin joins us tonight here. And Dana, you say there was no connection to that neighborhood. What else are we learning about the gunmen tonight?

So Tom, his name has not been released. Several neighbors say that once he fell, he never got back up. Another saying that they saw paramedics administering Narcan. Investigators say they did. do believe he was impaired. And the Las Vegas, the North Las Vegas police department tells me that they plan to release body cam video as soon as Thursday. Tom.

Okay, Dana Griffin was some new reporting there on that one. Dana, thank you. We're back in a moment here on Top Story with the murder case of the singer David. The new evidence released in court today, plus the rising cost of living for years. People have been flocking to Miami. Now it's more expensive than New York. So what's driving up the prices? And the terrifying close encounter, a massive great white you see it here, stalking a group of kids swimming out at sea.

We'll show you that video ahead on Top Story. We're back now with a preliminary hearing in the murder case of the singer known as David. Today, prosecutors laying out their case against David Anthony Burke, who was facing a number of charges, including first-degree murder. After authorities discovered the remains of a 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez in the trunk of his car last September. That car was found in a Los Angeles impact. pound lot several months after she was allegedly killed in just over a year after she was reported missing. For more on the new developments in court, I want to bring in NBC's Camilla Bernal in LA, who's been covering this for us, and Kristen Gibbons Fedden and NBC News legal analyst. Camila, I'm going to

start with you. There's a lot of new evidence introduced today, including body cam video, photos of the victim, and some text messages allegedly sent between David and Rivas Hernandez. Talk to our viewers about what the major takeaways are. Yeah, Tom, so we knew in these text messages the two were essentially fighting. And this was text messages of a fight the day before investigators believed Celeste Rivas was killed. The gruesome photos that the court saw today were photos of that decomposed body that was found inside of the front trunk of the Tesla. And while that was happening, Celeste's mother was crying as she was watching these very gruesome photos. One of the key things in the evidence that prosecutors were presenting today was the Amazon purchases.

And we had previously talked about the fact that they believe he ordered two chainsaws, for example, an inflatable pool, a burn cage, all of these things that they believe he ordered on the Internet. Well, today, authorities on the stand said that they actually found some of these things at the home. But what was interesting in cross-examination from the defense was that they said that they tested the chainsaws and did not find any blood on those chainsaws. So it will be interesting to see how the defense plays into that aspect of. the evidence. But overall, prosecutors believe they have a mountain of evidence against David, which does include blood that was found in David's home that they believe belonged to Celeste Rivas, and also pieces of that inflatable pool in parts of Celeste Rivas's body. So a lot of gruesome details and the judge hearing all of this today, Tom. Yeah, pretty, pretty gruesome. Kristen,

what is the judge looking for here? The judge is looking for something very simple, which is the lowest potential portion of evidence. It's not beyond a reasonable doubt, even though this is a criminal case. This is a preliminary hearing. So the judge is looking for probable cause that in criminal activity occurred and that the criminal activity was committed by that particular defendant, David. And so those are really the only two elements with just what we heard. There is probably enough, but it does appear that this preliminary hearing will go on for a couple of days. And so I would only anticipate that even more evidence would come out to prove his guilt at a probable cause level. Yeah, Camilla, as you know, we heard from DA Nathan Hawkman after the press her today revealing

that the prosecutor planned to call more than 10 witnesses to the stand. Do we know anything about those possible witnesses? And what else did he have to say? So we don't know exact details. Usually these witnesses tend to be first responders, the coroner. We also heard today from David's business managers. So people who can talk about the timeline, who can connect the dots and maybe even speak to motive because the manager that we heard from today essentially talking about how much he was making and that was millions of dollars because of music and endorsements so again they're just trying to piece together this puzzle to try to present to the judge and say yes there is enough evidence to move forward and we do believe that david committed

