Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

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 agonizing search for answers in Hawaii. We're live in Lahaina, with more than 1,000 people still missing. Unthinkable loss buried under the charred wreckage of the deadliest wildfire in modern American history. The remains of more than 100 recovered with fears that number will still climb. Intense scrutiny tonight on the island's electric company and those first few moments when the power lines appeared to snap when those high winds started. The group of state lawmakers now demanding an independent investment. investigation. Inside Lahaina, our team's getting a first-hand look at the epicenter of this catastrophe. FEMA onside of Maui's mass grave. The painstaking efforts to comb through that

carnage and give families the closure they are so desperate for tonight. The heroin images coming in late today. The battle over migrants heating up in New York City, the governor slamming the mayor for not acting fast enough as more than 100,000 migrants made their way north, a shelter opening up tonight, but those beds expected to fill up immediately as the city runs out of room. The Trump trial timeline, the motion filed late today when the former president and his 18 co-defendants are expected to be arraigned in Georgia and how soon this case could head to trial. Plus, new Baldwin charges?

In a stunning twist, a new report concluding Alec Baldwin did pull the trigger and that fatal shooting of the cinematographer on the Rust movie set. What this means for the actor's legal future after his earlier charges were dropped. and the Blindside Family Feud. The couple made famous by the Oscar-winning film firing back tonight at accusations they tricked Michael Ower into a conservatorship, an old excerpt from O'er's book coming to light

that may support their claims. Top story starts right now. And good evening. Tonight we are on the ground for the first time live in Lahaina, the epicenter of what has become the worst natural disaster in Hawaii's history. It's just below us.

You can see the burned out wreckage just behind us here. We have a closer look as well. We were down there today trying to help residents out, along with the Cajun Navy, giving them water, giving them supplies, hearing their stories. And what we saw took our breath away in the worst possible way whatsoever. This once was a paradise, a great place to live, a great place to raise children. It is now gone. For how long remains the biggest question and why?

It's the question so many across this island are asking right now. The tragedy that has unfolded here truly difficult to wrap your head around, even when you're down there looking at it up close, which is why this community is so desperate for answers as they try to make sense of how their worst nightmare became a reality. At least 100 people killed and more than 1,300 people still unaccounted for, but there are signs of progress tonight. A major highway that runs across Maui reopened to the public, giving residents, forced responders, and members of the press, to the hardest hit areas on the island. Devastating scenes here in Lahaina. Our Miguel Almagir was with FEMA as recovery teams with cadaver dogs continuing their harrowing search for remains.

You'll hear from one of those search and rescue teams and how it's affecting them personally, and these teams have already seen so much. But amid the grief that is all around us, a powerful push for answers tonight. Newly released video that we've been showing you here on Top Story, capturing the early moments of the Lahaina wildfire. Power lines appearing to snap and then go

up in flames. Nine state senators now demanding that the state's attorney general appointed an independent investigator to get to the bottom of how this all happened. That's on top of multiple class action lawsuits that have already been filed against Hawaiian Electric. Residents furious that the company did not shut off power as tropical storm force winds moved in. Tonight, what we're now learning about dozens of incidents on the power lines around Lahaina that may have sparked this historically devastating blaze. Tonight, search teams in Lahaina continue their heartbreaking work. Already more than 100 bodies found and they're still looking for the lost. What was once a paradise is now a mass grave. The tears is constantly coming.

The families have lost a lot. The flames destroyed Ty Burnett's scuba business. Is it your belief, too, that the power lines started this fire? Absolutely. The amount of power lines that are up in that area are horrendous. There should have been a lot more upgrading. Hey, heads up. The line is live out on the ground right there. While the cause of the blaze is still being investigated, there's increasing scrutiny on Hawaiian Electric. Data from Whisker Labs, a private company that monitors the grid through a network of sensors shows 34 major electrical incidents on the power lines around Lahaina. Literally dozens and dozens of faults occurring over that several hour period overnight,

any one of which could cause a arc fault that would cause and spark a wildfire. Hawaiian Electric didn't specifically address that data or the multiple lawsuits, but said in part, we know there is speculation about what started the fire, but the causes haven't been determined. This was a preventable circumstance. Graham Lipsmith is one of the attorneys who filed suit against the utility. The ultra-hazardous activity was keeping the power running during this. a very serious wind event.

But Hawaiian Electric CEO told me they don't have a program for shutting off power. It can be seen as creating a hardship for those customers that have medical needs. In Lahaina, the electricity powers the pumps that provide the water. And so that was also a critical need during that time. Shutting off the power wasn't an option, just to understand what you're saying. There are choices that need to be made, and all of those factors play into it. With President Biden set to visit Maui on Monday, the road to Lahaina is now open. We were with the Cajun Navy, an aid group that formed during Hurricane Katrina as he delivered food and supplies outside of Lahaina.

It's been a big help for all of us here. But these signs of hope overshadowed by the names of the dead, like Buddy Jantock, a 79-year-old musician and beloved grandfather. It's a fate this family of 16 narrowly avoided. Their escape route under siege by flames and smoke. Five of the family's homes were lost, but the entire family is safe. There's a lot of families that are still not together. And so we'll take what we have. We're blessed.

