Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Episode Date: November 27, 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, the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah should officially come to an end as the U.S. broker's a ceasefire deal. President Biden announcing the truce after more than a year of fighting, killing thousands and leaving more than a million displaced. The deal coming just hours after both sides continue to exchange strikes, a massive bombardment rocking Beirut, the details of the agreement, and could this open up the possibility for a ceasefire in Gaza? Also tonight, holiday weather warning, the coast-to-coast winter storm, putting Thanksgiving travel in a tailspin, major hubs already dealing with ground stops and flight delays. The situation expected to quickly deteriorate as we enter the busiest stretch. Bill Karen's tracking the latest and your Thanksgiving Day forecast. The tariff man, President-elect Trump, threatening to impose heavy taxes on products from Canada, Mexico, and China. Could it signal the start of a trade war?

How world leaders are responding and what it could mean for your wallet will explain. Mystery couple found a husband and wife vanished while on a road trip 40 years ago. Decades later, a surprising break in the cold case, the car just discovered that could be the key to solving their disappearance. Good catch, incredible video capturing the Chief's defense event with a quick save catching a child who fell from the bleachers. His off-field play getting cheers from beyond the stands. A North Carolina survivalist coming to the rescue of Hurricane Helene victims, still reeling months after the storm, how he's providing critical supplies to those suffering from the disaster will speak with him about where the situation stands.

And Taco Dreams, a Fort Worth man out of a job, turned to his family's recipe, selling traditional Mexican dishes out of his driveway, his boom in popularity, allowing him to open up a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Now he's getting one of the most prestigious awards. Michelin rating. You'll meet him. Plus, Walmart stepping back from its DEI initiatives amid pressure from conservative activists. Will other companies follow suit? Top story. Starts right now. And good evening. Tonight signs that the Middle East is backing away from the brink of an all-out war as President Biden announces a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The U.S. brokering the deal with

Israel and Lebanon. and the fighting with the Iranian-backed terrorist group. Earlier today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that he advised his cabinet to agree to the deal, adding that Israel appreciates the U.S. role in this process. Just a few hours before Netanyahu spoke, look at this, Israel unleashed bombardments on a densely populated area in Beirut. You can see the massive explosions there. Hezbollah also firing off rockets into northern Israel, sirens blaring across the region as Israel and intercepted the missiles close to the border.

The fighting expected to officially end overnight. The agreement coming after more than a year of bloodshed and destruction, more than 3,500 people killed in Lebanon, according to the country's health ministry, and Israeli officials say 50 Israeli civilians have been killed. The regional fighting has left millions displaced in Lebanon. You can take a look. More than 1.4 million forced to flee their homes triggering a humanitarian crisis in Israel. Netanyahu is saying it's 6,000.

residents will now be able to return home. Now Israel says it plans to shift its focus back on Gaza where nearly 2 million people have nowhere to live. So the big question tonight, will this ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah bring us a step closer to a ceasefire in Gaza? And could we finally get a hostage deal? NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell starts us off tonight. Just hours after new Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut, the Iranian-backed militia of the U.S. designates as a terror group. Have some good news to report from the Middle East. President Biden announcing both sides have agreed to a ceasefire.

Let's be clear. Israel did not launch this war. The Lebanese people did not seek that war either. The latest conflict started a day after the October 7th Hamas attacks, when Hezbollah began firing rockets from Lebanon into Israel. With the deal, some 80,000 Israelis who evacuated from the north can now go home. while Lebanese officials say more than 3,000 of its citizens have been killed, more than 1 million displaced by the Israeli strikes.

Israel's Prime Minister backing the ceasefire, saying it is no longer the same Hezbollah. We have set it back decades. Netanyahu also saying Israel has killed Hezbollah's leader and its top deputies, destroyed most of the group's missiles and rockets, killed thousands of terrorists, and destroyed their tunnels. Netanyahu also saying Israel reserves the right to resume fight. if Hezbollah breaks the ceasefire, and he'll now focus on the threat from Iran, while President Biden is hoping for a deal in Gaza.

People of Gaza have been through hell, and Hamas has refused for months and months to negotiate a good faith ceasefire and a hostage deal. And so now Hamas has a choice to make. Their only way out is to release the hostages, including American citizens. Biden officials say they've been briefing President-elect Trump's national security team. A U.S. official says they told them a few days ago the deal was coming together with Israel's approval. President Biden said he's now going to push again to try to get the hostages released from Gaza, but U.S. officials say it's not likely to happen before he leaves office.