this crime christin do you think have you seen have you read have you heard enough will they go to trial on this, and could prosecutors ultimately go for the death penalty? I think prosecutors absolutely go for the death penalty. There are the three special circumstances that are evident in this case. The DA has been very clear. He is going to hear any and all mitigating evidence from the defense. But he's also going to talk to some of his star prosecutors in the office, and most importantly, he's going to talk to the family who may absolutely want the DA to seek the death penalty

in this particular case. You know, again, those three special circumstances are not the only thing that the family is going to want to seek for the death penalty. They lost their child. And based on the charges, their child was sexually assaulted. And so they are going to absolutely probably want to seek the death penalty. And the DA, although he is no obligation to seek it, will probably weigh very heavily in what they want. All right.

We thank you both for being part of this. I know we're going to stay on top of this as this case moves forward. When we come back tonight here in Top Story, scary moments caught on camera an explosion erupting inside a garbage truck. Look at this. One worker injured by that blast. we know about what caused this. Plus, how did a bear get stuck inside this car? We talked with a man who helped him get out.

Stay with us. We are back now with a scary close call in California. Alarming drone video shows a great white shark lurking dangerously close to a group of kids playing in the ocean. Our Liz Croyd spoke with the person who filmed it. Tonight, a shocking video off the coast of Southern California. A 10-foot great white shark spotted dangerously close to a group of children swimming north of Los Angeles. The kids seemed smiling and even waving to the drone camera, seemingly unaware that the massive predator was just feet away. I did get nervous, and my heartbeat did go a little higher.

Carlos Gowna took the terrifying video from about a mile away. I'm searching the shores, and this particular shark came from the depths, and I saw it near the swimmers. They definitely didn't have any idea. They waved at the drone. The video highlighting what experts say is one of the sharkiest summers in a decade off the California coast, driven by an El Nino weather pattern that's warming up the ocean waters, leading to more shark's sightings, including incidents like this, a heart-stopping moment in June as a curious shark circled a surfer sitting on his board. But despite the uptick, Chris Lowe of California's Shark Lab

tells us that luckily for those in the water, this doesn't actually mean more shark attacks. We don't necessarily see a big correlation between shark bites and strong El Ninos. What we do see are more sharks. So many that... So there's a shark right there. So, behind you. Right behind me. Look at that. There were several swimming by during our interview today with Carlos. This is life every day right now. This summer is insane. A sharky summer to quote Liz Kreutz there. So Liz, we've also seen more shark sightings in New York. Is that a coast-to-coast trend? Is it that more people have drones? What could be driving all of it? Yeah, hey Tom, it's a combo of all of this. Definitely more drones, right? We can take the camera up and get that

bird's eye view and see them flying around. But we are saying. coast to coast more sharks this summer. As we mentioned in the piece, a lot of this has to do, especially here in California with the Sal Nino that is warming the waters. Sharks have been moving north up from Mexico in this area. But the good news, as the shark lab said, that doesn't mean more bites. And if we look at some of the statistics so far, there have been seven shark bites so far this year that is trending downward from past years. Last year, there were 28 bites in total, 36 bytes. So at this point, for all the way in midsummer, we're doing pretty well. But the experts at the Shark Lab tell us that more sharks are coming. So we'll see how the rest

of the year comes. They're tracking them. Okay. This question, we thank you for that. Now to Top Stories News Feed tonight, Hollywood. Remembering actress Kaylee Hoddle, the 18-year-old. She died in a car crash today in Maryland. She was deaf and best known for her roles in two Godzilla movies. A local sheriff's office says she was riding in a car around 3 a.m. when it veered off the road. and it crashed. And a scary scene in Wisconsin, the moment an explosion erupts inside of a garbage truck. Look at this. Two workers here unloading bins when it happened. The blast knocking one of them to the ground. Authority say he was taken to the hospital for an eye injury and a concussion. We're told the explosion there was caused by an oxygen tank that someone threw in the trash. And new video of a suspect's daring getaway attempt. This is incredible. Here you can see deputies in Missouri trying to stop the driver.