You can hear me. You may hear this loud noise in the background. As we report out of Lahaina, the cleanup is well underway. There's a tree-cutting crew, just part of the massive effort here throughout this town to clean up and help out. So you may be hearing those sounds throughout the broadcast. Here in Lahaina, the massive and grim search is picking up. With FEMA now bringing in more cadaver dogs, Miguel Almagir was given rare access to this heartbreaking scene.

In the midst of so much ruin, this is where the search for closure begins. Tonight, FEMA slowly scouring the burn zone, a debris field that's also hallowed ground. We're respectful, you know, because these are some. somebody's family. Having searched only a fraction of the fire's footprint, there's just endless amount of debris to go through. It's incredible. NBC News was given rare access to where cadaver dogs and recovery teams

are working to collect the remains of the victims. From every direction and every angle, you can see the true scope of the damage. This is what authorities are sifting through every day. The fire came through here at 80 miles an hour. They need to search every building and every home before they can say their job here is complete. So far, more than 100 bodies have been recovered. Some fear hundreds more could still be here.

This is apocalyptic. It's just terrible. And they move so fast that people couldn't get out of the way. The fire was so intense. It incinerated vehicles and homes in a matter of minutes. This area has been deemed safe. But these are some of the health hazards. to deal with as a search for the missing. Among the countless stories of the missing,

the search for 98-year-old Louise Abahai, her grandson Clifford, waiting for word. Sorry, Grandma. Hope I see you again. That heartbreak is why the search here is so important. So many families are waiting for answers from the ashes. Miguel Al-Migair, NBC News, Lahaina, Maui. This is one of the only stories that I can remember that seems to be getting more and more tragic as the days go on.

It's just getting so tough for the residents here in Lahaina. For more on the aftermath of what we're seeing and what happened with this inferno, Dana Griffin joins us now from Maui where officials have reopened that highway into La Hina. Dana, it's the same road we took to get in here with our teams. I know you've been out there reporting throughout the day. about the traffic flows and the people coming in. Give us a sense. As the traffic has been thick, have a lot of people tried to come back into Lahaina today? Yeah, well, we were here at 6 a.m. when that roadway opened, we saw about a two-mile stretch of cars that were lined up

ready to come in. We didn't know how long it was going to take, how many cars would show up. Tom, within 18 minutes, the roadway was clear. And we've seen people come and go, something we haven't seen before. And I think you've also got a lot of people who are finally leaving because they know that they can also get back in. This is going to stay open until 10 o'clock tonight, and then it's going to go back down to that restricted travel for personnel, people who live here, workers, first responders. So a lot of people are excited to be back because this is the one thing that they have really been pressing the governor to do because they wanted to get those resources to the people that were most impacted in Lahaina and beyond in West Maui, Tom.

Yeah, you know, Dana, it's interesting. We were talking to some residents in an section of Lahaina that was not burned down. And the owner of the home was telling me, you know, you have to tell the government to reopen the highways because they're opening them, they're closing them. It's causing mass confusion. I told them they were finally open. He didn't know this because they still obviously have no power here. I know there were some concerns about who's coming in. And you speak to people who have been here in Lahaina. We heard it last night on the broadcast about people maybe looting or robbing the homes, going and taking what they can. The police have said this is not the case, but we've talked to several people who have told

there is looting going on here. Is there a concern about who's coming in now down the Lahaina Highway? I think maybe that concern is a little diminished because I think the issue for looting was because no one was in town. We heard reports of people sleeping in their garages with shotguns because they wanted to protect their home from looting. And you also had people who said, I'm not letting my grandmother go back to her home because I don't want someone to show up and rob her and possibly harm her. So I think people feel a sense of relief knowing that. the town is starting to be repopulated and that people are getting back to work even beyond and maybe this will help you know deter that looting tom dana before you go i know late today the hawaii

department of transportation announced they'll be installing dust screens across the roadways what exactly is that so it's a screen that's going to help prevent the dust that is blowing onto the drivers here on highway 30 as they pass the town of lehina we've been warned about that toxic dust that may and asbestos and benzene. Because you've got to remember, even though they are conducting the search and rescue, at one point they're going to have to go in and remove that toxic dust and dispose of it. So they've started installing those dust greens today. Hawaii Department of Transportation says it's going to take at least a month for them to complete that project. But this is only going to protect the drivers as they are driving up and down this highway coming and going back and forth from West Maui. Tom.

Okay, Dana Griffin, who's been reporting throughout the week for us here on Top Story and across all of our NBC news platforms, Dana, we appreciate that. Now to the migrant crisis in New York City we've been reporting on for weeks here on Top Story. The office of New York's governor, Kathy Hochle, blasting the city's response to the migrant surge, saying Mayor Eric Adams and his administration failed to use state offered help after repeatedly asking for it. What the mayor and the governor are saying tonight. Valerie Castro has the latest from New York. Tonight a battle brewing between New York's governor and the city's mayor over how to handle the crushing migrant crisis. Governor Kathy Hokel's office issuing a harsh 12-page letter Tuesday night, calling out the city's response and what it says is a failure to use state offered help. The governor calling into New York won this afternoon explaining the reasoning behind it.