Tom? Andrea Mitchell, leading us off tonight here on Top Story. For more on the ceasefire deal and what it means for the future of the region. Keir Simmons joins us tonight from Dubai. So, Keir, what more do we know about the actual terms of this agreement, right? Because we were all watching the news all day and also watching the Israeli air strikes there in Lebanon. So what exactly does this ceasefire mean? Yeah, you could describe it as the storm before the calm, an intensive cap identification of bombardments.

Even Hezbollah rockets fired while this announcement was being made. It is going to be a fragile process. It's going to take place over a period of time. The slow removal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon there. And then an international coalition. Interesting that, isn't it, as you think about the Trump presidency coming. It's an international coalition, particularly the French who are going to move in and the Lebanese military to police this.

What really is a kind of buffer zone, ultimately, between the Israelis. Israelis and Hezbollah, with Hezbollah pulling back its heavy artillery, its heavy weapons behind the Littunneli River. So this could fall apart at any moment, Tom. The process, though, is designed to build confidence and ensure that doesn't happen. And I should just say, there are many in Israel who are not confident that Hezbollah will not resurge, will not be able to, at some point in the future, re-attack Israel, if you want to put it that way. Hezbollah's funded by Iran, as we all know, what is Iran's role in this ceasefire? What does this mean for their relationship, especially when we talk about the Israel and the

U.S.? Yeah, look, I mean, Prime Minister Netanyahu saying in his statement tonight that he wants to do this deal, he wants this ceasefire in order to concentrate on Iran. A question mark there, isn't it? And you point to it very clearly there, Tom. Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran. So to agree to a ceasefire, there will be those who will say to agree to a ceasefire with Hezbollah is in a certain sense a ceasefire with Iran. But everything hangs now on the coming Trump presidency.

We know that President Trump has wanted to put pressure on Iran. Perhaps Prime Minister Netanyahu is looking at. there and waiting for the arrival of the president-elect, because things could shift again in just a few months' time. And then, you know, I have to ask you briefly, but if you can, is this sort of opening the door to a ceasefire deal with Hamas? Well, maybe.

Certainly there are diplomats who think, Tom, that once you've done this ceasefire deal in the north in Israel, then you can turn to the south and try and get peace. across the region and maybe even some kind of a broader deal across the region, the kind of normalization with Gulf states, for example, that was looking like a possibility before the horrendous October 7th attacks. So that's somewhere in the future. First, we have to see this Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon deal, an agreement ceasefire. We have to see whether that

holds. Okay, Keir Simmons for us, Keir, we appreciate that. We do want to move on now to the weather we've been tracking and the busy holiday travel. The FAA says it's bracing for the busiest Thanksgiving day on record. Nearly six million people expected through TSA in just the next two days, and it all comes as severe weather is set to make its way across the country. Here's NBC's Tom Costello with more. 36 hours before Thanksgiving and the weather threat is growing. Rain delays on the east coast and the west and more on the way. The biggest choke point, Newark airspace, with ground stops and flight delays due to the ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers. We will use traffic flow management initiatives to deal with any straffing shortages on that

particular day in this airspace, and we expect to have some of those shortages. To address the ongoing shortage, the FAA has been moving control of some Newark Airspace to Philly controllers. The FAA continues hiring new controllers, but it'll take years to get fully up to staff. While close calls between planes have dropped 72 percent this year, the FAA and NTSB are investigating two incidents at Boston Logan Monday, an American plane clipping the wing of a frontier plane and a jet blue plane under tow clipping a Cape Air Flight, no injuries. So now I'll have to wait all the way until Wednesday. United Blank Center 37 off your right from plane.

Meanwhile, Denver International, preparing for three inches of snow overnight, as three feet falls in the mountains. The nation's third busiest airport handling 250,000 passengers a day this week. DIA is also the busiest hub for both United and Southwest. The average Southwest plane flies eight to ten flights a day. They've got to move fast. They've got 45 minutes. Get all the bags off, put the new bags on, and get back up in the air again. to help people get from point A to point B with the least amount of pain as possible.

Time lapse video of the megastorm earlier this month that dropped 20 inches on DIA. Any snow event that we have over an inch, we could have upwears near 150 pieces of equipment just on the airfield. Meanwhile, Americans 24-7 maintenance team at JFK has been working ahead, prepping the fleet for this record-breaking week. They're in the air all day. They come here at night, and we do what we need to do to get them back in the air and fly safely and reliably for us. Every airline tells us they've spent months preparing for the here and now. So the here and now is now. Tom Costello joins us from Reagan National Airport. So Tom, the FAA is also saying it plans on using special airspace for commercial flights. What does that mean?