Then he opens the door and he gets out while the car. cars moving. Now you see him. Now you don't. He just dives off the bridge. That sheriff's office says they eventually tracked him down and took him into custody. Some deputies were hurt while trying to detain him. They are going to be okay. And a lucky fine for one teen in Oregon, he went into a thrift store and picked up this L.A. Lakers warm-up jacket. Take a close look. He resells clothes online. So when he saw Chamberlain on the back, he's like, what? Will Chamberlain, of course. He snagged the jacket, paid just three bucks. Turns out it was actually a game worn jacket from the 1972 finals. He just sold it for about

$90,000. Pretty amazing. And Miami surpassing New York City for the first time, but on a list, you don't want to be at the top of. For the first time, the cost of living in the 305 is higher than here in the Big Apple. Here to break down the numbers, NBC's Alley Canal. Allie, always great to see you. For years after the pandemic, Miami was sort of the top destination, right? And so many people were We're leaving New York and California and coming to Miami for a variety of reasons, the sun and the fun, but also those good tax breaks and also the rules during COVID. But now it's sort of coming to fruition and it now feels like maybe it's getting too expensive for some people?

Yeah, so the math is changing here, Tom. Basically, the cost of living is becoming a lot more expensive. Since 2019, prices in South Florida, they've jumped 36%. That's the second fastest inflation in any major U.S. metro area, second to only Tampa, which is another Florida. city. And home valuations have also soared here. Zillow telling us that Miami home values have climbed about 90% over the past decade. That's outpacing both New York and the entire country as a whole. So is it

just population influx? Like what is it? It's people moving down there. They're embracing the lifestyle. Obviously during COVID, you had a lot of corporations switching to remote work. And then some of the realtors who I spoke with told me that they are seeing businesses open up. They decided to put their kids into

school. So they are staying in South Florida and not moving back. And I think in the beginning, people thought, okay, let's, let me buy a property in Florida during COVID, get out of Dodge for a little bit, but now they're staying for the long haul. Is it happening all over Florida as well? Because there are some big population centers in Florida that have grown over the year, whether it be Orlando or places like 30A, which was a vacation destination, but people are not moving there to live. Yeah, like I just said, Tampa is seeing a pretty significant rise. We're going to talk about home valuations and the pricing that you're paying there. But I think my

is sort of becoming this cultural hub. A lot of financial institutions. A lot of tech firms are actually relocating their businesses to Miami. It's sort of becoming the crypto capital of the world now. A lot of that tech, a lot of that new money is flowing. So you're seeing what's been happening in New York over the past few decades, sort of starting to transition to Miami.

And that's why you tend to see a lot of New York transplants go to Miami. And that's why it's always that big debate on what's cheaper at the end of the day, living in New York City or living in Miami. And so many restaurants now that we're just that we're just New York favorites are now in Miami. The story of Miami, I'm from there, I know this has a lot of times been boom and bust, right? Either overbilled or people over invested or leveraged investments, whatever it may be, boom or bust. People now say they don't think this is going to be a bust, right? It's been five years, six years since the pandemic. And it's still sticking, right? It's still very expensive in Miami. And now we're talking about it being more expensive than New York and L.A. Yeah, we've talked about the migration where people are moving and pretty consistently. I mean, Miami.

South Florida, the hotter regions, they have been the hot spot. And the state income tax, right? People like that. Yes, if you get that break, no state income tax, especially for wealthier Americans, that's a pretty big incentive. But again, you also have to factor in those other costs. Insurance, right? I'm just about to say that.

You get the sunshine, but you also get some flooding sometimes too. And cars, like in New York City, we don't need cars typically. So that's something that I think surprises a lot of those folks that end up moving down there. When they get over there. Okay, all right. Definitely. Amazing. Amazing.