The point is we are here to help and when we identify areas where we think more can be done, that's what we're doing. and the reason for the letter was simply that a judge told us we had to do that. The letter says the city asked the state for assistance, then refused to use some state-recommended facilities as shelters and did not implement programs in a timely manner. Hokel's office says it's offered to spend $150 billion this fiscal year to help reimburse the city for shelter costs. But the invoices submitted so far barely account for $138 million, Mayor Adams, playing down the notion that there's trouble between the two. So people who depict that letter as a brutal attack against us, you know, that's how people, people want to see the governor and I fight. That's not going to happen.

I like her. She likes me. And the things that we can learn from each other, we are going to do together. The intra-party sparring comes as the number of migrants in the city tops 100,000 people arriving since last spring. The city has already spent more than $1.73 billion on this crisis. will spend an estimated $5 billion this fiscal year alone. We've been very clear we cannot handle this crisis solely on our own. The city opening another shelter in Queens this week in the parking lot of a state-run psychiatric hospital.

The men's only facility housing 1,000 protesters demonstrating against the shelter last week. All men, thousand of them is too much. While others complain the site is unfit for the migrants. There is no 24-hour transportation here. There are no subways here. This is inhumane. Early this month, the city coming under fire for these images. Migrants sleeping on the street outside the historic Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan converted into a shelter. Many people die along the way. I made it. I made it through, so I guess I can't give up. Critics blasting the Adams administration, saying they left them in the streets for days as a political tactic,

trying to extract more aid from the federal government and discouraging other migrants from coming to the city. What we've been experiencing for several months now since they opened up the respite sites is inhumane treatment and people that are coming here for help and being blamed for a system that has been in shambles since before the migrants got here. The city pressed today about accusations that there were shelter beds available for those migrants. What was appropriate for them, for what they need, that's what we were providing. I'm saying that we took the appropriate steps. Despite the admonishing letter from the governor, the city still asking for more help. There's a couple of things that we would love the state to help take a lead on.

We've called for a state of emergency at the federal level, so if the state can help expedite that, get that done, we would love that. But the future's still uncertain for hundreds of migrants in New York, once again caught in the middle of a political face-off. Valerie Castro joins us now live from New York. And Valerie, I understand New York's Attorney General is now also getting involved in this migrant crisis. Yeah, Tom, Letitia James is leading a coalition of 19 attorneys general from different states affected by the crisis, asking the Department of Homeland Security to expedite work authorizations for migrants. This would apply to migrants who have lawfully entered the country. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has so far not responded to that request.

Tom. Valerie Castro for us tonight. Valerie, we appreciate that. We want to move on now to the latest indictment of former President Trump. The Fulton County District Attorney proposing arraignment and trial dates for the election interference case in Georgia. Prosecutors suggesting the formal arraignments for the 19 defendants take place the week of September 5th in the proposed March 4th trial start date coming just one day before Super Tuesday, adding pressure to an already complicated primary season. I want to bring in Blaine Alexander now.

A proposed an arraignment date and a trial date? What can we expect to see on each of those dates? And will all 19 defendants be there? Well, let's start with the arraignment, Tom. So we've got really a four-day window. She said the week of September 5th, that's Labor Day Week. So we're talking about Tuesday through Friday that we could expect to see arraignments. Still a number of questions about what that would look like.

We don't know if they would come at once. We don't know if they would come separately. We suspect it's going to be separately because she mentioned that all of the defendants are going to receive a five day's notice from the clerk as to when they should report before the court. So that's something to watch right there. Now, as for the trial date, she said March 4th. Remember, this is the proposed date. The judge has to sign off on this. But when we consider the fact that this is, as at least one expert called me, a rather clunky trial when you talk about 19 defendants, 19 different sets of attorneys who may file motions and other things that could gunk up the

process. It is rather, some people say, unlikely that that would happen by March 4th, Tom. And Blaine, Mark Meadows, we know, is trying to get this move to federal court. Do we have any sense if that could happen and how that would impact the rest of the case for the 18 other co-defendants? Well, actually, there was just a new filing in that within the past hour or so, Tom, the judge who is overseeing that has set an evidentiary hearing for that. That's going to be later this month. So yes, there is some movement on that front. You know, and certainly when you kind of look at the argument, he says that he was acting in his federal capacity as the White House Chief of Staff to the President of the United States at the time of his alleged action. So he's

arguing that it should be argued in federal court, should be put before federal court. Now, it's interesting because when you look at, of course, the former president, he could make the very same claim. So it's certainly likely that we could see some similar action from his legal team as well, Tom. Okay, Blaine Alexander with a lot of new reporting for us tonight. Blaine, we appreciate all that. Next to a story we've been following all week, the police raid on a Kansas newspaper. Prosecutors announcing today police had, quote, insufficient evidence to conduct the search, and items seized from the office must be returned immediately.