Thank you. Yeah, that's right. They're opening up military airspace. off the east coast, especially off Florida and Virginia, and then also off the Gulf of Mexico. And they're also working with the space command not to allow any rocket launches off the Florida Space Coast on this very busy week. So the hope is that really is going to move things along. Let me nerd out here with you. If they're going to open up this airspace, is it going to make routes longer for some travelers? You know, maybe, in other words, if you kind of, if you take a little bit of an arc out over the ocean, But the bottom line is you're avoiding the heaviest, busiest traffic highways in the sky up and down the East Coast, for example, and along the Gulf Coast. The hope is that's going to move things along and really accommodate record volume, 50,000 planes in the sky alone today, Tom.

All right, Tom Costello for us there at the airport, as always. For more on the holiday forecast, NBC meteorologist Bill Karens joins us now. Bill, as I told our viewers, we're going to be talking to you every day here. So walk us through what's new here. Yeah, Tom, so our coast-to-coast storm is on its way across the country. Now in the four-corner region heading through Colorado. That's where the worst weather has been. I-70s had a lot of snow through Colorado.

Late tonight into early tomorrow, some light snow will develop from Denver southwards to Colorado Springs. So in the morning, I-25 will be one of the worst drives. Not horrible, about one to four inches of snow. So then we're going to take all of that and slowly bring rainfall into the Ohio Valley. It's going to take a while. The daylight hours are probably dry. It's in the afternoon, evening that we'll see that wet weather. I don't think we're going to have a lot of problems at the airports tomorrow, maybe some late delays in Chicago and also to Detroit.

It still looks like Thursdays the day. The storm intensifies heavy rain, especially the first half of the day, D.C. to Philly to New York. By about noon, the storm system should be ending in a lot of the mid-Atlantic region, but New England's going to get the worst of it. In some areas, especially north of the mass pike, it's going to be cold enough for snow. So we're talking I-95, 81, those are the roads and all the in between that will have the most issues. And as far as snowfall goes, the highest totals look to be in areas with high elevations, just like the last storm. The Catskills heading through Vermont, a little bit of Massachusetts, definitely in New Hampshire, and then the lake effects. No, Tom, we've got a big cold air mask coming down behind this storm.

So this weekend, most of the country is getting cold and kind of quiet. But if you're downwind of any of the Great Lakes, we're talking feet of snow in some locations by Sunday. All right, winter's getting here. Okay, thanks so much, Bill. We appreciate it. We now want to turn to politics in the latest on President-Electrum. plans on immigration. His borders are, Tom Holman, visiting Texas today. He previewed the incoming administration's mass deportation strategy and the program that will allow local law enforcement

to partner with the feds to help deport undocumented immigrants. Gabe Gutierrez has the latest for us. Today, President-elect Trump's borders are in Texas, saying he's ready to carry out Trump's campaign pledge to secure the border and deport undocumented immigrants, starting with criminals. Let me be clear. There is going to be a mass deportation because we just finished a mass illegal immigration crisis on the border. After more than 10 million illegal border crossings in the last four years, Tom Homan says he plans to take the handcuffs off immigration and customs enforcement, known as ICE. But a major question is how he'll get the manpower to do it. Do you believe that local authorities should help enforce federal immigration laws? Oh, absolutely. I think we have to.

Gailor is the sheriff of Harford County, Maryland, one of dozens across 21 states that are part of ICE's 287G program, which allows the feds to delegate specialized immigration functions to state and local law enforcement. This isn't stopping people on the street saying, show me your papers. They're brought in, they're arrested for something that they have committed, an act they've committed against the citizens of our community, and at that point they're held accountable for the actions of being in the country illegally. One of his deputies showed us how the program is run out of the county jail where trained corrections officers can look through ICE's database and detain suspects arrested for other crimes for up to 48 hours if ICE wants to pick them up to deport them. Do you anticipate this program ramping up potentially in this next administration? I believe so. I believe we're going to be very busy. The immigration debate exploding in this county. I was angry. I was actually very angry. Where Patty Moran's 37-year-old daughter, Rachel, a mother of five, was murdered last year.

Police say by an undocumented immigrant who was released into the U.S. And I want people to be protected. That's all. I don't want any more life lost. Still, migrant advocates say the 287G program gives local police an unlawful excuse to help deport people. This hurts those families. This leads to worst public safety outcomes. It erodes a sense of trust in communities and hurts the economy.

Does this amount to racial profiling? No, not at all. Again, it's everybody is screened. Some Democrats now vowing to resist Trump's deportation plan. We are not going to cooperate in any way in that effort. Denver's mayor threatened to post local police at the county line to block federal immigration officers. Then he backtracked. We have no plan to do that.