All right. All right. Now to the alarming trend taking over your social media feed, fake wellness influencers. Hundreds of AI-generated ads featuring AI-generated people are pushing health supplements promising Americans medical miracles. Take a look. Don't try this drink unless you want your friends to accuse you of getting a facelift. They've worked miracles for me. In a week, your face looks sharper. Your ankles feel lighter. Your shoes fit the way they used to. 90% of products are garbage. Low doses, diluted formulas, zero results. It comes as the global wellness industry is booming,

hitting a record $6.8 trillion in 2025, and it's forecast to climb to nearly $10 trillion by 2029. The New York Times is out within an in-depth investigation on how these ads are targeting vulnerable consumers, oftentimes with misleading health claims. Joining us now on set with one of the reporters behind that story. Isabel New. Isabel, thanks for being here.

It's interesting. These are so prevalent, and I'm wondering if I've ever watched one of these and not known if one of these people were fake. All those ads that we saw there were most or all of those people fake? Yeah, they're all fake. They're all generated by AI. And what did you guys find out from your in-depth reporting? I mean, how big is this getting and how many AI people are sort of popping up on people's feeds? Well, you know, they keep popping up every single day. They're proliferating across our social media feeds. We've reviewed hundreds of these ads, and some have gotten taken down after we've. flag to these platforms, but new ones are constantly being generated.

Yeah. We want to actually play some of these videos, and you can walk us through what we should look out for in our viewers as well. So we'll play the video, and then you kind of tell us what was actually wrong. We gave 100 people with stage 3 kidney disease, one bottle of Sculptique, and told them to take two capsules every morning for eight weeks. The results were not what we expected. So talk to us about this video.

It was actually taken down because of your reporting. I mean, it does look a little fake and strange, right? people celebrating like that with kidney disease, but what did you guys notice right away? So this video is a little bit dangerous because they're claiming that this herbal supplement is going to work better than the medication if you have kidney disease. And they made up a whole clinical trial claiming that they actually did the study. So we have a lot of problems with this particular one. Are these real people, fake people?

No, they're all fake. All fake. Even the guy with the glasses? Yeah, yeah, especially. Gosh. How long did it take you to figure this out? Well, you know, my colleague and I started noticing these actually a few months back, and the policy around these have changed, and the technology keeps getting better.

So even in the months that we're reporting on it, they've got them more realistic. If we play here and we're going to play some of these videos for our viewers now. What are the things that you look out for that you can give some tips to our viewers like, hey, these are red flags. This is how you know the video is fake. That's a great question. So a lot of the times the backgrounds are really similar. They're constantly repeating these images that these idyllic suburban streets or American flags.

There's almost always an American flag. There's an American flag is a good tell. Yeah, good tell of American flag. And then the text, pay attention to the text. The text. If it's, yeah, if it's, it doesn't make sense, and that usually means that's the text. The text in the pictures or the text actually written

in the ads? In the pictures. Oh, okay, so you have to look closely. Yes. Are people, are legitimate companies, wellness companies, also using AI, and can that confuse consumers? So far, all the brands we've noticed are online only. But a lot of them are very popular.

They're selling millions of dollars on social media. But not any ones that you can see in the big box store so far. Is there a certain supplement that you would recommend to our viewers be more careful with this supplement versus others? Peptides are very popular. Creatin. I mean, there's so many nowadays. But what are some people who should really be careful about because they've sort of cornered the market on AI? I think you should be pretty careful if it's an herbal supplement that you hadn't heard about it.

And then pay attention to the packaging, see if there's something that doesn't make sense. Like, for example, some of these websites, they'll have misspellings, they'll have default text from the design template. So pay attention to these details. Yeah. You know, we even had AI ads in the Super Bowl, right? Wellness AI ads in the Super Bowl. Is this sort of the new frontier and how dangerous do you think is going to get as far as blurring the lines from stuff that is legitimate versus stuff that could be dangerous? Yeah.