NBC Stephanie Gosk has the latest. Missing cell phones and hard drives, publisher Eric Meyer, says he barely got the weekly edition of the Marion County record printed this morning. There was a not-so-miner miracle that happened last night. We were here until after 5 a.m. Then late today, the county attorney for this small Kansas town said there was insufficient evidence to justify last week's police rate of the paper and withdrew the search warrant. All of the items seized now being returned. The Kansas Bureau of Investigations says it will keep investigating. Do you think that this search violated your constitutional rights?

Yes, absolutely. It was designed to create a chilling. effect on our publication. National news organizations, including NBC News, called the raid a violation of the First Amendment. The response was like that to the Medellin drug cartel with this massive raid that occupied all the police in the whole eastern half of the county. The search warrant accused reporters at the paper of identity theft and computer crimes while investigating a local restaurant owner, Carrie Newell. Newell said the paper illegally obtained her driving record, which included a DUI. Meyer denies the allegations. He said the raid was a bullying tactic and believes

the stress contributed to the death of his 98-year-old mother who co-owned the paper. If she had known that her death would have caused some people to notice this issue, I think she would have felt very proud about that. In the last five days, Meyer says he's received 2,000 new subscriptions. Most new readers who don't live anywhere near, Mary. in Kansas. Stephanie Gosk, NBC News. We thank Stephanie for that, and our coverage from here in Lahaina will continue later in in this broadcast. But for now, let's toss things over to Ellison Barber, who's monitoring our other major headlines tonight from our top story studio in New York. Ellison, good evening.

Tom, good evening, thank you. Still ahead tonight, a person waves a gun on a busy New York street, shots fired into the air, the quick thinking from an officer that likely prevented a tragedy, Plus, could new charges come in the Rust movie set shooting? How new analysis refutes Alec Baldwin's claim that the trigger was not pulled. And striking back the family at the center of the blindside controversy, speaking out about Michael Orr's lawsuit, why they say it's ludicrous. Stay with us. We're back now with an update in that deadly shooting on the set of Rust.

report concluding that the trigger was pulled despite Alec Baldwin claiming otherwise. Cessor prosecutors are now reconsidering charges against the actor. Antonio Hilton has the details. We're going to talk to everybody in a sec. Tonight, another twist in the Rust movie shooting investigation, as a new report concludes the trigger of the gun used on set was indeed pulled. According to New Mexico prosecutors, an examination by firearms experts explains the fatal incident was caused by the pull or rearward depression of the trigger. The documents go on to say,

although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, the trigger had to be pulled. It wasn't in the script for the trigger to be pulled. Well, the trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger. So you never pulled the trigger? No, no, no, no, no. I would never point a gun to anyone to pull a trigger at them, never. These new findings, raising questions about Baldwin's statements. The weapon had to be cocked. The trigger had to be pulled. There was no defect in the mechanic and the mechanics of the trigger itself. And those are just facts. Those are just mechanical facts. We want to interview you and him. Earlier this year, Baldwin and the film's armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were both charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Helena Hutchins. I just want you to stay away for everybody and not to talk to nobody. But Baldwin's charges were dropped in April as prosecutors bolstered their case against. Gutierrez-Reed, adding a tampering with evidence charge and alleging she was hung over on set. Now prosecutors saying charges against Mr. Baldwin are being considered, but a final decision

has not yet been made. Representatives for Alec Baldwin declined to comment on the new firearms report. Questions about the gun and whether or not it has malfunctioned have been at the center of the shooting and all the testing and investigations that have happened since. So even if prosecutors refiled charges against Alec Baldwin, they have a tough case ahead of them, Allison. Antonia Hilton, thank you. For more on the legal ramifications of this report, let's bring in NBC News legal analyst, Danny Savallo.

Danny, I mean, I keep trying to wrap my head around this, and it's very difficult. Don't bother. Well, you tell me, has this case been mishandled from the beginning? If prosecutors knew this investigation was going to come at some point, while on earth did they not wait for this report and for all of their investigative evidence to be presented and have it? before they made the decision on whether or not to keep charges with Alec Baldwin. Alec Baldwin should not be charged with a crime. That's not me. That's the prosecutors who

just said that when they dismissed charges against Alec Baldwin. They concluded they couldn't bring those charges, they dropped them. Now they're saying they might resurrect them. And keep in mind, they dropped those charges after a year and a half of investigating the case. Then they brought charges. And then pretty soon after that, they realized, oopsie, of the two charges we investigated for a year, one of them may not even be constituted. constitutional. One of them is a serious problem because the law and effect didn't apply at the time it was brought. Now they're boosting their case against the armor. Keep in mind, these are not co-conspirators. Every piece of evidence you shove onto the armor saying she's responsible, Alec Baldwin, can say, yeah, I agree. It's her fault. So they aren't consistent with their theories of responsibility. And if they bring this case against Alec Baldwin now, the first thing his attorneys are going to do, the first of many things, is they're going to march. through all the times that the state of New Mexico was not sure about this case. You weren't sure after this, and you were so unsure that this case was dropped.