And we really hope that we don't ever have to. do that. Trump's new borders are with this response tonight. Don't test us. The nation wants a safe country. So Gabe, that's a pretty chilling hypothetical there at the end of your peace, setting of a possible clash between local and federal law enforcement. Could something like that actually happen? Well, Tom, a legal showdown is definitely brewing. And if you recall, there was some of this starting during the first Trump administration, right? Back then, the Trump administration was threatening to withhold federal grants from cities that were so-called sanctuary cities that didn't cooperate with ice. We expect that

to happen again. We already know of Democratic attorneys general that are gearing up for that legal fight. And we expect it to happen pretty soon, Tom. Three Trump allies tell NBC News that the president-elect is expected to sign up to five executive orders related to immigration as soon as he's sworn in, Tom. Okay, Gabe Gutierrez at the White House. First, Gabe, we thank you. The president-elect also offering a preview of his trade policies. Announcing on social media, he'll impose 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. The move expected to raise prices for American consumers. Hallie Jackson explains.

The day after the election, Deer Stag's owner Rick Musket called his shoe factory in China to stockpile whatever they could send before inauguration day and before long-promised Trump tariffs kick in. We would take everything they could get us. to ship for Chinese New Year. That move, maybe just in time, with President-elect Trump now announcing on his first day in office,

not just a 10% added tariff on China, but also 25% tariffs on anything imported from Mexico and Canada, America's two biggest trading partners. Online, Mr. Trump suggesting its retaliation for the fentanyl entering the U.S., those countries deflecting blame, and the President-elect,

referencing migrants coming from Mexico and Canada. I had a good call with Donald Trump last night again. We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together. Mr. Trump's proposal could blow up the trade agreement. He himself helped negotiate in his first term. We got it done. And could be challenged in court. Remember, tariffs are a tax on things other countries send here.

And those other countries don't pay the tax directly. It gets passed down to companies instead and often to you. The U.S. relies on both. Canada and Mexico for cars and car parts, from Chevy pickups to Chrysler minivans. So the auto industry, now bracing for a blow, including in states like Michigan, which Mr. Trump won.

Mexico supplies more than half the fruits and veggies coming into the U.S., meaning your grocery bill could rise too. Already, economists predict inflation could tick up nearly a percent if these tariffs go into effect. And that's still an if, since Mr. Trump has used the threat of tariffs

a negotiating tactic before. But if he follows through, we're a small business and we can't afford to carry all those costs. The owners of this Washington pet store worry about having to charge their customers more because the shop would pay more for imported harnesses and toys. There's a point at which the consumer is going to say, you know, this isn't in my family's budget. We can't do this. Halie Jackson joins us tonight from Washington. Hallie, you mentioned in your story, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his response. What are Mexico and China saying tonight? Yeah, it's a good question, Tom. You heard the Canadian Prime Minister called Donald Trump last night, basically immediately when that tariff news came out. We're hearing now today from the

Mexican president who says she is sending the incoming Trump administration a letter, specifically sending President-elect Trump a letter, and she is previewing the possibility of potential retaliatory tariffs if Donald Trump does follow through on this tariff threat. As for the Chinese and embassy official warns no one will win a trade war, Tom, if that's what this turns out to be. Yeah, and then, Halley, there's a component here, right, that U.S. businesses that charge more because they manufacture in America would get a more level playing field with these terrorists because usually products from overseas are cheaper, a lot of times, not always. But Trump campaigned on lowering costs for Americans, and as you explain, these tariffs will likely raise costs for

consumers? Yeah, that's right. So there's really two pieces to this, Tom. First is that Donald Trump, the president-elect, when he was announcing this new set of tariffs in the last 24 hours, he's not talking about lowering costs for Americans. He's specifically talking about retaliation for fentanyl and for the migrant crisis, the border crisis as well. So that's sort of piece A. Number two, piece B, if you will, you heard the pet shop owners who we talked to in that story. I asked them about this because they try to source products that are made in the USA, but they pointed out that for those dog harnesses, for example, there are American makers of that, but But some of the pieces, the components like the metal rings, et cetera, are manufactured overseas,

and it's hard to source them here in the United States. So that's where the domino effect comes in, where people could see that price cascade right on down to them. Hallie Jackson for us tonight, Hallie, we thank you for that. For more on Trump's proposed tariffs and their possible impact on American businesses, I want to bring in David McNeil. He's founder and CEO of WeatherTech, an American-made company with products that can weatherproof everything from your car to your home. You might have weather tech in your car right now or your

home. David, thanks so much for joining Top Story tonight. I'm happy to be here. David, you know, a lot's being reported about tariffs and American businesses and how it's going to affect American consumers, and we'll get into that. But you've been in business for a very long time, right? And let me know if I get any part of this story wrong. When you started your business, you were importing from England, but then you decided that you could actually manufacture in America. So talk to me about what's missing from some of maybe the reporting and the arguments about these potential upcoming tariffs. Well, the tariffs are not a bad thing because it levels the playing field between America and other countries like China that don't have the same standards for their workers, their same rules and regulations like the EPA, OSHA, labor laws. We provide great benefits for our employees.