So we've talked to some insiders of the industry, and they believe that more and more legitimate brands and bigger brands will take their service as marketing agencies and use AI because it's just so cheap and it's so fast to make. And right now, there's no federal law limiting the use of synthetic people in advertising. So until we change that, this is... You know, there were these kind of ads as well when I was growing up on television and there was obviously like the 1-800 numbers to call and get medical supplements. There's a part of this too that it's just common sense, right? If the claim is too good to be true, it probably is. That's right. But what's dangerous about these is just they can make them so fast and they can proliferate.

And the tech keeps getting better and better, so it's hard to tell. And they can get you right there in social media when you're on those apps. Yes. Isabel so great to see you. You can read her, of course, in the New York Times. Coming up here on Top Story, the stunning discovery out at Sea's search team, finding the wreckage of a Pan Am plane that's been missing for more than 70 years, how they finally tracked it down.

Plus, many parents think their kids are a one-of-a-kind. I hope they do. but these newborn babies are actually one in 15 million. We'll explain why right after this. We're back now with the shocking stabbing in Athens, just steps from the famedocopolis, a Greek-American couple slashed by an assailant with a knife in an attack that police believed was random.

Raf Sanchez is following this one for us tonight. Ralph, walk us through what happened here because this one sounds so strange and how is that couple doing tonight? Yeah, Tom, this was a terrifying incident at one of the world's most popular tourist attractions. Greek police tell NBC news it happened around 8 a.m. local time. Not unusual for tourists to try to get to the Acropolis early to beat the heat. There was a man at the entrance of the site who had apparently been acting erratically.

And then without warning, he attacked this pair of Greek-American tourists with a knife. He was wrestled to the ground. He was then arrested by police. Police are saying they do not believe this was terrorism. It's likely he has psychological issues. They think that this couple was attacked randomly. But a very, very scary incident. Their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening. The male Greek-American tourist is in his early 50s.

He suffered a pretty serious injury to his hand. The woman is in her late 40s. She was slashed in her leg. Both of them received first aid on the scene. They were then taken on to hospital. Kind of amazingly, Tom, the Acropolis remained open, despite this incident. Some 4 million people visit there. every year. And Greek authorities are saying they are confident this situation is contained,

and there is no further threat to the public or to tourists at the site. Tom. Raff Sanchez for us, Raf, thank you. Not at Top Stories Global Watch, a check of what else is happening around the world. We want to start in Northeast India where rescue teams are searching for survivors. After a suspected gas explosion caused part of a tunnel to collapse, it happened at a hydro power project that was under construction. Authorities believe a buildup of methane triggered that blast. They say at least 12 people were killed and more than a dozen others are still missing.

And in Nicaragua, they will not be holding any elections anytime soon. That news from the country's president, Danielle Ortega. The move crushing his opposition's hopes for a Democratic vote next year. Ortega has been in power for almost two decades. In 2021, he declared himself the winner after throwing other candidates in jail. Ortega controls nearly all branches of the government there and has rewritten the Constitution. The U.S. does not recognize him as Nicaragua's first. legitimate leader. And in Australia, a mother giving birth to identical quadruplets. It's super

rare. Doctors put the odds at around 1 in 15 million. The little girls were born just after 28 weeks, so they'll stay in the NICU for a while. But they're apparently all doing very well. Their parents already have four other kids at home, so one of their big goals down is getting a bigger car. Okay. Now to an NBC News exclusive, a 74-year-old aviation mystery has just been solved. A Pan Am passenger plane that disappeared in 1952, found resting on the ocean floor by a Discovery Channel search team. NBC's Tom Costello has the details on this fascinating story. Missing for 74 years, this was the moment. The search for a piece of aviation history finally paid off. Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Is that a plane? That's a plane. There, in the waters off

Puerto Rico, 2,000 feet below the surface, the fuselage, and that iconic Pan Am logo, Oh my God, there's writing. It's her. The Discovery Channel team had just found Clipper Endeavor. So this plane was coming here to New York, right? Yeah, to what's now JFK, and it was good Friday. People were flying up here from Puerto Rico for the Easter weekend. It was April 11th, 1952, Pan Am Flight 256, had just left San Juan Puerto Rico when they suddenly lost two engines and crashed. But in 1952, there were no flight attendant safety briefings.