You concluded you could not make a conclusion as to whether or not the trigger was pulled, and that will be the state's own evidence. And then I would just add that I have spoken to a bunch of experts in stunts and in firearms. And yes, you can find experts who will say that the trigger must have been pulled. But you'll find equally as many, I believe, experts. qualified experts that will say, no, this gun could have gone off without the trigger being pulled. And if it is a battle of the experts in a criminal case where the burden is beyond a reasonable doubt, that puts it at best 50-50 for the state. They did the right thing in dropping this case.

They did the wrong thing in waiting so long to do it. Now they're about to do the wrong thing again if they bring charges against Alec Baldwin. Well, when they say that, when they say we are considering charges, have as much as you would like. That is all for you, my friend. What would charges even look like at this point? resurrect the manslaughter charges? They could only be manslaughter. I mean, unless they have some idea that this was somehow intentional and they wouldn't do that. There's no chance of that. There's never been any evidence that any of this was intentional. So they would have to bring back the manslaughter charge. There really isn't a whole lot else in the way of options.

And that would be after concluding, the state concluding, that Alec Baldwin should not be charged with a crime. So big problems here. This case has been mismanaged from the start. I normally try to be objective. This is the one case that has broken my objectivity. I can't be objective. Maybe I'm colored by the fact that I am a criminal defense attorney. Maybe that makes me a bit of an apologist. So fine. But if I'm going to pick a case to plant my flag, it's going to be this one. This case should be dropped against Alec Baldwin. Once and for all, should be dead forever. Do you think prosecutors have been professionally negligent in the way they've handled this? Not going to go that far. I don't want to get myself in any kind of trouble because the reality is

in this system that we have, if they decide to bring charges again, it's always possible to get a conviction. These are not charges that I think I would have brought. These are not charges that my friends who are prosecutors, federal and state, I don't think they would have brought them either. What I do think is you can look at the public statements that these prosecutors made, and they were to the effect that I'm paraphrasing. It sounded a lot like, to me, they were saying, we are going to get those fancy-dancy Hollywood people. They can't come into our town. I mean, it almost sound like a kitschy movie theme that, you know, we're going to get those Hollywood types. They come into our town, they shoot these movies. I'm paraphrasing. But you can find

statements where they said, this guy thinks he's Mr. Big Shot. That is problematic. You shouldn't go after Alec Baldwin because he's rich, famous, influential, whatever. A prosecutor should never go after anyone to hang a trophy on their wall. That is not what justice is about. Investigate the facts. And if the facts lead to a conclusion, you can prove your case beyond a reasonable doubt, then bring it. But bring it and keep it. Don't bring it, then drop it, and then drop some of the charges, and no, we're going to bring it again. I don't think I'm alone in this.

I bet you can find plenty of prosecutors who would say, this is not the way I would charge a case. When I charge a case, I know, I believe at least I can win it. I don't waffle back and forth like this, and I don't play it out in the media like this. All right, Danny Savalos. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. When we come back, bus route blowback, students in Kentucky's largest school district now kept out of the class for an entire week. The new outrage from parents and why AI is being blamed. We'll be right back.

Back now with Top Stories News Feed, a gunman is on the run after a shooting inside of a Georgia high school. It happened around 11 o'clock this morning at Augustus Josie High School. The Richmond County Sheriff says two students started fighting when one of them pulled out a gun and opened fire. The victim was shot in the hand. No word on his condition tonight. Police have identified the shooter, but have not yet released a description. Protest in South Florida today over the state's new standards for teaching black history. Video shows dozens of people marching to the Miami School District headquarters,

teachers and students joined by Teamsters. The group was objecting to new curriculum standards requiring students to be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery. Critics say the new standards are just the latest in a series of attacks on black history by Governor Ron DeSantis. A New York police officer seemed to use his car to prevent a potential tragedy. Video shows someone pointing a gun towards traffic on a busy Long Island roadway. The person also appearing at one point to point the gun at their own head. Moments later, an officer driving his cruiser into that person, knocking them down. Other officers quickly restraining and disarming the suspect, police say that gun was loaded, the person who had it now facing

multiple charges, including reckless endangerment. And an early morning surprise for a Tennessee football team, a black bear caught on camera running on Gatlinburg Pittman's high school field. No word on whether or not mascot auditions were being planned. The team's coach said the bear ran down from the home team stands onto the field, then back up the other side. It took about 10 minutes for the animal to leave the stadium. The coach said, quote, just another day in the Smoky Mountains.

We turned out of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, new COVID hospitalizations have increased by roughly 14% over the past month, with over 10,000 new patients admitted. But what is the cause for the recent increase? We're joined now by NBC News Medical Fellow Dr. Akshay Sayal. Dr. Sayal, there is this new strain rate, EG.5. Is that what is contributing to this increase we're seeing? Hey, Alison, so EG.5, it's actually part of the little Omicron descendant of variants. So it's, you know, we had Delta, we had Beto, and this is still part of that Omicron descendant.