We make an ultra-quality product right here in America. And they typically don't, and they're able to undercut us. In fact, some of our technology and intellectual property gets stolen by China, and it's used against us. But there's a yin and yang to this, right? There's a yin and yang to everything. So you make your product here in America, but you also import to, I think, more than 80 countries from what I read. So could these tariffs hurt you if there's a trade war? I export to over 80 countries.

I'm sorry, export, yeah, export. Right. I mean, certainly, if the other countries retaliate, yes. But most of our business is here with Americans, and we're proud to be an American manufacturer, utilizing the great American worker and American technology. Yeah, a lot of the reporting we've seen on the proposed Trump tariffs is that they will cause higher costs for Americans. And some estimate, maybe it places it at $1,000 per family and extra costs per year. Do you think this is going to hurt the U.S. economy if this goes through?

Actually, I think that a rising tide raises all ships. Furthermore, the economies of scale as we utilize our manufacturing equipment more will actually lower our cost of manufacturing and will actually be able to lower our cost to the consumer. So we're going to be raising foreign prices with the tariffs. And actually, I believe WeatherTech will actually be able to slightly lower our prices to help bridge that gap and help the consumer. You know, I want to read you something from the Wall Street Journal covering the potential tariffs from President like Trump. Here's what they wrote. Tariffs can create winners and losers. Domestic industries that compete with lower costs

foreign manufacturers can experience greater demand for their products while the government takes in additional revenues. But consumers and other purchasers of imported goods aren't able to buy as much. And both economic theory and the historical record show that they tend to lose more than the winner's gain. Moreover, when a country imposes tariffs against another country, the other country often responds with tariffs of its own. So I guess, David, my question to you is we've been trying to battle inflation, right? The Biden administration told us it was transitory, it clearly was not, it's here, it's still very stubborn. Could the tariffs make inflation even worse? Because a lot of voters voted in President-elect Trump because they thought the price of everything was just too much.

Look, we need to support American industry. American families rely on it. We have Thanksgiving coming up, and somebody's got to have a job to put those turkeys on the table, and without American jobs, without a weather tech supporting the American worker, and the American Manufacturing Association said, for every manufacturing job in America,

there's five support jobs. This is a big deal when a factory goes overseas. We need our jobs here right now, and I'm not particularly personally worried about the tariffs hurting anything. In fact, it'll help our economy. our economy. David, I do want to ask you something. I can remember growing up in the 80s, and I remember the Made in America sort of campaigns, and people would show you products in their

house. I can remember this, that were made in America, and they were proud of that. And then we fast forward to now where people have the entire sort of world mall in their phone with places like Amazon, and they just shop for the cheapest prices. Do you think something like tariffs can sort of break that habit where people sort of shop for the cheapest price instead of thinking about, okay, where was this made? Let me see if I can support local businesses. Let me see if I can support companies here in the U.S. Let me say one thing. One of the most important things we can do is help the American consumer understand where the products they're purchasing are made. So President Trump needs to enact the law immediately requiring all websites to disclose

the country of origin where that product is made so the consumer can make a business. better decision on what they're buying and where it's coming from. All right, David McNeil, look into your crystal ball. If these tariffs are enacted, where's the American economy in two years? I think it's going to grow significantly under President Trump. David McNeil, we shall wait and see. All right, we thank you. Still ahead tonight, one of the FBI's most wanted, finally captured, where the terror suspect

accused of planting several bombs in California was eventually caught. Plus, Walmart rolling back their DEI policies, the items that won't be allowed to be sold on their website and the other changes for the nation's largest retailer. And the impressive saved by the Chief's defensive end. Did you see this? Tershawne Wharton catching a child? Yeah, a lot bigger than football, who fell from the stands. What happened here? Stay with us.

All right, we were back now with the debate over DEI policies at major companies. Those are diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Many of them implemented amid a racial reckoning in the U.S. after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Walmart now the largest corporation planning to roll back those practices, as some conservative critics say they go too far. Embassy's Priscilla Thompson has this one. Tonight, Walmart joining a growing list of companies rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives amid growing pressure from conservative activist. I am very proud to report to you guys that Walmart has decided on making some changes. The largest retailer in the world confirming it will curb racial equity training for employees.