People did not know where the exits were. They didn't know where flotation devices were. 52 of the 69 people on board died. Fast forward to 2026, and the Discovery Team was offered an advanced autonomous underwater drone used for surveying gas and mineral fields. That's a plane. Whoa. That's right. Look at that.

Oh my God. The haunting images of the final resting place for 52 people and a crash that changed aviation safety forever. as the government soon ordered pre-flight safety briefings. This is the only grave marker that those people will really likely ever have. And so it's important to remember that debt that we owe them. A piece of American history no longer lost at sea. Tom Costello joins us now. So Tom, if the Navy and the Coast Guard knew where this plane went down,

explain to our viewers why it took so long to find that wreckage. Well, they really weren't searching for it. I mean, in 1952, they knew where generally went down, but they didn't have the technology to go that deep. And they treated it really as a ship or a plane that was lost at sea and a cemetery at sea. But planes also, as you know, shift and drift as they fall to the bottom, 2,000 feet down. So they did not have a precise location. And now they do. And now they know where this cemetery at sea really is.

And talk to us about the legacy of that plane and the passengers ride. From what I understand, no memorials to the victims in Puerto Rico. there are some songs that do pay tribute to the 52 lives lost. Yeah, that's right. So one of the survivors was a baby back then. So now he's about 75 years old or so. He lost both parents. Another was a nurse who was helping people off that plane.

She is now 102 years old. She lives in Puerto Rico. She says she's happy that this final resting place has been pinpointed, but she says she moved on with her life long ago, Tom. Tom Costello, thank you. We're going to turn out to a wild piece of video out of Colorado. neighbors waking up to find this, a bear trapped inside one of their cars. You can see it there in the front of the seat.

Wow, that is crazy. The bear seemingly stuck for hours overnight, even honking the horn at one point. Finally, in the morning, a group saw the bear and came together to help get it out using a rope to safely open the door. And will we see it? Will we see it? Does the bear come out? It does. Look at that.

Wow, amazing nature in real time. Joining me now is Patrick Sullivan, the man who filmed that video. Patrick, what did you think when you saw the bear in the car? It was definitely a very surreal experience, and hopefully the closest I ever come to a bear. So how did the bear get in the car? Well, presumably overnight, it found its way in by opening the door. None of the windows were broken, and at about 3 a.m., I woke up to feed my three-month-old and noticed the sound of sort of continuous honking in the distance, you know, figuring it was just someone up trying to wake someone up to, you know, get to the airport or something.

But it kept going for about an hour the entire time I was feeding. And, you know, tired dad, I went right back to sleep. But then first thing in the morning, 7.30 a.m. I'm joking. Yep. Exactly. You know, there's certain things that take priority at 3 a.m. And then how did you guys come up with a plan to sort of, well, take me, take me back. I mean, you guys wake up, then you see the bear there.

I mean, when everyone sees the bear, I mean, what do they think? Yeah, I mean, my brother-in-law, John was the one that basically, you know, ran downstairs at 730, and the plan was the rope, I guess. I mean, I don't think he had much more than that. I was like, should we drive over? Should we bring bear sprays? So we have somewhere to hunker down if it's, you know, ornery from being trapped in a car. But now, so the rope was the plan, and we, you know, it's the neighbor shared, you know,

sort of shared forest between them. We just walked down over and saw it in the front passenger seat. And I think the fight had sort of left it overnight. It had torn up a good deal of the inside of the car, honked the horn, the airbag had gone off, and it was just sort of ready for us there. Wow, the airbag had gone off. That's crazy. And then how did you guys decide to do the backseat door instead of the front seat? All of the other doors were locked. It had locked itself.