But as far as what's describing these, or behind these uptake and hospitalizations we've seen, there's a few factors. You know, one, it could be this new variant. We've seen that this variant has mutations in it that could make our antibodies, things we get immunity from the vaccine and from infection. It could make that less effective or less effective and it's more likely to get sick. The other thing, Ellison, though, summer travel. Everything is kind of coming back, right? Life is back. People are going to Barbie and Oppenheimer and Taylor Swift concerts. So more and more people are gathering. So it's really, it's a fluctuation of things. And I say that not to say don't do those things, but because all of this is sort of happening at once, it's creating this perfect storm for that uptick in cases that we're seeing. And it is true to that last summer, about this exact time, there were far more hospitalizations for COVID-19 than in this instance, right? Far more hospitalizations. We are nowhere near what we call a surge like we saw with Omicron, like we saw with Delta. I've been on the inpatient hospital service all month. We are not seeing patients come in who are very, very sick.

We are seeing patients who, you know, they come in for something else and then they test positive for COVID, and they would count as a COVID case. Okay. So when we're thinking of how to take care of ourselves, a lot of people probably watching this are saying, okay, I had the COVID vaccine. I got all of my boosters. Is that going to protect me? And when should I be thinking about getting another booster? Yeah, it's a great question. So, you know, a lot of people probably got the last booster, the bi-valent booster, and are wondering, you know, with this uptake in cases, do I need another one? And I think most people would tell you to hold off. And that may surprise you, but, you know, we're expecting cases to continue to rise in the winter like we've seen the past few years. And what happens is if you get your vaccine now, you still have months to go until the winter, until we could see more and more cases. So if you wait a little bit, you get it in, say, October, November, you really have a fresh immune system ready to fight the virus and hopefully get the most protection, the most bang for your buck, really, Ellison. out of that vaccine. Do you think we'll soon be at a point where the medical community decides, okay, we're going to stop calling this a booster. We're going to say this is a COVID shot, like the flu shot, and it will maybe be a seasonal thing. Is there any indication of COVID

being seasonal? I mean, why haven't we transitioned from booster, which seems to imply one uptick and you're done? Why haven't we transitioned from that language to more of like flu shot type language? You know, Alison, I think the short answer is this virus continues to humble those who try to make predictions. You know, we all want this to be a seasonal thing, just like the flu. Go away in the summer, come back in the winter, you get your shot, you're good to go. But as we've seen with this uptake, and we've seen in the previous summers, this virus really, it just humbles those who try to play a crystal ball and predict things. So really, I do think we're going to get to that point. I don't think we're there yet, especially if you are high risk, we are recommending

more frequent vaccines. You know, I think a lot of people are wondering, do I need to bring the mask back? And I think the question, you know, really ask yourself is, if you're high risk, Look at just like you do the weather. If it's raining, you grab an umbrella. Look at the COVID cases. Think of it like an umbrella. Think of a mask like an umbrella. If there are a lot of cases out there, grab in a 95, you know, they still work. Great. Dr. Akshay Sayal, thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Next to shocking accusations against the family behind the movie The Blind Side. Former NFL player Michael Orr filing a lawsuit saying the story of his adoption and conservatorship is a lie. That family, the Tewies, now speaking out against or, says. saying they're, quote, devastated by the allegations. NBC's Kaylee Hartam has the latest.

Hey, my name's Leah and Tewy. My kids go to Wingate. The family made famous in the Oscar-winning film, blindsided by what they call a ludicrous lawsuit filed by Michael Orr. These people are truly devastated. I mean, this was their son. The Tewy family attorney speaking out tonight, disputing the former NFL player's accusation that he was tricked into making the Tewis his conservators in 2004 instead of being adopted.

We're talking about a family trying to help someone in need. The towees did not control any of Mr. Orr's finances. The attorneys also hammering Orr's claim that he was unaware of the conservatorship until six months ago, calling out his 2011 book where Orr writes, Sean and Leanne would be named as my legal conservators. Honestly, I didn't care what it was called. We were a family. The family insisting the conservatorship was to secure Ores in CAA.

eligibility to play college football. Because he was over 18, they say lawyers advised they couldn't adopt. At the center of all of this is money. The Tewis alleging or threatened them in an attempted shakedown for $15 million before filing suit claiming he was lied to and exploited. Are you going to protect the family, Michael? Yes, ma'am. Or says the Tewis gave away the rights to his life story for the blindside while they profited. Now he wants the money he believes he's owed. They've never needed. his money. Mr. Tewy sold his company for $220 million. A source close to the film tells NBC News the Tewis received approximately $700,000 total. Michael got every dime, every dime he had coming.