No longer consider suppliers race or gender to boost diversity. Stop selling LGBTQ-themed items online that are marketed to children, including chess binders for youth going through a gender change. And in funding for its racial equity center, a five-year philanthropic effort launched after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. which sparked nationwide protests and a racial justice reckoning. Walmart, which employs roughly 1.6 million workers in the U.S., also ended its participation in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, following the same move by Ford, Harley Davidson, Lowe's, and Molson Coors. We will not stop until we have eliminated wokeness in corporate America. The public push for change at Walmart spearheaded by Robbie Starbuck, a former music video

director turned conservative activist who leads what he calls an effort to eliminate wokeness. I think this is a tremendous victory. Many have tried to get companies at this scale to change corporate policy and it's ultimately a very, very difficult effort. What do you think the implications of this are? Big picture is actually very simple for me. I believe that companies need to sort of change the way that they operate around these issues to adopt a neutral approach where nobody with a specific set of political beliefs feels that the other side's political beliefs are being forced on them.

A spokesperson for Walmart confirms the company had conversations with Starbuck over the last week, but already had DEI-related changes underway. Walmart writing in a statement, We've been on a journey and know we aren't perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging. Starbuck, who has more than a million followers

on social media, has called on consumers to boycott several companies over their, quote, woke policies. I got some Bud Lights for us. A similar boycott of Bud Light last year after the company featured transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in marketing tanked sales of the beer, with Anheuser-Busch reporting a 10.5% revenue decline in the months that followed. Conservatives have organized in ways that progressive and liberals, frankly, just have not. They have organized in ways to attack B.E.I.

spread misinformation and disinformation about what DEI is and aims to do. Sean Harper, a professor of business who has worked with hundreds of companies, says DEI initiatives are meant to be inclusive, not divisive. He says the undoing of those efforts shows some corporations failed to prioritize diversity in a meaningful way. The fact that these efforts are so easily undone strongly signal to me that they were not as durable as they should have been in the first place, that the commitment to them, the corporate commitment was not as strong as it should have been. What message does this send to other

retailers, to consumers? What are the far-reaching implications? When companies abandon their commitment to DEI, especially a company as big as Walmart, it gives others permission to do so. It gives others permission to turn their backs on women, on veterans, on Americans with disabilities, on customers, clients, and employees who are racially and ethnically diverse. All right, Priscilla joins us tonight. So, Priscilla, can we expect more companies to roll back DEI policies? Well, Tom, that is definitely a possibility because of a number of factors. One, you have a conservative activist like Robbie Starbucks saying that this is a huge victory and they now feel empowered to pressure other companies to do the same. But you also look at what's happening in Washington with President-elect Donald Trump coming in and Republicans in control of the House and the Senate.

Already we are seeing this bill dismantled DEI making its way through the House leading to very fiery debates just last week there. But that business professor, who you heard from there, says that it may not be sustainable to roll back all of these policies, that just as we saw in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, this awakening on the other side of this issue with people calling for greater equity and inclusion, we could see that side begin to rise up again as these rollbacks are taking place. So at some point, it's going to have to reach a level that is sustainable for the long term. Tom. Okay, Priscilla Thompson, a lot of reporting there. We appreciate it. up the cold case that could be cracked decades later. A New York couple went missing during a road trip 40 years ago. Now a car discovered in a pond in Georgia could be the key to solve their

mysterious disappearance. What their family says was found inside. Okay, we're back with Top Stories News Feed. One of the FBI's most wanted terror suspects has been arrested in the UK. Daniel Andrea San Diego, an animal rights extremist, has been on the run since 2003. He's accused of planting three bombs in California at companies that work with a lab

that conducted experiments on animals. San Diego, now 46, was arrested in Wales and will be extradited back to the U.S. Back here at home, Kansas City Chiefs player, Tershan Wharton making an incredible catch off the field. Look at this. New video shows a fan leaning over the wall at the Carolina Panther Stadium on Sunday,

trying to talk to a chief's player when he falls over the edge, Warden leaps forward, catching the kid and helping him back into the stands. That child was not hurt. And Drake, taking legal action in an escalating feud with Kendrick Lamar. In a new court filing,

Drake's lawyers accuse Universal Music Group, which reps both artists, of falsely inflating the popularity of Lamar's disc track, not like us, on Spotify. The song has been streamed nearly a billion times since it's released this summer, according to Spotify figures. UMG Universal Music Group, which we should note is not part of NBC Universal,

and Spotify both deny those claims. Okay, tonight a stunning break in a mysterious missing persons case that went cold 40 years ago. A wealthy couple and thousands of dollars in jewelry reportedly vanishing without a trace on a road trip from Florida to New York. So what happened? Well, now a volunteer group of divers stumbling across what authorities say could be the couple's car, and even more, Aaron McLaughlin has a story.