It had ripped out every single panel of the door, of all the doors except for that one. And so in the process, locking itself in from the outside. And so, you know, my brother-in-law John had tested all the doors and was like, I don't know if we're going to be able to get it out without, you know, a very unfortunate locksmith call. I don't know who would take that call. But luckily, the rear, that was the only door that would open. And he tested it and the, you know, the bear looked back pretty suddenly. So he was like, yeah, maybe let's go with a rope plan here because I don't want to be there when the bear runs out of here. And it was a good thing, too, because it was quick when it did end up running out.

How was the bear once it came out of the car? What did it do? It didn't even say thank you. Thanks for asking. You know, not even, it just sort of scampered off at, you know, 25, 30 miles an hour in the exact opposite direction. It wanted nothing to do with us. It probably had a bad enough night without dealing with, you know, four people and the dogs. So, you know, no incidents there. And you could see, you know, the video, I was sort of maybe 40 feet back next to the house when I was taking it running out.

And even then, the sight of it rushing out of the car, I kind of tripped over myself and ran the other direction. But you get a glimpse of it coming out still. And then remind me, whose car was it? It was their neighbor's car. So they have sort of two older cars, and that was unfortunately the newer of the two. And, you know, that thing is unfortunately totaled. The inside of it is unrecognizable as a car. And in spending the night there, definitely used the facilities available to it.

And, yeah, I mean, definitely was a musk inside of that car. Oh, yeah. I wouldn't want to drive it. restroom too because it had been there all night. Do we know how it got in there? I mean, was the car unlocked? I think the car, yeah, I mean, most people in that, it's a small sort of historic mining town. Most people leave their cars unlocked. In fact, people should probably leave their windows open so that bears can get in and out because it was really the inability to get out. That was the issue. So yeah, the car was unlocked. And that sort of, I've heard is pretty normal up there.

Have you guys seen that bear before? I mean, is that a bear that sometimes comes to sort of the camping area? They knew the bear. So, yeah, I mean, I was like, you know, bears have two or three features. They're big furry in black. And they were like, oh, this is the yearling that we've probably seen raiding the compost around here. So they're so familiar with wildlife up there in that little town in Colorado that, you know, I wasn't able to distinguish it from other bears. But I think they knew the troublemaker.

So hopefully he grows out of it. Otherwise, the Rangers are going to have a troublesome bear on their hands. Was it true that the bear was listening to a podcast in the conference? car the whole man? I don't know if that's true. It might be barely true, but, you know, I think it was definitely sort of trying to trash max. I don't know.

Yeah, no, that's how the lore starts. All right, Patrick Sullivan, we thank you so much. When we come back, the emotional reunion of man getting a chance to thank the first responders who jumped into action to help save his life. That's next. Finally, tonight, an incredible moment of gratitude of New Jersey man leaving the hospital after recovering from a heart attack that nearly killed him, but not before he got a chance to thank the police officers who were in the right place at the right time

and saved us. This is the face of a man grateful to be alive. Bill Rigio spent nearly two weeks in this New York City hospital recovering from a heart attack that almost took his life. It ought to be forever grateful for those guys. You can see the emotion reuniting with the people who helped him during one of life's scariest moments. I don't remember much of what happened. All I know is the NYPD saved me. Riggio was on his way home from work in Midtown when a massive heart attack sent him falling down the subway stairs. A team of nearby NYPD officers immediately rushing into help. I don't even know what happened, to be honest with you.

Those officers performing CPR that doctors say likely saved his life. The situation was more dire than I expected it to be. It was very scary. Bill's wife, Christine, overcome with gratitude. I said to one of them that he was born for that day, and his purpose might have been to save my husband's life. A life still with a bright future ahead, thanks to the quick actions of these real-life heroes. These three, there's my godsend, God sent to me. All right, that does it for us.

Thanks for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamerson, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.