Orr's attorney tells NBC News they believe that justice will be served or wants it into the conservatorship and the Tewies say they will not oppose that. Ellison. Thanks, Kaley. With this family drama now unfolding, how could the lawsuit play out? trial attorney Rachel Cougall joins us now to break all of it down. So let's start with the conservatorship piece of this, right? So Michael Orr is saying that he did not realize the documents he signed back when he was 18, that they were a conservatorship, not an adoption. Yeah. But then you go back and look in his book, and our team did that, and then that book was published in 2011, and a number of times he talks about a conservatorship. If you are his attorney, how do you

square that? Yeah, I mean, I think it's problematic. This is something that jumped out at me right from the beginning of this because it's not really how a conservatorship happens. In other words, you don't just sign a document and create a conservatorship, especially if you think about it, the whole point of the conservatorship is that the person entering into it perhaps doesn't have the capacity on his own, right, to handle all of his affairs. So the idea that it can just be created by signing a document, you know, strikes me as odd. It's a process, a court process, a judge is involved, evidence has to be presented by a clear and convincing standard, which is a high standard in the legal world. So it's not so easy to just sign a document and create one. So one of the

other things that has been a little hard to understand is there are documents that say that this conservatorship was until he was 25 unless ordered by a court before then to end it. He's in his mid-30s now. Why would someone in their mid-to-late 30s still be under this? Yeah, I think that's a great question. And I thought about it and I think there's kind of three possibilities, Right? One is that he's telling the truth about not really understanding, you know, the legal relationship he was actually under until just now. And now he's taking that action. The other possibility is that they weren't really using it. And this was sort of a conservatorship in name only. And that does jive with what we've seen go on in terms of them, you know,

there's no accusation that this family had anything to do with his NFL contract, for example. Okay. The last possibility is that maybe the family really did see this as like an adoption and something that created or tied them together as a family and therefore took no action. To the two-dies family, their attorney is saying that they only did this conservatorship because he was already over the age of 18 and they couldn't adopt him. And it does vary by state in terms of adoption laws, but in the state of Tennessee where they were, it is legal for adult adoptions to take place. It is.

How does that factor in? It's a problem on their side, right? It's legal and it's easy to adopt an adult in many states, but particularly in Tennessee. So, yeah, that does not jive with what the Tewy's have said about this. They may have made the decision because attorneys told them it was the better play or a good idea. You know, we don't know. We will find out as this litigation plays out. But it certainly was not because there was no way to adopt an 18-year-old.

Okay. So Michael Orr is asking for $15 million here. Based on what we know so far, what do you think the obstacles are going to be going forward for or actually getting that money? So my best guess is that he's coming up with that number because he understands that the Tewis agreed to some small percentage of proceeds on the movie, and he's just done some quick math as to what he believes the movie made, and therefore he thinks this is the amount that they actually received. The nice thing about a conservatorship is there's oversight, judicial oversight. And even though the Tewis have said they're going to agree to disintegrate the conservatorship, I have

no doubt that there'll be an accounting here. And hopefully the books are in order, and it'll be easy to establish what, if anything, was paid. Hopefully he got what was due him, and if not, it's easy to see that. And it should come to light, you know, what actually happened here. All right, Rachel Cougall, thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Coming up next, when free is not free at all, what sparks those long lines across Ireland and why people are going to have to give money back. We'll explain after the break. We're back now with the ongoing bus driver shortage impacting families across this country. In Louisville, more than 96,000 students have been out of school for

over a week after a new AI-powered bus route left students waiting to get home for hours. NBC's Kathy Park has more. I appreciate the apology, but honey, you can stop now, for real. Louisville parents packing into a school board meeting left grappling with classes still canceled at the largest school system in the state. The truth is, my mother said something to me a while back, and she said, I'm so glad that you're sorry, but I just want you to change, so stop saying it. For Jefferson County Public Schools, a new AI-generated bus route hoped to alleviate the bus driver shortage seen in the district and across a nation.

The busing isn't working. It hasn't worked since 2017. It didn't work this week, this past week. It was an epic failure. Instead, the new system didn't account for traffic patterns or additional stops, leaving students waiting for hours, some not getting home until nighttime. Still waiting on this bus at 9-10. I take responsibility for not asking the tough questions and not being as involved in the oversight as I should have been. This year, drivers like Cameron Brown had nine different schools on his route. Nobody talked to us personally about it before they made the decision to do what they did. The district spent nearly $200,000 to hire Alpha Route using AI to overhaul their bus system. If they gave us bus drivers that money to split, like everybody,

here, here's a portion, here's a portion, here's a portion. You would, A, have more, probably bus drivers, okay? You'll have people wanting to work, willing to work. Bus drivers feel like what I'm doing right now isn't worth what I'm getting paid. In a written statement, the company said, we at Alfa Rout have been working alongside the district to fix as many issues as possible as fast as possible. For Louisville residents, some Jefferson County schools will reopen Friday more than a week after the transportation disruptions. I can say that this, is absolutely unacceptable and that every single JSPS

family deserves to have their child home before they eat dinner. The community demanding solutions so the students can get back on track with the school year. Kathy Park, NBC News. Now to an NBC News investigation into abandoned oil and gas