Authorities excavate this Lincoln Continental. After it was discovered just days ago, submerged in an unassuming Georgia pond, right off one of the East Coast's busiest highways, inside human remains. And the first potential clues in decades into the disappearance of Charles and Catherine Romer. She was one of those grandmothers who made everyone feel special. Their granddaughter, Christine, was just 15 years old when the couple went missing. She tells us they were adored, especially grandma. She was very creative and talented, you know, larger than life and life of the party and just wonderful, wonderful woman. The retired, wealthy oil executive and his wife vanished on a road trip from Miami Beach to their home in New York back in 1980.

The couple reportedly checked into this hotel, just steps from the pond and never showed up for checkout. Search and rescue. We're looking for them and scuba divers searching all the swamp burial. At the time, police suspected foul play. Catherine had vanished wearing about $81,000 worth of jewelry. It was sort of considered a violent ending to their life that it was a robbery that went terribly wrong. We had to watch our father really suffering. Decades later, volunteer sleuths, armed with new technology, revived the case. We specialize in looking, working cold cases of people that went missing in their vehicles. Volunteer divers John Martin and his brother, Mike, say last week they received a tip from fellow

explorers that the roamer's car could be in the pond. They decided to dive in and find out. I found an open window, reached in the open window to feel around. I had my hand on the seat. and I could feel several hard objects. And I just grabbed the biggest hard object I could feel, came to the surface of the water, and it happened to be a femur bone in my hand. All diving stopped. Law enforcement was notified, and, I mean, they all came out.

They were able to retrieve lots of jewelry. Just, I mean, there were bags and bags of jewelry. Now, investigators are draining the pond in search of additional human remains that could confirm if it is indeed the couple. The family says investigators are now telling them it's possible. The roamers died accidentally. Knowing that it was just a terrible accident and not a violent crime is giving us a lot of peace of mind, hopefully, when things are confirmed. Erin McLaughlin, NBC News.

Okay, we want to head back overseas. Time for Top Stories Global Watch. At least four people are dead. and seven still missing after a tourist ship sunk off Egypt's coast. The 44 passenger ship sunk in the Red Sea during a diving trip. It capsized when a large wave hit the boat. 28 passengers were initially rescued. Five more were rescued a day later.

The ship originated from Marza Alam. In Costa Rica, the sole survivor of a plane crash rescued from deep inside the jungle. Video shows rescuers carrying the 31-year-old woman out on a stretcher. She was on a small plane that crashed outside of San Jose. Five others on board died. Researchers, rescuers, I should say, had to hike 14 hours overnight in the dark to reach her. She was taken in the hospital now in critical condition. And citizens of Suriname will reap the wealth of a multi-billion dollar crude oil project.

The president of the South American country announced its 600,000 citizens will receive $750 in a savings account with an annual interest rate of 7%. The country is expected to make around $10 billion, thanks to recently discovered oil and gas reserves. Okay, when we come back, a check on Hurricane ravaged North Carolina. Two months after Helene left a trail of destruction, we'll speak with one man unexpectedly jumping into help, the desperate situation he's seen on the ground. Back now with a check-in on the recovery efforts in North Carolina from Hurricane Helene. Two months after the historic storm devastated the area, one man has made it his mission to make sure that the U.S. and FEMA

don't forget about the people most in need. But he's not the type of advocate you may expect. He went viral and won half a million dollars by surviving a wild challenge from YouTube King Mr. Beast. Take a look. I laid a giant circle in the middle of nowhere. And this is a random subscriber. And if he stays in this circle for 100 days, I'll give him $500,000.

$300,000. 100 days. I've got a plan. Get the food organized, clothing figured out. I figured out a way to keep my mind entertained. And I know if I walked out of that circle, I would regret it forever. I'm shocked at how fast Sean is developing a routine. You know you've been here a long time when living inside of a circle and a Mr. Beast video seems normal.

For the first 50 days, I wanted to see if Sean can make it. I've done this, right? I've done 50 days. For the last half of this challenge, we have some pretty crazy stuff plans. And that's it for the destruction. And that's it for the destruction. See you in 19 hours. All right. It's time.

Give me a countdown from 10, 10, 9, 10, 10, 5, 4, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It has officially been 100 days. Step on the Red Line. Are you sure? It has been 100 days. Don't know how he did it.

Joining top story tonight, that is Sean Hendrix. He can withstand a lot, as we just saw there. And lately, he's been on the ground working on relief efforts in North Carolina since Hurricane Helene hit. So, Sean, my first question to you is, why are you helping North Carolina? Well, it wasn't, I didn't plan on it. Actually, I got a phone call saying we have 30 Starlink's. We want to hand out in Nashville. We can't get a hold of anybody.

And I said, you know, I'll find out if somebody can come get them. And guess what? I couldn't get a hold of them on either. The fiber lines have been cut. And so I drove up there on a whim to help. I didn't even bring clothes with me. And it's been the next four or five days getting fire stations and emergency systems back online with Starlink.

And it's all kind of history from there. I just couldn't, I couldn't leave after seeing what need was up there. Yeah, you've been there for a while now, and maybe a lot of the country has moved on, but you haven't. What are you seen on the ground now? It's still a lot of cleanup. You know, we're down to a lot of people that can help themselves have helped themselves. You know, I see the state buildings getting rebuilt. I see the government buildings getting rebuilt.

I see, you know, anybody who had money, it's a money issue. The people that were struggling before the storm are struggling. even more now. If you were living on minimum wage and you had no insurance and you lost everything, how do you rebuild? You can't even afford first and last month's rent. And that's what we're focusing on right now is helping those that were truly left with nothing after the storm. How are people living right now? It's getting very cold in North Carolina. It's a holiday and we're seeing video of people living in tents out there? Yeah, we've done our, we've done our best to get people out of tents. You know, the little Coleman tents are just not meant

for any kind of winter survival. And it's getting better. You know, a lot of people are getting RVs. There's a lot of organizations and churches that are helping people, but it's still desperate. And, you know, and even some of the solutions

are starting to unravel. Organizations are starting to pull out and leave, which are leaving people without a place to stay. And now we're actually trying to help people who got help or are now losing help so they don't end up homeless in the middle of the holidays. I want to put up something on the screen

for our viewers here because we reached out to FEMA to kind of get a lay of the land and their take on some of the things we're hearing from you and from others. And here it is by the numbers. They pointed us to these stats. 253 million approved to 136,000 households, 279 million in public assistance funding.

FEMA's providing multiple temporary housing options to meet. More than 5,200 households are using transitional sheltering assistance hotels, so they're essentially in hotels right now for the next couple of weeks. Is FEMA working there? I mean, are they helping people or is it not enough? I just don't think it's enough because it was enough. I wouldn't be in my seventh or eighth week being up there. You know, like I said, I haven't really seen FEMA on the ground.

I don't know if that's how they work. But there's just so many people still displaced. I mean, I can, we have an aid request for them that gets four, five, six different requests every day. And we just can't fill all the needs. And I'm not the only one that's doing this up there. And the farther you get away from Asheville, the less help there is. it's harder to get up in these areas. So if you're in the city or you're in the main parts,

you're probably doing better. But outside the city, way up in these haulers, way up in the places it's hard to get to, people are still struggling. I've been there, and I've seen it with my own eyes. Families as well? Families as well. I'm dealing with a family of four or six.

It's about to be a family of seven in eight weeks that is going to lose their, this isn't FEMA's fault, but they're going to lose the RV they're in. On the six, and they have no options after that. There's no more vouchers, and they were helped by an organization that's not going to be there anymore, and they have to find something else to do.

And, you know, that's not the only stories of families. One of the first families of help was a family of six, actually, that was sleeping under a tarp in hay. And they didn't own their land. They lived in a shelter that was condemned in a storm four years previous. So FEMA said, hey, you know, there's nothing we could do. You're living in a condemned house. you don't qualify for anything. So we're basically picking up the slack

where the regulations won't help people. You know, I'm not saying FEMA's helping no one, but there is a lot of people falling through the cracks. Before you go, tell us some groups on the ground where people can help that you think are actually working. Well, we're Operation Shelter. We've been doing this very strategic surgical aid, and that's a give-Sin go at Operation Shelter.

And then Samaritan's Purse. Samaritan's purse is wonderful. I've been up there for a long time, and every time I go somewhere, I see the orange shirts. They're there working, so I can't speak highly enough about Samaritan's purse. Sean Hendricks, we thank you for joining, yeah, we thank you for joining Top Story, and we thank you for all the work that you're doing. When we come back, an American dream, get this, built on tacos,

how one Texas man took his family's recipes from Mexico, from his driveway to a food truck to his own restaurant, now considered one of the best in the world. the personal setback that fueled his incredible success and why he almost missed the chance to be honored by Michelin. Stay with us.