wells that are leaking toxins into the water supply and even causing home explosions. Millions of Americans living just half a mile away from these hidden dangers. Cynthia McFadden has the details the fact that the two of you got out is such a miracle yeah we were lucky we had somebody watching over us that for sure it was a sunday afternoon after church 13 years ago beverly butler and her husband bob lit a fire she says moments later their home exploded

this all of fire hit me in the face the next thing i knew he's hollered we got to get out the house is on fire like the house that blew up over the weekend in plum pennsylvania The butler's home, three hours north in Bradford, is surrounded by old abandoned and unplugged oil and gas wells. The butler's fire was so intense, investigators said they could provide no conclusive explanation for the gas explosion. And the cause of the explosion in Plum is still under investigation. Though Pennsylvania officials told NBC News, abandoned wells are being looked at as one possible cause. The dangerous remnants of 100 years of searching for. oil and gas, often dug by companies now long out of business, leaving open holes which

can cause toxins in dangerous greenhouse gases to leak into water supplies and in some extreme cases cause explosions. Nearly 5 million people across the country live within a half mile of one. So that's the well? Yep, yeah. Well, I mean, it just looks like a pipe. Like this well, leaking methane. Sam Shaheen is studying the secondary effects of methane released by leaking wells here in the Allegheny National Forest. The upstream looks pristine. And then suddenly it turns orange. That's because methane leads to the release of arsenic.

The arsenic concentration I measured in here was almost twice the EPA limit for drinking water. How long has this well been here? Oh, 150 years. Ed Atwood's well water was contaminated by long abandoned oil wells on his property. His only option connect to the town's water system. He says it cost him $20,000. Did you have to sell stuff to do it?

Yeah, oh yeah. We had a utility pickup. We sold that. Mother cashed in her IRA. We tracked the fracking company that caused the contamination to a post office box, but they did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Wasted 40 years trying to get a well plugged.

Pennsylvania's problem is particularly acute because of the oil boom here in the 1800s. We've taken an aggressive posture. The state's new governor, Josh Shapiro, is made plugging the wells a priority. Often homeowners have been bearing the brunt of this. And that's terribly unfortunate, and I think that's the problem that we've seen

over generations in this country, where corporations were given a free pass, particularly when it came to corporate polluters. But it's slow going. We've already kept 70. We'll have 100 done by Labor Day. Though there are at least 350,000 wells in Pennsylvania, some think more than twice that number to cap, at a cost estimated to be over $17 billion. Yes, it'll be costly, but it's also something that can help us combat climate change.

As for Beverly Butler, she wants answers. The kids kept telling me, Mom, there's something else he's got in store for you. Something else you have to do. And I kind of figure, maybe this is it. What he wants me to do is see this through to make sure that this does not happen to anybody else. Cynthia McFadden, NBC News, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Not a top story's global watch, and we begin in Spain where a wildfire burning in a national park is prompting evacuations. The flames erupted Tuesday night on the island of Tene Rife, a popular tourist destination in the largest of the Canary Islands.

The fast-moving fire quickly burned nearly 750 acres. At least five villages have been evacuated and several roads are closed. And in Ireland, some people thought they were getting free cash. Turns out that is far from the case. A technical glitch allowed some Bank of Ireland customers to withdraw or transfer funds beyond their balance. In some cases, up to $1,000. Social media posts about the error caused people to rush to ATMs. The bank says the problem has now been fixed.

and customers will be billed for any transactions made above their normal limit. When we come back, Tom returns with our coverage on the ground in Hawaii, the beloved grandfather being remembered tonight for the decades of music he brought to Lahaina. His story is next. And welcome back to our coverage here on the ground in Lahaina. Earlier in the broadcast, we told you that Buddy Jan Taka, beloved grandfather, was one of the over 100 people who lost his life in the deadly wildfires. Tonight, the Lahaina community is remembering him for his signature sound and smile.

Tonight, remembering the man who for decades was the rhythm of Lahaina. Music was besides us. His family was the love of his life. 79-year-old Buddy Jan Talk spent life as a musician touring the country before settling down in his forever home of Lahaina. Friends and family now sharing memories like this of Uncle Buddy playing weekend gigs at Lahaina's Cannery Mall. He was always smiling, always laughing. Buddy lived in a Lahaina retirement community, but was still active. He did move on the slower side. You know, he took his time walking and whatnot, but he was really independent.

He was still driving. His granddaughter spoke with him almost every day. So when I didn't hear from him, with everything going on. I knew something was wrong. His family, one of the first to be notified by officials in the aftermath of the nation's deadliest wildfire. The weight, I think, was discruciating, painful,

but at least we have somewhat of closure. Since we know that he didn't make it, now it's the why and what could have been done to at least try and save not just him, but there's so much people unaccounted for right now. One Hawaiian family honoring the beat of their beloved grandfather, now hoping for more answers. We understand that there's many more people out there who have lost loved ones, and I'm hoping that we all get answers somehow. So many looking for answers across Lahaina tonight.

We thank you for watching this special edition of Top Story. Tom Yamis in Hawaii. Stay right there. More news on the way.